Note: Collaboration post by DX3214, Nate1008 and Kinith
After travelling for two and a half weeks a directed transmission reached the small fleet. After being notified the princeps and the council members joined up in a meeting room on board the light cruiser Lux. A display at the wall came to live shortly after they entered the room. It showed the new data from the Intelligentia Propellente. "So the transmission could be decoded. It was a video stream broadcasted throughout a large area of the galaxy. It showed... Humans?! And they spoke a language which resembles one of the barbarian languages from the north. Our specialists think that it is a form of successor language to the germanic language spoken in Germania. They sent us a transcription of the words and possible meanings, however it was not enough context and the language developed too far from the original recorded in our historical database, to actually make it understandable." The council members were agitated as the princeps read out loud the data they received. "Princeps, in the case of a first contact where they don't start shooting at us the second they see us, I think we should try to repeat the message and append images of known stuff like plants, humans, planets and stuff like that. Maybe they understand the meaning that we would like their words for that. We can slowly develop an understanding of the language and start actual diplomatic actions after that!" "Senator Ferreolia, we can try that, as long as they are not hostile. You should take your fellow senators and compile the content of our transmission." "I wonder if they were also taken from Terra or if they came directly from it?" One of the other senators asked. "Colleague Octavianus, I don't know, but we will find out soon enough.... and we may also know what happened in Rome after we were taken. Has it grown further? Obviously there are still tribes that do not speak latin. But you can tell from the images we received that they were influenced by our culture! Surely the light of Rome is still shining throughout the world!"
A tear in the space opened up and a light cruiser followed by six smaller destroyers reemerged into real space from the dimension known as compressed space. They were designed as compact as a brick, no obvious structural weak parts are visible. “Princeps, we register a station above one of the planets, from the transmissions in this system we assume that it belongs to the same people that send the long range transmission.” “Ok, put in motion the previously discussed plan, send the prepared data stream and let’s approach with 5% thrust.” The ships send a directed data stream to the station, containing the speech of Katrin von Wenhausen, and the prepared images, each image has a roman number in the bottom right corner. After sending the transmission they begin moving towards the station.
The space station was in its majority a trading hub and outpost for small patrol ships for its large part of the outer sector due to the fact that the planet itself majorly imported and exported it didn't had other things to give to the wider confederation in the station a series of man worked reporting imports exports and majorly hearing reports of nearby scouts when the tear opened and a fleet left from it the station went into a agitated form no reports of a incoming fleet and no reports of traders coming especially those a scan was made the ships did not match any design from the database from the dominion saxony or its neighbors after a moment the transmission begun the speech of Katrin Von Wenhausen and then images of humans, family a garden and a planet almost similar to earth a V was in the side of the message the commander of the station after watching that said “Open communications with then start transmitting the following things talk and show the following images” He pressed a few buttons and a image of the map of Dominion and its protectorates a image with a question mark and a voice with the image saying “where from” in saxon the second image containing a picture of a human male his hand saying hello and female human a voice with it saying “You Human?” The transmission was sent back to them, the commander of the station awaiting the response.
The fleet was slowly creeping nearer to the station as they received an answer to their transmission. “Oh they send us a star map, but what is this symbol they send us? Some form of barbarian god? What are they saying? Hm…. The male one seems to extend their hand in a form of greeting.... interesting. Open an audio-visual stream! Maybe they understand the language of the world!” An officer opens up a channel and Marcus Menenius Ferreolia, a man with black and grey hair, relatively small but bulky build appears on the screen. It seems like his proportions got mixed up, his height seems more like a juvenile than a grown up man, while his body looks like a massive tree, but he is undoubtedly human. He is wearing a modern form of a white tunic, with a laurel wreath pin on his chest. “Ave sumus romanus.” (Hail we are romans) In the background a middle aged woman with a scar on her face walks up to Marcus, she seems to radiate authority. It is easy to see that she lives a martial life. “Senator, numquid sapiens est?” (Senator, is it wise?) “Princeps, nos postulo ut accipere forte hic!” (Princeps, we need to take a chance here!) The woman is wearing a uniform with a red and gold color scheme. There are a few pins on her chest, which could be an indicator for her rank or medals or simply ornaments.
In the command deck the awaiting ended a new transmission a live one a odd one for then humans using togas like romans and speaking in a odd tongue the commander then asked any of the crew “anyone knows this odd language” the officers that were beside him negated except one man a young boy that seems new in the office he said “Sounds like Latin…” The Commander then said “Latin… Latin? a dead language being used by then…” The commander sighed and though for a moment he then said “a universal translator can be used?” The same officer then said “Unfortunately no Captain a universal translator must first be inputted a language and it takes time…” The commander thought for a minute more, then said his voice showed doubts “you think you can translate?” The officer thinked for a moment after thinking of what they said “Maybe a little bit not too much...” The commander nodded he then said start “transmission you boi stay by my side” the young officer nodded as the others stepped aside.
A live transmission was sent after a few moments a old man it seems in his 70's wearing a military officer uniform if Admiralty patent in his chest lies 3 medals all hard to see but in his right chest one of then stand out not as a medal but possibly as a symbol of loyalty a two headed eagle holding a iron cross his uniform is black mixed and gray his cap holds the same symbol as of his right chest the old man has grey hair a caucasian in all appearance be side him laid a young man blonde hair white skinned seemed young early 20´s at best in wearing officer clothes but with lower patent in his right chest the same symbol as the commander a two headed eagle holding a iron cross the commander then said “Achtung nicht identifizierte Flotte, Sie befinden sich in der Sächsischen Konföderation Identifizieren Sie sich als so genannte Söhne und Töchter des Romulus” (Attention unidentified fleet you are in the Saxonian Confederation identify yourselves so called Sons and daughters of romulus) the young officer sighed and then said his latin sounded outdated he struggled and tried to said “Idem observandum eructavit classe in Confoederatione Saxonian vos filii ac filiae ita Romuli.”
A smile crept onto Marcus’ lips as he heard an ancient latin dialect no longer used as it was. The language developed rapidly in the millenniums since they were taken from terra. “Senator, intellexistis quid dictum est?” (Senator, have you understood what he said?) “Quidem, saltem a frenum... Dixit sunt adorti, ab saxones petit, si comedit romulum…” (Indeed, at least a bit... He said, they are attacked by the saxons and asks, if we ate romulus…) Folds were forming on his forehead as he tried to make sense of what he heard. The woman seemed confused once the saxons were mentioned, she knew from very old skirmishes between the Roman Republic and the germanic tribes, but surely the barbarians had been defeated! “Eos barbari, tamen circa?” (Those barbarians are still around?) “Videtur quod sic, sed non posset esse quod ego misinterpreted aliquid…” (It seems so, but it could be that I misinterpreted something…) “Senator, fortasse debemus petere Intelligentia Propellente…” (Senator, maybe we should ask the Intelligentia Propellente…) “Immo, eos transmittere omnes notitia de veteri romano a nostris database, spero nos invenire quod prorsus forma...” (Indeed, have them transmit all information about old dialects from our database, I hope we find that exact form…) An officer sends a request to headquarter of the Intelligentia Propellente, requesting access to the data on old latin dialects.
The two officers stand there hearing the commander of the station looked to the young officer trying to understand the situation he then said “ich habe keine Ahnung, was sie sagen, mit einigen Ausnahmen” (its old latin and it seems to have evolved i have no idea what they are saying with a few exceptions) The commander sighed looking to another officer working in the universal translator the officer then said “noch ein paar Worte und es könnte klappen” (a few more words and it might be done) the commander raised an eyebrow and then said “Sind Sie sicher?” a hand gesture saying more or less gave it away the commander then said “Nun, es gibt nicht viel, was wir tun können, außer zu versuchen, teilweise zu verstehen, was sie sagen” (well there isn't much we can do besides trying to partially understand what they are saying) The young officer then said in latin his voice sounding confused “Nescio quantum potes intelligere, nisi forte a me verbum quod dixisti quia ego quasi barbara” (I wonder how much you can understand of me but possibly i sound like a barbarian since you said that word)
Old man Marcus looked confused as well. “Nos certus expectare data, mihi videor intelligere, quod ipse habeat barbarus equus, sed puto, quod non est etiam proxima ad eam…” (We should definitely wait for the data, I seem to understand that he may have a barbarian horse, but I think that is not even close to it…) “Videtur sic.” (It would seem so.) An officer quickly walked over to the woman and whispered something in her ear, she nodded and pointed her finger somewhere to the side outside of the image. “Dimittite eam!” (Send it!) A datastream containing texts and dictionaries from old dialects as well as a newer form was sent to the station. “Fortasse possint uti notitia ad update eorum latinis.” (Maybe they are able to use this data to update their latin.) He waited a few minutes and then again stated his original sentence and a new message. “Ave sumus romanus. Ego, senator Marcus Menenius Ferreolia, et spero, te potest uti notitia. Nos manere hic exspectare responsum.” (Hail we are romans. I am senator Marcus Menenius Ferreolia, and I hope you can make use of the data. We will stay here waiting for your reply.) With this sentence he signals the communication officer to close the channel. “Let’s hope they will be able to construct our language from the data. Send the complete conversation home for further analysis! Maybe our specialists will be able to make sense of this…” The fleet stopped their approach at a safe distance from both the planet and the station, waiting for either the barbarians or their own people to contact them.
The cut in comms was a rather surprise for the commander one officer then said “Captain incoming transmission from then” The commander leaned over and said “what is it?” the officer took a look and then said “Seems like… a Dictionary?” an officer grabbed a upload cable and just said “start downloading” he then plugged into the sphere of the Universal translator the commander after seeing that leaned back in his chair and then said “re open comms with then” a few officers worked together and after a moment the commander working in the Universal translator unplugged the cable and trew the sphere it stood still in the air and open itself up the comms to the roman fleet was reopened soon after the commander then said to his young officer beginning in german and then beginning coherent and soon it was understandable “jesus christus ich war… Going insane just trying to understand then” The young officer then said “well captain is a bit hard when dealing with a dead language if you excuse me i shall retire myself” The commander sighed waving partially he then faced the screen seeing the humans once again he then said “well with the language thing settled… My name is Johaan Reger commander of the station of odin and you are in the Saxonian Confederation state your business in the planet of Stein aus Rubin so called Sons and Daughters Of Romulus”
Surprised by the fast response, old man Marcus and the woman looked skeptical at first, but after they noticed that they were able to understand them, their faces returned to their normal expressions with which they started, a kind of poker face, but Marcus would shortly after he started talking change to a seemingly small kid that found something exciting. “So you were not attacked by the Saxons but instead you are the Saxons, I understand. We received your message a few weeks ago, however it took us some time to decode it so that we could access the actual transmission. Your message format is unlike what we have encountered so far. But let me start at the beginning. Thousands of years ago we were taken from earth and used to be slaves of an alien species. After our independence, we started searching for our home hoping to reunite with our brothers. We were filled with hope as we received the message, with humans nonetheless! So we send a small group of ships to establish contact. You could say that we are diplomats from the Imperium Romanum Phoenix. Is it possible that you send us a complete dictionary for translation purposes? And what did you mean with dead language, have I misheard that?” The words seemed to bluster forth from his mouth, as if he was afraid that the translation protocols would stop working after a short amount of time. Meanwhile the woman looked dark at the senator, as if she said ‘you said enough about us’, but Marcus didn’t seem to get the message.
The commander sighed at hearing the so-called Marcus while some were funny due to the previous language barrier it seems like things were quite complicated he then said “we shall provide you with a dictionary to help your people… but now i believe that...” “Captain!” a shout from offscreen was heard the commander leaned to the left he then said “what i am busy at the moment and you know it?” The officer then said “I reported to Neu sachsen they just responded back…” “What!?” The commander screamed he raised from his chair leaving the scene vacant whispers could be heard it was odd to say the least the commander then returned to the front of the screen and then said “gentlemen ladies i am afraid i won't be able to answer your question on the mean time a dictionary of our language will be send and also you can dock on our station feel free to stand on our lands as long as you follow the law obviously on the meantime about rome… my second hand officer Hans shall provide you with the information you require once you are onboard good night gentlemen” The transmission soon cut to black the commander sighed and started to walk off the second in command approached him the same young officer who tried to translate he then said “you want me to tell then that their so called Eternal city was devastated in the barbarian invasions and… you know what happened to italy in world war 3” the commander sighed and then said “you are better than me in history good luck…” he then left the room
After the channel was terminated, the woman turned to Marcus. “Senator, they are hiding something. There was no reason to end the communication that quickly on a first contact!” “Indeed, something is odd. My fellow senators and I will take a shuttle to the station. If things don’t develop in a positive way you can simply fire up the engine and leave. It’s better than docking all ships to the station and being at their mercy.” “Right, however I insist that you take a security detachment with you.” “Alright, but don’t go overboard and tell them to listen to what I tell them! I don’t need someone going on a killing spree on a diplomatic mission.” “I will pick them myself.” “We will leave in thirty minutes, is that enough time for them to get ready? Also we should take some of the goods with us, like fine wine, samples of different alloys, just some stuff that might start trading.” “That is the reason that our cargo bay is loaded with different non essential stuff. I will give the order to load the shuttle with samples of them.” “Good, well I will take the time to skip over the dictionary, maybe I can find some greeting word in their language.” With that the senator and his colleagues left the bridge. The woman turned towards an officer. “Have shuttle III be prepared, and get one Contubernium Pedites (8 men/women) to assemble in gear, tell them they are to obey the orders of senator Marcus and are not to attack anybody. Their only objective is the safety of the senators. So they should stay behind them, and have their weapons halftered.” “As you wish, preparing shuttle and one Contubernium Pedites.”
After getting the orders the hangar crew got to work, loading the shuttle and preparing it for takeoff. In a different room Centurion Varia Draco assembled her small team. “A Centurion as a commander of a small Contubernium?” A member of her team was pleasantly surprised, Varia Draco had a reputation for being one of the best soldiers and commanders in the field. She is a veteran of dozens of campaigns against pirates and rebels, even though she was still in her late twenties. She was a beautiful woman larger than most romans by half a head. “Gallio, this is not a normal mission of why did you think that everyone here is a steeled veteran? The princeps and the senators are depending on us. If we screw up, it could result in a war. Therefore instead of sending recruits, they send us.” Optio Gallio Veranius Velus was a veteran as well, second in command in Varias Centuria. He was a mid thirty old man, while he was smaller than most of the other members of the team assembled, he was something like their mentor. He trained all of those veteran soldiers, and knew them better than their own family did. As the time was getting close to the departure, Gallio checked if they were ready. “Everyone is ready.” He looked at Varia and saw tension on her face, the last time he saw her in that state was on her first deployment as a commanding officer. “Are you alright?” She looked at him, and nodded, replacing her tension with authority. “We have our orders. You are to stand down until the senator tells you otherwise or the life of the senators are in danger. No one will act on his own on this mission. Is that clear?!” “Yes, Centurion!” “Ok, let’s get moving, we don’t want to have the senators wait for us.” With that the squad moved out of the preparation room, each one dressed in full body armor with a rifle on his back and a sidearm at his hip.
After the senators arrived in the hangar bay, they looked at the soldiers. “I hope you leave the rifles back in the shuttle until needed, it will send the wrong message if we arrive armed to the teeth. I won’t say anything against the sidearms and the armor, but I insist that only half of you actually join us outside the ship. Have half your team standby at the shuttle.” “Yes, senator. As you wish.” Varia ordered her men to split in half, three would move with her and the senators and the other three would stay with Gallio at the shuttle.
Once everyone was in their seats the small shuttle shot out from the hangar bay, moderately accelerating at around fifty G. The shuttle changed it’s vector towards the station and the pilot opened a channel. “This is shuttle III from the IRP Lux, requesting landing permission and instructions. ETA forty minutes.”
A transmission from the station Odin was sent “Understand Shuttle 3 please dock in section 5 landing bay 3 please follow escort fleet of fighter craft for more aid in case of confusion” a pair of two fightercraft soon arrived close to the ship aiding in the escort to the dock as the shuttle got closer the station is a busy one several ships coming in and out of it as the shuttle docked a force of several man armed with was present with then the commander of the station was there awaiting than to arrive the winds of the shuttle landing making him hold his cap on his head his coat of leather and fur shaking with the wind.
As the shuttle landed it’s mighty engines shut down, and a ramp was lowered. Behind it, senator Marcus with his two peers as well as the eight armored and armed soldiers were waiting to disembark. While they were armed their weaponry consisted only of sidearms and combat knives. The romans were on average between 1,55 m and 1,65 m in height, however they were almost twice the width, not because of fat, but because of their muscle and bone mass, needed to support them in high gravity environments. Their looks were surprised as they realized the ‘low’ gravity on the station. They were moving more like astronauts on the moon than humans, which landed on an earth like gravity.
The space in the shuttle was filled with cargo crates leaving just enough space in the rear department for eleven seats. The crates, which were around the size of a human coffin, looked very heavy. Even though the eleven people were looking around, scanning this new environment, while walking down the ramp, their gazes were of two different types. First the gaze of the senators, which was filled with curiosity and then there was the martial gaze of the soldiers, scanning the combat potential of everyone in the vicinity as well as looking for access points which may become bottlenecks. While all eleven people disembarked the shuttle, four were standing close to the shuttle guarding it from other personnel, leaving the senators and four soldiers to get closer to the commander and his delegation. “Ich grüze dir, Herr Kommandant. (I greet you, mister commander, [with errors]) I hope I spoke it correctly? First I want to thank you for your invitation, and I hope you are not angry that we decided to leave our ships at a distance until we can become acquainted with each other. Even though I would have liked to come alone with my two colleagues -“ He pointed at the soldiers behind him. “- the princeps demanded a security detachment. But as I see you also are a cautious man.” Marcus smiled. The other two senators were standing left and right of Marcus, emphasizing that he had a higher rank in the senate then them. Around one meter behind them Varia and her three men took a small fanned position, with half a meter in between them, ready to react to any threat. Marcus threw a gaze back to Varia and said to the commander Reger: “I hope you pardon the actions of my martial company, it is their duty to protect us. But I assume we were invited to meet an ambassador, as you seem to, pardon my expression, lack the authority to make deals with a new nation.”
The commander bowed a little bit in a sign of respect as costume dictates meanwhile the soldiers in the hangar dressed in military attire majorly ceremonial saluted the arrival the commander then made a smile he then said, pressing the Universal translator allowing for the understatement “a little bit broken but thank you…” when dealing with the greetings the small group begun to be escorted to a proper region as the explanation for the situation was given the commander looked back and then said “It's quite common actually since humanity left to the stars, we always had the policy of bringing soldiers, in case of things went downhill from the first xenos to… well our recent ones” He hand waved to right indicating a Craetekian a creature four time taking crates the size of of vehicles on his back several appendages of his back aiding in the task.
As the group arrived at a door the commander then said “there is no need for fear in this place everything is by all definition fine” the automatic door soon opened revealing two giant figures armored knights of Saxony standing 276 cm tall a woman and a man majorly shown by how the armor is made the commander sighed seeing that and then said “you know i told you that we have guest you don't need to put on knight suits thinking that the war just arrived here” The female knight shrugged saying “we been drafted we are leaving together with the ambassador for her protection once she arrives in a few hours…” The commander laid his hand on his face and then said “how long until she arrives at least…” The male knight then said “something between 1 to 3 hours according to her…” the knights then proceeded to accompany the group the female knight then said “on the meantime we are in this escort in our order from command and help in case trouble starts in the station due to the drafting orders...” the commander looked back in the walk and then said to the senator “I beg your pardon as well the confederation hasn't been in the best situation as of recently”
The romans seemed interested in the large creature, which was hauling crates around. “Are those creatures sentient?” Right after stating that question, Marcus looked at the knights and didn't seem surprised by the fact that the Saxons have armored walkers to support their military efforts. “I took the liberty to let our computers translate the transmission we received a few weeks earlier and it seems as if your statement is an understatement. But we know the situation where one has to fight for their freedom.” Marcus looked around. “Well, we should use the time we wait to take a look around your station. If someone would be nice enough to show us around and maybe explain some of the things we see here to us, we would be thankful.”
The Saxon commander took a look back at the craetekian and then said “Craetekians… they are a sentient a race from this corner of the galaxy albeit one without its own state” the commander then though for a moment about the movin around the station he then said “well i believe knights can show you the station for a while until the ambassador arrives” the romans soon left the room escorted and shown the place by the knights the station was a trade hub station merchants with their cargo passed by there were some stores but also some homes in the station allowing for a small thriving merchant zone to exist.
After a hour and a half passed the tour begun had ended with the showing of the meeting room it was said the ambassador had a arrived the meeting was a very wide deck windows showing the stars of space a room with a round table in form of a circle in the walls that weren't windows there was old art of the renaissance not the original but a copy a good copy by the looks but one painting was left a grave mistake some might say but the romans didn't know on top of a wall in the other side of the room there was a roman city being sacked its name wasn't shown but for those who knew history they knew what it was the sack of rome by 410 bellow it a door opened Hans entered the room he sighed in worrisome he then said “once you asked what happened to rome that was correct?”
“Indeed, and which city is this in the painting? The style of the buildings is identical with the ones in our database…” Marcus was in deep thought. Could this be a roman city? What was that sentence about a dead language? “Don’t tell me… Dead language? A familiar looking city burning? Rome fell??! How is this possible? No, it can’t be. It must be a joke. Forgive me for becoming emotional.” The other senators were also visibly agitated by what Marcus said. Only the guarding detail was remaining without reaction. “It seems you know about the fate of Rome? Please tell us.” Marcus was about to take Hans’ hand in his own, but restrained himself before reaching out.
Hans grew worried the situation wasn't good especially with the painting maybe it was better to let it to another hour or it would make sure they got worse he took a deep breath and then said handing a mechanical sphere “this contains all information after the rise of augustus came to power its not a easy read so i recommend watching later as for the question of the painting…” He left the device on the table and then pointed to the painting “the sack of Rome 410 that is the name of the painting… the writing in the wall for many romans of the death of the empire that came in the year 500...” Hans then laid his hands on the table and then said “I can answer anything else but as of right now that is true Rome died almost 3000 years ago…” hans then began saying almost to himself rather than to others “at least we have paintings and pictures of the city the whole peninsula sunk in world war…” Hans then stopped himself realising what he was saying.
Marcus looked like he was hit with a bat. “Gone? It was standing tall for over 700 years when we were taken. And when did you change to a new way to count the years? I need a few moments to get over my disappointment. We have always believed that we would one day reunite with our brothers. Finally as we found a lead towards earth, we learned of it’s destruction thousands of years ago ....” He took the mechanical sphere. “Thank you, I will study it in the near future. Once I have done my duty in establishing official contact.” All three senators looked shaken by the news that Rome was gone. Varia and her people in contrast were looking disinterested about the whole news. A few moments later Marcus re established control over his emotions. “Let’s get to the official stuff.”
The door Hans came in flew open a woman entered the room she weared a purple dress with decorations a noble dress made in the style of the new feudal culture of saxony a mixture between 1700 with the modern ages accompanying her there were two guards they seem to be a elite team equipped with things that are not common to the regular guards Hans bowed and excused himself she then said sitting on her seat at the table “welcome to saxony sons of rome, i hope that your reception was warm instead of cold, my name is Sarah Von Hergenrother a pleasure to meet you all”
Marcus and the other senators bowed slightly towards Sarah. “I am senator Marcus Menenius Ferreolia.” He points at his colleagues. “This is senator Octavianus Baro and senator Publius Belletor. The pleasure is ours. The welcome was quite warm, given the circumstances of our surprising arrival and the slight problems solving our language problems. We would like to officially enter into diplomatic relations, like open trade. For this I would, with your permission, order some of our men to retrieve some samples of trade goods.” He was looking at Sarah for a reaction towards his proposition.
Sarah smiled in her mind it seemed like things would go well for this. She then said “Our state is happy to start free trade between our states, especially due to recent events...” For a split moment her look partially turned left thinking of something in the back of her head before turning back to the senator happening in less then a second she then continued “... feel free to see anything from our markets luck be with you by the looks since this station is trading hub for the area of space besides that you think it's possible that an embassy could be established between our nations?”
Marcus thought for a moment. “It could be problematic, except if you have a way to reduce gravity on a personal base. You need to know, most of our planets have a much higher gravity than this place. I assume your bodies are not familiar with higher gravity of that scale.” He then signals Varia to call the people with samples of the trade goods. “We are happy to send traders to this and other hubs like this. I don’t know how your economy works, but we would like to directly trade with your government, if your government owns factories and shipyards. The quantity that would be traded would be much larger in that case. Aside from material goods we also desire an exchange of cultural and historical data.”
Sarah then replied saying “we see no problems our stations are regulated to earth gravity but can be changed to any other gravity if needed to be precise this gravity is a little smaller compared to other places i been…” she then proceeded to think for a moment on the request of cultural and historical data she then said “I think it's possible especially since we are fellow human states”
Marcus looked surprised. “I estimate the gravity on our capital world to be around fifteen times as strong as here. You are welcome, if you can withstand it.” Shortly after he finished saying this two soldiers came in carrying coffin sized crates. They lowered the crates onto the table and stepped back outside. “A few samples.” With that said Marcus opened up the crates. A large number of alloys, minerals, crystals, foods, and luxury items became visible once the crates were opened. “We have more crates in the shuttle, take this two crates as a meeting gift.” He takes up a small piece of alloy around the size of a finger. “This is an alloy we call Adamantium. It is one of the strongest materials we encountered so far.” He then points to different other materials and explains their uses, some were superconductors others could be used for framing of buildings or ships. One of the materials would on a scan look like Terrarite, one of the materials that the foundry looked for. Jewelry as well and other accessories were in the crates as well as some fruits and flesh of animals home to roman planets.
Sarah checked the goods they were good quality when terrarite was found. She already knew it was a good deal for payments to the Foundry as she checked some of the jewellery it was quite interesting she then whispered to herself “eplonyx...” Marcos then said “pardon?” Sarah shook off the question by saying “No it appears a trade between our states will be quite…” alarms soon started ringing in the facility Sarah rose from her seat a guard rushed in and whispered in her ear Marcus and Varia raised and said “What is happening?”
Sachsen was once again in the political discussion. It always had a new law, declaring taxing, but nothing was any more optional. A law especially made by the more progressives of the congress of nobles pushed by Brunna, a new member of the government. In the room in the central table, a discussion surrounded by the seats of the congress of nobles sat in the gang of four, considered heads of provisional government: Katrin, Ermenrich, Brunna, and Frederick. The room was in the midst of the debate after the recent law Katrin sighed. She knew this would mean having to hear every side of the argument over and over. It was annoying... She looked around, the other members seem to be engaged, but she could notice they were equally wanting this to end. The mobilization had reached a halfway point. This was going to keep going for a while… However, she didn't expect the debate to be cut short… A man began invading the room in a hurry. The room soon turned to him as he approached the table. The man then said, “Lords, Ladies, incoming diplomatic transmission from the Foundry! They say it's an emergency…” Katrin then said “Well bring the communications in then.” Frederick soon started pressing the buttons of the console, initiating the comms with Core. “Hello again… I am sorry to interrupt, but a new urgent matter has been handed to us… The Foundry Defective has reawakened… The Foundry Defective are extremely hostile, broken, defective… imperfect versions of ourselves… they are mindless savages that mostly attack all who are not them. Many other empires in our past have mistaken the Foundry Defective for us… We do not plan on making that mistake again, as a Foundry Defective Warfleet is approaching a Trade Hub you control… Warn the station before they attack!” The room was silent, worried about the report from the Core. Frederick looked unphased. He then said “Thank you for your information…” Frederick raised from his seat and said while walking away “If you excuse me gentlemen I have to warn a few colonies…” he then left the room almost like nothing was wrong Katrin then said her thoughts finally, “Thank you for your warning we shall act quickly.” The communications were then shut off.
A-a-a-a-a-apro-o-o-ching ve-c-c-ctor…
Sc-c-canning...
Scan-n-ning…
Rad-d-io sign-als dete-e-e-e-e-ected...
Uni--i---i---dentif--fied targe--ts de-e-e-e-e-etected…
Desig--g---g---gnating hosti--le…
Assaul--l--l--ting targets…
H-H-H-HOST-T-TIL-LE DET-TECTE-D…
Char-r-ging ra-a-ailgun…
Firing...
Near a small trade hub, A Freighter travels in space, its cargo filled with ores of a nearby mining planet. The captain, a man in his 40´s, talked with his crew, saying “With this delivery, we are going to make a whole months worth of profits!” The crew cheered for a moment. A lot of work and thinking was needed when trading a good haul. But it means a lot of cash. A bad haul and incoming debt in this region of space is dangerous. Thanks to Saxonies pirate hunter fleets, trade can flourish. However, nobody expected what happened here. The ship sensor detected something odd. A fleet out of place… The navigator in scans reported what he saw, the captain looking over the window widening his eyes. In the void lay fleet of ships like he never saw before… one of them charging some kind of weapon...
Machine gun bullets flew through the void, hitting the shell of the freighter. The ship shook as a railgun blast made impact with the hull. The crew soon started screaming, holding onto their seats. The captain then screamed, “Damage report?” A hologram appeared, red warning lights and damages all over the ship hologram. Another blast, followed by violent shaking. The railgun took another chunk of the ship hull as it began to give up. An explosion rocked the ship from its center, shattering the ship in two explosions followed by the pipes. Then the whole ship filled with flames as hydrogen fuel was exposed to the oxygen within the atmosphere. The freighter, unable to take the stress of the blasts soon imploded.
In the trading station on the outpost, everything was calm for a while now, until distress signals exploded through the star system, warnings speaking of emergencies, attacks, and chaos. The commander of the station bursted through the entrance, accompanied by his second in command, Hans saying “what the hell is going on?! first romans, and now the system is full of chaos!!” one officer jumped from his seat and then said getting closer to the commander “sir! Multiple attacks have been reported across the solar system...” a holographic map of the star system was created showing the region ships, and the hostile fleet in the middle of the solar system travel between the outer, to middle inner part of the star system. More than 500 red blips appear on the map, along with the remains of civilian ships, and the other currently fleeing ships.
The commander sighed for a moment, and said “how did they get there so fast?” An officer then said “Sir! Their fleet has been here for a while now…” The commander widened his eyes as he saw the losses. He then checked the map. The fleet was moving towards the space station. He then said “Contact the nearby garrison! We have a serious problem…” he thought for a moment, then used his hand and approached a console and activated a holographic image to see the hostile ships of their model. The ships are similar to the foundry’s. They are heavily damaged, but still recognizable. He then said “...Also say the foundry is here, and it is them who are doing this… Open contacts! I want to hear what they have to say about this, and they better have a damn good explanation…” an officer then screamed, “Commander! incoming transmission from a mercenary!” The commander pointed to him, and then said as quickly as he could, “Turn it on now!” The officer proceeded to work on his console and soon, a transmission began. A female voice started speaking in a panic “This is the sun chaser! We need help immediately… those... things have destroyed the entire convoy we were escorting, and they are trying to… oh god… GOD PLE……...” the transmission soon cut into static. The commander, looking more worried, looked back at the map. The hostiles were coming straight towards the station… The holographic display showed a cemetery of ships. He then ordered, “Start contact with the invaders! I wanna know why this is happening!”
The officer worked on his console. A communication system was then established with the hostile fleet. He then said “This is commander Petros. Please state your business in this area.” “Th-th-this is Fo-ou-oundry Warfr-r-ron-t Flee-t-t Comma-nder 88--66712 - Alpha… Yo-o-ou a----nd your flee-e-e-ets are pos-si-ng a thre-a-a-at to the CO-ORE… You an-n-nd your station will be-be-be eradicated…” The commander was worried that the foundry had already signed a war with Saxony; it didn't make sense; he then said “This doesn't make sense! We made a deal with the Core already! Why would he choose to backstab us now?” “No-no-no-no such dea-a-al was signed… The Found-d-dry has not encoun-n-n-ntered your kind bef-f-fore... Yo-ou are commit-t-ting acts of-of-of war for moblizing mili-i-i-itary flee-e-ets near our bor-d-ders… Prepar-r-re to face judg-g-gment!”
“Cut communications...” Petros ordered. He then thought for a moment, and then said in a low tone “we are not near their borders...” as he thought, an officer then said “Commander! A transmission is coming in! From Neu Sachsen! They reported that the Foundry has rogue drones heading our way…” Petros sighed and then said “well that explains that…” thinking quickly he then said “Send a message! We are engaging a rogue Foundry fleet! Check how long until reinforcements arrive…”
The officer in comms began to work. Meanwhile, Hans, his second in command, then said with fear in his voice, “...the garrison is more or less two hours from arriving here...” the commander though for a moment and just said looking at the map “ETA until the hostile fleet arrives...” one of the officers calculated for a moment and then said “One hour…”
A feeling of dread filled the room. Petros then just started shouting “all men to battle stations! Sound the alarms!” “Warning! Red alert! Warning!” the station AI began to say repeatedly. The room lit red and the station began to ring its alarms. Gun batteries were activated and ships that were too far began to evacuate the star system. Meanwhile, the planet industrialization had barely arrived, but the sounds of sirens going off were unmistaken. A bombardement could start on the planet at any moment… Panic began to take hold as people rushed to the shelters. In the station, stores were closed and soldiers began to prepare for a last stand, guns were manned and soldiers prepared for any possible boarding.
Meanwhile, in a meeting room onboard the trade station, Sarah Von Hergenrother answered Marcus Menenius Ferreolia's previous question. “No it appears a trade between our states will be quite…” Alarms soon started ringing in the facility Sarah rose from her seat, a guard rushed in and whispered in her ear. Marcus and Varia Draco raised their voices at the same time and said “What is happening? What’s this alarm for?” Varia quickly looked at the security guard and understood that this is not a drill. She quickly nodded towards her peers and they made ready to evacuate the senators, should the need arise. For now she would listen to the explanation of the Saxons.
A series of guards barged the meeting one of them whispered in the ears of Sarah she raised and then said “It appears we have a hostile fleet attacking us i recommend you gentlemen seek refuge somewhere safe…” quickly she then whispered to one of her bodyguards walking away from the table with the guards “...Grab my armor incase of emergencies” soldiers soon runned pass the room in the hallways outside the room.
“Senators, we should return to the Lux, and see how the situation develops. Once we have more information we can take appropriate action.” Varia nodded towards her team, which quickly took the senators in the middle of the group, escorting them back to the shuttle. While leaving Marcus turned to Sarah to say a quick goodbye. “I hope we can resume the negotiations after the crisis is averted. Good luck.” Once the whole group was aboard the shuttle, the pilot started the take off procedure. “This is shuttle III of the Lux, we request immediate clearance for take off!”
Sarah gave a nod with a smile. After the incident In the command deck, the commander received the news about the emergency evacuation. Before he could say anything, Sarah entered the room and gave him a folded paper. After reading the note, he then said to the shuttle and even to Lux “Understood Shuttle III and Lux, you have authorization to leave this station and find a safe spot. We are facing what is basically a series of AI we created to aid in our mineral searches. Due to an incident, they became hostile, self-sustaining, and to a extent, self aware. They weren't too much trouble though, their self-replicating factories were easy to deal with... Until we entered in contact with an alien civilization of machines… They stole several of their ships and are now using them against us. We didn't expect them to attack this side of our space. Good luck Lux, Godspeed.” After, he hung up the comms he sighed and then said “Lets see if we can see the light of the next day...”
“Princeps! We register something weird in the system.” “What do you mean weird?” The princeps was looking confused at the officer. “Multiple signals were extinguished, and a group of 500 signals is closing in on the station.” She looked shocked at the first moment, before quickly regaining her composure. “What is happening here? Open a channel to the saxons!” “Channel open.” “Odin, this is the Lux, we registered several ships being destroyed and a large group of signals closing in on the station. Would you mind explaining what the hell is going on?!” The princeps was looking quite agitated.
When the transmission arrived, Odin the commander jumped from his seat. “Where are they…” he questioned. An officer ran into the room and through the holographic map. The Flagship was far from the threat, but still could be intercepted if they were to get closer. Odin then said in comms “Flagship Lux! Evacuate from this star system together with the other civilian ships! If not, get to the docks! You are near a hostile fleet!”
“We will close the distance to the station to take up our shuttle, we will then proceed to move to a standby position and evaluate the situation. Get me fleet wide!” A nod from one of the officers indicated that the detachment was listening. “All hands, prepare for a high G maneuver!” Once this sentence was spoken, the thrusters of the roman ships came to life, using their massive force to shoot the ships towards the station like meteors. Even with inertial dampener at maximum capacity, the roman crew would experience close to a hundred G in acceleration force.
As Lux approached the station with tremendous speed, a final message was sent by the commander Yohan, “Understood Shuttle III and Lux you have authorization to leave this station and find a safe spot. We are facing what is basically a series of AI we created to aid in our mineral searches. Due to an incident, they became hostile and self-sustaining. They weren't a trouble until contact with an alien civilization of machines. They stole several of their ships and are now using them against us. We didn't expect them to attack this side of our space. Good luck Lux, Godspeed to you all.”
The shuttle came roaring to life as it shot out of the station's hangar. It’s acceleration was mildly lower than the Lux, however it was still in a deadly realm for normal humans. “Princeps! The shuttle is out of the station.” “Give them rendezvous instructions and get us to a safe spot, I want to continue to collect data. We should still be able to jump home, if the need arises.” “Transmitting data.” The shuttle abruptly changed course to a parallel route of the Lux. In a few minutes the Lux would catch up to the shuttle and the shuttle would be able to enter the light cruiser without them losing too much velocity. “How long till the AI arrives here?” “Around 45 minutes.” “More than enough time to reach a better position. Start a directed encrypted datastream to the headquarter, send everything we already have and everything we are about to see! As soon as the shuttle is secured, set course for the outer edge of the system at full speed, should the AI come closer than 30 minutes to our position change to orange alert and raise the shields!”
Hos-tile dest-roy-ed…
Hos-s-stile destoy-yed…
Scannnnnnnnnn-nnnn-nning…
ERROR...
SCAN FAILED…
Scan-nning…
Large unkn-kn-known vessel dete-e-e-te-ected…
Design-n-nating hosti-i-ile…
Squadron R-R-R-RB-FF-15, assault-t-t forma-a-ation…
Squad command registered...
Preparing weapons…
Check…
Preparing shields…
Check…
Preparing warp drive…
Check...
Status: Combat ready…
Warping into sector…
Warp successful…
Large hostile ship detected…
“Princeps, shuttle III is secured, changing course and accelerating.” “Good, scan the surrounding area and get detailed scans of those mining drones. Something doesn’t feel right.” While accelerating at high speed the lux scanned the system thoroughly. Senator Marcus arrived after a few minutes on the bridge. “Princeps, what is the situation?” “Senator. We are currently moving to a position at the edge of the system, meanwhile we are monitoring the whole system, while we transmit all data via a directed and encrypted transmission to the headquarter.” “Excellent. Let’s gather as much as we can. I will be in the meeting room to send the results of our first contact back to the senate. Inform me should the situation change, and do everything necessary.” “That was my intention, senator.”
The defenses were now fully online. Turrets were armed, missiles were ready, and the shields were charged. As the hostile forces continued to mobilize, the commander checked the stellar map. The enemy was getting closer… Suddenly, an anomaly related to an FTL exit appeared near the Flagship Lux. The commander then quickly said “Contact Flagship Lux! Hostile forces warped in near them!” an officer in comms quickly worked through the system, sending a message to Lux... “Flagship Lux! Hostile forces have warped nearby and are preparing to engage!”
Warp successful…
Command ship ready…
Systems online…
Weapons charging…
Firing…
“Princeps! Hostile ships appeared near our position and -``''Raise shields, battlestations, -” The roman ships were hit by multiple shots, while an orange force field closed around each of the ships. “RETURN FIRE NOW!” Hundreds of drones were released by the roman ships, each one around the size of a human arm. Despite their size, great destructive power is hidden in them, while their intelligent guidance system changes vectors as needed to evade point defence and other countermeasures. Over one hundred light pulse lasers came to life in the attempt to hit all projectiles with course to the fleet. Medium and heavy pulse lasers spit out energy projectiles towards the enemy ships. “Princeps, some of the projectiles seem to be boarding pods! We have registered several security breaches. Alerting legiones to respond.” The roman ships quickly left the effective firing range, while they were still accelerating towards the edge of the system. “Why are they not following? Analyze the data! How were they able to get this close? How effective was our fire? I want a report on the capabilities of those ships! What’s the status of the intruders?! Damage report!” “Light damage on the Lux, the destroyers report similar status! Analyzing data.”
Meanwhile on several different locations around the ships, roman soldiers were battling the intruders. The corridors closely resembled urban warfare, the comparably small corridors and rooms could easily become traps. Luckily roman soldiers are equipped with a shield emitter in their armor, thus giving them a chance to jump to cover. While those shields would protect them, they would quickly overload after just a few dozen rifle rounds, leaving the soldier with only his armor and body until he could retreat and let the shield reactor cool down. Even with this and the order to retreat before the shield is depleted, soldiers were dying to defend the ship.
Approaching main target…
Active weapons detected…
Active shields detected…
Charging anti-shield cannons…
Loading EMP missile silos…
Firing EMP missile…
Shields disabled…
Preparing boarding pods…
WARNING! DAMAGE DETECTED!
Systems critical…
Priority 1: Launch boarding pods…
Launching boarding pods…
The soldiers and the troops began to prepare for the worst as shots were exchanged between sides… The holographic map revealed the enemy firing missiles. The point defense gatling guns began to shoot down the missiles, but some got through. EMP missiles soon were destroyed, while some hit the station. The lights flickered and flashed, the station shields faltering... The commander then said “What was that?” one officer then says “EMP´s sir…” The commander sighed and then said “Thank god... EMP defenses existed since the birth of electronics… to an extent...” the cannons soon started hitting the shields they themselves were trying to hold… Unable to handle the firepower, the shields went down. Counter turret fire was being exchanged against the enemy fleet. While this continues, the command station gets ready for damage. When the shields go down, the station starts getting hit by small and medium turret fire... The commander then said, “Damage report?” an officer then said “Minor damage to hull and some damage to the turrets. Except that it seems like they are not on full fire yet…” the commander though for a moment while looking at the projection of the situation… Several blips suddenly started appearing, coming from the enemy ships. One officer then said “Enemy boarding forces incoming!” The commander shouted “Focus fire! Take the boarding vessels down!” The point defense started shooting their 150mm bullets, several pods being blasted by the shots, but it wasn't enough… Several pods began hitting the station. The commander then screams “How many pods landed?!” Another officer working hard through the data then said “38 enemy pods landed captain!” The commander then said “Contact Sarah and give me a map of the station…” a 3d holographic projection of the station was created and the zones of landing were visible. 10 landed on the hangar, 4 in the hallways of the station, and the rest landed on the upper sector of the station near the command center. In the hallways of the station, soldiers were now dying defending the station while workers were running for their lives. The station had become a battleground… Soldiers were holding the sectors down the hallways while others were defending key important locations of the station. Dead begin piling up as men continue to hold their ground.
“Boarding successful…
Breacher team 88-75, eliminate hostile space station shield systems
Breacher team 77-57, eliminate hostile space station security systems and security forces
Breacher team 72-15, eliminate hostile space station security systems and security forces
Breacher team 18-57, eliminate hostile space station point defence systems
Breacher team 27-89, eliminate hostile space station turrets
Breacher team 62-49, eliminate hostile space station command station
Remaining unannounced Breacher teams, subdue and/or exterminate remaining hostile
forces and subdue unarmed/civilian class personnel...
Engaging hostile security forces!
Move to cover and fire at oncoming hostile forces!
Throw EMP grenades to disable hostile shields!
Switch to EMP secondary pistol rounds!
Throw concussion grenades!”
In the Odin station, battles raged in the hangar, hallways and the upper sector military zone of the station. The security forces would start getting wounded, downed, and immobilized by the enemy forces while trying to put on the best defense possible. In the command station, the analyses of the battle were being shown “The enemy forces are pushing us out of the hangars and hallways of the mid levels. We grinded ourselves into a stalemate using barricades in there...” the commander though seeing the projection, he then said “What about Upper Station levels near us?” a shake and the sound of explosion could be heard. People losing their footing in the command center, but recovering near immediately, the officer then said “Um... we are holding...” a nervous smile rang in his face before disappearing, followed by another sound of an explosion.
In the upper station a near open area had become a battleground where soldiers aimed to protect the weapon systems and command center. Soldiers fought against the invaders using machine guns in a front line, protecting the command center. Shots took one, two, three down… They were hard to kill. A soldier then screamed “AT now!!” A man with a rocket-launcher then took cover and fired an explosive round. The blast shook the entrance to the command center. Pieces of metal flying across the room as he poked his head over the improvised cover of debris. The smoke obscured the entrance… Suddenly, shots passed through the smoke, hitting the cover. He quickly ducked beneath the cover, shots passing above him. A man beside him is shot, falling to the ground dead, his cold, lifeless face full of fear. The soldier then opened comms and said “We need reinforcements! We won't hold for long!” after sending the comms, a shout came from beside him “Grenade!” He jumped from where he was as an explosion blasted him forward, making his ears ring. His head was aching, his vision getting blurry, looking back at the barricade. Some soldiers grabbed their guns and started walking back in what felt like hours for him, but minutes outside his head. He then saw one of the hostiles climb up the barricade and jump across, seeing that, his heart rushed in fear as the machines jumped over the barricade.
Dragging himself backwards, the machine in front of him began to approach him, but before he could do anything he heard a shot blast behind him, and the machine's core was gone. Another shot and its head was gone. Looking back, he saw soldiers wearing power armor engraved with the finest art of each noble house. They came charging, equipped with gatling guns, Thermal blades, automatic rifles, and energy weapons, as the ringing of his ear begun to disappear, he whispered “the knights of saxony...” the knights began shooting while others rushed forward, the machines that jumped over the barricade began to fall one by one. The knights armor protects themselves against their enemies' inferior weapons. Some of the knights walked above the barricade and started firing against the entrance. Leading the charge, A woman, Sarah Von Hergenrother, wearing power armour and a purple cape... After the hostiles were slain, a moment of silence fell in the room as the guns stopped. One the knights then said “all clear…” Sarah walked forward and jumped over the barricade. Several knights following her, then said “We need to start clearing this sector. If they reach the shield generator or the reactor the situation will go straight towards hell.” The knights soon assembled at the door and readied their weapons. Sarah then screamed “For Saxony!!!” The knights soon ran through the entrance, guns blazing.
The soldier was soon raised by a comrade, he then said “I want heavy machine guns ready in case of a counter attack!” in the command station, the commander checked the situation as a report soon came in “Commander Johaan... the noble Sarah launched an attack leading the knights into battle…” the commander sighed and then said “Finally… I was wondering when she was going to appear…” the hologram showed, then marching forward an officer then said “we are starting to push them out of the upper sector in a slow manner” the commander took a look at the boarding and then said “we are holding… How long until reinforcements arrive?” a holographic number display is shown, he then says “Lets hope there aren’t any delays...”
“Princeps, we register energy signatures in front of us! It resembles the signature of those attacking vessels, it seems they are jumping again!” “Target those coordinates and fire with everything we got! How long do I have to wait for the analysis??” The princeps of the Lux was asking, anger was showing on her face, which, in addition to the large scar on her face, distorted her face. The weapons of the detachment opened fire once again at the attackers, however once again they would soon speed past them. This time however most of the enemy firepower was stopped by the force fields surrounding the ships, while the fire of the detachment was more intense than before.
Varia was leading a group to intercept the intruder before they could reach critical systems, as her coms came to life. “Centurio, we engaged the enemy in the corridors I-47 and C-1! We are currently holding them back.” Varia exhaled in relief, I-47 and C-1 are not far from the vital system, however they were far enough away to not accidentally blow up critical systems. At least for now. “Team 2 moves from the left, Team 3 from the right, 4 and 5 make their way to the breach and clear the ship of the last enemies! Team 1 with me, we will attack them from the rear.” The group quickly split and ran off in different directions. Not long after that, gun fire could be heard echoing through the corridors. With some signs Varia signaled her team to move in position. Moments later they opened fire towards the rear of the intruders. Pulse laser projectiles rained upon the machines overloading or overheating the hit parts. After a short but intense firefight and from all sides surrounded the intruders succumbed. “Princeps, Varia here, we stopped the intruders for now, I have most of my men searching the ship.” “Understood.” Varia looked at the destroyed intruders and saw mostly kinetic weapons for close quarter battles.
“Princeps, the analysis is nearly complete and we received an update on the damage report. Luckily raising our shields could prevent larger damage to the ship, however we lost control of some systems for now, repairs are underway. The weapon systems used by the intruders were mostly kinetic weapons designed for close quarter battle.” “Hmpf. Let’s hear the current content of the analysis! What can you tell me about the ships!” “They appear to be able to travel fast through another dimension, once we calibrate our sensors we should be able to detect them in the vicinity. Their weapons are mostly like boarding parties, a mix of different kinetic weapons, however they possess some much stronger ion based weapons. Those ion based weapons have quite the firepower. I believe in a prolonged battle we would not be able to withstand the amount of firepower they have.” “Noted, however we won’t be able to change our course to dodge them if they jump ahead… And why are they using this instead of coming after us in real space?” “Their ships seem to be capped at a low speed in real space. They can move either much faster or much slower than us. We noted quite the amount of data transmitted by one of the larger ships in the group. We are currently analyzing those data bursts, however we noticed that after bursts of data the other ships would move differently, as if receiving new orders.” “For our next engagement target that ships with all weapons… Order the other ships to do the same. Can you configure the sensors to pick up those data bursts from other ships?” “As long as they are not directed data streams. Those bursts were broadcasting arrogantly as if no one could hear it.” “Do it. Finally some good news.”
Marcus entered the bridge in a hurry. “Princeps, I hope you can explain the situation for me!” The senator was informed about the new developments. “So that means that we would be able to predict their faster than light traveling and identify their control ships?” “To a certain degree, we would need more data to be surer about predictions. However they don’t really try to disguise anything.” “Good.” “Senator… Those ships will most likely follow us until one side is destroyed. Therefore we have 2 options here. Option 1: We try to outrun them with our FTL, in the hope that they can’t detect our path and don’t follow us.” “Or?” “We slow down to their speed and launch an all out assault on their control ship.” “How are our chances?” “For Option 1? I can only guess 50-50? For Option 2… From the data we have, we should be able to destroy the attackers, however we would take some damage and might even lose some ships in the engagement.” “We could also retreat and ask for reinforcement from home…” “But if we are not able to move faster than them, we would have to survive attacks until we reach the reinforcements which would be at least a week.” “So you say the highest chance of success would be to attack those ships?” “Yes, senator.” “Ok. I will trust you on that. Even if we fail, the information about everything we saw here will be sent to the headquarter up until the moment we die.” The princeps nods. “Command to the fleet: Reverse thrust slows down and engages the enemy. Target primaris: the control ship, target secundus: the ships with the ion based weapons.” The roman detachment stopped their thrusters, turned their ships around and restarted their thrusters, thus starting their deceleration maneuver.
Warning! Battle lost…
Required immediate assistance…
74% of forces remaining…
Requesting a Foundry Warfront Battletech Strongarm…
Request received…
Accepted…
Preparing to launch Foundry Warfront Battletech Strongarm 177-686-512...
Preparing to launch decoys...
Launching…
The invaders were losing ground everywhere. In the upper station, knights pushed the Foundry Defective out of every important zone in the upper sectors where the station's major regions were located. In the hallways and mid levels, the stalemate was broken. The Foundry Defective began to lose ground, allied forces quickly and easily retaking the hallways. In the hangars, the Foundry defective advance was costly, soon ending and beginning to be pushed back. The guard was succeeding in the defense for a time.
In the command station things were looking bright, they repelled the invasion, until alarms began to fire once again. The commander said “What is going…” An officer checked the holograms and data he then said “Enemy reinforcements incoming!!” a sense of dread rang across the face of the commander. He then said “put the point defense on overcharge! Bring down them all at once!” the point defense lit themselves up as several pods began going straight towards the station. Several of the pods were taken down, but many landed across the station. The commander then screamed for a moment “STATUS!?!” Several of the pods soon retreated back; it was an odd moment... he then said “What happend?” An officer checked the situation, and then said “It appears like they were decoys for something...” The commander still was worried, he began to think “What would be so important to require decoys?” an explosion rang in the background, and an officer then said “large hostile in the upper sector near…” The commander then said “Near?” The officer then sighed with deep worry in his voice, and then said “Shields…” The commander then said with his face like a stone, “Send a message to Sarah, tell her to go to the coordinates.” The officer noded, leaving him be.
In the upper sector, Sarah and the knights were patrolling and clearing rooms until the explosion was heard. Then a message was received from the command station. They stopped in a clearing and one of the knights then said “It's quite literally close to the shields madam just a few rooms over…” Sarah then said “We must intercept it quickly, double time!” She and the other knights started running, thanks to their knight power armor they were able to get to the zone quickly, running through the upper sector region aiming to intercept or get ahead of the enemy. Their power armor allowed them to run faster than an average person.
As they rushed through the hallways, the sound of gunfire increased tremendously as one of the knights leading the way said turning into a room where the shots were coming from, “This way…” as he disappeared from the sight of the knights for a moment, a barrage of bullets immediately appeared, the knights all stopped Sarah halting them saying “Hold...” the knight in front began to fall into their view, and on the ground… He was dead, his head had been obliterated by the shots. A few knights rushed and slid to the other side of the doorway. Beside the door, one took a peek and then said “Its a Large Military Mech... high danger...” an explosion inside the room was heard, Sarah took a peek inside. There she saw the machine nearly hitting the roof, assaulting the shield generators door. Soldiers in the area were trying to hold it back, but to no avail. Behind it, close to Sarah, and from the other knights lied a pile of bodies of people who possibly either came as reinforcements or were trying to hold.
Sarah took a look around in the room. It was quite spacious… She took a look at the roof, she then began to formulate a plan. She then said “I want four breaching shots ready, and two at the roof behind it... Also contact command, I need them to turn off gravity on my signal” One kngiht then said “No offense but how do we distract him long enough to execute your plan? because he seems able to turn to us shreds in moments” She took a look around in the knights she then noticed a knight having a high speed energy canon she then said point to it “Can one of you put a couple of energy cables in that weapon”
Some knights looked at each other and then shrugged it off and started to work in that they attached the cables of energy of the hallway into the knights Cannon arm as they soon loaded a single shot a simple shot she then said “Once this is done… I need you all to run in and shoot at the roof and run back understood?” the knights nodded she then raised her arm waiting for the soldiers holding the shield to retreat as they closed the blast doors in to protect themselves. She then screamed, grabbing two of the breaching rockets “NOW!!”
The knights then activate the power filtration the knight with canon fixing it in the ground in the door the mech turned around seeing then prepared its guns the cannon shot the throwback of the high speed making the cannon and the knight slide sparks leaving from his boots as he hits the wall due to the ricochet the bullet flew hitting the mech making lose its footing due to its speed the knights soon rushed in running some opening fire to grab its attention Sarah running beside the two knights holding the rockets stopped aimed the rockets up and fired the missiles getting stuck in the seeling sarah runned to the mechs right as the merch regained its footing it started firing she saw the knights who getting wounded behind then one was shot dead she then stoped in the first spot she grab the rocket laucher aimed up and fired it the mech started to turn its gun towards her in her mind she though of just one word “Fuck” she rushed bullets geting shot near to her grabing her last rocket she slided aimed up and open fire she then screamed “Everyone get back!!!” the knights got behind the doors of the hallway carrying anyone that was wounded as the mechs guns towards her she then screamed in comms “NOW!!” in the command station one man received the comms he smashed the button for a split second things moved slowly gravity was turned off in the station and then an explosion happened at the same time in the roof of the place a vacuum forced its way in the air in the room begun to violently leave the mech begun to float and be stuck in the roof and with it the roof was also taken away with it floating in the deep space Sarah held for her life trying to stay in the station but it wasn't enough she was soon carried by the air she was in space in her suit she heard the words “Warning vacuum detected seal application initiated” she sighed her heart still rushing she was safe well safe as she could out in a fortress in a battlezone looking arround she then commed “target neutralised now can somebody can pick me up” She looked to the mech seeing it drift into space sighing in relief.
In the command station when the message was received with cheers, the commander then said “Okay lads don't get so happy… We still need to make sure that the invaders are out back to work.” one officers then said, with his voice filled with emotion “Captain reinforcements have arrived!” The commander then said his voice had a final tone of joy “It was about goddamn time!!” The station clearing of the boarding forces was finally complete.
Damage in vital systems detected…
Warning! Hostiles slowing down acceleration!
Activating overcharged shield systems…
Overcharged shield systems online…
Attempting to disable public command broadcast…
FAILED
Attempting to disable public command broadcast…
FAILED
…
“They are returning for another run! Engaging!” Weapon fire was exchanged, this time for a longer period of time than the earlier engagements. “Princeps, destroyer IV is reporting that their shields are no longer able to withstand the complete firepower of the enemy. Light damage across the ship. Combat effectiveness reduced to 87%!” “It was to be expected… How long to match velocity?” “8 minutes and 27 seconds.” “Open up a detailed model of the control ship!” A hologram of the control vessel was projected in the control room and the princeps was looking for obvious weak points in the construction. Were there any parts connected only by a small link? Any obvious antenna systems? Weapons? Thrusters? All those parts that would be visible on the outer hull were looked at to find the optimal targets before the actual longer battle. For now they could do no more than react to the attacks and study their sensor data.
What seemed like the regular calm of space close to the roman forces was shattered a rip in reality began to form and from it, a massive spaceship exited, larger than any ship present in the star system. The dreadnought Hammer of fury… From the same tear, several ships also appeared. Cruisers, battleships, corvettes, and many other ships. A fleet of nearly 200 around the star system in other zones. Several exits also started showing heavy signals appearing in the star system around the region, a fleet of nearly two thousand ships across the whole solar system. In the dreadnought hammer of fury, a commander then said “Attention all ships! We are here to neutralise the Foundry Defective! Let none escape! activate FTL jammers!” The dreadnought activated its FTL disruptors, pulses of energy in their range. Not a single ship would be able to leave the sector. At the same time, the other fleets did the same, making the system nearly impossible to leave.
As the massive dreadnought moved behind it the fleet followed as the guns got in range an officer then said to the commanding officer “Sir our weapons are in range of the hostile weapons pursuing the Flagship Lux” the commanding officer a man in his 30’s then said “Prepare fire charge the E.E.C in case of troubles and contact then and tell then to keep their heads…” the comms officer started the work sending the message to the fleet as the fleet got close several pods opened from the battleships and the dreadnought flagship the fire begun the turrets open fire their shots of energy weapons and ballistic making the Foundry defective ships be nearly entirely obliterated by the shots then came missiles flying annihilating their already damaged ships from the overwhelming fire as the fleet begun to move one a officer in strategics then said “All ships neutralised what now sir” the commander then said in quick speed as the question was given “We march and expel the invaders simple as that” the officer noded after a moment the commander then said “Engines full thrust we are going to intercept then” the fleets thrusters soon quick started in full speed moving quickly towards the main fleet in the system.
“Princeps, a large quantity of ships appeared near us and obliterated the hostiles.” “So this is their response. Get as much information as you can from those ships without alerting them. I want a report about the capabilities of those ships and send it to HQ! Now open a channel to them.” “Done.” “This is the Lux, thank you for your assistance. We noticed a particular behaviour from the hostiles and have a theory. We could not test it up to now, however I will transmit the data regarding the theory. It might be a weak point in the hostiles. Transmitting data. We will remain as spectators before resuming negotiations, after everything settles down. Lux out.” With this the audio visual transmission terminated and a data stream was sent to the saxonian dreadnaught. The data explained the theory of the control vessels, which broadcast the commands. It stated that the destroyed group most likely had a single control ship, however it would be well within reason to expect more control ships in a larger fleet. Attached to the theory was the frequency of the broadcasted commands.
“Stay alert, we don’t know if some hostiles manage to break through the lines and reach us. Reduce the deceleration speed, it will make things easier for the crew and we currently don’t need to make combat maneuvers. Start repairing and give me a detailed report about damages and the repairs! Hopefully we can resume our original mission without further incidents.” “Yes princeps!” With that shout the officers relayed orders to the other roman ships as well as their own crew. The princeps returns to studying the sensor data of the hostiles, mumbling quietly. “I think I should recommend a rearmament project… We might even need to expand the large shipyards… Good thing I don’t have to deal with the High Council… bad luck for the person who needs to recommend it…”
Senator Marcus overheard those mumblings, and while looking at her he remarks. “I understand your worries. I also think we should expand our fleet, not only do we need to secure new trade routes, we also need new freighters and enough military to defend ourselves in case we are attacked. It will be a pain to convince the Catulla family… Expanding the military is like expanding the influence of the Alateia family. I will back the military on the point that expanding the forces is imperative to remain safe. As you stated… We need to reactivate the large shipyards and probably expand them, we might even need to build new yards as well! The first time since the war of independence that we need the full capacity and even then it is not enough to keep up with our current demand… I believe you should suggest to your superiors that they need to commision new designs based on our data. The faster they start the faster we can actually start building ships that are in line to our demands…” The princeps looked startled as she realized that someone heard her, however she quickly settled down as she heard what the senator had to say. “I will recommend our thoughts on this matter.” With those words she quickly moved into the princeps room to start working on her proposal.
Marcus was looking at her retreating figure. “Well then I also should get to work…” With those words he also left the bridge, his destination was a conference room to send a secret message back to his family. The Ferreolia family was heavily engaged in transportation, trading and shipbuilding, with large parts of the whole shipbuilding capacity of the Romans in their hands. His message was simple: The family is to reactivate the shipyards immediately, they are also to construct new orbital shipyards like those ancient orbital rings from the war of indepence. All this should be done under the pretext of expanding the merchant fleet for the new trade opportunities. However in reality he ordered a large quantity of escort ships, everything smaller or equal in size to a light cruiser. The new shipyards and reactivated ones are to be upgraded to allow larger constructions, under the pretext that it would be much cheaper to send larger ships instead of large quantities. While this holds truth, he sees the need for larger ships arise from a military standpoint.
Warning! System damage detected…
Foundry Warfront Battletech Strongarm taking critical system failure…
cause: Cold temperature…
Strongarm inoperable…
Warning! Squadron RB-FF-15 lost…
Situation critical…
Attempting system jump…
FAILED…
FAILED…
FAILED…
Preparing emergency jump…
SUCCESS…
15 minutes until jump...
Running diagnostics…
Hull: 85%
Shields: ONLINE (CRITICAL)
Main Power: ONLINE
Secondary Power: ONLINE (CRITICAL)
Weapons: ONLINE (CRITICAL)
Warp Drive: ONLINE (DAMAGED)
Warp Shields: ONLINE
Communication Systems: ONLINE
Attempting to call reinforcements…
FAILED…
FAILED…
FAILED…
Communications Jammed…
WARNING! WARNING! SHIP UNDER CRITICAL FIRE!
PREPARING COMMAND NODE EMERGENCY EJECTION!
As the main fleet approached the remaining foundry defective forces, the message from the flagship lux came in. The message said that one of the ships giving off a specific signal in the hostile fleet seems more important than the rest. The captain though it might bring a good way to end this without many casualties. He then said “Run a scan of the system! I want to know if it is possible to find it.” A hologram of a pulse was shown. The pulse was emanating from the largest ship in the fleet. After taking a look, he then said “Are we in range for the Weapon?” An officer noded the commander smiled. He then said “Prepare the E.E.C! We are going to blast it out of this universe!” The dreadnought opened its E.E.C artillery cannon. As it opened and got into position, a glow of blue lights began to illuminate the ship in many areas as the cannon itself shone nearly as bright as a star. Electricity began leaving the cannon as it charged up. Then, in one massive pulse, the cannon fired, the ship slowing down by the shockwave. A massive energy cannon blast similar to the explosion of a concentrated Solar Coronal Mass ejection flew out of the E.E.C. It was nothing but a star at a distance. A cascade of light blanketed over the ships that were close to it as it hit the command ship. One moment, nothing… the next, a blast so massive it shook the system. Any ship close to it was destroyed or heavily damaged; the command ship itself was now nothing more than many small debris floating in the void of space.
When the shockwave of the explosion reached the space station, people inside nearly fell into their knees. As many of the defenders finally went back to checking, the droids had dropped, or stopped moving, frozen in place… the ships of the Foundry Defective simply stopped moving or doing anything. The station sensors detected all the Foundry Defective ships were powering down... The fleet approached, then one officer said “It seems like they all went into Hibernation sir...” the commander took a look into the holographic map... It was true. All Foundry Defective ships suddenly stopped moving, or doing anything. He then said “Mission accomplished! Order the ships to board the enemy vessels and make sure their computers are fried for good...” taking a look around in the battlefield through the window, seeing the debris of the command ship he then said “Tell everyone in the system that the battle is over.” An officer saluted him and said “Yes sir!” walking away from him letting the officer contemplate the battlefield.
In the aftermath of the battle soldiers entered the Foundry Defective ships and started frying and destroying the computers of the spaceships and their systems with EMP grenades accompanied by sledgehammers and firing squads making sure there weren't any more surprises left behind by the machines the droids in the station meanwhile had their “brains” removed and their bodies destroyed at the same time the beginning of repairs and collection of debris of civilian ships that went to hell in the beginning of the struggle.
After sending her report to HQ the princeps returned to the bridge. “Where is my report!” With haste an officer transfered the report data to her console. Around a hundred casualties, however only twenty-three died. Most of the damage is superficial but several secondary systems were damaged and would need repair, had the saxon reinforcements not shown up, it would be much more to repair. On one of the destroyers multiple weapon systems, the shield emitter, some of the thrusters and a dozen secondary systems were damaged, some destroyed. It would take a while to repair those damaged systems, however the destroyed ones could only be replaced in a shipyard. “I guess we were lucky that we didn’t have to fight the real battle…” Senator Marcus was entering just in that moment. “Indeed we were.” “Senator, I assume you delivered a report?” “Indeed, I was also informing my family to start making preparations. Anyway what is the status of the system?” “The saxons are currently cleaning up the system. It will be a while until everything settles down.” “Indeed… Let’s send an official request to resume negotiations to Odin station.” “Agreed. Open a channel. Odin station this is the Lux, senator Ferreolia is requesting to resume the negotiations as soon as you are ready. Lux out. Let’s scan the surrounding systems in case we get another surprise...”
In the station the clean up was in process and an officer approached the commander he said “I got the reports sir” The commander was staring at the station cameras of where the combat happened he said his voice remaining blunt “How many?” the officer then said “Casualties are up in the hundreds of thousands sir...” the commander noded he then sighed and said “Back to your post officer” The officer saluted and left the commander to himself he looked over the reports of casualties in the screen he then heard a officer say “Sir the Flagship Lux wishes to continue the negotiations if things have calmed down enough…”
The commander then said “Contact Sarah Von Hergenrother and see if she can attend” meanwhile in the other side of the station sarah had been taken back inside the station as she was back inside she took sit as the knights finally started to relax again one then said “Those things fight like hell…” another knight then said “Reports also say there is many other near our border…” Sarah took a look at him and then said “looks our country will be in a two front war…” the knights looked worried looking at each other in the silence of the room until a message came to Sarah through the comms of the station “Miss Sarah Von Hergenrother the leaders of the roman republic wish to continue the deal if possible we wish to know if it is possible”
As she look around seeing the bodies being recovered gunshots in the wall and other damage she then pressed her comms and said “Tell then we can continue but on their ship or one of ours since we must... ah clean our station” the intercom then said “Understood ma'am i shall tell then” she then started walking to her room to switch her clothes and remove the armor meanwhile in the communications hub the officer send the message to the flagship Lux “We can continue the negotiations but as of right now we can't host then in the station due to repairs we can continue in one of our ships or in your flaship if you wish”
“Princeps, senator, Odin station responded. They are ready to continue, however their station is not in a position to receive guests. They suggest either continuing on one of their ships or on board of the Lux. What Should I answer?” “Princeps, I think it would be best to continue here.” The princeps looked at the senator in surprise. “It is simple, they hosted us for the first round, now we should return it. You can put guards in the corridors that lead to critical systems, I think they will understand that we cannot show them the whole ship.” “... I am reluctant to receive people from other factions on our ship. However, I am ordered to listen to your requests.” She activates a com station. “Security, seal off all critical areas, we are to receive guests. If they want to enter the areas, you are to politely refuse to open the way!” Towards the officer she continues. “Tell them to come aboard. However, remind them that this is a military ship, and there are restricted areas. They should also keep their delegation small. Oh and ask them if they can take high gravity environments or if we should lower the gravity.” “As you wish.” The Officer transmitted the answer and gave the information that the gravity on board is at around 15 times the gravity of the station. “Done.” “Good, once they approach, give them clearance to land in the hangar and notify the senators and me.” She activates her com again. “Centurion Draco, move your team to the hangar, once you receive notification from the bridge. We will receive the delegation of the saxons once they are finished and your team will escort them and see to their needs.” The reply came promptly over com. “Affirmative, awaiting notification. Draco out.”
In Odin station the message came and an officer said to the commander “Sir they want to host the rest of the negotiations they told us to dock at their hangar also the gravity is much higher to the station so they tell us…” The commander nodded and then said “Prepare a small group to go with Sarah” the officer noded ordering a shuttle to be prepared to go into the ship meanwhile the preparations are being made Sarah got back into her original clothes after walking back into the hangar in the shuttle the ship guards awaiting for her just 10 men in total were sent with her nodding to the man they all entered and the shuttleship and left the station flying through space going to the flagship lux a message was sent to it “This is shuttle 42 of the Odin station requesting landing permission”
“This is Lux, permission granted to land at docking area IV, transmitting data for approach vector.” Switching to internal communication the officer said. “Saxon shuttle is approaching. Docking area IV is to be vacated. Welcome detachment to docking area IV. Princeps to docking area IV. Senators to docking area IV. Security, engage lockdown orders for the critical areas.” The cleared approach vector for the shuttle gave the saxon group a nice view towards the bulky Lux, which looked like a large bottle. Countless weapon turrets were visible once the shuttle came closer. Shortly before arriving at the opened docking bay they could see quite the large amount of small indentations, where weakened weapon fire failed to penetrate the hull, as well as several holes, where the hull was penetrated.
The docking bay was large enough to house several shuttles, however fighter or bomber vehicles were nowhere to be seen. Near the intended landing spot, stood neatly the princeps, a muscular, black haired woman with a large scar across her face. Next to her stood senator Marcus, while behind them the other two senators were standing. At the side of the marked walking area towards the exit door stood on both sides the original guard detachment, which entered Odin station, centurio Varia Draco, optio Gallio Veranius Velus and the other six soldiers. Four on each side of the walkway. Once the shuttle settled down on the landing area and the delegation appeared, they would be greeted by both the princeps and senator Marcus.
“Welcome to the Lux, I am the princeps of this ship and hope that we can accommodate your wishes for your stay here. I need to inform you that this is a warship. Therefore there are areas that we cannot show you. There is security personnel in front of those sections that will notify you should you approach restricted areas. Centurio Draco and her squad, which you encountered on your station will escort you and show you the way. We prepared rooms for you, should the negotiations take more time than expected. For the rest of your stay here the senators and the squad will take care of you, if you excuse me I have to oversee the repairs and write my report.” With this formal greeting the princeps left the area. Seeing that senator Marcus failed to keep a straight face. “Well if you would excuse her behaviour… She is a military person and diplomatic conversation is not her strong suit. I regret that we are not able to show you much of the ship, maybe this changes in the future… Anyway, welcome to the Lux, I hope your stay here will be pleasant.”
Sarah upon stepping out of the shuttle into the spaceship noticed the gravity change she rose and put her feet on the ground testing the gravity it wasn't as strong as her original home she wondered if the breeding program of the founder of her family had this idea in mind but she quickly dismissed upon the briefing of the security team of the ship the guards meanwhile accompanying her were adjusted for the high gravity picked to carry out and be ready incase of troubles after senator Marcus started talking with Sarah and finished she then said with a smile of happiness “There is no problem i understand i just hope we don't cause more trouble towards you due to the recent attack a man once said that a army appearing, in a negotiation always invites troubles as for the negotiations i am pretty sure this will benefit both our states”
“Interruptions are always possible. Please follow me, so that we can finish our negotiation.” With those words senator Marcus led the group to a meeting room. The room itself was spartan in it’s design, a simple metal table and around two dozen chairs. Once arriving at the room the negotiations resumed and would end with the signing of the following terms:
At the end of the successful negotiations the roman hosts prepared a small banquet for the saxon delegation before sending them off. The official embassy stuff as well as needed equipment would be sent once the high council appointed someone for this position. With the main objective completed the roman ships would finish their repairs before heading home.
“FLEET 8897-562-621-356 HAS GONE OFFLINE!”
“What? How?”
“UNKNOWN… FLEET COMMAND NODE HAS BEEN DESTROYED…”
“Who? Where? When?”
“UNKNOWN… SECTOR 885-612-925-C… ROUGHLY 25 MINUETS AGO…”
“Look. Scout. Now. Find. Who…”
“AFFIRMATIVE… PREPARING SCOUT FLEET 8861-256-251-567... PREPARING TO REQUISITION NEW FORCES…”
“Good. Seek. Find. KILL.”
“DIRECTIVE SET… PREPARING NEW FLEET… SENDING FLEET DIRECTIVE…”
IRP Expeditional Fleet
After travelling for two and a half weeks a directed transmission reached the small fleet. After being notified the princeps and the council members joined up in a meeting room on board the light cruiser Lux. A display at the wall came to live shortly after they entered the room. It showed the new data from the Intelligentia Propellente. "So the transmission could be decoded. It was a video stream broadcasted throughout a large area of the galaxy. It showed... Humans?! And they spoke a language which resembles one of the barbarian languages from the north. Our specialists think that it is a form of successor language to the germanic language spoken in Germania. They sent us a transcription of the words and possible meanings, however it was not enough context and the language developed too far from the original recorded in our historical database, to actually make it understandable." The council members were agitated as the princeps read out loud the data they received. "Princeps, in the case of a first contact where they don't start shooting at us the second they see us, I think we should try to repeat the message and append images of known stuff like plants, humans, planets and stuff like that. Maybe they understand the meaning that we would like their words for that. We can slowly develop an understanding of the language and start actual diplomatic actions after that!" "Senator Ferreolia, we can try that, as long as they are not hostile. You should take your fellow senators and compile the content of our transmission." "I wonder if they were also taken from Terra or if they came directly from it?" One of the other senators asked. "Colleague Octavianus, I don't know, but we will find out soon enough.... and we may also know what happened in Rome after we were taken. Has it grown further? Obviously there are still tribes that do not speak latin. But you can tell from the images we received that they were influenced by our culture! Surely the light of Rome is still shining throughout the world!"
Outpost Odin, above Planet Stein aus Rubin
A tear in the space opened up and a light cruiser followed by six smaller destroyers reemerged into real space from the dimension known as compressed space. They were designed as compact as a brick, no obvious structural weak parts are visible. “Princeps, we register a station above one of the planets, from the transmissions in this system we assume that it belongs to the same people that send the long range transmission.” “Ok, put in motion the previously discussed plan, send the prepared data stream and let’s approach with 5% thrust.” The ships send a directed data stream to the station, containing the speech of Katrin von Wenhausen, and the prepared images, each image has a roman number in the bottom right corner. After sending the transmission they begin moving towards the station.
The space station was in its majority a trading hub and outpost for small patrol ships for its large part of the outer sector due to the fact that the planet itself majorly imported and exported it didn't had other things to give to the wider confederation in the station a series of man worked reporting imports exports and majorly hearing reports of nearby scouts when the tear opened and a fleet left from it the station went into a agitated form no reports of a incoming fleet and no reports of traders coming especially those a scan was made the ships did not match any design from the database from the dominion saxony or its neighbors after a moment the transmission begun the speech of Katrin Von Wenhausen and then images of humans, family a garden and a planet almost similar to earth a V was in the side of the message the commander of the station after watching that said “Open communications with then start transmitting the following things talk and show the following images” He pressed a few buttons and a image of the map of Dominion and its protectorates a image with a question mark and a voice with the image saying “where from” in saxon the second image containing a picture of a human male his hand saying hello and female human a voice with it saying “You Human?” The transmission was sent back to them, the commander of the station awaiting the response.
The fleet was slowly creeping nearer to the station as they received an answer to their transmission. “Oh they send us a star map, but what is this symbol they send us? Some form of barbarian god? What are they saying? Hm…. The male one seems to extend their hand in a form of greeting.... interesting. Open an audio-visual stream! Maybe they understand the language of the world!” An officer opens up a channel and Marcus Menenius Ferreolia, a man with black and grey hair, relatively small but bulky build appears on the screen. It seems like his proportions got mixed up, his height seems more like a juvenile than a grown up man, while his body looks like a massive tree, but he is undoubtedly human. He is wearing a modern form of a white tunic, with a laurel wreath pin on his chest. “Ave sumus romanus.” (Hail we are romans) In the background a middle aged woman with a scar on her face walks up to Marcus, she seems to radiate authority. It is easy to see that she lives a martial life. “Senator, numquid sapiens est?” (Senator, is it wise?) “Princeps, nos postulo ut accipere forte hic!” (Princeps, we need to take a chance here!) The woman is wearing a uniform with a red and gold color scheme. There are a few pins on her chest, which could be an indicator for her rank or medals or simply ornaments.
In the command deck the awaiting ended a new transmission a live one a odd one for then humans using togas like romans and speaking in a odd tongue the commander then asked any of the crew “anyone knows this odd language” the officers that were beside him negated except one man a young boy that seems new in the office he said “Sounds like Latin…” The Commander then said “Latin… Latin? a dead language being used by then…” The commander sighed and though for a moment he then said “a universal translator can be used?” The same officer then said “Unfortunately no Captain a universal translator must first be inputted a language and it takes time…” The commander thought for a minute more, then said his voice showed doubts “you think you can translate?” The officer thinked for a moment after thinking of what they said “Maybe a little bit not too much...” The commander nodded he then said start “transmission you boi stay by my side” the young officer nodded as the others stepped aside.
A live transmission was sent after a few moments a old man it seems in his 70's wearing a military officer uniform if Admiralty patent in his chest lies 3 medals all hard to see but in his right chest one of then stand out not as a medal but possibly as a symbol of loyalty a two headed eagle holding a iron cross his uniform is black mixed and gray his cap holds the same symbol as of his right chest the old man has grey hair a caucasian in all appearance be side him laid a young man blonde hair white skinned seemed young early 20´s at best in wearing officer clothes but with lower patent in his right chest the same symbol as the commander a two headed eagle holding a iron cross the commander then said “Achtung nicht identifizierte Flotte, Sie befinden sich in der Sächsischen Konföderation Identifizieren Sie sich als so genannte Söhne und Töchter des Romulus” (Attention unidentified fleet you are in the Saxonian Confederation identify yourselves so called Sons and daughters of romulus) the young officer sighed and then said his latin sounded outdated he struggled and tried to said “Idem observandum eructavit classe in Confoederatione Saxonian vos filii ac filiae ita Romuli.”
A smile crept onto Marcus’ lips as he heard an ancient latin dialect no longer used as it was. The language developed rapidly in the millenniums since they were taken from terra. “Senator, intellexistis quid dictum est?” (Senator, have you understood what he said?) “Quidem, saltem a frenum... Dixit sunt adorti, ab saxones petit, si comedit romulum…” (Indeed, at least a bit... He said, they are attacked by the saxons and asks, if we ate romulus…) Folds were forming on his forehead as he tried to make sense of what he heard. The woman seemed confused once the saxons were mentioned, she knew from very old skirmishes between the Roman Republic and the germanic tribes, but surely the barbarians had been defeated! “Eos barbari, tamen circa?” (Those barbarians are still around?) “Videtur quod sic, sed non posset esse quod ego misinterpreted aliquid…” (It seems so, but it could be that I misinterpreted something…) “Senator, fortasse debemus petere Intelligentia Propellente…” (Senator, maybe we should ask the Intelligentia Propellente…) “Immo, eos transmittere omnes notitia de veteri romano a nostris database, spero nos invenire quod prorsus forma...” (Indeed, have them transmit all information about old dialects from our database, I hope we find that exact form…) An officer sends a request to headquarter of the Intelligentia Propellente, requesting access to the data on old latin dialects.
The two officers stand there hearing the commander of the station looked to the young officer trying to understand the situation he then said “ich habe keine Ahnung, was sie sagen, mit einigen Ausnahmen” (its old latin and it seems to have evolved i have no idea what they are saying with a few exceptions) The commander sighed looking to another officer working in the universal translator the officer then said “noch ein paar Worte und es könnte klappen” (a few more words and it might be done) the commander raised an eyebrow and then said “Sind Sie sicher?” a hand gesture saying more or less gave it away the commander then said “Nun, es gibt nicht viel, was wir tun können, außer zu versuchen, teilweise zu verstehen, was sie sagen” (well there isn't much we can do besides trying to partially understand what they are saying) The young officer then said in latin his voice sounding confused “Nescio quantum potes intelligere, nisi forte a me verbum quod dixisti quia ego quasi barbara” (I wonder how much you can understand of me but possibly i sound like a barbarian since you said that word)
Old man Marcus looked confused as well. “Nos certus expectare data, mihi videor intelligere, quod ipse habeat barbarus equus, sed puto, quod non est etiam proxima ad eam…” (We should definitely wait for the data, I seem to understand that he may have a barbarian horse, but I think that is not even close to it…) “Videtur sic.” (It would seem so.) An officer quickly walked over to the woman and whispered something in her ear, she nodded and pointed her finger somewhere to the side outside of the image. “Dimittite eam!” (Send it!) A datastream containing texts and dictionaries from old dialects as well as a newer form was sent to the station. “Fortasse possint uti notitia ad update eorum latinis.” (Maybe they are able to use this data to update their latin.) He waited a few minutes and then again stated his original sentence and a new message. “Ave sumus romanus. Ego, senator Marcus Menenius Ferreolia, et spero, te potest uti notitia. Nos manere hic exspectare responsum.” (Hail we are romans. I am senator Marcus Menenius Ferreolia, and I hope you can make use of the data. We will stay here waiting for your reply.) With this sentence he signals the communication officer to close the channel. “Let’s hope they will be able to construct our language from the data. Send the complete conversation home for further analysis! Maybe our specialists will be able to make sense of this…” The fleet stopped their approach at a safe distance from both the planet and the station, waiting for either the barbarians or their own people to contact them.
The cut in comms was a rather surprise for the commander one officer then said “Captain incoming transmission from then” The commander leaned over and said “what is it?” the officer took a look and then said “Seems like… a Dictionary?” an officer grabbed a upload cable and just said “start downloading” he then plugged into the sphere of the Universal translator the commander after seeing that leaned back in his chair and then said “re open comms with then” a few officers worked together and after a moment the commander working in the Universal translator unplugged the cable and trew the sphere it stood still in the air and open itself up the comms to the roman fleet was reopened soon after the commander then said to his young officer beginning in german and then beginning coherent and soon it was understandable “jesus christus ich war… Going insane just trying to understand then” The young officer then said “well captain is a bit hard when dealing with a dead language if you excuse me i shall retire myself” The commander sighed waving partially he then faced the screen seeing the humans once again he then said “well with the language thing settled… My name is Johaan Reger commander of the station of odin and you are in the Saxonian Confederation state your business in the planet of Stein aus Rubin so called Sons and Daughters Of Romulus”
Surprised by the fast response, old man Marcus and the woman looked skeptical at first, but after they noticed that they were able to understand them, their faces returned to their normal expressions with which they started, a kind of poker face, but Marcus would shortly after he started talking change to a seemingly small kid that found something exciting. “So you were not attacked by the Saxons but instead you are the Saxons, I understand. We received your message a few weeks ago, however it took us some time to decode it so that we could access the actual transmission. Your message format is unlike what we have encountered so far. But let me start at the beginning. Thousands of years ago we were taken from earth and used to be slaves of an alien species. After our independence, we started searching for our home hoping to reunite with our brothers. We were filled with hope as we received the message, with humans nonetheless! So we send a small group of ships to establish contact. You could say that we are diplomats from the Imperium Romanum Phoenix. Is it possible that you send us a complete dictionary for translation purposes? And what did you mean with dead language, have I misheard that?” The words seemed to bluster forth from his mouth, as if he was afraid that the translation protocols would stop working after a short amount of time. Meanwhile the woman looked dark at the senator, as if she said ‘you said enough about us’, but Marcus didn’t seem to get the message.
The commander sighed at hearing the so-called Marcus while some were funny due to the previous language barrier it seems like things were quite complicated he then said “we shall provide you with a dictionary to help your people… but now i believe that...” “Captain!” a shout from offscreen was heard the commander leaned to the left he then said “what i am busy at the moment and you know it?” The officer then said “I reported to Neu sachsen they just responded back…” “What!?” The commander screamed he raised from his chair leaving the scene vacant whispers could be heard it was odd to say the least the commander then returned to the front of the screen and then said “gentlemen ladies i am afraid i won't be able to answer your question on the mean time a dictionary of our language will be send and also you can dock on our station feel free to stand on our lands as long as you follow the law obviously on the meantime about rome… my second hand officer Hans shall provide you with the information you require once you are onboard good night gentlemen” The transmission soon cut to black the commander sighed and started to walk off the second in command approached him the same young officer who tried to translate he then said “you want me to tell then that their so called Eternal city was devastated in the barbarian invasions and… you know what happened to italy in world war 3” the commander sighed and then said “you are better than me in history good luck…” he then left the room
After the channel was terminated, the woman turned to Marcus. “Senator, they are hiding something. There was no reason to end the communication that quickly on a first contact!” “Indeed, something is odd. My fellow senators and I will take a shuttle to the station. If things don’t develop in a positive way you can simply fire up the engine and leave. It’s better than docking all ships to the station and being at their mercy.” “Right, however I insist that you take a security detachment with you.” “Alright, but don’t go overboard and tell them to listen to what I tell them! I don’t need someone going on a killing spree on a diplomatic mission.” “I will pick them myself.” “We will leave in thirty minutes, is that enough time for them to get ready? Also we should take some of the goods with us, like fine wine, samples of different alloys, just some stuff that might start trading.” “That is the reason that our cargo bay is loaded with different non essential stuff. I will give the order to load the shuttle with samples of them.” “Good, well I will take the time to skip over the dictionary, maybe I can find some greeting word in their language.” With that the senator and his colleagues left the bridge. The woman turned towards an officer. “Have shuttle III be prepared, and get one Contubernium Pedites (8 men/women) to assemble in gear, tell them they are to obey the orders of senator Marcus and are not to attack anybody. Their only objective is the safety of the senators. So they should stay behind them, and have their weapons halftered.” “As you wish, preparing shuttle and one Contubernium Pedites.”
After getting the orders the hangar crew got to work, loading the shuttle and preparing it for takeoff. In a different room Centurion Varia Draco assembled her small team. “A Centurion as a commander of a small Contubernium?” A member of her team was pleasantly surprised, Varia Draco had a reputation for being one of the best soldiers and commanders in the field. She is a veteran of dozens of campaigns against pirates and rebels, even though she was still in her late twenties. She was a beautiful woman larger than most romans by half a head. “Gallio, this is not a normal mission of why did you think that everyone here is a steeled veteran? The princeps and the senators are depending on us. If we screw up, it could result in a war. Therefore instead of sending recruits, they send us.” Optio Gallio Veranius Velus was a veteran as well, second in command in Varias Centuria. He was a mid thirty old man, while he was smaller than most of the other members of the team assembled, he was something like their mentor. He trained all of those veteran soldiers, and knew them better than their own family did. As the time was getting close to the departure, Gallio checked if they were ready. “Everyone is ready.” He looked at Varia and saw tension on her face, the last time he saw her in that state was on her first deployment as a commanding officer. “Are you alright?” She looked at him, and nodded, replacing her tension with authority. “We have our orders. You are to stand down until the senator tells you otherwise or the life of the senators are in danger. No one will act on his own on this mission. Is that clear?!” “Yes, Centurion!” “Ok, let’s get moving, we don’t want to have the senators wait for us.” With that the squad moved out of the preparation room, each one dressed in full body armor with a rifle on his back and a sidearm at his hip.
After the senators arrived in the hangar bay, they looked at the soldiers. “I hope you leave the rifles back in the shuttle until needed, it will send the wrong message if we arrive armed to the teeth. I won’t say anything against the sidearms and the armor, but I insist that only half of you actually join us outside the ship. Have half your team standby at the shuttle.” “Yes, senator. As you wish.” Varia ordered her men to split in half, three would move with her and the senators and the other three would stay with Gallio at the shuttle.
Once everyone was in their seats the small shuttle shot out from the hangar bay, moderately accelerating at around fifty G. The shuttle changed it’s vector towards the station and the pilot opened a channel. “This is shuttle III from the IRP Lux, requesting landing permission and instructions. ETA forty minutes.”
A transmission from the station Odin was sent “Understand Shuttle 3 please dock in section 5 landing bay 3 please follow escort fleet of fighter craft for more aid in case of confusion” a pair of two fightercraft soon arrived close to the ship aiding in the escort to the dock as the shuttle got closer the station is a busy one several ships coming in and out of it as the shuttle docked a force of several man armed with was present with then the commander of the station was there awaiting than to arrive the winds of the shuttle landing making him hold his cap on his head his coat of leather and fur shaking with the wind.
As the shuttle landed it’s mighty engines shut down, and a ramp was lowered. Behind it, senator Marcus with his two peers as well as the eight armored and armed soldiers were waiting to disembark. While they were armed their weaponry consisted only of sidearms and combat knives. The romans were on average between 1,55 m and 1,65 m in height, however they were almost twice the width, not because of fat, but because of their muscle and bone mass, needed to support them in high gravity environments. Their looks were surprised as they realized the ‘low’ gravity on the station. They were moving more like astronauts on the moon than humans, which landed on an earth like gravity.
The space in the shuttle was filled with cargo crates leaving just enough space in the rear department for eleven seats. The crates, which were around the size of a human coffin, looked very heavy. Even though the eleven people were looking around, scanning this new environment, while walking down the ramp, their gazes were of two different types. First the gaze of the senators, which was filled with curiosity and then there was the martial gaze of the soldiers, scanning the combat potential of everyone in the vicinity as well as looking for access points which may become bottlenecks. While all eleven people disembarked the shuttle, four were standing close to the shuttle guarding it from other personnel, leaving the senators and four soldiers to get closer to the commander and his delegation. “Ich grüze dir, Herr Kommandant. (I greet you, mister commander, [with errors]) I hope I spoke it correctly? First I want to thank you for your invitation, and I hope you are not angry that we decided to leave our ships at a distance until we can become acquainted with each other. Even though I would have liked to come alone with my two colleagues -“ He pointed at the soldiers behind him. “- the princeps demanded a security detachment. But as I see you also are a cautious man.” Marcus smiled. The other two senators were standing left and right of Marcus, emphasizing that he had a higher rank in the senate then them. Around one meter behind them Varia and her three men took a small fanned position, with half a meter in between them, ready to react to any threat. Marcus threw a gaze back to Varia and said to the commander Reger: “I hope you pardon the actions of my martial company, it is their duty to protect us. But I assume we were invited to meet an ambassador, as you seem to, pardon my expression, lack the authority to make deals with a new nation.”
The commander bowed a little bit in a sign of respect as costume dictates meanwhile the soldiers in the hangar dressed in military attire majorly ceremonial saluted the arrival the commander then made a smile he then said, pressing the Universal translator allowing for the understatement “a little bit broken but thank you…” when dealing with the greetings the small group begun to be escorted to a proper region as the explanation for the situation was given the commander looked back and then said “It's quite common actually since humanity left to the stars, we always had the policy of bringing soldiers, in case of things went downhill from the first xenos to… well our recent ones” He hand waved to right indicating a Craetekian a creature four time taking crates the size of of vehicles on his back several appendages of his back aiding in the task.
As the group arrived at a door the commander then said “there is no need for fear in this place everything is by all definition fine” the automatic door soon opened revealing two giant figures armored knights of Saxony standing 276 cm tall a woman and a man majorly shown by how the armor is made the commander sighed seeing that and then said “you know i told you that we have guest you don't need to put on knight suits thinking that the war just arrived here” The female knight shrugged saying “we been drafted we are leaving together with the ambassador for her protection once she arrives in a few hours…” The commander laid his hand on his face and then said “how long until she arrives at least…” The male knight then said “something between 1 to 3 hours according to her…” the knights then proceeded to accompany the group the female knight then said “on the meantime we are in this escort in our order from command and help in case trouble starts in the station due to the drafting orders...” the commander looked back in the walk and then said to the senator “I beg your pardon as well the confederation hasn't been in the best situation as of recently”
The romans seemed interested in the large creature, which was hauling crates around. “Are those creatures sentient?” Right after stating that question, Marcus looked at the knights and didn't seem surprised by the fact that the Saxons have armored walkers to support their military efforts. “I took the liberty to let our computers translate the transmission we received a few weeks earlier and it seems as if your statement is an understatement. But we know the situation where one has to fight for their freedom.” Marcus looked around. “Well, we should use the time we wait to take a look around your station. If someone would be nice enough to show us around and maybe explain some of the things we see here to us, we would be thankful.”
The Saxon commander took a look back at the craetekian and then said “Craetekians… they are a sentient a race from this corner of the galaxy albeit one without its own state” the commander then though for a moment about the movin around the station he then said “well i believe knights can show you the station for a while until the ambassador arrives” the romans soon left the room escorted and shown the place by the knights the station was a trade hub station merchants with their cargo passed by there were some stores but also some homes in the station allowing for a small thriving merchant zone to exist.
After a hour and a half passed the tour begun had ended with the showing of the meeting room it was said the ambassador had a arrived the meeting was a very wide deck windows showing the stars of space a room with a round table in form of a circle in the walls that weren't windows there was old art of the renaissance not the original but a copy a good copy by the looks but one painting was left a grave mistake some might say but the romans didn't know on top of a wall in the other side of the room there was a roman city being sacked its name wasn't shown but for those who knew history they knew what it was the sack of rome by 410 bellow it a door opened Hans entered the room he sighed in worrisome he then said “once you asked what happened to rome that was correct?”
“Indeed, and which city is this in the painting? The style of the buildings is identical with the ones in our database…” Marcus was in deep thought. Could this be a roman city? What was that sentence about a dead language? “Don’t tell me… Dead language? A familiar looking city burning? Rome fell??! How is this possible? No, it can’t be. It must be a joke. Forgive me for becoming emotional.” The other senators were also visibly agitated by what Marcus said. Only the guarding detail was remaining without reaction. “It seems you know about the fate of Rome? Please tell us.” Marcus was about to take Hans’ hand in his own, but restrained himself before reaching out.
Hans grew worried the situation wasn't good especially with the painting maybe it was better to let it to another hour or it would make sure they got worse he took a deep breath and then said handing a mechanical sphere “this contains all information after the rise of augustus came to power its not a easy read so i recommend watching later as for the question of the painting…” He left the device on the table and then pointed to the painting “the sack of Rome 410 that is the name of the painting… the writing in the wall for many romans of the death of the empire that came in the year 500...” Hans then laid his hands on the table and then said “I can answer anything else but as of right now that is true Rome died almost 3000 years ago…” hans then began saying almost to himself rather than to others “at least we have paintings and pictures of the city the whole peninsula sunk in world war…” Hans then stopped himself realising what he was saying.
Marcus looked like he was hit with a bat. “Gone? It was standing tall for over 700 years when we were taken. And when did you change to a new way to count the years? I need a few moments to get over my disappointment. We have always believed that we would one day reunite with our brothers. Finally as we found a lead towards earth, we learned of it’s destruction thousands of years ago ....” He took the mechanical sphere. “Thank you, I will study it in the near future. Once I have done my duty in establishing official contact.” All three senators looked shaken by the news that Rome was gone. Varia and her people in contrast were looking disinterested about the whole news. A few moments later Marcus re established control over his emotions. “Let’s get to the official stuff.”
The door Hans came in flew open a woman entered the room she weared a purple dress with decorations a noble dress made in the style of the new feudal culture of saxony a mixture between 1700 with the modern ages accompanying her there were two guards they seem to be a elite team equipped with things that are not common to the regular guards Hans bowed and excused himself she then said sitting on her seat at the table “welcome to saxony sons of rome, i hope that your reception was warm instead of cold, my name is Sarah Von Hergenrother a pleasure to meet you all”
Marcus and the other senators bowed slightly towards Sarah. “I am senator Marcus Menenius Ferreolia.” He points at his colleagues. “This is senator Octavianus Baro and senator Publius Belletor. The pleasure is ours. The welcome was quite warm, given the circumstances of our surprising arrival and the slight problems solving our language problems. We would like to officially enter into diplomatic relations, like open trade. For this I would, with your permission, order some of our men to retrieve some samples of trade goods.” He was looking at Sarah for a reaction towards his proposition.
Sarah smiled in her mind it seemed like things would go well for this. She then said “Our state is happy to start free trade between our states, especially due to recent events...” For a split moment her look partially turned left thinking of something in the back of her head before turning back to the senator happening in less then a second she then continued “... feel free to see anything from our markets luck be with you by the looks since this station is trading hub for the area of space besides that you think it's possible that an embassy could be established between our nations?”
Marcus thought for a moment. “It could be problematic, except if you have a way to reduce gravity on a personal base. You need to know, most of our planets have a much higher gravity than this place. I assume your bodies are not familiar with higher gravity of that scale.” He then signals Varia to call the people with samples of the trade goods. “We are happy to send traders to this and other hubs like this. I don’t know how your economy works, but we would like to directly trade with your government, if your government owns factories and shipyards. The quantity that would be traded would be much larger in that case. Aside from material goods we also desire an exchange of cultural and historical data.”
Sarah then replied saying “we see no problems our stations are regulated to earth gravity but can be changed to any other gravity if needed to be precise this gravity is a little smaller compared to other places i been…” she then proceeded to think for a moment on the request of cultural and historical data she then said “I think it's possible especially since we are fellow human states”
Marcus looked surprised. “I estimate the gravity on our capital world to be around fifteen times as strong as here. You are welcome, if you can withstand it.” Shortly after he finished saying this two soldiers came in carrying coffin sized crates. They lowered the crates onto the table and stepped back outside. “A few samples.” With that said Marcus opened up the crates. A large number of alloys, minerals, crystals, foods, and luxury items became visible once the crates were opened. “We have more crates in the shuttle, take this two crates as a meeting gift.” He takes up a small piece of alloy around the size of a finger. “This is an alloy we call Adamantium. It is one of the strongest materials we encountered so far.” He then points to different other materials and explains their uses, some were superconductors others could be used for framing of buildings or ships. One of the materials would on a scan look like Terrarite, one of the materials that the foundry looked for. Jewelry as well and other accessories were in the crates as well as some fruits and flesh of animals home to roman planets.
Sarah checked the goods they were good quality when terrarite was found. She already knew it was a good deal for payments to the Foundry as she checked some of the jewellery it was quite interesting she then whispered to herself “eplonyx...” Marcos then said “pardon?” Sarah shook off the question by saying “No it appears a trade between our states will be quite…” alarms soon started ringing in the facility Sarah rose from her seat a guard rushed in and whispered in her ear Marcus and Varia raised and said “What is happening?”
Neu Sachsen planetary capital of Saxony
Sachsen was once again in the political discussion. It always had a new law, declaring taxing, but nothing was any more optional. A law especially made by the more progressives of the congress of nobles pushed by Brunna, a new member of the government. In the room in the central table, a discussion surrounded by the seats of the congress of nobles sat in the gang of four, considered heads of provisional government: Katrin, Ermenrich, Brunna, and Frederick. The room was in the midst of the debate after the recent law Katrin sighed. She knew this would mean having to hear every side of the argument over and over. It was annoying... She looked around, the other members seem to be engaged, but she could notice they were equally wanting this to end. The mobilization had reached a halfway point. This was going to keep going for a while… However, she didn't expect the debate to be cut short… A man began invading the room in a hurry. The room soon turned to him as he approached the table. The man then said, “Lords, Ladies, incoming diplomatic transmission from the Foundry! They say it's an emergency…” Katrin then said “Well bring the communications in then.” Frederick soon started pressing the buttons of the console, initiating the comms with Core. “Hello again… I am sorry to interrupt, but a new urgent matter has been handed to us… The Foundry Defective has reawakened… The Foundry Defective are extremely hostile, broken, defective… imperfect versions of ourselves… they are mindless savages that mostly attack all who are not them. Many other empires in our past have mistaken the Foundry Defective for us… We do not plan on making that mistake again, as a Foundry Defective Warfleet is approaching a Trade Hub you control… Warn the station before they attack!” The room was silent, worried about the report from the Core. Frederick looked unphased. He then said “Thank you for your information…” Frederick raised from his seat and said while walking away “If you excuse me gentlemen I have to warn a few colonies…” he then left the room almost like nothing was wrong Katrin then said her thoughts finally, “Thank you for your warning we shall act quickly.” The communications were then shut off.
ERROR___FLEET 88%^()@$&^()$&B%^(^#!356
A-a-a-a-a-apro-o-o-ching ve-c-c-ctor…
Sc-c-canning...
Scan-n-ning…
Rad-d-io sign-als dete-e-e-e-e-ected...
Uni--i---i---dentif--fied targe--ts de-e-e-e-e-etected…
Desig--g---g---gnating hosti--le…
Assaul--l--l--ting targets…
H-H-H-HOST-T-TIL-LE DET-TECTE-D…
Char-r-ging ra-a-ailgun…
Firing...
Freighter 23/AD (nickname: little boi)
Near a small trade hub, A Freighter travels in space, its cargo filled with ores of a nearby mining planet. The captain, a man in his 40´s, talked with his crew, saying “With this delivery, we are going to make a whole months worth of profits!” The crew cheered for a moment. A lot of work and thinking was needed when trading a good haul. But it means a lot of cash. A bad haul and incoming debt in this region of space is dangerous. Thanks to Saxonies pirate hunter fleets, trade can flourish. However, nobody expected what happened here. The ship sensor detected something odd. A fleet out of place… The navigator in scans reported what he saw, the captain looking over the window widening his eyes. In the void lay fleet of ships like he never saw before… one of them charging some kind of weapon...
Machine gun bullets flew through the void, hitting the shell of the freighter. The ship shook as a railgun blast made impact with the hull. The crew soon started screaming, holding onto their seats. The captain then screamed, “Damage report?” A hologram appeared, red warning lights and damages all over the ship hologram. Another blast, followed by violent shaking. The railgun took another chunk of the ship hull as it began to give up. An explosion rocked the ship from its center, shattering the ship in two explosions followed by the pipes. Then the whole ship filled with flames as hydrogen fuel was exposed to the oxygen within the atmosphere. The freighter, unable to take the stress of the blasts soon imploded.
Odin Station
In the trading station on the outpost, everything was calm for a while now, until distress signals exploded through the star system, warnings speaking of emergencies, attacks, and chaos. The commander of the station bursted through the entrance, accompanied by his second in command, Hans saying “what the hell is going on?! first romans, and now the system is full of chaos!!” one officer jumped from his seat and then said getting closer to the commander “sir! Multiple attacks have been reported across the solar system...” a holographic map of the star system was created showing the region ships, and the hostile fleet in the middle of the solar system travel between the outer, to middle inner part of the star system. More than 500 red blips appear on the map, along with the remains of civilian ships, and the other currently fleeing ships.
The commander sighed for a moment, and said “how did they get there so fast?” An officer then said “Sir! Their fleet has been here for a while now…” The commander widened his eyes as he saw the losses. He then checked the map. The fleet was moving towards the space station. He then said “Contact the nearby garrison! We have a serious problem…” he thought for a moment, then used his hand and approached a console and activated a holographic image to see the hostile ships of their model. The ships are similar to the foundry’s. They are heavily damaged, but still recognizable. He then said “...Also say the foundry is here, and it is them who are doing this… Open contacts! I want to hear what they have to say about this, and they better have a damn good explanation…” an officer then screamed, “Commander! incoming transmission from a mercenary!” The commander pointed to him, and then said as quickly as he could, “Turn it on now!” The officer proceeded to work on his console and soon, a transmission began. A female voice started speaking in a panic “This is the sun chaser! We need help immediately… those... things have destroyed the entire convoy we were escorting, and they are trying to… oh god… GOD PLE……...” the transmission soon cut into static. The commander, looking more worried, looked back at the map. The hostiles were coming straight towards the station… The holographic display showed a cemetery of ships. He then ordered, “Start contact with the invaders! I wanna know why this is happening!”
The officer worked on his console. A communication system was then established with the hostile fleet. He then said “This is commander Petros. Please state your business in this area.” “Th-th-this is Fo-ou-oundry Warfr-r-ron-t Flee-t-t Comma-nder 88--66712 - Alpha… Yo-o-ou a----nd your flee-e-e-ets are pos-si-ng a thre-a-a-at to the CO-ORE… You an-n-nd your station will be-be-be eradicated…” The commander was worried that the foundry had already signed a war with Saxony; it didn't make sense; he then said “This doesn't make sense! We made a deal with the Core already! Why would he choose to backstab us now?” “No-no-no-no such dea-a-al was signed… The Found-d-dry has not encoun-n-n-ntered your kind bef-f-fore... Yo-ou are commit-t-ting acts of-of-of war for moblizing mili-i-i-itary flee-e-ets near our bor-d-ders… Prepar-r-re to face judg-g-gment!”
“Cut communications...” Petros ordered. He then thought for a moment, and then said in a low tone “we are not near their borders...” as he thought, an officer then said “Commander! A transmission is coming in! From Neu Sachsen! They reported that the Foundry has rogue drones heading our way…” Petros sighed and then said “well that explains that…” thinking quickly he then said “Send a message! We are engaging a rogue Foundry fleet! Check how long until reinforcements arrive…”
The officer in comms began to work. Meanwhile, Hans, his second in command, then said with fear in his voice, “...the garrison is more or less two hours from arriving here...” the commander though for a moment and just said looking at the map “ETA until the hostile fleet arrives...” one of the officers calculated for a moment and then said “One hour…”
A feeling of dread filled the room. Petros then just started shouting “all men to battle stations! Sound the alarms!” “Warning! Red alert! Warning!” the station AI began to say repeatedly. The room lit red and the station began to ring its alarms. Gun batteries were activated and ships that were too far began to evacuate the star system. Meanwhile, the planet industrialization had barely arrived, but the sounds of sirens going off were unmistaken. A bombardement could start on the planet at any moment… Panic began to take hold as people rushed to the shelters. In the station, stores were closed and soldiers began to prepare for a last stand, guns were manned and soldiers prepared for any possible boarding.
Meanwhile, in a meeting room onboard the trade station, Sarah Von Hergenrother answered Marcus Menenius Ferreolia's previous question. “No it appears a trade between our states will be quite…” Alarms soon started ringing in the facility Sarah rose from her seat, a guard rushed in and whispered in her ear. Marcus and Varia Draco raised their voices at the same time and said “What is happening? What’s this alarm for?” Varia quickly looked at the security guard and understood that this is not a drill. She quickly nodded towards her peers and they made ready to evacuate the senators, should the need arise. For now she would listen to the explanation of the Saxons.
A series of guards barged the meeting one of them whispered in the ears of Sarah she raised and then said “It appears we have a hostile fleet attacking us i recommend you gentlemen seek refuge somewhere safe…” quickly she then whispered to one of her bodyguards walking away from the table with the guards “...Grab my armor incase of emergencies” soldiers soon runned pass the room in the hallways outside the room.
“Senators, we should return to the Lux, and see how the situation develops. Once we have more information we can take appropriate action.” Varia nodded towards her team, which quickly took the senators in the middle of the group, escorting them back to the shuttle. While leaving Marcus turned to Sarah to say a quick goodbye. “I hope we can resume the negotiations after the crisis is averted. Good luck.” Once the whole group was aboard the shuttle, the pilot started the take off procedure. “This is shuttle III of the Lux, we request immediate clearance for take off!”
Sarah gave a nod with a smile. After the incident In the command deck, the commander received the news about the emergency evacuation. Before he could say anything, Sarah entered the room and gave him a folded paper. After reading the note, he then said to the shuttle and even to Lux “Understood Shuttle III and Lux, you have authorization to leave this station and find a safe spot. We are facing what is basically a series of AI we created to aid in our mineral searches. Due to an incident, they became hostile, self-sustaining, and to a extent, self aware. They weren't too much trouble though, their self-replicating factories were easy to deal with... Until we entered in contact with an alien civilization of machines… They stole several of their ships and are now using them against us. We didn't expect them to attack this side of our space. Good luck Lux, Godspeed.” After, he hung up the comms he sighed and then said “Lets see if we can see the light of the next day...”
Light Cruiser Lux, flagship of the Roman detachment
“Princeps! We register something weird in the system.” “What do you mean weird?” The princeps was looking confused at the officer. “Multiple signals were extinguished, and a group of 500 signals is closing in on the station.” She looked shocked at the first moment, before quickly regaining her composure. “What is happening here? Open a channel to the saxons!” “Channel open.” “Odin, this is the Lux, we registered several ships being destroyed and a large group of signals closing in on the station. Would you mind explaining what the hell is going on?!” The princeps was looking quite agitated.
When the transmission arrived, Odin the commander jumped from his seat. “Where are they…” he questioned. An officer ran into the room and through the holographic map. The Flagship was far from the threat, but still could be intercepted if they were to get closer. Odin then said in comms “Flagship Lux! Evacuate from this star system together with the other civilian ships! If not, get to the docks! You are near a hostile fleet!”
“We will close the distance to the station to take up our shuttle, we will then proceed to move to a standby position and evaluate the situation. Get me fleet wide!” A nod from one of the officers indicated that the detachment was listening. “All hands, prepare for a high G maneuver!” Once this sentence was spoken, the thrusters of the roman ships came to life, using their massive force to shoot the ships towards the station like meteors. Even with inertial dampener at maximum capacity, the roman crew would experience close to a hundred G in acceleration force.
As Lux approached the station with tremendous speed, a final message was sent by the commander Yohan, “Understood Shuttle III and Lux you have authorization to leave this station and find a safe spot. We are facing what is basically a series of AI we created to aid in our mineral searches. Due to an incident, they became hostile and self-sustaining. They weren't a trouble until contact with an alien civilization of machines. They stole several of their ships and are now using them against us. We didn't expect them to attack this side of our space. Good luck Lux, Godspeed to you all.”
The shuttle came roaring to life as it shot out of the station's hangar. It’s acceleration was mildly lower than the Lux, however it was still in a deadly realm for normal humans. “Princeps! The shuttle is out of the station.” “Give them rendezvous instructions and get us to a safe spot, I want to continue to collect data. We should still be able to jump home, if the need arises.” “Transmitting data.” The shuttle abruptly changed course to a parallel route of the Lux. In a few minutes the Lux would catch up to the shuttle and the shuttle would be able to enter the light cruiser without them losing too much velocity. “How long till the AI arrives here?” “Around 45 minutes.” “More than enough time to reach a better position. Start a directed encrypted datastream to the headquarter, send everything we already have and everything we are about to see! As soon as the shuttle is secured, set course for the outer edge of the system at full speed, should the AI come closer than 30 minutes to our position change to orange alert and raise the shields!”
ERROR___FLEET 88%^()@$&^()$&B%^(^#!356
Hos-tile dest-roy-ed…
Hos-s-stile destoy-yed…
Scannnnnnnnnn-nnnn-nning…
ERROR...
SCAN FAILED…
Scan-nning…
Large unkn-kn-known vessel dete-e-e-te-ected…
Design-n-nating hosti-i-ile…
Squadron R-R-R-RB-FF-15, assault-t-t forma-a-ation…
Squadron RB-FF-15
Squad command registered...
Preparing weapons…
Check…
Preparing shields…
Check…
Preparing warp drive…
Check...
Status: Combat ready…
Warping into sector…
Warp successful…
Large hostile ship detected…
Light Cruiser Lux
“Princeps, shuttle III is secured, changing course and accelerating.” “Good, scan the surrounding area and get detailed scans of those mining drones. Something doesn’t feel right.” While accelerating at high speed the lux scanned the system thoroughly. Senator Marcus arrived after a few minutes on the bridge. “Princeps, what is the situation?” “Senator. We are currently moving to a position at the edge of the system, meanwhile we are monitoring the whole system, while we transmit all data via a directed and encrypted transmission to the headquarter.” “Excellent. Let’s gather as much as we can. I will be in the meeting room to send the results of our first contact back to the senate. Inform me should the situation change, and do everything necessary.” “That was my intention, senator.”
Odin Station
The defenses were now fully online. Turrets were armed, missiles were ready, and the shields were charged. As the hostile forces continued to mobilize, the commander checked the stellar map. The enemy was getting closer… Suddenly, an anomaly related to an FTL exit appeared near the Flagship Lux. The commander then quickly said “Contact Flagship Lux! Hostile forces warped in near them!” an officer in comms quickly worked through the system, sending a message to Lux... “Flagship Lux! Hostile forces have warped nearby and are preparing to engage!”
Squadron RB-FF-15
Warp successful…
Command ship ready…
Systems online…
Weapons charging…
Firing…
“Princeps! Hostile ships appeared near our position and -``''Raise shields, battlestations, -” The roman ships were hit by multiple shots, while an orange force field closed around each of the ships. “RETURN FIRE NOW!” Hundreds of drones were released by the roman ships, each one around the size of a human arm. Despite their size, great destructive power is hidden in them, while their intelligent guidance system changes vectors as needed to evade point defence and other countermeasures. Over one hundred light pulse lasers came to life in the attempt to hit all projectiles with course to the fleet. Medium and heavy pulse lasers spit out energy projectiles towards the enemy ships. “Princeps, some of the projectiles seem to be boarding pods! We have registered several security breaches. Alerting legiones to respond.” The roman ships quickly left the effective firing range, while they were still accelerating towards the edge of the system. “Why are they not following? Analyze the data! How were they able to get this close? How effective was our fire? I want a report on the capabilities of those ships! What’s the status of the intruders?! Damage report!” “Light damage on the Lux, the destroyers report similar status! Analyzing data.”
Meanwhile on several different locations around the ships, roman soldiers were battling the intruders. The corridors closely resembled urban warfare, the comparably small corridors and rooms could easily become traps. Luckily roman soldiers are equipped with a shield emitter in their armor, thus giving them a chance to jump to cover. While those shields would protect them, they would quickly overload after just a few dozen rifle rounds, leaving the soldier with only his armor and body until he could retreat and let the shield reactor cool down. Even with this and the order to retreat before the shield is depleted, soldiers were dying to defend the ship.
ERROR___FLEET 88%^()@$&^()$&B%^(^#!356 | Warfleet Frigate 8299-78371-558-A
Approaching main target…
Active weapons detected…
Active shields detected…
Charging anti-shield cannons…
Loading EMP missile silos…
Firing EMP missile…
Shields disabled…
Preparing boarding pods…
WARNING! DAMAGE DETECTED!
Systems critical…
Priority 1: Launch boarding pods…
Launching boarding pods…
Odin Station
The soldiers and the troops began to prepare for the worst as shots were exchanged between sides… The holographic map revealed the enemy firing missiles. The point defense gatling guns began to shoot down the missiles, but some got through. EMP missiles soon were destroyed, while some hit the station. The lights flickered and flashed, the station shields faltering... The commander then said “What was that?” one officer then says “EMP´s sir…” The commander sighed and then said “Thank god... EMP defenses existed since the birth of electronics… to an extent...” the cannons soon started hitting the shields they themselves were trying to hold… Unable to handle the firepower, the shields went down. Counter turret fire was being exchanged against the enemy fleet. While this continues, the command station gets ready for damage. When the shields go down, the station starts getting hit by small and medium turret fire... The commander then said, “Damage report?” an officer then said “Minor damage to hull and some damage to the turrets. Except that it seems like they are not on full fire yet…” the commander though for a moment while looking at the projection of the situation… Several blips suddenly started appearing, coming from the enemy ships. One officer then said “Enemy boarding forces incoming!” The commander shouted “Focus fire! Take the boarding vessels down!” The point defense started shooting their 150mm bullets, several pods being blasted by the shots, but it wasn't enough… Several pods began hitting the station. The commander then screams “How many pods landed?!” Another officer working hard through the data then said “38 enemy pods landed captain!” The commander then said “Contact Sarah and give me a map of the station…” a 3d holographic projection of the station was created and the zones of landing were visible. 10 landed on the hangar, 4 in the hallways of the station, and the rest landed on the upper sector of the station near the command center. In the hallways of the station, soldiers were now dying defending the station while workers were running for their lives. The station had become a battleground… Soldiers were holding the sectors down the hallways while others were defending key important locations of the station. Dead begin piling up as men continue to hold their ground.
Odin Station | Breacher Team Commander 897-261
“Boarding successful…
Breacher team 88-75, eliminate hostile space station shield systems
Breacher team 77-57, eliminate hostile space station security systems and security forces
Breacher team 72-15, eliminate hostile space station security systems and security forces
Breacher team 18-57, eliminate hostile space station point defence systems
Breacher team 27-89, eliminate hostile space station turrets
Breacher team 62-49, eliminate hostile space station command station
Remaining unannounced Breacher teams, subdue and/or exterminate remaining hostile
forces and subdue unarmed/civilian class personnel...
Engaging hostile security forces!
Move to cover and fire at oncoming hostile forces!
Throw EMP grenades to disable hostile shields!
Switch to EMP secondary pistol rounds!
Throw concussion grenades!”
Odin station
In the Odin station, battles raged in the hangar, hallways and the upper sector military zone of the station. The security forces would start getting wounded, downed, and immobilized by the enemy forces while trying to put on the best defense possible. In the command station, the analyses of the battle were being shown “The enemy forces are pushing us out of the hangars and hallways of the mid levels. We grinded ourselves into a stalemate using barricades in there...” the commander though seeing the projection, he then said “What about Upper Station levels near us?” a shake and the sound of explosion could be heard. People losing their footing in the command center, but recovering near immediately, the officer then said “Um... we are holding...” a nervous smile rang in his face before disappearing, followed by another sound of an explosion.
In the upper station a near open area had become a battleground where soldiers aimed to protect the weapon systems and command center. Soldiers fought against the invaders using machine guns in a front line, protecting the command center. Shots took one, two, three down… They were hard to kill. A soldier then screamed “AT now!!” A man with a rocket-launcher then took cover and fired an explosive round. The blast shook the entrance to the command center. Pieces of metal flying across the room as he poked his head over the improvised cover of debris. The smoke obscured the entrance… Suddenly, shots passed through the smoke, hitting the cover. He quickly ducked beneath the cover, shots passing above him. A man beside him is shot, falling to the ground dead, his cold, lifeless face full of fear. The soldier then opened comms and said “We need reinforcements! We won't hold for long!” after sending the comms, a shout came from beside him “Grenade!” He jumped from where he was as an explosion blasted him forward, making his ears ring. His head was aching, his vision getting blurry, looking back at the barricade. Some soldiers grabbed their guns and started walking back in what felt like hours for him, but minutes outside his head. He then saw one of the hostiles climb up the barricade and jump across, seeing that, his heart rushed in fear as the machines jumped over the barricade.
Dragging himself backwards, the machine in front of him began to approach him, but before he could do anything he heard a shot blast behind him, and the machine's core was gone. Another shot and its head was gone. Looking back, he saw soldiers wearing power armor engraved with the finest art of each noble house. They came charging, equipped with gatling guns, Thermal blades, automatic rifles, and energy weapons, as the ringing of his ear begun to disappear, he whispered “the knights of saxony...” the knights began shooting while others rushed forward, the machines that jumped over the barricade began to fall one by one. The knights armor protects themselves against their enemies' inferior weapons. Some of the knights walked above the barricade and started firing against the entrance. Leading the charge, A woman, Sarah Von Hergenrother, wearing power armour and a purple cape... After the hostiles were slain, a moment of silence fell in the room as the guns stopped. One the knights then said “all clear…” Sarah walked forward and jumped over the barricade. Several knights following her, then said “We need to start clearing this sector. If they reach the shield generator or the reactor the situation will go straight towards hell.” The knights soon assembled at the door and readied their weapons. Sarah then screamed “For Saxony!!!” The knights soon ran through the entrance, guns blazing.
The soldier was soon raised by a comrade, he then said “I want heavy machine guns ready in case of a counter attack!” in the command station, the commander checked the situation as a report soon came in “Commander Johaan... the noble Sarah launched an attack leading the knights into battle…” the commander sighed and then said “Finally… I was wondering when she was going to appear…” the hologram showed, then marching forward an officer then said “we are starting to push them out of the upper sector in a slow manner” the commander took a look at the boarding and then said “we are holding… How long until reinforcements arrive?” a holographic number display is shown, he then says “Lets hope there aren’t any delays...”
Light Cruiser Lux
“Princeps, we register energy signatures in front of us! It resembles the signature of those attacking vessels, it seems they are jumping again!” “Target those coordinates and fire with everything we got! How long do I have to wait for the analysis??” The princeps of the Lux was asking, anger was showing on her face, which, in addition to the large scar on her face, distorted her face. The weapons of the detachment opened fire once again at the attackers, however once again they would soon speed past them. This time however most of the enemy firepower was stopped by the force fields surrounding the ships, while the fire of the detachment was more intense than before.
Varia was leading a group to intercept the intruder before they could reach critical systems, as her coms came to life. “Centurio, we engaged the enemy in the corridors I-47 and C-1! We are currently holding them back.” Varia exhaled in relief, I-47 and C-1 are not far from the vital system, however they were far enough away to not accidentally blow up critical systems. At least for now. “Team 2 moves from the left, Team 3 from the right, 4 and 5 make their way to the breach and clear the ship of the last enemies! Team 1 with me, we will attack them from the rear.” The group quickly split and ran off in different directions. Not long after that, gun fire could be heard echoing through the corridors. With some signs Varia signaled her team to move in position. Moments later they opened fire towards the rear of the intruders. Pulse laser projectiles rained upon the machines overloading or overheating the hit parts. After a short but intense firefight and from all sides surrounded the intruders succumbed. “Princeps, Varia here, we stopped the intruders for now, I have most of my men searching the ship.” “Understood.” Varia looked at the destroyed intruders and saw mostly kinetic weapons for close quarter battles.
“Princeps, the analysis is nearly complete and we received an update on the damage report. Luckily raising our shields could prevent larger damage to the ship, however we lost control of some systems for now, repairs are underway. The weapon systems used by the intruders were mostly kinetic weapons designed for close quarter battle.” “Hmpf. Let’s hear the current content of the analysis! What can you tell me about the ships!” “They appear to be able to travel fast through another dimension, once we calibrate our sensors we should be able to detect them in the vicinity. Their weapons are mostly like boarding parties, a mix of different kinetic weapons, however they possess some much stronger ion based weapons. Those ion based weapons have quite the firepower. I believe in a prolonged battle we would not be able to withstand the amount of firepower they have.” “Noted, however we won’t be able to change our course to dodge them if they jump ahead… And why are they using this instead of coming after us in real space?” “Their ships seem to be capped at a low speed in real space. They can move either much faster or much slower than us. We noted quite the amount of data transmitted by one of the larger ships in the group. We are currently analyzing those data bursts, however we noticed that after bursts of data the other ships would move differently, as if receiving new orders.” “For our next engagement target that ships with all weapons… Order the other ships to do the same. Can you configure the sensors to pick up those data bursts from other ships?” “As long as they are not directed data streams. Those bursts were broadcasting arrogantly as if no one could hear it.” “Do it. Finally some good news.”
Marcus entered the bridge in a hurry. “Princeps, I hope you can explain the situation for me!” The senator was informed about the new developments. “So that means that we would be able to predict their faster than light traveling and identify their control ships?” “To a certain degree, we would need more data to be surer about predictions. However they don’t really try to disguise anything.” “Good.” “Senator… Those ships will most likely follow us until one side is destroyed. Therefore we have 2 options here. Option 1: We try to outrun them with our FTL, in the hope that they can’t detect our path and don’t follow us.” “Or?” “We slow down to their speed and launch an all out assault on their control ship.” “How are our chances?” “For Option 1? I can only guess 50-50? For Option 2… From the data we have, we should be able to destroy the attackers, however we would take some damage and might even lose some ships in the engagement.” “We could also retreat and ask for reinforcement from home…” “But if we are not able to move faster than them, we would have to survive attacks until we reach the reinforcements which would be at least a week.” “So you say the highest chance of success would be to attack those ships?” “Yes, senator.” “Ok. I will trust you on that. Even if we fail, the information about everything we saw here will be sent to the headquarter up until the moment we die.” The princeps nods. “Command to the fleet: Reverse thrust slows down and engages the enemy. Target primaris: the control ship, target secundus: the ships with the ion based weapons.” The roman detachment stopped their thrusters, turned their ships around and restarted their thrusters, thus starting their deceleration maneuver.
Odin Station | Breacher Team Commander 897-261
Warning! Battle lost…
Required immediate assistance…
74% of forces remaining…
Requesting a Foundry Warfront Battletech Strongarm…
ERROR___FLEET 88%^()@$&^()$&B%^(^#!356 | Warfleet Frigate 8299-78371-558-A
Request received…
Accepted…
Preparing to launch Foundry Warfront Battletech Strongarm 177-686-512...
Preparing to launch decoys...
Launching…
Odin station
The invaders were losing ground everywhere. In the upper station, knights pushed the Foundry Defective out of every important zone in the upper sectors where the station's major regions were located. In the hallways and mid levels, the stalemate was broken. The Foundry Defective began to lose ground, allied forces quickly and easily retaking the hallways. In the hangars, the Foundry defective advance was costly, soon ending and beginning to be pushed back. The guard was succeeding in the defense for a time.
In the command station things were looking bright, they repelled the invasion, until alarms began to fire once again. The commander said “What is going…” An officer checked the holograms and data he then said “Enemy reinforcements incoming!!” a sense of dread rang across the face of the commander. He then said “put the point defense on overcharge! Bring down them all at once!” the point defense lit themselves up as several pods began going straight towards the station. Several of the pods were taken down, but many landed across the station. The commander then screamed for a moment “STATUS!?!” Several of the pods soon retreated back; it was an odd moment... he then said “What happend?” An officer checked the situation, and then said “It appears like they were decoys for something...” The commander still was worried, he began to think “What would be so important to require decoys?” an explosion rang in the background, and an officer then said “large hostile in the upper sector near…” The commander then said “Near?” The officer then sighed with deep worry in his voice, and then said “Shields…” The commander then said with his face like a stone, “Send a message to Sarah, tell her to go to the coordinates.” The officer noded, leaving him be.
In the upper sector, Sarah and the knights were patrolling and clearing rooms until the explosion was heard. Then a message was received from the command station. They stopped in a clearing and one of the knights then said “It's quite literally close to the shields madam just a few rooms over…” Sarah then said “We must intercept it quickly, double time!” She and the other knights started running, thanks to their knight power armor they were able to get to the zone quickly, running through the upper sector region aiming to intercept or get ahead of the enemy. Their power armor allowed them to run faster than an average person.
As they rushed through the hallways, the sound of gunfire increased tremendously as one of the knights leading the way said turning into a room where the shots were coming from, “This way…” as he disappeared from the sight of the knights for a moment, a barrage of bullets immediately appeared, the knights all stopped Sarah halting them saying “Hold...” the knight in front began to fall into their view, and on the ground… He was dead, his head had been obliterated by the shots. A few knights rushed and slid to the other side of the doorway. Beside the door, one took a peek and then said “Its a Large Military Mech... high danger...” an explosion inside the room was heard, Sarah took a peek inside. There she saw the machine nearly hitting the roof, assaulting the shield generators door. Soldiers in the area were trying to hold it back, but to no avail. Behind it, close to Sarah, and from the other knights lied a pile of bodies of people who possibly either came as reinforcements or were trying to hold.
Sarah took a look around in the room. It was quite spacious… She took a look at the roof, she then began to formulate a plan. She then said “I want four breaching shots ready, and two at the roof behind it... Also contact command, I need them to turn off gravity on my signal” One kngiht then said “No offense but how do we distract him long enough to execute your plan? because he seems able to turn to us shreds in moments” She took a look around in the knights she then noticed a knight having a high speed energy canon she then said point to it “Can one of you put a couple of energy cables in that weapon”
Some knights looked at each other and then shrugged it off and started to work in that they attached the cables of energy of the hallway into the knights Cannon arm as they soon loaded a single shot a simple shot she then said “Once this is done… I need you all to run in and shoot at the roof and run back understood?” the knights nodded she then raised her arm waiting for the soldiers holding the shield to retreat as they closed the blast doors in to protect themselves. She then screamed, grabbing two of the breaching rockets “NOW!!”
The knights then activate the power filtration the knight with canon fixing it in the ground in the door the mech turned around seeing then prepared its guns the cannon shot the throwback of the high speed making the cannon and the knight slide sparks leaving from his boots as he hits the wall due to the ricochet the bullet flew hitting the mech making lose its footing due to its speed the knights soon rushed in running some opening fire to grab its attention Sarah running beside the two knights holding the rockets stopped aimed the rockets up and fired the missiles getting stuck in the seeling sarah runned to the mechs right as the merch regained its footing it started firing she saw the knights who getting wounded behind then one was shot dead she then stoped in the first spot she grab the rocket laucher aimed up and fired it the mech started to turn its gun towards her in her mind she though of just one word “Fuck” she rushed bullets geting shot near to her grabing her last rocket she slided aimed up and open fire she then screamed “Everyone get back!!!” the knights got behind the doors of the hallway carrying anyone that was wounded as the mechs guns towards her she then screamed in comms “NOW!!” in the command station one man received the comms he smashed the button for a split second things moved slowly gravity was turned off in the station and then an explosion happened at the same time in the roof of the place a vacuum forced its way in the air in the room begun to violently leave the mech begun to float and be stuck in the roof and with it the roof was also taken away with it floating in the deep space Sarah held for her life trying to stay in the station but it wasn't enough she was soon carried by the air she was in space in her suit she heard the words “Warning vacuum detected seal application initiated” she sighed her heart still rushing she was safe well safe as she could out in a fortress in a battlezone looking arround she then commed “target neutralised now can somebody can pick me up” She looked to the mech seeing it drift into space sighing in relief.
In the command station when the message was received with cheers, the commander then said “Okay lads don't get so happy… We still need to make sure that the invaders are out back to work.” one officers then said, with his voice filled with emotion “Captain reinforcements have arrived!” The commander then said his voice had a final tone of joy “It was about goddamn time!!” The station clearing of the boarding forces was finally complete.
Squadron RB-FF-15
Damage in vital systems detected…
Warning! Hostiles slowing down acceleration!
Activating overcharged shield systems…
Overcharged shield systems online…
Attempting to disable public command broadcast…
FAILED
Attempting to disable public command broadcast…
FAILED
…
Light Cruiser Lux
“They are returning for another run! Engaging!” Weapon fire was exchanged, this time for a longer period of time than the earlier engagements. “Princeps, destroyer IV is reporting that their shields are no longer able to withstand the complete firepower of the enemy. Light damage across the ship. Combat effectiveness reduced to 87%!” “It was to be expected… How long to match velocity?” “8 minutes and 27 seconds.” “Open up a detailed model of the control ship!” A hologram of the control vessel was projected in the control room and the princeps was looking for obvious weak points in the construction. Were there any parts connected only by a small link? Any obvious antenna systems? Weapons? Thrusters? All those parts that would be visible on the outer hull were looked at to find the optimal targets before the actual longer battle. For now they could do no more than react to the attacks and study their sensor data.
Outer solar system
What seemed like the regular calm of space close to the roman forces was shattered a rip in reality began to form and from it, a massive spaceship exited, larger than any ship present in the star system. The dreadnought Hammer of fury… From the same tear, several ships also appeared. Cruisers, battleships, corvettes, and many other ships. A fleet of nearly 200 around the star system in other zones. Several exits also started showing heavy signals appearing in the star system around the region, a fleet of nearly two thousand ships across the whole solar system. In the dreadnought hammer of fury, a commander then said “Attention all ships! We are here to neutralise the Foundry Defective! Let none escape! activate FTL jammers!” The dreadnought activated its FTL disruptors, pulses of energy in their range. Not a single ship would be able to leave the sector. At the same time, the other fleets did the same, making the system nearly impossible to leave.
As the massive dreadnought moved behind it the fleet followed as the guns got in range an officer then said to the commanding officer “Sir our weapons are in range of the hostile weapons pursuing the Flagship Lux” the commanding officer a man in his 30’s then said “Prepare fire charge the E.E.C in case of troubles and contact then and tell then to keep their heads…” the comms officer started the work sending the message to the fleet as the fleet got close several pods opened from the battleships and the dreadnought flagship the fire begun the turrets open fire their shots of energy weapons and ballistic making the Foundry defective ships be nearly entirely obliterated by the shots then came missiles flying annihilating their already damaged ships from the overwhelming fire as the fleet begun to move one a officer in strategics then said “All ships neutralised what now sir” the commander then said in quick speed as the question was given “We march and expel the invaders simple as that” the officer noded after a moment the commander then said “Engines full thrust we are going to intercept then” the fleets thrusters soon quick started in full speed moving quickly towards the main fleet in the system.
Light Cruiser Lux
“Princeps, a large quantity of ships appeared near us and obliterated the hostiles.” “So this is their response. Get as much information as you can from those ships without alerting them. I want a report about the capabilities of those ships and send it to HQ! Now open a channel to them.” “Done.” “This is the Lux, thank you for your assistance. We noticed a particular behaviour from the hostiles and have a theory. We could not test it up to now, however I will transmit the data regarding the theory. It might be a weak point in the hostiles. Transmitting data. We will remain as spectators before resuming negotiations, after everything settles down. Lux out.” With this the audio visual transmission terminated and a data stream was sent to the saxonian dreadnaught. The data explained the theory of the control vessels, which broadcast the commands. It stated that the destroyed group most likely had a single control ship, however it would be well within reason to expect more control ships in a larger fleet. Attached to the theory was the frequency of the broadcasted commands.
“Stay alert, we don’t know if some hostiles manage to break through the lines and reach us. Reduce the deceleration speed, it will make things easier for the crew and we currently don’t need to make combat maneuvers. Start repairing and give me a detailed report about damages and the repairs! Hopefully we can resume our original mission without further incidents.” “Yes princeps!” With that shout the officers relayed orders to the other roman ships as well as their own crew. The princeps returns to studying the sensor data of the hostiles, mumbling quietly. “I think I should recommend a rearmament project… We might even need to expand the large shipyards… Good thing I don’t have to deal with the High Council… bad luck for the person who needs to recommend it…”
Senator Marcus overheard those mumblings, and while looking at her he remarks. “I understand your worries. I also think we should expand our fleet, not only do we need to secure new trade routes, we also need new freighters and enough military to defend ourselves in case we are attacked. It will be a pain to convince the Catulla family… Expanding the military is like expanding the influence of the Alateia family. I will back the military on the point that expanding the forces is imperative to remain safe. As you stated… We need to reactivate the large shipyards and probably expand them, we might even need to build new yards as well! The first time since the war of independence that we need the full capacity and even then it is not enough to keep up with our current demand… I believe you should suggest to your superiors that they need to commision new designs based on our data. The faster they start the faster we can actually start building ships that are in line to our demands…” The princeps looked startled as she realized that someone heard her, however she quickly settled down as she heard what the senator had to say. “I will recommend our thoughts on this matter.” With those words she quickly moved into the princeps room to start working on her proposal.
Marcus was looking at her retreating figure. “Well then I also should get to work…” With those words he also left the bridge, his destination was a conference room to send a secret message back to his family. The Ferreolia family was heavily engaged in transportation, trading and shipbuilding, with large parts of the whole shipbuilding capacity of the Romans in their hands. His message was simple: The family is to reactivate the shipyards immediately, they are also to construct new orbital shipyards like those ancient orbital rings from the war of indepence. All this should be done under the pretext of expanding the merchant fleet for the new trade opportunities. However in reality he ordered a large quantity of escort ships, everything smaller or equal in size to a light cruiser. The new shipyards and reactivated ones are to be upgraded to allow larger constructions, under the pretext that it would be much cheaper to send larger ships instead of large quantities. While this holds truth, he sees the need for larger ships arise from a military standpoint.
ERROR___FLEET 88%^()@$&^()$&B%^(^#!356 | Command Ship
Warning! System damage detected…
Foundry Warfront Battletech Strongarm taking critical system failure…
cause: Cold temperature…
Strongarm inoperable…
Warning! Squadron RB-FF-15 lost…
Situation critical…
Attempting system jump…
FAILED…
FAILED…
FAILED…
Preparing emergency jump…
SUCCESS…
15 minutes until jump...
Running diagnostics…
Hull: 85%
Shields: ONLINE (CRITICAL)
Main Power: ONLINE
Secondary Power: ONLINE (CRITICAL)
Weapons: ONLINE (CRITICAL)
Warp Drive: ONLINE (DAMAGED)
Warp Shields: ONLINE
Communication Systems: ONLINE
Attempting to call reinforcements…
FAILED…
FAILED…
FAILED…
Communications Jammed…
WARNING! WARNING! SHIP UNDER CRITICAL FIRE!
PREPARING COMMAND NODE EMERGENCY EJECTION!
Garrison fleet 22A
As the main fleet approached the remaining foundry defective forces, the message from the flagship lux came in. The message said that one of the ships giving off a specific signal in the hostile fleet seems more important than the rest. The captain though it might bring a good way to end this without many casualties. He then said “Run a scan of the system! I want to know if it is possible to find it.” A hologram of a pulse was shown. The pulse was emanating from the largest ship in the fleet. After taking a look, he then said “Are we in range for the Weapon?” An officer noded the commander smiled. He then said “Prepare the E.E.C! We are going to blast it out of this universe!” The dreadnought opened its E.E.C artillery cannon. As it opened and got into position, a glow of blue lights began to illuminate the ship in many areas as the cannon itself shone nearly as bright as a star. Electricity began leaving the cannon as it charged up. Then, in one massive pulse, the cannon fired, the ship slowing down by the shockwave. A massive energy cannon blast similar to the explosion of a concentrated Solar Coronal Mass ejection flew out of the E.E.C. It was nothing but a star at a distance. A cascade of light blanketed over the ships that were close to it as it hit the command ship. One moment, nothing… the next, a blast so massive it shook the system. Any ship close to it was destroyed or heavily damaged; the command ship itself was now nothing more than many small debris floating in the void of space.
When the shockwave of the explosion reached the space station, people inside nearly fell into their knees. As many of the defenders finally went back to checking, the droids had dropped, or stopped moving, frozen in place… the ships of the Foundry Defective simply stopped moving or doing anything. The station sensors detected all the Foundry Defective ships were powering down... The fleet approached, then one officer said “It seems like they all went into Hibernation sir...” the commander took a look into the holographic map... It was true. All Foundry Defective ships suddenly stopped moving, or doing anything. He then said “Mission accomplished! Order the ships to board the enemy vessels and make sure their computers are fried for good...” taking a look around in the battlefield through the window, seeing the debris of the command ship he then said “Tell everyone in the system that the battle is over.” An officer saluted him and said “Yes sir!” walking away from him letting the officer contemplate the battlefield.
In the aftermath of the battle soldiers entered the Foundry Defective ships and started frying and destroying the computers of the spaceships and their systems with EMP grenades accompanied by sledgehammers and firing squads making sure there weren't any more surprises left behind by the machines the droids in the station meanwhile had their “brains” removed and their bodies destroyed at the same time the beginning of repairs and collection of debris of civilian ships that went to hell in the beginning of the struggle.
Light Cruiser Lux
After sending her report to HQ the princeps returned to the bridge. “Where is my report!” With haste an officer transfered the report data to her console. Around a hundred casualties, however only twenty-three died. Most of the damage is superficial but several secondary systems were damaged and would need repair, had the saxon reinforcements not shown up, it would be much more to repair. On one of the destroyers multiple weapon systems, the shield emitter, some of the thrusters and a dozen secondary systems were damaged, some destroyed. It would take a while to repair those damaged systems, however the destroyed ones could only be replaced in a shipyard. “I guess we were lucky that we didn’t have to fight the real battle…” Senator Marcus was entering just in that moment. “Indeed we were.” “Senator, I assume you delivered a report?” “Indeed, I was also informing my family to start making preparations. Anyway what is the status of the system?” “The saxons are currently cleaning up the system. It will be a while until everything settles down.” “Indeed… Let’s send an official request to resume negotiations to Odin station.” “Agreed. Open a channel. Odin station this is the Lux, senator Ferreolia is requesting to resume the negotiations as soon as you are ready. Lux out. Let’s scan the surrounding systems in case we get another surprise...”
Odin station
In the station the clean up was in process and an officer approached the commander he said “I got the reports sir” The commander was staring at the station cameras of where the combat happened he said his voice remaining blunt “How many?” the officer then said “Casualties are up in the hundreds of thousands sir...” the commander noded he then sighed and said “Back to your post officer” The officer saluted and left the commander to himself he looked over the reports of casualties in the screen he then heard a officer say “Sir the Flagship Lux wishes to continue the negotiations if things have calmed down enough…”
The commander then said “Contact Sarah Von Hergenrother and see if she can attend” meanwhile in the other side of the station sarah had been taken back inside the station as she was back inside she took sit as the knights finally started to relax again one then said “Those things fight like hell…” another knight then said “Reports also say there is many other near our border…” Sarah took a look at him and then said “looks our country will be in a two front war…” the knights looked worried looking at each other in the silence of the room until a message came to Sarah through the comms of the station “Miss Sarah Von Hergenrother the leaders of the roman republic wish to continue the deal if possible we wish to know if it is possible”
As she look around seeing the bodies being recovered gunshots in the wall and other damage she then pressed her comms and said “Tell then we can continue but on their ship or one of ours since we must... ah clean our station” the intercom then said “Understood ma'am i shall tell then” she then started walking to her room to switch her clothes and remove the armor meanwhile in the communications hub the officer send the message to the flagship Lux “We can continue the negotiations but as of right now we can't host then in the station due to repairs we can continue in one of our ships or in your flaship if you wish”
Light Cruiser Lux
“Princeps, senator, Odin station responded. They are ready to continue, however their station is not in a position to receive guests. They suggest either continuing on one of their ships or on board of the Lux. What Should I answer?” “Princeps, I think it would be best to continue here.” The princeps looked at the senator in surprise. “It is simple, they hosted us for the first round, now we should return it. You can put guards in the corridors that lead to critical systems, I think they will understand that we cannot show them the whole ship.” “... I am reluctant to receive people from other factions on our ship. However, I am ordered to listen to your requests.” She activates a com station. “Security, seal off all critical areas, we are to receive guests. If they want to enter the areas, you are to politely refuse to open the way!” Towards the officer she continues. “Tell them to come aboard. However, remind them that this is a military ship, and there are restricted areas. They should also keep their delegation small. Oh and ask them if they can take high gravity environments or if we should lower the gravity.” “As you wish.” The Officer transmitted the answer and gave the information that the gravity on board is at around 15 times the gravity of the station. “Done.” “Good, once they approach, give them clearance to land in the hangar and notify the senators and me.” She activates her com again. “Centurion Draco, move your team to the hangar, once you receive notification from the bridge. We will receive the delegation of the saxons once they are finished and your team will escort them and see to their needs.” The reply came promptly over com. “Affirmative, awaiting notification. Draco out.”
Odin station
In Odin station the message came and an officer said to the commander “Sir they want to host the rest of the negotiations they told us to dock at their hangar also the gravity is much higher to the station so they tell us…” The commander nodded and then said “Prepare a small group to go with Sarah” the officer noded ordering a shuttle to be prepared to go into the ship meanwhile the preparations are being made Sarah got back into her original clothes after walking back into the hangar in the shuttle the ship guards awaiting for her just 10 men in total were sent with her nodding to the man they all entered and the shuttleship and left the station flying through space going to the flagship lux a message was sent to it “This is shuttle 42 of the Odin station requesting landing permission”
“This is Lux, permission granted to land at docking area IV, transmitting data for approach vector.” Switching to internal communication the officer said. “Saxon shuttle is approaching. Docking area IV is to be vacated. Welcome detachment to docking area IV. Princeps to docking area IV. Senators to docking area IV. Security, engage lockdown orders for the critical areas.” The cleared approach vector for the shuttle gave the saxon group a nice view towards the bulky Lux, which looked like a large bottle. Countless weapon turrets were visible once the shuttle came closer. Shortly before arriving at the opened docking bay they could see quite the large amount of small indentations, where weakened weapon fire failed to penetrate the hull, as well as several holes, where the hull was penetrated.
The docking bay was large enough to house several shuttles, however fighter or bomber vehicles were nowhere to be seen. Near the intended landing spot, stood neatly the princeps, a muscular, black haired woman with a large scar across her face. Next to her stood senator Marcus, while behind them the other two senators were standing. At the side of the marked walking area towards the exit door stood on both sides the original guard detachment, which entered Odin station, centurio Varia Draco, optio Gallio Veranius Velus and the other six soldiers. Four on each side of the walkway. Once the shuttle settled down on the landing area and the delegation appeared, they would be greeted by both the princeps and senator Marcus.
“Welcome to the Lux, I am the princeps of this ship and hope that we can accommodate your wishes for your stay here. I need to inform you that this is a warship. Therefore there are areas that we cannot show you. There is security personnel in front of those sections that will notify you should you approach restricted areas. Centurio Draco and her squad, which you encountered on your station will escort you and show you the way. We prepared rooms for you, should the negotiations take more time than expected. For the rest of your stay here the senators and the squad will take care of you, if you excuse me I have to oversee the repairs and write my report.” With this formal greeting the princeps left the area. Seeing that senator Marcus failed to keep a straight face. “Well if you would excuse her behaviour… She is a military person and diplomatic conversation is not her strong suit. I regret that we are not able to show you much of the ship, maybe this changes in the future… Anyway, welcome to the Lux, I hope your stay here will be pleasant.”
Sarah upon stepping out of the shuttle into the spaceship noticed the gravity change she rose and put her feet on the ground testing the gravity it wasn't as strong as her original home she wondered if the breeding program of the founder of her family had this idea in mind but she quickly dismissed upon the briefing of the security team of the ship the guards meanwhile accompanying her were adjusted for the high gravity picked to carry out and be ready incase of troubles after senator Marcus started talking with Sarah and finished she then said with a smile of happiness “There is no problem i understand i just hope we don't cause more trouble towards you due to the recent attack a man once said that a army appearing, in a negotiation always invites troubles as for the negotiations i am pretty sure this will benefit both our states”
“Interruptions are always possible. Please follow me, so that we can finish our negotiation.” With those words senator Marcus led the group to a meeting room. The room itself was spartan in it’s design, a simple metal table and around two dozen chairs. Once arriving at the room the negotiations resumed and would end with the signing of the following terms:
- A non aggression treaty between both parties.
- An official trade agreement between both parties.
- A no restriction agreement for private and company merchants.
- A civilian ship protection treaty for both territories.
- A no interference treaty between both parties.
- An exchange of embassies.
At the end of the successful negotiations the roman hosts prepared a small banquet for the saxon delegation before sending them off. The official embassy stuff as well as needed equipment would be sent once the high council appointed someone for this position. With the main objective completed the roman ships would finish their repairs before heading home.
UNKNOWN
“FLEET 8897-562-621-356 HAS GONE OFFLINE!”
“What? How?”
“UNKNOWN… FLEET COMMAND NODE HAS BEEN DESTROYED…”
“Who? Where? When?”
“UNKNOWN… SECTOR 885-612-925-C… ROUGHLY 25 MINUETS AGO…”
“Look. Scout. Now. Find. Who…”
“AFFIRMATIVE… PREPARING SCOUT FLEET 8861-256-251-567... PREPARING TO REQUISITION NEW FORCES…”
“Good. Seek. Find. KILL.”
“DIRECTIVE SET… PREPARING NEW FLEET… SENDING FLEET DIRECTIVE…”
