Story Arc 2- The Conspiracy

[Professor Fenway]

The NeoRoman autonomous AI entered the room. Seeing that everyone was there, he began.

"Representatives of the empires, EE, Strigiforme, Darkstar, we are facing a paramount threat to the existence of our empires..."

//ELSEWHERE//

Nobody had discovered the mechanic, yet. But he had all the time he needed. He inputted one last code and the Yttrium-Terbium power core began to slide open. Several components slid out and latched themselves to the core's holding. A Holo-screen projected itself outside it, and it showed a timer. It set itself to 2 minutes and began to count down.

[Luna]

Luna was racing through space, beating her wings as fast as she could. It had been a while since she had to fly through space, even when on the moon there was no flying involved, she was stuck on the surface. She knew she was late, but after flying around a large asteroid, she saw the station. She tried to connect to the stations radio using a spell, but was unsuccessful.
"There's no time to wait for a connection, I'll just teleport in." She muttered to herself
She closed her eyes, and when they opened she found herself standing on the conference table.
"Hello everypony, sorry I'm late" she said awkwardly as she got down and found a seat. "Lets begin"

[Professor Fenway]

The time reached 1:00 just as the NeoRoman automaton said, "We have mere minutes to spare, so lets not waste time."

The mechanic smiled. He entered a nearby escape pod and jettisoned it, just as security found the sealed room and began trying to enter.

[Professor Fenway]

Company Commander Ash rushed into the room along with the rest of the squad, making sure it was empty. He then looked up at the power core.'

0:00

"Oh shi-"

The Power Core detonated in a cataclysmic explosion, tearing the newly-repaired Ragnarov in three pieces and crippling it. The station was completely decimated, leaving mere fragments as the weakly-constructed hull gave in to the explosion. There were no survivors aboard the station, but there were plenty of witnesses. And then there was the residue- Yttrium. Strigiforme weapon.

Someone was about to have a very bad day.

[Vinyl]

The NCSV Etherreal Nightmare watched from afar as the Ragnarov exploded, taking the station with it. The massive ship exited the nebula it had left to and jumped back to Novus where it entered orbit of Ceranoo III.

Aboard a heavily guarded scientific station orbiting Ceranoo III, the halls were filled with bays of stasis pods. Most contained personnel and excess security, but one wall was different, all the pods were marked with the NCONI emblem. Most of these were empty, however there was 2 that were not so. Following 3 decades of research, Novum scientists had discovered a way to give a clone the memories of their original without degradation. After Novum fell, the secret research was thought lost. This was not the case because as a contingency, all data was to be stored in at least 3 redundancies. A HDD containing it was found among the wreck of a station later repaired and used even today as a massive cryogenic storage unit which Novus has only one of. The data was used to create a backup of the Empress should anything happen, especially as she preferred to do things personally.

A squad of Private Guard walked the frosted halls, until they came upon the only two habited NCONI cryopods. One stepped forward and placed his palm upon a hidden touchscreen, the pod slid forward. The windowed door was now visible, inside was an almost perfect clone of the Empress. However, the aging wasn't quite correct, she was close to a decade too young. This wouldn't be a problem though, as long as the memories and thought processes were intact, which testing showed they were. The pod was loaded onto a cart and taken aboard the Etherreal Nightmare, where she would be briefed of the situation.

[DeadlyMiddie]

//EMERGENCY FLASH TRAFFIC TO CONFEDERATION COMMAND, ENCRYPTION 10 ZULU, CODE OLYMPUS JUNIOR BLACK//
FROM: PHANTOM VANGUARD
SUMMIT STATION IS GONE. REPEAT. SUMMIT STATION IS GONE. ELIAS BAUER IS DEAD. THE NEOROMAN SHIP RAGNAROV EXPLODED. WEAPON RESIDUE INDICATES YTTRIUM, A STRIGIFORME WEAPON. WE AREN'T GOING TO OPEN FIRE UNTIL PERMISSION IS GIVEN.
END MESSAGE.

//CHANCELLOR BAUER'S OFFICE//
The Chancellor sat back in his chair after reading the message, stunned. He sat like that for about a minute, then called General Saxon. "Recall the Phantom Vanguard and the cruisers. Tell them to report to Admiral Hackett. If the Strigiforme are behind this, there will be he** to pay for them. Also, go to DEFCON 3"

ENCRYPTED MESSAGE TO DARKSTAR CO.
Do you guys know anything about what happened to the station? If the Strigiforme didn't do it, then it was the terrorists. We really need any info you have.
END

Internal Affairs:
The 1st Fleet is beginning to mobilize to match the DEFCON 3 declaration. All ships inbound are to be detained and searched. The 2nd Fleet is doing the same. The CBP are ordered to go to Border Security Level Gamma.

[Ivan2006]

internal:
Ivan: What happened, the auto-automaton shut off!
Kommissar: it appears the Ragnarov exploded.
Ivan: oh, great. Get me detailed information on what causes are most likely, prepare the studio equipment for a transmition and move all forces to DEFCON 2!
Kommissar: Yessir! I will make sure stuff gets done, Sir.
---public message from the EE---
It appears the conference station was attacked using a Strigiforme warhead located in the NeoRoman flagship.
However, we do not believe that NeoRome agreed to this, making the only one responsible the Strigiforme Union.
Another option would be that the same terrorists who managed to get past our security systems and attack the Strigiforme peace meeting on Mobius also smuggled the bomb onto the NeoRoman vessel, as it would fit into their proposed plan to draw the Strigiforme Union into war.
I suggest not making any quick decisions until it´s clear how the bomb got onto the Ragnarov, as, again, I doubt they would sacrifice their flagship for something that rudamentary as provocating a war.
---message end---

[Chairman_Tiel]

Princess Luna is deaded?

[Ivan2006]

OOC: Yeah, I guess considering Alicorns are provent o be able to survive in space Luna might have survived.
How about she survived, but has been injured and can´t get home by herself? I think that would sound legit.

[Luna]

Princess Luna is deaded?

Nay, but she did get thrown into space quite aways and like ivan said. Can't get home on her own

[Prototype]

:::2 seconds before explosion:::
>_Omega, severe warning signs coming from the Ragnarov, it's about to blow, make sure Zero survives

>_Acknowledged.
::::::

Omega knew the explosion was coming a second before it happened, that gave him enough time to cover Zero, but if they ended up in space, then there would be a problem.

Phi was given a clue of the explosion beforehand, and had already begun given Zero orders before it happened.

"Zero, you can teleport right?"

"Maybe, why?"

"No time, get us to the bridge of the Archetype".

Zero warped just as Omega got to him, to the others in the room, this was surprising, it looked to them as if Omega was attacking another, they didn't have enough time to register Zero disappearing into thin air.

The explosion rocked the station, Theta's body was immediately disabled, but Theta was independent of a body anyway.

All Omega knew, was that he had apparently failed to protect the most important asset of the NSCD.


:::Aboard the Archetype:::
>_WARNING, EXPLOSION DETECTED
>_LEVEL 10
>_ALL SYSTEMS ON RED ALERT
>_INITIATING RECOVERY SEQUENCE, SEARCHING FOR UNIT: Omega
>_SCANNING NEARBY SPACE
>_
>_DETECTED: LIFEFORM, ORGANIC: LUNA
>_DETECTED: LIFEFORM, MECHANICAL: OMEGA
>_INITIATING RECOVERY SEQUENCE ON (2) TARGETS
>_LIFEFORM DETECTED ON BRIDGE
>_LIFEFORM CONFIRMED AS SUBJECT ZERO
:::END:::


:::ARK-1:::
:::ALPHA CITADEL:::
:::HIGH COMMANDER THETA:::
>_Somebody has betrayed all of us, a NeoRoman ship was detonated, yttrium was detected
:::END:::

NSCD now highly suspicious of:
NeoRome
Strigiforme

OOC: yes, this probably seems a little far fetched, but you all knew about Omegas invincibility beforehand, and Zero cannot die yet, otherwise some things just won't make sense, but then again, I did make it clear about Zero's powers, which would be slightly more advanced than Luna's, if Luna can teleport, Zero can too, except Zero can't survive in a vacuum.

[ACH0225]

Public Strigiforme Message

"It is clear to all the leadership of the Strigiforme that the tragedy at the peace conference was caused by terrorist groups who would wish to spark a Pan-Galactic War. We wish for those responsible for this to know that we will find them, and we will bring them to justice. It is likely that this group is the same as those who carried out the attack on the EE recently, and must account for that crime as well. Even as this message is sent, we send out our best ships and most loyal crews to probe the depths of space for the terrorists. We would ask that NeoRome allows us to assist with the cleanup of the Ragnarov, as well as search among the wreckage alongside them for clues to the perpetrator. We intend to be absolutely transparent with the findings, and will freely hand out any relevant clues we find to other nations so that those who would disturb the peace are brought to justice."

Strigiforme High Command-Classified-

"Please tell me that wasn't ours. We don't need a new crisis" pleaded the Leader of the Strigiforme.

"SEA(Strigiforme Espionage Agency) reports nothing. Whoever did that, we don't know."

"Get everything ready. Order all personnel ready, set Defense Condition to 2 until we know more"
-End-

In orbit around Cuuyth

The Aigaion, along with its new escort fleet of 10 shield cruisers, 20 frigates, 15 cruisers, and a repair ship, began firing their engines to take them outside the gravitational well of Cuuyth. Once they were beyond it, they jumped. Their destination; the nearest uncontrolled sectors, where terrorists and pirates are abundant.

[Ivan2006]

OOC: what i forgot earlier: EE is now tense with Strigiforme.

[Chairman_Tiel]

OOC: Fair enough.

MESSAGE TO CAVNIN EMPIRE:

We are willing to discuss the terms of our ceasing of ongoing piracy operations on your merchant fleet and, perhaps, peace, in the wake of the recent catastrophic incident. The Yttrium residue points to a culprit other than you behind recent actions against the Protectorate.

>>END MESSAGE<

Taln News Network: Today the Directorate passed a motion to secede from the Stellar Defense Initiative by a ratio of 3 to 1. What this may mean for the future is still in doubt, but anonymous sources within the military indicate that war material production has not dwindled in light of this.

[Prototype]

:::RECOVERY SEQUENCE ONLINE:::
>_Tether 1:
>_Gravity tether locked on unit: OMEGA
>_Bringing unit: OMEGA into docking bay
>_Tether 4:
>_Gravity tether locked on unit: LUNA
>_Bringing unit: LUNA into holding bay
>_Subject Zero ordered to holding bay
:::END:::