Where we Left Off [RP TITAN]

[Ivan2006]

Correction: they are using psionic countermeasures but not much, but mainly they were obscuring themselves using the NR fleet, like hiding a lightbulb in a floodlight. Sure, you'll see it, as long as it's not in the way of the floodlight. Meant only cloaking, not anti-psionic stuff. And detect- everything sensors that nobody can stop is a bit overpowered a well; the only things giving off psionic signatures are really life-forms, not ships, unless it's a psionic device.

Okay, I am going to make a short explanation: Tactical psionic scanners that are used as counter-stealth detect not the ship, but the ship's crew and assume that in those places where there are people, there is also a ship. However, psionic scanners loose accuracy the more sources of psionic signatures there are, and if you also take the high ammount of psionic weapon discharge from the MQR fleet itself into account, it is likely that a group of ships uncloaking in the middle of a fleet would be overlooked in the heat of battle. So yes, I am now going to make it official: my psionic scanners can be confused by interference and are completely useless against unmanned assets. And those bad guys got away without any trouble. Again, sensor data will be analyzed, but it will take a while for anyone to find out the attackers were in the NeoRoman fleet in the first place and even that might require coordination with the Novan effort to do the same.

[Professor Fenway]

OOC: Acceptable Ivan. Also, NeoRome hasn't a clue what's going on either.

Darkstar: NO REDACTEDS EVER


-News-
A military report was recently leaked after the file was left unsecured on a station network. The report makes it clear that NeoRome is mobilizing for a full-scale war, and has drafted a considerable list of all wartime scenarios. This includes conflict with the Novans, Strigiforme, Hexalan, Orion, MQR, Darkstar, Zuguthians, or any combination thereof. The government has not yet offered an explanation.

Admiral Barial is being tried for treason by the military tribunal for allegedly opening fire on friendly ships during the wargames, resulting in several casualties. His trial is proceeding later today.

-Edge of Strigiforme Space-

Space distorted and a fleet appeared in full view of the station nearby, which served as a border checkpoint. After a brief scan, they were immediately hailed.

"NeoRoman fleet, you are entering a restricted area. Leave immediately or we will be forced to open fire." No response, and the fleet began approaching the station. Another hail. "NeoRoman fleet, this is your final warning. Leave immediately or we will open fire." The fleet still approached. As it reached weapons range, it opened fire, shooting lasers and fusion coil splicers at the station. The station opened fire.

[Error]

DRADIS swept the system.

"Unknown vessels, this is Kappa-3 Control Station. Please transmit IFF, intentions, and destination, please."

No response. The operator flipped several switches, focusing DRADIS scans.

"Unknown ships, please transmit IFF, intentions, and destination, please. This nation is in a state of emergency; failure to comply will be considered a hostile action."

Tapping a short command into his console, the operator fired a breif report and station log to the station over Pandora, and by extension, the CSN ships in-system.

"Unknown vessels, this is your final warning. If communications are inoperable, alter heading to one-three-zero declination zero-zero-five and come to a halt. Failure to comply will be considered a hostile action."

The station's shields and PD arrays came to life, and several of the ships in-system warmed their jump drives.

OOC, for reference, there are 7 CSN ships at Long Reach, including Valereia, a cruiser, and Pegasus can jump in on a moment's notice. All the stations and groundside facilities have PD and AA systems.

[Professor Fenway]

The fleet kept approaching the station. It did nothing as it entered weapons range, for a few seconds. And then it opened fire.

Multiple beams struck the station, overloading the shields quickly and sending an explosion ripping through it's hull. The operator flipped a few switches and sent out a distress call. "This is Kappa-3 control, under attack by a powerful unknown enemy force." The Valereia jumped in just as the fleet fired another salvo of the beams.

The Valereia's sensor operator completed a sweep and then looked up. "Enemy forces are confirmed to be using NeoRoman weapons. Those beams are Fusion Coil Splicers." The station destabilized and broke apart, and the fleet turned on Valereia as the other ships arrived.

[Error]

"Relay to Novus: Get Pegasus in here. Relay to fleet: Alpha, our traget. Tactical, pick a ship, relay that to all ships."

Hits slammed into the shields; the battlecarrier returned a broadside, the ships within range following up on the same target.

"Commander, Pegasus is arriving in thirty seconds." called comms.

"Understood. Authorize all ships for nuclear weapons; load tubes one through ten with nuclear antiship missiles."

- - -
The battlecarrier kept up her fire, throwing HV shells and conventional missiles at the enemy. Shortly thereafter, the NeoRoman vessels Got a nasty shock; Pegasus, recieving highly accurate positioning data, jumped in behind the Dominon fleet and fired, her spinal-mount weapons slamming shells into the opposing force.

- - -
"Admiral, three enemy ships are focusing on us. Incoming fire."

Meinholl checked DRADIS. "Tubes one and two on Valereia's target; tubes three through ten on our own." he ordered.

The missiles blew clear of their launch tubes, tracking inwards. The sky lit brilliantly; twenty-four simultaneous nuclear detonations illuminated the area like a star. Pressing the attack, several ships increased their firing rate; the battlecarriers began EWAR attacks, and the destroyer Sagittarius sprinted forwards, dancing between ships and doing its best to induce friendly fire.

[Professor Fenway]

The largest ship turned to face Pegasus, and as it did so, the name inscribed under the NeoRoman insignia was highlighted by the star; Kalvrav. It fired engines and began approaching the Pegasus, firing multiple beams as it did so. But it exhausted itself; one of the Fusion Coil Splicers detonated upon firing, and the ship lost power and winked out, drifting in space towards the fleet. No life or power signs were on it.

The rest of the fleet was blown apart, bit by bit, by the Novan ships.

[Ivan2006]

--encrypted message from MQR to Novus--
WARNING
Judging from how quickly the ships were destroyed, we suggests that the weapons used to destroy the ships during the Wargames were not normal fusion coil splicers, but Antimatter Coil Splicers. Those operate like normal FCS, but fire antimatter instead of normal fusion plasma, making them much more powerful. They have been developed in secrecy, and we were given one in exchange for the Chaos Emerald on the GSA-station. Those weapons are currently the most powerful shipboard weapon in the galaxy. If you encounter any of the agressor ships, ony fight them if you outnumber them 10 to 1
--end of message--
The entire MQR military has been raised to DEFCON 3.
All fleets are on constant standby.
Security has been raised.
All orbital assets have their shields raised by default.
The Eclipse Cannon is being powered up, lowering the time required for charging to 30 minutes.
The Gaia is being loaded with three shots.
The entire MQR is preparing for a large-scale war.
[unofficial]The military scientist watching the Chaos Emerald at the NeoRoman research station has been ordered to prepare for shattering the Chaos Emerald, which would destroy the station and make its remains unaccessible to anyone other than the MQR.[/unofficial]

OOC: this preparation for war is mostly based on the fact that the MQR does not want to deal with antimatter coil splicers unprepared, which is a fear started by the possible detection of them being used in combination with the recent news of NeoRoman war preparations. They do not yet know of Kappa-3, but as you may have noticed, the MQR is always very quick to raise their DEFCON.

[Professor Fenway]

[ooc:] Keep in mind Ivan that Vortex station is the HQ of the GSA, and not strictly NeoRoman; everyone is free to use it, and it is unarmed. You'll make a lot of people very angry by blowing it up, since it's a galaxy-wide thing. Why not just take the Emerald back? Vortex is not under direct jurisdiction of NeoRome, and thus, they can't stop you. Vortex collectively belongs to thee GSA.

[Error]

Meinholl turned to his XO. "Losses? Damage?" he inquired.

"No losses. Minor damage to both battlecarriers and a few scrapes on Sagi's hull. All unknown ships destroyed or crippled."

"Get teams over there and pick them apart. At least a few have intact weapons, yes? Find out who they belong to."

-Message to Head of Security L. Jahgrin-

Jahgrin,

A group of ships bearing NeoRoman insignia, weapons, and apparently crews attacked Long Reach recently. CSN blew them to hell-and-gone, but they were uncomfortably close. And uncomfortably hostile.

What in the name of all the Lords above is going on? We hear you're readying for war; a NeoRoman fleet attacks us; and the wargames go wrong.

I'd like an explanation, and it had better be bloody good.

-Markus Korriman, Commander General, CSN
-END-

[Ivan2006]

[ooc:] Keep in mind Ivan that Vortex station is the HQ of the GSA, and not strictly NeoRoman; everyone is free to use it, and it is unarmed. You'll make a lot of people very angry by blowing it up, since it's a galaxy-wide thing. Why not just take the Emerald back? Vortex is not under direct jurisdiction of NeoRome, and thus, they can't stop you. Vortex collectively belongs to thee GSA.

OOC: okay, I got that somewhat wrong, the scientist has orders to remove the CE should war break out.

[Professor Fenway]

-Message to: Markus Korriman-

Impossible. No NeoRoman ships were dispatched at all. While it is true that we are mobilizing, it is in preparation for a threat we believe we will face very soon. And we did not dispatch any fleets whatsoever.

Are any of the ships salvageable? Find the names of the ships and we'll cross reference it with all of our fleets, past and present.

I'm beginning to suspect that someone's trying to frame us.

-Head of Security L. Jahgrin-



-Near NeoRoman Singularity Installation-

Telleaya watched from the bridge of his ship as it approached the massive installation. He knew it's power, and it was a thing to behold. As it drew closer, she noted the various frigates hovering around it, dissecting parts of the hull, inserting controllers and receivers. It would be hers very soon.

It was nice of the Strigiforme to give him all the info he needed to access it, too. As part of their deal, of course. As he watched, the communicator in front of her buzzed. She pressed a button to answer it. "Receiving," she said.

"The station has the same system vulnerability as all the other ships," replied the other end. "We now have full system control."

"Excellent," Telleaya said, and shut the channel off. She opened up another channel and connected to the station. After a few seconds, the control mechanism came up.

So, what to hit. She knew it could very well destroy an entire star system, but that would be overkill. So she settled on a planet. But which one?

Antioch, NeoRome's capital came to mind, but that would be obvious. It would foil her plans, so it was struck out. Neither would she attack the Strigiforme; they were too kind. And they would see her ruse immediately.

She ran through a list of potential planets. Who was closest to NeoRome? Who would hate them the most? She could think of only one answer.

She typed in a few commands and sent it off. The station began rotating, initializing the firing sequence. The computer brought up a holographic rendering of the station and the estimated impact point, as well as time until impact. She traced the line to the destination; a vibrant, important Novan world. She forgot it's name, but knew of it's vast shipyards, the commercial empire that was stationed there. It wasn't the capital. She wanted the government to witness it.

Telleaya shut off the hologram and stepped down from the bridge. The NeoRoman ships were very nice, suitably technological. Too bad they wouldn't be around much longer.

[Error]

-Message to L. Jahgrin-

Very possible, it seems.

Inspection of the Kalvrav confirms there are no crew aboard, but no detectable AI. We believe the ships are being preprogrammed with a VI to execute certain missions.

Salvaging is underway; weapons, shields, drives, computers, even uniforms in the lockers all match NeoRoman norms. The programming on the computers, however, doesn't seem to; we're sending you a copy.

We'll take these things apart and search them. If you want, send teams to Hahnsak; our primary shipyards are there, and they'll be doing the dissection.

-Markus
-END-

The Commonwealth has been raised to Alert Condition Two; the Navy, Army, and planetary defenses are on standby alert.

The NeoRoman wrecks are being towed to Hahnsak for inspection, and Long Reach (specifically Lazarus) is nlw being protected by three defense platforms and two shield installations. Both EWAR frigates and the under-refit ? EWAR cruiser are being assigned to fast-response; it is hoped Novan electronic warfare can nullify the hostile programming of the "NeoRoman" ships.

[ACH0225]

Is Telleaya a he or a she? And what did the Strigiforme do?

The Strigiforme fleets at the wargames, after waiting in a shield bubble for a few hours, departed for their various home ports. There, they reported to the government the happenings.

The Council has called for the creation of 6 new battlefleets, as well as 12 light patrol fleets and 2 carrier fleets. This also follows the end of the upgrades to the Aiigaiion, which has new weapons systems, as well as better armour and shields. The forces at Serpentis are being increased by one patrol fleet, and it was announced that some of the resources from a large titanium deposit found on Serpentis will be used to construct additional orbital defences.

With the loss of contact with one border station, a patrol fleet has been dispatched to investigate and patrol the area.

[Error]

META: Having recieved a communication from the Singularity Beacon (see the previous thread, I dropped one there), the prowler Damien has been dispatched to investigate the NeoRoman Singularity Cannon.

[Professor Fenway]

OOC: I believe Telleaya is a she, though I could be mistaken. Cleared up confusion.
And as for the Strigiforme thing, you discovered how to get past the Singularity Cannon's defenses and, as part of your deal with Telleaya and the Imperium, gave them the instructions to operate it. I could be mistaken however.


-Message to: Markus Korriman-

The Kalvrav? It was destroyed during the Imperium war.

It's more likely that the ships are being remote controlled.
-L. Jahgrin-