Once More, With Feeling

[Error]

Presumably they're canon, given they're actually very balanced; limited duration, nothing in, nothing out. Plus, without them the Strig are reduced to a "zerg rush" empire.

[Shadowcatbot]

Mk then.
Speaking of canon, Since this is supposed to be the brand spankin new perma serios canon is anyone writing down important shit before this becomes a two hundred page monstrosity?

[cats]

Shihe Rann turned to receive a message from her second-in command, then returned to face the screen. "You're sure this connection is secure?"

Karesh Nihen removed a gel communication bead from his ear and smashed it between his fingers. "As secure as possible on this end."

Rann nodded. "And on mine. I'll try to keep this meeting brief. Your sensor net, which I thank you for allowing me to take so easily," The shadow of a smile flickered over her face, met by Nihen's complete apathy, "picked up a faint signal similar to those emitted by the alien probe that we found earlier. Upon inspection, it was found that it was, in fact, a much larger vessel. We believe it to be manned."

"I suppose you enacted Contact Protocol?"

"We haven't done anything. I wanted to contact you before taking action, seeing as your House is the only other one with knowledge of the probes. Unless you've notified the rest of the alliance."

Annoyance gave a slight twist to the Karesh official's weathered features. "No, not intentionally. Karth and the minor houses might have some idea, seeing as I've dumped several thousand sensors on them... It was only a matter of time; we've been picking up hyperspace signals for years. I presumed that it would be later rather than sooner. This is very" he paused to place a strip of relaxant onto his tongue and ponder his phrasing, "inconvenient."

"Inconvenient? I'm facing a losing war on two fronts. My military is already spread thin. If these are hostile... There's no way I can fend any large external force off while keeping Merek and Butik at bay."

"We don't know if they're hostile or not. Unlikely, if it's only one craft."

"Only one stealthed craft running silently. A scout for an offensive fleet."

"Well, we can say with certainty that it's goal is studying us, and, I agree, that is unacceptable. But we can't rule out that it's peaceful or a Merek or Butik ploy."

"The readings match no known cipher or code. Even the radio bands and frequencies are different, we've successfully reconfigured what the sensor picked up to match our technology. I'm sending them to you now. I believe these to be intracom messages that managed to pass through the hull. I've also included an image of the vessel, taken from long-range."

Nihen motioned to his officer to play the sound bit as it was recieved. Only a few pieces were audible, fewer were identifiable as language. He studied the image, grainy and pixelated, taken from the tiny optic apparatus of a sensor. "The build isn't familiar to me." He paused, then said, "I suggest you isolate it, find a way to deactivated its communication and FTL abilities. Try to preserve the life aboard. I'll be sending a task force to assist in its collection. Consider that a trade for my sensor grid."

"I thought you would suggest something like that. We'll set up a first-contact scenario with a small fleet. When we're close enough, we'll surround it, jam it's comms, and, if possible, disable its power source, then tow it to port. If it tries to open a slip-merge bubble or fire weapons, we'll zap it with an EMP and drag it."

===========================================

A small task force consisting of 12 ships specialized for capture are moving from Karesh space to the Shihe periphery. A similarly-sized Shihe wing including a carrier large enough to accommodate most small to mid-size ships is being positioned in the system closest to the last known location of the unknown vessel. It will take approximately 1 week for the two fleets to meet and begin the mission.

Map of Batii space.

Spoiler:

[Professor Fenway]

After moving past the sensor interference, the small fleet has finally made contact with the scout ship. (That's you, Ivan).

[Meta]The Fusion Splicer Reactor (FCR) has been finalized and production of the unit has begun. Miniaturization is still being actively worked on. The smallest unit so far is approximately 0.5x0.5x0.5m in size. The only obstacle in miniaturization is the beams; once they can be miniaturized, the reactor can be truly handheld.

Yttrium research has revealed more questions than answers. Yttrium appears to have an incredibly high energy density, more so than any material known to man, yet this energy is completely locked away and unobtainable in any capacity. The energy simply disappears during fission and fusion. [/Meta]

Approximately 12 scouting craft, relatively well-armed (for their size) have been dispatched to various locations outside of NR space. They are looking for habitable worlds or other civilizations, especially after the first contact with the unknown race.

[Error]

OOC, general notice: This RP, is it is semi-canon (?), uses the Cats-Fenway pattern Psionics; psionic abilities are laughably weak until/unless amplifiers and implants are installed.
BIC:

Commander Melvar tapped his fingers on the command console as his Prowler halted, staring at the mass of the nickel-iron asteroid next to them.

'Commander. Ship is under EMCON; drives offline; emission sinks active. We are running silent.'

Melvar acknowledged this with a nod, turning to watch his sensor board. 'Indications we've been detected?'

'None, sir.'

He nodded. 'Break EMCON in three hours; tightbeam to FLEETCOM. Message as follows: Request envoy ships to predetermined RV within one standard day. Apocrypha will depart current location enroute to Novus in two days. Should unknown vessels arrive before that time, Apocrypha will break EMCON and initiate contact. Message ends.'

//For reference: the Prowler is now running with no comms, sublight drives, FTL systems, or thermal emissions. The asteroid is to play hell with Magnetic Anomaly Detection systems.//

[Ivan2006]

The MR scout began sending the same analog signals sent in the contact with the scavs: Propaganda, hailings and archive recordings of TV broadcasts.

Production of the robot infantry, dubbed "StrikeBots" has started.

Designs for a ship capable of transporting large numbers of ground troops are being looked into in the face of interstellar war becoming increasingly realistic and the capability to launch an invasion becoming increasingly relevant.

[Shadowcatbot]

All in favor of time jump say I

[Ivan2006]

There is no reason to do a time jump at this point, shadow.

[ACH0225]

Strigiforme agents on Terra have successfully invited several pro-separatist riots, and caused havoc in several major cities. The Strigiforme have additionally recently found a new habitable world, and have begun standard planetary reform procedures to make it optimal for Strigiforme life.


Strig agents are usually just average workers who have been recruited by the Strigiforme or shipped in from shitty 3rd party empires. They usually do nothing. Also, I think Fen should make a map of galaxy; nobody else helps in initial creation, and then changes can be made afterwords if requested, but only by Fen.

[Ivan2006]

I think that making a map would be a great idea.

[Archduke Daynel, PhD]

Since the release of graphene processors, TechTron stocks have skyrocketed and they are pretty much the only relevant name on the market when it comes to computer hardware. The money has helped accelerate several projects, and the public transport lines between Earth and Technoma are assumed to be finished within as soon as two weeks.

With the great increase of money the corporation has made in the past few years, an effort has been made to hire more scientists and engineers, as well as plans to possibly expand to other systems once the transport lines are completed and immigration will be no harder than moving to another country on Earth, but with much greater benefits. Mining stations are also being constructed on planets and in asteroid fields in the system.

While TechTron Industries is currently technically nothing else than a corporation outside national borders, discussions are going on as to whether they should claim national status.

[Error]

The Terran Union has begun anti-riot operations (meta) and anti-insurgency / counterintelligence (/meta) operations. The Terran Navy is being elevated to Threat Condition 4.

//

The prowler Apocrypha has cleared (Batiss) space; two ships, a diplomatic cruiser and a converted civilian area-defense frigate, have arrived at the edge of what is estimated to be (Batiss) space and are broadcasting a first-contact package.

[Professor Fenway]

FTL signatures have been detected on the industrial planet; The Hierarchy is divided on how to respond at this time. Several warships have surrounded the planet and are currently deploying sensor nets and defensive satellites.

Contact has been initiated with the MR and language translation is underway. A diplomatic envoy has been sent.

[Meta]Yttrium research continues to boggle scientists. The energy is, at best guess, inter-dimensional energy. No known method for its use or obtainment has been identified. Until technology advances, Yttrium research has halted.

The Fusion Coil Splicer has been finalized and field tests are planned immediately. It has proven itself equally effective against hull and shielding; it's primary drawback is its charging time. The time to charge is limited by how fast it can be charged, which is in turn limited by the electric capacity of the materials used in its construction and reactor output. Unless an infinitely-conducting conduit can be found, the charge time will always be relatively high.
[/Meta]

[Ivan2006]

After the confirmation of contact via warp drone (the ME doesn't have proper FTL comms), the ME is now sending an envoy with both diplomats and linguists, in hope of translating the new contact's language.

The first ships for the defense fleet of the second colony system, Puthea-Egriea, including the battleship that is to serve as a flagship, have been produced. (OOC: the MR gives their systems two names: the astronomical name is the name of the star while the political name is the name of the most relevant object, in this case the colonized planet. The political name is typically in front of the astronomical name. for example, the UTA capital system would be called Terra-Sol, or whatever this incarnation of humanity calls earth and the sun in this case, that means Puthea is the colonized planet and Egriea is the star. The ME also likes to give its celestial bodies proper names, which are typically connected to ancient Macaian stuff)

[Vinyl]

Having gone over reports of, among others, NeoRoman contact with the 'ME', a contingent of lightly armed vessels are being dispatched to initiate contact.