This is a “Twilight of the Arnor” game, played in Beta 1, the Arceans are the focus of the story. It will be told in many different forms, with lots of detail to some parts, and less to others, any replies are welcome, and any advice would be great. All the new updates to the story will be posted in the first post under a [UPDATE] tag.Lord Vega sat down and tried to understand the possibilities. A hyperdrive, the ability to traverse huge distances in weeks, but he saw the real possibility this had. A galactic empire, he did not know if the humans had spread the hyperdrive to the Drengin Empire yet, if so it could prove to be a tough time ahead. He knew he had to start planning what do with the ships they had outfitted, but it was so hard to focus on anything. His goal was set in his mind though, the many billions of credits they had in their banks would be used, for the technological, economical, and military rebirth of their race.
He decided to go for the simplest start; he knew that trying to do anything complicated could threaten the rebirth. He ordered Hammer II (the closest habitable planet, which had a rating of 5 on the new scale) to be colonised, the mining ship started its work in the nearby asteroid fields and the survey ship set off. He began to order the hardest task, the complete rebuilding of Arcea, everything would have to be modernised.
The next few months were hell, and at the same time they were the most amazing experience he had ever had. They were researching huge amounts of technology, and the new possibilities expanded every day. They colonised their second planet after much decisions as to which planet to go for, then a class 16 planet was found, and nobody in his court had any argument against that choice. Once they settled on the planet they managed to use an old artefact to raise the planet to a class 20 using, well less than noble methods. The members of his courts were all begging for the planet to be used for their department, “The greatest research centre in the universe” the scientists would say. “The most prosperous planet, it could support our entire economy” the tax managers cried out at him. “A huge planet filled with factories and armouries and everything used for war, we could build fleets in weeks” advised the newly appointed Supreme Commander. He still could not chose and was sure his answer would not come from the sky he was staring into, he saw Hammer II, for thousands of years it had been an object of many legends and myths, now it was glittering with lights, he still found it hard to believe there were now cities there. The most beautiful thing he could see however was the planet he was on, he had now reached the new age for his home world; it has been outfitted with the latest improvements and looked amazing.
UPDATE 01/10/07 08:00He now had time to think back on his plans, he had control of a nice chunk of space, he had established a contact with the Terran Alliance who owned a slightly larger area of space but were suspected to have a weaker economy, and less technology. He knew the Drengin Empire was there; their influence was marked in the corner of the star maps, a red blotch cornered by the yellow of the Arceans, and the blue of the Terran Alliance. Yet we have not seen a single ship since the Terran Alliance gave them the hyperdrive, not a single colonised planet. The survey ships refuse to go near the Drengin zone until a war fleet to escort them was built. The humans were being even more ridicules about it, once they heard of the slave pits, the black markets, the arenas of agony... They would not even believe what they were told until they were shown the archive of espionage photos. The humans have not yet discovered the sins of the Arcean’s yet. They were losing their nobility, their way of life, Lord Vega could not help but chose for “the greater good” when he was asked what choices to take. But, he was sure in achieving his goal, to be remembered as Lord Vega the Great, the founder of the new Arcean Empire. Their economy was growing; their technological output was far higher than both of the other races put together, and their military, well, the war rooms had been built, and the prototypes were being tested.
UPDATE 01/10/07 18:00It was now the year of 2227, two long and hard years had passed since Lord Vega announced his plan for the new empire. Lord Vega looked at the report on his view-screen, it read:
[RAN (Royal Arcean Navy) HEPTOLON (Class 1 Survey Ship)]
[16/12/2227 Earth Standard Time]
This is a report of the events of the 16/12/2227 EST:
The ship ‘RAN Heptolon’ was patrolling sector 02-03, which is located on the outskirts of the Drengin Zone. The mission was to investigate a newly formed cluster of asteroids, and report on if the mining ship should be sent over to begin extraction. We were being supported by an Inflictor class star-fighter which was based in sector 01-03, orbiting the sun ‘Vizzard’. When we were in 3pc of the new asteroid clusters we began to detect radio signals, we followed procedures and used our long range scanners. We quickly saw that the asteroids were occupied by mining bases that were Drengin in design. We activated our frequency scanners and found an occupied frequency.
We then stated that we were a peaceful survey ship and we wish to know who was in command of the mining bases. A Drengin replied, saying that his emperor would be glad to know the Arceans had been located, and a diplomatic scout ship would be sent to establish secure communication. We then continued our survey of the area.
We have determined that this area has been used for weapon testing by the Drengin Empire; the scars suggest the weapons were low power beam weapons, similar to the weaponry we quickly experimented on before turning to missile armaments. The Drengin are now mining the area, and have set up a starbase with the purpose of testing and experimenting with new weapons, then examining the effects on asteroids, and mining a large asteroid we believe contained persecutor weaponry. We then returned to Vizzard and sent our report.
[End of communication from ‘RAN Heptolon’]
He was not surprised the Drengin Empire had appeared, perimeter sensor had recently detected ships that were unidentifiable. He was glad to see that the Inflictor class ship were already being posted on the outer fringes of the empire, although it sounded like a single ship not the standard battle group of two fighters, an ‘Accelerator’ class ship capable of increasing the groups seep by 3pc a week, and a ‘Micro Mobile Command Unit’, which was a tiny ship that would coordinate the attack.
He was also glad they reports now used EST, which was not something he was overly keep on, but a galactic standard time had to be set, and the Terran Alliance had paid for the right to choose the location in information. He was only going to stay friendly with the humans for as long as it took to draw up and attack plan and obtain the technology to coordinate a planetary invasion. The Arcean Empire was now the most prosperous of the three civilisations; the Drengin still had a larger military, but not by much, and not for long.
UPDATE 01/11/07 21:45“This is Mobile Command 1 to Inflictor 99 and 96. Target ‘HORDER’ has entered the atmosphere. Trail it at close range we are ordering it to land at Planetary Security Force dock A-3. Mobile Command 1, over”
The two Inflictor starfighters disengaged their auto patrol routes and cruised down to guide the large cargo ship coded “HORDER” into the dock.
Zarft Brendig noted the two Inflictor class starfighters move to his wingtips and began to worry; he checked over the controls, he could not see any other nearby ships.
“Xing, load the plasma dischargers” he ordered to one of his crew,
“Zarft, we have entered the atmosphere of Arcea, any attack would be suicide” replied Xing,
“Not doing anything will be suicide, the PSF must have got hot on what we are transporting” replied Tank, as he loaded the targeting algorisms,
“This is Mobile Command 1 to cargo ship ‘Polo’, we are ordering you to land at Planetary Security Force dock A-3, for cargo inspection” ordered a authoritative voice on the radio,
“This is Zarft of the “Polo”, we have a meeting with a merchant to get to, so find some other trader to piss off”
“This is Vehna of Mobile Command 1 to cargo ship ‘Polo’, we have two Inflictor class starfighters with the authority to fire ‘stinger’ missiles to disable you” replied Vehna.
“Bloody hell! That’s a good one, ‘disable’ us with ‘Stinger’ missiles. More like blow us to Drengi and back” shouted Tank,
“Let teach them not to mess with an innocent ‘trader’” replied Zarft with a chuckle.
The pilot of Inflictor 99 swore, and accelerated out the way of the three rapid bursts of the plasma dischargers, Zarft accelerated the ‘Polo’ and twisted it round with speed and manoeuvrability that no normal cargo ship would possess, he shot straight through the escape route the starfighter had been covering and headed into the high rise of central Arcea. Inflictor 96 shot after the ‘Polo’ but was ripped apart by another burst from the plasma dischargers. Vehna shouted out orders to his crew and they shot after the ‘Polo’, he alerted the PSF quick response team who said they would have three more Inflictors in two minutes. As Zarft piloted his ship down into the city, with Xing firing random bursts to scare off civilian vessels, the pilot of Inflictor 99, Rah’kan, did a snap turn and shot off back in the direction of Zarft.
“This is Inflictor 99 to Mobile Command 1; I have stinger lock-on for the ship ‘Polo’, requesting weapons free”
“This is Mobile Command 1 to Inflictor 99, you do not, I repeat do not, have weapons free. You cannot use a stinger missile in an urban environment, fire your ‘scare-shot’ missiles and try to force him into the A-13 tractor Trap”
“This is Inflictor 99 to Mobile Command 1, I understand your orders”, replied Rah’kan as he closed in towards the cargo ship.
“Sir, I’m not sure what we’re facing but that ain’t no cargo ship with some blasters to scare off pirates” said one of Vehna’s crew, as he replayed the earlier recording of Inflictor 96 being shot down.
“Cut to the point, what do you think?” asked Vehna, as he watched the replay.
“That ship has speed and manoeuvrability that match a starfighter, a large hull, and well, I may be wrong, but they look like some experimental Drengin weapons I’ve seen when I did my service in ‘02-03’” replied the crewmate,
“You saying that’s Drengin?” asked Vehna surprised,
“Hell no!” shouted the crewmate in surprise, he then looked embarrassed at his outbreak and continued, “I ain’t no Intel guy, but I’d say it’s a smuggling ship, the style looks Terran, but dam, you would have to be loaded to buy that”, Vehna considered this, then continued,
“Well whatever it is, it needs to be stopped before the crew do anymore stupid things” said Vehna.
Tank glanced down at the radar, “looks clear to me” he shouted, a second later two missiles shot past the ship and self destructed in the distance. “Well it does not appear to be clear from hear” called Xing in his annoyingly posh tone, “Well dur, you stupid slit eye” shouted Tank angrily, “If you can see then shoot it down. Zarft, take the right we might be able to lose him” continued Tank, there was a roar as the plasma dischargers fired and Xing called “The other starfighter appears to have relocated us, it is the source of the earlier missile strikes. I am attempting to use the weapons to destroy him”, Zarft swerved as two more missiles shot past,
“Why the hell did we hire him” Tank shouted to Zarft, “He is asking for the ‘Kona treatment’.
“This is Inflictor 99 to Mobile Command 1, they are about to hit A-13, over”
UPDATE 02/11/07 17:10Zarft flew out of his seat and nearly head hid head on the control panel, “Holy Drengi, what the crap was that” he shouted, the ship has been decelerated to a standstill in less than a second. “They must have tractors around here” replied Tank. Zarft ordered full power to the engines but it still stayed still, “If we do not move, we will be an easy target for any back up they have called in” said Xing, Tank nearly shouted back an insult but controlled himself, and continued trying to break out of the Tractor Trap.
“This is Inflictor 76 to Mobile Command 1, I am with Inflictor 106, and Inflictor 48. We are firing, over”
“What the **** did so say!” shouted Vehna, but it was too late, the nine stinger missiles shot forwards each targeting a different area of the ‘Polo’.
“STINGERS INBOUND!!!” screamed Tank before slamming his hand on the countermeasures button. The stingers were only metres away from the ship when the canisters of ‘smart chaff’ exploded. The explosion ripped the ship apart and demolished everything nearby. Including the Tractor Traps, the ship shot forward and only avoided plunging into the surface due to an involuntary movement by Zarft. “Xing is down or critical, so are most our flight systems” shouted Tank. The ship continued forwards at max speed, barely in control, all Zarft could was stop it slamming into the ground. It looked like a burning comet as it sped down one of the main avenues. Bits of plating were ripped of it and tumbled down the ground. On Mobile Command 1 Vehna was watching the events on the main view screen horrified. “Oh crap, it’s going to hit the palace!” he shouted.
Lord Vega, ended the video conference to the governor of Anderson III, smiled and made a mental note to give the man an ‘Order of Arcea’. He stood up and walked over the widow and gazed out over the city. His mind barely registered the alarms going off before he felt the explosion, then everything faded.
UPDATE 07/11/07 17:30He saw a man crawling out through the smoke; his silhouette flickered as the flames danced in the background. “Who are you?” Lord Vega called quietly, the man spun round, pulling out his weapon. There were four sharp shots and everything faded again.
Lord Vega woke up in the ECC (Emergency Command Centre); he was tired but otherwise felt fine. Before he had even moved a flock of medical staff descended on him. Later in the day he when to the briefing room, the Commander in Chief was there, along with the head of public relations. The Commander saluted and began the briefing, “The craft that hit the palace was called the ‘Polo’, it was built on Mars as a trading ship but the records are incomplete for the sales. Inspection of the craft shows is was heavily modified with Drengin technology. It was being used as a slave ship; its cargo consisted of mostly Terrenes and Drengin with a few Arceans as well. The ship was part of a large group of slave traders. We now have the transmitter codes for the ships so we should be able to find the other ships involved”, Lord Vega though for a few seconds then said,
“I want a press release explaining what it was and saying we will release all the slaves on the ship and any that we find. You may go now”, both the men walked out the room but as the Commander in Chief walked down the corridor he received a message on his earphone, “Please return to the briefing room” ordered Lord Vega. When the Commander in Chief returned Lord Vega shut the door and began to speak. “Forget what I said in the press release, I want you to release all the slaves this time, but for any more ships you capture, only release the Arceans. The rest can work as slaves on Arcea”, the Commander in Chief looked horrified but nodded and walked out the room.
