stDarNES1: Stars!

[soul_warrior]

RED ALERT!
RED ALERT!!!!!

All hands on deck.

We have contact, bearing 016,129, distance 20k, energy sig 5.6.

What is it? What kind of ship?

Enumerator class carrier, captain. It can carry upto 50 fighter craft.
Last known build was the Agamemnon of the Venkulu fleet.
Checking databases for silhouette…. Yep, Bossman.
It is indeed the Agamemnon.

Recommend we steer clear of these, as no one should be flying this piece of junk. We can easily out pace it.

Negative!
We are out here on a mission of exploration, not a milk run.
Send a message on all frequencies:

“Hail to the Emperor, Jah praise Haile Sellasie.
This is the F.R.Z. Midnight Marauder, on a peaceful mission of exploration.
Please identify yourselves.”

Sir. They are powering up. Recommend we fall back to 068.875. there is a nice asteroid belt that we can hide in if the need arises.

Make it so.

Midnight Marauder, this is Horatio Mandela of the Free Asteroids Society ship the Agammenon.
shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded.
Resistance is not acceptable.
Surrender and you will live.
Fight and it’s the airlock for you!

Captain, I believe were in a dire situation
Shut up, Mugabi, just keep your trap SHUT!!!

OK. Courses of action, please?

I recommend we close in, engaging with our lasers. We have a reasonable chance and the state of their vessel is not good.

Recommend we avoid contact. I have never heard of the F.A.S. My feeling is that we have not met (or invaded) a strong human colony. Estimate these are pirates with limited to no resources.
We can get homebase to send a few heavy escorts to deal with them.
Our mission is TO EXPLORE and NOT ENGAGE.
Survival and our continued reports are of more value to the republic (and us)

Agreed.
Fall back, full speed to 068.875. we can negotiate trades from the cover of the belt.

Midnight Maruader!!
SHUT DOWN your engines NOW.
Or WE WILL ATTACK!!!!

2 minutes till we can engage the super engines, sir.

[/quote]Agammenon, please hold.
We are willing to surrender, as you are obviously overpowered.
We are having a few engine troubles, our reactor is acting up and is heating up.
The exaust you are witnessing is NOT, repeat, NOT our escaping, but an attempt to cool the core via ejecting some excess heat.
Suggest you steer clear for a minute or two.[/quote]

Very nice, sir
Do you think they will buy it?

No
But atleast it IS feasible.
I guess they will at the very least hold off a bit.

How long till we can engage?

30 seconds, sir.

Good.

Sir, the Agammemnon is warming up its cannon. They will be ready for fire in 15 seconds.

Eject a few geo-cortex sample barrels.

Agamemmnon.
We are having a some Hull breaches, due to the core meltdown.
Meltdown in 2 minutes, please let me tend to my survival, and lets finish this discussion later?

you have 3 minutes.
If you are not stationary and shut down by then YOU WILL BW OBLITIRATED

thank you, Agammemnon.
3 minutes.
Out

10 seconds, sir.
5
4
3
2 - ENGAGE
1

Sir, we’re out.

GOOD JOB ALL.
Send a message to the Home Office with a full report.
Set our course to 075.264, that great asteroid over there looks mighty nice.

Sir. Scans of that asteroid reveals very high concentrations of titanium.
Suggest we advance with extreme caution.

Agreed. And warm up the hyper-engines, just in case.

Any life signs in the area?

None, sir. But Im getting some weird Theta waves. It seems there is an intelligence out there, possibly an artificial one.

greeting masters. We are the UHSs Beijing and London. There is NO scourge presence in the area. What are your orders?

WHAT? What is this?
Comm., immediate systems check!
How could anyone hijack into our internal comms?

Sir, its from an outside source. I believe its from the asteroid.

SIRE! Great news. The computer archives just identified both names.
It appears that the Beijing and the London are a pair of BATTLESHIPS dating back from the GREAT WAR. Those are some the last to be built and were also fitted with a very good AI computer.
Nothing like ours, but still, they used to build things to last back in the day.

Checking authentication codes now.

Both sigs are authentic, sir.
I believe, if I might be bold, that we have hit the JACKPOT.

Indeed we did
I believe we can expect a “EMPERIAL SKUNK” to each of you.
Also, this is a great moment for the republic,
EXTRA SKUNK for all hands.

I need a few volunteers to stay and guard these here ships.

You 10. you’ve just volunteered. Praise the Emperor and bask in his glow.
You will begin surveying this solar system, and repairing the ships, making them operable by the time the new governor and colonists arrive.
Messages will be sent to your families, and places reserved for them on the first colonist wave.

You may, as a token of gratitude, name the new ships as you see fit.

Sir, can we call the, ahem, the Haile Sellasie in honour of the emperor and the DREADHEAD in respect to the agent of Jah on earth?

Make it so.

 

[Darwin420]

On the subject of how much historical data has been retained.. well, I suppose different factions have remembered different things. Of course, there was a lot of confusion during the Dominion Wars and the subsequent devastation of the Scourge. I'd say that not everything believed to have happened would be accurate. So, run with whatcha want. If something comes up in the game arc, you'll be corrected by an update.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

"What kept you?" Gareth asked as his wife Mirmu slammed the door behind her.
"A moron." Mirmu looked at the clock. "Hey, almost seven o'clock! Anyway, there's some kind of buggage in the schematics for the next FTLC (faster-than-light-communication) system. We have a damned causality violation on our hands."
"Did they try to generalize the reference frames again?"
"Right first time. We try to weed out those who haven't done twenty years' education and an in-depth relativity study, but every so often someone does a special-credit project in some related field, and the personnel department simply doesn't have the time to check everyone's references."
"You have my sympathies." As an autist, Gareth recited the words by rote, knowing he was supposed to say them when someone else moaned about their personal problems, even if he didn't mean it. After all, if he could do something, they could just ask, and if they couldn't, moaning was a waste of breath.
"Thanks. So how was your day?" While Mirmu worked at the Space Fleet Comm/Admin center, Gareth taught the tenth- and twelfth-year Descriptive* classes at Kronan Secondary School.
"Excellent. In addition to the two kids that grasped it yesterday, another three have managed to notch up what I believe is an underlying grasp of statistical distribution theory. Of the other ten, seven are convinced by the weight of evidence and working on their understanding, and the last three are lagging behind, so I set them extra problems."
"Nice to hear." Mirmu listened with half an ear, never quite interested in Gareth's recitations.
"I made dinner." Gareth offered.
"Thank you very much, I suspect I may need it."

They ate dinner in relative silence. Seven o'clock came and went.

"Do you mind if I retire for the night?" Mirmu asked.
"Not at all."
"Thanks. Just don't disturb me."
"No problem."

In her room, Mirmu noiselessly booted up her MinAi computer. (Bad pun referring to "My AI", "Small AI" and the Chinese name of the producer.)

log read the sparse screen. Mirmu grinned - the MinAi systems ran on plasma batteries, meaning that every unit of power conserved would translate directly to processor speed.
>mirmhack
pk
>***************************
Anyone with a shorter passkey doesn't deserve security, she thought.
t (for "true")
>doc df1
I'm glad I get to do this. Like many other citiziens, Mirmu led a double life - after seven o'clock and until midnight, she was an agent of 1337. Last week she had been poking around the Nox files and encountered a crude piece of 'ware, so low-level that it was either salvaged from an Old Dominion station in that system, or else a(nother) total incompetent had been given high-level access. Either way, she was honor bound to investigate. But first to read the Creed.
df1 opened
The Hacker's Creed
Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
When you keep a secret, keep it with locks and not lies.
...
You have gone past pointing at the pictures. You have learned to read and write. ;)
...
As the words scrolled past, Mirmu sank into a meditative state.
...
Remember to bring joy.

>connect main ossm Mirmu tried to initiate a connection to the Oncol Space Station Mainframe.
f, req Unsurprisingly, she was denied access. The system wanted a good reason to let her in.
>exe perm1; kx1 ky1; all-meta 6 // Run all the masking commands in "perm1", permuting all the keys in files "kx1" and "dev", priority level 6 (higher than most other processes).
f, req auth Still denied, requesting full/correct/more authorization
>info What's all this then?
f employed, f pk, f node, f pingaddress Employment, passkey, point of contact and ping incorrect.
>all-meta 7 //; exe perm1; kx4 ky6; all-meta 6 // Priority over all non-vital processes, re-run the masking and entry commands with different keys, then return priority after completion
denial ibid Denied for same reason as previously.
>info Now what?
f node You're not accessing the mainframe from a legal computer node.
>prev s/y6/y8 Run the previous command except as stated
t Success!
>defcom tmp05 ; exe perm1; kx4 ky8 Define the authorization used here.
>ls -/ So, tell me what file groups you have.
broder, broderf, nox, enemsi, oncol, oncols, oncolf, sabro, sabrof
>(cd nox) tmp05 Move to the nox directory, and maintain authorization.
t Done.
>(ls -num) tmp05 How many files are here?
10
>(ls) tmp05 List them all.
fleet, gendoc, habitat, hazards, mscan, star, system, races, routes, warpgates
>(((dl) (gendoc -r mypoets) (mscan -r mineralgraph)) enc -7) tmp05 Download the general documents and the medium range scan files, renaming them as they load, and encrypting at strength 7.
Mirmu sat sweating and biting her nails for half an hour as the data was routed across brazillions of kilometers of empty space, hoping that her authorization would hold. She had already preloaded the program to close her connection safely...

t

"YES!" Mirmu affirmed the last command exultantly, followed it up with a shutdown, and went to sleep almost at once.

 

[Kal'thzar]

brazillions

Love it

Brazil + Large number = brazillions

But seriously now....

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Actually, it's a Dubya joke.

Rumsfeld: "Sir, four Brazilian soldiers have just been killed in Iraq!"
Bush: "That's terrible! Remind me, how many is a brazillion?"

 

[Gelion]

Thats a nice one

So Darwin we are all anticipating.....

 

[Darwin420]

Update in the works. It will be posted today. Thanks, all, for being so patient.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Yay!!!!!!!!

 

[Darwin420]

stDarNES1: Stars! -- UPDATE 3
--------------------

GALACTIC NEWS ORGANIZATION (NDE 3)

Ahh, yes, and welcome back from our break. Moving on with our program tonight, I'm told we have an interesting update from the Backwater Region. So, without further delay, let's head over and talk to Mr. Dee.

Thank you, Mr. Grey.

As you say, it has been quite an interesting time out here. First, there have been a couple major events with two of the Human Factions, the Jaenar Empire and the Principality of Zaira. Affecting both Factions was the resurgence of the Scourge in the Pillius star system. This particular strain of Scourge appears to be quite aggressive, and destoryed both Factions' ships in that System.
(-Scourge Present in Pillius Star System)

As for the Jaenar Empire and the Principality of Zaira, both Factions seem to have lost steam. The people of the Jaenar Empire have ceased sending ships out and are now isolating themselves in Anatolia System. The unrest that began last year in the Principality has only escalated, and the ruling government was overthrown. It appears that as of right now, the Zaira System is in a complete state of Anarchy, with the military holding control of open space.
(Jaenar and Zaira are now NPC'd)

Astral Sojourners

A Scoutship has detached from MEG and made the jump to the Sierra System. Reports are scrambled, but the last transmission received from the scoutship was a warning about a still-active auto-defense system. Scientists and military advisors on Oncol agree that the scoutship more than likely encountered an Old Dominion auto-defense system that is still active after over 200 years. The remainder of MEG jumped back from Sabro to Oncol.
(Astral Sojourners: -1 Scoutship)

MIG makes the jump from Border to Phellant (MDP: 6). As soon as the fleet clears the jump gate, transmissions are received from the interior of the system. It is decoded by computer, revealing it to be a simple binary greeting of peace. Further scans of the system show a massive construction effort occuring approximately 1 AU around the star. Simple communications reveal these people call themselves Dysonians, worshipping an ancient earth deity called Dyson. They are currently building a "dyson sphere" around the star, in honor of their God.

In other news, 3 new fleets made jumps out of Oncol. Colony Fleet (CF) 1 has taken 9,000 bright-eyed colonists to Nox System; CF2 has taken 1,500 miners into Broder System, to begin mineral extraction from the asteroid belt; and a small Research Fleet (RF) 1 has been dispatched to Sabro System to begin setting up research facilities to study the Old Dominion Ruins found there. Colonization of these Star Systems is expected to begin in NDE 4.

Skyjack Conclave

Skyjack scientists continue to chip away at the Human Genetic Structure. Recently, a breakthrough was made allowing Skyjacks to augment their natural genes with pre-made ones. The Skyjack military has seized upon this technology, vowing to use it to create genetically-modified "super-soldiers." The general public is skeptical this new capability will be used for good.

The Skyjack Homeworld of Lambert's ring has reached a new stage in its development!

The Scoutship Tumbleweed makes the jump from Vayin to Pr'ator, finding a nice, full system (MDP: 8). Scans of the 2nd planet show indiginous life-forms, reptilian-base, that are in the early stages of sentience. No technology exists on the planet, however, the life-forms show an extreme level of aggression, and caution appears wise for any one wanting to set down on the planet.

Scoutship Thistledown jumps from Nos to Braedi, and receives the most fearful of all transmission signals: the Scourge. Attempts are made to keep the scoutship away from the Scourge cluster, but fail. The last transmission received on Lambert's Ring are the screams of the Thistledown crew.
(Skyjack Conclave: -1 Scoutship (Thistledown))

Imperial Republic of Trinity

It has been a busy year for Trinity. Task Group Yolin is assembled with 7 transports, making the jump to Nolat with 3,500 colonists, and establishing a Trinity presence in that System. Early scientific ventures have unearthed a strange flying insect the colonists are dubbing 'Bloodfly.' It is named as such because the insects hunt in huge swarms, descending upon prey and literally sucking the blood out of the creature. Known swarms are being monitored around the primary colony site, but it is unknown if the basic colony defenses could withstand a significant Bloodfly swarm.

Task Group Shalin, the sister fleet of Yolin, jumps to Quostellis, and establishes a third Trinity colony.

Scoutship Sypher jumps to Kalekka, arriving just in time to witness a small scoutship of unknown origin making a jump through another gate. Before the crew has time to ponder this interesting fact, their own ship is surrounded by 25 fighters from yet another faction. The following transmission is received: "zzT; Aliens.. remove your ship from our space IMMEDIATELY, or suffer the consequences. 'Tzz"

Schoutship Obelisk jumps from Vayin to Pr'ator. They are apparently followed by the Skyjack ship Tumbleweed. (see Skyjack update for Pr'ator system stats).

Scoutship Ra jumps from Nolat to Tron (MDP: 4). Initial scans reveal two 'green' jump gates, and one 'red' gate. The system is unremarkable in anyway. 5 average planets (1 of them a moderate gas giant); a fair amount of minerals and one planet with an acceptable atmosphere for human colonization.

The Exodus transport fleet is recalled from Hari to Trinity.

In other news, one of the ruling Trinity (the insane one we loved so much) has stepped down and been replaced by younger blood. This has caused rejoicing all across the Republic, and a newfound grudging respect for the government.
(Trinity: +1 Confidence)

Haven

Haven scientists have completed research into new construction techniques, and believe they now possess the ability to create larger and stronger hulls for interstellar ships. The military is classifying these ships as CRUISERS, after an Old Dominion ship type.

Scoutship Blue Flame sets out from Xanthus Prime, and through some weird twist of spatial mechanics, is able to scout not only Fetarra, but reaches the Phellant system, as well (see Astral Sojourner entries for Phellant system stats). --mod note: scout moved twice because I missed the order on Update 2 and corrected my mistake--

The Byblos Colony Fleet assists 5,000 colonists in establishing the first permenant extra-solar Haven settlement. Initial reports say the colonists really enjoy the beauty of the planet. Nearly 2/3 of the colonists are scientists, and begin immediately setting up research stations across the planet, attempting to understand the ecosystem, geology, and whatever else they can about this new planet.

Scoutship Silence jumps from Byblos to Naqu (MDP: 7). The system is an odd Tertiary System, Naqu B Sun orbits around Naqu A, and Naqu C orbits around Naqu B. Preliminary orbital models show that despite gravitational oddities occuring every 100 years or so, the paths of the three suns will not collide for at least another hundred million years.

Republic of ZIB

The crew of the Midnight Marauder has named the derelict Old Dominion battleships to DREADHEAD and The Haile Sellassie. A small skeleton crew is left with supplies, comm equipment, and other gear, to attempt returning one (or both) of the battleships to working order. After ensuring the skeleton crew will be okay, and saying farewells, the Midnight Marauder makes the jump to Xanj (MDP: 3), where they find a three planet red giant system.

The Black Diamond Skunk emerges from the jump gate at Ophius (MDP: 4). This System contains an astonishing 15 planets, 7 of which are gas planets, and 2 asteroid belts. Unfortunately, most of the planets are small, with thin atmospheres. Lots of room, but it will be a tough living if colonized.

Colony fleet Jewels of Ethiopia establishes a colony in the Kondis system, which is subsequently renamed "New Zion." The crews of the JoE fleet stay long enough to ensure the colonists are fully settled in, then jump back to Zadon.

Miria

Colony Fleet in Centaus System offloads 1,000 colonists to create first Mirian colony. Shortly thereafter, a second Colony Fleet arrives in Emey, and drops 3,000 colonists in that system.

EF1 makes an emergency jump from Kalekka and returns to Centaus. Reports of this new independent faction in Kalekka provokes strong debate. Will this new Faction enter Mirian space? Is war eminent? Or is peace possible?

EF2 jumps from Emey to Venever (MDP: 6). The scoutship is greeted with friendly hails by a people calling themselves the Veneverans, who wish for peace, and offer the Mirian crew free and safe passage through Venever.

... and there are now two new factions entering the arena:

Harpellian Hegemony

The Harpellians are a people that firmly believe in their democratic government, in which the Senate represents the will of the people and monarchs are directly elected to 5-turn terms. The monarch's power is shared with the Senate, which elects a Speaker to take care of dialogue between monarch and legislature, as well as to maintain that balance of power.

Harpellians are experts in machinery and despite the devastation of that Scourge, wish to continue pursuit of technology, with the hopes of not only improving people's lives but also preventing another such catastrophe. Thus, when it comes to building machines of any kind - medical droids, worker droids, or even ships and fleets themselves - the Harpellians are perfectionistic.

Harpellians' main technological experiences are thus reasonably in Energy and Robotics.

Zentraedi Empire

The Zentraedi are a totally militarised society somewhat resembling the ancient Spartans on Earth. Every aspect of life is treated as duty towards the entire Empire: producing, fighting, training. Zentraedi spend their entire life either fulfilling their duty or preparing for it. The society had undergone such changes to survive the Scourge and after the threat was seemingly gone, very few felt it was necessary to change such an efficient system.
After the period of effective isolation, the Empire seeks to expand in any way possible.

...

And that is the news from the Backwater Region, Mr. Grey. We'll see you next year!!
------------------------------

Story Winners
-Republic of ZIB: +1 Construction Research Point (for preliminary research on battleships)
-Miria: +1EP (for government contracts stimulating empire-wide trade)

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW!!!!

-Orders: When submitting your orders, PM them to me with the Title: (faction) Orders, NDE ? - Revision 1 (if you make a revision, please include ALL orders in the PM). Please use the following basic format for your orders:

SPENDING:
-detail how you are spending your EP here. This includes projects you are working on-
-If you purchase ships/troops, please include in parenthesis HOW MANY have been purchased-
FLEET MOVEMENTS:
-detail your fleet movements here. please put both starting system and ending system (ex: -Explorer Fleet 1 (Jemma -> Silodon) )
OTHER ORDERS:
-If you have any other special orders, list them here-

--->it is NOT necessary to attach your Faction info to your order <---

This is to help me keep track of all the information needed to run the update. The more you provide me, the less I have to keep flippin through different files. THANK YOU!!!

-Tech Trading: This question has been asked. Factions may sell their technology for half the cost (rounded UP) of researching it. You may trade only ONE tech level per turn.

-Only one person remembered to continue their project in the orders. I am thinking about doing away with them, since no one is really using this game feature. Let me know what your thoughts are.

ORDERS WILL BE DUE FRIDAY, JANUARY 20 AT 0900 EST. THE UPDATE WILL BE POSTED NO LATER THAN MONDAY, JANUARY 23

 

[Darwin420]

 

[Erik Mesoy]

W00t! Update!!

Note to self: Write longer and better stories. The standard is getting ridiculously high.

I thought projects didn't need to be mentioned in orders? Either way, I did mention it last time, so mine should be at 2/7.

BTW, a Dyson sphere? Even a simple ringworld would be torn apart by the sheer stress on the material. I think you mean a Dyson swarm.

 

[Hellfury]

Claiming Principality of Zaira, will write a story very soon, need to read up on its recent history and such.

 

[Gelion]

Good update, but since I was only added I cannot comment much.....
Zentraedi story developing soon....
also do I have any contact with other civilizations? If not can I stil negotiate (unofficially)?

 

[Global Nexus]

Uh, I do suppose it's too late to be entering this NES, eh? ^^;

 

[Erik Mesoy]

GLOBAL NEXUS!!! *glomp* Where have you been? I've been waiting a year for you to restart Galactic NES! (The anniversary is coming up now, y'know!)

 

[Gelion]

There are unclaimed factions I think, but you have to ask you know who
Good to see you back!

 

[Darwin420]

@Erik: Regarding stories, I use my Super Secret Formula (TM). Also, sorry for the inaccuracy regarding the Dyson Sphere.. However, it's a concept I enjoy, and am willing to allow this little suspension of belief. Oh, and I don't think your stories are too short.

@Hellfury: Okay, you can come in on this update as the Principality of Zaire.

@Global Nexus: If you want to join, you can either choose and existing Faction, or create your own. If you create a new faction, you will not be entered in until Update 4.

MOD NOTE: After Hellfury and GlobalNexus, there is ABSOLUTELY no room for more players. Updates are now taking me half a day. So, please, be kind to your mod.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Since Projects cost no EP I just assumed they would continue automatically well dang.

I like the Idea of the projects though and vow to mention them in my orders from now on!

@Erik, don't worry there will still be a few dyson swarms built sometime...don't know who by of course.
<_<
>_>

@Harpell why did you have to start there of all places?

 

[Gelion]

I wonder the same thing Dis, just same thing.....

 

[Erik Mesoy]

While I wonder why all my scoutships keep getting blown up.

Anyway, time to open a can of whoop-ass over Enemsi. I suppose I should be glad I haven't found any Scourge yet.

BTW, I now have contact with Haven, right?