The Crusade

[No Dachi]

All
As I've told a few of you already, this is quite possibly my last ever thread. Tellianror failed because I didn't DM it, and DE is in the process of failing because I haven't DMed it. So I'm laying down the gauntlet (for myself); if this thread gets sufficient interest and then fails because I don't DM it, it will be clear that I no longer have the time or resolve to make and run threads, so I'll stop making them all together.

It all starts a hundred years from now...
Throughout the 21st Century, the nations of the world had been largely united in dealing with two major common enemies; international terrorism and the rapidly worsening state of the environment. However, the turn of the second century of the millenium saw one of these foes vanquished and the other nearly eliminated after years of work. With conditions in the Third World improving a little every year for a hundred years, the discontent that had fuelled terrorism became less and less, untill eventually it was gone. The environment was a bigger problem. It took longer for the world as a whole to recognise the threat, and longer still for them to act on it. However, after a lot of work, the decline was first slowed, then halted, then reversed.

By the year 2100, then, Earth and humanity's prospects had never looked better. There had not been a major war since 2024 and so everybody was getting used to peace, and the world was a much better place for it. But, then, in 2102, something happened that brought the world quite abruptly into a new age os strife. Genetic engineering had been used to mankind's benefit for well over a century without any negative effect, but a wise man could have seen the potential for such a negative effect. Genetic engineering in crops had virtually no consequence, but crops weren't the only thing to be engineered. The problem started over a century ago in Australia. Rabbits introduced to the environment had become incredibly populous, to such an extent that they were becoming a major problem to farmers. A biotech firm came up with a clever solution, it produced a genetically-engineered virus that rendered female rabbits infertile. The virus was christened calcivirus, and it did its job well. Rabbit populations in Australia declined rapidly and the problem looked to be eliminated. However, the virus soon spread to Europe. In Spain, rabbit populations were hit badly, and nationally-treasured species like the Iberian Lynx and Spanish Imperial Eagle were threatened by lack of food. And so, a Spanish biotech firm invented a counter-virus that would render rabbits immune to the effects of calcivirus. This second virus was named retrovirus. And while is saved the lunx and eagle, it soon spread to Australia and the problem of exploding rabbit populations returned. So the Australian biotech firm made another virus. And so, back and forth the exchange of pest control viruses went. In 2100, the biotech industry was leading the way in an economical boom previously unseen in history. And it was in 2101 that the Australian biotech firm designed yet another virus aimed at controlling rabbit populations. Due to pressure from the Australian government to release the virus (which was a year late in developement) in order to bring the now critically-problematic rabbit populations down, the virus was released without adequate testing. Testing which would have revealed that the virus had a potentially dangerous habit of mutating. For a year nothing happened. Then, in May 2102, the first case of the virus infecting a human victim was reported in Brisbane. Unfortunatly for the world as a whole, the virus in crossing over to the human species had become all together more dangerous. The unfortunate man died three days later, but by then the virus had spread. And so began the pandemic of the so-called 'Killer C Virus', after the original calcivirus that had begun the genetic arms race. Almost at once, peoples' receding fears about genetic engineering were confirmed. The biotech industry crashed, and a day later the rest of the stock market followed it. Investors all over the world lost millions and the governments of every nation triggered desparate inflation in an effort to shore up their failing economies.

By 2110 the world economy was back to normal, but all the progress in improving quality of life for the last century had been lost. People who had lived comfortably were now unemployed and starving. The political effects of the depression were a page out of history. Fierce competition for jobs led to outbreaks of nationalism, intolerance and xenophobia in even the most civilized of nations. Progressive democracies became nationalistic police states in a matter of months. In the Western nations, nationalism was largely contained, but not so in Russia. Russia had been the fastest growing state in 2100, in every possible sense of the word. It had pulled itself up from post-Soviet ruin through hard work and toil, and was once again considered a superpower. It had been democratic, but now its government was in the hands of the extreme right. Other nations, mostly in Eastern Europe and in the Middle East, had suffered a similar set back from improvement and had also succumbed to the temptations of nationalism. While Western Europe, the Pacific Rim and the North American continent all struggled to regain their strength from containing nationalism within their own borders, Russia and its allies militarised. For the first time since the Cold War, the world was split into two distinctive armed camps. On one side were the remaining Western democracies, still with relatively strong economies; the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Finland and Sweden, the Low Countries, Canada, Australia and Japan. Also aligned with this side were a few non Western nations; India, Israel, Saudi Arabia and a handful of other Middle Eastern nations. On the other side were Russia, Italy (though still divided by civil war, the nationalists were winning) all of Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other ex-Soviet central Asian nations and a few South American nations in whcih Marxist stalinist governments had prevailed. Neither side was bound by official treaty, but they were still clearly there, and over time people began to refer to the first as the Western Alliance and the second as the Central Coalition. For years, the two sides merely stared eachother down and ammassed armaments. Life began to get back to normal in the West. Scientific research resumed again. By 2140 humanity was beginning to reach out to space, with a scientific research facility of each power block on Mars and a lot (around a billion) people living off-world in massive 'hab' structures - essentially massive floating housing blocks spread out across the solar system. As yet, however, neither side had the capability to extend their reach beyond the limits of the solar system and out to the stars. But this was about to change. In 2140 a joint research project funded by the Western Alliance yielded humanity's first lightspeed drives - first one prototype, then two more. An exploratory mission to the nearest star system was devised. One, single massive ship full of scientists would travel out to this nearest alienb star system at lightspeed, conduct research, and return. Due to fears of Central Coalition piracy - for it had been impossible to contain news of the invetion - the ship was to be accompanied by two military vessels, each equipped with a prototype lightspeed drive of its own. Amidst great ceremony, all three ships left Earth and proceded out beyond the asteroid belt to the outer reaches of the solar system and, from there, they went to lightspeed.

The operation was flawless. The three ships arrived at the nearest star system, and for a year the scientists performed experiments while the soldiers and naval crewmen conducted offworld combat exercises and constructed a monument to their nations' achievement. Then, at the end of the year of staying in the alien system, all three ships returned to the home system. However, due to the unforeseen problen of time dilation with light speed travel, the exploration vessels returned to a solar system three hundred years on from the one that they had left. And whatsmore, the Western Alliance had fought its war with the Central Coalition, and lost. The entirity of Earth and the solar system was under the control of the Central Commission, a united governmental body dominated by Russian influence. The entire system was one gigantic stalinist police state, and humanity was wasting away from years of oppression and totalitarian rule, the will of the people surpressed, but the people unable to act in response.

Horrified, the three ships attempted to remain undetected while the mission leaders made plans to fight one desparate last stand for democracy.

The Crusade
You assume the role of one of the people aboard these three ships, or of one of the countless billions of people under the thumb of the Central Commission. There are a few basic roles that you can take:

Western Alliance
There are three vessels. The exploratory vessel is the CSSS Columbus, carrying a small retinue of Japanese and Australian marines along with a large number of civilian personnel. Although technically a civilian vessel (CSSS = Civilian Scientific Space Ship), its commander is Yakeshi Minotora, a retired Admiral in the Japanese Navy, and it does carry a few weapons. The two military vessels are the USSS Houston, an American warship, and the CESN Stockholm, a warship of the Combined European Space Navy. Commander of the Houston is Captain Douglas MacCairn and commanding the Stockholm is Contre-amiral Justin, an experienced French naval officer. Although Justin is the senior naval officer present, Minotora is the commander-in-chief of the mission and both Brigadier General Reynolds (commander of the US ground forces aboart the Houston) and Brigadier Edwards (British commander of the combined European ground forces aboard the Stockholm) equal Justin in rank (Contre-amiral being equivelant to commodore). At the start of the thread, these five military officers along with various second-tier commanders and the scientific heads from the Columbus are holding a council of war to decide their next move. MacCairn and Reynolds are pushing to split forces in order that the Russians cannot counter them all at once whilst Minotora and Justin advocate keeping the forces together. Edwards favours neither option. The scientists seem to have gathered that this is now a military operation and are largely keeping quiet.

You can fulfill several basic roles:

Soldier: Military space warships are more like transports than actual warships; their main weapon is the troops that they carry. Despite the two military vessels accompanying the exploratory ship having been advanced ships with more emphasis on firepower, they still carried a lot of troops on them. Each has a full company of marines and a brigade of infantry complete with armor and artillery support.

Naval Personel: The Houston has a crew of 234 men and officers, while the Stockholm, the slightly larger of the two, has 280. These include eveything from gunners to logistical personnel to fighter pilots. The number excludes soldiers and marines. I'd advise either fighter pilot or a senior lieutenant rank. Fighters in this thread are very long range (capable of striking a distance roughly equating to that from Earth to Mars), and multi-purpose, able to fit bombs or anti fighter missiles as the situation demands. All are two-man fighters. Most of the weaponry carried by the two warships is missile weaponry, designed for long-range use, though each also carries a number of laser batteries.

[i]Espionage/Special Ops:{/i] The Houston carries a small number of WACIA (Western Alliance Combined Intelligence Agency) agents, giving the small force an espionage contingent, while the Stockholm carries a combined special forces company comprising the most elite troops from the SAS, the German Border Patrol, the French Foreign Legion and the Norwegian 7th Jaegers. Together, this gives the Western Alliance forces some serious potential to cause trouble to the Central Commission. Special Ops soldier or espionage agent would both be interesting.

Scientist: For the pacifists among you, there's all ways this option. The 300-or-so scientists aboard the Columbus now find themselves thrown unexpectedly into the forefront of a desparate armed struggle, and have no idea what will happen to them. Neither do I, for that matter, so I can't tell whether or not this role would be any good. I dare say I'd be able to think of something, though.

The Free Nations
The Central Commission, located conveniantly in Moscow, rules all most the entire solar system. Only a hundful of nations remain free from its control. these being India (which narrowly avoided occupation at the end of the Third War after a desparate defensive action that involved conscripting almost thirty million troops), China (which was the only superpower to remain separate from the power block struggle, and then, looking for allies, 'persuaded' a victorious but nethertheless weakened Central Coalition that it would be in their interests not to occupy India) and the nations of south east Asia (protected from the Central Commission by being beneath the Sino-Indian nuclear umbrella). Both India and China are heavily militarised, but being outproduced, and are rapidly running out of resources since they have no ability to extend any form of control to the rest of the solar system.

Soldier: India and China combined have a good portion of the Earth's population under their control, and encompass vast areas of land. As such they both have very, very large militaries. Knowing that war with the Central Commission is inevitable, and that they are being outproduced by CC industry, the soldiers of the Sino-Indian Pact are nonetheless prepared to take as many Central Commission conscripts as they can down with them before they see their families taken under the control of the totalitarian masters of the world.

Espionage/Special Ops: The Free Nations have a combined intelligence and counter-intelligence agency that encompasses spies and special ops. Both are naturally, due to the situation, highly experienced in their jobs. However, their profession is also highly dangerous...

Normal person: There are lots of these. Feel free to be one. I will probably manage to think of something for you to do.

The Central Commission
The Central Commission holds almost the entirity of the solar system within its authoritarian iron fist. From the many sub-administrations of the Central Commission, every aspect of the life of every person is collected, recorded and examined. The Central Commission knows all. For three centuries it has been constantly eliminating every single hapless civilian brave enough to try and organise some form of resistance to its rule. Its secret police force employs hundreds of thousands of loyal zealots who take great pleasure in tracking down suspected dissidents and executing them, or sending them to the prison orbitals out beyond the asteroid belt. The Central Commission sees all, knows all and controls all. For those people living outside the Free Nations there is no escape and not the slightest chance of change, untill now...

Soldier: Or space naval crewman/officer. With the Western Alliance crushed, almost a myth from bygone days, and the anticipated evils of space priacy having not emerged, the Central Commission's Space Navy is weak and uses outdated weaponry. The Central Commission still does not have the capability for FTL travel as the Alliance scientists destroyed their research data rather than allow the evil to spread beyond the solar system. In contrast, the constant thread posed by the Free Nations to everything the Commisssion has achieved has kept its army in excellent shape. Possessing technologically advanced equipment and soldiers traeined to be ruthless and deadly, it is the true seat of the Commission's power. I wouldn't reccomend either of these.

Secret Police Officer: The Commission's secret police (the 'Internal Defense Administration') have kept the Commission as the undisputed overlords of the entire solar system for so many years. It's ruthless reputation in finding, tracking and destroying any attempted resistance organisation has made it rightfully feared by every single living human being under the Central Commission's control. Its so-called Free Agents, those given the lisence and authority to conduct investigations as they please into any individuals and carry out actions according to their will in the name of the Commission, are among the most powerful men in existence. If you're going to be CC, I'd reccomend secret police.

Civilian: There are lots of these. Whether or not it'd be interesting to play as one is completely beyond me. Possibly yes, possibly no.

Finally
It's been brought to my attention recently that some people on the forums think that, in threads centreing around war, the subtelties of RPing like character developement get lost. So I'd very much like to see interesting characters who you develope throughout the thread in this one. Feel free to ask me if you're not sure what is and isn't allowed in terms of character creation.

[Fluffie]

Joseph Kresk
Male. Can be traced back to Russian roots, if you dig deep and hard.
Born as son to one damned powerful person in the CC, lived a sheltered and utterly protected world, hardly to not at all knowing the world as it was and is. Pushed by his father into joining the 'Internal Defense Administration'.

Something like that. Just joined, that kind of stuff. Any.... things you want me to tell or anything I should know?

[No Dachi]

Character approved, no things to tell you, yet.

[Zappa Tenderlea]

name: Tom, nicknamed Zappa for DM's sake.
sexe: male
origin: Belgian
occupation: musician, "believer" and soon to be conscript for the Free Nations
Age: 20
History: troughout his life, Tom has held his own freedom, and what he calls basic human rights, in high esteem, as did his parents, who were members of a local resistancefaction in Belgium. at the age of 12, his parents, and their entire faction, were wiped out by the secret police, while he somehow managed to get out with the help of his uncle, who had arranged a transport for himself and his family towards the free nation of China. There, Tom studied deeper into the matters of the pre-war history of all nations, and gained quite a lot of friends. Slowly, his political ideals and theories started to resurface, and in loving memory of his parents, Tom started roaming across the free nations, together with some of his friends, and did his best to keep the free spirit alive trough his music and words. He secretly still believed that the "aliens" he used to love reading about were reall, and watching our solarsystem, ready to wipe out the entire human race when they deemed then unworthy, and hazardous for the planets. He knew that he had to keep the free nations' spirit alive, and had to give it his all to keep them fighting, for once the final oposition was gone, mankind would be destroyed, and the earth would be terraformed. at least, that is what he believed, and that is what he kept secret, for if that would spread, ... well... let's just say that Tom believed in the good of people, but not in the good of the mob.

hope this is alright, tried creating a non-combat oriented char, tried implementing some depth, but due to my current state of eagerness to turn down the computer, get in the car, and visit the girl, I might have slightly buggered it up...

[flapjack]

Name: Remy redert (remmon)
age:
occupation: special operations, SAS member
appearance: soon to come
History: to be worked out

[Bakan]

I'm interested... at work so can't make character ATM

[No Dachi]

Zappa/FJ
Both fine.

Bakan
Fine, no rush.

[Mad cat]

as usual, very cool story. and if he stops dming pummle him with pms

Name:Nicholai Grestniev (Nick)
Sex: male
Age: 23
Occupation: im thinkin normal person (so i can instigate a rebelion) but maby not
Appearance:Almost always wears his well used great coat and heavy boots. when visible his hair is et black and rather unruly he is 6' 7" tall and wheighs 221 lbs he is heavily built and rather large but has an uncanny ability to go unnoticed
History: Nicholai grew up in a relativly privaliged russian family considering that his father was not in the military or in politics. his familly was split apart when his father was put under suspicion of treason. ever since Nicholai has held a deep dislike for the current government

[No Dachi]

MC
That's a bit too active. If you had been doing that, the Secret Police would be now have tracked you down and destroyed you. You can still have the history, but you can just be harbouring a grudge against the Commission rather than actively organising resistance against it. Good idea for the history, actually.

[Fluffie]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

MC
If you had been doing that, the Secret Police would be now have tracked you down and destroyed you.

That'd be me. Hi!

[No Dachi]

Originally Posted by Fluffie

That'd be me. Hi!

Hi! Looks like you might be fighting the same oppressive fight as IB. As soon as he stops trying to pick holes in my storyline anyway...

No, wait, he's chickening out. Guess you're on your own again, then

[Richpur]

Would be interested but don't think it's worth the effort of setting up a character I'll never get to use, sorry.

[No Dachi]

Originally Posted by Richpur

Would be interested but don't think it's worth the effort of setting up a character I'll never get to use, sorry.

Ho, ho, ho. Yes, you're all really killing me with your "So this is your last thread, then?" comments.

It was funny the first three times, now it's just getting repetitive.

[Mad cat]

runs away from the fluffie police

edited origonal post i could easilly place myself in the military giving me access to weapons etc. hmmm

[Richpur]

Repetitive behaviour is why these comments are being made. You start threads, you just don't have the perseverance to stick around and actually run them though. If you were really going to make an effort to run a thread there’s a perfectly good one already going. If you’d put half the effort you put into making up this thread into dming that one there wouldn’t be a problem.

If you don’t like hearing comments like that then don’t make them justified.

[Zappa Tenderlea]

if you want to give comments, prove you're better first.

[No Dachi]

Originally Posted by Richpur

Repetitive behaviour is why these comments are being made. You start threads, you just don't have the perseverance to stick around and actually run them though. If you were really going to make an effort to run a thread there’s a perfectly good one already going. If you’d put half the effort you put into making up this thread into dming that one there wouldn’t be a problem.

If you don’t like hearing comments like that then don’t make them justified.

If you want to make comments like these, keep them to PMs and stop clogging up my thread?

[Inspectre]

/ooc We all know what's coming, but I'll post anyways for appearances sake. ooc/

Name: Jake Tremain
Alligence: Western Alliance
Class: Special Ops
Nationality: American

And yes, they made an exception for him in their little Euro-group. (preferably so he can do all of the "suicide" missions. )

And yes Richpur, do piss off unless you'd care to prove your statements. Only I, by virtue of my long-lasting threads, am allowed to badger ND in that way.

[No Dachi]

Originally Posted by Inspectre

Only I, by virtue of my long-lasting thread, am allowed to badger ND in that way.

Fixed.

Like I said though, this should be kept between me and Rich in PM.

[flapjack]

is this dead already?

[No Dachi]

Originally Posted by flapjack

is this dead already?

I'm waiting for Bakan to post his character.

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

I'm waiting for Bakan to post his character.

CRAPICUS!!!

Ummm.... to much on my plate ATM

[No Dachi]

So you're backing out?

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

So you're backing out?

for now yes

[Disrupter]

Yo um can i join or would you like to settle this? no offence to neone

Name: Duke Dunsfield
sex: male
age:19
profession: fighter pilot
History: After graduating colleage, went on to join the Western Alliance Air Force. After 3 years of training and completeing over 2,000 hours flying time, volunteered for the mission. In the academy, was recognized as being one of the best figther pilots, beating everyone in his class including professors, despite his blatent disregaurd for his life when it came to the mission.

hope this is ok tell me how to fix

[Planetkiller II]

Name: Peter 'PK' King
Alligance: Western Alliance
Class: Special Ops
Origin: British

can't be bothered with a history, it wouldn't be that good, so I'll make it up as I go along.

[Phang]

Name: Mikhail Üblier [Lesner Dorsën]
Location: London, Central Commision
Age: 26
Job: Wire-based Data Analyst [Rebel Cell Co-ordinator]
Faction: Central Commission [The Freedom Front]
Appearance: Dressed in fairly plain civilian clothes, with a large black overcoat. He has the look of someone on the edge, and his eyes portray a manic gleam. His fingers seem to tense up,as if to hold a gun, every so often. He does not seem entirely conscious of this, but then, he doesn't seem very conscious of anything.
Background:

And the rain came down.



The sound of heavy machinegun fire perforated the night, and the flash of bullets leaving their chambers illuminated it. From all around Lesner Dorsën came sounds. Vile sounds, sounds that resonated within the core beast that man contained within. The shimmering sound of huge searchlights, turning rain above into steam. The furious crescendo of the heavens above, arcs of lightning trailing great crashes of thunder. The noise of the desperate, running feet in hard-soled boots, the sound of screaming, the sounds...the sounds of death.



Another noise added the fray. A gunship or several, engines reverberating angrily. More men, but not for him. The Securitat had them pinned down and forced back, and over his headset he had heard only bad reports of the other fronts. This was a losing battle; retreat would lead only into more police troops. Overhead, the roar of the gunship intensified and was joined by another, gut-wrenching sound. The vast banks of the repeater cannons, sequencing and firing. Along the line, he saw the explosions occur, and with a horrible finality saw them coming towards him.



*beep beep*



He found his feet; he ran and hurled himself through the window of a ruined building, the intense heat of a blister grenade burning away his shoes and scorching his feet. Hauling himself up with a piece of the debris, he looked through the hole where the window had been, He saw his former position, and there was Carl, lying on his back, blood slowly falling from his mouth, his eyes staring endlessly to the sky. And then...his head lolled, and Lesner could see that on the other side of his face was naught but black ash. He shuddered. And he saw the gunship bearing down on his position. He saw the battery light up as it focused on the building…



*beep beep*



Slowly, Lesner became aware of the light around him, the low drone of a Wire terminal replacing the vivid whine of pitched combat. With no small effort, his eyes flickered open.



*beep beep*



Lesner sighed, shook himself, and hauled himself up. He looked at the terminal and saw the “Incoming Transcoded Message” alert screen. Groggily, he pulled himself over to the touchpad, and pulled on a headset.





*beep be-*



“Hello?”



“Lesner, hi. It’s me. I need to-“



Goddamnit. Marshaw. He always had some useful piece of trivia you needed to know, and the HAB lifestyle left him blissfully oblivious to the schedules of others.



“You don’t need to do sh*t, man. It’s…good Christ, it’s 3am. Whatever it was can wait. I have work, you know.”



“Don’t play dumbf*ck with me Lesner. You know I wouldn’t be calling at this hour unless it was big. Goddamn it, it’s encrypted to Layer 17 and the Broadcast band status is below .01. Do you know how hard it was to set that up without it being seen?”



“Okay, okay, alright. Now what the hell was so important you saw fit to go all secret agent with your god damn transmissions?”



“A ship.”



Lesner sighed angrily through his teeth. Marshaw Togrin was a real buff on Commission ships – A useful trait for one working in the resistance, admittedly, but a real pain in the ass when he called you friend.



“If this is another-“



“Three ships, at the edge of the system. I only picked up on them by accident and they were in my sector. Incoming, not outgoing, and no ship has left the outer reaches in the last 4 years. I’ve checked, I know. I can tell you a little more, too. Triquadrypha traces in their wake. Lightspeed. Three lightspeed ships. There haven’t been any lightspeed experiments in-“



“Three hundred and seven years.” Finished Lesner hollowly. He pulled a small book from the shelf next to his home terminal – “Considerations on the spectroscopic findings of distant star systems, by Maria Dorsën”. “My great-great-great-great…-great-aunt was one of the people on board the survey ship.”



“For real?”



“For real. Are you absolutely sure it was three ships with lightspeed?”



“Positive. I swear to you, it could only have been-“



“The Columbus, the Stockholm and the Houston. Right. This was worth waking up for.”



“Shall I call the others?”



“You’ve done enough for tonight, Marshaw. I’ll do it. In a few hours. For now…well, the lightspeed missions worked, we have new hope for our cause, and all is f*cking right with the world.”



“About what I thought you’d say. Have fun, Les. I gotta go.”



And Lesner Dorsën sat back in his chair and sighed. For once, Marshaw had brought joy in his Wirecasts. No longer were members slipping and being captured, this was a new dawn for the resistance. The pinnacle of the old world had descended upon them, and... it was bliss. But, it was important bliss, and as all important things do, it required a lot of effort RIGHT NOW.



“Jonathan, it’s me, Les. Don’t bitch, this is far too f*cking important. We’re secure here. Now listen…”



Three hours passed, and as the last message window closed, Lesner looked at his completed list of the resistance members. Behind him, he heard a creak, and he saw his wife Laura.



Laura had left her home in the slums of Kraschjeck without trace, in order to come and live with Lesner. So far as the state new, or at least purported to know, she was dead. But Laura loved the oppressors. She loved them with all her heart, all her being, all her soul. When she saw a propaganda Wirecast, she would cheer with her whole, she would shriek tears of ecstasy from her sparkling blue eyes.



And she’d seen the list.



Her eyes – those lovely, deep eyes - widened, and in a smooth motion Lesner drew a short pistol from his desk and planted a bullet in her forehead. In her last seconds of life, she looked at her husband in fear and surprise. She mouthed the word “Why?” and her body fell to the floor with a dull thud.



Les put the gun back into its cubbyhole, and very slowly, fell from his chair. He crawled across the room to where Laura’s body lay, and sobbed into her hair; tears of rage, and sorrow, and hatred, and all the things wrong with the world.



The Commission would pay for what they’d made him do to Laura. For what THEY had done to Laura. They’d pay. They’d all f*cking pay. When that f*cking ship got here they’d see. Lesner didn’t quite have a plan yet, but he knew this much: those ships would make it all right, and the resistance – HIS resistance, God damn it all, they were HIS men and they always would be, no matter what any of those motherf*ckers thought – would usher them in, usher in the new age. And if they didn’t, they would die to a man in the effort. This world was going to be his and if it wasn’t it was going to burn. Laura would forgive him, once it all turned out right. He knew it.



He grabbed his coat, blanked his wire terminal, and pulled the safe out from below his bed. He shot the lock off and removed the contents – a good three thousand credits. He looked once more at Laura, longing in his eyes, before heading for the door. As he did, he shot the light terminal. He saw the filaments fly, and set light to the bed, the curtains, everything. The place would be torched in no time, maybe the whole building. He chuckled softly as he left, heading for the nearest payWire. He’d send a message to Johan down in Kentucky Valley; maybe he’d receive it before Lesner arrived. Either way worked.



Meanwhile, the wire buzzed.



Johan, this is Marshaw. The subject has been fed the bait. He torched the house, and as expected he’s heading your way. I think he actually believes some of that lightspeed bullsh*t. But be careful, he shot Laura – now that we’ve lost an agent to this man, it’s worth paying attention if he seems pretty damn crazy. But we have to find out what he knows; he didn’t go around trying to start an armed uprising without some prior motive, and we don’t know who he’s spoken to without our knowing – there could be any number of people in this cell.

Be safe, friend.

For The Greater Glory Of The Central Commission

[No Dachi]

Disrupter
Character looks fine.

PK
Character approved, rolling history is fine.

Phang
Character approved, though like I said the proverbial **** is going to hit the fan pretty quickly.

[Disrupter]

More history for interestingness's sake.

Between colleage and joining the air force, Duke designed weaponry for the Western Alliance. He thought he hit it big when he invented the Disrupter Cannon, which when it hit its target, (which was a rough 76% of the time) caused all the atoms in it to explode away from each other at the speed of light which, since lightspeed was involved, caused the space-time continume to fluxuate, which resulted in a gap of "blank" time when time acctually stopped for about a second.

This weapon was so awesomly powerful that during its tests at the highest security WA base it had a serious malfuntion. The cannon haddn't been fitted with it critical Concentrated Blast Array and the beams from the cannon hit everything in range, which is about 20 sqaure miles. Everything and everyone, including the cannon, was destroyed in the blink of an eye. The base was destroyed and half the town around it was gone as well as some 20 communter jets overhead.

After narrowly avoiding a huge lawsuit and trial, Duke was let off after pointing out his clear warnings about the CBA needing to be attached. It resulted in the military receiving the blame due to human carelessness and error. This is also rumored to be what began the research into the FTL engines.

After this "minor" setback, Duke quit his job as designor of weapons and joined the Air Force where he was affectionatly dubbed with the nickname "Disrupter".

[Crazyboy]

Name: Richard "Crazyboy" Sharpe
Age: 26
Rank: Sergeant
Class: Royal Marine Commandos
Nationality: British

[No Dachi]

Disrupter
Afraid the cannon thing is unsuitable and must be eliminated. Leave the technology stuff and the details of the universe to me, and create characters along those constraints. The first part of the history was fine though.

[b[]Crazy[/b]
Fine, history?

All
I may start this tomorrow or the day after or the day after etc etc etc. atm I'm too tired.

[Fluffie]

Anything think we should start placing bets on when this all ends?

(Just mocking you, my dear.)

[flapjack]

i'd say, by the end of the month?, which is in 7 days.

Please, feel free to prove me wrong and give me a good spanking, but do know i will laugh very hard if it doesn't make it till the first of march

[Zappa Tenderlea]

could you please keep this mockery out of the thread? annoy him over msn, like me, and don't clogg up the thread

*this post will selfdestruct in 24 hours, give or take...*

[No Dachi]

Zappa is right, listen to Zappa

[Disrupter]

occ Um indeed the cannon has been destroyed and i had no intention of bringing it back. It was more of an "Excuse" to link Duke to Disrupter. I understand the whole your-god-and-i-am-dirt concept. Btw the army banned anything resembling that at least unless you say so.

[No Dachi]

It's unsuitable and must be eliminated for reasons relating to the thread's universe. It's all projectile rifles and missiles so I can't have energy cannons anywhere in it, even if they're failed experiments.

[Disrupter]

Oh ok then....... disreguard all crap about the cannon.

THE CANNON NEVER EXISTED! YOU CAN ALL GO BACK TO YOUR HOMES NOW! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! IT ONLY EXISTS IN ALTERNATE THREADS. (all of the above is occ btw )

[No Dachi]

Excellent.

*ND goes back to his house, only to remember that he was already at home...*

[Fluffie]

Originally Posted by Disrupter

Oh ok then....... disreguard all crap about the cannon.

THE CANNON NEVER EXISTED! YOU CAN ALL GO BACK TO YOUR HOMES NOW! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! IT ONLY EXISTS IN ALTERNATE THREADS. (all of the above is occ btw )

ooc, right?
wooo

[Disrupter]

ooc/ yes now nough said ND plz start DMing. Im getting bored, since i have no alternative life. (well i do but it sucks and only on the weekends does it go from "suck" to "mindless entertaining sitcom wannabe")

[No Dachi]

You're not going to turn into one of these irritating Flapjack types who says things like 'I take it this thread is dead then' when I don't post in it for a day or so, as though you think I don't have anything better to do than post on these forums, are you? I wouldn't like that...

[flapjack]

I only said that after a whole week of nobody posting, you, you, you, no dachi.

and right now, i things that are better to do then posting here, like playing tron 2.0, now where did i put that disc?

[Disrupter]

ooc/ I think for now i shall leave ND alone and stop annoying him and invest in this so called "life"

anyone know where i can buy one?

[Mad cat]

waits for thread to start

[No Dachi]

Originally Posted by Mad cat

waits for thread to start

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111111222222222222232

*Dachi's head turns bright red before exploding in a shower of blood and grey matter*

[Phang]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111111222222222222232

*Dachi's head turns bright red before exploding in a shower of blood and grey matter*

not so much of the grey matter in your case though

[Fluffie]

Originally Posted by Disrupter

ooc/ I think for now i shall leave ND alone and stop annoying him and invest in this so called "life"

anyone know where i can buy one?

i've got some spare. how much you offering?

[No Dachi]

Note
On request I've added 120 troops to the Stockholm. The Stockholm now carries 60 (British) Royal Marines and 60 Royal Dutch Marines.

[No Dachi]

The Crusade

Chapter 1: War Drums
Bertrand Gascon looked on apprehensively as the military men continued to pitch themselves against eachother. Yakeshi and Contre-Amiral Justin continued to support keeping the three ships together as one force, while Brigadier General Reynolds and Captain MacCairn both countenanced splitting up the ships to wreak more damage over a wide area, and make themselves more difficult to counter. Between them, these four men were doing all of the talking. Remaining isolated off to one side of them were the four scientists; Arthur Mannings, the Senior Biologist and thus least important of the four, as there were very few biologists on the mission; Adrian Driscol, the Head Researcher and senior scientist on the expedition; Elanor Riley, the Senior Medic, who was argueably more important than Drisxol; and lastly Bertrand himself, Senior Astrophycisist. Bertrand Gascon who had predicted the time dilation effect, according to some centuries-old theory, and been ridiculed by the younger phycisists. Bertrand allowed himself a weary sigh; he wished now that he had been wrong. The ninth and final member of the War Council was Brigadier Edwards, the esteemed and, for his rank, rather young British Brigadier who had earned his position and reputation leading the fight against the Saudi Nationalist Rebels two years before the expedition had left. The man had remained curiously silent throughout the entire council, as though he were preoccupied with his own thoughts. He seemed blissfully unaware of the fact that it would of course be him who decided the expeditionary force's approach to the task at hand. All four civilians in the council had correctly realised that this was a military desicion, and had each decided separately that they would go along with the majority of the five soldiers among them. With the first four soldiers divided evenly between the options, it would indeed be Edwards' desicion that swayed the scientists' vote and won the desicion...

"I'm telling you like I've told you a thousand times," Reynolds began with a needless exagerration that made Gascon dislike him somewhat, "this 'Central Commission' has got all the advantages. They're got enough ships to sweep us out of the skies like moths. There's no way we can survive as a group, we'll be more detectable and more easily attacked. We - have - to - split - up!" Gascon noted that all four men except for Yakeshi were now talkng with raised voices and growing increasingly angry.

"And I'm telling you for the thousandth time that this will only serve to weaken our position further!" Snapped Justin in response. He spoke English perfectly, almost without any French accent whatsoever. "We can fight more effectively as a group than on our own. We will have more firepower as a group than we will alone. We have more men as a group than we do alone, more supplies, more personnel, more everything! It's madness to split up!"

"Sir, you're forgetting that our ships are designed to operate as single units and not in fleets or squadrons," MacCairn said, choosing this moment to interrupt the Contre-Amiral's rant. "We won't reduce the fighting effectiveness of the Stockholm or the Houston at all by splitting them. And the Columbus isn't anything but a floating target. If the Central Commission's fleet attacks us in a group, there'll be nothing we can do to prevent the Columbus taking nukea and then getting annihalated - and that'll cause enormous loss of life. It's better that the warships draw attention to themselves and the Columbus lies low somewhere out beyond the normal shipping lanes." Gascon's respect for the young Captain increased further. Of all the vocal military officers, Gascon was finding MacCairn's arguements the most convincing.

"I agree. If we stay in a group they'll be able to attack us with their full forces and we'll have no way of protecting the Columbus, not with just two warships," All eyes turned to Edwards. This was the first time he had spoken. Gascon tried to keep the relief he felt from becoming visible. Now that the two Americans had convinced Edwards that their proposed course of action was correct and proper, the debate was over. Yakeshi and Justin both knew it. Gascon could see it on their faces. Yakeshi was the next one to speak.

"Very well then. The majority of the Heads of Mission have spoken, and their desicion is to split our forces. This shall be done immediately. There is nothing left to do except to choose the target of our two Warships. This is purely a matter for the military element of the expedition, and as such the presence of our scientist delegates is no longer required. Thank you, gentlemen and lady." The elderly ex-Admiral said, clearly dedicated to carrying out his duty to the utmost, despite it being against his preferred method. Gascon rose from his seat and walked quickly from the room...

---

I'll post the start of your leik mission things tomorrow leik. In the mean time feel free to post what your character is doing. For reference all you soldiers on the two warships don't get plush, cosy quarters, just temporary bunks assembled in the cargo holds.