Masters of Andromeda IV (New Horizons - Out of the Ashes)

[Lady Hawk]

Roll Call - Mission 2c

1 - Bakan
2 - Hewitt
3 - Darkling
4 - Inspectre

[Lady Hawk]

mission parameters tomorrow

[Lady Hawk]

heh heh heh

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Bakan

Officially 2C for me as well

Post Battle Stuff as well

• Hail friendly ships, offering repair services, and limited number of quantum torpedo reloads in exchange for technology/specs/money.

Reply: "Well I don't have any spare creds or what have you but I do have 11000 tonnes of the finest liquor you'll ever taste..."

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by Hewitt

Reply: "Well I don't have any spare creds or what have you but I do have 11000 tonnes of the finest liquor you'll ever taste..."

"1000 tons of the liquor for 25 Quantum Torpedoes."

[No Dachi]

I'll agree to open up the ND Squadron Recreation Boat to all of you barbarian Geijinn on tuesdays in return for 10 Quantum Torps

[J-Kama-Ka-C]

*Kama stretched back in the groovey command chair, producing an impressive looking nail file from some manner of accessory depository of infinite depth, bag thing, she proceeds to file her claws.

Outside, the Outlaw Wake was partolling along the port side of the World Ship's flank, directly to their aft, a new ship in Commander Kama's fleet, a Defence Cruiser dubbed "Horus", it's broad black hull with streaks of red marking the thrusters, contrasted the paler blue of the Kip-GP. Covering the top and bottom, which a fresh refit, the El Dorado and Shangr'la flaunted their new look with pride, the Attack Destroyers golden yellow hulls recently coated.

"Gilliam, syncronise with Horus and the onboard computer, rely sensor sweeps on maximum range, see if you can spot any signs of anyone else, out here, in the middle of no where... cheh, I keep telling folks stunt like this would never happen with a sub ether drive."


Horus
- Defence Cruiser

40 Shield
Vorlon Shields (10)
10x Heavy Shields (30)

20 Turret
Galting Phaser IX (20)
AFD II (N/A)
AMD II (N/A)

24 External
10x Kip Valkyrie Fighter (20)
10x Light Missile Launcher (10)
Sensor Array (1)
Lateral Sensor Array (3)
Deflector Dish (1)

24 Additional
Phased Colapsioum Hull Armour x2 (N/A)
ADCT (N/A)
Sensor Mounts (2)
External Mounts (11)
Advanced AI Ships Computer (1)
Advanced AI Ships Computer Upgrade (1)
Advanced Tactics Computer (1)
Advanced Tactics Computer Upgrade (1)
Advanced Engineering Bay (2)
1x Impulse Drive (1)
2x Trans-Warp Drive (2)
2x Cold Fusion Drive (2)

5000 tonnes cargo hold
Anti-Matter Drive


El Dorado, Shangri'la
- Attack Destroyer

10 Shield Mount
Vorlon Shields (10)

24 Turret
6x Phaser V (24)

8 External
4x Cluster Missile Launcher (4)
2x Heavy Missile Launcher (2)
2x Cruise Missile Launcher (2)

12 Additional
Heavy Armour Plating (1)
Phaser Five Additional (6)
Advanced AI Ships Computer (1)
Advanced Tactics Computer (1)
Advavced Engineering Bay (2)
Trans Warp Drive (1)

1050 tonnes hold
Anti-Matter Drive
</Shameless Stat flaunting>

[Lady Hawk]

Roll Call - Mission 2a

1 - Blake
2 - J-Kama-Ka-C
3 - Fluff
4 - Urquan

DM Time to Mission End - 9

BATTLE STATIONS

3 x Cruiser - Class Unknown
5000 tonnes cargo hold

Shields (10):
2 Lava Shields (4)
Meta-Phasic Shields (6)

Weaponry (20+12=32):
Reflex Claw Cannon (10)
4 Claw Cannons (12)
4 Pulsed Spike Cannons (8)

External (24):
4 Stomper Missile Launchers (8)
2 Magma Missile Launchers (4)

24 Neptune Class Fighters (12)

Additional (24):
12 Weaponry Mounts (12)
1 Drive/Engine Mount (1)

Heavy Deutrium Armoured Hull (1)
Thick Hide Hull (1)

Advanced AI Ship’s Computer (1)
Advanced Engineering Bay (2)
Advanced Targetting Computer (1)
Advanced Tactics Computer Upgrade (1)

Lateral Sensor Array (4)

Drives/Engines (1+1=2):
Reflex Magma Furnace Drive (1)
Subspace Generator (1)


12 x Battle Frigate Leader - Unknown Class
150 tonnes hold

Shields (4):
2 Phase Shields (4)

Weaponry (10):
2 Pulsed Spike Cannons (4)
2 Claw Cannons (6)

External (6):
12 Raptor Light Fighters (4)
2 Fusion Missile Launchers (2)

Additional (6):
1 Drive/Engine Mount (1)

Heavy Deutrium Armoured Hull (1)
Thick Hide Hull (1)
Advanced Engineering Bay (2)
Advanced Targetting Computer (1)

Drives/Engines (1+1=2):
Reflex Magma Furnace Drive (1)
Subspace Generator (1)

SO - Scans indicate ships as above sir

FAGD - they do not match any known configuration

No1 - Comms any messages

Comms - no sir

FAGD - Battle stations launch all fighters, we may as well be prepared

No1 - aye ma'aam

FAGD - Comms send a message to all captains with us to be on their gaurd as it seems these ships are hostile

SO - they are closing at battle speed - weapons charged and shields raised and boosting sir

WC - fighters launched ma'am

FC - all ships in formation

FAGD - lets hope they are not really hostile....................................

[Lady Hawk]

Roll Call - Mission 2b

1 - Acid-K
2 - No Dachi
3 - Planetkiller

note this is the most dangerous mission

Mission 2b - Scout Star System 1

you will have used 80% of your fuel

DM time to mission completion 6 turns

Location 4.5 light years away

Star System with 10 planets and 2 suns


Previous

FAGD - Well Capts you have chosen the nearest of the 2 star systems, we cannot give you much information.

However no matter what your own hidden agendas are, you only have one mission. This is simple, you must just only scout the star system, if their are any enemy DO NOT engage unless you are engaged first.

The world ships have damaged drives and also we do not have enough resources to continue with the mission - so we need to find a star system that is mineral rich so we can replenish our supplies

You have your orders

Good luck!


Time = Present

Your ships emerge from FTL space in a loose formation

Your ships are on Passive Scan at the moment -

Scans =

STAR SYSTEM

2 Suns

1st Sun - RED GIANT

2nd Sun - Yellow Dwarf

Anomalies present - Gravity Wells that can damage ships hulls and systems if hit (Navigation -75)

Planet I - Nearest the suns - No moons - small desert planet - meen temp is 210 degress large deposits of liquid metals of all types - MINERAL RICH

Planet II - Nearest Red giant - 2 Moons - Barren Rock world - but their are signs of a High Tech Civilisation looks like the cities were made from crystal - planet looks like it has been bombarded from space/orbit in some war

Planet III - Water World - 3 moons - again similar to planet II - looks like was devastated from orbit by bombardement - again ruins of Crystal Cities - looks like this world was the Capitol and also provided vast food stores

Planet IV - 2 moons - Terran Like - this world has little in the way of life and again shows vast craters from orbital bombardment - scans indicate that this could have happend some centuries ago - time span unknown - this planet was a Food Supplier, Ore Mining

Planet V - Jungle Planet Oxygen Rich - 5 moons - This world has 3 land masses coverd by vast jungles and mountains - no signs of damage can be seen, but again Crystal Ruins can be see. Scans indicate that the primary life form is some kind of Cat like people, who now live in a very low tech society (possible survivors from the War?) - Food Supplier

Planet VI - Desert World - No moons - again like the other planets massive signs of damage seem to indicate that this was a Manufacturing world again the structures seem to be Crystaline in form, also the southeren land mass shows signs of vast quarries and mines Manufacture, Ore Mining - MINERAL RICH

Planet VII - Gas Giant - 16 moons - size of Uranus

Planet VIII - Gas Giant - no moons - twice the size of Jupiter

Planet IX - 22 Moons - Size of Neptune - Lots of ships hulks of an unkown design show that a vast battle was fought here.

note to Acid K
these ships match old designs from 300 years ago - They are SHRAAN Navy ships and the others match designs for at least 3 C'raask Hive Ships (Command Carrier Sized)

Planet X - Gas Giant size of Saturn with 123 rings from north pole to south pole - 62 moons - 1 of which has an earth like atmosphere and plant life

Passive scans show no ships.......................................

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Bakan

"1000 tons of the liquor for 25 Quantum Torpedoes."

"Done and done."

*Begins loading up the shuttles.*

[Lady Hawk]

Roll Call - Mission 2c

1 - Bakan
2 - Hewitt
3 - Darkling
4 - Inspectre

Mission 2c - Scout Star System 2

you will have used 90% of your fuel

DM time to mission completion 6 turns

Location 5 light years away

Star System with 12 planets and 1 sun

Mission to scout the star system for possible hostiles or signs of life and also of raw materials and refueling (ie GAS GIANTS)

Previous

FAGD - Well Capts you have chosen the nearest of the 2 star systems, we cannot give you much information.

However no matter what your own hidden agendas are, you only have one mission. This is simple, you must just only scout the star system, if their are any enemy DO NOT engage unless you are engaged first.

The world ships have damaged drives and also we do not have enough resources to continue with the mission - so we need to find a star system that is mineral rich so we can replenish our supplies

You have your orders

Good luck!


Time = Present

Your ships emerge from FTL space

Immediately you hit a problem your FTL Drives and Sublight Drives cease working - you are on thrusters only and your secodary power immediately kicks in - you all still have ships systems.

It seems there is a strange Space Anomaly at this point you have NO IDEA what it is

Passive scans indicate the following

MASSIVE GRAVITY FLUCTUATIONS - POSSIBLE UNKOWN NEUTRON STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Star System

1 Known Sun - Yellow Star (same as earths)

Planet I - Small Barren world - nothing significant - it is too close to the sun and in later years will burn up in it.

Planet II - 2 moons - Venus like with lots of cloud cover - METHANE RICH.

Planet III - Terran Like - coverd by 90% water - Unusual observation it is FRESH WATER SEAS. there are traces of a high tech civilisation. Possile Water life forms could be mermaid/men like.

Planet IV ?????? - Small world - too small - THIS MAY BE THE SOURCE OF TEH GRAVITY - This could be the Neutron Star!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Planet V - Barren Desert World - 6 moons - but with a thin oxeygen/nitrogen atmosphere - could support life - similar to MARS

Planet VI - Ice World - 7 moons - Again can support life but the cold is similar to that in SIBERIA. Traces of a civilisation possible over 2000 centuries old - POSSIBLE STAR LEAGUE!

Planet VII - Gas Giant - 98 moons - Size of Jupiter

Planet VIII - Gas Giant - no moons - 6 times the size of JUPITER

Planet IX - Terran sized planet - no moons - could be the original moon of Planet VIII - Ice world - MINERAL RICH - Dangerous Terrain - Danger Rating - HELL WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Planet X - Gas Giant - Size of Saturn - no moons - but is unique as that it is Black in colour.

Planet XI - Ice world - like pluto - possible large comet that has gatherd other smaller comets over the years and has become world like - inhospitable terrain.

Planet XII - Gas Giant - 108 moons - size of Neptune - with vast seas of Methan and other gasses - makes this world rainbow in effect, has storms of the like that can be seen on Jupiter with the same ferocity.

Scans indicate FTL ships in the system - matches no known ships.

[AcidK]

Cid: Have you found out where we are yet?
SO: Just now sir, those Crystal City ruins match archives to one of our old planets. We are in the New Demai system, the third planet being Demai Kank, Capitol of the Demai a good 300 years ago.
Cid: Demai Kank... The Great Crystal City planet...
SO: Sir, we also have many ship hulks around the nineth planet, many Shraan Navy ships... I've also picked up 3 C'raask Hive vessels...
No1: Be careful, Sector Commander... C'raask are known to hide out in places like this...
Uliya: *light mutter* as well as take places like this over for themselves

*Cid stood up and walked to the holomap, the system clearly shown on his screen, his hands behind his back, displaying the scars of his battles for Kylithium many years ago.*

Cid: Helm, make a jump to the third planet, Demai Kank.
Helm: Yes sir.
Cid: Signal the other commanders that I am heading there. They may follow if they wish, I beleive it is more or less advised.
Comms: Will send a text signal, sir.
Cid: Power up the sheilds, charge all superweapons... I do not want to take risks in C'raask territory.
EO: Sheilds are at 100%, sir.
WO: Powering the Reflex Cannon 10, sir.
FC: All other vessels have acknoleged the orders, sir. Meta-Hellbores and PP7's are charging.

*Cid smiled as he turned to sit back on his new chair, complete with cusions and even a coffee dispenser within arms reach. The Liovanda was obviously very differently to a destroyer or a cruiser bridge, with all the officers spread out in certain areas, unlike the Amodyte when all the officers were bunged into one semi-circle space. Cid now had the communications officers (Wing Commander, Fleet Commander, Communications Officer) to his left, his inner-ship team (Science Officer, Engineering Officer, Weapons Officer) to his right and the Helm, Uliya and Kosaga, Cid's No1, in front of him on a long semi-circle that stretched the front of the bridge. Cid sat on an aisle risen up from the main officer's deck below, the holomap ahead of him as well as a veiwscreen that covered a complete 180 degree veiw, the middle of the screens was also a communications screen only used when the holocomms are not working.*

Cid: Lets make this our base of operations, when we are finished cleaning the place up. I'm not sure if the Demai survived the C'raask Invasion of the Demai front, 300 years back, but I'm sure we can do research on their technology.



-Actions-
Head for Planet III
Power up sheilds
Charge superweapons
PP7 - 3 charge
Reflex Cannon 10 - 3 charge
Plasma Pulse Cannon - 1 charge
Meta-Hellbore Cannon - 2 charge
Inform other Commanders where I'm heading.

[Bakan]

Dramatic Persona
Captain - Incom Morgan
First Officer (No1) - Kyle Carter
AI - Dorothy
Weapons Officer - Hubart Riggs
Science Officer - Tara Dudoc
Helm Officer - Lewis Bean
Engineering Officer - Iris McClain
Communications Officer - Kate Perrin
Chief Medical Officer - Trisha McCoy
Wing Commander - Corran Kline
Marine Commander - Matt McClane
Arms Master Officer - Korben Hoist
Chief Security Officer - John Smith
Morgue Officer (For LH cause I know she will put this officer to good use) - Rebecca I. Peters
Commander of Escort Carrier #1 - Erin Gehnam
Commander of Escort Carrier #2 - Sarah Gehnam

And Now - The Post

*Cursing outload, Lewis Bean danced his hands over the helm, trying to get the Glory under control. The sudden reentry from Slipstream followed by the loss of all engines did not make him a happy camper for obvious reasons. Clutching his command chair's arms as the Glory stabilitized, Incom Morgan turned towards the other officers.*

Incom Morgan: "Iris McClain, where we stand on power? Tara Dudoc, what is causing this disturbance? Kate Perrin, hail the other ships, check on their conditions."

Iris McClain: "Secondary power has kicked in, we still have full systems. However the mains are offline."

Tara Dudoc: "I just completed a passive scan of the sector, Planet IV looks to possibly be the cause of our troubles, looks like it might be a Neutron Star. Also I'm detecting traces of civilizations, ancient civilizations, but they were there. Planet III seems to have a population and is relatively high-tech. Some of the planets have high traces of minerals that we could use."

Dorothy: "I'm detecting possible signs of FTL ships insystem besides our own, however I can't match them to our records."

Incom Morgan: "Tara Dudoc, Iris McClain, I want you two to put your teams on restoring our engines, give me some options on how to get them back. Dorothy, keep a eye open, passive scans for now, I want SOME warning if we get company. Kate Perrin, stay on the comms, point-to-point with the rest of the fleet, work with them to solve our problem here and share our sensor data. Also keep fighters ready for snap-launch, we may need them. Oh yeah, see what the effects of this system would have on our fighters before we launch. Finally, start charging our guns, I want them to be ready if need be, and raise the shields."

Summary

• Put Science Officer and Engineering Officer on getting the engines back up and running, giving all possible options. Utilize EVERY ADCT team to get engines back online.
• Put AI on sensor detail, particulary towards any incoming craft.
• Hail rest of fleet to pool knowledge/resources in-order to get engines working.
• Have fighters ready for launch, also determine effects system will have on fighters.
• Begin charging of all weapons.
  • Gatling Phaser 9 - 3 Posts
  • Reflex Phaser 10 - 3 Posts
• Raise the shields

[Crazyboy]

I'll be joining those on mIssion 2a ta.

[No Dachi]

The doors to the bridge slid open with a barely audible hiss, and Commander No Dachi stepped through, entering the cerebral cortex of his understrength task force. The task force was currently in "down time" mode - the way a Clan warship acted in short pauses between battles of a rapid campaign. No Dachi had ordered it expecting another battle reasonably soon. Noh-Yuna, the Chief of Intelligence, whose job it was to know these things, had agreed, explaining that she anticipated repeated efforts by the Devorans to disrupt the mission, seeing as from the force with which they had attacked Ankaa, it was evident that they had some idea of the importance of the mission to the Federation and the Kipire and their allies. The other four senior intelligence officers on the Yudachi had agreed, as had one of the two aboard the Hatsuhara. One of the senior officers on the Hatsuhara had argued that the Devorans had suffered massive losses in the attack on Ankaa, and would not be able to repeat such an effort for some time, but had nonetheless consented to the task force being kept in down time. No Dachi, having garnered what he thought to be all the useful information he was going to get out of that particular intelligence debate, had ordered the ship to be placed in down time and for all of the intelligence officers to keep in close touch with Naval Strategic High Command for any hint of major Devoran fleet movements toward the convoy. He strongly expected that NSHC would be unwilling to allocate resources toward tracking enemy actions as far away from Harkun as they were now, but nonetheless had thought it worth a try. In down time mode, the warships' crewmen were at ease, but simultaneously alert. The priorities were to get as many crewmen as possible on all ships well-rested so that they would be capable and awake in the next battle, which could come at any time, and to get the ships back up to a full state of repair. Evidence of this was all over the place. No Dachi had seen several large groups of engineers heading down maintenance shafts throughout the corridors on his way to the bridge, and even now could see a technician lying on his side at the front of the room, removing a wall pannel with an electromag screwdriver, no doubt to tinker with the immensely complex mass of computer equipment behind it. Similarly, the bridge was currently running on a skeleton crew so that the various officers that formed its backbone would be able to get some sleep. No such mercy for the Chief of Intelligence or the No1. Tada-noh-Yuna was herself in close conversation with one of the junior coms officers - their superior himself currently asleep - while Imaga Kitsukani, No Dachi's No1, was sat in the command chair, supervising the bridge in its captain's absense. He was slouching forwards away from the seat, and was obviously quite tired. As No Dachi started walking toward the centre of the bridge, he came into view of one of the Marines standing guard beside the entrance.

"Captain on deck!" The man bellowed, snapping to attention in sync with his counterpart on the opposite side of the door. Instantly, the twenty-or-so crewmen still present on the ship stood up from their workstations and turned to salute the Shingen. No Dachi nodded, not stopping but rather speaking as he went.

"At ease, all of you, back to your duties." He said, continueing on toward the command chair. Noh-Yuna resumed her conversation with the coms officer, the technician lowered himself back down onto his side and continued picking his way through the mass of computer components. Kitsukani remained standing, awaiting the Commander's orders to him. The man looked exhausted. He'd been in command for four hours while No Dachi slept, and so it was well past time for him to be relieved. No Dachi nodded, this time directly at him. "Good work, No1, grab yourself some sleep, I'll take over from here on."

"Yes, sir." Replied the No1, saluting thankfully, before walking with visible eagerness toward the door of the bridge. No Dachi heard the two pannels of the door sliding shut as he slumped backwards into the command chair. He looked at the steel deckplates beneath his feet and blinked a few times in quick succession, trying to clear the bleariness from his eyes. Battles were a tiring affair even in this day and age, where a captain did his duty by pressing buttons, and four hours' sleep was not a lot of rest, particularly when he'd beem awake for twelve hours before the battle travelling to Ankaa. He felt a shadow pass over him and, looking up, saw the Chief of Intelligence. She displayed no sign of tiredness whatsoever, though No Dachi new as a fact that she had not slept, and had a clipboard tucked underneath her left arm. Despite the fact that she obviously had something to report, she waited patiently and silently while No Dachi tried to clear his head of the lingering desire for sleep. He looked at the viewscreens at the front of the bridge - all currently linked to display the same panoramic image beamed to them by the flotilla of camera drones surrounding the ship - a vast expanse of dark, lifeless space pinpointed with gleaming stars, and the still-burning hulks of the unlucky vessels of both sides spinning slowly through the void. With some relief, he realised that he'd managed to get his head clear, and presently looked up at noh-Yuna.

"Shosha Tada, I assume you have something to report?" He asked, looking her directly in the eye. She was quite attractive, he realised - he'd stopped looking for such things quite some time ago due to the certainty that his parents would not allow him to marry anyone they had not chosen themselves. And now that Sar Ai, who had been the main influence on his father encouraging him to be less traditional, was gone and indeed disgraced, any hope of choosing his own wife was completely futile. The Chief of Intelligence began speaking a moment later, not breaking eye contact.

"My Lord, our forces weathered out the battle well; repairs to the Yudachi are currently in progress and the Master Engineer informs me that they will be completed within the hour. Crew morale is very high, we sustained only light casualties and achieved great success." She replied, speaking clearly and without any trace of emotion whatsoever in her voice; she sounded thoroughly and utterly disinterested. No Dachi had listened to several intelligence officers speaking under his command over the years and all of them seemed to share this detached way of talking, which had led him to speculate that they were taught it at the Academy. After a few more moments, Yuna won the staring contest, and No Dachi broke the gaze, pretending to try and clear the bleariness from his eyes by blinking a few times in order to mask his defeat. "The junior intelligence officers and several engineers are currently aboard the captured Concordat Battlestar and are analysing the advanced equipment. We will turn the valuable components over to the Fleet Admiral in approximately two hours, sir. Utility ships are stripping the hull armour alloys away as we speak. The entire vessel should be completely scrapped by the end of the day."

"Excellent," He said, nodding, and, fully confident that this was not the last of the information; "was there anything else?"

"Yes sir," she began, taking the clipboard from under her arm and, after quickly checking over the data on it, handing it to the Commander, "High Command has seen it fit to reinforce us and to upgrade our existing vessels. The components listed on the sheet you are now looking at are the upgrades to our present force. Beneath that, you will find data regarding the six new vessels to be placed under your command. They are being redirected here from the Oshima Gorge outpost and will reach us in approximately two minutes. I have already alerted the vessels' commanders to the presence of debris in this sector of the Ankaa system and they have altered their courses accordingly."

No Dachi was speechless. The upgrades transformed the three vessels already under his command into three of the most advanced ships in the entire Imperial Navy, and added six more - though only three of the six were combat vessels. Still, the combat vessels put him half way toward commanding a force he could reasonably refer to as a squadron...and the auxilliary vessels supplemented the force's abilities well. The task force would be recieving an attack cruiser as powerful as, if not superior to, the Yudachi and two of the new advanced Katana Class Destroyers. They'd also be getting a medical frigate, a science ship and one of the new R&R models with its own hydroponics facility - geared up for recreational use, in this instance. No doubt this would further bouy the crew's already high morale.

"Sir?" No Dachi looked up at the direction of this latest voice, and saw one of the junior sensor officers still on duty.

"Lieutenant?"

"Six Imperial Navy vessels are moving in fast toward the system, they will arrive within thirty minutes. Their Exit Co-ordinates will bring them out of subspace just off our starboard bow."

"Excellent. Coms, alert Shosha Yoritomo and the AGB-117F to our incoming new arrivals. Prepare for inbound transmissions from the cruiser, no doubt its commander will be wanting to report in..." He trailed off, absent-mindedly, once agin burying himself in the design readouts.

"Aye sir." Affirmed the junior coms officer that Yuna had been talking to a few moments before. No Dachi waited, wandering who the commander of the cruiser would be. Now that his father had entrenched Lieutenant Commander Yoritomo, a steadfastly traditional old guard officer, he would no doubt be satisfied that a sensibly out-of-date influence would be keeping his reckless new-generation son in order, and would choose the next officer according to ability and ability alone. Hopefully he'd get someone young with an open mind to new techniques and strategies...

"Sir," The junior coms officer spoke again, breaking his line of thought, "I am recieving a hail from the Fast Battle Cruiser Amatsukaze."

"Onscreen." Replied the Commander, earger to see the face of his latest underling. With him expecting such, No Dachi nearly dropped the clipboard onto the floor when Admiral Kojike's face appeared on the Viewscreen. Reflex took over, No Dachi stood up from the command chair and snapped to attention, saluting the Clan's most renowned warrior. The bridge crew did likewise, acting according to protocol. The face of Admiral Kojike turned left and right, surveying the far younger officers on the bridge of the Yudachi, before nodding, though his features remained stern and impassive. Old Iron-Arm Kojike was a man of few words and much action...

"Your new ships have arrived, Commander. I will be staging a short inspection tour of your current vessel. You will have prepared to recieve my retinue within one minute of our Exit. That is all." And, with that, he was gone, the viewscreen reverting to its display of the stars and the station. No Dachi, meanwhile, readied himself for the worst and turned to the Chief of Intelligence.

"Miss Yuna, you're in command of the bridge untill I return." He said, already turning away from her and heading for the door from the bridge.

"Aye sir." She responded, saluting as he went out through the door and into the corridor beyond...

---

Presently, Shingen No Dachi found himself staring at the access door to Airdock 5-B, which would be the Admiral's entry point into the Yudachi. Behind him were assembled both companies of the elite Angel Guard, already stood to attention along with the Commander, a show of force to honour the coming of the highest officer in the entire Clan Military. No Dachi had ordered this as a matter of course, though he was well aware that it would do him no good whatsoever. Admiral Kojike cared not for shows of honour, but for submission to protocol, for discipline and for efficiency. If he found flaw with the Yudachi - which he inevitably would, having as he did a mind to chasten the Shingen for his errors at every turn in an attempt to ensure future success as ruler of the Clan - then no display of honour would stop him from doing so. And so it was that No Dachi wearily designed himself to a series of lectures on why he should be doing something that he was not doing, or why he should not do something that he was doing. He brightened as he remembered the Admiral referring to the visit as "a short inspection tour" - perhaps that meant he would only be stopping off to pass on a message or suchlike before returning to Strategic Naval High Command...

The doors slid open, Admiral Kojike strode into the Yudachi, orbitted by a number of satellite senior Intelligence Officers. He stopped two feet in from the doorway and looked around, doubtless trying to locate some stray tool left out by a careless engineer or some speck of grime on the deckplates missed by the cleaner robots. Fortunatly he found nothing, and presently continued walking up to the Shingen. He began speaking as he went, and No Dachi listened, still standing rigidly to attention.

"Your father," the Admiral began, and it was immediately apparent that Shogun No Dachi had done something that the Admiral had dissapproved of, "has seen fit to bolster the force under your command with three new warships and to supplement your capabilities with three state-of-the-art auxilliary vessels. I do not agree with his position; for you are a Commander, and you have not yet proven yourself worthy of holding the forces appropriate to the rank of Commodore within the Imperial Navy. However, I will respect the desicion of your father, for it is he that forged this dynasty from the steel of his enemies' dying warships and from the flames of anarchy that consumed the rotting corpse of the New Systems Commonwealth. Indeed, your father is a man of such incredible mind that I should respect any desicion he makes. You, on the other hand, My Lord, have accomplished no such feats." He stopped, standing a few feet in front of the Shingen, before nodding. No Dachi took the signal and dropped into an easy position, consoling himself with the fact that the worst of the Admiral's speech was probably now well gone. The Admiral nodded again, this time to the Angel Guard, who themselves dropped into the at ease position, before continuing. "However, it would appear that the time has come for you to prove yourself as worthy of being called your father's son, Commander No Dachi, as you have been saddled with a mission of no small consequence. Your father, I know, will fight the Devorans untill he chokes out the final breath of air from his lungs, and I the same. Whether or not it comes to that is another matter entirely. Your father's scientists have managed to...ah, aquire some rather poweful shielding technology that he believes will be able to protect the homeworlds while you and this fleet of colonists fills out whatever plan he and the Emperor Kama dreamt up. Either way, it is obvious that the fate of the Asanawa Clan now rests, to whatever extent, on your shoulders. I do not know whether you are up to this task, Commander, but your father seems to have faith in you, as do...did...certain other figures within the Clan." -By this, the Admiral undoubtesly referred to Sar Ai. "At any rate, I sincerely hope that you are up to this task." He stopped at this final word, and beckoned one of the intelligence officers over to him. The man complied and, on cue, handed a data pad to the Admiral. Kojike looked over the datapad before handing it to the Shingen. "Within this unit is all the data on your new vessels. After the refits on your existing ships are finished, you will be in command of one of the most advanced squadrons in the entire Imperial Navy. I trust you will put this equipment to good use. You are to keep in close contact with High Command. I will continue to reinforce you as I or your father see fit. That is all. I must return to Harkun at present. We are trying to hold back the main Devoran forces as best we can, but there is only so much we can do against such a massive presence." With this, the Admiral saluted the Shingen and the assembled honour guard, as did the senior intelligence officers, before turning on his heel and walking back through the airlock door, into the hold of the shuttle beyond. No Dachi and the assembled Angels held their own return salute untill the doors closed with a hiss and a mechanic whirring of locking hydrolics.

Outside, one of the camera drones performing a lazy clockwise radial orbit of the Yudachi observed the FTL Scout docked with its mother ship detach from it and, having spun lazily through space for a few moments, power up its main drives. The brilliant white fire of the cold fusion reactors that formed the mainstay of almost all Clan vessels' power generators illuminate the dull grey outer hull of the attack cruiser briefly, before the scout began to pull away from the larger ship, and the light reaching it grew faint and weak. Programmed as it was to track 'items of interest', the camera drone turned its main lens to follow the scout vessel, its trail of plasma exhaust gently fading away behind it, as i turned out and away from the now sizeable fleet of Clan warships, then briefly winked with one last, brilliant display of light and vanished into subspace, bound for Harkun.

---

No Dachi nearly walked into the elevator doors to the bridge, as immersed as he was in the full set of data concerning his new aquisitions. The first thing he had done was check the details on the commanders of the new ships. The cruiser Amatsukaze was commanded by a middle-aged officer, Yoshi Kozaki, a man well-liked by his crew and who apparently kept an open mind to new techniques, which was good. The two lieutenant commanders in charge of the destroyers were both of the new generation of officers, and would hopefully not be too weighed-down by devotion to old guard tactics. The commander of the Medical Frigate was of the intelligence branch, likely having been posted there to get some experience of command before being promoted up to senior rank. The commander of the recreation ship was an elderly officer who had, according to the information in the data pad, once been the captain of a cruiser liner. Having opened the door, he walked onto the bridge, then stopped, suddenly realising that something wasn't right. He tapped the deckplates with his left boot's toe experimentally. At once he reconigsed the curious sensation, one of moving but simultaneously not moving; they were in subspace. Leaving the data pad on the seat of his command chair, he strode up to Tada-noh-Yuna, the Chief of Intelligence, who was standing at the front of the vessel, watching the viewscreen, which was currently showing a stream of seemingly meaningless letters and numbers - a direct sensor feed, which senior intelligence officers were taught to read, at least in part.

"Chusa? What's going on? Why are we in subspace?" He asked, coming to a halt just in front of the viewscreen and turning to face her. She gave a slight start, clearly having been absorbed in the sensor readouts, before catching the Shingen's eye and saluting.

"My Lord, the world ships Jumped to FTL a few moments after Admiral Kojike's ship departed. Fleet Admiral Darkstorm ordered that the guard vessels jump after them. It appears that the Jump was due to malfunctions in the navigational systems of one worldship, caused by battle damage, and that the others Jumped with it." She replied. No Dachi nodded, and she dropped into ease.

"Very well, I'm taking command of the bridge. Once we-" All at once, the viewscreens that had been blank switched to exterior real-colour views, showing stars and void. The sensation of motionless movement ceased, and No Dachi's senses, finely attuned to the workings of a starship from years of service, told him that the Yudachi was now at rest. He turned away from the Chief of Intelligence, instead turning to the Navigator, who was sat next to the Helmsman. "Nav? Where are we? What happened now?" He said, though he could see even as he did so that the Navigator was if anything more confused than he. The man turned in his high-backed seat, looking up at the commander, before answering.

"I do not know, My Lord, the World Ships performed a crash FTL Exit and the AI took us out of subspace automatically at their position." He responded. The confused furrow at his brow told No Dachi that he wanted orders to be getting on with.

"Very well, try to figure out where we are. We'll wait for orders from Fleet Command..." He trailed off, walking back toward the command chair. He picked the data pad up again before sitting down. "Sensors, is the rest of the squadron with us?"

The junior sensors officer on duty tapped a few buttons on his console and paused briefly, taking in the information, before replying. "Aye sir, all four warships and all four auxilliary vessels Exitted with us."

"The commanders of all eight vessels report no ill-effects. They request orders, sir." Said the junior coms officer on duty, taking the initiative. No Dachi added promotion points for her onto the mental chart of bridge officers that he kept.

"Very well," He began, wondering how long it would be untill they got some word of events from Fleet Command, "Coms, sound the crew to general quarters and contact Fleet Command requesting orders. Order the squadron to form up in defensive convoy." Defense convoy meant the carrier and the auxilliary vessels in the middle, with a cruiser and a destroyer on each side of them.

"At once, My Lord," replied the Coms Officer, before entering a short input code into her console. Instantly, alarms throughout the ship blared into life, summoning the crew to ready positions...

---

Some time later...
Once more, No Dachi felt motionless. They were out of subspace yet again, except now the viewscreens showed a star system. A dull but vast red sun, gleaming at its centre and surrounded by a thin corona of light, with a smaller, younger yellow star close by. A gigantic gas giant was clearly visible much closer to them, its vivid blood red atmosphere showing in true colour.

"Sensors?"

"We have Exitted at the target star system as planned, sir. We are lying in its outer reaches. Data from passive scans of the system will be available momentarily. Commander Morgan and Sector Commander Killer have both Exitted slightly further in." Reported the senior sensors officer, now back on the bridge. For a few moments, the room was silent, then: "Passive scan results are in and decoded, My Lord. I am wiring them to a visual display on the main viewscreen." She tapped a series of commands into the console, then looked up expectantly at the viewscreen. Sure enough, moments later, a two-dimensional display of the system appeared, complete with all of the planets and their orbital trajectories. No Dachi tore his eyes away from the fascinating little diagram to look down at the Navigator.

"Nav, program this system into the starmap. Apparently we're in unchartered space since neither the Clan nor the Kipire's databanks seem to know where we are..." He said, trailing off so as to mask his irritation at having no clue whatsoever what to expect.

"Aye sir." The man said in reply, already setting to work. At this point, the Sensor Officer spoke up again.

"My Lord, one more thing. The first of the binary stars appears only to have swollen up to red giant size recently; it has thrown the other star into a somewhat erratic orbit, and the gravitational pulls of the two are causing a number of gravity well anomolies. Sensors indicate that these gravity wells are strong enough to tear our ships apart if we stray into them." She said, looking up at the Shingen.

"Very well. Nav, add a Navigational Hazard marker onto the system peg you just charted. Sensors, paint the gravity wells a bright colour on the viewscreeen display and forward their locations to the Helm and to Coms. Helm, avoid those gravity wells at all costs. Coms, forward those co-ordinates to all of the other vessels and order them to have their helmsmen avoid them as well." He said, and at once the command bridge of the Yudachi burst into active life. Various orderlies walked to and fro between the officers, who were busy going about their own tasks. No Dachi turned his gaze about the room, looking for the cluster of senior intelligence officers and their orbitting satellite junior intelligence officers, and found them gathered around the Sensor Officer's console, obviously having seen something of interest. Curious as to what they were doing, No Dachi caught Tada-noh-Yuna's eye and beckoned her over to the command chair. "Chusa, have you spotted something of interest?" He asked, watching the other senior intelligence officers follow their leader.

"Yes, My Lord," she replied, "there are a large number of ship hulks present in the vicinity of the ninth planet. Evidence of a major battle fought some time ago, My Lord, and the hulls are not characteristic of any race or faction that any of the intelligence officers present have come across before." Now, he thought, that was interesting, and potentially very dangerous. Either those hulks had been drifting for long beyond the Clan's existence, or indeed that of House Andromeda, or they were even further into the unknown than they had previously thought. He nodded twice, slowly, to the intelligence officers.

"Very well. Rack you brains, anything you come up with could be useful." He said, hoping for some form of lead. No Dachi did not like dealing with unknown enemies, he never had, and knew few who did. Meanwhile, he had a bad feeling in his gut about the whole affair. If intelligence knew nothing of their potential opponents and the navigator knew nothing of their position, he was effectively blind to all save for that which was going on right beneath his eyes. He had one last card to play...

"Coms, get me Doctor Yamato from the ACS 442-S on the viewscreen." He said.

"Aye sir," affirmed the Coms Officer, quickly typing out a message into his console, then sending it. Moments later, the main viewscreen switched from a view of the system to a camera view of Doctor Yamato, the Head Researcher aboard the squadron's science vessel. The man's face, wrinkled with age, was split by an amicable smile. He wore spectacles, which was an aesthetic thing rather than anything, for there were far easier ways to correct virtually all sight defects these days.

"My Lord," said the man, inclining his head slightly in the implied-bow that was often used on viewscreens, "is there something that you would require of my team of scientists and I?". Doctor Yamato was an easy-going man in terms of character, but had a reputation for absolute proffessionalism, which is what had caught the eye of the Clan headhunting team that had singled him out as a candidate for service. Asanawa Clan scientists serving with the Imperial Navy got massive salaries in the form of danger pay and hardship pay, and it was seen as one of the more honourable careers one could pursue outside of the military. No Dachi glanced at the system map again before speaking.

"Doctor Yamato, good day to you. Indeed, I do have something for you to do. As you're no doubt aware aboard your vessel, we've been sent to a system that could potentially be rather dangerous. I've got my Helmsman and navigator watching the spatial anaomolies, but I've also got a few questions that will require a good deal of expertise," he said, keeping one eye on the viewscreen and one sign on the bridge crew for signs that one of the officers had noticed a possible cause for concern. He took in a breath before continuing. "Firstly, what kind of material do the worldships actually take as fuel?" He was still amazed that he and the other commanders hadn't been told this in the briefing, but he strongly suspected that the Master Engineer and his counterparts on the other ships would have known anyway.

"The raw material would be hydrogen gas, My Lord," said the doctor immediately. "It will require refining in order for it to be in a state useable by the worldships' engines, but our own labs aboard this vessel are more than capable of doing that now, which will doubtless save the factory ships some time. I'm given to understand that the entire fleet is somewhat lost, so although I am not a military man, I would think it preferable that we leave here as soon as possible." No Dachi was impressed, the doctor knew his stuff, as well as some stuff that wasn't actually his. He nodded.

"Very well, I assume we can gather unrefined hydrogen from at least one of those gas giants?" the commander asked. His knowledge of planet characterists was sparse beyond what he was required to know for his rank and post, but he was dimly aware that almost all gas planets were mainly hydrogen-based and that this hydrogen would inevitably rise into the upper atmosphere, being the lightest of elements.

"Yes, My Lord, it could be harvested easily and in massive quantities simply by trawling an open cargo hold through the upper atmosphere of the giant nearest too us, wherupon this vessel will be able to process, purify and refine at least some of it." replied the doctor.

"Excellent. Secondly and lastly, I don't know if you have already spotted the wrecks near the ninth planet, but as yet we have been unable to indentify them. If you or any of your personnel have any idea, even from some old star legend or something, of where we could be or what race those ships come from, please inform me. We will likely as not begin gathering hydrogen shortly, but regardless of when, I want you to begin refining the gas that we have collected as soon as we start."

"I will ask the crew, My Lord, though I do not know that they will be able to help; we are after all scientists rather than historians. We will begin refining the hydrogen as soon as your ships start collecting."

"Very good," No Dachi replied, nodding, "that is all for now, Doctor Yamato, thank you for your time." He turned to the Coms Officer. "End transmission, Coms."

"Aye sir," affirmed the Coms Officer, and a second later the viewscreen switched to its default exterior view. No Dachi pressed a button on the arm of his command chair, opening the solid-line link to the Engineering Bay.

"Master Engineer reporting, sir, what would you have me do?" The Chief Engineer's voice came across the hidden speakers loud and clear, by the sound of his reply, he had been waiting for contact from the Shingen for some time.

"Fire up the drives, Chief, I want them running on full power. Activate all shields, I want power distributed evenly on all sides, at least untill we know that there is an enemy, and the untill we know which direction he'll be firing at us from." No Dachi ordered, watching the shapes of the gravity wells on the system map - Sensors had painted them an alarm yellow colour. Cleverly, the woman had also somehow managed to get the wells' three-dimensional shapes painted onto the viewscreens' images of the system. No Dachi could see them, from the two massive, looming fields to the clouds of smaller ones clustered together like minefields. He knew, somehow, that those gravity wells were going to be trouble.

"Aye My Lord, I'll get it done," Affirmed the Master Engineer via the radio, "was there anything else, sir?"

"As a matter of fact yes. I know that we've had the Ship's AI upgraded to the point where it's sentient and useful for something other than boosting our systems, but how do I contact it?" Asked the commander, though speaking to the thing and asking its advice would be against his principals...he never had liked putting too much faith in technology, though while serving on a starship that was somewhat inescapable.

"Are my services required, Lord Shingen?" No Dachi jerked bolt upright in his seat, looking around the bridge, trying to see where the voice had come from. He could dimly hear the Chief Engineer chuckling to himself.

"Sounds like you're already aware of how, sir," said the Chief Engineer's voice, "I'll get the ship battle-ready for you, then. Chief Engineer out." The line went dead, leaving No Dachi to talk to a disembodied voice. Apparently the computer had some kind of camera trained on the bridge or somehting, for moments later...

"Would you feel more comfortable if I provided an avatar for you to speak to via one of the smaller viewscreens, Lord Shingen?" Asked the AI.

"Er...yes, yes please," replied No Dachi, having given up trying to find the speakers and assuming them to have been hidden as were most of them. Almost instantly, one of the smaller viewscreens went blank, and then a brilliant sphere of blue light, its edges perfectly clear, came into view. No Dachi immediately looked at the blue sphere, feeling a lot more at ease. Abruptly, a sense of ignorance overtook him once more, and again the AI seemed to notice somehow.

"By default, Lord Shingen, I am programmed to recognise myself as 'Ship'. You may enter a new name by which to refer to me if you so wish.". The voice was deep and reasonably loud, no doubt intended to cut across the background noise of a command bridge in battle.

"No, no," the commander said, sensing that they were wasting time, "Ship will do adequately. Very well then. Ship, I want you to take in the starscape via the camera drones, and use known astronomical features to calculate our position relative to Ankaa, hopefully that will give us some idea of where we are. Once you've done that, scan through the Clan Historical Archive and the Clan Navigational Archive for any mention, however small or seemingly fictional, of points of interest in this sector, especially concerning large fleet engagements in this system or-" he broke off, leaning forward in his seat and squinting at a short note next to the third planet on the starmap, "crystaline city planets...that's all for now."

"At once, Lord Shingen." Replied Ship, and No Dachi saw the edges of the sphere go fuzzy, which presumably meant it was...thinking...or whatever it was the machines did. No doubt an artificial intelligence theorist would be able to tell him, but No Dachi didn't know of one aboard the ship or indeed in the squadron, which was probably for the best. The commander went back to gazing at the starmap. Whatever civilisation had built the crystal city planet evidently wasn't around any more, so he saw no harm in requisitioning some raw materials from the mining planet.

"Coms, contact the AGB-117F. Order it to dock with us and exchange all of its fusion bomb reloads for the XXVIX Army Corps and the CCX Corps. Once they'd abord, order the gunboat to that sixth planet - the desert world. Have the gunboat scan the planet's surface and locate s suitably isolated mine, then deploy its assault shuttles and land with them as close to the mine as in possible. Once down there have Colonal Anesuto's men find the valuable and/or useful stores of ores or alloys or equipment or what have you, then have all available personnel load them onto the assault shuttles. Should have a hundred tonnes of high-quality ore right there. The crew are to stay aboard, though; I might be ordering them out of the system quickly if we get jumped. The commander is to stay in touch." No Dachi chose to order at length so as to leave nothing to chance. He had a bad feeling about the whole mission, but the AGB-117F was FTL-equipped and ought to be able to escape any potential engagement that the squadron proper was not capable to respond to.

"Aye sir," the Coms Officer said, acknowledging the orders even as she relayed them into her console.

"Lieutenant, I want the gun batteries ready to fire, but don't go to Battle Stations quite yet, just have the main batteries charged and the defensive batteries running," No Dachi ordered, now turning to face the Master Gunner.

"Aye sir," replied the Master Gunner. No Dachi nodded, before finally turning to the Sensors Officer.

"Sensors, launch eight Advanced Ships' Probes and put them in a rough circle around the squadron. I want them all set on active scan. Watch the output carefully for anything odd, Ship, help sensors analyse the data." He said, finally confident that he'd done pretty much everything he could to ensure that they'd get wind of any ill-fortune before it hit them.

"Of course, Lord Shingen." Said the Ship. No Dachi wondered just how closely the AI and the Yudachi were associated now...were they one and the same, or was the AI still just a form of interloper carried by the ship...

"Aye sir, launching two salvoes of four probes. I'll set them up in a moving picket formation to give us full coverage." ...evidently, now wasn't the time to be considering the true nature of Ship. Instead, it was time to concentrate on the missi-

"Sir!" The Sensors Officer nearly shouted, clearly alarmed, interrupting No Dachi's train of thought. He nodded toward her, showing that she now had his attention. "My Lord, Sector Commander Killer's vessels have Jumped to the system's third planet," she said, turning back to her console and bringing up an image on one of the smaller viewscreens. At first it just showed the same view as the main one, of the two stars and of the gas giant, but then the view began to zoom in. A seemingly small and insignificent speck nearer to the yellow star grew larger untill it eventually expanded into a blue-green sphere. A very large and bright lightsource was visible in high orbit above it, no doubt Sector Commander Killer's Concordat Battlestar.

"Sir," broke in the Coms Officer, speaking before the commander could act, "Sector Commander Killer has sent us a communicé from his Battlestar. He informs you that he is going to the third planet - the Liovanda's Coms Officer refers to it as 'Demai Kank' - and implies that following him is 'more-or-less advised'." No Dachi dwelled on the exact meaning of the latter phrase for a moment or two before deciding that, with the other information in mind, the Sector Commander had likely not intended that as a threat.

"Very well. Coms, hail the Liovanda and get Sector Commander Killer on screen," he said, deciding that a face-to-face session was due.

"Aye sir," the Coms Officer acknowledged, "Commander Killer should appear...now." She broke off, and presently No Dachi saw a face that he vaguely recognised as that of Sector Commander Killer.

"Good day to you, Sector Commander Killer, I do not believe we have spoken before, but I am Commander No Dachi of the Asanawa Clan Imperial Navy. It is a pleasure to be carrying out this mission alongside a respected and renowned figure such as yourself. However, I cannot help but feel you are keeping something from Commander King and I. I notice both that you do not seem to have harvesting fuel for the world ships as your present objective and that you appear to know the name of this third planet, which would indicate that you know something about the system as a whole. As such I'm afraid I will be disinclined to follow your ships with my own untill you give me some idea of what's going on and what you are doing. You seem to know that there is some form of threat apparent in this system as well, and while you are doubtless better equipped to deal with it than either Commander King or myself, I am also reasonably sure that you would rather face whatever enemy it is that you are aware of with our combined forces fighting as well rather than on your own - do correct me if I'm wrong." He said all of this keeping his expression impassive, speaking directly into the relay camera positioned above the viewscreen, hoping that the Sector Commander would indeed reveal some of whatever information he had...

---

Summary
-Sensors detect gravity wells, flag them as navigational hazards, Helmsman and those of the other ships ordered to keep well clear.
-Fleet Intelligence will think carefully and see if they come up with any information on the system.
-The science vessel's personnel will think carefully and see if they can come up with any information on the system.
-The Upgraded Advanced Ship's AI will scan through the Clan Historical Archives and the Clan Navigational Archives for any mention of anything linked with this system.
-The science vessel has been ordered to start processing the hydrogen gas into a refined state as soon as the other vessels have begun to gather it.
-The AGB-117F has exchanged its 19 Fusion Bomb reloads for the entirity of the XXVIX Army Corps (1 HQd, 2 Mechinf div, 1 Armoured div, 1 Shock Troops div, 1 Artillery div) and for the CCX Corps (2 SST). The gunboat is heading to the desert planet, where it will locate a suitable mine, land with its assault shuttles and they will load up on the best available resources (located by the SST teams). The ship's crew are to be ready to leave in a hurry if necessary, once all the troops and assault shuttles are back aboard,
-The Yudachi will deploy 8 Advanced Ship's Probes in a ring around the rest of the squadron. The probes will be set on active scan, the Upgraded Advanced Ship's AI will help to decipher the incoming data.
-All ships battle ready; weapons charged, shields active with equal power in all directions, all fighters launched.
-Request of AcidK's character to tell my character what the hell is up with this insane star system.

[Ur_Quan]

In the ship's medbay, Captain Bogg was sitting next to Alison's bed. She was awake and listening to him giving an account of what was discussed aboard The Devastator while casually stroking her arm with one finger.
Bogg: "Well, I immediately pointed at her of course. I told them about that trick with the tractorbeams we tried on that Devoran vessel and how it was all her idea. I had Laura do some calculations afterwards and apprently there was like 87% chance of success. She must've set it all up in an attempt to destroy me, because she recognised I am the strongest link, but she gravely underestimated me. Oh sure, her own ship was destroyed, but that was just a cover up, so nobody would point at her. After all, where did that monstership she flies in now, come from all of a sudden? I'm telling you; it was all planned!"
No1: "Maybe. What if it's one of ours?"
Bogg: "I'd be surprised. We're pirates, we don't care about this war at all. I mean, c'mon 'survival of the species' what's it to us? Anyway, these spies, they're usually paid quite handsomely and this particular spy might even possess alien technology. We'd keep the money and the technology for ourselves and turn the spy over to that admiral. Which reminds me, I think you should try on one of them figure hugging flightsuits some time when you're fully recovered."
No1: "Oh?"
Bogg: "Yeah I've seen them. They look awesome."
* At that moment a panel on one of the sidewalls began to flash, indicating that there might be a fight.
No1: "I think you're wanted on the bridge."
Bogg: "So are you."
No1: "Heh, you know I need some more time to heal before I can return to my work on the bridge."
Bogg: "But we can still have dinner tonight, right?"
No1: "Yes, I think so, but we'll have to keep it at dinner only. I'm afraid I'm not up to much more than that."
Bogg: "Sure I understand. I think Sarah's available tonight, so that's quite alright."
* Alison sighed and said: "I really think you ought to be going now. They're waiting for you."
Bogg: "Right. I'll be back soon."

* A few minutes later, captain Bogg walks onto his new bridge. The smell of new carpet was mixing with that of fresh paint and somewhat nauseating.
Bogg: "Alright, what have we got?"
WO: "Our scanners have picked up several ships of an unknown configuration. They have dropped out of hypersapce and are currently 2 lightseconds away and closing in on our positions."
Bogg: "Ah, visitors; how nice! At least now we can test these new modifications to the ship. I take it you have been able to find a crew for our newest additions?"
WO: "Yes captain, I've ordered some of my staff to take care of recruitment for me."
Bogg: "Excellent. I will speak to them now. Mr. Leetdude, connect me with the captains of the escort carriers and put them on screen.
Comms: "Yes Captain."
* On the viewscreen there appeared the images of both captains. "Oh look! Look, Eddie look! It's that nice captain Bogg again! Hello captain Bogg, how nice to see you again! Heheheh." "Why indeed it is! How are ya, mate?" Bogg jumped out of his chair and screamed: "YOU TWO! HOW DID YOU GET ON MY SHIP?"
Richie Rowan: "Well, you see, we were on this worldship..."
Eddie Atkinson: "Helping out their captain."
Richie Rowan: "And because we nearly crapped out pants, we jumped to hyperspace as soon as we got the chance, only there was this silly problem."
Eddie Atkinson: "Yeah, it was really silly. It wasn't even a problem really, more like a case of 'mild miscommunication' really."
Richie Rowan: "Yes. Yes, that's right. Anyway, this evil captain, he blamed us for it! So we had to hide."
Eddie Atkinson: "Yer, he was very pissed. 'You can't hide forever', he screamed at us."
Richie Rowan: "So Richie here, got the brilliant idea to transfer ourselves to one of the escort ships by knocking some new recruits unconscious and taking their places."
Eddie Atkinson: "Yep, it was a bloody good idea, wasn't it Richie?"
Bogg: "SILENCE!!! I'd have you both put to death for this, but it is too late to replace you now and, I need some captains for my escort carriers. You can stay provided you follow every one of my orders immediately and to the letter. And if either one of you damages the ship, I'll personally see to it that you will die a very slow and gruesome death. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
Richie Rowan: "Yes. Yes. It's perfectly clear to us. This is all your fault, Eddie!"
Eddie Atkinson: "I beg your pardon? I told you to we should've picked that attack cruiser, but no, you wanted to have a small one, just like your..."
Bogg: "SILEEEEENCE!!! I want you both to enable your cloaking devices, so that we can open up our launch bays to deploy your ships. Once that has been done, you will fly the ship to where we tell you and wait there for further instructions."
Richie Rowan: "Yes, captain."
Eddie Atkinson: "Sure thing, captain."
Bogg: "Good. Bogg out."

* Bogg sighed and rested his head in his hands before continuing to speak: "Give me commander McQuirk of The Dancing Starfish on screen.
Comms: "Commlink established."
Bogg: "McQuirk, you are to deploy some spacemines to construct a minefield between us and the approaching ships. Make sure you do not deploy them too close to our own ships.
McQuirk (WC): "Aye capt'n, we will begin immediately. McQuirk out."
Bogg: "Sarah, open the launchbay doors so we can deploy Twinky and Dinky. Tell them to move to one of our flanks each. Then raise all shields and begin charging the PPP8s.
WO: "Messages sent. Shields are operational. Phased particle phasers 8 are charging."
Bogg: "Good. Laura, we have some of the most advanced sensors in the fleet. I want you to thoroughly scan the approaching ships. See if you can find out their specifications and any possible weak points in their design."
SO: "Right away, captain."
Bogg: "Mr. l'Oven, I want you to begin boosting our shields and weapon systems, but be careful not to overload anything."
EO: "Aye captain. I'll be careful, I always am."
Bogg: "Yvonne, I want you to study the alien ship's flight patterns. See if you can distill some useful information from it and prepare some evasive manoeuvres in case we need them later."
Helm: "Aye, capt'n."
Bogg: "Excellent, now we wait until we find out what it is that they want from us."
SO: "Captain, while the ship was being repaired and reshaped, Sarah and I went through our inventory and we also had a look at what was in the vault and guess what we found?"
* Bogg starts to sweat a little and a bit nervously says: "Well, what did you find?"
SO: A whole pile of raw Kylithium ore. We never got round to actually studying it in detail, because we lacked the facilities. However, with that new advanced science lab you had recently installed, we might learn more about the Kylithium ore and find ways of enhancing our weapons, shields, armour or other systems."
* An obviously relieved Bogg nods to his science officer: "Well done Laura. I want you to investigate that rubble Killer gave us and find new ways of enhancing our ships. And tell me, while you and Sarah were looking in the vault, did you... find anything else?"
SO: "Funny that you should say that captain. While we were moving the Kylithium ore, we found some imagerecordings that were labeled only with a number and..."
Bogg: "...and you haven't watched them?"
SO: "Well, in the light of this possible spy, we thought we'd better have a look at them. All of the videorecordings turned out to be made inside your quarters, specifically of the area containing your bed and..."
Bogg: "...and you did not see Alison and me 'playing around'."
SO: "Well, actually, we...."
Bogg: "That's an order, not a question."
SO: "Yes Sir. I understand."
Bogg: "Good, now carry on with your work, Laura."

Actions:
- Deploy both escort carriers (Twinky and Dinky) while they are cloaked and position them on the flanks of my main ship (The Frivolous Rainbow).
- The strike cruiser The Dancing Starfish is to deploy space mines between approaching ships and the waiting fleet (used 2x5 space mines).
- Shields have been raised, PPP8s are charging.
- EO is trying to boost shields and weapons directly from the Kylithium enhanced slipstream drives (and other engines).
- SO is using the enhanced scanners to find out more about the approaching ships.
- Helm is studying approaching ships' flight patterns and programming some evasive manoeuvres.
-SO studies Kylithium in the advanced science labs when there is a possibility to do so.

[AcidK]

Comms: Sir, we are getting a hail from the Commander No Dachi, a very honourable member of Clan Asanawa!
Cid: Put him on the holocomms
Comms: Aye, Sector Commander!

*Sector Cid Killer stood up and placed his hands behind his back and waiting until a 3D image of Commander No Dachi appeared on the holo projector, what is usually used as a holomap. Cid smiled as the image appeared and remained fully silent until Commander No Dachi had finished.*

Cid: First of all, I must first give my deepest respects to the Asanawa Clan and all of it's members. Neither myself nor the rest of my family has been in true contact. To start my explinations I may first add that yes, I know exactly were we are, and it makes me shiver ever thinking I am here, both of joy and fear. Our ships, every single one of them, World Ships and battleships alike, sit now within what used to be the Great Shraan Empire, once the home of my people, the Shraan Remnant and the Shraan Sector. This system is known as the New Demai system, the third planet was known as Demai Kank, once a great planet filled with Crystal Cities and guarded well by the Demai, the Shraanians and the Gurans...

*Cid sighed and looked down, a small version of the holomap was visible from the corner of his eye, his Science Officer making multiple calculations.*

Cid: That was three hundred years ago... Look to the nineth planet... there is a ship graveyard, a battle that still sits within our databanks. Those wrecks represent the many different ships we used back then, mixed with our greatest enemy... the Bio-Mechinal parasites known as the C'raask. I strongly advise caution if venturing near that graveyard, the C'raask have a unique way of hiding amongst them as well as taking over ships using parasitical techniques. I am heading to Demai Kank for a good reason, there is a resource there my people need and have needed ever since we lost our Empire... At this time I will not name our resource for security reasons and will remain a need-to-know only basis. However, that is not the only reason I am heading to the Capitol of this system... The Demai were highly advanced with their technology and this certain resource. I am heading to this planet to discover some secrets we have lost over the many years, as well as, hopefully, make this system a home for myself.

*Cid, looking back to the Commander No Dachi now, made a small attempt to keep his smile, but it was evident that he was quivering a little.*

Cid: Despite our goals, we are in a VERY dangerous area... one which I would personally not want to be if I truly had a choice... The C'raask still 'own' this area of Dark Space, ours although it once was... I must say this now before we may never speak again on our ongoing missions... The C'raask are Insectids of sorts, intellegent and a formidable foe... However they do not waste time over money, power or alike... They only want one thing... They want every race tightly under their grasp, and beleive me when I say they have the technology to do so.

*Cid shook his head and looked around him to see each face of his crew, now that he had the entire bridge's attention. Cid was once a Shraan Sector historian that followed his father's footsteps into fleet commandeering, it was unsurprising that the crew looked at him as if he knew too much about the area he was in.*

Cid: Forgive my brash and informative answer to your question, and forgive my advice that may or may not be taken into heed... Remember, if we're bombarded, either one of us, waste no time to help each other. This system is bound to be crawling with C'raask Hives or Cruiser-Carriers...

[Lady Hawk]

dmings this weekend

[No Dachi]

Throughout the Sector Commander Killer's explanation, No Dachi listened carefully, taking in alll that he could. Once the other man had finished, No Dachi pulled himself up more straight in his seat and nodded toward the camera, showing that he now understood the Sector Commander's actions, given the context in which they were performed.

"Informative is what I was after, Sector Commander Killer, and so your response was perfectly adequate. Very well," he said, speaking clearly, "bearing in mind that you would appear to know much of these C'raask-" he said the name slowly, trying to ensure that he pronounced it carefully, for its sound was alien to him, "than either Commander King or myself, what would you suggest we do? Given how dangerous these creatures appear to be by your description, completing our objectives - you yours and us our own - and getting out of the system as quickly as possible would seem to be the best course of action. However, I can also understand that this discovery is an important oppurtunity for your people and one that perhaps will not arise against for some time; and so I would be willing to aid you in gathering this fuel in whatever way I can, bearing in mind that I can also understand the need to preserve security relating to your technology. Regardless, gathering the fuel is my prime objective, so I would prefer to complete this before affording you with whatever assistance you would be willing to accept, but nonetheless I would ask that you consider my offer."

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

I'll agree to open up the ND Squadron Recreation Boat to all of you barbarian Geijinn on tuesdays in return for 10 Quantum Torps

Make it Saturday - Tuesday in exchange for 20 Quantums, and you might have yourself a deal. OFC not ALL my crew would come over at once there :P

[No Dachi]

Friday-saturday for 18. You'd be sharing access with Fluffie's crews on saturdays. Let's remember that these reloads you're giving me can only be used once, wheras my recreation boat can be used untill it gets destroyed...

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

Friday-saturday for 18. You'd be sharing access with Fluffie's crews on saturdays. Let's remember that these reloads you're giving me can only be used once, wheras my recreation boat can be used untill it gets destroyed...

Friday - Sunday for 20. Sharing on Saturday is perfectally fine.

Let's hope LH dosen't kill your boat TO soon :-\

[No Dachi]

Friday-saturday for 14. I don't think the boat will be dieing any time soon.

[Bakan]

Friday - Saturday for 10. It better not be dieing.

[Fluffie]

I don't want to be sharing, eh.

I'm a tough pirate, Bakan's crew is all wussie-like.

[No Dachi]

My original offer was one day for ten. I'm not going lower than 14. Come on, that's like two salvoes with the Yudachi and the Hatsuhara firing. Wheras you're going to be able to use that ship for ages, and it's got two Holodecks and a Hydroponics facility set up for recreational use. Hell, you don't even have to put your men on it, because the thing's got shuttles to take them there! All that great shit for 14 Quantum Torp Reloads in a one-off payment!? What a deal!!!

Edit: MPs will be on-hand to make sure your two crews don't have to mix if they don't want to.
EditAgain: Plus since Bakan gets two days I guess Fluffie should get two as well, you can have saturday and tuesday

[Fluffie]

Pffft. Saturdays for myself alone or no deal! I'll even buy you some Torps if you want.

[Bakan]

Hmmm.........

DEAL!!!!

*Exchanges the 14 Quantum Torpedoes for the rights to No Dachi's recreation ship on Fridays and Saturdays.*

And fluffie, my crew and kick your crew's arses anytime of the week. But since we are guests on No Dachi's ship there, we shall not be fighting (don't want to mess up your ship.)

[Fluffie]

Are you even allowed to trade your freebie toys?

And yeah, no comment on how "manly" your crew surely must be

[No Dachi]

Fluffie says he just wants tuesdays now, so you don't even have to share.

Edit: Apart from with my own crew, of course.

[Fluffie]

Only one tuesday, with the Pirate Theme thing. I'll spend some cash on booze beforehand and have it delivered to your ship

[No Dachi]

Pirate Geijinn Tuesday

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by Fluffie

Are you even allowed to trade your freebie toys?

And yeah, no comment on how "manly" your crew surely must be

Hmmm, and where did I put that insult I created for you.......

[Fluffie]

Judging from your post I'm assuming you are simply a young girl who is stuck in a continous state of PMS thus unable to get any sex without your partner screaming in horror and running away, and thus remain a isolate little ****twat who takes up bitchiness to coverup her own insecurities?

There you go.

[Bakan]

Ahhh, thanks .

[Bakan]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

Fluffie says he just wants tuesdays now, so you don't even have to share.

Edit: Apart from with my own crew, of course.

Sounds good.

[AcidK]

*Cid stood with perfect stillness as Commander No Dachi gave his proposal and then gave a few seconds thought.*

Cid: The fuel is, of course, the prime objective, but there would be resistance. I can easily turn many C'raask eyes, if they have them, with the mere presence of a Shraan force in their systems. Beleive me, they'll want to stop me gaining access to my resource than you with yours, thus resistance on your part would be a lot less than mine. It may be a long shot, but consider this an act of diversion whislt you complete your objectives. Trust me, I can defend myself with whatever the C'raask decide to pump at me... hoping they keep to their old ways and tactics...

[Planetkiller II]

*PK flicked off the comm system. Both Captains Killer and Dachi were broadcasting on standard Andromeda frequencies. Hopefully (and PK knew at least Dachi well enough to know that it would be) comms would be fully encrypted if and when the battle occured. From the information he'd just listened to about these C'raask creatures it sounded like it wouldn't be long now before both the Striker Draconis and the new Dellani saw action. PK was proud of that little ship, for he had personally helped design her, and the sheer firepower of the little corvette was staggering for her size. The Dellani probably even beat the Striker in force of weapons, though her relatively low shielding would leave her vulnerable without her 'parent' ship. Still, best to wait till actual combat before trying to analyse the fighting strengths of the pair of vessels. PK sat back in his comfortable leather chair, thinking for a moment, then rose and crossed his readyroom to the entrance to the bridge. The door hissed open with the usual swiftness. The bridge crew snapped to attention, but PK waved them down. There were a bunch of new people on board, with all the new upgrades that had been put in place and PK did not yet fully trust all of them. Still, with Nick Dachi, John Stevens and the rest still in tow he had confidence that the ships would perform well enough when it came to it. He knew now that it would come to it, for this war was coming to a head. Soon it would be to late to return from the brink, but who could say what would be the outcome. PK would continue to fight for what he believed in, and what his father before him had. Time to get ready, this system was looking more suspicious by the minute.*

"Mr. Malone, how's science coming?"

Malone: Research into Tau tech continues as normal sir, and all refits are fully operational. No doubt tactical has filled you in on our newfound power.

"Yes. However, for now I want the labs to dedicate their efforts in the direction of adapting our tech to combating bio-organic weapons and systems."

Malone: It's short notice, but I'll see what we can cook up.

"Good. Comms, get Captain Becker on the line. Then I'll want to talk to both Captain Dachi and Killer"

Comms: Done, channel open sir.

"Zack, how's it going down in the hold?"

Becker: Frankly, confined. Now, I admit giving up hold space to allow the Dellani to dock seemlessly is a good idea, but couldn't you have at least given us a window or something?

"Well don't worry, we'll let you off the leash soon. It looks like we might have a fight on our hands soon, so I'll ask you to begin charging all weapons, including superweapons. That goes for tactical here too, so you people take note. Bring shields online too and begin scanning for energy signitures, thermal hotspots, sonics if you can do it, even motion trackers might work with all this debris too. If there's someone or something out there, I want it found."

All: Yes, sir.

Comms: Patching through to the other craft now.

"Alright. Good afternoon Captain Dachi, glad to be working with you again. Captain KIller, from your reputation I'm glad to be working with you too. Firstly I must apologise for listening in to your comms, but I figured we should share all pertanant information. These C'rassk sound dangerous, do we have a plan to combat them? If not, perhaps we should come up with something?"


Summary
- Shields and superweapons are charging.
- SO is using sensors to try and locate enemy forces and find way of combating bio-organic tech.

[AcidK]

Cid: Sector Commander, if you will, Commander Planetkiller... And no need to apologise for eavesdropping, I'm sure the comms or my SO picked you up quite some time ago...

*Cid straightened up and thought for a while.*

CID: C'raask tend to use quite effective sheilds and move in big numbers. Be advised to have as much anti-fighter weaponry on you, for their fighters are not exactly the easiest to get rid of, lightly armed although they are. powerful weapons would definatly be needed to dispose of cruiser-carriers, hive ships and alike.

[Ryon Jkar]

ooc/ is it too late to join... I could be a captain of someones ship in their fleet or something or part of the story line or an enemy ... ooc//

[AcidK]

you captain yur own ship, foo'

Read thread one, use 75000c to make a ship or fleet or something

[Inspectre]

75,000c? Don' t make me laugh. Take 1,075,000c and make a couple of ships with that, otherwise you'll be less useful than a tick on a dog.

[Ur_Quan]

Actually that'd be 1,225,000 credits, but if you give all that to me, I'll make you captain of my secondary ship.
I think you'll have to ask LH about if, where and under what conditions you are to join.

[Ryon Jkar]

You are probably right.. but 1,225,000 sounds nice...

[Fluffie]

50,000 used to be the starting money. But seeing we're all ridiciously rich nowadays, it seems a bit unfair. Unless Ryon feels like showing off some superior RP sk1llz.

[Lady Hawk]

Originally Posted by Ryon Jkar

ooc/ is it too late to join... I could be a captain of someones ship in their fleet or something or part of the story line or an enemy ... ooc//

you can join - i will give you 175000c to create a ship or ships

[Planetkiller II]

"I'm sorry Sector Commander, Captain is a term I tend to use to describe any of us fighters with a ship of our own. Perhaps my Black Draconics could prove useful in the countering of the C'rassk fighters, for their Tau weaponry and high speed should prove useful against heavily shielded oppenents. Perhaps they can cover our small fleet, should the need arise?"

[AcidK]

Unsure, it's the fighters that hold most of the sheilding components. My only advice is to take out anything carrying fighters before they can launch, or destroy them before they can call in for back-up.

[Ryon Jkar]

Give me a moment to do it.

[Ryon Jkar]

Credits Left: 2300

Ship Name: Le Revenant

Strike Cruiser - c 60000
0 Shield Mounts
0 Turret mounts
0 external mounts
1 additional Mounts
10 fighters of medium Class
5981 tonne cargo hold
-----------------
Engine:
Impulse Drive - c2000 x75o energy units - this is the best drive by far and the most relaible.
Hull:
Colapsium Armoured Hull - the best protection all round. - c 20000
Shields:
5 x Phase Shields - c 30000 - the best allround sheilds - x 10 sheild mounts

Turrets:
4 x Pulse Phaser - c 500 - a modified phaser G can fire upto 8 shots - x2 turret mounts

3 x Fusion Cannons - c 1000 - heavy beam cannon but uses a lot of energey - x 3 turret mounts

Anti Missile Defence III - c500 as it says but can shoot nearly all that is classed as a missile weapon - including plasma based weapons and all forms of photon torp based weapons - this baby has its own tracking computer too. - 4 turret mounts

AFD II - c500 - 4 turret mounts v- uses phasers to shoot fighters out of the sky - 50% more effective but a slower recharge rate.

Phased Hellbore Cannon - c 5000 - 5 turret mounts - a modified hellbore cannon that cuts sheilds by 50% the ultimate in breaching shields 3 posts to charge

2 x Photon Cannon - 4 turret mounts - this is a heavey experimental cannon that fires a small photon torp - more powerful than a normal Nova Cannon - c 3000

4 Particle Laser - c6000 - this is by far the best longest range laser cannon it has a 150% accuracy rate. - 8 turret mounts

External Mounts:
4 x Cluster Missile - c 3200 - 3 missiles to a mount - this is a long range missile with 4 lighter smaller missiles encased within it. It is designed to deliver more of a punch than the normal light missiles. this is a weapon favoured by the MANTIS

8 x Cruise Missile - c500 - 1 shot to a mount - this missile travels at impulse speed and does not need to be targeted it does that itself.

2 x Graviton Bombs - 2 external mounts - 10 bombs per mount - these are multi-purpose bombs can both be used on the ground and against capital ships - they are miniture gravity wells that cause massive damage in a small area - because they cause the target to implode - c2000

Reflex Bomb - 1 External Mount - 1 bomb to a mount - OK this is it the pinnacle of Bomb Technology, you got the super weapon, you got the missile, now get the bomb - this baby can rip a planet apart with a single blast and can be effective on suns to. This is the Supreme Bomb this bomb is also called The Planet Buster - c10000


Fighters:
10 x Jupiter Class (medium)
1 to a mount
1 Photon Cannon
1 Plasma Pulse Device
2 Phaser X
1 AMD
2 Fusion Bomb Launchers
2 man crew
Ion Drive
Slipstream Drive
- c 750 each


2 x Assault Shuttle
"Red one" and "Red two"
1 Mount each

Tritanium Hull
1 Medium Shield
2 Light Disruptor Cannon
50 Tonnes Hold
Magnetic Grapple for holding onto Ships hulls
c3000 each

4 x SSS (special space service) - like the SAS these are the best of the best - the ultimate in Marine/Special ops/Commando squads - they are ultimately skilled - c 1000
(2 in each shuttle)


Additionals:

Deflector Dish - 1 additional mount or 1 external mount - Enhances the range of all ships sensors by 50% - c 300

Advanced Tactics Computer - 1 additional Mount - More chance to hit - causes weapons to do more damage when a lock on is made - can lock upto three ships at a time - c 400

Advanced Tactics Computer Upgrade - 1 add mount + 10 tonnes cargo space - this is an upgrade to the ATC - can track upto 100 ships including fighters and missiles - adds +50% to AFD and AMD and also adds +30% to weapon hit chances - c800

Advanced AI Ships Computer - 1 add mount + 1 tonne of carge space - makes all ships systems 10% more effective - c 250

Advanced AI Upgrade - 1 add mount + 10 tonnes cargo - this needs the Advanced AI Computer - this gives +30% to ship systems -c500

Warp Drive - as star trek - c 500 - fastest form of space travel - but ship needs external warp nassels

Armoury - no ship should be without one - this means that any of your gun weilding maniancs (Marines or Mercs) will be very happy. this improves ground attack/ ship boarding actions by 15% also means that you may research better weapons - new Officer - AM (ARMS MASTER) - 2 additional mounts - c 5000

Tractor Beam Mk X - 2 additional slots - this can be used as a weapon or part of point defence or to guide ships and cargo in - this has a short range capacity. again designed by Zappa. - c1500

SDT - Space Demolition Teams - they are the pyromaniacs of the space lanes - they blow things up - 2 tonnes per team - c 1000

ADCT - Advanced Damage Control Teams - they repair damage at 3x the nromal rate - c1500 per company and use up 2 tonnes per company

SET - Stealth / Espionage Teams - yes these are the sneaky critters that no pirate ship can be without - they are the dirty tricks brigade of the space lanes - c5000 per team and use up 4 tonnes per company

2 x ST - Shock Troops - these guys specialise in storming and terror tactics - they are virtually unstoppable and take the most casulties - but they are meant to - they are all equipped with the best in heavy weapons and the best in close combat/assault weapons and armour - c 700

AD - Armoured Division - these marines are motorised companies they move fast and strike hard - c 800

AC - Artillery Company - as it says they provide firepower when needed - c 250

ASC - Air Support Company - as it says these guys provide the aireal support - grav copters, fast attack jets etc - c 500 per company