Ozerath

These Dark Stars - IC is open -

The Concordat

Overview

Leading Figures and Ruling Body
The Star Chamber, an elected body of representatives that ostensibly runs the Concordat
The Circle, a small council of a select few Concorded who actually rule.
Ademnon, the First Concordat
Sendema, the Harbinger of Tomorrow
Castantius, the Sword of Talisan

Homeworld
Hard to say exactly, though the world Sanctuary is certainly their most prominent holding. However, The deep space station Concord Dawn serves as the Concordat's actual capital.

Primary Resource
Advanced cybernetics, a variety of high end technology

Armed Forces
The fleets and armies of the Concordat never settle for anything less than absolute bleeding edge technology, and have a propensity for applying excessively complex solutions to solve problems. This is best embodied by their take on railguns: Concordat designs for these tried and true weapons substitute metal slugs for streams of dense superheated ferrofluids. The improvements in performance are offset by the increased difficulty of building and maintaining such weapons. Shields, engines, weapons of all kinds, virtually any key systems; all operate on this premise. While Concordat ships have somewhat superior performance when compared to their ccounterparts, their excessive complexity means they are incredibly difficult to maintain, leaving the Concordat on somewhat poor footing to fight offensive campaigns, particularly long ones. Their ships' performance will inevitably degrade faster than others, meaning the Concordat must strike quickly and decisively, or settle for fighting a defensive war.

Another particularity of Concordat ships is their organic cores. At the heart of every Concordat ship is a cybernetically augmented human brain, very much awake and very much alive. Concordat ships are sentient by every definition of the word, with personalities as varied as one might expect. They actually hold ranks, though are generally restricted by necessity to the navy's astrogation line of service; a vacare Concordat's brain can not be wasted on calculating firing solutions when any Concordat brain could do that. Consequently, Concordat ships tend to be their own astrogation officers, serving as mere lieutenants on smaller ships, right up to rear admirals on flagships, responsible for coordinating the astrogation of entire fleets. This does make keeping track of personnel a trying task for the navy's administrators. A ship brain is just as elligible for promotion or transfer as a human counterpart; the brains can be transferred between ships with relative ease. However, one couldn't very well ask a ship brain to change its name every time it transferred ships, so Concordat ships are constantly renamed after the mind within them. The Concordat's population base provides them with enough Vacare that almost all ships are volunteers; conscripted ship brains are riddled with hardware overrides to ensure their loyalty.

Fleet tactics are complex to near the point of inefficiency. The idea of any one ship firing in isolation is apparently preposterous to the Concordat. All ships of any given force are tied together by sophisticated command nets to precisely co-ordinate offensive and defensive fire. No shot is ever wasted.

On the ground, Concordat heavy infantry is horrifying to behold. They are less soldiers and more brains in jars, mounted in deadly mechanical bodies. Despite this, the armies of the Concordat seem to rely almost excessively on combined arms. Any action is likely to be supported by armor, artillery, and air forces.

Imperial Assessment
Legatus,

An urgent change of policy is needed with regards to the enigmatic entity known as the Concordat. First, a brief backgrounder.

The Concordat exists in an odd legal grey zone. Officially, it is listed as an alternative religious organization, but in practice, it is almost a sovereign nation. Sanctuary, for example, is an Imperial world. Its citizens pay imperial taxes and enroll in the Imperial armed forces. It has an imperial governor. But make no mistake, that governor and those taxes only remain in place so long as they do not become burdensome on the Concordat.

The Concordat's stated objective is Transcendance. They wish to transfer-truly transfer, not copy-their minds to digital mediums and live eternally in a digital utopia. They are evidently well on their way, having developed incredible cybernetic implants of all kinds, everything from replacement limbs that are indistinguishable from flesh and blood counterparts to cortical network implants that let them speak to each other in their minds. Standing policy has been to leave the Concordat alone, as the technology they develop has many uses when exported to the rest of the Imperium, and they have historically been perfectly loyal Imperial subjects.

This policy must change. My spies have discovered data that suggests the Concordat has been conducting a military buildup for the better part of thirty years, completely undetected. Our evidence is circumstantial, I admit, but if it is correct, the Concordat we know is but a facade they permit us to see.

Fortunately, I have gained some insight onto the internal politics of the Concordat. If you are at all familiar with the Concordat, you are doubtlessly aware of the names Ademnon and Sendema. Ademnon was the first human ever implanted with the cortical network implant, and is therefore the first true Concordat. He also happens to be a decorated Imperial war hero. Sendema is a cyberneticist, apparently even more skilled than the Concordat's founder, Marcus Talisan, and she is widely expected to usher in the next wave of the Concordat's evolution. Evidently, the two have emerged as prominent political figures in the Star Chamber, and they are quite at odds with eachother, as are their followers.

I recognize our available forces are spread thin, and if the rumors we've heard about the magnitude of the Concordat's military power are true, a direct assault would be prohibitively costly, if not outright impossible. However, I believe Ademnon and Sendema's political feud can potentially be escalated into a military one. I do not have appropriately concrete evidence to prove the threat the Concordat may represent, but I implore you to allocate additional resources to my command. The fate of the Imperium may be in the balance.

These Dark Stars - IC is open -

Nice.

I'll bring my NS over in a bit. Recommend we sort out a map quite soon, working out who you share a history/treaty with is kinda difficult when you might end up on opposite ends of the galaxy.

These Dark Stars

Checking in, I'm still here!

Interested in doing some collaborative history, but I think I'll wait til the IC is up, unless anyone wants to approach me with thoughts on the Concordat.

These Dark Stars

Very interested!

The Concordat

Overview

Leading Figures and Ruling Body
The Star Chamber, an elected body of representatives that ostensibly runs the Concordat
The Circle, a small council of a select few Concorded who actually rule.
Ademnon, the First Concordat
Sendema, the Harbinger of Tomorrow

Homeworld
Hard to say exactly, though the world Sanctuary is certainly their most prominent holding. The deep space station Concord Dawn serves as the Concordat's actual capital however.

Primary Resource
Advanced cybernetics

Imperial Assessment
Legatus,

An urgent change of policy is needed with regards to the enigmatic entity known as the Concordat. First, a brief backgrounder.

The Concordat exists in an odd legal grey zone. Officially, it is listed as an alternative religious organization, but in practice, it is almost a sovereign nation. Sanctuary, for example, is an Imperial world. Its citizens pay imperial taxes and enroll in the Imperial armed forces. It has an imperial governor. But make no mistake, that governor and those taxes only remain in place so long as they do not become burdensome on the Concordat.

The Concordat's stated objective is Transcendance. They wish to transfer-truly transfer, not copy-their minds to digital mediums and live eternally in a digital utopia. They are evidently well on their way, having developed incredible cybernetic implants of all kinds, everything from replacement limbs that are indistinguishable from flesh and blood counterparts to cortical network implants that let them speak to each other in their minds. Standing policy has been to leave the Concordat alone, as the technology they develop has many uses when exported to the rest of the Imperium, and they have historically been perfectly loyal Imperial subjects.

This policy must change. My spies have discovered data that suggests the Concordat has been conducting a military buildup for the better part of thirty years, completely undetected. Our evidence is circumstantial, I admit, but if it is correct, the Concordat we know is but a facade they permit us to see.

Fortunately, I have gained some insight onto the internal politics of the Concordat. If you are at all familiar with the Concordat, you are doubtlessly aware of the names Ademnon and Sendema. Ademnon was the first human ever implanted with the cortical network implant, and is therefore the first true Concordat. He also happens to be a decorated Imperial war hero. Sendema is a cyberneticist, apparently even more skilled than the Concordat's founder, Marcus Talisan, and she is widely expected to usher in the next wave of the Concordat's evolution. Evidently, the two have emerged as prominent political figures in the Star Chamber, and they are quite at odds with eachother, as are their followers.

I recognize our available forces are spread thin, and if the rumors we've heard about the magnitude of the Concordat's military power are true, a direct assault would be prohibitively costly, if not outright impossible. However, I believe Ademnon and Sendema's political feud can potentially be escalated into a military one. I do not have appropriately concrete evidence to prove the threat the Concordat may represent, but I implore you to allocate additional resources to my command. The fate of the Imperium may be in the balance.

Dyson's Dream- Sci-fi NRP with a thousand worlds in a single star system

Sorry for double post. Made some updates to the NS, altered descriptions of Dawn and the Tet, added a new place called Batala. Thoughts @Arawak?

Dyson's Dream- Sci-fi NRP with a thousand worlds in a single star system

@Raylah
The first kind of Vae'shen died at that one world which was rendered lifeless while their genetically modified descendants who lived in other worlds are still around.

@Arawak

Well, cybernetically modified, but same diff.

Dyson's Dream- Sci-fi NRP with a thousand worlds in a single star system

Submitting for GM approval, mostly done still need to work on some stuff.

The Conclave

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The Talisan Conclave

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General Information

The Talisan Conclave is a civilization defined by their cybernetic augmentations. One particular augmentation lets them emulate telepathy among themselves, and possession of that implant is what makes one truly Conclaved. Over the years, many have been drawn in by the Conclave’s seemingly utopian way of life, so the citizenry of the Conclave, both implanted and non-implanted, is quite diverse. The Conclave eagerly welcomes, and actively recruits, new citizens. Many other nations do not really appreciate the Conclave trying to lure their citizens away, so relations with their neighbours are...tense.

The Conclave ostensibly wants to co-exist peacefully with the rest of the system, but many suspect some deeper, more nefarious purpose.

Major Species

The Vae’shan
Still the most numerous members of the Conclave, the Vae’shan are a species of avian hexapods. They have a more or less standard biped configuration, with the addition of two vestigial wings emerging from their shoulder blades. These wings are no longer large enough for flight, but do help with running, jumping, and limited gliding. Some Vae’shan have their organic wings replaced with fully flight functional cybernetic ones, but such wings are inevitably quite large and can get in the way if one is living on a space station. Such modifications are more common on agrarian arcologies or other habitats with open ‘sky’.

The Torotal
A species of large mamalian humanoids who almost universally adopted the CNI and Conclave ideology when the Conclave made first contact. They represent a sizeable fraction of the Conclave’s population, and are distinguished by their large size and dense fur. Baseline Torotal barely exist anymore, but can still be found on Sanctuary and the Tet, their home arcology.

Various
A good chunk of the Conclave’s population is composed of a myriad of species of all shapes and sizes from all over the system. The poor, opressed, and outcasts of other societies find themselves new homes in the Conclave.

Points of Interest

Santuary
Resembling a delicate flower floating in space, Sanctuary is a huge city world, almost 100km in length. A central ring holds each of the world’s five petals in place. Sanctuary is capable of ‘closing’ to give some measure of defence, but it is more of an art installation than a fortress. Sanctuary is an open world; citizens of any nation may come and go as they please, though administration and policing are taken care of by the Conclave. The Conclave maintains a defence fleet around Sanctuary, but no military facilities are present on the world itself, in clear deference to Sanctuary’s civilian status. Sanctuary is home to the Conclave’s government, an elected body of representatives called the Star Chamber.

Dawn
Built inside an asteroid and shrouded with the best stealth technologies the Conclave could develop, Dawn is also a fortress, protected equally by secrecy and massive armour and weapon mounts. Not a particularly large station, it is here the the Conclave’s Circle, its actual ruling entity, is located. Dawn’s location is a closely guarded secret, the coordinates uploaded into navigator’s CNIs then deleted when no longer required.

The Tet
A sealed tetrahedron some 60km from point to base, the Tet is an agrarian world on the inside and an industrial one on the outside. The Tet is also an open world, though with tighter controls than Sanctuary. The base of the Tet is transparent and permanently oriented towards the sun, providing a 24 hour day to the interior for growing food. The exterior is covered with factories and industrial complexes, and an orbital ring that straddles the Tet around the middle is home to extensive shipyards, though they are mostly devoted to civilian construction. The Tet's shape leads to irregular gravity within the world, ranging from practically non-existent at the tip to rather uncomfortable at the base. This is a non issue for Conclaved, but any baseline visitors should generally stick to the mid-zones.

Batala
While Dawn is (relatively) safely hidden inside an inconspicuous asteroid, it is impossible to effectively mask the emissions associated with building ships. Batala is a heavily armed and armoured brick of a world some 20km long. It has no gravity to speak of, but the Conclaved who call it home have no problems with that. Batala is the Conclave's primary military base and shipyard. The Conclave's propensity towards secrecy meant they were unwilling to let the station's armaments be its sole defence. Instead of trying to hide the station's emissions, they went around activating every high energy world and station in the area. Batala's general vicinity blazes like a sun on any sensors turned towards it, but locating the correct station is all but impossible from range. Minefields and frequent patrols ensure no scouts get close enough to find the station the old fashioned way. A large fleet would be able to eventually pinpoint Batala's location, but it would suffer heavy losses in the process.

Society

History
The Conclave are an offshoot of a now extinct mainline species called the Vae’shan. The Vae’shan were an avian species that called a large arcology in the inner system home. Shotly after their first space flight, a somewhat eccentric doctor named Ghaina Talisan developed the Cortical Network Implant, which would become the keystone of Conclave cybernetics. The Vae’shan did possess functional cybernetics at the time, but the CNI was the first true interface between mind and machine. Her invention drew interest, but also controversy. A group of religious fanatics assaulted her laboratory late one night, but the paranoid Dr. Talisan had built in defences that drove them off, all except for one who was inadvertently seriously injured. His injuries were so severe as to require significant cybernetic prosthesis, which Talisan installed herself. But no one had ever lived anything remotely resembling a normal life with that level of augmentation; their implants and augs were too clunky, slow to respond, and generally limited in their functionality. But with a CNI, perhaps there was a chance. Talisan went ahead and installed one in the fanatic’s brain, her first Vae’shan test subject. Ademnon, the First Conclaved, was born. When he awoke, he was initially repulsed by his augmentations, but came to marvel at how smoothly they functioned. He was more machine than man, but aside from the obvious metal arm, he looked and moved just as he had before. The CNI granted flawless control over his augmentations and implants, internal and external.
Word spread of Talisan’s success with Ademnon, and people flocked to her lab to receive CNI’s, many seeking to improve the functionality of their existing augmentations, others simply believing the CNI represented the next logical step in their people’s evolution. Talisan suddenly found herself leading what was essentially a cult. As time passed and her cult grew and grew, tensions with non-augmented Vae’shan rose. Raids against Talisan’s lab - now a fortified compound - grew in frequency, some of them even sponsored by the central government. Ademnon was the one who suggested it was time for the Conclave to leave the Arcology, and make their home among the swarm of micro worlds beyond. They did so, arriving at Sanctuary, a massive city station that was fortunately uninhabited. For a time, there was peace, and the Conclave prospered. Eventually, the great irony of Dr. Talisan’s life caught up with her; She was one of the few Vae’shan who could not receive a CNI. She died of old age at 109.
The peace did not last. The baseline Vae’shan eventually pursued their augmented brethren into the void, and war broke out. It was during the war, while Ademnon was off commanding forces on the front line, that a particularly brilliant Conclaved named Sendema developed the next generation of the CNI and shaped the Conclave’s future. She was hailed the Harbinger of Tomorrow, and welcomed into the ruling ranks of the Conclave. It was Sendema who proposed the final fate of the baseline Vae’shan, something many had been thinking about, but hadn’t dared voice in the face of Ademnon’s staunch opposition to the notion: complete nuclear annihilation. But Sendema proved to be a cunning leader and an excellent orator as well as a brilliant scientist, and eventually she won over the Conclave. Ademnon was overruled, and the nukes were launched. They weren’t powerful enough to destroy the Vae’shan’s arcology, but they were sufficient to scour all life from it. So ended the baseline Vae’shan.

Government
The Star Chamber is the entity that ostensibly runs the Conclave. It is a large elected assembly operating on Sanctuary. In truth, the Circle, a small council of unelected Conclaved, runs the Conclave from the secrecy of Dawn. Members of the Star Chamber must be Conclaved as well. They also have the unique ability to isolate and conceal knowledge and information from other Conclaved. This is ostensibly for security purposes. Members of the Circle go beyond this. They can override the privacy of any Conclaved, scooping knowledge from their minds without the victim ever knowing it. There is some overlap between memberships in the two entities; after all, the secret rulers of the Conclave must be able to keep an eye on it’s supposed rulers.

Galaxy Aflame! A space opera RP (Closed)

@Willy Vereb@Commodore

Having trouble catching you both online on Discord. We need to work out a bit of a timeline for the Commonwealth-Union war. I'm thinking it would have happened no less than 3 years ago, no more than 10.

Galaxy Aflame! A space opera RP (Closed)

Whitehall Palace
Old Quarter, Brandenburg
Praetoria

Lord Sir Robert Castlereagh, Earl Katyusha, Knight-Companion of the order of St. Diae, and Minister of Foreign Affairs for Her Imperial Majesty's Government pulled open the rich velvet curtains of his office. The sun was just breaking over the ancient stone spires of Brandenburg’s Old Quarter, glinting off the snow and ice and amplifying its somewhat feeble rays. Praetoria was on the cooler end of habitable worlds spectrum, and Brandenburg was really a little too close to the south pole for comfort. Consequently, Castlereagh’s office windows were covered by heavy red velvet curtains, and a massive fireplace dominated the other wall. An actual fire burning actual wood filled that fireplace, but it was made entirely redundant by the modern climate control that had been retrofitted into the old palace at no small cost.

Castlereagh turned away from the window and contemplated the map being projected above his desk. The desk was a beautiful piece, hand crafted from a rich dark wood centuries ago. The antiquity of the desk was verging on sacred in Castlereagh’s mind: modern technology was awkwardly perched in various places atop it, rather than built into it. The map didn’t tell Castlereagh anything new, but he found it helped to focus his thoughts.

Just then, the door opened, admitting a rhodesian and a yanissan. Lord Sir Cato Telemachus, Knight-Fellow of the order of St. Diae, Baron Polesia, took the specially designed smaller seat in front of Castlereagh’s desk. “Good morning Robert,” he said amiably. “Good morning Cato”, Castlereagh replied. “Good morning Martuf, so glad you could join us” he called over to the Yanissan, who was warming himself by the fire.

Lord Captain Commander Martuf of Sthiss Eban flashed Castlereagh a toothy grin. “Sarcasm suits you very well Robert.”
“Thank you I suppose. I do wish you’d wait to be invited to these meetings.”
“You did want me here today though, so I don’t see what the difficulty is.”

Castlereagh sighed and chose not to prod further. Martuf did always seem to know exactly what everyone was thinking. Castlereagh suspected he was a psintegrat, but as a yanisssan he never would’ve escaped Toolbox, so he had to be affiliated with that shadowy organization somehow. But that only partially explained the enigma of Martuf: not only did he seem to know what everyone was thinking, he seemed to know what everyone was doing as well, in all corners of the Commonwealth. He was also apparently quite close to the Imperial Queen, and so had inserted himself into the Metternich government in an advisory capacity. His advice was often very useful, but it still bothered Castlereagh to rely on a person he knew very little about.

“What’s the map got you thinking about today Robert?” Telemachus asked by way of changing the subject.
“Oh, a few things. Namely the Daisan.”
“I should think we have things closer to home to worry about,” Martuf said mildly.
“You’re just annoyed that they’re the one thing you know nothing about,” Telemachus shot back, causing the Yanissan to frown sharply, but he offered no response. Telemachus continued; “I can see why you’d be thinking about them Robert. They’re certainly an enigma. The Feds are no pushovers, but by all accounts they just keep losing ground. And still we know virtually nothing about the Daisan.”
“And that’s exactly it. If anyone is going to hold the line against the Daisan, it’s going to be the Feds...and perhaps they could use our help. The Empire is a mess we won’t delve into, and does anybody trust the Union to hold the Daisan away from our borders?” The question was met with silence.

“But maybe I am thinking too long term. The Daisan are not our concern yet.” Castlereagh adjusted the map to focus on the UAG. “The Artanins, however, very well could be. The Lord Chancellor has asked me to look into the possibility of offering them membership. Discreetly of course.”

Telemachus’s eyes widened slightly. “I hadn’t realized the idea had become so...official”
“The opposition parties are starting to toss it around as well. I have it on very good information that they’ll be bringing it up when Parliament resumes.” Martuf said in his usual mild tone.

“Then we have to act fast if we’re to take credit for the idea,” Castlereagh mentally thanked Martuf for that timely bit of intelligence, though he’d never express his gratitude out loud. “Cato, can we stand it? We’re still settling down from the Valerian integration right? Can we handle another new member so soon?”

Telemachus shrugged in a ‘maybe’ gesture. “It would be tricky. We’d have to follow a more standard integration strategy, probably designate all of the UAG worlds colonial holdings and let the economy do its thing. We certainly can’t afford another special exemption like the Valerians. Even so, I’d predict the unrest would be substantial. I’d have to get back to you with actual numbers, but off the top of my head we’d be looking at a few hundred thousand dead from Civil Order operations. It’s nothing we can’t handle, IF nothing else major comes up.”

Castlereagh nodded. “That’s workable. The Feds won’t be happy if we court the UAG, but they’re hardly in a position to fight us on this.”
“Not directly,” Martuf interjected. “But they could still support Artanin dissidents, supply and arm them, even send a few ships. Angel fleet comes to mind. I think they might need a little incentivizing to stay out of the area. Which brings us back to the Daisan. If the Federation stays out of our business, a few battlefleets could find their way to the front. If not, those battlefleets stay home.”

“That’s certainly worth exploring.” It was the closest Castlereagh would come to saying ‘good idea Martuf!’.

They were all silent for a moment, thinking. “Alright,” Castlereagh said finally. “I’m going to send word to Anderson Ribbentrop at one of our Verge offices. I’m going to tell him to float the idea of membership past the UAG if he gets the chance. Ideally, I’d like to wait for them to contact us on an unrelated matter, but if we don’t hear from them before parliament resumes, Ribbentrop will be instructed to initiate contact from our end.”

“You think they’ll reach out to us first?” Telemachus said dubiously.

“Almost certainly, with what we’ve since confirmed about NAC activity in their space. I suspect they’ll want us to intercede in some way...speaking of the NAC...Martuf, you wouldn’t happen to know anything more about them would you? I’m not entirely satisfied with the explanation they gave about their activities in the UAG. It’s...odd for a transstellar, even one as rich as they are, to so brazenly defy a sovereign state.” Castlereagh seemed hesitant to directly ask for the yanissan man’s help directly.

Martuf grinned widely. “Such a nasty suspicious mind you have Robert. I love it. I don’t immediately know much more about them than you do. A major transstellar from off to the galactic southeast, with a legitimately incorporated division here in the Commonwealth. The VMSRA’s are ostensibly part of a mapping program aimed at improving FTL travel, and the blueprints they provided certainly seem to support that. Something about using essentially an inverted FTL disruption field to match the curvature of faster than light dimensions, very interesting stuff really. For the most part, inspector reports support that, though half of them were probably bribed so we can’t be sure. I’m inclined to agree that they’re a bit odd, odd enough to pique my curiosity. I’ll ask around.”

Silence prevailed again, each man thinking about all they’d discussed. Telemachus broke the silence this time. “Well, I think we’ve covered what we need to, I for one would like some breakfast.”

------------------------------------------------------



CSC Corinthene
Deep Space

Admiral Lady Dame Lord Captain Commander Selissa of Sthiss Elanin, Knight-Indomnitus of the Order of King Nicholas, Duchess Wurzov, and First Void Lord of the Admiralty, was considerably shorter than her lengthy title, with an equally short temper to match. She was somewhat unusual for a Yanissan, turning her species’ propensity for intrigue and convoluted plots towards military strategy instead. She’d joined the Royal Commonwealth Navy decades ago, and served with tremendous distinction, earning herself a knighthood and membership in the peerage, until she was eventually selected to be the navy’s highest ranked uniformed officer.

Selissa was in good spirits today. She stood on CSC Corinthene’s flag bridge, surrounded by the comforting murmur of a flagship in operation. Corinthene was Home Fleet’s flagship, on loan to ferry Selissa and a large number of VIPs to observe the test firing of the new hypometric arrays. The hypometric systems had been in development for years, and had successfully been fired from remote platforms. Today was the first attempt to fire them from a functioning warship, the Imperial-class heavy cruiser RCNS Unyielding. Only the newer RCN designs had enough spare power to mount hypometric arrays, so even if the weapons proved a success, their deployment would be limited for quite some time.

“Nervous, Aldona?” Selissa said quietly to the vit’azny woman beside her. Admiral Dame Aldona Markov, Knight-Companion of the order of King Nicholas, Fourth Void Lord of the Admiralty and head of the Bureau of Weapons, shook her head emphatically. “Not really, Selissa. The weapon will perform as expected. I’m just concerned it won’t be flashy enough for the civvy VIPs we have down in the observation deck.”

It was a valid concern. The hypometric weapons were Aldona’s pet project, but since they spontaneously generated transient singularities, there wasn’t really much to see until they hit something. Far less flashy than positron beams or railgun broadsides. The entire point of this particular test firing was to show off the weapons to the civilians, let them know what tricks the Navy was developing, what they were getting in return for all that tax money. Normally weapon development was kept under wraps until it was actively deployed in the fleet, but the less than stellar ‘victory’ over the IUC a few years ago meant the Navy needed to show off it’s stuff. The hypometric arrays weren’t likely to fundamentally alter Commonwealth doctrine, simply augment it, so the thought of foreign nations getting a glimpse of them wasn’t particularly troubling.

“Unyielding reports ready Ma’am,” a technician reported. Selissa nodded, and simply said: “Tell Unyielding; you may fire when ready.”

Screens around the bridge--and down on the observation deck--focused on the first target, a large asteroid. There was nothing for a few moments, then a large chunk of the asteroid abruptly disappeared, as if a hand had reached out to scoop out a neat semi-sphere from its surface. The screens focused on the second target, a squadron of autonomous drones flying in an evasive pattern. Again, there was nothing, then three of the drones disappeared, two were scooped in half, and the remainder were pulled into the epicenter, a number of them colliding with eachother. The final target was an old decommissioned battleship. There was a bright flash and crackle as the weapon slashed through the target’s shields. A pause, then a scoop of the target’s hull disappeared...a scoop that contained about half the reactor. The target abruptly exploded as its reactor destabilized. Markov had evidently thought of a way to make the weapon flashier for demonstration purposes.

Applause rang out on the bridge, Selissa joining in with a smile. “Well done Aldona, that indeed performed to expectations.”
Markov smiled then shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t expect to be one shotting live targets, but I think I’ve proved the viability of the weapon. We’re already working it into in-progress ship construction, and we can begin refitting existing ships immediately.”
Selissa nodded. “We’ll start with 5th fleet. Congratulations once again.”

Galaxy Aflame! A space opera RP (Closed)

Star System Mirodin
Valerian Republican Navy Supply Depot
CSC Praetoria

No annexation ever went flawlessly, Admiral Lord Sir Adison Volkov, Count Mornington, Knight-Companion of the Order of King Nicholas, Commanding Officer 5th fleet, thought to himself as his flagship shuddered. The Valerian Republic had seemed willing, even eager, to join the Imperial Systems Commonwealth six months ago. Or at least, their government had. Events since the annexation had proved that sentiment was far from universal.

The annexation had started off well enough. The Valerian Republic was an 8 system nation that had watched for years as the Commonwealth swallowed its weaker neighbors one by one. About a year ago, some foresighted individuals in the Republican government had decided to actively seek membership in the Commonwealth, rather than wait to be gobbled up. It had actually turned out to be a very good idea. Using their sophisticated technological base and abundance of psintegrae as a bargaining chip, the Valerian Republic managed to get themselves a very nice deal. Rather than go through years of exploitation and oppression as colonial territories, the worlds of the Republic were being directly integrated as full members. Their government was to remain intact, and they had even been permitted to retain their military (at a significantly reduced budget) as a local defence force. The plebiscite the Republic had gone through showed about 70% of its population was in favor of annexation. That was actually shockingly high; nobody had expected every Valerian citizen to greet the Commonwealth with open arms, so the mere 30% opposed was surprising to say the least.

What the Commonwealth had not been prepared for was how highly placed that opposition was, or the kind of resources they had access to. Two days after the Valerian Republic officially joined the Commonwealth, a number of their most prominent generals and admirals had seized control of some 80% of the military and attempted a coup. Volkov shuddered to think what might have happened if they’d succeeded; the months of gruelling, grinding warfare against an entrenched enemy, the loss of civilian lives, the PR disaster back home…

Luckily, the usurpers had hit too hard, a common mistake with military coups in Volkov’s experience. The coup had been focused on the Republic’s capital, Valeria, and it had been brutal. Evidently the usurpers had quickly seized control of Valeria’s orbitals, spaceports, and major military installations, but had encountered stiff resistance at the Senate building. Loyal soldiers had dug in to defend their duly elected government, and for three days the usurpers had tried and failed to break their defences. Eventually, the usurpers had gotten frustrated, and opted to wipe out the Senate from orbit. Volkov couldn’t help but shake his head at their folly. The population in general had initially been in favor of the annexation, but if the usurpers had played their hand right, they could have swung public opinion in their favor. Some fabricated evidence and a few show trials for captured senators would have exposed the ‘conspiracy’ behind the annexation plebiscite. But by killing the senators, especially with such excessive force, the usurpers had firmly set the public against them. Six days later, Volkov Volkov’s 5th fleet, the Commonwealth’s most famous and successful offensive unit, had descended on Valeria like Llyena’s Spear. When they arrived, they were greeted like liberating heroes rather than foreign invaders, thanks to the excesses of the coup.

Unfortunately, whoever was in charge of the coup was a lot better at strategy than public relations. Only minutes after Volkov’s fleet dropped out of FTL, the usurper commander had recognized he couldn’t stand up to that kind of firepower and gone into full retreat. Valeria had been liberated in a day, but the usurper withdrawal had forced Volkov to disperse his forces in an effort to track them down. He’d spent months doing exactly that, and it had proved to be an interesting challenge. That Valerian Republican Navy had a noticeable tech advantage over the Royal Commonwealth Navy, which equated to better sensors and superior stealth systems. But that advantage was not nearly enough to offset the RCN’s awesome warfighting capability. At the end of the day, Commonwealth ships were tougher and hit harder, and their officer corps was infinitely more capable. The VRN had fought well, using hit and run tactics to assault isolated elements of 5th fleet. Volkov had tried to avoid overstretching his forces in anticipation of such a tactic, but ultimately he had to defend all eight Valerian systems, while the usurpers were free to run off to remote bases and strike at will. Volkov knew that fighting a purely defensive war in unfamiliar territory was a losing proposition, so he’d scrambled to take the initiative. He’d ultimately decided to split the 5th fleet into multiple elements: all eight systems were guarded by minimal picket forces. Four large forces were concentrated at designated node systems, ready to respond to any attack. Meanwhile, Volkov took his flagship and a select few of his heaviest combat units, along with a token cruiser escort, on the offensive. Using intelligence from VRN records and captured usurper ships, he’d designated a number of likely targets and gone out to attack them. The offensive had two main objectives. First was to make the usurpers worry about where he might hit them, instead of letting them plan where to hit him. Second was for Volkov to use his own illustrious persona to draw the usurpers into attacking his task force. It was a bit of a gamble, but it was far more likely to force the usurpers into a decisive engagement than any other option. The usurpers couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try to kill him and deal a huge blow to the Commonwealth’s image, and his flagship’s stripped down entourage provided the perfect chance for them to try it. It was a significant risk, but Volkov had down-to-the-bolts specifications on the capabilities and tactics of the VRN ships (courtesy of the remnants of the Senate), while the VRN had nothing but hearsay and secondhand sensor footage of a Commonwealth wall of battle. In a pitched battle, the Commonwealth’s greatest fleet commander was confident enough in the capabilities of his own fleet to put his life on the line.

Volkov’s plan had worked out exactly as he’d hoped. He’d established a clear pattern in his attacks, forcing the usurpers into the same position he’d begun the conflict with. They’d done exactly what a competent but tactically inflexible commander might do: establish a defensive perimeter and hope to catch their opponent in a trap. Sure enough, not ten minutes after Volkov’s flagship dropped out of FTL to attack a VRN supply base near Mirodin, the remnants of the VRN fleet came rushing in out of hyperspace in a classic pincer maneuver. And so, here he was, on the flag bridge of the CSC Praetoria, getting blasted by the majority of the VRN with only a few battleships and barely half his usual number of cruisers between them. Volkov stared intensely at the master display holo-sphere, absorbing the myriad of blue and orange dots. Volkov’s own ships were tidily arranged into a standard RCN formation. His flagship and battleships were closely packed into a literal wall of battle, while his few cruisers flew in tight screening formations. Fighters weaved in and out of the formation, carefully staying out of their motherships firing solutions. Those firing solutions had gone to full defensive not a second after the VRN usurpers sprang their ambush; countless shells exploded into flak and EM bursts in a neat bubble around the Commonwealth ships, repelling missiles and energy weapons alike. The VRN ships were arranged on either side of Volkov’s formation, trying to catch him in a deadly crossfire. His only criticism of the opposing commander’s maneuvers was that he was being too cautious. Facing an opponent who’s capabilities he did not fully understand, the enemy commander had opted to spring his ambush at extreme ranges, giving himself the ample time to assess the situation and the capabilities of the Commonwealth ships. Volkov understood the logic, but given the energy-heavy armament of VRN ships and their decidedly average missile capabilities, engaging at such a huge range was a mistake.

The Praetoria rumbled slightly as a Valerian meson beam struck its shields. At these ranges, the destructive potential of energy weapons was virtually gone by the time they hit their targets. Still, it made Volkov frown. “Give me about 5% more anti-beam charges in the starboard flak shell,” he ordered briskly to his ops officer. In response to his command, the frequency of EM flashes to starboard increased ever so slightly. Volkov looked over to his chief of staff, Captain Maria Anisimovna. “Masha, let’s go to fireplan echo-two. Targets at CIC’s discretion” he said thoughtfully. “Aye sir, going to echo-two, targets at CIC discretion,” the staff officer replied stiffly, then, with a small smile, added “I think they’ll be needing a few extra pairs of pants over there in a minute, sir.”

Every missile launcher on every Commonwealth ship went to full rapid fire mode, spitting a missile into space every ten seconds. But the missiles stayed inactive, coasting along at low speeds with only the momentum from their launchers carrying them forwards. At the same time, multiple squadrons of dive bombers--little more than cockpits and weapons on giant GDC engines--began to launch and carefully maintain position inside the flak shell.

Sixty seconds later, all hell broke loose. The impenetrable shell of flak dissipated for a moment, and literally thousands of missiles exploded outwards. Alarms wailed on Valerian ships as their computers were overwhelmed by the huge number of threat signatures barrelling down on them.

As they raced out towards their targets, the missiles shifted slightly into two closely knit waves. As the first wave approached, a selection of ECM missiles went to full power, spewing false signals and jamming Valerian targetting sensors. A few of missiles were felled by point defence, but the majority broke through and tore through Valerian shields with bright ion flashes. The second wave followed scant seconds later, unleashing a storm of plasma that melted through armoured hulls with ease.

The divebombers were right on the tail of the missile barrage, and they screamed into the Valerian ranks with their engines at full power, launched their payloads of antimatter torpedoes, and were gone well before the cataclysmic explosions began.

The Valerian order of battle was shattered. The confused, haphazard response of the remaining ships told Volkov he’d likely taken out their commander, and it was taking them time to reestablish the chain of command. With any luck, the fleet commander had been the unknown leader of the coup, though Volkov wasn’t counting on it. With a few brisk orders, his own ships began cleaning up the mess, sweeping out with positron beams and unleashing the full offensive firepower of their railguns. The remaining Valerian ships put up little resistance, and Volkov couldn’t help but feel a little smug. He’d broken the resistance’s back, and it wouldn’t be long until they were crushed completely.