Contact: The Hive

Port Garland, PDF Sensor Monitoring Chamber

Sensor officers observed the various holographic computer interfaces in their chamber in the newly acquired and rechristened Port Garland. Most days were pretty dreary, as they simply watched various ships come and go from the system. Most of them were recently-graduated students of the University of Planet who had done lab work in the various sensor arrays on Chiron who were lucky enough to find well paying work, in the spaceport of all places.

Suddenly, all of their terminals began bleeping and around eighty energy signatures appeared. They were all red, which marked them as "unidentified", which in the sensor officers' jargon meant that they had energy signatures not recognized by the system. One officer, however, put two and two together and entered energy signatures from the encounter a few days ago into the system. The system confirmed it - they were the same kind of signatures. They then quickly dispatched the information to Commander Aaron.

***

Port Garland, Commander Aaron's Office

Commander Aaron read the report from Sensor Command with great concern. He quickly ordered a lockdown of the Alpha Centauri system, meaning that no civilian vessels were to come or go without express permission from the Planetary Defense Force, issued a warning on the Galactic Net to tell vessels to not come into the Alpha Centauri system, and finally ordered several fleets out into the edges of the system to patrol for incoming enemies. In the mean-time, Lal gives Commander Aaron express permission to deal with the issue as he sees fit.

(OOC: Sensor command? You namestealing name stealer! )

(OOC: Happy now? )

OOC: Again taking some writing liberty here, though I don't see if interfering but I will delete if its out of place.

IC:

"We yes I understand stand Brother Lal is a busy man but surely he or something can tell me....Yes I saw the official broadcast but it was quite vague and I......Well what I am saying is that the Dominion will wish me recalled if there is immediate danger to my life and.....I understand there is a temporarily blockade from travel that is why.....no I do not wish to leave a message, thank you and good day."

The Veridian Ambassador turned off his monitor as it seemed talking to the Centauri government was just as difficult as the Dominion's to navigate and negotiate. He'd already contacted his government, apprising them of the situation though the conversation ended with the Ambassador being informed that he had more question to get answer than he had actual answers to give to his leadership. No doubt the military was keeping information tight for fear of paranoia and panic. A proven tactic for sure but the Ambassador had hoped he could at least get a little information out of them. He would no doubt keep trying but at the moment he felt quiet exhausted and choose to instead enjoy a rather stiff Veridian drink.

Slightly more than a hundred ships flew in the slipspace toward the Alpha Centauri System. Their fleet consisted of 5 cruisers leading 5 flotillas of 5 frigates each, 30 carriers each carrying 10,000 soldiers armed and ready for what could turn out to be the invasion of Chiron, 30 battleships to be the main attack force against Centauran ships, and 15 dreadnoughts of the latest design boasting 8 high power MAC cannons on each. There were also several agricultural ships to feed the Ahlgren during the battle.

In order to hide the full number of ships only 80 slipspace portals were made so quite a few ships had to enter the same portal meaning that not all of the ships would be on the frontline, but this was more of a good thing since there were a lot of ships such as the agricultural and the carriers which did not need to be on the frontline. This was especially important since 80 energy signatures would be very challenging to miss and there was a good chance the battle would start as soon as they exit slipspace.

Since the force was so large the Hive Queen had assigned a Polemarch , a very uncommon thing in the Hive. The Polemarch would be commanding the battle from a small fighter in range of telepathy so that she would be able to see what the the soldiers would be seeing, but far enough out to be thought of as space junk. The Polemarch would send her commands to the Princesses commanding each ship instead of just sending her commands to the soldiers as it would be quite a big task to tend to the needs of over a hundred ships and telling tens of thousands of Ahlgrens exactly what to do.

The moments were counted down until exit. They would have to be prepared to handle anything. And in the first few minutes of the battle the Polemarch would be unable to give orders so the Princesses on each should would have to communicate, organize, and attack the Centaurans. Enemies knowing exactly where and when the slipspace exits were going to occur was a major flaw in slipspace travel, however the Hive knew no other way and they believed that no other way could be as fast.

OOC: I would go on but I dont know how many ships your going to use as well as if your going to confront me head on or wait or what your going to do so I guess I'll have to end my post with my guys about to exit and you can pick it up with them exiting and what your people do.

The Bridge of the UNS Charybdis

I suppose they've arrived.

Commander Aaron sighed as he looked out into space and saw the invading fleet first appeared as well as the readouts on the terminals of his subordinates. Fifteen large capital vessels, as well as some clearly combat vessels and others transports. He managed to muster up most of the Planetary Defense Fleet, however, and it appeared to him that it would be more than sufficient. Their numbers were roughly equal, however the Centauri forces had a defending advantage and (as far as Commander Aaron could tell) a technological one. Still, the battle was going to be costly, both in lives and material. He would love to settle it and prevent it, but he had no time to worry about prevention with an invading fleet on the loose.

In the meantime, however, he had already decided on a strategy. It was to be primarily defensive - one group, led by a carrier and three cruisers, as well as around thirty-five frigates and a hundred corvettes, was to defend the outer reaches of the system, most specifically the various asteroid mines around Morgan Astro-MIning Station and other such structures, while the remainder of the fleet (the flagship, a carrier, two cruisers, fourty frigates, and a hundred twenty-five corvettes) remained around Port Garland to guard the spaceport as well as Chiron and it's moons. The vessels were all given the order to prioritize defending civilian and military infrastructure over pursuing fleeing or defeated vessels, and to minimize collateral damage at all costs. Finally, he had a message sent out on the Galactic Web that Chiron was currently under attack by an unknown and unidentified enemy force and that civilian travel to and from the system should be avoided. Of course, military assistance was still welcome.

(OOC: I'm thinking that in the middle of all this an Empath officer on the Charybdis could detect the communication of the Queen and realize just what's going on and try to communicate, as well as convince Commander Aaron to stop. Would you find doing something like that agreeable?)

The Rheans send a Star Destroyer to guard the KDY port. It's under the jurisdiction of the Centauri but a Rhean company owns it. The Bastians send only two frigates and a destroyer. They're kind of strapped for military supplies at the moment.

OOC: I think a few things are wrong in your post Sela. I was probably a bit unclear but the 5 flotillas of 5 frigates were led by 5 cruisers (which are not capital ships) and together that is just 30 ships, then there are the other ships such as the carriers, battleships, and dreadnoughts. The dreadnoughts would be the capital ships.

As for the telepathy being detected, I suppose that is possible since they are basically radio waves. Although the Princesses are not talking to the Hive Queen (which is what you suggested in your OOC) they are talking to the Polemarch who is just another princess put in a high position to help keep the invasion organized. The Polemarch is speaking to the other Princesses without telepathy (since Princesses cannot communicate with other Princesses with telepathy) using regular methods that would be easily detectable by your people (of course though you wouldnt be able to understand it). The only telepathy being done by the Polemarch is simply looking through the eyes of the soldiers piloting ships to make sure everything is going according to how she planned.

So hopefully that clarified some things and I apologize for not being totally clear in my post. So anyway, I think trying to communicate with us would be good. After the information got back to the hive about the Centaurans all of the princesses in the invasion have knowledge of the Centauran language so we should be able to understand and communicate back.

(OOC: Better?)

(OOC: For my part, the Star Destroyer's orders are to fire only if fired upon.)

The Polemarch was pleasantly surprised to see that hell had not erupted the moment her ships exited slipspace. And since the battlefield was at this point only a staring contest, she used her time to strategize. The Hive ships all moved around in synch. The carriers all moved to the back of the fleet increasing shield power and taking power away from the engines. They also raised up and lowered into different planes than the other ships to insure that nothing could go through the front lines and hit them. In the middle lay the greatest threat, the Battleships and Dreadnoughts. Both with overwhelming firepower and defenses, the battleships had speed on their side while the dreadnoughts had heavy armor and stronger shields--not to mention the 8 MAC cannons that made up the bulk of the ships. Then in front of them there were the flotillas, the soldiers who in the eyes of the Centaurans would be truly brave, but in the eyes of the Hive just another soldier. The cruisers and frigates making up the flotillas were fast, lightweight, and deadly. The only disadvantage was the frigates had already been seen by the Centaurans.

The 5 flotillas spread out and moved in toward the enemy. They began a deadly dance with the Centaurans. First they would go in, then they would retreat back, they were trying to provoke the Centaurans. It was, however, not working. The Centauran ships must have been on defensive orders. The Polemarch redivised her strategy then relayed it to the other Princesses. Some ships moved while others stayed. Then one of the flotillas moved in towards a cruiser that was guarding a mine. The cruiser leading the frigates in the flotilla moved ahead of its frigates to get in range to put a slipspace portal on the Centauran Cruiser. At the same moment the Hive fleet opened fire on the Centaurans. The flotillas all broke rank and flew about the local ships attacking them with their railguns and proton missiles. The battleships and Dreadnoughts sought out the targets which could really do damage, the ones near Chiron. A barage of MAC bolts flew through space at close to the speed of light impacting with great force. The dreadnoughts of course were the real beauty to behold. Their 8 MAC cannons firing one after another and being recharged by the time the eighth one was fired.

(OOC: Sorry, but could you please edit your post so that you don't declare losses for me? Namely, I'm focusing on the following line: "Suddenly a large slipspace portal appeared in the center of the Centauran cruiser destroying it and pulling it into the slipspace." It's not that I mind losing the ship, as I might very well have it happen and have my people show their shock, but that it's standard here to leave actions open-ended and let the other person decide the result.)

(OOC: And, just to let you know, it's frowned upon to refuse to take losses. I'm not saying that you will do that. It's just a forewarning. One guy who used to be in our region refused to take losses and declared losses for others. He was pretty much our laughingstock. We still get a good chuckle every now and then reminiscing over his antics. Anyway, would I be correct in assuming that they know the Star Destroyer won't fire unless fired on?)

(OOC 2: Hmm. You may want to rethink how many guns you have on the dreadnoughts. 8 is kind of a small number for a capital ship. For comparison, and why I'm not sending it into the fight unless fired upon, a Star Destroyer's armament consists of 8 octupuple turbolasers, 5 heavy turbolaser batteries, 5 turbolaser batteries, 26+ additional turbolaser batteries, 20 heavy ion cannons, and 10 tractor beams. Of course, a Star Destroyer is massive. There are only 90 of them in the entire Rhean fleet, out of a total of 327 vessels. For comparison, the Rutian fleet has over 2000 ships and my fleet is considered a near match for theirs. But yeah, you can kind of see the type of armament a capital ship of that size can boast.)

OOC: Alright I fixed my post, now my ship is just flying toward yours to get in range to open up a portal.

Your Star Destroyers do have many more guns than my dreadnoughts, however the 8 MAC cannons are not the only thing on board, simply the most fierce. On board there are many Laser defense turrets, 50 or so small railguns, hundreds of proton missiles, and 3 proton colliders, and a few anti-matter missiles (I suppose you could also count the slipspace drive as a weapon). The MAC cannons that are used are also quite large and most likely have a faster reload time than most MACs in foreign arsenals. But, I'd imagine my dreadnoughts have more maneuverability and speed than your star destroyers as well. Don't get me wrong, they are not as good, but I'd say they are still capital ships.

It may also be something to consider that the Hive has never fought a civilization as advanced as the Centaurans or Rheans so they only compare their capital ships to the capital ships of the civilizations it has come across.

BTW sorry for the delay but my internet has been unpredictable the last few days.

(OOC: OK, gonna make this post as I'm in an airport with free Wi-Fi. It'll be a while before I can make another.)

The Battle of Centauri

The beginning of the battle in the Centauri system was... tense, to say the least. The enemy ships weaved in and out, and the Centauri ships gave little response as they protected the infrastructure of the system. It took a while before anything happened, but then it happened explosively.

Suddenly, a portal appeared in the middle of a cruiser guarding a mine and sucked it in, and shocked gasps were had all over the system. All hell broke loose as the enemy began to attack and the Centauri vessels counterattacked, now with orders to remain mobile and scan carefully for energy signatures to prevent further damage from the portals. The vessels now began to assume a more aggressive stance, firing in volleys of tachyon bolts, streams of plasma, barrages of missiles, and with the two cruisers releasing swarms of fighters and bombers to attack the enemy vessels.

***

Comm Chamber, the UNS Charybdis

Talent Taras Sidorov of the University monitored his subordinates in the communications chamber of the Centauri flagship carefully, and made sure to see that all messages were being sent and received as intended and that the comm system was working correctly. However, he also watched the comm sensors with interest, as he noted that there seemed to be some signals from a small vessel at the head of the attacking fleet. He ordered to signal to be magnified and more clearly analyzed, and then he realized that they seemed to be commands to the other vessels of the attacking fleet. He sent word to Commander Aaron while he eagerly waited for the messages to be decoded...

Captain Oscar Sidonia stood at the window of the bridge, observing the battle. Though he wanted to step in, he had his orders. He starts looking through his orders for any loopholes. He suddenly has an idea. If he were to position his ship in between in the two fleets after sending a message that the two sides stop fighting if they don't want the Malevolence to step in, he may be able to stop the battle. He pauses to decide.

(OOC: This is up to your approval. If you guys are OK with it, I'll have him move his ship in between the two fleets. If not, he'll stay as is.)

The ships were being pounded by the Centauran assault. It was clear that the Centaurans had been underestimated and this battle would not come out to be easy win. Their greatest tool of destruction was their MACs that seemed to break the speed of light. They were a weapon that interested the Polemarch, she would have to send scavengers to try to piece together this weapon later on.

The Polemarch realized that the enemies had released small bomber and fighter crafts to assault the Hive fleet, a small threat, however it was one that when combined with the Centauran assault, would bring a more swift downfall. She ordered that pilots in the carrier ships to engage the Centauran fighter and bombers with their own fighter and bombers.

It was clear to the Polemarch that sitting on their position they were going to take much more damage than was necessary. She gave the order to begin slipspace jumping hit and run tactics. This would create a bit of unpredictability. Even though slipspace exits could be predicted by their energy signature, there would only be about one second to recognize the exit and act on it which should reduce the amount of damage being taken by the Centaurans while keeping up the assault on them.

OOC: I suppose you could do that, but I believe that Sela wanted to stop the battle in his own way.

The Bridge of the UNS Charybdis

Commander Aaron smiled with relief as the invading fleet was slowly beaten back, though not without damage on their own ships, as the enemy was seemingly caught by surprise, especially by the tachyon beams. The fighters and bombers released by the carriers also seemed to do well to harass the Hive fleet, though they soon released their own fighters and bombers to counter the Centauri ones. Nevertheless, as long as the enemy was kept on the defensive the Centauri fleet would be able to prevail.

Suddenly, the enemy vessels began to suddenly disappear and reappear, and Commander Aaron realized that they were trying to use hit-and-run tactics. Aggravating, certainly, but they could reliably predict where they would appear, so it was not as bad as it could be. The Centauri vessels used sensor information to quickly target their weapons and then fire immediately once the enemy vessels appeared to damage them.

Then, Commander Aaron noticed an urgent flashing in his peripheral vision - a message from Talent Sidorov, the head comm officer. After some analysis, Talent Sidorov managed to determine that commands were being issued to the enemy fleet by a small vessel at the front of their fleet and that they had managed to decode the meaning of the communications. The language of the enemy was certainly unlike any human language, but it still was decipherable by the Universal Translator.

Now, knowing what commands were being issued was certainly of tactical value, but Commander Aaron realized that more importantly they could now hopefully communicate with the alien fleet. Perhaps that had been the issue when first contact was made? Nevertheless, Commander Aaron had a message synthesized in the language of the aliens and sent to the vessel commanding their fleet. It was likely to sound unusual and artificial, but still comprehensible. In the meantime, he alerted the Rheans and Bastians of the development.

***

Attention incoming fleet. This is Commander Aaron of the Planetary Defense Force of Alpha Centauri. We do not seek to make war. We want only peace. If you will respond to this message, we shall cease fire and send over a delegate, and urge that you reciprocate. This was caused by a misunderstanding and unfortunate circumstances in first contact, and we desire to begin relations anew.

The Centauran ships fired at the slipspace exits faster than the Polemarch had anticipated. It was a much better fight than they had fought before, however it was not an ideal one. They continued to use these tactics, then they added in the threat of asteroids. The larger ships used their tractor beams to reel in asteroids to hit ships and a few to hit Chiron. It was a dirty tactic, but the Hive was not interested in playing fair, only to do what it had come to do: make peace or leave ruins.

The Polemarch continued to give orders to the Princesses leading each of the ships, it was quite a strenuous job. She had to speak fast in order to tell everyone what to do in time, however, there was a reason she was chosen to be the Polemarch for this battle--she was exceptional at it. She orchestrated the fleet quite well. That is until a surprise message from the Centaurans came. The message broke her entire concentration, and she hoped that this was going to be good.

She listened to the message and was astonished that it was in the royal tongue. It sounded terrible and had many mistakes, but the message was clear, the Centaurans wanted peace. She proceeded to send a message to the Centaurans.

---

Our ships will ceasefire and we will have one of our capital ships make a slipspace jump close to Chiron for ease, do not be alarmed at this. I will meet with a delegate of yours in the ship of ours that will be close to Chiron.

---

The Polemarch sent her message to the ships in the Hive fleet and they stopped firing and raised their shields. They still kept their tactical positions scattered about the system in case negotiations went bad. Then one of the dreadnoughts made a slipspace jump into the orbit of Chiron. The Polemarch then proceeded to fly to it to prepare for her meeting.

*As this was going on one frigate out of the six that currently made up the fledgling Ordenreich Fleet came out of FTL space well away from the dying fighting that was taking place around Centauran. The frigate came well armed and with a full complement of Ordenreich knights and paladins. This was not saying much as the Ordenreich had just started building its own military ships and their first frigate was not very impressive. It was fast but it only had a few missile pods and a crude MAC cannon. Although the Ordenreich knights and paladins were extremely well trained ground troops the Ordenreich had little way of using them with such a primitive vessel. The mission of this frigate was not to join any fighting anyway. The Ordenreich Councils decided that they needed to see space combat from its neighbors first hand in order to gain knowledge on space fleet tactics. The frigate did not even attempt to mask its presence as the Orden Captain commanding the ship knew that its crude FTL drive lit up sensors on any ship that was even passively scanning for FTL signatures. Instead the Orden Captain ordered the frigate the minimum combat readiness to minimize its threat level.*

Captain Sidonia was very pleased the fighting stopped on its own.

The battle was taking an unusual turn, or at least in Commander Aaron's point of view. The enemy ships were now using tractor beams to drag over asteroids to impact the Centauri vessels as well as Chiron itself. The first was not particularly threatening, thanks to usage of point defense to blow away the asteroids before they could impact, though the second was somewhat more troubling. Most that go in that direction are destroyed before they can hit Chiron, but some manage to sneak through. They do deal some considerable damage on the surface, though not on a particularly large scale, and none hit any populated areas. Also, the sensor officers on board had noted to Commander Aaron that crude FTL signatures had been detected, appearing to be from Teutonic vessels. Commander Aaron had to raise an eyebrow at this questionable decision of the Teutons, but it was unlikely that they would come to harm at this point.

Then, an urgent message appeared on his command screen. Finally, Commander Aaron thought. The moment I've been waiting for. They finally got a reply from the alien fleet, and immediately Aaron shouted the command to cease fire as he read the message. Apparently one of their ships was going to do a quick jump to Chiron so that the leader of this fleet could discuss with the Centauri delegate. Somewhat worrying, but if they were to try any funny business the Centauri fleet would put a stop to it. He then sent an affirmative reply, and then briefly considered who he wanted to send as the delegate. The UNS Charybdis did not have any officials authorized to negotiate diplomatically, so he sent for a diplomatic official from Port Garland. Namely, a certain Talent Nancy Zhang.

***

Talent Zhang sighed, as she stepped into the shuttle that would go to the capital ship of the alien fleet. Why did this have to happen to her? It certainly was her duty to the Planetary Governate, but it made her feel like she was... expendable. Still, it was her duty, and she hardly was going to complain. She went into the equipment room, and got into an environment suit. With that, she sighed, and waited for the shuttle to dock with the alien capital ship.

The ship prepared itself for the arrival of the Centauran. The Polemarch readied herself as well as a few guards to ensure that she would be safe. Suddenly the message came through to her tablet that the Centauran vessal had successfully docked. The Polemarch walked forward to the hatch and opened it to see her first glimpse of an alien. It was clear the Centauran had taken precautions to ensure her own survival in the ships atmosphere, but the Polemarch gathered what she wanted. Her height was about equal to that of the Centauran, although it was clear that they were not nearly as strong as herself.

She pulled out her tablet once more to communicate with the Centauran. The Polemarch understood the Centauran language to a point, and could write it however she biologically lacked the ability to pronounce the words. She wrote down the words on the electronic tablet with her finger, "I am the Polemarch of this military operation, and I will be representing The Hive. Before I get to serious questions, I would like to know how it is that your people understand our language." She looked at it for a few moments before showing it to the Centauran.

OOC: Just to give you an idea of who your talking to, she looks like this: http://im.glogster.com/media/4/21/1/99/21019988.jpg

*The T.S.F. Lake Peipus began a gradual drift towards the two fleets. It kept its distance for fear of provoking a response from the two battle fleets. It continued to keep its combat readiness at minimum to keep its threat level down but it began warming up its sensors.*

Orden Captain Aaron: Begin passive scanning of the different ship types of both fleets. I want any data we can gain from these battle fleets sent back to Livenstein

Talent Zhang entered the ship, and there she saw the leader of this alien fleet. The being was about as tall as her, though clearly much strongly built. Then, the being took out some kind of datapad and then wrote out it's message. To begin, the being asked how it was that the Centauri came to understand the language of these alien.

Then, Talent Zhang cleared her throat and began to speak, with her Universal Translator overlaying the words in the royal speech of the Hive females over her own voice, "We have used the technology of our universal translators to understand your language and then speak it. It can be somewhat crude at first, but it does it's job."