Glowing Energy?

Somewhere in the general sector of the galaxy where Alpha Centauri resides, a rift opens up to [unknown place], and a green glowing ball about 500km in diameter floats in to this galaxy. The rift closes.

Anyone with a small sensor capacity should detect it. It seems to be giving off free energy. Not insignificant amounts, either. It's probably at least several lightyears from Alpha Centauri, but the shell of energy it's giving off seems to extend almost all the way to the star.

The glowing, green, energy-rich ball slowly but surely starts moving in the direction of Rhean space. Slowly, mind you.

Very quickly, The Spotlight is there, likely performing what I like to call "WTF sensor readings."

*O.S.S.C Bunker, Ordenreich Colony, Hamburg*

*The Teutonic colony of Hamburg lies at the very edge of Ordenreich space closest to Alpha Centauri. The original plan for the colony was to become a trade hub between the Ordenreich and Alpha Centauri but because of Operation: Fatherland the colony had been largely abandoned and all that remained was the O.S.S.C bunker which was downgraded to a mere deep sensor station. It was a normal, quiet, and boring day in the bunker when some of the sensors facing the direction of Alpha Centauri raised a red flag. There wasn't much urgency as there was always something strange going on at Alpha Centauri however this time it was different*

Sensor Officer: Sir we are getting strange readings from Alpha Centauri

Senior Sensor Officer: When are we not...?

SO: Sir this time its different. Its not coming from Alpha Centauri directly and its not a signature we ever registed before

SSO: Something worth mentioning to the hierarchy?

SO: Yes sir

SSO: very well I'll make the call.

*about 15 hours later a Black Order stealth frigate silently dropped out of FTL just outside Alpha Centauri home system and began scanning. As they didn't want to cause problems they allowed some signals to poke through so that the Alpha Centaurians knew that the Ordenreich had sent a ship to investigate the anomaly.*

Order Captain Calvin: Beginning scanning for the unknown signature

Officer: Scanning...
...
Sir we found it

Order Captain Calvin: Right beginning taking tests on the... what in the goddamn...

(OOC: Well, slow is relative. Is it moving at FTL speeds?)

An Immobilizer 418 cruiser is sent to investigate. Not as big as an ISD but it can generate an interdiction field that could bog it down if necessary. The scientific team on board begins scanning it.

A large number of ships are dispatched, many scientific vessels from the University but also a large number from the Peacekeepers, and even an assorted few from the Gaians and Morganites. PDF forces also arrive in the general vicinity of the object, redirected from routine patrols.

*The Black Order ship moved closer to the ships that had been dispatched and began to hail them*

Order Captain Calvin: This is Order Captain Calvin, Hierarchy of the Ordenreich, Black Order Division, T.S.F. Nightstalker broadcasting open to all friendly forces. Come in.

(OOC: Nope, slower than light. Less than half light speed. Probably less than a quarter.)

"So yeah..." Thorgood answers his radio. "We have no idea what this is."

Suddenly and without warning, the energy cloud expands, pulses with power, then totally disappears. It engulfed all the ships that had come to investigate it, and has disappeared, as measured by senors further from the event, along with all the ships nearby and their inhabitants.

They're gone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

*At the same time, in an unknown location*

All crew members of the missing ships are unconscious.

(OOC: So real quick. Are we RPing the missing crew or the nations?)

(OOC: Your crew are unconscious. I will wake them up once people react.)

*O.S.S.C High Command Center, High Citadel, Ordenreich homeworld Livenstein*

Hochmeister Paul III von Guelderlaand: Just what the hell happened

Black Paladin Komtur: I don't know sir. 15 hours ago our remote deep space sensor station on the colony of Hamburg got strange readings from Alpha Centauri, stranger than normal.

Paul: Thats bad. Next?

BPK: We sent a stealth frigate, the T.S.F. Nightstalker, under the command of Order Captain Calvin to investigate what happened and it... disappeared.

Paul: Entire ships don't just disappear Black Paladin Komtur

BPK: I know sir. We don't have enough information to make a conclusive theory. We do know that Order Captain Calvin attempted to contact to Alpha Centaurians before dropping off the grid.

Paul: Are you suggesting the Alpha Centaurians attacked our frigate?

BPK: Its a possibility sir...

Paul: Hmm... I see. Keep me updated.

BPK: Yah mein Hochmeister

*Comm between the BPK and the Hochmeister is cut*

Paul: Get me Knight Commander Jager

Advisor: Sir.

*Jager comes on the comm screen*

Paul: Knight Commander Jager you are to take command of the 2nd and 3rd Field Fleets and head to Alpha Centauri. Take all the teams you need to find our lost ship.

Jager: Rules of engagement sir?

Paul: Don't fire unless fired upon. We don't want to start a war over this but if the Alpha Centaurians did shoot our frigate down I want to know why.

Jager: Yes sir we shall be there as quickly as possible. Jager out.

*3 hours later*

*The Ordenreich 2nd and 3rd field fleets dropped out of FTL space well away from Alpha Centauri with their guns powered down. They immediately begin heading to the last known location of their stealth frigate broadcasting a universal ping to all ships that might be listening that they mean no harm*

The moment the two Dominion destroyers disappeared, alarms echoed throughout the command center monitoring their progress from the homeworld. That they disappeared without warning puzzled military commanders given that there was no data to suggest that any ships had fired on either the Nova or the Feros. In fact the entire event occurred so quickly that Dominion officials were left with the simple explanation that the two ships simply....vanished. In a vain attempt, the Dominion began search through their satellite network, hoping to pick up the ship's signal. Sadly, the network only covered Dominion explored space which was incredibly small, along with the satellites near Rhean space, Alpha Centauri Space, and Hive space.

Accepting the futility of their efforts the Dominion decided to do the only thing it could do, investigate the origins of the energy. Given it came from the relative location of Alpha Centauri, the Dominion contacted its embassy which then forwarded the following message to the leadership

Quote :

:::Official Message, Veridian Dominion::::

It has come to our attention that a phenomena originating from your region of the galaxy may have caused the destruction or otherwise lose of two Dominion ships. We are requesting whatever information you might have on the phenomena in question as well as any information you may now or may quickly come into possession of, in regards to our two missing ships. The Governate's cooperation in this matter is most assuredly appreciated.

The Centauri are thrown into high alert and travel is urged to halt. Eight small sensor vessels (four University, two Peacekeeper, one Gaian, and one Morganite) had been lost, along with two frigates sent out by the military. They also sent out a press release to alert the people of the situation, while at the same time having Talent Zhang respond quickly to the Veridian dispatch.

To: The Veridian Embassy on Alpha Centauri
From: Talent Zhang, Centauri Special Diplomatic Envoy

Unfortunately, we do not know any more of this phenomena than you do, and we had lost ten vessels along with yours, it seems. We shall to publish any findings as they occur, but until then we can do little more than wait for investigations to bear fruit.

Talent Nancy Zhang

Two Motherships appear where the ships vanished, shields are up and apparently with power. They drop 4 jumpers that are slowly moving across the field, apparently scanning.

"This is Teresa Trimbalt of Burnination," one of the Motherships is broadcasting, "Is there anyone here? Does anyone read this message? Thorgood?"

She is greeted only by a remote message from Port Garland.

"This is Commander Aaron, speaking to you from Port Garland. The various vessels dispatched to where you currently are appear to have been destroyed or disappeared (the second currently appearing more likely) by some as-of-yet-unknown stellar phenomena. Currently, we are observing from a distance and allowing the data processors down on Planet to process the information received."

Jager: This is Knight Commander Jager, Ordenreich 2nd Field Fleet, requesting permission to move ships in to investigate the loss of our stealth frigate. Any information regarding this loss would be greatly appreciated. Many back home believe it was shot down so we would like some information before an invasion fleet is sent in for no reason.

The Centauri send a similar message to Knight Commander Jager, telling him the same thing. Also, given that the area is not actually in Centauri space, he's free to move in, though it is close to the Centauri sphere of influence.

No more than a few minutes after the Burnite mothership arrived and began its own investigation of the scene, a second ship appears shortly after a small burst of light. It was the DSS Oculus, a science vessel developed by the Dominion. Its design perhaps primitive when compared the capabilities of other civilizations in the galaxy, to the Dominion it was a scientific feat of great magnitude. It was designed for deep space observation, that is, the vessel possessed the very best sensory technology the Dominion had yet developed. After seeing the second vessel, the Oculus hailed them...

"This is Dr. Servius of the Dominion ship Oculus. We're here on a scientific venture, of which I assume you are as well. We shall not impede upon your work so long as you do not impede on ours."

Though Dr. Servius had been on a Burnite vessel before, he was not familiar with all the makes and models and thus did not initially recognize the other vessel as a burnite ship.

Jager: Roger that Centauri Command. Thanks for the assist. Jager out.

*The 2nd and 3rd fleets spread out, each ship was assigned a predesignated sector. Each ship carried a small contingent of Order Scribes as Knight Commander Jager wanted to be fully prepared if this turned out to not be the Centaurians fault which he sincerely doubted in the first place. He ordered all ships to keep their weapons offline and share space with other recovery teams from other species. He was about to head to the mess hall for a break when his second in command, Order Admiral Ludwig, called for him.*

Jager: What've we got?

Ludwig: Sheer dumb luck sir. The Nightstalker did indeed drop a spy drone when it exited the system.

Jager: No kidding? Anything useful?

Ludwig: Not sure yet sir we brought it onboard and its now in the tech lab being looked over by our scribe team.

Jager: Right. Take over command for now, see if you can find anything else and let the scribe team know I'm coming down.

Ludwig: Sir.

*15 minutes later, T.S.F. Marienburg Tech Lab*

Jager: Well gentlemen, whats the story on our drone.

Scribe: Results are preliminary sir. Whatever event that led to our lost ship also fried our little friend here. All the electronics are shot but the memory core is intact. The spy drone is programmed to record the spy frigate it is attached to so we might be able to see what happened.

Jager: Very good I'll contact the other races. They will want to know what happened.

Scribe: Uhh... make sure you give us a few minutes sir.

Jager: Why it should only take a second to remove the core

Scribe: Yes well whatever made our ships go missing also kind of... melted the electronics in our drone. We have to use cutting tools to get the core.

Jager: Thats a comforting thought... Fine you'll have your few minutes just be ready to show our findings.

Scribe: Sir.

*Jager exits the tech lab then proceeds to the bridge*

Jager (on comm): Order Admiral Ludwig link me in to the ship's communication and get me a link to the other races looking into this problem.

Ludwig: Sir. You're online.

Jager: This is Knight Commander Jager, T.S.F. Marienburg, 2nd Ordenreich Field Fleet. We may have evidence as to what happened to our missing ships. My Order Scribes are currently extracting a memory core of a spy drone deployed by our missing stealth frigate that go caught in the "blast." The drone should have been filming our frigate when the blast happened. We are standing by for your decision on where we should meet so we can view this evidence. Jager out

(OOC: When you remove the core I will tell you what it contains in terms of information in my next post. Waiting for Panpan to move on though.)

Travel in Rhea is not sent to a halt, though they remain on alert for that bubble thing. After all, the galaxy is a big place and it moves at below the speed of light. They send a similar message to the Veridians mentioning the loss of one ship and the 3000 men aboard.

(OOC: Well honestly I was just going to have the camera show my frigate, a flash a light, then go dead or something nothing too revealing)

Space near Centauri Influence...

No one finds any trace of the glowing ball emitting free energy.

"This is Teresa Trimbalt of Burnination again," Teresa's voice over the ship comms. "We need to investigate all this. ProtoConsul Thorgood of Burnination was on the Burninite starship that vanished from here. It seems we have all lost something. Our loss, though, may be the most grave."

Consul Jenova Incinerator sends a message to the University via the embassy there that she would like to collaborate with University scientists on finding the missing ships. It is Thorgood missing, so Burnination would like to offer the services of Dr. Zalenka, whose career is second only to Thorgood himself. They would also again like to offer the use of their technology. But many of Burnination's best scientific minds are now gone, so they would like to pool resources with the University.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Unknown location...

Meanwhile, the majority of the crews of the missing vessels are still unconscious. However, somehow the aliens were aware of who the commanders of each ship was. They also seem to have disabled any self-destruct protocols, for none of the ships were lost, apparently. Or if they were, somehow the crews were preserved.

For, Thorgood and the captains of the other vessels awake, finding themselves in a room about 20 meters by 20 meters. The walls are opaque and there is no obvious door or window anywhere. There is no furniture in the room. Nothing, in fact. Everything is a solid brown color. Those who awake remember nothing. They are conscious that time has passed, as though a dreamless sleep occurred. They do not have any recollection of being brought here, nor do they recollect anything except being onboard their ships, a blank space, and then this.

They all wake up simultaneously, regardless of physiology.

(OOC: I do apologize for that epic godmod, but it was necessary to set this story. I won't do it again without obtaining permission. For most of the thread, if I discontinue like that, I will refrain from having my characters go first, as I have just refrained from posting as Thorgood. This should help equal out the playing field, given that I know how this RP is to go / how to escape and whatnot.

Now basically, somehow the HIGHEST RANKING PERSON on EACH SHIP can be awoken. So if you sent three ships, up to 3 people woke up in this room. If you sent two, like me, up to two people woke up, etc.

It is possible to add the rest of the crews in, but it will be much better and more realistic for us to assume that they are unconscious for now. If they are conscious, then you can assume that they are crippled by lack of leadership or are confined without anyone else, etc. Basically, please ignore the rest of the crews for now unless it is in attempt to rescue them. That is, for the time being, please don't try to RP from their perspective or this will become much more difficult for me to manage.

That's all the info you should all need. The puzzle is now set. Ready, set, solve . If any of you want to retconn more important people onto your vanished ships, you can. Just post whoever wakes up. For more funz if you want. No need to though.)
(OOC: Sacae; don't sell yourself short. If you try to get info about this in any way, do it. You will need to get me to divulge info somehow in this storyline .

Again, when you respond that you have opened it, I will post what information it contains, if any, in the next post.)

The University of Planet agrees to pool resources with the Burnites, and suggests that the Peacekeepers and the Morganites may also be open to the idea of sharing resources to resolve this issue, seeing as they also have lost important vessels and personnel.

***

Of the many Centauri vessels, only a single member of the party awakes, Doctor Kai, a famed scientist and researcher from Morgan Industries and one of Morgan's leading talent advisers, known for being one of the less-serious members of the higher echelon of Morgan Industries. When he awakes, he doesn't seem particularly shocked, but simply exclaims, without really looking around at anything, "Damn it, who's the one who linked me up to the malfunctioning virchset? It's only funny when I do it, people."

*T.S.F. Marienburg, Centauri influenced space*

Jager: Scribes, whats the status of the memory core

Scribe: Intact and ready for viewing. Just waiting on your word Knight Commander.

Jager: Very good

*Into comms directed at all the other species as well as all relevent parties on Alpha Centauri*

Jager: Still awaiting confirmation on meeting point so we might all see what our spy drone recorded. We are standing by for your replies. Jager out.

(OOC: I defer to you Burn on what the drone recorded. I'll post something like "Jager starts the playback..." and in your next post you can post what is seen)

*Order Captain Calvin, Unknown Location*

*Order Captain Calvin woke up in a very unfamiliar room. The only thing he remembered was the unknown fancy space rock the Black Order tasked him to analyze and then a flash of light. He took a quick look around his surroundings and his person.*

Calvin: Strange architecture, no obvious ways out, and very solitary. Must be a prison.

*Calvin looked on his person*

Calvin: Figures my captures would take my comm piece and sidearm...

*Calvin took another look around the room and then sighed. He then leaned up against the far wall of his "prison" and, seeing as there was no way out and he had no knowledge of the facility or his captors, he waited patiently to observe what would happen next*

DSS Oculus, was coming up with very little. There was residual matter still present that suggested the energy phenomena was in fact in the area, but what kind of energy it was and where it went...or what happened to it, was still a mystery. Clearly if the Dominion was going to find its ships, if they still existed, it was going to have to work together with some other species current present in the field...an then came the transmission from the T.S.F. Marienburg


"This is Dr. Servius of the Dominion ship Oculus" said the professor, responding this time to Knight Commander Jager second hail. "I don't believe our two people have had the fortune of meeting before but it is clearly apparent to me that we have all lost something in this event. If possible, I would like to dock our ship with your own and come on board to witness the evidence you have procured so far first hand."
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Decimus is the first to wake, sitting up he turns to his left to find Captain Quintus also awake and now staring at him. "Where are we" Decimus asks Quintus, to which he responds "I have no clue." The two Captains then looked around them to find the others also in the same room...a room of no doors, windows, or furniture. Naturally their first instinct next is to check to see if they still possess their side arm.....

OOC: Leaving it up to you Burn as to whether or not the guns are there. Oh and just stating it now I'm up for anything with this RP so whatever strikes your fancy when it comes to my characters, please by all means be my guest