Post by: Þórgrímr on October 03, 2007, 07:23:02 PM
I am going to run this campaign like a story, but I will have reports on events and stuff going on in the campaign. But if anybody has any questions on what is happening in the campaign, just ask and ye shall recieve. :D
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 03, 2007, 08:23:22 PM
Nation: Senatus Populesque Romanus
Date: This the 18th Day of the Ides of Iulius, In the Year of 2757, Ab Urbe Condita.
Heads of State: Pro-Praetor Flavius Curius Strabo, Imperator Casca Rufius Longinus
National Flag:
(http://www.stgfc.com/pnp/Roman_Futuristic_Flag.gif)
Prologue
In the Misty Legends of Roma, that are lost in the haze of time, it is said that Iuppiter and Mars had foreseen the time when the barbarians would overcome Roma Mater. Iuppiter despaired of ever seeing his children out among the stars. So he along with Mars began to weave the ether to recreate Sol down to the last detail, and then created the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius Mons, while devastating, it allowed Vulcan to pass on the secret of Fulminata. Armed with Fulminata and trained by Mars himself Roma was able to overcome her enemies and continued to expand the empire. Iuppiter reasoned that if these Romans whom he deemed worthy of fulminata could not carry Roma Mater to the stars, then none would be worthy to carry on the name Roman.
Iuppiter warned that they had to display all the virtues of a true Roman and these virtues were: Officium (Duty), Aequitas (Respect), Gravitas (Dignity), Nobilitas (Nobility), Concordia (Harmony), Humanitas (Culture), Pietas (piety), Virtus (Courage), Firmitas (Tenacity), Industria (Hard Work). And if not displayed the people of Rome would go the way of the Alexandrian empire, fragmented and finally conquered. These Romans had to have more in common with Seneca and Cicero than with Commodous and Nero.
As Iuppiter had foreseen only true Romans would prosper and eventually make it to the stars. But what is a Roman without conflict? So Mars placed within the grasp of other cultures that he deemed worthy to fight the Imperium, the secret of fulminata. If the Romans were not vigilant these other cultures would be able to fight for the fate of the new world Iuppiter and he had created. If these Romans were not worthy, then none would be. It would be an interesting fight either way.
In the Year 2757 A.U.C. Ab Urbe Condita, the Romans had shown they were worthy of Iuppiter and Mars, for they had finally conquered the Orbis Sericum (Chinese Sphere) and united Terra under the Pax Romana.
The Discovery of the Gates of Apollo was just a few short years away.
***
Roman Terra, like our Earth, has their version of Luna they call Pugio Caelum, The Sky Dagger. Sky Dagger is approximately 24% the size of Terra and like Luna is tide locked to its parent planet. Sky Dagger is named for the unusual pattern the dark and light areas of the moon make. Where in our reality these resemble a ?face?, the Roman version of Luna in this reality resembles a large Dagger, which has its point down and to the right, and it?s hilt up and to the left.
As the closest astral body to Terra the Sky Dagger was studied throughout Humanity?s history in much the same way Luna has been studied on our Earth. As with Luna a lot of speculation has been made as to why Sky Dagger is not a Terran type world. After all it?s at the same distance, developed at the same time and is almost as big. Plans were made to try to terraform the moon, but more recent analysis the Romans had determined it to be out of the question with current technology.
During the latter part of the Roman Republic?s final take over of Terra, one of the other nations, the Han, looked into opening up off world mining operations to try and improve it?s chances of holding out against the Roman Republic?s expansion. As part of their planning they decided that it would be a good idea to see what was on the other side of Sky Dagger. So they launched satellites to the far side of Pugio Caelum to see what was there. What they found only became public much later and in the end had helped speed up the growth of the Senatus Populesque Romanus and their eventual demise.
***
As the small spacecraft passed around the far side of Sky Dagger one of the instruments added as an after thought detected something that no one had expected. When it finally came back out from the radio shadow of Sky Dagger it passed on the information. The small spacecraft had picked up a radio signal from the surface!
For the first time in the history of Terra the leaders of all the nations came together and discussed the implications. Unless the satellite was faulty the Human race was not alone in the galaxy. An agreement quickly followed joining all of the smaller nations under Roman leadership. The now stronger, and greatly expanded Roman Republic finally was able to remove those nations that refused to join the Republic from existence.
Plans then began for a manned mission to the far side of Sky Dagger. Even with the resources of the whole planet the mission was a challenge for the Romans. It took nearly a year to get to the point where everything was ready and even then the odds were that it would be a one-way trip. The Emperor felt no more time could be taken; whoever was on Sky Dagger might decide to do something at anytime.
***
Four Brave Romans were blasted into space along with a number of relay satellites to allow signals to be sent from the dark side of Sky Dagger.
The following is an extract from the log of the mission?s landing stage. Nova Capua {Capua} is the Roman equivalent of Houston in terms and location of their early space program. Aquilia is the name given to the Lunar Excursion Module and Peregrine to the Command Module.
<Beep>
?Aquilia, Capua. If you read, you?re Go for powered descent. Over.
?Aquilia, this is Peregrine. They just gave you a Go for powered descent.
<Beep>
?Aquilia, Capua. Your alignment is Go on the AGS. On my mark, 3:30 ?til ignition.
?Roger.?
?Mark. 3:30 ?til ignition.?
<Beep>
?Ignition. 10 percent, Throttle up. Looks good!?
?Aquilia, Capua. Everything?s looking good here. Over.?
<Beep>
?Okay, Capua; (garbled) the ED Batts are Go... ...at 4 minutes.?
?Roger. You are Go. You are Go to continue powered descent. You are Go to continue powered descent.
<Beep>
?Aquilia, Capua, 6 plus 25. Throttle down...?
?Roger. Copy.?
<Beep>
?Capua, Aquilia, 5000 feet. 100 feet per second (descent rate) is good. Going to check my attitude control. Attitude control is good.?
?Aquilia, you're looking great. Coming up 9 minutes? Aquilia, Capua. You?re Go for landing. Over.
<SNIP>
<Beep>
?Contact Light. Okay. Engine Stop? Mode Control, both auto. Descent Engine Command Override, Off. Engine Arm, Off. 413 is in.?
?We copy you down, Aquilia.?
<Beep>
?Capua, Campus Tranquilatus here. The Aquilia has landed.?
?Roger, Tranquilatus. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We?re breathing again. Thanks a lot.?
<Beep>
<SNIP>
?Tranquilatus. Be advised there?re lots of smiling faces in this room and all over Terra. Over.?
?Well, there are two of them up here.?
?Roger. That was a beautiful job, you guys.?
?And don?t forget two smiling faces in the command module.?
<SNIP>
?Campus Tranquilatus, Capua. All your consumables are solid. You're looking good in every respect. We copy the DPS (Descent Propulsion System) venting. Everything is going as planned. Over.?
?Thank you, Capua.?
<Beep>
?Peregrine, Capua. We have a P22 update for you, if you?re ready to copy. Over.?
?At your service, sir.?
?Roger, Marcus. T1, 104:32:18; T2, 104:37:28. And that is 4 miles south. This is based on the targeted landing site. Over.?
?Roger. Understand. Based on the targeted landing site; T1, 104:32:18; T2, 104:37:28, and 4 miles south.?
<Beep>
?Arminius: From the surface, we could not see any stars out the window; but out my overhead hatch, I'm looking at Terra. It's big and bright and beautiful. Decius is going to give a try at seeing some stars through the optics.?
?Roger, Tranquilatus. We understand. Must be a beautiful sight. Over.?
<Beep>
?Aquilia, Capua. Have a latitude (and) longitude-over-two update for Suspected Signal position. Over. (Pause) Aquilia, Capua. Over.?
?Go ahead, Capua.?
?Roger. Aquilia, it's plus 7 - correction - plus 0.799 for the Lat, plus 11.730 for the longitude-over-two. Over.?
?Thank you. The signal strength remains unchanged??
?That's affirmative Aquilia.?
<Beep>
?Capua, Tranquilatus.?
?Go, Tranquilatus. Over.?
?Roger. Our recommendation at this point is planning an EVA, with your concurrence, starting about eight o?clock this evening, Capua time. That is about 3 hours from now.?
?Stand by.?
?Campus Tranquilatus, Capua. We thought about it; we will support it. We?re go at that time. Over.?
?Roger that.?
<Beep>
?Peregrine. Did you see any signs of a base? Over.?
?Well, the area looks smooth, but I was unable to see any sign of a base. I just picked out a distinguishable crater nearby and marked on it.?
?Peregrine. Capua. I understand you could not see any signs of a base. What were you marking on? Over.?
?Capua, Peregrine. I say again, I could not see anything. Auto optics pointed at a spot very close to the coordinates which you gave me, so I picked a tiny crater in that area and marked on it so I will be able to have repeatable data, but I was unable to see any signs of a base.?
?Roger. Copy that.?
<SNIP>
?Capua, this is Campus Tranquilatus. We are beginning our EVA Prep.?
?Campus Tranquilatus, this is Capua, Roger. Copy.?
?Peregrine, this is Capua. We request that you perform another P22. We'd like you to let the Auto optics take care of the tracking and devote your energies to trying to pick out the LEM on the lunar surface. Then we want you to keep looking for signs of a base or signal tower. We?re looking for marks on it; but tracking of geographical features doesn?t do us all that much good. Over.?
?Okay. Fine. I'll do it.?
<SNIP>
?Capua, this is Tranquilatus. We?re standing by for a Go for cabin depress. Over.?
?Campus Tranquilatus, this is Capua. You are Go for cabin depressurization. Go for cabin depressurization.?
?Roger that.?
<Beep>
?I?m at the foot of the ladder. The LEM footpads are only depressed in the surface about 1 or 2 inches, although the surface appears to be very, very fine grained, as you get close to it. It?s almost like a powder. Groundmass is very fine. I?m going to step off the LEM now? That?s one small step for a Roman; one giant leap for the Senate and people of Rome.?
?Aquilia this is Capua, begin recon of the landing zone.?
<Beep>
?Capua this is Aquilia, we have arrived at the transmission site, there is nothing on the surface. We?re beginning a sweep of the local area.?
<SNIP>
<Beep>
?Capua this is Aquilia, We have found a hidden door 50 yards from the transmission point.?
<Beep>
?Capua this is Aquilia, I believe we have found the opening device. Should I open the door??
<Beep>
?Aquilia this is Capua, wait one while we confirm the go-ahead for you.?
<Beep>
?Aquilia this is Capua, permission granted.?
The ground team entered what turned out to be a small base, which had been abandoned by whomever had built it. The few pieces of equipment still in the base indicated that the base was for research of some sort. There was no sign of any aliens, however the control devices (keyboards etc.) seemed oddly designed to the Romans and so the conclusion was made that they were extra-solar. Further investigation revealed some plants and animals from Terra. From the study of those plants and animals it became apparent that the base was several thousand years old. Almost immediately the Romans began to wonder just how much of a ?myth? their origins were.
The discovery pushed the Romans into space and they quickly visited the other planets and moons in their home system to see if there was any sign of other bases or the makers of the base found on Sky Dagger. They found nothing. One of the side effects of this was that various theories were formed and eventually they led the Romans to their most recent discovery, the Gates of Apollo. It also led to the Roman usage of corvettes as survey craft as they felt they needed to quickly go looking for whomever or whatever built the base.
***
Casca once again turned to his Magister Classis and said, "So nothing was found on that base? How long did you say it had been evacuated?"
Tiberius Drusus Pomponius replied, " Imperator, the botanists and biologists reports say that the age of the specimens found on Sky Dagger were, they estimate, several millenia old, and that the base must have been abandoned for at least several thousand years. We have dispatched an archeological team to comb the base for any possible technology the base builders may have been left behind."
***
News Extract from the Imperial News Network
Today the Classis announced that they have recently tested an ?Ion drive engine?. This follows amateur astronomer reports of fast moving ships seen close to Terra over the last few months. According to a Classis spokesman the ?Ion drive engine? will revolutionize intra-system travel.
"Imperator, I am happy to announce that our first test of the new drive technology we found on Sky Dagger was a resounding success. With this drive we should have no problems exploring the rest of Sol."
"Very good Tiberius, keep up the good work. Tell your men that the Senate and people of Rome are proud of their Classis."
***
Deep space, Sol system
Far out in the Sol system, beyond the planet Iuppiter, a small probe slowly activated itself once the parameter for revocation of observation status was achieved. Millennia ago the probes builders had set the probe with the task of watching this world. And now its sensors had detected a drive signature powerful enough, near the planet under observation, to indicate the species in question has finally developed an Ion drive, the first technology needed to begin the first steps to the stars.
For a few moments the probe double-checked its results ensuring the information was correct. Then it powered up its Ion drive and began to head out of the system. It headed unerringly for an empty spot in space very similar to infinite other spots in space. When it arrived at the spot it suddenly stopped.
If the probe could have been confused it would have been. The probe?s jump drive should have opened up the wormhole at this location, but it wasn?t here. It double checked its maps and checked the local stellar marker stars to confirm it was where it should have been. The probe went over to a back up program and began to spiral out from the wormholes supposed position. Once it reached 5 Light Seconds from the point it had stopped at, a new program took over and the probe aimed itself for deep space.
After almost 6 months it self destructed far from the system to ensure the inhabitants would never find any trace of it.
***
"Imperator, I have grave news, and we need to speak of it." Tiberius said with a nervous tic, not knowing how the Emperor would react to the news he bore.
"Go ahead Tiberius."
"Approximately 144 minutes after the Ion drive of our Experimental Vessel was activated a second Ion drive signature was detected in the outer reaches of the Sol system. The operators initially believed this was a sensor image from the Experimental Vessels Ion drive. After additional analysis of the drive signature it became apparent that the drive signature was markedly different from the Experimental Vessels drive signature."
"Unfortunately, the unknown Ion drive signature was visible for only 30 seconds before vanishing. This sighting combined with the base found on the dark side of Pugio Caelum brings the Classis to the conclusion that some unknown person or persons is watching Terra and they now will know we have developed an Ion drive and the technology to support it."
"We recommend outfitting a ship as fast as humanly possible to investigate the locale of the unknown Ion Drive's last known position."
Casca was dumbfounded! Somone else was in their system, and they had to find out what was going on. "Tiberius, I think you are right, we need to get a ship out there quickly. Unfortunately, there are no such ships with which to do that."
"The architects on my staff have thrown together a design for a scout to survey the area where the unknown disappeared. They also took the time to prepare a design for surveying the other planets and moons for signs of any other bases or technology left behind."
"Very good Tiberius, show me the plans for the new ship classes you were telling me of."
"First off Imperator we have the Liburnia Class scout, it consists of:
Code: [Select]
Liburnia class Survey Ship 5000 tons 540 Crew 1241 BP TCS 100 TH 118 EM 0
2360 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 36/36/22/5/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 12
Magazine 400 Replacement Parts 5
Apollo J5000(3-50) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 5000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Mil Ion Engine EE0.76 AR-0 (4) Power 59 Efficiency 0.76 Signature 29.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 160,000 Litres Range 181.9 billion km (892 days at full power)
Missile Launcher 06-060 (2) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 60
Artemis Class Missile Fire Control S02-040 (1) Range: 400k km
Thermal Sensor TH2-36 (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Signature 100: 3.6m km
Excubitus Active Sensor MR1920-R2.4 (1) GPS 192 Range 1.9m km Resolution 2.4
Cura Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD2-36 (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Strength 100: 3.6m km
Custos EM Detection Sensor EM2-22 (1) Sensitivity 22 Detect Strength 100: 2.2m km
Phased Gravitational Sensors (1) 5 Survey Points"next we have the Magellus class survey ship, it consists of:
Code: [Select]
Magellus class Geosurvey Ship 5000 tons 540 Crew 1041 BP TCS 100 TH 118 EM 0
2360 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 36/36/22/0/1 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 12
Magazine 400 Replacement Parts 5
Apollo J5000(3-50) Jump Drive Max Ship Size 5000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Mil Ion Engine EE0.76 AR-0 (4) Power 59 Efficiency 0.76 Signature 29.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 160,000 Litres Range 181.9 billion km (892 days at full power)
Missile Launcher 06-060 (2) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 60
Artemis Class Missile Fire Control S02-040 (1) Range: 400k km
Thermal Sensor TH2-36 (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Signature 100: 3.6m km
Excubitus Active Sensor MR1920-R2.4 (1) GPS 192 Range 1.9m km Resolution 2.4
Cura Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD2-36 (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Strength 100: 3.6m km
Custos EM Detection Sensor EM2-22 (1) Sensitivity 22 Detect Strength 100: 2.2m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points"Outstanding Tiberius, how long will it take to get these into production?"
"We can have one prototype of each available in a few of weeks, but to get a production line set up will take a considerable amount of time."
"We can't wait that long, so knock out the prototypes with all haste."
?Vestri ero perfectus Imperator.? (Your will be done Emperor). There was nothing more to be said so Tiberius turned and left.
NOTE: technically speaking, the ships should not have their jump engines yet, but I just did not feel like making an extra design just to show a temporary version without the jump engines.
Post by: Steve Walmsley on October 04, 2007, 06:21:14 AM
Steve
Post by: wildfire142 on October 04, 2007, 11:32:28 AM
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 04, 2007, 02:05:55 PM
***
"All right Tiberius, lets get on with it, who is first to present their report?"
"Imperator first up is the Magistrate for mineral production Servius Maelius Maursus."
With the introduction Servius stood and began, "Imperator, as you well know, the technology we found on Pugio Caelum has led to many significant discoveries. One of which was of the new elements that were added to the periodic table. We have completed the survey of Terra and found the following concentrations:"
Duranium 1,468,609 Acc: 1
Neutronium 504,622 Acc: 0.4
Boronide 1,741,179 Acc: 0.1
Mercassium 260,158 Acc: 0.1
Vendarite 652,155 Acc: 0.1
Sorium 239,337 Acc: 0.4
Uridium 701,315 Acc: 0.2
Corundium 358,158 Acc: 0.1
Gallicite 300,158 Acc: 0.1
"Next we completed a survey of Luna and found the following concentrations:"
Duranium 680,978 Acc: 1
Neutronium 74,602 Acc: 0.8
Corbomite 39,638 Acc: 0.1
Tritanium 7,038 Acc: 0.1
Boronide 16,338 Acc: 0.1
Mercassium 22,269 Acc: 0.5
Vendarite 30,160 Acc: 0.5
Sorium 14,343 Acc: 0.5
Uridium 88,338 Acc: 0.1
Corundium 74,513 Acc: 0.3
Gallicite 94,738 Acc: 0.1
"We believe these amounts can keep us going for several years. Of course, once the Megellus launches we can begin a proper survey of the rest of Sol's system bodies."
"We estimate that we will have converted roughly 1800 mines to handle processing the new elements." With his report given Servius returned to his seat.
Next up was the Magister Militum (Commander of the Army) Galerius Laetonius Eugenius. "Imperator, with the new elements we have been able to significantly upgrade our Campus and Continental Class Planetary Defense Centers. They will be structurally far stronger and capable than they had been. The Campus Class PDC has been upgraded to the following:
Code: [Select]
Campus class Planetary Defence Centre 34950 tons 3100 Crew 4447 BP TCS 139.8 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 36/36/22/0/0 Damage Control 1-3 PPV 180
Hangar Bay Capacity 500 Troop Capacity 6 Divisions Magazine 1000
Max Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 0.0 billion km (0 days at full power)
Missile Launcher 06-060 (10) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 60
Artemis Class Missile Fire Control S02-040 (1) Range: 400k km
Thermal Sensor TH2-36 (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Signature 100: 3.6m km
Excubitus Active Sensor MR1920-R2.4 (1) GPS 192 Range 2m km Resolution 2.4
Cura Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD2-36 (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Strength 10: 36m km
Custos EM Detection Sensor EM2-22 (1) Sensitivity 22 Detect Strength 10: 22m km
ECCM-4 (1) This ship is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre"As you know Imperator, the Campus Class is also the base facilities for our Armies and we feel we can have all six upgraded by the time Dido and Megellus launch."
"The Continental Class PDC's will be upgraded to the specification on their re-design shown here:"
Code: [Select]
Continental class Planetary Defence Centre 248850 tons 27560 Crew 44775 BP TCS 995.4 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 22 Sensors 36/80 Damage Control 5-2 PPV 1700
Flag Bridge Hangar Bay Capacity 5000 Magazine 10000
Fuel Capacity 2,500,000 Litres Range N/A
12cm C3 Ultraviolet Laser (50) Range 48,000km TS: 2400 km/s Power 4-3 RM 4 ROF 10 4 4 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pilum Standard Fire Control S01 24-2400 (5) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 2400 km/s 79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Scutum PD Fire Control S01 6-9600 (5) Max Range: 12,000 km TS: 9600 km/s 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gas-Cooled Reactor PB-0.975 AR-0 (20) Total Power Output 180 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Missile Launcher 06-060 (50) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 60
Artemis Class Missile Fire Control S02-040 (5) Range: 400k km
Thermal Sensor TH2-36 (5) Sensitivity 36 Detect Signature 100: 3.6m km
Excubitus Active Sensor MR1920-R2.4 (5) GPS 192 Range 1.9m km Resolution 2.4
Cura Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD2-36 (5) Sensitivity 36 Detect Strength 100: 3.6m km
Custos EM Detection Sensor EM2-22 (5) Sensitivity 22 Detect Strength 100: 2.2m km
ECCM-4 (5)
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre"In review you know the Continental Class PDC's are our main line of defense against any attack from space. The Magistrate of Production," nodding in his direction, "Feels he can assure me that all seven Continentals, including the one in Antarcticus Inferior will be fully upgraded by the launch date."
"Here is the current list of the active Legios, Vexillatios (HQ's) and Cohors Urbanae (Garrions) and their current deployments:"
I Basilikos Exercitus (1st Imperial Army) Campus Martius, Provincae Italia
+ Legio Equites Singulares Augusti Legio, Provincae Italia
+ Legio I Cohors Amazona, Provincae Italia
I Consular Exercitus Campus I Consular, Provincae Guangddum
+ Legio ALA I Numidiorum Lepidiana, Provincae Guangddum
+ Legio XII Fulminata, Provincae Honsua
II Consular Exercitus Campus II Consular, Provincae Lacus Magni
+ Legio ALA I Bataviorum Aratiana, Provincae Medialantica
+ Legio V Macedonica, Provincae Mexicus
III Consular Exercitus Campus III Consular, Provincae Gallia
+ Legio XX Valeria Victrix, Provincae Britannia
+ Legio VII Gemina, Provincae Hispania
IV Consular Exercitus Campus IV Consular, Provincae Trans Danuvii
+ Legio ALA I Galliorum Tremeriana, Provincae Sarmatia
+ Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix, Provincae Germania Maior
V Consular Exercitus Campus V Consular, Provincae Iudea
+ Legio II Traiana Fortis, Provincae Aegyptus
Africae
I Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Aegyptus
II Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Mauretania
III Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Aethopia
IV Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Melanogaetulia (Burkina Faso)
V Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Bambotus (Gambia)
VI Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Hesperia (Guinea)
VII Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Nyssa (Kenya)
VIII Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Nigeria
IX Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Mediae Africae (Rep Cent Afr)
X Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Congensis (Congo)
XI Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Zambezia (Mozambique)
XII Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Menuthias (Madagascar)
XIII Cohors Urbanae Africae, Provincae Africae Australis (South Africa)
America Septentrionalis
I Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Insulae Bahamenses
II Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Insulae Iuventutis (Cuba & Jam)
III Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Insula Hispanolae
IV Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Insulae Maris Caribaei (Rest of Carib Is)
V Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Groenlandia
VI Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Marklandia (Lab N Fndlnd N Queb)
VI Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Vinlandia L Queb NS & N England to Mass)
VII Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Medialantica (NY PA NJ MD DE VA NC KY TN)
VIII Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Septentrionalis Australis (SC GA FL AL MS AK LA OK TX NM)
IX Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Lacus Magni (Ont MI OH IN IL WI, N. MN)
X Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Magnus Cerealis ( IA, S. MN MS KS NE ND SD MB SK)
XI Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Mons Terraum (CO UT WY ID MT AB)
XII Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Septentrionalis Occidens (BC WA ID OR CA AZ)
XIII Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Septentrionalis Borealis AK NT YK BI)
XIV Cohors Urbanae America Septentrionalis, Provincae Sinu Honduriae et Meridie Occidenteque (Yucatan & All of Cent Am)
America Australis
I Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Columbiana
II Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Aequatoria
III Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Incae (Peru)
IV Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Caesalpinia Echinata (Brazil)
V Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Colonia Batavi (Guyana)
VI Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Cisplatina (Uru. & N Arg.)
VII Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Terra Ignium (S Arg, & Chi.)
VII Cohors Urbanae America Australis, Provincae Portus Valles Paradisi (Chile, Bolivia)
Asia
I Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Asia Minor (Turkey)
II Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Iudea
III Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Oriens (Syria)
IV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Mesopotamia (Iraq ( W. Iran)
V Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Arabia
VI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Arbita (NW Iran)
VII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Persis Minor (Iran coastal PG and IO)
VIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Archosia (Afghanistan)
IX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Scythia (Central Asia)
X Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Issedonia (Chirgirz)
XI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Caucaso
XII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Sindhus (Pakistan)
XIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Immao Caxmirque (Jammu & Kashmir)
XIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Aquae Quinque (Punjab)
XV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Fines Regnum (Rajhasthsn)
XVI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Massilia (Andhra Pradesh)
XVII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Natio Magnum (Maharashtra)
XVIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Dehlium
XIX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Guiaratus (Gujarat)
XX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Carnatica (Mysore)
XXI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Bengalia (Bang. & Indian W Ben.)
XXII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Puducherria (Puducheri)
XXIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Selediva sive Taprobane (Sri Lanka)
XXIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Insulae Andamanis Nicobarisque
XXV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Sogdiana (Tadjickistan)
XXVI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Saccaea (Turcmenistan)
XXVII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Bactria (Uzbeckistan)
XXVIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Bautaea (Tibet)
XXIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Moscuensis
XXV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Rostovia ad Tanaim
XXVI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Caurealis
XXVII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Chabarovscum
XXVIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Novosibirscum
XXIX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Catharinoburgum
XXX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Novogardia Inferior
XXXI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Birmania (Burma)
XXXII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Cambosia (Cam. & Thai.)
XXXIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Annamiticam (Viet & Laos)
XXXIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Aurea Chersonesus May. & Sing.)
XXXV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Iava
XXXVI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Borneum
XXXVII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Sumatra
XXXVIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Celebes
XXXIX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Novae Guineae
XL Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Prasodum Insulae (Phil.)
XLI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Australia Occidentalis W Aust. NT SA)
XLII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Terra Regnum (Queensland)
XLIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Nova Cambria Australis (NSW Vic Tas)
XLIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Aotearoa (NZ)
XLV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Oceanus Pacificus (Islands in Pac)
XLVI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Anhuius
XLVII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Fujinium
XLVIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Gansum
XLIX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Guangddum
L Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Guizhus
LI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Heilongjianum
LII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Hainanus
LIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Henania
LIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Hubia
LV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Hunania
LVI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Iunnanum
LVII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Iunnsum
LVIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Liaoninum
LIX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Shaansi
LX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Sichuanum
LXI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Taivania (Taiwan)
LXII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Yunnanum
LXIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Zhejianum
LXIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Mongolia
LXV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Coreae (Korea)
LXVI Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Hoccaido
LXVII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Honsua
LXVIII Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Sicocus
LXIV Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Ciusium
LXX Cohors Urbanae Asia, Provincae Ocinava
With his report finished Galerius returned to his seat.
Up next was the Magistrate for production Numerius Matius Gordio, "Imperator, As the Magister Militum indicated we will be able to have all of the current PDC's upgraded by launch time. Now, as for our conversion to be able to handle to new elements the figures are as follows:"
"1200 Factories, 1800 mines, 200 Fighter factories, 200 Ordanance factories," With this Numerius paused and gave Marcus Lucius Gavros a nervous look then began again, "200 Fuel Refineries, 24 Research Facilities, 10 Ground training facilites, 4 Deep Space Tracking stations, 4 Naval academies, a Commercial Freight Facility to handle the new traffic once we open up the planets for colonization, 4 Fleet Maintenance facilites, and a Fleet Training Center."
"As indicated these will be online by Launch day." Numerius noticed the hard stare Casca was giving him, and he fervently hoped that the Imperator would not blame him for Lucius' avarice.
Next up was the Magistrate for Armaments, Marcus Lucius Gavros, "Imperator, it seems we have having difficulty adapting our current Ordanance and Fighter production facilities to use the new elements. Therefore I request an increase in the budget for armaments. Below is the design for our initial anti ship missile using the new elements and technologies we found on Pugio Caelum:"
Code: [Select]
Spiculum Anti Ship Missile
Missile Size: 6 Warhead: 3 Armour: 0
Speed: 10,000 km/s Endurance: 56 seconds Range: 560k km
Manoeuvre Rating: 25
Cost Per Missile: 6.2
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 250% 3k km/s 75% 5k km/s 50% 10k km/s 25%
Materials Required: 0.75x Tritanium 0.9x Sorium 4.55x Gallicite
Development Cost for Project: 620RP"Unfortunately, it looks like we will only have ten of these Spiciulum's finished by Launch Day."
If looks colud kill, Lucius would have died right there the way Casca was staring at him. "So Lucius," not even bothering to use his Praenomen, "are you telling me that my ships will have to go looking for a potential enemy unarmed?"
Lucius was sweating now, Casca's non usage of his praenomen a deadly insult, "Yes Imperator, unfortunately. It will take that budgetary increase I requested to get the Pilas rolling off the assembly line like sausages."
"I see," was all Casca said. "Gentlemen I thank you for your reports and will forward them to the Pro-Praetor and the Senate. Dismissed." When the Magistrates got up to leave Casca said, "not you Titus," Titus Decimus Vitus head of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, "we need to talk."
"As you wish Imperator."
When all of the other ministers filed out of the room Casca turned to Titus, "Whats the real story on why the Ordinance is so far behind?"
"Imperator, Magistrate Gavros - according to the banking records and electronic fund transfers from the ministry - has been siphoning off millions of sesterces into his own hidden accounts. We only finished the paper trail as of yesterday."
"And you can verify this with the proper documentaion?"
"Yes Imperator."
"Send me your best Fumum Vendere when you leave, and in the mean time I will get the paperwork rolling on an Imperial Edict of execution. Dismissed Titus."
Post by: Steve Walmsley on October 05, 2007, 06:45:33 AM
Steve
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 05, 2007, 07:56:26 AM
Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
The Continental class PDC is very impressive but you need to add some PDC barracks so you can garrison them. Otherwise, if somone manages to land some troops they will be able to walk into them and capture them. Based on the Continental's armour, that is likely to be the best way to take them out so you need to guard against it. Even a couple of divisions would present a problem for an attacker because of the huge defensive ground-combat bonus you will get from the armour.
Steve
Steve, good point, but since I am not trying to min-max everything I will leave them as is. I feel good RPing and story telling requires even the best of things should have some sort of weakness that can be potentially exploited. So the design philosophy behind the PDC's were that the Campus's were the ground unit Garrison Bases from where the military units would deploy to prevent planetary takeover, and the Continentals were the defense against space faring threats. So they would deploy one or two Campus's per Continental. Then trying to keep it 'realistic' The Romans won't know about their potential weakness till one is taken. But then again if any Fleet can fight it's way through seven of those bad boys plus the Campus' to land troops, I have no chance at all.
Cheers,
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 05, 2007, 08:23:23 AM
Casca Rufius Longinus, the Primus Princeps lifted his hand towards Salonius and Salonius breathed a sigh of relief and bowed forward to kiss the large ring on his middle finger.
The Emperor began to speak and Salonius?s eyes opened a little wider. Salonius had known he was here for something important, but this was the old tongue the Imperator was speaking! The language was from the original Latin of the Caesars and was only used now when issuing one kind of order, someone important was in a lot of trouble.
?Est existimatio adeo meus intentio ut Marcus Lucius Gavros est rapio ex Respublica. Ut aeque rapio ex Respublica est amo sit rapio ex suus prosapia. Abs surripio ex nostrum universus natio nationis. Salonius, damnari voti quis est mereo mereor; planto est publicus sic totus mos teneo meus offensus Respublica. Ostendo fio fieri factus erroris ab suus mores?? Imperator Longinus said.
Salonius listened as his armor translated the Latin of the Caesars into standard Latin. ?It has come to my attention that Marcus Lucius Gavros is stealing from the Republic. When he steals from the Republic it is like he steals from his family. He robs from our whole race. Salonius give him what he deserves; make it public so all will know the displeasure of the Republic. Show him the error of his ways.?
Salonius spoke the required words in standard and the translator transferred it into the old tongue. ?Vestri ero perfectus Imperator.?
There was nothing more to be said so Salonius saluted and then turned and left.
***
Marcus Lucius Gavros was the head of the Ministry for armaments production and as such was paid very well by the Republic. Why he was stealing wasn?t important, Salonius had his orders and as a Fumum Vendere he would carry them out without hesitation.
Salonius entered the room on the third floor of the building across the road from the Ministry's headquarters in Roma. He put his case down on the bed and opened it up. In a few minutes the contents had been converted into a high-powered and very accurate sniper rifle. Next Salonius slipped the shoulder boards from his gray uniform, turned them over and slipped them back on. The inside of the shoulder boards were purple and told anyone who saw him now that they?d better pretend they hadn?t. Only a member of the Curatores Fumis (Imperial Intelligence Agency) could wear purple shoulder boards, their presence set Salonius above almost all laws and even if the vigiles spotted him they?d do nothing.
Salonius waited as the normal arrival time of Lucius Gavros came and went. Was it possible someone had warned him? Salonius doubted it, but it was possible. Then finally Salonius saw Lucius?s G.E.V. pull up over an hour later than normal. The man who stepped from the car wore the Purple of the Equites Singulares Augusti with high-ranking shoulder boards declaring how important he was to the world. Salonius' H.U.D. confirmed the identity and Salonius fired a single shot. Lucius?s head exploded.
Salonius turned away from the window and began to pack away the rifle. The street below suddenly became alive with shouting and the sound of people running. Salonius took a quick look out of the window and marveled at the ingenuity of the weapons makers and their art, in a perfect pattern around Lucius?s body in his own blood was the sigul of the Curatores Fumis, the Emperor?s enforcer?s, no one would mistake this as anything but an execution of a traitor to the Republic. Others would look at it and think twice before betraying the Republic, as always, Roman justice had been swift and deadly.
***
News Extract from the Imperial News Network
?It?s only nine weeks since the Classis tested its Ion drive engine and today they announced that the first ship equipped with these new engines will begin its maiden voyage Wednesday next week. The ship will be commissioned as the Dido.?
?This reporter finds it a marvel that such a ship could have been completed so quickly. It?s an indication of how quickly our technology is improving. Let us hope the Dido doesn?t have any problems and once again shows why Roma Mater, in its manifest destiny, was fated by the Gods to rule Terra and bring the Pax Romana to the stars.?
NOTE: I have never taken a Latin course in my life, so if my Latin is truly atrocious, that's why. :D
NOTE 2: The backstory is complete and from here on in it will be the actual campaign.
Post by: Pete_Keller on October 05, 2007, 12:00:44 PM
I think it should be in the Roman Forum.
Pete
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 06, 2007, 08:55:40 AM
The Preserver campaign gave me the idea for this backstory and I have just been waiting for Aurora to be stable enough where I could fill in the details and would not have to re-start every week or two.
Post Removed.
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 07, 2007, 09:00:18 AM
Trierarchus Fabia Andronica looked around the bridge, her bridge. Although much of the ship was still being finished, and in some cases being built, the bridge looked complete. Fabia knew if she looked behind the panels and consoles she would see what a mess the wiring and circuitry was inside, but at least from her command chair it looked good. The rest of the ship was a different thing altogether. All over the slipway crewmen were still painting, wiring and finishing it off. Worst of all in some places they were still fitting some of the ships systems.
Both she and the crew were still struggling to get used to the new ship. It was nothing like any ship Rome had produced before. Almost no one had had time to get used to the ship as it had been rushed into production and then into service. All because of that unknown drive signature the ground stations had detected far out in the system.
And now she was going out there to look for it. What ever it was, and with a ship ready for nothing. She looked down at her displays that showed her the state of all the ships systems. Green lights showed for most systems, but worryingly, one of the engines and both Pila Launchers were still offline.
She keyed a few commands and brought up a comm line to her Praefectus Fabrum. The ships main screen flicked from a view of the slipway to show the inside of one of the ships four engine rooms. ?Iustus when are we going to have room three up and running?? She asked the gray-clad officer, Iustus Dardanius, her chief engineer.
?Well Trierarchus, we now know what the problem is, but its not good news. It seems someone installed engine three with the new engine control software, but all the other engines have the old software. We can either have engine room three up OR the other three engines up, but we can?t have both or the drive pulse times will clash and shake the ship apart. Unfortunately, all the engine software is hard coded into the engine to avoid tampering. The yard-hands down here tell me we can get a new engine control unit here in two hours.?
?Iustus we leave in thirty minutes, and no later.?
?That?s what I said to them, but that?s the quickest way we can do it, sorry Trierarchus. Seems like a poor design on the face of it, I?ll add it to my report. Lets hope someone reads it.?
?What about the Pilas, will they be available if we bump into something??
?Yes Trierarchus, the yard-hands and my Fabrii are just fitting the last power relays as we speak. They?ll be up and running just after we break orbit, but have you checked the ammo manifest??
Fabia brought up the manifest and sat for a moment in shock. ?Ten Pilas? Where?s the rest?? She was talking to herself really but she had forgotten the line to her chief engineer was still open.
?Apparently that?s every pila available for the launchers. One of the yard hands tells me the order for the pilas seems to have only been sent out a couple of weeks ago and none have come in yet. The ten we?ve got are the pre-production test versions.?
?A couple of weeks ago, isn?t that about the time Lucius Gavros was executed??
?Yeah boss, almost to the day.?
Fabia cut the link and started to think about calling Navarchus Scipio to see if he could do anything about the ammo problem when her P.D.A. informed her someone had entered the bridge behind her. What caught her attention and broke her train of thought was that the P.D.A. did not tell her who it was. The P.D.A. should have known everyone on the ship and the fact that it did not meant this was someone new up from Terra. She noticed that the P.D.A. was already contacting the Central Computer Network for the persons name, but she also knew it would take the P.D.A. a little while, so she turned to see what the newcomer was while the P.D.A. found out who he was.
The Roman before her was wearing the gray one-piece E-Suit of an Equestrian and on his shoulder boards the rank markings of a Decurio. He began to speak but at the same moment Fabia realized the color of those shoulder boards and felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
?Trierarchus Andronica, my name is Salonius Curio and I have been assigned as your executive officer. I have some special orders for you.? He held out his right hand in the traditional Roman greeting.
Fabia snapped herself back from the shock she was feeling. She felt dumb but managed to bring up her own right hand up in greeting. As soon as she touched Salonius?s P.D.A. she downloaded her special orders directly to her P.D.A.
?Welcome aboard Decurio.? She somehow managed to say, hoping her voice didn?t give away her fear. Fabia?s P.D.A. brought up the orders as she tried to fathom why she had been sent a Fumum Vendere (Imperial Enforcer) as her executive officer.
The orders read ?
Trierarchus Andronica as you are no doubt aware, it is of the highest importance that the Plebs and Equestrians feel confident that the future is bright and that the Republic can protect them from any extra-solar threats that may appear. You are ordered to ensure that your ship leaves Terra in a nice smooth manner, which leaves the assembled media with no doubts that your ship is the first of many perfect defenders of the Roman people. Carry out this mission well and make Roma proud of its Classis.
Casca Rufius Longinus ? Primus Princeps et Imperator.
Fabia re-read the order. She had no doubt if she screwed this up she would end up dead, why else would the Emperor have sent an Imperial Enforcer to deliver the message?
With renewed focus Fabia returned to the preparations for the Dido?s departure. Checking and re-checking reports and system readiness. It was only later she realized she had completely forgotten about Salonius Curio.
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 08, 2007, 08:40:36 AM
The Dido began to move, but at nowhere near the maximum speed possible for the ship. With four engines it should have been capable of two thousand three hundred and sixty kilometers a second, but Fabia had ordered the Dido to move at only fifteen hundred per second. She had chosen that speed since it was possible to maintain this speed with only two engines, and she really only had three engines to play with anyway because of the problem with engine number three?s control software.
As Fabia watched the ship gave a slight shudder and her heart leapt into her mouth. She opened the comm to her chief engineer. ?Iustus, what was that??
?We?re getting drive pulse clashes and I?m looking at it now. I think I?ll have to take engine number one offline to correct it. But if we do I don?t think I?ll be able to bring it back up without us stopping.?
?Take it out if you have to, but we can?t afford anything but a smooth trip Iustus.? She looked across at Salonius Curio as she spoke.
Iustus?s gaze followed hers. ?I see, I?ll sort it out Trierarchus,? and he cut the link.
Fabia sat and waited, she knew it was pointless pressing Iustus and his fabrii. She knew they were doing their best and so all she could do was wait. Every few seconds the ship shuddered a little and then suddenly Fabia noticed the engine noise change and looked at her displays. A red light now showed on engine number one; showing Iustus had had to take it off line. Fabia waited once again, the shuddering didn?t return and she was able to relax a little.
Thankfully nothing else went wrong and an hour later Fabia stopped the Dido so her engineers could do some work on engine number one. They were too far away from Terra for anyone to see what was happening so she also had them break into engine number three?s control unit and try to reprogram it. Unfortunately this attempt failed, but Iustus and his people had gotten engine number one up and balanced it with the other engines, so thing weren?t all together heading south.
***
The Dido had been sweeping the area around where the unknown drive field had vanished for just over a week and the whole crew was bored. After the excitement of leaving Terra almost nothing had happened. For a brief time they had had more engine control problems but it seemed that Iustus and his crew had sorted them out at last. Each time Fabia spoke to the chief engineer he was a little happier with their knowledge of how the drive pulses interrelated with each other.
Fabia had hoped that her science crew would have picked up some sort of trail for them to follow when they arrived at the site of the disappearance but so far they had found nothing.
She readied herself for yet another day of boredom and made her way up to the bridge. Along the way she almost ran into Salonius and cursed to herself. She had successfully avoided the Imperial Enforcer for the whole week and now she would have to speak to him.
?Is everything so boring in the Classis?? He said before she had a chance to ask if he was alright. ?Being almost knocked over by the ship's Trierarchus is just about the most exciting thing that has happened on the whole voyage so far.? He said trying to break the ice wall that had formed between the two.
Fabia was surprised to hear amusement in his voice. Somehow she had never thought an Imperial Enforcer would have a sense of humor. To be honest she had tried not to think about Enforcers at all. Normally you only ever met them briefly and normally only at your death.
?The Classis is still young and I wouldn?t be at all surprised if the history books don?t look back on this as a truly exciting exploration of the unknown.? She replied.
?Something tells me you?re probably right, Trierarchus.? He said with more amusement in his voice. They continued to talk and by the time they had reached the bridge they both had come to the surprise conclusion that they liked each other.
When they entered the bridge Fabia was surprised to see her entire science team already crowding the bridge and talking excitedly. She tried to understand the conversation but could not make any sense of it. The scientific terms being used eluded her. Her chief Science Officer Decurio Helvia Cotta suddenly spotted the Trierarchus and her Exec in the doorway and hushed the other scientists.
?Trierarchus we think we?ve found something!? She said as she made her way over to her commander.
?We?re picking up gravitic variances well outside what we wouldd expect to find out here.? She continued excitedly. ?Only thing is we can?t pinpoint the center of the anomaly. It might be something left by the unknown or it might be something else, but it?s something!?
Fabia reeled for a moment, Iuppiter be damned, and she only had ten pilas if something went wrong! ?Can we follow their trail?? She asked, torn between wanting to find what they had come out here for and not feeling ready to meet who ever it was.
?We?ll need to expand the search pattern a bit Trierarchus. We?re not sure what we?ve found yet, I think I?ll be able to tell you that in a couple of days, yes, a week at most, probably.? Fabia realized that Helvia was not really talking to her anymore.
?Carry on with the search then.? She ordered. ?And take this discussion to a conference room, I need the bridge clear in case we find who we?re looking for and they turn out to be less than friendly.?
The scientists stopped talking for a moment and then headed for the hatchway, clearly heading for the conference room just off the bridge. ?Well I?m glad someone?s excited.? Salonius said sarcastically.
Post by: Kurt on October 08, 2007, 10:48:37 AM
Quote from: "??rgr?mr"
Since Steve released V2.3 already I am going to put this campaign on hold till I get the new version set up. The back story will remain the same, but the extra-solar items will change. Fortunately, I have not written of them as of now. :D
It really sucks running long-term campaigns when Steve is releasing so much new and interesting stuff. Damn you Steve!
That doesn't mean stop, of course
Kurt
Post by: Þórgrímr on October 08, 2007, 11:04:44 AM
Quote from: "Kurt"
It really sucks running long-term campaigns when Steve is releasing so much new and interesting stuff. Damn you Steve!
That doesn't mean stop, of course :D But with the goodies Steve is putting into the new releases I will put up with having to reset every now and then.
Cheers,
Post by: Þórgrímr on November 05, 2007, 12:06:41 PM
Cheers,
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 11, 2008, 01:55:00 PM
?Ladies and Gentlemen we have a problem. Due to the rush to get us out here we have nowhere near the supplies we could carry and what we do have is running low. I have decided to get us all together to decide how long we can stay out here before we?ll have to return to Terra for re-supply. Comments?? Fabia left the floor open hoping for some comment from her department heads.
Centurio Iustus Dardanius was the first to speak. ?Well Trierarchus we?ve still got problems with the engines and the power coils on the pila launchers are beginning to fail. We can keep them running for at most two more weeks then we will have to start cannibalizing parts and I think that?s a really bad idea.?
?We need more time, two weeks just isn?t long enough if we?re going to figure out this discovery!? Helvia shouted.
?That may be Helvia, but we will be out of food in ten days unless we cut rations and I can?t see anyone being happy about that.? Maelius Paetus said, the logistics officer who was in charge of the ships stores.
?Any ideas on how to extend our endurance?? Fabia asked her logistics officer. Silence filled the room and Helvia looked like she was about to explode. She clearly could not think of anything either and was none too happy about it.
?Well then, it looks like you have three more days then we will have to return home. Judging by what you tell me though I think we will be back out here looking again though before too long.? Fabia said to her chief scientist and she saw Helvia relax a little.
***
Two days later Helvia requested a private meeting with Fabia. Fabia agreed to meet her in her office. ?Trierarchus, I?ve been reviewing the data over the last couple of days.? Fabia was amazed how tired Helvia sounded. ?I think we will have to scan most if not all of the system to pinpoint whatever these things are. We can tell they are out there but we just can?t get a fix. I?ve done a calculation and I think we will need more ships. I estimate it?ll take 1 ship something like thirty-seven months to do the survey! But I also think we could use a couple of ships to do the scan and then combine the data to produce the whole picture. I?m telling you so you can be ready when we get back to Terra. I will be including it in my report and I?ll probably need your support. I don?t think it?s going to be very popular.?
?I think you?re right Helvia. I wonder if we can explain it to Salonius. His support as a Fumum Vendere might be just the thing you need.?
?I?ll have a talk with him on the return trip and see if I can get him to understand.? Helvia said sounding even more worn.
?In my discussions with him over the last couple of weeks I have found him to be far more intelligent than I had expected. I don?t think you will have too much trouble with him.? Fabia explained to Helvia. Salonius turned out to be surprisingly easy to persuade and agreed to add it to his report to.
***
The Dido?s return caused a massive celebration all across Terra. The first exploration of the Sol system had been completed, and the ship returned without mishap.
The ship?s findings did indeed cause quite a bit of consternation in the Roman leadership, but with the support of the Trierarchus and the Imperial Enforcer the data was thoroughly examined and the same conclusions reached.
Before long the Dido was sent back out with extra supplies while four more sister ships of the Liburnia class were laid down, along with the command ship the Mercurius, an Aquilifer class.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 12, 2008, 09:57:35 AM
The gunboat neared the Gate of Apollo and activated its experimental jump drive while the fleet held it?s collective breath. Suddenly without warning it began to break apart. The bridge crew watched in horrified fascination as the system patrol craft slowly broke into pieces, some of which seemed to vanish while others were thrown clear of the anomaly. After what seemed like hours, but was in fact mere minutes, there was nothing left and no sign of the volunteer crew of the gunboat.
Even though the unmanned probes had all been destroyed everyone had hoped that the larger gunboat would have the mass to survive. The problem really was that no one knew what the Apollonian Gates were. There were plenty of theories, but so far all they seemed to have done was destroy anything that activated a jump drive anywhere near them.
Fabia re-read the order in silent disbelief and started to wonder who she had upset. The order was insane! It was the next logical step, but it was still insane. She realized the bridge crew was looking at her with concern on their collective faces. ?Patch me through to the whole ship.? She realized her voice wasn?t steady and used the moment?s delay while the comm tech linked her to the whole ship to steady her voice.
?Ready Trierarchus.? The comm tech replied.
She concentrated for a moment willing her voice to be calm and then began. ?This is your Trierarchus to all hands. I have received orders from Classis Command to ask for volunteers to take the Dido in close to the Gate of Apollo.? She heard a couple of gasps from the bridge crew around her and continued. ?They have a new theory. They think the ships mass will protect us from any damage the Gate would cause. I have decided to volunteer as I think it?s important for the Republic that we find out all we can about these Gates of the Gods. You are all free to choose either to stay with the ship or be put onboard the Mercurius. You have one hour to decide.?
Fabia looked around the bridge and noted with a pride that none of her bridge crew stood up immediately to leave. In fact they all seemed to be getting on with their tasks. Fabia hoped she had done the best thing volunteering. She knew that many of the crew would volunteer simply because she had and she hoped she wasn?t leading them to their deaths.
Fabia was amazed the hour had passed and not one of her crew had come forward to ask to be moved to the Mercurius. She was also immensely proud of them and at the same time worried that she might be about to cause their deaths. ?Comm get me the Mercurius on the main viewer.?
?Aye aye Trierarchus, raising them now.? The young tech sounded scared, Fabia knew the feeling.
The large screen at the front of the bridge changed from the view of seemingly empty space where the Gate of Apollo was to the inside of a bridge similar to the Dido?s.
?Navarchus Scipio here, how many have you for me Trierarchus Andronica?? The head of the Survey Squadron asked.
?None Navarchus. Not one of them wants to miss the fun.? Fabia held her voice steady but she?d known Antonius Scipio for a year now and could tell by the way he was standing that he liked the idea of risking one of his ships and it?s crew as little as she did.
?Fabia I want you to know I tried to talk them out of this.? He said with utter sincerity.
?Thank you sir. We?re beginning our approach now.? She said and motioned the Nav Tech to begin moving the ship forward.
?Good Luck Dido, the Classis salutes your bravery. Mercurius out.?
The tension on the bridge and all over the Dido was almost thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. As the gunboat had done before it, the ship moved slowly towards the Gate. Fabia could hear one of the enlisted personnel, somewhere on the bridge, muttering what she assumed must be some kind of prayer to Iuppiter. Normally she?d have stopped such foolish superstition right away. Yet somehow though this seemed like the right time for prayers and she wished for the first time in her life that she knew how to pray.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 14, 2008, 09:18:07 AM
As suddenly as the experience had begun it ended. Fabia could tell that the ship?s computers had begun a reboot and a few seconds later she retracted her helmet into the collar of her E-Suit and could fully see the bridge again. Fabia was disgusted to see her Nav Officer had his helmet retracted and had vomit all over his E-Suit, and then she realized he had been the one who she had heard getting sick. ?Go and get yourself cleaned up Hirrus.? She ordered far more sharply than she had intended. ?Use the bridge?s head, but be quick about it.?
She looked up and saw the bridges main viewscreen was coming back on line. ?Damage report!? she snapped, her training taking over now that the effect of the passage was over.
The response from the department heads was a little slower in coming than she would have liked, but given the unusual circumstances she again let it pass.
?No damage reported Trierarchus, but it does seem like the computers all over the ship had to reset themselves after whatever just happened, happened.? Her exec Lusius Belenus said.
?Comm patch me through to the Mercurius, lets find out what they saw.? Several seconds passed and Fabia began to wonder if her Comm officer had heard her.
?Sorry Trierarchus I can?t raise them, I?m trying alterative frequencies but they?re not responding.?
?Trierarchus, Sensors do not show the squadron any more!? Iulius Gratian her Sensor officer shouted out.
?Have they gone or have we?? Fabia wondered out loud.
?I can?t find any trace of Terra Trierarchus so I?d say, we?ve gone.? Helvia responded while bent over the science console. ?From the stellar positions I?d say we?re a little over four light years from Terra.?
?So we?ve passed through some kind of wormhole??
?That was one of the many theories about the anomaly Trierarchus and it seems to fit with what just happened.? Helvia said.
?Wasn?t that your theory Helvia??
?Yes Trierarchus.? That was why I named the anomalies the Gates of Apollo,? Helvia said, sounding somewhat embarrassed.
?Okay people, what is nearby and do we have a fix on where we entered and where ever we are so we can try the reverse trip??
?I?ve got a fix on where we entered Trierarchus. Scanners show nothing else close by.? Iulius Gratian responded.
?Science Instruments show we are in a Trinary Star System Trierarchus, most likely Alpha Centauri; judging by the distance and our knowledge that Alpha Centauri is a Trinary system. No sign of any other drive signatures though.? Helvia replied almost at the same time.
?Great we scare ourselves half to death and then find nothing here. If I believed in the Gods I?d say one of them is having a joke at our expense!? Fabia said blowing away the last of the tension she?d felt since reading the order to approach the Apollonian Gate.
The Nav officer returned and retook his place at the Navigation console.
?Okay lets turn the ship around and see if this wormhole works both ways! And this time Nav try not to suffocate yourself.?
The Dido turned in space and began a slow move back towards its entry point. As suddenly as the first time when the jump drive activated, Fabia found herself all over the bridge, however this time it didn?t seem quite so bad. She surmised that this time she wasn?t as scared as the last time. She still felt dreadful and her E-suit and all the ships computers still needed to reboot, but it was nowhere near as bad as the last time.
It took about half a minute after Dido?s arrival for all the systems to come back on line. When they did the bridge crew all started cheering, there arrayed in from of them were the other five ships of the Roman Survey Squadron, they were home.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 15, 2008, 10:14:22 AM
The Magister Classis had reported that the Dido, a Liburnia class scout, had just completed the first Apollonian Gate transit and returned safely. The Dido had made a small and pre-emptive calculation of its position, and during those calculations the Trierarchus had realized that they were in all likelihood in the Alpha Centauri star system. The Dido had then returned to report the finding.
Casca, along with most of the Senate, had believed that finding the Gates of Apollo had been an augury from Iuppiter, and was a sign to bring the Pax Romana to the stars. Yet Casca still could not bring himself to order the exploration of the new star system his scout had found, because, like any pious Roman, he considered the stars the playground of the Gods. Yet it was also true that Iuppiter himself had shown them the way to the stars.
Casca was still trying to decide when he was disturbed by his attach?. The intercom holocube flared with the image of his trusted friend, ?Imperator, pardon my interruption of your musings, but your son, Sempronius, has just arrived back from the Imperial academy.?
?Iunius, that is good news, send him in and bring us an amphorae of the best Gallic wine we have, so we can celebrate his graduation from the Officer's Academy.?
?As you wish Imperator.? The holocube then went silent as Iunius signed off.
Two minutes later Iunius, a balding man in his 40?s, entered, escorting a muscular youth dressed in the ceremonial armor of a Legati Legionis. Sempronius strode forward and knelt in front of his father and kissed the signet ring on his middle finger, ?Father, I have returned from the Academy and I am awaiting your command.?
?Rise my son and give your father a proper greeting, and not this ceremonial garbage.? Casca said to his son. With that Sempronius rose and gave his father a bear hug of a greeting that showed his true love for his father, something that, at times, was lacking in the halls of power that was Roma.
The two men, one the Emperor of the Senatus Populesque Romanus, and his only surviving son, both sat and poured a glass of Gallic wine that Iunius had brought in.
?So tell me Sempronius, do you have a preference for a posting? As you know I cannot post you higher than a Centurio, but I CAN pick the unit you serve in.? Casca said.
?Father I have been giving it some thought, and I would like to be posted on a Liburnia class scout. I want to be in on the exploration of the stars.?
Casca was startled by his son?s choice; he had thought that he would have chosen a posting in the Equites Augusti Singulares. But he also knew his son wanted to be Emperor some day, and Roman tradition required that an heir to the Empire must have first commanded troops and conquered a territory, or by commanding an exploration expedition, added to the Republic. Then they had to be a Senator in good standing. So his son?s choice was both logical and good. He was proud of his son?s choice, for no Roman could fault his son for a lack of courage, because all know a Liburnia has almost no defenses and if they found a larger and hostile opponent, the ship would be lost.
?Sempronius, I'm surprised by your choice, but at the same time pleased. Maybe for the first time in the gods knows how long, a blood relative will take the throne from his father. I approve of your choice, and it also helps me make a decision I have had difficulty making. Sempronius keep up this line of actions and maybe one day you will also be called Caesar.? Casca said with pride in his voice.
?Iunius, have the commander of the Classis come immediately to my council chambers, and tell him the Primus Princeps has made his decision about the exploration of the stars.? Casca said to his loyal servant. He much preferred the civilian title of First Citizen to the militaristic Imperator, Emperor.
?As you wish my lord, I will head there post haste.? And with that Iunius went to fetch the head of the fledgling Roman Star Navy.
?Sempronius please accompany your father to his council chambers since this also concerns you to.?
?As you wish father, I will be right behind you.? With that father and son proceeded to an unknown future.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 16, 2008, 01:08:00 PM
Casca noticed that Antonius was accompanied by one of the new style Lictors, ones who were always present at momentous points in the history of the Empire.
***
For 300 years civil wars had torn the Empire asunder as one claimant after another had tried to seize the Imperial Purple by force. None of the pretenders had ruled more than a handful of years before either being assassinated or overthrown in another of the endless coups that occurred during this period. It had been the nadr of the Empire, and most Romans did not expect the Empire to survive the continual civil wars.
Then one man, Quintus Maximius Aratus, Casca?s spiritual forebear and the Pro Consul for the province of Nihonii, began his quest for the Laurel Leaves and the Purple. The difference between Maximius and the other pretenders was he had a plan to end the civil strife tearing the Empire apart. It was nothing less than a total reorganization of the Empire?s government and way of life.
One of the critical components was the reorganization of the Lictors. Before Maximius the Lictors were the bearers of the Fasces, the symbol of the Empire. What Maximius had in mind for the Lictors was to evolve them into the bearers of the Empire?s honor.
While Maximius was the Pro Consul for Nihonii he had seen how the local administrator?s, called Shogun?s, ran their districts. One thing he had noticed was that the Shogun?s had virtually no rebellions against them and he kept them from killing each other, so Nihonii was a very stable province. What he had noticed was that they had a class of warrior called the Samurai, which means in the local tongue ?to serve? and they enforced the Shogun?s word, which also was his honor.
The thing that he had found fascinating about this warrior class was that if they considered their Shogun to have lost his honor they would present their grievances to the Shogun for rectification. If the Shogun refused to regain his honor in the eyes of the Samurai, that Samurai and any who agreed with him would commit what they called ?Seppuku? or suicide, to try and chide the Shogun into doing what was right.
To Maximius?s Roman eyes, the suicide part was rubbish and a waste of good personnel, but he thought he could turn these ?Samurai? into faithful servants of the Empire. Instead of committing suicide the Samurai turned Lictor would challenge the person who has failed the Empire to personal combat. If the challenged defeated and killed his challenger, he would have exactly one year to rectify what had set off the challenge in the first place. If the challenged had not fixed the problem by the end of the grace year, the Commander of the Lictors himself would challenge the person to personal combat. There has never been a survivor of being challenged by the Commander of the Lictors. Even Emperors and Senators were not above the challenge by the Lictors. That was one of the vital changes Maximius felt that was needed to weed out the corruption that was strangling the Empire from within.
The one who challenged the dishonorable subject was always the champion of the Lictors. The Lictors hold hotly contested tournaments to fill that position. The position of Challenger was a very highly prized position in the Lictors, for the honor of the Empire is truly resting on his shoulders. With this in mind, Maximius thought these Samurai would be perfect for the new role of the Lictors. Even though the majority of the Lictors are from the Samurai class in Nihonii, there are other peoples from all over the Empire. All they have to do is prove their dedication to the honor of the Empire above ALL else.
The Lictors never became involved in politics in any way, as they knew that was the path to corruption and dishonor. Any Lictor who even hinted at a political bias was ?urged? to commit Seppuku before an official investigation was launched. Needless to say, there have only been a handful of Lictor Seppuku?s in the 400 years since their new roles were founded. They truly believe that the honor and good health of the Empire rests on their shoulders.
Since the Lictors have taken up their expanded role, the level of corruption in the Empire has dropped to almost nothing. Also the new commanders who did not have to worry about a corrupt commander holding them back have unified Terra. Most Romans think Maximius was inspired by Iuppiter himself with the introduction of the new style Lictors to the Empire.
So the presence of the Lictor had somewhat surprised Casca, as he had not considered the exploration of space that momentous of an occasion. The presence of a Lictor showed they considered the subject of great portent. Even if the Lictors never showed any emotion while a decision is being made, their presence alone caused all present to ponder their decisions with great care. And that made all the difference for the Empire and its continued growth and stability.
***
?Marcus, I have given it great thought, we shall explore the new system and bring the Pax Romana to the stars.? Casca could see the slightest relaxation of tension in the Lictor, so he guessed he had made the right decision in their eyes.
?My lord, that is outstanding news! We in the Classis had no doubt you would come to that conclusion, for we have faith in your guidance of the Republic?s foreign affairs.?
?Truth be told Marcus, my son Sempronius with his choice of postings helped me make the final decision.? You could see the look of surprise in the Magister Classis and the Lictor?s faces at that revelation.
?What was the choice of duty assignments the son of the Emperor chose my lord??
?He wishes to be posted to a Liburnia Scout, and be in on the exploration of the stars.?
?My lord your son has wisdom beyond his years, and that bodes well for a possible future Emperor.? Marcus said with genuine respect in his voice. The look that the Lictor was giving Sempronius was also heartening for Casca. For if the Lictors were impressed by Sempronius?s decision, then maybe, just maybe he might have a chance at becoming Emperor himself.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 17, 2008, 11:37:23 AM
?This had better be damned good!? He growled at Virius Felix, his third in command and currently the duty officer.
Virius knew his commander?s routine and knew exactly why he was so annoyed. ?Sorry Navarchus, but it is really important.?
?Hurry up and tell me then!? Sempronius snapped. He could tell by Virius?s voice that whatever it was it was important but he really didn?t feel like giving the Centurio even an inch of room.
?About a minute ago we detected a massive burst of energy just inside the gas giant Scipio III.? The younger man replied.
?What kind of massive burst of energy?? Sempronius asked.
?Gravity, heat, light, X-Ray, basically everything.? Virius replied.
?It has all the characteristics of an Apollonian Gate transit sir, but much bigger and just inside the gas giant,? the ships senior science officer Messiena Maia added.
?Did we get a holo recording of the event??
?No sir we were scanning the planet Scipio II at the time, but I have put the location on the main viewer.? Virius informed his commander.
?Is that freighter still in range of us??
?Yes Navarchus. It?s about ten Light Minutes away.?
?Comm get them on the horn and tell them to hold their position while we have a look and see what?s happening. Navigation set a course for Scipio III and get us moving.?
A few minutes had passed and then Centurio Livia Aponia, the Comm officer said, ?Sorry Sir the freighter refuses to stop, they say time is money and they can?t afford to be late for their next pick up.?
?What!? Sempronius thought for a moment. ?Tell the captain the Classis will pay for?? Suddenly on the main viewer there was a huge flash. ?What was that?? Sempronius asked his science officer.
?Same thing again sir.? Messiena said. ?All the readings are off the scale, the energy released must be extraordinary!?
?What was I saying, oh yes, tell the freighter captain we will pay for his time. Any more ideas wh?? Another flash. ?Weapons, are we in danger of taking any damage??
?No sir? the Centurio manning the Weapons console replied, ?not at this range.?
Another flash cut across the screen before Sempronius could ask anything else. ?Any estimates on how close we can get without sustaining damage??
?Looking at the figures sir I?d say?? another flash, ?at maybe a couple of light seconds we would begin taking shield damage.?
?Navarchus I?m getting an omni-directional signal from somewhere near Scipio III, but it doesn?t seem to make any sense.? The comm officer said.
?Lets hear it.? Another flash. Livia linked the communication through the main bridge speaker system. The words coming through the speakers were clearly words, but they did not seem to mean anything. One thing was clear from them though, the voice sounded desperate. ?Who ever they are they sound like they?re in trouble. Navigation, full tactical speed.?
?Aye sir full tactical speed.?
?Sir the freighter reports they have stopped and will pass on any messages we need to send.?
?Well at least something?s going right!?
Moments later there was a sixth flash. Then as suddenly as the flashes had started they stopped. ?Comm see if you can raise that unknown ship.?
?Aye Sir.?
A few minutes passed. ?There doesn?t seem to be any response to my hails Navarchus.?
?Keep trying anyway.?
?Aye Sir.?
Not knowing exactly whom the distress signal was coming from, Sempronius had the Spatha approach the signal with all possible speed.
Just over an hour later - and no more flashes having occurred - his Sensor officer hailed him. ?Sir I have one large object and a debris field. The large object is at five light seconds and seems to be about two-thirds our size. The debris field masses between four and five times the mass of the ship, but some of it is already falling back towards Scipio III. So it was probably larger to begin with.? Virius said, now manning the sensors.
?Sir, we?ve just lost engine room number five. Engineering says the run out here caused it to burn out. They say they can have it jury rigged within a couple of hours, but it will need yard time to completely repair it.? The Navigation officer said.
?Is the ship where the comm signal is coming from??
?Yes Sir.? Virius replied.
?Comm, any luck working out what they?re saying.?
?No sir, it?s not a language from Terra, nor anything even remotely close to any of them.? Livia responded.
?Okay. Nav get us as close as you can with the drive and we will see what shape they are in. How far away are they??
?Range is now 3.5 Light Seconds sir.?
As the Trireme came within a light second of the unknown ship it became obvious that it had been hit hard, indeed very hard by something. The hull was marked and scored. It was blackened and in places it looked like hull plates were missing.
?Comm, any luck in contacting them??
?No Sir, nothing.?
?Sir this is as close as I can get with the shields up, any closer and I?ll fry them.? The Navigation officer said.
?Comm let the freighter know we?re going to drop our shields and try to dock with the unknown ship.?
?Aye Sir. Message sent.?
They watched the damaged ship on the main viewer while they waited for the reply from the freighter. The more Sempronius looked at it the more he was sure that the whole ship had between twisted. It looked like a giant pair of hands had taken hold of the ship and wrung it out. Sempronius shuddered at the power required to do that to a ship.
?The freighter replied they understand and are standing by. Oh and they wish us good luck sir.?
?Thank them.?
?Aye Sir.?
?Nav close with thrusters.?
?Aye Sir.?
?Weapons drop the shields.?
?Aye Sir.?
?Virius get the Manipularii together and prepare to do a little zero gee boarding action.?
?Sir, yes Sir!? Sempronius noticed the young man sounded excited at the prospect of a boarding action.
The Spatha slowly closed on the unknown ship. After a few minutes the two ships were lined up and the docking clamps were fired from the Spatha. Slowly the Manipularii made their way across the gap between the two ships.
Sempronius put a call through to the medical officer. ?We may have some aliens for you to treat Medicus. Better get your people ready.?
?Will do Navarchus.?
Sempronius watched the unknown ships airlock slide open as the Manipularii approached it. For some reason he couldn?t stop himself from thinking, Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly. Then the Manipularii were inside.
?Incoming message from Centurio Virius.?
?Okay, put him on the main viewer.?
?Sir, they look like us!? Virius sounded shocked.
?What?s their situation??
?The ship is very badly damaged and there?s a lot of injuries. No way we can space walk a lot of them. Can we air dock sir? I think some of them will die unless we get them to our medical bays quickly.? Virius said, sounding more professional and less shocked with every word.
Sempronius thought for a moment. This was first contact. First ever contact. Letting any of them die just wasn?t an option. ?Comm let the freighter know we have met what appears to be aliens and they are in trouble. Tell them we are establishing an airtight dock in order to help as many of them as possible as quickly as possible. Then tell them to get that message back to Terra with all possible speed.?
?Aye Sir.?
?Virius, get the air dock set up and lets see if we can help as many of them as we can.?
?Yes Sir!?
***
Of the 662 crew aboard the unknown vessel 457 were dead before the Spatha could get to them. Six more died even with the best efforts of the ships medical personnel. This was with the help of some of the unknown ships crew who even with the complete lack of communications somehow managed to get across that they were medical personnel.
Once the Spatha had picked up all the crew of the unknown ship it made its way back to Terra with the survivors. It was repaired and then returned to the Scipio System where it moved the unknown ship into a higher orbit around Scipio III by towing it with tractor beams and using thrusters only. The Spatha then settled into orbit around Scipio III waiting for any other transits.
A month or so later and the following information was learned from the crew of the unknown ship.
Commander: Commodore Robert Schneider.
Ship: Ranger One
Race: American
Scientific report on the Arrival of Ranger One (American)
It appears that the American scout arrived at a Gate of Apollo that had formed within the gas giant Scipio III. The scout was very badly damaged by the shock wave the opening of the Apollonian Gate caused within the dense internal atmosphere of the gas giant, but its shields protected it long enough for the ship to be blown free of the gas giant?s atmosphere. It appears five more ships followed Ranger One. However these ships arrived much closer together and the combined shock waves seemed to have destroyed each ship as it arrived. These additional shock waves also further damaged Ranger One.
Unfortunately the Spatha was not close enough to Scipio III to get an exact fix on the location of the Apollonian Gate. Since the Gate of Apollo is at an unknown depth within the gas giant it is recommended that a ship be stationed to monitor the Gate for further transits but nothing else be done at this time.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 18, 2008, 10:38:58 AM
Rama Toulon stiffened as he always did just prior to each wormhole transit. As always he was amazed that he became so nervous, after so many transits it was foolish. Slowly he forced himself to relax. Around him the other engineering staff moved to their transit seating. Rama?s mind went back to his dream briefly, it was always the same and was the reason he was so nervous about transits. He had avoided mentioning it to anyone; after all it wasn?t proper.
The dream was always the same, everything would seem normal at first and then the ship would buckle and twist around him, the hull would crack and for a moment he would feel the cold of space, then he would wake in a pool of sweat. He had it again last night, but then he had known they would transit today. It was foolish, the navy had never lost a ship to transit effects, so why would they now?
Rama looked around the small engineering compartment of the frigate and saw everyone was ready. Lt. Mike Haskins nodded to him, ?is everything ready?? The nod asked. Rama swept his eyes one last time over his panel and nodded back.
?Engineering ready for transit sir.? Haskins said into the small mike.
For a short while the ship seemed quiet, then Rama heard the engine note change as the ship got underway. He watched the panel concentrating on his job, everything was normal. Suddenly he felt the jump engine activate and almost immediately afterwards the wormhole effect. It was the same as always, one moment he was setting in his seat the next he seemed to be all over engineering at once. The panel in front of him suddenly lost power and the lights flickered out. Everything was as it should be. As soon as it started the feeling of being everywhere at once stopped, and it then ceased to be normal.
All hell suddenly broke loose, Rama was aware of three things at once. First a noise, like the ship being hit in a thousand places at once with a huge hammer. Second the sound of metal rupturing behind him and third a huge sense of deja vous. It was his dream; this time he was sure it wouldn?t kill him though, or at least he hoped it wouldn?t.
A quick look behind confirmed the hull was indeed breaching. Rama hit the emergency hull seal button on his panel as hard as possible and held on to his seat. Time seemed to slow. In slow motion Rama watched as Lt. Haskins and three crewmen in engineering where pulled from their transit seating and flew through the air towards the gap that was appearing in the hull. At the same instant sealing foam was fired from the ceiling at the other wall of engineering. Slowly Haskins and the foam raced each other towards the gap. Rama swiveled his seat and with his free hand made a grab for Lt. Haskins, but the distance was too far. He watched in horror as the Lt. was sucked through the hole first, then a moment later the foam sealed the breach, it was too late to be any help for the head of engineering.
Rama was stunned briefly and took the time to assess the rest of the engineering crew. As Engineering Second in Command these were now his men. They all looked shaken but apart from Crewman Johnson who was holding his arm no one seemed hurt. ?How?s your arm Johnson?? Rama asked the wounded crewman. He was surprised how calm he felt.
?I think it's broken sir. I hit it on the console when the hull breached.? Johnson answered, sounding anything but calm.
?Report to the medical bay. The rest of you let?s find out what?s working and what isn?t.? The crew began to move back to their stations and Rama turned back to face his console. The panel showed the shields were up though only one of the engines was active. Worryingly one of the two fusion reactors wasn?t looking too healthy either.
?Hank shut down reactor two, the rest of you try to get the engines back online.? He said and continued to scan the panel.
The ship was stationary and seemed to lack any inclination to move. Rama didn?t like the idea of sitting on top of the wormhole. He was about to contact the bridge when he heard Lt. Haskins? console pinging to indicate an incoming message.
Rama crossed the small room to Mike?s console, somehow it felt wrong to touch it with the man dead, but he was in charge now and someone would want a report. He pressed the switch to activate the comm link and Commodore Schneider?s face appeared. His face was streaked with blood and he had a cut just above his left eye. ?Where is Lieutenant Haskins?? He asked, but Rama could see from his eyes that he already knew.
?Sir, Lieutenant Haskins is dead, he was sucked out of the ship by a hull breach. I am his second in command, Lieutenant JG Rama Toulon.?
?That?s a shame, he was a good engineer. Speaking of which how are our??
Some sort of explosion suddenly hit the ship. It felt like there had been an explosion somewhere off the frigates stern. Rama was thrown off his feet and struck his head on the edge of the console as he fell. Then the lights went out and the comm screen went dead.
With his head throbbing Rama regained his feet. ?The reactors are off line Lt, I?m switching to emergency batteries.? A voice said.
For a moment Rama didn?t recognize it. Then he realized it was crewman Hank Gutterman. He felt groggy and shook his head to try and clear it. He suddenly realized that was a bad idea as he stumbled and the floor came up to meet him.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 19, 2008, 10:52:48 AM
When he awoke again he was somewhere else and his head had stopped throbbing. He slowly sat up and looked around. A woman began to come over towards him and he recognized her as Doctor Gonsalvez. Suddenly he realized that the two women had both been Doctor Gonsalvez.
?How are you feeling now Lt. Toulon?? The doctor asked.
?Hungry but fine doc, what happened??
?You fell and sustained a minor concussion, how many fingers do you see?? The doctor inquired moving a finger back and forth in front of Rama?s face.
?One.?
?Good, I think you?re over your concussion. Lie here for a bit then we will try to get you on your feet and make sure you?re okay.?
?Okay doc, you?re the boss.?
Doctor Gonsalvez moved back to the other end of the room. Rama looked around the medical bay. It was full of double bunks with around sixty members of the crew on them. At the far end he noticed two men wearing some sort of powered armor, for a moment he wondered why the Marines would be in the medical bay. Then he realized this wasn?t his ships medical bay. It was too big, in fact even the color of the walls were wrong. Looking once again at the two figures he began to realize their armor was nothing like what a power armored American Marine wore; in fact it vaguely looked like a Roman infantryman?s armor.
Where am I? He thought with some confusion.
The minutes seemed to drag by as he waited for the doctor to return. He spent the time looking around the bay. Strangely, the more he looked at it the less it looked like an American ship. Somehow the design lacked the elegant simplicity of the frigates medical bay. It seemed only half thought out, like the design had been rushed.
He turned his attention to the other American crewmen around the room. Very few of them were awake and none near him was. He began to worry where the rest of the crew was. Before he could give it much thought though he noticed Doctor Gonsalvez coming back across the room towards him.
?Where are we doc?? He asked when the doctor finally arrived.
?Lets get you on your feet and see if you?re okay. The Commodore wants to see you as soon as you?re cleared for duty and I?m sure he?ll explain it better to you ?privately? than I could.? Dr Gonsalvez said and Rama took the hint.
Standing turned out to be no problem at all and a few minutes later Rama was dressed and on his way to see the Commodore. As the doctor led him down a short corridor once again he got the impression that the ship could have been more ergonomically designed and again that its design had seemed to have been rushed. At the end of the short corridor the doctor opened a door and indicated the engineer should go in.
The room contained a desk and a bed and behind the desk was Commodore of the American Star Fleet Robert Schneider. ?Glad to see you are up and about again.? The Commodore said. ?How?s the head feel??
?No pain at all sir.?
?I will bet you?re wondering what?s going on?"
"That I am, sir." Rama replied instantly.
"Well on the surface it looks like we are lucky to be alive. Some passing aliens rescued us after we went through the wormhole and something happened to us. Unfortunately we haven?t managed to communicate directly with the people who rescued us. I?ve got Lt. Davis and his first contact team working on that at the moment. They?ve shown us some holo footage and from that it looks like we transited in the middle of a gas giant and that we were followed by the five other ships of the Squadron, they were destroyed because they came through too close together. If the footage is fake, it is very good and I don?t see how they could know about the standing orders for five ships to pass through the wormhole after the lead ship unless it happened.?
?So you have your doubts then sir??
?Yes and no. They seem to wear some sort of powered armor every time we meet. They might be fooling us to gain information or it might be their preferred way of making first contact. If they seem like good people we will more than likely be friendly with them. But they also seemed to hustle us off of Ranger One a bit too quickly. I didn?t think about it at the time as it looked like she was about to blow, but now I wonder. That said they seem like the perfect saviors and seem very friendly.?
?So they might have rescued us? or not. Which way do we play it, sir??
?For now we assume they are genuine and really are just helping travelers in distress. Once we can communicate with them I?ll ask them to take us back to Ranger One and we?ll see what, if anything, her sensor logs can tell us. For now we are stuck here. Any questions??
?Is it just me, or does that powered armor have a vague resemblance to a Roman infantryman?s armor, if it had been updated for modern combat??
?You know, now that you mention it, they do, and their language has a vague resemblance to Latin. I will pass that on to Shadd and his first contact team. Any other questions or observations??
?How many of the crew are still alive??
?Now that you?re out of the medical bay there?s fifty-eight in there and sixty-one billeted around the rest of the ship in some quarters they?ve given up for us.?
?Four hundred-fifty seven dead then??
?Dead or missing. Anything else??
?No sir.?
?Okay I?ll take you to where the other officers are billeted.?
***
The rest of the trip was fairly boring. Towards the end of it partial communications were established. A remarkable feat for the first contact teams of both sides. It turned out that the tip of the possibility of Latin being the root language was the key. The species called themselves Romans.
A few days later the Roman ship arrived at it?s destination that turned out to be the Roman Home world Terra. The ship landed at a military base close to the Capital of Roma. By now Rama had come to the conclusion that these Romans had been the result of Alien tampering with Earth, the Earth his people had also left behind.
Ranger One?s crew was transferred via closed vehicles to a large building in the middle of the city. Rama was surprised how luxurious the rooms were they were shown to. ?What is this place.? He asked one of the Romans who was showing them to their quarters.
?One of the government houses.? He replied. Which left Rama none-the-wiser.
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 20, 2008, 10:08:15 AM
?I?ve just had an interesting meeting with a Roman called Praefectus Classis Gaius Marcus Antonius. Praefectus Classis seems to be about the equivalent of Vice Admiral. He seems to be one of the senior men in their navy. I asked him to let us return to our ship so we can check it over and he agreed.? Commodore Schneider said.
?Good, maybe we?ll be able to confirm what they say.? Hazel replied.
?They?ve probably been on the ship already and wiped the records.? Ed added.
?He assured me they haven?t gone onto Ranger One since they don?t want any kind of diplomatic incident. I guess we will see when we get there,? the Commodore continued.
?If they are telling the truth what do we do about it?? Rama asked.
?Wormholes don?t orbit stars, they stay in the same place relative to the star so by now the jump point isn?t inside the planet anymore.? Hazel said, as if talking to a class of students. ?If we?re lucky the exact location of the wormhole will be in Ranger One?s computers and we can go home!?
?What if it isn?t?? Rama asked, not really wanting to know the answer. ?It could be a wandering wormhole.?
?We?ll not worry about that until we know there?s a problem.? The Commodore said in a tone that brooked no argument.
For a few seconds no one said anything, Rama was sure they were all thinking about what it would mean if they couldn?t find the wormhole.
The Commodore cut into the silence, ?Something else. Some of you have noticed that the Romans seem embarrassed when they speak to us. Crazy as it sounds they have a thing about being seen without their uniforms on. It seems they have a class system with which they use the uniforms to mark the different strata in their culture, and to them it?s a status symbol and if you don?t wear it they think you are rejecting the society, and are marked for watching. They say that?s why they haven?t let us out of this building yet.?
?Sure and I suppose they?re going to make us spiffy new uniforms and let us walk around their cities eh?? Ed said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
?Amazingly, that?s exactly what they say they are going to do. Can you imagine our government letting unknown aliens wander around the capital?? The Commodore said sounding truly amazed. ?We wouldn't even let the aliens know where the capital system was!?
?Presumably the uniform will have some sort of tracking devices sewn into them so they?ll know where we are at all time.? Ed said.
?We could just take them off,? Rama suggested.
?Antonius told me that if we?re caught not wearing the uniform outside this building we would be arrested and tried under Roman law. He implied the penalties are harsh, so I suggest for now we do as they ask.? The Commodore stated. ?Now I think we will turn to the trip back to Ranger One.?
The meeting continued with discussions about who should return to the ship and what to tell the crew about the situation and the uniforms.
Post by: ZimRathbone on February 21, 2008, 03:35:57 AM
Quote from: "??rgr?mr"
The Commodore cut into the silence, ?Something else. Some of you have noticed that the Romans seem embarrassed when they speak to us. Crazy as it sounds they have a thing about being seen without their uniforms on. It seems they have a class system with which they use the uniforms to mark the different strata in their culture, and to them it?s a status symbol and if you don?t wear it they think you are rejecting the society, and are marked for watching. They say that?s why they haven?t let us out of this building yet.?
Shades of Don Shotgun - will we be seeing Sam Slice somewhere?
Slainthe
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 21, 2008, 10:31:30 AM
Quote from: "ZimRathbone"
Shades of Don Shotgun - will we be seeing Sam Slice somewhere?
Slainthe
What is this Don Shotgun you mentioned? And who is Sam Slice? :D And if my idea I had thought original turns out to be not so original, I will scrap the whole thing and begin from scratch.
Cheers, ??rgr?mr
Post by: Shinanygnz on February 21, 2008, 12:21:13 PM
Quote from: "??rgr?mr"
Quote from: "ZimRathbone"Shades of Don Shotgun - will we be seeing Sam Slice somewhere?
Slainthe
What is this Don Shotgun you mentioned? And who is Sam Slice? :D And if my idea I had thought original turns out to be not so original, I will scrap the whole thing and begin from scratch. :D
The Shotgun stories were some Starfire fiction from a few years back based on a planet full of "mobsters". They wore powered armour, which was colour coded and taking it off in public was verbotten. Ian Clark or Clarke (iirc) was the author. Probably available via the Starfire list archives. Well worth a read if you can find them.
No need to scrap your plans just because someone else had a similar idea.
Stephen
Post by: ZimRathbone on February 21, 2008, 07:35:23 PM
Quote from: "Shinanygnz"
Quote from: "??rgr?mr"Quote from: "ZimRathbone"Shades of Don Shotgun - will we be seeing Sam Slice somewhere?
Slainthe
What is this Don Shotgun you mentioned? And who is Sam Slice? :D And if my idea I had thought original turns out to be not so original, I will scrap the whole thing and begin from scratch. :D
The Shotgun stories were some Starfire fiction from a few years back based on a planet full of "mobsters". They wore powered armour, which was colour coded and taking it off in public was verbotten. Ian Clark or Clarke (iirc) was the author. Probably available via the Starfire list archives. Well worth a read if you can find them.
No need to scrap your plans just because someone else had a similar idea.
Stephen
As Stephen said, but with a minor addition - Iain Clarke also had a very similar story of a Cross-Universe wormhole appearing within a Gas Giant, with a partial survival & a lot of dead followup ships. The story was called "A Flash at the End of the Tunnel". In fact so similar that I assumed that you were actually Iain under a different alias hence my somewhat cryptic comment.
In his case tho the incomer was Advanced Scout One commanded by 10th Swordsman of Worlds Hanikai of the Rigellian Empire meeting a somewhat unhappy Steve (W?) Gunblast. Other than some minor name & terminology changes the stories are pretty much twins.
I have a copy of most of the Shotgun series if you wish, or you can also find it on Matt Wadwells Starfire Fiction site (its still up although Matt hasn't updated it for years) on http://au.geocities.com/mwadwell/Index.html (http://au.geocities.com/mwadwell/Index.html)
However please keep writing the Roman stories - I do find them interesting to see another's viewpoint of how the Senate & People of Rome might have developed - it seems at the moment they are very much a Dominate phase
Slainthe
Mike T
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 22, 2008, 09:50:51 AM
Quote from: "ZimRathbone"
As Stephen said, but with a minor addition - Iain Clarke also had a very similar story of a Cross-Universe wormhole appearing within a Gas Giant, with a partial survival & a lot of dead followup ships. The story was called "A Flash at the End of the Tunnel". In fact so similar that I assumed that you were actually Iain under a different alias hence my somewhat cryptic comment.
In his case tho the incomer was Advanced Scout One commanded by 10th Swordsman of Worlds Hanikai of the Rigellian Empire meeting a somewhat unhappy Steve (W?) Gunblast. Other than some minor name & terminology changes the stories are pretty much twins.
I have a copy of most of the Shotgun series if you wish, or you can also find it on Matt Wadwells Starfire Fiction site (its still up although Matt hasn't updated it for years) on http://au.geocities.com/mwadwell/Index.html (http://au.geocities.com/mwadwell/Index.html)
However please keep writing the Roman stories - I do find them interesting to see another's viewpoint of how the Senate & People of Rome might have developed - it seems at the moment they are very much a Dominate phase
Slainthe
Mike T
@ZimRathbone, I never even heard of Ian Clarke, Don Shotgun or MWadell's site till you folks told me about them. :cry:
Cheers, Thorgrimm
Post by: Shinanygnz on February 22, 2008, 12:04:18 PM
Please put your Roman stuff back up and continue the story, it's well written, interesting and generally all round damn good.
Stephen
Post by: mavikfelna on February 22, 2008, 04:40:23 PM
--Mav
Post by: Kurt on February 22, 2008, 06:47:08 PM
Quote from: "??rgr?mr"
Quote from: "ZimRathbone"As Stephen said, but with a minor addition - Iain Clarke also had a very similar story of a Cross-Universe wormhole appearing within a Gas Giant, with a partial survival & a lot of dead followup ships. The story was called "A Flash at the End of the Tunnel". In fact so similar that I assumed that you were actually Iain under a different alias hence my somewhat cryptic comment.
In his case tho the incomer was Advanced Scout One commanded by 10th Swordsman of Worlds Hanikai of the Rigellian Empire meeting a somewhat unhappy Steve (W?) Gunblast. Other than some minor name & terminology changes the stories are pretty much twins.
I have a copy of most of the Shotgun series if you wish, or you can also find it on Matt Wadwells Starfire Fiction site (its still up although Matt hasn't updated it for years) on http://au.geocities.com/mwadwell/Index.html (http://au.geocities.com/mwadwell/Index.html)
However please keep writing the Roman stories - I do find them interesting to see another's viewpoint of how the Senate & People of Rome might have developed - it seems at the moment they are very much a Dominate phase
Slainthe
Mike T
@ZimRathbone, I never even heard of Ian Clarke, Don Shotgun or MWadell's site till you folks told me about them. :cry:
Cheers, Thorgrimm
I think you are over-reacting a bit here. While there may be some vague similarities, in the end it is what you do with a concept or an idea. Your Roman campaign is fundamentally different from any other that I've read, and I, for one, think that the group will be poorer for its loss.
I certainly didn't think the similarities were as close as other's seemed to think they were.
Kurt
Post by: Erik L on February 22, 2008, 07:09:02 PM
Post by: Þórgrímr on February 23, 2008, 05:25:52 PM
Now, as of the reasons I removed them is thus:
1. Being new to the writing career I have no published works and since that is the case ANY accusation of plagarizim, no matter if founded or not, would devastate my chances to get anything published. That is one thing publishers will red flag immediately and reject a work. Especially if that work is from a unknown.
2. I guess I am gunshy when it comes to my writing. So I think at times I take it to mean it is crap and will pull it down ASAP.
3. Being described as "the square with razor points" by my friends, meaning I do not lie even if it would save some discomfort to myself, I was stung rather hard by the accusation. Hell, I do not even use cheat codes in video games, much less steal something that rightfully belongs to someone else. I know how hard it is to create something so I detest thieves just as much as pushers.
Well, know you know why I pulled down the campaign. And I would like to hear what you folks have to say on the matter, and if the majority wants me to put it back up I will.
Oh Eric, I am not recieving any email notices for replies to this thread. Thats why it took me so long to reply, I did not know anyone had commented since the last time I posted.
Cheers, ??rgr?mr
Post by: MWadwell on February 25, 2008, 02:30:44 PM
Quote from: "??rgr?mr"
Thanks for the support guys.
(SNIP)
Quote from: "??rgr?mr"
Well, know you know why I pulled down the campaign. And I would like to hear what you folks have to say on the matter, and if the majority wants me to put it back up I will.
Keep them coming! Very enjoyable!
(And as to any future accidental similarities, just remember the following saying "Great minds think alike!"
)
Post by: kdstubbs on February 27, 2008, 08:13:17 PM
What was unique about your stories was the very plot lines you developed, and the way in which you tried to develop a plausable historical time line.
As a published author, I no more can prevent someone from writing about my topic, WWI Coalition Warfare, than they could have stopped me from writing my history. That you have been careful to pull your fiction out of a fear of plagerism, speaks volumes to your honesty and your integrity. I doubt any one who claim you plagerized someone else, unless you lifted entire paragraphs of text from their works. You cannot copywrite the Roman Empire.
Put your literature back up, and simply refer anyone who asks to the other work, acknowledging that someone else had a similar idea, but how you developed your idea is your own creation.
Kevin Stubbs, Ph.D.
European Military History
Post by: Þórgrímr on March 06, 2008, 10:30:24 AM
Cheers, ??rgr?mr
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 01, 2008, 08:48:26 PM
Cheers, ??rgr?mr
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 02, 2008, 09:02:40 AM
Cheers, ??rgr?mr
Post by: ShadoCat on April 02, 2008, 04:43:32 PM
And...
..more story! It was a fun read.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 03, 2008, 08:49:39 AM
Quote from: "ShadoCat"
Glad to see you back on your feet.
And...
..more story! It was a fun read.
Thanks, I still can't walk very far without feeling like I have run a 100 yard dash, but at least the coughing fits have subsided somewhat. :wink:
Rama looked across at the uniform he?d been given by these Romans. It was white, with the intricate red white and blue of the American Flag embossed on the chest. Rama looked out the window, trying to avoid putting on the uniform. He noticed the square below seemed to be some kind of park and the Romans were enjoying walking about it or sitting under the trees. Clearly the color of their uniform was important. Most were yellow, with reasonable numbers of whites lesser amounts of gray and an odd purple or two here and there. From the looks of it everyone old and young wore the uniform.
He checked the time and realized he needed to put the uniform on and get ready to leave for the starport. The Romans had asked them to wear the uniform for the whole trip. They said it would help the crew of the Roman Destroyer. Rama could see their point. If a bunch of naked aliens showed up who looked a lot like Americans he would have certainly have found it off putting.
So far he?d not been able to bring himself to try on the uniform. He guessed it was the idea behind the whole thing, classifying people into stratas just gave him an odd feeling. Some of the others had said they were very comfortable and well tailored.
He steeled himself and began to put it on. He was surprised how comfortable it was. The uniform was, he had to admit, a work of art, magnificently tailored, it fit like a glove. On the Roman ship that had brought them to Terra he had thought the design was clumsy and rushed. The uniform on the other hand was perfect, had he not known he was wearing it he wouldn?t have realised he was. In what seemed like seconds he was wearing it and looking for any imperfections in the full length mirror.
He stood for over a minute looking at himself in the mirror. Then the door opened behind him. ?Are you ready to go yet Lieutenant?? Doctor Gonsalvez asked.
?Just finishing up now.? Rama said as much to himself as to the doctor. ?Well I guess I?m ready to go now.? Rama said and made his way towards the door.
They made their way down the corridor to the Commodore?s quarters. They arrived to find the Commodore, Commander Collins and Lt. Commander Dickson all dressed in their Roman provided uniforms and waiting for them along with a Roman wearing a gray uniform.
Rama noticed that although the doctor, Cdr. Collins and Lt. Cdr. Dickson?s uniforms were white like his own, that of Commodore Schneider wasn?t. In fact the Commodore?s uniform was gray. He was about to ask if the color meant something when the Roman spoke.
?Good day to you all. My name is Tesserarius Salonius Curio I?m about the same rank as one of your Lieutenant Commanders and I?ve been assigned as your guide and liaison officer during our trip to the Scipio system where your ship is located.?
Introductions were made and then they were off to the starport to board a shuttle and head up to the Roman ship that would take them to the Scipio system.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 04, 2008, 09:21:11 AM
The ship was dark and Rama guessed it would have been very cold without the help of his loaned E-Suit. While Rama and the Doctor made their way down to engineering to see if they could bring up one of the reactors the others made their way up to the bridge. The Destroyers Captain had offered the help of his engineering staff, but Commodore Schneider had turned it down.
Progress towards engineering was hampered by the lack of power. Many of the doors were sealed shut and they had to hand check each one to make sure there was an atmosphere on the other side of it before they hand cranked it open. Rama began to wish that they had accepted the Roman offer of help, but he also knew why the Commodore had turned it down.
It took him and the doctor over an hour to reach engineering and when they got there they discovered the room contained no atmosphere. Rama suspected the temporary seal had failed during their absence.
Another half an hours worth of travel brought them to the auxiliary control room where they could access the secondary engineering control panel. Thankfully this turned out to have an atmosphere. Rama made a careful check of the systems and managed with some clever jury-rigging to get the primary fusion reactor on line.
?Commodore, that?s the best I can do and I?m not sure how long it?ll last either.? He said when he got the Squadron Commander on the internal comm network.
?Okay meet us here on the bridge.? The Commodore replied.
By the time they had traveled up to the bridge the others had found out the information they needed and it was mostly bad news.
First the Romans hadn?t been on the ship. Surprisingly, they had kept their word.
Second the ship would need a complete rebuild before it was going anywhere any time soon.
Third, and worst of all, there was no record of the location of the wormhole they had entered the system from. In fact that whole computer core?s data storage had been physically destroyed during the ships arrival. In essence they were stuck here unless by some miracle it turned out to be a stationary wormhole and not - as they feard - a wandering wormhole.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 05, 2008, 08:09:08 AM
?So treating them with kid gloves was a good idea then?? Casca interrupted.
?It would seem that way. Mind you they could have known I was monitoring them and have been lying.? Salonius warned.
?Is that likely Salonius?? Casca asked the Imperial Enforcer.
?Having spent some time with them on the trip to Scipio I don?t think they knew Imperator, and there?s the matter of the six ships to check out one Gate of Apollo.? Salonius replied.
?Yes, we couldn?t afford to lose that many to explore one Gateway.? Magister Classis Gaius Marcus Antonius replied.
?Marcus, send Sempronius a message that he will receive a Triumph and a Golden Laurel for rescuing them and make sure he knows he did the right thing not boarding their ship after rescuing them and that he has made his father proud of him.? Casca said with pride for his son in his voice.
?Vestri ero perfectus, Imperator.?
?Does there seem to be any link between these Americans and the Base Builders?? Titus Flavius Dolabella, head of Alien Affairs asked. The Alien Affairs department had been set up to keep track of the various odd things the Romans had found in their home system, such as the base on Sky Dagger and to look after interaction with any aliens the Romans might encounter.
?We?ve not overheard anything which would indicate that they are, but there is a report from the medicus on the R.A.C Spatha. It seems that while he was helping the Americans he took the opportunity to get some samples of their DNA. His analysis, along with some further analysis at a Curatores Fumis lab, shows that without a doubt both races have a shared ancestry.? Salonius said and stopped for a moment as all the people in the room started to speak at once.
?What does this mean?? Casca cut in as all of the others began to shout and all faces turned towards Salonius.
?The report indicates that around thirteen thousand years ago both races were the same. Even now there?s only minor genetic differences. What it means is that both races initially evolved on the same planet, and they are our cousins, how we became separated I cannot guess, but I believe the base on Sky Dagger dates from about this time.?
?That?s true.? Titus stated in agreement.
?So there may be some connection or it may just be a coincidence.? Salonius finished.
?So what are your opinions on letting these Americans go home if they - or even we - can eventually find the Gate of Apollo they came into Scipio through?? Casca asked of his staff.
?They could prove a powerful trade partner and ally.? Titus said.
?Or a deadly enemy.? Marcus retorted. ?I doubt our classis would stand a snowballs chance in Hades against them.?
?But if we don?t let them go home if they find it and later we meet these Americans elsewhere we could be in deep trouble.? Titus replied to Marcus.
?Maybe by then we would be able to take them on with a chance of winning if they prove hostile!? Marcus snapped back.
?Lets not start a war here.? Casca cut in with a voice like ice. ?Both of you write up full reports on the pros and cons of letting them go home and we?ll see if we need to decide. Their ship is too damaged to give them the information after all. Make your reports available to everyone and we?ll meet again tomorrow.?
Post by: Haegan2005 on April 05, 2008, 12:49:58 PM
Quote
?The report indicates that around thirteen thousand years ago both races were the same. Even now there?s only minor genetic differences. What it means is that both races initially evolved on the same planet, and they are our cousins, how we became separated I cannot guess, but I believe the base on Sky Dagger dates from about this time.?
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 05, 2008, 01:56:25 PM
Quote from: "Haegan2005"
This could become a novella in its own right! You're making this an interesting read. Please continue.
You know, that thought had crossed my mind.
The point where my 'Preservers' begin to take the Romans from is in the First Punic War. During that war a Roman fleet of 200 ships with Legionnaires boarded was lost in a storm. My P.O.D. has the Preservers using the storm as a cover to snatch that fleet and held it in stasis till the eruption of Vesuvius Mons gave them the opportunity to snatch the populations of Pompeii and Herculanium and fill out a 'TO&E' of population archtypes to base on the recreated Earth, to preserve the cultures of that day. They filled the population out with artificially gestated, and forced growth embryos.
This way they could recreate the planetary population as it existed at the time of the final snatch in 79 AD. All of this is rough and may change in time, but I think this is the info I am going to base the Romans around.
And once again, I have to thank Steve for his Preserver campaign, which gave me the idea for this story. And for Aurora which has allowed me to fill in the details of the story I could not have otherwise.
Cheers, ??rgr?mr
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 06, 2008, 09:04:36 AM
The Megellus Class Scout, the Diana, seemed to effortlessly slide though the Oort cloud avoiding both the occasional huge asteroid and the thousands of smaller asteroids. At the scout's sensor controls Caius Iulius Antiochus worked hard scanning all the various asteroids while at the same time trying to track the trajectories of the asteroids that posed a possible threat to the ship.
The Diana carefully moved around one of the larger asteroids in the area and entered a very dense cluster of small metallic asteroids. The Diana slowed to a fraction of full power and began to negotiate the asteroid field. She inched through the field mainly using radar to avoid the dangerous chunks spinning nearby. Most of them would disintegrate if they hit the scout's shields, but an occasional one would be dense enough to get through the shields. It only took one of those to make your day really bad.
Iulius noticed the radar screen seemed to be playing games. Occasionally he thought he was getting reflected images of something from ahead of the scout. Suddenly he wasn?t getting an echo back from part of the display, so he began a systems diagnostics check. If the radar had developed a problem it would be suicide to continue the survey sweep.
As he worked though the systems check he heard the Trierarchus Lucius Varus Primus exclaim, ?By the gods what is that, Iulius?? He asked sounding very shocked.
Iulius looked up from the diagnostic and looked at the viewscreen and swallowed. A good third of the screen was filled with a dark mass. Iulius looked down at the radar and realized that part of the huge mass was blocking the scan. Worryingly the rest of whatever it was didn?t seem to be blocking anything.
?Derelict ship of some sort, maybe?? Iulius whispered. Then he looked back to the radar screen. It didn?t make sense why only part of the radar screen was occulded!
?Can?t be one of ours,? Lucius said, sounding less shocked. ?That thing is huge, and look at the size of that asteroid embedded in the side of it.?
?Ah ha, I see the problem now.? Iulius said eventually.
?See what?? Lucius said as he came up beside Iulius and peered at the radar screen.
?This cloud seems to consist of smaller metallic asteroids and they are scattering most of the radar waves except here.? He said pointing at the screen. ?So we are only recieving telemetry returns at the point where we have a clear view all the way to whatever it is.?
?Shall we have a closer look Trierarchus?? The Navigation Officer asked.
?Nav, get us in close. Let?s see if it?s a ship or just an odd rock.? Lucius said suddenly.
The Diana edged forward at a crawl. Soon they could tell it was indeed a ship. A massive ship, vast beyond anything the Romans had ever imagined. The most disturbing thing to the crew of the Diana was the size of the asteroid that had impacted amidships. It was truly immense and it underscored just how large this ship truly was.
As they neared the ship they could see it?s surface bore scorch marks and seemed to have been breached in several places. The breaches were small barely big enough for a man to get through.
Lucius was sure this was something that needed to be reported to fleet command. "Comm, prep a drone for Classis command and include all data we have on this. Get it launched ASAP."
"Aye, sir."
"I think the universe just got a bit more interesting," Lucius commented.
Sol System, Three Weeks Later
Casca was stunned by the size of the derelict his scout had found in the Scipio System. It must have been at least two hundred miles long and one hundred wide. Nothing Roma could build would come anywhere near the size of this monster.
"Marcus, has anything like this ship been found in any of the surveyed systems?"
"No, Imperator, this is the first time we have found any alien ship besides the American one. All the systems we have surveyed so far have been uninhabited with no ruins of any sort."
"If that is the case, I think we may need the Americans to help us identify this derelict. Send Salonius and Sempronius to request their help."
Vestri ero perfectus, Imperator."
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 07, 2008, 09:49:19 AM
The weather was beginning to turn cold and winter was in the air.
Rama had spent much of the day reading Roman fiction. It was strange stuff. Rama had trouble telling who was the hero and who was the villain most of the time. Often the hero would kill several people to make a point or torture someone for information. In one story a Roman King, Tullus Hostilius, had made war against the Albans. During the fighting, three Roman warriors challenged three Albans to personal combat as a way to settle the conflict once and for all. Only Publius Horatius, a Roman warrior, survived. Horatius returned home, planning to celebrate the Roman victory. However, one of the Alban champions that Horatius slew was his sister?s betrothed. His sister decided to mourn his death instead of participating in the victory celebration. On hearing this, Horatius promptly killed her. It almost seemed like a social parable with an odd twist to Rama.
He?d decided to go for a walk to think about the differences between the Romans and Americans. Although the weather was cold it worried him less than many of the other Americans. Rama was from New Dominica whose climate was far more like Terra?s than the American homeworld of New Earth. He walked around the perimeter fence and watched the gray clouds scud about the otherwise blue sky. He?d just stopped for a moment to watch the Roman ground troops - that were based just outside the compound - drilling when one of the American ratings ran up to him.
?The Commodore wants to see you right away,? he said breathlessly.
Rama made his way to the office building. The building was the headquarters for the compound and also housed the Commodore?s office. He arrived at the building out of breath and entered.
?Go right in,? the Chief Petty Officer said, he was the Commodore?s secretary. So Rama did.
He found he wasn?t alone with the Commodore. Already with him were Doctor Gonsalvez, Commander Collins and Lieutenant Commander Dickson; it amounted to the entire senior American staff left.
?Ah Lieutenant, so good of you to find the time to join us.? Commodore Schneider said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
?Sorry Commodore I was over the other side of the compound when your runner found me.? Rama replied.
?Down to business,? Commodore Schneider said. ?I?ve been asked by the Romans to have our engineering and alien experts go along with them to check something out. They seem to think we might be able to shed some light on whatever it is.?
?I?ve decided to send Lt. Toulon and Lt. Commander Dickson.? Commodore Schneider said breaking into their thoughts. ?It?s a hard call, but if they want someone to talk with an alien then Lt. Cdr. Dickson is the best choice. Of course if they want someone to look at an alien then Doctor Gonsalvez would be better. They pick you up in an hour. Good luck.? The meeting broke up.
At last something to do, Rama thought as he walked back to his room to pack a few things.
A little under an hour later and Rama was back outside the HQ office building along with Hazel arriving just as a lone Roman armored personnel carrier pulled up.
?Good luck.? Commodore Schneider said once more and the two Americans entered the APC.
Rama watched the countryside slip past the APC through one of the firing ports. The land was a series of rolling hills green and lush despite the intense urbanization. He wondered out loud what the rest of the planet was like. One of the Roman guards with the two Americans explained that this was the most heavily populated part the planet. It seems Europe - not China - became the center of human population once the Romans had discoved how to build arcologies. Now Europe was sprouting mile-high arcologies like weeds and the population has soared due to these massive buildings. The Roman spoke with some pride about his planet. Rama closed the firing port and listened as the Roman went on to explain how Terra had many differing urban zones.
After a while Rama found himself drifting off to sleep wondering if this Roman knew just how close his planet was in looks compared to the original Earth Rama's people had left behind. Even the shapes of the continents were the spitting image of the maps he had seen back on New Dominica.
He awoke with a start as the APC stopped moving and the rear hatch of the APC was opened from the outside. Rama could see a small shuttle on the tarmac beyond the door. The guards took no chances with their safety and hustled them quickly onto the small craft.
?Strap in, we?ll be taking off in a minute.? The pilot said over the intercom.
Almost as soon as they?d strapped in the tiny vessel leapt into the air, initially with primitive - to Rama's eyes anyway - chemical rockets. Then without any warning the ion drive was engaged and all the G forces on them vanished.
Rama watched the Blue-Green planet shrink below them and the shuttle entered orbit and began heading for the new Destroyer Leader Marcus Antonius. As an engineer he rarely had the time when departing a starport to watch the spectacle of a life-bearing planet among the empty blackness of the galaxy around it. When he did get the chance he always tried to make the most of the sight. All too soon the planet had shrunk to the size of a silver dollar while the shuttle was approaching the Destroyer.
The shuttles outer hatch opened and Rama removed the restraining straps and got out of the acceleration couch. Hazel followed suit.
As the two of them moved towards the door a low ranking Roman crewman entered, ?please follow me.? She said in a pleasant sounding voice. The two Americans followed the young woman through the small ship and entered the room she had taken them to.
The room turned out to be the bridge of the destroyer. ?Welcome aboard.? Navarchus Sempronius Longinus said. ?I?m sorry about the secrecy surrounding our asking you to join us, but some of the things found on that derelict would cause the Senate major problems if the general populace found out about it. I need your word of honor that you won?t pass on this information to anyone but your commanding officer. Do I have your word you will not pass this on??
?Absolutely,? the two Americans said in unison.
?To continue,? Navarchus Longinus said, ?We have found something out in Scipio?s Oort Cloud and we?d like you to take a look at it along with our own experts. It?s possible your people have some experience with the sort of things we?ve found and that knowledge could be very helpful. I understand that you may have reservations about sharing your knowledge but we are underway for the Scipio system even as we speak. I will have the holo recordings of what was found out there brought to you, ans I would like for you to view them before we arrive at the derelict.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 08, 2008, 11:57:43 AM
They watched as the investigative team turned a corner and found the first remains. It was little more than a bag of bones in a sky-blue E-suit. Hazel burst out, "Lt, back up and scroll in on the patch on the right arm."
Rama did as Hazel asked and when he got the image re-sized and focused both Americans were stunned by what they saw, on the sleeve of the corpse was the old United Nations insignia, the Planet Earth on a sky-blue field.
"How is this possible?" Rama asked out loud, more to himself than to Hazel.
Hazel responded as if the question had been directed at her. "According to the records of the exodus from Earth the UN did not believe the American scientists and dismissed the warnings we gave to the rest of the planet. So by all rights the UN and its member nations should have been wiped out when Sol entered the nebula. This should should not be here." She sounded as if her entire world had just been turned upside down.
She locked eyes with Rama and asked ?Do you think it's a sleeper ship from Earth?? She asked.
?It looks like it, but it can?t be, can it?? He knew he sounded shocked, but so did Hazel.
?Lets see what else they have to show us before we say anything.? Hazel said, sounding both surprised and excited at the same time.
?Agreed.? Rama said. It can?t be anything else, Rama thought, being very careful not to say anything that might upset Hazel. It seems she is taking this revelation badly. But he knew the shape was too distinct. Too close to the design of the American sleeper ships that the US passed on just before the exodus was complete.
Scipio being nine transits and six weeks from Terra gave the two plenty of time to study the vids intimately, and every time they viewed it they could not help but think - somehow - the UN had gotten off its fat ass and got at least one sleepr ship built in time before Earth could no longer support life.
Eventually the expected knock arrived at their door. Rama opened it to find Salonius Curio waiting outside. ?Ready to see what all the fuss was about?? Salonius said.
?Lead on McDuff.? Rama said with a smile.
?What is this 'McDuff?" Salonius asked with some confusion.
Rama and Hazel gave a short chuckle. "It's a cartoon for a dog who teaches children ways to avoid crimes and criminals. I figured this derelict is a crime scene, so said to myself, what the heck." Rama said with a big grin.
Salonius smiled himself and continued, "we?re nearing the site, so I?ve been sent to bring you to the bridge so you can see what?s going on.?
The two Americans followed the Fumum Vendere to the bridge. On the main viewscreen they could see a dense field of small asteroids. For a moment Rama thought he could see something within the cloud. As the ship moved in they could hear the small asteroids popping on the shields. Suddenly a huge shape appeared on the screen.
As the Destroyer closed in on the huge ship Rama could see more detail. ?They?ve been attacked.? He said out loud.
?Yes, that?s one of the things we wanted to show you since the holovids did not have on it any of the boarding actions we have come across.? The Navarchus said. ?Is the ship familiar at all??
?Familiar yes, but I need to inspect it before I can be sure it?s what I think it is.? Rama said, avoiding the fact that he was positive he knew what it was already.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 09, 2008, 09:48:29 AM
The party connected air tanks to their E-Suits. Once they were all ready they made their way onto the ship. The more they saw, the more Rama became sure this was what both he and Hazel thought it was. Everything matched far too well, but what was it doing here?
Corridors that had lain dark for millennia were briefly illuminated as the two Romans and the two Americans moved through the wrecked ship. The asteroid had torn through the surface of the derelict, burrowing in until it came to rest nearly vertical to what little gravity the mass was producing. Its life support systems were long dead, and the four explorers had been using their E-suit?s magnetic clamps and oxygen packs since they left the Marcus Antonius.
They turned the corner where the first remains were located on the holovid. On closer examination Rama could tell it had once been from Earth or something very similar. If these people were from Earth he couldn?t see how they could be out here in the Scipio Oort cloud all these years, it made no sense. Part of the corpse's right side had a hole that appears to have been bitten off. And judging by the way that it had partially rotted this had happened before the great ship had been opened to space.
After passing through several sections, relatively free of structural damage, Hazel heard a hiss from behind her. She turned to look for the source, but saw nothing. She heard the rest of the party come to a halt.
?What is it?? She asked. Hazel then noticed a thin wire hanging from a damaged control bundle; the party's passage had caused it to scrape over the metal casing of the tube below it, nothing more. She turned back to the party, and found herself looking into eyes as black as the lowest pits of Hell, two cold openings into darkness such as might have existed before the stars formed. Her breath caught in her throat, and she almost stumbled backwards.
Salonius spun around, thinking Hazel had seen something behind her. ?What? Did you see something??
Hazel looked at him for a moment, then blinked and looked back at the loose wire hanging beside her, which had scraped to a halt. ?No,? she said, ?nothing. A trick of the light.? Salonius shrugged and followed Rama and Sempronius forward, towards the rear of the ship.
?I don?t like this vessel at all, it gives me the creeps.? Hazel said, her red E-Suit looking totally absurd on this derelict vessel.
Rama knew what she meant. The ship felt dead. He could almost hear the ghosts deep within it. He just hoped none of them felt like coming to play with the four of them.
The quartet continued on down the corridor and after a hundred yards it turned right. As they passed each door along the corridor they took a quick look in. Each room had been ransacked. All the furniture had been either smashed or seemed to be missing. There was no sign of any more of the UN crew, or whatever they were.
Rama stopped abruptly, noticing a bit of color among the remains of a broken power conduit. Sempronius, his attention fixed on the motion tracker, nearly bumped into him.
?Look at this,? Rama said, ?the conduit?s been repaired, just enough to run minimal power through to the foreward sections. It looks like the internal explosions from weapons fire, rather than the asteroid impact, caused the original damage. I think someone survived when this thing was impacted by that asteroid we saw.? He waited for a reply, but received none. Turning, he looked down the empty corridor.
?Navarchus? Commander Dickson? Where are you guys at?? He called. He turned both ways, but was answered only by the faint echo of his own voice. ?Salonius, where are you?? To both sides of him the corridor stretched on, empty until it vanished beyond his vision. ?Navarchus!? He called again.
?What?? Rama nearly jumped out of his skin as a hand fell on his E-Suited shoulder. He turned to see Sempronius standing behind him, motion tracker in hand, and a puzzled look on his face.
?Lost you all for a moment,? Rama answered, his voice slightly weak.
They followed the corridor for a time and turned another corner and found themselves faced with a scene of utter destruction. The corridor had once ended at a set of double doors that were now missing. Instead it now opened into a larger area. At one end someone had built a barricade and tried to defend the room. The room was littered with dead. Most of the dead were wearing the sky-blue E-Suits they had seen on the first corpse.
However a few were something else, they were black and each had eight limbs. Six appeared to be legs; the other two ended in a set of three sharp claws. They were covered in a fine fur and what seemed to be black metal plates that had been attached to their backs and chests.
Sempronius examined one more closely and realized that their backs and chests were actually covered in an extra thick chitinous exoskeleton and that they were very smooth, giving the impression of metal plates from a distance. Their heads were spider-like with eight eyes, and with long curving scimitar like pedipalps extending from each side of their mouth. More excess exoskeleton growth around their heads formed an effective helmet. The overall effect was of something out of a nightmare, well armed and armored and not something the group wanted to meet alive and in the flesh.
Most of the bodies seemed to be armed with an assortment of beam weapons. ?Looks like the black spider things fought these humans and judging by the number of dead from each side it looked like the spider things had had the upper hand.? Sempronius said with revulsion in his voice from the thought of fighting armored and armed giant spiders.
?They do look like us, don?t they?? Rama said.
?Yeah, they look like us but they can?t be American, this ship is configured wrong, along with the crew wearing the insignia of the UN.? Hazel said from the back of the group.
They continued through the large room, which appeared to have been some sort of mess hall and out of the back of the room. Once again, there had once been double doors here and they were also missing. They entered another corridor that seemed to have been fought over as hard as the mess hall. Part way down the corridor they came upon a blast door that had been ripped apart. Long gouges criss-crossed the remains of the door. Beyond the blast doors the corridor turned right once more. As they turned the corner all four of them stopped in shock.
Filling the corridor was a much larger version of the black spider aliens. They could see it was dead, but the sight was disturbing in the extreme. As they closed in on the thing, they could see it had just broken through another blast door when something had blown its head off. As they approached it they could see that it?s massive claws were different from the other spider-like aliens, they were six foot long organic blades. It had an even heavier layer of exoskeleton on its back.
Hazel - as a scientist - was mesmerized by the spectacle in front of her. "This particular spider-like alien seems to be a close assault sub-species." She said with fascination in her voice.
Rama had trouble imagining facing it in combat. Even floating dead in the middle of the corridor it almost made him stop in fear.
Beyond the huge alien the corridor was full of the dead black spider aliens and then at its far end the quartet found a human weapons team. They had been ripped apart, presumably by the spider aliens. The door behind the weapons team was missing - ripped completely out of the bulkhead - and they passed through it into a cavernous room. Rama estimated it must fill almost all of the bow of this massive ship.
It was filled with row upon row of man-sized tubes. There must have been tens of thousands of them, maybe even millions. Most of the tubes were empty, but in an occasional one they could see humans in sky-blue uniforms with the UN patch on one side and many different types of flags on the other side, apparently asleep. Some of the tubes had been smashed and all around the four they could make out the remains of more humans, which seemed to have been ripped apart.
The floor was covered in dead. ?Its like something from a horror holo-vid. It?s like seeing an alien attack on one of our colony ships. I know they can?t be American, but I will bet my bottom dollar they are from Earth!? Rama stated matter-of-factly.
?What in the black pits of Hades happened here?? Sempronius asked very confused. ?There can?t be anyone else alive, can there??
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 10, 2008, 09:00:28 AM
?The Asteroid must have forced back this bulkhead,? Rama said, his eyes on his probe?s screen, ?there?s minimal atmosphere on the other side.?
?Any way to get in without compromising the seal?? Sempronius asked as he ran his hand over the ship?s bulkhead, feeling it?s smooth surface through the pressure nodes in his gauntlet.
?Some sort of chamber ten yards to our right,? Rama answered, ?it could be an airlock. I don?t see a connecting corridor on our side, I think we?ll have to cut through.?
?Salonius, use your laser, tightest possible beam. Be careful,? Sempronius added. With only the possibility of an atmosphere, and an unstable one at that, the hand-held flamethrowers had been left behind.
Salonius adjusted the confinement beam on his laser, then fired the weapon on its lowest power setting. Rama kept watch on the structure of the corridor as the heat from the laser began to cut through the wall, noting that the damage seemed to be having no serious consequences to the wreck?s stability. After a moment Salonius had cut away three edges of a rectangle of metal large enough to move through once he had bent it inwards. The red-hot cuts quickly cooled, and Sempronius stepped through. The bulkhead continued through to his left, disappearing through the corridor?s opposite wall.
?There?s a junction five yards to the right,? Rama said, ?we should be able to get through to the airlock from there.?
Sempronius led the way to the junction, turning into a short passage that ran parallel to the folded back bulkhead. When he judged he had gone far enough along the passage he found a doorway, half-open, leading back towards the bulkhead. He forced it open a little further and ducked into the room beyond. It had been a maintenance station of some sort, the walls lined with racks for tools and replacement parts. Most of the parts lay against the other bulkhead, obviously thrown there during the collision with the asteroid that had struck the ship.
The room?s technician was hanging to the side, speared through by a part of the bulkhead?s frame that had been driven cleanly through the deck and into the ceiling. The loss of atmosphere had preserved the body, but his skin looked dry, brittle. Sempronius passed by the corpse and cleared some of the parts from the intruding bulkhead, finding what seemed to be an airlock beneath, at a slight angle to the deck.
?Is this safe to open?? He asked.
Hazel, who had stifled a gasp when she had seen the floating body of the crewman, ran her probe over the airlock?s surface. ?The inner door scans as secure, no decay in the seal. It should be alright.? Sempronius nodded and took hold of the handle set into the airlock door.
?Brace yourselves,? he warned, as he felt the door?s locks give way. ?Inside pressure,? he said when the door refused to move, ?Salonius, grab ahold of me.? Salonius grasped Sempronius?s E-Suit around the waist, and the Navarchus planted his boots on the deck and pushed against the door, driving his E-suit?s limited strength enhancers to their limit. There was a tiny motion from the door, then a rush of air from inside and the door swung open. Sempronius overbalanced, but Salonius? hold kept him from falling.
The inside of the airlock was unremarkable, merely a chamber with a door at each end. Rama checked the control panel beside the inner door, and confirmed that there was still enough power in the system to use it. Hazel, the last into the airlock, pulled the outer door shut behind her and locked it. At the press of a button on the door controls air hissed into the chamber. Once the pressure had risen far enough the inner door opened automatically, revealing a dusty corridor, dimly lit by a yellow light set into its roof. Sempronius stepped out of the airlock, and felt his stomach lurch as the ship?s gravity took hold. He deactivated his magnetic boots and looked around as the other three joined him. The four deactivated their life support once Rama had confirmed that the environment was safe, their helmets sliding neatly back into the collars of their E-Suits.
?Still no life signs,? Rama reported, ?one of the ship?s reactors is that way, it?s powering the lights and environmentals. There?s a faint power source the other way, I think it?s near the auxiliary bridge.?
?Check the reactor,? Sempronius said to Rama, motioning for Salonius to join him, ?make sure it?ll hold out, look for any signs of life. Ms Dickson, with me. We?ll check the bridge.? Hazel nodded and followed the Navarchus along the corridor, towards the front of the ship, as Salonius and Rama vanished into the dim light behind them.
***
?We?re in the reactor room, Navarchus,? Rama said, his voice faint through the comm unit in Sempronius? E-suit, ?we?ve found evidence of repairs subsequent to the impact, but some of the power relays are breaking down. Request permission to effect repairs to environmental systems??
?If you think it?s safe,? Sempronius answered, ?we?re on the auxiliary bridge now. No sign of life, but some of the main core databanks are still intact; Commander Dickson thinks we might be able to retrieve the logs. Do what you can, then come forward and meet us on the auxiliary bridge.?
?Affirmative,? came the reply, a second before the comm channel went silent. Sempronius went back to helping Hazel in her efforts to access the uncooperative databanks.
?Connect processor cores three and five,? Sempronius called to Hazel, who had crawled into the service duct behind the auxiliary bridge?s main display console, ?I think that?s the logs section, at least according to these schematics it is. Run power through them, then we can try to clear up some of the third series databanks.? A moment later the single undamaged screen flickered into life, displaying an archaic interface it had given him many language options. Sempronius selected the Latin language option for the review function and began to read the log entries.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 11, 2008, 09:37:04 AM
She had completed her work on twenty modules when she felt a bead of sweat trickle down her cheek. She remembered feeling cold in the ship?s corridors, but guessed that the confined space was preventing the heat from escaping. The main computer core was right below her to, she could hear the dim whirring as heat sinks came back to life with each module repaired. No doubt the duct would get hotter after a while. Hazel wondered whether she should switch back to her E-Suit?s life support, then decided to leave it for a while. The helmet?s vision, while excellent for space-walking, was not suited to minute repair work.
She felt something touch her leg, and looked down to see a stray wire lying across her boot. She reached down to brush it aside, but her hand stopped halfway, caught on a thin conduit hanging from the duct roof. She tried to pull free, but another wire snaked down, wrapping around her wrist. She reached for the pistol on her belt, but her free hand was caught and pulled away from the holster. She tried to kick free, but more tendrils were wrapping around her limbs, making it harder to move. She saw them breaking through the seals of her E-Suit?s joints, and running behind her neck, over her shoulders inside the E-Suit. She opened her mouth to scream, but choked instead as a mass of metal blocked her throat. Something wrapped across her eyes, and she saw no more.
***
Rama glanced across the handful of intact screens that showed the status of the ship?s reactor. Someone had already made repairs after the initial impact, but it was obvious that they had lacked both materials and the experience. The reactor core itself, somewhere below the deck, was still running smoothly, albeit on minimum output, but the bypass circuitry was suffering from fatigue, and the junctions were beginning to show the stresses of overuse. Only five remained, of the forty that had been built into the reactor?s distribution system, and they had not been designed to carry the load of the entire environmental system. For the last two hours Rama had been doing what he could in the way of rewiring the brittle circuitry, taking some of the weight off of the more fragile junctions so that the environmentals would keep operating.
It was while he was rerouting one of the hundreds of tiny charge capillaries that he heard movement behind him. At first he thought that Salonius had returned from the deck above, where he had gone in search of a parallel cable, but when he turned towards the door leading to the access ladders the figure occupying the doorway was a young child. Rama guessed she was no more than ten, probably less. Her skin was stained slightly gray, except on her face and hands where the dirt had been cleaned. She wore a grimy one-piece coverall, with a faded rectangle where a nametag had once been. She was looking up at Rama with an expression of patient interest, her eyes only slightly wide.
?Who are you?? Rama asked, when he had found his voice. The child shrugged, as if to indicate that she didn?t think the question important.
?You needn?t be afraid, we?re here to help,? Rama offered. ?Are there more people here??
?Yes,? the child said in a thin voice.
?Can you take me to them? It?s very important.? The child tilted her head to the side, as if listening to something.
?They?re waiting,? she whispered, ?you?ll see them soon.? The child?s voice echoed around the reactor room, melting into a soft background noise that sounded almost like a heartbeat. Rama spun around as the sound grew louder behind him.
He lifted his head from the console, and nearly fell from his chair. He glanced from side to side, but found the room empty. The doorway leading to the ladders was dark, and as he stopped moving and listened he could hear nothing but the low hum of the reactor core below him. His arms had been folded on the console, cradling his head, and he found himself blinking away the haze of sleepy eyes.
He looked briefly at the screen displaying the readouts for the environmentals, visible despite the crack that ran across the glass. Air pressure was still lower than normal, within safe parameters, but perhaps low enough to make him drowsy. He glanced back at the power relays, resolving to speed up the repairs to bring the atmosphere processors up to capacity, so far as was possible.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 12, 2008, 09:20:01 AM
Hazel?s eyes blinked open, and she stared up into a ceiling light for a moment, trying to place herself. Then her memory returned and she jerked upright, arms flailing, trying to free herself. But there was nothing holding her limbs, only a pair of hands on her shoulders. She turned to see Navarchus Longinus, looking concerned, holding her to prevent her from falling off the reclined bridge chair she had been lying on.
?What,? Hazel began, then her head turned to look down at the access port several yards away, which led to the duct she had been working in. ?In there,? she began again, trying to call her thoughts to order.
?It?s alright,? Sempronius said, ?you just took a minor shock. No serious damage, nothing to worry about.? Hazel stared blankly for a moment. ?One of the modules overloaded and discharged through the plasma grid,? Sempronius explained, ?it knocked you out, and your E-Suit auto-sealed and triggered my alarm. You?ve been unconscious for about an hour.?
?I remember wires,? Hazel said weakly, ?something attacked me. Wasn?t there anything there??
?Nothing, you?re fine.? Hazel thought for a moment, feeling the memories slipping away, becoming distant and vague, just like a dream. She looked down at her E-Suit, and found the joint seals intact, never broken.
?The ship?s log is back online, along with the recorder,? Sempronius continued. ?There are entries going forward almost twenty years after this ship was hit.?
?After? The crew survived??
?It seems so. A lot of the data is corrupted beyond retrieval, but there?s enough to piece together. As Lt Toulon surmised this is a sleeper ship from Earth, transporting refugees to their new homeworld, but the exact flight plan is missing. During the trip they were attacked by those spider-like aliens, and the ship's drive system was damaged. They were able to drive off the attackers but they drifted for something like six months until the ship was struck by the asteroid that wedged itself into the hull. About a quarter of the passengers survived, along with some of the crew, enough to patch up life support and they continued to drift in Scipio's Oort cloud.?
?But twenty years,? Hazel asked, ?how could they last that long??
?I?m not sure,? Sempronius answered, ?but there are a few references to expeditions for supplies. I think they tunneled into the undamaged sections of the ship they could reach, and found enough to live on. The recorder entries are more and more infrequent the longer after the impact it gets, it?s more difficult to work out what was happening.?
?Do you think there may still be survivors here??
?I don?t know,? Sempronius said, glancing around the auxiliary bridge. The date codes on the ship?s log are almost eight thousand years old. Salonius and Rama are scouting the perimeter of the habitable zone still with an atmosphere for access to other sections, we?ll see if there are any signs of life.?
***
Twenty decks below, Salonius edged around a corner with caution. He had not become a Fumum Vendere by assuming the best of an unknown situation. Never-the-less he was increasingly of the opinion that the ship had not been inhabited for more than a couple of millennia. Everywhere he looked he saw layers of dust, and no sign of recent movement.
Ancient systems had been repaired, and then simply left to fall back into inactivity as decay set in. Machines that had broken down had no longer been stripped for parts and materials; useful equipment lay connected to burned-out power sources. He had seen - once or twice - the aftermath of ships set adrift. When there were survivors, every failed system was cannibalized to keep others working, no effort was spared to keep the ship running for as long as possible. Here, once, this had happened, but at some point it seemed as if all activity had stopped, and the ship was left to itself. Salonius would have supposed that the survivors finally died, were it not for the fact that, among the dozens of rooms he had checked, cabins, stores, common rooms and equipment bays, he had found no sign of their bodies.
While he moved his shadow was cast by the dim emergency lights that lit the corridors. As he moved on the light streamed back in his place, but the shadows did not entirely vanish. Instead they swirled after him, vague half-patterns on the walls and floor, merging with each other, becoming darker the further he went into the ship. As he paused, outside an airlock, they drew themselves up behind him, flowing up the wall and onto the ceiling. Thin tendrils of darkness reached out towards him.
?Navarchus,? he said into his comm unit. The shadows dissolved in an instant, like a mist broken by sunlight.
?Go ahead Salonius,? the answering voice said. Salonius was peering through the airlock?s grimy viewport.
?I?m at an airlock twenty decks down, search grid A-twelve. I think I?ve found where the survivors went.? He heard Sempronius? reply, although he continued to stare through the airlock viewport at the tunnel that had been bored through the solid rock of the asteroid beyond, lit by light panels bolted to its roof, stretching away beyond vision into the heart of the asteroid.
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 13, 2008, 08:12:02 AM
Salonius, leading, turned the corner with his laser rifle at the ready. The probe was having some trouble scanning ahead, and despite a continuing lack of any sort of life signs Sempronius knew well enough to remain cautious. For a moment Salonius? eyes darted about, searching for any targets, then his mind caught up and his trained battle stance, learned so well it was an instinct, vanished. His laser lowered, and he merely stared ahead, eyes raised slightly.
Sempronius checked for a moment, but seeing no sign of danger he quickly joined Salonius where the tunnel made a sharp turn. He too looked ahead, then up. ?By the Gods,? he whispered. He took a step forward, as if to make sure he was not staring into some illusion. Ahead of him, above him, stretched a great city. Brilliant light shone from above, artificial but given the color and warmth of sunlight, down onto towers and domes linked by thin bridges.
Lower down the light reflected from the buildings, shining among forests that rose between them, here and there glittering from the surface of a lake. Sempronius, a step ahead of Salonius and the other two who had joined them, stood on a platform fifty yards from the ground, joined to one of the city?s walkways by a long, curving ramp that followed the slight curve of the wall. From this, and the look of the false sky above, Sempronius knew the place was contained in a dome, but he could not see the other side, even in gaps between the nearest of the towers.
?This must be an old asteroid generation-ship,? Rama said, quickly adjusting his probe, ?there are fragments of records about them from before the Exodus.?
?No wonder they stopped bothering with the repairs back on the derelict,? Hazel said, walking to the edge of the platform and leaning over the rail, looking down onto the edge of a thriving garden dotted with taller trees, ?why bother, when everything they could have wanted was right here??
?Still no life signs,? Rama said. Sempronius had been about to ask, and was pleased that the American was getting more comfortable with the Roman equipment and his duties in the face of the unexpected spectacle. ?Power readings, low-level bio-signs from the plant life, all normal for a comparable artificial environment,? he went on, ?everything seems to be as it should be.?
?But no people,? Sempronius said scratching his head in wonderment. He had been visually scanning the towers and domes, searching for any sign of movement, and had found nothing.
?Perhaps they all died,? Salonius suggested, ?after all, it has been thousands of years.?
?Perhaps,? Sempronius agreed, ?but if they?re all dead, I want to see the graves, so to speak. Let?s go.? Quickly resuming their patrol formation the four moved down the ramp and into the city.
The scattered trees, which seemed to be placed for their aesthetic value rather than oxygen generation, gave way to a wide avenue, paved in light gray tiles that had the appearance of marble, although Sempronius had seen such a material before and knew it to be synthetic. The avenue led between the first low buildings and domes, towards one of the higher towers. Just before reaching the base of the tower it split in two, traveling to either side of a shallow pool surrounding a fountain, which, in defiance of age, still slowly circulated the water. Nowhere was there any sign of human or alien life, nor any sign that there had been any.
?Lieutenant Toulon,? Sempronius said as the four reached the other side of the fountain?s pool, where the tower?s base opened in a low, wide archway, ?if this place is truly a generation-ship there will be a terminal to the main memory core in each building. Find it and download all the information you can.? Rama nodded and unhooked his probe from his belt, following Hazel into the archway. Salonius glanced up at the tower then followed.
Sempronius was about to do likewise when he felt as if he had heard something behind him. Turning, he realized it was an absence of sound he had noticed, the fountain had run dry. He looked at it for a moment, wondering if its timing was mere coincidence, then stared as the outlets of the fountain filled again, this time unmistakably with blood, thick and so dark as to be almost black. The first droplet fell to the water below, quickly dispersing in a thin red slick reaching out across the sparkling surface.
Sempronius blinked, and it was gone. His ears again heard the trickling sound of the water, issuing from the fountain clear and untainted. Sempronius closed his eyes for a moment then looked again, but again there was nothing. He retrieved his probe and began to scan the water as Salonius returned to see what had delayed him.
?Problem, Navarchus?? He asked.
Sempronius frowned as the probe gave every indication that the fountain pool was without anomalies. ?I don't know,? he said after hesitating, ?I may have imagined it, but I could have sworn there was blood in the water for a moment.?
Salonius frowned and looked into the clear water, but he knew better than to doubt Sempronius? word.
?Perhaps nothing,? Sempronius continued, ?but be on the lookout anyway.?
Rama had already located a data terminal and begun the long task of raiding the generation-ship?s remaining memory archives. ?A lot of its data files are missing,? he explained, ?navigation, flight records, all gone. I think there may have been more of these domes in the original ship, but this was the only one to survive the impact with the derelict. The others were either destroyed outright or lost too much of their support machinery to sustain themselves.?
?Did the survivors from the derelict live here?? Sempronius asked. Rama looked uncertain for a moment.
?I think so,? he said eventually, ?but I don?t know what happened to them. The maintenance records show a lot of systems being brought to full activity at the same time. Lighting, internal heating, oxy-generation, all the systems that can be switched to low power while people aren?t living here. I think that?s when the survivors found this place and started living here. But then it all shut down again.?
?But this place is operating at full capacity now, isn?t it?? Sempronius asked. ?There?s full daylight outside, all the buildings are heated, the atmosphere's perfect for humans as well as the plants.?
?I know,? Rama said hesitantly, ?but according to the power traces all the support systems have been on full capacity for no more than a few weeks. Before that it was saving power, just like it had until the survivors from the derelict found it.?
?Damned unusual,? Sempronius thought out loud, ?I don?t like this. Let?s assume that the dome?s reactivation coincided with it being found by the Diana. What does that mean??
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 14, 2008, 07:41:31 AM
?And they?d have had no way of knowing we were nearby,? Salonius said, ?we haven?t found any sort of sensor systems that could detect a ship outside the asteroid.?
?There are rumors and stories of... things that can come through the Gates of Apollo,? Sempronius said warily, ?things that supposedly live there in hyperspace.?
?We?d have been attacked already,? Salonius said with caution filling his voice.?
?Perhaps we have been attacked,? Sempronius speculated, ?psychically. I thought I saw blood in the water outside for a moment. And Ms Dickson, you said you were attacked while you were repairing the memory databanks.?
?I thought the machine came alive,? she said with a shudder, ?but it wasn?t real. Was it?? Sempronius shook his head no.
?I thought I saw one of the crash survivors while I was repairing life support,? Rama said. ?I thought I?d fallen asleep and dreamed it.?
?What if all this is someone, or something trying to get into our minds?? Salonius asked.
?And we?ve been going deeper into the ship and asteroid all the while,? Sempronius stated. ?No more. There aren?t any people here, and we?re leaving. Salonius, take point, full probe scans the whole way. Rama, I want you to look for any energy that could be psychic, no matter how remote the chance. Stop the download of the generation-ship?s memory; we?ll take whatever it?s already got. Let?s move.?
Salonius was on his feet in an instant, suddenly seeming more alive now that the mysteries had been put aside. Rama uncoupled his probe from the data terminal and began adjusting it to scan for psychic energy as best it could, following Sempronius with Hazel covering from behind. As soon as Salonius reached the archway leading out of the tower the dome?s light dimmed and vanished.
?We?ll call that confirmation of the theory,? Sempronius said, as the four of them activated the forward-facing spotlights built into their E-Suits. Salonius reached the edge of the pool of water and stopped, motioning for Sempronius to come forward. Beyond the Fumum Vendere, bathed in the light from his E-Suit, was a small child, seemingly standing on the surface of the water.
?Rama,? Sempronius hissed. The young American directed his probe at the child.
?Reading nothing there,? he whispered in return, ?but that?s the one I dreamed of before.?
?What are you?? Sempronius said, raising his voice again. The child smiled faintly, looking at each person in turn before her eyes settled on Sempronius.
She opened her mouth, her voice a whisper that barely carried across the distance between them. ?We are this place,? she said, ?we discovered it and made it our own. And in time it took us in, and we became one.?
?What do you want from us?? Sempronius asked.
?We are hungry,? whispered the child. She raised a hand, and darkness flooded out of it, enveloping the four of them before they could react.
Sempronius found his surroundings melting away, and finally there was nothing. He tried to raise his laser pistol, but found his hand empty. His rifle, gladius, even his E-Suit was gone. And before him was the derelict, a massive continent of steel and ice. As he looked its surface twisted and bulged, forming a gigantic face, itself composed of hundreds, thousands of tiny faces, all writhing silently, screaming without being heard. The derelict rose up like an ancient ogre, metal and ice forming the outlines of huge shoulders and arms, and reached out an enormous claw towards the defenseless Navarchus. He closed his eyes.
?A spiritu sanctu," he whispered soundlessly, ?Domine, from the lightning and the tempest, may God deliver us.? He felt the massive fingers close around him, pressing against him. ?From plague, deceit, temptation and war, may God deliver us.? It began to crush him, but at the same time the sensation was changing, the rough, cold texture of the giant?s hand melting away. ?From the scourge of the Kraken, may God deliver us.? The hand closed tighter, but the pressure seemed to fade away. Sempronius found that, instead of the crushing claw, he was feeling the comforting, familiar touch of his E-Suit?s inner surface, with its thousands of tiny feedback sensors. ?From the blasphemy of Lucifer - mortuus diabolus nec deus, nec arch angelus - may God deliver us.? Once again he felt the reassuring weight of his pistol in his grip. He opened his eyes.
?From the begetting of demons,? he said aloud, advancing through the shallow water towards the child, who fell back with every step, ?may God deliver us!? Gathering his breath he shouted out the final portion of the battle cry of the "Quo Generi Christus" - the sons of Christ - "Libera me ex mortuis, Domine omnipotens! Dum veneris iudicare! Domine, libera me! Libera me! Libera me!!" *
He raised the laser pistol and fired. The child vanished, her image being whipped into nothing, like mist, as the bolt passed through and blew the center out of the pool?s fountain behind her. Sempronius turned to see the other three recovering, raising their weapons again.
?Psychic vampires, fight them,? he said simply, leading the four of them away from the tower, ?they'll attack in your mind, so fight them there. Pray to whatever God you believe in, but remember the Gods, and be protected by your faith.?
A roar echoed through the darkness, and all four of them suddenly heard the sounds of movement around them, growing nearer. ?And for everything else,? Sempronius continued, ?lets lock, cock and get ready to rock.? He said as he flipped the charging switch on his laser rifle to the on position.
NOTE: Yes, the cat is now definitely out of the bag,
Sempronius IS a member of the Cult of the Carpenter, specifically the Order of Quo Generi Christus, The Sons of Christ. An order in line with the Knights Hospitalers in our world. * The translation is as follows: Free me from death, All-powerful Lord! Until your loving judgement! Lord, Free me! Free me! Free Me!
Post by: Þórgrímr on April 15, 2008, 09:23:19 AM
Sempronius seated the magazine into the well on the rifle then drew his gladius and pushed forward, stabbing with his gladius at the creatures ahead of him, driving them back as his companions fired round after round into the things that clawed at them from the shadows on either side. Reaching the edge of the ramp leading out of the dome, Sempronius sheathed his gladius and pulled his laser pistol from its place beneath his rucksack. Bracing the rifle against his elbow he fired both rifle and pistol, cutting a path through the shapeless things that poured down the ramp towards him. Hazel was on one side of him, slamming a new magazine into her pistol and firing back to cover as Rama and Salonius started up the ramp, the Fumum Vendere clearing the way with his laser rifle while Rama fired down into the creatures scrambling towards their rearguard. Sempronius slapped a hand onto Hazel?s shoulder plate, sending her up the ramp, then followed, rifle firing as he reloaded his pistol one-handed.
By the time he reached the beginning of the tunnel, where its light spread onto the edge of the ramp, his rifle was empty. As he raised his pistol Salonius stepped up beside him and lowered his laser, cutting away the ramp a few yards behind them, causing a section to collapse down into the dark forest below.
?If they?re trying to look like big bugs,? he yelled over the noise of Hazel and Rama clearing the tunnel ahead of them, ?they can?t fly!? Sempronius saw that the creatures behind them had indeed been slowed, some overbalancing and tumbling into the darkness, others trying to leap the gap. A thing shaped like a Han pirate landed a gauntlet on the edge of the ramp, its hand warping to keep its grip, and Salonius stepped forward and slammed the barrel of his rifle into its fingers, sending it backwards into the dark, its shape twisting as it tried to stretch itself out to reach him.
Sempronius and Salonius backed into the tunnel as Rama and Hazel pushed forward. Sempronius replaced Hazel in the front, confident that she and Salonius would be able to hold the things behind them at bay while they moved away from the generation-ship. In the tight confines of the rock tunnel the numbers of the beasts didn?t come into play, and they were cut down more easily by their weapons. It was as they were starting to progress forward at a faster pace that Sempronius felt a pressure in his mind again.
?They?re trying the mind games again,? he called, ?have faith! For the Gods!? He began reciting the Sons of Christ's battle-prayer over and over in his mind. To his side Rama, whose eyes had gone wide for a moment at something his mind had seen, grimaced and continued pouring laser fire into the shapes ahead of them. Sempronius noticed his lips silently moving, and recognized the shapes made by some sort of prayer to a God called Jesus. He glanced back for a moment, seeing Salonius and Hazel still keeping up their rearguard.
?Navarchus,? Rama called, and Sempronius turned back to see a giant shape blocking their path. It seemed composed of everything he had ever felt fear at the sight of, from the shapes of a hundred monsters to the insane glare in the eyes of a fanatic or a dark cultist. He motioned for Rama to stay back, and drew his gladius once again.
?No good,? he said, ?we won?t fall for your mind tricks anymore.? He felt the pressure in his mind, and saw the creature trying to reach out to him, but its mental claws rebounded off the prayer reciting itself endlessly. Then it warped, twisting into a new shape. Sempronius gasped in recognition as it became almost human, its face a macabre caricature of evil, but one he remembered. When he had seen the face before it was a Han pirate, a criminal lord he had not seen since his childhood. It tried again to frighten him, probing through his mind for old nightmares, but again it couldn?t break through the prayer, and this time he had a weapon to answer it as anger welled up and flooded back down the mental link it had opened.
?Bad move,? he growled, raising his gladius. As it thrust towards the creature its eyes for a moment showed fear, then it was gone, its severed head dissolving before it hit the ground.
?Come on,? he said to the others, realizing that the sound of laser fire had stopped, ?they must be getting weaker the further away we get. Remember your prayers.? He strode forward, scanning the tunnel for further signs of movement but finding nothing. Salonius and Hazel kept watch behind them, but apart from the occasional, weak pressure in their thoughts nothing further reached for them.
Hazel was last through the airlock back into the derelict, sealing it behind her. Sempronius silently reached out a hand to Salonius, taking the laser and turning it to its lowest beam setting. He quickly welded the airlock shut, then paused and raised the barrel to point just below the grimy porthole looking through the doorway. He carefully burned a triple-pointed star into the metal, each point ending in a tiny crescent, the Imperial symbol for Quarantine.
?Let?s get out of here,? he said, handing the laser back to Salonius. He had the Fumum Vendere burn the same symbol into the airlock leading into the ship from the vacuum-opened portion of the derelict, then paused for a moment, regarding the desiccated corpse of the technician, floating motionless in his corner of the room. He retrieved a tiny vial from a pouch on his belt, opening it to let a few drops of water out, and watched as they floated in perfect spheres, splashing on the millennia?s-dead man like tiny raindrops on a desert.
?Ieshua watch over you,? he said, touching his forehead, chest and then his shoulders in the age-old gesture invoking his deity. Rama echoed the gesture then, one by one, they filed out of the chamber, heading back to their ship.
Far beneath them, on the airlock sealing the tunnel through the rock, a shadow passed across the metal. When it had gone the surface was clean, with no trace of the symbol burned into it. Beyond it, the lights in the tunnel died one by one, and the asteroid was again lifeless, waiting.