The Twelfth of May (Episode VII: Endgame)

[Theodidactus (OP)]

The Time is now 13:20
Leopoldo Franca, Concordant of the 12 worlds, cannot be found
Nor can his right and left hands, the Duke Thompson of the Command Fleet and Duke Lowe of the Colonial Guard.
Nor can Dr. French of the Civilian Detachment.

The game is ending.
The outcome remains to be determined.
Intergalactic war between the 12 worlds is a distinct possibility.

You have one move left to make.

The sooner you make your move, the sooner it happens in the game.
The later you make your move, the more information you will have with which to make it, you'll be able to see the moves of your friends...and your enemies.
I will make one move myself, 24 hours from now.
In 48 hours, the next chapter of my fiction begins, and we see what happens to you all.
I will send you all prompts very soon, but here's the fun part...you'll have to post your responses below, where everyone can see them.

[JacenHan]

It doesn't take long for Stephen to make his decision to follow the orders given to him, and after a a few seconds with a tactical map, he opens a communications line with the other 4 loyalist frigates.

"This is your commander, Stephen Humphries. We have recieved new orders from the loyalist leaders still alive in the Raphael to immediately attack and destroy the opposing frigates in the rebel fleet, and afterwards prevent any starfighters from leaving the Coronado. Several minutes later, the Command Fleet will fire a torpedo volley that will annihilate the remaining rebel ships."

"Those of you who have not been hit have been assigned a single enemy frigate as a target, and the Nguyet will assist as it can. When my own ship has repaired it's fire control we will also join you. Once you have destroyed your target, if you are still able you will support an attack on another frigate, until all have been destroyed. Once all rebel frigates are destroyed, all remaining ships capable of fighting will proceed to laser turret range of the Coronado and destroy any launched starfighters. Be ready to fire on my command, and good luck."

[Theodidactus (OP)]

Leopoldo Franca, concordant of earth, is dead, shot through the stomach and heart, he lived on for perhaps a dozen minutes, before dying in the hands of the ad hoc medical team that had scrambled to save him.
His body lies facedown on the floor of the conference room he was taken to. His guard is in such a hurry to carry out their orders that they don't even have time to properly deal with the body.

two guardsmen, aspiring young men of no particular distinction, are handed a single data stick, plucked from the concordant's pocket.
"This is Franca's Personal Command Key" explains their superior. "It is coded with contingencies...we've planned for this. Officers, it is up to you to ensure continuity of government. Take this to the transmitting station at Tactical Command. Inform the duty officers there that they are to carry out Command Code 4-7-4, naming Franca's replacement and granting him emergency powers. This may be our last chance to avert war. GO!"

The officers dash out into the corridor. Assuming nothing happens to them on the way, Franca's will may yet ring out to the stars.





For the first time in a century, it looks like civil war has come to terran space. Humphries gives the order, and his fleet  of small but deadly laser frigates attacks, eviscerating the enemy laser frigate line before it even has a chance to assemble and fire (superior training versus very long firing delays). Two ships suffer catastrophic damage but hold together, virtually every system aboard them dead. One ship melts beneath high bore laser fire. Only heated metallic gas remains. This lone fleet of tiny ships now plunges toward the center of the enemy fleet. Two light cruisers and two destroyer escorts bar the way, a squadron of interceptors hovers around the Coronado....worse yet, on every ship in both fleets, teams scramble to load cobalt torpedoes.

One side may yet win the day
but both sides may take severe losses.

[MagusXIX]

Lt. Col. Claude immediately suspects conspiracy upon intercepting the communications traffic indicating two guardsmen en route to the transmitting station at Tactical Command.  She immediately moves to hunt down those men.  Knowing that they are most likely rushing towards the transmitting station as quickly as they can, she sets herself up to ambush them just before the entry point.  While on the move, and while lurking, she wrestles with herself over the merits of ambushing them with intent to kill versus opening dialogue.  On the one hand, if that datastick names a traitor as Franca's successor no chances should be taken.  On the other hand, she did not want to kill good men whose only fault was ignorance.  It was a difficult judgement call to make.  Ultimately, the continued survival of humanity could well depend on the interception of that data if the Oppuichians arrived on her species' doorstep while brother fought brother.  Not that she would have minded a civil war if it weren't for the outside threat: having only one government breeds a sort of homogeneous culture that, in her opinion, plays against the strengths of humanity as a whole.

In the end she decides that the most important thing is to intercept that data.  She would bear the guilt of their deaths if it meant a unified humanity to face an outside threat.  If she finds them, they will not know who or what hit them.  Then she will have the data, and check it as quickly as she can *before it ever is transmitted ... *if* it ever is transmitted.

[Malikane]

Lt. Co. Gregoire de Saint Pierre makes his decision--he will help the resistance however he can.  Gun in hand, he makes for the Tactical Command after the officers holding the data stick.  When they are all out of sight of the superior and the rest of Franca's personal guard, Gregoire turns on the two officers and attempts to take the data stick.  If he gets it, he makes all effort to smash it into unusable pieces.  He does not hesitate to shoot them here.  If the plot fails, he is most likely already dead anyway.

[3_14159]

Lt. Co. Luciana Tourinho sits, silently, at his terminal while his hands and mind race, separating sensor ghosts from decoys and warships and keeping the main display updated. The SCEPTRA strategic scanner, mounted on Coronado herself, provides him with nearly unparalleled situational awareness while he updates tactical suggestions to Hutchinson - moving the James Madison away from the fleet, distributing the laser fire equally on the laser frigates and launching everything available.
He tries not to think about the next few minutes and the dangers awaiting him.

[Theodidactus (OP)]

Timeline of The battle of Monticello: ("Loyalist" or "Colonial guard" forces remain loyal to Franca and his yet-unknown successor. "Discord" forces are loyal to Griffiths. historians are not quite certain what happened in the confusion, this represents the best guess). Times in the same minute are in rough 5 second increments. I had no idea what was happening for about 1/3rd of this battle. In an exchanged this short ranged, it really came down to crew training on each individual ship.

13:22: Distance closed between Colonial Guard Frigates and Coronado, laser fire severely damages armor and takes out a single hanger deck. Two interceptors shot down

13:22: Coronado launches another wave of interceptors.

13:23: Remaining interceptors fire on Colonial Guard frigates. Laser Frigate Daiyu damaged by missile fire

13:24: Loyalist half of battlecruiser fleet begins to withdraw to Command fleet. At roughly the same time, orders are given by most torpedo ship captains on both sides to fire torpedoes at designated targets.

13:24: some Torpedoes from the loyalist command fleet launch immediately, coronado responds with antimissile fire

13:24: Discord Destroyer escorts protecting the Coronado are hit by torpedo fire. Propulsion systems severely compromised.

13:24: Despite losing their engines and sustaining heavy bombardment, Discord destroyer escorts protecting the Coronado open fire on the colonial guard laser frigates, inflicting punishing damage.

13:24: Strategic, ultra-long ranged "Polaris" missiles are fired from the Loyalist Missile Cruiser James Madison targeting the Coronado

13:24: 5 interceptors from the Coronado make for the command fleet. Loyalist escort frigate destroyed in torpedo crossfire

13:24: Loyalist battlecruiser hit with torpedo fire, presses on. Discord battlecruiser charges the command fleet. With the exception of the Magicienne and Li Yan, Colonial guard laser frigates are rendered inoperable due to heavy ballistic fire

13:24: Missiles fired from the loyalist missile cruiser impact the Coronado. Widespread damage throughout. An initial damage report is unavailable, but the hanger decks are certainly completely destroyed.

13:24: most torpedoes have fired by this point. Destroyer escorts protecting Coronado succeed in crippling Li Yan completely.

132:25: The colonial guard laser frigates are ordered to limp back. Laser turrets aboard some sporadically continue to fire. Discord light destroyer fincastle is destroyed.

13:25: Interceptor fleet from Coronado fires upon command fleet light destroyers, causing singificant but not crippling damage to the destroyer group. Loyalist Missile cruiser james madison and its escorts begin to withdraw from the battlefield in hopes of taking out enemies at range.

13:25: Lt. Co. Gregoire de Saint Pierre is gunned down in the hallway by Lt. Co. Gregoire de Saint Pierre, who has intercepted the datastick. The final move of the game is entirely up to her....it remains to be seen whether Saint Pierre died in vain...



In the chaos of the battle, no report can be relied upon, but as the clock shifts to 13:25 it seems this much is certain:
- Both sides have lost a destroyer escort
- both sides have lost the primary battle line of laser frigates, which have been mission killed but only 2 destroyed entirely
- The Discord has lost vital functions aboard the Coronado, which appears to be the primary site of the insurrection. While its hull has not collapsed, it is effectively a "dead stick"
- none of you are dead...yet. Congradulations, you've survived the initial insurrection.

[Theodidactus (OP)]

The sublight communicator in the press room is activated. An anonymous, low level staff officer transmits a message to the garrisons of every world. The speaker is meek, uncertain, but the message he brings is powerful, backed by the full force of the duke of the command fleet: rise up and arrest the governors of every colony, and the elected governments of every nation on earth.

...it will be an hour before the message is heard. Hours longer before the citizens of Monticello hear a response. The uncertainty could very easily kill. The only hope the resistance has now is on the ground. If even a small fractions of the garrisons of earth respond, the resistance will have a fighting chance...but millions of lives could be lost.

The message is heard crystal clear on neighboring monticello: Forces of the 1st Monticello mountaineers immediately mobilize to overrun the garrison. It seems quite likely that war is eminent....

[JacenHan]

13:24: Despite losing their engines and sustaining heavy bombardment, Loyalist destroyer escorts protecting the Coronado open fire on the colonial guard laser frigates, inflicting punishing damage.

12:25: Lt. Co. Gregoire de Saint Pierre is gunned down in the hallway by Lt. Co. Claude, who has intercepted the datastick. The final move of the game is entirely up to her....it remains to be seen whether Saint Pierre died in vain...

((Bolded what I think are mistakes.))

[Theodidactus (OP)]

Corrected.


This was of course supposed to be a mess of confusion and paranoia, but it wasn't supposed to be THAT messy  

[MagusXIX]

The Lieutenant Colonel will immediately take the datastick to the flag bridge, killing anyone who gets in her way if necessary.  From there, she and the other still-loyal officers aboard the Raphael can find out what message is on the stick, and what to do about it.  She'll inform the ship's Captain (or acting Captain, if the original had been killed) about everything she knows regarding the conspiracy, and advise him to do whatever is necessary to end this petty internal strife so that everyone can get back to focusing on more pressing issues: the Oppuichians.  The decision would ultimately belong to the senior (still loyal) officer aboard the ship, regardless of what's on that stick, and she'll do her best to support that decision and follow orders.  She will, of course, make sure that her advice regarding ending the conflict as swiftly as possible is heard *before* a decision is made.

She'd be anxious to secure control of the Raphael and get in the fight.

[MagusXIX]

I should add that if it turns out she's the senior officer present/aboard, she'll immediately take command wholeheartedly and without reservation, as she was no doubt trained to do.  She'll need to know what's on that stick before she can make any informed decisions, though.

[Theodidactus (OP)]

[ooc]I sent Magnus several messages and he didn't respond, I assume they either didn't go through or he didn't see them.  Resolution in just a little bit[/ooc]