Intelser Forums

Public RP thread for Capellan Confederation

Madras
3rd January 3040
Nadir Jump point

The ancient Scout JumpShip had been hanging on the jump point for over 3 months now.
The ship was ready to fly and its sole docking port held the sole Gazelle dropship.

Both ships were flying the colours of the CC but still, they primarly showed the logo of 'Chefong Interstellar Archeology'

Onboard the ship the group of scientists was running the numbers a thousandth time.
Wan Chefong twisted his back. Zero gravity had, as usual, his impact on him.
"So we are in agreement?" he asked looking at his core team.

Sabine Ikerna, basically his second in command and most trusted scientist noded shortly.
"From what we got collected, we know what it was, we know the rumors about a possible final location... We just do not know what happened to it.
C-3A9I/7 is our best guess..."

Joshua Faith sighed "IF this is not the correct solar system... We have to go back to zero, you know that?"

Grim nods were exchanged.
Everyone knew that CIA had invested a lot of resources and most of its savings into this project. If results were not comming fast they would have to go back dirtside, start research again and send their most precious asset, their Jumpship onto leasing duty for some years...

Noone wanted this - but all knew the facts. IF they were not succsessfull, they were pretty much broke.

Wan pushed a button and thus opened a channel to the captain of the Jumpship. "Andrea? would you please initiate the jump? We are ready to go..."

The sound of the bell announcing the jump-countdown ringed and the prerecorded announcement started:

"Everyone onboard. This is Wan Chefong speaking. We are about to jump to our target location. This is not a drill. We do NOT know what we will find there but be alert. All armed forces are to ready themselves as trained. Thank you for your cooperation."




Fifteen minutes later the jumpship disappeared... and re-materialized near its maximum jump range in C-3A9I/7


C-3A9I/7 was a sole star without any planets besides one Gas giant in the outer regions of the system. They appeared near one of the La-Grage pirate points of the system, waiting for the jump-distortions to ebb down.
Minutes later they got the first scan results and hell broke loose as Jushua suddenly cried out: "There it is! I can't believe it... There it is!"

C-3A9I/7
3rd January 3040
Unknown LaGrange Point


Kim Hwang-soo, along with being a member of the DropShip's bridge crew, was a deep cover agent of the Capellan Confederation's Maskirovka intelligence agency. His mission was to maintain surveillance of Professor Wan and see where his research was leading him and his associates. Sitting at his sensor station aboard the Gazelle-class vessel, even he could not believe what the long-range sensors indicated. The sensors aboard the DropShip were not as efficient as those aboard the JumpShip, but if they proved true, it would be an outstanding discovery. Verification was paramount before he could draft a report for his masters back on Madras and Sian beyond.












OOC: Sorry if I overstepped, but I thought I would help push this forward while still being vague

C-3A9I/7
3rd January 3040

Spirits were high onboard of the Gazelle-class 'Cháng'é-sānhào'.
The first scans showed the object that everyone onboard had been longing in some way shape or form.

While Wan and his team opened a bottle of champaign, the armored spaceboarding crew prepared for their mission.
The dropship got detatched from the jumpship and started its three day travel to...

C-3A9I/7
6 January 3040

As the Cháng'é-sānhào began its deceleration burn towards their target, Wang-soo fine tuned his sensors to get etter read on the object he could see that the 'station' was several hundred meters long and nearly as wide. At their current range of 20,000 kilometeres he couldn't spot any docking collars or heavy weapons, but he could tell that it was not powered up as there was no heat signature. The hull appeared to be intact and showed no significant wear. This surprised Wan's team and himself. If this station had been here a long as Wan thought it has been, there should have been some damage. Perhaps as they got closer, there could be more evidence of whether it would be useable.

As he sat there transfixed by the image on his screen, he suddenly felt a presence over his shoulder. "So, Mr. Kim, what do you think of our find" asked a feminine voice. It was Dr. Sabine Ikerna, Professor Wan's associate. He hesitaed slightly, "It's a great time for you and the professor. Your theory has been validated. It's an honor to be a part of this historic event."

Dr. Ikerna smiled, "Yes, it is a relief to see that all of our work was not wasted. If we had been wrong, we would have hadto start all over again. It would have destroyed some of us,but now we have saved from ruin." As she turned away,"Revel in this moment, Mr. Kim, it ma the greatest time of your life"

"Yes, Doctor, I will and it is" Hwang-soo replied. He knew that this was the most significant moment in his life. He also knew that once word got back to the powers that be that her success would be taken from her and the professor. It was too important to leave in the hands of civilians. Th Confederation had a greater need fo this station than Chefong Interstellar Archaeology.

"Sabine, stay here in case things something goes wrong. Joshua, you and Hwang get your suits on. As long as this station has been out here, it is highly unlikely that the atmosphere is still stable." Sabine grimaced slightly and muttered to herself, "Jen mei NAI-shing duh FWO-tzoo (Extraordinarily impatient Buddha); I did not sign up to watch the shuttle!" Professor Wan heard her comment but chose to put his energy into more useful pursuits than stroking a bruised ego. Sabine was a great doctor and researcher, but there were a number of problems that could go wrong once inside the station and he preferred to have his best medical officer out of harms way.

"Do you see the docking collar?" the Professor asked. Joshua looked out the window before putting on his helmet. "Affirmative, the station is massive, they are all over." Kim put his helmet on and then looked so that Joshua could take the controls back. It was indeed as massive as described, the ship was over 3 Kilometers long and half that in height with at least half a dozen docking collars showing. There was enough light to see the prominent green fist clasping the Capellan Dao against the drab gray of the ship's hull near the bridge. From this side, Hwang-soo noted something else near the rear of the vessel, "Professor, the ship appears to have a drive beyond the station keeping drive. Is that to be expected?"

With the docking collar being unpowered, the docking procedure took twice as long. Simply because they had to bring a portable power generator over, patch it into the collars power system, bring up its software and then dock the dropship to the station.

Once this was done they entered the Station through the Dropships airlock.
Wan had been right. There was air in the station but it had taken on several nasty attributes before it finally got cold enough to stop developing more 'habits'.
Still, the fungi that were in the air were better not inhaled. Sabine, getting the life feed from the teams sensors made a note that the air in the station had either to be vented, or the stations filters to be replaced by new ones, ones that hopefully were unused and environmentally-sealed.

Meanwhile the trio started to drive into the station.
Everything seemed to be nice and tidy, no signs of combat, no corpses, no obvious damage to the station.
Going deeper into the structure they finally came across a large sign with directions.
"What do you make of it Joshua?" Hwang asked.
"Hmmm... Well there are some points of interest. I guess we should search all of them... but where to start? We could either go to the bridge and see whats going on there, go to the engine room and look after the reactor... maybe we can restart it? There is also the drive departments and finally there is the Main hangar. This one looks interesting..."
"Am I seeing what you see, Gentlemen?" Professor Wang leaned forward, illuminating the sign with his flashlight. "Is this hangar really taking up a good part of the stations internals?"
"Ja... This one could be interesting as well.... Maybe we find something interesting? At that length... you could fit an Invader Jumpshsip into it... maybe even a Starlord or a Monolith?" Joshua was pondering "If this sign is in scale... the hangar would have a length of almost 800 Meters... Let's say 700 to 900 for sure?"

They nodded and moved out, further into the station to explore its depths...

(OOC: Back to you guys...)

Joshua took point, "All right Professor Wang, we take the ship in sections. As much as I would love for you to find what happened to the crew and see what could be still in that hold, I think our main priority needs to be checking for power and then see if they have any replacement filters or something we can use to make some."

The professor checked his oxygen gauge, there was enough for another five and a half hours, but time spent out needed to be subtracted by how long it would take them to evaluate the ship and to get back and it didn't help that they would have to float it. "Your right, It will only increase the amount of time it will take to inspect the ship we you have to keep coming back here to refill your tanks."

Sabine chimed in from the dropship. "On a ship that size there should be a couple of recharge stations. Try to keep track of where your at and I'll have Lucy scan for your heat signatures. From the dropship, Lucy replied, "The name's Fengora and like, why don't you just get back into your little shuttle and come back here so we can redeploy to the aft dock? Save ourselves a whole lot of time!?"

As much as Sabine really didn't like the youngest member of their ship's crew, the girl had good instincts and was rarely ever wrong. They had been out looking for so long, they had just wanted to get started so bad that they attack the problems facing them head on when there was an obvious work around. Pursing her lips and grimacing her face, she tried to let the frustration not be heard in her voice. "She has a point. We can save a lot of air and time by going strait to the problem."

The crew hurriedly returned to the shuttle to switch docks. As they passed another three ports, they could not see any structural damage. The aft port was a workers dock and much larger than first one and was obviously made only for dropships. "Let's get out there and open her up, then we can bring the entire shuttle in."

The guys still had the suits on, but had topped off their air tanks during the short ride over, they hadn't used much after all. Joshua popped his back on and moved to the air lock. The others followed and Sabine used the controls to unlock the door so they could get out. Hwang-Soo carried the power adapter out there, but to their chagrin they found only an old manual override. They took turns cranking the old hatch open. When the seal popped there was a rush of stale fungi ridden air strong enough to maneuver the shuttle slightly.

Turning the shuttle, Sabine blasted it's forward search lamps into the area. Bits of fluid were mucking about as well as the odd tool, but for the most part, things were fastened down as they should be. The lack of debis was promising. She eased the shuttle forward. The hold was set up so that when it had a rotational spin, the wall ahead was used as the floor. Without the spin though they did have other places to land a shuttle. She deployed the magnetic guides wires that made no noise as they solidly connected to the plating and she reeled the shuttle in. The others were already waiting for her having slipped though the opening themselves and were already making their way to the door to try and run off to find the power relays.

"Now that we're in the aft section," Joshua said, "We should be able to find and evaluate the situation in two hours." The professor asked, "Do you think it will take that long?" Joshua clumsily nodded his helmet. "Yes, we are not just dealing with length of this ship or it's height, it's also almost two kilometers wide. Searching up and down decks? We should be ready to be disappointing our first time out, but look at the bright side Professor, the hard part is done, we found her, we're inside!" Although the sound of the man's actual voice did not reach them, his enthusiasm did as he bound up and turned his feet to the opposite side of the hold and redirected his bounding action to pivot him towards the door. For a second the professor envied the young archaeologist, then he himself attempted the maneuver, it wasn't quite as graceful or deliberate, but he landed where he was trying to get to near the door. Hwang has passed him up in flight and was already assisting Joshua to get the door open.

Seventeen hours later

Powering up a fusion core is a lot of work.
Powering up a fusion core that had not seen any activity in an unknown time and was of the size of a 10 stories building was really hard work.
They had split up in two groups. One team had been going through the air filters, removed the old ones unpacked the few that were not yet spent and plugged them into they system.
Team two installed an auxiliary power plant on the reactor, one that was built for firing up fusion cores, went through the necessary routines and finally dared to re-ignite the core.

A well known humming was to be heard when the massive fusion core came back online.
"Bring up life support first. What does the computer say? How long will it take to bring back breathable air and temperature?"
"Well professor... with a ship of that size... two days or a week?"
He nodded... but where to go next?

Hwang-soo knew where they needed to go. The station's command center was the obvious choice. It was there they could find out what happened on this station all those many years ago. What happened to the crew? IF abandoned, why? It was there they would find the stations logs. Whatever happened it was not catastrophic as the station and its core were intact and they had not discovered any human remains in their early exploration.

This station had mysteries, mysteries that needed solving.

A large capellan space station. Hidden in an unknown system outside of capellan space...
The station being in good condition having been mothballed centuries ago.

Something was strangely off about that whole thing. It was almost as if it had been hidden on purpose and as if all, well almost all records had been deleted regarding this jewel.

When they entered the command deck of the station they faced an enormous task: Getting to the right station at the right time.
The Station had been built with a command crew of at least two dozen technicians and/or officers in mind.
There were comm stations, navigation stations, environmental monitoring stations, docking control stations, the command holo tank and so on and so forth.

It took them a while until they had everything they needed figured out but finally succeeded in rebooting the command console near the holo tank and access the system and the ships logs.

Hwang-soo accessed the last entry first, opened it and read:

"Ninth December .....

"WE GOT IT!" Professor Wan burst out, he was unusually excited.  First the fact the station had a working Holo Tank! Then the true value behind the mission, the logs were still in tact! "Sorry. Please, continue."

"... by decree of Chancellor Ursula Liao this station is to be mothballed for later use. The diplomatic and military situation in the Periphery is… difficult and… nigh to impossible to navigate. I guess the last thing the Chancellor wants to do is explain the content of this station's main hangar bay. Ninety-nine percent of the stations population have been boarding dropships and left the system within the last seventy-two hours. I am looking forward to completing the mothball-procedures with my skeleton crew of thirty men within the next 48 hrs and returning to Victoria.

It is a shame to leave that many goods and that wealth behind, after all, Brandov station is a great prototype for space habitats featuring six grav-decks, three dozen docking collars, the plant, the massive hangar; That, together with its experimental jump-drive makes it one of the greatest assets the Capellan people have.  But I am rambling again and I apologize.

To whoever gets to reactivate this jewel: Behold its greatness and put it to the best use for the Capellan people.

Captain Grant Imai"

Upon realizing it’s content, Hwang-soo read the final lines as thoughts of what this entry could portend for the Confederation and its future. He looked up and around at the astonished faces of the other crew, “Whatever happens from now on, the existence of this station must now and forever remain a state secret,” he thought to himself.Fortunately, since the only people who knew anything about the station where all still within this star system, his mission would be manageable. His thought process was interrupted as Professor Wan exclaimed, “Most Excellent! This is even better than I hoped it would be." His glassy eyed expression belied that he was thinking of possible futures for this station too. As the others poured over the other files in the systems, Hwang-soo slipped out of the room.

Brandov Station
C-3A9I/7
11 January 3040

Sabine put the coffee pouch in the hydrator and pressed the button. It was almost impossible to rest, but after nearly a week of pushing themselves to the limit to get as much cataloged as possible, they had all reached the point of exhaustion and settled on a ten hour rest cycle before the others headed out to open the main hold.  So far Brandov Station was shaping up the be the find of a lifetime! At every turn they were getting more and more for their sponsor's investment. When the bag was bloated like a tick, she pulled it out and shook it to mix the hot water and coffee like substance.

Looking around, they had already explored the fore and aft sections, the rooms closest to bridge were officer's quarters and medical suites that were fully equipped and functional. They would of course have to put in an official request to be stationed here for the foreseeable future and help research the full potential of the habitat, but that was typically a formality for the research teams that discovered finds like this one. If they were really lucky Chefong Interstellar Archeology would be granted a permanent station here! She felt giddy at the thought of possibly working in such luxuriousness instead of out of four transported crates like she'd been doing the last five years.

She checked the crude map that were formed from their previous forays into the ship over the past days. The aft sections were housing for crew as well as a very advanced Hydroponics system spanning three hundred meters on no less than four different decks. Like everyone else, she was eager to get back and report their findings, but as weak as the local solar sources were, they knew jumping so far out would mean for a long recharge. It would still be another three days before the jumpship could head back. There were few worlds in the Confederation as sparsely inhabited as Muridox and like C-3A9I/7, the system has poor light, but there was a cache of supplies and enough of an economy there to buy seeds and eggs so they could start to grow the first food on the station in over four hundred and fifty years.

She went back to looking at the massive blank spot in their map. The meat of the ship, the main hanger and the central factory that was mentioned Captain Imai's message, was still sealed off.  Sabine thought about it for a second. There was a major in the Kingston's Legionnaires, a Kotaro Imai ... was it possible he was related to the Captain that left this vessel behind? While she mused, she looked over at the video from the lead member of the research team. From Professor Wan's camera, she could see Joshua and Hwang-Soo ahead of him. The code cracker finished running it sequence two hours ago and they would finally get to fill in the biggest missing puzzle piece. "How are you guys doing?"

"Smooth sailing. It's a shame we still need these suits." said Joshua looking back at Wan's head piece. "There's still plenty of contamination out there. It's better for you not to tempt fate into giving you a staff infection." She noted the crew was in extra high spirits after the good rest and breakfast. She sipped her coffee slowly as she read the markings on the wall they past. "Were almost there, a minute more, if that." Said Wan who came to the same conclusion she did. Turning left, they reached the crate with the code breaking equipment. It was old Maskirovka gear, but that is exactly why they picked it. It was used to dealing with old codes, but this was something different. The machine took three times longer than expected to get done.

Shining the light at the heavy bulk doors it would have taken them half the time to cut though with the equipment they had, but that wasn't the goal, they wanted things in tact so which is why they had time to explore the fore and aft sections. For a bit, they thought they found a Jefferies tube that would take them into the air ventilation system, when they were replacing the enormous scrubbers when they were working on life support, but it turned out only to be one of the many tunnels that led back to the Engine room, but on the other side where they found the empty helium rings. Part of the mothballing process was obviously to remove the helium to prevent any unnecessary explosion in the K-F Drive chamber. Until then, they had some faint hope of just starting her back up and sailing the whole station back to Victoria.

The lights above the massive doors started spinning and the doors made several catching sounds as large mechanical gears pulled them apart. It was still dark inside as the only source of light was still coming from their suits but there were practically no particles in the air. "Whatever is in here, it wasn't organic." Joshua found a large switch and flipped it up, it turned over with a loud thud. The hum of electronics could be faintly heard in external microphone and slowly got louder. From the bridge, Sabine switched the image over to the holotank and stood back. It only a guess, but she figured the sensitive technology would give a better picture.

She picked up her coffee and sipped on the straw. Despite this room being pressurized and clean air being pumped back in, the drives weren't working so they didn't have gravity. She watched as they moved out of the corridor into the main Hanger, their lights were insufficient to pierce the dark, but the detail in the holotank was amazing as it's light amplification program was designed to detect distant stars. "Professor, can you ..." Sabine nearly choked on her coffee as she saw the massive round structure in the dark. She coughed to try and clear the coffee from her throat. "Sabine, are you all right!?" She took several deep breaths and there was a flash on her screen as the holotank adjusted to the first of a hundreds of lights popping on to reveal an immense circular structure. The professor panned the camera back and forth to get the full spectrum of what they were seeing, "Oh my!"

Unconsciously, Sabine dropped to her knees and began uttering a prayer she hadn't uttered since she was a child at her grandmother's funeral, "Hail Mary, full of grace ..."

The Celestial Palace
Private Antechamber
Zi-jen Cheng, Sian
12 MAR 3040

Thought the large office room there was very little light which only seemed to enhance the sound of Romano's boots clacking against the green marble floor as she paced the middle of the room. Her head lowered, she kept her eyes locked on the chair by her desk where her sister sat. Long days had been spent thinking up ways to eliminate her from existence, but those plans had to be put on hold. Despite how much she despised her, what Candace and her Envoy brought forth could change everything! If all she had to do was endure her sister's angelic attitude and her ethics clauses in their arrangement, the power she would gain would pay multiple dividends for her patience.

The sound of Candace flipping the page reminded Romano that once the treaty was signed, her sister's presence would always be there. She grinned as she thought of exactly where she would have to run the  dao that hang at her hip though the chair in order to impale her sister while she sat there unexpectedly. The presence of so many guards, some of which belonged to the 7th Kommando unit of the Wolf's Dragoons that arrived as her bodyguard unit, stayed her wild imagination.

The way the arrangement was written she would still have near total control of all realm and military decisions. While she could not abide that fact that the people of her  sister's precious St. Ives would see their betrayal of their great father as a victory only to be rewarded by a declaration of unity that did not include the death of every rebellious noble that followed her. She knew the names of every one of them, she had a list and even managed to scratch a few names from it, but her sister's return allow hers to claim credit for the success' of leadership and blame Candace for the failures.

Frustration mounted as she waited for her sister and her lawyer to finish going over the document. She looked around the room; the royal blue of the Kommando uniforms complimented her own viridian robe. If only she could be convinced that they would fight as complimentary with the other house units. This was the second time the Wolf's Dragoons would be brought into the employ of Capellan Confederation, last time complications between them and the McCarron's Armored Calvary, this time she would ensure the two powerful units were separated.
This was the specific reason she would even consider tolerating listening to her sister's initial proposal. She brought with her the Dragoons, one of the only other powerhouse units they could bring to bear after losing control of the Northwind Highlander contract, which could bring back into the fold their ancestral home, Liao. Romano locked eyes with one of the Kommando Captain. He exuded strength and she knew that without their regiments it would take decades before they recover enough strength to push the Davion invaders out on their own and that would risk allowing her people to possibly falter while in exile to their true allegiance, the Celestial Throne!  That would be the only truly unacceptable outcome.

Romano turned sharply and went back to site behind her desk and stare across its wide expanse at her sister who was done reading the last page. "Everything is as we discussed, sister. I am glad that you are being so accommodating on the terms," Candace said signing the document and turning the papers to Romani who took them and looked at her sister's flowery signature. "What choice do I have, Sister? Personally, I would rather gauge your eyes out, but as the Chancellor, it falls to me to what is best for our people." Romano began to sign, "Besides," she thought to herself, "it would probably only get her more sympathy from nobles that stayed out of our feud and cement them firmly against me." Romano ceremoniously applied cedar shavings that absorbed the access ink. "You have always had a way of getting people to fight for you Candace, even managing to get our enemies to fight on your behalf," Romano said, "it is time to put that skill to use for the good of our citizens, Ni bu tong-yi (Do you not agree)?" Candice stood and gave a slight bow, "Ruguo ni zheme shuo (If you say so), Chancellor." Romano smiled at the implied obedience being shown by her older sister. "Let us show the people the power of a unified Liao family."

At those words the guards turned and marched to the door, opening the large entrance that would lead them back to the celestial throne room. Candace and Romano walked together with all the guards and troopers taking up flanking positions as they moved along the green marble path.

The Celestial Palace
Zi-jen Cheng, Sian
28 MAR 3040

There were many perks to being back in the Celestial Palace, but Candace was focused on the communiques from numerous Prefects and members of the House of Scions. As Romano entered the room with her entourage, a commando operating the scanner at the door let her pass and moved onto all the people following her. Waiting a few steps in the room Romano waited for them. It was a minor inconvenience and she would not allow herself to be seem contemptuous.

Candace stood up smiling, one thing she could count on was her sister's opinion of herself meant that she would not risk killing herself in any suicide attempts, hence why she wasn't scanned. While Romano rarely sought our her opinion on military matters, she still had to her when she needed the verification codes on verisigned documents to give the move orders to any of her units. She had no illusions of her purpose in thier arrangement, Public Relations, Political Liason and the woman currently holding the purse strings of the Dragoons.

"Here you go Eldest Sister," the orders were already filled out except a few key account numbers where Candace would sign. The documents were placed on her desk and the two women sat down together. "I see everything is in order, what word do we have from the front?" Romano replied, "Not as much resistance as we had expected outside of the Sarna System. They must have pulled back the bulk of their troops to watch the other marches and we are trying to confirmation the location of a Lyran unit out past their official line."

Looking at the plan outline Candace traced her finger along the border, "Sometimes, it boggles my mind to think this is all that we hold. We have received so many messages from back channels on worlds still in Federated Suns control pledging to resist and help us once we show up. The missives have been flooding in ever since our announcement, but ... I still have my reservations if this will be enough. They have so many troops, I have seem them myself. They are well trained and have high morale. The Disinherited and Dragoons may not be enough."

"Don't be soft dear sister, this is not the time for regrets, we have not even begun yet!" Romano's ferver was especially in high spirits. "Besides, we have already so many volunteers showing up every day to recruitment centers and if that does not get me ... us, enough troops, I will send out the notice for conscripts. Citizenship for anyone who serves!" Candace thought about it for a second. "Is that not already the way of things?" Romano gave her a funny look, we'll reduce the required length of service. We only need them for a few years after all. Once we have our worlds back, the grateful citizens there will also join us.

Open Message
House of Scions

The House of Scions wishes to extent their heartfelt congratulations to the victorious Armed Forces, the Strategios and the Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation.

This brilliantly planned and executed liberation of many planets and systems shows that the spirit of our people is unbroken and strong.
With the leadership of Celestial Wisdom and highly able Warriors under her guidance, our enemies must take a step back and crumble as we are not to fall if we stand united as one people.

All liberated citizens are called upon to work for the common goal.

Away with Davion aggression, for peace united under the Celestial Throne!

Arthur Yu on behalf of
The House of Scions

O'Hanlon Building
Barns, Victoria
02 MAY 3040

After visiting Kelly, Candace told her guards to wait outside as she entered the office. She immediately went to the old man in front of her and wrap her arms around him. "Archie, it's been too long." She said giving him a hug. "We can rehash why that is if you would like?" he told Candace. "Please don't be like that. I'm conflicted enough about actually leaving my husband and turning on the people that helped me when Romano was at her worst." Archibald motioned for his aid to close the door. "The Chancellor is a fine upstanding leader ...," when the doors were completely shut, "and just because she's playing nice now dearie, doesn't mean you should ever stop watching your back. She's got a mean streak in her, always has. I get by because she needs us and we're good at what we do." Candace nodded, "I Know that, but I need some professional advice. I know you have no love for the Dragoons, but they're in my employ now and we need them. Unfortunately due to this Velhas incident, Romano has just the right bit of ammunition to ask me to exercise one of the clauses in our arrangement. She had papers drawn up and wants me to sign the orders to release some of the Dragoons on the Capellan  March. Archie, I didn't come back here to press the Duke's buttons. Getting back Liao is a righteous cause and I'm trying to help my people out without letting her draw on my forces to draw out this war."

Archibald sighed heavily, "Duchess, after a decade of having the Duke's fingers threaten the Capellan interior it is my professional opinion that your sister ... well dearie, I think she's right." Candace looked puzzled, "The Duke's fingers?" Archibald pointed to the map, "Kittery, Verlo and of course, Velhas." Candace  looked it over, "I thought this type of concave pattern was referred to as a thumb, not fingers." Putting his hand on the map he said, "Except when you have more than one like this, it looks more like fingers. Look Candance, I've seen those orders already, trust me when I say the Strategios were scared for their safety when they tried to limit the scope of this movement. We all reminded her that the actions at Velhas were not indicative of all the worlds on the border and that scorched earth tactics are not the answer. Sure, I am certain that there are still certain units in the area that do feel that doing anything to hurt us is the appropriate measure, and the Duke's men are always itching for a fight, but the Duke is also no fool. He would lose face if he allowed his units to keep killing their own people. The plan, as it is now, is not about retribution, that's just Romano's excuse, it was designed to put a buffer between our major production sites on Ares, here on Victoria, and your own St. Ives and the rest of the Federated Suns Brigades. Having a buffer buys us time to batten down the hatches and not get caught with our pants down again. I promise you, the plan is solid and if your Dragoons can help, I would support it as well, but it's up to you. You cannot let her untie the bindings of your arrangement, you hold onto the reigns, keep your people safe."

Candace let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "We're lucky to have your council Archie, I know what I must do. Enough of this, your wife has invited a lot of the local nobles and prepared a wonderful dinner, let us enjoy the rest of this night, shall we?" She put our her arm for him to take hold of. "Lets." The way they were dressed with him in his uniform and her in her finery Archibald almost looked like a father walking his daughter to a high society function.

An HPG message was received at Sian, along with all the worlds so recently conquered by the CCAF juggernaut. And radio transmissions of the message were broadcast from every world that the CCAF was currently hovering over, sometimes as a last act before planetary militias melted away before their world was invaded.

The HPG messages came with a video component. It showed a strong woman, calmly looking at the camera that recorded her. Her red hair was left flowing down the epaulets of her dress uniform, the rank tabs of a Kommandant-General of the LCAF not quite hidden. Her bright blue eyes were piercing, giving her an intense gaze despite the calmness of her posture and expression. She waited only a moment before speaking, her voice strong and calm, but with a seriousness that left no doubt she meant to do exactly what she said.

"This message is for the Capellan High Command, CCAF Regimental commanders, newly installed planetary governors, mercenary unit commanders, and of course, the Liao family on Sian.

Greetings to you all. I am Kommandant-General Clara Luften-Steiner, 1st cousin of Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion, and commanding officer of the Lyran 3rd Royal Guards Regimental Combat Team. I send you this message to warn you. You are in direct violation of the sovereignty of the Federated Suns, and by extension, the sovereignty of the Federated Commonwealth Alliance. Which means you threaten the sovereignty of my cousin, the Archon. I have been instructed to deliver to you the following terms.

First, you will relinquish control, and withdraw from, all worlds recently conquered.

Second, you will ceed all worlds core-ward of, and including, Necromo, with the exception of Capella and its immediate neighbors.

Third, you will release the contracts of the following mercenary commands, and sign an agreement never to seek contracts with them again: Wolf's Dragoons, The Dismal Disinherited.

These terms are the most lenient you will be offered. I strongly suggest you accept them while you have the chance to. Because if you force me to bring my RCT out of the Lyran Commonwealth, and set them against you, I will crush you utterly and leave nothing but the smoking remains of your warriors behind me as i march to Sian to personally offer terms of surrender to the one who sits the Celestial Throne. Consider yourselves warned. Kommandant-General Luften-Steiner out."

House LuSann
Grand Base
06 MAY 3040

The scent of warm Teak from the sunspot that shone into her office reminded Tamsin that she was home, but her mood was less than jubilant considering her recent outing. Half of her command was decimated. Despite her sour mood, when she hear that Joao Rajpita had contacted her upon hearing of her return she perked up. Jaoa had a rapscallion appearance about him, but as a social fixture on planet and the new Mandrinn having recently being elevated to the position Tamsin enjoyed spending time with him. Their relationship was simple, they enjoyed each other's company and made no demands.

She walked around her desk to the communications display and sat upright in her chair briefly checking her face. The bruise that dominated almost half her forehead had faded on the trip back and was barely noticeable. Dialing up his personal communicator, she put on a cat-like grin. He skipped the pleasantries, "You missed my big moment." Tamsin raised her eyebrows, "Sorry babe, things to do. I'm not a come hither type, you know that."

Joao pulled out an intricate emerald necklace, "Well, I need some arm candy for an event at the Earthworks plant, big things have been going on while you were off being disgraced." If it had been anyone else but Joao, she would have taken a wrench and beat them down for it, but she knew his sense of humor, but after such a grand failure, the comment got past her personal armor, "I can get away for the night and wouldn't mind having a chance to reset my thoughts. I'll see you there." Joao put the necklace down, "... and I'll be waiting."

Earthwerks Unlimited
Main Office Tower
Grand Base
06 MAY 3040

Dressed to Impress, Tamsin showed up in a slinky silver dress slit up the side. The guards checked her credentials and she entered the lobby which had been converted for the occasion. A squat Cataphract on display was hunched over and displayed the mech's features in a cut a way view. The size was off because it was deliberately broken in certain places and welded to support structures to make it fit without damaging the overhead lights. She thought the old Stinger they had before was a better fit for the lobby, plus it didn't have to be butchered to fit. It stood tall and proud in the same spot, not like it was getting ready to take a Gauss slug to the gut, but that didn't stop the children waiting for their parents were trying to climb onto the mech's foot.

Looking around, she didn't see Joao, but it didn't take an attendant long to find her and lead her to a private lift. When they got to the top, she party was going in full swing. She took one of the offered drinks and sauntered after the attendant who seemed to know where he was going. True to her instinct, she found Joao mingling with several prominent members of the board, his white twead suit make him stand out amongst the sea of black and gray. He stopped one of them from talking and excused himself when he saw her and came right over as the attendant make themselves scared, "You look gorgeous Tam-Tam," He said. "You don't look bad yourself. Congratulations on your horse taking the 'Grey Bettie', I heard some talk about that on the way up here."

"Truly, he is a beautiful specimen. We had to stop offers on studding services because he would be too tired for the Binthia Downs if we let him just keep at it all day long. But enough of Sadek-Haakim, Let us dance!" he pulled close without yanking her arm. Tamsin stared into his eyes and grinned, she loved that he was a great partner and didn't tire out on the floor, and elsewhere...

Earthwerks Unlimited
Main Office Tower
And General Manager's Office
Grand Base
07 MAY 3040

Tamsin was suitably plied with libations after several hours of drinking, dancing and mingling. Joao pulled her in close, nibbled on her ear and whispered in her ear, "I've arranged for a secluded place for you to get your present. Follow me." The gentle command was a promise of more pleasantries. She followed eagerly to the elevator and he grabbed an unopened bottle of Champagne that was presented to him by the same attendant that let her up to the party in the first place. He seemed to be just as attentive to their needs as he was earlier and wished them a good night before Joao pulled her towards the elevator where they started to make out.

The doors open and he kissed her on her neck as he led her down the corridor. There were guards at attention flanking the doors that led to the General Manager's private office. It seemed a little unusual to her considering the GM was down at the party, but she had very few cares as they went past the men and into the office. Joao pulled off his jacket and went towards a large chair near the window tossing it down. "Tam-Tam, ... I so much wanted to tell you." A wide cat like grim was on his face when he turned around. A light came on towards the other end of the massive room by the desk. Seated there, seeming almost pleased, was Tsen Shang. Consort to the Chancellor and Director of the Maskirovka. "Ta-Da!" Joao said jubilantly.

Panic instantly set in and sobered her up quickly, so many thoughts ran though her head, from the Director's presence to his report on House LuSann and certain warrior's being too free with their discriminating of Romano's policies when compared to the Lorix Order, to the guards standing outside the door and finally the jovial attendant that waited on them hand and foot up until he handed Joao the bottle they opened up and drank from in the lift, "Was the attendant a Mask Agent? Was the Champagne poisoned?" were the questions running though her head trying to pierce the fog created by night long festivities. Tamsin started getting sick as if someone had punched her in the stomach. "Master Zamora," the old voice stated, "Please come closer."

Realizing that she'd been lured in to this meeting by a pretty piece of flesh, she steeled herself against whatever machinations the head of the Maskirovka had for her. "Lord Sheng," she said trying to compose herself and hide her fear behind a cheerful smile, "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Joao came dancing over and sat on the desk completely oblivious of the look that Tseng was giving him until she nooded in his direction, "I'm sorry. I'll step back so you can talk." Joao still seemed very happy. Tseng continued, "Remember when Lord Imarra gave you the opportunity of a lifetime, made you Master of House LuSann, he told you to make something of yourself?" She nodded, "Of course, I am exceedingly grateful for the opportunity that I was given."

"We were all greatly saddened by the news of what happened to you and your command, Kěchǐ Mínbīng (Disgraceful Militia). The Battle ROM footage was reviewed by a council of our piers and your actions were deemed..." she held her breath as he read a piece of paper in front of him, she prepared for the worst, "... appropriate." The relief washed over her like a tidal wave. "I am here to inform you in person that by the end of next month, replacement units will make their way here to help rebuild your unit. Of course, you will be placed on the bottom of the list to receive new units being deployed on the front line, ... but anything that arrives here will be examined thoroughly by a crew of engineers from Earthwerk and fully refurbished before being brought to your unit."

The old man stood and grabbed something off of the desk, "While tragic, there was some good that came out of this. It justified our acquisition of several key worlds in the Capellan March and ... removed some of the outspoken elements that have sullied your command." He hit a button and three screens came to life behind him, Grand Master of Houses Ion Rush, Master Victoria York of House Hiritsu and Paul Mossimo from Dai Da Chi were waiting patiently. "Tamsin Zamora," The deep voice of Ion Rush belted into the room from speakers designed to convey messages to anywhere in the massive office. "The time it takes to vet potential candidates for Warrior status is a timely process. We have come together and agreed to send warriors to you from our own recruitment programs." Victoria spoke up, "Most of them have been waiting for a spot to open up for years and have been honing their skills during that time, they are ready to fight." Mossimo chimed in, "Our Warriors have been indoctrinated to our styles, please make them welcome in your house." Tseng thanked them and turned off the monitors.

"Lord Sheng, I will not betray the faith that you, her Celestial Wisdom and Grand Master Rush have put in me. This will not happen again." While all smiles, there was a veiled threat still present from Tseng. "The spirit of Xen Shing has allowed us a momentary opportunity at generosity, so be sure that it does not." He picked up his things, "You have the use of this office still. Now if you excuse me, I hear there's a party downstairs." As the old man left the office Joao handed her another glass of Champagne, "How gracious of them to give rebuild your command." She looked at him as he pulled out the box with the necklace he'd promised her, regretted thinking that Joao might have betrayed her, "You owe me this after this." Then she leaned in and kissed him again.

The Celestial Palace
Zi-jen Cheng, Sian
Two days before traveling to Terra 3040

Running down the hall to the office holding his credentials high and out in front of him Arthur could hear the shrill voice of Romano yelling spilled forth from the room as soon as the commando's pulled them apart nullifying the sound proofing insulation that such a barrier normally afforded. Ever since Romano Liao heard that Candance had gone behind her back to try and acquire the Northwind Highlander's support for their war, she was on the warpath. Arthur feared this day might come, he hadn't seen her this worked up since the purges. He had been summoned to be a mediator between them by the House of Scions, but they had obviously been at it for a while before he got there. As he was the first mediator who had "survived" more than 3 of both Chancellor's sessions, he was considered stable, even if his successes had just been to redirect Romano's anger to another topic, mostly matters of the House of Scions for long enough to allow Candace a final settlement.
His trick was usually to not acknowledge what was at stake, but today he felt different. He was involved and Romano's threats in her rants were getting to him since the last time. Few knew that his fiancé had been a victim of the purges. He remembered well.

"You had NO right!"

"If it had worked you would see that everything was within the terms, of the agreement; I was going to propose that they can keep the land hold on Northwind if we could get it back! What good does it do us to withhold a world from them that we don't possess? You yourself made the same type of offer to the Lexington Combat Grou..."

"THEY LEFT!" Romano slammed her fist into the cold metal table. A ring of steam formed as her body temperature raised to match her fury. "They left! When father needed them most they tucked tail and RAN!" her head shook and her lip was quivering ever so slightly with rage. "We cannot, I CANNOT keep forgiving past treachery sister dear. You; are family but ... it's just not in me anymore." Romano stormed from around the desk, "I was born to rule! To make the hard the decisions and what has happened? You come home with your children and your soldiers for hire, but I'M the one who has gotten the people motivated for a new Capella! They look to ME! The Chancellor!"

"That isn't it Romano! You know I just want our children to grow up knowing each other, to make sure our line stays strong. Too much has transpired to ... "

"Strong, do you think me a fool? You've tried to bring back all the units that abandoned me and turned Mercenary, I know why the Legion is coming ... I know why you came home ... I have tolerated this long enough! I will not wait until you have BOUGHT your way to MY THRONE! GUARDS!"

Instantly 7th Kommando's took up defensive positions while Death Commando's closed in. Both sides stood staring at each other and Romano stood defiant in the middle of the room point at Candace ready to give the order to shoot when Arthur tried his luck. Nominally, he should be at Romano's Commando's side to protect her, but he stood right in the middle of the whole affair, blocking each women's view. He held his arms up to show that violence was not necessary: "My Chancellor, Lady Romano, please consider your actions carefully. What I know from the Frontlines and your mighty army, the successes are mixed. If you separate yourself from your sister now, all our gains will likely be lost. The Fox tries to play Lady Candace against you to swallow your realm. Please think of your people and not let them subjugated by his bloodthirst! I beg you in the name of the House of Scions and your people.", He pleaded. His mind was almost blank, almost.

But it got Romano startled, several guns pointing at him from both sides were taken down, this situation was the worst so far, it could not escalate much more next time, he thought. His peripheral view was darkening, was he really sweating that much, breathing so hard? He hardly understood Romano as she talked, but she seemed calmer, even smiling at him? The Commandos on both sides seemed to shuffle away, albeit reluctantly, Romano went away gracefully, when he sank on his knees without realizing anything. It seemed like hours when he was escorted back out.

Turning her head away from the unconscious Arthur and showing her back to her sister Romano strode two steps towards the gates out of the throne room and towards her private chambers.
"We shall prepare for our travel anyway sister. Terra is calling and hopefully it brings us more joy than the last visit to this forsaken place.
You shall come with me, I have decided and we will hear what the Order has to propose to us."
Her steps slowed down when something up in the corner between walls and the roof, there in the shadows had caught her attention.
It was a shadow, but it had a distinct form. The form of a hunching frog sitting under a leaf and readying himself to jump away.
Slowly the figure moved its head shaking it with a grim determination.
It was as if a spirit had sought her out, an evil spirit from another realm and when it extended its reach towards her Romano finally got out of her dazzle and started to act again.
"GUAARDS!" She screamed in a high pitched voice, trying to duck and cover. But to no avail as the weapon, which seemed to be the natural extinction of the toad, barked twice.
A cloud of razor sharp, high velocity needles flew towards her like a hailstorm tenderly scuffing off hair, skinn and flesh, penetrating the bones and getting stuck in them.
Romano had risen her arm in defiance but the dense cloud cut through it in dozens of places, forever altering her appearance.
Romano was bleeding from a thousand wounds, quickly spilling her blood onto the jade-marble floor of the room.
In a haunting scream of anguish, despair and hate she went down, quickly withering away.
The Deathcommandos opened fire onto the assassin and brought him to the floor.
His last act, however was looking up onto the closing in guards, cramping and suddenly he burst in fire, incinerating himself...
And in all that chaos stood Chancellor Chandance Liao, her dress stained with her sisters blood and wept.

Back in his chambers Arthur took some tranqs but made up his mind. Next time, Romano would destroy the nation's newfound unity and leave them open to be annihilated by their oldest enemy. He still loved his home. Something had to be done. Candace seemed like a good leader, she was the elder and seemed to care. What if?
He refused to think that through, at least for now, but the next escalation would come soon, he should have something prepared...

Capellan Citizen Reporter

Covering the successes of our forces at Ulan Bator

by Jennifer Ley
Sian


At the 5th of May 3034 our noble Warriors represented by the Elite Red Lancers, Warrior House Ma-Tsu-Kai and the famed Wolf's Dragoons Alpha Regiment struck at Ulan Bator in an attempt to free our people from the yoke of the Federated Suns.

The significant mass of forces there were dispatched after a hard fight and our forces were victorious. Sadly, the Red Lancers Infantry, after a heroic last stand, was destroyed. It seems that they ordered an Artillery strike on their own positions to stop the advance of a strong enemy unit, shattering it enough to play an important part in this battle.

However, the combined (see our article about that topic here)  (http://(see%20our%20article%20about%20that%20topic%20here))FederatedSuns - Lyran Warmachine sent more of their bloodthirsty Marauders in to finish what their beaten fellows could not do. Nonetheless, after a strong showing by our Techs and Medics, our Battlegroup prepared and despite a numerical disadvantage handled those adventurers a stinging defeat. The loss of cohesion on the Lyran part went so far that Clara Luften-Steiner, the main figure behind this aggression against the Capellan People (see here the threats uttered by this Lyran Warlord) (//http://), was captured. To date it is possible that she is going to be repatriated, a testament to our moral strength even in the face of our spineless enemies.
What will happen next? Will our victorious force strike even deeper into the Fed Suns' territory, freeing more worlds that once were rightfully ours?
(Watch the Vidversion with many additional info here.) (//http://)

[Sorry, links unobtainable as you are reading the free version of the Capellan Broadcast Monthly. Subscribe for just 298 C-Bills/month or use your ID as a Capellan Citizen to get an overview and in-deep perspective of what is going on in the Inner Sphere]

October 10 th
unknown system

two massive radiation surges form early in the morning as two unknown jumpships come back into real space.

"lilchan, sir. we have still not recieved any reply to our message. the drives are recharged and all are ready for you orders"
a handsome young man turns to look at the speaker.
"thank you admiral, it appears we must move on, give the order to staet the jump sequence, we head to where the ward system should be.
"jump conrtol initate jump seqeunce, destination ward syatem, and may we find the decedents of our ancestras families there."
"initiating jump sequence, coordinates confirmed, ward system, time to jump 30 minutes"
computer voice "attention all ships and personal, jymp sequence initated, all computers in sequence, 30 minutes to jump"
Markus Lioi (spelling) heads to his seat and opens a fleet communication "attention all citizens of taskforce ccz_103, our inital coordinates from the message has been false and we now pray oyr information is correct for our sister colony location. (turns off the comms and turns to look at the admiral) "admiral, please finish our ancestral ritual before we jump?"
the admiral bows
computer voice "all hands , 15 minutes to Jump."
the admiral opens the fleet communication and in ancient manderin says a old Chinese pray to the gods fir a safe journey
"moments after the admiral is finished (computer voice) "all hands, 15 seconds to jump"

october 17th
nadiar jump point, 1700 est.
ward system

2 radiation surgesrs herald the arrival of new jumpships,  seconds after their arrival a message is broadcast into the system

in a dificult to understand dialect of manderin "hello is anyone out there."
the message enters the system and starts to repeat itself, every 2 minutes

18 OCT 3040 0234 HRS
Fire Base Selena, Ward
Capellan Confederation

Captain Mario Zim lifted his mug as Ambassador Stevens repeat himself for what seemed like the third time in a row at how it was not his responsibility to deal with any force that might be a threat. He took a sip of his coffee but it was stone cold and the artificial creamer had congealed into a nasty clump. Spitting the mouthful out, he knew better to waste any resources they send his way. He took the cup and unceremonious dumped the contents into a pot and reheated it on the stove. The eclectic coils heated up and he knew the lazy bureaucrat was never going to accept what should be his responsibility to do and speak to the strangers. "Fine, I'll have a chat with our visitors." He said as he sloppily poured the contents of the pot back into the cup and stirred the creamer into the fluid.

The Ambassador stormed triumphantly off and Zim wondered to himself if their visitors had anything to do with the increased Maskirovka presence. Sure he wasn't supposed to know about that, but when there's reports of a new space station one jump away from your post it doesn't take much to put two and two together. He wished like hell that COL Sagehorn hadn't taken his Hussars off planet, whoever this was, his one mech, "Purgatory" an old Whitworth, and his support battalion was not going to be able to hold them off given the size of the jumpship's signatures.

Luckily, the Ambassador did provide him with a ride to the communications building. Ward was a nice planet to be stationed on, less backwater then most with its high industrialization and good labor resources. Any time projects on the rimward worlds needed extra people, they came here to get them and it was his job to get them. He'd heard that Larsha had been hit up by raiders, but as he entered his ride and looked up, he noted, raiders don't usually knock. So he had that going for him.

It was a fourteen minute ride to the communications building, but the driver got there in just over ten. He thanked the driver and asked him to wait, which of course he didn't. As he rode off, Zim shook his head. It was the dead of night and he was sure he was not ready to deal with this, but the sooner they sent a message back, the sooner they would get a reply. Without a ride, he also might as well wait in the building and take a nap waiting for  response.

It took a moment for the tech to get the communications gear set up, but all in all, it was simple and straight forward. Zim worked out what he wanted to say on a pad of paper while waiting and then translated it into Mandarin. The tech gave him the go ahead and he started his spiel in Mandarin.

"To the unidentified ships that address this world, you are speaking to Captain Mario Zim, head of the Militia here. Please advise the nature of your business to Ward System before proceeding to land any craft. We of the Capellan Confederation are quite amicable to allowing trade, but not with strangers peddling raided goods on behalf of pirates." He knew the last part was sort of true, if the goods had been raided from Federated Suns worlds, they usually turned a blind eye just so that the pirates would go back for more. As almost an after though, he added: "We eagerly await your reply." He nodded to the tech, "Send it."

"Do you have a place to wait?"

18 OCT 3040 0235
nadir jump point
ward system
transport ship: deep haul

"officer of the watch, we have incoming message from the 4th planet in the system sir, should I call the admiral and lilchan?" says a young female ensign.
"let me hear the message, ensign" the officer of the watch says in reply.
"I am sorry sir but the message is a bit difficult to understand at the moment, I am sending it to the computer for translation, but from what I can understand it is confirmed that this is the ward system and the confederation has survived to this day"
"get the translation done quick and signal the admiral and lilchan ensign"
"yes sir" as the ensign pushes a few buttons and then over the ship load speaker "admiral to the bridge, I repeat the admiral to the bridge,  lilchan to the bridge I repeat lilchan to the bridge"

0245
bridge

several minutes later lilchan markus liou {sp} enters, followed several seconds later by the admiral.
both approach the officer of the watch, "what is up, mallus" says the admiral to the officer
"we have gotten a response to our hail, sir. It is in translation right now and apparently our sister colony here on ward has survived as has the confederation."
the ensign turns and address her superior officers and lilchan "the computer has finished the translation and is ready to play."
markus looks at the ensign and says "very good ensign, please put it on bridge speaker only"
"yes lilchan sir"

message plays

"thank the gods that we have returned home finally and all seems like it is in order" says markus with a sigh of relief. cheers come from the bridge crew.
"admiral, please come with me to my office we need to reply soonest and I would ask for your assistance in doing so, and ensign please let the rest of the ships know the good news"

{TBC have to think of return message}

0255
Lil Hans office

The door opens quietly and someone dressed in all white enters quickly and shuts the door.
Markus looks at the new arrival and nods but continues talking with the admiral.
"OK Ivan I think this will do for now, please get comma officer shun in here so i "
"You will want shange li instead lilchan" says the man in white
Markus nods and says "Ivan you heard him please get shange li here, five minutes ago"
The admiral looks confused for a few seconds but then nods and quickly leaves.
Markus and the man speak quietly and quickly in a strange language. Two minutes later there is a knock on the door and the man in white opens it and a middle aged non description man walks in with a recorder bows to the man in white and the lilchan, then walks up to the desk and sets things up then signals the device is ready.
Markus dictates the reply, then change rewinds the audio track then presses a hidden button on the machine and the man in white dictates a very different message. After this is done change breaks down the device and heads to the door and says "the messages will be sent in five minutes" and then leaves.
Markus heads out the door a minute later and the man in white departs the ship to another dropper.

0313

Greeting captain zim,
I am lilchan Markus Liao of taskforce ccz-103.
We received the burst message sent to us 9 months ago, but we had some details to work out before we left.
We are very happy and relieved to find our sister colony here at ward is successful and relieved the confederation is still intact. We awaits resp once and are ready to transmits all codes and all medical information since our ancestors left here to our target system. We would also ask for vacinne update from said year.

Meanwhile on a sub Chanel reserved for mask agents a different message plays " this is commander youh. Wilfred is ready to dance."

Mario looked puzzled, "Task force CCZ-103 ... what is he talking about?" While Captain Zim was pondering how to respond, a slight man with glasses, a bookish look and a name tag that simply said "Simon" on it ogled at what he was seeing. After decoding the sub channel's message and comparing it to the database cross referencing the Task Force name with the code phrase being used the slight man looked around the room and nodded to a large operator who came over and blocked everyone else's view of the smaller and started a rather loud conversation with the person next to Simon to distract Claire who sat next to him. As soon as he was sure she was sufficiently distracted, he slid a device out from his satchel and attached it to the console.

Encyption Secured
Identify:

Simon quickly typed in the password. A split second later, the device was activated.

We have an Unknown Agent by the name Youh without current call and response but operating on secure channels requesting a meet.
On top of that, the message was encrypted into a sub channel coming from a large force claiming connection to Task Force Z103 reported lost
on August 2nd 2369. How to proceed?

A message came back.

Forward Transmission.

Typing fast, Simon used a subroutine to tap to copy and filter the message to HQ. The next message took about two minutes to come though.

Filter all messages to and from TF-Z103. Direct request for vaccines thru med station Charlie.

Zim came over to the tech station, "Claire, until we find out who these guys are, we're going to put them on quarantine and share a little good will with the people. Have the good folks over at Med Station Alpha prep a list and a care package. Make sure they don't ship the supplies until we have the resident bureaucrats approval. The last thing I need is another dose of his bad breath. You got that?" The perky woman finished writing and said "Ken-shi." When Zim left the room the big operator leaned over to Claire, "Come on, it's time for your break" He said with a wink, "let Simon do that. It's all he's good for anyway." He gave her a flash of his winning smile, she looked around mischievously for a second, "Simon, do you mind?" He feigned a measure of indignant resignation and sighed, "Fiiine, give it here."  As she bounded off, "Thanks Simon, I owe you one." The big man lead her out of the room as Simon proceeded to change the request in order to reroute it though station Charlie instead of Alpha and gave it a special authorization that would ensure the right people knew to immediately launch the supplies to the ship.

bump for fate to continue before i respond.

Approaching the ships the small shuttles were like three tiny specs glinting with reflections from the sun. As they finished docking, Finch put his suit's helmet on. The fact that the visitors had inquired about immunizations first made it a loathsome necessity. He'd have much preferred to not be so encumbered, but that was the mission. He had been going over the strange dialect over and over again and thought he might have nailed down some of the nuances to a variation of the kyrgyzstan dialect that went out of fashion two hundred years ago when a standard Mandarin script became the dominant language in all Compacts.

Finch checked on the rest of the team. Mona was checking bags while Jun marked the package with the communications gear for this "Youh."  The number sequence on the bag was base code that any agent should be able to grasp. "Hold on." The shuttle jostled as the magnetic clamps pulled it down and locked it to the deck of the bay. Looking around, there were already others in suits, but as soon as the bay sealed the three shuttles in, they could see the gas jets of atmosphere being pumped in.

A light switched from red to green over the window to what Finch guessed was the operations station for the bay denoting atmospheric pressure had been established.  "Keep the suits on, while the rest of the medtech's draw their attention, we'll watch for our contact." Jun hit the button to open the shuttle door and the team descended the ramp and joined the others. Taking point was an old woman who  walked gracefully unencumbered by the heavy equipment the others carried or a helmet.

In Mandarin, she stood before the operations station, "Greetings. My name is Helen deMorrisey, Director of Operations at one of the med stations on the world below. We received your call for medical assistance in the form of immunizations. Judging by the list of vaccinations your people sent over, you've been out here for a long time. Is that so?"

"The House of Scions votes strongly for the upholding of peace unless outside aggression forces our hands. This war we have survived luckily, under great pressure and sacrifices, with the invaluable aid of our magnificient allies, who we thank deeply for their help. The penalties by ComStar did not help with our righteous efforts and thus we must demand the ceasing of this punishment at once which only harms the Citizens of our nation. There is no basis for singling us out and this wrongdoing underlines the questionable actions ComStar has been attributed to, including but not limited to the latest interdictions of the Draconis Combine and Northwind.

We stand ready to defend the Capellan People at all cost.

As Speaker

Arthur Yu"

In the news in a minor note around the CC: Arthur Yu, after three months of absence from the House of Scions has been reinstated as Speaker of the House of Scions.

31, October 3042
St. Ives palace
0700 hours EST

lilchan walks out to a podium placed at one of the hall followed by 2 young twin girls.
Goodmorning all, thank you all for coming this early.
Today we the survivors of task force czz-103 and our fellow citizens of the innersphere are here to remember and celebrate in equal measures.
First, today marks 2 sad incidents in our former planets history, the opening attacks of a rebellion that after almost 11 years ended in the death of our home, and the same day the death of my father. Now for the good news and the reason for the party that is taking place in 6 other locations here in the capital of St. Ives and here at the palace, 12 years ago today, my daughters were also born, even though they have only know about the horror of war. The members of the family, our guards and the rest of the domestic staff helped to give them as peaceful of a childhood as possable, and also helped to teach them to be good and caring young women like their mother was.
All citizens and military personal are invited to attend one of the parties around town, free food and all kinds of entertainment are provided free to all.
Also there will be trick or treating provided through out the merchant areas till 8 pm for the childrens safety.

Again thank you for coming and please enjoy the day of celebration.

General news from the Capellan Confederation.

Capella – Central Region, Fairly inactive militarily, Industrially, they are very active as they are main dealing with supply lines to reintegrate  the worlds in the Liao sector with the rest of the Confederation.

Liao – Host to multiple staging facilities with the news of attacks by and against Comstar in the region. Protests have risen on both sides of the CC / FC supporters, but the large number of units in the area are keeping the peace while waiting for further orders.

Sian – Building activity as political discussions heat up over Comstar, ISDF, PACT and FWL relations. The FedCom continuously gets brought up, but a strong block is in place to enforce the treaty. Forces return from the front to patrol the FWL border.

St. Ives – After stalled talks about the ISDF, the compact has gone through numerous demonstrations to try and show their old supporters from the FedCom that they do not wish to abandon the connections made and treat many industrial and political influences to try not to lose their connections. This has met with mixed results.

Victoria – Booming strong as one of the central points of focus of the recent war, Advanced Military production at Grand Base, Menke and Victoria itself have revitalized this war torn portion of space with Cheefong IA leading the realm to recover lost technologies.

Liao
-unkown date-

"Any words from headquarters?"
"Not yet, everything silent still."
"How is he?"
"He is getting better, but it will still take months until he will move again."
"A shame, I could fall for him, if he just wasn't only a meat sack."
-rolling eyes-
" Oh, come on... as if you never feel the need for some... quality time. "
"Shut up you two..."
another person enters the room.
"We got intel from the Voice, we are moving out."
"As you command..."

Celestial City, Sian
Celestial Parade Ground.
03JULY3042

COL Yen Ji-dan eyed the parade feel with a sense of remorse.  So many of the Stalwart Infantry had been lost trying to acquire a warship for the Confederation a few months after COL Sanders accepted the offer to become a mainline unit for the nation. No word from Comstar about the status of those brave men and women had been forwarded despite polite requests. The situation was quite precarious. The Confederation took action against Comstar and had yet to feel the reprisals. It was feared that a stronger plea would remind them of our actions and lead them to further investigate and initiate and interdiction which was the last thing the realm needed.

Looking about, he could count only twenty four men from the original regiment on the field. The standard, a blue shield with a rocket blasting off with a flag stood nearby, a black band added to its border to denote their sacrifice. The logistics of the unit were mainly intact and the barracks had been prepared, but it was most definitely not the same unit that joined the Confederation. In contrast to COL Sanders covert style, the unit had been designated as a defensive unit which is why he had been selected to lead it. Yen had turned down many offers to teach at the Capellan Military Institute on several worlds after Liao was liberated from the Commonwealth.

"At ease!" he shouted out. The troops relaxed their stance. "Citizens, ... Honored. A title given to those units that answered our Chancellor's call to arms. The sacrifice of the men who wore these uniforms before you will not be in vain. You will honor them by being the best! You will be the best because we will make you the best! The path to greatness is hard work filled with pain and sweat! Anyone who does not give their all should pack up their bags and leave now! I will give you a taste of what the next few years of your life will be like right now. If you way to leave, you may go,  but you will not be allowed to re-apply for citizenship for a period of two years. If you show up tomorrow, knowing what the future holds for you, I will expect everything you have to give to the Confederation at every moment as long as you wear that uniform. If you do that for me, I will make you the best soldiers this army."

Yen quietly moved up to the front of the dias and began removing his uniform. "Master Sergeant!" a broad shouldered Russian man stomped forward and saluted, "Yes Sir!" the Colonel continued to fold his uniform. "Stretch them out, get them ready for some drills." The MSG nodded then hopped off the front of the Dias, "Regiment!" The other commanders relayed the preparatory command down the line "Battallion!" "Company!" "Platoon!", "ATTENTION! Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Leeeeft- Face! Forward- March!" Once they were on line with the rear of Alpha, "Battallions-Halt! Alpha and Alpha only, Extend to the Right, All other Battallions, Extend to the right! Regiment-Move! Battallions, offset your men and prepare for stretching exercises!"

After allowing the commanders thirty minutes to stretch their Battallions, COL Yen had the technicians focus on him while watched the coordination of the new unit which had the expected awkwardness. Stretching Went slowly due to the size of the unit as there were almost twenty-five hundred soldiers present. He motioned for the Master Sargeant to ready them for the real work out. "Attention!" the big russian's voice boomed out. The sound of the unit shuffling took longer than it should have and he stepped forward.

"Hurry! The enemy will not let you have time to coordinate! If you cannot move as one, you will fall behind, those that fall behind become easy prey! Those of you who know some form or martial art know that the key to understanding what to do is to listen! Do not make assumptions, listen and do what is asked of you. Let us begin with something simple. Jump." There were looks of confusion all around, as some people jumped and others waited to see if others would jump. "That was truly sad. I count tenty seven seconds between when I said to jump and when I heared the last boots hit the ground!" He looked over to the head technician, "Start the clock." Before the technicion could act, Yen was off the dias and racing toward Alpha BN. The suprised commander watched him approach with wide eyes as he was thrown, fifteen seconds later, Bravo, Charlie and Delta commanders were also on the ground despite being 100 meters apart. Epsilon's commander tried to defend himself with a quick jab, but Yen ducked under and reached up throwing his arm around his neck easily tossing him over his hip. "Stop!" The clock read Twenty-Four seconds.

"Twenty-seven seconds on the battlefield is a lifetime. I was able to take out all of your commanders and all I was asking for you to do, was jump. If I had been an trained headhunter assassin, you would all be leaderless! Then the real chaos would start! So I say again, jump!" It wasn't immediate, but the entire regiment jumped and landed within three seconds. "Better. Once you learn how I want you to jump and how high, you will all jump as one and when you land the earth will tremble! This was one very simple test of coordination. By the time I am done with you, you will be enact complex combat manuever as one! But for now, the basics. Block! Punch! Kick! The most basic form of pugelism. Once you have a grasp of this, I will train you in other things. When you stand in front of me for these drills, concentrate and be ready. Now, a proper jump should be three inches off the ground. You should be able to sense the men and women around you and feel their presense. The tensing of their muscles, the rush of speed at their movement. Pay attention, and Jump."

1.October 3042

Exactly one year, after JADE-Puplic and FRN going online for the first time, something moved again on the communication market.

(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g387/Altrak/output_rzNZ76_zps861ee0d3.gif) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Altrak/media/output_rzNZ76_zps861ee0d3.gif.html)

New Samarkand
CC-Embassy

" Ambassador,... We have over 10,000 visa requests from DC-citizens that want to travel to our realm. All are woman and all seem to be enlisted by the DCMS."

also: CAT! Seems like my picture links became invalid :D

Sian
-DC embassy-

Since the Capellans were already seeing the first fights against the clans, it took only little time before the DC ambassador asks for a copy of the ruleset of the clans "honorable way of fighting"... "Zellbrignen" or how they call it"

The Star Adder - Code of Zellbrigen was  included with a note that each Clan apparently has their own interpretation of the rules. There is also a holovid with some of their weapons capabilities taken during pre-trial exercises.

"Greeting, I am Colonel Jeremiah Sagehorn of the Kamakura's Hussars. I am making this vid so that you can see firsthand how devastating the power and range the Clan Weapons are. Please disseminate this information to other commanders so they may best prepare for the defense of the Confederation. I expect that due to their advanced technology they might still get the better of us despite them allowing us superior numbers for this trial. They've opted to fight our Heavy Mech Company with only five of their own machines. I've picked the twelve best pilots we have to give us the best chance at defeating them. If they stick to their terms, we may be able to prevent the first domino from falling. If we fail, then all is not lost. We did find that one of their terms, Safcon, would us to request our remaining troops to withdraw since they were not bid in their declaration of possessions to trial. Two days from now, we shall meet on the training fields. Footage of the battle should be available from the units participating in the "circle" of warriors that watch."

The BattleROM footage shows that it was a close battle, but the adders were allowed to engage one at a time which evened things out more then expected. The speed and devastating short ranged firepower seemed to be the determining factor. By the end of the battle, it was two on two, but one of the Hussar mechs, a beat up Marauder, was shut down from heat while the other, a Catapult, was missing it's left side and and was out of ammo on it's missiles. The more efficient streaks systems kept the clan mechs fed throughout the fight while their Ultra auto-cannons stripped armor as a break-neck pace. The two remaining pilots were allowed to yield and taken bondsmen with the other 6 pilots that survived the fight. True to their code, the Hussars were allowed to withdraw.

10.April.3042
Faslane Class Ship Dun Laohaire
-location censored-
Sho-sho Yuuki Hadono looked outside one of the small windows to see how work was going. Only two more months and the DCS Zangetsu will be ready to produce the needed war-material with superior draconian technology for the southern front against the clans. One by one, more and more Okami warriors were arriving here. On -location censored for puplic safety- surface, the Taurian and Magistracy Infantry-men, were training with their new equipment. Brand new draconian Power Armor,... while embracing the hate they felt for the clan-invaders. For the onna-bugeishas of the Combine, it was however a time of patience, because they could not fight before the next 5 months were over. This left however time for more training, learning the needed skills. After all, the Okami were among the first large formations in the Combine military, that would be cross-trained, as pilots, as infantrymen and of course as mechwarriors. Finding the aspects of bushido in all weapon s and the Dieron Regulars, the Sword of Light, the Genyosha, the Otomo  and some other Elite Formations were finding themselves in similar programs. Another reform Theodore Kurita was enforcing while the realm marched on with larger and larger steps.

Follow up: http://intelser.org/forums/index.php/topic,18943.msg57139.html#msg57139 (http://intelser.org/forums/index.php/topic,18943.msg57139.html#msg57139)

5.Julyl.3042
Faslane Class Ship Zangetsu (transl.: "moon visible in the morning")
-location censored-

"So they are wearing black and red, sing about the Megitsune, wear fox masks and the smile of us woman... while being accompanied by Ghosts? " said Yuuki hadono, while smiling broadly. " That is like a greating from all DCMS ISDF forces...well, could come worse from the Voice of the Dragon, at least we are not forgotten. " while looking at her units insignia...

(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g387/Altrak/FGC/okami_zpsdm7pofmn.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Altrak/media/FGC/okami_zpsdm7pofmn.jpg.html)


She stood up got over to a console, pressing a button.

" Attention Okami, we are marching out, start jump procedure... I want to taste my enemies blood. "

Running through dim lit halls hidden deep in the Celestial Palace Jake Kominski burst out of secret panel in the Maskirova's intelligence room. "Sir, from ... <wheezing> the Chancellor's Ear!" he said thrusting out the fax page from a Black Box transmission. Not wasting the waste the time to translate and encode, Jake had taken the merely rushed down the original copy the three floors to the Director as soon as he comprehended it. "The Fedrats sold us out to the Clans!" Director Sheng sat down with the page and read it carefully. For a year, he'd begged and pleaded with Cassandra to not be fooled that the quiet assent to the Concord's demands to stay on their side of the thirtieth parallel. "There can only be one response to the double headed snake. If the Chancellor will not act, we must. Moishe, send a message to Agent Mao You, Operation Bashi Liu is a go.