Game Stories

[Hotfoot]

The Path of Shadows

+++Public News Net+++
+++++++2421.7+++++++

Headlines:
-Sagellan Homeworlds now under Shaderni control: War nearing an end
-Terran hostilities increase
-Praetorians join in the development of the former asteroid fields in the Ishantrissi and Vartoxia systems
-Scientists confirm that the Huju system's sun will deteriorate until it becomes a supernova in 2424.5
-Prince Mortova reports that all is well in the Imperial Palace, despite Last month's reported disturbance

Would you like to inform yourself further?

War coming to a close: Sagellan front has collapsed thanks to the coordinated efforts of Haunt Fleet and Hive Fleet. Reports from the several ground assaults of Sagellan Homeworlds has prompted a redesign of the Strange Mercy troop units. The end results being the creation of the Strange Mercy Mk4 heavy troops and the deployment of the Chimera Mk3a troop transports, which should prove useful for the eventual re-opening of the warp passages to the dark side of the galaxy, as well as other potential problems in and around Shaderni territory.

Abandoned Terran Colonies mistake war with Sagellans for war with Humans: In a surprising move, the human colonies on the light side of the galaxy have declared war with the Shaderni Empire. Despite having no support from the Terran Homeworlds, and entering into conflict after the fall of the Sagellan Homeworlds and military strength, their chances of being any sort of real threat to the Shaderni are very small. Still, Shaderni Fleet Command has ordered the mobilization of the Terra Nova Dreadnoughts in order to quickly nullify the Terran hostilities.

Praetorian Colonies on former asteroid belts reporting great sucess: In what is now a joint venture of developing worlds created from previously useless asteroid belts, the Praetorian the Shaderni governments both report that the increase in resources and prosperity surpasses previously projected estimates. Experts report now that once the various system improvement facilities are finished, it will mark a golden age of economic expansion.

Huju's star to go nova in under three years: Due to unfortunate natural causes, the single-star system of Huju will be turned into a wasteland in under three years. While the loss of the Huju system is unfortunate, due to the two major colony worlds that will be destroyed when the sun ends its life cycle. The majority of the colonial population is slated to be evacuated to the new gas giant colony in Vartoxia one year before the predicted supernova. A few top-level Shaderni research scientists will be remaining behind until the Last possible moment in order to study this most fascinating of phenomenon. It is possible that the study of this stellar event will allow for the possibility for our scientists and engineers to construct a device which could prevent such catastrophies in the near future.

Prince Mortova says everything is all right on the home front: Despite reports in the past few months of strange behavior from the Prince, reports from the Prince's personal health officials and a statement from Prince Mortova himself assure the populace that all is well. The accidental near-deployment of the Terror ship in Terran space has been attributed to an unforseen glitch in the ship's Master Computer. Thankfully, the ship's mission was aborted by an emergency override command when the ship was about to enter bombardment range of a major terran colony. The frigate's Master Computer is going to undergo a massive overhaul and reprogramming in order to avoid unleashing the class two plague that the ship carries. There is also debate on whether the ship should have the plague bomb removed, as its usefulness to our medical advancement technology has passed. Fear that the Terror ship's virus will be used as a biological weapon concerns many scientists who were originally on the project to develop the biological plague. Fleet command has assured that the Terror ship is not slated for any military engagements in the foreseeable future.

++Help save a life, join the Imperial Navy today. Your simulations and programming skills today might save trillions of lives in the future.++

++The Legend of Alpha Fleet opens in holotheaters next month. From Alternity Studios, come see the story of the Ancient Shaderni recreated in gloriously realistic holotechnology. Not even temporal technology looks as real or impressive. Starring Meboto Poal as Admiral Tombasa, Norem Fasi as Commander Bocis, and Nisa Lomba as the voice of Toltayan King Volrek. Don't miss this classic reconstruction of Shaderni history++


-Hotfoot
"Good things come to those who wait."

[justjake73]

Jameson ordered the fleet into battle line formation. He had transferred his flag to the dreadnought USS Sovereign II-2. Capital ships were ordered to either flank so as to avoid any weakness in the formation.

"The Zedron ships are a mix, sir. One even appears to be a first generation frigate!" Ensign Smith said with a mixture of amazement and contempt.

"Battle line formation. The carrier will stay behind, protected by the Ticonderoga, Decatur and Princeton." Jameson ordered.

Lt. Benson was at Tactical. "The Zedron are moving to intercept, but due to the mixture of engine types and lack of fleet training, they apparently can't coordinate a battle line. One Bangalore III class dreadnought is in range, sir!"

"Open fire!"

The enemy dreadnought never really had a chance. Phased weapons and null space cannons skipped her shields and tore into her. It was over in less than a minute - she never even got a shot off.

The Sovereign II-2 was buffeted by multiple shots. "They're concentrating all fire on us! Shields down to 30%!!"

"All ships target closest vessel. Fire at will!"

The first space battle in the history of the known galaxy was over quickly. The Zedron were grossly outmatched - both sides had roughly comparable technology, but the Zedron had apprently not spent the time upgrading their fleets, and it cost them dearly. No Federation ships suffered any damage.

Phased we

[Hotfoot]

The Path of Shadows

The Journal of Prince Mortova

The date is 2422.0, and control is fading. The dreams keep coming night after night of ages long since past. Of lives that my ancestors lived, or perhaps even myself in another reality. The visions are frightening, disturbing, but I feel compelled to watch, and not just from a scientific standpoint. I feel some sort of...perverse joy in watching the dreams. The dreams of war, desctruction on a scale never before seen. I see Shaderni vessels annihilating planets from orbit, unleashing plagues on civilizations that are not worth the notice of a battlefleet, and the annihilation of worlds that simply offended the eye. I see populations crying out in terror as their skin melts from their body due to massive radiation poisoning, mothers and hive queens holding their lifeless young in their arms, tears in their eyes as planetary napalm ignites in the atmosphere....

...and sweet heavens forgive me, I love it.

Perhaps this is the revenge of the Sagella, somehow using their temporal technology to create a link to this most reprehensible of minds through the barriers of time and space. Could this be their Last blow to the Shaderni Empire as I try to end this senseless war as bloodlessly as I can? Or is it something deep within the past of the Shaderni that our psychoanalysts and historians have missed, that is coming to life now because of the my attempts to come to a reasonably bloodless resolution? The Master Computer commanding the Terror Frigate wasn't malfunctioning, it was acting under orders to the letter. It was only at the Last minute that I came to my senses and gave the order to spare the humans on Gergan I.

On the subject of the humans, their recent declaration of war comes as little surprise. We hoped that letting them become trusted allies would assuade them that we did not intend conquest of their systems, but I suppose our ship naming conventions did not amuse them. The utilitarian names of our ship classes is useful for when designing fleets, but the Terra Nova-class Dreadnoughts built specifically to counter a possible Terran military action was not a good ship design to let the humans see. Apparently they took it to mean that we had been planning a war of conquest with them. Now the orphan colonies of Earth have doomed themselves to an...no, we will destroy their military forces and use our Strange Mercies to wrest control of the the colonies from their insane government.

I desperately need to rest from all of this war. I eagerly await the day when the bloodshed ends and we as a species can continue exploring the marvels of the universe. Even in the fire and tumult of war, our motherships are conceiving a new child of the Shaderni, a Ringworld that is slated for construction in the currently barren triple star Quesstris around the smallest of the suns. With the coming annihilation of the Huju star in the neighboring system, the birth of this artificial world will be a welcome sight.


The date is 2422.1, and the dreams continue. I try to put them out of my mind, but it as if they are a part of me now. My advisors suggest that I shoud get my cybernetic implants evaluated, perhaps even replaced. I am hesitant to replace them, as hesitant as I would be to replace my natural flesh. I don't know why, but something inside of me tells me that the metal is not the problem...it may very well be the solution. The ways of the flesh are weak, there is fallicy in the judgement of flesh. There is pleasure in the destruction of the organic. So many ways to destroy flesh, so many different ways to cause blood to flow.

I will schedule an analysis of my cybernetics first thing in the morning.

The Skeleton Key is now capable of creating warp points that would let us insert new Stalkers deep into the Dark Side of the Galaxy. Once production of the Stalkers resume, we shall send more probes into the chaotic half of known space. Perhaps that will give us the insight we...I need to keep the entire galaxy from devolving into a state of total war. Must there be a totalitarian rule to keep war from breaking out? Cannot peaceful coexistance, like that between the Shaderni and the Praetorians, be achieved with the other races? Must they all be subjegated, conquered, destroyed, or annihilated? Flesh cannot listen to reason, to logic. The meat is mindless, they cannot understand for what we strive...

Perhaps Emperor Zarnak of the Praetorians can provide some insight into that which ails me. It has been too long since we Last talked. I must talk to him after I have my cybernetics examined, I would not want him to see me like this if I can help it.

[Suicide Junkie]

Syndicate Monthly
-----------------------------

Open War in Ishantrissti
ER - Our warriors from Alpha squadron counterattacked an enemy force in the Ishantrissti system this week. The valiant defenders were only ranked as Class III scouts, and found themselves fighting enemies three times thier size. Fifteen lightly armored soldiers overran the invaders, capturing six undamaged light cruisers, but taking over 50% casualties. Of the 8 wounded warriors, only two require long term care; the others will be back on duty in less than a month.
The ships captured by Alpha squadron are expected to yield at least fifteen tech levels in propulsion, shields, point defense, energy weapons, combat support and ship construction.

Military buildup in Organtrix: wargames or coverup?
SR - Military sources have indicated that the fifteen warriors gathering in Organtrix are merely undergoing training through wargames. Civilian observers are crying coverup, and point to the unusual activity and transient mineral signatures of the southern warp point shortly before the military was deployed.
Our forces are already fighting a war on the eastern front, and citizens across the empire are unhappy with the situation.
Coverup or innocent training manouevers? Only time will tell.

------------------
The latest info on Pirates & Nomads (forum thread).
-<Download V2.2b>- (Now with EZ-Install, just extract to your SE4 folder)
-<Download P&N Classic>- (The final release of P&N v1.x, with EZ-Install, just extract to your SE4 folder)
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Other Links:
-<Play By Web>-
-<Schlock Mercenary>- (great space-based webcartoon) -<First Strip>-
-<8-bit Theater>- (fun comic with the pixellated FF1 characters)

[Suicide Junkie]

Cross-Linking some threads for you:

Beyond the Horizon (by Dracus)
A New Age (by Atrocities)

[mac5732]

SJ, tks for finding it, these stories are excellent reading and I know everyone will enjoy them as much as I do. tks again .....

just some ideas mac

[Suicide Junkie]

<Photo-album style Flashback sequence>
-A shadowy figure on vidscreens across the tri-system, warning the populace of war.

-Grainy images of a large arrowhead-shaped ship emerging from a wormhole on news channels.

-Busy workers rushing to pour armor molds around a bunker and missile pit.

-Orange streamers flowing behind two great destroyers as they leave orbit of the homeworld.

-A warppoint opens, the electronically distorted voice of a Phantom Captain rumbling through space.

-The intruding ship turning and fleeing back through the warppoint, the destroyers in pursuit.

-Two dark ships sailing insystem, crossing the orbit of a planet.

-Two flashes of light from the dark side of the planet as the dark destroyers sail silently past.

-A battle: Two torpedoes silently slide towards the trailing destroyer.

-A fireball smearing itself around an invisible barrier, a half-second before another erupted on the surface of the ship.

-Turrets swivelling, and a rain of green teardrops flowing from the destroyers to splash against the shield of the enemy ship.

-Torpedoes slipping in, two fireballs erupting on the wings of the damaged destroyer, and the battered hulk tumbling away, sparkling drops of fiery liquid metal spewing into space.

-The remaining destroyer closing in, small puffs of plasma beginning to appear on the Arrowhead's hull.

-Through the silent storm, two more sleek metal tubes. The destroyer shuddering from a direct hit through the shields, but continuing to fire.

-Hull breaches glowing a dull orange polka dot pattern across the hull of the enemy vessel; it is beginning to lose attitude control, but holds together.

-Running out of time, the destroyer's drives glow on overload, as it makes one Last burst of speed towards the enemy.

-Firing at it dives, the destroyer has rolled over.

-The destroyer's port wingtip vanishing in a flash of light.

-The enemy vessel spinning itself into a glowing mass of shrapnel, while the starboard half of the destroyer drifts away, spinning.

-Darkness

-In the light from burning equipment, an old officer returns to consciousness, pinned against a wall, while another struggles to stand from the ceiling in order to reach down to the navigation console. Bodies surround them, pasted against the bulkheads by centrifugal force.
...
</flashback>

The old officer stands at a podium, with the younger officer from the ship to his right, and two others behind him. They are being viewed on an enourmous screen by a thousand soldiers.

"Fortunately, we were drifting towards the wormhole at that point, and it only took a month for the repair ship to reach us. After sealing the smaller hull breaches and restoring atmosphere to most of the remains of the ship, the repair crews proceeded to check for survivors on our sister ship. We were about to pass through the wormhole when they arrived, but remained long enough to hear what happened next: the rescue ship found one of the survivors firing shots into space...
... the instant the repair ship tried to dock, they were jumped by a pair of Arrowheads...
... he was trying to warn them, not be rescued..."

The old officer steps back, shaken by the memory, and motions the younger officer to continue for him.

"The destroyer escorting the repair ship was burning badly after the initial volley of torpedoes... they only got off a handful of shots before they were incinerated. The repair ship was about to ram one of the Arrowheads when we lost contact...
Me and Admiral Dey were far enough ahead to escape back to the shipyards at Avior. As reported by the local news, only one Arrowhead followed us through the wormhole before being turned back by the planetary defenses on Scutum IX."

Admiral Dey steps forward again, and the young officer returns to his assigned position.

"Our forces were decimated in the Last attack, but we have learned much since then. Great warships have been constructed, and soldiers have been trained. You are them. The best of the best, the elite Soldiers of the Phantom. You naturally fear nothing, but make no mistake; the road to victory is long and treacherous.

I present to you your guides on that journey: Myself, commanding the Amberjack"
"Captain Holt, commanding the Heron"

Captain Holt steps forward again and nods before returning.

"Captain Ainsworth, commanding the Pomeroy"
"And finally, Commander Myers, commanding my old ship, the rebuilt Baku, which will serve as our repair tender."

The two other officers take a step towards the camera in turn.

"The fleet departs in one hour. Send any personal Messages now, radio silence will be in effect as soon as we leave orbit."

[ 03 February 2002: Message edited by: suicide_junkie ]