From the Begining New Chapter Added (9/12/06)

[Atrocities]

Very good read. I look forward to more.

[Starhawk]

2423.0
The Icaran embassy on Arich V towered high into the sky, it’s gray fortress like visage dominating the landscape for miles around, a hundred Icaran marines guarded the perimeter, and auto cannon turret towers rose high into the sky at the corners of the massive wall that surrounded the embassy building it’s self. A tiny black ground car approached the fortified battle steel gates and rolled down it’s single un-plated window, a man wearing a Magellan Corp uniform leaned his head out and whispered the pass code to the Icaran sentries who silently turned about and opened the gates to the embassy. The auto cannons tracked the vehicle as it drove up to the door of the main building.
More Icaran marines waited as the car door silently opened, revealing a short, nervous looking gray haired man wearing a business looking suit that had the symbol of the Magellan Corp emblazoned on the right breast pocket. Two Magellan Security branch guards stepped out of the car behind the man in the suit, a third guard stepped out of the driver’s seat and walked over to stand beside his fellows. Eight Icaran Marines walked surrounded the Magellan Corp representative and his three armed bodyguards, a sergeant stepped out of the cluster of marines and grumbled out “Lay down your weapons now, and follow us.” at this the other marines all aimed their weapons directly at the small group of Maggies. The shocked Corporates dropped their weapons at the man in the suit’s gesture.
Fifteen minutes later the man in the suit was sitting in front of a towering Icaran ambassador.
“You wanted to speak to us mister Chairman?” the towering man said gruffly as the head of the Magellan corporation squirmed uncomfortably.
“Yes mister ambassador I did, for two years now the Magellan corporation has been fighting a massive war against both the Manti Star Kingdom and the Neo-Star Empire, in the process of this war billions of Corporate employee’s have died and dozens of our worlds were burned to dust in the fires of conquering armies and fleets, our navy lays in ruins and our army has been totally destroyed.” Chairman Schmit almost cried as he spoke but the Icaran ambassador sat expressionless, and gestured for the man to continue.
“The Magellan corporation knows that you have been redeploying one of your fleets, so that it can invade one of our few surviving systems and this we simply can’t allow.”
The Icaran ambassador smacked his hand on the desk to cut the Chairman off “There is not a damned thing you can do to stop us mister Chairman!”

“That is not what I meant mister Ambassador! Please listen to me, we need this war to end but our enemies will show us no mercy, we are asking….”the Chairman paused sorrowfully “We are asking for a merger, that you take over our surviving worlds and protect our surviving population.”
The Icaran Ambassador froze, a grin crossing his face as he realized what the Chairman of a hostile empire was suggesting, complete and total surrender of a hostile Empire into the folds of the Icaran Empire, and without even needing to lose a single Icaran life.
“Very well mister Chairman, I think we can accommodate your needs, but we are going to need some insurance, namely that you are going to need to keep your people under control until our State Security forces can secure your worlds, if any of your worlds rebel they will be destroyed, no questions asked, is that understood?” the Ambassador’s voice was ice cold as he laid out the conditions of the surrender, Chairman Schmit’s eyes welled with tears and it was obvious that it was a great force of will alone that kept him from breaking down in front of his enemy.
“Very Well mister Ambassador, I accept the terms, we surrender to you for the preservation of our people.”
The Icaran ambassador stood and shook the other man’s hand, a sharkish smile still on his face while the Chairman frowned grimly “Have a good day, Schmit.”]


On the ride back to the space port the former chairman of the Magellan corporation broke down into tears, reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pulsar gun, carefully placed it in his mouth and with one Last thought of his family who had died when the homeworld of his empire was destroyed he squeezed the trigger and let the darkness take him.

[Atrocities]

Thank you. A nice send off for the old year and a good first read of the new.

[Starhawk]

Thanks AT Happy NEW YEAR YA'LL!!!

[Starhawk]

Sorrow of A Phong:
They say Mercy is for the weak, the fool and the xeno loving traitor, they say our species is of no divinity and so we have no right to exist on our own, no right to live free and thus they set themselves to the task of ensuring that we did not.
They are a race like none before, they are a race none alone can stand against, we fought them so hard yet they were as demons, striking world after world and colony after colony without ending, no matter what defence we placed before them, it was swept away as nothing. They are the darkness its self, the void incarante, a plague of evil and they enslaved my people for all time.

I remember when I was but a young one, running under the brown skies of our ancestral homeworld, before our leaders led us into the void, they had good intentions at first, we were to reach the heavens and ensure our race's survival, for years our people worked on this great project, and for years after we reached into the stars we met no races and we extended our reach over dozens of worlds in many systems.
We should have known that peace is a fleeting thing, for the first site we got of the great destroyers was a single small vessel, a frigate! we can never know for sure if they had peaceful intent at first, and only they truely know what happened that grim and terrible moon, yet it was with the destruction of that first world, and two of our warships that led to the great war, the Last war of our people.

The great destroyers came on with no mercy, we resisted them every world, every system, but they are demons, cursed and undestroyable, for every life of theirs we took, a thousand of our people fell beneath them! Yet this was not enough for the destroyers, they threw themselves whole heartedly to the war proclaiming it a "Grand Crusade" and a "Holy War" to clense the galaxy of the non-divine races such as we Phong and for years they waged a tireless campaign to extinguish or destroy every one of our worlds.

No more do our people roam free on our worlds, the destroyers march on all worlds that were once ours and unless they are defeated we shall forever be enslaved, a beaten and used people, but know this, have not pity for we Phong, for we fought and kept our dignity even in defeat, do however have sorrow for us, and all others who will fall before this scourge that call's it's self "Icara" for they are the destroyers of worlds, a darkness from the gods sent to punish our arrogance and unless they are stopped all life in this universe will either bow before them or be crushed beneath them.

(Written Verse, Planek,Tal Norva Phong Scholar, written just before the purging of the Phong world known to them as Xenthet after food riots killed dozens of Icarans,

5,032 Phong were killed during the riots
18,592 more Phong were executed for the crimes of their people, including Planek Tal)

[Starhawk]

OOC: Read my link plz and help a "struggling author" hehe.

2423.1 Sword of Heaven Sword of Hell
The massive bunker that surrounded the Icara shipyard loomed over the surrounding landscape like some small mountain, only four other such bunkers existed throughout the whole of the Empire and all told they were some of the largest structures ever created.
Praetor Leonidas walked up to the massive armored door that it’s self was tiny compared to the structure it was part of, a dozen Praetorian guards surrounded him, for even in the heart of the Empire it was considered too great a risk that an Andoran assassin could slip through the defenses and get a shot off at their beloved Praetor Saint.
As they reached the door one of the Praetorians slipped his ident card into the door security lock, the noise of the massive door unlocking was like that of a massive drum beating repeatedly until finally the armored bLast doors slid open revealing a cavernous chamber beyond.
“Your Highness, Welcome to Project Sword of Heaven! I‘m Doctor Andraeavich” a bald older man with a gray close cut beard ran over to the Praetor and his cluster of guards as the armored doors slammed shut behind them.
“Hello doctor, I hear your project has progressed faster then even you first thought, is that so?” Leonidas was smiling politely as he stepped out from between his guards to shake the doctor’s outstretched hand.
“Uh Yes Majesty, in fact this particular piece of the project has been completed fully three months before the second piece, and four months for the three after that.” Andraeavich seemed quite proud of this fact as he led his Praetor to a second security door that opened up into the main chamber of the shipyard.

The security door opened, and as Leonidas stepped through he stopped dead in his tracks and his jaw dropped.
“By all that’s holy I’ve never seen something so large!” he said numbly as he stepped into the main chamber, before his eyes was a massive gray/silver wall, but as he let his eyes wander it was obvious that this was no wall, it was a huge warship, kilometers longer then the largest super dreadnought with gun ports the size of an old earth skyscraper.
“Your Highness, say hello to the HMS Sword of Icara, she is the largest most powerful warship in the universe at this time, her sister ships will be done soon, she is the first of five such ships by the way.” Andraeavich reminded Leonidas of a dog that had just been patted on the head as he smiled proudly at the ship he took part in designing.
“What are her capabilities Doctor?”
“She is 6 million tons of metal, five kilometers long, two wide, and one point eight high, she carries 10 spinal mount I-Lasers, 22 massive mount I-Lasers and 2 reserve standard mount I-lasers 29 shield generators, 7,000 kt worth of cargo storage and enough armor to take several direct hits even without their shields. Once Project Firehawk is completed the Five Swords will each be powerful enough to take over entire systems by themselves, though at the moment they are formed into a single fleet.” The Man smiled again as the Praetor let the sheer power of this vessel sink in.
“Is she ready for launch?” Leonidas said excitedly.
“Why yes My Liege that is why I invited you here this day, so that you could watch in person, while the whole of Icara watches over the Vid networks.” The doctor’s smile grew even larger as Leonidas grinned and followed him to the “safe room” in the heart of the facility.

The massive ship had a crew of some fourteen thousand, which had already been secretly shuffled aboard during the final days of completion.
An echoing sound made Leonidas look up and see the massive ceiling of the facility slowly open up to reveal the Icaran Night sky in all it’s starry beauty, another noise that was more felt then heard pinged off the walls as the null gravity fields aboard the huge starship activated, slowly “pushing” her off the ground and into the sky.
Throughout Icara city millions stopped whatever they were doing as all eyes turned to face the ship that was visible from miles away, some shrank away in fear at the massive craft, it looked nothing like any other Icaran warship ever built, it’s artistic arch like frame surrounding it’s armored hull, it’s gun ports replacing the traditional gun turrets of an Icaran man of war. Some feared that it was some kind of Xeno conspiracy and that this ship was going to destroy their world.
But as the Icaran Imperial Anthem began to play over every speaker throughout Icara, the people began to relax and many thousands began to cheer as the pride of their empire lifted her considerable bulk off of the surface until finally breaking atmosphere and reaching her new home amongst the stars.

2423.4
Months later the HMS Achilles on a routine patrol stumbled across a badly damaged super dreadnought belonging to an unknown human star nation, unfortunately this incident swiftly led to a firefight wherein the unknown starship was blown apart. It was discovered later that same month that the ship belonged to the “People’s Republic of Remorhaz” which was a minor power to the extreme galactic west of Icara.

[Starhawk]

2423.8
Yu Lin and William Ross sat quietly, dining in Ross quarters and talking about the news of the day, they had become very close over the Last few years and had begun openly seeing one another a few weeks ago, though normally an Admiral dating a Captain would be forbidden the Yu family name allowed her leeway that no other Captain could have being that socially she was of higher rank then Ross, her military rank was balanced out, they were still somewhat awkward towards one another and had not even kissed one another-which Yu’s mother often teased about over vid mail- but tonight they were not focusing on that, they were just relaxing and talking in peace while their fleet waited on blockade duty in the Cortina system, ensuring that no foreign starships entered the conquered territories.
“So have you heard about that plague?” Yu said absently as she picked at a piece of overly fatty steak.
“Yeah, it’s in one of the Phong systems, I didn’t get the exact details, all I know is that the Admiralty is going to let it run it’s course, they said one less Phong populated world would b a benefit to the safety of the empire.” Ross seemed uncaring towards the Phong, but Yu hated every Phong she had ever seen and Ross had the feeling that she would have enjoyed being allowed to watch the plagued world die.
“Well at least they won’t be wasting any navy assets trying to save them.” She said stiffly, as she set the fatty piece of meat aside and cut herself a fresh piece off of her steak, taking a bite and savoring the rare “real” food.
Ross was about to speak when the com unit chimed, Yu looked up with a grimace, but Ross simply shrugged and tabbed the control.
“Commander Styles here Sir, we just received word from the Admiralty, the Xiati Empire has just surrendered to the 1st fleet, they wished to inform all Admirals of the Royal Navy.”
“Thank you Styles, Ross out.” Ross and Yu sat shocked for a moment before both began to smile, that left only one known race of Xenos, and they were presently too far away to worry about, but more important then that the Icaran empire would grow further.
“Well, I suppose our job just got a little easier.” Yu said cheerfully, smiling at Ross.
“I suppose so, well cheers.” Ross smiled back at her and took a sip of his whine. After a few moments of silence the two returned to their conversations and their pleasant dinner.

On the Xiati side of things it was far less Pleasant, state security troops rounded up dissidents and summarily executed thousands, rulers were dragged into the streets and beaten until they yielded in public to the Icaran Empire, others who would not yield officially were shot dead in full view of their communities, a wave of terror swept through any community that refused to submit, and as the State Security brigades suppressed any signs of revolt the Navy moved on, to return to their normal duties.
Within a month all resistance had stopped, the State Security rolls showed 150,000 dissidents and resistance cell members dead, and 300 government officials executed for inciting their populations to revolt, as well as 500,000 “revolutionary threats” imprisoned for life.

[Crazy_Dog]

Great story !!!
Can you please give us a status update of the game / know empires at this moment ?

Also what kind of ship is the Sword of Heaven ?

[Starhawk]

The "Sword of Heaven" is one of five "Five Swords" class warships they are as follows:
"Sword of Icara"
"Sword of Vengence"
"Sword of Justice"
"Sword of Wrath"
"Sword of Heaven"
They are the "Flag Monitor" size which is a creation of mine it is 6,000 kt and takes over 2 years to build, plus a LOT of resources to build and maintain.

Empire Status:
Resources
+75364 mineral
+336609 organic
+403318 rad

Score:
Resources: 1.6m
Research Points: 411.4k
Intelligence Points 311.0k
Tech Levels: 217
Systems 53
Planets: 289
Population: 107.3 billion
Units 3899
Ships 142
Bases: 0
Rank: 2nd

Allied With:
Remorhaz Peoples Republic
Sol Coalition
Citizen Federation
Manti Star Kingdom
Christiria Republic
Empire of Man
Neo-Star Empire

Non Agression:
Celestian Republic

War:
Andoran Star Nation (ranked 1st and MUCH more powerful then me)
Fazar (Xeno race of little importance

Non-Relations with:
Dark Star Union

[Starhawk]

Okay for anyone wondering how to make a flag monitor here yah go:

Name := Flag Monitor
Short Name := Flag Monitor
Description :=
Code := SM
Primary Bitmap Name := WorldShip
Alternate Bitmap Name := Starbase
Vehicle Type := Ship
Tonnage := 6000
Cost Minerals := 6000
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 0
Engines Per Move := 1
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 12
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Combat To Hit Defense Minus
Ability 1 Descr := Large size makes FM 40% easier to hit in combat.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 40
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Requirement Must Have Bridge := True
Requirement Can Have Aux Con := True
Requirement Min Life Support := 6
Requirement Min Crew Quarters := 6
Requirement Uses Engines := True
Requirement Max Engines := 1
Requirement Pct Fighter Bays := 0
Requirement Pct Colony Mods := 0
Requirement Pct Cargo := 0

As I said it is VERY Expensive and VERY long time to build but trust me you'll find out later that it makes a helluva big bLast when it attacks someone; this has already happened in my game but that's going to be in my upcoming chapter so I won't spoil it for you.
Drop this down to the very bottum of your ships list in the devnull mod or else it WILL wipe out ALL of your other ship types below it, and trust me you do not want that to happen it's a PIA to fix.

They have with solar sails only 7 movement points so don't expect them to go racing about anywhere either okay

If you'd like the stats of the I-Laser I'll post them up too.

Oh and hey guys since I am writing a book here and I obviously can't charge you any money lol you can "pay" me (or at least just to be really nice to me) click the link in my sig anytime you take a look at my story, it gives me "Credits" in a game that I can't get unless someone clicks it, and you folks are the only guys I like to post with so your the only guys I know.