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

[kerensky]

yes please post the I-lasers and frag cannons. Either that or e-mail them to me

[Starhawk]

2424.7 A sword strikes
As far as the Icaran population was aware it had been a relatively peaceful year, no major enemy incursions or naval engagements, but what they did not know was that the Royal Navy had detected a fleet of 32 Andoran warships slip into the Kelvalora star system and had sent the 6th fleet and the “Sword of Heaven” fleet to intercept it, the chase had gone on for months as the enemy fleet bypassed colony after colony in a futile attempt to escape, finally Grand Admiral Hallice and the Five Swords had managed to plot their intercept course, and were beginning to enter combat range. The Andoran commander, foolishly arrogant seeing only five ships recklessly plotted his own intercept course and raced towards his Icaran foes.
Grand Admiral Hallice sat calmly on his massive bridge watching the Andoran warships approaching.
“Gunnery Officer Malone acquire lock on the first five warships, tell the other ships in range to lock onto five others and wait for them to get into range of our guns.”
“Aye Sir.”

Minutes passed, minutes, that seemed to go by like an eternity as the two fleets closed the range, the Icarans however had two major advantages, the five swords had the most powerful weapons in existence, as well as standard I-Lasers, the enemy fleet was mainly older destroyers supported by battleships and a dreadnought squadron of five.
“Admiral we are in range of main guns.” The executive officer blurted loudly as the sensor pings sounded.
“Gunner’ open fire all ships in range of the enemy.” Hallice calm voice reddened the face of his embarrassed XO as the gunner passed the message on to the rest of the fleet.
Three of the massive Icaran warships opened fire with their colossal spinal mounted weapons their powerful beams tore across space and connected to the enemy fleet sweeping through fifteen enemy ships, as the beams sliced through hull and armor the fuel and materials the ships were made out of, erupted into a purple plasma ball tearing the ships apart.
The next wave of enemy warships fired their entire arsenals directly into the Sword of Icara but it’s powerful shield grids simply absorbed the enemy fire, flares of energy arced off the shields as missiles exploded but still no damage to the behemoth of a warship.
The Icaran counter fire proved far more devastating as all five Icaran warships brought their weapons into the fray though several of the enemy ships attempted to retreat it was too late and a single volley destroyed the Last remnants of the Andoran war fleet leaving Icaran space safe once again.

OOC: Don't forget to tip the author by clicking my link

[Atrocities]

Another good read. Thank you.

[Atrocities]

You know, you should start the offical SUPPORT Starhawk each day link.

Let people know you get something for clicking that helps you in your browser game. What do they give you, and extra turn?

[Starhawk]

It gives me enough "money" to keep my game going on, you don't have to sign up for anything at all, just clicking the link does it for me.

[Starhawk]

Operation Bearcat:
The Cloaked Icaran special ops shuttle swiftly approached the Citizen Federation light cruiser’s port side, this cruiser was decidedly worth the risk of an interstellar incident as it had the only existing warp point opening device currently deployed, which made the Icaran Praetor and Lords nervous as the Citizen Federation had been hostile towards Icaran expansion for the past several years and so an elite team of Marines and Troopers had been dispatched to capture the ship, at all costs.
“We’re almost in position Captain.” the pilot’s voice spoke from the com link.
“Sir, how many crew are we looking at here?” Lieutenant Garcia looked up from cleaning his weapon, the other soldiers directed their attention to the Captain as well, none of them had been briefed on their mission all they knew was that their commander was a Captain, and that the entire op was male although the reason for that was still unknown as the Empire had female commandos.
“Yeah, we are looking at a crew of 23, standard 6 man security detail, Mobile Infantry carrying the standard MK32 marrita assault rifle, 7.92 millimeter case-less slugs, the others are the standard crew, probably armed with the merrita .45 cal side arm, we are guessing that their standard pilot, captain mix is female as is usual board Cit Fed navy craft, we are going to capture the pilot and captain the others are unimportant and are to be terminated understood?” The tone of the man’s voice made it clear he was not asking a question, the other commandos nodded.
“If your wondering why the entire strike force is male, that’s simple we are going to deploy CS-G9 gas, which unfortunately renders women sterile so we’d prefer not to put any of our people at risk.” the mysterious captain locked his charge pack into place and stopped talking, the other crew went silent and returned their attentions to other things.

Minutes passed in silence as the shuttle clamped on to the hull of the Citizen Federation’s warp ship, the 12 commando’s readied their weapons, standing ready, the door’s slid open and the hull beneath it vanished in a brilliant flash as the breaching charge detonated.
“GO GO GO!!!” The captain shouted as he tossed a stun grenade down into the hole made by the charge, the sound of startled grunts of pain followed by several bodies hitting the floor signaled that several of the crew had been caught in the stun range. The commandoes quickly charged into the breach securing the corridor and shooting the stunned CitFed crew.
“Sir none of these guys are wearing MI uniforms, we’re still looking at six security troopers with assault rifles.” One of the troopers said as he toed a corpse.
“Alright, split into two six man teams, team one cover the upper decks team two go below decks and sweep all crewman from there, make sure you don’t kill the pilot or the woman.” The captain said quietly as he took five of his troops with him to clear the upper decks.
The captain led his men forward of their insertion point, two more crewmen had the unfortunate luck of being caught unarmed, they both died quickly as the Icaran commandoes opened fire with darter rifles, tearing both the Citfed spacers to pieces. The team advanced until suddenly a hellish storm of bullets cut down one of the Icarans his comrades snapped into action firing a volley of darter rounds in the direction of the 6 Mobile Infantrymen down the corridor, one of them fell his armor pierced, a massive blood spray erupting against the walls, the five remaining troopers continued to fire until one of the Icaran commandoes through a shockwave grenade down the corridor, at first the small sphere appeared harmless and one of the MI troopers bent down to throw it back but just before she managed to grab it a loud shrill noise began to emanate from, a moment later a visible ripple tore across the bulk head, the woman who was about to toss it back had every bone in her body shattered almost instantly, making a terrible crunching noise, the other troopers were thrown against the bulkhead with such force that bones were shattered and the two troopers that survived were rendered unconscious, only to have a pulsar round put into their heads a moment later as the commandoes continued their sweep.

A deck and two firefights later the Alpha team led by the Captain had arrived at the bridge, it’s bLast doors were sealed shut with a complex locking mechanism, the tech marine instantly plugged in a “coder” to break the lock while his comrades watched his back.
“How’s it coming marine?” the captain turned around to check on the man working the coder when the whine of a darter turned his attention back towards the corridor, long enough to see a young woman with a clean hole in her chest where one of his marksman had scored a hit, she had been holding a pistol but had not gotten the chance to use it as it limply fell from her dead hands, she walked forward two more steps prior to falling to the floor.
The five commandoes sat stunned for a moment before the man at the coder let out a gratified grunt.
“Got it captain!”
“Breach and clear men!” the captain and two of the men moved to the left side of the opening doors while the other two men moved to the right, the armored bLast doors slid open quietly, the captain nodded and one of the commandoes tossed a gas grenade into the bridge, the sounds of coughing and falling bodies quickly followed, one of the bridge crew panicked and ran through the open doors, unfortunately for him three pulsar darts tore into him, ripping him apart as they exploded.
“Go….”The captain said calmly as the first two commandoes ran onto the bridge, swiftly followed by the Captain himself and the other two men.
The bridge it’s self was small and only had six people on it (excluding the man they had killed in the corridor), the pilot was still slumped over her helm, while the captain was spasming on the deck, a pistol in her hand.
One of the commandoes walked over to the com officer and pressed his darter rifle’s barrel to the man’s head nudging him gently before squeezing the trigger spraying blood and gore all over the station. The other bridge crew suffered a similar fate as the commandoes carried out their orders to terminate the “unessential” targets.
The pilot was pulled from her station gently by one of the commandoes, who paused a moment with the young woman in his arms, apparently looking her over.
“Hey 3 what is wrong with you?” one of the other Icarans snapped harshly but still the man just held her gently not moving, the commando who had asked the question walked over and kicked the trooper lightly “Hey I said what the hell is wrong with you? Secure her.”
“She reminds looks like my little sister, almost identical, my sister died on Handra when she was only 17, this girl can‘t be older then that.” the trooper said, it was obvious even with his helmet on the young man was crying
“Oh [censored], Captain I think he’s gone crackers.” one of the commandoes said harshly, the man standing over the young man simply ignored the other’s comment and knelt down beside the younger trooper, gently patting him on the back.
“You can’t do this to yourself son, she’s not your sister, she’s nobody, it doesn’t matter how old or young she is, just secure her or let 4 do it instead alright.” the Captain walked over to the two kneeling men and knelt down to pick the woman up out of the other soldier’s arms.
“Alright 3, you secure the corridor with 5.” the Captain spoke calmly and gently the man called “3” stood slowly and nodded at his commander before returning to the corridor as ordered.

Three hours later the Citizen Federation was informed that a tragic accident occurred within Icaran space and their experimental Warp point vessel was lost with all hands do to some form of reactor overload, of course this was not the truth, the truth was much darker for two of that crew did survive and are even now being turned inside out mentally by the mysterious Icaran “psy tech” officers, whether they retain their sanity or not only time will tell, but does it really matter in the end that was not the only price, 21 dead CitFed soldiers-allies of Icara- 2 dead Icaran commandoes, and 10 other Icarans mind wiped after completing their mission, reduced to the mental state of five year olds left with years of retraining ahead of them, all for the security of Icara, but in the end do these few lives really compare to an Empire of billions will they really be missed, does it really matter?

[Atrocities]

Thanks again for another great read. - link clicked too.

[Starhawk]

Thanks I'm working on the next chapter now but it's going t take a while because it covers a two year period and a LOT of political and character stuff that I'm going to have to try and figure out how to squeeze in

[Starhawk]

Plan Exodus:
Lord Keagen stood proudly in front of the other Lords, the holomap behind him showing the whole of the Icaran Empire, on it a long line of intermittent dots appeared on the map, each one representing a system connected via warp point to a non Icaran star.
“Lords and Ladies, Plan Exodus is the most large scale operation our grand empire has ever undertaken, it will seal off our borders from the enemy powers that prowl the universe, including the Andorans, who we’ve had several armed skirmishes with, Phase two of this operation is already underway, the house of lords assembled a fleet of 11 construction ships to begin the assembly of our first “Sphereworld”, this massive artificial planet will be used to house all Phong within the empire that will fit on it, these Xeno’s should no longer be allowed to roam our empire, even with the current restrictions placed on travel for them and this construct will ensure that they do now, it will also open land for Icarans to colonize new worlds.” the young Lord smiled confidently as he saw the others in the room nodding or whispering.

“Lord Keagen, what you are not mentioning is that millions of Icaran citizens will be trapped outside of Icaran space when we seal these selected warp points, what are we supposed to say to them, “Oh I’m sorry but your expendable”.” Lord Manshar of Haven shouted over the din of whispers and hushed conversations, the house of lords went silent as all heads began to turn towards Keagen and Manshar.

“Lord Manshar, those “citizens” are merely absorbed Magellan corporate persons, you can not seriously suggest that these millions are worth risking billions of our true citizens over?” Keagen turned red, either with embarrassment at how loud his voice had risen or in anger at lord Menshar, none of the lords present could quite tell.

“Your forgetting the 4,000 Icaran SS troopers that would be left on those worlds Lord, are we supposed to leave them behind? In a galaxy where Andorans are quickly growing in power?” Menshar snapped angrily.

“ENOUGH my lords! This is pointless the systems that Lord Menshar want saved HAVE Andoran or Manti presence, some even have multiple empires present, Operation Bearcat was launched for a reason, this very purpose, to prevent any other empire from opening warp points into our space, that operation alone could have cost us dearly, and now you are suggesting we throw it aside and risk letting worlds belonging to other star nations into our space?” Lady Perci Tori of Brandenburg said coldly. She looked around the huge room, clearing her throat before speaking again “Yes 4,000 Icaran soldiers will be left behind, but they knew that there was a risk of them dying, it is tragic and sad that they may have to pay with their lives for our safety but tens of thousands of our soldiers and millions of our civilians have already died in the past 25 years of endless war and it must stop!”

“Lords, Ladies, this must be put to a vote now, the time for talk is over. VOTE NOW” the Primus Lord said powerfully, the room went silent as the nobles sat down and punched in their votes, the Primus Lord sat in his black robes, watching his “peers” through a black faceplate that none could see his face through, it was his job to keep the other nobles in line, this man who was responsible only to the Praetor himself inspired fear in even the most defiant of lords or ladies.
After the votes came in, 75% of the nobles were in favor of “Plan Exodus”, 10% abstained and only 15% voted against it, that 15% quickly shrank back in fear as they noticed the sheer volume of votes against them, some even cried as they realized they had effectively killed their careers, if not more.

Two and a half years passed as the very fabric of the universe was reshaped, entire worlds wept as they realized they were being cut off from the rest of Icara, and that they would likely never see their loved ones again, only handfuls of blockade runners escaped the sealed off systems, tragically dozens of ships and thousands of scared civilians were lost as their ships were crushed by closing warp points, some ships that had entered the warp before the point was salead appeared light years off course, the lucky ones had simply suffered heavy damage, but others, others emerged with beings on them so mutated and warped they could no longer be called human, several of these ships escaped the navy ships that attempted to destroy them, but what purpose or desire these mutated creatures have is still unknown, and whether they will pose a threat to the future of Icara still lies unknown, fortunately only a dozen vessels that suffered this fate managed to escape, or at least only a dozen that the navy knows about.

The construction began on the sphere world only after the warp points to alien space had been sealed off, it’s construction is presently only half finished, but already it is the largest single object ever constructed by a species in the known universe and is a symbol of pride to Icarans all over the empire, though to the Xeno’ Phong it is a symbol of fear and their future enslavement to the surface of a single massive construct, never more to roam the homeworlds they once loved so much, never more to see the stars, only to live serve and die under Icaran masters for all eternity.

Crossed Swords
Admiral William Jefferson Ross, buttoned his Dress mess uniform’s tunic he forced himself to choke down the bile that was rising in his throat, he had faced dozens of battles been wounded six times in battle and seen entire worlds burn but not a single situation was as terrifying as this one, he looked in the fine mirror on the wall of his bedroom and made sure all of his ribbons and medals were in the right place, he patted his close cropped hair and grimaced himself as he placed the black cap of the Royal navy upon his head, he looked tired and war weary and today of all days he hated that.
As the door chime brought Ross out of his contemplation; he quickly finished straightening his uniform and had to force himself not to run to the door, as it chimed again.
He quickly took the door handle and opened it, the professional expression on the face that greeted Ross only made him more nervous.
“Admiral it’s time sir.” Commander Jason Styles said, his own voice quirked with anxiety, Ross had chosen him to act as sword bearer for him and though the younger man excepted the position with honor it was still nerve wracking.
‘Thanks Jason, I guess we’d better get down to the launch bay.” Ross said stiffly as he stepped out of his quarters, looking back one Last time at the life that would be coming to an end today.
The two men walked to the lift in silence, out of tradition any on duty crew immediately turned their backs as not to see the two passing by so as not to incur bad luck upon the events that would take place later.
Minutes later Jason Styles and William Ross stepped off the lift on the flight bay’s deck, a line of marines in their black and green dress uniforms stood on either side of the corridor, all of them wore grim professional faces and not a single one watched Ross and Styles go by them.
Ross felt a knot in his throat rising and feared he was going to vomit up his heart any moment but he forced such thoughts out of his mind as the flight bay doors opened, revealing two huge columns of Crew, each column had a line of marines facing towards the center of the bay, just as grim faced and sharp looking as their comrades outside. As Ross saw the ship’s chaplain standing on a temporary dais in the middle of the flight bay his nerves became even more on edge but with Styles at his side he walked proudly by the assembled crew and up to the bottom step of the Dais, lowering his eyes and bowing with respect to the chaplain.
“Lord Star Admiral William Jefferson Ross, do you believe in God, the words of God and his divine intentions for his children?” The chaplain’s voice was soft yet powerful as he asked this all important question.
“Yes, with all my heart and soul.” Ross said nervously praying for the strength not to make a fool of himself on this day.
“Do you believe in the divine creation of man and his sacred duty to God?” the chaplain’s voice echoed.
“Yes, with my life and sword.” Ross spoke the words but barely heard them over his own nervous heartbeat.
“Do you pledge to love God above all others?” The chaplain’s voice grew hard at this question but Ross was already so nervous he barely noticed.
“Yes, God before life, his love before any other.” Ross finished the ceremonial sentence but did not rise from his bowed position.
“Then so be it Lord Star Admiral William Jefferson Ross, you have pledged in the site of God and man these things, may your soul fall should you ever betray this oath.” The chaplain said softly, before turning to the other end of the flight bay and repeating these same sentences to another person that Ross could not see, or hear do to the directional field generated by the Dais-prior to directional sound tech they would have simply plugged his ears so he could not hear the other person.

“William Ross step up upon this dais and begin the journey into your new life.” The chaplain’s voice remained soft but still cold and Ross nervously stepped up upon the dais, Styles at his side.
There was a paper curtain in place, Ross could make out the shadows of two female figures but he couldn’t see any detail as he quickly turned to face the chaplain.
“William Jefferson Ross, do you have pledged your life, your soul and your sword to your God’s service, yet in his mercy God allowed man to share his love with woman, and to pledge his life to hers and be a dutiful to her until death, do you now pledge this to your mortal love?” the chaplain ’s cold voice rang in Ross’ ears.
“I pledge my life to the proper duties required by my love for this woman.” Ross said anxiously.

The chaplain looked at the other screen and pressed the button that triggered the directional sound device making it so that Ross could not hear his question to the woman on the other side of that screen, but allowing the assembled crew to hear it.
“Admiral Ross, your duties as husband are to love, care for, protect, and respect your wife, you shall each have duties in this marriage beyond those stated here, she shall be yours and you hers until death, do you understand this?” the chaplain stared hard at Ross with a hard glint in his eye.
“I understand these duties and I swear to do them to the best of my mortal abilities.” Ross voice was cheerless and his heart was pounding so hard he thought he was going to collapse.

The chaplain turned and again the directional sound device was activated, Ross was forbidden to look at his crew or anywhere but straight ahead, so he could not see their reactions, what if she had changed her mind? What if she was saying no? he kept thinking until the Chaplain turned to him again.
“Admiral William Jefferson Ross, Captain Yu Lin Pe, you have both sworn these things that can not be undone, may the screens that separated your bodies and souls now be removed.” The chaplain smiled and Ross heard as two swords were unsheathed, and turned to face the screen as Styles and another figure cut through the screen’s supports making it fall away noiselessly, and there she was, the most beautiful and amazing woman Ross had ever known, Lin, her almond eyes shining with pride, she was always stunning but in her dress mess uniform she took Ross breath away and he felt his heart jump into his throat. Next to Lin stood Sandra Fowler, her sword drawn and held in salute towards Styles who mirrored her stance.
“William Jefferson Ross, Yu Lin Pe I now pronounce in front of man and God that you are husband and wife, by your vows Yu Lin will keep her heritage name and shall be known from now on as Yu Lin Ross, congratulations and may your love shine through the stars.” The chaplain smiled and an applause erupted throughout the flight bay, Sandra Fowler and Jason Styles both sheathed their swords as Ross stepped to take Lin’s arminto his, their two sword bearers switched places, Fowler stood next to William and Styles next to Lin symbolizing that they were no longer separate, and that what belonged to one belonged to them both, he would place the ring on her finger only during their first night in bed together, unfortunately for them that would not be until the 3rd fleet reached Icara in a month-because of the regulations no two officers of intimate relationship could share quarters or engage in sexual activity aboard one of His Majesty‘s vessels or installations- William and Lin had never made love to one another, and now even in marriage they‘d have to wait another month, but for now neither of them cared about that, they stood proud as the marines all drew their swords and raised them in salute to the married couple, the two of them walked down the line and into the lift followed by Styles and Fowler.
Neither spoke until they reached William’s quarters where-for the sake of tradition- he carried her over the threshold into his quarters as their two friends stood outside, William gently closed the door and put Lin down, kissing her deeply.
“I love you Lin.” he said rather sheepishly
“I love you too William.” her voice shook as tears ran down her face, she kissed him again and they held each other for a long time laughing and crying all at the same time for their joy, before Lin turned to the door to leave.
“I can’t wait till we get home.” She said heavily, William nodded with a wolfish grin and she kissed him once more before turning to leave.
Ross had never wanted to get off ship so fast in his life, and he thought that one month would be an eternity as he waited to finally be able to have the woman he loved so much. Though they were both nearly 50 now thanks to modern medicine they were both considered very young-neither looked older then 18 or 20- and quite capable of having a family, something Ross looked forward too very much.

[Starhawk]

Oh I forgot to post this like I wanted too earlier:

Nobility
"The Rank of Noble convey's no luxuries only responsibilities."
Praetor Alexander III

Ranks of Nobility and their responsibilities:

The Council:
The "Council" are the highest ranking lords in all of Icara they are the personnal advisors of a Praetor and some of the most powerful men and women in the galaxy.

Primus Lord: The Primus Lord commands no worlds, but instead he commands the entire SS force of Icara, including the "unofficial" resources at their disposal his duty is to keep the populace and other Nobles in line even if it means mass executions.

Lord Marshall: The rank of Lord Marshall has rarely been given to any man in Icaran history, and only once to a Woman, this rank is given complete and total command of every ship, trooper, and policeman that carries a weapon in Icaran space, this rank is only bestowed upon a truely superior military leader and only during extended periods of war.

Lord Fabricator: The Lord Fabricator is responsible for overseeing the construction of every ship, gun, and peice of equipment that is isued to the military of Icara, it is this lords duty to ensure that worlds meet their production quotas.

Lord Insidius: It is the task of the Lord Insidius to hunt down and eliminate spies/traitors/heretics and now mutants, the Lord Insidius commands the intelligence branch of Icara known as "The Shadow Daggers", these are a grim group of men and women who have pledged their very souls to the quelling of heretics, mutants, and spies that threaten the future of Icaran stability, a Shadow Dagger has permission to recruit or kill anyone short of noble rank that they see fit whenever they see fit.

Lord Militaire: A similar rank to that of Lord Marshall the Lord Militaire is far more common and far less prestigious, he is not the commander of the total armed forces but instead he is repsonsible for predicting the needs of the military and setting recruitment and construction quota's that will later be passed on to planetary and system lords.

The House of Nobles:

Duke/Duchess: A duke or duchess is the lowest rank of the nobility in Icaran society, they command but a single world in just one system of Icara, a duke is responsible for the upkeep of a planetary defense force and a planetary economy, any Duke/Duchess seen lacking in either area can end up face to face with a Shadowdagger with permission to execute.

Baron/Baroness: A Baron or Baroness is the second highest noble rank in the house of lords, they are the commanders of two dukes (or two worlds), it is their job to ensure that those under them meet their responsibilities, a holder of this rank is permitted to recruit ships or troops from their worlds as they see fit as long as the Lord Militaire is informed prior to this recruitment.
The Baron/baroness is also responsible for tax collection across the worlds they command if they fail to meet tax, military, or construction quota's for a long period of time a Baron may face summary execution by firing squad.

Count/Countess: The count/countess is the highest rank any "normal" noble can hold, this rank is a system commander they are responsible for the governance of an entire star system and anywhere from several hundred million to several billion citizens.
They are responsible for the defense/tax collection/resource collection/recruitment of an entire star system, thus this rank is only given to the most trustworthy of nobles.
Unlike the other two ranks mentioned above, the Count is responsible for more then just planetary defense, they are responsible for providing recruits to the Royal Military's fighting arms, sometimes this means recruitment from Planetary defense forces and sometimes it means sending press gangs into the streets to gather the personell required to meet a quota provided by the Praetor or the Council.
The Count/Countess however is generally safe from summary execution unless they are deemed a heretic, instead they are sent away in disgrace and demoted to duke, some have even been forced to join the very units they could not meet the quota for.