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

[Starhawk]

It's time for another Footnote in Icaran stuff!!

Attached is a file containing the 3 Icaran Navy Duty uniforms, army uniforms are pretty much the same except the tunic is green with black trim and the pants are a kacky color.
Marines wear similar uniforms, except for the trim being black and the pants being a midnight blue instead of black.

[Starhawk]

2437.2 What Duty Requires:
Star Admiral William Ross, commander of one of three “subjugation fleets” currently deployed by the ever expanding Icaran Empire had fast risen to the epic status of “Champion of the People” as his achievements grew, he commanded the first interstellar warship/explorer in Imperial history and had since taken part in dozens of battles and three Crusades against both Xeno and Human as the decades passed, and now the Empire expected him to win for them yet another conquest, this time it was the Corellian system which fell under the control of the powerful Mantis Star Kingdom.
What the people did not generally know about William Ross was that his conquests and epic victories cost him dearly on a personal level, he had seen thousands of men and women under his command or in his fleets die, he had seen the death of his Wife’s father and the serious injury of her brother that put him planet side three years ago. He was a Royal Navy officer, and by his very nature was a warrior, but being a man who commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers, spacers, and marines had finally given him the chance to really affect the outcome of the Andermanian Crusade which had engulfed practically the entire galaxy and when that war ended his greatest desire was not glory, promotion or power, it was simply to return to Lin and raise children.
At the moment however Ross sat in the command chair of an Imperial superdreadnought named Damocles in command of a subjugation fleet that was even now bearing down on Corellian II, he had seen two other worlds fall before him with little resistance and Ross hoped and prayed that this time would be like the last, though for some reason he could not explain his gut kept cramping.
Ross watched the planet for a long moment before turning to his com officer and nodding for her to bring up the pre-selected channel.
“4th 6th and 7th divisions are to close on target and lay down any suppression fire required, 3rd division is to hold in reserve, all other formations are to join the main battle line and stay outside of weapons range, 1st Kyra regiment will be tasked with taking this planet…..Godspeed and good luck.” Ross had discussed the invasion plans in depth with his division commanders for the last two days and he knew that he could count on each and everyone of them to carry out their duties without the need for the jibber some commanders would have added.

Time seemed to pass agonizingly slowly as the three SD divisions and 1st Kyra regimental transport approached their target, minutes seemed like hours and Ross felt his stomach cramping with a nervous feeling he had never felt before, something just didn’t seem right and no matter how he tried to shake it the feeling of fear remained and after eight minutes of the assault groups approach not even an enemy fighter had been launched which simply increased his nerves for some reason.
“OH MOTHER OF GOD!” someone blurted and Ross jerked back to the present in time to hear the sound of a gloved hand smacking against someone’s face
“Silence!” the officer bellowed and for a moment Ross was baffled until he looked up at the main display screen and saw a stomach turning sight.
Out of seemingly nowhere dozens of massive purple beams lashed out at the strike force and like some beast of legend they touched upon the entire lead division, the 4th with a fury that seemed impossible…..and indeed would have been impossible for any ship mounted weapons…..as the six lead ships of the strike force exploded and shredded under the fire of the massive batteries comprehension swiftly dawned on Ross.
“Planetary weapons platforms!” he blurted, louder then he had intended, and looked around his bridge to see a stunned crew, and one young enlisted man holding the side of his face where a big hand shaped red mark where the chief tactical officer had smacked him.
“Com, order the reserve division forward, main line of battle is to get underway as well, pass on orders for the strike group to fire on planetary targets as necessary, I don’t care if they have to turn that planet to cinders.” Ross turned to the chief tactical officer and glared a moment, showing his displeasure at the officer’s reaction to the young man’s moment of indiscretion, Ross remembered his first real battle and remembered that he blurted some things he would rather not have, and he knew more then anyone that professionalism must remain, but not at the price of humiliating a man who simply spoke aloud what they were all thinking.
“Advanced forces are returning fire on planetary targets Admiral, reserve division and main battle line are closing in as well but I don’t think we’ll make it before the remaining platforms fire again.” Tactical officer Ramirez said quietly as she read off the numbers on her small tactical plot.
The screens showed a relay from the flagship of the 7th division as the strike group’s surviving ships opened fire on the planet’s surface, trying to carve through the massive shield generators guarding the weapons platforms, the camera suddenly shook and the screen went purple as the planetary weapons fired once again, Cain was visible in the camera’s view as she broke in half like a toy ship as the beams cut into her armored hull with incredible ease. Another flash on screen and a shattered gun turret could be seen drifting into the camera’s range followed by other wreckage.
The 3rd division had finally closed the range and added their own firepower to that of the four survivors from the strike group, moments later the entire main battle line opened fire and completely destroyed the planetary defense platforms as well a several Mantis army bases.
Ross sat back in his command chair, the fleet had obeyed its orders to the letter the second the military bases and weapon platforms were destroyed they had ceased fire but as he sat in and watched the now helpless world just hovering there, it had been there since the dawn of time and yet it was so fragile to the weapons man had created, and on his whim Ross could order the surface of that beautiful blue jewel into a wasteland of death and wreckage, for the first time in his life Ross felt tempted to order just that as he saw the massive casualty list coming in from his strike group, the men and women he had sent in to their deaths…..the Star Admiral clenched his hands into fists and turned to his com officer, fighting everything his heart was screaming at him to do “Order the 1st Kyra to drop immediately take out any remaining military units on the planet, and execute all local government officials.” Ross ordered harshly.

The battle of Corellian II had been a success and was broadcast throughout the empire as a dramatic victory in the name of the glorious Icaran Empire, yet to Ross it seemed a bitter failure, as the casualty list confirmed his fears, two and 1/3 superdreadnought divisions had been totally destroyed, and because of the sheer power and shock cased by the planetary weapons batteries there hadn’t been a single survivor from the destroyed ships, 85,400 young men and women died in the fifteen minutes that the “battle” had lasted, the single greatest military loss of life in decades and the single greatest loss of ships since the Phong crusade.
That night Star Admiral William Ross went to his quarters and wept as he wrote the general condolence letters that would be relayed to the thousands of families who had lost children, parents, and spouses this bloody day, the computer would fill in the names of the dead and mail them to the appropriate places and no doubt the fourteen ships lost this day would be added to the Imperial wall of the fallen and there would likely be memorial ceremonies on the lost ship’s christening worlds, but still nothing would make up for the loss the families, friends and lovers of the fallen would feel.

Casualty List:
HMS Sao Paulo (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Perganum (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Cain (SD) (6,100 Dead)
HMS Advanced Carnage (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Belenus (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Gryphon (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Songbird (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Mt Mckinley (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Santa Maria (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Hunter (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Lanokota (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Kilcranke (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Delowese (SD) (6,100 dead)
HMS Nemesis (SD) (6,100 dead)
Total Casualties: 85,400
Andermanian Crusade Casualties: 282,701

[Starhawk]

Story above

The Imperial wall of the Fallen:
HMS Anasazi
HMS Blackbird
HMS Catherine
HMS Cairo
HMS Hawkwing
HMS Raven
HMS Samson
HMS Sumter
HMS Tyrant
HMS Warden
HMS Lunar
HMS Typhoon
HMS Behemoth
HMS Hades
HMS Justin
HMS Katana
HMS Imperius
HMS Grasshopper
HMS Force of Arms
HMS Zander
HMS Reverence
HMS Alora
HMS Ferret
HMS Nemesis
HMS Sao Paulo
HMS Perganum
HMS Cain
HMS Advanced Carnage
HMS Belenus
HMS Gryphon
HMS Songbird
HMS Mt Mckinley
HMS Santa Maria
HMS Hunter
HMS Lanokota
HMS Kilcranke
HMS Delowese
HMS Halsey
2 SDs who's names have been lost to history

[Starhawk]

2438.0 The Difficult Decisions
Admiral William Ross of the 3rd subjugation fleet sat in disgrace on his bridge, no one could have expected the Mantis navy to mobilize over a hundred ships so quickly to counter his operations in Corellian but they had, and in a matter of a month had destroyed all three of the other worlds that his fleet had fought for and killed over three hundred million of their own citizens in order to deny them to the Empire.
It had been decided by the Imperial command that the 3rd fleet had failed its mission and that there was no point continuing operations in that region of space, no one could blame him for that but still somehow Ross felt the failure like a ton of bricks on his back, not only had he suffered the heaviest casualties in any single engagement in decades but now he had to make even that costly victory nothing more then ash as he ordered his fleet for the warp point into the Risa system where the warp point back to Lacerta would be opened for his fleet to get out, and then it would be closed for decades at least so that the fabric of space in Lacerta would be safe.
“GFG sails set, warp jump in five seconds, system transition in ten….all hands brace for jump.” The ship’s sailing master’s voice echoed throughout the corridors of the Damocles as the swirling blue warp point grew on the screen, of course the warp point was actually invisible in real space but thanks to Icaran technology the ship’s sensors bombarded the warp point with particles that made it visible to the ship’s visual sensors which then translated the data into a simulated image of what a warp point “looked like”.
For a moment time seemed to freeze as the ship’s sails pulled her into the warp point, then the typical blueish green flash that followed initial pull, all of these Ross knew well but then as the ship returned to N-Space something that hadn’t happened to him in years happened……jump shock, pure bred jump shock which rendered several of his bridge crew, most of whom hadn’t even been born when jump shock was still “just a part of the job” into vomiting quivering masses on the deck.
“What the hell happened Sailing master!?” Ross bellowed as the nausea subsided
“I don’t know sir a massive shockwave followed us through the warp point….” The sick looking sailing master whimpered as he clutched his stomach for a moment as it recovered from the initial shock.
“Sir I’m getting hails from all over the fleet, they all are reporting similar cases of jump shock and a massive energy reading that the sensors recorded during warp jump.” The com officer- a young Spartan man- didn’t even look flustered by the jump shock as he listened intently to the messages pouring in from the 3rd fleet’s startled officers.
“Send a probe back through that warp point before we proceed on to Lacerta.” Ross kept his voice calm and level as he watched his crew quickly bounce back into their duties, and others cleaning up the decks with embarrassed looks. Ross hid a sigh, modern warships never bothered giving out the jump shock injections that he had during his days aboard the old destroyer Enterprise because the newest GFGs rendered jump shock a thing of the past, now the most you got was a slight quirk in your stomach as the ship returned to normal space.
“Admiral! Something’s wrong sir, the probe isn’t showing anything in Corellian anymore, no sun, no planets, nothing!” The tactical officer looked up from her console, clearly shocked by the readings the probe was giving back.
Ross felt his heart race for a moment as he suddenly realized what that shockwave must have been “Run a scan for debris, large asteroid fields that weren’t there before and also….run a reading for thorodon particles.”
A moment passed before the tactical officer looked up from her sensors again “Large amounts of asteroids in system, positive readings for thorodon particles.”
“What are thorodon particles Admiral?” Captain Palmer asked from across the bridge as she put aside a flexi that one of her officers had handed her.
“Thorodon particles, captain, are used in the construction of Anderman Nova bombs, our own nova weaponry leaves behind a nebulae because of the materials used, however the Anderman use thorodon particles in order to completely destroy the system and leave behind nothing but asteroids where once large planets had been.” Ross said grimly as he looked around his bridge and saw the stunned looks on his crew’s face, they had escaped a sun going nova by barely a minute and more then that the fact that the Anderman would kill over five billion Mantis citizens, not to mention destroy 75 warships in the process seemed utterly unbelievable, and it’s implications would likely be felt for years to come.

Birth of a Fleet:
The 5th fleet formation ceremony had been a grand and spectacular affair with dozens of nobles and thousands of commoners and naval personnel turned out to watch the spectacle as the fleet’s massive warships did a flyby in formation. The 5th fleet had officially been formed under Admiral Maria White however in truth for the time being her fleet had no infantry regiments and less then 60 warships, the reason they were formed this soon however was simple, the Riots in Zeerzinbroduch had to end and so the 5th fleet would escort a large transport with 2,000 State Security soldiers in system to put down the rioters.
In reality the 5th fleet would not see combat for at least a year as it must wait for the two infantry regiments currently assigned to their flag to finish training. But once they did the 5th subjugation fleet would join the battle against the Anderman and their allies and sweep aside a path to glory for the Icaran Empire!

Return of a Hero
Admiral Lady Yu Lin Ross and her Home Fleet returned to the Norvor system as Heroes of the Empire, they had pacified Torque with minimal losses to both sides and now waited in orbit of Icara for their next assignment, which would come in a matter of months and which they all knew would be the subjugation of the remaining enemy colonies within the Empire, as well as pacifying the Xeno populace that was still rioting and holding “pro-equality” demonstrations.

The Choices of Poltiics:
Praetor Rodrick the second sat alone in his massive bedroom sipping at a glass of brandy and reading over yet another report, his heart wasn’t in it this time however as he had just given the two hardest orders of his life, he had been forced to order the 3rd fleet into what many would consider disgrace by leaving their post and just this morning he had declared the entire former Christirian republic “expendable” along with the estimated 30 billion people who lived on those worlds. The navy had been ordered not to send any reinforcements or evacuation transports and all communications had been ordered restricted to military and government officials to ensure no riots ensued because of the orders….and all because there were simply not enough warships and troops to devote to the Anderman alliance and to protect the remaining worlds of the former republic.
However Rodrick had ordered the construction of Defender class starbases in orbit of whatever worlds could sustain them, so that they’d have at least some defense against the Mantis fleet that had been taking out former republic worlds one by one.

[Hunpecked]

Several points:

(1) The Icaran Navy uniforms remind me of the British Army circa 1880 (at least as depicted in the two "Zulu" movies).

(2) Icaran losses to long-range fire from enemy weapons platforms: I was impressed by the extra range of planet-based weapons in the stock game until I saw them in action against ships with full defense modifiers (ECM, stealth and scattering armor, ship and fleet training, plus cultural modifiers and additional ship experience). Unless the enemy had the Talisman (not obvious from the story) I wouldn't have expected the platforms to be effective at much more than the max range of the ship-based weapons.

(3) Enemy ships firing first: As mentioned in the "Unknown Critic" thread, in the story it can be awkward to follow the game exactly, e.g. with regard to the game's sequential move/fire mechanics. For example, a sequential game battle can be described as a simultaneous exchange of fire, which saves the author from concocting dubious reasons why one fleet is in range and the other is not, when both mount similar weapons.

(4) Letters: Presumably the Icaran term "letters" refers to something like "full sensory 3D holovision programs" or such, but to us in the 21st Century the term conjures archaic images of paper-based text (Paper? What's that?). It might be better to translate the Icaran term into something that sounds more high-tech to Starhawk's primitive audience.

(5) I like the Andermanians even less than the Icarans. I hope they get what's coming to them! Grrrrr!

[Starhawk]

1. Yep it's suppsoed to remind you of an old school uniform, as I said Icarans are very "traditionalist" in their ways. And yes I know some folks say Red doesn't look right on a naval uniform but have you seen a 25th century navy? Especially since blue is so cliche

2. Heh yeah these weapons platforms are in devnull which gives them extra range apparently, plus they are massive mounts with Sensors maxed out....and yes all of the losses stated sustained to long range fire I actually lost to long range fire.

3. Okay good point from now on it's either simultaniou or totally explained.

4. Well due to the fact that there are no FTL communications the Icarans do use a system of mail whith "letters" which are either in flexi pad form with text (like a true letter) or in video form on a data cube. As I said though I figured the every day tech of Icara would bore people to death lol.

[Starhawk]

2438.1 Fire and Starlight
Rear Admiral Forseti had been given command of the Artemis flight of 6 heavy raiders plus the 43rd SD division to investigate rumors of a Sol Coalition convoy that had just engaged and destroyed a scouting party. This was Forseti’s first command and his nerves were gnawing at him like lynch rats, Vice Admiral White had recommended him for this command just before she had been given command of the 5th fleet a month ago.
“Admiral we’re approaching the warp point, the enemy fleet should be mid system by now so it’ll take us at least a week to catch up, assuming the warships stick to the transports.” Captain Rheinhard Merkatz said as he stepped away from the master plot. The Artemis flight had been reinforced by the Superdreadnought division for this operation because it was decided that the additional muscle might be require to tackle the convoy’s SD escorts.
“Thank you Captain, tell Commodore Saunders that I’ll want her super dreads to form a spearhead in front of the Artemis and the other raiders, let’s try to keep their firepower and armor in front so we can get rid of those escorts as quickly as possible, that’ll allow us and the other raiders to snag those transports and the few hundred million people they are transporting.” Forseti grinned at Merkatz as he thought of the prize money he and his crews would receive for capturing three large transports.
“Approaching warp jump in five……four……three…..two……one…..all hands brace for jump!” The helmsman called out an instant before the lurch that signaled Warp transition.

A moment after transition Forseti flinched as a brilliant green flash lit the screen and suddenly alarms and klaxons howled as if a beast screaming with rage, it took Forseti a moment to regain his senses but when the shock wore off the Admiral saw in his screens two massive Sol Coalition SDs right in front of him and their guns were firing.
“Admiral unknown weapons they’re passing right through our shields!!” the tactical officer shouted over the klaxons and alarms as the screens lit up again this time with the glow of an explosion that could only be caused by a large ship exploding.
The momentary advantage that the Solars had was enough to inflict massive damage on the Icarans, the Decimator had been destroyed in a matter of seconds as null space cannons and then heavy AP weapons cut her apart four of the five raiders had suffered heavy damage and the Sauron was shot to pieces.
Fortunately Commodore Saunders quickly regrouped her division’s survivors and began trading fire with the Solar warships, Forseti’s raiders attempted to provide gunnery support as well but most of them had their sensors knocked apart only Artemis herself scored any hits and her massive I-lasers quickly reduced one of the 6 enemy SDs to wreckage and then disabled two of the three transports with ease.
Beams crisscrossed between the two groups of warships and as another volley of null enemy AP beams sliced into the shields of the Icarans a devastating volley of I-lasers crossed the void and lashed out at the Sol warships crippling one and blowing the rest apart as the Snipe finally managed to score hits with her cannons despite the wrecked sensors.
The battle was soon at an end as the last Sol transport was crippled by the Artemis, the three transports and a single enemy SD were quickly captured by the marines of the 4 raiders who had not been totally disabled however the Icaran victory had come at a high cost, thanks to the initial shock that the Sol forces had on their side the Icarans had almost been destroyed and had it not been for the commander of the Super dreadnoughts reforming so quickly all 12 Icaran ships may have been totally destroyed, as it was however the casualties were still significant, Decimator had been destroyed with no survivors and the Starlighter had lost half her crew and her entire marine compliment, the other ships could claim little better unfortunately and the entire Artemis flight was forced to remain stationary until the 3rd fleet arrived with repair ships and transferred the 5 surviving Superdreadnoughts to Star Admiral Ross’ command.

Casualties:
HMS Decimator Destroyed (6,100 dead)
HMS Imperial (SM) 42% (1,300 dead)
HMS Snipe (SM) 46% (4,100 dead)
HMS Triumphant (SM) 46% (3,800 dead)
HMS Starlighter (SM) 57% (5,000 dead)
HMS Sauron (SD) 42% (2,300 dead)
Total Casualties: 22,600 dead
Total Crusade Casualties: 311,471

[Starhawk]

New Orders:
With Praetor Rodrick’s much more aggressive policies towards the Anderman Alliance the military quickly found it’s self being reassigned to more aggressive positions, the 3rd fleet had been ordered to take the Duroon and Palpatine system’s as well as secure the Eridani Gamma system.
The 1st fleet had been ordered to continue their push into the Cyrilla system and then further into the crumbling Remorhaz Republic and engage their navy as much as possible to destroy their military forces.
The 2nd and 5th fleets were quickly returning to military readiness and when they did their orders would soon come in to begin their own invasions of enemy space while the 4th fleet continued to move it’s SS transports from rioting world to rioting world.

The Goddess Terra:
Admiral Lady Yu Lin Ross of the Home Fleet had been leading her troops against the various upstarts and single planet “governments” that had been cropping up around the worlds of the Sol Coalition and Andermanian alliance that had been cut off from their home Empires for decades. She had heard of one such small “government” on Trammis IX except that State Intelligence believed that this particular world was run by a maniac who called himself the “Prophet of Terra” whatever that meant. Her fleet was currently approaching drop range and Lin was sipping calmly at a cup of coffee as she continued to scroll through the data files compiled on this so called “Prophet” his real name was Johan Von Kepler of the Sol Coalition and the son of a rich merchant to boot, he had come to Trammis on a business trip when the warp points were cut off twenty years ago and had apparently gone off the deep end.
“Admiral Lady we are being hailed by a group calling it’s self the Conclave....they want to talk to the CO of the approaching infidel forces.” The com officer shrugged as she passed on the message from one of her com techs.
Lin felt a slight giggle rise in her throat as she heard herself and her fleet called the “infidel forces”. “Alright put them on coms let’s see what these people have to say.” She straightened her uniform as she stood and faced the main screen.
An elderly looking man-which hinted at a medically primitive culture or a very very old man indeed- wearing a hood came on the screen, he had a thick beard and hid his eyes behind the shadows of the long brown robe.
“I am Father Ezikiel, representative of the Prophet of the Goddess Terra, we are under her divine protection and do not fear you infidels, however if you would turn your backs on your heathen sinful empire and join with us as the fighting arm of her divine will we are always willing to embrace those who seek the embrace of Terra.”
Lin rolled her eyes and forced her self not to sound rude as she replied “Father Ezekiel is it?” the man nodded “Alright listen I have the Icaran Home Fleet and three regiments of stormtroopers under my command, now can begin the invasion of your world at any time, however if you are willing to surrender peacefully and allow yourselves to be incorporated into the Empire then we will not be forced to use violence.”
“Be silent infidel, you who would serve the forces of Satan and betray the Goddess even when her prophet so generously offers you a place within his flock, we will not yield to your heathen ways or be lured by the sinful pride of your empire, now leave this world before you all die!” the screen went black and Lin turned to her com officer.
“Son of a ***** cut you off ma’am.” The com officer shook her head and frowned.
“Well I guess we infidels are just going to have to pay them a little visit, deploy the Star Wolves regiment, tell the Deathwing to stay in reserve in case these fanatics put up more resistance then normal.” Lin snorted irritably as she watched the screen switch views from the planet to the Sword of Vengeance’s launch bays as the hundreds of dropships raced towards their landing zones on the surface/

[three hours later]:
“Ma’am these bastards are insane they’re charging our tanks with freaking suicide bombs even though most of them don’t even get close to us and the ones that do just bounce off the shields……they’re throwing their damn babies strapped with grenades at our infantrymen because those *******s in their “conclave” are telling them their children will be embraced by “terra” and taken to the holy land.” The Stormtrooper commander looked haggard and worn as he made his report.
Lin’s clenched her fists in rage, Icarans had in the past made great sacrifices including suicide runs during the long march but never…..never would they simply throw their children at enemies because some insane bastards told them too.
“Harris…..” she paused and cleared her throat “Harris I want you to find each and every member of the conclave, I want you to find their “prophet” and I want you to bring them to me…..alive if possible dead if it’s too much of a risk for your soldiers.” Her eyes burned with hate as she turned away from the Stormtrooper.
“Yes ma’am, we’ll do what we can, so far I’ve only had injured men they don’t have much in the way of weapons that can kill a man in Stormtrooper armor but we still have to fight back against their “milita” units” Harris said softly as he turned away from his own com screen before cutting the channel.
“Bring that bastard to me” Lin thought to herself as she went back to reading the most recent reports, which had pretty much confirmed what Harris had already told her, these followers of the “Goddess Terra” were insane or brainwashed to such extents that boggled the mind to think about.

The invasion and securing of the “conclave” took two days to complete for the stormtroopers as the fanatical cultists had exhausted thousands of lives in a futile attempt to throw the “infidel demons” off their precious world. And as she had promised Lady Yu Lin had all seven members of the conclave, and their “prophet’ lined up on her bridge with a camera crew hidden from view and a squad of marines standing behind them. She had the cult leaders tied up and on their knees in front of her as she walked calmly from her command chair to where they were kneeling.
“Gentlemen, you told me that if I resisted your Goddess would destroy me and my fleet, apparently you were mistaken…..”she took a step forward and paused when she noticed the “Prophet” was uttering something under his breath.
“Care to share what you have to say heir von Kepler?” she said coldly, the man’s expression went pale with shock.
“You know who I am?” he said arrogantly as his lackeys looked around at one another.
“Oh yes, and I also know your no prophet your just a merchant’s prissy little brat who decided to play rich man and take over a mining colony for his daddy…..but how you became a so called Prophet is beyond me.”
“I am the chosen Prophet of the Goddess of Terra you *****! How dare you speak to me in such a…..” his sentence was cut off with a grunt as a gloved hand smashed into his face tearing his lip open with a spray of blood.
Lin calmly wiped her bloodied glove on the robes of one of the conclave members and then drew herself back up to her full height, and smiled almost sweetly.
“I am Admiral Lady Yu Lin Ross of His Majesty’s Royal Navy, I am the commander of the home fleet that just conquered you and your pathetic rabble of scum….” She paused a moment, her smile growing even colder and more venomous “I…..heir Von Kepler am your executioner!” she calmly drew her dart pistol and leveled it at the head of one of the conclave members and waited just long enough for the stormtroopers to get out of the way before she pulled the trigger turning the man’s head into splinters in a spray of blood and gore, quickly bringing an end to the life of “Father Ezekial”/
She turned her gun to face the so called prophet but a squeal of terror caused her to pause for a moment as the squirming screaming “prophet” looked in her direction.
“Stop! for the love of God stop! I have information that can be useful to you just don’t kill me!” his voice was shaky and panicky and utterly without dignity.
“Oh, really?” Lin said coldly pointing her weapon towards the deck.
“I know where Earth is…..I can give you the coordinates please just don’t kill me!” the other members of the conclave looked on in shocked silence as their “prophet” squealed and begged like a child.
Lin turned to one of the stormtroopers and whispered “Get the information from him, then shoot him in the head and dump him out of an airlock.” After the trooper nodded she smiled again at the men in front of her, waited for the stormtrooper to drag the “prophet” away by his collar and for the other stormtroopers to line back up behind the members of the “conclave”.
“You gentlemen are found guilty of crimes against humanity, murder and incitement to murder children, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, and Heresy, your sentence is death to be carried out immediately….may your souls burn in hell for what you’ve done.” She nodded at the stormtroopers lined up behind the men and suppressed a shiver as the troopers took efficient aim and in sequence squeezed the firing studs on their rifles....

Kepler joined his conclave less then four hours later after he passed on the location of the “sol” system to the Icarans which was where old Terra was “supposed” to be though if it were the true location of Earth or not was just a myth these days after so much information had been lost hundreds of years ago. His stormtrooper guard followed his orders and as soon as the information was loaded into the flagship’s computer a headless corpse drifted clear of an airlock.

[El_Phil]

OK I've gotta be honest. A bit shaky. The prophet either actually believes or is a conman. If he actually believes he wouldn't of crumbled at the end, if he's a conman he wouldn't of squared up against an entire fleet.

Or that's how I read it. If your fanatical enough to do all the things he did then the collapse at the end just doesn't seem any good. Of course he'd talk eventually, eveyone does, but to crack just like that... Lets it down at the end.

Still that aside another pair of good chapters. Nice to see your still writing.

[Starhawk]

To be honest the end was a little rushed because I was being nagg about "GET OFF THE COMPUTER!" so I typed out the end and printed it before I had to quit, I probobly should have left it for today to finish though.....that would have allowed for a better end.

I wanted it to end more with the impression that the "Prophet" is a conman but his "conclave" are a bunch of insanely true beleivers and that's why THEY not HE squared off against an entire battle fleet and tried to convert them.