Well, since there's no story section to the forums (hint hint), I've decided to post a little story set in the Sins universe here. If popular, I'll continue it. The story begins ten years into the TEC-Vasari War, just before the involvement of the Advent. I've taken liberty with certain elements (which I can chok up to balance-needs for the actual game), and I hope you all enjoy the story.
Saints of a Solar Empire, Part 1: The Road to Hades
"Four Devastator class ships closing from astern, Captain!"
"The Carrigall reports total system failure!"
"Captain, we've reached point Alpha!"
"Release the fleet for staggered phase jump! All ships are authorized to withdraw as soon as they cross the well!" Captain Forscythe commanded. He tried not to think of the twenty-five hundred individuals who just became cosmic detris as the Kol-class battleship systems were overwhelmed by the Vasari phase missile barrage. Nor did the captain try to think of the gaping hole in his own ship where the flag bridge had once when the Schuegraf's shields were pierced with one of the alien's missile storms.
The Captain felt the hum as the anti-matter reactors came online, quickly charging the capacitor rings. Already, most of the frigates had escaped into phase space requiring less anti-matter and proportionately less time to charge to enter the over-layed dimension. Despite his orders, however, a squadron of Garda-class flak frigates remained at the well-limit, bleeding Vasari bomber and fighter squadrons as they tried to pounce on the fleeing fleet units who were without the benefit of fighter cover as the carriers fled into space.
And then Forscythe's ship slid over the the gravity well of the nexus star along with her sister ship and a surviving Marza-class dreadnought. The ships powered up, to Forscythe and their crews, an aganozingly long time to power up even though he and they knew that the ship engineer crews were cutting the safety margins to zero, if not less. They ran the risk of catastrophic failure--when matter met antimatter, explosion was an understating term--but the risk of termination far outweighed the minor possibility of something as mundane as system failure.
The flag captain slumped slightly against his shock frame, having too much stubborn discipline to openly sigh. Unlike most of the Eastern Reaches fleet, he was a veteran of combat having been a mere system defense captain ten years ago. However, he gave himself a moment to feel a flicker of pride at the way his own crew had performed.
No, they weren't vertans, but they were the product of the TEC's newest training programs--the first generation in memorable history to be fully trained to serve in a unified military force for the whole, not just isolated systems, and they performed admirably. There was no hesitation in the execution of their orders, and they knew their duty.
Unlike the first few fleets who had met the Vasari in battle, where discipline and courage were found in short supply.
Forscythe quickly pushed the thoughts aside. "Communications, tie in with CIC and report on the status of the rest of the fleet according to their last data codes. Anna," said Forscythe, addressing his exec, "status report."
The slender-framed terran girl, no more than twenty five, and appearing in her late teens thanks to advances in medical science, took a moment to compose herself. The running battle with the Vasari Task Force had run the entire crew ragged, and she took a moment to check the displa before turning to her captain.
"Shields are down to fourteen percent, but they held. Any damage we sustained was due in part to the ability of the Vasari missiles to bypass our shields a certain percentage of the time. Point defence is down to eighty percent standard efficiency, Beam Three was cut from the curcuit when a missile hit the starboard side, and Doctor Hannoi reports that we have suffered approximately two hundred dead with another three injured to varying degrees. We also suffered a direct hit to the flag bridge with one hundred percent casualties, including Vice Admiral House and Rear Admiral Jerry."
The captain winced internally. Admiral House had been a good man, with a fair amount of tactical and strategic mindedness, and his loss had caused unnecessary confusion during the battle. His loss also meant that command should have passed to the next slot in the chain of command. Unfortunately, the same hit that gouged the fleet flag deck had had to cut through the battlegroup command deck which housed the Admiral commanding the capital ship component of Task Force 3, ER-TECN.
Forscythe had taken a grave risk in not passing command. The next ranking officer had been Commodore Priev commanding the battlecruiser component, and he, Forscythe thought after reading the Commodore's dossier, was a coward. He would've ordered the fleet to break cohesion and run for it. Which might have been acceptable, had the Vasari not enough ships to break with them and still destroy them...
"Captain, I have your report," almost-whispered a voice from across the room. Lieutenant Focker was a slender man from a low-grav world much the same as Forscythe's exec. Focker's voice was not quiet out of fear, but out of habit from being able to talk clearly and concisely without slur, stutter, or a need to repeat.
"Let's hear it then, Andrew."
"Aye, sir. The Carrigall was lost with all hands, reducing our capital count to four--three Kol battleships including the Schuegraf and the Fraser. Our over-sized battlecruiser battlegroup is now an undersized one with the loss of Virgo, Kronus, Cancer, Greece, and Deneb. The Dunov suffered severe damage to her shield generators and anti-matter capacitors. She's still combat ready but only on standard reactors.."
The Lieutenant paused for a few moments before continuing. "Heavy Cruiser Squadron 657 and 435 have been lost, including the command cruiser. However, CruRon 414 and 512 are undamaged. Both squadrons of light carriers are unharmed, Captain! We've lost three fighter squadrons worth of craft, but our bomber squadrons are intact since they were never launched. According to last report, Commodore Cruze was attempting to reorganize the fighter squadrons."
Focker let out a soft sigh. "Unfortunately, sir, our screening elements were hit hard. All three scout frigate squadrons were lost--we think the Visari bombers were intentionally aiming for them to prevent us from stripping them out and sending them for reinforcements. None of our light frigates were destroyed, but once our LRMs opened fire, the Visari hit them hard. We're down to two squadrons of the Javelis ships, and two Garda squadrons."
Forscythe appeared calm as he tallied up the losses. One Kol battleship, five battlecruisers with another possible damaged beyond combat ability, ten heavy cruisers as well as their two command ships, eighteen scout frigates, and twenty four LRMs. Those fifty ships had cost the task force over twenty four thousand dead. Forscythe's squadron coherency was shot except in those rare cases that entire groups of ships were destroyed instead of one taken from squadron A and another from B.
"Anna, tell damage control to give top priority to shield generator repair and clearing the circuit to Beam Three. They can put it in manual if they must, but we're going to need it when we exit phase space. Andrew, what's the status on the Vasari Task Force?"
The Lieutenant continued without breaking a beat. "There are four Devastator class battleships and two Desolator class dreadnoughts. Our LRMs managed to destroy one of their Maurader class battlecruisers and we believe one was too damaged to continue. At the time of our phase out, it had not fired for two minutes. Their heavy cruiser squadrons are intact, but our LRMs traded missiles favorably to their Assailant heavy frigates and the Sentinel class defense frigates. We estimate that they only have two squadrons of the Sentinels and three of the Assailants. Unfortunately, their entire light frigate strength is intact at eight squadrons."
Forscythe remained thoughtful for a moment. Even without their technological advantage, the Vasari outnumbered TF3 and outmassed it around 3:2. With their tech advantage, Forscythe faced almost twice his own firepower.
Forscythe queued his pad. He knew of the system they were headed to but none of the details. Hmmm, a desert planet by the name of Hades. Not the most hopeful of names, and it was a neutral system which pocketed the Eastern Reaches, too stubborn or too far to accept Trade Order invitation or TEC might. Still, it was a poor system and they might slow the Vasari down. They would at least leave the task force alone, especially with an alien fleet inhabiting the system. At best, they would have enough forces to even the odds.
"Alright, Focker. Anna, you and the Lieutenant grab Beau, Shannon, and Jerome and meet me in the conference room. Let's brainstorm a few options for what's left of the fleet."
---
Neither the TEC Task Force nor the Vasari fleet, despite their more advanced technology, detected the nimble little craft under strict emissions control during their pitched battle, and by the time they reached a point where they could detect such a miniscule phase out with explosions and ECM playing havoc with their systems, no trace of the ship remained.
Are we ever going to get a update?
No more stories? N00000000!
Pretty good, but falls victim to some annoyances.
1) Sova, not Sovak. Spelling needs to be worked on
2) I want more Vasari!
3) Those Advent power-armor things attacking the spaceport were out of character. Granted Advent things should be more powerful than their TEC counterparts, but that's just over the top. Only Vasari should have the tech to create something that strong, and even that is really pushing it. The more often you use a nearly-invincible unit the more it detracts from the plausability.
I liked it though, you know how to create vivid imagery and tell a story well. Keep it up!
Thank you for all the support, and, yes, I will be putting up a new story later today or tomorrow, and I should be finishing the book up in three or so updates, at which point I'll take a break from the Advent Front to explore more fertile pastures--which will feature Vasari, weeee.
Oh, and sorry for the delay. Compy exploded and then I had to move. Yippee.
Cataclysm: Yeah, I've been using the manual instead of in-game data. Woops.
@3)bullet: Oh ye of little faith. All will be explained, including what the Vasari use and the TEC's countermeasures to both weapon systems.
Trust me, I think you all are gonna love the last two updates in book two, in which I get to think of new and interesting ways to screw the TEC, mwahahahaha.
lol yay! I cant wait to read it!
I want TEC space marines! Fitted with cool black mesh armor that absorbs lasers and bullets for a limited time. Oh and cool weapons like a automatic rifle that shoots tiny tungsten missiles that pierce those Advent soldiers armor and explode inside. A laser rifle too that can alternate between a continuing stream or rapid lancing. Also they should have drones like the ones for their repair ships that swarm the Advent and cut their armor open like so many cans... please?
I was lead to believe armor was not one of the Advent's strong points, as hinted by their ships... although I guess you can still claim it's like the Radiance's Energy Absorptive Armor.
Its still quite a good read. I'm itching to find the reaction of the Advent and TEC when they face Subverters with Distortion Field.
You will not believe how happy I was to hear more parts were going to be posted! yay!
I hope the next story involves the TEC marines kicking sh*t out of the Advent. Mechs, marines, and molecular distortion rays!
Saints of a Solar Empire Chapter 2, Part 7: Purifying Fire
"It's confirmed, sir. Marco Polo's been destroyed. Looks like they used strikecraft this time."
Admiral Palmer nodded and gestured to the communications officer to continue on.
His forces had been stalking the Nexus-class star in the An'd'vari cluster for several days. Because of its proximity to the Northern Kingdoms and near the edge of the Order space, the An'd'vari based forces had always been a pocket task group. Even after being picked over for White Fleet, the admiral still had a full squadron of capital ships. Unfortunately, all the firepower in the universe didn't matter unless they could bring their stupendous strength to bear.
For the past several days, trade ships entering the nexus star had been pounced on and destroyed. It was a classic tactic of phase space warfare. The tradeships coming from the neighboring stars usually had plenty of power left to make an emergency phase transfer to one of the other systems. However, one of the multi-megatonne vessels making transit from several hundred light years away was reduced to the bare essentials of power requirement as their capacitors were drained. It took time to recharge for a phase jump, even one as short as a few light years. The time could be reduced by absorbing the massive amounts of energy thrown out by the An'd'vari furnace, but while a ship was busy recharging their capacitors in such a way, they were more or less defenseless and immobile.
In theory, this made the freightors sitting ducks. The huge, lumbering ships relied more on their phase engines than the sublight engines. After all, why would you need to move at the max c-fractional velocity when the gravity well of a planet was so shallow? As such, anyone with a military grade engine could easily catch them, and if the trade vessel attempted to flee, their frantic haste would take them away from the sun, slowing their charging, and any attempt to push their engines would actually drain them!
However, two anomalies stood out in these attack patterns. Firstly, the reports of the strikecraft being used to hunt the trade ships indicated that this wasn't a typical pirate raid. Strikecraft were impressive, powerful vessels for their displacement. However, the systems integration required in a warship displaced weapons, and pirates always wanted as many weapons as possible. Small craft also required pilots who, by the very nature of their missions, had to be trained--well--and quickly replaced because of attritional losses. Most importantly, of course, were the technicians who maintained and repaired the fighters and bombers. Pirates could barely be convinced to maintain their own shoddy, patchwork hulls protecting them from exposure space.
The second item that stood out in these attacks were the fact that the shipments were being destroyed. Pirates, by their very nature, were raiders--attempting to capture as much of their prey intact as they could. Merchant vessels could be salvaged, their crews pressed into service aboard pirate vessels, and the cargo could be used or sold to a black market fence. Destroying vessels that they could salvage was just bad business.
Which indicated that the hostiles weren't pirates but were, in fact, Vasari.
The Vasari had a history of this sort of rear-area raiding. Despite their more advanced technology, the invaders preferred to operate behind enemy lines, where their individual superiority, knowledge of phase space, and supreme endurance counted for the most. It also meant that they could off balance the terrans fairly easily, since they had a habit of 'shot-gunning' their target area as well as surrounding systems. Of course, even then, sometimes they misdirected by attacking a system they hadn't even threatened!
It was quite frustrating, as were the Vasari themselves.
Still, the situation didn't seem like something the Vasari would do. The loss of life and equipment from the merchants was notable, but the fact of the matter was that the attacks were more annoying than anything, and the Vasari were usually quite dilberate in their attacks. They'd hit a target, move on, and cause as much general chaos as possible. The general, almost clumsy, method of sticking to the nexus and hitting anything they could seemed counter productive. By modest estimates, the Vasari had to have at least a Maurader-class battlecruiser, one or two escort carriers, and at least two scout frigates, probably pretending to be holes in space around An'd'vari and keeping an eye on Palmer's task group. More than likely, they had several more vessels than that, especially if they decided to bloody Palmer's system picket.
A single Devastator could annihilate his entire command at medium rangers, and a Desolator with Assailants could wound his ships greatly before they managed to escape. Still, battleships, even Vasari battleships, weren't designed for long ranged missions like the Marauder battlecruisers were, so odds were that anything that Palmer's ships ran into, he'd be able to scare off, unless the Vasari had established more than a rudimentary base for their raiding operations.
"Marco Polo's captain was in the Minverva reserves," continued to communications officer. "We've got a partial scan and a locus from where he was pounced." Lieutenant Matoya shifted uncomfortably under his admiral's full attention, and quickly shifted his gaze down to his data pad. "Looks like she was hit sunward, sir. CIC's feeding the info into the screen now, along with projected courses, based on incoming merchant schedules. Also, sir, the partial on the bogey...it's not perfect--merchies have crappy sensors though Marco Polo's captain, a, uhm, Captain Leonard, she upgraded her suites. Their assailant was in the upper capital ship range."
The admiral nodded and dismissed the officer. Upper capital ship range was a little surprising, all things considered. There were only three ships in the known Vasari warship inventory that would have those masses--a Devastator, Desolator, or one of their carriers. The aliens, for whatever reason, didn't particularly think very highly of strikecraft tactics. They still used them, of course, but in smaller squadrons and usually in a purely defensive formation deployed inside their own ships' anti-missile/strikecraft envelope. Of course, the Vasari's general technological superiority made them deadly combatants.
Because of their disdain for strikecraft, Vasari rarely used their own carriers. In fact, they've only been confirmed in only a few battles on the Western Front, and then, only when the Vasari themselves were caught off-guard. The Office of Shipbuilding's study of the remains of destroyed carriers have even determined that the carriers are of a less sophisticated design than the rest of the Vasari fleet!
Palmer checked CIC's course estimations, though the admiral suspected that guesses would have been a more accurate word. Space was huge, to say the least, and the entire Home Fleet could be hiding out there and he would have no idea about it. Add to the fact that the massive star pumping out radiation and other interference, and he would be hard-pressed to do anything more than stumble over a stealthed ship by sheer accident.
The merchant manifests indicated that there were only three incoming ships within range of the Marco Polo attack. Two were one-ship transits while the lad had four ships. In theory, the enemy would hit the third in order to destroy as much cargo as possible, but whoever was in command might anticipate that move and choose one of the other targets, just to be difficult. It was also possible that the enemy ships may simply not know about one or more of the incoming merchant groups, and may simply decide to engage the ones they know about--or none at all.
Still, given the choice between losing one merchant vessel and four, Palmer's choice was clear. Even if one of the other merchantmen were destroyed, he might be able to pinpoint the attackers and force an engagement. Barring that, he'd at least be able to escort the merchantment to the phase limit and send them on their way further into the cluster.
However, another problem presented itself as he checked CIC's numbers on his intercept course. His ships could make it, with time to spare, but he'd have to move at such speeds that any scout ship without range would definitely detect him, no matter how good his ECM. If his entire force was detected, he had no doubt that his attackers would simply move on, and while that wound be acceptable, Palmer wanted a little bit of payback for all the lives these bandits had caused. Unfortunately, moving the maximum speed that would strain his ECM, he'd miss to deadline by over four hours.
It's the capital ships, Palmer thought. His lighter combatants were small enough that they didn't need stealth--they could just maintain emissions control. His heavy cruisers and escort carriers did, but they could also move at much greater speeds under stealth than, proportionally, capital ships could. Of course, if Palmer left his capital ships behind, odds are that even a light Vasari escort flotilla could chew up his units, and the merchantment may be damaged through fighter strikes without his big ships' anti-strikecraft/missile arsenal.
Then he had an idea.
"Nimoy, I'm sending you a coursework. I want you to refine it and tell me if it'll work under stealth," said the admiral to Lieutenant Willis, his staff navigator, as Palmer scribbled down some estimations onto his datapad then sent them over to Willis's screen.
The navigator replied a few minutes later. "Ah, yes, Admiral, it should work. We'll have to go in with full shields running, but the interference should mask us pretty well, sir."
"Excellent! Alright, here's what we're going to do..."
It was a simple enough plan. In essence, Palmer used his greatest obstacle, the Nexus star, in order to make his timetable. By immediately dropping into stealth, Palmer sent his lighter ships along a wider course around the sun while his six capital ships formed up and proceeded along a much tighter course around the sun.
Capital ships' much stronger shields were able to deflect enough radiation to allow his full force to arrive at the transit point with time to spare. In fact, the interference from the star would allow him to travel faster and with his shields at full and still not be detected--all of his ships would arrive approximately at thesame time.
The tactic wasn't without its risk. If the enemy engaged his light combatants, his capital ships would be unable to support, and they would most likely be destroyed or reduced to impotence. Likewise, if the enemy manuevered on the outside of his course, the could force a missile engagement on his unsupported capital ships, and while both targeting systems would be degraded by nearly 80%, his capital ships would be at more of a disadvantage in purely equal terms--and if there was one thing Palmer and the TEC had learned in the past ten years of fighting, it was suicide to fight the Vasari at relatively equal tonnage at range.
Admiral Palmer was resting comfortably at his station on the flag deck as the last of his dispersed elements slid back into formation. The journey had taken slightly longer than estimated, though his plan still gave them a little leeway--ther merchant vessels weren't scheduled to arrive for another three hours, but phase travel over such vast distances could vary by days by even the slightest of delays, so his forces probably had plenty of time.
Still, he kept a quarter of his vessels at general quarters at all times, including at least one capital ship. He needed sharp eyes on the sensors. It cost his ships in fatigue and equipment wear, but a surprise assault would be slightly more costly, not only in equipment but lives.
"Admiral," stated Lieutenant Leonard, breaking Palmer's reverie, "the Gaea reports a sensor ghost and--scratch that, sir, she's got a hard lock on a bogey directly starside of the convoy arrive point!"
So, Palmer thought, they were intending to pounce these ships. Well, we'll just have to teach them the error of their ways.
"CIC is refining the data, Admiral," said Captain Parks, Palmer's chief of staff. "According to the data, contact is indeed capital range, and she's deep in the star's radiation field."
The admiral nodded. They were using the same trick he had used in getting here--resting more or less relative, allowing the sun to mask their presence until the right time in which they'd pull out just long enough to launch their strikecraft safely, wipe out the merchantmen, then retreat back into obscurity.
Unfortunately for them, their plan had backfired. He had detected them before they were in the optimal attack range, and if he attacked now, he'd have them trapped between the sun and his forces. Both combatants would be without strikecraft as the sun's radiation would fry a pilot in something as flimsy as a fighter or bomber, but he had many, many times the firepower than a single capital ship.
And, of course, their position wouldn't allow anything less than a capital ship's shields to prevent fatal radiation to their crew.
"Additional enemies?" asked Palmer, already having a gut feeling on the answer.
"Ah, no, sir. We're having a hard time keeping lock on the alpha contact as it is. It'd be almost impossible to find other ships, too."
"Do the scout frigates report anything?" Fearing a flank attack, Admiral Palmer had decided to deploy six scout vessels in a standard cube pattern to watch for anything nibbling around the edges of his fleet.
"No, Admiral. If there's more ships out there, they're out of active sensor range, and they're in stealth to keep our passives out of the equation. If the unidentified is sending them signals, they're using whisker lasers and not omni-directional transmissions."
The admiral nodded. It was possible and more than likely probable that the unknown had friends with him waiting in ambush, and Palmer knew that there were at least several enemy scout ships. They must be aware that they had lost tracking of his entire force, and that they were in range to intercept their forces when they hit the merchants.
It was always possible that the enemy knew the exact details of his force composition and his position. If that were the case, and the raiders were still here, it meant that they had enough forces to wipe him out, which meant he was screwed in any case. He'd either be forced to engage the enemy when they pounced on the convoy. Even if he abandoned the merchantmen, they could simply sweep along the cluster until he was forced to make a stand with his back pressed against a population center.
However, between choosing the fight the enemy on his own terms or the enemy's, the choice was simple. If the unknown was part of a large, spread out force, it would be much easier to take out a single force in detail--and a capital ship's destruction might have those Vasari bastards think twice about tangling with the rest of Palmer's force with nothing but light and possibly medium combatants, especially since Palmer was well stocked in strikecraft.
"Alright, Rose," said Palmer, having made up his mind on the best course of action, given the situation. "Let's get the fleet in formation Delta-II. Leave the escort and fleet carriers here. We won't be needing them in a battle that close to the sun. Oh, and leave CruRon 887 with her screening elements to watch over the carriers. After that, we'll..."
I've got the bastrds.
Calmy, calmy, Palmer told himself. Best not to get over excited, now, is it? Keep cool. Keep calm. Be the crew's rock. You knew this was going to happen all along.
Sure, of course you did.
They were almost in extreme missile range and the enemy had given no indication that they had been detected. Palmer didn't know why, but he'd take it. The closer he got, the less tracking time the enemy would have. If they weren't at general quarters, his salvo would go in almost unopposed, and with the number of launchers on his three Dunov battlecruisers, they would tear apart an unshielded Vasari battleship all on their own.
Unfortunately, Palmer did have to halt his frigates outside of the engagement zone due to radiation buildup. The loss of the Javelis launchers hurt, but Palmer was more worried about the loss of the flak frigates--Vasari missiles were always dangerous, and the only way to 100% insure that they didn't pierce the hull was to take them out before they hit the shields.
"Sir! Gaea reports she's being hit with active sensors," said Leonard, listening to his com. "Scratch that, the entire squadron reports being hit. They know we're here, sir."
"Well, so much for the element of surprise," Palmer heard Parks whisper under her breath.
"We always knew this was a possibility, Rose. Still, we're close enough to force an engagement. The squadron's shields are up, I take it?"
The chief of staff nodded. "Yes, sir, they implemented Alpha-2 immediately when hit by sensors."
"Send word to Captain Trimell," said Palmer referring to his flag captain on the warship bridge buried at the center of his Kol battleship. "Inform her that the Dunovs may fire a single salvo. Let's see how good our people perform."
The three Dunov battlecruisers belched dozens of missiles at the single enemy vessel, who had managed to work up their shields and ECM. They appeared sluggish, however, as almost thirty percent of the missiles smashed into their shields, which was almost double the estimated ten percent impact for a first volley and this close to the nexus star.
Palmer felt a smirk of satisfaction as the blip representing the Zulu bogey began to flash as the computer calculated hits. It was a small downpayment on the butcher's bill he owed them for all the ships they had destroyed in this system.
"Sir, CIC is getting some hard data on Zulu. It matches no known emissions, tonnage, or class of Vasari warship."
The admiral looked at his chief of staff for a few minutes before his mind processed the information. If they weren't Vasari, then who could they be? Pirates? No, they didn't fit the behavior pattern. Someone new? Then why attack with no provocation, and why hadn't anyone else heard of them? Surely some backwater planet would attack the Trade Order nor was there anyone this side of the Northern Kingdoms who would have the capcity or motive to rebel...
"Admiral, Captain Trimell reports that the hostile is retreating further into the star, and--sir, tracking has lost a hard lock on her."
Palmer frowned. The Vasari could, of course, operate much deeper, thanks to their generally superior shields and armor. However, Zulu's current position was at the extreme edge of what TEC capital ships could endure, even with full shields.
In all likelihood, Palmer's attack had panicked the enemy carrier--and carrier it must be, due to the number of strikecraft reported by Marco Polo--and they, lacking the armor or weapons to strike back, had simply retreated closer to the sun. Palmer felt unfulfilled at that thought--he wanted to destroy the carrier, but if it's captain had opted to fry every living thing on the ship with radiation, the admiral couldn't complain too much.
"Well, it wasn't what I expected, but my compliments, people. Rose, get with the other ships and get everything you can on the unknown. I'm sure intelligence will want to know about them. No point in running quiet anymore on the battlecruisers. Any scout ships out there will be tracking them continuously, but I think we've delt with the threat.
"Let's get back to those merchies."
The battle station kloxon woke the admiral from his quarters a split second before his channel was pinged. Groggily, Palmer opened the link and was greeted by the faces on Captain Trimell and Captain Parks. Palmer quickly shook his brain into operation upon seeing the look on both their faces.
"Sir, the convoy has arrived and is at the rendevous point with the carriers, but we've detected a phase out and speeding towards them quickly. The enemy ships have the same emissions pattern and approximite size of the carrier that we engaged."
"Tell the carriers to form up on us, along with the lighter ships. Have the merchantment follow us--they'll be safer with us from a strikecraft launch. I'll be on the bridge in ten minutes."
"Aye, sir," and Trimell's screen vanished.
"Size and make of the enemy force, Rose?" the admiral said, glancing at his chief of staff as he hurried into his uniform trousers.
"At least three of those large carriers and about three dozen lighter ships. CIC has designated them Zulu-II, and--" Rose was cut off as she pressed her hand to her earpiece, listening quickly. "Sir, they've launched strikecraft on an interceptor course to us, and there's more coming in from behind us"
Palmer frowned then sighed. Clearly, Zulu-I wasn't quite as dead as he thought, which spoke well of their shielding. "Authorize the carriers to defend themselves with their fighters, but tell them to wait for the rest of the task group to join them. It's not like they can take out our ships with just strikecraft."
Admiral Canaan resisted the urge to hurl his chair against the wall in frustration.
Where are you, Palmer? her growled inside his mind. You're over sixteen hours due for a report.
Canaan was responsible for the defense of Georgette in the Atalia system, the most heavily industrialized system in the An'd'vari cluster. He was also responsible for the several billion people inhabiting the planet, and with Palmer gone, he had lost all but a few of his defense forces. All he had were a few frigates, a heavy cruiser, and a half-dozen weapons platforms and hanger systems to defend the entire planet.
At least merchants were getting through, thought the Vice Admiral. He desperately wanted to know what happened with Palmer's forces, but all the merchantment coming through had been on the other side of the nexus star.
So, all Palmer was doing was screwing with the defense command CO in order to show the superiority of the new, shiny TECN to the old-fashioned, backwards planetary defense units.
Canaan was going to enjoy issuing a report to his superiors.
As he took exquisite pleasure in that thought, a chime sounded on the admiral's official screen unit. With a quick voice command, the connection was made and Canaan's sensor officer was appeared on the wall.
"Sir, an unknown phase out has occured at the limit."
"Is it Palmer?"
"No, sir, the emissions are too strange and by the strength of the ripple, the numbers don't match either. There's at least four battleship-range ships out there and a few dozen frigates for company."
Nice!!!!
Damn those Advent! They're not that powerful! The bloody TEC should have at least had 50% chance of taking them out. If this is all your stories are going to be about, the TEC getting bum raped, then I'm out! Advent got nothing on the TEC!
It should've been like "Bwee bwee bwee, oh no how could that clever and very handsome TEC Admiral outwit us the Advent again!?" The marines would be all like "KUCHUCK" as they boarded the Advent carrier and pistol whipped the jacked pilots. Then the Advent leader would like try a mind trick on the marines but Pvt. Jenkins would all like blast her through the wall. KAPOWW!
Take your story through the path you fancy the best. I find it interesting, your story. Why should humans always win? Is it not fun to kill the TEC in your stories?
Besides, since I have no special inclination for any of the three races, I have no problem with the TEC paying for their sins.
And for all you naysayers, if you want the TEC to kick ass, you have two options:
1. Start modding.
2. Begin your own story.
Pick any of the two.
By the way,great read.
Come on guys, he deserves more Karmas.
I don't think it's a bad story, but I kinda feel like the invincible enemy plotline has been beaten to death. Nothing is invincible. The way the author portrayed some of the TEC officers is inaccurate. They're reckless and accept to many losses as a whole. Other than that, I wonder how the TEC have been "holding off the Vasari and in some cases pushing them back" if they can't even hold against an enemy that is only 1000 years ahead of them. The Vasari had ten's of thousands of warfare and technology behind them, yet the TEC Navy held their own. The were derived from a mostly peaceful society and had no history of warfare which we know of. The TEC have been fighting a war for ten years.
If you ask me how I would have portrayed the Advent, it would be as inexperienced rookies. Their first battles would have been disatrous as they smashed their ships on the hulls of the TEC's veterans. However as time went on the Advent rapidly changed due to their pseudo-hivemind. They would begin outmanuevering the TEC early on taking advantage of the TEC underestimating them. All while this is happening the Advent political spectrum would change for the radicals as the old gaurd was replaced by more zealous followers of the new regime. At the time of Entrenchment I bet the Advent would be on the verge of civil war, with two conflicting ideas swirling around the hivemind. On the Stalwart side would be the more diplomacy/economic Advent focusing on conversion of the conquered TEC worlds. The Reformers would be radically more violent literrally wiping infidels with every chance they got.
Just as all this is happening the TEC, having entrenched themselves firmly decide to lauch an all out attack on their invaders. With the war on all sides reaching its climax, the entity which has been chasing the Vasari arrives. It litterally destroys and drives most of the TEC's and Vasari's fleets mad. The Advent are strangely unaffected. The Stalwarts are faced with a choice. Leave the infidels to their doom, or unite known space under their voice to strike down this danger. The Reformers however hear a different voice, one promising revenge and power to strike down all their enemies. They leave known space for the areas under effect of this madness.
Just my opinion though.
HeroicHerald:
The Advent are far from invincible. However, they have many, many advantages which will be explained in more detail in the next update.
As for the TEC, yes, they've been fighting the Vasari for ten years, but you have to remember that the Trade Order was at peace for a thousand years and hadn't built a dedicated warship in over eight hundred years. The Vasari scout ships were enough to take away whole worlds from the Trade Order when they first arrived. In short, the Trade Order was getting its ass kicked for whole years before they even started putting up a fight.
Their advantage? Massive infrastructure. In my story, the Trade Order has four sectors--the core systems, the Northern Kingdoms, Eastern Reaches, and the Western/Alien Front. That's several thousand systems right there, with the core systems being so old and prosperous (and dominant) as to be able to outproduce the other three sectors combined.
That's why the Vasari didn't conquer them--all they had were what they had in their current Exodus Fleet (and I'll go further into them in the next chapter). They could only occupy so many systems at once, all the while trying to balance the war cost with hoarding resources for their next Exodus.
In short, the TEC is/was too big to conquer outright, which bought the Trade Order time to kick in a full scale military (TEC). However, the only way they're winning is by having (a lot) more ships than the Vasari whenever they battle. That, and getting in close where it becomes a slug-fest that favors the TEC and minimizes Vasari technological tricks.
It's only recently that the war has stabilized, allowing the TEC to cycle in new officers--the veterans either retire to teaching positions to further educate the incoming recruits instead of keeping them out in the fight and getting them killed, and losing all that valuable knowledge.
One of the reasons the TEC is losing whole-handedly in the Eastern Reaches is because, one, their officers are more or less newbies and most of their warships and crews are working up in preparation for being sent to the alien front, and, two, the Advent, being on the offensive, know where to hit and have much, much more forces to sledgehammer against the outnumbered TEC vessels.
I must say this is a pretty good story. The tec seem a little weak, but as you said newbies in command.
I like to compare the tec to the humans in the HALO universe, in that they are vastly out classed but their vast numbers and tatics can help. In sins you face things like phase missles of the vasari and the shields of the advent, much like the shields and plasma missles the halo aliens have.
The TEC have very strong armor points, much like the humans.
Your story really has me pumped. I have not been so intrestested in reading something since the halo books. I never cared for that game to much but the story in the books I liked.
What inpresses me most about your story so far as we know what all the ships are and its easy to picture it. Its very well done.
Josef: Say that after I introduce the new ship types.
Oh, am I getting a little too ahead of myself?
I still believe that the TEC haven't been represented correctly. In my mind, when the Vasaris came they conquered nearly a quarter of the TEC space before the ten year gap brought them to a halt. At first it may have been numbers that helped the TEC from being crushed. They merely lost a limb for the whole body. However if you compare this to the actual game, I would say that the TEC had a 1.5 five loss rate against the Vasari when the Advent came. It also specifically states in the intro that they were pulling veterens from retirement to fight the Advent. These are people who fought and SURVIVED with something like 10 to 1 kill ratio for TEN years. Against a society that is not only smaller but less technologically advanced then their long enemy the Vasari they would hold them back within months of first contact. The kill ratio between the Advent and TEC would be 1.3 maybe at the most. How this would effect the TEC I don't know, but I believe the Advent would only succeed in stoping the TEC from wiping out the Vasari as troops had to be directed to two fronts.
The Advents real advantages aren't that overwhelming or I as a player wouldn't be able to beat other people playing them. Take two fleets of even numbers and the TEC would have a decent shot at winning. My point is that in battles with these foes, mere technology can't decide the victor. I would come down to skill and who had defenses in place. Personally I believe the TEC have more skill, numbers, defenses, money, drive, and power. Let me stress again that the TEC have surivived against a society of super technologically advanced conquerers whose very livelihood depends on enslaving other species. They have fought for ten years and while that may not seem like much to you, it is more than what a bunch of genetically altered pyschic exiles could muster up on a whim to gain their homeworld. The advent should be massacred in the beginning.
Believe it or not I don't have any prejudice to the Advent. They just aren't prepared for war. Those early battle they will have against the TEC will be the worst in their history. It will not end them but sharpen their blades as the Vasaris have to the TEC. Each side by the end of this war will be scary to behold. They all have a choice, either to adapt or die. The Advent will have to choose wheither to abandon their morals and seek vengeance or perish in battle. Like I said, they will survive, but whatever ends this war won't be TEC, Advent, or Vasari. It won't even be human. The game is called after all, Sins of a Solar Empire...
What do you mean it won't be TEC, Advent, or Vasari? Why won't it be human? And what does the fact that the game is called Sins of a Solar Empire have to do with anything?
Samurye.
Because each empire will have to sacrafice their values and ways of life to win like I don't know making sins. I'm just saying that they won't be recognizible at the end. The Vasari will have abandoned their exodus, the TEC their prosperity, and the Advent will have lost harmony. They will have all sinned. That's why I like this story because it focues on the brutality and carnage of the war. There is no "win-win" only easy victories and crushing defeats. Just like real warfare.
Can't wait for the next part of the story though. I bet you that the TEC will come rushing in to find their world destroyed and then its all bets off the table. Nuclear weapons, torture, and targeting civilians.
Okay now it makes sense! By the end of the war they will have twisted themselves to the point of becoming unrecoginizable killing machines living only to destroy, bloodthirsty murderers waiting in the dark. Also the victor probably won't be human because that thing chasing the Vasari will come and destroy everyone! My guess is that it's Gravemind, you know because of the "I am a monument to all your sins" stuff.
whatever ends this war won't be TEC, Advent, or Vasari. It won't even be human. [/quote]
i thought you were referring to the mystery fourth race that has been chasing the vasari
now that you explained it, though, you are completely right. war does terrible things to those involved
Damn, now I got to sit throught another halo game.......
The races fight one another and soon resort to horrendous acts of evil, massacres, torture, mindless violence... soon they have changed ito something else, something horrible. Seeing what they have done they try to turn back but then they realize the truth... there is no turning back and before them is only the abyss. Now the only solace can be found in death but they will not let themselves die. They have destroyed and burned and killed for too long and changed to much too let themselves die. Now when all hope for a peaceful future has been thrown aside they kill...and kill...and kill. Finally there is only death. When the enemy of the Vasari finally arrive they find only graveyard planets orbiting dead stars in empty systems. An entire galaxy ravaged by the Sins of a Solar Empire.
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