(Personal / DS)

    Finally planetside Roesh, Henry, Todd, and Tim head over to the tent city hospital where all of the injured were taken.  They shake their heads at the quality of care that their people are being given, knowing that back on board their medical facilities are far better, although less spacious.
    Roesh nudges Henry, "This is definately one of the things that will have to be improved.  Let's bring down a bunch of medical supplies and some other little goodies and start getting the people here interested in what we have to offer."
    Henry nods and he heads back to the the shuttle he came down in.  Tim starts walking around talking to all of the fleet people that were injured while Roesh and Todd pay Casey a visit when they finally spot her.  Todd picks up a small pillow and tosses it at her, hitting her in the shoulder getting her attention.
    "Hey boss." She says.
    "You too hurt to work?" Roesh asks.
    "Nope."
    "Good, we've got to go see the govenor of this planet."
    "Can I come along?" She asks eagerly.
    "Of course, that's why we're here.  You're being collected so we can head over there."
    "Let's go!" She says as she jumps up from her cot.
    The three head off to the nearby town.  They recieve looks and stares from the locals as they walk down the streets lined with buildings that all look like they're in need of a fair amount of repairs.  They ask around about Captain Rollin's place and are directed to a large estate fenced in on the edge of town.  Having seen all that they wanted to, they start asking where they could find the govenor and are pointed to the town hall.  Eventually they arrive at the gate of a building that is more lavishly decorated then all of the others.  They figure this must be the place they're looking for.  At the door they're greeted by a servant.
    "Can I help you with something?" the servant asks.
    "Yeah, uh...  We're here for the govenor on behalf of our people taking refuge here." Todd replies.
    "This way please." The servant replies.
    The trio are led down a hallway where it's obvious to them that no expense was spared.  They enter the room at the end and are greeted by Govenor Kieran himself, sitting behind his desk.  The servant pulls another chair over so all four can sit, Kieran behind his desk, Todd in the middle opposite Kieran, flanked by Roesh on his right, and Casey on his left.
    Todd leans over to Casey and whispers to her, "He likes his money..."
    Roesh taps him on his shoulder, when he leans back Roesh says quietly, "Birth rite."
    Todd says, "What?"
    Roesh repeats a little louder, "Birth rite."
    Casey get's a quizical look on her face and Kieran asks, "What's this birth rite?"
    Todd speaks up, "What my colleague is saying is that where I'm from, if someone takes something from me in battle, by accident or not, when they die I get their's in return.  Cosmic Karma...  It's for warriors so that they are ensured a place of honor among other warriors in the afterlife...  Your Captain Rollin took my home away, so now I get his in return, to restore honor to his spirit."
    Kieran sits back while taking a moment to contemplate this information and consider Rollin's large estate on the edge of town. "I see...  Not that we're obligated to honor your traditions here...  Well, Rollin didn't have anything here, the nothingness of space was his home.  He much preferred the mobility of his ship then planting roots on terra firma."
    Todd stands up and extends his hand, the others stand up as well and Kieran shakes his hand.
    Todd says, "I understand what you're saying and I accept." They all quickly exit leaving the govenor standing there curious as to what just happened.
    Once outside, Casey asks, "Birth rite?"
    Roesh replies, "Negotiation tactic."
    Casey retorts, "Lying... Since when has that become a negotiation tactic"
    Todd replies, "Since the dawn of time my dear.  You Advent wouldn't really know much about that since you go digging around in each other's heads every time you want to talk.  Negotiations between your people must be a horrible thing.  Knowing each other's thoughts takes the fun out of it."
    "At least we don't suffer from the greed that you guys suffer from." she replies.
    "A valid point, but greed itself can be manipulated.  You get that meeting recorded, Todd?" Roesh asks.
    "Of course, boss." Todd answers.
    Roesh continues, "You see, Casey, we know Rollin had a home here, we saw it with our own eyes.  Well decorated as opposed to the rest of the town that we've seen.  We saw the govenor's place.  Even better decor there.  There's clearly a class system in effect here and fair amount of greed going on here.  Greed doesn't work with honor, so by explaining the 'Birth Rite', we're betting the govenor is going to take possession of the late captain's stuff and offer us nothing in return.  The key in the negotiation is getting him to say the right things.  Fortunately for us, he unwittingly right away gave us permission to use the space around this planet, and if at any time that becomes a disputed point, we just replay the meeting where he offers Todd the nothingness of space.  If he argues that it's not what he meant then we apply a possible funding boost appealing to his sense of greed, and we pepper the population with videos of him selling not only space, but taking large amounts of credits for it.  We end up controlling his future, he either works with us, or we hand him over to an angry mob.  So for now, there's really nothing left for us to do here.  After we build up our assets, we can bring stuff back down here and start to sway the masses into our favor.  Whatever happens though, we have a verbal contract, signed by a handshake, fully recorded.  We're good.  Make sure Henry gets that recording right away."
    The three head back to the tent city and wait for Henry to get back with better medical supplies.  They then return to the Advocate to get to work on planning out how they want the system to build up.  Knowing that they'll have to go back to Trader Space to get more people, they decide to first build a frigate factory and get a few colony ships off the line to ferry people in to the other colonies.  Where to start building up first though adds a bit of conflict to the meeting.  Eventually, it's decided that the desert planet, better known as Finley 2, was going to be the location.  It's four jumps from the star putting it at a disadvantage for any kind of quick response, but it's a single jump from there to both resource ateroids in the system, so there will be plenty of raw materials nearby for early construction efforts.  Todd takes this opportinity to clue Roesh in on the advanced weaponery wielded by their former opponents.  Roesh agrees that it's a clear problem and he'll do some reaching out to get more information on that issue.  In the mean time, Henry is to get Finley 2 up and running and with the help of Tim, outfitted with a repair bay for their battered ships as well as the factory already discussed.  Additionally, a broadcast center was to be placed in orbit around the Finley 3 moon to monitor and intercept any communications coming into or leaving the Finley system, as well as provide the system with a permanent deep space communications link.  A trade port was also scheduled to be built in orbit around the second moon around Finley 4 to be the gathering point for all outside resources once all of the other assets were in place.  Todd is ordered to get a couple research stations in the works and start figuring out ways to increase the damage potential of their current systems.  Casey is to get mining started on both asteroids, and to salvage what she can off of the former guard fleet to help Todd with his work.  The Advocate and Firebrand are pulled to set up orbit on Finley 2.  The Contender, Affliction, and Abettor are left in orbit around Finley 1 to provide continued security for the refugees as well as maintaining a noticable presence for the current colony.  The Assailant, Foe Hammer, Crux and Fulcrum are put in orbits around the star Finley to greet any guests and handle any intruders.  The Pioneer is sent back to their old Trader Space systems to start collecting people wanting to come out to their new holdings and be a collection point for the colony frigates when they arrive.  The remaining frigates are split into two groups, 4 light frigates, 2 siege frigates and 1 flak frigate in orbit around the second moon of Finley 4, and 3 light frigates, 3 siege frigates and 1 flak frigate in orbit around the moon of Finley 3, as well as the hoshiko cruiser to assist with the construction of the broadcast center.

(DS RP)

An ensign walks onto the bridge and heads to tactical, where Alexander consults with his Lieutenant Commander. "Sir, Paragon Carbon has arrived and is ready to meet with you."

Alexander's eyes dart about the bridge, "Was expecting something over the comm. Alright, escort him to the bridge."

The ensign nods, "He's already here, sir."

Alexander stares blankly into the back of the ensign's head as he heads out, momentarily sending in the Paragon. Alexander's attention snaps to, "Paragon Carbon, nice to make your acquaintance."

Carbon salutes when approaching, "Likewise, Admiral. I understand your men have been busy."

Alexander salutes back before turning his attention to the tactical display, "Yes, sorry for the onboard conditions, but my men have been multi-tasking fiercely. Until recently, we've been working on the gate, the one thing I'm glad to have the Vasari around for. Which, by the way, I want to thank you for the planet-side assistance. I'm not planning to keep any hold here, but the people shouldn't suffer in our wake. Excuse me for a moment."

He heads to another station, leaning over an officer's shoulder to coordinate information on the screen. While he does this, Carbon replies, "I'm glad to assist wherever necessary. We've appreciated your help and I would like to give you my condolences for the loss of the Jericho."

"Thanks," Alexander says. "Speaking of which, you might remember a Captain Levin."

"It's been some time, but yes."

"Well," Alexander continues, "he was commanding the Jericho. Luckily, he survived the ordeal, but it may be a bit before he's on his feet again. Just to... hold on."

Alexander walks over to a man working on the holoprojector and begins to tell him something when the holoprojector sparks, causing several people to flinch and a stream of smoke to rise in the air. Alexander recovers from the surprise to finish his sentence to the man before returning his attention to Carbon, "Sorry about that. I was just letting you know since you two will probably see each other soon."

"I'm glad to hear that. It appears you're busy, Admiral, so I'll cut to the chase. We need every ship we can muster for the engagement against the Advent. Have you had a chance to look at the report Ryat provided?"

Alexander breaks from his tasks to stand before the Paragon, "Yes, I've gone over it. I won't argue that it looks serious, but the Advent will be present in heavy numbers and any attempt to take the technology will result in high casualties, one way or another."

"I know," Carbon replies, "but that's why we need every man. If there are going to be losses, I would prefer fewer on our side. To lose this fight is to leave the Advent with the ability to harm countless more. I know you don't care to fight the Advent, but we could use your support on this."

"It's not just me, Paragon. My men, as a whole, are less than enthused about taking the offensive against the Advent. With a weapon like this, I understand that what we do can be considered defensive, but there are a lot of other options, and losses are losses, justified or not. The best I can offer at this moment is to consider the plan while I await reinforcements. Beyond that, I am ready to fight the Vasari, tooth and nail. I'll fight the Advent, but if they come to me. I hope that's not too much of a problem for you."

Carbon nods, "I'll wait for your reply. I hope you decide to join the assault. In the meantime, let me know if you need any further assistance with the recovery effort."

"I will do that. If you get the opportunity, tell Xenon I said thanks again for the hull upgrade. It's done a great deal for our plate recovery." Alexander salutes and Carbon replicates the gesture before he takes his leave of the bridge.

Flicking through the memories that Ryan had sent him, Thenos frowned. There had been four capital ships at the Finley star, but it wasn’t the number that caught Thenos’ attention. After all, Ryan hadn’t lost any ships; he’d just turned and ran. It was the markings on the capital ships that Thenos was interested in. He had seen them before. It had been one of his earliest assignments, back in the old sector. Two capital ships, one TEC, the other Vasari, had met in a remote gravity well. When Thenos arrived to investigate, the two ships were already leaving. The TEC ship had had the same markings as the ones in the Finley system. Thenos couldn’t remember the name of the organisation, but whoever was at Finley was a trader at heart, and one who would sell anything to anyone. This was good, especially if they had an Advent with them, as it would mean they would probably have, and sell, Advent tech. Now he just needed to talk to them, so that he could meet them safely. Thenos reached out with his mind to the planet’s surface, and contacted one of the administrative psychics.

This is Thenos. Can you tell someone that I would like a deep space transmitter array set up quite urgently, please?

Yes sir, right away.

Thenos, about an hour later, received a message that the array was ready, and headed down to the planet. As he stepped out of the shuttle, a soldier greeted him.

Welcome back to Rebirth, sir.

Rebirth? Thenos couldn’t recall the planet being named.

The council just named it this morning. Should they have told you?

No, it doesn’t matter. After all, they have a better idea of what’s happening down here than me. Anyway, can you take me to the transmitter array?

The soldier led him to the central complex, then through until they came to a small set of doors. The soldier opened the door, then stepped aside to let Thenos in. As the door closed behind him, Thenos received a friendly greeting from an elderly man inside.

Thenos! Bet you thought you’d never see me again!

Thenos smiled, recognising his first comms officer, No, I didn’t expect to, especially not here. Which ship were you on?

Oh, after I retired from combat duty, I felt that I should keep using my communications skills for the good of all, so I volunteered for colonisation duty. So I was on-

Yes, the Missionary vessel, I thought so, Thenos knew that Teldin was a good comms officer, to the extent that he had probably set up this array by himself, but he tended to ramble, so is the array ready?

Oh yes, it should work perfectly, but I can’t believe that after all these years you still look so young! Seeing all of these new people in your crew really makes me feel like one of the old guard.

Well, you did only retire from my crew seven years ago, and I was only just into my twenties then. It’s not been that long, said Thenos, walking over to the transmitter. An Advent’s naval career started young. After all, while other humans needed to go to military colleges or basic training, an Advent only needed to access the knowledge from the Unity.

It feels like a long time, though. Oh well, how-

Can I send the message now?

Hmm? Oh, yes, of course.

Thenos sent his message to the Finley star. It said that Thenos was an Advent captain, who was in search of numerous technologies, both colonising tech and ship designs, that he hoped this organisation could supply him with. He said that, with the permission of whoever was running the show, he would arrive with the Revenge at the star, and could then be communicated with. Hopefully, one of the capital ships at the star would receive this message, pass it on to whoever was in charge of the operation, who would then send a reply. However, that would take time. For now, there was no excuse for Thenos to escape Teldin’s endless oratory. Sighing, he looked up from the array.

So, Teldin asked, what have you been up to since I left?

Thenos knew that it would be a while before he got back to his ship.

(DS RP)

Alexander had cooridinated the last of the data preperation before returning to his command chair. The bridge door opens to allow Captain Levin to enter. His right arm hugs close to his body on the side where he took the impact of battle. Alexander looks over his shoulder, "Glad to see you're out and about. How are you feeling?"

"About as good as before," he replies as he takes the steps leading to the main floor one by one.

"Good. I saw Paragon Carbon earlier today for a brief meeting."

Levin asks, "How is he doing?"

"He appears well," Alexander replies. "I was wondering if you could tell me what you thought of the man. You did share a few sorties back when."

The captain comes to a stop next to Alexander's chair and says, "He's a fine captain with a sound tactical mind." After delivering the dry line with a firm posture, the two men stare at one another for a moment.

Alexander then asks, "So what do you think of him?"

"He's a pain in the ass, sir," Levin this time says with the same dry delivery as before. "He's good at what he does, but he tends to go his own way in just about everything."

"I can see that. I imagine it's a large part of why we're here. Is there anything else you can tell me about him?"

Levin shrugs, one shoulder rising higher than the other, "It's been a while, sir. I'm sure he's changed quite a bit. All I know is that we fought together. Can't say we've kept in contact beyond that."

Alexander nods and rises from his chair, "We are fish out of water, captain. Lieutenant Commander."

The tactical officer leaves his post to arrive before Alexander, saluting, "Yes, sir."

"I'm shuffling things up a bit. While onboard the David, Captain Levin here is my second in command. That temporarily makes you his second. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Commander Frishman says before turning to Captain Levin with a salute, "Sir."

Levin salutes back with the wrong hand and the tactical officer returns to his duties. Alexander looks at Levin's arm, "Are you sure you don't want a sling for that?"

"It's fine. If I drop it, it hurts. If I raise it any more, it hurts."

"Very well. I'm going to be in my ready room. We should have all fleets converging on this position to meet us. In the meantime, you're in command."

Levin nods, "Yes, sir," before taking the command chair.

My map of the Trader Order, as of 4100 A.D. I rather hope that displaying an SoaSE logo here isn't copyright; I'll take it down if so. I may add major star systems/planets later.

The Undying.

(Personal / DS)

    Roesh and Henry are once again planetside on Finley 1. Roesh asks Henry as they're on their way to the command tent, "What's wrong?  We really don't have time for this."
    "It seems our presence is causing a disturbance."
    "How so?" Roesh asks as they enter the tent.
    "This young lady here requested some supplies to help her ailing family." Henry says, pointing to a female sitting in the corner sobbing.
    "So give them to her."
    "We did."
    "Okay...  She's back for more?"
    "Yes.  Apperently the local police caught wind that she had the stuff and they took it away.  They then informed us that we were going to be locked in this camp if we couldn't keep better control of our supplies."
    "Hmmm.  They're locking us in are they? What does the govenor have to say about this?"
    "He told the police to lock us in.  They're at least being sympathetic in the sense that we gave over medical supplies to a sick family, and are being lenient with the restrictions on leaving.  As long as no one is heading into town, they're pretending to not see anyone who walks out the gates.  I figure now is a good time to talk to some of the locals to get the general opinion of the population about us being here."
    "And which people are we to talk to if we want to know that?" Roesh asks while staring at the crying woman.
    Henry pulls back a curtain to expose a table with four people from the town sitting at it. "These people."
    They enter and take up seats opposite the four already there.  Roesh asks, "So...  You're here for what?"
    The first man answers, "I'm the chief of the police in town, I'm risking my job by even being here."
    The second man answers, "I'm one of the town doctors, and we definately could use more of those supplies that you gave Miss Shannon out there..."
    Henry interrupts, "We don't even have enough for our own people at the moment..."
    The woman at the table chimes in, "But you can get more!"
    Henry interrupts again, "We will, it just takes a couple days to get resupplied when we're so far from our supply centers..."
    The third man at the table speaks up, "I'm Jacob, the leading textile merchant, my friends and I would be willing to put together a fund to pay for any such supplies that you could give us."
    Roesh sits back and starts to laugh.  Henry looks down at the table while the other four look at them in confusion.  Roesh starts up, "This is just amusing."
    The woman responds somewhat angrily, "I'm glad our troubles amuse you, Mr...?"
    "Roesh, just call me Roesh.  So what you'd have me believe is that even though you're advanced enough to destroy our home, you can't create basic medical supplies for yourselves?"  Roesh laughs some more before he pats Henry on the back and continues, "The notion alone is amusing as hell."
    The doctor speaks up, "It's not that we can't, it's that we don't have the facilities to do so.  There are plenty of ingredients here to make great medicines, but each time something needs to be made, we have to do it by hand, and although we try to be as precise as we can, the methods we have available are crude at best, and mass production is just out of the question."
    "I'm just not convinced by this that we need to step in and do anything...  I mean, I've had a couple meetings with your govenor and he's given us no indication what so ever that things are bad off here...  He was even a bit put off about dealing with us at first...  He wanted us to leave until he found out Captain Rollin was responsible for destroying our home...  We asked if we could just hang out on one of the other planets until we could relocate, but he would have none of that, invited us here and promised care...  He seems like a pretty stand up guy." Roesh states.
    The chief of police mutters, "So he can keep an eye on you..."
    Henry speaks up again, "We're terribly sorry, but without a home, we're at a disadvantage, we have no where to store supplies, no place to repair our ships, to heal our injured...  We're at the mercy of the universe."
    "Then make here your home." the doctor states.
    "That's out of the question, Govenor Kieran would never allow it... No, once we find a new place to live, we're all leaving, and as soon as you have enough ships of your own to replace the ones the pirates destroyed, we'll be pulling our guard and you won't have to worry about us any more." Roesh laments.
    "Don't be rediculous." Jacob says. "Kieran is a fool.  He's a dictator, and a control freak."
    "That doesn't change the fact that we're not here to overthrow regimes, good or bad..." Henry adds.
    Roesh stands up and begins to leave when Ms. Shannon stops him at the door, "If we got rid of him, would you help us get the supplies we need?"
    "Would you allow us to live here in this system in exchange?" Roesh asks.
    "Of course." Jacob says. "We've been cut off for far too long.  In the past, every time someone tried to build a transmitter, or a ship to get off the planet, Rollin and his goon squad would destroy it...  Now that he's gone, people are less afraid to stand up for themselves."
    Roesh stays silent for a few minutes, "Okay.  I don't want to be connected to any coup d'etat you all are hatching, but if you succeed, call one of my ships in orbit and they'll get ahold of me, and we'll talk about you getting all the supplies you need.  But for now, Henry and I really must go.  Keep our tent city safe, Chief."
    The meeting breaks up and Roesh and Henry return to orbit around Finley 2 to observe the completion of their frigate factory and watch the first ships roll out. They then travel to the moon of Finley 3 to oversee the completion of the broadcast center which immediately begins to block all communications into and out of the system, and then to the second moon of finley 4 to inspect the now being tested for operation, trade center. Roesh says, "Things are coming together nicely, aren't they Henry?"
    Henry replies, "That they are...  That they are.  Todd has a complete map of technologies to test out thanks to your friends out here, he's setting up tests all over the place to make sure the prototypes are working as they should.  Interestingly, he's told me that thanks to Alexander Draakjacht, we can actually build up this system further then we thought.  Make some use out of those Gas Giants and all of the moons.  This sytem is actually a lot more profitable then we imagined...  Once we get people in here."
    "Once the population ousts Kieran..."
    "Why aren't we helping them?"
    "I figure the less we do, the less we get blamed for it."
    "You just better hope all the manipulation you've been doing behind the scenes doesn't catch up with you."
    "It shouldn't.  That's why we're not helping.  If they're going to do what we want them to do without us having to do anything, then let them, there's no need for us to waste the time or money on it when it could be better spent elsewhere."
    "Should I have Todd contact his suppliers and have some 'people' drop by unannounced?"
    "No...  I believe I have the necessary arrangements in place should we need to go that way, besides, we've already been linked to black market traders and pirates in Trader Space one too many times already, no need to push the envelope."
    "Speaking of the black market...  There really isn't much of one out here is there?"
    "There is, you just have to know where to look for it."
    "I imagine that's where you've acquired our new toys?"
    "Sure.  You could say that.  It's just not open at all hours..."
    "I'm sure Todd and Casey can fix that."
    "I have no doubt, but not until their operations can support themselves without the need for micromanaging."
    "The repair bay should be up by the end of the day, do you want me to have Tim prioritize which ships need to come in?"
    "Yes, but just fix them to make them battle worthy again, I don't want to waste time by installing the new equipment we have until we're sure we have the best there is.  The ships would have to be pulled out of service for retrofitting multiple times if we try to go too quickly with this."
    "Tim will understand, we can outfit the carriers with the new strikecraft variants you acquired right away, that should make him happy in the short term."
    "Has the Pioneer checked in yet?"
    "Yes, they're just waiting on us to send them some transports which should be on their way soon.  Todd's research facilities will be online by tomorrow.  That should help speed the testing process up for him."
    They split up and go off to different corners of the system.  Roesh stays at the trade port making sure it's ready to start bringing in some funds soon, and Henry heads off to the broadcast center to check on any signals that they've picked up since it's completion.

no longer needed

(NO LONGER NEEDED, SEE EDIT FOR OP)

General Veers stood proudly on the bridge as he watched his new ships rumble out of drydock. The Ornal and the Zorkal would be fine additions to his fleet. He also watched the Bastion, undergoing major improvements and repairs, lumber out port. Soon he would be back on board his ship and ready to strike back. He regretted the return of his Vasari allies back to their own war against the Advent but knew they would return...someday at least.

Later, on the bridge of the Bastion. Orbitting Evertha. (Formerly Called Earth)

General Veers gazed at the blue marble in space. He had long ignored it, but now knew it was true. That planet was the homeworld of humanity.

Shocking to think that what I considered the first of our colonies was infact our Homeworld all along...How could such knowledge have been lost to us? But at least now we can rediscover the truth...perhaps...

A chime behind him dragged his mind back to reality.

"Yes captains?"

The two newly minted captains stood in front of the General's Chair in holographic form. Capt. Quoral spoke first.

"Sir. The Ornal has completed all steps necessary for construction."

"Very good Quoral. And you Capt. Joam?"

"The Zorkal is similarly ready for battle sir. I simply await your order."

"Good. Join the main fleet I will send details shortly. Not you though Quoral. I need your ship to stay in the vicinty of the docks for...a surprise."

"As you wish sir," both Captains replied and the holograms faded out.

Sighing Veers brought up a map of his faction. It was a sizeable portion of the TEC. His capital, Earth as he called it, stood near the middle surrounded by no less than 10 different inhabited systems with at least a few habitated planets each. He highlighted a system just off his furthest sector.

Urmal. Now the I shall strike back against the Advent.

He deactivated the map and turned his gaze to the hundreds of ships heading towards the edge of the gravity well. Then he felt the Bastion rumble to life beneath his feet.

And now my newest offensive begins...

My ships.

Kols

Bastion- Kilm (Newly upgraded to Kol-Class II standards)

Astorka-Orthop

Virtuous-Eralo

Fermin-Kellan

Marza-Class

Destructor-Cryptor

Cronus-Loarn

Sova-Class

Rega-Mala

Ukio-Wilson

Zorkal-Joam

Dunov-Class

Ornal-Quoral

That's a good idea. You'd sort of be the cartographer of our stories, but I think Carbon might also be doing something with a big Distant Stars map. I'm not sure, you'd have to ask him.

no longer needed

Nice, looks like something you would have along the side of a ship, and the motto's good as well.