Unit Name: Command Ship Moonbeam

Katok headed to the jumpgate, but something was not right. The sensors were picking up things all over that were not even there, and the communications were going haywire. All they really knew was that they were heading toward the jump gate.
"Sir, we have reached a jump hole."
"Can you find out where it leads?"
"No. None of the star charts have it."
"Continue flying." The engines, however wouldn't respond. Suddenly, the ship lurched and everyone fell to the floor.
"Sir! We have lost control! We are heading right into the jump hole!" Katok reached the com-link.
"Command Ship Moonbeam to any ships in the area, We have lost control and are heading into an unknown jump hole, please respond!" He said, as his ship and everything on it went through the jump hole. When they came out, they were in a system not known of to Liberty. There was a station ahead with ships flying toward a nebula. The station showed up as Freeport 9.
"Command Ship Moonbeam of Liberty to unknown ships, we have come out of an unknown jump hole and require some assistance."

The Creator, this means Jason.

Edited by - Scout29 on 12/27/2004 2:39:31 PM

"Sir! an unknown ship has arrived in this system!" One of Jasons men reported

"Could it be the outcasts?" Jason replied

"Maybe"

"Power up your cruise engines and prepare with the torpedos. Unknown ship this is fighter group Alpha 1 identifie yourself!"

Change the number to 5 or 10?

Edited by - The Creator on 12/27/2004 2:49:38 PM

IC :

Battleship Canada.

** This is Colony News Services. All the news that's fit for you! **

* Today, a Liberty Dreadnought has been retreived by the Rheinland Military, in a very poor state. The causes of its problems are unknown, but neither the military nor the battleship's crew answered the questions asked by the reporters. *

Robertson shut down the TV. The political lies were in place, and the scientific team was already working on the data they retrived from the jumphole before its explosion. The ship was being repaired, and thanksfully his boss would reward him with a precious cargo in return.

OOC : Battleship docked at Planet Hudson, hidden in a secret underground base.

Edited by - gparent on 12/27/2004 2:55:19 PM

The 20 Sabres vaulted out of the Omega 41 jumphole, a mere 5 K from Freeport 9.

<Demon Fires, this is Erich. head for the station.>

Sparks of energy and explosion flashed in the distance. A battle was raging outside the station, who was involved wasn't clear. Erich checked his radar--no hostile ships. A couple of Outcasts, some shipping companies...he sighed. Nothing to worry about.

A ship came on scanner just as an enemy's fire picked it off. The ship was already too clouded in smoke for any radar to detect to which faction it belonged or even what design it was. It exploded in a fiery array of metal and Hans and Erich, who were the first to hit their tractor beams, drew in the loot. Still 3 K to the station...

Hans, always curious what loot he would pick up, pulled out the ships data scans of his cargo hold. His jaw dropped in shock.

Two Salamanca Guns.

Corsairs.

<this is Theta 2-3. There are Corsairs in the area, be on your guard>

<Roger that> Erich said back. <Not to worry, they don't know why we're here.>

The Corsair squadrons seemed to be either docking with the station or heading back to Omicron Gamma. Hans sighed.

<We might manage to avoid a fight. Where's that convoy...>

<There it is!> That was Mueller. and indeed a train registering Merry Men had appeared on screen.

<Merry Men, this is Demon Fires Leader. We're here to escort you out of the system.>

OOC: Codename, that s where you respond.

Edited by - [ACWilde on 12/27/2004 3:01:08 PM

Aboard Command Ship Moonbeam...

"Fighter group alpha 1 this is liberty command ship Moonbeam on a scout mission in the Tau systems. We were sucked into a jump hole and taken here. Could you possibly assist us?"

Reliable Randy and the Merry Men

----------------------------------------

"Merr...en, ...is Demon...ires Leader. We...re to escort y...out o...e system." The message crackled and popped over the Merry Men's communicators.

"Er, say again, Demon, um, Ires." Randy said, confused. "What's going on?"

"This is Demon Fires Squad to the Merry Men. We are a Bundschuh squadron and have been ordered to escort you to Kusari space." The transmission improved as the Sabres neared the convoy.

"What?" Randy was confused. Nobody said anything about Bundschuh.

"I don't like this, boss." Helga Schmitz said. This was not unexpected. Helga was a former Rheinland military pilot whose entire squad fell to a combined Hessians-Bundschuh force almost ten years previous. She had barely managed to escape herself, he Valkyrie nearly ripped to shreds. She felt a great deal of antipathy towards the Rheinland pirate revolutionaries and did not hesitate to let it show.

"Um, Demon Fires Leader, this is Randy Sega of the Merry Men. We weren't told to expect an escort. Who sent you and why?"

"It seems we both have acquaintances in high places, Herr Sega. I know what it is you are carrying in your hold and I believe there are some who may just want to get it back. The Corsairs do not part well with that which they wish to keep. Those artifacts may bring much fire down on you."

"Sir, they're almost in disruptor range." Doug Masterson said over the secure channel. "I highly recommend we high-tail it outta here. I don't trust these quasi-political types."

"Well, they haven't done anything to indicate they're hostile," Randy said, "maybe this is another one of those funky tests." He opened a channel to the Bundschuh flight. "Very well, Demon Fires."

"What?"

"But boss..."

"Huh???"

"Stow it, men. These guys aren't hostile. And besides, 20 Sabres will certainly come in handy if the sh*t hits the fan. Form up, Demon Fires. I take it you know where we're headed?"

"Affirmative. But, as I said before, we can only take you as far as the border of Kusari space."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Randy said as the Sabres entered formation around the Merry Men.

"Yes, that it is." Demon Fires Leader said. "Now that I have your attention, I have some business to discuss with you..."

Edited by - Codename on 12/27/2004 4:06:19 PM

<Switching to a secure channel.> Erich's strong Rhineland accent was clear over the intercom. <My name is Erich Stalner. Basically, what I said earlier wasn't really true--we can escort you all the way back to Trenton Outpost if necessary. However we have to take every precaution out here. Corsair squadrons are looking for you and its only a matter of time. I'm setting a waypoint for a Sigma 19 jumphole. We have to move fast.

We know you're working for the Order and we know you have active artifacts on that train. We also know that for the survival of Sirius they need to be delivered to the Order. We worked with them before, in the invasion of 801 AS, so I think we know what we're dealing with. That's why Head Command sent us to escort you. Nothing can happen to those artifacts.

Now, to business--> Erich's voice was cut off as a wing of Valkyries (NPCs) loomed into view on radar, headed on an intercept course. <Hold on. They've come for the artifacts. Alpha, Beta, and Lambda engage the fighters. Theta and Gamma guard the transports! Merry Men proceed to the jumphole quickly! > Erich turned off the intercom and opened up his Lancer missiles, ready for the ensuing battle. Hans, he, and Mueller had practiced the attack to perfection.

Mueller came up first, hunting down the leader of the Valkyrie squadron in his Sabre, weakening it with rapid laser fire. Up thrusted Hans, taking down the ship's shield with his EMP Paralyzer missile. Lastly came Erich, who launched Lancer after golden Lancer into the ship. By the time two were down, the other squadrons had picked off the remaining two ships.

<Enemy destroyed>

<Roger that. Head into the jumphole!>

After an astounding travel through the wormhole, they emerged to find the waiting Merry Men.

<Good to see you Demon Fires leader. Shall I set a waypoint for the Honshu jump gate?>

<We have to stay off the main paths. There's a hole near here we discovered a year or so ago that leads directly to Galileo. From there, Colorado, New York, Texas, and then Freeport 2 in Bering. I'm assuming you'll be dropping off the artifacts there...>

<As far as we know>

The jumphole was less than 20 K away...

<Hold on...Corsairs party headed this way. DAMN! We can't afford to fight these guys. Lambda 1 and 2, launch Countermeasures. We need to cloud our escape. GO!>

Sure enough, two ships dropped out of line and a fire of heat and light exploded behind the group of ships nearing the jumpholes. Cruise disruptors missed, but who knew for how long? The corsairs continued to launch salvos of missiles at Lambdas 1 and 2

<Get these guys off me!>

<My shields are down, losing hull integrity!>

As the transports, escorts, Sabres, and finally Erich himself entered the jumphole, he heard Lamda 2's scream of terror as his ship exploded into nothingness.
___________________

Once out of Galileo, it was a smooth ride through Liberty--a clash with some Rogues' bloodhounds, but they were easily dealt with. Finally they all vaulted out of the trade lane ring in Bering at Freeport 2. Erich sighed with relief.

Inside the station's bar, he met up with Herr Sega.

"I've just finished talking to the Order chap. the artifacts are transferred, we've all been paid..."

"How much did he offer?"

"10 million. per pilot."

Erich gasped "Who HAS that much money?"

Randy shrugged. "You said you had business to discuss."

Erich ordered a Darkhundt from the bartender. "Yes. We have...an informant, if you would put it that way, in Bretonia. Highly respected political essayist, spreading anti-Rhineland propaganda. We need to get some documents to him, concerning...well...corruption in the Rhineland government. And something about a second Nomad invasion. We need to ship them to him, we can't get them to him any other way. You're the only guys we think can ship it.

We're prepared to spend...a lot less than the Order, but a reasonable amount. 1 million per pilot. Plus any extra cost of shipping and equipment--nanobots, new guns, shield batteries. you name it." Erich took a deep sip of his beer.

"I'll have to consider it. But it sounds likely. You did save our arses back there, mate."

Edited by - [ACWilde on 12/27/2004 9:09:32 PM

Reliable Randy and the Merry Men

----------------------------------------

"So, what's the consensus folks?" Randy asked the assembled Merry Men. "Those Bundschuh guys seem okay to me. And they really did help too."

"I can't speak for anyone else but I'll never work for the enemies of Rheinland. Never." Helga said. "And my fellow Rheinlanders agree." Several heads around the table nodded, indicating that Helga spoke the truth.

"Sh*t." Randy said. "I'm not going to force anything on you guys but I get the feeling this is going to be anything but a milk run. Hans? What about you?" Randy turned to Hans Simmel, a former Daumann escort pilot. He was met with silence and a stony glare.

"As Helga said, we will never aid the enemies of Rheinland." Ingrid Weidemann, a striking brunette from Stuttgart, said.

"Okay, fine." Randy sighed. "I'll assume everybody else is okay with this then."

"Whatever, boss. A job's a job in my book." Manny said.

"Me, Arnie and Sis are on board." Doug said with a smile. "You know the first rule of bounty hunting: If it pays well, take it."

Various other members of the Merry Men indicated that they too were willing to take the mission.

"Okay." Randy said. "I'll go talk to that Stalner guy and see if we can work out some sort of arrangement."

----------------------------------------

"Hey, Stalner!" Randy called across the bar as he approached the Rheinland rebel.

"Ja Herr Sega, what is it?"

"Well, I talked to my squad and most of them are okay with it. All of the Rheinlanders refused though."

"Ach. I expected as much. Such is the existence of a revolutionary. Hated by the very people I wish to save..."

'Yeah, yeah. Point is, I'm short one full wing. To be honest, I don't like that. But I'm not going to force my people to do something against their will. I'd really like to help you out, man, I would, but unless we can think up some way to deal with the loss of strength I can't commit. If you have any ideas I'm all ears..."

(OOC: Ball's in your court, Wilde. Make your offer.)

Erich sighed. Randy's Libertarian accent was so hard to understand. "These people, they're blind. Blind to the hatred and corruption that wrack their land. Blind to the deaths and cruelty, poverty and homelessness, and above all the corruption of the Chancellor and his cabinet of CEOs. We aren't Rhineland's enemies, we're the enemies of the Reichstag and nothing else. We are Rhineland's closest friends."

"But what can you do? They won't fly for us. I'm sure you're right, but what can we do?"

Erich took another swig of his strong Rhineland beer. "Ja. Well, you lose one wing of Rhinelanders, you gain three wings of Rhinelanders--with more powerful weapons in greater ships. Unfortunately the two wings that flew with us were a short term arrangement meant only for the escort of the commodities. But you'll still have us--the best fighter-pilots in all the colonies."

"Sounds good. Thanks Stalner."

"Very good, Herr Sega. We leave soon, I assume?"

"First thing tomorrow." Sega went to exit the bar.

"Oh, and tell your Rhineland friends this: My father, Herr von Claussen, flew with the Bundschuh. He helped liberate Sirius--Rhineland included--from the Nomad Invasion of 801 AS. Tell them to think about that." Erich turned back to his drink, finished it off, and walked off to his room, only slightly drunk.

________________________

Hans stopped him as he passed through the bridge of the station to his rented room and beckoned him over to the Equipment Room.

"Man, check out the Salamancas we picked up! Way better attack than that firekiss crap we've got stocked up with nearly twice the refire rate...I've heard about these things. MK II, too. Twice the damage of the original. Said to be the best weapons offered Sirius-wide."

"They...uh theyy sound greeat. Here help me mount mine..." Erich, though now royally hammered, opened up the cargo hold of his Sabre and set his loot down on the ground. "lessee...1...2..3 salamancas...hey, what the hell is this?" He picked up a large gun, smooth and thin, but not overly so.

"My god. That's...that's a Tizona Del Cid! DAMN we're lucky to have picked that up. SCHIEZER. HOLY SCHIEZER! You really gotta mount that thing."

The salamancas and del cid were soon secure and in place on Erich's Sabre. "Tell the others--we're leaving tomorrow first thing. Into Frankfurt to Austria to pick up the documents, then to our contact in Cambridge." And with that, the drunk Rhinelander stalked into his room and fell into a stoned sleep.

Edited by - [ACWilde on 12/27/2004 11:06:23 PM

Reliable Randy and the Merry Men

----------------------------------------

"Okay people." Randy addressed his Merry Men - minus the Rheinlanders - once more. "That Stalner guy offered us his squad's support on this run. Reward's a round million each so if it goes as planned you should all have more than enough to enjoy any kind of retirement your sick and twisted imaginations can come up with. Or we can buy ourselves out and work totally freelance. Gawa keeps telling me about the runs he'd make back in the day. They sound pretty damn interesting.

"Anyhow, the plan is to leave here tomorrow and head to Frankfurt. We rendezvous with some more Bundschuh there and pick up the docs. I figure there can't be more than one or two datacards full so we should be able to broadcast empty holds. That'll keep your garden-variety pirates off our backs. I wouldn't expect a milk run either though. The last one was hairy enough and I get a funny feeling this one will be even more, um, interesting.

"The only thing Stalner didn't mention was how he and his planned on spoofing the scanners we'll undoubtedly encounter. Just babbled something about the best pilots and superior ships. Heh. Easy for him to say it too, he doesn’t have Universal regulations hamstringing him. Typical pirate mentality if you ask me. All brute force and no finesse. Still, I don't want to attract any attention so we'll need a coupla false IDs. Gawa," Randy turned to the former Hogosha, "what've you got for me?"

Gawa just smiled and rummaged through one of the many pockets that adorned his well-worn grey flightsuit. When he withdrew his hand it was balled, obviously holding something. He turned it palm up and revealed a bunch of small optronic chips. "Just solder these babies onto each ship's main circuitboard. They'll handle any casual scan no problem. If anyone's really determined to get us these won't be of much use but then little is these days, other than ace flying."

"Well, I can count on you guys for that." Randy said with a smile. "I think that's all for now. Get some rest people. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day..."

(OOC: Okay, that's all for tonight.)

Battleship Leviathan

Just before the Battleship could exit the jumphole it exploded sending them spiraling through space. Eventually the last crew members sank into the comfort of unconsciousness, while the ship span for many hours yet. Eventually it tore through subspace and began drifting.

Eventual Commodore Stevens was able to force his eyelids open and was greeted by a view of the floor of his bridge. With much effort he raised his head to find half of the control consoles sparking and a supporting beam from the roof now half embedded in the floor. He rotated his head towards the man screen above the view ports only to find it dead and so he looked out of the view ports to find swirling orange murk drifting by like soup.

By now several other crew members were awake
"Uuuugh" He groned "Damage report?"
"Hull at 96% with minor power failures re routing now" and with that most of the consoles and screens around the bridge hummed with life showing the damage the ship sustained
"Get repair crews working on it right now"
"Aye sir"
"Now where the hell are we?" The commodore inquired
"Well, our best guess is somewhere inside omega 7"
"Oh great how long before we can move out?"
"Aproxx. 2 hours"
"Well let’s sit tight and hope nothing happens"
And so the Commodore sight back in his chair and begin to type on the arm mounted computer

OOC: Um.. im still stuck in Sigma 13, in abattle with a battleship that left in the middle of the battle??? Can I assume I won?

OOC: read G parents post yes your torps hit and you won

"Liberty ship Moonbeam, we can escort you to Planet Kurile in SIgma 17. It's much safer there then here.
Im afraid me and my pals have been death marked by the outcasts. But we should be able to help you."