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 Karelian Sector IVF RP
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| TelQuessir |
Posted on 09-09-2005 08:18
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 Posts: 2598 Joined: August 30 2005 |
First contribution by Cobalt_Shiva Aboard IVF Warship Saif As-Safaara Sorceress II Class --------------------------------------- O 7125FDAT21 CCCCCCCCCCCC FROM: COMHGN8FLT RIGEL MANAAN VI TO: ALL IVF TFS KARELIAN CLUSTER AO BURST TRANSMISSION, SECURE, RELAY: SOBINT TF 31.1 CONFIDENTIAL //P1124 SUBJ: REINFORCEMENT OF SECTOR EH-109 ?KARELIAN CLUSTER? 1. RECEIVED INTELLIGENCE FROM SOBINT UNITS IN YOUR AREA OF OPERATIONS. UNDERSTAND MULTIPLE HOSTILE VAYGR TASK FORCES ENTERING KARELIAN CLUSTER. ACKNOWLEDGE LOSS OF CLUSTER PICKETS AND OUTER SYSTEMS. 2. HIIGARAN 8TH FLEET MAKING BEST POSSIBLE SPEED TO KARELIAN CLUSTER. RPT HIIGARAN 8TH FLEET MOVING TO REINFORCE YOUR POSITION. 3. OBJECTIVES: 1 AID IVF FORCES IN SECURING KARELIAN CLUSTER AGAINST FURTHER ARMADA DE MAKAAN ATTACK. 2 ESTABLISH BASIS FOR FURTHER COOPERATION BETWEEN IVF AND HGN UNITS AGAINST VAYGR LOYALISTS 4. REQUEST FURTHER INFORMATION RE ENEMY ORDER OF BATTLE. 5. ENEMY INTENT: ESTIMATE ANOTHER MAJOR OFFENSIVE WITHIN NEXT TEN STANDARD DAYS. PROBABLE TARGET YOUR TF AND OTHER IVF WARSHIPS. RECOMMEND YOU FALL BACK AND CONSOLIDATE DEFENSIVE POSITIONS UNTIL 8TH FLEET ARRIVAL. 6. HOLD OUT AS LONG AS YOU CAN. THE PEOPLE OF THE KARELIAN CLUSTER ARE COUNTING ON YOU. GOOD LUCK. DWNGRD/DECL/OADR/ BT 7125FDAT21 --------------------------------------- What does he think he?s playing at? Warmistress Satah Safaara clears the burst message from her quarters terminal with a disgusted slash of her hands. The light of the flatscreen display casts sickly green highlights on her fine-boned face as she glares into infinity, casting her fury across the light-years in a vain attempt to reach the Hiigaran dog who dares wish her ?good luck.? The Hiigarans are coming here! An entire battlefleet! As if we want their help - they who have destroyed so much! Satah?s thin lips curl in disgust. She perches herself on a corner of her bunk, her mind roiling like a malfunctioning reactor. Her revulsion is a two-edged blade: as much as she despises the thought of the Hiigaran?s arrival, she is ashamed to realize that some part of her is glad at their coming. Because there is no denying that the Independent Vaygr Federation is in desperate need of help. The Armada de Makaan?s offensive into the Karelian cluster has driven that point home in the most painful way imaginable; and the price of that lesson has been nearly a half-dozen colony worlds. Hiigaran worlds, perhaps, but worlds that the IVF pledged to protect and safeguard. And as much as Satah Safaara despise Hiigarans ? the people who killed her sisters and plunged her family into disgrace ? she despises the twisted Loyalist brutes even more. They are the ones who use planetkillers on unarmed colony worlds; and, ultimately, they were the ones responsible for her sisters? deaths over the accursed rock called Hiigara. There is a proverb amongst Vaygr warmistresses, Satah reminds herself. ?The enemy of my enemy is a useful distraction.? She strides out of her quarters and heads for War Plot, the nebulous inferno inside her skull cooling and condensing into a web of plans. -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- The War Bridge, just aft of Saif As-Safaara?s Combat Control centre, is the single largest collection of display screens in the entire task force. As commander of Task Force 13.2, the Fedayeen Safaara, Satah needs a comprehensive grasp of the strategic situation. The War Plot room is her main resource. As she strides in the chamber, the murmur of Vaygr battle language dies to a whisper; subordinates look up and bow in acknowledgement as she makes her way to her dias in the center of the room. The room?s walls are studded with holoprojectors, and a vast starmap of the Karelian Cluster hovers above the dias like a chandelier of diamond. Satah?s enhanced-reality implants draw crimson trails across the starmap, showing the estimated positions of the Armada de Makaan forces that have entered the cluster. ?Situation.? Majadin, the graying male in charge of strategic analysis, steps forward at her terse command. He indicates the map of the Karelian cluster, a globular puff of nearly one hundred and twenty stars. The twenty-one inhabited systems are marked in green; a clump of five near the northern edge of the cluster is greyed out. Dead. Near those gray worlds hover the triangular symbols of Armada de Makaan forces. Another grey icon indicates where the Sobani carrier Victorious died, defending the Hiigaran colony in the Sharaam system. The Hiigaran?s sacrifice bought time for evacuation fleets to live the system, but millions of colonists still perished on Sharaam III when Loyalist weapons burned the atmosphere away. Majadin indicates the Loyalist forces with an outstretched arm. ?From what we?ve seen, Warmistress, there are at least seven Armada task groups inside the borders of the Cluster, each with at least two Kaghan fleet carriers and a destroyer flotilla. We?ve also spotted at least two Assault Operations Task Groups, each centered around a pair of battleships.? ?For now, the Loyalists seem to be consolidating their gains. They?ve been sweeping the shipping lanes near their positions with cavalry units, attacking refugee convoys while they?re recharging their hyperspace drives. Losses have been heavy, despite the remaining Sobani?s attempts to safeguard the convoys. Our fortune isn?t entirely ill, however; we haven?t seen any sign of the Loyalist heavy combatants since the initial attacks two days ago. Satah nods tersely, dismissing her subordinate with a brisk gesture. She peers up at the hologram, her eyes roving from star to star. ?They?re moving slowly,? she says, sharing her analysis with the entire War Bridge. ?This isn?t typical of Loyalist strategy. A two-day lull in offensive action means that they?re either waiting for reinforcements?or they?re positioning for an attack. Show me our defensive deployment.? A subordinate touches his controls, and more icons spring into life across the War Plot hologram, showing the IVF defenses around the Loyalist-occupied space. There is no inflexible cordon defense; the deployment pattern is nodal, with IVF carrier groups concentrated at key systems, ready to respond to any Loyalist attack on nearby space. Sensor buoys are strung like a light-year necklace between the fortress systems, watching for the signs of Loyalist warships passing in hyperspace. The Warmistress shut her eyes, putting herself into the mind of a Loyalist warlord and calling upon the strategic intuition that has served her so well in the past. Where would I strike next if I were the Loyalists? Somewhere that puts fear into the hearts of my opponents?somewhere that erodes their ability to fight. Her eyes snap open, and she leans over the edge of the dias, shouting to the tactical officers in the crew pits below. ?Where are the refugees from the destroyed colony worlds being housed?? Majadin touches his console, retrieving information from their last strategic update. ?The Cheraba system, warmistress. The refugee convoys are being kept in orbit there until they can be debarked. The system is lightly defended; the Hiigaran colony there is agricultural and lightly populated.? ?The perfect target for a raid,? Satah breathes. ?A lightly defended system packed full of refugees, Hiigaran and Vaygr both. The Loyalist warlord won?t have to commit more than a single carrier and its strike craft?and the consequences for morale would be horrendous. We?d be forced to reassign ships to guard the convoys, sapping our front-line strength.? ?Cheraba is a few lightyears behind the defensive perimeter,? Majadin notes. ?I don?t see how they could sneak a carrier through our sensors without being- ? ?They could shadow one of the refugee convoys,? Satah explains, trusting her intuition once more. ?If the Loyalist carrier stayed cloaked, and jumped when the convoy jumped, their quantum waveform would blend in with the convoy?s. Our sensors would miss them. But shadowing a convoy does give us one advantage: it?s slow. If we move quickly, we may be able to reach Cheraba before the Loyalist carrier does.? Majadin bows, his face respectful, but with a hint of amusement at her admittedly brilliant leaps of intution. ?Of course, Warmistress. Your orders? She touches her dias? controls, opening a channel to the Combat Bridge and Shiplord Ajiriad. She doesn?t need to bother to clear her movements with a higher authority; like most Vaygr forces, the IVF has a very loose-knit command structure. ?Shiplord, recall our collectors and patrols and rig for a hyperspace jump. Signal the other Fedayeen Safaara warships: we are heading for the Cheraba system.? In the thrill of the moment, chasing off after what is really only a series of guesses, she forgets all about Rigel Manaan and the Hiigarans. -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x IVFW Saif as-Safaara Cheraba System Satah?s flagship is, at its name proclaims, the Sword of the Safaara Clan ? the family?s last remaining heavy combatant. The Sorceress II carrier is at full combat alert even before the hyperspace transition into the Cheraba system. Satah commands the Fedayeen Safaara task force from the War Bridge, leaving control of the Saif as-Safaara in the hands of Shiplord Ajiriad, so she doesn?t hear the litany of checks and responses on the Combat Bridge as the carrier approaches its transition back to realspace. Ajiriad is a grizzled old wolf, and his crew runs with the smoothness of a well-honed blade; she has every confidence that her ship will be ready for combat. Whether the Fedayeen Safaara as a whole will be as prepared is still questionable. Casualties in recent fighting have been high; of her six Spahi II frigates, two are fresh out of the shipyard, and nearly a quarter of her strike craft pilots are equally untested. It is up to me to keep them in line, then, she thinks, chasing a worried frown off her face. They?ll sort themselves out soon enough. ?Hyperspace transition in thirty seconds.? Shiplord Ajiriad?s voice rumbles over the intercom. A faint rustle of movement, like a gust of wind, breezes through the War Bridge. A familiar sight: warriors steeling themselves to fight. Satah has seen many battles, but the moments before combat are still intoxicating. The possibility of death seems to awaken something inside her; the faint tang of reprocessed air, the constant pull of artificial gravity fastening her to the floor, the rustle of battle language ? all of it seems more vivid, like she?s standing on a razor-edge of consciousness, cutting slices of sensation from the vast bulk of the universe. ?Hyperspace transition: now.? |
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| TelQuessir |
Posted on 09-09-2005 08:26
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Posts: 2598 Joined: August 30 2005 |
Narrative by me. Learning character writing as I lost touch on that since my school days. --------- A loose gaggle of transport vessels lazily formed up around the slender form of an armed interstellar liner, which showed no sign of acknowledging her new companions as she continued on her flight plan over Cheraba II. Armed to the teeth and heavily armoured, the J5 class of interstellar liners ? called ?expeditionary cruisers? by the military, combined aspects of a Battlecruiser, survey ship, fleet carrier and bulk transporter. The decision to lay down a pair of these lavishly outfitted capital ships was a questionable one given the limited resources available to the Karelian Defense Forces ? questioned also was the unproven capability of vessels of such unconventional design. Once war did break out, however, these cruisers more than proved their tonnage in gold. Their large batteries of missile launchers and plasma cannons proved effective deterrents to enemy attack, and their surprising maneuverability made enemy interception difficult. All in all, it was a worthwhile investment. More important in the Expeditionary Cruiser?s design however, was carrying capacity. The combination of immense internal capacity and high combat survivability was a godsend in evacuating the frontier Karelian planets. Loyalist Vagyr are not known for their mercy ? anyone not submitting unconditionally to their will is considered having their lives forfeit, and more often than not the resources of a planet are deemed more important than the people who reside on it. Large-scale nuclear devastation on undefended or even surrendered planets that the servants of the madman and religious fanatic Makaan had found unsatisfactory, was commonplace during the Invasion of Hiigaran Republic territory. In the Karelian campaign one and a half years after the Hiigaran Navy?s victory against the invaders, it is no different. A million innocent lives have already been lost to Loyalist atrocities ? but here is where that insanity will end. The J5 cruiser Crimson Dawn and transport flotilla serenely recedes behind the sole inhabited planet in the system, and Warmaster Aradon Mar?yan allows his mind to float back into reality. The Combat Control center of the light destroyer KDS Audacious bustled with activity. Directing his attention towards the holographic situational awareness display, he observes the fifty-plus large transport vessels in orbit, some of them still taking on food supplies from the agricultural colony below. Over one hundred thousand people are embarked on those ships and a quarter as much planetside, and there was one measly cavalry squadron and two squadrons of fighters from the J5 on combat space patrol besides the Audacious. ?Woe betide us should we fail?, thought Aradon, for while at times a plan may seem to be unfolding well in the hands of another, the magnitude of responsibility never does fade. |
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| TelQuessir |
Posted on 09-09-2005 08:28
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Posts: 2598 Joined: August 30 2005 |
Submission three by Cobalt_Shiva: Aboard IVFW Saif as-Safaara Sorceress II Class Above Cheraba II ?Hyperspace transition complete.? The War Plot strategic overview vanishes; the holoprojectors around the perimeter of the chamber hum as they sketch a tactical map in its place. Satah sweeps the display with keen eyes, searching for anything wrong. Nothing. A flock of green shapes is moving around the edge of Cheraba II, heading to the dayside - a convoy of transports led by a J5 cruiser. A lone destroyer, its lightcode tagging it as the KDS Audacious, watches over a half-hundred additional transports bustling over the planet?s nightside. There is no sign of a Loyalist attack force. Good, Satah tells herself, firmly pushing away disappointment. We arrived early. It was foolish to think we would arrive and turn the tide of a desperate battle?no matter how glorious it might have been. ?Receiving a secure lasercomm hail from the Audacious,? Shiplord Ajiriad informs her. Satah can hear a murmurs of battle language in the background; the crew in Combat Control are obviously sorting through the contacts in orbit, looking for anything suspicious. The old wolf?s voice is tightly controlled ? he?s not happy with the situation. ?They don?t sound happy to see us.? ?Patch the signal to War Plot,? Satah orders. ?I?ll inform him of the situation. Hold off on deploying fighters, but move the frigates into screen position.? Satah savors the moment. The Audacious is commanded by Aradon Mar?yan, a junior member of the house to which the Safaara family owes allegiance. Informing him of a planned Loyalist attack will surely increase my family?s station?and embarrass him in the eyes of the Ruling Council, as well. A harsh male voice grates in her ears ? Warmaster Aradon himself. ?Task Group 13.2 on unscheduled entry ? state your business.? There?s an edge of anger and urgency to his voice; Satah frowns, sensing trouble but unable to pin down a source. Another quick glance over the tactical display assures her nothing is wrong?so why is he seemingly agitated? ?Warmaster Mar?yan,? she begins. ?You?re in more danger than you realize.? ?Task Group 13.2, withdraw from vicinity of Cheraba II immediately!? Satah?s frown deepens at the man?s lack of control. Something is very wrong indeed. ?Not so hastily, Warmaster. You?re going to need our help. I have reason to believe a Loyalist strike force is approaching. A wolf hidden amongst the refugee convoys.? Aradon?s voice shades into contemptuous exasperation. Satah flushes in embarrassment and rage at his words: ?[b]The situation is under control.? ?But ? I ? I see.? They know! Someone else figured out the Loyalist plan ? or perhaps a spy in the Armada?s ranks informed the Mar?yan council. I?m trying to warn him of a threat he?s already aware of. Satah clenches a fist, nearly drawing blood from her palm. So much for increasing my station?I?ve made myselflook the fool, blundering into what must be a trap for the Loyalists. If I scared the Loyalists off and ruined the ambush ? the Safaara family will never regain its status. The Mar?yans will keep us vassals forever as punishment. Enough of this! She tosses her head angrily. I will make do with what I have. A good performance in battle might salvage some favor from the Mar?yan Council. Aradon is speaking again. ?As I said, the situation is under control. Withdraw from vicinity of Cheraba II or you are going to need our help.? The reference is obvious ? the Fedayeen Safaara have blundered into the middle of a waiting ambush, and if they don?t move quickly, they?ll be caught in the crossfire between Loyalists and House Mar?yan ambushers. Satah swallows her pride. ?Understood, Shiplord Mar?yan. Do you have any suggestions as to our positioning?? The emotion has leached from Aradon?s voice, replaced by command steel ? he has no time for power plays, only for the business of war. ?Judging from your emissions profile you are prepared for full scale combat operations - we can use your prowess here, Warmistress. Patch in to Tactical Net on Channel 14, authentication Alpha, Zulu, Uniform, Three-Five, and prepare to receive flash tasking order" ?Acknowledged.? Satah glances down at the crew pit and gestures, setting the tactical officers to work at integrating the Fedayeen Safaara into the local Mar?yan battlenet. The Audacious fires a burst of data into Saif as-Safaara?s computers, a bundle of hyperspace coordinates and deployment plans for her task group. Satah plots the information on her tactical display, her face still burning with embarrassment, and forwards the hyperspace coordinates to Shiplord Ajiriad and the other vessels of the task group. The deck begins to vibrate as the hyperspace drive charges up again, preparing to transport Saif as-Safaara farther towards the edge of the system, where she can lay in ambush for the Loyalist forces, as per Aradon?s plan. An edge of warning fades back into Aradon?s voice. ?As the sole representative of the Mar'yan ruling council I demand that you adhere to the tasking order I sent you - I will not tolerate the plan being fouled. You are now under surveillance - any suspicious movement on your part will be dealt with most harshly, Aradon out." Satah growls slightly at the reminder of Aradon?s power over her; Safaara is, after all, only a vassal family. He understands that I meant to elevate myself at his expense. Infuriating. ?All hands: prepare for tactical hyperspace jump in fifteen seconds,? Shiplord Ajiriad calls over the PA. ?House Safaara is at your command, as always, Warmaster Mar?yan,? Satah grates, forcing the words between clenched teeth. ?Deploying to indicated AO.? ?Tactical hyperspace transition: now.? |
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| TelQuessir |
Posted on 09-09-2005 08:29
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Posts: 2598 Joined: August 30 2005 |
Current status of Karelian IVF RP: 1. Battle of Cheraba II narrative being reconstructed for better readability 2. Feydayeen Safaara's role in the battle to be documented soon by Cobalt_Shiva. |
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