On the Bridge of the TST Basroil

[Artemus]

In the midst of LowSec space floats the Idris Corvette, registered as the TST Basroil under Captain Corwin. For the last two weeks, Corwin's crew has been searching for a Bengal Class Carrier in hopes of claiming one for Test Squadron, who makes up the greater portion of the Artemis Division's funding, numbers, and management.

The Basroil hasn't seen combat since it was given to Corwin, having been explicitly given as a heavy vessel capable of stalling for reinforcements in the event a Bengal was actually found. The crew was hand selected of officers with long service histories, even if their current commendations or assignments weren't in the best of shape by typical UEE standards. The Basroil's bridge was illuminated from the stars outside, as well as a large MobiGlas glowing in between large cylindrical projectors. The core crew of the Basroil surrounded this fixture, collectively discussing the next big plan of action.

"I'm more than positive Corel isn't at all where it's at. Too public." Mentioned Lt. Cdr Artemus as he leaned into the circular railing that surrounded the portable MobiGlas. His right hand extended to touch invisible buttons, expanding the display to far more than a series of planets, "If anything, NullSec space is where they're left as bait for Pirates. Either by other pirates, or UEE."

Artemus pushed himself from the display, moving towards the helm's seat of the Idris Corvette, gently leaning onto his chair to look outside of the massive series of windows. "That. Or we're looking at no-sigs all across uncharted space. I can take Twilight out to go and draw my own map, but with how tiny the AI's available space for mapping is, not sure how far I can go before having to return. Not to mention fuel costs and the distinct lack of weapons on Twilight." He narrowed his eyes as though one of the stars before him was making a silly face.

"Honestly, I can't justify Corel being a worthwhile jump. You know just as well as I do how much of a hassle it is to fit larger ships through security checkpoints. UEE gets their panties all knotted if your armaments exceed 6000 kg, but it's your call, Cap." He glanced back to the round table of the MobiGlas. "Current course is to Corel, but we're looking at an ETA of 2 days before we get anywhere close to Protectorate space, and - unless you want to engage jump now - don't really have too much going for us in fuel. We'll make it, sure...but I wouldn't recommend going much past Protectorate space without visiting some kind of spacedock. Otherwise we're sitting green."

 

[Corwin]

"What if we head to Hadrian? That would be on our way to Corel in the first place. We would for sure be able to get some fuel there, then head off to Corel, stopping by Tyrol and searching for a week on our way. Chances are, considering how expensive it would be to buy one, that it would be around for a bit of time, and even if one is sold while we're away, we can get some info on who bought it then try to "persuade" them that we need it more. If still no luck, we can swing up to Pyro and Catchart. Those systems are riddled with pirates, though, so we would need to be careful."

Mulling over his options, Corwin zooms out the map to show the full galactic map. He flicks on the system ownership tags, then leans in closer. "Ultimately, our goal should be to make it over to Nul and other border systems that the Vanduul commonly attack. With the number of military operations and failed defences and attacks of the UEE against the Vanduul, we would for sure find something over there, albeit heavily damaged. We would need reinforcements on standby when searching over there though, as the Vanduul are known for easily bringing down treasure hunters, even the well defended ones."

Closing the map, Corwin walks over to the thin layer of reinforced glass standing between him and the harsh void of space. Looking over the remains of a freelancer floating in space, Corwin wondered what had happened to the crew of the ship. They were obviously attacked by someone, but no bodies were found. They may have been taken as slaves. Perhaps they themselves were criminals and a bounty hunter had finally caught up. It didn't matter which to Corwin. Only the fact that the signature they picked up ended up not being a Bengel. "Artemus, set a course for Hadrian. If nothing comes up, we should be eating a nice dinner in a few of hours."

Taking one last look at the freelancer, Corwin turned back and walked to the Captain's chair. Hopefully the Basroil wouldn't meet a similar fate in this search.

 

[Artemus]

Artemus paced back over to the display, "Tyrol should be fairly simple to get through from Hadrian. Pretty safe space over there, if you constitute Avenger patrols as 'safe', that is. Otherwise, it's fairly safe to assume that you're right. We've got firepower to give folks the finger at face-value, but the Protectorate is kinda funny about threats through their official market. Would have to offer up a ridiculously high bid that we obviously can't pay, ask the transfer to be in a 'secure' location and then go full firepower. But I think that might be a last stand idea, worth bringing up with Test leadership for potential back up if we need it that quickly." He glanced over, "Repairs on that thing would be monstrous amounts of time, and almost just as expensive to upkeep as straight up buying one from the factory. I know Engineering can keep it moving at least with basic shielding, but you'd almost need to run interdiction with Guardian, unless we're going to jump back so I can pick up the Lightbringer." The reference to his Constellation was inevitable, as it was his personal pride and joy.

"Sounds like our best bet is piracy, really. Either wait for someone to buy one in Corel and follow them home with Twi, or take a disabled one by force and hope they don't send reinforcements...." He sat in the Helms chair proper, looking to the very same remains, "A damn shame, really. Sig looks like a DUR looking for something fancy out here. Whatever it was, looks like he found it, and didn't want to give it up." He paused, hearing the orders.

With a practiced crack of his ten fingers, Artemus began to rapidly press a series of buttons on the chair and the large panel before him, a holographic set of displays appearing before him, "Right, warming up the engines, informing other decks of immediate jump, plotting course...Yes yes I know that it's protected space, thank you Aegis AI, maybe one day someone will pay attention to you."

 

[GrammarGestapo]

[(out of character) you can't buy Bengals, you can only repair derelicts or steal fully operational ones]
3 Days later, just after refueling at Hadrian and making our way to Tyrol.

Ensign Metzler, the only combat-dedicated flight officer on board, sat twiddling his thumbs. He had already let loose his fine array of toothbrushes on both the head and his Hornet, and with little left to do, was having an impromptu lesson in warship long-range RADAR operation. Freelancer wrecks, of all variations, seemed to be oddly common in this sector. They had already found a DUR, a MAX, and had even chanced upon a rare MIS! The real radar operator (an aspiring captain himself) grumbled about the recent Freelancer sale. The sale, he asserted, had allowed "fresh-faced kids" to save months of time working as shuttle pilots for the big corporations; when he had been forced to work all the way up to his own 'lancer. Metzler, hardly keen on such a lightly armed hauler, focused on the displays.

Suddenly, the radar operator stops his tirade mid sentence. He calls over LCDR Artemus (the acting commander on bridge ), who goes similarly white. Metzler, unsure of what's happening, and having deduced that these two would be stalled for a few moments, decides to alert the captain himself. Midway, Artemus snaps out of it, "GET IN YOUR HORNET!" he commands the shocked Metzler, who sprints to get his flight suit and helmet. "Initiate Condition Zulu, all personnel to general quarters, request Captain on the bridge", states a now deadly-serious Artemus on the ship wide intercom.

Seconds after Metzler is OK'd for takeoff, the flight deck is depressurized and the blast doors slide open. He notices the massive spinal-mounted rail gun powering up, the immense electrical charge generated not entirely contained by the capacitors lining its barrel. Nothing on his small-ship RADAR yet. He settled into a normal, elliptical patrol route after going several hundred kilometers out from the Basroil.

Back on the bridge, the situation is considerably more tense. At least ten small blips, too far out to be positively identified, and in regular formation, were on a direct intercept course with the Basroil.

 

[Corwin]

Corwin is running out his room, winding his way to the bridge. Just moments before, the red alert had been activated. Something was up, and Artemus needed him on the bridge.

As the Basroil was being refueled, Corwin had found some local explorers offering their map of a small portion of the Hadrian system and it's outer lyings. Upon analyzing the data, a black market ship dealer is located a day's journey past the jump point to Tyrol. The Basroil and her crew prepped for the journey into possibly hostile space for the better part of a day, then proceeded to set out to the ship dealer.

Corwin runs into the bridge, adrenalin pumping through his veins. He takes a brief look at the sensor map to see multiple unknown contacts coming into range. He doesn't see any readings of the station they were looking for. Their sensors must be more powerful than the ones aboard the Basroil to detect them at such a distance.

Running to his Captain's chair, Corwin shouts out to Artemus "Status report!"

 

[Artemus]

The past few days were a complete blur. Warp bubbles here, red herrings there, dinner and over used jokes over poor piloting every day. The helm seat, as far as the Lt. Cdr was aware, had a permanent imprint of his backside slouched in it as his hands lazily grasped over a throttle and stick that flanked his either side. The one thing that always bothered about large ships was the inability to maneuver effectively. There was straight forward, and occasionally some other directions, but it allowed him to serve as a more effective Commander when the Captain was away, since his attention fairly easily be diverted. The radar didn't make much for company, though, so when things went particularly still, Artemus didn't think twice about it.

Being informed by that silence from another officer was business casual, until the brief memory of what happened on Tyrol flashed before him. The Black Market dealers must've had other plans with the Basroil and slipped a word or two, or their signature was high enough to spell 'free rent' to the locals in NoSec. He barked orders as an instinct, otherwise frantically flipping through a holographic display as his left hand cut the throttle. Once Corwin arrived, Artemus looked slightly over to the right, still paying attention to the display before him, "Captain, multiple contacts are closing in on our position. Pings of our presence being spread over network. No one's fired anything....but I'm not one to take too many chances."

He flipped a switch and cleared his throat, "Attention surrounding vessels, this is the TST Basroil, designation Lima-Charlie-Sierra-Six-Five-Eight. We have no intentions of engaging in any combat with you, we're simply travelling towards central UEE space. Docks are open for on-board negotiations, ground teams awaiting." He flipped the same switch off, shaking his head, "We're looking at a small Phalanx of Cutlasses, and an MIS. From the looks of what I'm hearing from the research desk, they've got more coming. Metzler will run interdiction if need be, but firing shots right after we enter this kind of space will only delay us further. We /could/ take them with careful consumption of energy, but not effectively destroy them all before reinforcements arrive. We'd be swarmed in less than thirty minutes. Your call."

Artemus flipped another switch, "Metzler, you are ordered not to fire on any vessel as they approach the Basroil unless they fire first. Just make sure that there's not a Ghost or something coming in without us seeing it. You're interdiction only, do not - I repeat - do NOT engage opposing forces unless you absolutely have to."

 

[Corwin]

Corwin quickly flipped through screens on his controls as Artemus briefed him. Overview map, Basroil's ship stats, Metzler's stats, enemy stats, and so on. The Basroil had a decent amount of fuel for the reactor, but not enough for prolonged combat. The enemies had enough ships to overpower the Basroil as it was, but most likely not enough to bring her down. The enemies were faster and much more maneuverable than the Basroil as well. Fighting was not an option. Nor was running.

A notice popped up alerting the captain of an incoming call from the MIS. Corwin accepted the direct line to the enemy ship.

"Good to see you understand your position, Basroil. This is the Jimi Saru. I'm Captain Wethington. We'll humor you and hear what you have to say. Do be warned though... try anything and our ships will open fire."

"We came in search of a dealer we heard about out here. All we mean is to do business. We would very much appreciate knowing what ships the dealer has for sale."

"Ah, a customer!" Wethington's attitude grew bright at the potential of making a profit. "Come, come. The station is this way. Stick close, or the automated defences will tear you apart."

"Artemus, bring us in formation with the dealers and please don't scratch them. Tactical, keep shields raised, but power down weapons systems. They appear friendly for now, but there's no telling what they may do as we near the station." Corwin changed to the overview map and sure enough, something large had appeared in the distance. It wasn't just one, however. There was a second, albeit much smaller. Too small to be a Bengal, but larger than most civilian ships. Corwin could only wonder what sort of ships the dealer could have.

 

[GrammarGestapo]

Now within a few hundred meters of the Basroil, Metzler fed power from his weapons to boost all shields without sacrificing engine power. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a previously unseen, and obviously undetected, small ship. Focusing on the disturbance, now with thermal sights standard on every helmet-based HUD, he discovered a Hornet Tracker, customized with Void armor and a low signature engine; seemingly armed with little more than two Omnisky 3's in the wings. He made a mental note to kill that first if the shit really hit the fan, hopefully allowing the Basroil to make a run for it and escape the inferior sensors mounted on the cutlasses at extreme range.

Back in the hangar deck on the Idris, Wethington sat in cool confidence, confident all his hard work was about to pay off. The unknown ship next to the old station was something no one expected to see, and few knew even existed: A Vanduul Hunter-Destroyer. These pirates had somehow, whether by capture or restoration of a derelict, obtained a fully-functioning (if somewhat jury-rigged with standard UEE technology) model of the second largest known class of Vanduul warship. 450 meters of pure, unadulterated killing power, under the control of a few ragtag pirates.

 

[Vastair]

Division Master Vastair, awoke in his quarters to the low chirp of his comm unit. Disoriented and groggy he answers it.
"This better be good, I was just rebuilding a Scythe with two former Miss Terra's."
"Sir, your going to want to see this. It's about the Basroil."
Vastairs eyes widen and adrenalin flushes his veins. Something about the Lutenents voice was giving him shivers, something has gone hirribly wrong.

He slammed his fist down on the table as his mi mobiglass fired up. He quickly glanced back and forth at the info displayed. His heart sank in his chest.

He had sent his best men out on this mission. These were his friends and his men, and he wasn't about to have anymore deaths on his hands.

"Idris Basroil, come in. This is Artemis Command. You have a large enemy fleet heading your way. What are you doing?"
"It's no use sir" the lutenent said solemnly.
"Someone is blocking our comms."
"Then it's up to them"

 

[GrammarGestapo]

A few moments later when Wethington was about to drift off, dreams of a hundred credit-filled suitcases pervading his mind, one of his underlings interrupted the business proceedings. Walking in awkwardly and whispering into his commander's ear, the pirate confessed embarrassingly that they couldn't raise anyone on the comm's. "Well why aren't you fixing them", leveled an infuriated Wethington. "We tried sir, but there ain't nothin wrong! Least what we can figure", said the now utterly distressed pirate. Overhearing, LCDR Artemus offered to use the Basroil's local radio system, but was greeted only by static.

Out in space, Ensign Metzler was wondering just how drunk that Tracker pilot must be. He was flying erratically, totally blowing his cover and going within yards of Metzler's considerably better armed surplus F7A. Upon attempting to contact the Basroil via radio, Metzler was deafened with intense static. He switched to optical-digital format and was able to get a steady short range signal. Apparently, the Basroil, as well as the entire pirate base, were being jammed by some external anomaly. Suddenly the tracker figured out he had light-based communication too, and began assaulting Metzler with a stream of prayers and warnings that "the 'ole fecking navy is after us!". A few minutes later, similar correspondence was received from the Basroil, though more along the lines of "Vanduul Battle-group on intercept course, radio communication jammed, I think they want their destroyer back".

 

[Corwin]

//Please don't go using other characters participating in the story in your posts. It makes characters seem very inconsistent. Any characters introduced by a participant are also to be used solely with the express permission of their owner or creator.

Corwin was back in his Captain's chair. After the alert was raised aboard the station, the Basroil and her crew rushed to be ready for immediate departure.

"Metzler, get back to the docking bay immediately!" Corwin closed the communication line with the hornet. He looked back to Artemus, confusion on his face. "I don't understand how the hell Wethington got that ship in his dealership, considering this system is on the complete other end of the galaxy. They must have brought it in from a supplier back by Vanduul space. That said, why would the UEE be here!? They must want to confiscate the destroyer to analyze it and try to incorporate some of the tech in their own ships. We are not at all to engage. We are to flee. We have nothing to do with these pirates."

Corwin then attempted to open a communications line with the UEE fleet. After initial failures, the Basroil launched out a relay pod. After several minutes, the pod was far enough out to establish communications with the lead ship in the fleet.

"Attention UEE Fleet, this is the TST Basroil, designation Lima-Charlie-Sierra-Six-Five-Eight. We are not associated with the pirates aboard this station. Check our registration and you will see. We are an official sanctioned vessel of Artemis Division, who's main sponsor is Test Squadron. Will you cover us as we evacuate?"

There was no response for close to a minute, then...

"TST Basroil, this is Fleet Captain Xavier Wise, of the UEE Falcon. We ran a check on your registration, you are cleared for departure. We have jammed the communications with the pirate station and their defence turrets. Please proceed out from dock. Your interactions with the pirates will be brought up with the Artemis Division Master after the pirates are dealt with," responded the Fleet Captain.

"Acknowledged, Fleet Captain. I am positive Vastair, the Division Master, will be able to explain our proceedings. Thank you for your assistance. TST Basroil, out."

Corwin closed the link and scuttled the relay pod. "Once we are out of the jamming zone, send a deep space message to Vastair advising him of the impending discussion and updating him on the details of our mission. Artemus, take us out. Full speed to the refueling station back at Hadrian. As soon as we are full, set an imediate course for Tyrol. We lost enough time on this endeaver, let's try to make some of it back."

Corwin still couldn't get it through his mind why the UEE Vanduul battlegroup was on the other side of known space and not defending the border from the Vanduul. The single Vanduul destroyer shouldn't have been enough to cause the UEE to send such a major detachment out to here...

 

[GrammarGestapo]

// confirmed, will request permission in PM if I absolutely have to, will otherwise avoid it. Are we done, should we start a new story arc? I feel like this mini-story is finished at this point.

EDIT: this is fun, we should do this more often as an RP unit. Would allow everyone else to get into it before we started doing actual ops.

 

[Corwin]

//I'm not sure actually... I had a few more ideas, but we could also go and just start up another story a week or so down the road from this one... As for the reason why we started doing this, it's basically for that very reason. Vastair, Artemus, and I were discussing how to get ready for once the RP sets off for it's first session and we decided these stories would probably be a good way. Also, it's ok about using the characters. It wasn't anything too bad, least you didnt have me or Artemus or someone turn into a killer and eat our whole crew's kidneys :p

//Edit: It also may be a good idea to come up with some sort of rules post so we have consistent posts so we dont get someone coming in and making a 20 page long story that takes the story from being progressivly made as a community to one person making the WHOLE thing, as that kinda defeats the purpose. It was fun though having you join in and make interesting things happen and see what I could come up with in response :)