Good job!

I read the whole thing, and I really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work!

By the way, I am sorry to say that photons cannot go faster than light because they ARE light (as well as all other forms of electromagnetic radiation, from radio waves to gamma waves).

What no shielding of any sort???

Guess the Zeus relies on offensive power to knock out the opposition before the opposition does the same. Lets face it, with 42 missile attack, it can pretty much take out any opposition, regardless of their defense value.

Thank you guys for your patience!



u got it idunno116. Since at this time, the Altairians and Arceans have Cruisers & Battleships (the Arceans even have a Frigate) with a firepower rating of 51 and above, putting defences doesn't really make sense, as there really wouldn't be place to have enough weapons. Also, some of the Altairian and Arcean ships have shield ratings of 40 or so, so the Zeus needs all the firepower it needs to punch through their defenses.




This is the 23rd Century! Anything can happen! On a more serious note u got me there TOV. All I can counter with is this explanation - the gravitronic waves created by the Hyper-Generator has an accelerating effect on groups of photons, propelling them at faster speeds. And so when we refer to Speed of Light, we mean the speed of normal photons, before they are subjected to any of this externally created accelerations. Whew! What did I just say??? ;p

Stardate: 10.3.2260

Location: President’s Room, Government House, Alliance HQ, Washington D.C., Earth, Sol Sector, Alliance Capital System



President Alan Bradley was being briefed about the status of construction on the new Sigma 7 Influence Starbase in the newly captured Southern Frontier Zone by his Economic Advisor Gaius, on the 51st floor of the 80 story tall Government House, when the red light on his holo-com started beeping.

Excusing himself the President walked to his desk and pressed a green button.

“Yes Jacqueline, what is it? I’m in the midst of something important.”

A rather flurried voice could be heard on the other end of the line.

“Extremely sorry Mr. President, but Grand Admiral Hartford wanted to get in touch with you on something very urgent, priority Omega Red.”

Alan Bradley turned to see his old friend Gaius looking at him quizzically.

“Should I leave?”

Alan nodded grimly, adding, “Thanks for the update, Gaius. We’ll continue this discussion in a while.”

“Okay Jacqueline, patch him through.”

As he waited, the president’s mind was suddenly filled with a sense of foreboding. The last time such a call had come through, it had been to inform him about the destruction of the Omega 7 Military Starbase. Would this news prove to be more ominous?

Soon, the holo-emitter above the terminal filled with the serious visage of a strongly built man dressed in the ceremonial dark blue uniform of a Grand Admiral.

“Alan Bradley here. How can I help you, Grand Admiral?

The grizzled veteran didn’t waste time…

“Are we on a secure channel, Mr. President?”

“Hold on.”

The president reached to his side and pressed a series of buttons. A red light started flashing in front of the holo-com.

“Switching to secure mode now. Activated.”

The audio took on a slightly tinny quality, indicating that the hyper-band blocker was activated.

“Mr. President, as of a few hours ago, one of our new NX-2s, while scanning Yor Collective border space near the Northern Colonization Zone came across something interesting, which we think you should see.”

An image of the Algore system, at the extreme south of Yor Collective space replaced the Grand Admiral’s image. The view showed the 5 planets of the system, 2 of which were marked with purple symbols, representing that they were colonies of the Collective. As the view zoomed, Alan Bradley though he could make out something – a sort of ship just visible around the radius of the big Yellow Giant star at the center.

“Some sort of ship? Another of the Yor “gifts” to the Empire?”

“Exactly sir, but this is no ordinary ship. Keep watching.”

The view centered on this mysterious ship and started rapidly zooming in. As the image grew larger and larger the president let out an involuntary gasp. For there in front of him, growing ever larger by the moment, was the largest Drengin ship he had ever seen – a terrifying monster, with 2 massive claw like protrusions, resembling the forward hull of the new Alliance Zeus class Dreadnaughts. Massive tubular structures were visible on the left claw, which the president immediately recognized from classified intelligence reports as the dreaded new Psyonic Shredders – currently the most deadly weapon in the known universe. The ship was clearly a Yor design, but it was now dressed in the rusty red and brass colours of the Empire. All around the ship metallic Yor scurried about, on a series of specially constructed platforms.

“That, Mr. President, is the D.I.S. Draginol Super Battleship, the newest addition to the Drengin Imperial Fleet. Based on a joint Drengin-Yor design, this 2,800 feet long monster is armed with 4 giant Psyonic Shredders, giving it firepower comparable to the Zeus and it is protected by 7 huge Force Shield generators, able to repel a direct hit by more than 4 Disrupter beams, the most destructive beam weapon currently known to exist. It is also equipped with 2 large Warp III drives, with a total speed of 9 LH and a sensor range of 4 parsecs. It seems the Yor was using the gravitic distortion caused by the sun to hide this vessel from our eyes until it was ready for deployment. It was only by sheer luck that we found it.”

“But why would the Collective hand over their newest and most powerful ship to the Drengin?”

“I have no idea, sir, but one thing is clear – the Drengin never had the funds to buy such a colossal and expensive ship. They must have been gifted this by the Collective, in the hope that it would enable them to turn the tide in their war with us. I guess they didn’t realize that the war would suddenly go so badly for the Drengin or that they would lose almost all their planets so rapidly, or that we would come out with a more powerful super ship of our own – the Zeus. But still, the Draginol is a very deadly ship, and can cause a lot of damage. We must destroy this ship at all costs, before it enters our territory.”

“You mean, launch a pre-emptive strike on the Draginol while it is in Yor space? That might just give the Collective a political reason to declare war on us!”

“Mr. President, even though the Collective is, on paper, slightly stronger than us militarily, I don’t think they are in a position to declare war on us…or they would have a long time ago. Despite their friendly relations with the Arceans, they still consider the Arcean Empire as their prime threat, as shown by their tendency to protect their ships with shields to ward off beam weapons, instead of missiles. If they were indeed so powerful, I am sure they would have sent their own ships, crewed by their own drones, to engage our ships in combat. Since, instead of doing this, they keep supplying ships to the Drengin to fight us, I guess they do not want to embroil themselves in a fight with us at the moment. We have lost a lot of good people to these ships, sir. I think it’s time to strike back. A quick strike, in and out within a single month, into their border area might just be the best way to send across the message that we will no longer tolerate their cowardly attempts to fight a proxy war.”

“But how do you propose to take out such a formidable ship without suffering serious casualties?”

“Fortunately sir, we have the newly formed Omega Squadron, a group of 3 of the new Zeus class Dreadnaughts, including the T.A.S. Zeus (which single handedly took out a Ith’kar Frigate with minimum damage in the Sol sector) in the vicinity, conducting a training exercise. All said and done, a single Zeus is faster, larger, far more durable and has the same firepower as the Draginol. A group of these ships, with their high speed and enhanced sensor range, and led by our best commander – Admiral Alex Gordon, is therefore the perfect way to destroy the Drengin ship in a lightning strike. It will also be a good way to evaluate the Zeus’s performance capabilities. If you give the go-ahead, we will be ready to launch a strike in the next 48 hours. This is the Drengin’s last line of resistance. After this, their vaunted Imperial Navy will exist only in their minds.”

The president sighed. There was as usual only one real choice. They couldn’t afford to let the Drengin to enter their territory. And this bold attack might just persuade the Yor to stop donating ships to the Drengin, and bring the war to a final end…

“You have a go, Grand Admiral. But remember, go in, strike and then clear out immediately. Don’t stay any longer than necessary.”

“Thank you, Mr. President. Rest assured, it will be over fast. Hartford out.”

Operation Lightning had begun.

ooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooh. Looks like the Yor are playing sneaky. Take em down! GO OMEGA SQUADRON!

No matter how big and bad a ship is, it goes down pretty quick when you target it's reactor and blow it up. Thus, the Draginol should be no problem.

Good read so far

Stardate: 14.5.2260

Location: Algore System, Yor Collective Southern Control Zone



The D.I.S. Draginol before the encounter

The construction platforms around the T.A.S. Draginol were a hive of frenetic activity, as robotic Yor workers buzzed around the mammoth ship, trying to get it ready for battle before the inbound Alliance strike wave arrived in the system.

On board the Super Battleship, Grand Admiral (or to use the Drengin Term – Supreme Overlord) Ko’kar of the Imperial Navy prepared for the final battle. For too long had he spent his time with the cowardly Yor Collective, overseeing the transfer of ships to the Empire, while on the other side of the galaxy, his once mighty race was being beaten back into oblivion by the combined power of 3 races once considered nothing but amusing sources of food. And there was nothing he could do but stand here and watch.

Then, just a few hours ago, automated sensor platforms near the fringes of the Algore system had detected the arrival of a group of massive Terran starships, the likes of which he had never seen before. As he watched the data scroll across his screen and analysed the 3-d computer generated image of these leviathans, a sense of admiration began to surface in his mind.

These Terrans might be short of stature and weak in body, but by Draginol, they could fight! Though one of the galaxy’s youngest races, they had scrabbled together a Star Navy that had defeated the unbeatable Drengin Imperial Navy, one of the most powerful, most ancient and most feared navies in the known galaxy. From building tiny Fighters they had now progressed to building mighty warships that even a Drengin would be proud of…like the Empire they had realised the true meaning of power. And they were coming for him!

He knew that he would probably not survive this battle – though the Draginol was a mighty warship, the incoming Terran ships were just too powerful – but he would fight till the death – as had been the custom of Drengin warriors since the time of the Awakening.

He turned to the Ship Overseer.

“Lo’grak, what is taking so much time?”

“M’lord the ship is ready for departure, but the Collective still has to safely detach the magnetic grapplers connecting the Draginol to the inner platforms. It seems that the Yor hadn’t anticipated this sudden Terran move…as we know, despite their highly advanced technology, they still are not very good at adapting to change.”

Supreme Overlord Ko’kar growled.

Those stupid machines!

“Lo’grak, activate engines. Move the Draginol out…now!”

“But M’lord those grapplers are still connected! If we move out the whole platform will collapse!”

“Supreme Overlord, gravitic disturbances, heading 355. The Terrans have arrived in-system!”

“Activate engines now! We will not be caught like prey in a Dagrok web. Do it Lo’grak or by Drengi, I will personally tear you to pieces!”

-------

Outside, the massive engines on the ship flared into life, the blast vaporizing all Yor caught in the blazing inferno’s path. As the ship started moving and picked up speed, bits and pieces of the platform started falling and then the whole platform just broke apart, with the surviving Yor workers thrown out into the void of space.

On the bridge the crew were recovering from the massive jolt when the ship had broken loose from its moorings.

“Battle stations! Power up weapons and activate shields. We will make those accursed Terrans sorry they ever went against the mighty Empire.”

A series of guttural growls filled the bridge.

As nearby Yor Droid Ships moved in to rescue the floating workers, the T.A.S. Draginol headed for the Terran ships at full speed, its powerful weapon and shield systems powered up and ready for its first and last battle.

The clash of the titans had started…

------

“Supreme Overlord, targets are within range.”

“Lock the leftmost ship and fire the Psyonic Shredders. For the Empire!”

The mighty ship shook as the four giant Psyonic Shredders on the port claw fired in unison. Four purple pulsating clouds of destructive Psyonic matter headed for the approaching Alliance ships.

In return a total of 21 sparkling orbs of photon energy zeroed in on the Draginol…



The T.A.S. Zeus takes on the Draginol head-on
------

The Bridge of the Draginol was in total chaos. Smoke filled the Bridge and warning alarms filled the air. Several of the crew was lying dead…killed when their consoles had exploded.

The Draginol was drifting almost powerless through space. The massive barrage of Photon Torpedoes had destroyed all weapons, engines and shields. Almost half the ship was in flames and on the verge of breaking up.

“M’lord…Incoming Transmission!!”

Shocked, the Supreme Overlord told the Lowly to put the transmission through.

The visage of Admiral Alex Gordon filled the view screen. His voice boomed throughout the Bridge.

“Drengin ship…this is Admiral Alex Gordon of the T.A.S. Zeus. On behalf of the Terran Alliance, we would like to request you to surrender. You are outnumbered and outgunned. There has been enough bloodshed already. Please put a stop to it.”

Supreme Overlord Ko’kar glared at the view screen with pure hatred.

This was his archenemy…the human who was responsible for all the humiliation he had suffered. Battle after battle he had lost to this wily human…and in the process had lost almost all the Empire’s worlds. His once proud Navy lay in tatters…his Empire was splintered and in chaos. No…there would be no surrender…

“No…human scum…we will not give up that easily! We will not give you the honour of defeating us! For the glory of the empire! Cut the channel! Activate the Self Destruction Sequence!”

------



The demise of the Draginol

On the bridge of the T.A.S. Zeus

The bridge was filled with a white light as the massive explosion tore the Draginol apart and competed with the nearby sun for a moment in brilliance. The crew instinctively shielded their eyes as the protective filters kicked in.

Admiral Alex Gordon cursed inwardly. Those stubborn Drengin…

“Damage Report.”

“No damage to the ship. We were thankfully too far from the explosion. The T.A.S. Griffin reports significant damage to its port side. Hull integrity down to 66 %. Its sensors and one of its launchers has been badly damaged. However, there were no casualties.”

“Good. Lets set a course back for home.”

“Sir…a Drengin Ith’kar Frigate has just appeared from behind one of the moons of Algore I and opened fire on us. Incoming Nano Rippers!”

“Evasive action! All ships return fire!”

A series of dull clangs showed that the incoming salvo had found its mark.

“Mr. Torak, damage report.”

“Minor damage to hull. Hull integrity at 95 %. No damage to internal systems and no casualties.”

“Admiral, enemy ship has been destroyed.”

“Well done people. Mr. Corinth, set course for the Omega 7 starbase. Keep an eye out for any more nasty surprises. Full speed.”

As one, the mighty Alliance Dreadnaughts turned and engaged their Hyper-Warp drives. Soon, local space was empty except for the debris of the once mighty Drengin Super-Battleship.

Operation Lightning had been a success.

I think that the humans would have saluted in honor before bugging out.

I realy like the story.

:CONGRAT:

I wonder, if the Drengin will handover all their assets to the Yor.

Or cheered in victory. :NOTSURE: 

both

Frakking superb as always Namus  :CONGRAT:  :CONGRAT: love the political background and even better the Drengin perspective

one thing though and it has always vexed me in my stories but surely North, South, East and West dont exist as such in space? 

On a 2D map they do. If this game was 3D, there would surly have to be a different directional system.

By the way, great job Namus.

I believe the terms are core word, rim word, spin word, and I forget the term for back spin word and I don't know what up and down would be. but since we are not using a complete galaxy in this game.

You're probobly used to hearing this by now,but THIS STORY IS AWESOME!!!

Also, I finally have an excuse for procrastinating on my AAR. 

Replace "word" with "ward", and you;ve got it.

Sentient species taste better...

It's Coreward, Rimward, Spinward and Trailing.

No updates from Namus in the last couple of weeks- I hope he comes back to resume the story, this is one of the most entertaining AAR's I have seen.

I know-come back Namus   

I am suffering from withdrawl symtoms. Come back Namus!!!!! :SNIFF!: 

Well his profile says he visited last on Feb the 5th. So maybe he will continue his story soon.

YES Namus Please continue..!!

Interesting read.

100th post!!! Lol lame I know, I just wanted to show everyone how AWESOME Namus' "The Terran Odyssey" is and how much we all wish he'd come back to finish it.

We Miss You Namus!

:CONGRAT: