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SOLAR SKIRMISH

Location: Sirius 1, Sirius system, Sirius sector block
Situation: Pirates have overrun the garrison defending the planet Central (Sirius 1), the regional hub for commerce and trade within Sirius Sector. Planetary population held hostage and system is effectively blockaded.
Opposition: Approximately two battlegroups of pirate cruisers, raiders, and boarding carriers, led by an old assault carrier, the Acheron. Planetary defenses and civilian reports confirm pirate forces are concentrated in and around planetary orbit, but sufficient strength present patrolling the outer system to prevent a sneak deployment in the system’s outer regions. Orbital defenses have either been captured or destroyed, and the garrison has been scattered and is combat ineffective. No information available on surface to orbit and orbital denial weaponry.
Assets: 1x starship of no greater than capital-type designation max per player (so no battle moons!), plus attendant assets such as fighters, boarding craft, etc.
Restrictions: Limited use of strategic weapons (antimatter bombs, dimensional interrupts, etc.) no godmodding and no superweapons.

Let's have some fun!

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Breathe.
The background hubbub of the ship’s gym dropped away, and Stardust’s perception seemed to become hyper-aware of his surroundings:
The steady whoosh of a group of the battlecruiser’s Nahydran fighter pilots, practicing flying in a full G, holding on to supports to keep from slamming into the overhead.
The steady cadence of a handful of human runners on treadmills.
The occasional grunt of someone straining to lift weights.
Taking a deep breath, Stardust launched himself at the sparring dummy with a flurry of jabs and kicks, sending it skidding across the non-slip mats laid down to prevent such from happening. Leaping into the air, he finished with a solid roundhouse kick to the side of the training dummy’s head, actually knocking it over onto its side.
[They are not supposed to be easily knocked over,] a Nahydran voice cawed, and Stardust blinked to see Sovv, the Sword of Vengeance's executive officer and his close & personal friend, standing a few feet away. He glanced down at the dummy and then back at her, and shrugged.
“Just working off some energy,” he said simply. “What’s up?”
[CENTCOM has retasked us.]
That caught Stardust’s attention. “We’re not linking up with a Xargon Peacekeeper detachment for exercises?”
[Negative. We are to proceed at once to the trade hub of Central and eliminate it from pirate scum that have seized control of the system. I have already directed the helm to do so; I wished to inform you of the change.]
Stardust shrugged again. “Sure. What’s our ETA?”
Sovv looked him up and down, her wings indicating amusement. [You have time to bathe. Sir.]
Stardust ignored the implied comment that he stank – he had been exercising rather vigorously for over an hour. Taking a deep breath, he shifted his feet and stretched, feeling the burn in his muscles.
“Okay then,” he said. “I’ll hit the shower and get refreshed; can you make an announcement and arrange a stealthy insertion into the outer system?”
Sovv nodded. [Central has extensive deep-space and hyperspace tracking; permission to take us off the grid on our approach?]
“Granted. I’ll be in the CIC in half an hour.”

A small window, a vast abyss, thousands of tiny lights littering the blackness like diamonds.

That is what Fuurin Su'teka saw as he gazed out of the window of his quarters, the gentle thrum of the Durandal class Sengoku beneath his seat relaxing. The brilliant flash of one of the closer stars going supernova keeping his attention for a moment before he closed the armored shutters and cast himself into brief darkness before his cold, baritone voice cut through the darkness. "Veltas, set my cabin lights to dim."

A digititized voice replied with an As you wish sir before the lights came on dimly, revealing the massive form of Fuurin as he paced towards the wall and gazed at his old set of armor silently, a wry smile forming on his ashen lips as he thought back to how surprised the brass was when he, a Bezerker, had somehow landed command of a ship. He chuckled slightly at the look on Admiral Hein's face when he had been promoted. He was startled from his musings when the voice of his EO rang from his com table. "Sir, we're picking up a distress signal from a nearby trade hub located in the Sirius cluster, Talk of pirates and an older assault carrier present at site. Your orders sir?"

Fuurin was quiet for a moment before a savage grin split his lips, and he turned and strode towards the elevator at the back of his quarters. "Tell our gunboats to dock and prepare the crew for combat. Mayhaps we'll make someone happy enough to owe the empire a favor." At this a short bark of laughter burst from his lips as he entered the elevator. "I'll be in the cic in 15 minutes, get my chair warm for me would ye? We initiate FTL as soon as the gunboats are docked and the reactor is primed......I want to come out of the jump weapons primed and ready to fire the moment we enter real space again."

While enroute to Sirius Sector, Stardust received a personal long distance hail from the Star Marshal herself aboard FleetCom HQ, in orbit of Solaria, many hundreds of light-years away; elected military leader of the Solarian Commonwealth, the word of the office of the Star Marshal was law.
She sent Stardust a docket containing a list of the pirates' demands along with everything they knew about the hostile force that had taken one of the primary trade worlds of the known galaxy.
Stardust skimmed through it, making small talk with Star Marshal Dean as he did so.
"This docket does not hold much good or useful info," Stardust told her. "Their demands include demanding a whole system and recognized legitimacy for their 'republic,' not to mention nothing as to how they managed to drive off the militia garrison and secure high orbit."
"You have everything we were able to piece together," she said, brushing at a stray strand of hair that fell into her eyes. "Nevertheless, a full review of Central's defense strategy is underway."
"That doesn't help me now, ma'am. A garrison doesn't cut and run from a few pirate ships, and defense platforms can't just be reprogrammed; this stinks of an inside job. The playing field's already stacked against us."
The Star Marshal paused before speaking again. "You know how to handle this. You're the best there is, equipped with the best we have."
Stardust scoffed at that remark; one of few who could get away with it to someone of such high rank. "'Best' does not imply 'miraculous.'"
She sighed. "Do the best you can, Fleet Admiral Turcotte. Every member state is watching."
Joy, Stardust thought. Just what I need. A show. Aloud, he asked, "Has anyone else responded?"
"No, but you can bet they will, although we have indicators that the Oni may have sent a heavy hitter; be on your guard. The diplomatic cruiser Olive Branch is on-station and is looking to meet with their leadership."
"Acknowledged," Stardust said. "We'll make discreet contact and be ready to rock and roll when the defecation hits the ventilation. Sword of Vengeance Actual, out." He pressed a button on his console and terminated the connection, then turned to face Matriarch Kai'a Sovv, who stood beside him, in the CIC, out of range of the camera.
"Your assessment, Matriarch?"
She lowered the arm that held the datapad containing all that they knew about the situation at Central. Sapphire eyes burned into his emerald ones; Nahydrans hated pirates.
[Any group that can amass the firepower to overwhelm an entire planetary militia does not truly need whatever they may be asking for, nor will any sane organization part with whatever it is they really want. This entire show is all window-dressing. Eventually, they will start shooting.] She leaned over a nearby specialist's shoulder and entered a couple quick commands into the computer, and the holographic plotting projector that was the heart of the battlecruiser's command and control capabilities (plot for short) shifted from its view of the Sirius system and its sole planet to a close-in view of the planet itself. [We would be best positioned to cut off their command ship from dropping bombardment rounds onto the planet when they open fire.]
Stardust smiled; great minds always seemed to think alike. "I concur completely. We'll stay hidden in the deep outer system and monitor things from afar, but at the first sign of treachery, or at the signal from the Olive Branch, we'll flank that carrier and put a couple broadsides across their noses. From there, we'll have to play it by ear... like we always do. Sound good?"
Her wings rose in agreement, and she nodded; a gesture she had picked up from her long association with him.
Stardust contacted the bridge and requested an update on their arrival time.
"Estimate time to n-space reversion in two hours, ten minutes," the helm informed him.
"Then we better get ready," Stardust remarked.
Sovv told him, [and brief the gunnery crews.]
"Good call."
She turned and left the CIC, as the sleek warship, survivor of two wars and several 'last stands' streaked ever closer to its target, through the eldritch realm of hyperspace.

Fuurin silently scanned over the brief report that had been gathered on the pirate activity so far, their outrageous demands and capability to rout a planetary millitia raised many questions that he truly did not like the sound of.......the vagueness annoyed him. He glanced up to the hologram in front of him, the woman it showed bearing the bars and stars of a fleet admiral. "So.......Ye mean to tell me that a rag tag group of pirates beat the militia of a Solarian major trade hub........and seized total control of the system as well?" He was quiet for a moment as he rubbed his temples slowly before he chuckled wryly. "Yare yare that must really burn their Solarian brass' ass. It'll burn it even more when we show up I assume." He went quiet again before he looked at the admiral he personally fell under. "Any way I could get support from any nearby frigates or destroyers? These unknowns don't sit with me right"

The admiral was silent as she allowed him to read the report before she gave a brief bark of laughter at his wry humor. "Tis rather humorous how badly they dropped the ball on this one. Perhaps this will get them to reconsider the treaty we proposed at the last conference." SHe fell silent again at his request for support before she leaned outside of the range of her hologram projector for a moment before returning to view. "Ye have two unattached frigates and a destroyer currently in range to provide support. They'll be a couple hours late to the party though so you'll have to rely on Solarian support for the time being. Good luck Comandant, Yuugi Hoshiguma out." At her last words the feed cut out, leaving him to ponder how he could pull things off at the moment.

He sat in silence for many moments as he pondered his options before he gave a wry grin as a plan began to come come to mind, his attention shifting to his Executive officer as he relayed his orders. "We shall drop back into real space in the foreward shadow of the sun of this planet and use the solar flares and radiation to mask our presence, our armor and shields can withstand the heat with no issue. We will observe the situation from afar and fire the moment any aggression starts. ready the Lohgerins to fire on the capital ship while the linier cannons and turbo lasers concentrate on any frigates or destroyers present, the gunboats and fighters will assault the cruisers and smaller craft." He smiled slightly as the CIC erupted into activity, His command screens flaring to life around him as his chair slid into the depressed command port the oni ships were known for as he watched the ETA slowly counted down from one hour twenty-six minutes.

Avery was sitting at her bridge aboard the Battle-Carrier Nidhogg and she was well prepared to enter the fray. The Battle-Carrier was well prepared and equipped to provide long range support in the next few seconds. As it jumped out of it's Frame-Shift Drive a huge dark nebula cloud formed as soon as the ship had arrived and the Nidhogg itself came zooming out only seconds after allowing the dark nebula cloud to dissipate and close the passage. Avery quickly hopped on comms
"To all who this may apply to, the Nidhogg has arrived and is ready to give assistance where it is needed."
Quickly the comm link closed and the Battle-Carrier was left in the far distance of the conflict zone shining as a spec in the view screens. It's cannons swiveled to be aimed down range at any targets available. gunships and multi-role fighter squadrons were all ready to fight but at the moment they sat on standby. A solemn patience in Avery's eyes but a quiet tick knocking at the back of her thoughts. Hoping this was the right place and she was aiming at the right targets her confidence held strong. Weary she didn't think anything of pirates she took pirates on all day long and with little worry, yet she wondered why someone had called for help when the pirates showed. Perhaps something had gone wrong and Avery was here to help fix the problem.

The Sword of Vengeance emerged from hyperspace in deep space, far from any prying eyes, in what was widely accepted to be the outer limits of Sirius system. The white giant was the most intense pinprick of light in the night sky, but was still just a pinprick.
Hopefully we're far enough out that their deep space trackers haven't spotted us, Stardust thought.
They sent a narrow-band transmission to the Olive Branch, which was already in-system, to inform them of their presence. They were quickly contacted directly by the chief negotiator onboard.
"I've already made contact with the pirates and gotten the preliminaries out of the way," the man told Stardust when introductions were complete. "They don't appear open to any compromise, but we've only just begun our work."
"Acknowledged," Stardust said. "Act like you're the only fleet asset on-station for the time being; we don't want to spook these bastards into dropping anything on the hostage population downstairs."
"We can do that," came the diplomat's reply. "Although I feel better just knowing you're in the neighborhood."

Negotiations began and remained slow. An hour passed; then another. The Olive Branch looked quite out of place among the collection of nasty pirate starships and all their guns, and was utterly dwarfed by the Acheron, off her starboard beam.
Updates were sparse; progress wasn't being made. According to the Olive Branch CommO, "These idiots are maintaining their demands for a whole system and recognized legitimacy for their 'republic.' Nothing the Envoy says is producing any sort of result. The general consensus is they are buying time."
"Agreed," said Stardust. "Have your scanners found anything on the ground that might be part of their plans? Or have they given any hints to the Envoy?"
"Negative."
Stardust exhaled sharply. "Well, shucks. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way, then." He terminated the link to the diplomatic ship, and switched to the intraship PA. "All stations, all stations, set condition yellow throughout the ship. Repeat, set condition yellow throughout the ship."
The lighting automatically changed from the neutral blue-white to an amber-gold as he spoke; throughout the battlecruiser, crewmembers moved to combat stations, point defenses were energized and activated, shields were brought to standby readiness, fighters were prepped for launch, and the ship's main armament was brought online. At a word from the bridge or the CIC, or at the first sign of hostile action, they could move to condition red and be ready for battle inside thirty seconds.
Stardust watched the plot closely, making note of the movements of every pirate ship in the gravity well; though several patrolled the outer system, the majority were clustered around the planet Central. Over the next half hour, he noticed half a dozen pirate cruisers slowly drift into new orbits, above several major starports and urban centers.
"Bridge, CIC," Stardust said into the comms, an ugly suspicion forming in his mind, "What are the status of the surface to orbit batteries? Those pirates are well within their effective range, why have they not chewed up the pirates? If they had been knocked out, we'd see blast craters littering the landscape."
There was a moment of silence while the tactical and sensor stations queried their respective computers. "This is odd, sir," the sensor specialist remarked, "surface-based orbital denial weaponry showing as at 100% functionality and offline."
"So the surface cannons are intact?" Stardust asked.
"Affirmative, sir."
Not good.
Stardust tapped his chin in thought. "Can someone show me the locations of the surface to orbit cannons on the plot, here, and line them up with the six hostiles presently in low orbit?"
A moment later, several green squares lit up various points on the planet surface; vague emerald cones of color expanded outwards from their base to show their estimated effective range. The six cruisers were slowly lining up on them, and the urban centers they arguably defended.
[Time until pirates are in assault range of the surface?] Sovv inquired, speaking aloud the ugly thought that had formed in Stardust's mind.
"Four minutes," the sensor specialist answered.
"Hail from the Olive Branch, sir," the comm specialist informed them, automatically routing the connection to Stardust's com screen.
"Admiral, I give up," the senior negotiator huffed. "They won't budge on any point."
Stardust smiled a predatory smile. "Then by the Code," he said, speaking slowly and clearly, "I am now able to erase these fools from existence?"
A curt nod. "Give them hell, Stardust!" The screen went blank as the connection closed.
Stardust brought up the intraship PA. "All hands, battle stations!"

(OOC: Wow, its been a month! Where is everybody? Did I scare everyone away?)

I think this sounds like fun, sorry its come to a stop. If I joined, I think it might be fun to be on the pirate side with this character? We could get it going again maybe.

Go right ahead!

Brink stared out the front windows into the vastness of endless space. Endless, maybe, but not unoccupied. She gave a small thin smile as she adeptly moved her smaller spacecraft into the shadow of the larger mother ship, which had trained it's sights upon the unfortunate garrison set to defend Solaria. Various other large and smaller craft, frigates and gunboats alike had their weaponry locked onto those who would defend against the attack. Small skirmishes had already begun at several points, and she could see weaponry being fired, and hits taken. The comms in her unit were already starting to come alive with those calling for backup, and orders being given.

She let out a small sigh, which caused Miko to look quizzically at her. This was the way it went with these pirates, few could stand in their path. It was better to be on their side. Too bad most people found that out too late. While it was true that being a pirate was hypocritical of her, dislike as she did power hungry people, she had found a family with them. They looked out for their own. And she would help to further their cause. Some worlds just needed to be conquered, some governments and powers just needed to be brought down. People didn't need to be governed, they needed to be free.

True, she didn't currently know what sort of government operated upon Solaria. That wasn't for her to know. Her superiors had most likely done their research. Hers was only to follow orders, for now. It would seem that both sides were about to open fire. A thrill of excitement shot through her. This was the part she had been waiting for, the heat of battle. It drove away all stray thoughts, all memories she wished to forget. It forced her to focus upon one thing only, staying alive. Returning fire.

She made sure all shields were up on her own small craft, while it could take some hits - it's strength lay in maneuverability and speed. She caressed the controls, feeling that when she gripped the steering mechanism, she became part of the ship itself. Miko sat next to her on the dash, looking for all the world like her copilot. And he was, in a way. She needed the company. The wait was always the hardest, but, she didn't have any other options. Her job was to follow up, to board in stealth and silence and take the enemy by surprise. So, she would wait.

Blaze was in his living quarters relaxing after a hard day of working in the medical lab as the head doctor there going to the food generator and got his dinner and a can of Pepsi from there as the news came on the tv.Grabbing his dinner and drink he sat down on the couch and switched the channel to a football game instead of the news the game was just starting as he turned it on.Opening the can of cold Pepsi and eating his dinner Blaze's gaze was focused on the game when there was a knock at his living quarters door annoyed Blaze got up and answered it.There was a man he'd never seen before there.The man introduced himself as Daniel Cole the new medical doctor Daniel read the ad Blaze had posted weeks ago.Blaze invited Daniel in to the room as Daniel gave Blaze a resume.