With the data recordings and some other identifying information, the Agent quickly boarded his ship and left for the HMCS-Magnificent which was in nearby orbit awaiting word of the next Nomad sighting. Once aboard he was escorted before the Captain where he presented the information. Immediately grabbing the recording, the Captain moved to a nearby console and examined the data.
Captain: Perfect
Quickly writing out a message, the Captain called the Communications Officer over.
Captain: Send this<just finished writing> message and data as a priority one encoded transmission to the government offices on Manhatten and New London, they will definitely want this information. Also, have someone give this information to Firebird once his ship comes aboard.
Comm Officer: Aye, sir. Whens he expected?
Captain: Within a couple of hours.
Comm Officer: Sir, were getting reports of another sighting of the Nomad ship. It just attacked two Rheinland Battleships in orbit of New Berlin. The Ruwer and the Baltic. The Ruwer has been destroyed, while the Baltic is taking evasive maneuvers.
Captain: Ensign, you heard the lieutenant, the fox has been spotted, get this ship into the fight. Inform Firebird to adjust his course for New Berlin.
The Engines of the Magnificent power up and the large ship lumbers its way towards the tradelane bound for New Berlin.
Meanwhile, near New Berlin
Baltic: MaydayMayday this is RNC Baltic!!! Were under Nomad attack, weve lost engines and weapons!!! <Explosion heard in the background> Repeat MAYDAY, were loosing hull integrity she cant take another <the sound of falling metal and a final explosion is heard as the signal cuts out>
The huge warship begins to roll into a death spiral with several small explosions occurring along the outer decks as the ship tears itself apart. Nomad weapons fire then rips across the length of the ship blasting open gapping holes in the Baltic's hull. With the ship now breaking apart, the Devastator is seen passing by the debris, continuing to lay down fire and rip apart larger pieces of the once mighty ship. With its long-range scanners picking up three incoming Battleships, the Devastator decides it has sent its message and cloaks itself, evading further pursuit.
GNN: Nomad Battleship Sighted and Engaged in New Berlin
Ships of the Sirius Federation have assisted Rheinland in finding the Nomad Battleship. A gunboat patrolling the outer edge of the asteroid field near the Sigma-13 jump-hole came across not only the Nomad ship but a stolen Liberty Cruiser that was also found to be assisting the Nomads. The gunboat was lost but managed to send a distress signal causing both the nomad ship and liberty crusier to disappear off scanners. Rescue ships have been sent to pickup the survivors from the destroyed gunboat. The hunt for the Nomad Ship continues.
<Good job giving us the runaround Lancer and thanks for standing up against the odds :cool: >
New Berlin: Firebird arriving aboard the HMCS-Magnificent
Leaving his ship, Firebird is immediately approached by a young ensign who hands him the information and data recordings.
Firebird: Thank you, I'll look at these later, take me to the Captain.
Escorted by the Ensign, they went to the Bridge. Captain Achilles had just finished talking with the Communications Officer.
Captain Achilles: Firebird, about time you showed up. We got a problem for ya. We've been unable to track the Nomad ship, anytime the Nomad attacks it decloaks, blasts away everything in-sight, and then disappears without a trace. No engine trail, nothing.
Firebird: The problem is the Nomad propulsion system doesn't leave much of a trail, we can track the ship at cruise when cloaked but not when its running silent... CRI's been working on developing something to counteract the cloaking effect for sometime.
Captain Achilles: Any luck?
Firebird: None tested, but we have been working on the idea of flooding large areas with low-level radiation and using special scanners to find the cloaked ships. The generators and scanners are being developed by the Kusari at Kansai, we're rushing them but they should have something ready in a day or two. In the meantime, we're at the mercy of the Nomad ship.
Captain Achilles: Get me those generators, I'm sick of playing hide-and-seek in the dark with this thing.
Firebird: When's the paper work expected to pass on the other matter?
Captain Achilles: You know bureaucrats, they delay everything. But I would expect the announcement to be made tomorrow.
Firebird: Right... you know if CRI does this we'll have a huge bullseye painted on us. They did manage to attack both New London and New York.
Captain Achilles: Aye, but this guy's trouble and you know that?
Firebird: Agreed...watch your back old friend.
Captain Achilles: Same to you.
Firebird left the HMCS-Magnificent bound for Honshu.
Comm Officer: We're getting reports of another attack...
Captain Achilles: Grrrr...you know the drill, let's see if we can catch it this time.
GNN: Phantom Leader Identified and Declared Enemy of Humanity
In a joint statement between the four houses, the Phantom Leader known as Darkstar has been indentified as the person directly responsible for the Nomad attack on Manhatten. The evidence presented at the press conference consisted of security recordings and identifying information provided by the Cambridge Research Institute (CRI) that shows Darkstar boarding a CRI vessel and accessing the same Nomad Containment Units that were placed aboard the Magnificent. Having also orcastrated the New London attack, the four houses have placed a bounty of $100 million credits for confirmation of his death. Rumors however have been circling amoungst the pirate groups that the mysterious leader may have already gone into self-imposed exile.
GNN: Rheinland Fleet being Devastated: Five Battleships lost
The Nomad Battleship now named the Devastator has managed to attack and destroy five Rheinland Military Battleships in both New Berlin and Frankfurt. The Ems, the Oberhafen, the Weser, the Nordereibe, and the Schwarzwald have all been destroyed. Witnesses to the attack report that in all five cases, any crew members that managed to escape the vessels were later tractored by the nomad ship.
Phantom Broadcast from the Devastator
5 Battleships of the line destroyed for the 5 Phantom prisoners killed. And now witness the fate of those that defy the Phantom Empire:
An image is shown of a hundred crew members huddled together in a high-walled pit. The walls... the same organic material as the Nomad Ships. Several strands of organic material are seen hagging down from the ceiling, just out of reach of the prisoners. About a dozen or so human guards surrounding the rim with rapid-fire energy blasters. And two openings at either end at about the same level as the chains, just out reach.
A small bell is heard followed immediately by tremendous shrills and shrieks coming from the opennings... and the sound of several hundred feet... rushing... approaching... and growing louder. Pouring out of the opennings WARRIOR NOMADS, they lept from the opennings on to the nearby chains moving quickly from strand to strand using two of the tenticles like the arms of a chimpaze. The huddled mass scrambling to move in the confined space.
Some of the nomads would reach down with their free muscular arms and grab the necks of a people while their razor tenticles would tear them in half: gushing forth blood and entrails on to victims below. Other nomads would simply dive right into the huddled mass and throw bodies against the high pit walls or impale and rip through people's flesh with their tenticles. Eventually, as more room became available, all the nomads moved to the floor and all that could be seen were arms and limbs being tossed about like rag dolls and the screams of the crew members... screams of terror... pain... anguish... and death...
The last scene shows the pit afterwards, sprayed with blood. A layer of guts, limbs, bones, and body parts covering the entire floor. And half-torn faces of the victims... showing their last moments of terror.
This is the fate that awaits those on New Berlin.
<Reminder Roleplay Event: Saturday, February 11 starting at 2:30pm Pacific or 10:30pm GMT>
New Berlin: Firebird escorting CRI-Transport from Kansai to HMCS-Magnificent
Captain Achilles: Good your back, did you receive the latest Phantom broadcast.
Firebird: Yes time to show this Devastator a thing or two about human ingenuity. Weve got the generators; theyll have a limited effect on the cloaking field allowing the modified scanners to pick up the ship. Theres an added bonus at a slightly higher level, the radiation should disrupt the Nomads engines and drop them out of cruise. Oh that other gift I told you about earlier, a combined CRI and Corsair effort, two high yield warheads designed specifically to destroy Nomad Organic technology.
Captain Achilles: Fantastic!!!
Firebird: Theyre the only two well have for a while. I got a report that the Nomads just attacked Yaren and managed to destroy the research lab that was developing them.
Captain Achilles: Get that stuff aboard and lets blast this thing to the hell that spawned it.
Couple of hours later, on-board the HMCS-Magnificent.
Firebird: That should do it. Once activiated, the radiation generated well effectively encompass a 10 km radius around the Magnificent and with more passes eventually the level around New Berlin will become high enough to disable the Nomads cruise engine.
Captain Achilles: That will have to do, the remnants of the Rheinland fleet are ready near New Berlin.
Firebird: Alright here we go.
The generators on the outside of the ship powered up and the Magnificents modified scanners began sweeping for the Devastator. With the fleet in close guard around New Berlin and after several uneventful patrol flights
Captain Achilles: Its here somewhere, I know it, but where?
Scanner Operator: Something ah, GOT IT!!! dead astern, 10 km out its maintaining distance, it thinks we cant see it.
Captain Achilles: Helm, slow turn towards New Berlin, make it look like its the end of our patrol. I want it to come closer.
Ensign: Aye, sir.
Captain Achilles: Prepare to scramble remaining fighters. Firebird could use your ship, out there.
Firebird: Dont have to ask.
Scanner Operator: Its picking up speed making for an attack run.
Captain Achilles: It will wait until its right on top of us. Load up those high-yield warheads, I want this thing to know we mean business.
Scanner Operator: 3 km out 2km 1km
Captain Achilles: NOW!!!! BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!
The two missile launchers of the Magnificent fired. The first missile struck near the near the bottom center of the Nomad ship, while the second hit further right on the forward arm. The resulting explosions pushed the Devastator up and left, as well as shattering off the large lower-right arm of the Nomad ship. The shockwave then struck the Magnificent rolling the ship forward and knocking everyone off balance.
Captain Achilles: Gah LAUNCH AND OPEN FIRE!!!
Providing cover fire with its rear guns, the Magnificents launched 5 Avenger fighters lead by Firebird.
But as it turns out, the Devastator wasnt alone. An unknown fighter-sized ship, undetected due to its size, decloaked. It was thin, flat and definitely unrecognizable. The mayhem it brought was indescribable. Moving faster and quicker than the Avengers it quickly took out 3 of the fighters with no effort and began to track Firebird.
Firebird: DAMN, that thing is fast.
Making quick turns and sudden changes in direction, all Firebird could do was keep the unknown ship from acquiring a solid lock.
Firebird: GET HIM OFF ME, I cant do this forever.
The other Avenger attempted to get a lock but without warning was struck by weapons fire from the Devastator, which quickly moved past, approaching cruise speed towards New Berlin, with the Magnificent in hot pursuit.
Captain Achilles: How far to New Berlin?
Scanner Operator: 10km out.
Captain Achilles: The fleets in position but if this thing approaches at cruise we dont stand a chance if it goes for the planet.
Suddenly, the Nomad Battleship's engines cutout and it slowed to normal speed.
Scanner Operator: Sir the ship its reducing speed.
Captain Achilles: Take us out of cruise and open fire, have the fleet move in and intercept. Haha, thats done it!!!
The Devastator had been brought out of cruise by the radiation. With the Magnificent catching up from behind, and the fleet in front, its time had come. Pouring all energy into the normal engines the Nomad Battleship made for New Berlin, it would try to run through the fleet and reach the planet.
The Devastator, on approach to the planet, began emitting a broadband signal. The fighter that had been engaging Firebird quickly broke-off and made for the Devastator at an incredible speed. Meanwhile, the Rheinland Fleet consisting of three Rheinland Battleships and their supporting craft stood in the Devastators path, ready to open fire once the ship entered range.
But nothing ever goes exactly as planned, without warning several Phantom fighters, including members of the Death Knights, decloaked and flanked the Rheinland fleet from both sides. Not powerful enough to destroy the Rheinland battleships but just enough to be a very effective distraction. The Death Knights concentrated specifically on eliminating any Rheinland bomber forces that were lining up to fire on the Devastator.
The Phantom ships successfully created enough confusion that a hole opened up in the fleets defenses. The Devastator seeing its chance moved in. The only ship left in its path, the RNC-Bremen, flagship of the Rheinland Military, and for good reason. Upon entering weapon range the Bremen opened up with a powerful barrage of missiles and green energy blasts, giving the Nomad ship a heavy pounding. Returning fire, but having already taken damage from the Magnificents high-yield warheads this was a fight the Devastator couldnt win. The fire between the two ships was intense, Rheinland and Nomad fire passing each other in bursts of green and purple, missiles launching and exploding against both ships. It would be suicide for a normal fighter to attempt to fly in-between.
Out of nowhere the agile unknown fighter, nicknamed Mayhem, moved in and began attacking the Bremen, drawing fire away from the Devastator. With its superior agility and speed it easily dodged the incoming missile fire. With the Bremens fire divided, the Devastator continued on course towards New Berlin. But with its shields gone, the Devastator was beginning to take heavy damage to all sections of its outer hull.
With the Devastator now only 2km away from New Berlin, the Phantoms had efficiently drawn off the Rheinland fleet. The Bremen giving chase was continuing to fire upon the Devastator, but with most of its energy devoted to the engines the Devastator was slowly pulling away and looked to be unstoppable.
Captain Achilles: RNC-Bremen target the Devastators engines, were coming in!!!
With focussed fire on the Nomad ships aft section, the Devastators engines exploded in purple fireball. But momentum and the planets gravity continued to pull the Devastator towards the planet at an ever increasing speed.
Captain Achilles: This had better work BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!
The HMCS-Magnificent traveling at full cruise had circled around and was approaching the Devastator at full-speed from the side. It rammed the Nomad ship hard, deflecting the Devastators trajectory in a tremendous collision. With the Devastators engines dead and the ship drifting off-course the Bremen moved in.
RNC-Bremen: FINISH IT!!!!
Fire from the Bremen shattered the main hull of the Nomad battleship and in a massive explosion the Devastator, plague of Rheinland, broke in two.
Upon seeing the purple explosion in space, the Phantom forces retreated, activating their cloaking fields and escaping back into the shadows.
Hidden by the explosion Mayhem swung around and picked up a single escape pod from the Devastator before disappearing off scanners.
The Magnificent, having rammed the Nomad ship with its shields down, suffered significant damage to several of the forward sections of the ship. Firebird, moved in to survey the damage...
The entire bridge section was completely destroyed.
After being towed by a heavy lifter to Juneau Shipyards for initial repairs, the HMCS-Magnificent has now returned to Cambridge under its own power. A state funeral has been arranged for Captain Achilles and the other members of the Magnificent's crew that parrished defending New Berlin from the Devastator.
After the funeral, the Magnificent will be proceeding to Southampton Shipyards to finish significant structural repairs.