Olympiana Expanse

[LordTex]

The Olympiana Expanse. A hub point for most Jump gates in the Large Metallic Cloud, and since no one can make the Jump gates, that makes the expanse a very busy place. It is fifty-two planets big. Its outer colonies live in poverty while the inner planets prosper on the massive amount of trade ships and military sales. Poverty was made even worse by the five year war now over between the Klave Empire and the Olympiana Expanse. It ended with the Klave gaining fifteen planets and a 'Neutral zone' with a 34 hour guard on either end. The Olympiana expanse is prized for its massive artificial planet, Cannondale. It builds ships of all sizes, and in Quick succession. With out the planet the Expanse would of been over run by the Klave.

Since the end of the war, pirates have been populating the LMC. Those with big enough balls have even put their names up on the ranking boards leaving there Records out to show their kills and Blunder. On the top of the list is, one, Jamal Valentine, and his ship The Zeus. The ship is rumored to be built outside the LMC, The ship is built for Piracy.

Our story starts in a debris field not far from the Olympiana inner ring. A pirate captain and his small fleet of five ships hide out among the wreckage. They wait for a convoy to pass through so they can spring their attack.

The Zeus - http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=Homeworld ships&order=9&offset=120#/d1ca3t8

 

[Evo Var]

Capitan Name: Scott Kean
Age: 24
Traits: Leadership, Zero fear of zero gravity, Charismatic, Intelligent, Fair-minded, Broad-minded, Protective of those under his command.
Bio: He was born in space on the USC Explorer. Most of his time has been spent on board ships as he went from system to system with his parents. Scott has a scar that starts on his left palm and runs over his wrist before spiralling around and up to his end on his shoulder blade. He got the scar when he grabbed a cable as he fell off of a catwalk. He was lucky that the cable was not live but it was still hot enough that it gave him the scar as he fell.
When the war broke out Scott was the second in command on a cargo hauler that was caught in the first strike. Throughout the war Scott was drafted into service by whichever side was able to get control of whatever ship he was with. Because of this Scott has been able to gather a lot of knowledge on the many different ships that he had been stationed on. All his knowledge was from observation since he had never been more than a deck hand on any of the ships.
By the end of the war he had decided that he would not live under the rule of either side.

Fleet:
Battle Ship: Celestra
http://www.b5tech.com/oldb5tech/ear...psandvessels/earthcapships/nova/novaglory.jpg
Cruiser: Long Arm

Frigate: Narcissus
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/c.../various/fic_babylon5_B5_121_1__bcelestia.jpg
Frigate: Patton
http://www.shipschematics.net/b5/images/earthforce/destroyer_warlock.jpg

 

[Evo Var]

Scott slipped through the open airlock and bent his knees to absorb the impact as the electro-magnets activated and latched on to the bulk head. As he landed he heard the airlock close behind him and the slow hiss as the airlock pressurized. He waited until the display panel showed that it was safe to open the door. He hit the button and grabbed the lip of the door and swung himself through and down the corridor beyond. The Celestra had no gravity generator so all the crew word magnetic boots to keep them selves on the deck.

Scott shot over the heads of a few of the crew that were making their way through the corridor. Unlike many people he had no problem with Zero gravity so he rarely got disorientated for more than a split second. He made his way through the ship by either pushing off the walls or grabbing onto the lip of a doorway and swinging himself forward.

After a few minutes he reached the door to the bridge. He planted his feet on the nearest bulk head not caring if it was the floor or not. Once he was stopped he hit the control on the door and walked onto the bridge. It turned out that he had landed on the ceiling so he walked onto the bridge upside down. He smiled and flipped over so that he landed on the floor. "Status report." He made his way to the main view screen.

 

[LordTex]

Helm's men Makana swiveled in her seat. She was slouched back a bit. Her deck suit looked good on her, the black material contrasting with the red hair on her head. "Engines are cold, were on a steady drift with a thirty-two degree drift to port Sir." She turned back and continued to play her game on a small hand held device.

Operator Caisus turned from the large console built into the wall with seven screens and fore keyboards. He had an over sized helmet on his head and a visor that had a reflective tint to it. "The ship is in cold mode. Nothing notable to report Sir." Most of the screens behind him were off and he managed to pull off a board look.

Adjutant Maranda stepped beside the Captain and handed him a hand held computer "The fleet is in position also at cold mode. The Long Arm is reporting a crushed missile tube due to a high asteroid collision, no extreme damage Sir." After he was done looking over the board she pulled it away and pressed a button on her head set hidden behind her brown hair. She started to waltz away as she communicated to another ship. Her deck suit was covered by a female military deck officer uniform witch was flawless in its entirety.

Radar Chief Takatch paused a moment then answered "I've got multiple energy blips on scope, they could be a convoy, I wont be certain until it gets closer sir." he continued to work at his station.

 

[Kikora]

Pirate's name: Aodh Tuatha De Dennan
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" rel="nofollow" href="http://shihodani.deviantart.com/art/etereal-02-116747159?q=boost%3Apopular+Heise&qo=89">http://shihodani.deviantart.com/art/ete ... eise&qo=89</a><!-- m -->
Age: 22
Traits: Stubborn, prideful, no fear of zero gravity, argumentative, soft hearted.
Bio: Born to two very different kinds of psychics. His mother is the classification 'Psychic' and works in physical magic, manipulating matter through her mind. His father is a charmer, who enchants the mind and twists it to suit his need.
Aodh takes strongly after his mother in appearance and powers, but trains hard on what little enchanting he can manage. Stubbornly he disobeys her and idolizes his father, adopting the more carefree way of life, and leading him on the journey into space and pirating.

Pirate's ship:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" rel="nofollow" href="http://ere4s3r.deviantart.com/art/Complex-Spaceship-View-1-159054937?q=boost%3Apopular+Spaceship&qo=101">http://ere4s3r.deviantart.com/art/Compl ... hip&qo=101</a><!-- m -->


Pirate name: Aibhlinn ((Abby)) Tuatha De Dennan
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" rel="nofollow" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/goche21/Sorceress-1.jpg">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/ ... ress-1.jpg</a><!-- m -->
Age: 31
Personality traits: Fairminded, even tempered, good humored, no fear of space, not overly prideful.
Bio: Aodh's older sister, takes strongly after her father in ability. She is far more mature than her younger brother, but with a taste for adventure. She followed her brother into pirating to help ensure his safety and satisfy her own desire for adventure.

 

[Kikora]

For Aodh, the gravity free ship was like a playground. He swung through the corridors as if flying, his muscular body as light and unimposing as a feather. He spun through the door frame on his way to the bridge, and floated there weightlessly while he caught his breath. Moments later his older sister Abby flew through as well, sending Aodh a playful glare at the loss.

Unlike the brother and captain she wasn't as used to zero gravity. Her powers kept her mind open to such things, but the effects of spinning without any resistance in the air always left her feeling lightheaded and a little ill... And Aodh knew it. He would normally gloat loudly, ribbing his sister for the tinge of green around her face, but before the captain they sobered quickly, turning on the magnetic boots that glued them to the floor. 'Nothing like gravity.' Abby thought to herself sourly. Gravity held the entire body down evenly, but these boots only pulled their weight to the ground. She found them unbearably uncomfortable, like walking at the bottom of a pool with weights on her feet.

She reported to her station in linguistics, pulling up the screen. "I am picking up some radio signals sir." She told the captain. "Waiting for the computer to unscramble it before I can see what language they are speaking.

Aodh glanced briefly at his sister, and moved to his own place behind the captain, glancing down at the pretty brunette as she handed the terminal to the captain. "Should I go to engineering to check on the progress of that tube, sir?" He asked, surprisingly well mannered for the usually overly playful psychic. "We might need it if the convoy proves aggressive."

 

[LordTex]

The Adjutant Looked up from her small computer board. "The tube is on the Cruiser crewman." She sounded a little adjudicated and quickly returned to speaking to the cruiser through her ear piece. Since they weren't moving they were able to use Beam communication instead of radio, that way they wouldn't be eves dropped on.

The communications were scrambled terribly by the distance and the echos from the debris field, making them impossible for them to be properly translated. The Operator sat up in his chair. "Sir, theirs approximately seven ships, their are still ghosts. I estimate no more then five." He pressed a button on his helmet and the whole wall lit up as his console turned on. He reached out with his six fingered hands and started working on the sensors.

 

[Evo Var]

Scott took the PDA and was scrolling through it as Aodh and Abby arrived on the bridge. He made a mental note of a few things before he looked up. He had been listening to everything that had been said. he turned to Aodh. "You can go for a space walk over there if you really want to but I think you and your sister will be more valuable over here. Especially is we catch one of the incoming ships, Your unique skills will be invaluable." He smiled at him. Then turned to Abby. "ok, let me know when you get anything."
He walked up to the operator as if the magnetic boots were normal boots and watched to screens. "Takatch, do what you can to find out what we have on our hands. I want more info on what they are before we do anything."

 

[Kikora]

If there was one thing Aodh was good at, it was humor. He barked a laugh, his dark eyes twinkling. “Aye.” He told the brunette. “But I havna the chance ta spread my legs.” He told her, stressing his Irish accent for an added measure of humor before clapping a friendly hand on the captain’s shoulder. “Good ta know ye care, captain!” He said, before sobering. “But the weapons on these ship are part of my responsibility, no? You have Abby here, and my unique abilities could help move the repairs faster.”

Unfazed by her brothers antics Abby continued work on the screen, trying to decode the transmission. No matter how she ran it she couldn’t get more than a jumbled mess of sounds, pitched high enough from interference to make her visibly cringe. “I cannot decode it yet, captain, even with my gifts.” She said with a sigh, frowning down at the terminal. “I’ll keep working on it, perhaps the interference will clear when we are in closer range.

 

[LordTex]

Takatch nodded and continued to work on his console. The secondary view screen zoomed into a piece of rock, a red dot moved in front of it slowly showing the general direction of the ship and slowly started to show the outline. "Sir, its confirmed. Ive bounced a signal off a piece of rubble. There are 4 ships, one of them is quite large. The other 3 look like escorts. Looks like it could be a large hauler." he paused and considered his screen. "Their formation is weird though."

 

[Evo Var]

Scott thought about it. He wanted his ships working at 100% and Aobh would definitely be able to speed things up. He did not answer him until after he got the information on the ships. "Aobh, your right. Get to the Long Arm and get that missile tube back in order asap." He paused for a moment. The fact that Takatch found the ships formation odd did not sit well with him. "Make sure you bring an air tank Aobh. I know you won't need it but with those ship closing in on us I don't want to take any chances."

He studied the little he could see of the ships as they got closer. "Maranda, inform Long Arm that Aobh is on his way and tell them to make sure they get him inside as soon as he touched down." He turned and walked over to Takatch. "Ok Abby, let me know if you get anything no matter how small." As he looked Takatch's over shoulder he asked."Whats wrong with their formation?"

 

[Kikora]

Aodh nodded, and switched off the magnetic grounding to his boots. "Alright captain." He said as he launched himself again to the door. He caught himself on the frame and shot his sister a cheeky grin, "Let's see who gets finished faster then, Aibhlinn." He told her, before disappearing out the hatch to propel himself through the corridors to the airlock. It took only a few moments for him to pull on his gear, strapping each item in place, even the airtank that the captain had mentioned.

"Aodh is on his way." Abby informed the captain once her brother set off. She only briefly brought up the image of his moving between the ships, spinning like a foolish top. It made her smile and shake her head before continuing with the frantic translation, searching for a way to break the scrambled message.

 

[LordTex]

Takatch leaned back in his seat and studied the formation. "The Hauler is up front, and the escorts are behind him. Maybe they were attacked and are covering their asses. Seems unlikely though." he paused before adding "Their entering the far part of the debris field."

The Adjutant relayed the message quickly before returning one of the many reports she'd have to do today. Her and the Operator had some of the hardest jobs on the ship, but both of them had their work cut out for them. Caisus with his six fingers and Maranda with her own little secret.

The Sibling's bet was over before it started. The communication between the fore ships started to clear enough for the girl to hear, the computer doing a lot of buffering to polish the sound. By the sounds of it the communications were military. Ranks and positions were given before relaying the base message. Popper terminology was used. It was much like how Maranda delivered her radio messages.

 

[Evo Var]

Scott turned to face Abby and nodded. "Thank you. Let me know when he is safely on board." He turned back to Takatch. "It doesn't make sense for them to have behind." He thought for a seconded. "Are there any contacts following them?" He straighted up and looked over at Maranda. "Tell all ships to continue holding position. But get ready for a full power up on my command." He walked back to the center of the bridge and sat down in his command chair. "Put the ships on the main viewer and look for any identification." He clipped the PDA he had been given on to the arm of his chair. "Abby, have you been able to get anything?" He didn't like what was going on here but he also wanted a chance to get on board the hauler and see what they had on board.

 

[Kikora]

Even as Aodh left the airlock and moved through space to the other ship, Abby was able to decode at least part of the message. A jumble of orders and messages with an obvious military undertone, but certainly not enough information for her to make out anything useful. "The ships are military, captain." Abby confirmed, and set to the task of pulling apart the message into something understandable. "Give me a minute or two longer and I should be able to tell you what they are saying."

She typed away frantically at the board, knowing how critical even seconds were at this point. With a quick over she noticed her brother only just reaching the other ship. "Aodh has made it." She confirmed a moment later, smiling smugly. Even if he could use magic to move him through space like no normal human cold she managed to beat him using only her skills. She knew that fact would annoy her young brother more than anything she could say to him. "He says the tube isn't badly damaged, but he needs at least five minutes to get it operational. He adds 'better than the half hour previously estimated'."

 

[LordTex]

Takatch Nearly jumped out of his chair. "Woah! Captain That's no Hauler, I'm putting it on screen." He typed a quick command on the interface and a ship appeared on the main viewer. (Look Below) "Its a Cutter, Plasma weapons, 2 Mass Accelerator Cannons, Multiple PDS, a Missile Nest, I've never seen a ship like that sir." He sounded a little shaky. Everyone on board froze but Operator Caisus, who continued to work on his console. The ships moved further into the field, sill slightly out of range.

In this age, Lasers, Missiles, and particle weapons were largely used by civilians. EMP and Plasma weapons were strictly regulated by the military, anyone caught with them were court martial with Treason and sentenced to death according to position. It was risky business carrying plasma on a civilian ship.

Ship: http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=Survivor+sweep#/djj04e

 

[Evo Var]

Scott's head snapped over to Abby as she reported her finding. "Well thats not to much of a surprise. It does explain why they are in an odd formation at least." He smiled at her report from her brother. "tell him I will give him as much time as I can." He thought about the position of the other ships for a second the continued. "He should have just enough time."

(Cold Red is battle when the ship is ready to engage an enemy within a few seconds of power up.)

He started wondering why the military would come to this debris field though. He was not sure what to do yet but he knew that when the time came to make a decision he would know what to do. "Maranda, tell all the ships to go into get ready to take on more cargo. I think we might get some well deserved supplies. Spred the word that we are going up against military not civ ships." He was going to say more but froze when he heard Takatch's reaction. He stood as the ship was displayed on the main view screen. He could hear everyone freeze as they listened to Takatch list off the weapons on the ship. "Maranda belay that order. I want all ships in Cold Red within 3 minutes." He was sure that most of the ships had their crews standing by for battle stations but he wanted them to be ready well before the ships closed on their position. He walked up to the view screen and looked closely at the ship. "Well it seem that we have something new to toy with. I want to know where the Cutters vital systems are and how best to take leave it sitting dead." He knew that he would have to surprise a ship that size if he was going to win.

 

[Kikora]

The hurried order for code red made Aodh curse loudly, swinging into the loading tube itself to assist with repairs. It wasn't a mad bit of damage, but misalignment in this age was deadly. With a trained precision he helped the engineers align of structure, embracing his mother's telekinesis to speed the repair further. He frowned in agitation at being forced to resort to her magic, but the engineers were grateful for the help, helping direct his powers exactly where they desired them. "We'll be ready for battle in just a moment." Aodh told the bridge through his comlink, his eyes narrowed at the sloppiness of the repair. "But once we're in free space I will have to fix the shoddy work."

Abby nodded in the bridge, delivering his message between bursts of translating. "I can't recognise this type of ship, and they don't seem to be delivering any useful messages." She finished, her lips tightening slightly in agitation. "But I have their frequency now, Captain, I should be able to translate orders as they pass from ship to ship."

 

[LordTex]

Takatch begun to work on his console, dark scanning the ship for weaknesses. Operator Causis picked up where Takatch left off. "The other two ships are Battle ships, Military type Epsilon. No plasma weapons. The last ship is a First class space liner." he paused a moment. "Its got no real weapons, but it looks like its a Royal transport." The transports were easily distinguishable form other ships with their red and purple tribal designs across the belly and sides of the ship. The other ships had similar designs.

Takatch leaned back from his chair looking defeated. "So far I've calculated that it would take around fore straight volleys from every ship to cut through its armor plating and get to the nearest plasma conduit, And that's assuming all missiles get through its Point Defense Field."

Adjutant Maranda reported "All ships are at the ready sir." She started to walk from the front part of the bridge were her stand down console was to the back of the bridge where a large table was, she turned it on and a holographic projection of the debris field popped.

The radio signals were squelched suddenly. They switched to Beam transmitions to avoid eaves droppers. It was a safety measure the military very commonly used to discourage ambushes while passing through a large Field of anything.

 

[Evo Var]

Scott kept looking at the ship on the screen hoping he could see something that would be useful. "Tell Aodh he can have all the time he wants after this." He had know doubt that they would need lots of time for repairs after this battle. "Okay, let me know if they tart to get suspicious."

Scott was a bit relieved to hear that the other ships were not more cutters. "See if you can figure out who is in the transport." If they knew who was on board he could use it to his advantage later.

He turned and headed for the table at the back of the room. "We will have to find away through it. What about the engines. If we get behind them can we cripple its engines faster?" He stopped beside Takatch as he asked. He knew that if they could not take out the cutter then they had know chance of getting out of this alive.

"Thank you Maranda." He left Takatch and joined the Adjutant at the holographic table at the back. "Let the Narcissus and the Patton know that they will be working together on this operation." His plan was coming together and now it was just getting the orders out.

 

[LordTex]

Adjutant Maranda nodded and started working on the table as well as her pad. Takatch started working on his console and comparing a few notes. "The cutter's engines are armored and built to the sides... They look like Ion drives." Ion drives were notorious for being able to be mounted anywhere on a ship while the engine room was on the other side of the ship. They were extremely expensive and hard to maintain with out a trained crew.

The adjutant flicked her comm off "The Frigates responded and are coordinating with each other now. The fore ships have entered weapons range. On their current trajectory they will pass directly through our ship's ambush set up."

 

[Evo Var]

Scott wanted to grown when he was told that the ship had Ion Drives. That meant that they would not be able to take out engineering with just a few shots. "Abby. I want you over here, I need your input." For some crews this might make them uncomfortable hearing their captain asking for advice but Scott ran most decisions by Abby or her brother. They had got him command of his first ship and helped him get to where he was now. They had specific jobs to do on the ships but first and for most they were his advisors.

He looked at his adjutant as she spoke and nodded. "Good, tell the Long Arm to target the second Battleship for a full volley on my command. Then retreat to a safe distance as soon as it has fired. That ship is their primary target." He knew that the three other ships may not make it but they should be able to take down the two battleships.

He looked to Abby. "I am thinking that we Wait until the Cutter to pass by us then open up with everything we have at the engines and any other spot that looks like it my be a weak point. What do you think?" He was hoping she could give him more advice as to where and how to attack.

 

[Kikora]

With the new communication being used to relay messages from ship to ship it was near impossible for Abby to do more than catch a spare word now and then. In whole it was frustrating, but Abby was used to working in stress. When Scott called her forward she leaned across him to view the ship, taking in the details of its construction. "We cannot attack headfirst." She agreed, "The Cutters weapons put it at a disadvantage, only being able to fire fire straight forward. My guess is that the ion on either of its side are to offer a wider range of maneuverability and more rapid turns. Side to side it should be formidable indeed, but if we curve the attack to aim above and bellow it should give us more of a tactical advantage. Their response would be more sluggish, further as they adjust their course to counter one ship, the other would be given a clear shot at their engines to do damage. We just have to play safe and not get attacked in return."

 

[LordTex]

Adjutant Maranda nodded at her assessment of the Cutter. "I concur, the craft will be a tank trying to pitch and yaw. If we can stay away from its main cannon then it has to rely on it's secondary weapons and support. And if there engaged in combat it wont do that much damage, aside from it's plasma weapons." The plasma weapons were still readily usable in that situation.

 

[Evo Var]

Scott listened to both Abby and Maranda as they discussed the Cutters weakness's and how best to attack it. He manipulated the hole graph of the Cutter and spun it to show what would be exposed as the ship curved around it. "I agree. Helm's men plot the around the Cutter that will give us maximum fire points on that ship." He studied the hallo-table and calculated how much time they had. "I want to stay out of the arch of their plasma weapons as much as possible." He glanced up at the view screen that still showed the Cutter. He glanced back to Abby. "When we beat these ships we will not go unnoticed." He drummed his fingers on the table for a few seconds out of nervous habit before looking to Maranda. "Open a secure channel to our ships. I want to address our ships before the targets are in position." This was going to be a turning point and he was going to be sure every single man and women under his command was aware of it. They had never fought anything like the cutter and with it escorting important officials he knew that defeating them would gain him influence.