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(Very long)
Sol System, Luna, Council Chambers
The Council filed into the Council Chamber on Luna, and a comm link was set up between the chamber and the fleet attacking the mysterious ship. After failing to damage or destroy the invader, the Confederacy was forced to come up with an alternative strategy.
Fleet Commander: We've been hammering that thing for nearly a week, and it hasn't left a dent in that shield. But we have a proposal to make.
Council Member #2: What do you suggest? Not even relativistic weapons have worked on the shield.
Fleet Commander: We could use the gravity beam-
Council Member #5: NO! That thing is far too dangerous to use near one habitable world, let alone two!
Council Member #9: Yes, except that the sensitivity has been improved via research on the inter-universal portals. Using the stability systems for that wormhole, we could refine the output of the Forerunner device.
Council Member #4: But even if we are able to destroy the ship, we simply can't. If that ship explodes, the explosion could devastate Earth and Luna. And we wouldn't even be able to, because they'd likely be able to adapt their shielding for gravity waves before we finish cutting it up.
Fleet Commander: We could simply focus it on one section of the ship and wipe out the systems around it, including the local shield generators. If we could then invade the ship and seize control of it, we could just steer it away from the Sol System and study it. But I bet it'd be a tough fight.
Council Member #8: Why can't you just send drones to take control?
Fleet Commander: The hull blocks all the signal wavelengths that the shield does not, and we can't bring the equipment necessary to maintain a wormhole onto the ship.
Council Member #8: But artificial intelligence-
Fleet Commander: I'd rather have people in the ship itself. Sending AIs could risk the enemy hacking into their systems and taking control.
Council Member #3: All right then. So we will break through their shields and hull with the gravity beam, and send boarding parties to invade the ship. Anything else?
Fleet Commander: We should also send bombers into the gap and fly under the shield. It would provide an excellent distraction.
Council Member #3: Okay. Flesh out this a little, and we've got a plan. All in favor of implementing this?
Despite a few obviously being unsure about it, all of the Council members unanimously raised their hands.
Fleet Commander: Excellent! Permission to begin, sirs and madams?
Council Member #10: Affirmative. Good hunting, commander.
—
?? walks into a crowded room with Albert.
??: How is the construction progressing?
Minion: Excellent, sir. The final touches on the weapon should be complete by the end of Thursday. But I still think we should have finished this ship before sending it out...
??: Time is short. We need to strike TAMDEG before they and Stellar Colonies are reconnected to each other.
Minion: But if we took more time to finish it, we could've zapped the SC Earth or Luna into oblivion, just to make them back off and leave us alone.
??: No. If we destroyed their worlds right away, they'd do everything to destroy us. As it is, they only started firing at us when we destroyed that portal they were rebuilding. Now they've tapered off and are merely surrounding us instead of attacking.
Minion: I see. But we will be able to attack once TAMDEG is gone.
??: Yes. Once TAMDEG is not a threat, Stellar Colonies will be put down as they deserve. And do not question me again on this. I am very patient, but that patience has a limit...
Minion: *Gulp* Yes sir!
Albert: Eh...you should probably see this.
??: What is it..?
Albert: Several Confederate ships are moving towards us. And their onboard weaponry is activating.
??: So be it. If they want to kill themselves, let us give them what they want. Activate the defenses and shoot them down.
—
The Confederate fleet moved ever closer to the vast ship. And they soon detected the anti-ship defenses coming online.
Captain: Is the beam ready yet? Some powerful stuff is going to be coming our way very soon!
Weapons Officer: We need to get closer, ma'am. Have the ship move just outside of the shield.
Captain: You heard him! Move the ship!
As the Confederate ship began to close in and extend the emitter, beams of energy began lancing out at it, forcing the pilot to jink it closer in an unpredictable path. And in the gravity beam emitter, space-time began to ripple.
Weapons Officer: Now! Bring us right above that knob on the ship!
The small Confederate spacecraft nimbly dodged another series of shots, and the emitter rotated on the maneuvering arm until it was aimed at the shield projector.
Captain: Fire.
In a straight line between the gravity beam emitter and the local shield generator, space-time whiplashed, sending a sharp series of gravity waves towards the invader's ship. Viewed from the side, extreme blue and redshifts of the backroad stars averaged out to an eerie white and matter caught in the beam was torn apart by the extreme tidal forces. As the beam passed through the shield like it wasn't there, it sliced deep into the hull, shattering everything in its wake into dust. A power conduit beneath the surface exploded, adding more debris to the dust flying out of the narrow shaft.
—
Computer: ALERT. ALERT. HULL BREACH DETECTED IN ANCHOR 3. ALERT ALE-
?? shut off the computer, and angrily accosted a nearby crew member.
??: WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! How'd they get past the shield?!
Minion: I don't know, sir! They must've fired some kind of weapon they didn't use before!
??: I AM AWARE OF THAT, YOU NITWIT! BLOW THAT SHIP OUT OF THE SKY!
Minion: I can't get control of the turret for that section! They've blown out the power, and I'm not picking up anything from that area of the ship!
Albert: Visual reports are coming in of small ships coming through the gap in the shield. They've began bombing the hull.
??: *Angry screaming*
-
As the Confederate ships flew down through the hole in the shield, they began flinging bombs onto the hull. A second wave of troop carriers moved through and began dropping Confederate soldiers and supplies for them through the hull breaches. As they expanded out from their points of entry, the soldiers faced fierce resistance from the crew. As more Confederate ships poured in through the gap, defending fighters came up from nearby holding bays and began engaging in a large battle above the damaged ship.
-
Albert: We have no choice. We must jump to another universe before they hit us with that weapon again.
??: Go to U-34353252452. It will be a safe place to repair ourselves and complete preparations.
Minion: Yes sir.
The massive ship began to glow, with the damaged shield turning to a pearly white. As the Confederates realized what was happening, those under the shield quickly attempted to evacuate. But not all made it. With a final flash of light, the mysterious ship vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving a shocked and angry Stellar Colonies behind.
-
?: Hey...Thomas!
Thomas groaned and leaned up, still dazed from a booby trap set by the crew of the invading ship.
Thomas: What is it, Dmitri? Are they coming back?
He struggled to lean up in his spacesuit, it having stiffened up to engage the medical systems. Off in the distance, one could hear the sounds of marching boots and terse commands.
Dmitri: Yes. Get into that compartment and wait for me to shut the door.
Thomas struggled into it with Dmitri's help, and they hid within as the guards went by, searching for Confederate troops.
With their suits linked by a cable, they could communicate without fear of being detected.
Thomas: Where are the others? Have you heard anything the ships or Luna?
Dmitri: No. All signals from outside the ship abruptly ended about twenty minutes ago. At the same time, my suit picked up similar radiation as to the kind given off by a wormhole bridging two universes.
Thomas: Okay...what's the difference between that and an intra-universal one?
(OOC: "Science" ahead)
Dmitri: Well, it's bridging two universes. Even the most similar have subtle differences, including in their laws of physics. As radiation passes through, it has to "adjust" to those laws. One governs the mass of particles, and they have to give or receive energy to adjust their mass. That energy can be detected from both sides and is unique.
Thomas: Okay...
Dmitri: And since universes lie in a kind of "probability space", universes close to each other are more similar, including their laws of physics. So if you establish two wormholes to two different universes, the one leading to "further away" in probability space emits more energy, since the particles have to adjust to a bigger difference in mass.
Thomas: I see. So how far have we gone?
Dmitri: Not far. Judging by the energy signature from the TAMDEG-SC portal, we've actually not gone as far. After all, time is faster in our universe since the time period in each universe is thousands of years apart, so TAMDEG lies relatively far along the time-speed axis.
Thomas: The what..? Never mind, we need to focus. Do you have any idea of what happened to the others?
Dmitri: Well, most of them have been captured and killed by the onboard crew. We were far outnumbered and they have similar handheld weapons and armor.
Thomas: Well, that's just great. I think I can move again. Can you get me to a shipboard computer?
Dmitri: Why? They could probably track us from the unauthorized access, and their anti-virus systems are too powerful to get past. Not even Morlockland's AI could crack it anytime soon.
Thomas: We need to see what's going on. Is that a terminal over there?
He pointed to a dark screen on the other side of the room.
Dmitri: Yes. Come on.
They got to the computer and activated the screen.
Thomas: Okay, I've accessed the external camera feed. Here we go...
The computer switched to an image of the Earth and Luna, displaying each on a separate window.
Thomas: Wait a minute...Luna is gray! It hasn't been terraformed in this universe. And I'm not seeing any city lights on Earth's nightside.
Dmitri: Perhaps humanity never evolved in this universe, or hasn't ascended to the level of technology that we or TAMDEG possess.
Thomas: Aha.
The computer switched to a list of numbers.
Thomas: Universal coordinates. It appears that these people use the vibrations as well.
Dmitri: What?
Thomas: We use the vibration pattern of each universe as coordinates to figure out where we are. Each one is extremely complex, but I think they are also part of the probability space you were talking about. "Closer" universes exhibit similar ones, while more distant ones have ones instantly distinguishable. In fact...oh.
Dmitri: What is it?
Thomas: The second one on this list is the one for Stellar Colonies. The first one must be their home universe, and this third one has a blinking icon. But the one to the right of the list...
Dmitri: Is..?
Thomas: The one for TAMDEG. My suit computer confirms a complete match between the ones in our database.
Dmitri: So they're planning to go to TAMDEG next?
Thomas: They must-
A notification popped up on the screen.
Thomas: This isn't good.
Dmitri: What now?
Thomas: They've adapted their shielding to the gravity beam. Now there is no known way to stop this thing when it arrives.
Dmitri: Then we'll have to stop it ourselves. Can we knock out the inter-universal drive.
Thomas: Possibly, but we have to go to one of these conduits.
He brought up a schematic of the ship and pointed to one.
Thomas: If we disable one, than the energy being used for the jump would be wasted. And since it seems like it takes a few days for it to charge up, we could probably do some devastating sabotage before then. But it'll take a couple of days just to get to the closest one, because we can't use the transportation systems onboard. They'd detect us.
Dmitri: All right then. Let's go.
—
Dmitri: Thomas...
Thomas: What?
Dmitri: How long until we reach the IU Drive conduit?
---
Edit: Ah, the first namedrop of 'IU Drive'.
5-29-2021
---
Thomas: "IU Drive"?
Dmitri: Inter-Universal Drive.
Thomas: Right. Well, it'll take a few days. Since we'd certainly be detected if we took the ship's transportation systems, we have to walk. Be happy we aren't further from it, because this ship is wider than Earth.
Dmitri: Just out of curiosity...what is this ship like?
Thomas: Didn't you see it from the dropship, or any of the briefings?
Dmitri: ...no?
Thomas: *Sigh* Ok. Well to start off, the ship is a flat disk several times wider than Earth. You'd think that it was creating a massive gravity well, but it is not. Some of the scientists who were briefing us said they thought it was due to a layer of negative matter beneath the hull. How did you miss the briefing?!
Dmitri: I'd rather not talk about it.
Thomas: All right then. There are five projections placed on the rim of the disk in a pentagon shape. Could be weapons, could be shield generators, we don't really know. But the conduit we're headed to runs out to one, so they could also be part of the IU Drive.
Dmitri: Weren't there more such conduits running around the main disk? It's possible that the ship just needs to be evenly covered by the field that they emit. Since the shield lit up during the Transition, it's likely that it is related to the drive as well.
Thomas: It did? Well, it could be. And-
Dmitri suddenly stopped and cocked his head.
Thomas: What is it? More crew?
Dmitri: I don't know. I think I heard some kind of buz-
Thomas: Why are you whispering? We're still using the cable for communication.
Dmitri: Stop it. I think that we're being-
"TRESPASSERS!"
Thomas and Dmitri nearly jumped out of their skins and whirled around, seeing a cloaked figure behind them.
Thomas: Who the hel-
??: You need not know what my name is.
?? spread out his arms.
??: All you need to know is that there is no escape. To you, I am the personification of Death hims-
Dmitri fired his weapon at him, only to have the beam go right through ?? and splash against the bulkhead.
??: That was rather rude.
Thomas: I think he's a projection, Dmitri.
He looked around and saw a faint cone of light above ??, narrowing to a point on a small dome attached to the ceiling.
Thomas: In fact, if we just shoot that...
??: DO NOT DAR-
Thomas fired at the projector, causing the furious hologram of ?? to vanish.
Thomas: There we go. But we need to get out of here before their guards get us.
Dmitri: But won't they simply track us on the sensors?
Thomas: Well, they could..until now.
Dmitri: Wait, what? How did you just-
Thomas: I left a program in there to deactivate the sensors. I would've done something similar for the shields or IU Drive, but those systems are more protected.
Dmitri: Great. Why didn't you do it earlier?
Thomas: It had to worm its way into the system first.
Dmitri: Okay then. Come on.
They started to move towards the conduit again, being careful to avoid anybody they'd encounter.
-
Albert: Great job on intimidating them.
??: Shut up. Can you detect them on the sensors?
Albert: Yes, they're...oh wait, never mind. All of the internal sensors shut off.
??: WHAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Albert: No. I am assuming that they're going to perform sabotage on something.
??: Assign crew members to guard important positions. Assuming they don't succeed in damaging something important, when will the ship be ready?
Albert: The repair crews say Friday.
??: Excellent. Still enough time to conquer Earth by Christmas Day.
Albert: You know, you tend to strike me as a Krampus under that cloak.
??: A what?
Albert: Krampus. Y'know, that evil Santa Claus in German Christmas stories. Kidnaps children who were bad.
??: Earth has some bizarre holidays.
Albert: Indeed.
—
Dmitri: THOMAS!
Thomas: What?!
Dmitri: Some soldiers are coming our way! When are you going to be finished with the-
A low humming sound begins to resonate through the air, and the IU drive conduit next to them begins to light up with a pale white glow
Thomas: Uh oh. The drive is activating.
Dmitri: How soon until it activates?
Thomas: Minutes, Dimitri. Minutes.
-
??: You shall see.
Minion: I thought this would be a surprise attack. How do they know we are coming? Or even exist, for that matter.
??: Oh, right.
#FirstJJInvasion
Dmitri: How long?
Thomas: Just a bit longer and-
The humming suddenly jumped in intensity and the glow from the conduit became much brighter.
Thomas: Ok, I might not be able to shut it off in time!
#FirstJJInvasion
??: How soon?
Minion: Less than two minutes.
-
Dmitri: Ok, are you going to be able to deactivate it or not?!
Thomas: I still might be able to! I just hope Earth isn't completely unaware of what's coming...
Dmitri: Hm?
Thomas: Of what MIGHT come...
Dmitri: Better. Keep working.
#FirstJJInvasion
Somehow, the IU drive shorts out
Thomas: Hey, it worked!
Dmitri: Wait, what? You did it?
Thomas: Maybe.
-
Minion: The drive has mysteriously failed, sir. We remain in this universe.
??: WHAT?!
Minion: Y-yes. And since we depleted a large percentage of the buffer that contains the energy for the jump, we will have to wait a day or two.
??: Oh well.
Minion: Wait, what? You aren't going to kill me for this failure?
??: No. I'm just going to watch that Harold Richard show.
He walks out of the room towards his quarters.
Minion: ._.
#FirstJJInvasion
"Merry Christmas!"
??: Ah yes, merry Christmas. I had hoped to be celebrating it in the ruins of TAMDEG, but alas...
Minion: Well, the drive is still charging from the last attempt. It should be ready in about two days or so.
-
Dmitri: Thomas.
Thomas: Yes?
Dmitri: Merry Christmas.
Thomas: Oh, merry Christmas! I'd hoped to be back on Sardana by now-
Marching footsteps echo in the distance
Dmitri: I think we should move to a different part of the drive.
Thomas: Yeah, I agree.
Out in orbit of Earth, several tiny probes orbited the planet, collecting intelligence for the future invasion. As the link was being established between the planet and the space station, they tapped into it and automatically sent the collected data back to the Chariot of War.
Minion 34: Are you sure?
Minion 93: Yes. The data points to Albert being aboard that station. We've also picked up several Morlocklandian warships that are maneuvering to intercept, so we need to be quick if we're going to rescue him.
Minion 34: Well...let us inform ?? of the situation.
-
Minion 34: Sir, we have an emergency message for you.
??: Can it wait? I am in the middle of-
Minion 34: No sir, it can not. We have reason to believe that Albert is alive and requires assistance.
??: What is the state of the IU Drive?
Minion 34: It's currently at 96%, but previous tests have proven that it is capable of making the jump at 94%. It was delayed by mechanical problems, but we should be good to go.
??: Excellent. Begin powering up the drive. We should come out in HEO correct? (OOC: High Earth Orbit)
Minion 34: Yessir. Beginning power up!
-
Next to Dmitri and Thomas, the IU Drive conduit begins to buzz and glow.
Dmitri: Thomas! Your break is now over!
Thomas: That's great. They've figured out a way around the sabotage we've been doing.
Dmitri: Okay, stop it before they go!
Thomas: I can't. It's too late to stop it, it'll jump within seconds.
Dmitri: Well, couldn't you do something else?
Thomas: No...but I will try regardless.
He leapt to the conduit and begin tinkering with the computer built into it.
Thomas: Hopefully I can give TAMDEG more time to-
[] TRANSITION []
Thomas: -prepare. And...we're here. Apparently not.
Dmitri: Previously unaware, Earth will now be set afire...unless we and TAMDEG can stop that hooded maniac.
-
Out beyond the orbit of Neptune, a vast ship hung in space. It was a disk with five triangular objects placed in a pentagon shape around the main body of the ship, and the whole thing was a dull gray color. Between each triangular object and the center of the disk, vast triangle shaped hanger bays contained tens of thousands of fighters each.
Oh yeah, and the whole thing is about twice as wide as Ceres itself.
-
?? swept grandly into the main bridge, with the tiny Sol visible in the main window.
Minion 82: Sir, we have arrived in the TAMDEG universe. But we picked up odd distortions in the IU Drive, along with unexplained life signs.
??: More troops from Stellar Colonies must remain. Send out patrols along the drive conduits. If you capture them, bring the poor fools to me.
Minion 20: Yes sir.
??: And set a course for Earth. Send out a squadron of ships ahead of us to rescue Albert from the clutches of Primus.
All minions together: YESSIR!
-
Thomas was dejectedly leaning against the Drive conduit, while Dmitri was looking at the computer built into it.
Thomas: I was too late...
Dmitri: It's unlikely they even know what is going on. From their point of view, this ship is completely unknown. They might even think it is benign and try to establish diplomatic relations.
Thomas: Hopefully not...what are you doing?
Dmitri: Looking for the...huh...aha!
Thomas got up and walked over to Dmitri, looking over his shoulder at the computer screen.
Thomas: Wait...is that-
Dmitri: Yep! It seems like this course is going to pass relatively near Jupiter. And from the course corrections being put in, it seems like they're planning to aerobrake in its atmosphere.
Thomas: That makes sense. This ship is fairly massive, although oddly without much of a gravitational well, so it a good way to slow down without wasting a lot of power.
Dmitri: Stay focused, buddy. Since the ship will pass within its atmosphere, that will be a great time for TAMDEG to attack.
Thomas: Yes. We'll have to find a way off first...but one thing at a time.
Minion: A fleet of Morlocklandian ships are now heading for Jupiter, along with another object I can't identify. We should be crossing the orbit of Saturn in several minutes, by the way.
??: Excellent. Send out some ships to Jupiter, and a smaller fleet towards Earth if they are fine with the station "inspection". But if possible, find out what that thing is.
Minion: Yessir.
-
Dmitri: This is despicable.
Thomas: I agree, but it is rather clever. If they can keep up the deception and fool TAMDEG all the way to Earth, they could be completely open to attack.
Dmitri: They can't fall for it. How could they think such a massive ship appearing out of nowhere would be peaceful?
Thomas: Who knows? Perhaps some of them would be interested in gaining an advantage over the others, with technology obtained from what they see as a powerful ally?
Dmitri: Yes...but you're sure that we can't warn them?
Thomas: I'm sure. We can observe messages being sent in and out, but we can't send one ourselves. We'll have to find another way to get the warning out.
#FirstJJInvasion
Minion: Ah, they've just denied our "inspection".
??: How unfortunate.
-
Thomas: Aha!
Dmitri: What is it? Have you figured out a way into the comm systems?
Thomas: No, but something even better. I've-
*BANG BANG*
Minion Soldier: WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!
Thomas: Oh no.
#FirstJJInvasion
*BANG BANG BANG*
Dmitri: This may be our end, buddy.
Thomas: Indeed. I'm just hoping that...huh.
Dmitri: What?
Thomas: You know that idea I had?
Dmitri: The one you didn't tell me about?
Thomas: Oh. Right. Well, it consisted of me hacking into one of the weapons on the hull and firing in the direction of a TAMDEG ship, just to ruin any trust they may be developing.
Dmitri: And..?
Thomas: I just saw some type of drone attach itself to the hull. If I fire at it, that will hopefully make whoever sent it resort to more drastic measures.
??: Peaceful contact, and the exchange of knowledge.
#FirstJJInvasion
Thomas: I've almost got control of-
The door broke open, and troops flooded into the room. Immediately closing up their visors and drawing their weapons, the two Confederate soldiers fired at their attackers. Managing to down three of them, they fired back and created a hull breach, which threw Thomas out into space. As Dmitri was momentarily distracted by that, they shot him down and pulled him into the corridor, sealing off the depressurizing room.
Minion 353536: Report our success to ??. We do not have to worry about those Confederates any more.
#FirstJJInvasion
Thomas: You must...not trust them. They attacked Stellar Colonies...*Collapses in a heap again on the deck of the Talitoan ship*
-
Minion: Sir, we've captured one of the Confederates. But another got aboard a Talitoan ship..
??: Where are we?
Minion: Crossing the orbit of Io. We will enter Jupiter's atmosphere shortly. And the sensors have picked up some kind of drone on the hull.
??: Then the ruse is up. Fire on that Talitoan ship, and destroy that drone on the hull. Continue searching through our computers for tampering.
#FirstJJInvasion
