Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 19:12:17 GMT
14:58:02 Operations Hub, R.U.S.E. command
It was the eleventh hour, and things had been done so carefully as to not attract attention. Unknown to a great many the SSC and its naval engineering division called the Galaxy corps had been active. While the basic plans for the action were lain before, the recent convoy ambush proved the need to accelerate the idea and expand its scope.
In the preceding weeks the Galaxy Corps had performed their duties under utmost secrecy. Numerous convoys along with their escorts had plied unclaimed space towards numerous targets. Each such group bore an identifying letter of the Greek alphabet but was unaware there were others due to the great need for secrecy in the action being undertaken. In retrospect the mission was almost comically easy as no aspect of the operation was detected, or otherwise scrutinized. The galaxy went on with it’s rumblings of war, political intrigue and so on in blissful ignorance to the industrious actions of the galaxy corps. The tasks assigned were not easy ones as the crews assigned had weeks of hard work assigned. They faced the difficulties of the natural galaxy, encounters with things and creatures that pressed the limits of what was known. Equipment and lives were lost in the endeavor, as slowly the operation began to bear fruit. Across the galaxy the individual units began reporting their closeness to completion. All twenty four individual sites reported success and this was just a few hours ago.
Enter the here and now, a packed room, numerous officials and techs all working in unison in the final phases of perhaps the first great military wonder of the galaxy or certainly it was for the SSC. Imagine such a small nation to have accomplished such a feat without having been noticed before during and now after. The room itself was designed in amphitheater style as a wide semi-circle using elevated stations. Numerous aisles parted the sections and each section was dedicated to the operations of one site while then entire grand picture of the operation was displayed on a main primary screen. To the rear of the room were conference rooms, officer’s offices and the like. The whole affair seemed carbon copy because it was; unlike normal military buildings which are built on site to need by the galaxy corps this one was composed of largely prefabricated segments with some minor customization. The model seemed to be of the cathedral style which again is effective for frontier posts but cramped for developed posts. My thought process on the situation was interrupted by a voice…someone said something to me and then repeated it.
“General? The array harmonics are ready for testing.”
It took me a second to register the words before looking at the Galaxy Corps technician, no nix that, apparently she was a major with the Merchant service. The uniforms were similar so outside of shoulder lapels and other frivolities it was more an annoyance then a help to have the civilian cargo service folks dressing like the galaxy corps engineers.
“Right….go ahead let us see how the system does.”
14:58:02 R.U.S.E. Station Zeta
In a mirror to many others station zeta like its equidistant cousins began the transmission and power up cycle as it’s arrays began to passively at first watch the cosmos. The Reactors of the station cycled through their damped idle state and internal lights went from conservation setting to full illumination. Data about the surrounding sectors of space poured in; planets solar systems and other astronomical bodies. An entire swathe of the galaxy was rendered in three dimensions in real time, comets passed, shattered planets tumbled gently stars died or were being born all as the astounded personnel watched. The navigation hazards, gravity shears, dangerous radiation, anomalies and so on flickered into the image marked in a red outlines with safe distance perimeters and others basic information. As the system continued its process of warming up, other objects slowly appeared, at first sentient made objects, ruined drifting starships, bits of detritus, the usual space junk that no one considered particularly important. Larger ones followed, long abandoned space stations, large colony ships all left to the ravages of scavengers and the battering of space. But something else caught the eye of a group of technicians sitting in front of the displays at first it looked normal but began to rapidly turn green and grew brighter at an exponential rate.
“What is that Simmons? We better not have one of those Chuzhoi on the array again!”
“No….that’s not an aberration sir, it’s the south most edge of occupied space….let me magnify it.”
The image grew in size as the system magnified what it was seeing. The undulating border of the claimed space was lit in white, and the green turned out to be moving green dots of varied size. Each moved about like tiny bacterium swimming about on a petri dish. There were thousands some clustered others moving in what appeared to be routes, yet others had a blue-green cast indicating some other state of being. The commander raised one eyebrow to look at the equally bewildered technician.
“Simmons, where is that? Whose space are we looking at right now?”
The tech typed nervously as the system processed and a set of identifying letters appeared on the screen with a miniature map indicating how much of the area they were looking at and where. The words themselves said it all; they read “Passive Scan Mode: Target-Immortal Empire”. More tags appeared indicating the dots were vessels…this was no giant swirling space amoeba, but rather the space of another nation and with clear vision the station, one of many forming an array was now able to clearly pinpoint anything in its vision range…
It was the eleventh hour, and things had been done so carefully as to not attract attention. Unknown to a great many the SSC and its naval engineering division called the Galaxy corps had been active. While the basic plans for the action were lain before, the recent convoy ambush proved the need to accelerate the idea and expand its scope.
In the preceding weeks the Galaxy Corps had performed their duties under utmost secrecy. Numerous convoys along with their escorts had plied unclaimed space towards numerous targets. Each such group bore an identifying letter of the Greek alphabet but was unaware there were others due to the great need for secrecy in the action being undertaken. In retrospect the mission was almost comically easy as no aspect of the operation was detected, or otherwise scrutinized. The galaxy went on with it’s rumblings of war, political intrigue and so on in blissful ignorance to the industrious actions of the galaxy corps. The tasks assigned were not easy ones as the crews assigned had weeks of hard work assigned. They faced the difficulties of the natural galaxy, encounters with things and creatures that pressed the limits of what was known. Equipment and lives were lost in the endeavor, as slowly the operation began to bear fruit. Across the galaxy the individual units began reporting their closeness to completion. All twenty four individual sites reported success and this was just a few hours ago.
Enter the here and now, a packed room, numerous officials and techs all working in unison in the final phases of perhaps the first great military wonder of the galaxy or certainly it was for the SSC. Imagine such a small nation to have accomplished such a feat without having been noticed before during and now after. The room itself was designed in amphitheater style as a wide semi-circle using elevated stations. Numerous aisles parted the sections and each section was dedicated to the operations of one site while then entire grand picture of the operation was displayed on a main primary screen. To the rear of the room were conference rooms, officer’s offices and the like. The whole affair seemed carbon copy because it was; unlike normal military buildings which are built on site to need by the galaxy corps this one was composed of largely prefabricated segments with some minor customization. The model seemed to be of the cathedral style which again is effective for frontier posts but cramped for developed posts. My thought process on the situation was interrupted by a voice…someone said something to me and then repeated it.
“General? The array harmonics are ready for testing.”
It took me a second to register the words before looking at the Galaxy Corps technician, no nix that, apparently she was a major with the Merchant service. The uniforms were similar so outside of shoulder lapels and other frivolities it was more an annoyance then a help to have the civilian cargo service folks dressing like the galaxy corps engineers.
“Right….go ahead let us see how the system does.”
14:58:02 R.U.S.E. Station Zeta
In a mirror to many others station zeta like its equidistant cousins began the transmission and power up cycle as it’s arrays began to passively at first watch the cosmos. The Reactors of the station cycled through their damped idle state and internal lights went from conservation setting to full illumination. Data about the surrounding sectors of space poured in; planets solar systems and other astronomical bodies. An entire swathe of the galaxy was rendered in three dimensions in real time, comets passed, shattered planets tumbled gently stars died or were being born all as the astounded personnel watched. The navigation hazards, gravity shears, dangerous radiation, anomalies and so on flickered into the image marked in a red outlines with safe distance perimeters and others basic information. As the system continued its process of warming up, other objects slowly appeared, at first sentient made objects, ruined drifting starships, bits of detritus, the usual space junk that no one considered particularly important. Larger ones followed, long abandoned space stations, large colony ships all left to the ravages of scavengers and the battering of space. But something else caught the eye of a group of technicians sitting in front of the displays at first it looked normal but began to rapidly turn green and grew brighter at an exponential rate.
“What is that Simmons? We better not have one of those Chuzhoi on the array again!”
“No….that’s not an aberration sir, it’s the south most edge of occupied space….let me magnify it.”
The image grew in size as the system magnified what it was seeing. The undulating border of the claimed space was lit in white, and the green turned out to be moving green dots of varied size. Each moved about like tiny bacterium swimming about on a petri dish. There were thousands some clustered others moving in what appeared to be routes, yet others had a blue-green cast indicating some other state of being. The commander raised one eyebrow to look at the equally bewildered technician.
“Simmons, where is that? Whose space are we looking at right now?”
The tech typed nervously as the system processed and a set of identifying letters appeared on the screen with a miniature map indicating how much of the area they were looking at and where. The words themselves said it all; they read “Passive Scan Mode: Target-Immortal Empire”. More tags appeared indicating the dots were vessels…this was no giant swirling space amoeba, but rather the space of another nation and with clear vision the station, one of many forming an array was now able to clearly pinpoint anything in its vision range…