Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 20:03:38 GMT
“It is wise to remember that in the careful dance of intelligence and subterfuge, all of it boils down the abject concept of Cloak and Dagger. The flux at the time in their habitual paranoia were carefully watching our cloak when they should have been wathcing our numerous daggers.” – Enrico Hess
16:20:01 Deck 12, SCS Seneca, exact position unknown.
The internal hallways of the SCS Seneca were a tangled maze as it was without the current urgency of the mission as it stood. Two individuals made their way through the clamor of the vessel as its crew went about their tasks of the moment barely noticing the pair. If they had it was likely they’d forget in the blink of an eye so innocuous the two were as they moved through the halls unhindered by anyone. They shared Lifts with the crew passed through the same cramped doorways in full view and even a few officers seemed to not notice or recognize the pair. The one in the lead bore a lit cigarette perched in the corner of his mouth, always threatening to deliver scalding ashes on a passerby. Complimenting this was his attire, which in truth resembles something you might expect a private investigator might wear from one of the old mystery novels. Amplifying the air of mystery was the man’s hat which seemed to permanently cast shadows over his eyes regardless of lighting. Was it indeed tilted forward or was it just the lighting? Given the nature of the corridors of a military warship it was hard to tell. Behind this strangely comfortable smoking individual the other person followed with a somewhat nervous posture. The second individual was dressed in attire that more matched the SSC’s navy standard for the ship’s science department. To say the least such an odd match should have caught more attention but it was as if the pair were shadows amongst the world of the living.
“I don’t understand Imperator, what do you want of me this isn’t even my ship!”
“I know this; however…it’s not the ship you’re here to see about…”
“Then what? You’ve been dragging me about this ship for hours!”
The Imperator led the other person about another corner before arriving at a set of locked doors. Across the Hexagonal hatchway in white letters were the words ‘Radiation hazard: Authorized personnel only!’ The second person looked at the door with surprise and no doubt a mountain of apprehension began to take form in his mind. In the few seconds that passed as the Imperator imputed the entry codes for the door’s lock and his companion was already thinking of the horrible ways one could die of radiation or worse be shot for treason by even being where he was.
“Listen uh Imperator I know I owe you a favor and all that but this might get me shot!”
“It won’t get you shot, trust me, was I not right about your wife? “
“Eh well yes but…”
“Trust me nothing will happen…she’d kill me herself if it did.”
The locking system on the door whirred clattered and released as hermetic seals disengaged and the atmosphere between the hall and the storage bay beyond equalized. The Second individual cringed as if expecting anything to come from this, a glowing green wind or radioactive skeletal mutants and all the manner of hideous radioactive death. Yet none such came, no symptoms of radioactive poisoning, no warning alarms for contamination none of the ship’s SOMC complement came running up shooting to kill. Before he could consider more the Imperator having grabbed his arm in the moments he was expecting swift death tugged the man inside the compartment from which all the death was to emanate. Once inside the reality of the room became clear spread throughout what should have been a slightly radioactive storage bay was a number of medical and scientific equipment all geared towards studying items under trans-dimensional stasis. The room was well lit, stocked with everything conceivable, and clearly running off its own power system as the small nucleonic reactor situated in the corner seemed to indicate. Whomever had come up with this room included a number of features designed to satisfy the basic needs of a staff with the expectation they might not be able to get out and walk the halls. The hissing sound of the door to the room closing on its own and locking shut interrupted the quiet of the room ever so slightly. In the hall outside a carefully crafted hard-light hologram backed by a molecular lattice hid the existence of the small corridor that led to the room. It was all an isolated system, but to what ends why go to such a level of deception?
“This is amazing Imperator but why, what would you need this for?”
“We need you to study the objects in stasis.”
“Why are they more artifacts they look modern...”
“No, they’re weapons of some sort, and we need you to figure out what they do.”
“But isn’t the war with the Immortal Empire just a cold war? I mean isn’t this an act of aggression if these were on our territory?”
“These aren’t from the Immortal empire in entirety and what I am about to tell you is of significant national importance…”
17:00:00 Planet Carver, The Hub, 2056
The First Prime sat before a seemingly massive console most of which contained means to control to operate the device that exceeded normal means of perception. If seen on a basic view it looked as if the console was circular with the Prime himself sitting dead center with no gap for one to walk in or out. There was no primitive indicators of work being done like the popularized concepts in science fiction that all advanced technology had to have sound effects for every action taken. The silence of the room itself was only allayed by a low sound, imperceptible perhaps that of some cooling fans that were themselves silent but the warmed air they ejected making noise as it crossed some surface somewhere.
“Your Excellency, there is a situation on the other side the flux are…”
“Making their move? Yes I know; I’ve been waiting for them to do so for some time. They are late in fact…for a bunch of time travelers one would think they had some decency about doing things on schedule.”
“Imperator Caduceus reports that the Flux have yet to notice to their ‘strange ordinance’ ahem, his words not mine, are missing the temporal spatial proxies are noted to be within parameters. Also his scientists are investigating a few with complete precaution and supervision.”
“What is the status of the special Convoy?”
“SCS Virulent, Contageon and Vector are all nearing the delivery point; last contact was twenty minutes ago. Delivery of objects will be confirmed in ten.”
“There is one more thing, RUSE is reporting a loss of signal strength, likely from intentional interference by parties unknown.”
“Tell them to keep up the good work.”
“I uh, are you sure?”
“I am, but allow me to put it this way, if the mongols want to attack just the great wall itself they may do so, it means they aren’t attacking anything actually important and in doing so we can see their hand while they cannot see ours.”
As the secretary left the room the First prime leaned to one side in his chair with chin resting on fist as he considered the current gambit playing out on the other side of the rift. It was all so tempting to shrug it off and be casual about it, for he knew the bulk of the population was on this side and would be utterly unaffected. Yet, a life lost was no less valued because of its location and so actions had to be taken to prevent such from occurring within reason. The silent whirring of the doors to the First Prime’s office opening and then closing followed by a slight click of the door locking signaled his open-door hours were finally at an end for the day. There were other things to consider, most notably the additional security forces added to the detachment sent to aid the DHR in moving their shipyards into a safer zone.
17:12:00 Task force Olympus, Position Unknown.
Through the shattered remains of a planet three objects meticulously maneuvered, each by proportion about as big as an ant compared to the incalculable bulk of the planet that was slowly drifting. Each shard stubbornly clung to what little atmosphere it had as that too was drawn off into the oblivion of the nearby black hole. Bands of gasses slowly being ripped from the nearby star just barely illuminated the area as the light from stars distant stretched towards the invisible maw of the only astronomical body capable of providing the one service the Task force was assigned to ensure. Multi-hued bands of material once part of a moon or asteroid belt or even the nearby planet’s core formed a mockery of planetary ring as it too stretched and wobbled into the mouth of annihilation. The three ships continued their careful maneuvers to avoid getting too close to the point of no return for the astronomical body itself was imperceptible, there was no great black spot in the stars, merely a point at which the material going in became impossible to see any more and they intended to say as far off as possible without sacrificing the mission. The group made their final maneuvers taking up a formation where all were in line and between several shards of a planet from here it would be impossible to spot the ships by conventional or temporal means. Literally because of time and energy dilation the ships were in their own state of existence, a truly unique perspective.
Within the bowels of the ships special payloads were loaded into the vessels’ primary torpedo launchers which had to be modified for this purpose. The payload in this case were…largely unknown to the crew, only the top brass aboard and select superior officers within the armory and weapons departments had any idea of the importance of the mission. Every precaution possible was taken in approach, preparation and now pre-fire and with it a almost visible wave of relief washed across those who knew the true nature of the objects and the great evil they contained. Were things to go wrong, no one would be able to return home, for this every crew member was selected specifically, no one with children, no one married, personnel with no living parents. Normal compensation was tripled, with a full rank promotion upon completion. The on board chronometers ticked away the seconds until launch before all three vessels flickers into visible existence, all torpedo tubes open to space as their protective hull covers retracted. A dim let light bled from the torpedo systems and was washed out as the very perception of light was being pulled away from the ships.
On cue all vessels began launching twelve objects in all, fired through weapons systems with a temporary power cell to contain the dimensional stasis fields long enough that the objects would be too far in to ever get themselves out. Each ‘torpedo’ as it were hurled onward towards complete molecular destruction, the trailing light of the modified propulsion systems flickering between red and purple in color as they accelerated into the maw of the astronomical body. On this mission a mere black hole would not do, there was a chance of the payload surviving or escaping, no a compound-neutron star in the process of turning itself inside out from a collision with another neutron star had the radiation, gravity and the heat to utterly tear matter apart with certainty. Despite this the irregular mass emitted no light, and could have easily been mistaken for its more common ravenous cousin. The three vessels of Task force Olympus began maneuvering through the shattered planet’s shards again to head home, some the crew took photographic mementos of what they had seen, and indeed full video records of the mission were taken. While for the crew the moment was met with relief, that they had been the first to do this sort of mission and lived to speak of it…somewhere just beyond the star’s point of no return, the stasis fields failed finally as the power cell itself could not possibly come with the gravitational shearing. The creature contained within if capable of thought awakened and could do nothing but face annihilation for perhaps the briefest of moments it knew despair of the same sort it inflicted on others.
16:20:01 Deck 12, SCS Seneca, exact position unknown.
The internal hallways of the SCS Seneca were a tangled maze as it was without the current urgency of the mission as it stood. Two individuals made their way through the clamor of the vessel as its crew went about their tasks of the moment barely noticing the pair. If they had it was likely they’d forget in the blink of an eye so innocuous the two were as they moved through the halls unhindered by anyone. They shared Lifts with the crew passed through the same cramped doorways in full view and even a few officers seemed to not notice or recognize the pair. The one in the lead bore a lit cigarette perched in the corner of his mouth, always threatening to deliver scalding ashes on a passerby. Complimenting this was his attire, which in truth resembles something you might expect a private investigator might wear from one of the old mystery novels. Amplifying the air of mystery was the man’s hat which seemed to permanently cast shadows over his eyes regardless of lighting. Was it indeed tilted forward or was it just the lighting? Given the nature of the corridors of a military warship it was hard to tell. Behind this strangely comfortable smoking individual the other person followed with a somewhat nervous posture. The second individual was dressed in attire that more matched the SSC’s navy standard for the ship’s science department. To say the least such an odd match should have caught more attention but it was as if the pair were shadows amongst the world of the living.
“I don’t understand Imperator, what do you want of me this isn’t even my ship!”
“I know this; however…it’s not the ship you’re here to see about…”
“Then what? You’ve been dragging me about this ship for hours!”
The Imperator led the other person about another corner before arriving at a set of locked doors. Across the Hexagonal hatchway in white letters were the words ‘Radiation hazard: Authorized personnel only!’ The second person looked at the door with surprise and no doubt a mountain of apprehension began to take form in his mind. In the few seconds that passed as the Imperator imputed the entry codes for the door’s lock and his companion was already thinking of the horrible ways one could die of radiation or worse be shot for treason by even being where he was.
“Listen uh Imperator I know I owe you a favor and all that but this might get me shot!”
“It won’t get you shot, trust me, was I not right about your wife? “
“Eh well yes but…”
“Trust me nothing will happen…she’d kill me herself if it did.”
The locking system on the door whirred clattered and released as hermetic seals disengaged and the atmosphere between the hall and the storage bay beyond equalized. The Second individual cringed as if expecting anything to come from this, a glowing green wind or radioactive skeletal mutants and all the manner of hideous radioactive death. Yet none such came, no symptoms of radioactive poisoning, no warning alarms for contamination none of the ship’s SOMC complement came running up shooting to kill. Before he could consider more the Imperator having grabbed his arm in the moments he was expecting swift death tugged the man inside the compartment from which all the death was to emanate. Once inside the reality of the room became clear spread throughout what should have been a slightly radioactive storage bay was a number of medical and scientific equipment all geared towards studying items under trans-dimensional stasis. The room was well lit, stocked with everything conceivable, and clearly running off its own power system as the small nucleonic reactor situated in the corner seemed to indicate. Whomever had come up with this room included a number of features designed to satisfy the basic needs of a staff with the expectation they might not be able to get out and walk the halls. The hissing sound of the door to the room closing on its own and locking shut interrupted the quiet of the room ever so slightly. In the hall outside a carefully crafted hard-light hologram backed by a molecular lattice hid the existence of the small corridor that led to the room. It was all an isolated system, but to what ends why go to such a level of deception?
“This is amazing Imperator but why, what would you need this for?”
“We need you to study the objects in stasis.”
“Why are they more artifacts they look modern...”
“No, they’re weapons of some sort, and we need you to figure out what they do.”
“But isn’t the war with the Immortal Empire just a cold war? I mean isn’t this an act of aggression if these were on our territory?”
“These aren’t from the Immortal empire in entirety and what I am about to tell you is of significant national importance…”
17:00:00 Planet Carver, The Hub, 2056
The First Prime sat before a seemingly massive console most of which contained means to control to operate the device that exceeded normal means of perception. If seen on a basic view it looked as if the console was circular with the Prime himself sitting dead center with no gap for one to walk in or out. There was no primitive indicators of work being done like the popularized concepts in science fiction that all advanced technology had to have sound effects for every action taken. The silence of the room itself was only allayed by a low sound, imperceptible perhaps that of some cooling fans that were themselves silent but the warmed air they ejected making noise as it crossed some surface somewhere.
“Your Excellency, there is a situation on the other side the flux are…”
“Making their move? Yes I know; I’ve been waiting for them to do so for some time. They are late in fact…for a bunch of time travelers one would think they had some decency about doing things on schedule.”
“Imperator Caduceus reports that the Flux have yet to notice to their ‘strange ordinance’ ahem, his words not mine, are missing the temporal spatial proxies are noted to be within parameters. Also his scientists are investigating a few with complete precaution and supervision.”
“What is the status of the special Convoy?”
“SCS Virulent, Contageon and Vector are all nearing the delivery point; last contact was twenty minutes ago. Delivery of objects will be confirmed in ten.”
“There is one more thing, RUSE is reporting a loss of signal strength, likely from intentional interference by parties unknown.”
“Tell them to keep up the good work.”
“I uh, are you sure?”
“I am, but allow me to put it this way, if the mongols want to attack just the great wall itself they may do so, it means they aren’t attacking anything actually important and in doing so we can see their hand while they cannot see ours.”
As the secretary left the room the First prime leaned to one side in his chair with chin resting on fist as he considered the current gambit playing out on the other side of the rift. It was all so tempting to shrug it off and be casual about it, for he knew the bulk of the population was on this side and would be utterly unaffected. Yet, a life lost was no less valued because of its location and so actions had to be taken to prevent such from occurring within reason. The silent whirring of the doors to the First Prime’s office opening and then closing followed by a slight click of the door locking signaled his open-door hours were finally at an end for the day. There were other things to consider, most notably the additional security forces added to the detachment sent to aid the DHR in moving their shipyards into a safer zone.
17:12:00 Task force Olympus, Position Unknown.
Through the shattered remains of a planet three objects meticulously maneuvered, each by proportion about as big as an ant compared to the incalculable bulk of the planet that was slowly drifting. Each shard stubbornly clung to what little atmosphere it had as that too was drawn off into the oblivion of the nearby black hole. Bands of gasses slowly being ripped from the nearby star just barely illuminated the area as the light from stars distant stretched towards the invisible maw of the only astronomical body capable of providing the one service the Task force was assigned to ensure. Multi-hued bands of material once part of a moon or asteroid belt or even the nearby planet’s core formed a mockery of planetary ring as it too stretched and wobbled into the mouth of annihilation. The three ships continued their careful maneuvers to avoid getting too close to the point of no return for the astronomical body itself was imperceptible, there was no great black spot in the stars, merely a point at which the material going in became impossible to see any more and they intended to say as far off as possible without sacrificing the mission. The group made their final maneuvers taking up a formation where all were in line and between several shards of a planet from here it would be impossible to spot the ships by conventional or temporal means. Literally because of time and energy dilation the ships were in their own state of existence, a truly unique perspective.
Within the bowels of the ships special payloads were loaded into the vessels’ primary torpedo launchers which had to be modified for this purpose. The payload in this case were…largely unknown to the crew, only the top brass aboard and select superior officers within the armory and weapons departments had any idea of the importance of the mission. Every precaution possible was taken in approach, preparation and now pre-fire and with it a almost visible wave of relief washed across those who knew the true nature of the objects and the great evil they contained. Were things to go wrong, no one would be able to return home, for this every crew member was selected specifically, no one with children, no one married, personnel with no living parents. Normal compensation was tripled, with a full rank promotion upon completion. The on board chronometers ticked away the seconds until launch before all three vessels flickers into visible existence, all torpedo tubes open to space as their protective hull covers retracted. A dim let light bled from the torpedo systems and was washed out as the very perception of light was being pulled away from the ships.
On cue all vessels began launching twelve objects in all, fired through weapons systems with a temporary power cell to contain the dimensional stasis fields long enough that the objects would be too far in to ever get themselves out. Each ‘torpedo’ as it were hurled onward towards complete molecular destruction, the trailing light of the modified propulsion systems flickering between red and purple in color as they accelerated into the maw of the astronomical body. On this mission a mere black hole would not do, there was a chance of the payload surviving or escaping, no a compound-neutron star in the process of turning itself inside out from a collision with another neutron star had the radiation, gravity and the heat to utterly tear matter apart with certainty. Despite this the irregular mass emitted no light, and could have easily been mistaken for its more common ravenous cousin. The three vessels of Task force Olympus began maneuvering through the shattered planet’s shards again to head home, some the crew took photographic mementos of what they had seen, and indeed full video records of the mission were taken. While for the crew the moment was met with relief, that they had been the first to do this sort of mission and lived to speak of it…somewhere just beyond the star’s point of no return, the stasis fields failed finally as the power cell itself could not possibly come with the gravitational shearing. The creature contained within if capable of thought awakened and could do nothing but face annihilation for perhaps the briefest of moments it knew despair of the same sort it inflicted on others.