Dark Ambition's Story Hub

[Spaartan]

Message reads:

...star walkers... we feed... on machines... that come... from your land... stop attack... retaliation... cease hostilities... consequences...

In the Falcon Renegade HQ...
Secretary Athena Mellark: Captain!!! You need to take a look at this!
Cpt. Spaartan: What is it now?
-The secretary gives the captain the message-
Cpt. Spaartan: Star walkers... Vitastrae? Eating our machines? Consequences? Could this be related to the large ship we saw?
Secretary Athena Mellark: Possibly? The most important thing right now is to warn the others.
Cpt. Spaartan: You're right, send a message to GalTech and the HDF as soon as possible!
Secretary Athena Mellark: Yes sir!
-The message is sent to the HDF and GalTech on short notice-

[GoodMorning]

Previous Messages

Message reads:

...star walkers... we feed... on machines... that come... from your land... stop attack... retaliation... cease hostilities... consequences...

Cpt. Spaartan: Star walkers... Vitastrae? Eating our machines? Consequences? Could this be related to the large ship we saw?
Secretary Athena Mellark: Possibly? The most important thing right now is to warn the others.
Cpt. Spaartan: You're right, send a message to GalTech and the HDF as soon as possible!
Secretary Athena Mellark: Yes sir!
-The message is sent to the HDF and GalTech on short notice-

[close]

General Broadcast, Rising Star:
With thanks to the HDF for forwarding the attached...

Captain Spaartan, it is unlikely that the Vitastrae would so much as notice any of your ships. It takes stellar-core free energies to be detectable to them without great effort on their part. Their general inhabitance shell does not align well with this, and correlating positions is nontrivial. There are other wanderers, more likely to have transmitted this.

Unless one of your fleets has been ... enthusiastic ... in resource gathering, this may be a misidentification, or a message not intended for the HDF. Although your technology is similar to your non-aligned factions. May we request a copy of the original transmission, and attempt our own translation?

x Rising Star, o GalCorp Triumvirate

Greetings again,

After consideration, we will continue to assist you with your Excalibur, should you wish.

Such entities are not to be considered lightly, but partial success has more dire consequences than failure. For this reason, coupled with your attempts to succeed alone, we will do what we can. You will, of course, appreciate that even total success has no guarantee that the Excalibur will consider its interests to align with yours.

On an unrelated topic, we understand that you have encountered a mineral sentience, and been attacked by it. Reports, the source of which we decline to disclose, suggest a Seloi relict defending them when you allocated a task force for their obliteration. We ask the location of any such incident, that we might learn what we can.

[close]

{OOC: Decagon, your approval, before I involve your lore further? I know this is your storyline, but DA represents the owners of the "secret research facility". If you disapprove, any coordinates supplied can turn out to be false.}

[Keeper Decagon]

{OOC: Decagon, your approval, before I involve your lore further? I know this is your storyline, but DA represents the owners of the "secret research facility". If you disapprove, any coordinates supplied can turn out to be false.}

OOC: Sure, go right ahead! I'm quite keen to get my side of things involved further, and I look forward to developing that with its inclusion in others' story arcs. :)

[Spaartan]

Transmission:

Greetings Rising Star, this is Captain Spaartan.

Sorry, apparently we got it from HDF as well. Who are the star walkers? What are the consequences?
We will be sending out hawk research stations, we have to find out who were talking.

With best regards,
Cpt. Spaartan

OOC:

I am very happy to be a part of this, I also want to see what DA wants from my group. I hope I play a big role alongside Decagon, DA and GoodMorning  ;D

[close]

[GoodMorning]

We of Rising Star cannot be sure who these star walkers are. However, life takes many forms - mineral, magnetic, and less-detectable intelligences exist. Most of those which exist natively in vacuum do not waste energy announcing themselves. We regret that we have little material presence "on hand" to assist you with. We retain interest in your results.

RFI: We have encountered various "Rift Totems" in this region, all seemingly ancient, but in perfect working order - a state we have not encountered before. Does anyone know the methods of their manufacture? We currently lack the manufacturing capacity to reverse-engineer the Rift-based fractal alloy, and the energy density they achieve has a number of potential applications.

{OOC: Spaartan, I referred to the HDF forwarding your Vitastrae speculation.}

[Dark Ambition]

Direct Transmission

To: Sylvester Carper

Greetings, this is Captain Spaartan of the Falcon Renegades

Hello old friend, long time no sees. I see you have been promoted to CEO, boss, executor, whatever you call it. I can answer your questions, but not in person. What do you want this time? Make sure it's worth my time.

     To: Spaartan
     From: Sylvester Carper
     Subject: (no subject)

I applaud your engineers ability to hide your position, it's almost as if they've had help.

As you wish. We will speak over C-Mail. Be aware, anyone could be listening.

If my information is correct, your location recently noticed an anomaly of some sort. A massive ship, and it destroyed the Collective camp in your area?

This seems strange. It's more likely that the Collective were just... in the way, considering that this anomaly has only seemed to make an appearance at areas with higher technology. A Galactic Hyperspace Gate. A Guardian Keeper. And you. What's so special about your location? What's different?

I see you have been promoted to CEO, boss, executor, whatever you call it.

I was elected 23 years ago.

x Rising Star, o GalCorp Triumvirate

Greetings again,

After consideration, we will continue to assist you with your Excalibur, should you wish.

Such entities are not to be considered lightly, but partial success has more dire consequences than failure. For this reason, coupled with your attempts to succeed alone, we will do what we can. You will, of course, appreciate that even total success has no guarantee that the Excalibur will consider its interests to align with yours.

On an unrelated topic, we understand that you have encountered a mineral sentience, and been attacked by it. Reports, the source of which we decline to disclose, suggest a Seloi relict defending them when you allocated a task force for their obliteration. We ask the location of any such incident, that we might learn what we can.

[close]

[- Progenitor Archive Encryption Level Detected -]
[- Applying Abraxis Decryption Key -]

ACCESS AUTHORIZED
SYSTEM : UPLINK

Thank you.

We are fully aware of the risks involved with creating an Excalibur. It will have it's own mind. A single Excalibur will be hard to deal with if it goes rogue, but still possible to eliminate.

...a Seloi relict defending them...

I assume you're talking about this curious article?

Avatar Scans

[close]

It's called an Avatar. It's a sort of amplifier that facilitates the control of the particulate. It's existence is hardly a secret, there's about half a dozen ravaging the Mojave Expanse as we speak. They are controlled by some sort of Particulate Nexus calling itself Progenitor Locus Harper.

The location of the first Avatar strike, the one that saved the Crystalids, is unknown to us, but near the Great Sphere.

I will limit the information I relay about Locus. Not because of classification reasons, but because i'm in Redacted Space looking for him and I don't know if he's listening. He already attacked me at Cyxil, and I don't know how he found out I was there so fast.

Trevor Hales - Legislator

OOC

RFI: We have encountered various "Rift Totems" in this region, all seemingly ancient, but in perfect working order - a state we have not encountered before. Does anyone know the methods of their manufacture? We currently lack the manufacturing capacity to reverse-engineer the Rift-based fractal alloy, and the energy density they achieve has a number of potential applications.

Well... in my lore, Rift Totems are easily made and standard equipment :P

Because the Combined Universe has the Hiigarans, and Hyperspace, I tried to find a way to make them coexist in the same universe.

Rift Totems is the Rift Space equivalent of Hyperspace Modules, they just cost 500 RU's to make :P Though it's more expensive of course. You'd need at least three Totems to get it to work, whereas Hyperspace just needs one module.

FTL Travel Types

Rift Space- Easiest way for FTL travel, but expensive. Almost unique to the Milky Way for no discernable reason.

Hyperspace- The first layer of Hyperspace takes more time than Rift Space, and has a limit to how far you can go in a single jump, but it's much less expensive.

Slipspace- Slipspace is the only known safe way to travel through spaces longer than a galaxy. Rift Space decoheres past the galactic rim, and the first layer of Hyperspace doesn't have the power to go far enough. (The Galactic Hyperspace Gate of Abbasid is actually a Slipgate. The Progenitors used Slipspace over everything else.)

Deep-Hyperspace- This is the second layer of Hyperspace. It's possible to use, but takes an immense amount of power. It can be used to travel galactic distances. It's not recommended to use Deep-Hyperspace, because it has a bit of a quarantine issue. Ask the Naggarok for more information, they're... uhh... experts?

Warp- Do I need to explain? It's warp, c'mon.

[close]

[close]

[GoodMorning]

x Rising Star, o Legislator Hale

Indeed? In that case, should you locate the Crystallids again, it might be easiest for all concerned if you direct them to the us, through the SSDI.

OOC

I haven't played Homeworld, so much of your assumed lore is new to me. I'm making it up. :)

Rising Star has not had occasion to deal much with Rift Space (their tech was developed in a CW3-like "always decohered" region), and utilises complex warp mechanics (cough "nested warp" cough "pocket universe" cough) for transit. This limits their firsthand knowledge of the macro-Rift tech developed so early hereabouts. However, extragalactic travel is not yet of interest.

Your description of hyperspace sounds similar to the "shells" described as the inhabitance of the Vitastrae - it being their natural habitat, they can remain there indefinitely and navigate well, though the same differences in location correspondence that make it a useful shortcut also make it hard to locate corresponding points in normal space. However, they are naturally immune (or nearly so) to the various parasites inhabiting that realm.

[close]

[Spaartan]

     To: Spaartan
     From: Sylvester Carper
     Subject: (no subject)

I applaud your engineers ability to hide your position, it's almost as if they've had help.

As you wish. We will speak over C-Mail. Be aware, anyone could be listening.

If my information is correct, your location recently noticed an anomaly of some sort. A massive ship, and it destroyed the Collective camp in your area?

This seems strange. It's more likely that the Collective were just... in the way, considering that this anomaly has only seemed to make an appearance at areas with higher technology. A Galactic Hyperspace Gate. A Guardian Keeper. And you. What's so special about your location? What's different?

I see you have been promoted to CEO, boss, executor, whatever you call it.

I was elected 23 years ago.

Transmission:

Greetings this is Captain Spaartan

Hmmmm, 23? Must just be bad memory.

Anyways, the location was where the Collective was testing a new ship class, I guess it didn't pass this test. It was on high security, several motherships, dreadnoughts. Luckily for them, we were able to salvage most of the schematics without the Collective noticing, so its ours now. Assuming the cloaking device works, which was also made by the Collective, it won't come back.

OOC:

I don't know if I should make the ship or Dec should, since he created the Hydraxil Collective, I'm just building around them. My ship might not fit to his standards.

[close]

With best regards,
Captain Spaartan

[Keeper Decagon]

OOC:

I don't know if I should make the ship or Dec should, since he created the Hydraxil Collective, I'm just building around them. My ship might not fit to his standards.

[close]

OOC

If you want to create this new experimental ship, go right ahead! I'm curious as to what you have in mind. And don't worry about standards, there isn't that much consistency across Hydraxil ships to start off with, and as long as this new ship sorta follows similar design philosophies, it's all good! :)

[close]

[Keeper Decagon]

----Incoming Transmission----

>Encryption Disabled<

>Transmitting Priority One Message<

GalCorp, this is HDF Command.

There has been a shift in the Hydraxil attack pattern, with numerous dangerous assault fleets having abandoned their previous posts to jump to an unknown location that appears to be at the other side of their area of influence... we are completely baffled as to the cause of this shift.

Have you been doing something on your side of Redacted Space to draw their ire so?

Also, we are picking up strange readings in the region the Collective is diverting forces to. If this isn't your doing, I do believe we might be looking at a new player on the field, one significant enough to challenge the Collective enough for them to distract the machines from their conquest.

We will be using this to our advantage, however, regardless of their reasoning. We can push the remaining Collective forces back to reclaim several more sectors. I suggest that the other factions use this reprieve to do the same.

HDF Command, out.

>Transmission End<

----Transmission Received----







----Quarantine Alert!----

>Data Quarantine Breach!<

>Unknown Data Stream Interference Detected!<

*Hiss*

"The star walkers send more machines... it is therefore the decree of Queen Cho'Pre'Khis that all star walkers must perish... they will feed our young... and fertilize our crops..."

*Clicks and chattering echo in the background*

"The Dominion is eternal!"

>Data Overload Alert<

>Warning! EMP detecteNDp[p3!9}48%43#5vm------------------<

----DF{in?rnvos!p#uro&8e4----

[Spaartan]

Transmission:

Greetings HDF, this is Captain Spaartan of the Falcon Renegades

I highly disagree with your plan to attack the Hydraxil at this time. There is a new threat to all of us, the Collective is the only one stopping them. If you try to claim their sectors, I will have to send my fleets to stop you. The star walker could be our ships, all of us. If this new player sees us as the same as the collective, we will be obliterated. I do not want to fight the HDF, but I will if I have to.

OOC:

Tell me if I'm ruining your plans or anything Dec, I can stop if you want to. (Or I can fight you guys!)

[close]

With best regards,
Captain Spaartan

[Dark Ambition]

Deep in the Mojave Expanse, near the Vegas Anomaly

[Legislator] Trevor Hales: Well... I didn't expect to see you here...

[General] Warfield: Nobody expects the Horan Inquisition! Frontline Inquisition? Hmmm....

[CEO] Adalar Verrater: You really have a bad habit of leaving people behind. Daveth, AND Alexander. You can thank them both for pointing me to you.

[- Weapons Fire Detected -]

[- Avatar Detected | Evacuate Immediately -]

[- Contact Lost -]

[close]

x Rising Star, o Legislator Hale

Indeed? In that case, should you locate the Crystallids again, it might be easiest for all concerned if you direct them to the us, through the SSDI.

I can't do that. The Crystalids are our enemies, and must be annihilated.

A tragedy has befallen Mr. Hales, and i'm afraid we must close communications for now. We will call if we need you.

Good day.
Sylvester Carper - Executor

[- Communication Link Disabled -]

Previous Communique

Transmission:

Greetings this is Captain Spaartan

Hmmmm, 23? Must just be bad memory.

Anyways, the location was where the Collective was testing a new ship class, I guess it didn't pass this test. It was on high security, several motherships, dreadnoughts. Luckily for them, we were able to salvage most of the schematics without the Collective noticing, so its ours now. Assuming the cloaking device works, which was also made by the Collective, it won't come back.

OOC:

I don't know if I should make the ship or Dec should, since he created the Hydraxil Collective, I'm just building around them. My ship might not fit to his standards.

[close]

With best regards,
Captain Spaartan

[close]

     To: Spaartan
     From: Sylvester Carper
     Subject: RE: (no subject)

A ship? That doesn't make much sense, it wouldn't care about the Collective's ship...

What about you? There must be something different about the region of space you're in.

Wait... are you in Hydraxil space? I thought it was just a camp, but it's a research center? How are you not dead yet? That could be it then. Whatever is keeping them away from you, might be drawing the anomaly in.

 Previous Communique

----Incoming Transmission----

>Encryption Disabled<

>Transmitting Priority One Message<

GalCorp, this is HDF Command.

There has been a shift in the Hydraxil attack pattern, with numerous dangerous assault fleets having abandoned their previous posts to jump to an unknown location that appears to be at the other side of their area of influence... we are completely baffled as to the cause of this shift.

Have you been doing something on your side of Redacted Space to draw their ire so?

Also, we are picking up strange readings in the region the Collective is diverting forces to. If this isn't your doing, I do believe we might be looking at a new player on the field, one significant enough to challenge the Collective enough for them to distract the machines from their conquest.

We will be using this to our advantage, however, regardless of their reasoning. We can push the remaining Collective forces back to reclaim several more sectors. I suggest that the other factions use this reprieve to do the same.

HDF Command, out.

>Transmission End<

[close]

Classified: The Excalibur Project Facility

Struc Materialization Completed.

Test Complete. No Faults Detected.

Guardian Keeper Shield System Required For Ship Completion.

Excalibur Matrix Systems Incomplete. Seloi Mind Lathe Required.

Shutting Down Particulate Hull Generator Until Required Technology Has Been Assimilated.

[close]

I have no idea what the Collective could be interested in.

Sylvester Carper - Executor

[Keeper Decagon]

----Data Packet & Material Shipment Inbound----

>Encryption Disabled<

>Material Shipment has Arrived in Cargo Hold 15<

>Long-Range Transmission Identified<

Message reads:

Executor, this is the Faal-Corum. I think you will be pleased to know that we have managed to find and take apart a derelict Keeper construct in the Farbor system, despite telemetry data indicating no such presence here. The Control Unit and the Phased Shielding Array have been sent to you in one of our cargo barges. The Archive here has also been analysed and removed from what remains of the Progenitor facility, and has been included in this data transfer. We will proceed to the last sector now, and keep you posted on our progress.

Faal-Corum, out.

Message attachment: Seloi Data Archive.

>Archive Encryption Seal Detected<

No further data has been included.

>Message End<

----Data Packet Received----

[Dark Ambition]

Previous Communique

----Data Packet & Material Shipment Inbound----

>Encryption Disabled<

>Material Shipment has Arrived in Cargo Hold 15<

>Long-Range Transmission Identified<

Message reads:

Executor, this is the Faal-Corum. I think you will be pleased to know that we have managed to find and take apart a derelict Keeper construct in the Farbor system, despite telemetry data indicating no such presence here. The Control Unit and the Phased Shielding Array have been sent to you in one of our cargo barges. The Archive here has also been analysed and removed from what remains of the Progenitor facility, and has been included in this data transfer. We will proceed to the last sector now, and keep you posted on our progress.

Faal-Corum, out.

Message attachment: Seloi Data Archive.

>Archive Encryption Seal Detected<

No further data has been included.

>Message End<

----Data Packet Received----

[close]

[- Info Cache Sent | Arrival Time In *30* Minutes -]

We've received the derelict Keeper and the Archive, thank you.

Well... I know why it didn't show up on the scanners. This isn't a Guardian Keeper. This is a Seloi Keeper, an attempt to mass produce the design. Seloi Keepers weren't compatible with the advanced shields of the Guardian Keepers. And because the Seloi didn't know how to make more of these shields, they tasked the Guardian Keepers to... guard.

There are also some strange readings in this shield system. It is scanning as a Guardian Keepers shield, but it's... different. Perhaps a Seloi prototype? Considering this shield is not in any other Seloi Keepers, it must have been a failed experiment. Either that, or they didn't have time. We will be running tests.

Interesting... the Archive makes no mention of the shield system. It's rather strange to find this here. Still, at least it's in our hands now. We'll be putting this shield to good use.

Sylvester Carper - Executor

Classified: Archive Data

[- Applying Abraxis Decryption Key -]

     Archaeologist Valor, Archivist SiC

          >PLAY>

Archaeologist Valor: The Progenitor Matrix has been passed to this research facility for more work. The edits those Seloi engineers made to it is about as elegant as a Shattered. They got the job done though. Particulate hull generators are running at maximum efficiency and the Struc materializer is, well, materializing. Only thing that's missing it seems is an intelligence. They haven't been able to bind an artificial intelligence to it that can run it well enough. It makes me wonder though...

          >FFW>>
          >PLAY>

Archaeologist Valor: --completed the scans. I was right. This Progenitor Matrix has a lot of similarities to the Loki Hive's core. It might even be the same technology. Every single Progenitor civilization, each doing more and more work, building their tech off the previous, all resulting in this... the complexity involved with this Matrix is enormous. Nothing short of the work of a billion, trillion, minds.

A mind... that's a thought...

          >FFW>>
          >PLAY>

Archivist Locus Harper: -- at the Particulate Nexus! Battle stations!

Archaeologist Valor: My god, it's the Collective! They've taken control of the Nexus! They're flooding Rift Space! We'll never be able to escape! I can... feel... oh god... that horrible sound... I think... I think the Matrix is connected to the Loki...

Archivist Locus Harper: Truely? We never got a direct answer... Loki Hive... what is the Arc?

{Unknown}: ABOVE ALL OTHERS... YOU MUST PERISH.

          >Unexpected Halt (WND/INCAP/KIA?)

[close]

In Farbor Sector...

Exile: Scanning... Good, the derelict Keeper is gone, not destroyed. Hopefully they've delivered it to GalCorp. Hopefully it'll scan as a Guardian Keepers shield, even though it's one of ours. We'll need the new arrival at his best.

Starfish A-28: Report: No life signs detected in system, no machine signatures detected.

Exile: Then there's nobody here to see us? Good. Harvest the sector, catalogue it's universal data to continue the process of discovery.

[close]

[Spaartan]

Previous Transmission

     To: Spaartan
     From: Sylvester Carper
     Subject: RE: (no subject)

A ship? That doesn't make much sense, it wouldn't care about the Collective's ship...

What about you? There must be something different about the region of space you're in.

Wait... are you in Hydraxil space? I thought it was just a camp, but it's a research center? How are you not dead yet? That could be it then. Whatever is keeping them away from you, might be drawing the anomaly in.

[close]

     To: Sylvester Carper
     From: Spaartan

Ah yes, regarding the ship, the only reason the schematics survived was because of a special shield attached to the research center. I think the Collective referred to it as a "Guardian's"? Only half of the shield module survived and we are trying to rebuild it, so far not working out. Is that shield of use to you? We can send it right now actually, we just need to attach a cloaking device to the convoy bringing it. We don't want anyone to steal this thing.

OOC:

I'm almost done with the ship i was talking about earlier, along with some guards/minions for it.

[close]

With best regards,
Spaartan