The Last of the First (FT, INWU Only)

[Atlantica]

From an Unconfirmed Location

Three ships - an exploration vessel and two stealth corvettes - zipped through the edge of space, advancing toward the edge of an unknown galaxy. The three vessels were now the farthest from the Continuum in its history: the closest Continuum outpost being Fort Valdinica (the westernmost Continuum city), thousands of light-years away. A Battle Fleet stood not so far away - however, that still meant a distance of several dozen light-years to the east, leaving the three ships alone... for a while.

On the C.E.S. Falling Star - the exploration vessel among the three - stood Igor Sarchev: formerly a Continuum Marine and an engineer, now an ambitious explorer venturing through the edges of space. Though he had been exploring for the past fifteen years, he had always wanted to make it the farthest beyond the borders of the Continuum - for that moment, he was making his dreams come true, along with additional support from the Continuum Navy.

From the Bridge of the C.E.S. Falling Star, Igor overlooked his ship. The C.E.S. Falling Star itself was a technological marvel: a state-of-the-art spaceship equipped with the best of avionics and gear, armed with the best of weapons and even capable of setting a base on the surface of a planet. In other words, the C.E.S. Falling Star was perfect for fulfilling Igor's dreams.

While he was about to get a drink of coffee, Igor noticed something appear on his long-range search radar. A few unconfirmed vessels were spotted advancing toward them at 0.97 times the speed of light: as far as the radars told him, the vessels were larger than the Continuum Navy's corvettes, armed with weapons that could possibly outgun the three Continuum ships. No messages seemed to come from the approaching vessels so far - however, even then, Igor started to feel that something was not going well.

"What the heck are those things supposed to be?" Asked Zhou Fei, one of the crew. "We never encountered them before."

"That's precisely why we need to prepare for all situations," Igor took a deep breath. "We know none of those so far - in case we face the worst situations, call the Continuum Navy for support. Try to set the communication systems so that we can contact those folks. If my instincts and experience prove to be right, I spy a first contact coming up."

[Vortukia]

Some distance away...

A vindicator class Warship pierced the black void of space. A true masterpiece in the art of warm the Mona Lisa of death. The long sleek black hull with the feint of red hued lights in the cracks and crevices. Gave it the look of a pure death dealer unspoiled by any limitations. With a bulky semi-cylindrical body, a tapering plate over the rear it bore a resemblance to a cuddlefish without it's legs. Dotted along the front of its hull were dim lights that could be only assumed to be cannons. Filled with a liquid core of liquid steel, uranium band tingsted suspended in a electromagnetic field behind a corridor of powerfull accelerators. Its shields occasionally flickered to a low shade of orange from the hard light emitters buried deep in its hulk of cermamics.

The ship would seem to be alone, the energy signatures around it were not ships themselves. But just the sheere massive energy this vess was giving off in order to power itself and its ungodly arments, or the ones that were visible.

The ship slowly cruised forward into the depths of space. Its bridge captain was standing before the one way visor. In his officer uniform he saw the vessels in the far distance their design unbeknownst to him. If this was a first contact with a previously unknown entity. He could only of wished he had a much more appealing looking ship than his own.

"Bring our speed down to zero, keep shields and weapons online. Do not fire unless I order to, we will wait for the next move."

[Atlantica]

Some distance from the Unconfirmed Ship(s)...

Meanwhile, the C.E.S. Falling Star and the two corvettes were also gearing up: corvettes loading maximum armament, while the C.E.S. Falling Star had engaged shield systems in case of attacks. Meanwhile, the crew of the three ships had requested support from a nearby Battle Fleet - if things went wrong, they would be the fists of the Continuum Navy.

"Sir, the ships are decelerating - possibly down to zero," Zhou Fei reported, as he continued to analyze the ship from the radar. "They are at least three hundred meters in length and at least fifty meters across. This ship's got a sleek black hull, several cannons along the front, along with some sort of energy field - possibly for propulsion and power, possibly for defense - we may have to find that out."

"So it's a battleship," said Igor Sarchev. "This must be interesting."

As the C.E.S. Falling Star got close to the unconfirmed ship, Igor Sarchev got to the communication systems and said,

Attention, Captain of the Unconfirmed Battleship - this is the C.E.S. Falling Star of the Universal Continuum. As far as the records prove it, neither of us had contact before - so let's assume this as first contact. We hereby request you to state your reason of coming into this area and your purposes. If not... well, we would like to show you how powerful the Continuum Navy is.

[Vortukia]

Unidentified Vessel

The Ship seemed to be silent, it's energy expenditure spiked to inconceivable levels, as a message was sent out.

Code: Select all

FOREIGN HOSTILITY DETECTED; ACTIVATING DEFENSIVE MEASURES, CONTACTING TASK FORCE.

Attention unidentified vessel, any hostile action against this warship, or encroachment without proper diplomatic channels and disarmament will result in immediate lethal retaliation to perpetrators.

You have been given the required warning per-Vortukian standard protocol.


[Atlantica]

The C.E.S. Falling Star

Igor Sarchev had received the message from the unidentified vessel, as it was heard around the C.E.S. Falling Star. So it had been of a nation never seen in Continuum history - some nation named 'Vortukia', the apparent ruler of the region. They had apparently considered the three ships as 'foreign hostility': if he made the wrong move, Igor may be starting a war. Immediately he sent out another message:

Attention unidentified battleship. This is Igor Sarchev, Captain of the Continuum Exploration Group - from the Pacifican Continuum. We come in peace: we come with the purpose of exploration and discovery. However, if you attack our vessels regardless of our purpose, then... well, prepare for deadly retaliation from the Continuum Navy.

Assume that as a warning from the Continuum of Pacifica.

[Vortukia]

The Ships energy spiking would continue to clime rapidly as if in response to the message.
On the ship several panels would slide off from under the tapered sides of the vessel, revealing triangular shaped embedments with three holes in each, dotting along the side of the vessel. Inside of each hole, a small sleek black missile like device would slowly protrude it's head out, the warheads giving off a faint white glow off the tip from the anti-protons contained inside. Towards the front, on each side of the collection of previously seen dim lights showing to be cannons. Two more hole opened up, inside of them crewmen prepared Tungsten elongated rods, also tipped with Anti-Protons, placing them in row like formations to spit them at sub light speeds in quick succession.

The vessel came to a complete and utter stop and a follow up message was sent.

Code: Select all

CONTINUED AGGRESSION DETECTED; THREATS AGAINST THIS VESSEL WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Further threats against the safety of this vessel, and the well being of it's crew regardless of parameters will result in immediate hostile actions.

For diplomatic communication, disarm and disengage.



[Atlantica]

The C.E.S. Falling Star

"Sir, they're arming up," reported one of the crew members. "Several sensors around the corvettes and our ship are detecting missiles, tungsten rods and very minor signatures of anti-protons. It seems like they are attempting to retaliate with all their might."

"And yet they are demanding disarmament for us," said Igor Sarchev. "If we disarm, then there will be no guarantee that we would be safe from their guns - we would stand bare against their weapons. If we listen to them, we would be completely vulnerable and become unable to retaliate in case of their attacks."

So Igor went back and sent another message towards the unconfirmed Vortukian warship:

We, representing the Continuum of Pacifica, formally show intentions of diplomatic communication. However, we reject the request of disarming: if we disarm, it would make us vulnerable against any attacks from certain directions, thereby threatening the safety and the well being of the vessels. Nonetheless, if you insist on attacking, then the Continuum Navy would retaliate with extreme prejudice.

Igor Sarchev immediately turned back to the crew. "So, how far is the Battle Fleet now?"

"Approaching fast enough - they'll be around here in an hour or so."

Several thousands of miles from the C.E.S. Falling Star
51st Battle Fleet, the Continuum Navy

Meanwhile, several thousands of miles to the southeast, several ships of the 51st Battle Fleet - three carriers, an assorted but still orderly group of battleships, cruisers, destroyers and frigates, and a mysterious warship - sped toward the C.E.S. Falling Star's location. The ships were on high alert: apparently the Continuum Exploration Flotilla had made first contact with an unknown-till-now nation, while tensions were rising... fast.

Near the center of the 51st Carrier Battle Group stood the C.N.S. Doomsday - the Flagship of the 51st Battle Fleet. The C.N.S. Doomsday was a masterpiece of the Continuum Navy: with perfectly aligned angles that gave it a near-perfect stealth signature, it had a formidable pillar-like hull with white light coming out from the cracks and crevices along the hull. Along the front and some parts of the sides were dim plasma lights that seemed to be cannons and other weapons. Accelerators and engine systems made the propulsion of the ship possible - giving the ship exquisite speed and maneuverability in combat. The shielding systems stood fully ready - charged up, only waiting to be engaged.

"Enemy ship stands several thousand miles away - looks like they're preparing for combat." Reported a crew member.

"We're approaching the scene," said Admiral Balthazar Valdez, Commander of the 51st Battle Fleet. He turned to the rest of the fleet, making a command to the ship. "Move to battle formation and get the weapons ready - cannons, missiles, fighters, swarms - whatever we got. But don't fire before my command: we would have to watch this scene for a while."

[Vortukia]

The warship would detect the approaching vessels from their space-time distortion effects from movement in the void of space, pushing aside large amounts of space time. The space around the warship would distort and warp, showing spikes of energy similar to that of a solar flare from a star. A area denial system of sorts, to ward off close range ships and fighters.

Code: Select all

Your attempts at diplomatic conversation are irrelevant, continued hostile reaction will result in imminent engagement. Disarmament of this vessel will take place, as soon as interlopers do the same.

Reactionary fleet has been prepped and is on standby.


[Atlantica]

The C.E.S. Falling Star

"Well, they offered their disarmament in exchange of ours," said Igor Sarchev, as he prepared for a response. "We'll have to disarm for the moment - however, be ready to take countermeasures on any situations." Then, he went to the Comms. System and said,

Accepting your proposal, the three vessels of the Universal Continuum will disarm, under the preconditions that your ship does the same and you allow defensive shields to remain engaged. Once that is done, we would start diplomatic negotiations.

[Vortukia]

The ships energy readings would drop sharply, then steadily begin to decrease. Becoming nothing but that of a small blip compared to what it was before. As it drifted endlessly and silently in space.