Trinity Station Disaster (IC/MT) OPEN

[The Tekkit Guy]

Trinity Station, 249 Miles Above Terrace

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The Trinity Station was constructed for the official purpose of "investigating the fine-tuning of the universe for definitive evidence of God." Although such research did take place, few knew its more sinister purpose: a very primitive, experimental platform for launching kinetic rods, a weapon able to do massive damage to cities, hardened targets, and even individual warships.

In just two days, the Space Shuttle Seraph was scheduled to bring fifteen long tungsten rods for testing. This would be all that was necessary to make the weapon "operational", although it would be plagued with years of technical difficulties, and years more of red tape.

"Whoa, hey Mike, looks like the shuttle's early!" said one of the Tekkitian Cosmonauts, peering out from the Biology Wing of the station at the streaking trail of an incoming missile.

"Nah, its not coming from Terrace. Its not one of ours. You know, I heard the Chinese were building a space station, maybe its theirs." said an engineer on board, as the incoming rocket got closer and closer

"Oh hell, its heading for us! Look out!"



The station exploded spectacularly into a cloud of debris, killing all on board. Communications with Crossingrad Cosmodrome had been suddenly ceased, and mission control did not know what happened. The Tekkit Empire has asked the international community for help with investigating this incident, and promises to bring closure to the victims' families.


RULES:
-No Godmodding! People complained I wasn't strict enough about that last time.
-No Trolling
-Write good quality, long posts that describe in detail what is happening
-MT only, and only countries of humans
-No WMD's
-Sign up in OOC before posting in IC

[Topkekkia]

Captain Garrovich stared out the window of the base at the shimmering starlight outside the window. It was a fairly ordinary day in Topkekkia's space station. His magnetic boots clanked on the metal walkways of the hollowed out asteroid, the sounds of mining equipment and manufacturing echoing in the distance. He was about to check up on the group that was working on researching new materials that could be developed in space, when a bright point of light drew his eye towards the window. An explosion. There was no shockwave, for there was no atmosphere for it to transfer through, but it was quite large all the same. Chunks of debris went hurtling past the station. The rock was solid enough that most things couldn't penetrate it, but those rods looked like they could do quite a lot of damage. He radioed to the Rantel Space Center:
"There has just been a large explosion approximately two thousand kilometers from here, requesting instructions." After a few minutes of anxious waiting, a voice crackled out of the radio:
"Copy that, Orbit, take a shuttle to investigate and scavenge for anything of value. Bring firearms in case of hostiles." Garrovich blinked. That was not what he had expected from mission control at all. Nevertheless, orders were orders.
He bellowed up towards the others working the mining crew. "Alpha Team, suit up. We're going on a scavenger hunt."

[The Tekkit Guy]

Crossingrad International Airport, Tekkit Empire



The Premier General's Official Plane landed at the airport of the big city. With any normal space issue, Nicholas would handle everything from Terrace, but with an issue regarding the Trinity Project, he had to be there in person. It was far too important. As he walked calmly down the mobile staircase and between two rows of Holy Guardsmen who saluted him as he walked past. Certified photographers seized the opportunity to capture pictures of him. His impeccable poker face didn't change even in a stressful situation like this. The Trinity Program was perhaps the single most valuable program in the entire Tekkit Empire. If either of its missions were accomplished, the Empire would dominate the world.

He quickly slipped into a black limousine escorted by two light tanks and sped down the road. As tall buildings gave way to country side, the black industrial launch towers of the Crossingrad Cosmodrome came into view. The massive complex had 12 launch pads, a vehicle assembly building, mission control, an R&D laboratory, observatory, an administration office building, and several SAM, AShM, and Tomahawk missile batteries for defending against foreign invasion. Visible on the Markov Launch Pad was the majestic Seraph space shuttle, ready to be launched.

Base security saluted him as he and five Holy Guardsmen walked into Mission Control. He walked among rows and rows of computer consoles and looked up at the massive computer screens at the front of the room. He was greeted by the Mission Control Director, Alexander Serov.

"Sir, at this point, our engineers think micrometeoroids or space junk have disabled the station's communications or power. We've already loaded spares for both onto the Seraph and removed the rods. " he said

"Good, when will you launch?" Nicholas asked

"on schedule, sir. In two days."

"Unacceptable. I want a launch tonight." he said, firmly.

"But...sir, the station is not in position for our guidance software!"

"I am not giving you 20 billion dollars a year for you to sit on your thumbs all day. Have your scientists fix their trajectory and get that shuttle off of this rock by tonight!"

"But sir, please..."

"Or your fired!"

"Yes sir, it will be done."

Rocket scientists worked for hours, wearily scratching equations onto chalkboards. Although a guidance program could not be devised, three pages of written instructions for the shuttle pilot was written to get them to rendezvous with the station, or what was left of it. The shuttle would reach the station by the end of the day.

[Topkekkia]

Approximately 400 km above Earth

Garrovich stepped out of the shuttle, his magnetic boots latching onto a nearby piece of debris. For the most part, the station was annihilated. Scraps of metal floated everywhere, and occasionally bumped into one another. A room remained intact, and the airlock seemed intact. He held his AK at the ready while Lieutenant Alfand cut through the door with a hiss. Once inside, the Topkekkian forces moved forward, spreading out to check for any survivors. One man was found, half frozen, but quickly removed. The current actions taking place were trespassing, and therefore illegal, and no risks could afford to be taken. Orders were given over the radio shared by the five members of Alpha team.

"Alfand, secure the tungsten rods to the shuttle, we can use them, Brusa, check for survivors, Vokrov, guard the shuttle, Greenstone, search for other areas of interest, I'll examine the computers here."

Luckily for the members of Alpha team, the station's computers were largely intact. Garrovich began to copy the contents of them all onto a hard-drive he had brought with, on the principle that not only the physical could be scavenged. Following that, he began to prepare the room for destruction. After all, others finding whatever information was here would be disadvantageous in any future negotiations. Secretly, the captain hoped that the files would contain something of interest. He couldn't help but wonder why a research station was carrying several tons of tungsten, after all.

[Grande Anjouan]

FROM THE REPUBLIC OF GRANDE ANJOUAN

Dear government of the Tekkit Empire,
We are in shock and saddened by what happened on Trinity Station. We cannot believe what went wrong for it to explode and kill people on board of the station.
As such, we would like to know if it would be possible for you to let us attach a small investigative team to go up into space in your spacecraft to investigate the wreckage.

Signed,
President Mohammed Said Ali

Ouani Airfied, Grande Anjouan

Commander Saleh Mahmoud examined his team whom he put together with the most elite soldiers of the militia. They wore standard military clothing and berets but hidden inside their coats they had specially modified Makarov PM pistols designed to fire in space. The men boarded two Mil Mi-8 helicopters and headed towards the Tekkit Empire. The helicopter flew above the capital, Mutsamdu. The soldiers looked out of the windows as Grande Anjouan slowly faded away in the distance. Commander Saleh made sure to contact the soldiers again.

"Remember, maybe we could use some of those tungsten rods and try to take them. By force, if you may." He said through the radio.

OOC: Sorry for the short post. This was more of a diplomacy kind of post. But I assure you my next will be longer.

[The Tekkit Guy]

Though the Premier General was inside the cosmodrome, his Viceroy, Maxwell Krokavic received the message from inside of the Premier's office on his plane.

"Well I suppose it can't hurt." he muttered and began working on a response.

TO: The government of Grande Anjouan
From: The desk of Premier General Nicholas Romanov III

We appreciate your concern for this issue, and would accept your help in bringing closure to the persons affected by this disaster. The Trinity Station was in an inclined orbit 52 degrees over the equator. If you do not have a launch vehicle, you could send your men in the backup shuttle on launchpad two in the Crossingrad Cosmodrome.

Sincerely,
Maxwell Krokavic,
Viceroy to Premier General Nicholas III of the Holy Tekkit Empire

The backup shuttle was not a part of the Seraph Program, but rather the obsolete "Eagle" series. Only one remained, and it could only reliably carry 8 people into orbit with an absolute maximum of 11. A Seraph shuttle could carry 16 in passenger configuration for comparison.

Launch Pad One, Crossingrad Cosmodrome

"T-minus thirty minutes to launch" sounded over the intercom. The four cosmonauts proudly marched from the lift onto the shuttle, donning bright teal flight suits and helmets. The massive metal frame tower was unimaginably huge. The mission commander and pilot was Captain Vladimir Korsikov, chief engineer Specialist Konrad Buran, and Kam and Don Semorovsky, two brothers in the Tekkitian Air Force Microgravity Security Division (TAFMSD) who carried carbines with compressed air canisters because the extremely low temperatures in space make gunpowder unreliable. Their mission was to dock with the space station, determine the damage, and replace any faulty components. If necessary, they left lots of space (12 seats) for rescuing cosmonauts.



The security detail was purely standard protocol, in case anyone attempted to take the station by force, sabotage the space shuttle or mission, or otherwise endanger the safety of the crew. Nothing less was to be expected from such a militaristic nation. This space security was further fueled by the Tekkitian Orthodox Church's insistence that some nation would try to stop the theological research done on the station, and they contributed much of the money for building it.

countless news reporters and other onlookers crowded onto the stands of the massive shuttle. People speculated as to why the space launch was being scrambled so quickly, expecting some kind of planetwide emergency.

Fighter jets circled the launch site in formation, and steam from the frigid liquid fuel tanks fell downwards into the bottom. The Tekkitian flag was hoisted proudly on the tallest flagpole in the entire country. The huge flight board was counting down.

"T-minus 1 minute. Fuel transfer complete." Korsikov said

"T-minus 45 seconds. flight controls are green across the board"

"T-minus 30 seconds. Tower control, all systems are prepared for launch."

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, engine ignition, 2, 1, we have liftoff"



Bright red flames erupted out of the boosters and sucked back down into the flame trench when the thrust began. Huge plumes of grey-yellow smoke billowed out of the trench and wrapped around the facility like London fog

"Seraph to mission control, tower cleared." Those words were met with a great cheering from in the mission control center. Nicholas crossed his arms and nodded approvingly. Huge bright flames shot out of the liquid boosters wrenching the massive shuttle through the atmosphere and into space. Korsikov read the written instructions extremely carefully and worked the console precisely accordingly.

Nothing could prepare the crew for what they would find when they arrived.

[Topkekkia]

Garrovich was brooding over what he'd found. The shuttle had returned to the station about twenty minutes ago, and he was eager to explore the contents of the hard-drive. The contents of the computer on board that station had been bothering him since he had found the room. Once he'd removed his spacesuit, he plugged the drive in the station's computer. This was met by a worm which tried to destroy the system's files, but could not, fortunately, due to the military grade antivirus. The drive seemed to have a very strong encryption on it, and it would take some time to deal with. Fortunately, up in space, they had all the time in the world. He idly watched the fragments of the shattered station pass beneath the Topkekkian station. If the station was at the same altitude roughly, he'd be ordering everyone to secure all the airlocks and windows, but it was a few kilometers lower than their station, and wasn't a threat at present.

[Eruhin Makhatar]

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, thunk"
He almost thought he could see it if he could strain his eyes enough. Just a tiny blip in the sky and then it was gone. Though it was probably just a figment of his imagination.
"Hope Killer, we are ready."
A voice called his name and he shifted out his daydream looking around. Neat militaristic rows of Scarlet Ops were assembled before him at attention. They all had families. He found people fought better when they had something to protect. As Hope Killer continued to look around he saw what he was looking for.
"Ah, Adriano Taj. Thank you for getting the Scarlet and launching the missile. We all feel safe with that thing gone. But we would feel even more safe if we had the information they were storing on the space station, right boys?" Boots clicked and arms crossed.
"Yes sir!"
"That is where you come in Adriano. You have done well with your tasks but I need more from you. You will go up into space retrieve the information and make sure nobody else gets it."
"Hope Killer, are you sure this is the best route of action? Shouldn't we just send in another missile and destroy the information?"
"No." replied Hope Killer, "A war is coming. I can feel it. We need to be as read and strong as we can be to win. That information is beneficial to our success. And we will succeed, no matter the cost."



Um, The Tekkit Guy it is a bit ludicrous letting Eodor take 4th Infantry Division 12,000 men, 3rd Armoured Battalion 125 tanks, 4th MR Air Wing 100 Multirole aircraft, and 10 C-130 transports. The other people (Me included) have 20-36 men going into space because each squad has 9 men. But letting so many people and vehicles go up into space is just absolutely ridiculous. You have got to stop this now. It is very unfair and makes me want to stop doing this.

[Topkekkia]

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, thunk"
He almost thought he could see it if he could strain his eyes enough. Just a tiny blip in the sky and then it was gone. Though it was probably just a figment of his imagination.
"Hope Killer, we are ready."
A voice called his name and he shifted out his daydream looking around. Neat militaristic rows of Scarlet Ops were assembled before him at attention. They all had families. He found people fought better when they had something to protect. As Hope Killer continued to look around he saw what he was looking for.
"Ah, Adriano Taj. Thank you for getting the Scarlet and launching the missile. We all feel safe with that thing gone. But we would feel even more safe if we had the information they were storing on the space station, right boys?" Boots clicked and arms crossed.
"Yes sir!"
"That is where you come in Adriano. You have done well with your tasks but I need more from you. You will go up into space retrieve the information and make sure nobody else gets it."
"Hope Killer, are you sure this is the best route of action? Shouldn't we just send in another missile and destroy the information?"
"No." replied Hope Killer, "A war is coming. I can feel it. We need to be as read and strong as we can be to win. That information is beneficial to our success. And we will succeed, no matter the cost."



Um, The Tekkit Guy it is a bit ludicrous letting Eodor take 4th Infantry Division 12,000 men, 3rd Armoured Battalion 125 tanks, 4th MR Air Wing 100 Multirole aircraft, and 10 C-130 transports. The other people (Me included) have 20-36 men going into space because each squad has 9 men. But letting so many people and vehicles go up into space is just absolutely ridiculous. You have got to stop this now. It is very unfair and makes me want to stop doing this.

OOC: I'm pretty sure those are (mostly) ground forces.

[The Tekkit Guy]

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, thunk"
He almost thought he could see it if he could strain his eyes enough. Just a tiny blip in the sky and then it was gone. Though it was probably just a figment of his imagination.
"Hope Killer, we are ready."
A voice called his name and he shifted out his daydream looking around. Neat militaristic rows of Scarlet Ops were assembled before him at attention. They all had families. He found people fought better when they had something to protect. As Hope Killer continued to look around he saw what he was looking for.
"Ah, Adriano Taj. Thank you for getting the Scarlet and launching the missile. We all feel safe with that thing gone. But we would feel even more safe if we had the information they were storing on the space station, right boys?" Boots clicked and arms crossed.
"Yes sir!"
"That is where you come in Adriano. You have done well with your tasks but I need more from you. You will go up into space retrieve the information and make sure nobody else gets it."
"Hope Killer, are you sure this is the best route of action? Shouldn't we just send in another missile and destroy the information?"
"No." replied Hope Killer, "A war is coming. I can feel it. We need to be as read and strong as we can be to win. That information is beneficial to our success. And we will succeed, no matter the cost."



Um, The Tekkit Guy it is a bit ludicrous letting Eodor take 4th Infantry Division 12,000 men, 3rd Armoured Battalion 125 tanks, 4th MR Air Wing 100 Multirole aircraft, and 10 C-130 transports. The other people (Me included) have 20-36 men going into space because each squad has 9 men. But letting so many people and vehicles go up into space is just absolutely ridiculous. You have got to stop this now. It is very unfair and makes me want to stop doing this.

OOC: I NEVER let something equivalent to a full scale invasion force get launched into space. It's a ground war, because there's only so much you can do in the void of space before either things get PMT or boring. Really, the station was just to incorporate MT space travel into a thread, and have an old-fashioned war going on afterwards.

[Brusia]

Alarms were blaring all throughout the Brusian Intelligence Agency as the Director quickly walked into the Agency's Satellite Control Room.

"Report!" he ordered as he walked through the door.

"Sir, one of our satellites detected a missile approaching orbit!"

"Is it nuclear?"

"Unknown."

"Can you identify its target?"

"No sir, not yet. We have to wait for it to... wait a minute, it's...gone."

"What do you mean 'gone?' Report!"

"Sir, it appears the missile detonated in orbit."

The Director breathed a sigh of relief then continued "Did it hit anything?"

One of the satellite operators pressed a few buttons on his console then responded "It would appear so, sir. The satellite's camera is pointed toward the planet, so we don't have a clear view of what it impacted, but we're seeing way too much debris falling to Earth for it not to have destroyed something."

"Could it have been anything of ours?"

"I don't believe so, sir. SpaceLab is currently orbiting the other side of the planet, and none of our satellites are reporting any damage..."

As he spoke, the screen in the room suddenly turned to static and another alarm sounded.

"Except for that one. Looks like some debris just took it out."

The Director rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath, then began issuing orders "Alright, I want our satellite's video feed reviewed to figure out who the hell fired that missile, I want the positions of all known satellites and space stations reviewed to get an idea of what was hit, and I want the crew of SpaceLab notified of the situation and prepared to make an emergency evacuation should the need arise. I'm going to inform the Consuls of the situation, and I'm sure they're going to want answers and want them fast, so get moving!"

The men and women in the Satellite Command Center began rushing about to fulfill the Director's orders as the Director returned to his office to make what was sure to be a very unpleasant phone call...

[Topkekkia]

It took a few hours, but the crew of the Topkekkian space station had managed to crack the encryption. The crew was shocked by what they found. Behind the seemingly innocuous theological and scientific reports was a sinister plot. The tungsten rods had been intended as a platform for kinetic bombardment. Despite himself, Garrovich couldn't help but shake his head. Osmium was far more effective, and not too difficult to find up here on asteroids in near earth orbit. That said, the report was still quite troubling. The crew reported their findings back to the Rantel Space Center and debated what their next move would be. Returning to earth would be difficult for a good long while, considering the field of shrapnel whipping about the earth below them. They had already harvested everything of use, but they still had plenty to do with the drive. There were technical reports, lists of targets, government communiques, all things that were of great interest to the people in Sevick far below, but something still seemed off about the situation. Why hadn't anyone come to investigate yet? The resupply mission for that station was supposed to be soon after all, and the captain was sure that Topkekkia wasn't the only ones who had taken notice of this event.

[The Tekkit Guy]

Approaching low earth orbit over Crossingrad

Blue sky gradually gave way to blackness as the Seraph flew through the sky, going faster and faster. Soon, the curvature of the Earth became visible, and a universe full of bright blinking stars came soon after. The shuttle leaned backwards farther and farther, directing momentum tangent to the round planet to achieve orbit. There was no guidance software to predict the intersect, so Korsikov had to just very carefully maneuver the joystick according to the instructions written down.

Soon, the Earth became a huge glassy blue and white marble beneath the shuttle. The crew of the shuttle immediately began to feel the weightlessness of free fall, their bodies now tugging against the restraints on their seats. They were still experiencing gravity, but they were going fast enough that the Earth was curving down as fast as they were falling, leaving them in a perpetual fall.

Korsikov executed a Hohmann transfer, burning once at the perapsis of the orbit, the once more at the apoapsis so their orbit would match the space station. This required extreme patience.

The shuttle was barreling towards the space station at incredible speeds without its engines, the momentum from the launch was enough to keep it going in orbit for a very long time. Korsikov stared intently out of the cockpit windows with concern.

"The station should be visible by now, just over the horizon. I'm concerned." He said. "Wait...is that...oh shit."



The Seraph was racing towards a field of space junk, which, at their speed, would obliterate it. A few tiny pieces of space junk pinged off of the hull, stripping away small pieces of paint. Korsikov acted quickly and put the shuttle into an emergency retrograde burn, using thrusters to flip the shuttle 180 degrees and pinning the throttle. Soon, the shuttle's speed indicator read 0, and the four cosmonauts found themselves beholding a great expansive of charred parts that was once the pride of the Tekkitian Space Program.

"Chief Engineer Buran, I want you to EVA to the wreckage and determine what the hell just happened. Semorovsky brothers, follow him and make sure no spies are trying to loot the place." Korsikov ordered. The men complied and stepped into their lightweight space suits with a kevlar fabric coating for shrapnel (or bullet) protection. The team used their thruster packs to maneuver carefully around the debris.

"The damage indicates an explosion from the center of the station. The oxygen supplies or fuel cells could have blown up." Buran muttered to himself. He was a genius in every sense of the word, with an IQ of 146 and a PhD. in Aerospace Engineering and Astrophysics from the University of Terrace, but he was seen as cold and arrogant.

"Up ahead!" Don said, pointing at a floating section of the station that was mostly in tact, but heavily damaged. "Looks like the weapon control room from the Defense Wing. It was reinforced in case of a misfire. Maybe there's survivors." Their jetpacks thrusted them forwards into the airlock.

"Sir, have you noticed, the tungsten rods were gone back there. They should be near here right? This is where the launchers were?" Kam asked.

"It doesn't matter. They were faulty rods and would have disintegrated if they reentered. Militarily speaking, they were 10 foot-long pieces of crap." Buran said, confidently. Indeed the tungsten rods were blended with cheap, low-quality iron to save money, and were found unable to survive re-entry, which was why the Seraph needed to be launched with replacements.

The place was a mess inside. Gaping holes from probable internal explosions were everywhere, making it far less likely anyone could have survived than previously expected. John Rekomic, the station's Master of Ordnance should have been on board. A cracked thermometer display read -89 C, making it obvious the station's heating system and thermal insulation was mostly obliterated.

"Could he have escaped? Maybe headed towards a different station?" Asked Don

"No, look. All the spacesuits are still here. Also, the explosions here do not match the damage from the rest of the station. Something else blew up here." Buran said, before a flickering and partially-shattered computer caught his eye. Every single sensitive document and file with an encryption level of 5 or higher were open.

"Ah shit. The Clergy's not gonna like this." He said "Internal damage not consistent with external damage, a computer with the biggest secrets in the Empire open... someone's been in here who shouldn't have been." He scribbled a few notes with his antigravity pen before gesturing to head back to the shuttle. It was going to be a long day.

[Topkekkia]

The men in mission control were pretty anxious. The Holy Tekkit Empire had just launched a shuttle to investigate, and everyone was dying to know what would happen next, most especially the man in charge of the TSC, Mikhail Bogomolov. He had an incredible amount to lose, after all. The actions Topkekkia was currently undertaking could be catastrophic for international relations, but they were a boon to national security nonetheless.

Four hundred kilometers above, Captain Garrovich was arguably just as anxious. He could see the shuttle from all the way above it, and was watching the little white specks floating out of it with great curiosity. He knew that there was an investigation group likely to come, but he didn't expect this many. Hopefully they wouldn't trace the absence of certain objects back to his group.

As he was brooding over this, he was surprised to hear Sargent Yakov Evelyn calling for him.

"I think you might want to see this, sir."

He turned away from the window and looked at the man slowly descending down towards him. "What is it?"

"The rods are completely unusable, sir. They were mixed with iron, and are unstable."

Garrovich quietly cursed under his breath and then spoke. "Very well then. Once our visitors are gone, toss them out the airlock. They won't survive reentry."

Just one thing after another. This was getting old. First the worm, then the visitors. "What next?", mused the captain.

[Eruhin Makhatar]

Hope Killer smiled. Iron Wall defense system was operational. Hundreds of military bases and destroyers spread around the globe with state of the art missile systems were trained on the sky. Nothing was coming down from space without him knowing. And then, with just the touch of a button it would be eliminated.
He turned about and spoke into the radio.

Hope: "Adriano Taj"

Adriano: "Yes, Hope Killer?"

Hope: "Have you found to wreckage yet? I have a feeling we are going to need you down here soon."

Adriano:"Yes, the place was sacked and all hard drives wiped. But we did find some recording devices on the space suits left here. Maybe we can find something from it. Oh, and the flag is of the Holy Tekkit Empire."

Hope:"Hmm. Well come back ASAP things are happening and we need to figure it out."

Adriano: "Yes, Hope Killer."

OOC: Sorry for the short post and not posting for a while but I have been pretty busy lately. I will post more. Oh and can I add to my ORBAT since the battle is coming up?

[The Tekkit Guy]

Seraph Space Shuttle

"No matter how many times you go up, space still gets you." Don Semorovsky said, looking directly above him at the stars above. "Its just all those billions of stars that leaves me in total awe." he said, pointing upwards.

"Alright, no one's here. Quit loafing around, you two! Let's get back double time!" Buran ordered, and the Semorovsky brothers complied, streaking across the cosmos back towards the small white space shuttle.

The three men came back into the shuttle's airlock, deeply bothered by what they found. Meanwhile, Korsikov had been sending video feed of the wreckage of Trinity Station back to Crossingrad Mission Control.

"Vlad, we need an emergency message to Crossingrad NOW!" Buran said, after throwing off his helmet and ripping his spacesuit off of him.

"That's not how you address a superior off..."

"Someone's been in the station! It was sabotaged!" He shouted before the captain could finish. Korsikov no longer objected and used his arms to thrust himself out of his seat to the typography station. Buran took over the control panel. The shuttle was already positioned for retrograde thrust, and he simply slid the throttle lever up to reduce speed until the gravity of the Earth would pull them back down. No doubt, they would have a lot of answering to do when they got back.

Crossingrad Mission Control

Serov's coffee mug shattered on the ground into an explosion of white shards, spilling the scalding hot drink all over the floor when he saw the video feed come through from the space shuttle. Shocked gasps and angry clamoring overtook the mission control building as the dozens of operators began arguing with each other over what just happened. Suddenly, the Emergency Message printer sprung to life, making an almost grinding noise as it stamped each letter rapidly.

Code: Select all

EMERGENCY MESSAGE
FROM: TSS SERAPH

//BEGIN MESSAGE//
EVIDENCE COLLECTED ON EVA BY C.E. BURAN INDICATES FOREIGN ESPIONAGE AND POSSIBLE SABOTAGE. MULTIPLE TRINITY PROJECT FILES COMPROMISED. PROBABLE EMERGENCY SITUATION.
//END MESSAGE//

Serov pinched the bridge of his nose before Nicholas ripped the paper from his hand and read it himself, muttering the words as he read.

"Impossible" he said, pausing for a brief moment before turning to one of his advisers to shoot orders like a machine gun. "As of now, we're in a non-public state of emergency. Notify the Terrace Defense Command we may be faced with military action at any moment. Go to DEFCON 3. I want all government leak websites, dark web forums, news media, anything, scoured for information about this incident, and absolutely take it down! I'll authorize SEA to take whatever actions necessary to make sure word does not get out!" He said before taking a deep breath. "And someone inform the clergy their damned station has gone to heaven."

St. Mary's Palace, Tekkit Empire

His Supreme Holiness, Grand Mediator Andrew Nersiva IV read the message with concern before addressing the Holy Court before him from his seat in the palace. Candles from the huge crystal chandelier lit the truly massive cathedral, casting a warm glow upon the ornate decorations of gold, silver, and wood that lined the walls.

"Brothers, today is a dark day. The government has informed us that The Trinity Space Station has been destroyed." he said, solemnly. The Bishops draped in luxurious, brightly-colored robes began to mutter disapprovingly, while some bowed their heads in prayer.

"Clearly, people influenced by the forces of evil were compelled to stop our progress at any costs. We live in hostile times, as we see every day the values of Christ undermined and corrupted in countries all over the world. We shall keep the cosmonauts on the station in our evening prayers, but now we must act!" he said.

"How so, your holiness?" Asked one of the church Patriarchs.

"we must warn the public that this tragedy is the result of rising godlessness around the world, and double over our efforts to make them repent. We must tell the government to not tolerate any public demonstration of blasphemy or heresy." The entire church was unaware of the actual nature of the Trinity Project. The Kinetic Weapons program was an addenda of the Imperial Air Force, and as far as the Clergy was concerned, the station's single purpose was for research.

[Topkekkia]

Topkekkian Space Station
Garrovich was busy wondering what to do when a message appeared on the computer console, solving his issue. The message was quite long, but it essentially boiled down to a simple task: Re-examine the wreck, eliminate all who interfere. Mission control believed that there were still systems on board the station that could be of use . The captain sighed heavily about this, but could do nothing; orders were orders after all. A sense of anxiousness filled the shuttle as ten men flew towards the scattered fragments of the station.
Rantel Space Center
Mikhail wondered if he had made the right choice. The speaker had given him permission to take whatever actions were deemed necessary on this mission, but he still wasn't sure what would come of it. He knew that there were still likely to be valuable items in the wreckage, and that the astronauts from the Tekkit Empire would need to be dealt with, but there was no easy solution. There never was. All that could be done was to wait and watch the camera feed, watch the little white dots on a background of black and blue grow ever larger as the shuttle grew nearer.