Here Be Balrogs... Or worse... (FT Closed)

[Bryn Shander]

The small freighter's thrusters lit up as the ship neared the large iron asteroid. On the ship, engineers suited up in their bulky space suits and manned small construction pods. They were deep in the asteroid belt that had been the planet Rathak just over two millennia ago, and they had a mission. They were to rendezvous with the huge spinning rock and install powerful nuclear pulse engines and maneuvering thrusters on the surface in preparation to stabilize the asteroid and move it into a stable orbit over their home planet, Jannath.

"Alright men. Everyone double check your buddy to make sure that their suits are on and intact. We've got work to do." barked the foreman of the engineering operation. Standing on the deck of the large cargo hold with his helmet under an arm, he puffed away at a cigar while watching his men once over their partners and return to formation. "Everyone good?" he asked?

"Hooah!" replied the group in unison. After being ordered to fall out, the men scattered and jumped towards their equipment and construction pods, drifting through the air in the zero gravity.

Each engineer manned their gear as the bright white lights in the hangar dimmed and were replaced by red bulbs running along the walls. The foreman took one more good puff of his cigar and tossed it towards the closed cargo hatch before donning his helmet and locking it onto the suit. Yellow warning lights started flashing in the corners and around the cargo hatches, indicating that the atmosphere in the cargo hold was going to be evacuated in preparation of the hatches opening.

Several minutes later, the ship was tethered to the asteroid with strong cables anchored into the rock by the line throwers on the hull. The large hatches on either side of the hold opened wide and the construction pods streamed out, each one pulling a container full of equipment behind them. Several pods worked together to move the large nuclear pulse engines into the staging area. When everything had been moved from the hold and placed into a predetermined spot, the real work began.

Pneumatic hammers pulverised the iron rich rock and sent chips flying off into space at high speed while other workers prepared explosive charges to be placed into the resulting holes. When the charges were placed, the workers evacuated and even more rock was sent flying into space. Everything was going just as planned.

"Hey boss! We've got a situation here!" radioed one of the engineers as he peered over the edge of his pod's cockpit into the hole. The smoke was clearing and the hole was far, far deeper than it was supposed to be.

"Well I'll be damned..." cursed the foreman as his pod arrived on scene and he saw the hole. "This isn't normal. Boys, lets head down there and take a look."

The foreman and the engineers peering down into the dark hole stepped forward into the abyss. Lights on the pods illuminated the pit as their maneuvering thrusters guided them into the interior of the rock. At the bottom of the pit was something that the confused the engineers. A tunnel. Dust filled the area, limiting visibility by a fair margin, but they could still easily tell that the tunnel was man-made.

"Fuck." muttered the foreman.

[Belkaros]

Deep within an asteroid of the Rathak Belt, the Ielkan mining pod went about its work. Automated shovels, resonant pulverizers and other mining instruments surrounded the central node like a metallic spider's web, burrowing into the asteroid, sampling its contents, and recording the findings for the miners to come. The entire asteroid was scheduled to be processed and hollowed out for use as an observation post and barracks, a base of operation for Ielkan miners so the rest of the belt could be exploited. The probe had hit pay dirt with this asteroid, as the astrogeologists on Ielkar had predicted. Silicone, gold and iron were abundant on this rock. This information, along with samples, was loaded onto an automated rocket, loaded into the entry tunnel, and fired towards Ielkan space.

Midway up the tunnel, the rocket's sensors guided it around an unpredicted metallic obstruction, maneuvered the small craft around it, and continued on. The few snapshots of the perplexed miners taken by the craft would ignite fury with those who would see them when it landed.

[Bryn Shander]

"What the hell was that!?" muttered one of the engineers as the rocket shot past the group of construction pods.

"Well, this isn't one of our facilities, so I'm going to guess that the Belkans have already set up shop here. Judging by that rocket, they know we're here and aren't happy about it." replied the foreman.

"Fuck those commie aliens!" responded one of the other engineers. "We claimed this rock fair and square, and I'll be damned if I go home to my family empty handed because some faggot aliens think that their commie bullshit lets them have our rock!"

The engineer's short rant was met with cheers and general agreement among his peers. As it stood, the crew had been attacked by the Belkans within the rock, and worse, the crew would not be paid without bringing the rock back to Jannath and fulfilling their contract. As such, the foreman was left with few options.

"Alright, men. We're going to clear this place out of all foreign assets and proceed with work as normal. Johnny, the rock is limiting the range of our radios, so go back up to the surface and tell the other teams to get down here and start clearing tunnels."

As Johnny and his pod went to gather the other engineers, the foreman and his group started down the tunnel towards the source of the rocket, each pod armed only with construction equipment. Drills, jackhammers, torches, and demolitions charges were all the engineers had to free the shit out of the communist mining equipment.

[Belkaros]

Asteroid
At first, unexpected gas pockets were blamed for the damage to MA933912-d, but when the heat was measured at twice that of a natural explosion, the mine probe's processor was alerted, photos of the hostile aliens were taken, and a red alert was sent through the probe's surface link. The slow, clumsy probe arms attempted to defend themselves with laser cutters, percussion hammers and other mining tools, but the civilian OS was not at all equipped to deal with the nimble, angry miners.

Communication Center of the Watchful Albatross
Asteroid duty was boring, there was no question about it. Occasionally, a probe would hit a gas pocket and a team would need to be dispatched to deal with the problem. The young communications officer stationed at the relay was reading a pulp paperback novel when the alarm sounded.
"Oh shit!" swore the young officer, dropping the book and scrambling to identify the source. He was in over his head, and got his commanders to try to figure out the situation.

Some time and a considerable amount of double checking later, Ielkan Command was contacted, and a combat frigate was dispatched to the relay ship. From there, the military would assess the situation.

[Bryn Shander]

The Jannarii engineers had encountered several of the mining probe's robotic tentacles before the open cockpits of the pods proved to be a liability in combat. It would seem that laser cutters tend to work even better on flesh and bone than on the ore laden rock that they were designed for. Fortunately, the plasma torches, jackhammers, and drills were just as effective against the probes tentacles.

Several hours of fighting something that would have been at home in cyberpunk hentai and a handful of destroyed construction pods later, the engineers had finally discovered the probe's central core. The battle was fierce, but eventually the probe was disarmed once and for all and the engineers were able to plant the demolitions charges on the ill fated robots body.


The dust from the explosion hadn't yet dissipated before the surviving engineers buried their fallen comrades in space, shot the guy with the bagpipes, and resumed work installing the large nuclear pulse engines. Tons upon tons of rock were blasted into space and produced holes several meters thick. The small construction pods moved the large pre-assembled sections of the engines into position and welded them together. Over several days the engines drew closer and closer to completion. There was little to hold up the work now that the alien robot was fragged, and by the end of the first week the engines were being activated for the first time.

"Engines one through four online. All systems normal." reported the freighter's chief engineer as he monitored the levels from the ship's engineering section. "Engines five through eight coming online with no issues so far."

The test burns were causing the rock's spin to slow quickly. Soon it would be completely stabilized and the trip into Jannarii orbit would begin.

"Engines five through eight online and normal." came the chief's report once again. It was the same each time the engines were cycled. One through four normal. Five through eight normal. Finally, the engines were proven to be working perfectly, and the journey home was underway.


When the Belkan frigate arrived, it would find nothing but empty space.

[Belkaros]

Ielkan Space

The frigate was going full speed to the asteroid's projected location. Onboard, the tension was palpable, several hundred men about to see for the first time the Janar, as the Belkans called them, their hated enemy from another world. The encounter would not take place for another three days, if it occurred at all. The techies were worried about their scanners, as they had failed to display the asteroid at all, let alone any information about potential hostiles. Soon, they would know for sure.

[Belkaros]

Ielka, Ielkara
The emperor was furious. Three weeks of wasted manpower, an obscenely overpriced mining droid and a fortune in raw materials, all for nothing. The ship had found exhaust trails headed for the Jannari home world. Pirate bastards. Who were they to steal from his empire, and indirectly, him? All these thoughts and more raced through his mind as he contemplated his next move.

Ielkan/Jannarii Transmitter
Romulus Mundus VI stood behind a high metallic podium, the purple banner of Ielkaros hanging behind him. He spoke to the camera, and via a transmitter, to Jannarus.
"People of Jannarus, you know me as Emperor Romulus Mundus of Ielkaros. Recently, an asteroid claimed by Ielkan prospectors and occupied by Ielkan automated mining systems disappeared. My troops dispatched to investigate have informed me that strong evidence suggests that prospectors from your planet took the asteroid. This is unacceptable. The Imperium of Ielkaros demands the immediate return of said asteroid, and the surrender of whoever was responsible for this act of space piracy. Know that this act is currently being viewed as an open act of hostility, and will be dealt with accordingly should your government fail to meet our demands. We will not take this sitting down. Via Mundus Prospero, Viva Imperialus de Ielkar.

[Bryn Shander]

Unfortunately for the Belkan emperor, nobody but a very small number of researchers on Jannath spoke the Belkan language, and thus the message was meaningless to those few that managed to catch the broadcast when it arrived on Jannath.

"...And so our contractors seem to have caused an interplanetary incident." explained the overweight man from the intelligence ministry.

"I see." began the Jannarii king. "As you're all aware, this planet has been free from the grip of communists since the Alvinians were conquered fifty years ago. Communism is a a cancerous growth in the hearts and minds of a free people, and I will not sit idly by as our people are threatened by this madness once again."

"It would only fuel conspiracy theories and anti-government activities if we do nothing, and cause the former Alvinian communist remnants to rally if we broadcast the message." explained the minister of the interior.

"You raise a good point. What would you suggest?" asked the king.

"Well, your majesty, I may have an idea." started the man from the intelligence ministry. "As you're aware, we've had limited contact with the Belkans since the dawn of radio. However, the signals had until recently always been attributed to crazies with transmitters and electronic interference. The existence of a civilization on Belkaros has only been known for the past few decades. As such only a small handful of people are capable of understanding the Belkan language. Almost all of them are on our payroll. We have an effective monopoly on the truth of the message."

"Yes, I see. I think I understand where you're going with this." said the king.

"As such, I propose that we dub over the audio with a translation that removes any responsibility from our contractors and paints the Belkans as imperialists that are laying claim to the entire Halcyon system and will enslave our people under the weight of communism as the Alvinians tried half a century ago."

"Very well. Proceed with the plan and get back to me with the edited version. We'll dub the audio and I'll give an address to the planet."

And so the various ministers left the king's office and went to work drafting a new script for the Belkan broadcast. Several drafts were written and rejected before a suitable version was settled on that was met with the king's approval. The accepted script was dubbed over the Belkan video, and that evening the King appeared on television.


"People of Jannath. As your king, I have been put onto my throne by the gods with a mission to guide our civilization with their wisdom, and more importantly to protect our civilization from all threats. Just as the gods inspired my ancestor Alaron the First to write a constitution for the Kingdom of Bryn Shander and establish a democratic government six thousand years ago, my grandfather and father were tasked by the gods to protect that constitution and democracy from the communists in the Alvinian Empire that sought to enslave all Jannarii people under the banner of socialism. Through the will of the gods, freedom and democracy survived to live on in the hearts and minds of each and every one of you."

"Unfortunately, it would seem that our freedoms are not yet secure from the cancerous plague of communism. Just this morning we received a broadcast from the rabid communist, Emperor Mundus of our neighboring planet, Belkaros. The audio has been dubbed over in Shanderan so that you can understand it."

"People of Jannath, you know me as Emperor Romulus Mundus of Belkaros. Recently, you have stolen an asteroid owned by the People of Belkaros. All such resources are owned by the People, and we will not stand by as the bourgeoisie steal from the People. The Imperium of Belkaros demands the immediate return of said asteroid, and the surrender of whoever was responsible for this act of space piracy. Know that this act is currently being viewed as an open act of hostility, and will be dealt with accordingly should your government fail to meet our demands. We will not take this sitting down. Vox populi, vox Dei!"

"And there you have it. Once again the Jannarii people are being threatened by the forces of communism. We must stand firm and face this threat head on if freedom is to live on in the universe. We will need to build a navy to protect Jannath from the communists, and we will need to do it quickly. Unfortunately, there will not be enough time to construct warships before the first Belkan warships could arrive in orbit of our world, so I am asking that all owners of space faring vessels be willing to sell your ships to the military at twenty percent above market value. I would also ask that the crews of any such vessels enlist in the navy to defend our planet. This is all completely voluntary, but I must remind you that our freedom may very well depend on you. People of Jannath, I thank you for your time. Dum spiramus tuebimur!"


Several weeks later, the freighter and the asteroid arrived in Jannarii orbit. Since the King's broadcast, the response was overwhelming. Most of the commercial vessels in the Halcyon system has been sold to the Jannarii Navy and hastily armed with naval guns from mothballed naval vessels in harbors all over the Jannarii surface. Large space faring container ships were armed with special disposable VLS cells that were engineered to be the exact same size as the containers that they were designed to carry. Each of these hastily navalized vessels had been painted the deep blue that was the primary color of the Bryn Shanderan flag, both out of nationalism and because the color was found to be relatively hard to see against the black backdrop of space.

[Belkaros]

First Imperial Battlegroup

Grand Admiral Gherig sat in his private quarters. Emperor Mundus' image was before him on a viewscreen, speaking quietly to him. This was an honor beyond anything Gherig had ever dreamed, a private audience with the Emperor himself. It mattered not that he was hundreds of thousands of miles away from his home world of Ielkar, his ship one of the fifty in the first space battlegroup his planet had ever assembled, a group on the edge of enemy space. The fleet had been dispatched shortly after the butchered imperial address had been heard. on He was speaking to the Emperor, and he would do as he was told. The Emperor finished his speech, and Gherig bowed until his head nearly touched his knees. He turned and exited his quarters.

Ielkan Transmission
Unlike the Jannarii, many Ielkans knew the basics of Janarii language, knowledge gleaned from countless hours analyzing radio transmissions, commercials, and even phone sex conversations. Admiral Gherig knew enough to send a message to the Jannarii in their own tongue, to avoid any confusion.
"People of Jannath," he began, a bit clumsily in the alien tongue, "This is you final warning. Return our asteroid, and this will be forget, and my ships and I will return home. Ignore this, our final warnings, at you peril. Our warriors are strong, and our resolves strength. You have three hour to respond."

[Bryn Shander]

Once again, the Jannarii failed to respond to the Belkan ultimatum. It would be many weeks before the first Belkan ships would be able to threaten Jannath, and the Jannarii found that their time was better spent preparing to fend off the enemy fleet than negotiating with the sworn enemies of liberty. The liberated asteroid, named Rumia after the first queen of Bryn Shander, had been placed into Jannarii orbit in the lagrange point known as L3, opposite the planet's moon Lorelei. While the freighters that now made up the Jannarii navy were constructed from materials harvested from Lorelei and larger objects in Jannath's system of planetary rings, the new warships were being constructed with the very ore that the Belkans were on their way to Jannath to seize. For this purpose, new shipyards had been constructed at L1.

To further bolster the defenses of Jannath, anti-ship batteries were being installed all over Lorelei as well as Rumia. Missile platforms had been placed into orbit by the hundreds as well, and at L4 and L5 the first squadrons of starfighters were stationed at newly constructed defense stations.

On the surface, the effects of the Belkan broadcast were just as pronounced. The military was seeing an even larger surge of recruits than the last broadcast had triggered, while anti-bombardment shelters were being built throughout cities and towns all over the planet. Food and water were being stockpiled in preparation for a siege even as the population geared up to destroy the Belkan invaders well before they could set foot on the surface. After the atrocities committed by the Alvinian communists fifty years prior, the Jannarii people would never allow such horrors to ever gain a foothold on the planet again.

[Belkaros]

Ielkan Space
It had been two weeks since the final ultimatum had been broadcast. Two weeks of preparations for war. Ships were being armed and crewed, 150 in total, crews ready to wage war on the Janath. Orbital defense platforms had been moved from drawing boards to orbit as the clear necessity of homeworld defense became clear. Asteroids already hollowed and mined by the Ielkans became floating fortresses as anti ship cannons and missile pods were loaded into them and they were linked into an asteroid belt defense network. When the 21st day since the ultimatum ended with no response, the first, second and third Ielkan Interplanetary Expedition Battlefleets fired their engines towards enemy territory.

[Bryn Shander]

Several months later...
The departure of the Belkan fleet had been noticed by the Jannarii, and the course carefully plotted and re-plotted as the Belkans made their way inwards from their cold binary planets. The defenders knew the exact second that the Belkans were expected to be within effective firing range of the ten Lorelei class missile cruisers that had been adapted from container ships.

Each ship was equipped with 268 mounting points for 2TEU containers that were generally stacked sixteen containers high. As military vessels, the 2TEU containers were replaced with disposable VLS pods that each carried four hundred missiles, giving the [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/Nightbane/JannariiMissileCruiser02.png"]Lorelei[/url] class a normal payload of 1,715,200 missiles. These warships were the core of the Jannarii war machine and would be the only thing standing between the Jannarii and destruction at the hands of the communists.

Complimenting the Loreleis were the [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/Nightbane/JannariiFrigate01.png"]Rumia[/url] class frigates that had been adapted from small general use cargo runners. Each was armed with four twin 18" guns that had been taken from naval vessels mothballed after the defeat of the Alvinians in the last war, as well as two pairs of twin-linked pulse lasers for anti-missile defense. Forty in number, the frigates would primarily be used for scouting and escort. If all went as planned, however, no Belkan ships would get close enough to the Jannarii fleet to require the Rumias to fire.


The moment that the Belkan fleet would enter firing range was coming up fast. Each of the ten cruisers aligned themselves with their broadsides facing the incoming fleet. Still days from the planet, the Belkans would hopefuly be caught completely off guard by the storm of missiles and be destroyed before being able to take a single Jannarii life. One by one, the cruisers began slow barrel rolls and started firing the missiles. As one stack of containers fired, the rotation allowed the empty container to be jettisoned and moved the next stack into firing position. The stream of missiles continued until each ship had rotated a full 360 degrees, at which point the stacks were now fifteen containers high and the firing stopped. Each of the ten ships had just fired 107,200 arrows of liberty at the communist invaders. Hopefully the swarm would find its target.

[Belkaros]

Jannari Space

The Ielkan fleet moved out of the asteroid belt and towards the alien homeworld. All cannons aboard the 150 ships of the armada were primed and loaded, ready to destroy any pathetic force the asteroid stealing aliens could muster. The crewmen, nerves steeled by the voice of their Emperor on loop through the ships intercom systems, moved into position.


Asteroid Belt

The Emperor was no fool. He had no idea what sort of fate awaited the first armada, but he was not willing to take chances, nor were his generals. With that in mind, they had begun militarizing the asteroid belt between Jannath and Ielkar. Mines, EM accelerator cannons, militarized mining drones, missile batteries and other traps were being shipped to and installed in the belt. In crevices and crannies of the asteroids, these automated weapons would be almost undetectable, until it was too late.

[Bryn Shander]

The ten cruisers, each having expended a sixteenth of their ordinance, returned to their slips in the various orbital docks for a quick once over of their systems to ensure that nothing had malfunctioned during their first combat action. As expected, all systems worked perfectly while the missile pods were collected and rearmed.

Further away from the planet, the massive swarm of more than a million missiles closed on the Belkan fleet. The swarm and the missiles would meet in roughly a day, and the huge margin of overkill, more than seven thousand missiles per enemy ship, would practically guarantee the complete destruction of the fleet.

On Lorelei, a number of radio and optical telescopes watched the fleet movements around Belkaros and tracked the trajectories of the ships leaving the gravity well. It would appear that the Belkans were going back to the Rathak belt, and that was simply not acceptable. Once the first Belkan fleet was destroyed and the missile cruisers were rearmed, the Jannarii fleet would be deployed to liberate the Rathak belt before moving on to prosecute the war on Belkaros itself.

[Belkaros]

Jannari Space
"Mundus save us!" exclaimed the admiral, as he ordered evasive maneuvers and sent word of the force's impending obliteration. Thinking quickly, he ordered his own ship and twenty others to dump all non vital systems into the void, after firing long range shells towards the enemy. This began the evacuation of the other ships into the selected few. The remaining ships fired all guns towards the enemy planet, and a few fired shrapnel rounds at the incoming missile swarm. The twenty one ships not firing, loaded with disgraced Ielkan marines, headed home at full speed. The active computer components, other ships, AM systems and chaff pods left would stop most of the missiles, and obliterate everything not sprinting back to Ielkar with their proverbial tail between their legs.

Ielkar
News of the fleet's destruction did not go unnoticed on the homeworld. Immediately, production of a new armada began. The industrial prowess of the Ielkans would build them a new fleet within a matter of months, long enough to fend of the Jannari mongrels, assuming the asteroid defenses slowed them, which they certainly would, as the ring had become less and less asteroid field and more of a Korean DMZ.

[Bryn Shander]

Unfortunately, the Belkans had failed to take into consideration the sheer number of missiles that the Jannarii fleet had fired, and even the chaff pods and point defense guns were unable to prevent the swarm from hitting each of the ships and the escape pods several times. The destruction was total.

Meanwhile, the Jannarii fleet had been rearmed and refueled. The large cargo holds of the Lorelei class cruisers were packed with food stores, fuel, and extra oxygen tanks. The entire fleet, some fifty odd ships, was prepared for a long campaign of liberation and the eradication of the enemy aliens.

And so the Jannarii fleet left the orbit of their planet and headed to the Rathak belt.

[Bryn Shander]

Several weeks later...
The fleet had split up in transit, each of the ten cruisers taking four of the frigates with it as it went to its own patrol area in the Rathak belt. Now the first of the five ship groups was entering the belt, ready to engage the enemy and liberate the belt.

"Sir, our long range sensors are picking up enemy engine flares in the vicinity of Asteroid 4132B." said the man operating the sensors on the bridge of the cruiser Behoimi

"Chances are that it's a base. Alert the frigates, call general quarters and set intercept course." replied Captain Henry.

As the claxons sounded throughout the five ships, the crews scrambled to get their space suits on and get to their battlestations. Meanwhile, active radar began painting targets.

[Belkaros]

Rathak Belt
Like fireflies in the dark, Belkan automated systems planted on the asteroids blinked to life when their small sensors picked up the enemy ships. Anti-ship missiles, rockets, cannons and magnetic accelerators silently, and due to the dispersal of their components on their asteroids, making them invisible to sensors. The silent horde waited until the ships were inside the asteroid belt, too deep to run quickly, and they fired.

[Bryn Shander]

With the fleet's radar systems actively scanning the area, it didn't take long for the incoming projectiles to be detected.

"Captain! Incoming projectiles! Unknown configurations, but the velocities are varied. We're looking at several dozen trajectories!" reported the sensors operator.

"The enemy has made a huge mistake by playing their hand so early." mused Captain Henry. "Fire on the projectiles and their launchers, three missiles each, then radio the fleet to change course."

"Aye, Captain!"

While the Behoimi began to rotate and fire missiles at the incoming Belkan ordinance and their launchers, each one easily found by tracing back the trajectory of the projectiles and making a note of the large amout of excess heat generated by the launches, the rest of the fleet altered its course so that any of the unguided projectiles or debris that made it through the missile barrage would miss by a large margin.