[Sovereign Charter Only]The Penultimate Frontier IC Thread

[Asgareth]

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This is a Sovereign Charter roleplay. You must sign up using the application form linked below, before you can post in the In-character thread

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Introduction|Rules|Out of Character Thread

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Introduction

The Asgar-Rome Space Exploration program, or to give it its more formal name A.R.S.E., was initially devised 150 years ago by the leaders of the two namesake nations: Asgareth and Romae in Perpetuum. It would not be deployed until some 40 years later, during the Second Red War.

Anticipating that the next war would be in space, Asgareth and Rome invested a large amount of resources, time and manpower, in the development of interstellar weaponry, anti-gravity plating and hydroponics allowing ships to independently sustain crews for years.

Swiftly, A.R.S.E. established itself as a proficient leader in space tech, and began to develop technology well beyond conceived limitations. It took the best part of a century, but eventually A.R.S.E. finally developed faster than lightspeed travel. The first warp ship is even now about to depart from the secret A.R.S.E. asteroid base at the edge of the solar system

It eventually became apparent, however, that fighting nations that happened to reside in the same planet, from outside of said planet, was a silly idea. In response, the militaries of Asgareth and Rome simultaneously announced an intention to cut space spending. Facing significant cuts, A.R.S.E. was forced to appeal to other nations to assist in funding. In exchange, it promised to allow a number of crew members from other nation to join the A.R.S.E. Inveniemus’s maiden voyage.

And now, it was time for A.R.S.E. to travel further than it ever had gone before. The only question remained: who would be brave enough to make up the crew?

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Rules

• Sovereign Charter only. However, if you want to join the roleplay, you are more than welcome to join the region.
• The Roleplay is set 100 years in the future- it encompasses the use of FTL (faster than light) tech.
• Two characters are permitted per member. Please note that there is a serious risk of death: it is space after all. Main characters will die, and we intend to offer the opportunity to introduce fresh characters as the roleplay advances, so as to provide newcomers and old timers another chance to jump on. Think of it as Game of Thrones meets the dark, unforgiving nature of Space.
• Please use the out of character sign up sheet. Once you’ve signed up, you’re good to go.
• One post per week please. The posts don’t need to be novellas (and certainly not Red Weather length), but please put some effort in.
• Have fun.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia Yultsin was on the bridge of the A.R.S.E. Inveniemus, starring out as a number of shuttles, sporting new crew members came into sight.

Yultsin was, at least in his opinion, the only crew member on board. Sure, there were engineers and security already on board, but they hardly counted. He was enjoying his time alone on the bridge, quietly sat on the new captains chair. He had never heard of Captain Tiberius before- which said a lot really. Yultsin enjoyed reading up on famous captains and first officers. The lack of a mention indicated that Tiberius may enjoy his rank due to who he knew, as opposed to what he knew.

For his part, Yultsin came from a long line of space explorers. During the Second Red War of a century ago, his great-great-grandfather bravely led the first A.R.S.E scouting mission. Returning, with one leg fewer, he quickly set about protecting his legacy. His son, and his son, and his son after that… the Yultsin’s were proud to be A.R.S.E.’s longest serving family. When Gasnia joined five years ago, his surname meant instant promotion to second mate. Some called it nepotism, others a reward for loyalty. Gasnia believed in the former, and swiftly set about to make his next promotion on his own. And now, here he was. Serving as first officer on board the biggest and best ship in A.R.S.E.’s arsenal.

The shuttles drew nearer and nearer. Onboard, were some 150 members.

---

In one of these transports, Edwun Alsornva, was filled with anticipation as the shuttle drew nearer to its destination. It had departed from the A.R.S.E. asteroid base 20 minutes ago, and was expected to enter the ship in 5.
“Cor. I hate space travel. There’s no roads! How is someone meant to figure out where to go without roads?” He joked, at his neighbour. “Not to mention the food. I’ve had better food in Iryllia!”
Edwun looked at the guy next to him, eagerly expecting an answer. Met with a stone cold silence, he turned to the guy on the other side. “Of course it’s not all bad. Get to meet new species, cultures.. maybe a hot lady or two? Did you know no Asgarthian has ever bred with an alien before? The closest we’ve got is the Iryllians.”

Met with yet another silence, Edwun simply stared out the window, as the shuttle made its final approach.

---

Onboard the Inveniemus, a message came over the relay.
“Shuttle inbound. Prepare for boarding.”

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Captain Quintus Valerius Tiberius relaxed in the compartment of his personal shuttle. Command of the A.R.S.E. Inveniemus!, that would show his damned older brother; what's a Legion compared to space. Whereas his brother would be subduing tribes of pygmies for the endless expansion of the Empire, it would be he Quintus Valerius Tiberius to conquer a whole blasted planet of the things!

Or whatever was out there really he hadn’t been paying attention in the endless debriefings, award ceremonies and state dinners. Speaking of not paying attention Tiberius, emerging from his drug addled haze, realized he had absolutely no idea who he would be commanding. His father had definitely mentioned an Asgarthian XO, or did the chap just have a funny name. Tiberius frowned to himself, before snapping his fingers for another cup of wine, he did however remember that other foreigners may be boarding the Inveniemus; foreigners on his ship! Asgarthians were bad enough but at least they could drink. Ah well he thought to himself may have to just make life that little bit more unbearable for johnny foreigner.

Tiberius knocked back the cup and chucked it at the unfortunate slave who had brought it laughing unpleasantly as it hit him in the face. In addition to the 150 crewmen the ship also had some 150 slaves onboard in the lower levels. For working on the highly radioactive warp core, mucking out plasma manifolds and whatever task deemed to meanial for free born Romans (and foreigners to he supposed). His ‘personal’ slaves had already been delivered to his quarters he’d had to have his XO’s quarters knocked through to make room for them, as well as the jacuzzi, but he was sure the fellow would find somewhere else soon enough. There were advantages to his family's firm getting the construction contract…


“Right! Left! Come on soldier you can do better than that!” screamed Centurion Cassius Aedinius Velus as he spared with one of his marines in the cargo bay. The man was 30 years younger than him but couldn’t have beaten the chief doctor in his old legion, then again he hadn’t expected as much from an Asgarthian. Velus parred his final blow with ease and send him sprawling on his back with a well timed punch to the chest. “That's not fair! You cheated!” whined the soldier from the floor, Velus tutted the man had been wearing full combat gear for crying out loud, Velus kicked him in the ribs “That's not fair you cheated sir!” he screamed as the man curled up into a ball “first lesson soldier life ain’t fair and no xeno or Illyrian or whatever scum we meet out their is gonna play fair so we don't either!”.

Velus considered kicking him again but felt the lesson had to have sunk in by now. “You!” he pointed at one of his junior officers, another Asgarthian but one who had appeared to have taken advanced sword play at the Marus Academy, “get this man up and don’t let him so much as sit down until he can perform a decent thrust!”. He briefly cast his eyes around the cargo bay to the other pairs of practicing marines and security forces the few that noticed his gaze quickly avoided it and went back to their exercises with gusto. Good Velus reflected being shit scared of your officers made them less likely to turn tail and run at the sight of the squid people from alpha centauri or whatever it was they were going to have to fight. This is why he had agreed to spend probably the rest of his life in space leaving his numerous children and grandchildren, not for glory, not for honour and certainly not because he wanted to boil and freeze at the same time but in the ironclad knowledge that these idiots, his men, would get killed without him. Oh and squid people, he wanted to kill squid people.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia was not impressed. Despite arriving on the ship captain Tiberius had already moved his belongings out of his quarters. He had yet to meet the captain, but could already tell he would not like the guy. Manners cost nothing, and all this disruption for a jacuzzi… well, Gasnia thought to himself, the crew would see who the real professional was.

Gasnia made his way down to the ships rec room. There, a few senior officers were sat drinking. He promptly ordered, and stated that to put it on Tiberius’ tab, before grabbing his ale and heading into the corner.

Sitting down, he sipped his ale, and promptly spat it out. This was no Asgarthian Ale. Looking at the tap, his worst fears were confirmed. This was some street knockoff. He swallowed his pride, and downed the pint, before ordering another. He sat and waited, for the arrival of the crew, who were busy settling in.

---

An hour ago, Edwun Alsornva had debussed from the shuttle, and was swiftly allocated his quarters. He was situated on the east wing
His roommate, a large security man, had merely snarled at him when he saw him. Pleasant, Edwun thought. As the chief navigator onboard the Inveniemus, he had been under the impression that he would not have to room share. As it was, the large meathead had called top bunk, leaving Edwun in a confined space.

Figuring it was better to at least acquaint himself with the remainder of the crew, Edwun headed down to the rec room. Ordering an ale, he paid, and sat, a few tables away from Gasnia.

[Romae in Perpetuum]

“Captain on deck!” announced Tiberius’ aide as the captain walked into the rec room. Hurriedly the crew, many of whom had been in the bar for quite some time, got to their feet (easier for some than others) and saluted. They remained still for a while before Tiberius realised he really ought to say something “At ease men” the crew relaxed slightly and the more drunken went to sit down quickly correcting themselves as Tiberius continued speaking “I will formally address the entire crew once they are all present. But for you the native born Romans and Asgarthians I have but one thing to say… first round is on me. Carry on.” An enthusiastic round of applause went round the room and a queue suddenly materialised at the bar, Tiberius was shown to the captains table and gestured for a waiter.

“A cup of my Falernian and make it quick I haven’t had a drink since I got off the shuttle” the waiter nodded and scrambled away giving Tiberius time to survey the room and noticed there were one or two officers present. Tiberius tuned to his aide “So one of these is my first officer then Cato?”
“Yes sir.” The man replied “I believe him to be the brown haired one in the corner”
“Good invite him to my table would you? I should probably introduce myself.”
“Aye Captain” Cato moved to rise from the table
“Oh and Cato, what's his name?
“Commander Gasnia Yultsin sir”
“Yultsin…” Tiberius said more to himself, struggling with the Y “will have to remember that one…”


Centurion Velus laughed with his off duty officers enjoying the free drink. It was an old legionary rule to always take a free drink when offered and it always paid off to get drunk with a new unit, next best thing to crouching in a shell hole together for dear life he thought. He noticed his new roommate Alsor sitting on his own. Velus didn’t mind sharing that much, it was an efficient use of space and he’d once spent a month with 50 men squeezed in a bunker with no toilet during the Cassius campaigns, but the navigator clearly did ah well he’d learn soon enough that a soldiers life ain’t fair. But there was no point in making things intentionally hard. Grabbing a jug of wine and two cups he went off to either build bridges or punch a guy in the face, either way a fun night.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia finished the last drop of his fourth pint, as Cato wandered over to him. Instinctively, he hid his glass under the table and watched as the aide drew closer.
“Commander” Cato began. “Captain Tiberius has graciously invited you to join him for a drink or two. If you’ll just follow me.”
Gasnia studied the young aide. “Tiberius hey? Sounds Roman to me. Alright. Lead the way. Say… didn’t he say the first pint was on him? Fetch me one, will you.”

Gasnia followed Cato to Tiberius. He studied the man for a moment. He was surprisingly young for a captain. Nepotism, Gasnia guessed. Extending a hand, he stated “Captain Tiberius? I’m Gasnia Yultsin. I am your first officer. Good to finally meet you. Enjoy the shuttle trip? I heard there was a fair amount of space sickness on them. Can’t be a good sign, can it?”

---

Edwun saw his roommate approach, and nodded in his direction. Extending a hand, he indicated the seat was free. He noticed two glasses and a jug of wine. That was telling. A wine drinker was to be head of security. It didn’t bode well for the crews safety.

“Name’s Edwun.” He began. “Sorry about earlier. I suppose we were both just a bit preoccupied, carrying stuff in. So you’re Roman?” He stated, noticing the eagle under the left collar. “Asgarthian. Yeah, I’ve met quite a few Romans. Not the best looking bunch, but a good laugh. Not that big a fan of your drinking culture, mind. Wine? Please. Ale is where it’s at. Still, a free drink is a free drink. Thank you very much.”

He reached over, and grabbed the jug and empty glasses. He poured one out, for himself, and downed it within seconds. “Ah. Red. I suppose it marks the blood of your enemies?” He chuckled, as he poured into the second glass. “Here, enjoy. After we finish the jug, I’m going to introduce you to ale. Though do bear in mind. The ale they serve here is just not up to scratch.”

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Captain Tiberius watched interested as a collective gasp went up from the nearby Romans at Gasna’s approach. Cato quickly inserted himself between the captain and first officer taking the offered hand “Apologies commander but Roman custom forbids one from a Patrician family, such as the Valeria, from directly touching a non-patrician at a social occasion”. Cato guided Gasnia to the seat opposite Tiberius, poured them both a cup of Falernian wine, and resumed his position behind the captain.

Tiberius raised his cup to Gasnia and proposed the customary toast “sanitas Caesari, health to Caesar”. The captain took a sip before replying to his XO’s questions “the pleasure is mine Gasnia, I honestly couldn’t comment on the state of the shuttles I came in my own a gift from some uncle or other I think, i'm told it takes up far too much space in the shuttle bay but anyway I'm sure the crew will adjust sooner or later or at least weed out the weaker ones. But anyway I confess I know quite little about you or Asgareth for that matter, is it normal for seconds to be around your age over there?”


Velus laughed loudly as he took the cup from the officer and knocked it back in one “Gods you can talk a lot Asgarthian. Most of my enemies are dead now fuck knows what colour their blood is these days.” He reached around for the jug and poured another “wine is the drink of the gods my young friend even Jupiter himself has a cupbearer, or so my grandmother used to say.” He knocked back another cup

“As for my face i've taken too many punches to the face to be a looker, not it deterred all your lovely Asgarthian women when I was last deployed their but those girls would do anything for some decent wine” he stopped a moment as happy memories of the last red war flashed before his eyes “You couldn’t pay me to drink that shit we got served other there but any port in a storm and a free drink is a free drink eh?” he winked as he sat down heavily at the table

[Asgareth]

The rec room was beginning to become busier. Gasnia had only left his seat a few seconds earlier, to have it taken by a burly guard and his buddies. As Captain Tiberius introduced himself, Gasnia couldn’t help but smile. This was the man that was responsible for 200 lives? He was a boy.

He took a seat, a little put off by the insistence to follow Roman societal norm. He would not allow this to stand in future. The captain would eat elbow to elbow with his first officer, or else he would have to consider getting in contact with his father, Fleet Admiral Pasnon Yultsin II.

Gasnia sipped the wine, without toasting. “Huh. Good stuff, considering. You ever try a real Asgarthian Ale? I’m considering ordering the stuff in. The ale here… it’s almost Iryllian in nature.”

Gasnia smiled politely as he listened to the Roman speak. The Roman was revealing a little too much, at least for a first impression. Clearly his uncle was someone of influence. His rank reeked of nepotism.

Finally, he ceased speaking and Gasnia started
“Well, actually… I am rather young for a first officer. Asgareth prefers her commanding officers to have developed… into men, shall we say? Yes, you must have at least 10 years of experience as a first officer to become a captain. Say, how many years do you have?” Gasnia smiled at his commanding officer, as he took another sip of wine.

---

“Yes. Yes. Asgareth used to have Gods too. Then we became civilised.” Edwun chuckled, as he poured another glass. “You say you’ve laid with Asgarthian ladies? How much did they charge? Must have been a fair bit.”

“The ale here is disappointing. But the first officer is Asgarthian. I’m hoping he’s going to put in a demand for a better quality of ale. And possibly a stout? So you were involved in the Fifty-Third Red War as well? I was fortunate enough to serve on the Invictus, before it blew up. You hear it was a Myraxian nuke? Bloody cowards.”

Edwun sheepishly looked at his feet, as he desperately prayed no one would mention coffee during his voyage. "Of course, I just about made it. I only qualified five years ago, as a navigator. Training was brutal. Who even uses compasses these days? Well, navigators I suppose."

Edwun studied the bar. “There’s a lot of fresh recruits. Must have come straight from the academy. So how long you been an arseman?”

[Romae in Perpetuum]

The Asgarthian seemed to take Catos insistence about Roman protocol fairly well. Good. The Roman aristocracy has been firmly embedded for thousands of years and was unlikely to change for some common officer. At least Tiberius believed him to be common; he was clearly unused to the pointless ceremony that had defined most of the captains young life maybe they didn’t have nobility over there. A terrifying thought. That being said he must know someone to be even a first officer on the flagship, no one got anywhere in A.R.S.E. without knowing someone or being known…

Tiberius finished his wine and gestured to Cato to fill his cup once again. He idly watched the crew around them, they were garnishing more and more attention; this officer was snide but he didn’t grow up in a senatorial household or spend his time playing with the children of Caesars. He waited long enough for the silence to unsettle his XO before responding. “Men eh? I suppose there are exceptions to any rule” he looked down on the shorter man and returned the smile “This is my first time in space, in any military capacity anyway, I served as senior tribune to the II Augusta during the last war and before that I was trained as a Sominum pilot alongside Gaius Octavius Marcellus Fillius Caesaris but our unit wasn’t called up for the 53rd war” he took a healthy sip of the wine “See much action counting asteroids or whatever it was A.R.S.E. did before warp?”


Velus snorted at the idea of Asgarthian civilisation but they were a young people and this young man seemed alright, he doubted he would last long during an assault but he’d been surprised before. “Just transferred from being Primus Pilus of the XIII Legion Antonia, i don’t know what you Asgarthians would call it but I was top centurion, youngest ever one as well at 48. Ah youth”

He knocked back another cup but noticed the jug was empty, he may have to let this pup buy him an ale, “Invictus you say? lost a few mates when she went up Myraxians? Naaa I heard it was some daft bugger that did something to the...coffee...machine…” He sized the sheepish officer up and, quite involuntarily, started to snigger “they put old coffee bomb on our ship!” he guffawed out loud “I thought we were fucked before Mars almighty!” before breaking into more hysterical laughter.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia listened to the captain, with little amazement. It was clear that this chap was… well, incompetent. Still, at least the fallout would be on his head.

“First time to space?” Gasnia replied, more for his own benefit. “First time? Really? How… interesting.” He studied the roman for a second, before continuing. “So your uncle... what does he do?”

He snarled as the captain insulted A.R.S.E.'s effectiveness, prior to the development of warp. The Yultsin's had been A.R.S.E.'s staunchest defenders since its inception, and for this nobody to speak against it provoked Gasnia far more than it ought to have.
“You clearly don’t know much about your history of A.R.S.E. do you? A.R.S.E. has been instrumental in defeating our enemies since the second Red War. Arguably, we are now the most important force. Did you know A.R.S.E. now owns at least 782 asteroids? And that’s only the ones known publicly. So you guys are still using sominums? Aren’t they a little… old fashioned?”

Gasnia looked at the empty wine jug, and instantly motioned to Cato
“Could I possibly trouble you to fetch a barrel of ale. The captain simply cannot be expected to drink this piss all night.”
Cato left his seat vacant, and instantly Gasnia moved into the space.
“Much better. He said a captain couldn’t sit next to a first officer. Something about some uncivilised, archaic law. Utter garbage, am I right?”

---

Edwun instantly sunk his hands into his head and began to shake his head. He still hadn’t been able to live down the coffee incident back home, and somehow, this guy had guessed it was his fault. Well, partially his fault. How was he to know the semi skimmed and skimmed milk cables had been switched? It was a design flaw, really.

“Mention the coffee incident again, and I swear, I will find the biggest gun on this ship, and shove it up your –“
He became distracted as a fight broke out between a pair of ensigns, arguing over who spilt whose pint.

A huddle quickly drew around the pair, with crew members chanting for their various sides. Edwun moved towards the group, and noticing an Asgarthian griffin throw a few punches, began chanting “Nunso! Nunso! Nunso!”

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Velus had only half registered that he'd been threatened when the brawl started. Old battle reflexes kicked in immediately and once he was satisfied he wasn’t in immediate danger his older bar fight reflexes took over. Looking over his shoulder he could see his own men weren’t involved, good they were still wearing the swords from this mornings practice. He grabbed his vine staff, a vicious vinewood rod 3ft long, a hallmark of centurions all over the empire and great for smacking people round the head with. He stood up to his full height and yelled “right!” at the top of his lungs, everyone in the immediate vicinity quieted down like scolded children but the circle around the two combatants was too distracted and continued screaming support for their fighter.

The centurion sighed to himself softly, he was getting too old for this. He walked up to the circle and grabbed the nearest spectator, who happened to be his new roommate, by the scruff of his neck whispering in his ear “out of my way coffee boy” before throwing him into a table. The loud crash got the attention of everyone still in the circle who parted before the angry man holding a big stick. The two combatants both looked worse for ware the Roman with a bleeding nose and the Asgarthian with a swollen eye “Attention!” Velus yelled as the two men jumped to their feet and stood as straight as they could with their injuries. Looking around he saw that everyone else had stood to attention (with the exception of the navigator who was groaning softy from the ruins of the table) and even the first officer had jumped out of his chair, the captain however looked almost bored with the whole thing. “Right” he said “you dumb fuckers just started a brawl in front of the captain off we go” he grabbed them both by the necks and frog marched them to the Captains table. He saluted to the captain and making sure he was staring over his shoulder said “Chief of Security Centurion Cassius Aedinius Velus begs to report that these two men were caught brawling in the open. Sir! They await your judgement. Sir!”


The captain lazilly looked up at the two ensigns, one Roman one Asgarthian by the looks of things. The Roman was wisely avoiding any eye contact with him but the Asgarthian was either ignorant of Roman military protocol or too drunk to care caught his eye and spoke “It wasn’t my fault captain he…”. He was cut off mid sentence as he fell to the floor from a whack round the head from Centurion Velus’ staff “you’ll speak when spoken to scum!” he bawled. Tiberius nodded his thanks to Velus “what happened here? You speak” he said pointing at the Roman “Sir, this barbarian said I spilled his drink sir when I...” “Silence” interrupted Tiberius affecting a bored drawl “and you were about to say he spilled your drink yes?” he said to the Asgarthian now being propped up by one of Velus’ marines, no response but then again he may have been unconscious.

Tiberius tutted softly “well never let it be said I don’t run a fair ship, Centurion take them to the cargo bay and flog them, the regulation amount it is just our first day after all”. The Roman’s eyes went wide with fear as he was led off, the Asgarthian had begun to sway slightly “oh and someone charge that fellows account, yes the one in the table, destruction of ship property and all that” he continued in the same drawl. “As for the rest of you the bar is closed to none but senior officers and their staff for the rest of the night; get out in other words” Tiberius turned to his XO, who was still standing, whilst Cato poured him another cup of wine “anyway you were telling me something about asteroids?”

[Asgareth]

No sooner had he begun to chant, had Edwun found himself being flown across the room. With an almighty crash, he landed on the table, breaking it in half. He lay across for a few minutes, just long enough to hear the captain attempt to charge Edwun for the damage. Swiftly, he left the bar along with dozens of other crew members.

As he did so, he overheard murmurs from the crowd
“Wow. That captains a real piece of work isn’t he?”
“I heard he’s never been to space before. How on earth did he get his position?”
“Bribery. Nepotism. Both? This guy won’t last a week out here.”

He withdrew to his quarters, firmly shutting the door with a deadlock bolt as he did so. His roommate was an arse.

---

“Flogging, eh?” Gasnia remarked as he joined the captain in the centre of the room. “That’s a little… barbaric, don’t you think? On the Vorkatrov, we used to have them on sewage duty for a month. You hear we had the best discipline record in the whole of A.R.S.E.? And the lowest number of fights. There’s got to be a correlation there.” He chuckled to himself as he moved to the bar.

He ordered two more barrels of ale, and stated “put it on that chaps tab”, pointing at the spot Edwun had landed. “He owes us.” Swiftly, he grabbed two glasses, poured some ale out, and carried them over to the captain.

“Here, you go lad.” He stated, as he held out one of the ales. “It’s not quite the same mind. I’m going to have words with supplies. We need proper Asgarthian Ale, or else there will be fights every five minutes.”

He quickly glanced at his watch. “Three hours till we depart. That’s enough time to finish three barrels.

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Tiberius took the glass graciously and took a cautious sip grimacing slightly at the bitter taste and wishing he was back on one of the family estates in campagnia, which reminded him he must write to his elder sister and ask for an increased wine shipment…

“Flogging has served the Legions well for thousands of years, I see no reason to relax discipline just because we have a mixed crew. The poor discipline on A.R.S.E. ships is of great concern back in Nova Roma” he smiled at his second “and besides if we started assigning crew to maintenance what would the slaves do? Speaking of which. Cato!”
“Yes captain?”
“Have the major domus send up some maintenance slaves and get this place cleaned up” Cato nodded and went off to the nearest coms terminal. Tiberius placed the ale down and turned to his XO “if you’ll excuse me Commander I have a little work to catch up on in my quarters, i'll be back on the bridge before departure though, don’t you worry” The captain smiled again and marched out, the remaining crew parting before him with Cato quickly at his heels. “Aurelia and Argenta are in my quarters correct Cato?”
“Yes captain, they’ve been making liberal use of the erm substances you left behind…”
“Tut tut we can’t let them have it all can we?” he said mischievously as they got into the turbolift “Command deck!” Tiberius ordered “three hours eh not nearly enough, Cato delay our departure for another two hours last minute diagnostic or something. Im celebrating.”


“18...19...20. Alright that's enough let them down” Velus ordered. The two marines assigned to flogging detail put down their lashes and united the two former brawlers from the poles they’d been strapped to. “Hope that will teach you boys not to fight, you’re lucky really i've never seen a Patrician give out less than 40 before” Velus said to the whimpering men who had collapsed to the floor “you two!” he said pointing to two of the watching marines “get these men to sick bay, everyone else battle drill Alpha 6 we could be warping into an armada of sentient coffee beans for all we know!”. The centurion chortled to himself softly “at least the navigator would know what to do” he muttered.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia smiled as the captain left. He felt as though he ought to respond with don’t hurry, though he felt that may be pushing his luck a little. Instead, he merely muttered “nice to meet you, Tiberius”, just out of earshot from the captain.

He motioned towards the bar. “Four more barrels please.” He noticed a few officers, still in the bar, and decided to bark at them.
“Alright, you lot out. Bars closed.”

Surprisingly, the officers took one look at Gasnia, and his collar and obeyed his orders. Gasnia smirked. There were some benefits to being first officer, after all. He tapped open one of the barrels, and sunk into his chair. If every day could be like this, the voyage would be a blast!

Realising that he hadn’t yet met any other senior crew members, he decided to stand. Motioning to the barman, he stated
“Bring this up to the bridge, my good man. Yes, yes. It’s against protocol. Just do it for me, okay? I’ll see to it that you become head barman before you know it.”

With that, and grabbing his pint, he headed off towards the bridge.

---

Edwun waited in his quarters for what seemed like an eternity, but was more like fifteen minutes. Eventually, he decided he had spent enough time waiting, and opted to check out the bridge. The walk there was only a few minutes, but the corridors felt deserted. He guessed the crewmembers had mostly returned to their quarters, or were at least working down in engineering. He took a lift up to the bridge, and was surprised at how empty the room was.

“Hello there!” A voice bellowed.
“Oh… erm… hi there… erm… I mean, good morn-… nooning… sir” He finished, noticing the man’s rank.
Gasnia chuckled a little. “I believe it’s just gone 11 o’clock, in Asgar lieutenant. Commander Gasnia Yultsin. First officer. And you are?”
Edwun flustered a little. “Oh…er… Ed- Edwun Alsornva, sir. Lieutenant Edwun Alsornva. Navigator.”
“Navigator, huh? So that’s like maps and shit right? Cool. You’ll be right up front then, I expect.”

Edwun nodded, and moved towards his seat, only to find his arm being tugged by the commander.
“Not so fast man. Fancy an ale? I’m having more brought up from the bar, and I’d fancy a drink with my fellow patriot. You’ll be far better company than the last person I had a drink with.”

Edwun chuckled nervously, as Gasnia continued
“So you had a chance to meet our glorious leader yet?”
"No, no. No." Edwun muttered. "I've seen him though. He seems..."
An awkward glance down, and Gasnia’s suspicions were confirmed. “Yeah. He’s a piece of work isn’t he. Still, I’m glad I’m not the only Asgarthian on the bridge. Just do me a favour, yeah? If you decide you want to kill him, by navigating the ship into a black hole… just give me a heads up, yeah?”

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Captain Quintus Valerius Tiberius was getting frustrated. Due to various delays in the acquisition of new officers and the lack of foreign interest the ship's maiden voyage had been delayed for a week but the day was finally here; and the captain had overslept. The crew, having long since tired of surveying the outlying asteroid belt, were eager to depart and the captain who had grown immensely bored dining with the same people every night was likewise inclined. The last of the senior staff had boarded that morning, along with fresh supplies and enough booze to flood the bottom three decks.

The door chime sounded right as the slaves were dressing the captain, Tiberius cursed softly before yelling “come!”. The doors parted with a soft hiss and Tribune Cato, his personal aid, stepped into the room
“I see you remain undressed, sir” he said dryly
“Observant as ever I see Cato” the captain replied matching the tone “status?”
“The First Officer is on the bridge with the entire senior staff, with the exception of Centurion Velus who is flogging the crewman that brushed up against you in the corridor yesterday sir”
“Good. That will teach the chap some manners, anyway onto more pleasant matters are you excited to leave Cato?” The captain replied as a slave fastened his tunic
“Delighted sir, if we remain stationary much longer I feared we would have a mutiny.”
Tiberius snorted
“I had two men flogged over a spilt drink; what do they think ill do to mutineers…”
“Hopefully we will never find out sir”.
Tiberius fixed his collar himself and shooed his slaves away
“Well we had better get going, but first” The captain gestured to the jug of wine on his bedside table
“a drink?”

---

Velus gestured to the two marines supporting the bleeding room into the sickbay. He expected the barebones medical staff he had seen the last few times he’d escorted flogged men in, but was taken aback by the sheer amount of activity. He saw brand new equipment installed, new nurses and doctors familiarising themself with the new systems and was surprised that no one seemed to notice the near unconscious bleeding man.

“Oi” he shouted “who’s in charge here?”
“Ah. That would be me…” said a young man Aegenic Velus judged from his accent and look, a people far from uncommon in the Roman medical world, “Centurion…?”
Velus looked at him puzzled, his collar rank identified him as a Lieutenant, but then he remembered he was still carrying his vine cane from the flogging. Observant.
“Cassius Aedinius Velus. Here with a patient for you. Doctor?”
“Oh yes, Chief Medical Officer Philagros. At your service centurion, whenever...dear gods what happened to this man!” the doctor said in shock at the mans torn back. Velus looked at the young doctor, probably straight from the academy so he would never have seen the discipline of the Roman army. He would learn.
“Standard flogging doc” he replied “got in the captains way or something, i try not to ask” the doctor looked shocked but recovered himself quickly
“I suppose we had better examine him’ he said professionally ‘nurse 10 ccs of arithrazine for the pain”
“Err maybe not doc” Velus said in a cautoning tone “the captain might be unhappy to learn the lesson ended early”
“Of course” the doctor muttered “nurse, the dermal regenerator.”

---

Lieutenant Octavia was sitting at her post on the bridge with all the senior officers, the doctor and security chief having just arrived, awaiting the captain. She was getting odd looks from the other bridge staff, as one of the only Roman women onboard that was bound to happen. The ironic thing was that the questioning and often outright disapproving glances were the bits she enjoyed about a new assignment, they would soon disappear only to be replaced with the half concealed awe and outright fear she was used to. It wasn’t the only irony, they said this mission was dangerous and that chances of survival were below 40%. That was about double the life expectancy in her family, she’d had three brothers growing up; two died of poisoning and the youngest had won the special honour of having a pear forced down his throat. Only her sex and favored position by her great uncle the Emperor Nero Caesar had kept her alive, and now he was dead only the gods knew how long that favor would last.

She was interrupted by the sound of the turbolift opening and two men stepping out. The shorter of the two, in a far less elaborate uniform, stood to attention and called “captain on deck!” the whole bridge crew, including Octavia, rose and saluted. The captain walked to his chair and sat surveying his still standing crew for a few moments longer than necessary. Octavia thought he saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes when they passed her; but it was quickly smothered by the half bored expression he was wearing. Finally he said
“At ease.” He tapped in a few commands on his chair console opening comms to the whole ship.
“I know we’ve been waiting a while, but the time is here. Im sure each and and everyone of you will perform with distinction, you know the penalty otherwise.” he continued in a monotone voice
“Navigation plot a course 005-mark-317!”
“Aye captain” said an Asgarthian on the station to her right “course plotted”. Octavia’s console bleeped acknowledging the received course her fingers tenced awaiting the next order. Tiberius crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair
“Helm warp 4 on my mark” he held it for a moment, looking at his First Officer seated to his right and the doctor who had taken the chair to his left, before saying
“engage!”
Octavia keyed in the commands and the ship lurched forward, the solitary stars on the view screen turning into white gold streaks. They were off.

[Asgareth]

Laskoi Olwarnan was currently situated on engineering deck 4. The chief engineer was no where to be seen and as the deputy, he was charged with ensuring everything was running smoothly. Whilst the warp drive had completed test runs before, it had never been used as part of a genuine mission. He was there to iron out any difficulties and, if necessary, abort just before the ship blew up.

He was currently performing diagnostics, and ensuring that the levels remained steady.
“Well, the warp drive hasn’t blow up in our faces yet.” He stated. “Must be down to that Asgarthian engineering. Best in the world. That’s what they say isn’t it.”
His subordinate, a Roman, did not look impressed, but opted not to reply.
“Course I hear Rome isn’t doing too badly these days either. Apparently, you guys just invented the wheel! How cool is that?”
Laskoi chuckled, as the Roman ignored him.
“Ah… Whatever.” He said. He moved towards the comms and spoke in
“Captain? You there? Warp drive is fully functional sir. Doesn’t look like we’re going to die quite yet.”

---

On the bridge, Addori Andronan watched as the ship entered warp. This was history in the making. She studied the bridge. The senior officers were made up of a mix of Asgarthian and Romans. She could instantly tell that the Asgarthians were, surprisingly, kinder and welcoming than their Roman counterparts. At the front, sat the pilot, a Roman, and a navigator, an Asgarthian. Bickering could be heard between the two, but Addori knew the Asgarthian navigator was in the right. After all, her father had always said never to mix fruit and grains. Behind them, the captain and the first officer could be found. The captain seemed to be an idiot. Already, he had guaranteed hatred amongst the crew. The flogging of the crew after a small scuffle was a foolish endeavour, and one that she was sure would come back to bite the captain. The first officer, an Asgarthian, seemed wiser. Indeed, Addori questioned why he was not in charge. He was a handsome fellow, albeit a little old for Addori.

As one of several translators, she would have little to do until such time as the ship met its first alien race. In the meantime, she sat with her feet on the chair, quietly humming to herself as she watched the rest of the bridge at work.

---

Gasnia watched as the ship entered warp. He smirked, as he realised he was at the forefront of history. Novels would be written about this ship, and her best officer.

He noticed a young blonde staring over at him. He smiled. He had known Addori since she was a young girl, and he a teenager.
“Lieutenant” He stated. “How goes the Valarisk? Last I heard it wasn’t up to scratch.”
The woman looked flustered for a moment, before replying “Oh… it’s… it’s good Gas- Sir. Lyudin Masvorni taught me well.”
Gasnia chuckled, before turning to the captain
“So where are we going first? The crew could do with some instructions.”

[Romae in Perpetuum]

“I expected nothing less engineering.” Captain Tiberius said into his comms panel “It was designed in Nova Roma after all. Bridge out.” He snapped his fingers and studied the pad Cato brought him, and barely heard his XO talk, a rare relief. He waved for Cato to answer on his behalf
“Classified. Under ARSE general order twenty six unfortunatly Commander” Cato said formally.
“That means Captains and above” Tiberius added in a bored tone before flashing a brief smile at the commander “you will find out soon enough”. The captain handed the pad back to his aid and rose.
“I'll be in my ready room, we should arrive in about twelve hours. I suggest you all return to your duties. Velus with me. Commander the bridge is yours, if you’re ready for it of course” he said dryly. He accepted the other man's begrudged salute before walking away.

---

Velus fell into step behind his captain, taking time to smirk at his roommate, and entered the ready room. It was well furnished and Velus nodded with approval at the legionary pendant on the wall. The captain sat down behind his desk and gestured for him to sit, he sat in the, notably less comfortable, chair opposite.
“Good to finally talk face to face Centurion, you have quite the war record” the captain said briskly.
“Yes sir. Thank you sir.” he replied.
“You served under my older brother, correct?”
“Yes sir. Fine officer sir, legion never ran better.” This wasn’t necessarily a lie, a network of experienced junior officers and NCOs tended to minimise the impact of the aristocratic officers; who tended to use the military as a political tool. Although the elder Valerian had been considerably more experienced when he achieved his command.

“Good, good. Now that’s over with; what is your current opinion on the state of the crew?” The captain ventured
“they seem a decent bunch sir” Velus replied. Most of them have been through the Marus academy and those that haven’t at least have military experience.”
“What about my implementation of legionary discipline? Someone as experienced as you must approve” the captain said
“Discipline is a funny thing sir. The Asgarthians don’t seem to have the same value for it as we do. I'm not altogether surprised, i've served alongside Asgarthian units before. Adequate soldiers, insofar as they make good fodder, but i see know reason if we treat them like legionnaires they will become as efficient. Well as close as foreigners can get sir.”
“Indeed, oderint dum metuant eh? Though that snake of a first officer of mine will be more than happy to appeal to his disillusioned countrymen and some of our own may be disloyal enough to follow him.”
Velus shrugged “it was always a risk sir. But my men understand discipline, if he should try anything.” He let the sentence hang, the captain nodded in approval.
“Dismissed”.

---

Octavia was unsurprised when she received her summons to the ready room, she knew Tiberius had recognized her. Exchanging a polite nod with the exiting Centurion she exhaled and stepped through the automatic door.
“Lieutenant Octavia Aulia, reporting as ordered sir!” she said saluting at the captain who had already risen, Tiberius seemed to wait until the door had fully closed before performing a half bow whilst saying “and I greet you lady Octavia, may I enquire as to the health of your illustrious cousin?” Octavia sighed but trotted out the standard reply
“I’m pleased to say Gaius Octavius Tiberius Caesar is both strong and able.” Tiberius smiled at her
“Now that is out of the way with…” he moved to sit down on the sofa and gestured for Octavia to join him “a cup of wine?” Octavia was sorely tempted but she still had a ship to fly
“No thank you, tea will do” and sat down as Cato poured the drinks.
“On a less formal note” Tiberius began “i was genuinely saddened to hear of the death of your brother Nerva, we played together as children. It was reported that he died of natural causes…” Octavia felt her chest tighten at the mention of her brothers name, but decided to be candid
“Found in the gardens with a pear forced down his throat.” she replied
Tiberius winced “my father heard something similar, if he had lived he would probably be sitting here instead of me. I am sorry.” Octavia said nothing, burying the memories of her lost siblings; knowing that had she been born a man she could also be in Tiberius’ chair, or more likely dead.

Tiberius coughed breaking the silence “on to the reason I called you in, are you here in any, ah, official capacity?” Octavia looked the captain in the eyes
“i'm here as the chief pilot, sir.”
Tiberius looked away embarrassed
“No unofficial role?” he asked. Octavia was beginning to get irritated but it wasn’t his all fault everyone rightfully feared the all watching eyes of the Caesars.
“If you’re asking if im here to keep an eye on you Captain, you’ll be relieved to hear i’m not. Im likely to be more at risk from Praetorian agents than you are” she said impatiently. Her tone however just make him brush his hair back, almost nervously.
“No i suppose it wouldn’t be that easy would it...” he said more to himself than to her, he looked at her and Octavia was surprised to see genuine concern in his eyes.
“For your brothers sake i'll do my best to keep an eye on any agents that may or may not be present, but” he spread his hands in a futile gesture.
“I understand sir” she replied in a soft voice “thank you”.

The captain closed his eyes, quickly emptied his cup, and when he reopened them his expression turned to that of the uninterested patrician Octavia had seen on the bridge
“Dismissed Lieutenant” he said stiffly. Octavia quickly got to her feet, saluted, and went back to her post.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia Yultsin snarled as the captain left the bridge.
Typical, he thought. A.R.S.E. had given him an arse to work with.

In truth, Gasnia did not expect the captain to last long. If this really was his first trip to space, he’d be lucky to see out the week. The only trouble, was that he would likely end up getting the rest of them killed as well.

Gasnia assumed his position on the central chair, and instantly sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

---

Edwun Alsornva was sat up front. The Roman pilot who was supposed to be flying the ship was in talks with the captain, leaving an Asgarthian in charge. Despite his best efforts to talk, it swiftly became clear that this Asgarthian did not want to talk, and so Edwun opted to focus on his work.

“Commander, we’ll be out of warp in 5. Should I alert the captain?”
“Oh I hardly think that’ll be necessary. Let sleeping dogs lie” Gasnia stated, with a smile. He got off the seat, and walked down a couple of steps to where Edwun was. He crouched down and whispered
“Do you know where we’re going Edwun? The captain seemed… a little reluctant to share.”
Edwun shook his head. “The course was pre-plotted. I’m only here for traffic updates.”
“Traffic updates? You kidding me man?” Gasnia chuckled, as he rose. He looked around the bridge. The majority had very little to do, and Gasnia wasn't entirely sure why they were all here. "Right." He stated. "We're due out of warp any second now. Translators, get ready. Knowing this captain, we're about to start a war."

A voice came over from engineering
"Exiting warp in... 3...2...1..."

The ship exited warp.

Instantly, Gasnia pressed the intercom
"Captain. You're needed."

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Octavia sighed softly, the captain had been held up in his ready room for an additional 5 hours since she’d been dismissed and she couldn’t help but wonder what he’d been doing for all this time.
“Helm. Status” said the Asgarthian XO sharply, his coms call going unanswered. Octavia straightened up and brought up local sensors
“We’ve arrived in a nearby system, Commander.” She replied, “G class star, two gas giants, a few class K planets and…” she double checked her console “Commander what looks like…” Just then the soft hiss of an opening door sounded as Captain Tiberius emerged from his ready room intently studying a pad in his hand.
“That's enough lieutenant” he said abruptly ”keep us on the edge of the system and enact a complete comms blackout. Engineering put us in gray mode no anomalous energy signatures.” The captain then entered the turbolift, closely followed by his aide, before announcing to the bridge
“All senior staff to report to the briefing room in five minutes.” Then he closed the doors leaving the whole bridge in a stunned silence.

---

Tiberius sat at the head of the conference table looking over his assembled senior staff as the last of them, the navigator to no one's surprise, mumbled and excuse and sat down. He then picked up his pad and began absentmindedly tapping on it until Gasnia drew in a breath to speak.
“I expect you’re all wondering what we’re doing here” he said, preempting the first officer, “allow me to show you.” He pressed a few buttons in front of him and a holographic representation of the local system sprung up from the center of the table.
“This is EXS-31. It was discovered in the first wave of warp probes A.R.S.E. sent out about fifteen years ago and it is not only the reason we are here but the reason this ship exists. This is why.” Another button was pressed and the hologram zoomed into the 5th planet, Tiberius looked at Octavia.
“This is what you detected Lieutenant. A class M planet, whilst an interesting discovery in itself, the probe detected radio transmissions, EM signatures and advanced infrastructure. All the signs of advanced civilisation.”

Tiberius paused for a moment allowing for the standard gasps and muttering before the doctor spoke up
“Excuse me captain, but if Central Command has known about this for fifteen years! Why are we just hearing this now? This is the single greatest find in...well history!”
“The Grand Admiral himself classified this to prevent knowledge about it from spreading to enemy nations” Tiberius responded calmly “the team that received this information was debriefed and shot; any record of the probes activities was similarly destroyed. Put simply to even have a vague idea of what was in this system became a capital offence in both Romae and Asgareth.” Tiberius saw the senior staff exchange furtive looks and smirked
“Any more questions? He asked dryly.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia Yultsin studied the captain.
“So what’s the plan Cap?” He asked with a smirk. “Command want us to head down onto the surface and make peace?”

He turned his head away. He found this all a bit odd. Why had the Grand Admiral kept this planet secret for so long? The Grand Admiral was a peculiar figure. Gasnia had met him on three occasions – the first, when he graduated from the academy, the second, when Gasnia was awarded the A.R.S.E. Star for Bravery for his work onboard the Vorkatrov, and the third two days before the Inveniemus had departed. The admiral was very Roman-Asgarthian. That is to say he was a lot of both, and none of either. He drank a peculiar concoction, consisting of whiskey, wine and ale; which to most smelt like a good way to destroy ones liver. His clothes were both robes and armour, and his combined hatred for the warm and the cold, seriously brought into doubt just where he had come from.

And yet, his reputation preceded him. The Grand Admiral was a fierce fighter, having fought in every Red War since the 15th, at the age of three days. By the age of seven, he had been awarded the Imperial Cross, and the Grass Crown. He’d joined A.R.S.E. at 16, captained his own ship within two weeks, and a fleet six months later. He had been Grand Admiral for over 40 years now, and looked as if he’d be there for another forty.

Gasnia smiled around at the crew, as they all stared intently. It was clear that they were attempting to make a good impression on the captain. But Gasnia didn't care. After all, they'd all be dead within a week.

Addori Andronan studied the screen, for a while. It was a large planet, a similar size to Origin. A few, what could only be described as satellite dishes, floated in orbit, adding credence to the captain’s insistence about the planets capability. Addori saw an opportunity to make history, and she intended to grasp it.
“Captain, as First Translator, if you’re heading down there, I simply must go! To be the first translator to visit a class M planet… oh captain! Please, let me go!” She stated, fluttering her eyes at the captain.

Laskoi Olwarnan studied the window.
“Captain. What do we know about the planets defences? If we go down there, what are the odds they shoot us back up?”
The engineer had no interest in being part of the landing party. He’d leave that to the suicidal maniacs before him. He was far more comfortable heading back to the bar and having a few shots. He deserved it, after all.

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Tiberius returned a half smile to his first officer.
“Hardly” he said curtly “many of you may wonder why we are carrying an arsenal of 100 nuclear warheads, biogenic weapons and experimental phase cannons. This planet is why. Our mission is to determine the potential of this species to be a threat to the Roman and Asgarthian Empires and in the highly likely eventuality they are…” he let the sentence hang.

“Speaking of this species, the initial probe was able to collect some data.” He transferred an image from his pad to the projector. The image of the planet was replaced by a 6ft humanoid (obviously) male figure. It looked oddly human, however it was a crimson red colour with yellow eyes, covered by cartilaginous eyebrow-stalks and notable tendrils hanging down from high cheeks. As the projector zoomed in on its face everyone could see its pointed teeth and simian like mouth.
“As far as we can tell they refer to themselves as the ‘Seraketh’, but we aren't sure the probe only collected minimal data before it warped away to avoid detection.” Tiberius said neutrally
“Wait sir” interrupted Octavia excitedly “does this mean they have space travel!” Tiberius stared at her a moment, irritated by the interruption but answered
“The probe detected a fair amount of debris around the planet which Central Command believes is the remains of rocket launches, so they’ve broken orbit. Probably fusion powered rockets but importantly no FTL.” He paused for a breath.
“To answer your question chief; we believe them to have atomic weaponry but nothing as powerful as ours. They also clearly rely on radar detection hence why the Inveniemus was equipped with refractive armour, as long as they can’t eyeball us we should remain undetected but better safe than sorry. Anyway if there are no more questions.”

Tiberius snapped his fingers and Cato began handing out pads to the officers.
“These are all your assignments. Centurion Velus, my scans report the natives have established a small outpost on a class D moon orbiting one of the gas giants, your orders are to take an assault shuttle and 50 marines to secure it. Remember to knock out their coms and take as many alive as possible. Commander Yeltsin will go with you to run the operation and interrogate the xenos.” The older man nodded and studied the schematics on his pad.

Tiberius turned to Dr. Philagros
“Doctor you’re to prepare the med bay for potential casualties and alien prisoners, I want to know everything about their biology incase we need to attack. Vivisect them if you have to and be sure to appreciate the honour of being the first human to examine these things” the doctor winced slightly at the mention of vivisection before replying
“Aye sir i've been wanting to try a new surgical technique i’ve been..”
“Translator” The captain said cutting off the the doctor mid sentence “you’re to go with the Centurion, you have on the pad all we know about their language, gleam what you can from prisoners and any data. The state of their world and any potential threats.” He then winked at her charmingly “and whatever you do be careful.”
“Chief, you will also accompany the assault group study the alien tech and try to crack into their computer net. Get everything I don’t care how trivial.” Tiberius then turned to the pilot
“Octavia, you will be running battle drills on the bridge with me incase this turns ugly. If that's all...”

“What about me sir?” the navigator interjected
“Oh yes. Quite forgot about you errrr make the coffee. One sugar please. As for the rest of you Dismissed.

[Asgareth]

Gasnia Yultsin snarled, as the captain delegated responsibility of the mission to him. What cheek! It was his ego that demanded they went down to this planet. That is, until he asked for a coffee from Edwun. At that point Gasnia nearly burst into laughter, and quickly barked out
“Landing party! Move out! Treble time!”

Within minutes, the shuttle was loaded. Gasnia intended to get as far from the ship as possible, before Edwun could get his hands on the coffee machine. Gasnia buckled himself into the shuttle’s pilot seat, and spoke into the comms.
“Shuttle launching… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… “

He hit the thruster, and the small ship blasted away from the mothership.
The small shuttle was compact – it was carrying 50 marines after all. The Asgarthian senior officers were up front, with Laskoi doing his best to navigate the commander. “A little to your left… And now to your right… up a bit… left a bit… down a bit… alright, turn around. We missed the service station. Alright… up… down… left… down…”

Fifteen minutes later, the shuttle had touched down on the planet. Gasnia smirked. He was about to become the first senior officer to encounter new life. Gasnia looked around. “Sergeant.” He stated, looking at the centurion, and knowing full well referring to him as such would irritate him. “You’re up.”

The Asgarthian senior officers hung back, as the centurion led the marines out into the strange new world. Addori smirked, as she watched 50 odd fit men. Noticing this, Laskoi yelled “Can you fellows breathe alright, out there?” Laskoi chuckled, as he remained in his seat. “I’d hate for any of you to die like that.”

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Centurion Velus snorted as the Asgarthians hung back in the shuttle, at least Roman officers had balls, granted they tended to be incompetent and ended up getting more men killed, but it was the principle of the thing. He looked around; the planet was barren, dusty and too warm to not wear protective armour, however, it seemed to have an adequate atmosphere, orbital scans had revealed the target was more likely scientific than military so they’re shouldn’t be too much resistance but better safe than sorry.

“Alright boys” he called to his men, who had formed up around him,
“installation is 2 clicks that way. If the pilot did his job right they shouldn’t have seen us, keep low and try to take prisoners” he grinned “that being said first one to kill an alien gets a day off!” The men let out a short cheer and donned their helmets. Velus smiled to himself, this is what it was all about, as he put on his own helmet he called back into the shuttle
“Don't worry Commander we’ll make sure it's safe you just hang tight.” He waited a moment before his HUD engaged and set off at a steady jog towards the target.

A while later he and his men arrived at a squat but wide construct; its roof covered with what looked like satellite dishes with several others on pillars scattered in the immediate vicinity. They studied it from afar hugging the rocks and nearby cliffs to avoid detection. 3 entrances, about 70 life signs inside according to his handheld scanner, they would have to be taken by storm before they realised they outnumbered their attackers. Their battle armour was lined with similarly refractive materials as the ship so sensors shouldn’t be a problem, it was 50 men in dark black armour against the rust red sand that was the problem. This would have to be quick.
“Quintus, Oscar” he said, activating his helmet comms and addressing his two seconds, “take 10 men each and blow the side entrances. I’ll take care of the front door.” He watched as the two groups peeled off, he had to admit the outfit was impressive; faceless helms and plated black armour designed to take not only ballistics but new energy weapons as well. He signalled to his remaining 30 men and ran at the entrance.

The men fanned out their particle rifles pointing in all directions but there was no visible resistance, whilst the new rifles were ideal for space combat (they wouldn’t pierce the hull) Velus was unsure about them on the ground despite R&D assuring him they would kill in one shot. They quickly closed the gap and lined up on either side of the entrance, Velus placed an explosive charge on the door and at the same time the marine opposite did the same and nodded at the centurion. Velus pressed the comms button on his helmet
“Ok lads, procedure kappa 12 shoot first ask questions later, we don’t know what's in there teams two and three move on my signal.” He held three fingers in the air and counted down three...two...one “Now!” he screamed as he set off the charge. The audio dampers in his helm absorbed the worst of the sound but where the door was now a smoking hole. Velus could hear two sympathetic explosions go off in the distance as he charged into the breach.


The corridor he found himself in was alien and strange, but he barreled down it regardless closely followed by his men. As he rounded a corner he saw three, oddly garbed, red-skinned aliens; one of whom screamed at the fearsome sight of the marines. Velus shot them all in quick succession, he didn't have time for prisoners now (plus he wanted a day off) and continued charging over their corpses. A shrieking alarm sounded all around them, someone, or something had triggered the alarm. As they approached an intersection he made some complicated hand gestures and two groups separated under their sub officers leaving the centurion with only ten men but he pressed on regardless. He could hear distant phase fire and even some ballistic shots, the aliens had begun to fight back. But it was too late, his comms chatter seemed to indicate that the foe had been caught with their trousers down (or whatever they used) and his men were mowing down any potential resistance. He arrived at another sealed door and checked his scanner, this appeared to be the command center or at least the place all the satellites were linked to.

He placed another charge on the door, set it off and threw a flashbang in the hole for good measure. He and his men burst into the room and were greeted by about ten aliens who were stumbling around trying to recover. Before Velus could open fire, however, the lead alien wearing the fanciest garments spread his four fingered palms out and thrust them towards the centurion in a gesture that he guessed was surrender. Keeping his weapon trained on the leader activated his comms.
“Teams two and three report.”
“Team two here sir we shot down a good few down on our entrance sir and one or two even shot back. We appear to have taken the mess prisoner sir and i think it was lunchtime they’re loads of them here sir. Request reinforcements, we lost about three.”
“Acknowledged. Team four to their position.”
“Team three here sir, found their armory sixteen hostiles were attempting to arm themselves, all deceased. two of our own dead”
“Good work Oscar. All teams escort all prisoners to the mess and keep an eye on them.”

As the command room aliens were escorted out of the room Velus removed his helmet and reflected on their losses. Only five was, by any strategic definition a success, but they were a long way from home and there were billions of these fuckers. He sighed and keyed his helm comms “Velus to the shuttle, you lot may as well come in. Its as safe as it's ever going to be.”

[Asgareth]

The three Asgarthian officers took their time in leaving the shuttle. What should have been a 15 minute walk, turned into an hour, after Gasnia insisted on stopping every other step so as to “admire the scenery”. Eventually, they arrived at the command room. Gasnia walked into the room, and patted a couple of the Asgarthian marines on the back.
“Bloody good job, lads.” He stated, as he blanked the centurion. He approached the centurion, and asked "You're taking the prisoners back to the shuttle centurion? I would have much rather you cleared that with me first. I would have interrogated them here, and then disposed of their bodies. There really is no need to transport them back to the ship. I expect the captain is busy... doing... something" He smirked, as he studied the centurion. "Well, nevertheless, make sure they make it back in one piece now. I hate damaged goods, and Tiberius and myself will want to interrogate them."
Meanwhile, Laskoi busied himself inspecting the alien weaponry. It appeared to be somewhat more advanced than the weaponry A.R.S.E. employed, though without conducting a full analysis he couldn't tell. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to leave them lying on the floor. He ordered a few marines and instructed them not to leave a single alien weapon behind.

Gasnia led the way back to the shuttle. The loss of five marines did little to compensate for the added baggage that was the alien prisoners. They were forced onto the floor by the marines, who swiftly assumed their seats. Gasnia sat in the pilots seat once more, and swiftly started the shuttle. The journey back proved a little less troublesome; mostly because there was little need for Laskoi to navigate.

Within fifteen minutes, the shuttle was making its final approach to the Inveniemus.
Over the comms, Gasnia stated:
"Shuttle incoming… in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Shuttle boarding."

[Romae in Perpetuum]

Octavia hurried down the corridor to the shuttle bay. The Roman crewmen and even a few Asgarthians were hurrying to get out of her way, one even jumped down an empty turbolift shaft so there was no chance of him getting in the way. It had begun. Ah well that was a problem for another day, she just wanted to get a glimpse of the Seraketh prisoners. According to the initial reports the assault team had taken 20 of them prisoner and executed the rest, more shuttles had to be sent down to accommodate them all but they had finally all arrived.

She rounded the corner and stepped into the bay and there they were all huddled together in a group in a terrified silence. No wonder really considering that the marines were still suited up and pointing particle rifles at them, and those men had shown they weren’t afraid to use them. Octavia was surprised however to see the CMO and a few of his medical staff prodding one of the red-skinned xenos.
“Doctor?” she said puzzled “what are you doing here?”
“Ah lieutenant” Philagros said a pleasant smile on his face “just conducting a medical on these fascinating individuals. Here feel this” he gestured to the creatures arm “such amazing muscle tone, i’d bet they would make fantastic runners and these are just the females… at least i think this one is.”
Octavia looked the alien in its faintly luminescent yellow eyes and she could see the fear plain as day, also a hint of pleading and she couldn’t help but feel some initial pangs of sympathy.
“What are you going to do with them?” she asked uncertainty
“Oh this one? he said nonchalantly “vivisection probably. I tried to explain to the captain it was unnecessary, but you know how he is.” He breathed out heavily
“Could be worse, the Asgarthian fellow took their leader to the Captain for ‘interrogation’ at least my procedures will be mostly painless…”

---

Tiberius stared at the alien before him. It looked similar to the one from the probe’s images but its blood-red visage was very pale and its facial tendrils much more pronounced. Age maybe? In any case it had the most ornate clothes, long robes with intricate purple and black patterns rimmed in a gold silver colour, probably the commander. The alien opened its mouth to issue that irritating noise that passed for its speech, but before it could Tiberius gestured to Centurion Velus who punched it in the side of the head. The alien grunted in pain but made no further attempt to speak, and the Captain just kept staring. Around him in the ships ‘interrogation’ chamber was his XO who was smirking cruelty at the alien, the Centurion and two of his men for security who were holding another alien and the very attractive translator, whose purpose was obvious, though the Captain had half a mind to order Cato to send her to his quarters later. After the questioning of course, he had a job to do and the Grand Admiral was watching with interest from home.

The captain sneered at the alien, who may or may not have understood what a sneer was but that was beside the point, then, mustering every ounce of aristocratic pomp and arrogance he had, he addressed the xeno.
“Listen here freak. You're on the A.R.S.E. ship Inveniemus and all I have to do is give the word and your pisspoor excuse for a planet will go up in flames and your entire pathetic civilization will choke on whatever it is you scum use for blood. You will tell us everything, and I do mean everything about this shithole or.” He made a cutting gesture with his hand, immediately Velus dragged the other alien over in front of the one being interrogated and put a phase pistol to its head. The other alien shrieked and tried babbling to its superior but not for long. The phase blast not only killed the alien but half melted its head, the Centurion let go and the smoking ruin of the corpse fell to the floor. Tiberius watched the alive (for the moment) alien carefully but it just stared at its compatriot, mouth agape. Tiberius turned to the translator and flashed a brief smile
“Did you get all that?”