Chiron Chronicles: 2200

[Guardian]

U.N.S. Peacekeeper

"Secure from battle stations!"

Commissioner Lal felt a rush of relief at the captain's order. He had been trying to stay out of the man's hair and let him do his job, but he had also been quite clear about not wanting to arrive at the Council Base with weapons hot. The captain had nodded his agreement, but had waited until he got the "all clear" from the Marines before he ordered the stand down. Now they were about 20 minutes out of the harbor. Just enough time to get set for a somewhat more dignified arrival. He let out a soft sigh of relief. Good. He'd better get himself ready...

[Clear Skies]

In the area around the Ruins...

Not far from Silverbird Park, a Gaian survey team had discovered something quite unusual. A Unity pod, half-buried in xenofungus, with scarlet tendrils snaking all over its surface.

They quicklinked their findings back to Silverbird Park, who sent out a scout detachment to activate the pod.

It took them a while to get in close enough, but eventually they were able to clear the xenofungus from the main access panel and jack into the pod's circuits.

Within seconds, the pod split open...and a rush of native lifeforms raced out, engulfing most of the scout team in a pulsating mass. Psi attacks screamed through the air, mingling with the shrieks of the terrified Gaians.

The survey team drew their flame guns, but just as they were about to burn the lifeforms into husks, a woman stepped out of a fast scout rover and restrained them.
"No. Let me see what I can do."

Quickly, she linked to the Planetmind, feeling the sheer rage of the worms pulsing through the neural net. She tried to calm, to soothe the ruffled waters of the Planetary consciousness.

I am earthlindly, she sent. Do you know me? We are from earthdeirdre. Please, calm the attack.

Slowly, the worms began to cease their assaults. The seething masses stilled, and spore launchers stopped their relentless psi bombardment. Locusts which had been screaming around the heads of the horrified scout team landed again, folding their wings around their bodies.

Eventually, the worm boils spoke, in a thousand voices and in one. Their voice thrummed through Lindly's mind, resonating deep inside her consciousness.

You are earthgaians. Planet loves you. We will not hurt.

Suddenly, Lindly found that the boils had linked with her, giving her control of their actions. She used her empathic powers to ask them to move away so that the scout team could regain their rovers.
As the mass of worm, locusts and spore launchers hurried to do her bidding, her eyes gleamed in the sunlight. At a single stroke, she had almost doubled the size of the Gaian army of native life...

[Guardian]

U.N. News Network

Commissioner Lal arrives at Planetary Council Base

Commissioner Lal arrived today at the Planetary Council Base on board the U.N. flagship Peacekeeper. After a brief visit to the local U.N. Embassy, the Commissioner is expected to appear in the Council itself. What exactly he will do there is currently somewhat unclear, but at least the Commissioner will be present in the Council for whatever proceedings the next days may bring. There is currently much confusion over who will be the next Planetary Governor, and the alternatives seem almost equally uninviting; Will it be Santiago, who we know will put "sovereignty" above the U.N. Charter, or will it be Roze, who claims to respect and uphold the Charter, yet turns her back on it when she has a disagreement with the Commissioner and appears willing to sacrifice the lives of thousands of civilians to achieve her own personal goals?
Or will it be neither?
Perhaps the best alternative would be to leave Morgan in place, at least for the time being?
We do not know. What seems clear here and now is that we can not and will not support any of the remaining candidates and that - as far as we can tell here and now - a victory by either one of them could signal the beginning of some very dark times. Currently, we're still hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. Stay with us for a more in-depth discussion of the current political crisis and possible resolutions after the news update.


Forces still on alert...

U.N. Central Command today announced a general stand down from red to yellow alert for Peacekeeping Forces world wide. General Braddock was quoted as saying that the situation is under control, but otherwise refused to comment ongoing operations...

[Sprayber]

Righteous Sentence

Colonel Santiago leaned back in her chair. She had gotten word of the Gaians vote an hour ago but hadn’t had time to reflect on it. It wasn’t really a surprise of course. Lady Deirdre couldn’t have been expected to vote for the Spartans at this time. But perhaps a seed of doubt had been planted in the Gaians mind. Santiago allowed herself a moment of reflection. Planetary Governor Santiago did sound good. But in the end the position would have caused more trouble than it would have been worth. She allowed a smile to creep across her face. Kessel had wanted it far more than her. He would have made a good Governor but that would not be good for Sparta. In her estimation, Morgan made the best PG for Sparta’s interests. Just as long as the weakling Lal, the immature Sven or the unknown Roze didn’t hold the seat she would be content. She turned around and began a message to Solo at the Planetary Council. After encrypting and sending the message, she prepared another message. This one meant for Captain Castor.

On the other side of Righteous Sentence, Captain Castor sat and read the message that he had received. His mission had been put on hold. It would have been a bold and decisive operation that would have solidified his place in Spartan military history. But all was not lost. He had been given new orders. He would be visiting the Planetary Council Base, just not the way he had first thought. He made destroyed the message and got his gear together. He then walked out of his room and headed over to the opposite side of the base.

The ground crews had just finished the preflight checks when the procession of soldiers made their way towards the Spartan transport. Without fanfare Colonel Santiago and her Jade Falcon escort walked up to the awaiting plane and entered. The engines fired up and the plane lifted effortlessly off the runway. When the plane had gained the appropriate altitude, it turned towards the north and begin its short journey to the Planetary Council Base. Sitting at the rear was Captain Castor wearing the black and green armor of Jade Falcon.

[DarkCloud]

(OOC: Sprayber, ever read Battletech )

University Base HQ

Zakharov: No... no... Kamil- no I do not believe that we will attempt an assassination... There is no reason- even if the Free Drones vote for Roze. I believe that we can manipulate her to our desires if we wish... Can we not, Ian.

Ian: Yes sir.

Kamil: But sir... The possiblilites, once Roze is kaput...

Zakharov: Kamil- she could be used by us- besides, if she dies, then her assistant assumes the Planetary Governorship... and we know how horrible that would be for the University

(All nod)

Zakharov: In other matters... we can always bargain with her about the 'terrorism' of her forces on University soil... Especially since we have found good, pure evidence of Data Angel probes on our soil, involved in the "Nerve Gas Incident"

Kamil: Ah, I see- I believe I can fabricate some evidence to add to that...

Zakharov: No... there is no need... no... I believe we have enough evidence...

Commander of Armed Forces: Scott James Zool-Poole: Sir, I believe that it would not be wise to bring up that as a bargaining chip- I believe some Data Angels escaped the explosion.

Zakharov: But who will believe them.

Scott: I see... Very well- do as you will.

Ian: About the Believers...

Zakharov: Yes?

Ian: Could we use our evidence against them as well.

Zakharov: Possibly- If they present a problem and the Cult becomes strong enough to warrant involvement in their war. We can surely use the argument that the Believers have been involving themselves in our lands by hiring Perfect Society members to caputre the Mindworm Nerve Gas to use on Cultist Mind Worms.

Scott: Excellent idea Sir.

Ian: I am glad that I proposed it.

Kamil: Reasonable solution to a puzzling problem.

[Sprayber]

*****Level 5 Encryption*****
To: Governor Powell of Hero’s Waypoint
To: Governor Conner of Survival Base

From: Marshal Kessel

As per the order of Colonel Santiago. Governors, your production queue has been emptied. Before you can start on your next set of objectives you are to produce one supply crawler each and transport the quota of minerals to Sparta Command. Be aware that you are not to discuss the destination of these supplies to anyone. I regret the delay that this will cause you in achieving your goals. I will try and make it up to you later down the road. It is for an extremely good cause.


*****Level 5 Encryption*****
To: Governor Halifax of Sparta Command
From: Marshal Kessel

Governor, you are to begin work on the Neural Amplifier as soon as your queue is empty next week. I do not have to remind you the importance of this project to the security of Sparta. Rest assured that Colonel Santiago will be watching your progress very carefully. I have every confidence in your ability to produce results. For added security, an additional probe team will be dispatched from Commander’s keep. And you should expect extra minerals to be made available to you.

[OOC: Does anyone have objections to me using crawlers? Darkcloud: Yeah, I've read Battletech. If you have ever seen Farscape, look at the Peackeeper armour and that is kind of what the Spartan soldiers look like. Yeah, I know peacekeepers. ]

[DarkCloud]

(OOC: Never seen Farscape... sorry to say.
-Yes, I broke out laughing about the "Jade Falcon" guard

Using Crawlers... how many?)

[Mr. President]

[In the Planetary Council, CEO Morgan's QuickLink beeps quietly. He activates it to see: 1 new message, Re: Eco-terrorism . Quickly working the keypad, he reads:]

All Gaian nationals have been accounted for. One is a former mid-level employee of Planetary Council. Sporadic fighting continues on Northshore. Pellegrino.

Morgan pursed his lips. The Council employee could have gained access to vital information about trade convoys and industrial parks from the Council Base's computer banks. Worse, they could have used the powerful servers, supplemented by Data Angel-made suitcase hacker supplements, to infiltrate secure sectors on MorganNet, which hosted thousands of gigabytes of government and economic data. Finance, troop movements, government communications - all might be compromised.

Almost as worrying was the news of fighting on Northshore. The coastal areas near Morgan Industries Base were home to crucial factories and mines, and produced the largest volumes of syntholine on the Central Continent. Morgan could be facing an energy crisis on top of the political and diplomatic ones. Security in the capital had already been placed on the highest status of alert, but would it be enough?

Johansen, thought Morgan, is already giving me needlejets by the brace. But does a needlejet help against an enemy with no land, with no name? The group the insurgents claimed as their own did not seem to exist. Were they Data Angels? Cultists? Gaians? Perfect Society? None of the above?

It did not matter. None of that mattered, so long as they were stopped. There would be time for finger-pointing and name-chasing later. The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist. In spite of himself, Morgan smiled.

[Guardian]

Planetary Council Base

Commissioner Lal was leaving the UN Embassy, heading over to the Council building.
All around him was an entire platoon of armed and armored Marines. They would - of course - not actually enter the Council, but they would escort him to the doorstep and then lurk nearby... -just in case...

Lal didn't like it one bit, but it couldn't be helped.
Colonel Santiago was coming...


[OOC: You're right. The Peacekeepers don't trust her one bit...]

[Sprayber]

The Spartan transport plane came in high above the Planetary Council Base. The pilot transmitted his identification code and received permission to land at the bases airstrip. After the transport landed. the door slide open and the first squad of Santiago’s security stepped out. Their black and green armor glistened against the backdrop of the bright Chiron sky and their black face shields reflected the intense light. Soon Colonel Santiago emerged from the transport wearing her simple Spartan uniform. It was a black jumpsuit trimmed in tan. A Spartan emblem adorned her left shoulder. Her long black hair was pulled back in a pony tail. Not a single hair seemed out of step with the rest of her disciplined appearance. Her bronze skin seemed to soak in every ounce of heat given off from Chiron’s primary. After a moment she turned around to her security chief and told him to pick one soldier to accompany her and her aide. The chief didn’t like only one person with the Colonel but knew it was unwise to question his orders. He indicated one of the soldiers in front, who then stepped out and took position behind the colonel and her aide. Colonel Santiago looked at the soldier. “You are to leave your rifle here.” He complied immediately by handing his rifle to the nearest of his comrades. Santiago turned around to see a young man in a PK uniform with a PCB patch where his UN patch would be standing there. Since the conversation between herself and her men had been conducted in the Spartan Military language, the young man seemed to have confusion on his face, but to his credit he quickly hid it under Santiago’s gaze. Show us the way to the Planetary Council Chambers. My aide and this soldier will accompany as far as the first check point. Then I will proceed alone to the chamber. The young man took out his quicklink and had personal transport come to their position. Santiago’s aide took out a device and swept the transport and gave the go ahead nod. All four of the individuals got inside and proceeded to the Chambers.

[OOC: Santiago isn’t afraid of anyone. When she walks in, she will walk in alone and sit down right beside Solo until she is ready to speak. She will allow Lal to speak first if he wants. Oh and I thought maybe that the Spartans would have a specific language of use in their military. Something that would confuse others yet still be able to communicate well in combat situations. Somewhat like a closed society. You may notice Spartans conversing in this language ever so often when they wist to talk without other knowing what they are saying. It would be a cross between German and Spanish but simplified.]

[Guardian]

When they got word that Santiago was on her way and had no armed troops with her, the UN Marines backed away from their positions and let her pass unchallenged.

[Mr. President]

The Daily Industrialist
(Morgan Industries' First Newspaper, Bringing The News You Want For 100 Years)

Trade Talks Stall Over Ecological Issues: Officials expressed concern over Morganite-Cultist trade relations after tariff negotiations broke up without progress. They were scheduled to conclude yesterday...

Planetary Governor Election Still Deadlocked: The Planetary Council announced that no governor has yet been chosen. Many are wondering, how much longer can this go on?...

Scientific Report: Scientists studying the Manifold Nexus say they are making little progress in decoding the strange symbols on its walls, floors and ceilings...

[Sprayber]

Commander's Keep

Captain Banner was sitting in the command module of the colony pod when his comm unit went off. As he read the message a small smile spread across his face. Finally after weeks of sitting at Commanders Keep with the colonist growing restless the word had arrived that they were moving out. And the best news of all was the destination. Their trip across the ocean in the transport module had been cacelled. Sparta would not be sending the colonists a over seas. Instead, there were heading north. The transport Lera would still pick them up and take them but this was just going to be a short cruise up the coast past Fleet Anchorage and then a bit further north. Fort Liberty would not be an significant military outpost far from home. I would become the northern defense for Sparta. This made his job as future Chief of Security all the more important. Apparently though he would be delayed somewhat. At the end of the message he received word that reporters from the Spartan Information Service would be going along with them. Something about broadcasting live the momentous journey of the Colony pod north. That was something different.

Blast Rifle Crag

To the north Banner’s counter part Captain Crais, was going over the final security protocols for what would become Hydrodock. Crais was a navy man sure, but being assigned to a Sea Colony Pod was not what he had in mind as an assignment of a lifetime. But he had been promised that this was only temporary. Just to when the new base was up and running.

[[LordLMP]]

Past orders...before being stuck in the Council

To: Lieutenant Jones
From: Captain Svensgaard

Can you get the Psi Corps ready for possible war? I would like to transfer nearly all of the Isle of the Deeps to Chiron Sea and the ocean north of Eastern Continent. Also, try to acquire some groundbase mindworms from either the Gaians or hunting for them. They don't have to be fully tamed, as I intend to have them release to the wild again afterwards. Can say it will be an extension to Operation Trojan.

Captain Svensgaard

To: Admiral Proudmoore
From: Captain Svensgaard

Start to gradually equip the ships part of Operation Blitz with the new chem missiles from the Sweetdream Project.

Captain Svensgaard

(OOC: It is not Nerve, but people may mistaken it for a new kind of Nerve at first, especially the Spartans)

To: General Stromgarde
From: Captain Svensgaard

Start equiping the Marines part of Operation Blitz with the new grenades from the Sweetdream Project.

Captain Svensgaard

(OOC: Will find out what the Sweetdream Project is AFTER its first use)

[[LordLMP]]

From: Branko
To: Captain Svensgaard

Probe Cruiser Mirage is ready to deploy Probe Team Seven. Give the order and they will go.

Branko
Chief of Intelligence