Ad Astra! ... an Aurora Forum Game, run by blue emu

[CptJoker]

Uhh 6 eyes?

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...1#post12346046

Good point. Round up all the extras from the cast of Voyager! Look for foam rubber foreheads.

Yeah, but that's just a randomly-chosen graphic from the data base. It might as easily have been a picture of a vase of flowers instead.

We might as well take at face value that this is kind of what the aliens look like.

[blue emu]

Charlie has crossed the orbit of the Moon, headed outward. Speed 4736, course 310 degrees, which will take him directly to the Ross 248 jump point. If the Fleet arrives in time, it would be nice to follow him and see which system he's headed for... it might be their home world. But 4736 km/sec is about twice as fast as our Fleet. We wouldn't be able to stay within sensor range.

Well... that was quite a test of nerves. Glad we didn't do anything hasty.

EDIT: Charlie has now passed beyond 50 m-km, still holding course and speed. I'm landing the Fighters, but keeping the RADAR and Missile bases on alert.

EDIT: All 50 Fighters have been recovered without incident and fully refueled. They don't need rearming, because (thankfully) no shots were fired.

[Verenti]

This whole incident reminded me of The Hunt for Red October or Sum of All Fears.

Pushed the Doomsday clock entirely too far on that one. Note to high command: recommendation for planetary Anti-Missile defences, should they not be a part of our current defences.

[blue emu]

Charlie is now 326 m-km from Earth, still headed for the jump-point to Ross 248. Our Battle Fleet has arrived back from Procyon, and is in position to reach the Ross jump-point ahead of them. It's hardly worth trying to follow them, though... they are booting along at over 4700 km/sec, and our Battle Fleet can only do 2500 km/sec. They'll shake us off quite quickly.

[blue emu]

Note to high command: recommendation for planetary Anti-Missile defences, should they not be a part of our current defences.

We have three RADAR/Point Defense bases, each of which has fifteen Point Defense missile launchers, slaved in groups of three, and five different PD fire controls. That allows each base to attack five targets at a time, with three missiles each, and a cyclic rate-of-fire of six rounds per minute per launcher.

ie: on average, we have a sustained rate-of-fire of one-and-a-half PD missiles per second with each of the three bases.

Each of our other bases (Missile base, Air base) has six Point Defense launchers, slaved in groups of three, and two PD fire controls.

[blue emu]

Hot Flash

Charlie has changed course from 310 to 285

FYI the jump point to Procyon is 286 relative... our Fleet is at 285. He appears to be headed directly for our Fleet.

Theory: he has a Gate Constructor parked on the Procyon jump point, and our battle fleet coming through the jump motivated him to abort his intention to exit via the Ross 248 jump point, and bring his ships over to protect his Gate Constructor instead.

[blue emu]

... well... there goes THAT theory, out the window.

Hot Flash!

Charlie's gone Hostile!



He is now showing on our "Hostile Contacts" list, and is closing on our fleet with active sensors!

[Raaritsgozilla]

Shit just got real

[blue emu]

Jeeze... I don't even trust my tactical displays...

Charlie shows as Hostile (red), and is in my list of Hostile contacts... but when I zoom right in with high-power, he still shows as "neutral" (grey, not red). Relations are still +160 or so.

I'm changing course to Saturn... not because I intend to go to Saturn, but just to pull 90 degrees out of his path. We'll see if he also adjusts course to intercept, or if he simply stays on course for the jump gate. If he ignores my manoever and lets me go wherever I want unmolested, we'll have to call it a sensor malfunction.

[sbr]

I don't trust the displays either. Have you tried closing the displays and re-opening them?

[blue emu]

OK, I'm pulling out of his path as fast as my 2500 speed allows. I'm now at bearing 272 relative to him, and he's still holding course 285 for the jump gate where his constructor ship is sitting. He's ignoring me. Looks like a false alarm. The range is still coming down simply because he's so much faster than me... but he isn't heading towards our fleet. He's simply headed over to his buddy.

Man, that was close. After all that tense screwing around near Earth, I though the last war was about to start anyway, out here where our fleet is unsupported by ground emplacements. I'll keep pulling out of his path until I'm sure he's not interested in me, then resume course for Earth.

[dublish]

Jeeze... I don't even trust my tactical displays...

Charlie shows as Hostile (red), and is in my list of Hostile contacts... but when I zoom right in with high-power, he still shows as "neutral" (grey, not red). Relations are still +160 or so.

I'm changing course to Saturn... not because I intend to go to Saturn, but just to pull 90 degrees out of his path. We'll see if he also adjusts course to intercept, or if he simply stays on course for the jump gate. If he ignores my manoever and lets me go wherever I want unmolested, we'll have to call it a sensor malfunction.

And if they open up on our fleet, having our ships running away from them could get any missiles they have down to a low enough relative speed that our PD systems will have an easier time defending our fleet.

[EnragedKiwi]

Meanwhile, aboard the freighter ESNA Red Dwarf...

MSG ESNA Red Dwarf to All Nearby Vessels
Hot Flash Hot Flash
A large unknown blip has been detected by passive sensors in system!
From its size we must conclude it to be an alien invasion fleet 10 million km off our starboard bow.
Recommend high alert, and a battle fleet dispatched to save us!!!
Lt-Commander Rimmer signing off
MSG ends XXXXX

One Minute Later...

MSG ESNA Red Dwarf to All Nearby Vessels
Please disregard the last MSG sent from our ship. Upon further investigation the blip turned out to merely be one of our janitorial staff's congealed sneezes. Terribly sorry for the mix up.
MSG ends XXXXX

[Bossemanden]

Something very wierd is going on.
Yesterday i found some man-like thing amongst our stores of "Nuclear Pulse" paint. It had trouble pronouncing and spoke in a very heavy accent.
I figure the hated accountant has more projects going on the side than he admits. Siphoning off my funds for creation of mutant abominations!
The sheer gall of the idiot.
Anyway I told the mutant of its mistake and since it was here and available and since I lack for handy staff to do "hot" work in the reactor room - not to mention that the hated accountant has limited Rad-suit operations as a "cost-cutting and safety feature" - I naturally employed it in that capacity.

Alas it appears those mutant abominations arent bred for resistance to radioactivity.
Actually had to send in a regular staff (in one of the last remaining Rad-suits) to clean up the mess.
Honest mistake that... but why make the blood green?!?

If the hated accountant continues to send his little pets over to audit on the sly I shall have to take measures.....

[blue emu]

False alarm. I'm now more than 70 degrees off his course, and he's ignoring me completely and heading straight over to see his buddy who is building the Gate. The range is opening again, and never got closer than 220 m-km... well beyond missile range unless he's got some pretty funky missiles.

Heh... that sensor malfunction couldn't possibly have happened at a worse time. By chance, I was positioned right between him and the Gate Constructor ship, so it really looked like he was headed right for me. Good thing I decided to make sure he was after me, by vectoring out at 90 degrees from his course, instead of clearing the decks to fight him.

I'm adjusting course for Earth.

[blue emu]

Well that was quite a tense couple of days.

The Charlie squadron has jumped to the Procyon system, but they're just chilling near the jump-point, not going anywhere. Dravar XV has enough nasty missiles in that NORAD facility to dissuade them, even if they were hostile... and they aren't. Relations are still rising, now over +162. We should have a treaty with them in a year or two... if we can avoid any further misunderstandings.

Three new Grav-Scouts have been built, and are ready for Admiral Arjyla to hand out. I'll send one through the Procyon jump point, just to test Charlie's intentions.

[Richard Nixon]

Earth appears to be safe but isn't that jump gate Charlie is building the one that connects to the Procyon system? So in essence a number of destroyer sized alien vessels could show up around in Procyon system and advance on our dig sites.

What about that Precursor fighter facility w discovered? Can we get it operational soon and start producing more local defenses?

[Stuckenschmidt]

Wow, what a close call. What do we learn from this? Charlie is very subtle. If he is going after us, he will head for Earth. So our main force (or should I say: Home Fleet), should protect Sol.

[billy bob]

Well now, that was certainly fun.

[Capt. Kiwi]

Captain's log 161803

That was too close for comfort. Two Charlie squadrons at Earth, with the fleet not even in the same system. One false move from either side and it would have been nuclear war on a much greater scale than the cataclysm of 2012. The Charlie's appear to have dropped an espionage team, but why they would be so obvious about it is beyond me. Perhaps they are trying to overawe us with their arrogance? Maybe they consider us so inferior that they don't care? Or perhaps they are trying to provoke us, their hawks seeking a cassus belli to persuade their doves. If only the diplo team could hurry up and find out just what it is Charlie is after.

Still, as tense as the encounter was, it paled in comparison to what happened next. As soon as we passed through the jump gate to Sol, the Charlie squadrons changed course in our direction. We still had no idea of their intentions, and our massed fleet for all its splendor was vulnerable without Earth's defences. The pressure proved too much for our scan officer, and he cracked, painting the Charlie's as hostile and greenlighting missile launch. Of course, the integrated battle network passed that on to the entirity of the fleet. Fortunately the weapons officer did not launch missiles, being at too great a range and not having my orders. A pair of quick thinking scan technicians disregarded rank and restrained the scan officer, and communicated to the bridge what had happened. The officer is currently sedated in the brig, awaiting psychological testing. The technicians hve received a verbal reprimand and an extended shore leave, including an expenses paid holiday at a destination of their choice.

Anyway, the fleet turned off course to give Charlie some space, and Charlie seemed content to let us go. We came through unscathed and apparently still at peace, but I'm deeply concerned about the whole affair. I'm also concerned that that one scan officer can come so close to setting off a galactic war, we need to implement more stringent security protocols for the battle network. I shall make sure to pass this on at the court martial of that officer.

Captain Rackham
ESN Sirius