Solitude. WIP
The ship warped in over the southern hemisphere, over the great deserts of South America. Its hull was scarred, gouges of metal taken out exposing the interior. The engines at the rear flared up for a moment, then flickered, and shut down completely. A tank containing trihydride tetrazene and hydrogen peroxide ruptured, spilling the liquids into space. A second passed, and they mixed, exploding with enough force to fling the ship down, spinning violently toward the Earth’s atmosphere. Most of the crew were already dead, and the few that were still alive were either unconscious or incapacitated. The only thing still on the ship endeavoring to keep it alive was the AI, TYE-9.2. It summarized that it could position the ship in a way so that it could fire the remaining canister of trihydride tetrazene and hydrogen peroxide on the way down, hopefully slowing it down before impact. And only if the ship survived reentry. The ship impacted the upper atmosphere, and the ships spinning slowed, a red glow surrounding the hull. It flew in, slowing as the atmosphere dragged on it. The array of sensors and antenna placed along the ships hull quickly snapped off, and several sections of the hull sheared off. The sun was just coming up over the horizon when it slowed, the reentry heat lowering to manageable levels. Wind whistled through the ship as it came down in and arch, heading toward the edges of the desert, near the borders of Atlas. The AI couldn’t have known this. At that point, it was forgetting everything it had ever known, several portions of its computer banks having been damaged. Corruption was spreading through the system, and TYE made an error. It triggered the emergency thruster at almost 100 meters, too close to the ground to slow the ship down by any substantial amount. It slammed into the ground, fragmenting into pieces, flinging debris and sand for miles around. There were no survivors.
The Atlas government were on the wreck in an instant, its arrival and subsequent impact detected by most of the remaining civilizations of Earth. The Atlas Dominion was one of the largest governments on earth, inhabiting all of North America and some of the northern regions of South America. Governed as a Military Dictatorship, its current ruler immediately set forth an order for all the remnants of the ship to be salvaged, collected, and studied. Within 2 hours of the impact, survey teams were scouring the desert, marking bits of debris with radar markers, which would allow the airborne collection units to arrive and collect. Each of these teams were accompanied by a security unit, for protection from anything that may be alive, and hostile, within the crash zone. The debris spread out in an area about 15x16 kilometers large, and almost one hundred and fifty teams were employed and deployed, along with 39 aerial units. Every single bit of debris was collected, no scrap was left behind, deep magnetic scanners used to recover any fragments that may have burrowed into the sands. Within a week, nothing was left. Research immediately began on the ship, focusing on larger, more intact portions first. While the political situation began to deteriorate due to Atlas’s refusal to allow foreign research teams to participate, the largest piece of salvage, an entire engine bay, was being studied, taken apart and put back together again. Within a month a functioning prototype was constructed. A small aircraft that would be revealed to be something like an SSTO. The engine tech, which was identified as a sort of Ion/Particle engine merge, which, while incredibly advanced, was relatively easy to fuel. Attached at the ends of each of the wings, the squat, white craft was built on an airfield on the edge of the deserts. It had a crew of four, two pilots, and two researchers who would observe the effects of the engine. Along with the Ion/Particle engines, it was equipped with a sort of gravity repulsor on the bottom of the craft, along with emergency ejection seats and drag chutes. On the maiden flight, the pilot activated the repulsors, shooting the craft almost 50 feet into the air, and the engines were activated. It shot forward, passing the speed of sound in almost 5 minutes, leaving a trail of blue light across the sky. The flight lasted 25 minutes, the energy banks quickly depleting. By this time, the craft was almost 100 kilometers high, the craft turning and gliding back down toward the airfield. Due to its extraordinary height, it was detected by multiple radar stations, including by other governments. This maiden flight by the vessel, later to be named the Hawkins, caused a major stir in most of the nations the largest of which, and the only nation remaining from the cataclysm, The Peoples Republic Of China, set forth an ultimatum several days later; Either allow Chinese research teams to study the debris, and have all current established research to be given, in 3 days or they would invade. While the council, directly below the Ruler, was debating whether they should comply, the Ruler had already made their decision. On the next day, all the research data was released to ALL the remaining nations on earth, along with passes into the facilities. Within the next months, leaps and bounds were taken in tech, and the ships role was discovered; it was an exploration vessel. The abundance of sensors and computers salvaged indicated that the vessel was meant for some sort of data collection, and the complete lack of armor plating or weapons set in the theory. Given this thought, the fact that it came down with evident damage caused worry.
Only a year passed before ships were built and launched, the first built by the Atlas Dominion, closely followed by a Chinese ship. This was only the first in a torrent of ships launched, surveying planets, building mines, and landing colonies. It wasn’t long before military ships were constructed, and tensions slowly began to rise between the PRC and the Atlas Dominion. The Invictus was built 36 years later.
The Invictus (Real Subtle name. Ha.) was a brand-new class of ship, slightly larger than a standard heavy assault destroyer. It weighed 10,000 tons, 182 crew and 200 cryogenic banks. At a speed of 3600 kilometers per second, it was faster then most ships fielded. Its drive was experimental, two full sized banks of magneto plasma engines. Its engine was conservative, in terms of fuel use, with a range of 93.5 billion kilometers, it would run out of fuel in 505 days if run at full power. Though very fuel efficient, it took extreme amounts of power, and as a result had to employ another piece of experimental tech; a Kittson Fusion Reactor, the first of its kind. It had an output of almost 134 MW, more than enough to run the engines. It was armed with 6 twin gauss turrets, with a range of 20,000 kilometers. It also had two spinal mounted weapons, two gauss 502 cannons, with a maximum range of 48,000 kilometers. It also had a missile array with 6 tubes, with a rate of fire of 10 minutes per tube, and carried 8 types of missile. 6 layers of titanium composite A class armor, it was heavily armored for its class. The sensors on the ship was normally suited for a dedicated sensor ship, its active suite consisted of the MR163-R200 sensor with a range of 163.3m km and a resolution of 200, the MR51-R20 sensor with a range of 51.7m km and a resolution of 20, the MR11-R1 sensor with a range of 11.6m km and a resolution of 1. The passive suite consisted of TH2-22 thermal sensor with a sensitivity of 22, with the capability of detecting a signal with the strength of 1000 at 22m km. It also had a EM sensor of the same classifications. These sensors were new, and one of the most sensitive ever made. There was also a small hangar outfitted to carry 4 Winthrops, a single occupant fighter equipped with a single spinally mounted railgun, along with extendable sensors. It was powered by a 30 MW MHD. Odd for a simple military ship. But these oddities were within good reason. Within its hull was a jump drive, the first of its kind. The J16500 Military Field Projector propelled the ships by increasing the mass/density of the exterior of the ship massively, and could be projected to other ships with a 50-kilometer range, though it could only propel 3 ships at a time, along with itself. It also had a bay of jump beacons, a sort of scaffolding that could be deployed and attached to the hull of any capital ship. That wasn’t the only thing. It was equipped with an AI, Kip, which was modelled after data retrieved from the impact. It was the most secret project conducted by the Atlas Dominion.
On January 5th, 2111, 37 years after the impact and 3 weeks after the launch of the Invictus, transmissions were received by the deep space sensor station located around Titan (An Atlas military and research base). They were from a Chinese research station on the edge of the Kuiper belt. The transmission were 3 days old (The ship had magic communications stuff), and while they were in mandarin, several on the station were able to decipher it. “Alas Research Station Titan, this is RS-5 of the PRC. We have encountered unknown vessels on the edge of our sensor range, and request assistance as fast as you can send it. The vessels appear to be of alien origin. Whether they are hostile or not, we are unable to determine, but because of your proximity (The research base on Titan was the closest permanent installation to the base), we request assistance. Ou- “The message cut off abruptly, and the communications officer on duty immediately set off an emergency message out to the Atlas Orbital Watchtower in earth orbit. The ships were launched toward the RS-5, while the ships above Titan upped their combat readiness.
The captain of the Invictus was the son of the Ruler, Sam Karson. He was an exceptional captain, passing through his classes and scenarios in officers’ academy at the top. His connection to the political centers also fast tracked his career, and while he was still a relatively green (Only a year out of the academy), his intelligence, political connections, and capability quickly propelled him to the rank of captain. [TBC]
The Atlas government were on the wreck in an instant, its arrival and subsequent impact detected by most of the remaining civilizations of Earth. The Atlas Dominion was one of the largest governments on earth, inhabiting all of North America and some of the northern regions of South America. Governed as a Military Dictatorship, its current ruler immediately set forth an order for all the remnants of the ship to be salvaged, collected, and studied. Within 2 hours of the impact, survey teams were scouring the desert, marking bits of debris with radar markers, which would allow the airborne collection units to arrive and collect. Each of these teams were accompanied by a security unit, for protection from anything that may be alive, and hostile, within the crash zone. The debris spread out in an area about 15x16 kilometers large, and almost one hundred and fifty teams were employed and deployed, along with 39 aerial units. Every single bit of debris was collected, no scrap was left behind, deep magnetic scanners used to recover any fragments that may have burrowed into the sands. Within a week, nothing was left. Research immediately began on the ship, focusing on larger, more intact portions first. While the political situation began to deteriorate due to Atlas’s refusal to allow foreign research teams to participate, the largest piece of salvage, an entire engine bay, was being studied, taken apart and put back together again. Within a month a functioning prototype was constructed. A small aircraft that would be revealed to be something like an SSTO. The engine tech, which was identified as a sort of Ion/Particle engine merge, which, while incredibly advanced, was relatively easy to fuel. Attached at the ends of each of the wings, the squat, white craft was built on an airfield on the edge of the deserts. It had a crew of four, two pilots, and two researchers who would observe the effects of the engine. Along with the Ion/Particle engines, it was equipped with a sort of gravity repulsor on the bottom of the craft, along with emergency ejection seats and drag chutes. On the maiden flight, the pilot activated the repulsors, shooting the craft almost 50 feet into the air, and the engines were activated. It shot forward, passing the speed of sound in almost 5 minutes, leaving a trail of blue light across the sky. The flight lasted 25 minutes, the energy banks quickly depleting. By this time, the craft was almost 100 kilometers high, the craft turning and gliding back down toward the airfield. Due to its extraordinary height, it was detected by multiple radar stations, including by other governments. This maiden flight by the vessel, later to be named the Hawkins, caused a major stir in most of the nations the largest of which, and the only nation remaining from the cataclysm, The Peoples Republic Of China, set forth an ultimatum several days later; Either allow Chinese research teams to study the debris, and have all current established research to be given, in 3 days or they would invade. While the council, directly below the Ruler, was debating whether they should comply, the Ruler had already made their decision. On the next day, all the research data was released to ALL the remaining nations on earth, along with passes into the facilities. Within the next months, leaps and bounds were taken in tech, and the ships role was discovered; it was an exploration vessel. The abundance of sensors and computers salvaged indicated that the vessel was meant for some sort of data collection, and the complete lack of armor plating or weapons set in the theory. Given this thought, the fact that it came down with evident damage caused worry.
Only a year passed before ships were built and launched, the first built by the Atlas Dominion, closely followed by a Chinese ship. This was only the first in a torrent of ships launched, surveying planets, building mines, and landing colonies. It wasn’t long before military ships were constructed, and tensions slowly began to rise between the PRC and the Atlas Dominion. The Invictus was built 36 years later.
The Invictus (Real Subtle name. Ha.) was a brand-new class of ship, slightly larger than a standard heavy assault destroyer. It weighed 10,000 tons, 182 crew and 200 cryogenic banks. At a speed of 3600 kilometers per second, it was faster then most ships fielded. Its drive was experimental, two full sized banks of magneto plasma engines. Its engine was conservative, in terms of fuel use, with a range of 93.5 billion kilometers, it would run out of fuel in 505 days if run at full power. Though very fuel efficient, it took extreme amounts of power, and as a result had to employ another piece of experimental tech; a Kittson Fusion Reactor, the first of its kind. It had an output of almost 134 MW, more than enough to run the engines. It was armed with 6 twin gauss turrets, with a range of 20,000 kilometers. It also had two spinal mounted weapons, two gauss 502 cannons, with a maximum range of 48,000 kilometers. It also had a missile array with 6 tubes, with a rate of fire of 10 minutes per tube, and carried 8 types of missile. 6 layers of titanium composite A class armor, it was heavily armored for its class. The sensors on the ship was normally suited for a dedicated sensor ship, its active suite consisted of the MR163-R200 sensor with a range of 163.3m km and a resolution of 200, the MR51-R20 sensor with a range of 51.7m km and a resolution of 20, the MR11-R1 sensor with a range of 11.6m km and a resolution of 1. The passive suite consisted of TH2-22 thermal sensor with a sensitivity of 22, with the capability of detecting a signal with the strength of 1000 at 22m km. It also had a EM sensor of the same classifications. These sensors were new, and one of the most sensitive ever made. There was also a small hangar outfitted to carry 4 Winthrops, a single occupant fighter equipped with a single spinally mounted railgun, along with extendable sensors. It was powered by a 30 MW MHD. Odd for a simple military ship. But these oddities were within good reason. Within its hull was a jump drive, the first of its kind. The J16500 Military Field Projector propelled the ships by increasing the mass/density of the exterior of the ship massively, and could be projected to other ships with a 50-kilometer range, though it could only propel 3 ships at a time, along with itself. It also had a bay of jump beacons, a sort of scaffolding that could be deployed and attached to the hull of any capital ship. That wasn’t the only thing. It was equipped with an AI, Kip, which was modelled after data retrieved from the impact. It was the most secret project conducted by the Atlas Dominion.
On January 5th, 2111, 37 years after the impact and 3 weeks after the launch of the Invictus, transmissions were received by the deep space sensor station located around Titan (An Atlas military and research base). They were from a Chinese research station on the edge of the Kuiper belt. The transmission were 3 days old (The ship had magic communications stuff), and while they were in mandarin, several on the station were able to decipher it. “Alas Research Station Titan, this is RS-5 of the PRC. We have encountered unknown vessels on the edge of our sensor range, and request assistance as fast as you can send it. The vessels appear to be of alien origin. Whether they are hostile or not, we are unable to determine, but because of your proximity (The research base on Titan was the closest permanent installation to the base), we request assistance. Ou- “The message cut off abruptly, and the communications officer on duty immediately set off an emergency message out to the Atlas Orbital Watchtower in earth orbit. The ships were launched toward the RS-5, while the ships above Titan upped their combat readiness.
The captain of the Invictus was the son of the Ruler, Sam Karson. He was an exceptional captain, passing through his classes and scenarios in officers’ academy at the top. His connection to the political centers also fast tracked his career, and while he was still a relatively green (Only a year out of the academy), his intelligence, political connections, and capability quickly propelled him to the rank of captain. [TBC]
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