|
 |
|
|
|
"Tee minus cinco minutes," the announcer said, the 'th' sound at the beginning of cinco crackling through the speakers, "cinco minutes to launch."
"Why do you say 'cinco' instead of five?" This was one thing that Lord Carlito Orfosi had not managed ot find out yet, despite being Minister of Defence.
"'Five' sounds too much like 'fire'," the announcer said, making sure the mic was switched off, "anything to do with explosives or rockets, and a mis-hearing over the radio can cause something to blow five seconds early. Cinco is just a useful word, so there isn't an annoying silence during a countdown."
"I see," Lord Orfosi frowned, "very clever."
"My Lord," the announcer in the viewing and control bunker hesitantly asked the question every member of the team had been simply aching to know, "just what is going in there as a payload?"
"A Sword of Damocles to hang above the heads of Presidents Stone, Sarzo and the rest." Orfosi had a smile like a knife, thin and dangerous. "Though our control over it is stronger than mere horsehair."
He was greeted by a semi-blank stare from the rest of the room. Those with a passing knowlede of mythology were only vaguely more informed than they had been before.
"Tee minus four minutes. Four minutes to launch." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
, |
 |
|
|
|
|
OOC: Just out of curiosity Star, would I be correct in assuming this is a top-secret thing your doing? Just want to make sure. Didn't know if this was an attempt to spice things up between the SDL and SAAS nations. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
OOC: Well its something thats not readily public knowledge, insofar as the amount that a nation can go to hide a great big rocket-in-space launch from anyone with eyes or a spy satellite. And if the guys at the launch centre don't know whats in the thing, then no foreigner will do either. I'd imagine the best you could find out about it is that its a hella-big rocket, which hasnt aactually been launched yet, ICly, as with the wonders of fluid time its been sitting on the pad waiting for those four minutes for about a day now  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
OOC: Starblaydia obviously has satellites and such up there already, but this launch is a big-un, in terms of planning, cost, size, weight and historic importance.
IC:
"...seven..."
The Command and Control room had the air you could cut with a knife.
<...six...>
The five astronauts, sitting in the cabin of an orbiter that was essentially strapped to a giant firework, went through their last-moment checks.
<...cinco...>
Tiberius Starblayde and his closest friends watched their giant television, specially connected to the C&C feed. This was obviously being taped for posterity, but wasn't being shown live anywhere else.
"...four..."
Carlito Orfosi, as nervous as anyone, mouthed along silently with the countdown.
<...three...>
Anyone who could hear the sound of the outdoor speakers was shortly about to be deafened by the cacophony to follow. No-one could, however, thanks to this out-of-the-way part of Nemya in the province of Tournet.
<...two...>
Systems check: A-OK, green lights across the board.
<...one...>
The final moment of calm.
"...Ignition and... hit it!"
It was an incredible thing to behold, no matter how many times you'd seen it's like before. Despite the obvious phallic connotations, the sight of a massive white tower propelling itself upwards towards the stars on wings of fire and smoke was an inspiring one.
As the team cheered their initial success, they were still having to work. Checking systems, trajectories, angles and the like, they kept a constant bead on the rocket.
"I wonder what'd be the outcome if it suddenly blew up right now," one member of the team mused as he watched his display, "a lot of money down the drain, and all that radiation, of course."
It was more a question than a statement. Lord Orfosi was too busy being inspired to think of an adequately misleading response.
"Radiation?" he asked. "Don't be absurd, there's nothing radioactive on that thing. Are you mad?" Quickly realising he'd already revealed too much already about what it wasn't, he closed his mouth.
'Dammit' he thought, '"Loose lips sink ships" you fool. But Damocles will do far more than that.' |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
A relatively sunny day outside in Archon City greeted the Patriarch through the window of his office. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the big mahogany desk, taking a seat and pouring himself a bottle of rum as he looked over some papers. He only had about an hour before he was due to leave for the airport to meet the Pacitalian rep that was coming to visit.
Taking a sip of rum, he hear his intercom buzz. He pressed down on the button.
"Yes Diane, what is it?"
Johnathan's here to see you.
He rolled his eyes. "Very well let the worry-wort in."
A few seconds later the door opened and his aide stepped in, taking a seat across from him at the desk. He looked concerned, but then again he ALWAYS looked concerned about things.
'He worries to much.' Khara thought.
Johnathan cleared his throat before handing a folder to Patriarch Khara. "Sorry to disturb you, your Highness, but I've some rather interesting news to report."
Without even bothering to look up, Khara nodded. "Mmmhmm." he stated non-chalantly as he flipped through the folder, not really bothering to look to hard at its contents.
"Our intelligence sources say that Starblaydia has launched a rocket into outerspace." Johnathan said, still worried.
Khara looked up and sighed, closing the folder and holding it up. "That's why you're bothering me with this War and Peace of a intel report? Their probably just doing some repair on their satellites or something. Relax."
Johnathan shoke his head. "No Highness, it's not the fact that it's a space launch that worries me, it's the size of the launch that does. Look at page 30."
Khara sighed and opened to the page, actually bothering to read through the info this time. His face grew a little concerned then he turned his attention back to his aide. "Indeed this is interesting. If these speculations are correct, it could be their biggest launch yet. Where do our allies stand on this?"
"Sarzonia seems to be a concerned some. There appears to be a debate going on in their legislature. Nothing yet from the other League members."
Khara nodded, closing the folder and placing it on his desk. "Keep me posted of all new developments."
Johnathan nodded and then excused himself from the room. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
Falcon sat in his office, looking out of the wide window. Starblaydia had launched their largest rocket yet. His sources in Khazaron told him that Khara was worried. Apparently Sarzonia was a bit edgy too, however his contacts hadn't been too fresh after the Diamindokere Debacle. What to do? Whatever this rocket was, there was definitely something up. Common logic won out. If Starblaydia had launched a massive rocket into space, there must be something massive attached to it, because he knew from personal experience that rockets weren't cheap.
What could be so big to launch into space that Starblaydia hadn't plastered the news everywhere? Something Starblaydia didn't to plaster about. And from his experience of the Land of Purple, if Starblaydia didn't want you to know, it was probably military. Something was up.
But what could he do? His military was designed to defend Falcania from the Terri. There was nothing he could do against this regional superpower. His diplomatic power had waned recently too. Nobody wanted anything to do with "Freaky Falcania," the only nation whose inhabitants were mutating into birds.
Well, something would be done.
And he was just grasping it. The vague strands of plan grew in his mind. Perhaps it was time to dust off those old Jay SPSP rockets. There was still a dusty old launch site in the northeast. He pressed the call button on his desk. Five minutes later, Michael Hack walked in.
"Michael, you were the leader of the SPSP expedition, were you not?" Hack nodded. It was now about a decade since the ill-fated Sub-Pacific Space Program had gone awry, with the space race against Janky Nations, the subsequent alien invasion, and the return home. "Well, Starblaydia launched a rocket earlier today. You know about it, no doubt?" Hack nodded again. "It is evidently military. Starblaydia would be making a three-part song and dance about something that big if it were for any other purpose. Now, the way I understand it the festering old SPSP launchpads in the northeast still have functioning rockets?" Hack nodded once more. "Have them prepared. Get in contact with my media representative, tell the world we are going into space. Again. This time there shall be no impunitive planet-hunting. Starblaydia has launched something big, and I'm going to find out what."
This post has been edited by Falcania on Jan 12 2006, 12:45 PM |
 |
 |
|
Falcania |
|
Winging It Since 2004 |
 |
|
|
|
Posts: 776 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
Stone was enjoying a day off from the political tensions that had ever seemed to characterize AO when the NIA Director himself came into the game room with a rather thick folder. Sighing, Stone looked up from the Chess match that he was engaged in with his Vice President, and had the NIA Director come on over.
"Mr. President, Starblaydia has recently launched their largest space rocket yet. Beyond our natural distrust of the 'Land of Purple,' we are worried about this because there has been absolute secrecy attached to this. No press releases, leaks, or contacts with other governments. When Starblayde does something like this, it HAS to be military. This folder contains all the information that we and the other SDL intelligence services have been able to acquire about the payload of that rocket, but it isn't much."
The Director then handed Stone the folder. The pictures caught Stone's eye first.
"Damn, that is big. Director (OOC: the names of Lamonian NIA Directors have never been mentioned), I want you to work with the other SDL intelligence agencies to find out what this thing could be. In the meantime, I might have to schedule another group meeting of the SDL leaders."
The Director left the room after giving an affirmative. |
|
|
 |
|
Lamoni |
|
Democratic Maniac |
|
|
|
|
|
Posts: 1952 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
His job could vary between extreme boardom and extremely tense, but usually towards the former. His official capacity was "Nuclear Attack Prevention Monitor." His true capacity was that he watched other nations to spy on their nuclear and space programs. With the launch into space, the Allied States had become considerably more interested in their regionmates space programs. So when his machine blipped, his curiosity peaked slightly. The machine only beeped unless their was a confirmable launch by someone. He glanced at the readouts, then yelled several loud curses in about three languages. "Boss, get over here, take a look at this!"
2 Hours Later
President-Elect John Patrick Kingsley tossed the report back on his desk. "So what does this tell me?" he asked his secretary of state, secretary of defense, his homeland security advisor, General-of-the-Army, head of the Clandestine Service, the chief of Allied States Intelligence Service, and the Admiral-of-the-ASOC.
"Well," said the chief of ASIS, "we've got word from a couple of our sources in the Starblaydi Space Command that this project is codenamed Damocles. Not much else on that. We'll double our efforts into getting hold of more information, but I doubt we'll get much else, the Inquisition is a difficult thing to avoid."
"Thankfully though," began the Admiral-of-the-ASOC, "we've just launched the final ships in this series of construction of ships. That's two new Dunedin-class cruisers, six Orion-class frigates, and one hundred Osleaow-class fighters. The exploration fleet is a month away from completion, and the ten transports are ready to go. We've jumped the EASOP force from fourty thousand to sixty, and creating a new battalion of space commandos for targetting other space installations. We might also want to consider upgrading or building a new base of operations for the ASOC. Apollo is getting old"
"Now is not the time to muscle in for funding. We need a response," said the chief of the Clandestine Service.
"Well, we knock on the Starblaydis door, wanting to know what the heck they are doing. If they refuse, start upping the intelligence resources into discovering the aim of this project. We get together with Sarzo, and a couple of other big guys, and we figure our what the hell is going on," said the secretary of defense.
"While were at it, let's try not to isolate the Starblaydis while we're doing this?" asked the secretary of state.
"Agreed," said the President-Elect, "let's go ahead with the sec-defs plan, but try to be subtle please. Put the ASOC on alert yellow, and get the Clandestines ready for an op. I want to know what they're shooting into space, and I want an effective counter. Dismissed."
This post has been edited by The Lowland Clans on Jan 13 2006, 09:26 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
Technician first class Philip Brando glanced at his watch yet again. He liked working in the command bunker but some of his shifts seemed to last forever. At least in 10 minutes he could enjoy a well deserved cigarette break. All thoughts of his nicotine craving suddenly vanished as the screen he was supposed to be monitoring lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Sir.” He called over to the supervising officer. “Sir. You’re probably going to want to see this. Our satellites have detected a rocket launch. A big one.”
“Bring it up on the big screen. And alert the chief.”
The huge screen that dominated the far wall of the bunker displayed a map of the entire region. A segment of the map flashed.
“Eastern Starblaydia. Have you informed the Autokrator?”
“He’s on his way sir.” So much for that fag break.
On cue Hypocria’s supreme ruler, accompanied by General Rathi, stepped onto the balcony that looked down into the bunker. “Report.”
The officer snapped off a smart salute and cleared his throat. “Excellency, we’ve detected a rocket launch from Starblaydia.”
“And?”
“And . . .” His self assurance was melting away. “And I thought you’d want to be informed.”
Titus smiled, imagining similar confusion and concern around the region. It was nice to be in the loop.
“Your orders Excellency?”
“Stand down.” He saw the looks of surprise below him. “I am well aware of the Lord Protector’s newest toy.”
Titus turned away from balcony’s edge and beckoned the General to join him, well out of earshot of those on the command floor below.
“I know what Damocles is but Tiberius has been very sketchy as to what he intends to do with it. Keep an eye on it.”
“You don’t trust him?”
“With that thing up there. Would you?”
This post has been edited by Hypocria on Jan 13 2006, 01:35 PM |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
Adonis rubbed his head and winced slightly as a chirping noise interrupted his debauched slumber. He vaguely remembered christening a new palace. His mind wandered back to the days when his christenings went more along military lines; tanks, planes, ships and the like. He still wasn't quite sure if he liked the lavishness this bout of peace allowed. He laughed. "Bout of peace. It's kind of like an oxymoron. Or paradox?"
A second chirp interrupted his random association and musings.
It was a little black box that picked up activity from the SDL message lines. Usually it only triggered when a particularly active round of connections hit. He had nicknamed it "annoyance."
After finally rising from his bed and perusing the pile of folders dropped through the "In" slot on his door, he decided he better give his old friend Tiberius a call.
He dialed in on his video conference phone.
A picture of President Domasca flashed across the screen.
Surprised, Adonis mumbled a quick "wrong number". He hung up and prepared to dial again. Thinking twice, he set Domasca as #2 on his speed dial. A delighted grin passed over his face as he dialed Starblaydia.
"Hi there Tiberius, now what is all this ruckus supposed to be about?" |
|
|
 |
|
Xile |
|
Punch-Drunk Psychosis |
|
|
|
|
|
Posts: 358 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
|
|
|
"Beautiful, ain't it?"
The Pilot leaned over to his left, not that you really needed to move your head to see the vast expanse of the various shades of blue that were out of the window.
"That view never gets old." He said. He'd been part of the missions that had put Starblaydi satellites in orbit before, but this one was a bit special. "How many electronic eyes do you think are on us right now?"
The Co-pilot chuckled and shrugged, which isn't easy in zero-gravity. The Pilot turned back in his seat. "Let's see how many more we can train on us. Ready to open bay doors?."
<That's a roj.> Mission specialists always sounded the same over the intercom.
"Let's do it. Go for Bay Door Opening."
<We are a go.>
With a thick clunk that reverberated throughout the ship, the massive double-doors swung open. Those on the ground looking upwards would still have no idea of what was in the bay, other than something big.
Two robot arms, one at each end of the bay, were needed to lift the object out. It was, in fact, 'loaded', but there was no danger of anything going off. All over AO, Intelligence and Space Agencies of friends and foes alike would have everything they had trained at this craft and the cargo it was unloading. But they'd not need to strain themselves, the pictures would soon be released.
Not that they were anything new in the skies above Atlantian Oceania, of course. Something similar, though of slightly older design, lay nestled amongst the stars with the Navy Flag with White Stars of Sarzonia emblazoned on it. Starblaydia was merely levelling out the playing field, somewhat.
When the Lord-Protector spoke to thre Region later on, this would be the image everyone would see. Starblaydia had a space-based kinetic energy weapon system. Starblaydia had Rods from God.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
, |
|
Track this topic
Receive email notification when a reply has been made to this topic and you are not active on the board.
Subscribe to this forum
Receive email notification when a new topic is posted in this forum and you are not active on the board.
Download / Print this Topic
Download this topic in different formats or view a printer friendly version.
[ Script Execution time: 0.0170 ] [ 12 queries used ] [ GZIP Enabled ]
|
Close Topic Options
