Fiction:Hard Contact

Hard Contact is a series of related colonial conflict fought between Drodo colonists and Republic of Ottzello allies and numerous criminal factions, pirate bands, and hordes. The conflict as a whole introduced face-to-face many people, factions, and species the Empire had originally only heard of- unfortunately, it wasn't under ideal settings.

Chapter One
Viran, accompanied by several officers as groggy and confused as she was, ran- almost sprinted, down the corridors of the ship, as the lights on the ship began to turn on. The small group spun about corners, crept through hallways, and practically leapt in to the turbolift to the confusion and bemusement of a few onlooking crewmembers, who were just beginning their day.


 * Viran - "Bridge, bridge. Go."

The lift began its ascent from roughly the core of the ship, up to the large bridge of the ship dozens of metres above. The turbolift doors separated mere seconds later, and the Admiral and her high ranking officers beside her limped out of the lift, some weakly carrying cups of tea they had managed to make before being called up with some urgency. Viran sat back down in the familiar command chair, and, staring out the observation windows ahead, asked quickly;


 * Viran - "What's wrong?"

A crewman chuckled, and answered;


 * Crewman - "Nothing, admiral- I just figured you'd want to see this..."

The ship began to shake in its familiar way, as the blueishness of hyperspace finally began to disappate to the scene of inky blackness. A journey, lasting several months in hyperspace, was finally over. They had reached the Ottzello Sector of the Borealis Galaxy. Viran let a feeling of accomplishment wash over her- it was by far the longest trip she had ever taken, and the boredom wore on everyone.

Awaiting their arrival, which they had been informed of, was a small squadron of s, accompanied by one. These ships awaited just within the orbit of the Cold Relay at which the team had arrived. The ships faced the arriving crew, just as reached out to them on comms.


 * Valzaria - "Greetings. I am Valzaria, Secretary of State of the Union Republic of Ottzello. It has been brought up to my attention that you are visiting this subsector as colonists and would like to be acquainted."

Viran looked to her crew, and with a smile stood up and walked a bit closer to the large viewscreen, her officer's sabre bouncing against her leg as she did.


 * Viran - "I am Admiral Viran, of the Drodo Empire. I'm leading the escort ahead of the main group of settlers, and so we'd appreciate anything you could give or do for us."
 * Valzaria - "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Admiral Viran. Our squadron of fighters here will be able to accompany you while you first settle in either at a space station or on the surface of a planet. We also offer loans to new colonists to this sector, though we charge at an interest of 10%. However, on your own territory, we regret to inform you we cannot fully protect you from the pirates of the and, though we will offer you what advice we can."
 * Viran - "...Oltauris?"

Viran had only heard vaguely of the Consortium, and had little time to learn since her assignment here. She had a bad feeling she may have to do some first-hand research.


 * Valzaria - "It is an offshoot of the late . It remains the largest organised crime group within Borealis. Many pirates and mercenaries work for them, and they like to prey on new colonists such as yourselves. You may find yourself a target of one of them, so I would take caution."
 * Viran - "...Encouraging."

Viran took in a sigh. She was told this wasn't going to be easy. Motioning to her side somewhat, she began;


 * Viran - "The first wave of colonists will be here within the week- is there a good place we could set up operations?"
 * Valzaria - "Indeed. This star system here should work out perfectly fine, we have given it a few patrols before we confirmed it was mostly safe. You need only take caution when our ships begin to leave. That is when the pirates normally choose to strike. We shall set up your base of operations and you shall receive our loan."
 * Viran - "Alright, very well. Let us get to it. Viran out."

With that, the comms were cut, and the (which species) on the screen faded away. Turning to her bridge crew, she gave a thin smile, and said;


 * Viran - "Well? Let's not leave them waiting."


 * align="center"|* * *

Viran sat beside the window of her prefabricated, temporary abode, reading a book in silence. It was late morning, only a few days after they had arrived to the pleasant world and with it the Ottzello sector. While she was quiet by nature, and didn't exactly appreciate the noise from outside- the air was fresh, and untouched by civilization. Reason enough to be planetside, as opposed to her Basilisk-class warship. While the stay- even the mere settlement of this world- was temporary, more of a jump-off point to settle surveyed worlds in the future, she considered it shore leave- that is, she did for a while. A beep came from her communicator, pushing in a red button, she asked;


 * Viran - "What is it?"

A Drodo operator responded back, a little worried;


 * Comms operator - "Admiral, we have a lot of unknown signatures coming to the world."

Viran fell silent.


 * Viran - "You're certain they aren't some URO ships? We could be missing their frequenc-"
 * Comms Operator - "No, for all we know they could be... Well, anyone. This is all new to us."

Again, silence. Standing up, Viran slapped her brimmed, cylindrical, rather ornate hat of command on to her head and responded;


 * Viran - "Rally a flotilla of starships, including mine. Medium alert. Get the ground defenses ready, low alert."

Viran walked through the budding colony, all constuction stopped in its tracks as infantrymen ran to the barracks to grab a hold of their uniforms, armour, and rifles and cavalrymen clipped their sabres to their waists and mounted their robohorses. A few armoured vehicles and automobiles began to rev up and artillery had shells loaded in to them. Viran herself took a mount tied to a post, to the dismay of a trooper who tried to run after her for a short few bounds. Minutes passed, and soon everything was in motion in a well-disciplined movement of men and machines. While it was low alert, everyone took it seriously. Viran stepped on to the bridge of her ship, asking;


 * Viran - "Status report."
 * Crewman - "Signatures closing fast. They could warp out at any time."

Viran nodded, and took a seat in her command chair. She would let them make the first move.

After a few moments of silence, from seemingly nowhere, a small squadron of fighters flew past and blasted their ships, dealing damage to the hull. They were presumably dispensing antimatter bombs, as their weaponry made a huge dent in their shields and could've potentially pierced their armor. Either these ships were extremely fast, or were using a cloaking device. Viran, shaking her head, yelled out;


 * Viran - "This isn't good! Use every frequency to find them!"

The great Drodo battleships fired every manner of turbolaser bolt and flak shell in an attempt to knock out the fighters, but the heaviest ship-to-ship weapons remained silent. The battleships were shaken, but not beat, by the first assault.

While preparing for a retaliation, the Drodo ships were not met with anymore opposition. The fighters did not completely leave the system, and they could be detected even through their cloaking device, but did not prepare another assault. Could it be that they had ran out of bombs already? Either way, rather than receive another attack, Viran instead received a transmission.

After accepting it with hesitation, the hologram of a appeared. He was a tall, heavily armored Wranploer, who appeared to be collecting weapons from aliens he had slain over the years, with a belt full of rifles from all sorts of Borealis and extragalactics. When he spoke, he spoke with a deep, gruff voice, muffled by the transmission not due to a poor signal, but to hide his voice.


 * ??? - "Well, that you survived our first round tells us everything we need to know about you. Thank you for your cooperation. We'll pry your starships from you eventually, but for now, you can live another few days."

Viran stood to her feet, and glared at the alien in front of her, antennae erect in confusion and anger. While she did, her crew knew the drill- every comms and cyberwarfare officer on the ship was bent on finding the address and origin of the signal.


 * Viran - "This is Admiral Viran of the Drodo Empire. Your attack on Imperial assets and personnel will not be taken lightly. I demand your identity and nation of origin."
 * ??? - "Drodo Empire, eh? Heheheh. Never seen your kind before. I don't think you've been to Borealis much. Well, brilliant, your parts will be quite highly valued around here. I'll take 'em from you eventually. Oh, and the name's Kyada Forlon. Remember the name, it'll be the last thing you'll hear. You made a mistake coming here, but I'm really glad you did. You'll be a fine addition to my collection."

The transmission was terminated, and all signals were lost. The Drodo had to double check to ensure that none of the cloaked ships remained, but indeed, they had fled. The primary purpose of this attack, clearly, had been to probe them, rather than to destroy them. The pirates led by Kyada would be likely to return with much larger numbers, and better prepared weapons. Viran, realising this, sat down in her seat, her head in her hand. Biting her lower lip, she looked up to her crew, and with the same sort of authoritative, even tone she was known for, demanded;


 * Viran - "I need three things- a direct link to the Republic, as much research on this inbred we can find, and for those colonists to turn around."