08L, 'Elizabeth'

Posts : 38 Join date : 2014-01-05

A typical G-Type main sequence Yellow Dwarf Star of approximately 1.04 times Sol's mass and 2.07 its luminosity, Elizabeth is the heart of a system of seven planets which the Greater Commonwealth of Systems calls home.

The first two planets are unremarkable, one being a super earth sized ball of rock stripped bare of any atmosphere by the solar winds whilst the second is a Mars-sized body with a thin sheet of nitrogen and permanently evaporated water vapour covering its deserts and rocky craggles. Aside from a few automated mining and communications facilities, there is little civilised presence here.

Churchill, the third planet - the most important in the entire system - is a garden world located in the middle of the so-called 'Goldilocks Zone', having formed at just the right time with just the right conditions, including a tidally locked moon aptly named Newton in addition to a captured asteroid, X57 Darwin. With an atmosphere closely identical to Earth's and being 1.09 times the Human homeworld's mass, 1.1 times its radius and with a surface gravity of 1.04g, it proves ideal to Human settlers searching for a new home to live on long after the decimation of Earth. With a population slowly numbering into the billions, Churchill is easily the cultural heart and soul of the system and if viewed from orbit one can see the vast cities spread out across the coastlines and further inland. Only the frozen poles and mountain deserts have been ignored altogether by settlers except for a few scientific and military outposts.

Teetering on the outer borders of the habitable zone, Arctica is the Earth-sized frozen neighbour of Churchill and can be characterised simply by its name. With approximately 84% of its surface covered by vast ice sheets and the remaining 16 consisting of rocky plainslands and ice-topped mountains, the planet is often referred to as Churchill's opposite due to its near-complete inhospibility to life. With an atmosphere primarily consisting of traces of carbon dioxide, argon and nitrogen, temperatures frequently drop below minus 68 degrees Celsius making the use of thick thermal clothing and carefully tweaked breathing apparatus in order to survive outside of a sealed environment on the surface. Whilst a few permanent colonies altogether numbering just over half a billion are dotted across the surface, the inhospitable conditions and the lack of any significant natural resources cause it to be often overlooked by would-be colonists and corporations seeking to invest in a new location, and whilst there have been several proposals to terraform the planet over the centuries, other terrestrial bodies in the system such as Mandela and its moons have often been the better choice and as such only the military and scientific institutions have displayed more than a sliver of interest in the planet. It is also to the annoyance of many maintenance crews on this planet that airlocks and doors have been known to freeze shut in the cold.

Much further out, a minor gas dwarf known only as Elizabeth V is largely ignored, though attention is often directed towards its largest moon, Hawking, which is host to a permanent colony of just under a billion and acts as a port of call between the inner and outer system.

The Jovian gas giant Mandela is the other primary source of commerce, with numerous Helium-3 extraction and processing stations in orbit and numerous colonies and mining plants have been set up across its five largest moons. One of these moons, Mandela II, is one of the few colonies in the system to have a higher density of Ephan over Humans and has been highlighted as a special administrative region under the independent governance of the Ephan whilst Mandela IV is currently undergoing a terraforming process to raise the temperatures to habitable levels. It should also be noted that the region around Mandela is almost as heavily watched by the Royal Navy as Churchill space, most probably due to an initiative to prevent opportunistic pirates from gaining a foothold in the region and to prevent insurgent grops from initating a large scale conflict.

The last planet is again, unremarkable, consisting of a Neptunian planet of little value save for a few small Helium-3 extraction and processing plants alongside a large communications center aligned in its orbit. Further out is a small asteroid belt and a number of minor dwarf planets which occasionally see attention from private corporations before the system reaches its very borders.

Posts : 159 Join date : 2014-01-12

Several incursions take place on the edge of Commonwealth space by armed Imperial Navy vessels under the guise of 'trade lane protection'. These maneuvers have occurred after a series of escalations in rhetoric by Imperial officials in regards to their 'lost colony'. Lack of a definite treaty firmly outlining the borders between the two nations makes it difficult to properly police territorial violations due to varying claims by both governments.

Posts : 38 Join date : 2014-01-05

In response to the aforementioned incursions, patrols of the outer borders of the system are stepped up by the Royal Navy and repeat messages are often directly broadcasted onto Imperial channels outlining the defined borders of the system. A few media agencies take note of the recent matters and occasionally highlight them, often satirically, sometimes likening the issue to the Falkland Island disputes of the 20th and 21st Centuries.

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

City of Winston, Churchill
United Systems Coalition Embassy

"Ambassador."

The Marine Guards saluted politely as Lisa Baecker, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and official representative of the United Systems Coalition, walked down the large marble stairs of the Coalition embassy at the heart of Winston. Located just ten minutes from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and at walking distance of the Ministry of Defense, the Coalition's embassy building was constructed out of reinforced concrete with few architectural qualities worth mentioning: it was built for function, as with most other USC-built structures, and the large guard presence had become part of daily life in the local area.

Within, however, the Embassy was built for luxury: marble floors and chandeliers made for a most impressive interior design. The almost two thousand civilians and two hundred Marines that called the Embassy their home spent much of their time, and money, in the surrounding restaurants, stores and entertainment facilities, even though they building was equipped with everything a man required to live comfortably; some of them had even married locals, granting their children dual citizenship in both the Coalition and the Commonwealth. The Embassy's workers were Commonwealth citizens in everything but title.

"Ambassador."

Lisa Baecker was not considered a pleasant woman by most of her peers, but for reasons unknown to most went along excellently with Commonwealth citizens. In reality, such camaraderie was to be expected: the lone daughter of one of many Commonwealth-Coalition couples, she had been born in Europa but grew up in Winston, and acquired her degree in Political Science from Cambridge University. She did acquire her doctorate in Geopolitics and Strategic Resource Theory from Harvard University on Europa, and was employed by the United Systems State Department for almost a decade before being chosen as the United Systems Ambassador to the Commonwealth, but her mannerisms were more in line with those expected of a Commonwealth citizen.

She was cleared through the security checkpoint without much delay, along with her entourage and personal Marine guards, and begun a short walk to the awaiting column of black Humvees. Standing at five foot seven inches and with her brown hair caught behind her head in a short ponytail, the forty-two year old Ambassador would have looked like any other woman her age if it wasn't for the prosthetic left hand, the unfortunate result of a bombing attack on the Embassy, and the pristine formal suit she constantly wore in case she needed to have an emergency meeting with Commonwealth officials. Several of the Marines guarding the Humvees, clad in non-powered combat armor, saluted her with their free hands before opening the door for her to step in the back of one of the jeeps.

"Foreign Office." she stated bluntly to the driver, taking a look at her silver-colored watch. She had spent almost a whole hour on the phone with Washington, and the news wasn't good. With the Zeleniyans and the UCFP out of the picture, and New Terra claiming a larger place in international politics, the Coalition had very few allies left: perhaps only one, actually.

The convoy left the Embassy grounds with loud roars from the military-grade electric motors, entering the busy Winston streets and journeying through some of the most well-off neighborhoods in the city. Normally, getting to the Foreign Office would take less than five minutes with the powerful machines, but the heavy traffic made the journey last over twenty minutes; at last, when the convoy stopped in front of the entrance to the Foreign Office building, the Ambassador didn't even wait for her door to be opened: she stepped out on her own, advancing towards the door.

Soon, she reached the office of the Foreign Secretary, and one of her Marine escorts knocked on the door.

Posts : 38 Join date : 2014-01-05

Winston, Churchill
Commonwealth Foreign Office

At that, the PA speaker built into the doorway flickered to life and a quiet voice spoke from it.

"Come in, please."

At that, the ornately-designed slide door opened to allow the party entry to the Foreign Secretary's office. Inside, the office was a stark contrast to the streamlined corridors and hallways that the ambassador and her escorts had navigated their way through in order to reach their destination. First of all, the decor was somewhat antiquated - the floor was carpeted, the walls were surfaced with varnished wood and from the ceiling hung a miniature chandelier, complete with ornate crystal designs. Portraits and busts of various scenes and figures, designed by artists who'd most probably died centuries before, were placed across the room. The only thing in the room that happened to be modernised was the terminal built into the otherwise ornate, wood-carved desk in the center of the room. Seated behind it was, of course, the Foreign Minister - Aaron Bulmer. A well-dressed man aged into his latter fifties, Bulmer spoke with a local accent and was known for his cordial mannerism. Noticing his visitors, he looked away from his terminal to greet them with an open nod and a friendly smile, before speaking.

"Ambassador Baecker, how can I be of service to you today? Please, take a seat."

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

City of Winston, Churchill
Commonwealth Foreign Office

"Good morning, Aaron." replied the Ambassador, entering the room in a calm, conservative manner. One of her Marine aides shut the door behind her after handing her a briefcase, leaving her and the Foreign Secretary alone inside the luxuriously furnished room. The Ambassador was a very frequent visitor in the Foreign Office, which was obviously part of her job description, but she had always somewhat envied the Secretary's office: even though the Coalition's embassy was well decorated, it could never match the beauty of the native buildings, mostly because it had originally been built with a focus on practicality.

Taking a seat, the Ambassador went on to place the briefcase on her lap, entering her finger in a slot in the side of the container to access the biometric systems: a few moments and a fingerprint scan later, along with a DNA analysis and a blood pressure measurement, the briefcase's mechanical systems activated and the cover unfolded before the pair to reveal its contents: paperwork. Thousands of pages in different books, dossiers and standalone forms were neatly arranged in the briefcase, but the Ambassador seemed uninterested in all that. Instead, she removed a red envelope marked with 'TOP SECRET' from within, opening it to remove several sets of photographs. "I am going with the assumption that you have been briefed on the Tefeull situation, yes?" she asked, but did not wait for an answer: of course the Secretary had been briefed.

Nevertheless, she had to give him a short summary. "A few hours ago, our forces attempted to engage an alien base in Tefeull that had failed to register with Armistice, and refused a lawful inspection. The incident quickly escalated, and as a result, the Coalition has moved to DEFCON 2 and withdrawn from several disarmament treaties. With the Zeleniyans and the UCFP out of the international game, the interests of our two nations are threatened by both the new alien threat, and the bold aspirations of the New Terrans and the Red Suns. The latter seem to be cooperating with the aliens to some extent, and this is what our intelligence office produced."

The photos were numerous, with most of them depicting the 'Tefeull aliens' and their ship in the grounds of the New Terran palace. "The New Terrans have secretly made first contact, and even though they seem to get a kick out of playing 'neutral observer', the CIA believes that they might be in talks to secure help with their nuclear program. At the same time, my nation is ravaged by a fuel crisis on a scale we have not even imagined before. Our fuel reserves are critically low, and at current consumption, supply will fail to match demand in a month. We are talking about trillions of dollars in lost revenue and economic damage, both to our economy and yours."

After a short pause, the Ambassador let out a sigh. "We need to find more fuel, and we need to find it fast." she summarized, taking a quick look at her briefcase.

Posts : 38 Join date : 2014-01-05

Winston, Churchill
Commonwealth Foreign Office

For the most part, the Foreign Secretary had been briefed on the circumstances, though it never hurt to hear a second perspective on the situation after being briefed. The photos, for example - they seemed to paint a rather clear picture of why the USC was in such an uproar over the situation. Whilst listening to what the Ambassador had to say, he took the opportunity to lean forward and get a closer glimpse at one of the photos before he recognised where they'd been taken.

"Yes, the 'Commonwealth' of New Terra," He finally answered, a hint of sarcasm and amusement mixed into his tone. "We've had our fair share of diplomatic incidents with them over the past few years, nothing major - occasional acts of encroachment on the outer reaches of the system, though the Navy has kept it under wraps and we've managed to avoid any of our 'encounters' turning sour. The news of these 'aliens' is a pressing matter, however.." For a moment he paused, rubbing a hand across his jawline as he took another moment to examine the alien ships portrayed in the photos. "If your sources within the CIA are correct about this, it raises the prospect of both our nations' places within galactic civilisation being compromised. Yet, I doubt that anyone should prepare for war as of yet. Anyone who can read a few centuries back into humanity's past will know that for a fact."

At that last comment, the Foreign Secretary briefly glanced over towards another portrait situated directly across from him, above the doorway; a depiction of Earth prior to it's decimation. "There's a reason that the Commonwealth has kept out of the majority of several centuries' worth of armed conflict, and when forced to confront it, diplomacy and negotiation has usually settled matters. More likely than not, this time is no different - regardless of how your military counterparts might view the situation. If it becomes necessary, the Commonwealth is willing to act as an intermediary between the USC and these other parties, aliens included."

With that matter settled for the time being, the Foreign Secretary moved onto the next topic. "As for your fuel crisis, well.." Slipping a hand beneath the desk, he soon withdrew a tablet device that, for the time being, appeared to be inactive. "Tefeull isn't the only source of fuel out there, despite how much we rely on it. There are others after all, as I'll share with you now." Shifting his view towards the tablet device once more, the Foreign Secretary quickly switched it on, before having it display a hologram of another solar system, complete with a set of co-ordinates.

Admin Posts : 92 Join date : 2014-01-14

Winston, Churchill
Outside of the Commonwealth Foreign Office

Intelligence Agent 035, sits across the street, sipping at a drink as he observed the surrounding area. 035, or 'Johnston' according to his fabricated UCFP documents, would sit casing the entire foreign office. Recon and Report, that was his job. With his laptop in front of him, we would attempt to tap into local police and security radio transmitter's in an effort to confirm the reasons for the meeting between the USC and the Commonwealth. The Office of Military Intelligence had assigned him to keep a close eye on any USC delegates within the system. 035 looked and acted like a normal human, and although he looked slightly taller and stronger than the average human, it would be hard to suspect 'Johnston' was really a PHANTOM agent sent by the Imperium. According to his documents, 035 was a refugee from the UCFP and was a lower class mechanic.

However, according to the Imperium, 035 had been in the Army for six years, and was transferred to OMI as a security detail for a year or two, before he spent several years in training and became a PHANTOM agent. He wasn't the only agent on the planet, and he knew this, but he didn't know who they were or what their missions were.

In the corner of the laptop a small, blinking, red light would appear. 035 would press his finger down onto the track pad, and allow his eye to be scanned momentarily. The laptop not only checked the fingerprint, but also the pulse of the user, and soon a small chatwindow opened up.

<: CEASAR: 035, you are being reassigned.
<: C035: Details?
<: CEASAR: Link up with other operatives at safe house Zulu Bravo, you'll be briefed there. Ceasar out.

The chatbox closed suddenly and 035 shut the laptop tightly. He stood up and started walking to the more poorer part of the city. It was where he lived, but it was also the location of the safehouse he had been assigned to.

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

City of Winston, Churchill
Commonwealth Foreign Office

If there was one state of mind that the Ambassador had never been seen as, it was surprised. Her entourage of analysts ensured that she was always kept aware of the latest developments in international politics, and with a job as critical as serving as the ambassador to the Coalition's closest ally, she had memorized information ranging from the names of the Commonwealth Defense Minister's childrens' names to the Prime Minister's favorite food. But with the revelation of the Gemina Terra system, she seemed to have lost all capability to speak. She stared at the data and the statistics, the fuel availability surveys and the optical telescope sweeps, and the only word she could manage to think about was 'why'.

Why had the Commonwealth kept that information from the Coalition, when the latter had not only shared any Alarei technology it had salvaged, but even provided vital intelligence on the XE-52 system? In that moment, Ambassador Baecker did not care about the prospect of the Commonwealth acting as an intermediary, and couldn't even be annoyed by the refusal to commit to military support in the event that the conflict escalated. The only thing she could think of was the fuel. "Why has the Commonwealth withheld this information until now?" she finally asked as she regained her composure, trying to make her question sound less like an accusation and more like genuine curiosity.

"No matter. With the invasion of Talarin and XE-52 underway, we have no available military assets to dedicate to a full-scale occupation of the system. I trust that our mining corporations can rely on your fleet for the necessary protection? Oh, and we must act fast, if the New Terrans or the Imperium get wind of this, they are going to jump their hordes of scrap into that system before we can even blink!"

Posts : 38 Join date : 2014-01-05

Winston, Churchill
Commonwealth Foreign Office

"If truth be told, we've only been aware of the system for a few months - we needed time to confirm the initial reports from our survey vessels." With the Ambassador's first question answered, the Foreign Secretary seemed to forget he'd ever said anything and proceeded into the next matter.

"At the moment the Royal Navy has a garrison stationed within the inner sectors of the system, with an outpost on the smaller of the binary planets you see there." A quick hand gesture prompted the hologram to focus on the aforementioned planet, with a basic map of the navy's movements displayed across it. "We're all but ready to initiate the formal annexation proceedings, so, to answer your question - yes."

Admin Posts : 92 Join date : 2014-01-14

Winston, Churchill
Imperium Safe House, Classified Location

It didn't take the Imperial Intelligence agent very long to find himself in the slums of the Commonwealth city. He darted between the backalleys and exchanged many uncomfortable stares and sideways glances with the local residents. He lived in a place like this, but this was far from his own neighborhood in the city. Several turns later and he found himself in front of a red medal door, within a tight, damp alley.

Agent 035 knocked several times before a peephole was opened at eye level with the agent. The man on the other side eyed 'Johnston' up and down for a split second before sliding the graffiti covered door open to let him in.

As soon as the Imperial Intelligence Officer crossed the threshold into the safe house, he was flanked by two men armed with SA40s. Hardcore military hardware. A common tactic used by the Imperium, use stolen guns and military gear in order to keep it from being traced back to the Imperium itself. Most Imperial guns were strictly distributed and kept track of. Even though criminal elements disliked using Imperium weapons because of their weight, they still worked hard to keep them out of outlaw hands.

One of the guards wanded over Agent 035, and after clearing him, escorted him through the complex into one of the back rooms. He recognized all of the faces within the tightly cramped safe house. Most of them were analysts, some of them were guards. He was the only PHANTOM agent in Churchill. That's what he was told, and believed, until he saw one unfamiliar face. The man he saw clearly wasn't an analyst or a guard. He wore a black jacket, with his lower arms slightly exposed, covered in tattoos. His eyes were a faded blue and yellow, likely a result of a reverse procedure to replace his optical implants. Agent 035 could tell this guy was ex-marine, and deffinently a PHANTOM agent. His hair was shaved on the sides and he stood a few inches taller than Agent 035. Something about the ex-Marine scared Agent 035, and he was trained not to be scared. The new face reached his hand out towards 035.

"I'm Agent 029. I'm here to assist this new operation. Come right this way."

Agent 035 simply nodded and shook his hand. Agent 029 had passed him a folder, and the smaller agent looked over the contents. New operational details. This whole safehouse was no longer an Imperial safe house, but a base of operations for the Eclipse Crime Syndicate. He had heard stories of 029. He was the best the Imperium had, and if he was here, it meant this whole situation had changed.

Agent 029, or William Ordo, led Agent 'Johnston' into a dimly lit room. Another new face. This one was clearly not Imperial. His face was covered in burn scars and a patchy graying beard. He was bald and wore a large faded green overcoat with baggy brown pants. He sat at a seat near the center of the room and sat there with a glass cup in his one of his hands. The hand was an artificial and cheap looking cybernetic replacement. He looked up towards the two agents and spoke with a haggard and beaten voice.

"I'm glad you could make it. Now we can begin our deal."