A nonviolent skirmish

KrankysFirebrand48

@Dokkisse
The Alsinan Defense League was a nation that interested the GBE greatly. With lack of evidence for corruption, the parliament decided in a private session that the military intelligence was to commence operations to infiltrate the nation as to influence it from the inside. After first contact with the nation, many large GBE corporations set up Alsinan branches. Most notably, Harthen Shipping began providing services and trading with the ADL, greatly increasing the Defense Leagues value and importance on the galactic stage. Additionally, the government of the GBE began buying shares of Inzano due to it being the cheapest. Shares of news companies are also purchased by the government. Perhaps this investment was made due to their separation from MISE before the blackout. Or maybe they sought control. As a follow up, the GBE requested to set up an embassy in the ADL and offered a number of beneficial deals such as migration, non-aggression and commercial agreements. There was no doubt, the GBE sought to gain the ADL as an ally.

In the shadows, executives of influential news sources are offered enormous sums of money by MI8 on secure quantum communications lines right onto their devices. This money was directly ripped out of the Bastonian National Bank. They could take the initial sum of money and a continuous flow of it in the future for only one requirement: that their news sources are pro-GBE and will support the Bastonian deals that are offered.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

Harthen Shipping was a first for the Alsinans. A new company which wasn't under the control of the four other megacorps? And one which wasn't as brutal? Many quit their jobs from the megacorps and flocked to Harthen, slowly at first. Their products, while sometimes confusing to operate and somewhat pricey, were definitely of higher quality than the crap stocked on shelves normally. Of course, all this competition was not to be tolerated by the other megacorps, primarily Alsinan Alloys and Fusion of Cunicule. Starflight Shipping was, at the moment, too small to truly put up resistance to this...competitor.

Inazano Refining, having historically been the weakest of the three original megacorps, was not unaware of the Empocracy's efforts to buy out their shares. For now, this would be tolerated. but a secret internal policy in the company was that only 20% of the company's shares were to be owned by any one corporate entity at a given time, lest Inzano lose its capability to compete with the other three.

Alsinan news sources were suddenly very open and willing to speak about the GBE in a positive light, whereas beforehand they were completely silent on the nation. While your average, tired citizen who only tuned into the news following their brutal shift didn't much notice, those who spent an unhealthy time analyzing the news noticed and had many red flags raised.

The Alsinan government was also debating on whether or not to send an official delegation with the GBE, seeing as their recent economic investment was greatly appreciated, though most of the funds were slurped up by the four, now five, megacorps in order to continue the cesspit of bribery, lobbying, and threats which characterized Alsinan politics.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
The GBE wasn't entirely familiar with corruption and bribery, nor the nature of the Alsinan psychology. But MI8 learned quickly. They started getting the hand of lobbying and began doing it on mass through Harthen shipping and other smaller state companies. In secret, the illegal bribery and blackmail were not as common, nor as effective as of yet. This suggestion of a delegation was very popular with Bastonia and they pressured the government to vote in favour, sending in masses of capital to try and sway them. The shareholders of Alsinan assets and corporations urged their companies to favour the resolution, subtly hinting that they might pull out their investments if the company failed to fulfil their interests. The media companies were immediately put to work to argue in favour of the proposition.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

The meteoric rise of Harthen was not unnoticed by anyone in the Alsinan Parliament nor the meeting rooms of the megacorps. Of course, suspicion was raised against Harthen Shipping, claiming it to be a plant by the GBE to take control of the country, to mess up the Alsinan's life worse than it already was, and a whole cabblecade of other inane ramblings which only make tangential sense. In a more official sense, the Alsinan government, being the cesspit of bribery and corruption as it is, welcomed the new hush money with open arms.

While the Alsinan people were always friendly, though extremely tired and jaded, it's believed that an Alsinan "delegation" to the GBE is more of any standard foreign relations practice rather than something more, which the Bastionian citizenry seem to believe it to be.

Starflight was the first to refuse to do any kind of business with Harthen among the megacorps, essentially trying to blockade it, and given the military assets at Starflight's commands, they begin to harass and conduct, essentially, pirate operations against the convoys and trade lanes which are carrying goods destined for Harthen Shipping. This gambit for power, though, proves to be a massive double-edged sword, as the pirates are not extremely picky with their targets and might intercept the wrong one.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
The information gained by MI8 in their search for foreign threats allowed them to pin who the people behind the conspiracy theories were. It was deemed that assassination or disruption of these conspiracies would only further raise suspicion among the Alsinan people. They didn't directly act on it, but the pro-GBE media companies were put into effect to argue for the GBE's investments and more subtly argue for more dependence on trade with the Bastonians.

The Bastonian government was suspicious of the logistics and targeting of the pirates, almost only targeting Harthen Shipping trading ships. As a response, the company hired more escorts. They got a charter from the government, allowing them to hire Royal Navy warships as escorts. The Charta Praesidium read: "By decree of the legislative Council of the Great Bastonian Empocracy and as a response to the unprecedented actions of raiding barbarians, fair crewmen of Harthen Shipping will be granted protection by our faithful navy." Additionally, the secret service deployed a task force of well-armed former-Redford warships to harass Starflights' shipping attempts under false flag. Each time an attack happened Starflight would receive a subtle message from Harthen Shipping, reading something like: "Perhaps if we cooperated, we could prevent future pirate attacks."

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

Starflight was gleefully optimistic to operate with Harthen, as this just lead to more precedent to harass those convoys and claim that they were just pirates, targeting whoever came along those trade routes. These "pirates," obviously, were hired mercenaries from Starflight themselves, and the small losses to convoys expected by Starflight shipping vessels was more than acceptable to kick another competitor OUT of competition. The four companies were more than comfortable with their collective monopoly on most assets. Harthen was offering a better product at better prices, which, if the megacorps were to attempt to match, would draw too many resources from their more militant aspects and corruption schemes.

This new edict from the Bastonian parliament is...troubling. GBE warships in Alsinan space without asking the Parliament?! Unacceptable! A call for retaliation against the GBE ships which enter their space uninvited was made, and this issue gripped the population for long enough to finally unite them in something. The megacorps, eager to keep Harthen's profits as low as possible, dutifully brought this issue to Parliament who then, after orderly and mild-mannered debate which was essentially scripted from beginning to end, sends a formal complaint to the Bastionian government which reads as follows:

"Due to the recent uptick in piracy attacks in space which we do not control, you, the Great Bastionian Empocracy Parliament, passed a motion which allowed your ships of war to protect your convoys. This is not what we take issue with. We take issue with your ships entering Alsinan space without notifying us of this edict. Our citizenry is riotously concerned with these ships of war in our territory, as we had never agreed to anything like this before. We, the Alsinan Defense League Parliament, demand that you have your ships halt at the edge of our space and return back to escort other convoys. The Alsinan Defense Galactic Navy is more than capable of protecting the convoys from there."

This message was sent with great urgency, hoping that perhaps the megacorp's scheme to bully Harthen out of their nation would work.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
Harthen, despite the message, did not wish to cooperate with Starflight. They seemed to have meant something more subtle in the message. The attacks picked up. These Redford-made warships were far more powerful than most pirate ships. They attacked Starflight assets increasingly.

The Bastonian government responded with a demand:
"According to the constitution that must not be broken, and the will of Lokion and the founding fathers and mothers of the empocracy, our state has been given the duty to protect the souls of the known universe and grant them their divine rights. We hope the fair Alsinian government considers the crewmen of Harthen Shipping as souls. It has occurred to us that immediate action had to be taken due to the death of Bastonian people. Our warships will not violate your sovereignty under the agreement that you will protect these souls or else the constitution calls us to intervene. Failure to do so... will result in a continuation of state escorts."
Meanwhile military intelligence looked into the issue. They attempted to find who was behind the scripting, and the sole figures behind the corruption. Their methods were mild as of now. But if it should yield no results, they would leave morality behind.

Far away from the political games a convoy of Harthen Shipping freighters were shipping goods from the League of Free Worlds, each loaded to the brim with spices, pharmaceuticals and vehicles. They were treading along slowly outside of warpspace where the more fierce mercenary attacks usually happened. They were accompanied by a tiny escort of White Star ships. However, half a star system away awaited some of the most potent ships of the Royal Navy, painted in blue.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

The uptick in attacks on Starflight's shipping was not unnoticed by the company, but, the mostly outdated systems that these piracy operatives used were easily dealt with in some cases by light escorts. The more professional mercenaries were able to take a chunk out of each convoy they hit, which made Starfleet reconsider their excessive spending on these mercenaries AND their reported militant operations. At this point it's taking too much out of their budget, and the company risks having the operations leaked by some do-gooder in the chain of command who isn't making enough money to stay shut up.

Eager to stem the tide of protests and unity amongst the citizens, the Alsinan Parliament accepts the Bastonian's...strange request for their ships and people be treated as "souls." While such a concept certainly exists in the Alsinan public consciousness, by the name of "Lycik," there's no reason for the Bastonian citizenry or wartime personnel to not be treated as such by default. As such, the Alsinan Parliament agrees to the Bastonian demand to allow the Royal Navy ships to protect the GBE's citizenry. Not like there's any reason to say "no."

However, given the other terms of the agreement, the Alsinan parliament, much of the discourse in Parliament is over whether or not the Alsinans have the duty to protect the "souls" of the GBE. Of course, being other living creatures, theiir government has the duty and ability to protect them, but within Alsinan space? There's no constitutional need to protect them, but, there is a monetary incentive. Of course, while Harthen Shipping is unwelcome in the ADL because of the older and pre-existing companies, they make more than their fair share of profits, and if it keeps lining the pockets of the politicians lined, well, a little bit of protection from pirates is more than acceptable.

Coming from close by the warpspace in which this convoy is settled lies a mercenary fleet, one by the name of "Independent Defense Solutions F-3," as they have masqueraded as an independent fleet escort force before, slowly shadowing the freighters out of their sensor range. They are some of the more average mercs hired by Starfleet, not complete professionals but much more organized and efficient than the local rush of dumb pirates who attack anything their ships are larger than, completely neglecting the fact that the larger convoys are almost always protected by equally sized units to match, and Alsinan civilian ships have more than a little defensive armament. These mercenaries are made up of a hodgepodge of ships from all over, from some once respectable Alsinan ships who were doomed to the scrapyard only having been saved through sheer happenstance, a few of the smaller Gen III Alsinan ships, and even a couple ships from unknown sources, completely controlled through AI mainframes aboard with loyalty to the main ship, a former Alsinan Akule-Class. Soon, they will launch their attack, but first...they must wait.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
Harthen Shipping, while being a major Bastonian company in the ADL, was increasingly becoming more irrelevant in the grand scheme of the Alsinan economy. The ADL had seen an enormous influx of smaller companies run by Bastonain entrepreneurs. This was however not a scheme by the GBE government. The Bastonian economy was now recovering from the second blackout and the rapidly growing GBE industry was looking to export foreign goods to all nations of G-S16. Many of the new businesses were small, culture oriented. Restaurants, theaters, hobby shops and chemists were set up nationwide, bringing galactic and Bastonian culture with it. However many of the businesses needed time to adjust to the Alsinan biology and psychology and were at first unsuccessful. Bastonian banks also saw the ADL as a point of interest. They started offering 'sneak national loans' for ADL politicians to take. The idea was for the ADL politicians to take loans to invest into the economy so it would seem like they were doing something and handling the economy well, while hiding the accumulating national debt.

The convoy undocked from the FTL checkpoint station after having refuelled and sold some goods there. The massive freighters make their way forward to their jump point with their White Star escort ships on their flanks and their shields up. The Royal Navy task force waited a system away. Vice-admiral Aphani, having little time to celebrate after her promotion, lead the newly formed Royal Dragoons fleet consisting mainly of three of the finest ships in the navy, the Sunrise-class cruisers HMS Raisonnable, HMS Fortitude and HMS Preserver. Her advisor was the Irri knight and former slave, Kha'Zuui, whom she had rescued in a similar raid. Her ships had been given a reserve of EMP and ion warheads together with the peculiar boarding pyramids which she assumed had been glued together moments after her task group had been formed. The last checks and preparation were done. Every marine on her ships stood ready for duty and every gun was in top shape. Now her ships lay ready.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

The Alsinans were more than happy to offload their slowly rising debt on some other suckers who, at the end of the day, will more than pay back whatever long-term consequences there are. Bastonian business increasing in the Alsinan public eye has generated much profits, though not enough to offset the recent launching of many, many more ships.

Seeing the seemingly undefended convoy, IDS F-3 drifted just into the sensory range of the Harthen convoy. Instantly, sirens began blaring aboard, and a sickly red light coated the interior hallways of these raider vessels. Normally, they would be bustling with multi-legged crewmates, but, given the extensive modernization IDS did to their AI mainframes, it's mostly silent sans the blaring of alarms meant for a crew which wasn't there for the most part. A few scuttling noises echo throughout the ship, all coalecing in one of the launchers aimed to board. sounds echoed through the hallways, reaching few's ear, as the blocky ships begin to turn their main armaments toward the freighters. A signal was sent out to these freighters.

//TRANSMISSION BEGIN//

IF YOU VALUE YOUR SAFETIES, SURRENDER ALL CARGO AND RETURN TO YOUR HOME PORT.

//TRANSMISSION END//

As this threat was sent, a single missile is sent off and just out of range of the defensive measures of the civilian vessels. It explodes into a confetti of small magnesium strips, which then catch fire and burn. A warning shot. Naturally, this aggression would never be ignored by the Bastonians...would it?

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
With more IPD nodes being introduced to the GBE infrastructure, the economy exploded. The efficiency of production and transport was massively increased. This increased the value of existing Bastonian companies in the ADL and introduced a whole new wave of companies, this time having a more significant focus on goods than services. They brought high-quality cheap goods. The shares of Bastonian companies exploded and they hoped to gain Alsinan investment as well. Additionally, the Inner Prosperity Party, with the agreements of the Multicultural Front, removed a couple of laws restricting foreign companies from producing items with the new IPD-infused industry.

// Transmission start //
"This shipment belongs to Harthen Shipping and is under protection by the Bastonian state. Surrender immediately or there will be a military response."
// Transmission end //
One of the escort ships, outfitted with interdiction generators set up an interdiction field, trapping the pirates.

Aphani received the message to go and immediately catapulted the Royal Dragoons into warp space. It would only take meer minutes for them to arrive.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

//TRANSMISSION BEGIN//

WE ARE NOT AFRAID OF MILITARY ACTION. AS YOU HAVE NOT SURRENDERED CARGO, YOU HAVE REJECTED OUR DEAL. MAY YOUR DEITY OF CHOOSING HAVE MERCY ON YOU.

//TRANSMISSION END//

As the "deal" from F-3 was ignored, battlestations are called aboard. The sickly orange and yellow hue of Alsinan thrusters glow brightly as the ships begin to turn, bringing their spinal armament to bear and firing on the convoy of Bastonian ships, aimed for the radiators. They weren't out for cargo, it seemed- they were out for blood, the blood of innocents.

boot_log
...
run process 001.7.555.4
enemy_identification- run process 79.00546
name_operation- run process 44.00605
...
name_operation "Operation Shattered Sword"
...
run process 55.6677.5423
...
analyzing...
...
enemy_interdiction- detected
err- plan invalidated
run process 67732.22
...
...
...
fire)E-77
fire)E-78
fire)E-79
fire)E-80
fire)A-15
fire)A-16

Of course, being in an interdiction field shaved off a large amount of advantage from F-3's plans, which were initially to rush in with the Akule-Class and batter the freighters with the heavy Casaba Howitzers while the other ships stayed at range and provided assisting fire. A new plan would be needed. The primary offensive batteries of the smaller ships, codenamed "E" followed by a number, have their projectile trajectories set, then fired. Same goes for the two main batteries of the Akule-Class, codenamed "A" followed by a number. This battle would be calculated, and cruel.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
Kha-Zuui couldn't help but notice how calculated her enemy was as she received updates on the battle. She looked out into the colourful wall of warpspace and contemplated. The slavers she had been taken by were not this organized or well-armed.

The discharged spinal payload put the freighters and mercenary escorts in a panic.
"Incoming fire!"
"Evasive action! Get those mercs on full ahead!"
The freighters and their escort ships scattered in all directions as the first shots whipped past. One spinal-launched shell struck the centre freighters' enormous cargo segment. It tore through the crates as if it were papers. Its goods were shattered and the front of the ship was snapped like a twig as another spinal shell hit an escort frigate that bashed its fore segment with such force that it exited the rear. As the ships scattered in different directions, their sides were exposed. The smaller enemy ships' batteries came like a storm onto their hulls. The merc escorts pushed themselves forward and raised their hardlight shields to shatter incoming projectiles. They opened up with a response of nuclear-formed penetrators. Meanwhile, a strong incoming FLT signature was bestowed upon the Alsinan ships. The exit point was in medium firing range from them and they were arriving in only 17 minutes.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

Fire. Reload. Aim. Fire. Reload. Aim. Such was the rhythm of the battle for these AIs. Capturing the cargo was secondary to sinking the freighters, to hurt the Bastonian influence as much as possible. Several of the smallest Alsinan AI ships were hit by the nuclear-formed penetrators, piercing through the thin hides of these small ships collapsing them in short order. No AI cares about "losses," however - simply a statistic lost and resource lost. As such the long-range assault continues, especially by the Akule-Class's main batteries and the tens of gauss cannon batteries set into the hulls of the ships. Evasive actions were baked into the AI's plans, keeping constant move and keeping a simple firing solution from being formed, forcing a slower rate of fire from the enemy. Fire, reload, re-aim, fire.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
17 minutes passed. Alsinan-main batteries bestowed devastating losses upon the mercenary fleet, not being able to handle military-grade equipment. Multiple frigates were down and the morale was shattered. The secret interdiction was struck by a gauss cannon. Its projectile parted flesh and steel and liquidated the computer systems and interdiction generators, crippling it for good. The remaining escort ships turned around in a retreat in the last minutes before the dragoons arrived.
THUD THUD THUD THUD Thundered out throughout realspace as reality was beaten and pierced. Arrived had three Sunrise-class cruisers and their support ships all in blue. Aphani felt the jolt of being thrown out of warpspace and brushed away the strains of hair that had just been thrown over her face. She didn’t hesitate to give the order to fire. However, the largest enemy ship, presumably the command ship, received little to no heavy battery fire. Instead all other pirate ships were met with a rain of nuclear railgun shells and missiles.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

Any living crew would be scrambling to escape the Sunrise-Class which arrived, clearly a contingent of the Bastonian's dreaded Royal Navy. However, no such rout occurred. Instead, the AIs aboard these "pirate" ships simply analyzed the new vessels. Of course, they were instantly identified as hostile, both due to the coloration and immediate opening fire. The goal was acheived, however, so the AIs had no reason to stay. FTL drives began to charge, especially among the Akule-Class and other destroyers, while the frigates remaining began to fire on the Bastonian vessels. Many were instantly annihilated by the initial alpha strike, however, so the remaining large units were exposed.

The various, massive missile banks on the Akule finally opened and released their payloads, tiny missiles which were able to reach incredibly speeds and overwhelm through sheer force of numbers. Only time would tell what the diversionary strikes would accomplish in the longevity of F-3 would be, but any outside analysis didn't look promising.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
PD corvettes flew forward with all guns blazing in all directions trying the lead the missile volleys. With near zero strike craft active and in space, the interception was particularly hard. A couple of missiles hit the HMS Raisonnable on the starboard side. The shaking almost knocked the Vice-admiral off her feet. Crates, remains of strike craft and crew were ejected out of the ship's side as air was sucked out. 'Damage control?' she said.
'Hangar bay 3 has been destroyed ma'am. We're venting atmosphere. Closing blast doors now.'
The Bastonians responded with a missile volley of their own, adding two torpedoes for each enemy destroyer.

'Picking up FTL signatures coming from the main target.'
'Interdiction up now. All particle beams launch a precision strike on that main cruiser. Try to get a read on their FTL drive location.' she said.
'Not possible in this time frame ma'am. We're firing blind.'
'Then stay clear of the bridge. Initiate firing sequence.'
Interdiction stretched out across the battlefield and the Bastonians threw themselves forward in pursuit, but it was unlikely that they'd be faster than the Alsinan ships. The fore gates swung open to make way for the spinal particle lances whose glow was growing brighter and hum growing louder. A jet of blue light protruded from each of the ships jaws and stretched themselves across the battlefield. Three particle lance jets from each of the cruisers all converging on the Alsinan-class cruiser faster than the speed of light.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48

"Hrgh...How long is this gonna take?!" the commander of F-3 shouts. Sure, all had gone exactly to plan sans the interdiction, but he was getting impatient. "Get rid of those damn Bastonians ASAP!"

"The AI is getting us the hell out of here, just get the fuck out of the range of the interdiction. We're faster than 'em." a bridge crew says back in return, plugging some basic parameters into the AI's console.

Alsinan artificial intelligence was quite dumb compared to other AIs had to offer, but it was extremely fast in its responses. It wasn't able to think on a strategic level or effectively predict an enemy's actions to any useful degree, but it was extremely efficient at replying to what the enemy actually did. With the Bastonians charging forth after the Alsinan pirates, thrusters were...cut?

"The fuck's it doin?!" the pirate commander would yell, baffled.

"Sir, it's encountered-"

A particle lance from the Bastonian vessels strikes at the aft engine bays, cutting them in half and severing many vital connections which kept the ship moving. Now, with only half engine power, the Bastonians would catch up in no time.

A few of the more distant Alsinan destroyers manage to reach the edge of the interdiction field and warp away, their forms stretching into space like noodles being formed from dough, redshifting out of sight to who only knows where. The remaining destroyers rush to protect their cruiser flagship, firing wild volleys into the Bastonian ships, all armaments launching to defend the central AI unit.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse
'Succesful hit!'
Vice-admiral Aphani held her arms behind her back formally, reminding Kha'Zuui how little she knew about Bastonian manners and form. She made a suggestion in her high-pitched voice that was surprisingly soft. 'May I suggest we fire surface-clearer missiles no knock out that cruiser's armaments.'
'Not yet.' Aphani responded. 'Get rid of those destroyers.' She ordered as fire went flying past them. They weren't at safe artillery distance now and every hit reminded them of it, striking against the ship's exterior and throwing around its insides. She was undoubtedly inside a metal grave surrounded by the cold vacuum. But at least she was in a heavily armoured metal grave. But she was reminded of her vulnerability the moment the destroyer HMS Sprinter had a shell graze its main hull but strike both main turrets and vent its ammunition and crew. However, with a couple of enemy destroyers retreating she felt confident in focusing firepower on the remaining destroyers and escorts.
'They likely do not have a large compliment of strike craft.' Kha'Zuui reminded her.
'We don't need them. No use in sending good soldiers into the gutter.'
'Our boarding action will not be without losses. We are in an engagement that requires sacrifice.' she explained.
'Very well. Fighter coordination, I want bombers and fighters out in a forward assault. Target their propulsion drives and get decoys and interceptor missiles for support. I want every potential enemy strike craft blown out of the sky.'
'Blown out of the sky. Roger that.' said the garbled fleet coordination officer over the comms.

Multiple wings of C-18 sky wardens and salamander bombers threw themselves out of the hangars and veered themselves out of the target with an army of decoy and interceptor missiles behind them. As they approached the cruiser's propulsion and weapon systems as their target, vicious e-war attacks were unleashed. ECM and comms jamming had been activated to support the assault.