Twilight was in her room looking over some video feed from the merchant starport. Despite the fact she was in a slight amount of trouble over the incident at the starport, it had so far been a good day. Up until now it was unclear whether or not it was possible to weaponize Sweetie Belle's ability. Twilight was confident it could be done if she could just trigger a strong enough emotional response.
She was admittedly disappointed when the scenario on the bus failed to do anything besides force the nearby ponies to shed a few tears when Sweetie Belle thought she had killed her friend. While it succeeded to provide a strong emotional response, it wasn't the one she was looking for. Inspiring sadness into the minds of enemy soldiers was hardly what Twilight could consider a devastating weapon. The recent incident at the starport however produced a much more satisfying result.
Twilight didn't really have anything in mind for Sweetie Belle by the time she reached the merchant starport, and was actually on the verge of discontinuing the experiment. After the scenario on the bus failed, she believed Sovereign no longer had a use and ordered Rain Sight to retrieve him. It wasn't very hard to track him down, the fool had left his wallet in the hotel room with the time and location of their destination.
A team of marine special forces was also en route to retrieve the potentially more dangerous Sweetie Belle, but something unexpected happened at that starport. For reasons still unknown, Sweetie Belle's emotions went widely out of control causing everyone around her to go into a violent rampage. That was what Twilight was looking for; she quickly recalled the retrieval team and instead watched the carnage. Sweetie Belle's powers did have a military application after all.
If the Dominion could harness that power onto a battlefield, the results could be devastating for the enemy. She could imagine hundreds of guardsmen and zerg tearing each other to pieces, entire armies bursting into uncontrollable violence. She just needed to find out what the emotional trigger was. What caused the normally calm and gentle Sweetie Belle to go into such a state of pure and unrefined rage?
She did notice Sweetie Belle was wearing her goggles, so either she was watching psychic discharges, or she was looking through the security cameras that were recording the fight between Sovereign and Rain Sight. There were a number of cameras in that office, and Twilight had no clue which one Sweetie Belle had hacked, so she had to watch each feed individually. Finally she found a feed that looked promising.
She fast forwarded to the moment right before Sweetie Belle lost control. Then she saw it, Rain Sight leaning in and kissing Sovereign. She checked the time of the two events over and over again, and everything lined up perfectly. Right when she saw Sovereign kissing another mare, Sweeties Belle's powers were unleashed.
"So you're the jealous type I see" said Twilight to no one in particular.
Before she could think any further on it, Admiral Hawkens, the director of Dominion Intelligence, had walked in. He was in brown earth pony stallion, in the usual all black uniform. "Vice Admiral Sparkle! What the hell happened at the starport?!" he asked.
Twilight turned off the video feed, then turned around to confront her superior. "What happened was a complete success sir. It appears my investment into Sweetie Belle has finally been vindicated. Now we just-"
"There were over thirty civilian injuries, and now two citizens are dead!" he yelled. "The media is calling it an act of psychic terrorism, and now DI's ability to keep Korhal safe is being brought into question!"
Twilight remained calm as she responded. "Admiral, two civilian lives and some bad PR will be a small price to pay when you get to present a devastating new weapon to the Emperor himself. It's not like the Dominion suffered greatly as a whole, one of the dead was just a vagrant anyway."
"The other was a child, who was brutally beaten to death by his own mother! Do you have any idea how bad that makes us look?" he asked.
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sir did you see that kids grades? He was going to grow up to be a vagrant anyway. DI just saved the educational system the cost of one future high school drop out. I'd call that public service if anything else sir."
"I'm putting an end to this experiment Vice Admiral. I want her found and retrieved for a complete memory wipe." he ordered.
Now Twilights face was starting to show real emotion. "Sir! She could be one of the Dominions greatest assets! You can't just-"
"It's done!" he interrupted. "As soon as we find her, we're bringing her back. And if I find out you've been withholding her whereabouts, I'll crank up your neural inhibitor and never turn it off." Twilight didn't have a response to that. As much as she would have liked to completely destroy his mind right now, like every other ghost operative, she was a slave to her inhibitor. "I'll take your silence as a sign of understanding" said the director as he left the room.
If Twilight had fists, she'd be clenching them in anger right about now. But she let her rage dissipate. The director was merely an annoyance, and her experiment would go on with or without Hawkens blessing. She turned the video feed back on, and looked at Sovereign and Rain Sight kissing.
The key to the puzzle was surprisingly simple, and yet incredibly complex.
All she needed to do was find a way to break Sweetie Belle's heart, to get Sovereign to willingly dump her. Or at least make Sweetie Belle think he has. While the situation at the starport was an impressive display, it was still only a minor show of power. Twilight would need something more drastic to unlock Sweetie Belle's true potential. Just as a moment of passion is what unlocked her current powers, another moment of passion would be needed to unlock her rage. Simply killing Sovereign wouldn't work.
Watching a friend die seems to only inspire sadness. What Sweetie Belle needs to experience is cold and brutal betrayal. Twilight was good with stallions, and would ordinarily do it herself, but her relation with Sovereign had turned sour since their last encounter. She would need someone else to drive a wedge between Sovereign and Sweetie Belle.
Tragically, with Hawkens keeping an eye out for betrayal now, her options were severally limited, and she had very few people should could count on. She needed someone who wouldn't betray her for a shot at a promotion. Someone whose only ambition and passion was, like her, strengthening the Dominion at any cost, even if it meant disobeying the orders of Admiral Hawkens. She knew just the mare for the job.
Another day, another round on the firing range. At this point, it almost seemed like a waste of Scootaloo's time. No one disputed she was the best shot in the cell block. She had just finished hitting twenty moving targets with pistols in both hands scoring a 100% accuracy. She reloaded her weapons and prepared for another wave of targets when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.
"That's pretty good shooting there squirt," said a mare from behind. "I think shooting more targets at the moment would just be a waste of rounds."
A mare?! There is another mare here besides me?! Scootaloo thought to herself. Scootaloo turned around and saw another female reaper. Scootaloo knew she wasn't the only one. Every now and then a female did complete her training, and a few of those mares even survived their first mission as well. But it wasn't very common for real reapers to come to the cell block to visit recruits. "Umm... thanks," was all Scootaloo could get out.
"How about you take a break, come hang out with the real reapers," she said.
"I don't think I can-"
"You're the warden's daughter aren't you? I'm sure he won't mind," the mare interrupted.
Scootaloo was a bit embarrassed by the comment. Apparently it wasn't just the cell block, but the entire Ice House who knew about her relationship with the warden. "Yeah but... I still have to hit the rest of these targets first."
The mare chuckled at her reply. She pulled out a pistol of her own and hit all of Scootaloo's targets, also with 100% accuracy, but in a significantly shorter time frame. "Whoa," was the only thing Scootaloo could say. Damn it I just said 'woah' like a little filly! Way to make yourself look like a kid in front of the veteran Scootaloo!
"Well I guess that takes care of your targets," said the mare. "They aren't moving that fast. Try hitting a target flying through the air with a jetpack while he is shooting back at you. That aside, your dad is the warden so you might as well make the most of it. I know I would milk it if it were me."
Scootaloo blushed. Great, now she thinks I'm milking it. But if I blow her off, she might take it as an insult, and I don't want to make a bad first impression with a real reaper. I'm sure dad wouldn't mind. It's not like I can get much better shooting at targets this slow anyway. "Ok... sure I'll hang out. Lets go."
"Good to hear it squirt. I'm Captain Dash by the way" said the mare.
She's a captain?! She's a captain and talking to me?! Ok, this is my chance to make a good impression. Maybe she'll request to have me put in her squad? Just play it cool Scootaloo, play it cool. Wait a minute! She just called me squirt... twice... damn it! I have to do something fast or that'll be my new nickname around here forever! "I'm Scoota-"
"Everyone knows who you are Squirtaloo. Let's go," interrupted Rainbow Dash.
NO NO NO NO! That did not just happen! Just play it cool squirts- I MEAN SCOOTS! Scootaloo thought to herself.
"Umm... squirt are you coming?" said Rainbow Dash who had already started walking.
Scootaloo ran to catch up, not even noticing she still had her pistols in hand. "Yes Rainbow Dash... Captain Rainbow Dash... ma'am!"
Rainbow Dash smiled and shook her head. She is just like her sister she thought to herself. "I'm off the clock squirt, just call me Rainbow Dash."
"Yes Rainbow Dash!" said Scootaloo. "Where are we going exactly?" she asked.
"Don't worry about it. Just trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near the firing range for the rest of the day." she replied.
The crew of the Radiance was silent, and a hint of nervousness was felt with in the Khala. Not too far in the distance was a Kel-Morian asteroid mining complex, guarded by Diamond Dog ships armed to the teeth. Starsong put up a tough front, but even with the emotional support of the Khala, he still felt some fear and doubt at the sight of the ships. Still, he had to press on with his mission. Seeker was the only one who had a chance at locating Sovereign, and when the Supreme Matriarch personally gives an assignment, you follow through or die trying.
"Captain eight raiders are approaching... weapons armed." said a crewmate.
"Missiles and chain guns again?" asked Starsong.
"No sir... cannons and torpedoes. They're ready this time." replied the crewmate. The situation was far deadlier than before. Their shields and hull wouldn't last long against that kind of firepower. Not to mention, further in the distance were five frigates, three cruisers and a capital ship carrying who knows how many fighters. Experience was also a factor. His crew only had one battle under their belt, while many of these mercenaries were veterans who have fought in the sectors numerous conflicts. All in all if this turned violent, chances were neither the Radiance or its crew would be coming out of this alive.
"Captain we're being hailed." said a mare.
"Put them through" said Starsong who did his best to put aside his fear. It was important he did not sound intimidated when he made his reply. Any sign of weakness could be interpreted as opportunity by the enemy.
A voice starting coming through the ships radio. "This is a restricted area. Under the sovereign authority of the Kel-Morian Consortium, all resources in this region are the sole property of the Diamond Dog Security and Mining Guild. You are to turn around and leave at once. Failure to comply will be perceived as hostile action; any hostile action will be repaid in kind."
Starsong cleared his throat and prepared to sound as diplomatic and confident as possible. "Actually we are here on official business" he said. "We have recovered some cargo that belongs to you, and would like to return it. We would also like to hire your services in helping to track a certain ship." If there was one thing he could count on, it was typical Kel-Morian greed. No Kel-Morian in their right mind would ever turn away free cargo.
"What is the cargo, and where did you find it?" asked the voice.
"We have ten crates of Celestia's tears. We got it from a trader who was attacked by some of your own men. They were attempting to kill your client, then take the cargo for themselves. We stopped your dissident brethren and accepted the payment on your behalf. We are returning the cargo to you." replied Starsong.
The crew on the other ship were laughing. If there was one thing ponies could count on, it was typical Khalai honesty. Only a Khalai would be stupid enough to return stolen cargo to its "rightful owner."
A silence fell over the ships bridge. After a few minutes, Starsong ordered another hail. "Diamond Dog vessel, do you read? Do you wish to conduct business?"
"One moment" said the voice on the radio. "Our CEO has taken interest in your ship, she'll be there shortly."
Starsong was now confused, and in all honesty scared. He didn't know anything about the Diamond Dogs before, but linking with Seeker gave him some information on this company. Their leader known only as "the Prophet" supposedly came to power by overthrowing the leaders of several small mining guilds and security firms, then reorganizing them into the DDSMG.
They were now on par with the largest security firms and mining guilds in Consortium space. The most disturbing thing he had heard was that somehow the Prophet did it single-handedly. Even so, if the CEO of DDSMG wanted to talk things over with them personally, then at least Starsong knew his offer was being taken seriously.
Unfortunately getting all the way to the Diamond Dog headquarters would probably take days, which meant their target was only that much closer to Dominion space again. Starsong was about to order another hail, but suddenly all of the screens on the ship shut down, as did the lights. The ship was now enveloped in pitch black darkness.
Then, out of no where came a female voice. "Where's the Prophet?" Starsong's horn started charging with psionic lightening in preparation for an attack. As he got out of his chair he heard, "HERE SHE IS!" as a pair of hooves wrapped around him from behind. It took everything he had not to scream, though his heart felt as if it were about to burst out of his chest.
The lights come back on and the hooves wrapped around him pulled back. He turned around and found himself face to face with a young looking pink mare in a black robe. She smiles at him and say's, "Hi! I'm the Prophet. Who are you? No wait don't tell me! I want to guess..."
Starsong wasn't sure if he should keep his mouth shut, or if he should answer the question for her. He was also rather confused as to how the Prophet boarded his ship. Before he could say anything she continues. "Oh I know! You're pirates! No wait, you're a mining guild! No! Youur ship is Khalai. I know! You're those jerks who blew up three of my raiders! That wasn't very nice! How would you like it if I just killed your friends hmmm!?"
Starsong again tried to speak, but again she interrupted. "I know how you can know how I feel! We'll recreate the scenario!" The Prophet quickly ran to the window of the ships bridge. The window was thick and built to take a beating during combat. Yet with only a gentle tap of her hoof, the entire window shattered. Immediately two crew members flew out and were sent into the vacuum.
While other Khalai were able to grab a hold of something, the Prophet simply stood by the shattered window, completely unmoved by the force of the escaping air. Just before the emergency doors closed, the Prophet put her hoof between the sliding doors. If anyone else were attempting this, the doors would have sliced their hoof clean off. Her hoof however stood strong, as if someone had just put their hoof in front of a house door to keep it from shutting.
The bridge continued to depressurize, and Starsong felt certain he was about to die. When the bridge was made completely devoid of air, she removed her hoof allowing the door to shut. One by one, the bridges crew fell to the ground and died. By now the doors and vents should have reopened to fill the room with air, but they didn't seem to be working at the moment. Starsong wasn't sure how or why, but something was keeping him conscious and alive, though his lungs did still feel like they were going to collapse.
The Prophet seemed completely unaffected by the lack of air on the ship. Instead she casually walked up to Starsong and said, "And now you know how it feels to lose a friend! It doesn't feel good does it? I know I didn't like it when I lost my friends. Oh I know! We can be friends! We both already have something in common because we both lost friends! You can never have to many friends right!? Do you want to friends huh?! Do you do you do you do you do you?!" she exclaimed as she bounced up and down excitedly.
Starsong didn't really see a way out of this, so he did the best he could to nod his head. The Prophet jumped into the air excitedly while singing
We're friends! We're friends! That's the choice I'd recommend!
The others met their end, so you have me now instead,
But it's ok because we're both friends!
Why am I not dead yet?! Starsong thought to himself. Even though he was feeling light headed to say the least, he still felt fairly certain that he would have rather died than have to listen to this crazy mare sing.
The Prophet stopped her singing and finally noticed that Starsong was on the ground struggling. "And as my first act of friendship with my new friend, I'm going to let you live!" she shouted. The Prophet clapped her hooves together and the doors and vents to the bridge once again opened, filling the room with air.
After taking a deep breath, he dared to ask the question, "Was that really necessary?"
"Oh who cares. They're all nameless background ponies anyway. You and I are the ones who matter here. What's a few dead ponies between friends right?" she asked.
Starsong had no idea what she was talking about, but clearly this mare was off her rocker. He did want to try to strike out at her for murdering his crew like that, but that would serve no purpose to the mission. Seeing no other logical course of action in this situation, he decided it was time to forward his request for assistance. "Well, since we are friends now, how about I give you a gift?" he said.
"Oh a gift! A gift! I love presents! What did you get me?! Huh Huh Huh?!" she asked excitedly.
"I felt bad for blowing up your... friends, so I decided to give you the goods you were owed. The ten crates of Celestia's tears." answered Starsong. "Also, they weren't your friends. They tried to kill your client and keep the cargo for themselves."
"They what?!" shouted the Prophet. Her voice was so loud that the room rumbled and all the remaining windows on the bridge shattered. Fortunately, the air didn't seem to force its way out again. The doors simply shut while the air stood still inside the bridge. "I can't believe that! I trusted them! How can I be friends with someone if I can't trust them! Losing a friends trust is the fastest way to lose a friend you know?"
"And I don't want to lose anymore... friends, which is why I'm giving it back. It's all in our hanger bay." said Starsong. "Though, since we are friends, I would like to ask something of you," he continued nervously.
"Well anything for a friend," said the Prophet. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't do favors for my friends right?" she asked.
"Right..." said Starsong. "Since we are friends, I was hoping you could use your resources to track a ship for us. They have a Dark Templar on board we need to either kill or-"
"You're going to kill a Dark Templar?!" interrupted the Prophet. "Well why didn't you say so silly! I hate those things! They're all such meanies! I'll give you anything you need, just find him and KILL HIM!" she demanded.
Starsong was going to give a bit more detail than that, but he figured it might be best not to look a gift horse in the mouth and just take the offer. "Well if you can give us any information you have on 'her' then we'll be on our-"
"Oh that's right! If you're going to find 'her', you're going to need some guys!" said the Prophet. She looked around the room at all the mares and stallions laying around. Some messier than others due to the result of explosive decompression. "Well not these guys, because you know, they're all dead. I'll get you some more guys ok?"
Sovereign was just going to use the ships gateway to have replacements warped in from Aiur, but something told him she wasn't going to take no for an answer. He needed a good excuse. "Well, only Khalai can use the technology on this ship-"
"Then I'll give you another ship! What's a ship between friends right?" she asked. The Prophet ran up to one of the shattered windows security doors and forced it open as if they were shutter blinds on a window. Despite the hull breach, the air stayed inside the ship just as it did earlier. "How about... that one over there?" she said pointing out the window.
Starsong couldn't believe it. She was pointing to the Capital Ship. She may have been a murdering psychopath, but he had to admit, she might have been the best friend he could ask for out here. "The Capital ship?" he asked.
"No silly! The fleet! I'll just send another one over here, it's no big deal. It's not every day we get to kill a Dark Templar you know? Oh I'll get to add another warp blade to my collection!" she said opening her robes. Aside from exposing her nudity, she revealed five warp blades on the interior of her robe.
"Hey you perv! Stop staring!" she said as she slapped him. Starsong figured this mare must really hate Dark Templar if she was willing to send an entire fleet after one. Unfortunately this also complicated matters. While his cover story was to kill or reclaim her to prevent her information from falling into enemy hooves, he still planned on using her to help track Sovereign. That would not be an easy task with a small fleet following him.
"Now, let's find that Dark Templar! Ooo I'll be just like hide and go seek!" (ha ha! Seeker get it?)
2748168 Ah, I've been waiting for this update. Pinkie is so good in this. She's by far the most intimidating character in the story thus far. And I'm surprised she hasn't taken over the sector with that kind of power
And the difference between a Capital Ship and a Cruiser is like a Leviathan Battlecruiser and a Minotaur Battlecruiser?
What's with the italics?
OH, and to end this comment.
http://dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw8952-This_pleases_me.png
2748588
I'll probably do a short story about pinkie pie this week before I start my job on Monday. Yes she is powerful, but there is one thing every seemingly immortal character in the sector fears. Think back to SC1. Who were the one group of dudes where if they killed you, it didn't matter if you could reincarnate, you'd stay dead. With that in mind, think about why Pinkie Pie would be so adamant about finding and killing Dark Templar whenever she had the chance? I'm sure you'll put two and two together. As for taking over the sector, any mare in the show who can cause mountains to crumble simply by shouting into a mega phone could probably overthrow Celestia if she wanted too.
A battle cruiser is actually a name given to a battleship that sacrificed guns for armor, but was about the same size. Battleships, battlecruisers and large carriers (not escort carriers) in real life are all considered battleships. A ship the size of say a leviathan was never really something you saw in real life (except maybe the yamato in WWII), but they are still referred to as capital ships. Though in some terminology they are also refered to as "dreadnaughts." Though many navies refer to dreadnaughts as capital ships as well. Simply put, the leviathan is still a capital ship, just a really really big one.
As for the italics... I forgot to put a /I in front of one of them. Made everything past it an italic, sorry about that.
2748840
I certainly hope you do. When I read what Pinkie did I was like.
I wonder what gave her this power.
There is a few critiques I have for this. All constructive and minor by-the-way. I, who don't know rocket science or space navigation, knows that for navigating something as dangerous as space you need redundant systems, backups and failsafes.
That the only backup for the glass, or transparent aluminum (whatever it is), was a metal plating sealing hatches is unrealistic. It took me two seconds to think of a backup for the backup, and like I said I'm not trained in thinking those kinds of things up. A force field that will keep things pressurized would have done the trick.
Also for a huge failsafe for all Protoss since the beginning of Starcraft 1 was that instead of dying a Protoss is teleported by their armor to the nearest safe haven. Why do you think you have Dragoons and Immortals. Also you'll notice this in gameplay. The units don't 'die', they disappear in a flash of light. You can read more about it HERE.
So Protoss tech wouldn't just let them suffocate to death, but instead if they passed out they would be teleported to the medical bay or something. It's basic Protoss lore as it's on their main wiki page, which the link above takes you to.
Like I said though I'm just giving constructive criticism so you can improve the story, and make it more authentic. I do love it and I wish more people would read it. I hope it gets featured.
2749651 I second this reaction , btw, I mus also second your statement about teh backup failsafes. All protoss ships have a field of plasma surrounding them
(example)
But about it, and the teleporting failsafe on protoss armor I have one thing to say here. These are not protoss here. They are just beings who happen to know how to use most of the toss tech, but not all of it. Things are different here than in the actual StarCraft universe. Another note on why they suffocated - okay, maybe they have that teleport failsafe installed in their armor, but the closest safe heaven in what I suppose are light years was the ship they were on. So they pretty much had nowhere to teleport.
On to the story.(talking to Unseen) I would really like a Lore chapter regarding Pinkie and how she got her abilities. Nice job on inserting her overly-friendliness into this. Oh and I understood where you were going with that group of people to whom it didn't matter if you reanimated. So I guess Pinkie here has this sort of feelings towards DTs.
(pinkie is the speaker, chetah is a DT)
2749651
Lets start with the windows. In case you were wondering, windows in space are made from diamonds. Industrial diamonds are actually (relatively) cheap, and easy to produce. I'd assume if humans with todays tech can do it, protoss could as well. As for the fail safe, you would never use a force field as a window face safe.
I want you to pretend for a moment you are designing a ship. The windows are always a vulnerability, and the ships bridge (as in real life) is typically exposed to give view of the battle field. Even with all the censor tech in the world, commanders still like to be able to see things with their own eyes. That said, force fields draw power from the ships power source. If you are designing a warship, you are designing it primarily with external damage in mind. Because odds are its going to take the majority of its damage from the outside.
Now if you wanted force fields on every window, that would require you to build portable generators on every window. That would make the windows even more vulnerable now having generators that can explode during combat, and now you can't seal them with steel shutters anymore because you used that room to install generators instead. Not only that, but unless you put in independent power generators along side the shield generators (which makes for even more volatile exploding windows), those window shield generators are drawing power from the ships main power. Protoss warships have internal pylons btw. That means that if your fail safe is a shield, drawing power from the pylons, who are also providing power to the ships engines, weapons, shields, as the ship takes damage, it has to draw power from the other systems in order to seal the breach, weakening the ships combat capabilities. And should external damage drain to much power from the ship (very possible), now those windows are open again. The alternative (solid emergency shutters) only need to work for a few seconds when they shut, and that's it. They don't continue drawing power from the ships combat capabilities, nor will they explode violently causing an even bigger breach. Even if the ship lost power to that section, the windows won't reopen like with the shield.
If you did want to put in both shutters and portable shields for that particular window, you'd have to make that window really big in order to hold both the individual generator, and the shutters. A bigger window is a bigger vulnerability. Not only would that be detrimental, that would also up the cost of the ship. Warships are built with the needs of an entire navy in mind, not just one ship (unless you're a billionaire who wants to own a warship for some reason). But if that generator exploded during external damage, you just blew out the shutters also. Yes, shields are used in launch bays in many science fictions, but those are for massive openings, not windows. Because those openings are so big, they can also put in solid emergency shutters along side the shield. But in those situations it's the shutters, not the force field, that acts as the fail safe. I know I brought up exploding generators a lot, but keep in mind we've seen protoss tech explode spectacularly before. You probably want to keep external explosions to a minimum, which is why you don't put generators on the outside. And when you do you armor it, you don't leave them on a something as exposed as a window.
I'm not a rocket scientist, but I was an electrical engineer in the marine corps and worked with generators. I know a thing or two about generators and their somewhat volatile nature. You can set fail safes to bypass power shut downs, so they'll continue functioning even after you shut off the machine. Seriously, you can hit the off switch, the emergency button, pull out the breaker, and they'll still keep running until you crack the thing open and unplug the power internally. I don't know how it happens, but it happens. Anyone who has worked with an 832 knows what I mean. That said, it wouldn't take to much power for a door to shut, compared to the amount of power needed to sustain a shield. Using power in this fashion is detrimental to the generator and will eventually damage it, which again is bad for the ships other combat capabilities.
As for teleporting back, it teleports back to the nearest safe haven with in range. They are deep in consortium space at the moment. In a ground combat, there is a good chance they teleported an entire base onto the planet, and they probably have a medical facility ready to rapidly teleport everyone on board. In fleets, they probably have medical ships, or perhaps capital size ships are so big they can maintain a working medical facility. We've seen how big protoss capital ships can be in that heart of the swarm mission when you infest the protoss colony ship. However as Kriss pointed out, there are no Khalai bases are in Consortium space at the moment. Also those were ship crewman, not warriors. They weren't wearing the battle armor with the emergency teleport on board. You can credit that failing to me for not mentioning it, but keep in mind most of the audience probably wasn't going to think about it. I felt breaking emersion of Pinkie Pies big scene to explain that they weren't wearing combat armor on the bridge... didn't seem like a good idea. Typically people on the bridge don't wear combat armor in real life. Plus its Pinkie Pie damn it, she's a forth wall breaker. If I interrupted her big scene for some techno babble, she'd reach out through the screen and strangle me.
Also, the teleporting safe suits isn't real lore. You used the wiki for that, but read the books. Its what you could call "gameplay lore." Like resurrection in blizzards other game world of warcraft. It exist in gameplay, but never in story. If it was in story, there would be so many problems that could have been solved. Why didn't the crew of the Koramund teleport out? They were in range, but instead we find a graveyard ship filled with corpses. Why didn't Zamara teleport out when she first died? She was in range because her ship teleported in. Why didn't the templar in scion just teleport out back to Antioch to help defend the city? They were in range. Why was Fenix body recovered from the battle field, rather than simply teleported back to a medical bay? He certainly was in range. It never happens in story. It's just like resurrection in warcraft, if blizzard mentions it in story, everything gets messed up. Its strictly for gameplay visual effect and holds no weight in any stories.
Also, keep in mind that the dragoon technology was lost when Aiur fell. The immortals are just the dying remnants of the dragoon survivors. This was explained back in the alpha and hasn't been updated to my knowledge, so it didn't really make any sense for me to put in any dragoon type units.
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As for first contact, keep in mind that was a fan made video. That is not what happened on Chau Sara or Mar Sara. Chau Sara was caught relatively off guard and was not protected by the fleet. When Mar Sara was placed under lock down, the protoss never engaged the terran fleet. As soon as they saw all those confederate battle cruisers, they turned around and high tailed it out of there. It never specifies why, but I'd assume it was because they felt wasting their fleet fighting terran was detrimental to their mission of exterminating zerg. They were probably taking a wait and see approach to see if perhaps the terran could handle it. When the terran ignored the problem and abandoned the world (because it was a weapons test to use zerg against the colonist), that's when the protoss struck, completely unchallenged by the confederates. This was later changed to say it only had one ship defending it, and tassadar pulled back because he felt sorry for the terrans. Doesn't really add up with the original in game lore, but take it for what it is.
Also a single protoss carrier probably can't take that kind of abuse from three BCs. Though in real life, that carrier probably wouldn't let its self get that close anyway. It would probably launch its fighters long before they got in weapons range and let the fighters do the heavy lifting. Though in lore, BCs do have fighters onboard as well. They actually have entire armies on board. Again, that was a fan made video, not relevant to lore. The second one Final Metamorphosis does a fantastic job with the lore, and gives lots of minor lore references.
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I'm going to get started after I finish my run and eat launch (which I'll do as soon as I finish this message). I'll either finish that lore update for the Confederacy, Pinkie Pies short story, or the next chapter. Probably next chapter, though I hope to get the other two done before Monday. Like I said, Monday I start full time job (only for the summer) and continue school.
That said, I'm off to eat now.
2751263 No, no, no. I think you kind of misunderstood. I don't think Brainstorm implied that each window has a shield, but the whole ship to have a protective shield. I just sent The First Contact as an example for the ship shields. Random note about lore. It was confirmed that the protoss fleet can beat another fleet(which is just as advanced as them) in a 15 to 1 scenario. So I am pretty sure that a carrier has a pretty good chance against 3 BCs. (Also if I my lore is correct, the protoss from the cinematic is Tassadar. And his capital ship was one of (if not) the toughest ship in the protoss fleet at the time. That thing could handle 5 BCs at minimum.) And dude, chillax, I am well aware that every self-respecting capital ship has a miniature army in itself.
Off topic - Congrats on getting a job mate. Hey, and don't worry. You are an extraordinary writer, a little lateness for you is forgiven.
In the games themselves the Terrans and Protoss seem to forgo frigates or corvettes, just Capital/Cruisers, fighters, support casters and dropships. While the only Zerg air unit that's bigger than a frigate is the campaign-exclusive Leviathan.
Maybe if it was more space-focused there would be more classes.
I also have a hypothesis about Terran strategy. We've mostly just seen the big ships like Battlecruisers and Hercules transports go to warp, the smallest being Kerrigan's ship at the beginning of Heart of the Swarm which we don't know whether it was customized or not (seemed to have little interior space). So the Navies consist of massive Battlecruiser or troop barges that carry a few active troops and fighters along with a packed up Command Center and maybe some other buildings, as well as several soldiers in cryostasis. When they deploy to a planet they launch the buildings and use their nanofabricators (which I know they have thanks to Egon's notes) to produce equipment and vehicles for the guys on ice. If they survive to redeploy they leave all the materiel they have no room for and re-freeze the survivors. I'd even surmise that the BC's and other large vessels fabbed on the battlefield are FTL-incapable, why else would the UED steal Battlecruisers from a Dominion shipyard if they could make them themselves? And how come Raynor's Raiders and Valerian's men only invaded Char with four BCs when just a couple missions earlier they produced dozens of them?
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First thing you need to realize, don't take anything in gameplay as lore. The game play isn't built to reflect lore, its built around balance (and possibly player complaints about things being OP, that's up to your opinion). The reason you don't see smaller ships is because blizz wants to only maintain about a dozen units or so each army. You know protoss had around 40 units developed in the alpha? Yet only twelve made it into wings. Again, take nothing in game as lore. Yes sometimes the lore can go hand in hand with gameplay, but that's a result of convenience more so than forced intent. They will never put lore before gameplay as far as the multiplayer goes.
The terran did not forgo frigates and cruisers. In fact, Mengsk first trip to Umoja was actually in a frigate sized "gun boat." There are dozens of ships in lore that you will never see appear in the multiplayer, that doesn't mean they aren't in the lore. That just means they don't want to balance that many units. In the cutscenes, you see the terran using wraiths like crazy, yet in game they suck. Terran naval tactics have evolved, they did not degrade back to the era of "biggest battleship wins." The BC is only in game for game play purposes. If it reflected lore, it would be so big it would cover up your entire base, and would probably rain fire from orbit. If things were reflected in lore, terran buildings would all fall out of orbit instead of seeing something like an SCV single handed build an entire base that supposedly has thousands of personal inside those buildings
The soldiers are not in cryro stasis, nor are they trained or armed in the barracks. The barracks is just a place to sleep. This was shown in one of the blizzard shorts stories where the dude sleeping in his cot was ripped to pieces because a couple zerglings slipped past the marines on watch. It was just described as a place with a bar, a mess hall, a recreation room, a small medical facility, and a number of squad bays where they could park their suits and get some rest. You also see it again in the starcraft ghost beta. Marines are deployed to the surface via means of drop pods and troop transports, not via barrack. The barracks is actually dropped in after the marines have established a foothold. Marines are trained at a boot camp, light-years away from the battle field, as described in Heavens Devils. Soldiers are not trained on site, nor are they geared on site. Despite Tycus suit, its actually a fairly simple task getting into the armor. The suits during SC1 took the average marine about 40 seconds or so, but the Sons of Korhal learned how to do it in as little as 8 seconds or so I think. The old suits had a larger opening around the head hole you crawled into and fit your arms and legs through the proper holes. The new suits are much more efficient. The torso area opens up allowing the marine to easily crawl in. Supposedly new marines can usually suit up in 20 seconds, and veterans can do it in as little as 5. The 20 second thing may or may not be a reflection of the "training" time in game where it takes a freshly trained marine from the barracks 27 seconds to exit the barracks. Perhaps an extra 7 seconds to get out of the bed and out the door? Can't confirm or deny that, but I like to think of it that way. Over all the barracks is simply a place they can supposedly take off their armor and get some rest.
You're right about the ships not being made on sight on the battle field. They are built in docks on worlds with the right facilities, and probably take weeks to build, while costing millions of tax payer credits/dollars/bits. Starports are actually huge compared to a barracks, and are not scaled properly in game. Remember the mission where you evacuate the colony by escorting trucks to the starport? That is a starport. Huge facilities used to make huge ships. You pretty much could have built an entire base on that thing, and that considered a "small" starport. Factories are also not the way they are presented in game. Remember that mission when you stole the Odin? That is a factory; a large one considering that's where the odin was made, though other factors are probably larger for the sake of assembly line. That facility was only working on one large unit, while say a tank factory probably would be many times larger to build and assemble all the parts. Remember that units/buildings in game are not to scale in lore.
You are correct about battle cruisers and troop barges. That's actually how it works in real life. In actual lore, those battle cruisers are huge, and far bigger than the command centers. They carry and deploy command centers and other structures from orbit. You are right to a degree about troops in cryo, but that is something that's only done for trips that would take years to make, like the UED expedition fleet. They do not keep troops in cryo because they wake up very sick and takes hours to recover, this is shown during the UED campaign, and during any of the short stories, you do see marines on the BCs not in stasis. There is really no need for that unless you are leaving the sector. We mostly see it used more often to hold prisoners for transport, because its easier than keeping them awake. The KS sector is big, but nothing that would take years to navigate, or warrant putting so many soldiers in a weakened state.
Most ships that are larger than fighters do have warp drive, it not just the BCs that carry them. Remember that that escort ships need to be prepared to protect the fleet at any time, and that would be hard to do if they are cooped up inside of a BC right as they were attacked. Like you said, Rynors ship had warp drive all on its own.
As for why the UED stole those ships, you are right again, they cant' make their own ships. Metzen said that the UED did not bring their "big guns" and that with the exception of the Alexander, they only brought BC equivalent to the Dominions. In truth, is to provide a convenient lore explanation as to why UED ships looked exactly the same as Dominion ships, but it was well thought out. The UED didn't want their best tech falling into the hands of the Dominion military, plus they planned on using the Zerg above all else. Up until Kerrigan united the sector against the UED invaders, the planned worked just fine.
And actually they used dozens of BCs to invade char. Look in the later cut scenes when the game ends. They were filling the sky. That was just those four around his particular flag ship for that particular cutscene, but there were plenty of other ships surrounding the planet elsewhere most likely.
Edit: I am still working on the chapter, but I'm in a moving car right now. I'm going to be in a moving vehicle for the rest of the day as I'm on a road trip at the moment. I get car sick if I write/read for too long, so this is taking a while. I'm confident I'll finish today, but it'll probably be out late in the evening. Sorry for the inconvenience; real life calls.
2751263
Okay I get it. It guess it just bothered me that nopony had thought, 'What happens if the 'windows' break and the hatches fail.' It's your story though so do with it what you wish.
You are right that not many would know that the Protoss had that failsafe teleport in their armor. I guess not many question why Zealots and High Templar don't leave a bloody mess like Terrans and Zerg do when they die.
You certainly know more about mechanics than I do, and like I said I have no clue when it comes to actually designing such systems.
Keep up the good work. I look forward to the next chapter.
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Well deep space is a dangerous thing. Even with todays technology we still don't have much of a solution to the problem posed by the vacuum of space. That said, I don't think protoss worry about it. They seem to survive just fine in space using only a breath mask. Even Dark Templar walk around in space just fine in their robes using just a mask. I think their bodies are tough enough to survive the vacuum. I know human bodies get ripped to pieces in the vacuum of space from supposed explosive decompression, but Zerg bodies handle it just fine. And the average protoss warriors seems to be made of tougher stuff than the typical zerg. I'd wager protoss don't have to worry about something like that, while ponies of course would still be torn apart. Oh well, its all good. I hope I didn't come across hostel or anything.
The next chapter is done, I just need to proof read it now. Sorry it took so long, I fell asleep in the car trying to sleep of the car sickness. I still have to read it though >.> Going from northern Oregon to southern California at the moment. I just got word today my aunt has cancer, so I had to leave in the afternoon. We'll be stopping soon I think, so I'll try to get it posted before I got to bed.
Edit: Epic fail, I missed the date by mere minutes. Which means if I update later today, it won't front page. Not necessarily a bad thing, that just means I must spend the 21st writing something else. Probably that Pinkie Pie short story. I'll try to do her justice, but she is a hard characters to work with believe it or not.
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With something you need to realize is that any "dome" type shield, like you see in in game animations, is just bad science. If there is some kind of field of physical energy surrounding a ship/structure, it needs to have some kind of emitter and receiver to give it shape. A field of energy doesn't just expand into a dome around the ship, then stops expanding when it becomes convenient. Truthfully, it would just expand until it dissipated and could no longer protect the ship, and would probably rip the ship apart as it expanded if the shield originated on the inside. Further more, that kind of a shield would not allow the ship to fire weapons. It keeps attacks out but not in? That again is just bad science. There are some good scifi's that do a much better job of explaining their shield systems. In fact, the terran defense matrix was explained in such a way.
In order for a shield to actually work, you would have to have a number of different devices that emit their energy to one another covering the surface of the ship, thus forming the shape of the shield. As I said, without something to dictate when and how the energy field stops expanding, it would just expand until it dissipates. The generator I would imagine is deep beneath the ships hull, but the emitters would just barely poke out of it. If you had say four emitters, they would send energy out in a square like shape, and form a square of shielding over a portion of the ship. Having multiple emitters makes multiple squares like that, creating a grid of shielding conforming to the ships shape. The exception to this would be around weapon ports; those would remain unshielded because those ports need to be able to fire. In the game decent free space, you're actually encouraged to fire at weapon ports on large ships because they have less plating and no shielding, which makes perfect sense if you think about it. I've never read exactly how protoss shielding works (blizz doesn't really put much thought into their science), but I did read how the terran defensive matrix works. The science vessels defensive matrix sends a number of small robots that surround a friendly unit to form such a grid that I just described. It offers all around protection, but leaves openings around the weapon ports. Eventually they lose power (they aren't sustained by an external power source, so their internal supply would only last a minute or two) and die out on their own. This is used on many scifi's, which is why on certain shows/movies you'll hear the term "forward shields are down." Why are the shields on the front of the ship down if the rest of the ships shields are just fine? That's because the emitters forming the grid on the front are blown out or recharging, while the emitters on the rest of the ship are undamaged. I can imagine that protoss shielding works the same way, though on a much more precise level. Protoss shielding is pure speculation (thank you blizzard), but I like to think they have hundreds or even thousands of tiny crystals that act as an emitter, giving a much more precise form to the shield. The reason you see the dome shield in in game animations is probably because rendering a different shaped shield effect for every single unit in the game would take forever and hurt game performance.
Of course if that is the case, then yes, there are shields surrounding windows. But remember that when Pinkie Pie entered the room, she shut down all the lights and computers on the bridge. So if such emitters were outside the windows, they would have also shut down. As I explained the shutters though, emergency systems like that work on a separate bypass, so as long as the generator is active, they'll never shut down unless you open them up and manually disconnect them.
The short story and next chapter I write will explain pinkies power in more detail, but I'll say this much. Although her abilities are limited, just about anything she knows (or at least perceives) is truth, she can make reality. In her mind, everything on that bridge was on a clapper. That's why she clapped her hooves to turn it back on. The reason she can control this power is because she is the perfect level of insanity. No sane person with pinkies power could do what she did because they no matter how much they lie to themselves, they know they need air to live. Pinkie, as we've seen in the show, is completely convinced of her logic, or lack of logic. She knows for a fact that the need for air is simply a self imposed inconvenience. You can argue with her all you want, and show her the scientific data, but she still knows she is right. Just like she knows for a fact she can fit her entire body inside a bowl of sponges, or that she can hide inside of a mirror.
She also knows that gravity is an illusion? check the 21 second mark.
Don't forget her ability to teleport across the map instantly.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=vp39ylab7uQ&feature=endscreen]
Ok I can't get that one to work, but you know what I mean.
As to how she got her power? I'll explain that tomorrow I hope.
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I never found that thing that said a protoss fleet can beat an equal fleet in a 15 to 1 scenario.
Also being a flag ship doesn't really make a ship anything special, other than the crew on board. It might have a extra armaments, but probably not enough to take on five BCs minimum (not sure where you get that number). It probably out matches one standard capital ship in single combat if it has special modifications, and possibly two because the crew is probably among the best in the fleet. But it would not hold up against three enemy capital ships just because its a flag ship. Even with extra armaments it's still a single ship that would be pounded on and blown to pieces rather quickly if it was that heavily outnumbered.
I find myself mildly bothered by things like Twilight being a psychopathic Ghost Trainer and pinkie pie being a crazy 4th wall powered 'priest' of all things... Their bits of 'crazy' still fit at least, but 'damn'!