Quazar

Vanguard Fleet, is Earth's own military forces, separate from Galactic Command. True to our name, we're advancing, in budget and influence, past Galactic Command to the tip of the spear - as evidenced by our recent in-character forum activity - and rapidly eclipsing the 'default alliance' as the dominant Terran power. Join Vanguard Fleet today!

Read this. To join this Fleet, just post here, in the thread you're reading right now. If I say you're in, you're in. Welcome to Vanguard Fleet! To stay in, just post a few times a year where I tell ya: 1) once a month in the current month's roll call thread (or start one if I drop the ball) and 2) at least once per year in the RP forum. Initiative goes a long way with me. You wanna move up fast? One way's to start a new month's roll call thread before I do. That means you too, Tek.

Now that's more like it. No more FleetDB red tape to tangle with! And ShoHashi updated my faq (nice job, Sho). Just so we're clear: Prime Fleet Leader: Kalshion Vanguard Fleet Leader: me Insurgent Fleet Leader: ShoHashi Other FLs will be counted here once they issue roll calls in their forums, or we'll take appropriate action. Don't worry though, you'll get plenty of notice. ShoHashi is our boss OOC only. What he says goes for all Fleets. Derek is his boss. Not sure how the seven fleets interact? Who's Who's ally and enemy? Etcetera? Read the faq. What do Fleets do? We play Derek's games online (I personally don't have the rig for it though) and we simulate his unique game setting in the simming forum. Got any more questions, this is the thread to ask.

[RP] Over the last few in-game years (the mid 3030s), the UFN has been steadily expanding Earth Command's budget, while keeping Galcom's largely unchanged (I'd say because Galcom members IRL haven't been role-playing with us for years now). The conflict between the Zelons and Credians over the ancient artifact (the one referenced in the alien races appendix of the UCCE manual) has escalated nearly to open warefare. Knowing they lacked the resources for a sustained confrontation against their neighbors, the Zelons turned the other direction, to Galactic Command, for help. The research and defense alliance of Terrans, Empirians, and Vesperons rejected the Zelons' application for membership on the grounds of not wanting to involve its member nations in nation-to-nation affairs outside of the Terran Quadrant. Many Terrans actually supported Zelon membership in Galcom but the UFN's decreased budgetary participation in the alliance meant that the Empirian Supreme Command and Vesperon General Assembily prevailed in the vote to reject Zelon admittance into Galactic Command. Indeed, the UFN's delegates to Galcom were quite split or undecided in the matter. But over the next several months, rumours and a few confirmed reports filtered across the north half of the galaxy stating the Credians were committing attrocities against their weaker neighbours. Terran public opinion changed from split or apathetic to supporting the Zelon cause. After lobbying the UFN, and inturn the UFN's appeal to Galcom, the Empirians and Vesperons once again voted down any change to current Galcom policy of non-interference. So the Terran government decided to go it alone, and Earthcom began actively pursuing talks with Zelana. Last week, Vanguard Fleet's Intelligence & Special Operations wing, known as ISO, learnd that ISS Fleet's CIOPS may be suppressing reports of a completely unrelated military buildup in Credian territory. Did the the Credians have other invasion plans, beyon Lanix V? ISO had tasked 'the man' to recruit ShoHashi, Shingen, canshow and other individuals not in Galcom to infiltrate ISS Fleet HQ and find out. And this, of course, was one motivating factor in Earthcom wanting to ease tensions with the Insurgents (hence the proposal cited in my first post). [/RP] Anyone else is more than welcome to jump in a any time.

[RP] Terrans had always been natural explorers, many drawn to the vast expanse of open space. After first travelling faster than light in the 22rd century, they soon charted Earth's nearest stellar neighbour Proxima Centauri. What they found, in addition to the triple binary highlights visible from home, was a whole host of planets, both gaseous and solid, with moons, comets, asteroids, and Oort Cloud-like structures that rivalled the ones already catalogued in Sol in quantity, diversity of orbit, and especially beauty. However, just as humanity had once suspected Mars to contain intelligent life in the twentieth century, then proven wrong, Proxima Centauri also yielded no signs of life, not past or present. So humanity expanded its search for extra-solar sentience. They built on their faster-than-light designs to yield temporal-dampening travel velocities through a new type of hyperdrive that would retain its basic design through many centuries of use. These ever increasing velocities served to bring that next star just a little bit closer with the passing of each year's engineering discoveries in propulsion. Thousands of planetoid finds around stars such as Lalande 21185, Ross 248, 61 Cygni, Kapteyn's Star, and Wolf 424 (to name a few) all came up dry - no life of any kind. Ship speeds continued to climb and more starsystems were charted. Near the close of the 29th century, the statistics and probabilities finally caught up with the data collected thus far. Our galaxy contained over 700 billion stars (which was way up from 21st century estimates) not just 26 starsystems. The probability of finding life of any kind (past or present; sentient or not) was always slim. But chance and likelihood have got to come back to bight you eventually. Terrans discovered Empirians by flying in hyperspace all the way to their system. Empirians then said they'd visited Terrans and other races through a network of jumpgates [which we know out of character was built by the Galaxans]. They showed ECV Seeker a wormhole in their system leading back to Sol. Terrans later went on to discover all other currently known alien races by exploring this jumpgate network. Upon discovering the wormhole leading back to Sol, ECV Seeker's commander named the Empirian system Alpha Centauri in honor of Proxima Centauri, Sol's nearest neighbour at only 3 and a half light years distance. But they were not the same. In fact, hundreds of light years (at least) separated EVERY starsystem from its nearest neighbour on the jumpgate network. So the Empirian home system was actually hundreds of light years away from Sol. This meant wormholes and fluxfields connected points hundreds or thousands of light years apart. Jump Points, on the other hand, only connected planets within a single starsystem. By the 31st century, ships of all types had gotten fast enough that NOBODY now used jump points, but they still used wormholes and fluxfields. Earthcom had recently developed or otherwise obtained new designs for the current design of hyperdrive that'd make wormholes no longer necessary either. While jump point distances could be covered by sublight engines within hours, this new hyperdrive could cross the whole galaxy in about 6 months, or traverse the average wormhole distance in a matter of days. It also opened up the opportunity of exploring the dozens or hundreds of starsystesm between, for example, Polaris and Lanix V. This new design was mostly just a reconfiguration of current propulsion systems already installed on Insurgent craft, indeed most craft period. Insurgents or any alien government could develop a similar design themselves. But Earthcom planned to offer to save the Insurgents a lot of time and get a head start over other competing interests. This was just one bargaining chip Earthcom had to offer the Insurgents. Another incentive was the UFN would grant all Insurgent members full and unconditional pardons for any past action, alleged or confirmed, against the UFN. But why? What could the UFN possibly want in return from its age old human enemy? Since the end of the Second Gammulan War, the Insurgents had moved further from Earth, instead of trying to capture it, as they'd originally planned. They now seemed to exist as a second Terran nation, harkening back to Earth's multi-national days before the UFN. A few weeks ago, Vanguard Fleet had sent 'the man' to meet with ShoHashi to make this offer: Leave us alone and become your own nation. And we'll pardon you and make your ships faster. He had booked passage aboard a freighter bound for New Frontier and had recently arrived on the station. 'The man' now stood in the huge launch bay, big enough to enclose the whole transport craft. He was dressed in civilian garb, not undercover, just a lower profile. He now waited his turn behind the transport's other vendors and passengers to be screened by Insurgent security and admitted to the station. Through a window/forcefield partitioning this from the adjacent launch bay, the man saw a battered Solnar cruiser coming to rest. Who else might be here? he thought, as his turn with Security neared. [/RP]

NP, canshow. You're onboard now! We need one more person! Ben? Anybody from Galcom?

Ben, I'm in a similar position and can't play the newer games. What's there to chat about, Derek? RP of course - the foundation of the fleets! Anyone seen Gallion, TC McQueen, Bad Mojo, Pandora, and those types recently?

Alright, Sho's interested! Thanks for the cleanup, btw. Now if two more users post their interest in playing a new RP in this thread before sunday aug 23, then I will look into a new RP mission.

Now to reiterate: If Sho, Tek, and canshow, and/or any three users post their interest in playing a new RP in this thread before sunday aug 23, then I will look into a new RP mission. BTW, I've now advanced my sig rank sufficiently for the moment.

Boy you guys know how to pique my interest. Note: I will advance my rank in my sig each time I post until I find a happy level. Where have I been, Sho? It's complicated, PM me if you want to know more. So canshow, you wanna go?!? Tek? Sho? What about you two? Care to write another venture in the stars with me?

Hm, a topic about me? This board only e-mails me about replies to topics I've already subscribed to and about PMs (I wish I could customize/extend what generates a notification). That's why I did not see this topic until now. AD&D here at 3000ad? I da'know. Turn-based RP is not really my thing, Tek. But that sure would shake things up a bit. Give it a try! For the latest on me and what I've been up to, anyone can send me a PM. Oh and thanks for the thread canshow. Made my day!

You're welcome, Tek. Nothing to forgive. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the story. It was a lot of fun for all of us.

Rodger that! Wow, did I just salute an Insurgent?

Merry Christmas!

I'd like to formally wrap this up and thank players and readers alike for your participation. A follow-on story is in the pipeline. Anyone is welcome to beat me to the chase and post a new thread before I do. 'Till next time!

ICC does not have e-mail notification. Nevertheless, I have posted my response to the dec '08 meeting there. PM Sho if you can't find/access it.

Discussion continued from thread Insurgent Central Command. Insurgent links update: http://www.digitalequinox.com/icc/ - Scrubbed as of a week or two ago. http://www.digitalequinox.com/ - Alive and well but not directly affiliated with 3000AD. Check out Eclipse's web and graphic design services! http://www.freewebs.com/shohashi/ - Older version of the Insurgent pages, still works. http://members.fortunecity.com/andergum/ - Good description of Insurgent ranks and other useful info. This one's a keeper! I plan to discuss how Fleets can use web presence in an upcoming FL meet. The Insurgent message board can currently be found at http://s4.zetaboards.com/Insurgent_CenCom/. You must register and login to view that board. Come join the discussions.

Update posted to Pinboard thread.

Check ICC.

Hi Echo!! That's good news indeed.

Nice After Action Report, Mano! You should try RP.

I work in retail and will be up and out the door about two hours before we open. And yes, someone's probably going to have issues like this. Good times!!

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 I wish everyone a heart-felt Happy Thanksgiving.

I copy that, Sho. Denny, thanks for passing along Kal's message!

Now look who's thirtythree? To Ben Zwycky!