State of Pleiades - Vanguard
06 Apr 2018Commander-Wingnut
One week ago:"Commander Wingnut, your assignment has come through.
Your client will once again be AEGIS Research.
You are to liaise with Compatriot Iris Callahan on behalf of the Federation, running logistics and the occasional Thargoid interdiction."
"Thargoid? Where are you sending me this time?"
"You're going to the Maia system in the Pleiades Nebula to meet with the AEGIS Megaship 'Vanguard.'
But be warned, there are extraneous factors at play that may influence your mission."
"What kind of factors?"
"It's ... complicated.
Callahan will brief you once they've made their jump to the Mentor system.
Be sure to get up-to-date on GALNET on your way there.
You have two hours before the Vanguard departs for its next stop."
--:-:--
GALNET News Wing (WINGNET)
Anti-Thargoid Megaships Deployed by Aegis
31 MAR 3304
Aegis has constructed two megaships, the Acropolis and the Vanguard, to help counter the Thargoid threat.
The announcement came from Admiral Aden Tanner, who explained the ships’ purpose:
“It is vital that Aegis has a military presence in the theatre of conflict. These new ships will coordinate anti-Thargoid operations wherever they are deployed, and will support independent pilots.”
“In response to recent Thargoid incursions, the Acropolis has been dispatched to the Lunguni system, while the Vanguard is operating in the Mentor system. However, their key advantage over a starport or base is their mobility, so both will periodically relocate to wherever they can be strategically effective.”
Admiral Tanner went on to stress the importance of the development:
“Constructing these two gigantic vessels was a considerable undertaking for Aegis, but we are convinced the expense and effort is worthwhile. Our remit requires us to occupy a guiding role in the resistance against the Thargoids, and these megaships will bring that into focus."
--:-:--
GALNET News Wing (WINGNET)
Aisling Duval Criticises AEGIS
05 APR 3304
In a public interview, Princess Aisling Duval levelled criticism at Aegis in relation to the ongoing Thargoid conflict.
“The people are scared,” she said. “They fear that their way of life – their very existence – might vanish unless more is done to protect them. I’m not convinced Aegis is capable of doing so. The Empire has invested heavily in the organisation. Are we sure the other powers have done the same?”
“It has taken far too long for Aegis to determine why the Thargoids are attacking, and it’s not clear what their strategy is now. If we are to trust them to defend humanity, we need to see more obvious progress.”
Although Princess Duval has received some support for her viewpoint, The Federal Times offered a sarcastic rebuttal:
“Apart from undertaking scientific research, developing defensive systems, producing anti-Thargoid weaponry, creating the Eagle Eye surveillance network, building two military megaships and actively engaging Thargoid forces in combat… what has AEGIS ever done for us?”
A media spokesperson for the Alliance was equally dismissive:
“This is nothing more than public posturing – an attention-seeking gambit from someone who is no longer as newsworthy as she once was. AEGIS has made incredible breakthroughs, and is clearly dedicated to ending the Thargoid war.”
--:-:--
Today.
"Commander, Compatriot Callahan sends her sincerest regrets concerning your position. AEGIS' influence in the system has been completely overridden.
Interstellar Factors has informed me that this is likely due to the influence of rogue Commanders aligned with Imperial values.
This places us in a very awkward position. Regrettably, you will not be able to complete missions nor collect rewards through the Vanguard operations crew directly.
Instead, you will have to help AEGIS re-establish their independence by working with local system authorities."
--:-:--
Wingnut could not believe what he was hearing. There were Commanders out there, clearly, who were the 34th-century equivalent of social justice warriors, star-spotted Princess-watching snowflakes who clearly disagreed with the steps being taken to protect the human race from the threat of extinction.
They were determined to see AEGIS crippled and powerless, a few seeking a moral high road instead of the survival of the many.
What had this empty-brained mouthpiece ever contributed to those enormous effort to fortify the Bubble?
If the Empire had even one Thargoid kill to its name, one escape pod salvaged from a burning starport, one measly life saved by a rubber tent and bottled water, Princess Aisling Duval could not even take the credit for that.
Wingnut, on the other hand, had defended more than a few Federal Gunships as they came under fire from Scouts, and had even held off a Basilisk long enough for one to escape.
That had cost him at least a year off his life from the scare factor alone.
Had the Princess ever known fear, safe in her lofty space palaces and remote vacation planets?
--:-:--
When INRA's research had been discovered, the Princess cried out in protest and sicced the ethics watchdog on the galaxy. Her army of smitten followers rioted, attacking authorities in "pro-human" systems with all of the venom of the extra-galactic invaders and none of the common sense.
When AEGIS had adapted the mycoid fungus research and developed technologies to fight the Thargoids on equal terms, she had wailed about inhumane treatment of the specimens on which these experiments had been conducted.
When the Thargoids first began attacking in the Pleiades, she was the first to withdraw Imperial forces, leaving the Federation with no choice but to do the same.
--:-:--
And as those attacks intensified, the same Princess perched upon her throne, safe in Cubeo, and ignorantly preached the virtues of turning the other cheek.
And when wiser minds patiently tried to explain that those lives would have been lost anyway, her response was; "We don't know that. If AEGIS had simply left the system in peace, the Thargoids would have had absolutely no reason to remain."
He knew. He had seen them. He had killed them.
He had been close enough to smell their ammonia-based blood - helping the ground crew scrub the caustic oils from the hull of the Serial Peacemaker had left a distinct pong of cat urine and diesel fuel in the back of his sinuses, that never quite went away.
Even here in Mentor, only a few scant light-years away from the outskirts of the Bubble, reports of Thargoids of all kinds were coming in from neighboring systems.
The enemy was not just at their door, but doing their best to bang it in - the alien menace was not just going to float away, just because some blue-haired bint in a fancy prom dress stamped her foot and cried said "This is offensive!"
--:-:--
And at the back of Wingnut's head was always the possibility of an attack on Colonia, resulting in a second front from the direction of the Neutron Highway.
That was still a strong possibility, to which many indicators (namely the sudden appearance of AX weapons in the markets of Colonia) still pointed.
--:-:--
And now this - everywhere the Vanguard (and the Serial Peacemaker) went, these anonymous Imperial sycophants followed, interfering with its operations and influencing the local system authorities against AEGIS.
All Wingnut could do, aside from the basic grocery run for the Vanguard crew, was stockpile and deliver tonnes of emergency evacuation shelters - as the bodies kept piling up and the refugees kept massing.
All Callahan could do was shrug her shoulders and refer him once again to the Mentor authorities for more pointless busywork. Without their support, AEGIS' presence in Mentor counted for nothing.
Something had to change.