Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

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Shane
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Shane »

Star Fleet: The Council of EvilPrologueIn the deep cavernous chamber below Gelma 2, all was dark, all was still.On the surface a titanic battle was being fought by two giant metal warriors, both intent on destroying the other. One fuelled by revenge, the other by justice.This had not been the first galaxy changing confrontation this day, though. Indeed, the battle prior to this one had been similarly brutal, but the stakes then had been the universe itself.One of the mechanoids, now fighting for its life, had been victorious against the great Omni-beast and had sent it back inside its prison which in turn was returned to the bottom of the great chasm.The so called Temple of the Ancients now resided in the dark stillness a mile below Gelma 2. The cosmic evil that was trapped within its walls screamed, but no sound was heard. It screamed once more as a small sphere of light suddenly appeared over the temple and gradually grew in size. Like a balloon filled with too much air, it reached its structural limit and exploded in a flash of white light.When the darkness once more returned a glowing sailing ship had been deposited and hovered above the temple.The Omni-beast continued to scream at this new occurrence. If one could hear the screams inside the temple and were able to comprehend the Omni-beast's ancient language it would translate thusly:'No! Not now! Not The Great Skull!'



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Shane
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Shane »

Chapter 1ETERNAL CONQUESTDeep within the Vodax system on a world known as Zeon the final part of a system wide military campaign was taking place. Zeon was not so dissimilar to Earth in many ways. It was the closest planet to its sun that was able to sustain life due to a natural atmosphere. And it too had evolved into a hi-tech society that in time was able to colonise other planets and moons within its own system. To its credit, it managed to resolve its cultural and political differences without ever feeling the need to atomise itself at some point during its history, which is quite rare as nuclear holocaust is a common thread shared by many worlds in countless star systems across the galaxy.Unfortunately this meant that its society was unused to conflict of any kind. It still maintained a small army, but it was largely untested. until now...In the blue skies of Zeon swarms of advanced Imperial Alliance fighters locked horns with Zeon’s air force. The Zeon fighters were beautiful works of art; like silver birds soaring high in the sky. However, despite their pleasing aesthetics, they were no match for the Thalian invaders who cut them to ribbons with energy beams and laser missiles.The seemingly never ending stream of imperial fighters were being launched from a large carrier craft which hovered over the capital city of Zeon. This was a Centikaar class vessel of the Imperial Alliance navy: a super carrier. Not as heavily armed or agile as a Kathaar battle cruiser, but what it lacked in ship mounted weapons it made up for in the massive amount of carriers, fighters and hover tanks it had stored in its vast innards. An Imperial officer could undertake a system wide invasion with this vessel alone, which is what had transpired.Captain Zeeth checked his holographic tactical display. ‘This was almost too easy.’ he thought.He had been free of the Imperial master’s control for a year now, but very little had changed. He had conquered planets before he was implanted and he was doing the same now that he was ‘free‘.It was what he did! No matter the affiliation.His centipede implant was now nothing more than an ornament that slept on the left side of his face obscuring his eye. Its job as receiver and controller had been suspended.Zeeth wore the garb of a Truvian military officer, but with a few Imperial Alliance accessories such as a face mask shaped like a sneering face and a robotic left arm.He was a master tactician and rarely got his hands dirty if he could help it. He was no coward, he just felt it was tactically unsound to get personally involved in matters of war. That was what termoids were for.He had spent his year of freedom conquering star systems; it was a game to him. He would only destroy military targets though, so maybe losing Imperial influence had softened him a little. He would not have hesitated wiping the entire capital out if under the control of the Imperial Master. As it stood he was happy to pick off Zeon’s air force and infantry one by one with fighters, tanks and termoids rather than resort to bombing the capital into the stone age.Very soon the defending forces were no more and with victory in their grasp, the Imperial forces returned to the carrier craft.The giant centipede shaped vessel eyes glowed as it projected a giant image of Captain Zeeth which started to speak to the intimidated civilian population below.‘I am Captain Zeeth. Your brave military forces have been crushed, but take heart in knowing that I am a sportsman and so you: the citizens of this world will escape with your lives. You will however bear the shame of this defeat forever.’The hologram disappeared and the giant carrier craft began to slowly turn around to the relief of the people below.Onboard the Centikaar, Zeeth felt a brief feeling of pride for another job well done which soon subsided as the hunger for a new conquest rose once more. He looked for some more potential systems to conquer on his holographic map, but while doing this he felt a familiar presence sweep over him as his implant’s eyes once more lit up and a thunderous voice came through its sonic emitter.‘Captain Zeeth!’ said the voice of the Imperial Master, ‘I have returned! The time for playing games is over. Return now to the Thalian Zone; I will provide you with a real challenge.’‘Yes Imperial Master!’ said Captain Zeeth.Zeeth was in no way weak minded, he could have possibly fought for control of his mind for several seconds, but he was always one of the more content ‘conscripts’ of the Imperial Alliance. He saw the cybernetic implants as beneficial and tactically sound. What’s more, the Imperial Master’s return meant galactic war was on the horizon. How could he miss out on that?His implant, therefore, had very little to do compared to other symbiotic officers in the Imperial Alliance. It was a control mechanism: a two way receiver with the Imperial Master, and a way to suppress and enhance certain emotions.Captain Zeeth was largely the same person, but thanks to the implant his evil streak had now returned. The large carrier craft began to change direction and was once more facing the capital city and its population.A large drill-like weapon emerged from the nose of the Centikaar. It was a Ceta Cannon. Not as destructive as a Delta Laser, but capable of obliterating enemy capital ships or cities, such as this one.A bolt of blue energy shot out of the cannon and on impact with the presidential palace exploded, disintegrating the entire city in a shockwave of blue energy. A second later and only a giant crater remained, where the proud capital city of Zeon once stood.Happy with the destruction caused the giant carrier departed and made it’s way to the Thalian Zone.
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Crash
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Crash »

This carrier ship is shown in your drawings, isn't it?It was an awesome design by the way. I never though myself of crossbreeding the ant carrier with the battlecruiser. It looks fantastic.Not sure if I could ever sprite anything that big after the Gelma Battlecruiser but ... there are Alliance Hovertanks in the game.Anyway, this is really good. Can't wait until the other main characters show up.
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Shane
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Shane »

Yip, that's right:http://www.xbomber.co.uk/xarchiv....y_mediaI think of Makara's battle cruiser as a powerful multipurpose vessel; probably the best in the alliance fleet able to deploy forces and fight it out on it's own. It seemed logical though that there would also be carrier craft and maybe other lower level battle cruisers in the Imperial Alliance navy as well.I'm also looking to create an alliance destroyer for the big battle at the end of ROTDW, as a ship full of weapons and very little else would be in keeping with both real world and sci-fi armies.Yeah, I noticed the hover tanks in your game; thought they should get a name-check in a story. This tale is highly Alliance-centric, but we will learn the fate of some falling comrades.
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Crash
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Crash »

You'd think they'd have some frigates as well, just with the humans they never needed them.I remember saying to the ladyfriend how great I thought that design of yours was.Infact with the hangars on both sides, it has something of the new Battlestar Galactica about it but it's really unique too.I'm going to add a few more variants to the Alliance Hover Tanks. I think I originally wanted them to have some heavier, mass-produced armour in addition to the DeathBalls; heavier than the APCs that you see. I kinda used the hovertank that you see in an episode of Space Above and Beyond as a starting point.In the Moonbase training level, all three laser tanks are re-created from Space 1999 as well to help you out. I loved those little moonbuggies. They only got shown once in the series or something.



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Shane
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Shane »

Yeah, to be honest I think the Centikaar did end up looking like an organic Battlestar. That's what happens when you think centipede and then combine an Alliance battle cruiser with a carrier craft. Honest guv. I do blame the Japanese and their crazy designs though. I'm merely playing around with the source material really. But I greatly appreciate the compliment, sir.That's cool that your tanks were influenced by Space 1999 and Space Above and Beyond (that was a great show).
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Shane
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Shane »

Chapter 2WatchersThe now desolate area of space known as the Hishra system had been home to billions of life forms before the Imperial Alliance set its evil gaze upon it. In order to make an example to nearby systems a fleet of ships decimated each of the planets, one by one, until only the sun remained.The fear and panic that this system-wide extermination of life caused allowed the Alliance to conquer neighbouring systems with little resistance and granted them an area of space from which to keep all of their secrets, certain in the knowledge that no-one, but the Alliance would ever set foot inside the Hishra system again.And so a space station was built in this doomed system; a space station that would be known as The Imperial Archive. It contained the complete history of the Alliance as well as secrets from a thousand other worlds.A librarian was appointed from the ranks of The Imperial Master’s Executive Council. Someone the Imperial Master didn’t trust, and so therefore was perfect for a position that would mean isolation from the rest of the universe for the remainder of his life.Councillor Darlan was the person in question, and because of his cowardly self serving ways he saw his new assignment as a blessing. Darlan wasn’t much of a warrior and knew he would eventually meet his end if he was sent into combat. Being a member of The Executive Council was a dangerous enough game as it was, with many a member extinguished due to the Master’s dismay.He had spent countless years alone on this station with only a platoon of Termoids as company. There were a few alliance craft onboard, but Darlan had no access to them. Any attempt to escape would mean instant death for him, not that he wanted to escape. The matter unit onboard allowed him to indulge in the finer things of life when he was not at work. So he was quite happy being a watcher; viewing and compiling up-to-the-minute data from Imperial outposts across the galaxy, learning secrets that would one day make him Master.Today was like any other day over the past year. Transmissions were less frequent, Darlan was free, but instead of leaving he spent his days writing his book in the primitive language of Earth Basic. He even used pen and paper - synthesized from the matter unit, as he wanted his free thoughts to be ‘off the grid’. His writings were forming The Tomb of Gelma which would be he his key to power when the Master returned.Yes, Darlan’s time here had allowed him to foresee his return and he knew he would soon be under his control again. During the Master’s reign the computers onboard the archive were like a part of his brain; he could access the information and also detect if Darlan was searching for specific classified items in the database.But for now, Darlan could access everything and was recording deadly secrets into the Tomb that would one day rid him of The Imperial Master.In another part of the galaxy a robed woman was looking up at the stars. She watched as a shooting star flew past her field of vision. She smiled and thought that she should make a wish, but the smile turned into a frown as the one time Countess Akanida remembered her past.Akanida was now part of a religious order based on a large asteroid in the Uterra system. The order’s temple was carved into the interior of the asteroid and was able to sustain life. Those who walked the surface had to wear space suits, but not Akanida.She had spent her past life as an Imperial Alliance scientist carrying out experiments on many different life forms including herself. She could withstand harsh environments thanks to genetic engineering and cybernetic implants, but this had taken a toll on the once beautiful Countess and she bore terrible scars both physical and mental. She recalled all the damage she had done to others as well as herself and wept.She pulled down her hood to reveal her face. If you looked at Akanida from her left side, she was still very beautiful. her right side, however, was a horrific sight to behold thanks to centuries of cybernetic abuse and the trauma of a recent procedure she had carried out on herself. Free from the control of the Imperial Master the good and kind personality of her former self had returned, but much like Captain Carter, she was unable to carry the burden of all the wrong she had been forced to do and so she had ripped out her implant with her bare hands in the hope that she would die.Her dying body was found by a member of The Religious Order of Uterra and she was taken to their asteroid temple to heal in both body and mind.She would often go outside alone and just watch the stars thinking about her past as a healer, wondering if she would ever find peace. Night after night, she did this, but this would be the last time.She sensed someone behind her and turned around to be met by a pair of Termoids and Councillor Darlan embarking from an Alliance stealth craft.‘No!’ screamed Akanida, although no sound was heard in the vacuum of space.Darlan pressed a button on his claw arm and a life-supporting gravitational dome surrounded himself and Akanida, with a press of another button he held Akanida captive by changing the gravitational density around her.‘Countess Akanida!’ said Darlan, ‘I have a present for you.’ Darlan revealed a Keeper Mask, a device designed by Akanida herself, and used many times before to imprison people. It was most famously used by Commander Makara to punish Princess Keeli, but this model was special and would not only Imprison, but control!The two Termoids placed the Mask over Akanida’s face and after a brief struggle against The Imperial Master’s will, Countess Akanida had been once more converted for his pleasure.‘Councillor Darlan.’ said Akanida in an eerie electronic voice, ‘It has been a long time. I see you are still a snivelling excuse for a life form.’‘Flattery will get you nowhere my dear.’ said Darlan, ‘I take it you will be accompanying me to the Thalian Zone?’‘Yes.’ said Akanida, ‘After I finish some business below ground.’--- --- ---Later in his private chamber onboard the now Thalian-bound Imperial Archive, Councillor Darlan poured himself a glass of Gelma ale. The Imperial Master had once again taken control of him and had erased all memory of his year of freedom.Darlan sat in his seat and looked at the table; There was a large heavy book on it. He walked over and picked it up, the cover read: The Tomb of Gelma. Darlan started to read and smiled.



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Vanessa
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Vanessa »

I'm enjoying this new story, it certainly seems to be quite hard-edged and dark.I'm guessing that having Darlan pick up the Tomb of Gelmar book and start reading it, would reveal the existence of the book to the Imperial Master...?So what does he do with that knowledge...?Intriguing.
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Shane
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Shane »

Yeah, The Tomb of Gelma issue will be explored further in TCOE. The newly returned Master's powers have diminished somewhat and so Darlan and the others have much more 'alone time' now, although the Master can still see and speak through the symbionts when he needs to.I think this was often the case in the show as the Imperial Master seemed to be able to 'possess' Markara at times, but on other occasions she seemed to be free to go rogue, especially near the end of the series.It's a tricky balance to sort out to be sure.
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Vanessa
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Star Fleet: The Council of Evil

Post by Vanessa »

It is an interesting balance definitely.I often pondered the way that the Imperial Master would "come and go" during the original series.Makara and Orion were either left to their own (often incompetent) devices, or ordered/controlled about.Neither approach seemed to work, and made the Master's powers seem occasionally inconsistent and distant.We've all written/mused about the Imperial Master "controlling" his minions, but I wonder how much he could actually be construed as doing so from TOAS?They were certainly free to make mistakes.Giving them a bit more free reign might be harking back to the original series a bit more than recent fanfics, and would allow some interesting plot developments to transpire...I tried to explore the whole over-controlled/under-controlled thing in my TRA story. I think it depends a lot (as you mentioned, reference Captain Zeeth) on the strength and disposition of the character being controlled. Certainly in TOAS the villains were portrayed as cruel yet incompetent/inept, which can't be fully justified as, if true, there wouldn't have been a successful Imperial Alliance in the first place.Subsequent Fanfics have made the Alliance more savvy and effective, and less bumbling, at the expense of the "Good Guys" to a certain extent.As a fan of the Alliance, it makes the subsequent storylines more interesting and plausible for me, although I guess as one grows up, this is somewhat inevitable?Anyway, bring on more Alliance action I say!
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