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[RP]Tobi das Sireis mi Rimil [IC] - Indigo Hammer

Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 1:46 pm
by Roeben
A World on a Razor's Edge.
Tobi das Sireis mi Rimil.


Background:

The year is 1986. The cold war has been a plague on humanity for four decades. Reagan controls the combined dominion of the American alliance, tattered by internal social and economic conflict, and only recently wrested from a neigh Fascistic government. Gorbachev pulls the strings of a Soviet Union that is coming apart at the very seams. Nuclear weapons dominate the thoughts of the worlds population.

The date is January 28. STS-51-L, the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program is about to lift off, and Space Shuttle Challenger is about to bring the first human civilian into outer space. Carrying SPARTAN-203, a telescope intended to watch the incoming Halley's Comet. A last minute decision is made to dock to Skylab, America's premier space station, which since its launch in 1973 has been slowly expanded upon, docking with Skylab B in 1979, then a modified version of the MOL, the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, in 1984. Informally known as Space Station Freedom or the SSF, Skylab is a direct competitor to the Russian Mir, and is nearly 40% heavier, tipping the scales at over 210 tonnes.
Timeline:
SpoilerShow
Point of Divergence:


1943. Massacre of Kursk.

After a successful counterintelligence operation, the German Wehrmacht triumphs in Kursk. Inflicting grievous losses onto the Russian army. Hitler orders to push into Moscow and capture Stalin, but by the time they arrive, the capital has been relocated east to Novosibirsk.


The Miracle at Moscow.

The battered Russian Armed Forces miraculously delay the Wehrmacht long enough for most of Moscow's heavy industry to relocate east. Taking everything that can be unbolted and Sabotaging everything that can't be taken. The German Wehrmacht only finds hungry citizens and no supplies to take.

A few more victories later the worn Wehrmacht runs out of steam, and falters in sight of the Ural mountains. Hitler sues for a truce, but Stalin sees a victory in his grasp that only months before seemed untangeable. A long and hard war of attrition is fought between the two battered armies. The war on the eastern front would stretch into late 1946.

1944 and 1945:

The D-Day landings successfully take place, and the American army eventually take Bastonge. Fighting a long hard battle of the bulge, the German forces eventually force a standstill, halting the American advance for the rest of winter, and extending the western front well into 1946.

America defeats Japan and forces a surrender by using two nuclear bombs. Victory in the East day, or VE-day is declared.

1946: Götterdämmerung

The end is near for Hitler, and in desperation orders the construction of Diebner's fission/fusion hybrid nuclear bombs. Each having the yield of about half of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima, but taking up only little of the Germans meager stock of Uranium. After a successful field trail with a smaller bomb on the advancing Russian army, he orders a lone U-boat armed with a portable V2 rocket dragged behind it in a submersible silo to embark. The set of U-boat, Diebner Device and Rocket is called “Prufstand XII” and a second set, “Prufstand XIII” is captured in the port of Wilhelmshaven, recently readied to be launched at London. It is too late for New York, however. Against all odds the device hits dead center in Manhattan's Mid Town, killing 410,000 inhabitants in the first few days and 500,000 more in the next days.

The Empire State building collapses four days later from critical structural failure. The images of the burning husk become the most famous pictures of the war, after the Soviet flag waving on the Reichstag.


1946, continued.

The end of World War 2 leaves the western world in shambles. The Marshall plan is greatly reduced by the newly traumatized America, citing its restoring its own city as greater need then helping the people of Europe.

The Russians propose to split Germany in two parts, an eastern and western part, but the USA declines, instead granting its “half” to Denmark, The Netherlands, France, Czechoslovakia and Austria. Germany is, according to the leaders of Western Europe, to never become a nation state again.

Eastern Germany is added to “Poland”, and then abruptly annexed by the greater Soviet state.


Late 1940's:

America's public policy swings dramatically on the stance of nuclear weaponry, amounting to "We will stop further nuclear incidents from happening by making sure nobody will dare develop their own nuclear weapons." This paradoxical stance stems from their belief that only a country that has personally felt the horror of Nuclear Warfare can have the right to police their proliferation.

Naturally, The Soviets, now in possession of at least one captured Diebner Device, have no problems finishing their own nuclear research. America condones their actions, and warns that any use of nuclear weaponry will result in total American commitment to their removal by any means necessary.

The cold war starts in earnest.


Early 1950's

Russia and China reconcile in the face of increasing American belligerence, forming the Union State, a Union of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic. The Korean war is a complete disaster that nearly ends in a nuclear war. The only thing saving the world from imminent collapse is a full scale retreat by the United States and its allies, leaving the entire Korean peninsula under the yoke of communist aggression.


The Vietnam war fares better, and America wrestles half of the country from Communist control in spite of massive human rights violations by both sides. South Vietnam would become an important Western ally as time progressed. But though the war is a moderate success, the opinion of the people was never heard. A storm of discontent is brewing.


Early 1960's

The Cuban/Venezuelan Missile Crisis takes place. Both countries are found to harbor long range strategic missiles that can hit nearly all of the United States of America. Swift military action is taken during the Bay of Pigs invasion, but is ultimately a failure. As John F. Kennedy works with Soviet leader Khrushchev, the word comes closer then ever to complete destruction. At multiple moments during the tense negotiations, the only thing keeping the world from ending is the refusal of brave American and Soviet citizens to push their buttons. Cuba is made to removes their missiles, but Venezuela, a communist state, does not for years to come. When it eventually folds as well, the west gives up its missiles in Turkey.

The world sighs in relief, and the doomsday clock, that was one half of a minute to twelve, is set back for the first time in years.

It would not last.


Late 1970's: The Kuril standoff

After a relatively long time with only light frictions, the Soviet Union State lands on the Kurile islands of japan, using the old mantra that living somewhere makes it yours. An army regiment disguised as civilians sneak onto the Kuriles overnight and start up soviet “communities”. The West is not amused. The Union State admits its mistake, and sends an extraction force to evacuate their men. A gunner on the frigate USS Brooke opens fire when he notices the evacuation ships are loaded with men. In the resulting conflict, tactical nuclear weapons are used, though the exact number of explosions is known (three), it is not known which side blinked first. Both claim the other side fired first.

In eastern Russia, an automated defense system detects the radiation, and phones the Kremlin. The phone line, being in a serious state of disrepair, cannot find a connection. Assuming Moscow has already been leveled, the system begins a launch sequence for four mult-warhead ICBM's. The world escapes destruction by the skin of its teeth once more when all but one are canceled by human interaction at the very last seconds. A fourth is de-activated in flight by a recall mechanism before American radar systems pick it up. It splashes harmlessly into a deep sea area but it is later revealed that not all Soviet ICBM's had this measure that day, and the fate of the world was, once again, purely decided by the luck of the draw.

Soon forgotten after the crisis, the Kurile islands are still scarred to this day, and still face an ecological crisis.

The following years see incredible public outrage in western countries. Many political critics start a countdown. Revolution is imminent.

Late 1970's: Ronald Reagan's Federal Party
A split in the Republican party leads to the creation of a third: The Federal party, with famous actor Ronald Reagan as its leader. As the remaining Republicans swing hard right, the moderate Federal party wins by a record landslide. Ronald cites disarmament and higher levels of control between the East and West. The stability he promises remains just that, but as he takes office it becomes clear that he is a capable and charismatic ruler, after thirty years of fear mongery, The citizens of the USA begin to look towards a future without fear of nuclear holocaust. Riots and Civil Disobedience are down 300% in the coming years. Nearly at the same time, Gorbachev takes de facto lead of the Soviet Union.

One of the first things Reagan does when he takes the presidency is instead of focusing on the cold war, he accelerates the still going space race in the USA's favor, pouring massive amounts of funding away from perceived as useless defense projects, and investing into space exploration, extending the Apollo program, and expanding Skylab to multiple times its intended size. The general populace does considers this peaceful exploration of the universe as a step forward for the human race, and is mildly popular.

A side effect of this is that the initially back-burned Star Wars program comes to the forefront, much to the chagrin of the Soviet union. Whether or not the system actually works is unknown, but the Soviet Union cite that Space should belong to no country, and be a weapon-free zone, cheerfully ignoring the 20mm station-board cannon on the Mir.

Regardless, tensions never reach previous heights, and eventually treaties are signed to decrease the amount of Nuclear weapons on the planet. No satellite weapon systems are ever mentioned, and are implied to be handled behind closed doors.
Timeline FAQ
SpoilerShow
This timeline makes no sense!
If you can't see eye to eye with it, tell me why, and we'll work out if it can be made more realistic.

Why not the real world?
I wanted the east and west to on more even footing, that meant weakening America and strengthening the Soviet Union/Union State

Did X happen?
If it is not mentioned specifically, You can assume it's either not important, or happened like in our timeline.
Do not post before the GO signal is given.

This is an RP thread. That means NO OOC (Out of Character) discussion of any kind. Reserve those discussions for the OOC thread.

In order to enter, put your character in the appropriate Character thread. This will be a largely freeform roleplay without much in the way of combat. if such events are simulated, We shall use BESM (Big Eyes Small Mouth). Create your character via that rulebook, assume a 320 point start. A minimum of 5 characters are necessary to begin. Loroi are playable and will feature from the beginning. Of all characters, at least 2 must be American humans. Bonus brownie points if one of them is a female teacher. American astronauts will not feature from the beginning of the RP. Russian Astronauts are also playable, but might not enter the RP as soon as the Loroi. Ramarinzil or any other canon characters are not playable.

Lastly, this RP is not intended to be canon, and merely presents an interesting What If scenario.

Re: [RP]Tobi das Sireis mi Rimil [IC] - Indigo Hammer

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:17 pm
by Roeben
"Ehhh... This is Mission control to STS-51... Do you copy, over?"

The man behind the Microphone was fat. The chair he was in creaked under his weight if he shifted, but seemed adamant to resist his significant girth. His plain, thick face betrayed an unusual intelligence and a wild, tense look in his eyes. Sweat pearled on his forehead even in the air conditioned space of the NASA Control center.

He glanced at the man in black standing not far behind him, his hand too close to his holster for Robert to feel comfortable.

"Mission control to STS-51..."

He vaguely remembered the early space shuttle missions, when everyone used to be sharp and excited. Breaking New Ground. Those were the days.

"This is Acton, Robbie. It would seem like your bosses is too busy having a goddamn wank to respond, aye? Ronnie's effin' sleeping, mate."

Acton Garrot was the Co-pilot of STS-51, and a Brit. Was he Scottish? Robert Walker couldn't quite remember. He did fondly remember his lack of patience.

"STS-51.,, Uhh... STS-51 is to be delayed for another hour... Orders from above. Stay tuned, we'll let you know the exact time soon. You have permission to disengage your harass and exit the Shuttle cockpit to make use of the tower ready room... We are extending walkway."

He made another small glance to the suit behind him and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a tissue before continuing.

"...We'll be making a last minute change to payload."

"You gotta be kidding me, mate. Are you taking out the kids science experiments then?"

He made eye contact with one of the other mission control specialists who were part of this farce. They shook his head. Too bad, Kids.

He cleared his throat.

"STS-51. We cannot confirm or deny this at this moment. We are sending someone up with new Mission printouts. We will still go for a Medium Earth into Low Earth Orbit as previously described... That part of the mission has not changed."

He had a copy of that plan himself, and he furiously hoped that his was not significantly blacked out.

"You'll find the exact altitudes and the flightplan in the document... Begin setting the instruments and computers in accordance."

There was a sign over the intercom. He sounded a little solemn.

"You are gonna break 'is heart, Control... Orders received."

There was a click as he disabled the line and let his eyes scan the document. It was not strange that the crew was getting worked up. They had been waiting for hours now. He blamed the suits for it. They had always been involved with the program, but today they made him go as far as making up crap, whilst they got their cargo in order. They weren't quite at the stage where they'd begin threatening the staff, but that was inevitably going to happen. What was this? Were the bombs going to fly?

It was quite vexing, really. On one hand, they were desperate to delay the launch, and on the other, unwilling to delay it for a few days. Cold-War vibes like these never sat well with Robert, though launching a military satellite or replacing an antenna or two was always good for balancing NASA's budget.

When the Challenger's solid state booster seal began reporting a leak three hours prior, their faces had visibly darkened. Tensions were running high for the ground crew, and now even the pilots were on edge. Nothing some good old state of the art duct-tape couldn't fix, however.

His eyes ran over a passage describing the MEO segment of the mission, the last step before they would transfer over the crew to the Space Station.

Code: Select all

After ascent to 3,600km and rendezvous with target (█████████), 
██████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ███████████████
████████████ ████████████████████████, ████████████
██████████ ██ ████████████. ████████████
████████████ █████████ ███ ████████████████████████
 ████████████. ███████████████ ████████████████████
████████████ ████████ ████████████████.

█████ █████████████ ████████████ ██████████████████.
█████████████ ███████████.█████ ███████████████████,
████ ██████████ █████ ███████████ ██████. ████████████.
████████████. █████████████ █████ ████████████ ██████,
██████ ██████. 
This blackout went on for fifteen pages. Pages marked with more black lines then an old fashioned prison uniform from what he could tell. A cold anger boiled inside him. He was the one chosen to be in charge of Mission Control today, and those government stiffs couldn't be arsed to let him in on anything.

This day was rapidly becoming an episode of the Twilight Zone...


[To be continued soon.]

Re: [RP]Tobi das Sireis mi Rimil [IC] - Indigo Hammer

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 2:19 pm
by Roeben
"It's 1971, and Italy is in turmoil..."

The old fashioned TV/VCR combo croaked the Documentaries audio, but displayed no picture.

"Goddamn lights busted again, Jim."

Robert shot a glance at the stiff behind him, then smacked the side of the TV. One of the screens back lights flickered on as the Documentary's announcer continued.

"The Partito Comunista Italiano, or PCI, better known as the Italian Communist party, the biggest communist party in free europe since the end of the second world war, attempts a coup and demands secession from the Italian south."


Image

Only one of the ancient combination's lights still worked, casting Italy in a glow. Still, it was the only non-essential TV screen he could use to ease to waiting.

Pictures of Pattons and a few other armoured vehicles scrolled past one by one, Italian countryside, the city of Rome in flame. Deaths in the street and a burning communist flag.

They just called that continent free. Robert offered a hearty laugh, but the agent did not offer his opinion on the matter.

"The American offensive would last for nearly a full year, and-"

Robert held down the fast forward button.

"Yeah yeah, Jimmy. You know what happens next. A hundred thousand citizens displaced, cultural heritage sites ruined... kids setting themselves on fire in the streets of Rome, blah-blah."

The documentary fast forwarded over pictures of the Austrian-Bavarian republic and the flow of its refugees, statistics. Footage of the camps.

"You seeing this Jim? This is a neutral documentary, and look at it. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

He had no idea what his actual name was, but the conversation sure beat being bored.

"I'm looking at dead commies." Came the response.

"Yes, of course. That's not what I mean. Now watch this part here, right?"

He paused the footage, it showed a girl in her early teens holding a cabbage patch kid, struck dead against a wall next to a communist holding an AK-47. The photo was grisly and uncensored.

"This is what I'm talking about, Jim."

"I don't think I understand your point."

Robert pointed at the child's arms, which clutched a doll.

"It's a fuckin' Cabbage Patch kid! You think they had those in the 70's?"

The suit frowned and didn't react to the provocation, which was a shame since his reaction to the blatant propaganda portrait in this "Fair and Neutral" documentary might tell Robert something about how deep this rabbit hole went...

"If she had a Chopboy doll, Maybe I could have believed it, but this is clearly fake footage. This ain't even from the same decade!"

The man crossed his arms, but didn't move an inch, nor show any sign of relaxing his guard.

"The History Channel isn't what it used to be."

Robert couldn't help but smile a little. Alright, that was a good move, he had to give the stiff that. Not bad.

"Damn strai-"

Somewhere in this field of view a couple of buttons went green. Robert frowned and flicked the TV's switch, turning it off with a loud, static buzz.

"Actually, Jimmy. Nevermind that. I think the mission is finally go for launch. Looks like your people are getting what they want."


----------

[15 minutes later]

"Mission control to STS-51. Loading operations have been completed and we are back on countdown. T minus 14 minutes and 30 seconds. If you still need to strap yourself in, start doing it now."

Acton gave his captain a push and pointed at his ears, signalling him to put on the headgear. Then looked back into the cockpit behind him and the rest of the crew, and listened intently as Robert Walker continued on.

"Make Ronald wait. don't begin the pre-launch checks, because you'll want to hear this."

Acton doubted that it was necessary for Robert to actually say this; they'd been sitting and waiting for so long that any news felt like a change of pace.

"At 0630 this morning the director of NASA received orders from the commander-in-chief. That means Reagan himself is calling the shots on this, so I expect no complaints from any of you when I say that the educational science experiments are going to be shelved for the next flight. I can't say yet when that will take place."

...

There was a short silence.

"If it takes place."

Soundtrack.

He cleared his throat through the set.

"We have also been informed that the United states military is at DEFCON 3. We will be going to DEFCON 2 in a matter of hours."

This was new, and not in their briefing. Nobody in the cockpit had to be told that such an event was incredibly significant.

"We have been ordered to launch before DEFCON 2 is established, as not to trip our Ballistic defense and detection systems. This is a direct order, which means that under normal circumstances, only Athen is allowed to renege on this mission..."

Another short break, and a shuffling of paperwork behind the microphone. Somewhere on the other end of the line, there was a soft but unintelligible voice speaking a few words.

"I'm receiving negative confirmation on that from my security adviser. Under these circumstances, Athen is forcibly reinstated to the equivalent rank of field agent."

He muttered something in the microphone that sounded rather close to "I'll be damned if something like that is even legally possible."

"You are allowed to object via written communication."

There was a sarcasm in his voice that didn't go unnoticed.

From here on, Robert recounted the contents of the briefing they had just received by paper, before the tower was disconnected.

"Because of the impending crisis, we do not have the time to recall you to the Briefing room, so this will have to do. You will be rushed into a Military orbit, where you will deliver a package at 3.600 kilometers altitude to a military satellite."

"Mission discription is as follows: An "Advanced Detection and Defense Satellite" has malfunctioned 48 hours ago. A software bug has rotated the satellite into a wrong orientation. You are currently carrying a module that will have to be mounted on this satellite with the shuttle crane, re-calibrated, and put back into its proper orientation. I was assured this required a level of skill that should be trivial to this crew."

"After that, you are to continue as planned, and deliver supplies to the Space Station Freedom in low earth orbit. The mission statement has already been loaded onto the board computers."

He cleared his throat again and there was a little slurp as it's owner drank a few sips of water.

"Any questions?"

Image

Re: [RP]Tobi das Sireis mi Rimil [IC] - Indigo Hammer

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 3:15 pm
by sunphoenix
Athen finally opened an eye, he had not really been asleep but his sensitive nightvision eyes preferred a dimmer light to all the glare of the shuttle's white interior.

He glanced at the pilot and then then out the nearby portal viewing the night outside.. nothing to see.

He sighed spoke with a southeastern states drawl, "Ah, didn't think I'd be allowed to back out now after all the trouble 'uncle sam' spent to shoehorn me in here.. catheter and all. So a 'reserve activation clause' on my previous association with the agency...", he did not need to mention what agency.. or bother, "..does not surprise me one bit. Nobody has ever asked me ta do a job that there was not life or death involved.. either as a doctor or an operative, and the government never anything they did not want brought back dead! So, can we please just dispense with the bullshit? We're on the road heah ta total war.. I think we all really 'need ta know'... the true story! What are we actually going up there to investigate? Ya don't need mah skills as an MD or my... training as an EX-Agent of Central Intelligence to fix a busted antenna! Are the Russians aware of whatever is going on up there that your STILL keeping from us as well? Do they have a team of their own inbound?"