Read this first everything will make more sense

Next part

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....The bridge of Iris' ship was dark, empty. Garrett sighed in relief. It seemed his so-called 'rescuer' wasn't anything more than a travelling journalist after all. Why would you ever leave the bridge of a ship unguarded? So careless.

He rose from his crouch to take stock of the layout. Everything seemed to be the same as he'd been briefed in the past, but one console, placed right in the centre of the bridge, was aglow. Curiosity thrummed.



[Extract from UEL Briefing Lecture, 2/4/2098]



"...the CAU generally try to avoid conflicts at all costs, but if surprised or put into a corner they generally take one of three actions.



Action A: Teleport away as fast as possible. You've probably heard about this, they're pretty infamous for it. Captains generally only have milliseconds to catch a CAU ship out in the open uncloaked before it vanishes, and this is usually from a very long range. Because of this, we barely know anything about Arcadia's ships. We don't even know what they look like, which is a shame, because they'd probably look real cool.



The second most frequent thing they like to do is Action B: Raise their quantum shielding. Creating a single quantum state "bubble" around a vessel is a staple party trick of the CAU. Its activation can be recognised by a dimming of light around the vessel for several km, rapidly reducing to a purely reflective sphere exactly the radius of the vessel, before the gravitational signal of the vessel disappears completely. Pretty spooky. There is no point trying to harm the vessel in this state, as everything will reflect. After this action is taken, they -without exception- suddenly accelerate to immeasurable velocities in the direction of Triton. We think that they are incapable of teleportation within the shield, but the lack of gravitational signature suggests otherwise. The leading hypothesis states that the ship is "quantum locked" inside the bubble and might as well not exist until the bubble is reopened, the facilities for which most likely are based at Triton.



Now. The last action the CAU take in a situation of conflict. Hopefully none of you will have to see this. Action C is to engage in hostile action. Nobody knows why or how the CAU destroys ships, but there have been several recorded incidents where fleets aimed at occupying Uranus have completely disappeared without a trace.

Needless to say, it is of the utmost priority to obtain a CAU vessel. Project Hyperion is our best bet."



"Hmmmmm." Garrett closed the tab and opened a terminal. He'd heard this all before, but one term was both threatening and unfamiliar "Project Hyperion. Inquiry."

The screen lit up. Not with data, but with a message.

Iris@UELs00.03H: so what do you think?


[CAU Briefing Document, 11/6/2098]

[Engaging translation....done]



Welcome to the Solar System. This document is designed to brief you of its inhabitants' preferred approaches to combat, should you be unfortunate enough to get caught out.



United Earth League

UEL ships try to avoid close combat at all costs, being too fragile to withstand more than a light railgun patter. They generally try to detect incoming shots and maneuver to avoid, and have perfected missile countermeasure systems from necessity. To keep foes at long range, the UEL is infamous for its liberal usage of nuclear weapons to form a phalanx of thermonuclear fury to hide behind. Due to obvious PR problems, the warheads aren't designed to survive a trip through the atmosphere. To the denizens of Ganymede, this is a cold comfort.

Once that shield is breached, however, UEL ships are in a lot of trouble. They don't really have anything that can badly hurt any IPS-calibre vessel, and so their only hope is to fly away as fast as possible, hoping the enemy's drives can't keep up and that their own radiators escape destruction. In a last resort situation, they can dump all of their power into a deadly beam capable of inflicting heavy damage, but this is rarely implemented.



Our recommendation is to treat this faction's current fleet with a grain of salt, as your ships should be able to take anything they dish out. The Lupines have swept their fleets aside in the past, for example. However, our observations have uncovered that the Rome wing of the UEL has begun construction of an incredible vessel in the southern hemisphere of Earth. Unfortunately, it is too close to the former Obsidian Peaks for us too get within accurate observational range, but it's possible they've made contact through the portal. This is to be prevented as soon as possible, but we lack the tools as of now. Moving on:



Interplanetary Protectorate of the Skylords

Due to the incredible durability of IPS vessels and their complete under-power immunity to inertia, IPS tactics have a lot of room to work with. The most common approach is to advance inexorably from different angles until railgun range is effective, and then open fire. Ships have brilliant CIWS and can shrug off anything less than a near-direct nuclear hit. Often, by spreading out, they force UEL ships to focus their payload or risk not damaging a single enemy ship. You may fall prey to a similar tactic. Once the nuclear barrier has been passed, they can pretty much do whatever they want. The only risk is from fighters, and as established before, their CIWS is brutal, so it is a very small risk.



In terms of how you should approach this faction, be very careful and do not underestimate them. In one infamous case which has resonated throughout our history, an IPS captain chased a shielded Catarina-class that got too close to the Dione Anomaly for almost a week following our attempt to destroy it, actually predicting the return trajectory of the shield perfectly until he was on the cusp of the Triton Barrier. We had no choice but to open the gates for the Catarina upon its arrival, but he came along for the ride. A patrolling Zegnophian battlecruiser was rapidly teleported to block the path of the IPS vessel- a desperate move - and the IPS crew, piloting only a frigate, lasted for 7 hours in a combat that should have been over in seconds. Our projections have detailed that this could have only been possible if the crew, computers and weapons systems had been operating at the absolute pinnacle of efficiency. Not a millisecond of time, a fraction of a bullet or an ounce of thrust was wasted in the skirmish. And although their approach was mostly defensive, we shouldn't have to say...

...tread carefully.



[Close document.]

Keiko sighed to the webcam. Three hours of solid searching her stolen ship's database and this was the best it got? 'Nnnn, sorry guys, there's nothing too useful on here, I left in a hurry. I dunno, you'd think, something this size would have...oh. I dunno, I...i might have missed a few important bits. What do you guys think? I really don't think it's UEL or IPS.'

[Garrett@UELs0503H]: First things first.
[Garrett@UELs0503H]: That document's really weird.
[Garrett@UELs0503H]: Who is it for? The CAU doesn't have any allies.

A cold sweat broke out on Keiko's brow. 'Y'know.. our, um, tributaries? The CAU is pretty, uh, fragmented. You know that right? And that isn't the problem right now!'

[Garrett@UELs0503H]: The first line is oddly worded.
[Garrett@UELs0503H]: "Welcome to the Solar System"?

'I have to go.' If he put two and two together... Keiko killed the link and rushed to the nearest shipboard system hub, locking Garrett in his room. He must never find out. 'Oh god. I need to tell Iris.'

[Garrett@UELs0504H]: Wait, what?
[Garrett@UELs0504H]: Keiko, who is it for?
[Garrett@UELs0504H]: What the hell?
[Garrett@UELs0506H]: Keiko, unlock my damn door and tell me who it's for. I need to know this.
[Iris@UELs0506H]: whoa garrett
[Iris@UELs0506H]: you can relax, trust me
[Iris@UELs0507H]: yes k, there was enough, thank you :)
[Iris@UELs0507H]: you should probably let garrett out now though
[Iris@UELs0507H]: i know what we have to do
[Iris@UELs0507H]: garrett- about who it was addressed to - you'll find out soon
[Iris@UELs0507H]: it's probably for the best if you don't know now
[Iris@UELs0507H]: now as for the plan....

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