BACKGROUND: Significant Incident Report, Corporation Navy 171 Long Range Patrol Fleet, Centax Outsystem

Below is a piece of background "fluff" to get started, as an introduction to one of the factions in our games: the Blue Tornados Space Marine chapter. (How that fits into Mantic's Warpath will be explained later!)

GCPS CENTRAL COMMAND USENET

HISTORICAL ARCHIVE: D89-H335 ACTUAL

QUERY: BLUE TORNADOS

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FOUND: 5 RECORDS

LIST BELOW, FORMAT: NUMERATOR; DATESTAMP; TIMESTAMP; RECORD CODE; CLASSIFICATION; TITLE

1; CE40925.06; 071731Z; FLTTRX; OMEGA-2; SIGNIFICANT INCIDENT REPORT CENTAX OUTSYSTEM

2; ****NOT AUTHORIZED****

3; ****NOT AUTHORIZED****

4; CE40978.11; 300012Z; SIGINT; OMEGA-2; ENEMY TRANSMISSION INTERCEPT FRAGMENT CENTAX II

5; ****FILE NOT FOUND; ERROR 404****

SELECT RECORD: 1

RECORD TYPE: FLEET TRANSMISSION

RECORD CLASSIFICATION: OMEGA-2 -- COUNCIL OF SEVEN AND HIGH COMMAND EYES ONLY

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RECORD TEXT FOLLOWS

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SIGNIFICANT INCIDENT REPORT -- ABBREVIATED

TANGO 1 ****EDIT: OMEGA-2****

DT: 071731Z CE40925.06

LOC: CENTAX OUTSYSTEM

FM: COMD CORPNAV 171 LRP FLT

AT APPROXIMATELY 071506Z DEEPSPACE RESEARCH STATION ALEPH-3, LOCATED AT EDGE OF INTERSTELLAR SPACE NEAR CENTAX SYSTEM, ABRUPTLY STOPPED TRANSMITTING.

171 LONG RANGE PATROL FLEET SHIPS’ SENSORS PICKED UP AN UNKNOWN AND IMMEASURABLY POWERFUL DISTORTION WHICH DID NOT ORIGINATE IN REALSPACE. DISTORTION ACCOMPANIED BY PSIONIC WAVE WHICH ADVERSELY AFFECTED SEVERAL HUNDRED CREWMEN IN THE FLEET, REQUIRING PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT.

COMMANDER ORDERED FRIGATE SQUADRON 6A, THEN LOCATED 35 AU FROM DSRS ALEPH-3, TO PERFORM A TACTICAL JUMP INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD, MAINTAINING OPEN CHANNELS THROUGHOUT THE OPERATION.

CHANNELS REMAINED OPEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 47 SECONDS FOLLOWING THE JUMP, WHEN TRANSMISSION WAS ABRUPTLY HALTED. ATTEMPTS TO HAIL SQUADRON 6A HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL.

DURING THE 47-SECOND TRANSMISSION, SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS WERE MADE BY 171 LRPF COMMAND. STATION ALEPH-3 APPEARS TO HAVE VANISHED. A MASSIVE AND APPARENTLY UNSTABLE RIFT INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION APPEARS TO HAVE FORMED. MATTER AND ENERGY ARE BEING EXPELLED OUT OF THE RIFT AND INTO OUR SPACE.

FLEET TACTICAL OFFICER DETECTED WHAT APPEARED TO BE SEVERAL SPACECRAFT OF UNKNOWN DESIGN AND CONFIGURATION. ONE OF THE CRAFT WAS VERY LARGE, POSSIBLY COMPARABLE TO A CORPORATION EXCALIBUR-CLASS SUPERDREADNOUGHT IN MASS. A SUDDEN ENERGY SURGE ALONG WITH WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN HIGH-VELOCITY PROJECTILES WERE OBSERVED BY SQUADRON 6A’S TACTICAL SENSORS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO LOSS OF TRANSMISSION.

MAGNIFICATION OF VISUAL SENSORY DATA FROM TRANSMISSION INDICATES UNKNOWN VESSELS UNIFORMLY PAINTED IN COBALT COLOR WITH WHITE LINES AND SCARLET MARKINGS. THE LARGEST VESSEL BORE AN APPARENT HERALDIC IDENTIFICATION SYMBOL, CONSISTING OF YELLOW DIAMOND WITH A BLACK FUNNEL CLOUD-SHAPED SYMBOL IN ITS CENTRE. FLEET INTELLIGENCE OFFICER’S SEARCH OF CORPORATION TACTICAL DATABASE RETURNED NO MATCHES FOR THESE MARKINGS.

COMMANDER 171 LRPF INTENDS TO CONDUCT A TACTICAL JUMP INTO THE AREA WITH THE MAIN BODY OF THE FLEET AND DESTROY THE UNKNOWN VESSELS. TACTICAL JUMP IS PLANNED FOR 071740Z. CONTACT REPORT TO FOLLOW.

FOR THE GREATER PROSPERITY OF THE SPHERE. COMD 171 LRPF SENDS.

END TRANSMISSION

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RECORD TEXT ENDS