Discuss Battle Stations: New idea, looking for opinons.

[Vicky]

[SIZE=1][B]Basically I've been watching a lot of Sci-fi shows lately and while watching Star Trek: First Contact I came up with this idea: Battle Stations.

It's simply about an ongoing war between the Xions and Humans (look below for the storyline), and the 9 people who are the Command crew are the main characters here. Battle Station is a tower which is the main defense in the war. They know about everything first and normally go out on foot to defeat rebel Xions, they control the weapons on Earth and the 9 people in the Command crew have the hardest job in the world, making sure they don't lose the war.

The RPG will be based on the war, but it will be based on character development as well. Since all characters live in Battle Station and there's loads of things to do (even annoy the young cadets in training) it won't just be about sitting on a Command bridge and yelling out orders. Here's the basic story-line, tell me what you think of this and then I'll post all the information I have on ranks, stations and stuff:[/B]

[B][U][CENTER]Battle Stations![/B]
M-LV[/U]

[I]?If we are just one planet in a Universe that we believe to be so huge it can hold more then tens of billions of galaxies then there has to be life on another planet other than our own. Life even if we can?t understand. We have landed on the moon and we will find a way to go beyond our solar system, like in those famous sci-fi shows. We?ll make first contact with aliens one day and I hope it?s someday soon.?[/I][/CENTER]

- Jonathan Davies, 2057 AD.

Jonathan Davies was a famous astronaut. He became famous by doing the exact same thing Neil Armstrong did; he made history. He said that passage above three years before the day mankind made contact with the first alien race, the Xions. A technologically advanced race that discovered Jonathan?s spacecraft while Jonathan was orbiting around Mars. The Xion ship managed to arrange a meeting through their technology on Earth. Jonathan cut his mission short but told the Xions it would take awhile for him to get back to Earth so his engines didn?t burn out. Showing their good faith, the Xions used their powerful technology to pull Jonathan to Earth with them, and for the first time ever in human history humanity shook hands (awkwardly) with an alien.

The Xions explained everything on that day. They explained about their translator, which helped break language barriers with a few spoken words, their vessels technology and their life. The Xion were also a race of beings that for years had tried to find life outside their own world and had never met any other race other than humans. The Xion even agreed to let humans have their technology so we could adapt it for our own space travel outside or system and to cure disease which threatened the lives of millions. Thanks to Jonathan and the Xions most problems that our Earth faced had been stopped and later on in the year 2080, Jonathan and the Xion captain (Nacher) few the first spaceship out of the solar system and onto the Xion home world.

Then a powerful alliance was formed between Xions and humans. Both races helped each other in advancing both worlds. Jonathan and Nacher, the Xion captain signed a treaty, which on one part it read:

[I]??And even though both worlds have in the past started wars between themselves, there will be under absolutely no circumstances any battles between Xions and Humans. Anything provoking a war will be dealt with by the world leaders of both planets. Each race will attempt to avoid conflict at all cost. These times are a time for change in both worlds to put what was right in both our violent pasts and it should forever stay that way.?[/I]

--

In 2100 AD, Jonathan Davies was murdered on Earth and the murderer left absolutely no clues. It could be Xion or Human but no one knew.

? But that soon became clear ?

The Xion?s launched an attack on Earth. They sent warships out to destroy all space stations and destroy all Earth vessels. They broke the promise, the alliance between Human and Xion. The Xion broadcast all over the world their true nature:

[I]?We have seen thousands of species across thousands of galaxies and they are all dead. We, the Xions have and forever will be a race of conquers. We make peace with a world, give them our technology and destroy them. We like a fair fight and a good challenge but the Xions will always win. You past was violent, but ours is much more savage. You could not care less if you wanted to change your past because we for one are proud of ours. With your great hero, Jonathan Davies dead we have crushed all your hope and now, like the thousands of species before you, we will annihilate you from existence.?[/I]

The word of the Xions echoed through the ears of mankind and every single person on Earth who could understand it hated the Xions. Though the Xions were warriors and had conquered thousands of races all over they had never fought beings like Humans who?s will to survive was much greater than anything else in the Universe. So then, Humans turned back to their past and brought back guns, tanks and military weapons. They fought the Xions with everything they had and finally stopped the Xion ships from coming in again.

? For a while.

Just long enough for more spacecrafts to be built, hundreds guarding the Earth?s solar system. Whenever a Xion ship attacked Earth would know, but every time the Xions found a way to break through and attack Earth again and again. So then it was built. On top of the meeting place of Xions and Humans, the tower was built using the destructive weapons of Earth?s past and the technology brought by the Xions a tower bigger than anything ever built was created, given the name ?Battle Station.? In the Battle Station there was a main Station were the most highly advanced forces of Earth stayed watch. They received all calls and knew everything that was going on. They transmitted important information to the rest of the world, they even had to get out on foot and slaughter some Xions who made it to Earth. The fate of Earth was resting on the shoulders of these men and women keeping Battle Station going and stopping the Xions day in and day out, and Battle Station was the ultimate weapon.

In 2155 AD, the fighting had died down but it was still war. The Xions wouldn?t give up and every now and again they would come up with tactics to break through and attack Earth from above. Xion factions had formed on Earth and even some Xions joined the Battle Station. Now there were Xions working with Humans and half-Xions achieving the highest rank in Battle Station, but still it was a hard job. Not only was Battle Station the key to Earth?s defence but it also had the power to launch missiles at the Captain of the Station?s command. They had to keep the Station running and they had to run outside the Station and fight the Xions by hand. They had the hardest job every. If there was bad news, they?d know first and would have to broadcast it across the world. If there was good news they?d know about it first and have to broadcast it, too. If they made a mistake it could cost millions of lives and if they made the right choice it could save a whole race from totally annihilation.

... Battle Stations...

---

[B]That's the storyline, basically. Is it too long? Should I add something else? I'll post the extra information later on, but what I really want to know is if this could work.[/SIZE][/B]

[Angelus_Necare]

[color=darkred][size=1]I like it. It follows all the conventions of any Sci-fi story, but I'm intruiged that you wish to follow the human emotions and development while fighting in the Xion war.

One thing I was wondering about was what do the Xion's look like? And would you pronounce the X as a Z?

I think this could do well, then again Vicky, your stuff is always awesome :)

I'll be waiting to see this in the Adventure Inn![/color][/size]

[Vicky]

[SIZE=1][B]Thanks Angelus!

Yeah, the X is pronouced Z. The original name I had for them was too long and confusing, I couldn't pronouce (at first I just jumbled up a load of letters and words and came out with Califordiacksa... >.<). Here's the description I did for them:[/B]

[I]The Xions have a humanoid shape but are much taller than a normal human. They have a silver-ish colour skin and red eyes with no pupils. They do have hair but most have stranger colours, sometimes in multi-colour. All their teeth are sharp and small like a snakes and are a silver-ish colour as well. Along their throat going down to their chest is what looks like a spine only on the front of their throat, though it isn?t really. The Xions don?t have much hair on their body except for their head and arms. Their arm hair is thicker then their head hair most of the time. On the Xions hands is long bone which can be seen running from their knuckles down to the edge of their fingertips, under their skin ofcourse.
The Xions are a warrior race and are very good at lying. Some of them aren?t like that and are very honourable, but most are not. They can have a different personality depending on themselves. The Xions live for a roughly 106 years, and stop aging at 35.[/I]

[B]I've also done some things on the Station positions and stuff:

Communications[/B] ? 2 People here. The two people here have the tough task of sending messages around the Station, hearing the bad and good news first and have to send everything across the world. The Communications Officers have to be skilled in technology and many languages in case the translator breaks down. Though this seems like a boring job, the Communications Officers normally get to leave their Stations and fix problems on the Station. Though, at all times on, even off-duty they must wear a headset to receive any urgent calls. Their Station is located at the very front of the Command Centre, with the two sharing one large control panel and a lot of buttons. When fighting the Xions on foot, these two get to use weapons as well but they are mostly running ahead on missions involving the enemy technology.

[B]Weapons[/B] ? 2 People here. These two have the task of monitoring weapons fire and normally get the heavy weapons on foot. If people are ever split up into teams, the two weapons Officers are most likely to be in command of their own team. They must have a vast knowledge of weapons from the past and those used by the Xions and they must always be a very good aim. Their Station is located to the right behind the Captain?s chair, facing the right wall with one control panel between them.

[B]Security[/B] ? 1 Person. The Security Officer is responsible for knowing when and if anyone or anything has entered the Battle Station. They also were a headset to hear from the two Communication Officers and are most likely to go and investigate anything-strange happening. They also must be responsible for the Security of Battle Station and the people on foot when fighting Xions. The Security station is small, located beside the Captain?s chair on the right. It is a small panel with one chair only and not much more.

[B]Engineering[/B] ? 2 People here. The two here must monitor the power supply and any problems with the Battle Station. If the problem is too risky for the two Communication Officers to handle then the Engineers go to the problem and fix it themselves. They can?t be afraid of getting their hands dirty and have to know a good deal of the Battle Station. On foot against the Xions they normally work with the Communications Officers to solve some technology problems. Their Station is located behind the Captain?s chair to the left.

[B]Tactical[/B] ? 1 Person. The Tactical Officer is in charge of all operations being carried out through the station and suggests things to the Captain. He/she has to be very smart and know a lot about tactical advantages and different ways to defend the Station. They are in charge of battles with the Xions of foot and co-ordinating them. Most of the time when things go wrong outside the Station the tactical officer takes the blame for it. They have to be strong and tough for this job. Normally they don?t leave the Command Centre, but sometimes they do. Their station is small like the Security Officer?s and located on the left beside the Captain?s chair.

[B]I've also found a nice picture on a Star Trek website I could use for the command bridge and after a tough few hours I managed to piece together and edit some pictures in MS Paint to look like the uniform everyone would wear, though I'm still trying to figure out what to use for the female one... *scrambles back to the website and collects more pictures*

Once again, thanks for the vote of confidence![/SIZE][/B]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

I agree with Angelus it's definitely something interesting, even though it follows the usual path of most sci-fi ideas it is rather unique in parts of the plot put forward. The idea of a race of being who possibly value the challenge of a strong enemy is something we rarely see in Sci-Fi, in Star Trek the Borg merely conquer and assimilate, in Star Wars the Vong did the same. The plot behind it is definitely sound and I look forward to seeing it in the Inn.[/SIZE]

[Vicky]

[SIZE=1][B]Yeah, I wanted the race to be like aliens, but also not predictable. At the time I was thinking of something like Klingons, but I also didn't want them to be too honourable, then again it would be bad too have them like slimballs too. So I thought of a race who liked a good challenge but loved to lie and conquer. It was also good for the storyline, for the badguys actually. Since they conquered all races they started a war with, they though Humans would be easy but the fact that we used our own violent past to fight them combined with the technology of the future made this a somewhat REAL war for the Xions.

I uploaded a few images:
[U][URL=http://img17.exs.cx/img17/7153/nebula-prometheus-bridge.jpg]Command Centre[/URL][/U]
The Command Centre. I actually found this on a website full of ST stuff, including bridge pictures. I found the perfect one right here, all I had to do was add two little lines for the Lift and Briefing Room, lol.

[U][URL=http://img17.exs.cx/img17/1558/Bar4.jpg]Bar[/URL][/U]
I must like bars and drinking, hehe. The design to yet another ST room, Qaurk's bar on DS9. I wasn't going to use this but I thought since the Command Centre should be a serious location and this place be the least serious then it should have a nice design, so why not Qaurk's bar?

[URL=http://img17.exs.cx/img17/9414/UNIFORMS.jpg]Uniforms[/URL]
I edited these in paint, just a little idea of what they would look like. The ranks go from:
Captain - First Officer - Commander - Lieutenant Commander - Lieutenant.
The female uniform is last and is the same throughout all ranks just with the different colour.

... I've done all this and I still haven't figured out have many floors there will be on Battle Station...[/SIZE][/B]

[Gavin]

[quote name='vicky][SIZE=1][B]Yeah, I wanted the race to be like aliens, but also not predictable. At the time I was thinking of something like Klingons[/SIZE'][/B][/quote]

[SIZE=1]I actually had the same thoughts when I was writing my first reply, there was a very Klingon-esque feel to it, the whole wanting to fight an enemy on equal terms. Also reminds me of the Aschen from Stargate, remember those guys who give Earth the technology to help them defeat the Goa'uld only the life lengthening formula makes them sterile. No wars, no conquering, just walking in after they're all dead. Anyway it's still a great idea and I look forward to seeing it in action, might I suggest you also consider the Control Centre from Stargate Atlantis as a possibility.[/SIZE]