Regents (Battleship)
The Regents are an alien species that feature in the film Battleship.
Contents |
History
The Regents were an advanced humanoid alien race that were native to a terrestrial planet that was capable of sustaining life. Their homeworld was seemingly a Goldilocks-type planet that had favourable conditions for supporting life similar to Earth with Sol. This was namely that it was not too hot by being close to its star yet not too cold by being far from the sun. The world was capable of holding water and had the right mass in order to sustain an atmosphere. These aliens were noted to had engaged in a campaign of raids of various planets which they destroyed before departing for another target. In 2005, the existence of this world was discovered by scientists on Earth where they believed this distant planet had a climate nearly identical to their own. Thus, it was considered to be in the perfect position and had the potential for sustaining life. By 2006, NASA had begun construction of a transmission device that was five times more powerful than anything present on the planet at the time. The goal of this program that was designated the Beacon Project was to make contact with this other planet which was named Planet G. The culmination of the Beacon International Project came in 2012 where in the Himalayas it was revealed that the plan was to transmit a signal every 24 hours from the Hawaii facility to the deep orbiting LANSAT-7 satellite which would amplify the signal to send to Planet G. Shortly afterwards, the signal was sent and moments later the Regents received where they prepared a response by invading Earth. This consisted of launching five vessels that were sent in formation and took the form of meteors as they stricked through space to their new target. These vessels entered into the solar system where they passed by Saturn and divided into five fragments. This activity drew the attention of Earth's scientific and military community who became concerned at the apparent arrival of extraterrestrial life. They managed to track four of the objects heading to the Pacific Ocean whilst a fifth one containing their communication ship fell out of position where it crashed into urban Hong Kong in China where it caused a great deal of damage. Chinese analysis later confirmed the alien composition of the material in the crashed vessel. Casualty reports were sent of those that died with reports of the encounter being sent world wide. The destruction of the communication ship separated the aliens from any means of making contact with the rest of their forces in space.
After landing in the ocean, these aliens entered into the water during a RIMPAC Naval War Games that was being performed by Earth's military navies near Honululu. Only a single alien vessel partially protruded from the water which was being examined by the United States Navy. A team was launched on a boat to examine the craft which saw the alien vessel activating where it launched an energy forcefield dome that prevented anyone from entering into the area. However, a few human naval ships were present within the dome where they engaged the alien ships. One of the Regent vessels, however, launched barrages that destroyed two of the human vessels. At the same time, weapons were launched to the nearby landmass in Hawaii with the intention of destroying the airbase as well as civilian infrastructure. Furthermore, the Regents intended to strike back at the area that had sent the beacon transmission. As such, they dispatched an aerial transport that was launched from their Pacific fleet which was sent to attack the Saddle Ridge Station transmission facility in Hawaii that was operated by Dr. Cal Zapata. Once they landed, they destroyed the facility along with human police forces in the area. After securing the region, the aliens terminated any human presence in the area where they began assembling equipment designed to amplify the power of the transmission station to re-establish a line of communication needed for reinforcements to bring an extinction level event to the planet. This equipment was deployed by means of transporters with these vessels dropping numerous pieces that were put together by the ground crew. At the same time, three of the Regent ships were destroyed by the actions of the U.S.S. John Paul Jones. Despite the destruction of their craft, the sole surviving Regent vessel that generated the energy barrier over the area was responsible for eliminating the human naval destroyer. This allowed for their forces to send their signal to the LANSAT satellite at its scheduled orbiting window but their activities were sabotaged by human remnants on the island. At this time, a human naval battleship named the U.S.S. Missouri was launched which succeeded in damaging the remaining Regent vessel and launched a shell at the Saddle Ridge station thus destroying the alien chances at slingshoting a transmission back to their home territory. The damage to the Regent ship led to the shield being knocked out and allowed the United States Airforce to eliminate the last alien presence in the Pacific Ocean.
Overview
In appearance, members of this kind were seemingly a humanoid race with brown-grayish skin and green slitted eyes along with a nostril faced structure. These aliens were seemingly bald yet held sharp pointed beards similar in form to a hedgehod's hair whilst their mouths had teeth within them. Their hands had four digits but arranged in a different manner with three on top and two below. Regent eye structure seemingly shared elements with that of reptiles in that they were sensitive to sunlight which blinded them. Their helmets dampened the effects of sunlight and prevented them from being blinded. They often made use of suits which possessed various color schemes had their own HUD based system that allowed them to identify targets and objectives. In addition, their suits simulated an atmosphere that was hydrated and saturated with oxygen. The suits seemingly held its own atmosphere and the Regents used them to operate in normal circumstances as bright natural light blinded them. Within the helmets, the HUDs allowed them to examine the heart rate, nervous system and retina of living beings. The helmets were sealed tight and required some effort by humans to remove and had four lights with two on each side of the head which provided illumination to their surroundings. These suits also provided them a great deal of strength which allowed them to easily damage human vehicles and physically were able to throw adult humans across their environment. Furthermore, they were able to break through sealed hatches with a bit of effort. A further aspect of these suits was that it protectd them from human projectile fire allowing them to survive rifle or pistol rounds without any reduction in their capabilities. The right arm of the suit seemingly held some form of modular tool that was able to shit between a claw, a blade and an energy torch to cut through objects.
Seemingly, physical contact with a Regent transferred some of their racial memories to other races. The aliens were described as being highly intelligent and able to adapt to enemy tactics.
Technology
Regent technology was constructed of a material that was not present on the periodic table and thus not of Earth. Among the only substances capable of being identified in the alien technology was lawrencium. With this material, the species constructed their craft with the design demonstrating its alien nature as it was different compared to those used in humanity. A curious effect of the building material was that it made their vessels seemingly invisible to radar and not capable of being detected by modern human technology except by visual identification. In fact, both spy and fire control radar were unable to lock onto Regent vessels. Alien technology was able to generate electromagnetic field that acted as a pulse that severed any means of communication. Furthermore, direct skin contact by a human was enough to create an electrical feedback that sent explorers flying backwards. The Regents were able to amplify 21st century human satellite transmission systems to go extra-solar levels.
Among the components present within their vessels included possible solar panelling and communication equipment. Their vessels (called stingers in design) were not only capable of surviving a journey across the void of space but passing through a planetary atmosphere and submerging into a planetary ocean with the ability to return to the surface after a period of recovery. These ships were able to serve as naval craft in an ocean and operated by floating across the surface where they were able to make short 'hops' across the water to realign their positions. They initially hid their weapons which only opened up beneath the hull when they were prepared for use. Among these included some form of advanced weapon that when charged up created a high pitch tone to such an extent that it shattered glass and caused extreme pain to human ears for a brief moment. The aliens apparently had a modular design to their craft that were able to disengage from the larger ones. One such vessel was a rectangular shaped flying vessel that flew in the air towards destinations.
Their weapon systems included a battery of three cannons that launched shell-like weapons (called pegs in design) that circled through the air whilst they headed for their target. Standard anti-weapon defenses such as a CWS were capable of destroying them but a single projectile once embedded into its target drilled down and exploded where it caused a considerable damage to the target. Larger twin batteries were able to launch barrages of such projectiles that once embedded in the hull in large number were able to destroy an entire human naval vessel. Another weapon launched from their larger craft was a spiky wheel shaped ball-like construct (called shredders in design) that was assembled and rotated rapidly. These were launched into the air over large distances and designed with the purpose of eliminating enemy vehicles. In addition, these constructs were equably capable of being launched into an enemy ship where they proceeded to rip them apart from the inside. They were launched from one site and sent to neighboring land masses in order to seek out and destroy enemy airbases or civilian infrastruture to cripple. These ball-shaped constructs had their own HUD that identified targets which included examining the heart rate of targets as well as determining which was a threat or harmless. They moved with their own intiative where rammed targets such as airplanes and helicopters as well as ran over enemy personnel at their own initiative. Those objects slightly out of their reach were destroyed by the use of a spiky tendril emerging from the construct that whipped at targets in order to rip them apart.
One device used by the Regents was a transmission device that when present at a set site generated an energy field that was projected into the atmosphere. This beam was constantly projected by two such machines where the energy was shaped into an electrical energy barrier over a set region on a planetary surface. The field reached 300,000 feet in altitude and a depth of 2 nautical miles. This area was thus seemingly encased within a forcefield that prevented any physical object from passing through the barrier with any attempt by outsiders to do so leading to their destruction. In addition, radio transmissions were jammed which separated anyone within the dome from contacting the outside and vice versa. Furthermore, a side effect of the device was that it killed electrical batteries in modern Earth equipment and even radar shutting down.
Notes
- Though referred as the Regents, these aliens were never named during the movie but instead in online material promoting Battleship.
In other media
Video games
- The aliens make an appearance as antagonists to the player character of Cole Mathis in the Battleship video game. New alien weapons introduced in the game include the KRAW that serves as a machine gun which gained accuracy over time but required a cooldown after use.
Appearances
- Battleship (2012)
