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[Tinfect]

"Aquilifer, the Dominion Vessel is responding."

Alyona prepared herself for another self-righteous speech about death and glory.

"Let's hear it."

Greetings, Aquilifer. You are correct, we cannot take much more of this, our fleet has almost been completely destroyed by your valiant efforts. However, before I can decide if I wish to except your generous offer, I must know what will become of me and my forces if we do. I also shall congratulate you on the power of your weapon, it has indeed surprised me, and has shown itself to be most formidable. This battle may have gone very differently without it.

She raised her hand and prepared another sarcastic comment, only to stop, and look incredibly confused.

Wait, you're serious? I hadn't planned for this, er, Decurion, what do you think? I don't think I'm qualified to be making this decision, Aquilifer... Well, I suppose if you'll drop your claim to the Imperial Territories, we could let you continue... whatever you have planned here without interference. Also stop shooting at the Archailects, they cannot really hurt you, and would be more than pleased to end hostilities without annihilating you.

Just as the message transmitted, however, the Dawn of Realization jumped to a position disturbingly close to the Chekhov's Gun, which, while now capable of firing its primary weapon, was also, now totally out of position to be doing so. The Imperial fleet briefly held it's fire, awaiting the response of the Dominion.

[Aeiouia]

Anchor Station 4

The Demigod seems noticeably angered by the sudden movement of the Dawn of Realisation. She transmits another brief message to it, in a deep, inhuman voice:

"You little cowards!"

The Demigod continues preparing the attack, completely ignoring the fact that the avian battleship is now quite a distance away. With the brief amount of time given by the disappearance of the enemy vessel, the spell seems to be fully-charged.

The massive surge of light seems to subside. And in the place of the four points of radiation, strange constructs appear. Resembling massive cannons made out of what seems to be similar to the strange glowing material that makes up most Protoss structures, the cannons do not seem to resemble other Aeiouian war machines in any way.

The four weapons platforms turn to face the distant Dawn of Realisation. After about a second, they begin firing. They launch large shells at a fraction of the speed of light at the target. While not nearly as powerful as the Tinfect planetcracker, they continue their barrage in rapid succession, each one firing off multiple rounds.

However, the Demigod and the weapons platforms are completely blind-sided by the attacking Starblades and Xenoliths. Lacking the armor of Aeiouian constructs, one of the cannons in annihilated almost instantly by enemy fire, and the barrier projected by the Demigod begins taking damage.

While the cannons continue their barrage, the Demigod turns and begins firing on the enemy craft using some kind of laser weapon. It is much more powerful than the point defense lasers used by Aeiouian ships, but it is still quite unimpressive in comparison to the armaments of most spaceborne fleets.

The Tiamat and the starbase begin firing their point defense systems on the attackers, mainly targeting any attack drones that they launch. At this point in time, the two Avatar craft also decloak, and begin frantically firing their machine guns at the Starblades, hoping to knock out as many of their systems as possible.

[Acheronis]

UDM-1274987-1 Orbit

"Sir, we have a response from the Imperial vessel!"

"Put them through."

Wait, you're serious? I hadn't planned for this, er, Decurion, what do you think? I don't think I'm qualified to be making this decision, Aquilifer... Well, I suppose if you'll drop your claim to the Imperial Territories, we could let you continue... whatever you have planned here without interference. Also stop shooting at the Archailects, they cannot really hurt you, and would be more than pleased to end hostilities without annihilating you.

He quickly replied.

Of course we are serious, and under normal circumstances I would gladly accept, however I am afraid I swore to destroy the weapon which cost me my ship, and I must-

He was interrupted by the Aeiouian attack, but quickly turned back to the transmitter.

What treachery is this?! You said they would not hurt us! It is unfortunate that I will have to put your offer on hold, whilst I direct my forces to defend themselves from this attack!

As he walked away from the transmitter, he relayed orders to the rest of the fleet. "Cruisers, move into strike formation. I am aware that we dod not have enough ships to carry out this command properly, and that following it in this way will likely result in your deaths, but I promise I shall use my political influence to ensure you are remembered. Destroyer, jump to our current position and await further orders." He paused, and faced the Captain. "We will carry out my vengeance and launch a concentrated attack on the vessel below." Captain Akhenaten simply nodded, and set about aiming the Dawn's weapons batteries.

The Battleship unleashed the full force of its weapons against the planetcracker, focusing all its fire power on a single location on the Chekhov's Gun, sending lances of antimatter and swarms of drones into the hull. The five remaining Starblades interlocked themselves together, forming a bladed pentagon. They combined the power of their Antiproton beams into a single titanic blast directed at the Aeiouian Demigod, blowing themselves up in the process.

The edge of Dominion Space

Admiral Tethys of the Seraphon Battlefleet was leading his forces to combat the might of the Transcended Darkness, his World Killer the Doom of the Deluded, was engaging an equally powerful Yfel-class Warship, and the fight was going badly. His fleet had been ambushed by a far larger force of Transcended warships whilst chasing a frigate that had launched an attack on a Shield Moon, and was not faring well. "Sir, we have received a transmission from the Dawn of Realisation! Apparently they have received a transmission from the Lord-Admiral requesting assistance in his invasion!" Said a Communications officer.

"Well, they will have to do it without us. If this battle continues, we shall soon be wiped out-"

This is Admiral Aten of the 2nd Celestii Battlefleet. We have engaged Transcended forces and are pushing them back beyond the galactic rim. You may return to Aztlán and repair your fleet.

The Admiral watched as the fleet of Celestii ships unleashed a massive swarm of Drones numbering in the millions, attacking the retreating Transcended vessels and forcing them to retreat. The Doom of the Deluded and the rest of the 7th Seraphon Battlefleet activated their VOID drives and began the long journey back to Aztlán, where it would be some time before their ships were in any condition to assist the Lord-Admiral.

[Aeiouia]

Anchor Station 4

The beam almost effortlessly cuts through the Psionic barrier, the Demigod tries to quickly move out of the way to dodge, but is too slow. The weapon cuts straight through the left arm of the construct, completely annihilating it, and dealing heavy damage to the Tiamat behind it with its excess energy.

"Steel, hit! Zat vas another suicide attack! These guys are nuts! How bad is the damage?"

"I'm hit, but I can handle it. Lost an arm."

"Shit. Vell, the other vessels are not a threat now. Continue ze assault on that bird-ship, protect our allies!"

The three weapons platforms, still unharmed, continue their barrage. The somewhat-enraged Demigod seems to begin firing on the vessel with another attack, using her remaining arm. In a surge of light much more brief than before, numerous stone projectiles begin appearing from in front of the Demigod, appearing to resemble boulders and small asteroids.

While these projectiles are obviously as primitive as it gets, they are suddenly accelerated to the swift speed of 0.10c, and aimed directly at the Dawn of Realisation.

The Avatar strike craft, seeing as their targets were destroyed, suddenly cloak once more, and head in the direction of the Dawn, once again looking for a good time to strike.

[Stormwrath]

Unknown Date – Zero Standard Date
Captain Elliot Baudribosco, on board the SXS Avanna [COV-13647]
Within proximity of Terra, Sol System, Alpha Quadrant

---

Möbius tapped into the interstellar missives that have been sent back and forth from ship to ship, and generated a comprehensive holographic projection showing the locations of the ships that were sending communications. The blips representing the unknown vessels were displaying themselves all over the projection, at varying distances from Terra and other nearby planets. The Avanna's position was used as a centerpoint, where all of the axes intersect. So far they have identified the Aeiouians and the Excidians, who were close by. the Aeiouians in particular may have brought a starbase with them on the way here. On the planet below was the People's Technocratic Republic of Singapore, who seem to be communicating to a certain task force of another entity.

The situation in Terra is beginning to escalate, as certain explosions can be picked up from the scout drone that was released from the corvette moments earlier. Apparently, the Singaporeans on the surface below have descended into the chaos of civil war, and a battle-hardened fleet had just exited out of a rift in spacetime close to the Terran satellite Luna, only 250,000 kilometers from the planet. This isn't good, the Stormwrathian thought to himself – he knew that the Avanna can't take on a force of 56 unknown and potentially hostile warships, not even with its durable armor and its advanced countermeasures. One of the ships seemed to be messing with the Avanna's quantum anomaly scanners, most likely in an attempt to conceal itself from detection. Baudribosco knew that he should want to get out of here, and fast, before he and his crew go down in flames.

The SSC was being contacted once more – they may want to know of what is happening in this alternate universe that may look like it has lost its sense of sanity. Baudribosco frantically relayed, "Rosario, come in. Our scanners have just detected a hostile force of 56 ships exiting a spacetime rift. Please send us a rescue detachment to our universe, now!"

"Negative, Avanna. We can't enter the universe you are in until SEAS gives us the Improbability Drive destination codes. Just hold on, hope they don't recognize you."

"Copy that, Rosario – and hurry!"

After approximately more than half an hour of hiding close to Terra since arrival, Möbius displayed the Excidian reply on Baudribosco's console and read, "All systems green, all crew accounted for. We were unaware as to how we have arrived here. However, we inquire of the use of an outdated Stormwrathian corvette model."

Outdated? Baudribosco might not be hearing straight today. "That's odd," Baudribosco remarked to his Servitor, zooming in on the Excidian ship on his projection. "The Avanna was commissioned 18 years ago and there were no other new models, correct?"

"Correct," Möbius replied. It was at this time that the AI finally realized what is going on. However, he can't be sure for now, since the Minnow may have also been an outdated model for the Excidian fleet. To test this hypothesis of his that he has in his memory, he sent an audio message to the Minnow saying, "Minnow, what is the year on your console?"

The audio message came back with an information that may surprise the Stormwrathians. "1492 ACR, I repeat, 1492 ACR." Möbius immediately turned to Baudribosco and said to him, "The Excidian ship, it belongs to another timeline!"

"What!?"

"Here is my theory: the spacetime rift doesn't just open up in alternate universes, but it also opens up the same universes but on a different date. This may be why we have made contact with an Excidian ship 400 years into their future. We have no idea what are the chances of such a rift forming, but scientific estimates state that the chances are 1 in 400. I have given the information from two minutes ago to SEAS for confirmation and for future predictions on the next rift that may carry an entity in the past or in the future. Chances, though minuscule, are that one of these spacetime rifts may open a portal into our past and force whatever may be on the other side into this universe!"

As they were saying this, a strong shaking was felt throughout the ship. A liaison reported to the Captain, "Sir, attack drones from the hostile fleet have taken out turrets 12 to 17 on our port side. Our ship is currently 92% damaged. Grid engines one and three are disabled. If we do not do something our vessel might crash due to the gravitational influence of Terra." Prior to arrival at the blue planet, the ship registered with 85% damage, most likely from the violent turbulence caused by the spacetime rift that it entered through.

"Quickly," Baudribosco ordered. "I want power from Engines one and two transferred to Engines three and four, now. Deploy FZ-60Q attack drones now to combat our attackers!"

"Aye sir, hangar doors opening."

The Ventus drones – which are essentially unmanned versions of the FZ-60 Ventus – flew out of the Avanna like the shots of a cannon, and began to maneuver themselves and take out the hostile drones. Some of them were shot in space in the process, while others managed to take down some of these attacking robotic slaves to some hostile master ship. However, they were powerless to stop them from taking on the Avanna itself, and the ship lost Engine 3 in the process. "Captain!," reported a liaison, "Engine 3 is down, gravity is beginning to pull our ship to Terra!"

"Slow down our descent, we do not want to lose our ship!" Baudribosco then said over the comms, "Rosario, come in! Rosario, come in! Our ship is starting to descend to Terra – crash landing imminent!"

"Copy that, Avanna. Try to slow down your descent to keep your vessel intact."

"Already on it, Rosario, though Engine 4 may not be enough to slow us down!"

"Just redirect your power to your VTOL propulsion systems, Avanna."

"Roger that, sir." Turning to his crew he ordered, "Redirect our power to the ventral propulsion systems, ASAP."

"Redirecting now, sir. Propulsion systems 1 to 16 approaching 60% thrust while systems 17 to 36 are being maintained at 45% thrust. Systems 1 to 16 approaching 70%."

"Sir!," another liaison reported. "Our fighter drones are still engaging the hostile attack drones in combat."

"Tell them to keep the hostiles from the Avanna at all costs!," shouted Baudribosco.

No matter how much the ship's last functioning engine tried, it could not help the Avanna keep itself above the blue planet – instead it slowly began to descend, and pieces of metal began flying off as the friction of the atmosphere set the exterior of the ship on fire. Some of its gun placements were already disabled by the sheer force of the heat outside. Möbius tried with all his might to keep the vessel from overloading with energy from the outside, yet the sparks kept on flaring inside the CIC. Its descent accelerated more and more, and more parts of the ship broke off to become part of the space junk. Faster and faster did the ship fall from space and into the atmosphere. The liaison kept on reporting as the ship was attempting to prevent its destruction. "80%. 90%. 100% thrust." The ship managed to change from its previous steep downward orientation to a more horizontal orientation – but the surface was only a few thousand meters below. The Avanna descended little by little, and the consoles blared with warnings of surface obstacles. At least it was already slowing down, sparing the Terrans from a cataclysmic event.

Finally it crash landed, plowing through the earth and moving it aside as it had some velocity from the crash. Friction served to slow the ship down to a stop, and the vessel ultimately rested in a suburban area. From the looks of it, several houses and commercial buildings were demolished by the Avanna along the way, and a large dent was carved out of the earth like a large meteorite. People began to gather from all over the place to check out what had happened nearby, getting a glimpse of an extraterrestrial vessel from outer space. Parts of the ship were scattered all over the ground – some of them punctured roofs of houses like large shards of glass.

Baudribosco was on the floor of the CIC, in pain from the impact. The gyroscope that supported the room kept it level. Blood was already dripping down his face as he tried to get up with all the strength that he can muster. Grabbing onto his chair he lifted himself up and turned himself around slowly. Other crew members also began to get up at around the same time. The Captain called out, "Is everyone present and accounted for?" Some of them managed to get themselves up, while others had a harder time and had to use supports. Some of them responded back, "Yes sir. We have some injuries, but we're alright."

"Möbius," he ordered, "get the medical drones in here now."

"On it, Captain." After a few minutes, the door of the CIC opened and a few medical drones rushed into the CIC in order to tend to the crew's injuries. The same response happened elsewhere on the ship. It may be a while before they are going to exit the now wrecked vessel – that, or before the locals enter the ship and stumble upon what may be aliens to them.

[Tinfect]

Of course we are serious, and under normal circumstances I would gladly accept, however I am afraid I swore to destroy the weapon which cost me my ship, and I must-

What treachery is this?! You said they would not hurt us! It is unfortunate that I will have to put your offer on hold, whilst I direct my forces to defend themselves from this attack!

Wait you're going to do what-

The Shields of the Chekhov's Gun, now regenerated, survived only a few seconds of fire from the Dawn of Realization, the Antiproton Beams tearing through the Armour with little resistance, and destroying one of the Secondary Reactors before the Imperial Fleet could respond. This attack had the rather unexpected side-effect of firing the Main Gun, which proceeded to hit the Archailect Demigod, as the Planetcracker had not adjusted its aim since the Dawn of Realization moved. The surviving Secondary Reactor melted down only seconds later, briefly turning the crippled Planetcracker into a ball of Nuclear fire, before fading as quickly as it had started, leaving only the scorched wreck of the Chekhov's Gun.

The Aquilifer looked on in horror for only a few seconds, before once more shouting orders.
"Flame Alive! Decurion, order the fleet to engage! Get the Archailects on the line, we need to resolve this-"
She was then interrupted by yet another message from the Forgotten Sorrows.

"No such action will be taken, Aquilifer. Contact the Archailects to restore peace, no ships are to engage the Dominion Vessels without authorization from this vessel."

"You can't do that, We just lost a Planetcracker to these people and you would have us let them go?"

"There exists a much greater threat to the Imperium than the loss of a single ship, Aquilifer. Their deaths, while unfortunate, have secured the future of the Imperium; You have your orders."

And with that, the channel was closed; clearly, there was no more discussion to be had.

"Decurion,"
Started the clearly enraged Aquilifer
"Inform the Archailects of the fate of the Chekhov's gun. Neglect to inform them of the cessation of hostilities with the Dominion."

She took her command seat with that, clearly unwilling to say anything more on the matter.

[Aeiouia]

Anchor Station 4

The round from the Planetcracker completely annihilates the Demigod, and deals heavy damage to the Tiamat behind it, knocking huge sections of armor off of its already heavily-damaged hull.

"F***ing hell! Tinfect has to invest in better fire control systems! We just lost Steel, and Shadow is utterly crippled! Gear, you're ze only one left!"

"Overseer, the connection to my craft is not compromised, I still have basic control."

"But it's still useless in its current state."

"Mine's completely gone. No response given from communications arrays."

"Damn it. I'll have to call in reinforcements. Stand by..."

The Overseer switches to the allied channels:

"Zis is Overseer Utopia, zat planetcracker misfire just destroyed both of our already-crippled capital ships. Reinforcements are still a while out, you're on your own until zen!"

[Blakullar]

Yogyakarta, T.R. Indonesia, the People's Technocratic Federation of Singapore.

"Repeat, Spetsnaz forces are en route to the Mount Merapi facility. Anyone copy?"

The lack of response was disconcerting to the commando on the end of the radio. The streets seemed deserted, for the most part. Anyone who was in the area must have retreated to their homes when the Spetsnaz teleported in. Whatever 'pro-Russian' force was here when the osprey arrived had most likely vanished by now...

"Cloaks on," the leader commanded his subordinates. Even as the commandos disappeared, they were expecting an ambush from every direction by almost anything. They set their ion rifles to the Lethal setting in anticipation of the aforementioned ambush as they made their own way through the urban labyrinth of Yogyakarta.

It wasn't long before the Spetsnaz reached the entrance to the facility. It was buried within an extinct volcano, just as the osprey had detailed. The radio operator attempted to contact the pro-Russians a third time before they advance: "Any pro-Mecharussian forces in the area, this is Alfa Group of the MAF Special Purpose Forces. Please acknowledge, over."

[Acheronis]

UDM-1274987-1 Orbit

"Lord-Admiral, the Imperial vessels are not firing on us." The Captain sighed in relief. "But the Aeiouians are still attacking, and-" One of the rocks the Demigod had launched at them struck one of the wings, whilst another hit the main engine. "Sir, we have lost control of the steering! The Dawn is heading on a collision course for the star!"

"Is the VOID drive still operational?" Asked Quetzalcoatl, maintaining a calm expression.

"Yes, but even if we do perform a jump we will be left drifting in space!"

"Are there any habitable planets that we may be able to crash-land on?"

"Yes, UDM-1274987-3 appears to have a stable atmosphere, and there are bodies of water we could aim for to reduce damage."

"Then do it Captain. It is our only chance."

The Dawn of Realisation was spinning out of control, obviously heading for the massive yellow star, when it performed the jump, reappearing in the upper atmosphere of the blue-green planet. The Lord Admiral could make out a city and what appeared to be a volcanic mountain on the surface, but the Dawn was headed for the nearby ocean, for its secondary engines would allow it to move in water, and it would take less damage upon impact. The lone Xenolith followed the Dawn, tracking its signature and performing a similar jump into the planets atmosphere, before landing in the city and switching to terrestrial mode. The Dawn of Realisation smashed into the ocean several kilometres from the shore, sending a small tsunami towards the city.

[Deminis]

The sergeant never asked for this message, it had been made quite clear Lord Markus wanted to hear any all all messages from The Gaurdian be played immediately.

"Salutations, Zhukov. This is the Aeiouian Guardian again. I will do my best to make sure that your trip to Terra is a safe one. Again, be wary that the surface is very dangerous. Not only is there a massive civil war, but the natural fauna of the area is... Highly irradiated and dangerous, to say the least.

Remember that the local government is currently in shambles. If we encounter anyone, they may be from a number of different factions. We ourselves recently encountered a dreadnought that appeared to be from one of said factions. Thankfully, however, they seem friendly for the time being. But, we are not sure about the friendless of any of the others.

My fighters, as well as all military craft my people deploy, are extremely durable and heavily-armored. In combat, we focus mainly on support and defensive duties. While our defenses are legendary, our firepower is nothing to write home about, to say the least.

These craft should be able to block most enemy fire, as well as make battlefield repairs. But your ship would probably be dealing the majority of the damage in the event of actual combat. Thankfully, it seems as if you would be quite adept at that. So, this should work.

I have got your back, but stay sharp. Even I do not know the full extent of the chaos on the surface, so we might encounter anything down there."

Markus did move until the message had finished. "Reply as follows, confirm message, we will ensure their fighters return alive. Gratidude for warning of terrestrial hazards as well. Make another offer of long range bombardment towards the now hostile space craft, we may not do much damage but it should make for one hell of a distraction."

"Yes sir," A familiar young officer answered in the sergeants stead.

Message received and much gratitude given Guardian. We will make sure to keep your fighters alive. Once again we would like to offer for long range bombardment of enemy crafts. We may not have much fire power; in comparison to what we have seen here, however we have witnessed quite a massive gap in Effective Firing Distance between our weapons.

The Zhukov consistently accelerated towards the earth like planet, All readied systems aimed hardily at the Dominion of Acheronis' most active craft. Guns trained expertly for extreme range and accuracy.

[Singaporean Transhumans]

Yogyakarta, 11:20 PM

"10-3! 10-3! 10-3!"

The long-awaited response from PROMEK forces was finally here, however it was highly doubted whether the Spetsnaz would actually understand it. In Singaporean radio codes, inherited from 2000s police radio codes, "10-3" meant the immediate termination of transmissions. When this is put into effect, it is likely that a hostile threat capable of detecting radio is around.

And indeed there was. Unknown to the Spetsnaz team, by the time they have arrived (which was in the night), a Harmonist armada of Lapwing bombers, Changi bombers and gunships had descended upon Yogyakarta, but had not fired yet due to the silence in the area, being tricked into thinking that the local defenses were empty. Though, why the Harmonists had not yet launched a ground offensive was purely beyond anyone's comprehension.

The source of the transmission response, somewhere back in the urban areas, was detected by the camouflaged air fleet of Harmonist strike craft. Immediately, blazing hell fell on that part of the city, and the buildings collapsed instantly as redstone explosives melted away their frames. PROMEK troops rushed out of the buildings, trying to shoot down as much gunships as possible with their missile launchers, but most were set alight by incendiary weapons before they could even aim. Of course, everything happened out of range of the Spetsnaz team, however no one would be sure that the Harmonists wouldn't throw some infantry at the dead volcano as well.

"Um, PROMEK Merapi Garrison here, reduce transmission amounts as much as possible and GET IN HERE NOW THEY'RE DETECTING US-" the second transmission to the team was cut off as it has already been detected.

A squad of PROMEK soldiers from a guard post of another part of the mountain arrived at the entrance almost simultaneously, a few carrying rocket launchers ready to shoot down any gunship that came their way. The entrance opens, leading to the insides of the facility, covered by ceramic tiles and some dark metal as well. The soldier knew that the team was cloaked, and sure they were in the area, but of course they couldn't be seen and that could lead to lots of trouble as the lab's automatic defence turrets shoot (detected) cloaked entities on sight.

"Alfa Group, de-cloak now and you are authorized for entry to the facility."

---

the High Calibre and Mercury Orbit

"This is PTFS Angkatan Educator-class-"

"JUST FUCKING SHOOT DOWN THOSE KAMIKAZE SHIPS ALREADY LAH, WHY YOU SO SLOW LAH"

"Erm, okay, proceeding to hardpoints and commence prosecution."

The Educator-class battleship emerges out of a purple void, apparently having arrived here using Ender teleportation. The 5 ion cannons aboard focused their maximum power on the Dominion craft, though most had already completed their kamikaze attacks, leaving wounds on the orange box. The High Calibre was seriously damaged and nearly incapacitated, not expecting such power from ships much smaller than itself, and had to be repaired before it can have maximum efficiency in battle again. The Educator-class proceeded to cut down any Dominion craft that remained. It seemed like that it was over, yet with a great cost.

[Praesidia]

Back at Jupiter, about 20 minutes ago
SC-0386 Minnow

Venner may have held the title of "Chief Communications Officer", but really he was the only communications officer aboard the dreadnought. What would have been a team of 5 in times past, was now reduced to 1, the rest taken care of by a multi-tasking ship AI. Venner was really only around for times like now, when Minnie was calculating the warp course.

"Commander, we've got a response to our request for assistance, seems to be Terran, speaking in English. How should I respond?"

Bishop Wade furrowed his brow, thoughtful. "Well, we don't really need help yet. Just beam them a message, tell them our status."
"Yes, Commander." Venner replied. "Beginning laser transmission:
'Unidentified Vessel, this is Minnow, we seem to have warped through a spacetime anomaly. This does not seem the fault of our ship's Perrault drives, so we have reactivated them and set a course for the third planet of this system, believed to be Terra of the Sol system. If you have any information regarding our location and the date, it would be appreciated.'

"Done, Commander. Now we wait."

Minnie interrupted: "Prepare for warp, Tee Minus five minutes."

"Understood, Minnow. We are unable to give date or location information at this time, as the anomaly you described has affected Praesidian systems in much the same way. Continue on your way." His parting message was somewhat lacking in social grace, but Weermag 13 had no need for grace. What he needed now was to return to the fleet. The short conversation probably hadn't been useful for the small group of alien ships, but 13 had gathered some extremely valuable information. He quickly reversed thrusters and began to maneuver away from the alien flotilla.

When he had sufficient distance, the krygsman initiated a jump away from them, in the direction opposite the Praesidian fleet. If anyone were to trace 13's trajectory, it wouldn't take them to the wormhole and the other ships, at least not directly. From his new position, 13 rushed a new jump charge and commenced an FTL leap back to the fleet.

When he arrived there, 13 had already resumed connection with the Rekonaar 218.

"Sol?" the Rekonaar said. "That is the name of this system then. Our databases contain nothing by this name, although it is possible that it is merely a new, alien term for a star we have already encountered." Green light buzzed off of 218's hull, reflecting on the dark ships around him.

"And the third planet, what is to be made of that?" Weermag 13 asked. "When I scanned the system, there appeared to be active combat in the area. I don't know what its nature is, but it is the center of most signals originating in this system."

218 thought on this for a bit, or rather, for 8E-12 seconds, before coming to a decision.

"Draer 46, you are to deploy a Kommando FTL capsule to land on this third planet and establish a basic forward observers post. When they are ready, then they will transmit encrypted information back, via the pod, to the fleet. We will decide our course from there."

"Understood, Rekonaar," the draer replied. As soon as it had expressed its understanding, a panel opened on the ship's side. From the interior, a small capsule emerged, launching outwards with a miniature blast. It cleared the fleet and, when it had cleared the outer defensive ring, it began charging for a jump. Within the minute, it was gone, the whole operation having lasted just forty seconds.

"The remainder of the fleet will move forward, into the asteroid belt surrounding this system. We will be provided some camouflage there, at least. A small contingent of the kaiserlikes and ourself will remain here to secure the wormhole and escape if a threat arises." The ships of the fleet complied at once.

---

Onboard the small FTL capsule, ten small metal shells suddenly blinked to life. A glance around them showed ninety others of their kind, although still dormant.

"This is Team Leader," the first kommando said. It was a machine in pristine condition, with red paint marking it as an officer unit. "All activated units, report."

"Unit 2, AT specialist, reporting."

"Unit 3, precision combat specialist, reporting."

"Unit 4, MG specialist, reporting."

"Unit 5, infantry, reporting." This continued in a similar fashion, with the five remaining kommando all reporting as infantry.

"Roger, all units accounted for. Prepare for exit from FTL jump in three...two...one..."

And then, the capsule exited the jump, in the orbit of the third planet from Sol. It was moving at an extreme velocity towards the planet and, having nothing but a rudimentary FTL guidance system, the capsule was unable to avoid the space junk that rather unexpectedly drifted in front of it. By the time the capsule began to skim the planet's atmosphere, there was only half of it left... and only ten kommando still on board.

[Singaporean Transhumans]

North of Bira, Sulawesi, the PTFS

"PCA report 12-08 at section 22-71, repeat 12-08 at 22-71."

"Investigate, report."

The crash of the unknown starship has already been detected by authorities of the Harmonist faction, after all it was their territory. The destruction of multiple structures made the entire thing seem more obvious, after all the collateral damage could not have possibly been credits to hostile faction attacks as the area was held by Harmonists with a steel grip. Pushing through the crowd of gas-masked and flak-vested populace was an uniformed Civil Authority LOCDF squad, armed, along with a medic team in case there were injured ones needing help. The Harmonists were much nicer people than the rest; normally when an alien spacecraft came down Singaporeans would shoot everyone in there and loot the technology. But of course, violence was not and should never be the answer.

An energy barrier was set around the crash site, to prevent overly curious citizens from entering, while the LOCDF units entered the wreckage.

The team leader called out to whoever was inside the remains of the ship. "We are representatives of the PTFS or at least for this time being, more precisely representatives of the Harmonist faction...as you may or may not have known we're undergoing a civil war so no one can actually represent the nation as a whole. Any assistance required? We come in peace following our faction's doctrine."

[Blakullar]

Yogyakarta, T.R. Indonesia, the People's Technocratic Federation of Singapore.

Contrary to popular belief, the Spetsnaz knew exactly what '10-3' meant. Radio codes weren't just restricted to pre-war American forces: they were an extremely efficient means of communication and were used Mechanocracy-wide. The leader of Alfa Group brought up his datapad and sent an encrypted message to the osprey for the purposes of relaying back to Command. The message stated that radio silence was necessary as a large hostile force was presumed to be present.

A succession of massive booms could be heard across the city as the hidden enemy bombarded PROMEK positions when they attempted to communicate. As they were close to the facility, the Spetsnaz group sent three people to decloak themselves to test if the PROMEK forces would fire on them. When they did not, the rest of the team decloaked and approached the facility.

"What's going on out here?" the Alfa Group lead asked what looked most like the commander of the squad. By way of an answer, a massive explosion rocked the area, originating about a block away. A few rockets lunged after the bomber responsible as it flew overhead, but they didn't seem to do much damage to it.

"I'm guessing this is an air raid then," a soldier behind the lead remarked.

[Atomic Utopia]

Hagen Volkov stared at one of the many "window screens" in the spaceship. How far had they gone for such a simple resource, such a small thing. And how foolishly had the PLAYER forces attempted to boss them around. Now, now they would finally be able to use the teeth of the USSAU. Finally invasion could commence. He still was irritated by the prevention of the use of a few salters to weaken the enemy positions, but at least he would be able to do what he did best, win a war.

In any hypothetical invasion a few thousand troops would be combat dropped into the battlefield to set up a perimeter and allow for the transports to land. The first wave would be composed of the USSAU's finest, espatiers they were called. Wearing specially designed suits capable of surviving over sixty atmospheres, 3 000 degree temperatures, and heavily shielded from radiation, they were capable of being deployed from orbit and land on nearly any planet or dwarf planet imaginable. Now they would be landing on a relatively normal planet and attempting a relatively simple mission of occupation against a large force of low tech enemies and a quite possibly a small force of more well developed ones. It also appeared that there was a not insignificant presence of potential enemies in space. A threat no doubt, but how big of one had yet to be seen. But would they win, would they suc-

His thoughts were interrupted by the alarm.

"Alert in sector 22R, reactor overheat, reactor overheat."

It was one of those. While those rarely happened in the regular universe, here with the reduced strong nuclear force small variations in criticality mattered far more, generating more of those problems. With the Type 28s there would be almost no problems involving their reactor units due to their design, but for the rest of the ship, the more modern and efficient reactors acted strangely in this new universe.

Thankfully detectors had not found any bleed-over from the universe he was now in, so the reactors should work just fine in regular space, but damn, this was the third time that had occurred.

Then his thoughts were alerted by a different sort of alarm.

"All personnel to battlestations, all personnel to battlestations. Potentially hostile forces detected"

The derbies from the battle had reached the orbit of the USSAU fleet, triggering an automated alarm meant to keep the fleet safe from potental attacks involving missiles or ships attempting to blend in with derbies. Now several of the lasers moved into action, vaporizing anything that came near the fleet. While the lasers were excellent, some of the derbies was far smaller than could be detected. The threat from these was almost nothing as long as they were going less than 10^4 m/s. Some were going faster.

A small pebble sized piece of debris accelerated by one of the blasts from the battle had been accelerating through space. It could not be detected by RADAR, LIDAR, or any of the other many sensors employed by the fleet, but it was going at a fair deal of the speed of light, and had the energy of a 40 kiloton nuclear bomb. It impacted a Karl Marx Class destroyer.

The pebble quickly turned to plasma when it impacted the first layer of the Whipple shield, but that was almost nothing against the blast. It created a thermal shock on the outer shell of armor, causing the other layers to fragment into small pieces and destroying all sensors on that side of the ship. The plasma cone also tore through the hull, ruining the pulse unit dispensing mechanism and killing ten.

The sirens blared, red lights flashed, and at once the corridors of the ship were filled with people moving to their stations.

"Red alert. Red alert, fleet under attack. 22-B hit. All personnel to battlestations"

Hagen Volkov rushed into the control room.
"What the heck is going on?" he said.
"Sir, it appears that we are experiencing hyper-velocity debris."
"Are you certain it is not enemy fire?"
"No sir, it could be that, why."
"It appears quite possible that it could be enemy fire, if there are any signs of it being enemy fire, tell me."
"Regardless of it being enemy fire it would be advisable to get troops planetside."
"Yes, that was my plan, give out orders for Alpha Papa Tango."
"Yes sir, orders for Attack Plan Tango will be distributed."

The various troop transports of the fleet began turning retrograde and releasing small pods. Each pod contained a single person in power armor. These were the landing squads that he was thinking of earlier.

The pods began firing retrograde to put themselves on a re-entry orbit with a planned landing site twenty clicks south of Jakarta.

---

OOC: Troops are beginning to de-orbit and are prepping for landing. If these people land and set up a perimeter, my transports that deployed them will land and deploy the rest of the invasion force.

OOC: And my troops look more like this than what I posted earlier.

[Singaporean Transhumans]

Merapi Research Facility

"Okay, comrades, let's get in here before they start throwing command blocks..." the leader of the team that opened the gate guided the Spetsnaz group through the labyrinth of a research facility.

The walls were filled with things that would convince people that the place was anything but a science facility. Trollfaces were drawn on walls, graffiti was present in every corridor and advertisement posters for upcoming video games were hanging in the offices of the scientists. "Um, it's 'tradition' here, our informality." the team lead explains to the detachment, chuckling, but it was clear such things did not compose amusement to the Russians.

However, there were also signs of that the area was a serious place throughout. Propaganda posters encouraging hard work and the scientific method can be seen here and there, while power armour chargers and other equipment was able to reinforce the area's restricted status. More however was the presence of automatic sentry turrets just about everywhere, some installed on the ceilings while others were lined up in effective formations. Scanners and cameras were watching everyone every moment, and there was also a notice saying that toilets were regularly monitored.

"Getting to the archives may take a while...ah screw it let's just teleport."

A teleporter appeared within sight of the group of Singaporean troops and the Spetsnaz units, coincidentally, as the soldier said the words. Immediately, the lead stepped onto the platform, pressed a few buttons, and with a purple flash, the band finds themselves in the Archives. As any archive would have, supercomputers were laid out into a maze, and from each one can extract all they want, or need, to know about a certain technology. There was also an obvious door leading to a "holographic simulation room" which, as its name suggests, simulates what the technology does in holograms.

"You may proceed with extraction."

---

Orbit

The emergence of small drop pods from the transports was not unseen by the Singaporeans; in fact, it had made them more confident on locking their weapons on the ship they would call "tasteless" in appearance. Immediately did a captain of a watching cruiser send a message via tachyon pulse comms over to the destroyer.

"We demand you to state the intentions of the release of drop pods."

Meanwhile, ground forces were alerted of another atmospherical entry, and after calculating the pods' possible destinations via their arc and speed, the ships sent coordinates over to PLAYER forces on the ground. This however was not encrypted like what factions would normally do, for the presence of PLAYER forces near the possible area being pathetic, other factions are the best chance they could get to interception.

"Repeat, state the intentions of the release of drop pods."

It was an ultimatum.

[Blakullar]

Merapi Research Facility, T.R. Indonesia, the People's Technocratic Federation of Singapore.

"Thank you ... soldier. I never caught your name or callsign," the Alfa Group lead said to the PROMEK team lead as his subordinates began to pick the place clean in short order. "What on Earth where those enemies out there? They didn't look like what we were told about Singaporean tech. Are they alien? And what are 'command blocks'?"

The lead had plenty more questions to ask, but they would have to wait. As five of the rest of the Spetsnaz were searching for advanced technology, one was manning the holographic simulation chamber (once informed by another PROMEK soldier about its purpose). As a soldier brought a new piece of kit to her, she pulled it up on the computer, simulated it, and decided whether or not it would be useful. Most civilian tech was returned to where it was - any tech could be reverse-engineered for civilian applications when deemed necessary - but everything that had military potential was pocketed, with anything large being placed onto a pallet. Each piece of tech was collected in threes so that the scientists at SHM would have enough samples to reverse-engineer. The remaining six remained in the lobby to stand guard with scanners at the maximum, ready to fight off any enemy that made it through the facility's existing defences.

[Tinfect]

Sol III - Orbit
"Aquilifer, the Dominion Vessel has crashed into the Planet's Ocean."

That, if anything could be, was good news to the Aquilifer.
"Good. Let the Bastards drown. Now start the Invasion, the Sorrow should be giving us landing coordinates for our forces in a few seconds."
The communications board let out a short beep at that, signalling that coordinates had indeed come in.

"There we are. Broadcast them to the Fleet, and have them launch the Imperators first, I want to start this one with a Bombing."

Merely seconds later, the waiting fleet of Vexillarius Class opened their hanger doors, loosing hundreds of Imperator C Strike Bombers, followed closely by several hundred other Strikecraft, of various class. The sheer number of Strikecraft was purely unnecessary, as each bomber was easily capable of devastating over 60 Kilometers with only a single missile, and each Bomber carried 12 of the weapons, but the Imperium was never one to deny the opportunity for overkill, and only Minutes later the southwest corner of the Continent would be engulfed in flame. But, for now, the fighters had yet to make their way into the Atmosphere.

"Aquilifer, a group of Terran Ships is currently deploying Drop Pods into the Planet's atmosphere."
Stated the Sensors Officer, easily heard on the largely silent bridge of the Arm of Orion.'

"Of course. Contact them."

This is the TNS - Arm of Orion, of the Imperium of Tinfect. We are detecting Drop Pods entering the planets atmosphere, and are requesting that you identify yourselves, and state your Intentions.

[Acheronis]

UDM-1274987-3

The Dawn of Realisation, like other Guardian-class Vessels, was designed to withstand the pressure of an aquatic environment, and although many of the already damaged sections of the ship were now flooded, it had suffered few casualties. Its aquatic engines activated, and its 'head' emerged from the ocean, merely the tip of a giant metal iceberg. Several Twilight Shuttles accompanied by Phaeton Gunships and Aura Strike-fighters shot out of the Construct and headed for the city, where the remaining Xenolith was hiding from potential hostiles.

"This is Phaeton-7, I have sighted several unidentified forces within the city, how shall I proceed?"

"Attempt to avoid them, find a safe landing sight for those shuttles at all costs." Said the Captain, communicating with the expeditionary force from the Dawn.

The Gunships and Strike-fighters powered up their weapons, not taking any chances with any one they encountered. The pilots were completely fanatical, more than willing to sacrifice themselves if the shuttles came under attack. The Xenolith had also detected the fighting taking place throughout the cityscape, and had disembarked its 42 Armigers and 4 Immortals to investigate the disturbance, whilst it attempted to avoid detection by any potentially hostile craft in orbit.

[Deminis]

"Sir," Kiel spoke suddenly and sternly, "It appears as thought the Guardian and what appears to be their allies are being fired upon." He turned to look Markus in the eyes, "They may be unable to request assistance at this time, Requesting permission to launch a heavy systems barrage?"

Markus was surprised by the young corporals aggressiveness. "Permission granted, Fire Four waves, keep current target." the message was set over the PA and all gunners seemed to grin and become giddy, They took care to make their following sequences to be more precise as they awaited their leaders commands. "Fire One. " as the guns fired, the ship shook lightly, "Fire two", Markus continued the count, "Fire three", The shells were flashing through space unseen and unheard, "Fire Four, Estimated time till contact?" The corporal grinned slightly as he responded "Approximately thirty seconds till first wave contact sir, Our high propellant shells allow for much faster round velocity."

280 shells flew through the hollow space between the crafts with incredible speed, four waves of seventy each only a few seconds apart plummet onward towards the hostile crafts ever so silently. As he watches the undetectable masses, Markus seems to smile ever so slightly. "I wonder if they can even detect conventional weapons like ours... after all, they seem to be using nothing but energy or self propelled weapons."

[Aeiouia]

Anchor Station 4

The Aeiouian commander once again wires a transmission to all friendly forces in the area.

"Sensors are almost clear of enemy units, looks like ve effectively killed two birds vith one stone, taking out that last capital ship.

... I'm sorry, zat was a terrible joke...

But vhatever this faction is, they are clearly hostile to all of us now. Diplomacy seems to be something zat's completely impossible vith them, and it's likely that they will be bringing in reinforcements.

All friendly vessels are authorized to dock vith ze Starbase for repairs and re-supply if needed. I'd recommend doing so if you are in need of repairs, as ve don't know when ze Dominion is going to return, and ve don't want to defend against them with damaged ships."

After sending the message, the Overseer returns to the Aeiouian communication channels.

"I vant one Procyon-Class to be brought here immediately. Ve need something zat can repair ze wreck of the Tiamat. Are any of you on regular patrols near a starbase?"

"This is the ACA Invalid Variable, I am a few minutes away from the nearest anchor station, I will change course immediately."

"Good, good. Now, Keya vas quite effective against zat avian dreadnought, if only ve ignore ze fact that 'How To Not Stand In Front of Planetcrackers' needs to be part of ze Demigod training program now."

"... My apologizes, commander."

"It's fine. You did vell. You know, minus ze fact zat you stood zere directly in front of a giant cannon... Ve still need to get anothzer Demigod-Class out here in order to counter zose damn bird things, though. Anyvone nearby?"

"Uh, this is Ailmar Thallan, I'm the only other Demigod on duty, and I'm about three hours away from the nearest Anchor Station. I just clocked in, and I'm warping away from the Avuarih system now. Should I change course to a starbase?"

"Damn it. Don't even bother, Ailmar. It's going to take longer for you to arrive zan it'll take us to rebuild Keya... And it's still going to take quite some time for ze replicators to construct a ship of zat size. Variable, you're going to be on your own for a vhile if another vone of ze birdies shows up..."

"Very well. I understand, Overseer..."

"Oh, and Gear. Send an Avatar over to investigate zose dead smaller vessels. Ve might be able to develop better countermeasures against their weapons if ve get some good technical data on zem. Make some room for Tinfect, though. I'm sure zat zey won't pass on an opportunity to reverse-engineer alien technologies..."

"Acknowledged. Heading there now..."

One of the two Avatar strike craft moves to within a few hundred meters of one of Xenoliths with a destroyed reactor. It decloaks, and begins scanning the vessel with its more acute sensors, starting with searching for any life signs.

---

Sol III

"Your gratitude is greatly appreciated. But remember that your ships, and the lives of the people on board, are much more important than my unmanned fighters. I am willing to sacrifice them if it means that your vessels can survive as a result.

On that note, your offensive abilities are actually quite impressive, and they out-class ours, since my people do not really use firepower in combat. Your artillery will most likely be very useful in the event of a battle, and I appreciate your support.

We are nearing the planet, so I will re-engage my cloaking devices in preparation for entry into the world's atmosphere. Anyone that fires on your vessels is bound to get a nasty surprise. My craft will, of course, still be here even if they are undetectable. So contact me over the radio if needed.

Good luck. Let us hope that the surface is much less violent than we currently estimate..."

[Deminis]

Kiel listened as a new message arrived from the Guardian "Sir, new contact from Guardian, Playing now."

"Your gratitude is greatly appreciated. But remember that your ships, and the lives of the people on board, are much more important than my unmanned fighters. I am willing to sacrifice them if it means that your vessels can survive as a result.

On that note, your offensive abilities are actually quite impressive, and they out-class ours, since my people do not really use firepower in combat. Your artillery will most likely be very useful in the event of a battle, and I appreciate your support.

We are nearing the planet, so I will re-engage my cloaking devices in preparation for entry into the world's atmosphere. Anyone that fires on your vessels is bound to get a nasty surprise. My craft will, of course, still be here even if they are undetectable. So contact me over the radio if needed.

Good luck. Let us hope that the surface is much less violent than we currently estimate..."

Markus lost his smile immediately, "Did we just fire on an already destroyed craft..."

Kiel opens a screen to view the contact of the first wave of rounds. "It would appear so sir."

"Reply to the Gaurdian, as follows, submit eta for rendezvous, make absolutely no mention of those shells, they wont hit anything but that husk we fired at... Damn it did we REALLY do that!!" "Yes, Yes sir... We did."

Guardian, We should reach the rendezvous in approximately three minutes unless interrupted. If possible please explain what exactly you mean by "Cloaking" and whether or not it is possible to request a trade for such technology.

[Stormwrath]

Circa 2424 PA – Zero Standard Date
Crash Site of the SXS Avanna [COV-13647]
Unknown Location, Terra, Sol System, Alpha Quadrant

---

As the medical drones came from everywhere to tend to the crew, Captain Baudribosco was feeling the burning sensation of the antiseptic liquid being placed on his forehead. Nanomites combined together to serve as splints for his fractured right arm, while more of them served to set his tibia back into his leg —since it was forcefully fractured outwards piercing his skin. This is usually a temporary measure to keep the patients stable, since the locals may be taking the proper emergency protocols from here on. He was probably thinking that he should've replaced his legs with more durable bionic legs — and he was probably going to get one now. At least his left arm had been replaced by a bionic version of it.

A crew member was being inspected by another drone for any injuries on the outside, which were tended to immediately by its companion drone. However, it may have detected some ruptured blood vessels in his abdomen, which may fill the body cavity if not stopped. The drone reported, "Positive for internal bleeding, commencing nanomite injection to stop loss of blood."

A needle was produced from its metallic shell and was inserted into the crew member's abdomen. The nanomites then began to head for the ruptured vessels and sealed them to prevent any further hemorrhaging.

Another drone was already checking for signs of damage on a certain crew member who had most of his body — save his lungs, heart and head — more or less replaced by bionic parts. This person had embraced transsapientism greatly. His condition was more or less stable, though his hip may have been lightly warped by the impact.

Other Stormwrathian drones were deployed to scan the wreckage of the Avanna for more survivors. These served as Möbius' eyes outside in order to see any developments from the outside world. Several men in the hangars were found, and any nearby medical drones were dispatched there. The locals seemed curious at what may have happened here, and the authorities had begun to arrive and set up some kind of energy barrier to keep civilians out. From the looks of it, these men were armed — and a medical team was kept close by. The local authorities had begun to enter the Avanna's wreckage and begin to communicate with whoever must be inside this otherworldly spacecraft. Cameras installed in secret throughout the vessel were capturing footage of the halls as the Terrans were entering. They seemed to be cautious about entering whatever may be waiting for them in this vessel, and they may be right. Any intruders would've been killed on the spot, but these security systems were shut down for now. These Terrans were lucky.

These locals entered the ship through a giant hole that was created from the crash — its lining just partially twisted pieces of metal and chipped off honeycomb-like structures. The light from the outside that was provided by Sol filled that particular opening. The lights inside the ship were flickering, alternating between light and darkness every few milliseconds. For this rescue party, they were given a glimpse into the interior of a Stormwrathian ship — characterized by angular forms and shapes along with light patterns that extended for kilometers across the ship. Seeing as no one was showing up to greet them, the team leader called out in Universal, "We are the representatives of the PTFS or at least for this time being, more precisely representatives of the Harmonist faction… as you may or may not have known we're undergoing a civil war so no one can actually represent the nation as a whole. Any assistance required? We come in peace following our faction's doctrine."

Through the camera feeds, Möbius was able to keep track of the locals' current whereabouts in the ship, and reported it to Baudribosco. "Sir," he began, "the local authorities are entering the wreckage. It looks like it may be a search-and-rescue party."

Baudribosco then told one of the drones, "Get the drones to place the crew members onto one of the trams and transport them to where the Terrans are." The Stormwrathians had been advised by the drones not to strain themselves a lot by moving.

"Sir," responded the drone, who seemed unsure about this. "Some of the transport systems have been damaged beyond repair."

"Just put us on one that is more or less intact."

After the drone had determined a route that they are to take, it said, "Alright, sir." Baudribosco turned to the holographic projection of Möbius and ordered, "Tell the search drones all over the ship to find more of our men. And we have to get the Terrans to help us somehow."

"Are you sure we can trust these Terrans?," Möbius questioned. After all, from their clothing they seemed hostile with their intimidating gas masks. Besides that they were armed with what may be redstone-based firearms. Baudribosco just said nothing and nodded his head. He is going to trust them.

Möbius' projection disappeared into thin air, and a certain device the size of a large medicinal pill came forth from Baudribosco's console. It was his mobile projection unit, which allowed the AI to move around the ship like any other sapient being. As the crew were being carried away by the medical drones to the transport trams, Möbius made his own route through the ship to find the local search-and-rescue team. After a few minutes of traveling, the AI Servitor finally caught sight of the Terrans and came close to them in order to have a proper conversation with them. It was a good thing that all Stormwrathians, in the Metaverse or in the physical realm, had a knowledge of the Universal language.

His colored projection said to them in Universal, "Salutations, Terrans. I am Möbius, AI Servitor of Captain Elliot Baudribosco, commanding officer of the SXS Avanna. I have been given orders by my superior to seek you and enlist your aid in finding any survivors of the wreckage. First we have to seek out any survivors in the hangar bays — it is the closest room with sapient beings from this area of the ship. The CIC crew will be arriving at the hangars via transport drones." Möbius then gestured for the Terrans to follow him to the starboard hangar bays, for the port side hangars may have been demolished by the impact.

[Singaporean Transhumans]

Somewhere near Pekan, Malaya

"Another inter-universal incursion detected...goddamit this is getting on our heads, fucking just send a task force over lah."

Well, as everything went, a small team of troops was sent to the site of the detected incursion. The Stratocratic presence in Malaya has been greatly weakened, and there wasn't much of a force to deploy to investigate an inter-universal incursion, but the command decided to do it anyway considering they still have a death robot factory in Pekan unharmed and still having steady output. Well, losing a team or two didn't really matter at this moment.

As the group of Singaporeans neared the site, the presence of others became extremely obvious and disturbing. Deciding to not go further, the leader sent a radio message that can be picked up by whatever instruments in the vicinity capable of doing so. "PTFS Stratocratic Faction Malayan Section forces here, report your affiliations and coordinates."

[Atomic Utopia]

9/4/726 A.F.

---

USSAU main fleet.

The neural implant in Hagen Volkov began to operate. It was the Chief intelligence officer speaking.

"Volkov, transmission incoming, appears to be of Impurium origin, patching you in."

Volkov responded.
"Odd, seems like they do not know who we are. Didn't you send out the transmission telling them who we were?"

"No sir, it was deemed too risky. We wanted to maintain distance from the combat occurring in that sector."

"Well it seems we did not, patch in the Chief Political officer."

"What is it, I was busy with a me... (the political officer received the transmission copy) Oh, I see. Hmm... We know that Tinfect is socialist, like us, we also know that they are very isolationist. Hmm... I think we should offer assistance if they assist us in taking out the PLAYER ships."

"How does this sound? 'This is Hagen Volkov, Commandant of the Third Ground Army. We are currently conducting a operation to obtain resources in this sector. We will assist your forces in landing and occupation if you assist our forces by helping us remove the PLAYER ships near us. Any and all assistance will be greatly appreciated'"

The political officer responded.
"Sounds acceptable."

"Begin transmission. 'This is Hagen Volkov, Commandant of the Third Ground Army. We are currently conducting a operation to obtain resources in this sector. We will assist your forces in landing and occupation if you assist our forces by helping us remove the PLAYER ships near us. Any and all assistance will be greatly appreciated"

The message was sent to the TInfect fleet via highly directional radio broadcast and tachyon pulse and the Commandant waited for a responce.

---

USSAU ship traveling to meet "pirate" fleet.

"All ships, code alpha papa tango.... All ships, code alpha papa tango." The commander repeated the code several times over the "radio" (it was actually tachyon pulse transmission), and now the message was coming in on the Valiant, one of the Karl Marx Class superheavy destroyers far away from the fleet in GSO. The designated "radio" operator was surprised to the point that he almost jerked his fiber optic neural connection to the ship out of it's socket. He sent a transmission back.

"Confirm code alpha papa tango."

"2217, code alpha papa tango confirmed."

"Heard you loud and clear."

The "radio" operator immediately transitioned to the local neural network.

"Fleet command gave out orders for attack plan 'T', looking in my code book it looks like that means we open up upon the designated targets."

The captain responded.
"And those would be?"

"The ships that contacted us when we entered, those small ones owned by PTFS."

One of the intelligence officers chimed in.
"I knew it, it was suspicious how they were sitting over there, watching us, it appears now we are going into battle with them, what for?"

"Looks like a hypervelocity projectile impacted one of our ships, thus we are landing the troops to prevent them form being damaged, the PLAYER forces asked a few questions we did not like... You get the idea."

"Affirmative, prep jump, transmit to determine where we can jump in to meet the fleet."

The radio technician changed over to tachyon pulse comms and began speaking to the fleet coordinator again.

"2217 requesting jump vector."

There was a pause, the coordinator was probably talking "above" and asking for a computation from one of the fleet operations computer officers. They were the people responsible for all operations involving the fleet. By connecting the human brain to a greater number of quantum computing units than normal the normal number implanted all kinds of calculations could easily be done in real time, allowing for quick responce to combat operations. And of course questions like this.

"Jump vector 3-498-BZX+2i authorized 2217."

"Jump vector 3-498-BZX+2i over."

"Jump vector 3-498-BZX+2i confirmed."

The radio technician transferred over to the local network.

"Jump vector 3-498-BZX+2i authorized."

"Prepare for jump in 20."

Slowly a section of the ship began to move outward from the hull. It was the "Warp Ring" the device that allowed the ship to jump between locations. It was extremely delicate and was almost always the first thing to be critically damaged during combat, but none the less it was considered the most important section of any ship as it allowed for time travel and faster than light transportation.

The drive engineer came online.
"Damn. Seems that input was invalid, drive wont work."

The captain responded
"Huh?"

"It seems that that jump would violate causality. We are not supposed to be over there."

"Odd, tech, do you know of any other jump that would work?"

"3-498-BZX-1i would work. Try that input."

"Input valid, warping in three."

If one were looking directly at the ship you could see the stars surrounding it slowly change positions. This was but a illusion, a illusion created by the gravitational lensing of the warp drive. Slowly the ship faded, becoming ever darker and ever more redshifted, then the gravitational lensing dissipated. If one were looking at the place the ship appeared you would see the opposite occur, with the ship slowly fading in to view.

The glinting exterior of her dielectric mirror armor was darkened by the extension of "battle screens" over the hull. These were in essence extra whipple shields designed to absorb the larger impacts created by combat. Now the Valiant looked like a lead bullet, a massive nuclear powered lead bullet.

Looking at the fleet one would note that the entire fleet had trained it's weapons on the closest PTFS ship and had fired them. All the lasers, missiles, and bombs had been fired at once. Combat was beginning.