Depths of Space: The Uncertain Future (IC, Open)

[The Greater Gambia]

Todval System
Jakala
New Talveria, Federal Intelligence Society Headquarters


"Circi, enhance visual." Lord of Intelligence Yamin ordered the AI.

"Roger that." On the screen was live footage from Alpha Centauri, the site of a recent battle between the Cho'Dosan Covenant and the Solis Alliance. Since the start of hostilities, the Federation had launched multiple recon probes to watch from the shadows. The Alpha Centauri Probe took footage of various sites in the system, the wreckage, the war torn planets, the Covenant forces still lingering in the system.

"Sloppy and a waste of life." A voice in a distinct Australian accent said. Yamin turned around.

"Ah, Commander Ross Turing. I see you've taken well to your new augmentations." Turing flexed his wrist. He could hear the sound of gyros and servos underneath his skin.

"The best the Federation has to offer. So, this is Alpha Centauri?" Turing walked up to Yamin's side, surveying the footage. Yamin nodded.

"Yes, they're still fighting on New London. Partisans seemed to be keeping them busy for the time being. Tell me, Turing, what are your thoughts on this conflict?"

"If you're trying to ask if I care about the plight of the Alliance because they're Human, I couldn't care less. We've been fine for hundreds of years without the Terrans. If they think that because our ancestral birth place is under threat, that every Human is going to come crawling back to "fight for the Motherland", they have another thing coming." Yamin smirked.

"That's what I like about you, Turing, you tell things how it is." Yamin grew serious again. "Still, we have a mutual enemy in the Covenant. I hear there is an old Earth saying. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Turing nodded.

"Yes, a phrase that's even carried on after our long isolation from Earth."

"It is a very Tagali way of thinking. It doesn't bother with heroics or morality, just finding a means to an end. This brings me to why I ordered you here. We are going to aid the enemy of our enemy. We will give them the tools for victory, whether they decide to use them is up to them. You are to meet with representatives of the Solis Alliance Intelligence agency. We have already set up a meeting location. You will be in command of a small force for this operation. You are to leave immediately." Turing straightened up and gave Yamin a salute.

"Of course sir. I won't fail you." Yamin nodded.

"I know you won't. Dismissed." Turing saluted again and left the building. Shortly after Turing departed for the meeting spot, the following message was dispatched to the Intelligence forces of the Solis Alliance. The message was heavily encrypted, to keep unwanted eyes from the Covenant and even the Federations allies from looking in.

Source Code Name: Jade Selgo
Destination: Veteris Terra
Encryption Level: 0 Top Personnel only
Encryption Code: TFFIS01-SAIA01-TPM1


We have a mutual enemy. Perhaps we can work together to put this threat back in its place. Coordinates for a meeting location will be encrypted within the code of this message. You have three days to arrive at the spot, or we will leave you to your fate.

[Beiarusia]

Faul Republic
Minister Tayo
Spire, New Haven, Eto Prime, Eto, Faux System

Some hours had passed since the meeting with the Zhong Vey. An uneventful dinner had been held for the guests in one of the private dining halls, a rather plain room of simple design that was graced with a stunning view of the city. The meal itself was modest, consisting of leafy vegetables and a side portion of meat that, while similar to beef, was actually from a domesticated creature more akin to a reptile. Talk had been directed more so towards culture than politics. Tayo and most of the Council were interested in the Zhong Vey, and likewise they spoke about themselves when asked. After dinner they all had bid their farewells and had gone their separate ways.

Tayo stepped from the elevator. There was a personal suite within the Spire that was given to the current Minister in office, and though the Council had their own space if needed most who could preferred to head home. Tayo had her own home in New Haven but had taken to staying in the Spire due to the convenience. In truth she didn’t get out much, but she didn’t mind.

Tataro, however, she did mind, and he was standing outside her door.

“What do you want?” she asked, rather tired after a long day. Paying him little attention she stepped in through the door, it having unlocked as she approached, its sensors having detected the ID on her person.

Tataro followed her in as the Minister knew he would. “I think tonight went well.”

“Please don’t humor me,” Tayo said as she made herself at home, sliding out of her shoes and removing her coat, which she promptly tossed in the small closet near the door.


“I wasn’t. The Council was more accommodating than I thought they’d be.”

“You didn’t give them much choice.” Tayo turned to face the man now, a frown on her face. “Inviting them here, that was bold even for you, so I can understand how the Council feels. Try not to overstep your position. I’m the Minister. I have the final say in these things, and were I a different person you’d be out on the streets by now.”

“Ah, but my gambit worked, did it not.” A self indulging grin crossed Tataro’s face as the words left his mouth.

“That’s not the point.”

“You’re right. The point of the matter is that we need friends. Friends that won’t get us killed, and though the Zhong Vey are a little rough around the edges, I think they’re a better choice than, say, the Covenant or the Alliance. You’ve heard the rumors, right? They say a war is being fought between them now. Millions are already thought to be dead. Tragic. Not the sort of people we want to consort with. So I think I did us a service, getting us a foot in the door, and maybe something good can work that will be beneficial to all parties involved. Maybe you can even save that career of yours.”

Tayo was blunt. “You just want to be made the hero in all this. If that’s the case then you’re trying too hard.”

“I’m just doing my part.”

“And taking credit for it.”

“Well, yes. A little recognition doesn’t hurt from time to time.” He paused. “May I come in?”

“You’re already in.”

“May I come further in?”

The Minister was tempted to deny him, to send him on his way, but while he was not all that likable Tataro could well be a valued ally, even if he had his own reasonings. Tayo wasn’t too hopeful for her career – in all honesty Tataro would likely aim for the title of Minister in the next election – but so long as they got something viable with the Zhong Vey it would be a good step in the right direction. So the Minister would invite him in to talk, but before she could there was a knock on the door.

A secretary was outside, out of breath as she had run through much of the Spire to find the Minister. “Missus Tayo, we need you to come to the command center,” the young woman said. “It’s rather urgent.”

“Can it wait?” Tayo asked, not wanting to head back out so soon after arriving home.

It couldn’t wait.

They were soon heading down to the core of the Spire, to the command center that, while named as such, was more of a civilian construct that primarily dealt with radio traffic. Most of its function was in aiding ATC and STC in coordinating incoming and outbound shuttles, but it also functioned as a direct link when secure lines needed to be established, and as such was currently being used by the HDF until a more efficient and separate system was devised.

The secretary was leading, moving at a brisk but uneasy pace, as if worried. Tayo and Tataro followed, conversing between themselves.

“What do you think it is?” Tataro asked, genuinely curious.

“Nothing good,” Tayo answered. She hadn’t bothered to grab her coat and her blouse was a bit disheveled from a long day.

“Is it ever good.”

Tayo said nothing for a moment. “Did you see our guests off?”

“I sent the captain,” Tataro said. “She seems to like them well enough. Plus I think they trust her, being that she was the first one they met.”

Entering the command center the Minister found a small commotion taking place, one that stopped upon their arrival. Something was going on and they appeared to be worried, almost panicking, and now that Tayo was here it seemed to have only worsened. On the screen behind them was a woman on the bridge of a ship. Likely an HDF vessel in orbit.

The Minister got straight to the point. “What’s going on?”

The woman in charge spoke up. “We have a situation. An HDF ship, the Nomu, made contact with an alien species.”

“Yes, they’re here as our guests.”

“Uh… this was a few hours ago.”

The Minister didn’t get it immediately. “What do you mean?”

“An unknown ship stumbled into the system. The Nomu intercepted and, well, they don’t match any known groups. They’re humans, but we think them to have developed separately.”

“They’re here?”

“In the far reaches of the system, yes.”

“And you didn’t tell me!?”

“You were busy and-”

Tayo ignored her and addressed the woman on screen. “You there. What can you tell me?”

Vera looked annoyed. “That they like to argue. Can I please tell them to shove off?”

The Minister shook her head. “No. Just… just escort them here. To Outreach. We’ll meet you there.”

Vera nodded. “Consider it done.”

The visual feed ended a moment later as the Nomu began issuing the orders to the survey ship that had entered their space. They would be escorted in-system and a meeting set up on the station in orbit.

Tataro looked to the Minister. “This is exciting. Mind if I come?”

“Can I tell you no?”

“No.”

“Then come on then.”

[Spindle]

CIC
HES Serendipity
Colma Space

Lance darted through the battlespace, the Serendipity feeling more like an extension of his body than something he was piloting. He was the Liliths as they danced across the darting stingships which swarmed out of the Colma ships: the ECM as he ducked, weaved, dopplered and did everything in his power to throw off the ability of their vessels to track and hit the Serendipity. Seven decoys dropped away, spreading out into a rough star shape forty-five thousand kilometres across with the Serendipity on one of the points. Minor structural damage alerts filled his mind as fighters which managed to evade the point defences strafed the hull.

At the same time, Lance was watching the battlespace in its entirety, judging the situation. A salvo of missiles tore away from the squadron, arcing towards the corvettes even as the Adams began to test the range against, almost all of their shots missing thanks to the lightspeed lag. At the periphery of his attention, he noticed the conical ship beginning to move into position to intercept: he wasn't concerned about that yet. It was too massive to gain any any accelerational advantage over his Squadron. It was the Escorts he was worried about in this situation.

But his missiles were coasting towards it and, after a brief but intense period of point defence fire, the missiles detonated in almost-perfect synchronisation. The x-ray emissions were caught in the six lasing medium submunitions each missile deployed, forcing themselves into coherency moments before the submunitions were vaporised. Almost seventy percent of the missiles were destroyed by the point-defence barrage, but the seventy-three which made it through resulted in four-hundred and thirty-eight XRASERS lancing across the last light-second towards the gargantuan spacecraft.

[The Sol Capital Territories]

"The Rygor" - 2, Uxanor Occupation Zone, Ollis-Telanor System (Under Occupation)

The 142,000 ship strong Royal Armada wasn't going to bend over to a small, puny alien force. They have faced worse. If need be, reinforcements could be called up from other nearby Rygor staging areas at the wave of the Grand Overseer. After receiving the handshake on the comline, Ryztar smiled. He commanded his advance forces to stand down to await further orders.

"All Rygor-affiliated assets be informed that the frequency for unimportant, un-related chatter be relocated to Frequency Zeta-A2. Any unauthorized transmission detected on this now-designated high-level diplomatic frequency will be met with one punishment - excruciating death." The broadcast was sent to all electronic devices in the Ollis-Telanor System. It came from the Overseer's Watch itself.

Ryztar reclined in his stoic composure. He pondered hard on how to respond. He had it drilled in his head that through the Rygor Foreign Contact Decree No. 86, all non-Rygor alien ships entering Rygor-controlled systems be detained, or destroyed. He had already lost a total of 1788 ships on his watch, with 765 of them prisoner transport vessels containing Ussian POWs to be transferred to processing centers. He was not going to slip up - not when his crew had already called into question his abilities. No more.

"Unidentified alien entity. You have trespassed into Rygor-controlled space. This system, once called Ollis-Telanor, is ours now, ever since another alien scum was ridded off, with the likes of you. They went off scattering like rats in their pathetic spaceships. Now, per Rygor Foreign Contact Operational Doctrine Code no.1, I, the Grand Overseer of the Royal Armada in this Occupation Zone, must ask."

The message was transmitted using a wide-band frequency emitter. Ryztar specifically instructed the Communications Directorate on how to send it.

"Who are you, and what are your intentions, whatever they may be, on entering this system. Are you armed? And finally, how do you want this encounter to end?" Ryztar cackled softly at the end of his speech. He was savoring the moment very much.

The Bassinol - Ollis-Telanor System

Oraya begun emitting flashy yellow UV lights, which would be equal to a smile for other beings. The Or'fiat will finally get some flashy new guns, and millions of Caraani soldiers will get spill blood and gain medals. He finally opened his mouth, something that already disgusted him and angered him, for mouths are to communicate for lesser beings; he was Caraani; he was higher; he was of the Compact: mouths were used to communicate with lesser beings, and so by this very act, these so called Rygors have condemned themselves to a lesser-race status. "I am Xeres Oraya of the Bassinol. I am Caraani; our race has deemed this space and every other system 3 dozen systems away into the unknown from this one to be suitable for Bid Liter, for expansion of living space. In the name of the Caraani Potentate, I, Xeres Oraya, hereby release the next declaration: The Rygors, and the entity that they have created in these local clusters, which we so proclaim to be called from today onwards the Rygor Systems Branch, are required to leave the systems in the RSB (Rygor Systems Branch). You will be 2 months in our measurement of times. Failure to comply will result in your race being re-purposed according to Caraani designs. The declaration of Xeres Oraya of the Bassinol, in accordance with our traditions of the Bid Liter, and out of respect for the race known as Rygors, is hereby proclaimed. Now, I don't know who you are...or better, who you think you are, but do not take this as an agreement, or as us holding talks with you, sir. You have simply took part in the declaration of our annexation of the systems you inhabit, which you should take as a warning. Were you to not comply, we will soon find how full of purpose, or purposeless, your race is. The Bassinol shall now leave this space that you call yours. May we meet again, Rygor, in 2 months from now." He ended, emitting flashy yellow UV lights. While Xeres himself finds such declarations distasteful, he enjoyed stepping a bit on this so called Rygor's pride. His job, for now, has ended. He will return to Caraani Space, where he will hand over the first recorded Declaration of the 10th Bid Liter, and then await his next assignment.
The Bid Liter Fleet stands ready. May whatever gods or goddesses or spirits the Rygors be merciful to them. The Caraani won't be.

"The Rygor" - 3, Uxanor Occupation Zone, Ollis-Telanor System (Under Occupation)

The reply was unexpected for Ryztar. As it filtered into the Rzhar-Zzrak's external com receiver, he peered closer towards the broadcast terminal, pushing away the crew members in his way. Most ships that dared venture into Rygor space were mostly lone traders with faulty navigation systems or the odd intelligence-gathering probes from nearby civilizations. They were easily "handled". Occasionally there would be a small vessel of another alien species that was crewed, but they usually ran scared at the first encounter. Out of the percentage of manned alien vessels, only a tiny fraction had dared to stand up like this Caraani of the Caraani Potentate. Ryztar felt amused, but their noble efforts were all in vain. So he thought, as the ones that did muster the courage to face the Rygor usually were the fastest to be vanquished by the ray guns. Sometimes certain species had a determination which rocked the Rygor, in which they were granted the title of Slavelord, with the privilege of owning property, slaves and small fleets, despite denied the opportunity to exit Rygor territory.

"Xeres Ora..ya..." Ryztar mumbled into the terminal, slowly. "Your courage in the face of overwhelming odds is...commendable."

"Your Caraani is a fearsome species with a noble cause...but alas, it is all in vain." He stopped, ordering the perimeter battalion to power up the Inhibitor Gates, effectively preventing any alien FTL-drive from engaging. A rising flame engulfed his body, now full of burning rage-filled thrill.

"Like I said before - how do you want this to end? Hmm? The Empire has existed for eons before your kind. We are unmoved, merely amused, by your meaningless 'declaration of annexation'." He now ordered a frontal strike division of a little over 1,000 ships to prepare for combat, taking their positions sweeping the area the stealthed vessel was presumed to hide in, brandishing their red-hot energy weapons at the void of space in hopes of intimidating the crew of the ship. Backed by the first flotilla of 500, the total numbers now amount to 1,651.

"You know, a thought occured to me, that maybe I should set you free. So you can go back to your shithole and tell your pitiful shit-king that the Eternal Empire of Rygor would tear up this 'declaration', and hereby declare a war on you, if that's what you want." He cackled maniacally again. "From the dawn of Hmarharr, we have longed for a challenge. I trust you can deliver it. Or not."

Now Ryztar awaited a response. The Inhibitor Gates were not fully powered up yet, just as planned, so there was still a gap for the aliens to make a choice. Now all eyes were on the Caraani.

[True Refuge]

Second Chance, Faux System

The visual feed ended a moment later as the Nomu began issuing the orders to the survey ship that had entered their space. They would be escorted in-system and a meeting set up on the station in orbit.

The two acknowledged it without thinking, eager to meet the demands of the Faulians,

"Very well. We'll get the ship moving."

But, the reality didn't sink in for a few seconds. When it did, they sat there in their seats solemnly, thinking about what was certain to happen now.
"We're going to be responsible for the first serious contact the Ruin's had since it was created..."

Matt datavised a quick message to Ky's nanoics.

"This is not good, not good at all. What we do during this meeting determines what these Faulians will think of our nation. I'm not ready to deal with this pressure."
Ky replied quickly and solemnly. "How I wish we had affinity. Then our conversations wouldn't be on record. The reporters' will make a mess of this when we get home."

Matt shook his head slowly in disbelief. "My God..."

"I'm going to send the alert in a narrow-beam with a zero-width wormhole. I think our drive can handle enough for the current data log."
"The Lord of Ruin's going to want to see this."

"I wish to tell you we're sending notification of the situation to our superiors, as per our useless protocol. I am including a short message strongly warning against further intervention, which in this case will get us all killed. Sending it now..."

The Second Chance's wormhole drive powered up and diverted energy into space-time, manipulating it just the tiniest bit, creating a hole in the fabric of the universe so tiny and imperceptible it technically didn't exist, nothing with mass could pass through, anyways. A stream of data flowed through this zero-width wormhole, for half a minute, and it closed just as quietly as it had opened.

"Transmission completed. Our wormhole drive's a little depleted now, good thing this station's somewhat nearby."
Matt started the engines, and the Second Chance began drifting towards the station orbiting the nearby gas giant.

---

Tranquillity, Pacem System

Michael Saldana was still gazing out at the habitat’s open clouded sigh, wine glass and bottle in hand, when the wormhole opened deep in the system. Tranquillity read through the data and records of the video slowly and surely, confirming each detail meticulously. No room for error was allowed for such an important message. The signal’s file in the computers that stored such things was sealed by its order a mere second after the message’s arrival.

Michael, I have distressing news. it said to him via affinity.
Michael turned from the view and looked back into the dark penthouse.
Is the mining fleet back in force? Deploy a squadron if you need to, that’s fine with me.
He sensed a slight hesitation from Tranquillity.

What’s wrong, Tranquillity?
I’ve just received a zero-width transmission from the Second Chance. They say that they’ve initiated first contact with a race called the Faulians.
Various data scrolled down Michael’s vision, imprinting in his memory.
Really?
They’ve exchanged brief conversation with the HDF Nomu, a ship of whatever navy these Faulians have. Our languages are somewhat similar. It paused. The Nomu’s captain wishes them to dock at an orbital station.
The first contact. An event I’ve been waiting and preparing months and years for, and it’s done by a backward, unruly and scruffy punishment squad. Unbelievable. Are the aliens hostile in any way?
The conversation suggests that they intend to handle this diplomatically. They know nothing about us, and we know nothing about them. There’s a message from Tactician Ky Cranel attached, addressed to you. He wants us not to intervene.

I want at least a squadron of voidhawks and supporting blackhawks mobilised, with their distortion fields on standby. I want Oenone and Captain Syrinx part of that.
I understand that you want your best hawk captain to meet with the aliens, but Cranel has no idea of the military might of the Faulians, let alone size. It is not a good idea, Michael, and I know you don’t want to lose her.
She can handle herself, and if I decide to deploy them, it will simply be to grab the Second Chance and leave if the situation heats up. And, I know Oenone has been itching for action for quite some time now.
Tranquillity let out a sigh on the affinity link, and an inkling of displeasure as well.

I hope you do not act like this if the Faulians invite you under their roof in the future. You are quiet reckless at times Michael, but I will do what you ask.
I am sorry, Tranquillity, but I want to safeguard the future of the squad housed inside the Second Chance. I care about Syrinx as much as we all do, but the best is required for a situation like this.
Oenone and the other hawks not performing essential duties are busy packing cargo to ship to the terrestrial farms, it will take a little time for them to become combat-ready.
Good. Let’s see this through.

[Ithalian Empire]

"You mentioned a desire for trade as well?" Na'sen asked. "Are your traders willing to cross your great barrier?

"You have come at very pivotal moment in our history. We have finally developed an FTL drive that can cross the Barrier safely. It would only be a matter of time for private enterprise to take advantage of this new technology, but our merchants have always been quick in upgrading to new technologies when they are made available. There will be no unfortunate incidents like what happened to the Pride of the Ancestors."

[The Dark Brotherhood of Deros]

Colma Space
Fighter squadrons were being blown out of space as the battle went on, and a few Corvettes were damaged and had to pull away. Now the missiles impacted the Hive, hardly making a dent in its armor. The command center shook with the impact. "They put up a fight for Soft-skins. But it's time we ended this!" Greshtha said, as she ordered all weapons on the Hive to fire at the approaching ships.

Blasts of light flew off of the massive ship, and exploded near the Serendipity like flak fire, however the Colma fighters had to be much more careful maneuvering around the alien ships as a result of this tactic.

[Naretion]

"You mentioned a desire for trade as well?" Na'sen asked. "Are your traders willing to cross your great barrier?

"You have come at very pivotal moment in our history. We have finally developed an FTL drive that can cross the Barrier safely. It would only be a matter of time for private enterprise to take advantage of this new technology, but our merchants have always been quick in upgrading to new technologies when they are made available. There will be no unfortunate incidents like what happened to the Pride of the Ancestors."

"Wonderful. A treaty of open borders between our merchants would be one I know the Council would definitely agree with. And lastly, we were hoping to sign a treaty of non-aggression with you as well."

[Ithalian Empire]

"Wonderful. A treaty of open borders between our merchants would be one I know the Council would definitely agree with. And lastly, we were hoping to sign a treaty of non-aggression with you as well."

"That would be the next logical decision to be made here. I will present these terms to my Legislature and contact you once a decision is made." Ruse stood and motioned for Na'sen to do the same. "Now, if you wish, we will travel planet side for a tour of the capital."

[Naretion]

"Wonderful. A treaty of open borders between our merchants would be one I know the Council would definitely agree with. And lastly, we were hoping to sign a treaty of non-aggression with you as well."

"That would be the next logical decision to be made here. I will present these terms to my Legislature and contact you once a decision is made." Ruse stood and motioned for Na'sen to do the same. "Now, if you wish, we will travel planet side for a tour of the capital."

Na'sen stood to follow, "I would love to." Na'sen had never been a part of any first contact before so this was all very exciting to him even though he contained it quite well. He was just happy that the contact so far was going without any inconvenience.

[Spindle]

CIC
HES Serendipity
Colma Space

Detonations ripped across the decoy net, sending a cascade of damage reports to Lance's brain as the Serendipity bucked and twisted under the firestorm of charged particles like a thing alive, spinning madly as it writhed and contorted. Her prow wasn't even slagged: it had simply expanded into a cloud of gas and dust which had imparted Serendipity with her current spin. Lance vaguely felt something cold pressing against his body beyond his interlink: the wall of the amniotic tank? Whatever it was, it fell away soon enough.

The Escorts had fared somewhat better. One of the Dominus-class had been destroyed; its spine snapped and its systems thoroughly fried by the streams of charged particles. The other Dominus was reporting minor structural damage and a small level of electrical damage and the same went for the other Escorts: it seemed that the gargantuan ship was concentrating on the Serendipity. Across the squadron reactive armour shifted, nanites began to redistribute mass and bulkheads slammed down to separate the vacuated and pressurised areas until the hull breaches could be repaired. Most importantly, circuits were repaired where the mass movement of ionised particles had heated them beyond capacity, slowly bringing the entirety of the computing network back online. But it was slow.

MASERs flickered out weakly in reply, concentrating still on the Escorts. The second salvo of missiles detonated: less than fifty making it through the flak and point defences to hurl scattered XRASER towards the closest handful of Corvettes and a third salvo of missiles shot from the missile tubes. The space around the two sides was thick with the invisible streams of photons, particles and colman fighters which swarmed over the ISC ships as well as they were able. The SquadNet was holding together, but tenuously: whenever the smaller LASERs inched their way towards the emitters for the comms LASERs, the closest available Lilith was immidiately assigned to destroy the offending fighter. It was a grim fight but, judging from the relative accelerations, Lance guessed that there was only a few minutes more before he left their effective weapons range. All he had to do was survive...

---

Ostian Medical Institution
Nue Berlin
Ostia

Gawain's eyes slowly fluttered open to be greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. It was clinically white, almost sterile-looking. For a while he simply lay where he was, feeling a soft warmth suffuse his body, before he sleepily lifted his head and looked around the room he had found himself in. It was, much like the ceiling, clinically white and almost perfectly sterile, with a heartbeat monitor giving him a reassuring beep...beep...beep.

He tried to sit up, but a pain flared in his chest and he gasped with it, his core muscles relaxing involuntarily and his breath almost failed him. In blind panic, he began gasping like a fish, drawing the air back into his lungs until he had calmed down enough to resume his normal breathing patterns. After that, it was several more seconds of soft beeping before he hiccupped. An annoyed hand twitched, but other than that the Emperor remained still. Then another hiccup forced its way up, popping out of his body. Then another. And another. Before long, Gawain simply gave in and allowed the hiccupping to run its course.

---

Unknown Facility
Unknown Location
Unknown System

Slade's eyes flitted open in an instant, to be greeted by a drab ceiling. He tried to move, but his body felt as if it had been trampled by a herd of cattle. Actually, given what he could remember before he'd passed out, that wasn't an inaccurate description of what had happened. Gingerly, his fingers probed the tender flesh of his side, wincing and hissing as the pain stabbed through his body like a rapier wherever he touched. His legs twitched, bruised and beaten muscles screaming their protests to this abuse.

Where was he? What was going to happen to him? Who had those people been? Why had he never seen anything like them before? A million questions swirled through his mind, each clamouring for attention and Slade found he couldn't order them. He'd never been in a situation this bad: never. He didn't know what to do and so he sat there stiffly, paralysed by his indecision as multitudinous voices screamed useless advice into his ear.

[Ithalian Empire]

Na'sen stood to follow, "I would love to." Na'sen had never been a part of any first contact before so this was all very exciting to him even though he contained it quite well. He was just happy that the contact so far was going without any inconvenience.

Ruse, followed by his bodyguard, lead Na'sen to the hanger bay of the station. Loading into it the pilot began to maneuver his way out of the hanger. When they were a kilometer away from the station the pilot flipped from RCS to the large plasma drives that supplied his craft with a considerable amount of ΔV. He turned retrograde and began to make his descent burn.

There was some turbulence in the upper atmosphere but other than that the rest of the flight into Antivar's spaceport was uneventful. There was a considerable crowed of reporters all trying to get a glimpse of the alien ambassador. Truth be told, it was annoying. Annoying for Ruse. Annoying for the security team. And it could potentially lead to an incident.

"We're here. Well Na'sen, welcome to Antivar." The doors of the shuttle opened letting in the breeze, smelling of the sea.

[The Dark Brotherhood of Deros]

Colma Space
"They are reaching the edge of our firing range!" The Comm officer exclaimed. Greshtha roared with anger, and slammed her claws on her chair. "How can these Soft-skins still be alive?! Initiate death rain protocol!" She ordered. The Comm officer paused for a second as her words digested, but gave the order. The piolots of the fighters received their orders, said their prayers to the Progenitor, and then dived.

Dozens of fighters slammed into the Spindle ships as they rained down kamikaze strikes. Corvetts were exploding all around the fleeing alien fleet, some of them trying to crash into ships as they burned. Greshtha widened her mandibles in pleasure as she watched the anarchy from her view-screen. "Let the filthy Soft-skins burn in the fires of our people..." She muttered.

[The NAR]

-SOLIS ALLIANCE-

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Sierra System

---

Numerous orbital cannons were obliterated by the Covenant attack, but the Alliance held firm. Many of the Alliance's ships had been destroyed or crippled, but the assistance of Atlas helped keep the pressure away. The 800 ships beneath the Covenant Fleet shredded through dozens and dozens of enemy vessels with each passing minute, utilizing the Prometheus Cannon to obliterate ships with one shot. The Front Line, which had suffered the brunt of the attack, had suffered losses, but held out all the same. Though, the right flank was beginning to fall apart as Covenant ships began breaking through, and news soon reached Lieutenant-Admiral Frederick. "Get the Dreads from the second line onto the right flank! We need to hold!". Five massive Dreadnoughts moved into place where they were open fire on the Covenant Forces. The Alliance was taking a beating, but the fight wasn't over...

---

Lucan System

---

The situation in the Lucan System was grim for both sides - they'd both suffered heavy losses. Footage from the battle would be seen on cities across Earth as part of an attempt by the Alliance to increase morale by showing how hard it was fighting. Though anyone who looked close enough could see that there were far more Covenant ships than there were Alliance. The entangled mess of vessels continued to slug it out with each other, with the battle not really tipping in favor of either side, but at this point most of the fighting had begun revolving around the Covenant Flagship, where Alliance Marines had begun tearing through.

Sergeant Maxson pushed foreword with the other Marines, stopping for nothing, and began to slowly drive the Covenant Marines back. It was bloody, brutal, close-quarters fighting, and both the Alliance and the Covenant found themselves losing large amounts of men. Daniel had a family waiting for him back home - he had to push on. He dipped his head to the right just as a cannon round flew towards him, stumbling to the side and beginning to lose his balance, and would trip over the body of a dead Covenant Marine. The sheer speed in which he was running threw him through the glass window and into a small room, where some enemies were helping a wounded shoulder. Still stumbling, with grass crackling beneath his feet, he'd unleash a few bursts of bullets. The three Covenant Marines collapsed. Daniel stormed towards the wounded Cho'Dosan woman, whom he'd shot earlier. On her knees, Daniel slammed his foot into her face, likely breaking teeth and some bones, and leveled his rifle at her head. One move, and he'd shoot.

---

Veteris Terra

---

The Alliance Intelligence Agency (AIA) had received the encrypted message from the Federation, and were quick to react. The AIA was busy enough as it was - dealing with Covenant spies - but if the Federation was willing to contribute to the war effort, the Alliance wasn't about to turn them down. A lone Frigate, with the words Lincoln on the side, sat waiting in the region referred to by the Federation as the Veteris Terra, waiting for their arrival.

[Spindle]

CIC
HES Serendipity
Colma Space

The squadron finally reached the edge of that enormous ship's effective weapons range, shots still detonating around them but kept far enough away by lightspeed lag that they posed little threat to the mangled squadron. And good thing too, Lance noted. All of the ships had lost their EM field emitters, two of the Escorts were barely holding together and the other two weren't much better. The gutted corpses of three Escorts lay behind them and both Corvettes and stingships still engaged in that deadly dance where a single slip would mean a LASER punching through your hull and out the other side. But for the most part, they were safe.

The Necromancer detonated and Lance did a double-take. What had caused that? There was no additional heat anywhere: nothing to indicate the Corvettes had fired at it. What could that have been? A flight of stingships dived towards the Learnean before being wiped out by concentrated point defence fire, and Lance understood. Kamikaze. One of the Corvettes plunged at Serendipity, her superstructure wracked with explosions before an Adam tore into its prow, ripping it almost in half and deflecting it enough that only fragments impacted on the hull, but from those fragments dove a lone fighter. It was mission-killed by the Liliths, certainly, and its pilot was dead, but it still ploughed into the Cruiser amidships, tearing a gaping hole into her hull. As it did so, the Wyvern fell silent, a flight of stingships barreling through its CIC and killing the pilots in their pods.

A mental order was sent across the squadron and the ships opened their engines' containment fields as wide as possible, a blanket of ionised gas shooting towards the stingships and Corvettes, dissipating after a few thousand kilometers. In the moment of respite, the battered squadron diverted more and more power into their engines, sacrificing point defence integrity for acceleration in an attempt to break away from their pursuers. As they did so, they finally felt the tug of gravity that they needed, falling towards the distant gas giant and its moons. Even as the three, battered ships moved into position for a gravitational assist, they were spitting the last of their missiles into the void. They arced away, not towards the Colma ships but parallel to the gas giant they were headed for. Its gravity would pull the salvo around, towards the optimal intercept vector for his slingshot. And that, Lance thought grimly, could well be the decider.

[The Dark Brotherhood of Deros]

Colma Space
"What are they doing?" Greshtha asked as she saw the ships head toward a gas giant. Then it occurred to her. "We have them now! Move to the other side of the gas giant! They're trying to use its gravity to sling shot away!" She ordered, causing the Hive to move. This proved to be a fatal mistake however, as the missiles slammed into a less armored section of the ship, causing shrapnel and sparks to fly everywhere.

The command center shook and sparks flew from the consuls when the missiles struck. "Weapon systems are down!" The Comm officer informed Greshtha, and she roared once again. "I have been made a fool of by filthy Soft-skins?!" She asked in disbelief.

[Naretion]

Na'sen stood to follow, "I would love to." Na'sen had never been a part of any first contact before so this was all very exciting to him even though he contained it quite well. He was just happy that the contact so far was going without any inconvenience.

Ruse, followed by his bodyguard, lead Na'sen to the hanger bay of the station. Loading into it the pilot began to maneuver his way out of the hanger. When they were a kilometer away from the station the pilot flipped from RCS to the large plasma drives that supplied his craft with a considerable amount of ΔV. He turned retrograde and began to make his descent burn.

There was some turbulence in the upper atmosphere but other than that the rest of the flight into Antivar's spaceport was uneventful. There was a considerable crowed of reporters all trying to get a glimpse of the alien ambassador. Truth be told, it was annoying. Annoying for Ruse. Annoying for the security team. And it could potentially lead to an incident.

"We're here. Well Na'sen, welcome to Antivar." The doors of the shuttle opened letting in the breeze, smelling of the sea.

Na'sen stepped out of the shuttlecraft and took in the sight. "It is a beautiful planet." He took in every detail. Art Meks had very good memories and remembered specifics very easily. He was already digesting all the information about the planet for inclusion into the first log of information into The Archives about the planet, this mission, and Antivarian space in general.

[Spindle]

CIC
HES Serendipity
Colma Space

Lance didn't have time to track the effects of the missiles before his maimed squadron made it behind the planet and lost visual contact with the alien ships. Picking up speed, the Serendipity almost grazed the planet's atmosphere as the damaged engines struggled to counteract the inexorable pull of gravity. Succeeding, barely, the ships shot out from around the planet, arriving in the sights of the alien fleet as they finished their move into position. Less than thirty seconds worth of engagement time...Lance shuddered as the range slowly closed.

[The Dark Brotherhood of Deros]

Colma Space
The Hive could do nothing to stop the oncoming ships, however the now small and damaged Colma fleet moved to intercept the ships, but they were moving very fast. "Destroy them. Destroy them now!" Greshtha demanded, causing the ships to open fire.

[The Grand Republic of Hedgeland]

Tyberdyne Commonwealth
Tybim, Orta'maya System

Low on the frozen desert of Tybim, many miners today are twiddling their thumbs in fear, as the reports of alien activity have sent shockwaves throughout every Tyberdyne colony in the Orta'maya system. The democratic and free nature of Tyberdyne meant that the flow of information couldn't be restricted to classifications behind government walls for long. Oil and natural gas mining has been halted while evacuation orders are being signed off to be verified. On one of the many bases scattered around on the planet -Minebase 032, to be exact- has all of its civilians crowded in hangers while the evacuation ships are being given clearance from back home to launch. Usually, most civilians on these mining colonies only met people of the same occupation as them, but now, the common men and women of Minebase 032 were all in one place, sitting impatiently, waiting to board the evacuation ships sending the civilians back home for Tyber.

The large crowd of people had grown tired of waiting, so they decided to spark up conversations with each other. For the first time, many miners and lower class workers on the base talked to high ranking scientists and officers. Shame it had to be amidst such a terrifying event.

"This is a total disaster. I've got a family back home on Tyber, with my brother looking for fossils on Iloce. What is Elkei Yeksem going to do with all of the evacuees? What about the rest of our colonies?" A fairly distinguished scientist said, amidst a conversation with a miner.

"Everything's going down the sinkhole here. First it's rising natural gas prices, then Copaise's Tybim division starts laying off employees, and now this! All the oil on this snowball planet isn't going to save us now." A curvy natural gas miner replied, in a somewhat moody tone of voice.

"All civilians awaiting evac, please be patient. The ships are currently running through pre-flight tests. They'll be ready any minute." The base administrator's voice boomed over the loudspeaker while civilians waited silently until the noise stopped. The men and women got back to their chats and gossip.

"

[The Orson Empire]

Sierra System

The battle continued as both fleets clashed with one another. Mar would continue to press on the attack, forcing the Alliance ships into a smaller and smaller space. With many of the orbital cannons now obliterated, the Covenant armada could focus the full brunt of their attack on the Alliance fleets, allowing them to advance across space and into a lower orbit around Washington. Mar considered having ground forces be deployed on Washington, but he decided to wait until the Alliance had been beaten.

The Covenant ships had finally identified the approximate positions of the 800 cloaked ships, as they had revealed their location when they fired their weapons at the Covenant fleets. The ships began to fire in their general direction.

Lucan System

The Covenant had begun to suffer heavy losses while fighting around Noveria and Noveria's moon. Admiral Trov's violent push towards the Alliance fleet had fallen apart, and with Trov not responding to request from the other Covenant admirals, the admirals began to make their own decisions. The armada split up into the fleets that made it up, and the battle quickly became a giant mess, and it could possibly cost the Covenant a major victory in the system. A significant portion of the fighting now revolved around Trov's dreadnought, as Covenant fleets rushed to protect the High Admiral.

Inside the dreadnought, the Covenant marines attempted to hold the line, but as they were riddled with bullets, their armor became compromised, and many marines bled to death from their wounds. As Maxson and the Alliance marines pushed forward, the Covenant marines were forced back, closer and closer to the bridge. Nevertheless, there were hundreds and hundreds of Covenant marines rushing to the location in order to crush the boarding party once and for all. The hallways and numerous rooms experienced major damage from the firefights, worsened by the fact that the dreadnought was rocking back and forth due to it being hit by blasts from enemy ships.

As Captain Kyla tried to recover, Maxson stormed towards her and slammed his foot into her face. Fortunately, Kyla was still wearing her helmet, so it didn't do any real damage to her face. Kyla was frozen as Maxson had his rifle pointed at her. Kyla knew that her helmet would be able to absorb at least one shot, and she saw that her shotgun was lying near her. Thus, she decided to act. Kyla kicked Maxson in the crotch and quickly grabbed her shotgun.

[The Moscow Metro Red Line]

Solis Alliance - Earth - Berlin - Ostian Embassy Complex - Ambassador's Office

It was a rainy morning in Berlin. Dark clouds covered the blue skies, and endless legions of water bashed down on the solid concrete. Despite this torrent, many citizens were still walking outside traversing roofs to avoid the rain, clutching their raincoats closer, pulling their umbrellas closer, or a combination of the two or all three. Since the establishment of the Ostian embassy in Berlin, many Ostians and Germans alike quickly found kinship with each other. After a careful investigation by Ostian and Solis historians, it was discovered that the Ostians were descendants of German colonists at-least a century ago. In fact some Ostians have began to refer to themselves as Germans rather than Ostians. Because of this, there has been some immigration from the Protectorate to Earth as some Ostians seek to reconnect with their lost roots.

But there is a considerable amount of pride within the German population that an independent German nation is a considerate power in Galactic politics and played a large role in it. While there are problems regarding the numerous references and influences from the archaic totalitarian German Democratic Republic of the 20th Century in Ostian culture and history, these had been eventually overlooked.

In the cozy and warm office of the Ostian Ambassador's office, there was a solemn mood. News had reached from the Protectorate that the Emperor of the ISC has been shot and it seemed as if it was actually an attempted assassination of the Ostian monarch. Ambassador Ludwig Rhinehart was writing the Ostian Government's official response to the Alliance regarding the War when there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" The Ambassador demanded since the knock interrupted the flow of his work.

"Ambassador, there is something that you need to see." The voice on the other side spoke hurry-idly and out of breath.

"Enter!" The Ambassador ordered and the aide walked inside with a large data slate. There were a few more people behind her, an military officer being one of them. The aide pressed a button on the data slate and it began playing the live recording of Bloody Zena's speech. The Ambassador focus steadily at the screen, reading the captions as they appeared at the bottom of the screen. "This is not going to be pretty."

---

-Classified Location-

The room Slade was in was very dark. Even if his eyes adjusted to the darkness, it would still be hard to see. The room was entirely bare until the table in front of Slade and the three chairs around it with Slade sitting in one of them. Just then a bright white light turned on from the ceiling and illuminated only the table. There were two other men at the table. One of them was drinking from a mug and other had his hands on the arms of the chair. "Ah, you are awake my darling." The shadowy figure spoke looking up from his mug. "You must be awfully thirsty from the trip here." He nodded to his left and suddenly an armored figure walked into the light. This figure grabbed the mug and walked up to Slade. He then threw the hot coffee into his face, immediately reorienting him back into reality. The armored figure then walked back into the shadows and a person in a uniform placed another mug on the table next to the shadowy figure.

"I am Inquisitor Hans Mengele, people who know me like to call me the Gamemaster", the figure cheerfully introduced himself. "They call me that because of my job and my hobby. I love hunting. I love the thrill of the chase. I love the adrenaline in my bloodstream. I love the blood trickling down the gaping wound of my prey. I love the animal backed into the corner with nothing left to lose. I love gutting out my prey and making it a trophy. I love displaying my trophies to people, especially those that I like. I love hunting." He got up from his chair and moved closer to Slade, revealing his slightly disfigured furrowed face. The Inquisitor scratched the thin mustache that he had before speaking again. "It wasn't so hard finding you. You can thank your friend here."

The light overhead shifted to the man on the chair. It was Squire, sitting with his eyes wide open. His expression was completely blank. "He was a very easily broken man. An informant told us about him and the deal that we was proposing. So I had a talk with him and how you are involved in his grand conspiracy." The Inquisitor looked at Squire. "What do you think?"

"......"

"Don't bother talking to him", the Inquisitor chastised Slade. "But you do like it? I think its a fine piece of work myself." He walked over to Squire and poked at his eye. "Pretty life-like, if I say so myself. Like I said, I like to keep trophies of my prey. But the best trophies are my taxidermy work." He looked over at Slade. "I brought my trophy here today because I like you. We are both hunters and we now how good the chase is." He then walked closer to Slade and stared at him straight in the eyes. "If you don't give me what you know, you may end up in my trophy collection." Suddenly the Inquisitor stood right up and looked behind him. There was a soft chirping sound coming from the Inquisitor's left ear. He then looked at Slade. "Unfortunately, you are too public to be wiped away. Here is your 'lawyer' for your 'trial'." The Inquisitor walked back into the shadows. And after a few moments another man appeared into the light. He was wearing a gray overcoat and had a data-slate. The man took the Inquisitor's chair and moved it closer to Slade.

"Hello." The man said in a familiar voice. "It seems that you are going to be the first capital punishment case in Nue Berlin for a very long time." He slide the data-slate infront of Slade. "Here is my conditions for the case." The data slate's screen only had the following message on it. "Don't read it aloud. If you agree, sign it and then we can begin."

Yes, I am Squire. Amazing isn't how a holo-projector can change your appearance, am I right? In any case, you not only failed to kill the intended target but did not even kill anyone at all. Normally, I'd just leave you to die with Inquisitor Hans Mengele. But my employer has much better plans in motion. Here are the new terms of the contract........

((OOC: You know what they are Spindle. ))

[The Greater Gambia]

Veteris Terra

---

The Alliance Intelligence Agency (AIA) had received the encrypted message from the Federation, and were quick to react. The AIA was busy enough as it was - dealing with Covenant spies - but if the Federation was willing to contribute to the war effort, the Alliance wasn't about to turn them down. A lone Frigate, with the words Lincoln on the side, sat waiting in the region referred to by the Federation as the Veteris Terra, waiting for their arrival.

Explored System 389B
FIS Battle Group Uzana



System 389B lied halfway between Ostia and the Solis Alliance.The system had nothing of note. It's worlds were dead and lifeless and had very little in the way of resources. The System would have been bypassed in any colonization effort and eventually forgotten. However, its desolate position in the Galaxy satisfied the needs of the FIS and their meeting with the AIA, away from curious eyes.

As the Frigate entered the system. Three Federation Light Corvettes cloaked themselves and quickly scanned the Frigate for any sort of tracking device. Once it was determined that the Frigate was cleaned, the Corvettes decloaked themselves around the Frigate.

Commander Turing stood on the Bridge of his Corvette "Halusian Nights", looking out at the Frigate.

"Open a comm link." He ordered. Soon, a live feed was being broadcast to the Frigate. Only Turing appeared in the feed, dressed in a Federation Officer's Uniform.

"Greetings, Terran, I am Tagali Federation Federal Intelligence Society Operative Diamond Sparrow. I believe we have business to settle?"

[Caraani]

The Bassinol - Ollis-Telanor System

Oraya begun emitting flashy yellow UV lights, which would be equal to a smile for other beings. The Or'fiat will finally get some flashy new guns, and millions of Caraani soldiers will get spill blood and gain medals. He finally opened his mouth, something that already disgusted him and angered him, for mouths are to communicate for lesser beings; he was Caraani; he was higher; he was of the Compact: mouths were used to communicate with lesser beings, and so by this very act, these so called Rygors have condemned themselves to a lesser-race status. "I am Xeres Oraya of the Bassinol. I am Caraani; our race has deemed this space and every other system 3 dozen systems away into the unknown from this one to be suitable for Bid Liter, for expansion of living space. In the name of the Caraani Potentate, I, Xeres Oraya, hereby release the next declaration: The Rygors, and the entity that they have created in these local clusters, which we so proclaim to be called from today onwards the Rygor Systems Branch, are required to leave the systems in the RSB (Rygor Systems Branch). You will be 2 months in our measurement of times. Failure to comply will result in your race being re-purposed according to Caraani designs. The declaration of Xeres Oraya of the Bassinol, in accordance with our traditions of the Bid Liter, and out of respect for the race known as Rygors, is hereby proclaimed. Now, I don't know who you are...or better, who you think you are, but do not take this as an agreement, or as us holding talks with you, sir. You have simply took part in the declaration of our annexation of the systems you inhabit, which you should take as a warning. Were you to not comply, we will soon find how full of purpose, or purposeless, your race is. The Bassinol shall now leave this space that you call yours. May we meet again, Rygor, in 2 months from now." He ended, emitting flashy yellow UV lights. While Xeres himself finds such declarations distasteful, he enjoyed stepping a bit on this so called Rygor's pride. His job, for now, has ended. He will return to Caraani Space, where he will hand over the first recorded Declaration of the 10th Bid Liter, and then await his next assignment.
The Bid Liter Fleet stands ready. May whatever gods or goddesses or spirits the Rygors be merciful to them. The Caraani won't be.

"The Rygor" - 3, Uxanor Occupation Zone, Ollis-Telanor System (Under Occupation)

The reply was unexpected for Ryztar. As it filtered into the Rzhar-Zzrak's external com receiver, he peered closer towards the broadcast terminal, pushing away the crew members in his way. Most ships that dared venture into Rygor space were mostly lone traders with faulty navigation systems or the odd intelligence-gathering probes from nearby civilizations. They were easily "handled". Occasionally there would be a small vessel of another alien species that was crewed, but they usually ran scared at the first encounter. Out of the percentage of manned alien vessels, only a tiny fraction had dared to stand up like this Caraani of the Caraani Potentate. Ryztar felt amused, but their noble efforts were all in vain. So he thought, as the ones that did muster the courage to face the Rygor usually were the fastest to be vanquished by the ray guns. Sometimes certain species had a determination which rocked the Rygor, in which they were granted the title of Slavelord, with the privilege of owning property, slaves and small fleets, despite denied the opportunity to exit Rygor territory.

"Xeres Ora..ya..." Ryztar mumbled into the terminal, slowly. "Your courage in the face of overwhelming odds is...commendable."

"Your Caraani is a fearsome species with a noble cause...but alas, it is all in vain." He stopped, ordering the perimeter battalion to power up the Inhibitor Gates, effectively preventing any alien FTL-drive from engaging. A rising flame engulfed his body, now full of burning rage-filled thrill.

"Like I said before - how do you want this to end? Hmm? The Empire has existed for eons before your kind. We are unmoved, merely amused, by your meaningless 'declaration of annexation'." He now ordered a frontal strike division of a little over 1,000 ships to prepare for combat, taking their positions sweeping the area the stealthed vessel was presumed to hide in, brandishing their red-hot energy weapons at the void of space in hopes of intimidating the crew of the ship. Backed by the first flotilla of 500, the total numbers now amount to 1,651.

"You know, a thought occured to me, that maybe I should set you free. So you can go back to your shithole and tell your pitiful shit-king that the Eternal Empire of Rygor would tear up this 'declaration', and hereby declare a war on you, if that's what you want." He cackled maniacally again. "From the dawn of Hmarharr, we have longed for a challenge. I trust you can deliver it. Or not."

Now Ryztar awaited a response. The Inhibitor Gates were not fully powered up yet, just as planned, so there was still a gap for the aliens to make a choice. Now all eyes were on the Caraani.

The Bassinol - Ollis-Telanor System
"Commander, it seems they are gonna hit us, and with something quite big. At this rate, if we don't move, we will be erased." telepathically said the Pilot to Oraya, who told him in a brusque but calm manner to get the f**k out of there as soon as possible in that case. "Also, they are still on the comline, want me to patch you through or...?" "Doctor?" Monos had just arrived, but he had heard the message of this race from his comline station in his lab. "Heavily aggressive race. Proud. Probably won a war or two worth mentioning. Won't back down. Want a challenge. Answer will only cause more rage. More aggression. In the end, they attack, we die. Only solution. -pause- Leave now." Everything was said rapidly, with small, if any, pauses between his short sentences. Monos was always like this, a weird lad, but one of the best doctors in the Potentate. "You heard the doc. Virid, get us out of this system. The next time a Caraani ship will fly through here, this race will say its last prayers."

The Bassinol engaged 85% speed of their FTL drive core, meaning, they would stay 1-2 seconds in their place, while to the eye it would seem that the ship would get longer, like a rubber band, and then would disappear. Would they be able to escape, the Bassinol will stop a short way into their "jump" as it is called, and engage stealth systems, as it would pass by some Rygor ships (they were identified due to the similar shape of the ships on the radar).

[The Sol Capital Territories]

"The Rygor" - 3, Uxanor Occupation Zone, Ollis-Telanor System (Under Occupation)

The reply was unexpected for Ryztar. As it filtered into the Rzhar-Zzrak's external com receiver, he peered closer towards the broadcast terminal, pushing away the crew members in his way. Most ships that dared venture into Rygor space were mostly lone traders with faulty navigation systems or the odd intelligence-gathering probes from nearby civilizations. They were easily "handled". Occasionally there would be a small vessel of another alien species that was crewed, but they usually ran scared at the first encounter. Out of the percentage of manned alien vessels, only a tiny fraction had dared to stand up like this Caraani of the Caraani Potentate. Ryztar felt amused, but their noble efforts were all in vain. So he thought, as the ones that did muster the courage to face the Rygor usually were the fastest to be vanquished by the ray guns. Sometimes certain species had a determination which rocked the Rygor, in which they were granted the title of Slavelord, with the privilege of owning property, slaves and small fleets, despite denied the opportunity to exit Rygor territory.

"Xeres Ora..ya..." Ryztar mumbled into the terminal, slowly. "Your courage in the face of overwhelming odds is...commendable."

"Your Caraani is a fearsome species with a noble cause...but alas, it is all in vain." He stopped, ordering the perimeter battalion to power up the Inhibitor Gates, effectively preventing any alien FTL-drive from engaging. A rising flame engulfed his body, now full of burning rage-filled thrill.

"Like I said before - how do you want this to end? Hmm? The Empire has existed for eons before your kind. We are unmoved, merely amused, by your meaningless 'declaration of annexation'." He now ordered a frontal strike division of a little over 1,000 ships to prepare for combat, taking their positions sweeping the area the stealthed vessel was presumed to hide in, brandishing their red-hot energy weapons at the void of space in hopes of intimidating the crew of the ship. Backed by the first flotilla of 500, the total numbers now amount to 1,651.

"You know, a thought occured to me, that maybe I should set you free. So you can go back to your shithole and tell your pitiful shit-king that the Eternal Empire of Rygor would tear up this 'declaration', and hereby declare a war on you, if that's what you want." He cackled maniacally again. "From the dawn of Hmarharr, we have longed for a challenge. I trust you can deliver it. Or not."

Now Ryztar awaited a response. The Inhibitor Gates were not fully powered up yet, just as planned, so there was still a gap for the aliens to make a choice. Now all eyes were on the Caraani.

The Bassinol - Ollis-Telanor System
"Commander, it seems they are gonna hit us, and with something quite big. At this rate, if we don't move, we will be erased." telepathically said the Pilot to Oraya, who told him in a brusque but calm manner to get the f**k out of there as soon as possible in that case. "Also, they are still on the comline, want me to patch you through or...?" "Doctor?" Monos had just arrived, but he had heard the message of this race from his comline station in his lab. "Heavily aggressive race. Proud. Probably won a war or two worth mentioning. Won't back down. Want a challenge. Answer will only cause more rage. More aggression. In the end, they attack, we die. Only solution. -pause- Leave now." Everything was said rapidly, with small, if any, pauses between his short sentences. Monos was always like this, a weird lad, but one of the best doctors in the Potentate. "You heard the doc. Virid, get us out of this system. The next time a Caraani ship will fly through here, this race will say its last prayers."

The Bassinol engaged 85% speed of their FTL drive core, meaning, they would stay 1-2 seconds in their place, while to the eye it would seem that the ship would get longer, like a rubber band, and then would disappear. Would they be able to escape, the Bassinol will stop a short way into their "jump" as it is called, and engage stealth systems, as it would pass by some Rygor ships (they were identified due to the similar shape of the ships on the radar).

"The Rygor" - 4, Uxanor Occupation Zone, Ollis-Telanor System (Under Occupation)

A dimmed flash ruptured the fabric of space-time as the nimble Caraani vessel propelled out of Ollis-Telanor. Ryztar pursed his lips, moving back and forth about the bridge of the Rzhar-Zzrak, called Overseer's Watch by the Rygor as a honorific title.

"As I expected. They would turn tail and run. Although some part of me wished they would stand and fight, these cowards truly do fear the might of the Rygor."

After 3 cycles later, an incoming transmission, a request for a report by the Aristocracy now drew the attention of Ryztar.

"It's Chief Squire Lutorvar of The Royal House, Sir. He insists it's urgent."

"Put him through." Ryztar bemoaned, unprepared to deal with his superiors and above all the bureaucracy.

"Lord-General Ryztar, the Rygorls want a full report of your actions in the Ussian Occupation Zone. Word spreads fast Lord-General, and news about your handling of the Ussian processing operation, but most importantly that incident regarding the xeno has spread to Rygor Divine and beyond." The thin, scrawny Squire stared wide-eyed at Ryztar through the holoscreen.

"Yes, Chief Squire. I intended to address the Aristocracy personally after this encounter. I wasn't aware that it had already caught wind back home. I hope I handled the situation to the best of my ability. Sorarth-tor Rygor (Long live the Rygor)" Ryztar proclaimed, bowing down low to the point where it looked as if he was kneeling.

"The Aristocracy is rather...disappointed in you, Lord-General." Lutorvar squinted through the screen. "They order you to return to Rygor at once. I am not allowed to disclose any further information, but what I can give you, is that you have just dug your own grave, Ryztar." Lutorvar now said, addressing him in his plain name.

"Power comes at a price, Ryztar. Be careful not to upset the wrong people. I can only hope the man that takes your place doesn't meet the same fate."

The holoscreen went black again.

"No." Ryztar howled. "No. No. NO!" He began to smash the holodisplay with his fists. It shattered into smithereens.

"The Ussians - 1", Orbiting Gas Giant Kilsaror, Outskirts of Erranos Kilsar System

"How's the jump drive?" Sherok yelled.

"43% and dropping. We're gonna lose it soon." Dalor responded, bashing a Rygor's tooth in, while snatching his spear-gun.

"What's the status of the rest? Did they follow us?" Dalor quipped, aiming the spear-gun at a pouncing Rygor and subsequently dismembering his head with it.

"Unsure. Wait-307, 675, and 927 made it out. But I'm afraid 109 was lost in the fight with the Pillagers. They disabled their engines."

"Oh God, what is to become of them I would never imagine. Have you did it?"

"Nah, that's Merkor's job. He went tinkering with the weapon guidance systems. This Rygor tech is real old. Now if only he could stop this drive from fucking overloading that'd be great."

The 4 ships then received an obscure signal from behind the gas giant. Transport 510 (the transport they were in) was the first to pick it up.

"Enemy neutralized. That's all of them. Now, what's going on?" Dalor asked.

"The sensors are picking some kind of signal, from behind the gas giant. You sure you configured it correctly?" Sherok replied.

"Yes. I made it pick up Ussian and non-Rygor frequencies. I even disabled positioning and anything that would give away our location. The Rygor can't trace us; and even if they did, they never go that far out anyway. If anything we need to be afraid of pirates."

The 4 ships floated erratically in the void of space. With propulsion drives on 307, 675, and 927 now down, only 510 had the capability to maneuver, and even then it showed signs of giving way. All the ships were badly damaged, with gaping holes visible on the hull, some of them only crudely patched up.

"We have to at least check this out." Keila vocalized from under the ship controls, diagnosing a problem.

"Alright. I'll inform the rest. Be warned though, if this is pirates, or god forbid, Rygor..."

Soon 510 slowly climbed upward towards the gas giant, trying hard to overcome its gravitational pull. As they went up more, the louder the signal pinged at them. They then realized it came from an asteroid belt in the system, within a dwarf planet visible from their vantage point.

"There!" Sherok pointed, zooming in on the object with his cybernetic lens, relaying it back to the rest. He analyzed the signal in more detail by overclocking the transport's sensors, plugging his neural-interface implants into the control ports. "This signal...it's Ussian!" He exploded with joy.

"I should've-no we should've known - there is a base here! The system is mostly empty but there is a research station built here to test antimatter applications. It was never evacuated. We may have found our destination, guys."

The creaking yet still moving ship edged closer to the asteroid belt, but Sherok finally cut its engines for now, to inform the fleet. He used the time to try and repair the drive, and gathering the other 489 Ussians onboard. Little did he know that there was a small, foreign vessel hovering above him, hidden from view, but close enough to observe their movements, when he made this statement, not done before for fear of attracting unwanted attention:

"Research base. Research base. This is Transport 510, with an additional 3 ships full of Ussian prisoners who have escaped from the Rygor enslavement program. Anybody out there willing to help, we are stricken and our systems failing. Request emergency assistance immediately. Please. You're our only hope."