Across the Stars (FT, Nation Rp, IC)

[Tagali Federation]

Aldi was sitting in the isle seat of the shuttle craft that was bringing him, and his adopted son Aaron, down to the surface of Jakala. Being a native of Antiv, Aldi had never really seen actual oceans like the ones he saw from orbit. Young Aaron was equally as awed by the sight, but the 8 year old human was awed by even simple things back home.

Aldi decided it would do the boy good to experience this new world, indeed, he thought it good that his whole family join him. Dwelling Mate and three other pups were still in orbit with the rest of the delegation.

The shuttle breached the clouds, the Saj Islands and there space port lay spread before them. It was an impressive sight to saw the least. There pilot gently set the craft down on the landing pad, Aldi and his son stepped out of the shuttle flanked by two Marines in there soft uniforms, as opposed to there armour.

Waiting for them was a Tagali women. Aldi assumed she was high ranking given her dress and countenance. He gave a small bow while touching his snout with his right index finger, Aaron attempted to mimic the traditional Antivarian greeting.

" I am Aldi Se'Mon, this is my son Aaron. I have been entrusted by the Congress and the Antivarian people to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the war that has existed between our peoples."

Lahira bowed.

"I am Lahira Sil-Sajana, heir to the Tagali Throne. A dinner is being prepared in your honor tonight. In the meantime, I have been instructed to take you on a tour of the Main Island of the Saj Archipelago. I you would please follow me." Lahira led them to a boat that would take them to the Main Island, Saj-Sen or "First Home" in the dead language of the Saj Tagali. The Boat looked similar to ancient polynesian boats of Earth, its sails decorated with the banner of the Minor House that owned it. The sails were little more than decorative, as the boat came if an engine and many other pieces of Modern Technology. Much like many other things on Jakala, the traditional and somewhat primitive appearance of the boat masked the advanced technology underneath everything.

The boat traveled through the clear and shallow. schools of exotic alien fish and underwater plant life analogous to coral were clearly visible.

"The Islands were settled nearly 10,000 years ago by groups were pushed out of their coastal cities on the mainland after nomadic hordes from the interior invaded. Since then, the Saj Islands have been home to many powerful Island Kingdoms and Empires, some even reaching back out to the mainland." As Lahira talked, the waters seem to go silent as fish disappeared into various hiding places. 4 figures sped towards the boat. They were Katshen, large seafaring predators almost the size of the boat himself. They began to circle and hit the boat, periodically popping their heads out of the water to growl and snarl at the Antivarian and the Human. They would stop however as one of the crewman came out with a trident-like weapon in hand. The creatures backed away at the sight of the Tagali. Waying their odds, the Katshen backed off, knowing that killing one usually brought more then they could fight.

"Of course, like elsewhere on Jakala, we've had to compete and defeat the wildlife we shared the Islands with. While it is not uncommon to find intelligent wildlife on other worlds, Jakala boasts a rather exceptionally intelligent and aggressive biosphere. Their presence has forced us to settle our cities in hard to reach places like Mountains, or cement our claim on regions by killing large numbers of them."

[Tagali Federation]

Rev III, Rev System

All 50 fleets would arrive out of warp in the Rev System, after a very short FTL jump. They were making history in the process, being the first Covenant warships to enter Tagali space since the last war.

30 fleets exited warp in orbit around Rev III, the habitable planet in the system, while the remaining 20 fleets exited warp at various locations throughout the system; this was apart of the Covenant strategy to avoid concentrating all of its fleets in one location, should they be caught in a surprise attack and surrounded.

From the bridge of his battleship, High Admiral To'ro viewed the world of Rev III from orbit. It was a beautiful temperate world, appearing to be unharmed by industry or colonization, though the history of the world was marred in violence. House Granjir had destroyed the ancient Mac'Tun Ascendancy 2,000 years ago; the civilization of the Mac'Tun was reduced to the level of hunter-gatherers, and they never recovered. It was decided that the banners of House Granjir would be the first banners burned by Covenant forces in their invasion, as intel suggested that they possessed far fewer ships than To'ro's armada.

To'ro would give the order for the "invasion" of Rev III to begin- however, the Mac'Tun would be able to do nothing about it, as they were primitives. Covenant warships would deploy large, prefabricates garrison bases all across Rev III, where thousands of soldiers could be stationed on the planet. As they landed on the surface, the various pieces of the bases would bore deep into the ground to establish a foundation, and then automatically link together to form a full base. Following them were hundreds of transports full of soldiers, artillery, and armored vehicles. In the upper atmosphere, small frigates and fighters were deployed for patrols.

Nighttime had fallen over Rev III's largest Continent. Outside one of the Garrison bases, the forests were alive with more than their usual chirps and howls. Since sunset, chants and drums could be heard for hours until the early hours of the morning. The Mac'Tun were preparing for war. They watched as the Covenant ships and bases fell from the sky, and while the Cho'Dosan looked similar to their Gods, they were not. The Mac'Tun saw them as deceivers, false Gods sent to lead the Mac'Tun astray. The Mac'Tun would not allow it, however, as warriors rallied from tribes and villages from across the region to expel the "False Gods".

They were ill equipped for such an endeavour, many of them were armed with little more than spears and bows, those from more established settlements came with rudimentary catapults and experimental(to them) bronze weaponry. Those from groups that had rediscovered domestication had come riding antler bearing mammal like creatures, making up the Mac'Tun's cavalry. It would be a bloodbath, but many of them were ready to die in service to their Gods. Around 3 in the morning, the drums and chants stopped, followed only by silence.

Suddenly, the forest lit up as flaming arrows descended upon the base. over 2,000 Warriors descended on the base.

[The Moscow Metro Red Line]

"The Exalted Ones are the benevolent and the malevolent rulers of this universe. To deny them is to ask for the anger of the Exalted Ones to fall upon you. To accept them is to ask for the mercy of the Exalted Ones to flood upon you." - The Book of the Prophet Imenus. The Kirnleth, 13th Translation

---

???? - D'Urdu - Zia’Brota System - Troaki’Dhau Autarky
"The Exalted Ones speak to us in many ways. The only reason why you cannot hear them is because of pride. The root of all evil is pride. Pride that you are somehow more intelligent and more capable than the very beings that created universe." Fi'rios replied to the Elder. He did indeed felt the pain. But it was clear that such a pain could be ignored if it was for the glory of the Exalted Ones. His two other companions remained silent.

At this point it was clear that the three Zaron Priests in front of him will not produce any more useful information regarding the existence of the whereabouts of these Exodites. However there was a person of particular interest in the Autarky who might know more about them. Brother Morrotari. Herald Morrotari, if there is a demand for his full title. He was the first member of the Enclave of the Priesthood to step foot in the Autarky. He was a Mogh'Keigh, the "chosen species" of the Exalted Ones. The leader of the Zaron Temple on the Forma. A calm and patient Mogh'Keigh with an ominous presence. Accompanying the Herald was an assistant who was of a minor species in the Enclave. His assistant's name was Mel'noir and he is of the Nursad species. The Nursad species are naturally adapted to extreme cold environments and need to wear specialized environmental suits to live beyond their homeworld or planets with a similar climate. His assistant always carries some sort of canister with him.

Looking into the minds of the three suggest that asking for the Herald's presence in possible. However the Herald, being of a psionically powered species, may provide a greater resistance into the Elder's attempts to break into his mind and read his memories.

"If you are a single collective being, would that mean this entire planet is you?" Fi'rios asked, the reason he asked this question is to discern whether they should find another Fatvr to speak to or simply leave the planet. If the Elder was the only "Fatvr" on the world, then that would mean that any future work on this world would be directed solely to him.

[The Orson Empire]

Command Post 71, Rev III

Command Post 71 was the designation of one of the dozens of garrison bases established all across Rev III. The base was situated near a major river on the largest continent of Rev III, and had only been deployed 5 hours ago by the Covenant Navy in orbit. It was very large, built up like a pyramid on the surface, but containing large, deep bunkers that had been bored underneath the surface. It's thick metal walls, energy shield, heavy plasma and laser turrets, machine gun turrets, and a variety of other defenses presented a significant challenge to any attacker that wished to take the base. Nevertheless, these defenses were not online, as the base was barely manned. A skeleton crew of one platoon (50 soldiers), led by Cho'Dosan Lieutenant Ova Lya'Tu, had been sent down from orbit 3 hours ago to have at least some presence in the base before more soldiers could be sent to man it from the much larger command posts to the north.

The platoon arrived on the surface to find construction robots clearing out all of the trees within three kilometers of the base (to create a clear perimeter where enemy soldiers could not hide and would be caught out in the open), and constructing concrete roads to connect to the other command posts; some robots could be seen building a large bridge across the river to allow Covenant soldiers to easily cross over it, while others were building a dock for boats. Electrical lines, fiber-optic lines, and plumbing lines were being buried into the ground. Large amounts of supplies had dropped down with the base for this task; the planet had remained desolate of any modern infrastructure for 2,000 years, and it all had to be reconstructed.

There was little for the platoon to do other than monitor the command post and wait. They could have patrolled for any attacking Mac'Tun, but they chose to get some rest and relaxation instead. They were also a bit arrogant; after all, what danger could primitives pose to the Covenant Military? They had also been ordered not to even interact with the Mac'Tun, unless absolutely necessary. While the other soldiers were underground, Lieutenant Ova and her 5 sergeants (three Cho'Dosans and two Crai) stood on one of the upper balconies, speaking about the war and future plans, while also listening to the chants and drums from the nearby Mac'Tun tribes.

Then, all of a sudden, the chants stopped. They could hear what sounded like hundreds of footsteps marching in the distance.

"What the hell are they doing out there?" one of the Crai sergeants said. The lieutenant stood up, using the dim lighting from the balcony lights to see through her binoculars in the distance. She could see what appeared to be thousands of Mac'Tun approaching, with some of them riding on the backs of some mammal-like creature in the form of cavalry.

"By the Covenant, there's thousands of them..." was the only thing the lieutenant could say as the massive Mac'Tun army approached.

Then, a massive barrage of flaming arrows hit the base, lighting the surrounding forest up. As everyone on the balcony quickly hit the floor, the construction robots would flee in all directions in absolute terror (that is, if a robot could truly feel terror) at the attack; some ran into the base, while others submerged themselves in the river or hid behind trees. The poor robots had no weapons, and were not programmed to fight.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, I've never been in a battle before!" one of the Cho'Dosan sergeants yelled out in a panicked voice. Then, one of the arrows managed to hit the other Crai lieutenant in one of his wings, which he had raised instinctively to fly away from the attack.

"By the Covenant, fuck!!" the Crai yelled out in horrible pain. The arrow had pierced into his wing and set a portion of it on fire, and the sergeant frantically tried to put the flames out.

"Damn it, get him inside and patched up!" The lieutenant yelled, already crawling her way back inside. As the other sergeants pulled the injured Crai inside and shut the thick metal door behind them, the lieutenant gave out more orders.

"Get all of your squads ready for immediate combat!" she ordered. "We need to get suited up in our Tripartites and armed, and active all of the base defenses. Quickly- they may be primitives, but we are outnumbered!"

The lieutenant then headed off towards the armory. She would suit up in her Tripartite Combat Uniform, grab a light machine gun and a laser pistol, and several power packs.

[Beiarusia]

- The Ten Tribes -
[ Ianassa Juno ]

---

Imperial Palace, Saj Islands, Jakala, Todval

The entourage followed after the Empress, the younger attendants being unable to contain their childlike astonishment at the sight of the magnificent throne room — such opulent grandeur was uncommon in Syomir culture, after all — whereas Juno and the elder Tora remained professionally stoic, the former accustomed to such forbearance from her time serving in the military and the latter from simple aged wisdom. The Empress took her seat atop the ornate throne, elevated slightly above the visiting aliens, and seemingly relaxed in a manner that was more casual than one would assume of her position. Juno and Tora stood at the head of the little grouping.

"So, you have made the journey from your world to ask for greater status within the Empire," Empress Yaliza began. "Tell me, what makes you think you are worthy of such things?"

Tora answered. "Our people have been a vassal to the Empire for over two hundred years, and although we have been content with the wonders granted us, technology and the miracle of spaceflight, the people of Skiá have grown restless without a voice to represent their fledgling ambitions and yearn now to define their own destiny. The Syomir do not seek to break away from the Empire, no, and in fact we would very much like to deepen the bond between our two peoples, but to do so we must ascend beyond the mere status of retainer and stand as equals, or as much equal as we can be. The humans and the Taani have been allowed many freedoms within the Empire, and the Syomir wish only the same." The Elder paused to allow her words the time needed to deepen the air before continuing. "Our people do not ask much: greater access to the resources orbiting our sun, to expand our borders, and to maintain our own fleet so that we may share the burden of defending our people."

Juno added, "We have served the Imperial military with honor yet none have risen above the rank of officer, but the humans have been granted titles and ships to command. Many believe this to be favoritism."

The Syomir had spoken their part and could only wait to judge the Empress' reaction.

[Ithalian Empire]

Lahira bowed.

"I am Lahira Sil-Sajana, heir to the Tagali Throne. A dinner is being prepared in your honor tonight. In the meantime, I have been instructed to take you on a tour of the Main Island of the Saj Archipelago. I you would please follow me." Lahira led them to a boat that would take them to the Main Island, Saj-Sen or "First Home" in the dead language of the Saj Tagali. The Boat looked similar to ancient polynesian boats of Earth, its sails decorated with the banner of the Minor House that owned it. The sails were little more than decorative, as the boat came if an engine and many other pieces of Modern Technology. Much like many other things on Jakala, the traditional and somewhat primitive appearance of the boat masked the advanced technology underneath everything.

The boat traveled through the clear and shallow. schools of exotic alien fish and underwater plant life analogous to coral were clearly visible.

"The Islands were settled nearly 10,000 years ago by groups were pushed out of their coastal cities on the mainland after nomadic hordes from the interior invaded. Since then, the Saj Islands have been home to many powerful Island Kingdoms and Empires, some even reaching back out to the mainland." As Lahira talked, the waters seem to go silent as fish disappeared into various hiding places. 4 figures sped towards the boat. They were Katshen, large seafaring predators almost the size of the boat himself. They began to circle and hit the boat, periodically popping their heads out of the water to growl and snarl at the Antivarian and the Human. They would stop however as one of the crewman came out with a trident-like weapon in hand. The creatures backed away at the sight of the Tagali. Waying their odds, the Katshen backed off, knowing that killing one usually brought more then they could fight.

"Of course, like elsewhere on Jakala, we've had to compete and defeat the wildlife we shared the Islands with. While it is not uncommon to find intelligent wildlife on other worlds, Jakala boasts a rather exceptionally intelligent and aggressive biosphere. Their presence has forced us to settle our cities in hard to reach places like Mountains, or cement our claim on regions by killing large numbers of them."

Aldi was a classic example of standard Antivarian upbringing. Antiv was a dry and arid world, the season were shallow and for the most part were a thing to avoid, a danger. Therefore Aldi was rather uncomfortable on what he thought was a rather small boat. Aaron had that damned human curiosity about him, looking eagerly from Tagali to water and back to Tagali.

Aldi listened to the empress to be tell of the settling if the islands, and the Jakala wild life. All the while he kept a hand near his son, in case he were to fall over the side.

" Such a past has undoubtedly given you people there strong martial tradition" Aldi said " On Antiv water was our trouble. Ours is an arid world of desert and savannah. My ancestors would fight for the best water sources. We placed our cities near the few rivers and lakes of our world, when we started tapping aquifers is when Antivarian population exploded."

[Anowa]

Unknown System
Blushing Lady Luck - Modified Kaea-Class Survey Ship

Aelid Protectorate, Fringe Sector VII
Patrol Group Solar Impulse, Hirvik System (Uncolonized)
M3.Y117.Q2 Aelid Calendar.
Vice-Admiral Solian Lih'Ctor

It was a quiet day, not a lot of evidence to support that there was a pirate presence in the system. But regardless, protocols were simple, remain in system for twenty eight days, then move on to the next one. It was currently day three, and the boredom on the ship was palpable. So when the back of her Detection Systems officer straightened, she was rather curious. "Admiral, I've picked up a FTL event. Over orbit near the third planet in system." The entire bridge very promptly perked up at this, "And unless I'm mistaken the flare of energy coinciding with it is that of a fusion reactor flare up. It's in prime position for boarding ma'am, no way in the seven hells is it going anywhere faster than we will."

The Admiral smiled a bit, a patrol group was just a carrier, and two destroyers. Even if the ship was sizable, the three battalions of troops in the cargo hold of the Solar Impulse, and the main weapons of both the destroyer and carrier would be more than enough to blast it to slag if the unknown ship tried anything.

"Good. Ensign Lih'Kotan, hail the cargo hold, get a QRF ready to go planet side to find the pirate's stash if there is one, and get Commander Tra'Xic's ready for boarding action, inform the Fallen Memory and Shattered Sky to ready for tactical jump. Helmsman Wic'Citaan, make for the ship, 200 kilometers off it's prow, then ready the umbilical." In another age, said orders would require the synchronization of over 30 individuals, but now it just needed three. The ship's uncharacteristically silent AI could handle the rest.

Their view was quickly replaced with that of a black void as the ship started moving faster than light, a technicality that allowed them to move swiftly through a solar system without the power draw of using their engines for millions of kilometers nor the main drive which punched a wormhole into existence. It was a happy medium of the two.

Within moments the ship dropped back into real time, less than a minute has passed, yet they had moved through over half the radius of the solar system. Moments later the duo of destroyers dropped into real time as well, flanking the ship on it's sides. As the nigh full battalion of troops deployed in drop ships to the surface of the planet below, and the single platoon of soldiers made their way towards the suspect ship, the admiral hailed said ship with a rather atark warning.

"This is Vice-Admiral Solian Lih'Ctor of the Aelid Protectorate Navy and commanding officer of the Patrol Group Solar Impulse. Your ship's occupants are suspected of piracy, should this be proven true you will face trial. Should it prove false you may be on your way. Any attempt to flee or attack will be met with lethal force for the entirety of your ship's crew under context of hostile intent. Prepare for boarding action, any attempt to hinder the security team from their sweep of your ship for contraband will be met with force. If you do not comply you will be killed."

The admiral had no way of knowing that nothing she said would be understood.

[The National Dominion of Hungary]

Hirvik System
Orbit of Hirvik III

The derelict ship slowly drifted in orbit of the planet, unresponsive and completely dead. The reactor shut down and the hallways dark and foreboding and just as one can imagine, no answer was given to the Aelid hails as the ship drifted along silently above the dark storm clouds swirling across the planet. Outwardly, the ship seemed undamaged, there were no holes blasted through the hull by railguns, regular projectile cannons, missile warheads or even just unlucky asteroid impacts. There were no melted gaps burnt into the vessel by DEW's either, the ship was just dead. There was nothing, it was clear that she was either abandoned or had lost it's crew to some very, very unlucky accident such as a life-support system malfunction or an outbreak of a highly lethal, previously unknown disease.

But the Aelid boarders would see the damage done to the ship's interior. The melted power-couplings, the explosions that had torn through several rooms and last but far from least, the Shockdrive from where the power-surge that disabled the ship had originated. They would find writings in an alien language never before seen by Aelid eyes and large amounts of survey equipment in the cargo-hold. In the med-bay they would find corpses, fourteen of them to be exact, the crewmembers lost to the explosions that ripped through the ship as the power-grid overloaded and who would be taken back and buried after rescue comes and the ship gets towed back to the nearest port, or at least, that is what the survivors had planned. Aliens of three different species, Stearnyssian, Sramnird and Tavoan all frozen in body-bags strapped to the med-bay beds.

Surface of Hirvik III
Shuttle crash site

Madamir Muphil awoke with a sharp twitch, arms flailing out and hands grabbing hold of whatever happened to be close. His right hand fell on a sharp rock outcrop the shape of a lance which had smashed through the shuttle at the co-pilots seat, his hand came away covered in indigo-colored blood, he did not look to see what had become of Izonan. His left hand had taken a sharp hold of an arm. "Thank the Crea." A voice deep but notably afraid, sounded right next to him as a he felt a hand grab hold of his chin and turning his unfocused gaze toward the muddy outline of a Tavoan face against the background of a yellowish sky as he just noted the acrid burn of the planet's air mixed with smoke.

"You all right Mada? Can you move?" The voice shouted into his ear. After blinking a few times Madamir could now clearly make out the face of Domo Kefmoth as the Tavoan looked him over, checking for wounds, miraculously, he was not hurt aside from a few scrapes and nasty bruises, not at all like Izonan...

"Yeah... yeah I'm okay, can you help me up?" Domo gave a low grumble emitted from the back of his throat in response and helped the pilot out of the cockpit, Madamir saw a thick plume of black smoke rising into the sky emanating from the tail end of the shuttle, which had been completely torn from the rest of the fuselage and laid nearly forty meters behind the rest of the shuttle which had careened into the rock spike. The blackened trail burnt into the rocky soil was strewn with pieces of shuttle, smashed supply boxes and bodies... unmoving. Some were still strapped into their chairs, torn out when the fuselage disintigrated into bits and pieces, some laid sprawled on the ground, some with limbs bent in sickening, unnatural positions and directions.

"Muphil! You made it!" Another voice, this one belonging to a stearnyssian female called out, the pilot turned his gaze and saw Aevall Sirr'Olah waving from where she knelt next to body, this one moved. Domo carried Madamir over to the pair and there the pilot saw Furlon Gilis on the ground, writhing in pain as Aevall tried to calm the man down and keep him from looking at the wound, he was in bad shape. His colorful plumage was now only the color of red where a terrible gash had opened his side. Aevall was no medic, she had been part of the engineering team along with Furlon and the others but everyone knew how to handle medifoam well enough. Furlon pressed his eyes shut, fingers digging into the dirt as he heard the snap of the foam-dispenser's nozzle fixing into position. "We're gonna have to, okay?" Aevall said between sharp breaths. "I know it'll hurt but it'll make you feel better when the others come get us."

"So you've heard from the others? Did they make it in one piece?" The pilot asked but Domo gave no answer. "Think you can help me hold him down?" The Tavoan asked silently, the pilot nodded in agreement as they each sat down next to the wounded man and took hold of his hands and shoulders. "You're gonna be fine Furlon, you hear me? You're gonna be just fine." Domo said reassuringly, or at least with as much reassurance as he could manage which was not much while Furlon simply swore over and over. The wounded Sramnird gave a loud, keening cry as Aevall sprayed the wound full with the self-sealing, space-filling, coagulant, antibacterial and tissue-regenerative foam polymer. Without anesthetic, application was extremely painful, often described as thousands of tiny knives stabbing at whatever it touched, but it did numb the pain after about a minute. Furlon did not have to endure much more of it as he passed out. Leaving the other three survivors sitting there, looking at each other, the crash site and their unconscious comrade.

"So, have you heard from the others or what?" Madamir asked nobody in particular. "We only have Domo's short range comms-system, the shuttle's comms are... obviously down." Aevall said with in a tone laced with cold irony. "But we did manage to contact the others, they're safe and setting up camp from what we heard, they were on the very edge of our comm-range and we could barely hear them." Madamir exhaled as he heard those words, relief flooding his pained mind and body.

"They're coming, it going to take a while but they're on the way." Domo said. Madamir smiled to himself. We'll make it. He cast a glance at the passed-out Sramnird next to him. All of us.

Surface of Hirvik III
Main survivor camp

The Lander-Base was surrounded by activity as people moved back and forth, carrying crates of supplies and raising tents in the little valley. But that was not what occupied the Captain's mind, oh no. Her thoughts were directed toward the lost shuttle, that plume of smoke that rose up high into sky, far in the distance. The survivor's of the crash had managed to contact the rest of them, just barely but they got the gist of it. One of them was so heavily wounded that there was no chance of moving him. They needed aid, they needed an actual medical professional on the spot along with supplies from the base to stabilize the wounded man, and even then it would probably take him a few days before he could be carried back to the main camp. She sighed, Chief Engineer Bagan was dead, along with most of the people on the shuttle, there were only four survivors, one of which would be dead soon enough unless help arrived quickly.

Help was on the way however, a team of ten was making it's way across the planet to the crashed shuttle, carrying medical and camping supplies. They would just have to stay there until Gilis was fit for transport. And they had to bury their friends lost in the crash. Six people in the relief team were armed since the planet could very well be home to aggressive fauna, and it was much better to be safe than sorry in such a situation. She hoped they would make it in time before clearing her head and returning to the task at hand. "Hey! Toramul! How is the distress beacon coming along!?" She called out over the cacophony to a group of people who were setting up the beacon array.

"It's coming along just fine Captain, we'll have an outbound signal soon." The Captain nodded. We'll make it here, and everything will be okay.

[Tagali Federation]

Rev III
Command Post 71


Quickly, the Mac'Tun began scaling the walls, swarming the base. They began to rampage about, destroying the unarmed robots and throwing and breaking devices and objects they could not even begin to comprehend. Their damage was only superficial, however, as they lacked the power needed to do any real damage. Still, they numbered more than the Cho'Dosan currently in the base. They soon began to lay siege to the Armory, trying to burst their way in.

Similar attacks were happening all across the planet. Of course, the hostility from the Mac'Tun would ultimately prove futile in time, but their aggression would teach the Covenant forces that their invasion would not be black and white. Not all conquered by the Tagali sought an end to their rule.

---

Tagali Fringes
Demeter System
Falkuze (Formerly Saval)


The Cho'Dosan were not the only ones who had learned from the first war. Much like their Cho'Dosan adversaries, the Tagali of House Ganjir took note of how the Tagali fleets quickly tore through Covenant Space and began asking a question very few Tagali were humble enough to ask. Could a similar result happen to the Tagali? After the war, House Ganjir lobbied the larger noble houses as well as the Imperial Court, arguing for the need of a strong defensive line for the Empire. When the former head of House Ganjir gained audience with the former Emperor Quokkam El-Sajana about it, he was laughed and ridiculed off the home world. With the last invasion of the Empire over 3,500 years ago and every conflict since being on Tagali terms, many thought that this trend would continue, with the Empire growing stronger after every engagement.

While victory after victory had made most other Tagali compliant, House Ganjir would not sit idly by, especially with their territory being in the fringes of Tagali space. Much like the Cho'Dosan Shield Worlds, House Ganjir began to fortify their own worlds. Unfortunately, they soon realized that they lacked the numbers and resources to create the impenetrable bastion that they wished for. Without the manpower and resources of the larger houses, they chose to make due with what they had. Instead of protecting all of their worlds, they recalled all of their people and resources to their capital, Falkuze, formerly a holy world of the Mac'Tun.

Falkuze was turned into the stronghold of House Ganjir. Massive underground complexes were built across the planet, ranging in uses such as weapons caches and food stores. On the surface, Large AA batteries dotted the planet, capable of hitting large targets in orbit, ranging from small freighters to large dreadnoughts. garrisoning various fortifications across the planet were over 50,000 Tagali Warriors, supported by 30,000 augmented Mac'Tun troops, the finest of their species fooled into joining the Tagali as servants and defenders of the "Gods". They were also supported by over 100,000 synthetic drones, ranging from large hulking tank like creations to stealthy infiltrator units. More were constantly being repaired and more being built in underground facilities.

While planetside boasted formidable defenses, Falkuze lacked any major stations in orbit. What little there was in orbit such as refuel stations and satellites were destroyed, leaving nothing for the inevitable Cho'Dosan Invaders. House Ganjir lacked the massive armadas of the larger houses, with their fleet only numbering in 125. With these low numbers, Falkuze would surely fall to the Cho'Dosan if were not for the planetary defense shield on the planet, protecting it and its inhabitants from orbital bombardments, forcing invaders to come down to the planet and disable it.

On the planet below, the head of House Ganjir, Kelbal Mek-Ganjir monitored the preparations for the defense. He watched from the window of his office as debris from stations in orbit began to break up in the atmosphere. A woman's voice spoke over the comms.

"That's the last station. All demolition crews are returning back to the surface."

"Good, begin the deletion of any sensitive information on our intranet, we cannot allow the invaders a single opportunity to loot." A man's voice interjected.

"Pardon me, Leader Kelbal, Fleet Master Jazim is hailing you."

"Put him on." A hologram of a Tagali man, wearing a Tagelmust-like veil, a custom dating back to their ancestral desert lands on Jakala.

"We've gathered all of the civilians we can, Father. Any left will be under your charge."

"Good, we'll protect those left as best we can."

"Still, I hate fleeing without a fight."

"Our ships can't take on a fleet that size. Ships and people that can crew them will be needed for the war. Bring our people to House Vezij, they have long been friends of House Ganjir. Once that is done, return to us with reinforcements. We'll hold out for as long as we can, but if we fail, you will keep House Ganjir in the fight." Jazim nodded his head in reluctant agreement.

"Alright Father. I will return for our House, for you." The hologram shut off, the female voice returned.

"Our ships have left the system, Leader Kelbal." Kelbal sighed and turned to leave for the underground.

"Good, let's begin this battle." As he left the capitol building of the planet, a transmission began to be blasted across all frequencies. It was simply a song. Music was an integral part of Tagali society and how they waged war. In Tagali antiquity, sieged cities and strongholds would play music that could be heard by the invading army. It was an act of defiance as well as mockery, a signal to the opposing force that if they wanted what they came for, they would have to come and take it from their cold dead hands. The battle of Falkuze would be more than a simple occupation of a primitive planet. Falkuze would be the first taste of what the Covenant could expect for the rest of their invasion of the Tagali Empire.


Imperial Palace
Saj Islands
Jakala, Todval System


The Empress thought over the demands.

"Your demands are simple enough, but I have one question. What are the Syomir willing to do in return? Gaining such privileges would give your people more responsibilities."