Invitation to a Wedding (IC, Open)

[Agarntrop]

CHAPTER 5

ROYAL MARRIAGE HALL

Minister Kiln: Here's the prime minister!
Aid 1: My minister, we shouldn't just run up to her
Aid 2: No, we should take what chance we have!
Aid 1: This is silly
Minister Kiln: Don't worry! I have everything arranged!
Aid 1 & 2: Arranged?
Minister Kiln: Nothing sinister, I just have a pamphlet I made on what to say to her!

Minister Kiln and his aids barge through the crowd

Minister Kiln: Ahh! There she is!
Security guard 1: What are you doing!? Get away from Vera Yudina you commoner!
Minister Kiln: How dare you! I'm the official representative for Agarntrop!
Security guard 2: Identity card

The security guards read the identity card and hand it back

Security guard 1: And who are these two?
Minister Kiln: My aids
Security guard 1: Where's the rest of your entourage then?
Minister Kiln: They couldn't make it here
Security guard 1: Likely story
Minister Kiln: If you don't believe me then ring the prime minister on my phone and he'll prove it!!!!
Security guard 1: Okay then

Minister Kiln waits as the security guards ring PM Auklando, 15 minutes later he's called back

Security guard 1: You were right
Security guard 2: Here you go, sir

Minister Kiln and his aids frustratedly barge last the security guards

Prime Minister Yudina: Ooo! And whose this?!
Minister Kiln: Minister Ivan D Kiln, foreign secretary of the Republic of Agarntrop, pleased to meet you
Prime Minister Yudina: Greetings from Conatarus!
Minister Kiln: Greetings from Earth!
Prime Minister Yudina: I must go now, as the ceremony shall begin soon!
Minister Kiln: Pleasure to meet you
Prime Minister Yudina: Me too!

Yudina and Kiln shake hands and Minister Kiln and his aids wait for the ceremony to begin...

END OF CHAPTER 5

[A m e n r i a]

Imperial Palace, Mutiara, Empire of Amenria

A woman stands in front of a mirror, applying makeup as her servants help her put on her somewhat modernized kimono. Her hair was long, black and thick, and her skin was smooth and bright. Her body was slim and tall, and her expression calm and reassuring. She was beautiful, as expected of an Amenrian monarch. A man, also dressed in a modernized traditional outfit, this one of Bugis origin, walked in with a wide smile on his face. "Honeeey, are you ready now?" Said the man, walking over to her before putting his hands on her shoulders. "Almost, dear, just wait a bit." She replied, looking at him and smiling in return.

Royal Marriage Hall, Luminumbra

Heavenly Emperor Cheonsa walked into the venue with his arm around his wife's and his head on her shoulder. "Whoa, this is so cool! This is our first time on an alien nation, right?" He said, smiling and poking her cheek with his finger. She simply chuckled. "True, true, but there are more humans than I expected. Or at least, they look human."

[Luminumbra]

Overhearing the Heavenly Emperor's conversation, an elite businessman walked over to the emperor.

"I apologize for the transgression, your majesties. Is that the proper term by which I call you? But I could not help but overhear. Luminumbra is a nation of humanity. We happen to be a human nation, our first settlers of these planets, under the first Grand Dietus, Prophet Alphus Brei I--blessed be his name--were of Venetian origin. One can still see the influences of these settlers from Medieval Venice on the lower levels of our platforms." The aid had said this last sentence with a straight face, as his history textbooks had conveniently hidden from him the disconnect of Medieval Venetians building a futuristic society. These 1,000 Venetians were kidnapped of their own will, lured by the promise of becoming kings. And kings they became. They are worshipped in Luminumbra on the same level as the Founding Fathers are by Americans. The truth was that the "prophet" was a refugee time traveler, escaping the authorities on his spaceship to Medieval Venice. From there he founded a nation in space, exploiting the lack of scientific knowledge of the Venetians to bend the people to his will--the part that the textbooks leave out.

The primary show now was of a woman using magic to create projections of dragons, made of what looked to be glitter, to fly to each guest. Each guests getting a different colored projection, in gold, blue, green, purple and red.

The Announcement came--the grooming was almost complete, and the Groom would be out in the hall soon.

[A m e n r i a]

"Ohh..so that's why..My apologies, I hope I didn't offend you there." Cheonsa showed his carefree smile again. "Please forgive my husband, he gets waay ahead of himself sometimes." Kaguya chimed in, gently patting her husband in the shoulder. "That I do, that I do." He nodded in agreement.

As he finished his sentence, images of dragons flew across the room in different colours. Again, the two Amenrian monarchs smiled and nodded in a "not bad" fashion. They both have seen some magnificent things and though this illusion isn't the best thing they've seen, it certainly wasn't the worst. "Hey look, this one looks just like you!" Remarked Cheonsa playfully to his wife, before receiving a joking and gentle nudge from her elbow.

[Luminumbra]

Once the extravagant displays were over, the Groom finally came out. The elite businessman suddenly and instinctively sushed the emperor, not realizing his disrespect as Alphus Brei II, a prophet of the state cult, and leader of the state itself came into view. As he walked into the hall, now filled nearly to capacity, every single Luminumbran went on their knees and bowed.

Suddenly the hall went silent.

A religious chant came from the Luminumbrans as their prophet had graced them with his presence.


"Rise my brothers, sisters." The Luminumbrans rose without hesitation.
The Grand Dietus always addressed his people in a manner similar to how people spoke to each other in the holy texts. Luminumbrans expect their leaders to speak to them this way, just as Americans used to expect speeches from their presidents to be stately. Only a lute could be heard in the background. Everything the Grand Dietus said today would be added to the holy texts and the Holy Writers--wearing their dark golden robes encrusted with amethyst crystals--were standing by to write every single word.

" ¹ Today, I, the King of the Heavens, shall marry to my bride, who will be the Queen of the Heavens." He outstretched his hand to Vera. She was more beautiful to him than he had imagined. " ² Respect her as you would respect me, she is a prophet.³ When you see her, you must never wear bright clothing as it will insult the Gods.⁴ Instead one must bow at the sight of her. She is my equal as I am to her.⁵ Before she is to be accepted, we must eat the primal supper."

The Primal supper was the first feast that the 1,000 Venetians had with the first prophet Alphus Brei I. This effectively baptized them.

The Luminumbrans erupted into a roar of cheers, and the walls glowed with a magenta light, a symbol of holy word having been spoken. He walked up to Vera, " ⁶ Come, we shall eat at the central table." stretching his hand out to a large, round gold and white marble table right in front of the waterfall. It had been set up with porcelain plates and pure silver utensils. A large golden bowl filled with the finest staples of the Luminumbran diet sat at the center. On the left hand side of each plate sat a chalice, made of opal crystals. The chalices shone a brilliant gold with a rainbow-like light reflecting from their surface.

OOC:

IC:
" ⁷ Come my queen. Sit. The vows will take place after the supper."

Festive renaissance music played throughout the hall.

[Constarus]

Vera stayed close to the Grand Dietus' side, a silent yet imposing air about her. Everything about this hall and the wedding itself had been incredibly impressive and well put-together, she noted. These Luminumbrans really pulled out all the stops.

Sitting down next to her groom at the central table, Vera eschewed comfort for propriety; she felt it important to carry herself in an elegant manner, more so after seeing the extent to which the Luminumbrans would look up to her. She sat up straight, with her legs crossed at the ankles and her hands clasped in her lap.

She glanced to her side and got a good look at him for the first time. He really was easy on the eyes, and she thanked the deities that it was so; she had feared winding up with an unattractive husband. She offered a brief, fleeting smile to him, and finally spoke: "I will admit I'm rather nervous about this. But this ceremony has been really lovely so far." She spoke quietly as not to be overheard. Contrary to what she was saying about her nerves, her tone still exuded some semblance of confidence.

[Luminumbra]

The Grand Dietus grinned as the wines were being poured into the chalices.

The round table was massive. Facing the alter and the rest of the hall were the bride and groom, whilst there were 14 other seats, yet there was space between these seats and those of the bride and groom, to allow for that intimate connection. The top officials of the country sat in the other seats.

"You don't seem nervous, Queen Vera. You, in fact, seem to be a remarkable woman. We need people like yourself in our country. Tell me, how do you like this country? I know it must be quite different." He said this as he turned to her and smiled.

"More Wine, Master Brei?" A servant interrupted.

"No need, brother, you've done quite well. Please, pray in the chapel."

"It shall be done Master Brei."

He turned back to her. "I hope you've found everything to be to your liking so far."


Meanwhile, some war ministers were having a quiet conversation towards the back of the hall. "We have to send more defenses NOW!"

"Sssh! Sssht!! Sssh! Keep your voice down. Have a Voidman Model X on standby."

The first war minister nodded, and the two walked past each other.

[Aeiouia]

2,700,000km from Luminumbra Prime

This was the weirdest thing that Kurkuas had ever seen in his life! Though, to be fair, he was still very young.

But even in that young age, he could tell that there was something odd going on with the Critters. He knew that when Critters congregated together in big schools, they generally tended to start fighting with each other shortly afterwards. Kurkuas, of course, had no idea why they do this. But strangely, it was even more confusing that now they actually appear to not be doing it.

Curious and even more confused than usual (Which is certainly saying something for the mind of a Hatchling), Kurkuas had noticed a strange emission from the hulls of some of the Critters. This intrigued him, as his sister Zanthe told him about Critters like this a while ago. But when she encountered those Critters, she said that they were fighting with each other. It was so befuddling that they were now just collected together into an orderly and calm school.

The sheer curiosity that he had towards the situation was enough; clearly he needed to investigate. And homing in on the scent of the hulls that emitted that strange energy was easy. All he needed to take were a few short Faster-Than-Radiation jumps, and it only took him a short while to reach the general area where the Critters all seemed to be congregating around. Unsurprisingly, it was a Yuck Sphere. At least that much was expected.

However, this Yuck Sphere was a bit different from all the others that he was used to. Usually Yuck Spheres tended to be blue, green, or brown. But this one was a whole bunch of colors all mixed together. While it was still very cold, the incredible variation in the spectrum reflected off of the Sphere was very pretty. Even Kurkuas had to admit that to himself. After all, he loved all spectrums of radiation even if they were not really that intense.

Perhaps there was something special about this pretty Yuck Sphere that intrigued the Critters just as it intrigued him? Clearly, he needed to take a closer look. Burning quite slowly and casually, he begins adjusting his orbit to get a lower periapsis to the strange Sphere. If nothing else, getting a closer reading with his sensors could yield information that his brothers and sisters might be able to make more sense of, after all.

---

Out of nowhere, any scanners in the system would pick up a large object appearing from seemingly thin vacuum in high orbit of Luminumbra Prime. While one would guess that it probably is a ship that dropped out of some kind of FTL transit, there was no visual fanfare or energy emissions to suggest this. Just one moment it was not there, and the next, it materialized from nothing.

Any visual sensors trained on the object would reveal what appears to be an oversized brick painted in a hideous Zebra print. This might come as somewhat of an alarming surprise to the Luminumbrians, or anyone else who was present during the skirmish of the Eztobrughri civil war. As a vessel of very similar design and appearance was sighted during this time, appearing to be some kind of bizarre, lone stealth dreadnought.

Thankfully, this ship appeared to be far smaller than the massive ambush craft that appeared during that conflict. Though its presence was probably not any less concerning, especially given the sensitive nature of the current events.

While the black and white ship was content to just sit idle and motionless for a few minutes, it eventually begins a burn. Slowing itself, it lowers its orbit to a point where it would almost graze the atmosphere in a few hours. In an area disturbingly close to the Imperial Palace. Clearly, something bad was afoot.

[Luminumbra]

The sensors blipped like crazy and the guard's eyes widened. It was unmistakable. The war had somehow made its way to the wedding itself, a nightmare in the making just as the war advisors had been saying all along.

Whilst the bride and groom were eating, another advisor comes up "Sir, another one of those creatures, the kind that destroyed the Biv-class dreadnought seems to be orbiting just above the planet and it's getting closer to our location. It managed to also do so right where there's a gap in our orbital defenses. Our defense platforms are on the other side of the planet right now, and they should be coming around in a few hours."

The Grand Dietus started to sweat. There was a pause.

"Are you sure brother?" "I'm positive, though it seems to be a little smaller, we can't quite tell what its capabilities are." There was another pause.

"Fire on its position immediately, we cannot risk this wedding being destroyed, send an announcement to all the guests, asking them if they wish to stay and fight, evacuate or hide."

"It shall be done Master Brei."

"Queen Yudina. Stay close to me. I have some...bad news..."

Soon, men in robes of sapphire began gliding across the hall looking as if they weren't moving their feet. As they passed the guest's tables they left a small note detailing the situation --- We are under attack. If you wish to leave, do so now. If you wish to fight, meet with the Grand Dietus at his table. If you wish to hide, follow us.

There were only about 30 turrets around the palace, the closest being about a mile away, while the farthest was over 30 miles away.

They had small arms capabilities, yet rather long ranges. They had zero magi-science to beef up their firepower or defenses. But the brave ones immediately fired their lasers at the creature, while the cowardly ones hesitated, only having heard of this creature when a larger version of it destroyed one of the most powerful weapons of Luminumbra. They didn't realize it was not a dreadnought, as they didn't get the entire memo. They froze and only about half the weapons fired.

[Zevretin]

OOC: I've been waiting for a response for Sterkistan, but he/she I imagine has just been pre-occupied so I'm just gonna skip over.

Royal Marriage Hall...

Chairwoman Cartimandua, along with Alden were pulled from their conversations with the Sterk delegates at the table upon receiving news that not only was Zevretin under attack by their neighbors, but also the palace here on Luminumbra Prime.

Esla's eyes grew wide, and Alden immediately stood up from his chair.

"We've no weapons and certainly not enough men. Esla, it's high time we leave."

She nodded, standing up and waving to Kender furiously as she collected her handbag. She was then surrounded by her four trooper escorts, who shoved their way through a crowd steadily rising in panic. One of the troopers turned toward a servant stationed at the doorway leading outside.

"Have a shuttle readied for the Chairwoman and inform the Grand Dietus of our withdrawal. While we'd still be honored to maintain a relationship, it is not worth our leader's life to stay here."

The servant bowed slightly before wordlessly strutting off to prepare their transport. Alden and Kender joined Esla as she reached the landing platform. The situation at the Palace was deteriorating quickly. Delegates darted back and forth in trepidation-- the threat looming closer by the second.

At last, a transport came to idle on the platform; a small ramp lowering from its side. Esla's guards wasted no time, ushering the Chairwoman up into the starliner, followed by the Bremmins. With a high-pitched whine the ship ascended slowly upward, then shot off through the clouds and away from Luminumbra Prime.

[Luminumbra]

The guards were trying to usher people to the landing platform, but there were not enough shuttles to take evacuate everyone.

"World leaders get first priority!" A guard yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd on the platform. The palace workers were scrambling to get people to safety. The Grand Dietus sat with his bride as they went over the situation. A PR nightmare was also unfolding.

"Get the capital battle drone garrison and activate the palace shields."

The Grand Dietus's Table was alive was strategists and ministers planning the next move.

Instantly, the shields of the palace had gone up. The guests were safe for now, but there's no telling just how long the shields would last.

A small fleet of around 100 battle drones started heading to the palace.

"Master brei. This wedding is ruined..."
"No, if we can kill the creature quickly, things can progress."
Another servant walks up. "The leaders of Zevretin gave their apologies and had to leave. They still wish to maintain relations."
The cult leader nodded. "Completely understandable. Send a transmission to them asking them if they require an escort."
"It shall be done, Master Brei."

The transmission was sent.

Meanwhile, the Voidman Model X-09 was booting up in the palace hangar, on a separate platform a half mile away. It's eyes glowed a bright golden color, and an ominous sound could be heard as this superweapon began to move its hands.




It could withstand pressures found in planetary cores, temperatures found on the surfaces of the dimmest stars, and possessed rudimentary space-time weapons. It was another machine that also specialized in energy weapons. It only needed about 5 minutes of boot-up time. Its armor also gives zero energy signature during the boot-up process, as the entire process takes place within the insulating armor. This allows for a stealthy boot-up. This was the female version of the Light-Dark affinity Templars, which keep the Luminumbran citizens in line.

[A m e n r i a]

Cheonsa simply chuckled and clenched his fists. He glanced at his wife. "The usual drill?" She nodded in affirmation. "The usual drill." She said, without hesitation. "Hey, Grand Dietus!" Shouted the monarch to the authority across the room, unaware, or possibly uncaring of how insensitive he seemed. "My wife will set up an extra defensive perimeter. I'll help with the evacuations, maybe even strike the enemy if I have the opportunity. God willing, there'll be no casualties on our side tonight." With that the Amenrian emperor made his wings appear with a stamp of a foot. They were feathery and large, one of them black and the other one white. He rushed to the other guests, carrying them on his back to the evacuation site and heading back to pick up more at amazing speeds. The empress rushed to the nearest soldier. "Quick, show me where they're coming from! I can form walls to halt their advance!"

[Agarntrop]

CHAPTER 6

UNDER ATTACK!

Minister Kiln: We must leave!
Aid 1: Take it slowly, we have priority, we'll be fine!
Minister Kiln: My god! No! Call an ambulance!

Minister Kiln collapses, his aids drag him outside and into a shelter, they call an ambulance

IN THE SHELTER

Aid 2: He's had a fit!
Aid 1: I'm ringing the ambulance now!
Aid 2: He might even be in a coma!
Aid 1: Shut up!

Aid 1 rings the ambulance, Mr Kiln is rushed into hospital by paramedics.

CENTRAL HOSPITAL

Aid 1: He suffers with anxiety
Doctor: Then it's probably shock relate...

Air siren sounds

Doctor: Quick! Run for your lives! The war has come!

IN THE SHELTER

Aid 1: God help minister Kiln
Aid 2: God help all of us!

[Constarus]

Vera drew her seat closer to the Grand Dietus. "Is this, um... Are things going to be okay? Am I going to be okay, dear?" she asked him in a panicked whisper. It had been her first instinct to hold onto his hand for comfort; of course, they weren't actually married yet and it would have been sinful. She briefly considered doing it anyway -- surely the deities would forgive it considering the circumstances.

But she held off on it for now. No need to make herself look like a timid woman who lost all composure at the first sign of danger. Instead, she clutched her religious pendant and offered a silent prayer to the deities. There was little else that she could do to influence the situation.

[Aeiouia]

Luminumbra Prime, Low Orbit

Kurkuas continued on his trajectory fairly uneventfully, for a while at least. While descending towards the periapsis of his orbit, he decided to make the best of his time and did his best to listen in on the strange broadcasts of the Critters in the area, but much like most of his brothers and sisters, he had no idea what they were saying. He did not even know if the strange noises that they made even had meaning to begin with, given how discordant and strange they were. But, it did not matter. Soon, he would hopefully get a good look at whatever has the Critters so transfixed.

Unfortunately, his passive scanning was suddenly interrupted by something. He yelped out in shock at a slight pain, as he found that his shields were taking fire! Making a quick reaction, he swiftly rotated his hull so that his fragile radiators were facing away from the source of the attack. Once the shock of the attack subsided after a few seconds however, he realized that the attack was radiation-based in nature. He would probably be able to weather it for a while as a result, but there was nothing saying that more threatening munitions were not already inbound.

Concerned, Kurkuas immediately began an active scan in the direction of the oncoming fire. A direction that was surprisingly... Towards the Yuck Sphere? That was certainly odd. It appears as if Critters did live on Yuck Spheres after all. At least, ones that we capable of shooting. While this was confusing at best, Kurkuas did not concern himself with the specifics of this. After all, he wanted to make the Critters cease their fire on his location.

Triangulating to the best of his ability with his targeting systems, he begins a barrage of counter-battery fire with his own turrets. Obviously, the only choice that he has for this situation are his laser weapons, since none of his other systems would be able to effectively hit a target through the Yuck of the Sphere.

But considering that he was so young, and was not really the type that wanted to constantly fight critters, Kurkuas made the decision to pull out of the orbit and burn away from the Yuck Sphere. It certainly appears as if this thing was more trouble than it was worth after all.

Unfortunately he came to the realization that when he adjusted the angle of his hull earlier, he had unintentionally began aerobraking in the surrounding gasses, as the bright re-entry flare shining on his hull would quite grimly indicate. This was troubling. With the added resistance from the Sphere, he would have to accelerate for quite a while to gain an escape trajectory. And activating a Faster-Than-Radiation jump while surrounded by Yuck gasses is an action that is just too complicated to calculate for such a young Hatchling.

Turning his hull to a more aerodynamic direction and firing his engines with as much force as he can, he begins attempting an ascent back into orbit. The high energy expenditure of this, combined with the fact that his point defense array was engaged was extremely tiring. But, he had to get out of here. Who knows how many more Critters would show up and start fighting?

---

As the strange ship nears the atmosphere of Luminumbra, the fire from the local turrets strikes its hull. Causing the vessel to emit a radio transmission, the contents of which just being a garbled and incomprehensible electric sound. Though, a listener might describe it as a yell or roar of some sort. Possibly of surprise.

The craft rotates, facing another side of its hull towards the ground. Moments after doing this, it begins firing back at the Luminbarian defenders with what appear to be similar laser weapons of its own. Strangely, it does not target the palace, nor any of the turrets whose crews failed to fire. Only the laser weapons that were actively engaging the ship were targeted.

It does not take very long for the ship to begin flaring up from re-entry heating in the atmosphere shortly after this. With its rotation being aligned quite well to slow the velocity of its orbit. The ship seems to not have intended to do this, however. As after about a minute, it re-orients its hull once again and clearly begins firing whatever strange reactionless engines it has to attempt to propel itself into a stable orbit once more.

Its acceleration is slow, however. Its design certainly does not appear to have atmospheric flight in mind, taking quite a while to even cancel out its downward momentum. It continues barrelling down its trajectory, glaring with the burning flames of re-entry. Soon, it would pass quite close to the Imperial Palace. Given its odd behaviour so far, just what it had in mind was anyone's guess.

[Luminumbra]

The Light affinity soldiers wore similar armor to the Dark affinity infantry. The difference was their torsos were clad in white body armor and shoulder pads, they wore visor helmets, and their leggings and boots almost covered by a small black robe as opposed to hanging off the back-end. They also relied on their white laser spears for magic energy attacks, and could not conjure it up themselves. They had been given permission to listen to orders from the world leaders, effectively a temporary honorary placement of command unto the leadeers themselves. The first world leader to give them an order was the world leader they would be assigned to, to prevent mix-ups and confusion, and to best protect the world leaders themselves.

When the Empress asked the questions of the soldier the soldier turned and, realizing who it was speaking to him, stood at attention. "Ma'am, they're coming from above the Atmosphere. I have been temporarely placed under the command of the world leaders. Because of your orders tonight, I am assigned to you. I am capable of basic magic power attacks using my laser spear. What are your orders?"

Meanwhile at the table
The Grand Dietus saw the concern of Vera. He too almost put his hand on hers, except for remembering her traditions. He instead put his hand on her chair's armrest. "It will be fine. I promise." He smiled. "We are in the middle of activating our most powerful ground weapon to fight the threat." He was looking at her right in the eyes. "The gamers in your country would want to be here right now. What we have right now is like a real life boss battle." He joked. "I don't want you leaving my side though as I cannot trust even my best servants to keep you safe. I want to be able to account for you at all times during this situation." The masked ministers and strategists were all standing around the table, watching this happen. "Queen Vera." One of them said. "This menace will not touch you. I will sacrifice myself before letting that thing get to you. We will cover you with our bodies if we have to. You shall be safe!"

The Turrets

The fire from the strange creature immediately damaged the platforms of the turrets it targeted. They were now slowly sinking to the clouds below. It was only a matter of time. And thus, all turrets fired this time at the creature.

The Voidman Model X-09 was almost ready. An almost musical whistle of mechanical whirs sounded for a brief moment as hands were making movements, arms were rotating and systems were activating. Then, it went back to its original position. The yellow glow from the eyes of the machine disappeared and everything stopped. All was still. All was silent.

…

Suddenly, the eyes glowed a bright blue and the Voidman leaps out and charges forward using jets in its backside, breaking right through the hangar doors and out into the atmosphere flying at astronomical speeds towards the palace. It quickly scanned the situation, and realized there was a menacing object in the atmosphere of the planet. Its jets changed their angle and metallic flaps worked in sync to redirect the monstrous machine straight towards the hatchling. It soon had the creature in sight and one of the fists in its giant arms folded away to reveal a cannon-like weapon. It immediately fired a massive gamma ray blast at the hatchling. If it managed to re-direct the creature back into space, it would have the opportunity to fire anti-matter lasers at the creature as well. But for now, on top of the blast, the fist folds back into shape. Because the leadership of Luminumbra and several other nations is under threat, it is taking much more drastic measures much quicker. The Voidman begins to double its speed. A tight field of antimatter coats its fist. It fires the fist straight at the creature at even faster velocities. Such an attack could only be used once, but the Voidman had a small storage of nano-bots in its inner systems, with similar abilities to stem cells. It could once or twice regenerate body parts. A new hand re-emerges from within the wrist. Its nano-bot storage was now half empty. It would have to be smart about using this attack again. If it did it again, it would not be able to regenerate.

The battle drones were still miles away, and would arrive shortly.

[A m e n r i a]

"Keep the battle in the sky for now. I'll erect an ice wall to defend the palace. If you have any flyers you wish to send, send them now." Ordered Kaguya sternly. The air was getting thicker and the atmosphere more tense.

In a flash of black and white, Cheonsa returned, this time to face the Grand Dietus himself. "I got most of them out of here. I can help you escape quickly, before this thing even gets close." He looked at the others sitting by the Grand Dietus, before setting his eyes on the leader again. "Which one of you should I evacuate first?"

[Luminumbra]

"Yes your Majesty!" The soldier and his squad immediately got onto movable platforms and began heading up towards the fighting, where they would fire laser bolts from their spears.


The Grand Dietus, looking straight at the emperor, and then at everyone else in the hall, sighed.

"We will try to get out ourselves. Our brothers and sisters here in the hall need you more. Emperor Cheonsa. After this is over, you will be awarded Luminumbra's highest honor for your actions today." He looked his bride, who was beginning to look scared.

"Vera, today is a day we must stand strong. I hope you don't mind us getting evacuated last. When this is over, we can finish the ceremony on truly deep new level. I promise you that."

[Danceria]

"Yes your Majesty!" The soldier and his squad immediately got onto movable platforms and began heading up towards the fighting, where they would fire laser bolts from their spears.


The Grand Dietus, looking straight at the emperor, and then at everyone else in the hall, sighed.

"We will try to get out ourselves. Our brothers and sisters here in the hall need you more. Emperor Cheonsa. After this is over, you will be awarded Luminumbra's highest honor for your actions today." He looked his bride, who was beginning to look scared.

"Vera, today is a day we must stand strong. I hope you don't mind us getting evacuated last. When this is over, we can finish the ceremony on truly deep new level. I promise you that."

"All right!" a boisterous brunette hollered, her boots flying a bit too close to the Emperor and Grand Dietus's faces. "Finally! Some action! Just tell me what to shoot at-wait," she then pondered while doing some warmups, as if this were a brisk jog rather than a fight for their lives. "Yo, which one o' ya's puttin' up an ice wall? I have a friend of mine who can help with that," she beamed before turning to the Emperor of Amenria "An' featherduster, can you tone down the air pressure manipulation, kinda hard to start sparks if you're stifling the oxygen." As if to demonstrate, with a snap of her fingers, a small candle-sized flame appeared. "Name's Lian by the way, we can be formal after we kick these guys's butts. Don't worry about about Ace," she pulled out a small walkie-talkie "He's taking point, right?"

"My apologies for my...associate's lack of manners." the voice stated "But I think it's safe to assume this wasn't a planned activity. I'm currently climbing my way up...and getting a nice view. Wish I had a sniper rifle of sorts...any way I can get one?"

[A m e n r i a]

Just before Cheonsa could continue, a brash woman by the name of Lian stepped up and said her piece, which was responded by his signature peculiar laugh. "Your mannerisms remind me of myself thirty years ago. Kaguya's heading outside to raise the wall. If you can fly, get out there and blast the enemy to oblivion. Otherwise, get your friend the rifle he needs and I'll join you up there once the hall is empty."

He stepped closer to both Vera and the Grand Dietus. "Does that sound right to you? I'll make sure that thing doesn't get anything in this room. Not soldiers, not projectiles, nothing." If they approved, he would return to his last actions and have the room evacuated with the help of his speed.

[Luminumbra]

The Grand Dietus nodded.

"Yes, that sounds perfect! We need all the help we can get. If you guard this palace and keep out the intruders we will be in your debt."

His eyes started to water. He had spent most of his life meditating and this was his first time ever making friends. However, he regained his composure. He wished he could don his armor and mask to better protect his bride, and he would not leave her side until the threat subsided. Yet, he had to manage the crisis. He was out of the fight for now.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Royal Palace

Upon making introductions with the local delegation Yohan and the others sat at the table to enjoy the festivities. They took their share of food and wine waiting for the right moment to approach the soon to be newlyweds with the wedding present. They passed the time talking about past missions and near death experiences in service to the God-Emperor.


"....so now were are neck deep in rebels and their heretical cyborgs, pinned down with no clear way off world and enemy fliers stopping us from moving and what does this guy do?" pointing to Inquisitor Tsagos "He tells Warder to shoot the planets primary power refinery with a Lance in order to 'shock the power grid and clear the airspace'. Don't forget we are only like two to two and a half Kilometers from the target."

"Well wait a minute, Joyce and I were almost out of ammo by then and Warder took the ship we were using and knocked out the engines because he rammed a rebel troop ship in orbit and got himself stuck in the void adrift for 18 hours. He only had time for one Lance strike and I figured knocking out the planets power grid would at least take some pressure off of us. Not to mention when those Primary Plasma reactors got hit they debris took down the flyers." Replied Tsagos

"But you're not going to mention the part where the loyalist troops had to ground their QRF because of that stunt." Said Ausjorn

"details....details..." Said Arbitrator Joyce as the group began to chuckle.

Warder piped in between a bout of laughing and said "How often to I get to ram the enemies of the God-Emperor without damaging a ship that I own? I mean a really couldn't pass that up."

Tsagos turned to him laughing and said "Right....as cheap as you are I'm surprised you didn't try to add that stunt as a line item on your bill. I can see it now 10,000 Thrones for "Tactical Decisiveness" to be made payable to Yohan Warder's personal fund."

With that last crack the table bust into laughter with many in the group doubled over and even some of Warder's own House Guard cracking a smile.

The tables laughing was subsiding when a servant dropped a note that read the following:

We are under attack. If you wish to leave, do so now. If you wish to fight, meet with the Grand Dietus at his table. If you wish to hide, follow us.

"For the sake of the Throne is this a joke?" said Ausjorn as he threw the note on the table. Looking around at the panic that began to unfold and the sound of defense batteries firing he decided not and downed the last glass of wine before unslinging his Lasgun.

Warder's men at his command set up a peremiter around the group

Abek Safflow who was eccentric at the best of times began to giggle (for those who watch the show Vikings think filoki) *giggles* "Just some exercise to work off the food then it seems" as he racked his shotgun "The God-Emperor will be pleased for us to show our prowess in combat."

Wally and Tech-priest Herz spoke to each other briefly before Wally said "Ya know that with all the Vip ships they will be leaving it will be impossible for us to get to the In Glory Presented safely. I mean if the airspace is already compromised whatever they are fighting must be powerful. I vote we stay here until we have an idea of what we are going to have to fly through." Hernz nodded his approval at this.

Joyce chimed in "Whatever comes out of that sky I'd rather deal with it face to face then end up trapped in the cutter."

Tsagos stood up and opened his cloak no longer hiding his symbol of Inquisitorial Authority "We do not have to like how these people use sorcery or their religion but our mission was to recon their capabilities and get Warder a trade contract. If we stay here we will see first hand what they can do and we can get Warder close to their Grand Dietus. I say we stay but Yohan it's your ship."

Warder stood up and said "Well we have a gift to deliver, and it is not within the code of the Sub Sector or my House to leave a wedding present undelivered. I swore to keep it safe a deliver it and I cannot very well do that if the bride and groom are dead. So let us go to the table and not only the gift of treasure but the gift of protection as well."

"Spilled blood of an enemy is worth more than a chest of jewels" said Tsagos.

"Especially when that enemy is about to land on your capital, take you women and children, and kill or enslave the men. And most importantly all this wine will go to waste." said Ausjorn getting a laugh out of the group.

"It's settled then" said Hobbinstern his eyes glowing with psychic powers "We display an example or real power" the ground under his feet began to alternate between freezing and smoking as his unnatural powers began to influence reality itself.

Warder and the rest of the men walked to the Grand Dietus' table and he said "My Lord, I see there are some unexpected guests. We are here to aid you in full faith and fiedelity of the Sub Sector. Only a coward would attack a interplanetary gathering such as this and we do not take kindly to cowards. Provide me with an Orbital defense layout and I will have my ship deploy more if it's garrison to secure vital positions on the planet."

[Gerdon Laughis]

Gerdon Laughis, Imperial Palace

The General Emperor Tarim Piala sat silently in his throne, observing the court which bustled around him. With the end of the Ma'arak wars and the unification of the planet, Gerdon Laughis was able to set its sights on establishing contact with other worlds and expanding their influence beyond their small system. Their navy was small, but capeable by Gerdon Standards, and they has begun colonization efforts on their 2 moons. As he was reading over policy announcements for future colonial ventures, the Royal Attaché Tu'ngli Noblis entered the palace hall with an overexaggerated twirl of his cane.

"My Emperor! You have been summomed by our celestial neighbors!" The excitement was dripping from Tu'ngli's voice, and the emperor rose from his throne. "The emperor of Constarus has invited you too his wedding on Luminumbra Prime. Sir I highly reccomend you att-" He was sharply cut off by the emperor.

"You do not need to convince me, I shall attend. Berdadad shall join me, and you shall accompany. Ready my shuttle, and inform Dalis he is to regent in the meantime."

Royal Space
As the Imperial transport entered Royal Space, the scene looked less like guests coming for a wedding and more so preperation for an invasion Tarim narrowed his eyes as he waved a hand towards Tu'ngli. "Hail the Emperor's communications. Berdadad, ready the ships defenses." As Berdadad primed what little defenses the transport contained, Tu'ngli sent a message to the surface.

"This is Tu'ngli Noblis of the Gerdon Imperial Transport Exault, requesting permission to land and confirmation of a safe landing port. The Gerdon Royal Family is present as per your Emperors invitation to the royal wedding, do not engage."

[Luminumbra]

Before the Grand Dietus could even open his mouth to approve the plan to give the Orbital Defense layout to Warder and his men, a political wedding minder, one of many whom up to this point none of the guests had knowledge of, had interjected. He bowed into the Grand Dietus's ear and whispered, "These men have been having somewhat suspicious conversations. I do not know the context of their conversations, they might be heretics, they might joking around, they might be infiltrators, I only caught a few words. I would be wary of giving them any defense layouts for now."

But the Grand Dietus would not want to make political moves that could risk the safety of himself, his bride and the guests. He nodded at the minder, "Thank you, you may be dismissed."

After the minder leaves the cult leader turned back to Warder. "Void Lord Warder. We will give you any details you require of the layout. But be aware that the layout changes every 3 months, so do not try anything funny after this. We need all the help that we get, but be warned that the level of trust for me to give anyone this layout, including yourself, has not been built. We will give you magic-infused opals. They will give you the current layout on a hologram. They will crack and fall apart once a new layout has approved by our War Department."

Part of this was a lie. The layout changes every month, and the opals crack and fall apart every three or four weeks as the War department begins deliberations two weeks into every month, and approves the new layout a week in advance of the new formations. The opals also were not the only means of viewing the layout, only gave a general report and, barring the defense platforms, only gave information on the lesser orbital defenses.

He then looks at one of the war advisors, "Do you have the Opals with you?"

"Yessir. I have them." The Grand Dietus nods. "Good, give it to the Void Lord here." As the advisor fishes out the crystals the Grand Dietus looks back at Warder. The Grand Dietus had piercing green-hazel eyes. He was looking right into the pupils of Warder. The advisor manages to fish out the crystals in a rush and almost fumbled them as he hands them to Warder.


A hologram spills out above the crystal and an ominous voice begins to explain the layout.

We currently have 50 Defense platforms orbiting the northern hemisphere of the planet and 10 Defense platforms in the southern hemisphere.

…

Silence as the hologram brings up a diagram of the system.

There are currently 10 Fleets in the system. All are actively engaged in defending the equatorial regions and the mining stations of the sytem, and only on standby for the war effort.

Atmospheric Laser platforms - Crewed by Two Men: Atmospheric Laser Platforms on the planet number 100,000. 30,000 in the Northern Hemisphere and 70,000 in the Southern Hemisphere. We have Ten Shipbuilding Parts Manufacturies and Three Shipbuilding Assembly Centers Orbiting the Southern Hemisphere. We have Four Shipbuilding Parts Manufacturies and One Shipbuilding Assembly Centers Orbiting the Northern Hemisphere. You are currently at... - the hologram blinks red with a deep bell sound - ...The North Pole. The nearest garrison of ground troops is 200 miles south. The nearest garrison of battle drones is 30 miles away. The nearest garrison of fleet ships is 1,000 miles south.

.

The Grand Dietus continued, "You may ask it for specifics and it will immediately be able to answer as well."

Meanwhile as the Gerdon Imperial Transport was trying to land the palace finally sent a transmission.

"Exhault. The landing pad is not safe to land on. Luckily for you, we have a private landing pad on the palace grounds. Please land there."

[Aeiouia]

Luminumbra Prime, Low Orbit

Kurkuas watched as more and more Critters from the surface of the sphere began firing at him. By this point, it was apparent that the Critters were Bad Critters. To his disgust, he detected a section of the Yuck below that began to grow thick and cold. The Critters were capable of the horrendous act of removing warmth and replacing it with bad cold, as evidenced by the sudden apparent of solid water around an area on the Sphere below.

But while this was repulsive to every single one of Mother's wise teachings, he had more important things to deal with. As, more and more critters began firing on his location. Acting as quickly as he could, Kurkuas diverted some of his point defense turrets to fire back at all of the hostile Critters that were targeting him. The energy output on the individual targets was less since he had to split up his finite number of turrets between much more of them, but it would have to do.

Doing his best, he eventually manages to begin gaining altitude again. Slowly but steadily, Kurkuas begins ascending away from the treacherous Sphere below. But, just as he thinks that he is nearly out of the situation, his sensors pick up a small Critter on a B-line for his location. Being too young to carry any strike craft of his own to counter it, this was definitely a serious threat indeed. Frantically, he began firing off his flare pods in an effort to buy himself some time. This was his first time doing this, as he had never been in a situation this dire before. Unfortunately his flare tubes were inferior to the more complex ones present on his older Siblings, and he doubted the effectiveness of them as a result.

Aiming a few of his upper turrets unburdened by having line-of-sight with the Critters below, he readies himself to shoot down any oncoming projectiles from the strange, unidentified Critter. With fear, he watches it fire off a shot in his direction...

... And he gets hit with gamma radiation...? Kurkuas was now more confused than scared, though the latter feeling certainly had not left him. Why was the Critter emitting nourishing gamma rays? Was it actually friendly? It could not be, its movement pattern indicated hostility. At least if the many words and teachings of his winged relatives were anything to go by. And it does not add up; after all the Critters had displayed awful endothermic abilities just moments earlier on the surface below!

This confusion threw Kurkuas off for a few seconds, during which time the strange Critter was actually within the effective range of his point defense weapons. And it certainly capitalized on this fact. As, Kurkuas was suddenly struck by a fairly powerful kinetic attack from the Critter. Depleting a decent amount of power from his shields, and altering the course of his ascent into orbit. All too late, he decides to return fire to the strange creature. While the emission of life-giving gamma radiation seemed friendly, it was clearly a mistake or farce. The attack confirmed its true hostility.

Either way, he needed to get out of this place. And fast.

---

The strange object continues on its trajectory. Slowly but steadily however, it picks up speed with its ascent out of the atmosphere. With it clearly going to reach orbit once again within a few minutes if it manages to keep it up.

During this time it sustains its fire upon the various defensive turrets. As soon as more take aim, it immediately responds with counter-fire of its own. However, the more turrets that activate, the more the counter-battery fire strength from the strange ship decreases. It clearly has a finite amount of power to work with, and the individual strength of its beams on each target decreases as it has to spread its fire out more and more.

As the X-09 approaches the vessel, the strange craft suddenly fires an array of flares from the corners of its hull. This display is not that impressive, given the fact that the craft itself is already emitting heat not just from its radiator panels, but also from its flaming speeds through the atmosphere. The pyrotechnic devices would probably only obscure the ship's heat signature for only a few seconds at most.

Clearly doing its best to make use of this short period of time, it pivots all of its upper turrets not already firing on the defender below to aim at the incoming Voidman unit. Though, it seems to be quite hesitant to fire for some inexplicable reason. While it seems to take the time to decide weather to actually fire or not, the craft is bathed in the gamma ray blast from the experimental automaton...

... And is completely unaffected. Close-range scans would probably reveal that this is not due to the ship having extreme durability, but rather it seems to have some kind of strange affinity with radiation. The craft itself seems to be constructed entirely out of some kind of unidentified radioactive material. Judging by the vessel's own structural radioactivity, and the energetic emissions of its radiator panels, it is clear attacks of this nature would probably be ineffective. Other weapons types would probably be far more deadly.

However, the kinetic punch seems to strike with much more of an effect. Upon striking the ship, a flash of light is seen at the point of impact. Clearly indicating that the attack had hit and successfully damaged the vessel's shields. Any sensors would reveal that the power in them was drained rather substantially from the hit. Though, they were still up for the time being. Albeit barely, clearly not being able to weather much more than one more strike or so.

But either way, the craft seemed to be quite indecisive about actually firing back. Eventually however, it does return fire with point defense laser weaponry. This attack is clearly somewhat dampened by the fact that it is already using a majority of its turrets to target the surface units below. While this counter-attack is somewhat unimpressive, the ship does seem to have a few other types of turrets. But they fortunately seem to not be within range.

While it is now ascending, if the craft continues on its current path it will still pass almost directly over the Imperial Palace within less than a minute.