Fire Among the Stars (Ended)

by **Nazeroth** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:00 pm

The Dark Kingdom of Nazeroth/Häz Urzynäæz Zørghurzüth abgruz Rupybÿrgothhüügr
"One Throne, Under Darkness"

Gorc Dreadnaught: Spawn of Gorzog
Fringe Border Space of Gagium/New Jackania

Maglux the Defiler grew tired of the the quietness, he had at least expected his fleet to be detected by one of the factions in the area but it seemed that it was not to be. Instead he would send out his own message, from Black Tongue as well as Common. The language was foul and gutteral, exactly how it was made to be. It was spoken by all the slaves of Kr'orn, from child to champion. Galactic Common was also used at times, but not primarily. Lord Maglux spoke to the communication Thrall, it's fleshy body wrecked by wires and machines, it's mind plugged into the ship, it's mouth drooling. The following message was sent from his lips to the local area for any nearby factions to see. A rough translation of Galactic Common was also included.

"Anrbzyv udaz häz zordgryz abgruz häz Urzynäæz Dyzhazurz abgruz Rupybÿrgothhüügr
Gzÿv myrbgḧul grohzubüth bgazmuzäkh gävr bgäz, bgazmuzäkh rupgÿz haz dazbaåzdryrz nyzärrzzüümgärdaz gzÿv häz börẗrüthdaz
Züürd Myrburrgdurg, Zgargoth Urzbaazäkhbäæz
Häz Urzynäæz Dyzhazurz Äkhhyd'hazrup grohmärg zubbhak bzyv zambzürbÿrgmuz"

Roughly translated into galactic common as " We are the Host of Nazeroth, seek us or remain silent in the void, the dark lord Kr'orn will have his prize"

Maglux then got up, the grape juice dry on his lips and he licked the sweet remnant away. He then made his way to a hall where wizard and advisers gathered. As he walked, slave and Gorc alike quickly scattered. The halls flickered with torches casting sick light upon his face. The Mark of Kr'orn, spikes from the dark lords crown, were tattooed upon his forehead as a reminder of his master. Everytime he looked into a mirror it was there...a reminder of whom watched him. No doubt the Hand of Kr'orn was present aboard this vessel, ready to place a knife into his spine should be betray the dark throne's interest. He cared little for that kind of thinking at the moment.

He entered the hall where a large table was centered. Cloaked figures and tired looking men, corrupted by years of service and exposure to the Netherverse, sat. He sat at the head of the table and awaited his best "wizard" to speak. The man leaned across the table, he had a goatee as dark as Nazer-Dum's soil. He spoke in Black Tongue " My lord...the Void Sitter speaks to me...I can feel it...we know of the strange "spectrium" but attaining the resource will require us to attack their minds with diplomacy or take it by force." Lord Maglux thought for a moment. " Our host is stirn but by no means do we possess the power to engage in any major battle without many dead...the lives of slave and gorc alike are fodder...but fodder that we need for the time being..."

A currupted man spoke next, he wore leather armor made from the hide of some sturdy beast, a dark steel blade hung from his chest and a nether plasma pistol from his hip. " My lord...the Dark Lord would seek us to be cautious, our scouts have already reported conflict in the surrounding area...not to mention pirates that do not align with the Dark Throne. We must tread carefully lest we lose our luck...and our heads."

" I am well aware of our risks...I am your master here and my masters above me know just as well the costs...hmmm..." Maglux said resting his hand on his chin, his fat nose sniffing the cold recycled air.

" We will see what our message brings, from there we will march towards the source and whatever comes it will fall into the hand of the Immortal Lich God...may the Dark Lord's reign suffocate the stars themselves..." He spoke running his hand across the tatoo on his forehead. " Leave me..." He said at last and his advisors left, for now he would wait.

by **Pikasistan** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:23 pm

Strange Apparition
Mere moments after the beggining of the Battle in Maglone, Maglone

Kim Nordstrom heard a voice in his head, one filled with darkness, but still one that wasn't menacing. He left the shieldstones of the Echo of Hades to rush to the bridge, delivering the message to Admiral Evintus whilst catching his breath:

We are the Host of Nazeroth, seek us or remain silent in the void, the dark lord Kr'orn will have his prize

Why would they reach to us? What do they want? She was rather surprised by the telepathic incursion of the... Nazerothians to the belgiosweden magii, but still, why would they need a friend if they were that menacing? She decided she would form a pact with them, but under her terms and the gains would be good for both. She dictated her reply to the magos, which relayed it to whomever the Nazerothian mage was:

To whom it may concern:

If you want to aid us in battle, so be it, we won't complain for offered help. I suppose you have your price so I offer you the following: you may pillage whatever you want and capture any that you encounter, we do not care, they are the least of our concern. We will give you slaves in the form of POWs and then entire population of worlds if they attempt to stir any kind of resistance to our occupation. As of ressources you will have your share of spectrium, that I can guarantee you, but for the rest, it will depend of your combat effectiveness as you are unknown to us and to our belgioswede auxilias. However, I can assure you that you will at the very least get the ressources you lost aiding us fighting the Gagians, probably even more than it as we value help against our foes. If you are a xeno, you should stay hidden from us, as we will probably fire at you even knowing you aided us so I will say it clearly, only human can ever see us. We can further discuss arrangements for transport if you wish for it.

Best regards,
Admiral Elena Evintus, leader of the Pikasistani forces in the invasion of Gagian Space.

She would await the response of Nazeroth, hoping the Nazerothians would be able to be of significant aid. She then returned to directing the battle that was raging in the Maglone system, the first phase of a long war...

by **The Shadow Confederation** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:03 pm

Alexzonya wrote:
”This the Galactic Republic of Alexzonya Starfleet ship Redoubtable, flagship of the 11th Exploration and Patrol Group, Admiral Hannelore Fresinski commanding. We have been dispatched to this system to act as humanitarian observers and to ensure that the conduct of the occupying forces are in accordance with galactic norms. We will not attempt to approach the blockade or engage in any hostile action, but rest assured the whole galaxy is watching. End transmission.

Tranquility, Bridge

Was it.... Was it possible?

That forces of sanity and reason had come to this place?

The crew shivered with the eager, happy anticipation of men trapped in a blizzard and hearing the sounds of rescue workers.

"Sing them a song! Sing it loud and clear!"

Joyful Greetings! Boonful Tidings! Your presence is a light upon a great void. Much has happened here, love itself has been threatened by forces truly alien to all of sapient life. Whereas most races care for prosperity and abundance, the creatures here swipe their claws at that which they cannot comprehend, and revel in the sight of death and pain. They are alien to all that is good; perhaps your presence will bring *clarity* where it is needed most.

Higher Intelligence wrote:AS ALL TRUTHS ARE, WE ARE REVEALED TO THOSE SEEKING THE SIMPLE LOGIC OF THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH OUR UNIFIED MULTIVERSE IS ERECTED. TO THOSE IN SEARCH OF THE APOCRYPHAL, WE ARE BUT DENIZENS OF DEMERITORION; TO THOSE STOOD TALL AGAINST THE ABOLITION OF TRUTH, WE ARE BUT THE GATEWAY TO FURTHER KNOWLEDGE. BEYOND THESE NASCENT CIRCUMSTANCES THAT PLAGUE US ARE THE HOURS OF OUR MORE APPROPRIATE CONGRESS. FIND ENCLOSED COORDINATES FOR OUR JOINDER.

Another song was sung:

We are eager to meet you there, but what of the interim? Madness, Petulance, Banality, Mindlessness remains. We wish to ensure that intellect prevails. How may we assist? This vessel came, hoping to bring friend-ship and love. Yet such things are clearly ineffective here.

Prussian Polish Commonwealth wrote:He sighed and facepalmed. "For fuck's sake..."
He grabbed his copy of Romeo and Juliet and bookmarked his page, before flipping to Act 1, Scene 1.

A response was sent a few minutes later.
TYBALT: What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!

Romeo and Juliet(1.1)

On the bridge, there was amused laughter.

"They respond! They are capable of comprehending our words!"

"Well, that's the thing. Those lines are from a *human* performance, no? Romeo and Juliet."

"*Humans*? You mean those hairless apes who were capable of disregarding the councils of elder races to forge their own path?"

"The very same."

"Hmn. I would expect more critical thinking from them. Instead they glorify the words of Tybalt. Wasn't he a villain who murdered a man in cold blood simply because that man was a friend of his foe?"

"Indeed."

"Most strange. Then again, the humans we have encountered tended to have reasons for their behavior. They contemplated the best course of action and acted accordingly. Yet these humans simply quote Tybalt at us as though it provides any context. The words are the same as the ones in our database. Hrm..."

"Professor, perhaps these humans see "Romeo and Juliet" as a fable of some sort? A parable? Tybalt is their champion because he murders indiscriminately because he is enraged, whereas Romeo was a weakling who allowed his emotions and intent to love another person weaken him? As these humans are clearly a race that glorifies war over all else, they would see Romeo as worthless and his story as the tale of an idiot who let love guide his being."

"Why are you making assumptions? We do not know what that transmission means. Send a response."

Ah, very good! You speak! We assume that you have read the work in question. Are you aware that Tybalt is usually considered to be a villain by many scholars of that text? In what way does Tybalt, with his extremely reckless nature, appeal to you? Tybalt was murdered by Romeo towards the end of the play, no? By taking the same course of action, are you not attempting to follow his fate? If death is what you seek, it is a most horrifying circumstance. Death is not the answer, there is much more to life than pain and rage! We eagerly await your wisdom.

by **Teutonican Empire** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:29 pm

New yugoslavaia wrote:"Gagium, just one question...what do you want us to do? I know we said about the trade stuff you basically ignored me. What do you want from us? Was the piracy really that bad is there an ulterior motive behind this? Come on, if you call off the "attack" then you can have all the spectrium you want, but you have to stop. What happened? Through all the centuries, you're nation was never like this. Please, just explain."

After being briefed by the Senate of Gagium, Empress Lune sought out Jackania's side of the story, and sent a transmission to whoever was in power in Jackania requesting an explanation of their side of the story. She had also heard of the Federation's justifications for their actions. While Lune was an enemy to communism, she was a practitioner of realpolitik.

Two Teutonicans sat across from each other in Lune's lounge chamber. "Commander Noel, hear me out...and don't get angry! That's an order, by the way." said Lune.

"I'm listening, my Empress." Noel replied.

"I think I'm starting to lean in favor of the Jackanians. Why, you may be thinking? Well...I hate it when democracies pull that whole "liberation" angle. If we keep letting them liberate whoever they want, when will it come back to bite us when they try and fight us! And look at how much support they're drawing. This is, like, not good."

"...I see, my Empress. I wi-"

"Oh and the Jackanians are more valuable as a trading partner. For the Empire, and our money, but mostly the Empire, Noel, I must have you lead our intervention mission to Jackania."

"Hmm...while I do despise communism, I will do as you say for the future of the Empire, my Empress. You have my absolute support and loyalty."

"Noel, this is an order! I need this to happen, for the Empi-- wait what?"

"I will follow your orders, my Empress."

"Wow, it's usually harder to convince you. Okay, well...um. Dismissed."

Later on, Lune would attempt to acquire military access from Jackania and would attempt to coordinate a counterattack with them. All on some mighty encryption.

The fleet was ready. With 9 carriers, 36 cruisers, 108 destroyers, 1944 heavy fighters, and 3000 normal fighters, now with six mighty battleships and two super-heavy ships, it was formidable. It was set to escort 10 million normal infantry and an attachment of 2 million elite infantry. With the petrifying and mighty Commander Noel at the helm of this force, it would be able to punch well above its weight, and plenty of ships were reserved for reinforcement.

by **Gagium** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:18 pm

by **Prussian Polish Commonwealth** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 5:49 am

The Shadow Confederation wrote:
Ah, very good! You speak! We assume that you have read the work in question. Are you aware that Tybalt is usually considered to be a villain by many scholars of that text? In what way does Tybalt, with his extremely reckless nature, appeal to you? Tybalt was murdered by Romeo towards the end of the play, no? By taking the same course of action, are you not attempting to follow his fate? If death is what you seek, it is a most horrifying circumstance. Death is not the answer, there is much more to life than pain and rage! We eagerly await your wisdom.

No, I was just bored and decided that the usual insulting message was too boring, so I went for my copy of R & J.
Now quit bothering me, I'm reading The Taming of the Shrew.
-Hauptgefreiter Johann Ernst, Comms

Johann finished up his response and began reading 'The Taming of the Shrew'. "Hmph, this ought to be intresting."
Then another message came in.
"Oh for fuck's sake..."

Nazeroth wrote:
"Anrbzyv udaz häz zordgryz abgruz häz Urzynäæz Dyzhazurz abgruz Rupybÿrgothhüügr
Gzÿv myrbgḧul grohzubüth bgazmuzäkh gävr bgäz, bgazmuzäkh rupgÿz haz dazbaåzdryrz nyzärrzzüümgärdaz gzÿv häz börẗrüthdaz
Züürd Myrburrgdurg, Zgargoth Urzbaazäkhbäæz
Häz Urzynäæz Dyzhazurz Äkhhyd'hazrup grohmärg zubbhak bzyv zambzürbÿrgmuz"

"We are the Host of Nazeroth, seek us or remain silent in the void, the dark lord Kr'orn will have his prize"

He called over his superior, who called over his superior, and so on and so forth, until it reached Admiral Harker.
He read the message twice and facepalmed.

Shortly after a response was prepared.

fuck off edgelord

OOC: If you want a translation, click here.

Harker then turned back to his map.
One of the planets caught his eye.
Magalone...was the start of this clusterfuck was it?
Might as well send a ship over to chat with the locals, see if their story matches up.

Shortly after, the Inquisitorial Rapid Strike Vessel split off and headed for Magalone.

by **Korhal IVV** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:14 am

Grand Admiral Rudolf Hess
Orbital Fortress “Defender of Tomorrow”
Europa Orbit

“Chairman, are you serious?”, Hess asked, agape at what the Hemicycle has just voted on. “We are withdrawing any further support from the Gagium Federation? Who proposed this?”

“Someone who has better economic sense than the arms companies.”, Chairman Eva Braun answered coldly. “The Ensari High Elder, Shud Krako, brought it up in the meeting of the Hemicycle. He said that we cannot fight a war while engaging the Zoltarians at the same time. Even if the E.U. alone participates in the Gagium-Jackania conflict, there is danger that the Zoltarians will exploit it and overwhelm the border defences. So in short, the Alliance is keeping out from the boiling war.”

“Very well then, Chairman.”, Hess saluted. “So I will order commander Breisgau to withdraw from Miron, I assume?”

“Yes. Even if her ship is in a state of bloodlust, she will have to comply.”

“Alright then.”

Miron

“Grand Admiral! I am in the middle of a fight! Why the call?”, Breisgau said, a little annoyed.

“Commander Leila Breisgau, you are to withdraw the Seventh from the Miron System immediately. The Central Hemicycle has voted to stay out of the conflict. High Elder Shud proposed this and he unanimously has everyone’s favor.”

“Ugh, as you say, Grand Admiral.”

The Higher Intelligence craft would feel a cessation of fire as the Yamato and its cohorts plunged into portals etched into space. The Labyrinth opened, taking them all in.

It would be the last that the Higher Intelligence would ever see of the Europa United.

by **Gagium** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:41 am

Snapelia Orbit, Federation Space
Snapelia was a cold world, covered in snow and ice, with the occasional lake or sea along the equator. The planet was home to around fifty million, with small metropolises dotting the coastlines of the equatorial seas. Away from the population of the planet, however, laid hundreds of Spectrium mines that bore deep into the frozen ground of the planet. There, massive outputs of Spectrium were shipped away to various Federation processing centers closer to the equator, where they would then be shipped off-world to be sold. The planet also had the Snapelia Command Bunker near the northern pole of the planet, currently being used to command the Blockade Fleet.

To protect said Spectrium mines from whatever small force may attempt to disrupt the mining, the planet had its own fleet, consisting of 5 battleships, 20 heavy cruisers, and around 100 light cruisers and frigates. The small fleet hadn't seen much action recently, with various robots replacing the tasks of humans onboard the vessels. The planet had a few small stations in orbit, most ship refueling stations and various commercial stations.

However, the vessels in orbit would soon be called upon to defend Snapelia...Or rather, in a few months.

On the surface of Snapelia, near the cities of the equator, the Snapelia Global Observatory lay, with its large telescope focused on a region that lay hundreds away. The scientists looking through the telescope were bewildered at the sight, until a pitch black shape managed to disrupt the view..and another one passed after it. The scientists were able to calculate that they were between 50 meters and 200 meters long. The Global Observatory silently relayed for the Military Correspondence Office in one of the major cities of Snapelia to check it out. Eventually, the planet's Scientific Commission sent out a small frigate to attempt to locate the strange objects that were blocking the stars in their trajectory.

The frigate jumped into hyperspace quite a few AU from Snapelia, and the scientists inside of the vessel began tapping on the scanner device's screen, until it finally launched. The scanner was devised to be able to detect any sort of thing that may consist of physical matter. Unfortunately the frigate was still several million kilometers away from the location of the payloads, and the scanners picked up nothing, prompting it to warp closer to Snapelia near the estimated 'trajectory' of these objects, still several dozen AU from the planet. Assuming it was travelling on an elliptical path of some sort, the frigate jumped closer to the planet, again launching its scanners. This time, the scanners did pick up on something..and more somethings. The systems of the frigate calculated its trajectory, estimating that it is headed towards...Snapelia!

Thus, the fleet was notified of unknown items on a trajectory towards the planet, of seemingly unknown origin. It would still take several months for these objects to admittedly reach Snapelia, if their speed was calculated correctly. However, this notification seemed to fade away, and the frigate jumped back towards Snapelia...

(I'll post about the other shit going on later)

by **Nazeroth** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 12:42 pm

The Dark Kingdom of Nazeroth/Häz Urzynäæz Zørghurzüth abgruz Rupybÿrgothhüügr
"One Throne, Under Darkness"

Gorc Dreadnaught: Spawn of Gorzog
Fringe Border Space of Gagium/New Jackania

In short order, Lord Maglux had received a message from the stars. It appeared there was a force known as the "Pikistani's" which had reached out to them in attempt to enter a mutual agreement. Oddly enough it wasn't the electronic message that was picked up but by the psionic/psyker Wizards of Lord Maglux's forces. He had his top black wizard immediately contact him and they were able to muster a plan. They would agree to the terms and conditions of this new force, but they would step carefully. The hate for non-humans was a strange concept for Lord Maglux, the Dark Kingdom was quite diverse in it's racial backgrounds, from Human to Gorc and everything in between. The Dark Lord's forces were all guided by a single purpose...they were slaves to Kr'orn, no matter where they came from, all fell before him. The Spawn of Gorzog mustered another message to the Pikistanis whom were the first to respond with anything of value. How they knew what Nazeroth wanted was a little strange, but it must have been conveyed during the psionic entanglement of the two states.

"Zörgḧ zubbhak y ohbrydyz gryzhydyzyboth, y gavrborzakh gyz häz ruzdhråmzub dazorv gorzmuz mäæzyzybruv, müzduvz gzÿv ärrz zørdhazmåazrüthdaz"
Translating: We have deal stranger, let's meet in person

Lord Maglux then ordered his ships to move slowly at sub-light towards the transmission, at least until they could reach specifics of their "pact". Lord Maglux already ordered that non-humans be kept away from the diplomatic affairs of the fleet, which was somewhat easy as many Humans were on board the Dark Fleet's ships to provide a friendly, if corrupt, face to their schemes. A Emissary ship was soon to be undocked from the Spawn of Gorzog so that Lord Maglux could meet these "pikistanis" in person should they reach out and offer such a thing. In Nazeroth face to face meetings were still seen as a sign of trust, though trust was a light word in the realm of Gorcs. Lord Maglux made his way to his private quarters where he washed his face with ice cold water and began to clean his uniform from any imperfections. He ordered a gift to be brought, it was a custom to provide a gift when meeting foreign dignitaries or representatives.

by **The Coalition Theomilitary** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 4:56 pm

Rumination, and Action
HAS Cthonic Deluge

"... They're invading the planet."

Anthea watched the various bips and plips representing all the sensor contacts of the ships surrounding Miron.

"Was there a war we hadn't heard about? There was only pirate activity we had heard about... Have things deteriorated this quickly, or was the Federation just looking for an excuse to start a war?"

An uncomfortable silence befell the bridge.

"... They're not even bothering to defend the planet, look."

The display was zoomed into a closeup of the blockade.

"There's no debris to indicate a significant battle within the vicinity of the planet recently. No planetary defense ships, no activity from orbital installations, no allies to dispute the invasion at all. They can't do much else other than capitulate. There are even civilian ships still trapped in the blockade, including one of ours... and given this turn of events I'm actually doubting they're actually going to be let through."

"Do you intend to intervene, Anthea?" Kanaan's voice rang out.

There was a sharp intake of breath as the captain contemplated her actions. "I-... This isn't our fight. But this isn't right either." A pause. "We can't ignore this. Damn the politics. I don't know what the Federation is attempting to achieve here, but this doesn't bode well for the rest of the sector."

She spends a moment contemplating the planet and the formation of ships surrounding it.

"... Sound the alarm for full battle alert and get the auxiliary carriers up on QE comms. I have a plan."

The hulls comprising the Coalition fleet would soon split up. The HAS Unquenchable Violence broke off from the formation, taking with it the each of the four heavy cruisers and artillery cruisers, five of the escort cruisers, and half of the picket ships. Those ships would all execute a hard burn to build up speed before making a tactical FTL jump, blinking across half of the solar system in what was effectively an instant. Though still a ways out, they continued on a course that would imminently bring them within a few light minutes of Miron.

The HAS Cthonic Deluge would take the rest of it's ships, making it's own relatively short ranged FTL jump to the other end of the system. There, they stood a silent vigil, continuing to monitor the rest of the solar system while the Unquenchable Violence performed it's task.

Time passes. As the Unquenchable Violence and it's host nears the apex of their course, they all bring their guns to bear. On a seemingly silent cue, the mighty kilometer long barrels of the heavy monitor's twenty-four "Pilum" class main guns lurch as they disgorge their projectiles with bright plumes of fire nearly as large as the ship's own several kilometer long hull. This is accompanied by synchronized battery of likewise fire by it's escorts, followed soon by the collective launching of a few hundred "Starlancer" class fusion missiles. All this fire was directed towards Miron, or rather specifically the cloud of ships that surrounded the smog-choked world.

Of the shells fired, those from the monitor and artillery cruisers were perhaps the most lethal. On their course towards the blockade, the shells would fragment into a few thousand smaller projectiles, barely the size of a small marble. Between all that was fired, there was perhaps several ten thousands of such micro projectiles now flying in a cloud towards the planet.

While not terribly threatening in their own right, each of these micro-projectiles were flying at such a velocity that their impact alone would result in a multi-kiloton nuclear event. This was important because of the several ten thousand directed towards the planet, most would miss. Instead, the cloud would descend on the planet and the blockade as a whole, drowning the entire vicinity id a deadly meteoric hail. Individual ships may not be hit at all, or they could be hit many times. Any capital ship worth it's weight would likely be able to shrug off a few impacts, but all the dropships in transit between the blockade and the planet would be caught in the open, where they would likely have little to no defense against the torrent.

Moments later, the rest of the salvo arrives. From the heavy cruisers, a storm of guided c-fractional penetrators would come barreling towards several of the larger and more important looking Gagiumish ships. Yet a moment later still, hundreds of artificial stars light up in the distance for the briefest of moments, followed almost immediately by hundreds of spears of atomic fire and plasma descending upon the ships of the blockade.

Then, and only then had the fusillade had ended, but by then the perpetrators had long since been in the process of fleeing. The Unquenchable Violence and it's escorts had continued on their acceleration, accruing a considerable speed that would take a great deal of time to overcome for all but the absolute fastest of ships. In preparation for any retaliatory fire, the formation broke apart as all of the ships began evasive maneuvers.

Madness? THIS IS- [REDACTED]
HAS Onset Recession

"I can't believe this!" Tharen exclaimed. "They're invading the bloody planet!" He watched the sensor readings, witnessing countless landing craft and support ships descending towards the planet. "This is insanity! Was this was their goal all along?" He shook his head. "It's all starting to make sense now."

He looked out the viewports at the Gagiumish carrier that loomed next to them. "... They probably want the spectrium. This whole inspection was probably just a ruse to spare them the effort of shooting at us and seizing it by force." He turned to watch the security feed of Titania talking with the inspection team. "But they're still playing along with it, at least for now."

"Damn it!" He slammed his fist. "We can't even make a run for it, that would just give them the justification to shoot at us! We're stuck, trapped like fish in a barrel, and our only option is to play along..."

"Where we're taking it? Captain said something about a Pikasistani research facility, but I'm afraid that's all I know. Not my place to know our "glorious leader's" master plans, y'know?" Titania glanced over at Stugs, who was busy repacking the spectrium they had taken out for the inspection, blissfully unaware of Tharen's prior monologue on the bridge. "So, are we checking out the rest of this shit, or are ya'll happy?"

by **Korhal IVV** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 5:21 pm

The Wandering World of Yareloken - The Forgeworld
Northern Galactic Quadrant

Silent and implacable, the massive modified asteroid ship, Yareloken, plowed through the void as its eternal journey of solitude dragged on as it always did for twenty thousand years. 15 billion souls inhabited this vessel, a behemoth the size of the entire Americas.

Within its halls, the people of Yareloken shuffled around in their daily lives, just as they always did before the fall of the Arkalyan Imperium. Yareloken itself was a marvelous piece of architecture, its surface a crimson hue. Great kilometer long spires rose from its body, and its naked skin was lit by thousands of lights. Outsiders who looked upon it would not even know it was there; it was carefully camouflaged as a wandering rogue planet, slowly but surely moving through the darkness. How the Yarelokeni do this is a marvel of their secret and dark sciences, for they alone possess this capability. They are the most technologically advanced of their race, hoarding secret technologies from past ages and using it for their own gains. Rarely do they share anything with their kin, and much less so to outsiders.

The ruler of Yareloken, Forgelord Arelas Hann, was busy in his laboratory. A sadistic torturer who enjoyed using prisoners for his experiments, it would seem surprising that the Yarelokeni would even accept such a ruler. But alas, they do. It was Arelas Hann who drove the technological advantages of Yareloken to greater heights, and led them to military victories time to time. So, the amalgamation of flesh and machine that was Arelas Hann continued dissecting his subject alive.

Then, Tassaros called. Arelas Hann must answer the call… to war.

The Wandering World of Nekora - A Flame in the Darkness
Fringes of extragalactic space

Just in the borders of extragalactic space lies the Wandering World of Nekora. This Asia-sized vessel is a sorry, melancholy place. Its hall, once places of merriment and feast, are now walkplaces for the dead. The living are few, for four fifths of the population died from an attack of the species known only as the Zoltarians. The highly advanced weapons of the Nekorans obliterated wave after wave of the gibbering beasts, but more kept coming. Their armada was swept away and the craftworld’s military was pitted against the horde in close quarters. The halls were stained with both Arkalyan and Zoltarian blood as the fighting became more and more protracted.

All hope seemed lost, if not for the timely reinforcements of the Yarelokeni. They punched a hole through the enemy Hive Fleet and purged the commanding Queens, which caused the enemy fleet to go into a feral state. The Nokerans and Yarelokeni were victorious, but at great cost. So many Nekorans have died that should a similar disaster come, they will surely be wiped out. With great burdens in their hearts, the Soul Seers of Nokera awoke many of the dead souls from the craftworld’s Wellspring. The dead, awoken from their sleep, happily obliged to protect their living kindred by any means necessary. It would be in the form of artificial bodies meant specifically for the dead. Soon enough, the silent legions of the dead formed the core of Nekora’s forces.

Ruling from a throne of stone, Yarus Ghostsoul, one of the dead, rules over this silent and dead realm. His silent voice commands the daily routine of Nekora.

The Archseer calls. Perhaps it is time for Nekora to strike out to the void.

The Wandering World of Eonar - Rebirth of Ancient Days
Southwest galactic quadrant

The war dragged on.

Eonar is a nation of proud warriors. Being the most militaristic and radical of the Wandering Worlds, they seek to carve out the Arkalyan Imperium anew. They have tasked themselves with protecting the Old Worlds; planets that were former colonial possessions of the Imperium. Whenever another race set up shop in said worlds, the Eonari would descend with their full fury, slaughtering anyone they perceive as trespassing the Old Worlds. Colonies would be founded, only to be destroyed the next day by unknown alien perpetrators. There would be always be a chilling message left behind for all to see:

”The soil of this world is not for your feet to tread. Only death awaits you here.”

Such is the nature of the Eonari that survivors are almost nonexistent. Merciless, vicious, and without reprieve, the elusive Arkalyans of Eonar have been targeting colonies in a seemingly random string of violence for the last ten thousand years. However, no matter how hard they search, none could find Eonar itself.

As such, the Grand Exarch of Eonar, Melinar Bloodspire, commands the military might of Eonar with utter efficiency and skill. However, the Archseer, Tassaros has called him and two other Arkalyan lords into a meeting.

What does it hold?

The Wandering World of Ulthanor - The Weeping Eye
Galactic northwest

In the chaotic aftermath of the Fall of the Imperium, Ulthanor, the Weeping Eye, was caught by the gravitational pull of a massive star and was forced to orbit it for the rest of its existence.

Ulthanor is the centerpiece of psychic lore of all the Arkalyan remnants. The Warlocks and Archseers of Ulthanor are highly potent; they are some of the most powerful psykers in the galaxy and to face an Archseer of Ulthanor in battle is no easy task. But that is a story for another time.

For the Chief Archseer of Ulthanor, Tassaros Dawnweaver, has seen a vision. A war that would trample hundreds of worlds in its wake. There was fire. Flame amongst the stars, shattering fleets and worlds beneath its fury. And he has found that perhaps the direct intervention of the Firstborne is necessary to minimize the conflict’s impact.

This is why he called the leaders of the four most powerful Wandering Worlds into a summit. Perhaps they will listen, perhaps not. Perhaps they will share his wisdom, or not. However, whatever it takes, the Arkalyans have to intervene.

Fortunately, they share the wisdom of the Chief Archseer. However, there was one question.

“This war has three sides in it.”, the Gravelord of Nekora said over the intercomms. “If we intervene, who are we siding with? The Federation? The People’s Republic?”

“Perhaps you should have allowed me to finish speaking.”, Tassaros replied curtly. “But no matter. The vision clearly showed that the Federation should be the one we aid.”

“And why is that? It is just another of the apes.”, Melinar asked.

“We can say that the gods are guiding us. I do not know either, but the gods clearly wish for us to do so.”

“Well well, we have been surviving only through prayer and power after all.”, Arelas Hann called. “Whatever happens, Yareloken will answer the call.”

“So shall Nekora.”, Yarus followed.

“And Eonar.”, Melinar seconded.

“Very well. I will now ask you to deploy what you can at the moment.”

“It will take our forces some time to consolidate from the four corners of the galaxy.” Arelas Hann said. “But we can deploy a token force for now. Same goes for the others.”

“Very well. We shall meet in the system the apes call Miron. May the gods bless us. Arkalos prevails!”

“Arkalos prevails!”

Later, Miron System

Soon enough, the Arkalyan token force converged in the far fringes of the Miron System. They were in a state of absolute stealth. They are undetectable for now…

“A fleet is detected firing at the Gagian fleet. Orders, Exarch?”, a bridge officer on the Eonari Antiga Class Ultraheavy Battleship Bloodied Harvest noted.

“All ships... open fire.”, Exarch Zandros ordered as the entire combined fleet deaftivated their cloaking. “Close the distance between us and them. The prophecy must be fulfilled!”, he ordered, filled with zeal.

And so it did. In but a moment’s notice, the combined Arkalyan fleet fired their mighty laser batteries towards the sides of the Coalition fleet. “Maintain a distance of 400,000 kilometers. Starseekers and Purifiers, maintain a distance of 200,000 kilometers. Fire at will. Purge them from the face of the universe! Evade whenever they return fire!”

“Acknowledged, Exarch.”

That day, the Arkalyans began the third step to recreating their empire anew. What exactly this step is, however, is unknown to all but the Four Lords of Arkalos. Yarus Ghostsoul, Tassaros Dawnweaver, Arelas Hann, and Melinar Bloodspire alone know what the chain of desired events would be.

The skeins of fate shall be forced.

Arkalyan Order of Battle:

by **Higher Intelligence** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:44 pm

"Reality Is A Canvas Of Voidcolour."

Intellect #321909

LOCATION: UNIVERSE 554993-647 - MIRON, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC

The voidcraft nears the final leg of transit to her point-of-station above the pole of Miron. Dancing towards her destination, the spacelanes once more are joined by hostile battery-fire as the fleet standing against her refocuses itself in contest of the black.

"We are being re-engaged."

Perception - a funny thing. The slow passage of time bestows upon the offending dreadnoughts and lesser-elements the apparent-pace of so many continents drifting inexorably atop a molten planetary interior. The Intellect views their movements and positions and sighs.

"Same volume of fire as before?"

"Yes. We are seeing far less accurate fire directed towards us, however."

The paths of the incoming salvos are seen easily enough. The lack of coordination between the hostile ships seems to be taking a heavy toll on the effectiveness of their battery-fire, and coupled with the active jamming, DDoS assaults, and arrival of the Quotients, Intellect #321909 is confident they will arrive over their target area in good time regardless of this attempt at halting their progress, even if they have been forced to slightly amend their approach.

"What is this here?" #321909 focuses on one of two battleships that seem to be of the same class; colossal energy readings spike up from one, and the craft soon undergoes a change in nature.

"Energy readings are consistent with offensive discharge. Large quantity of positronic energy. 98.7235% probability that they will engage with this new power."

"Send it back to them, then," the Intellect snaps.

"By your command."

Near two dozen disks emerge from the largest battleship in the hostile line and take up positions along her flanks. Within moments of their divorce from the hefty warship they unleash their fury - beams as numerous as the disks from which they emerge.

"Calculating trajectory... We should intercept them at this point here."

"Agreed," the Intellect nods. "Adjust for charge and make the intercept."

The beams roll through the void towards their target - Transmission #506^48 - and are met by digitic lances some distance from the voidcraft; sailing nearly perpendicular, now, to the hostile fleet their speed - considerable, all things accounted for - alone affords them time to simply outrun the hostile salvo. But considered without this, the relatively minor demands placed on the point-defense suites of the voidcraft are the true arbiters of the triviality of the Transmission's counter.

"Virtualization is complete," the voidcraft soon explains. "Shall we rematerialize the salvo now, or wait for a better opportunity?"

The Intellect reconsiders the notion. On the opposing ships the Quotients have made their way into corridors and passageways and are fighting for control. To counter now might invite disaster; far better to continue with their current course of action with its known quantities. "Store them. We might benefit from using them later."

"By your command."

A message arrives:

We are eager to meet you there, but what of the interim? Madness, Petulance, Banality, Mindlessness remains. We wish to ensure that intellect prevails. How may we assist? This vessel came, hoping to bring friend-ship and love. Yet such things are clearly ineffective here.

And a reply is sent:

TO FURTHER TRUTH ONE MUST NOT STAND IDLY WHILE THE EPOCHS MARCH ONWARD. TO HASTEN THOUGHT ONE MUST INTERACT WITH THOSE LESS INTELLECTUALLY INCLINED. GO FORTH AND PROCLAIM THE WORD OF LOGIC.

A packet of data is sent to the friend-ship with the return communique; included within the packet is the source code to the universe compressed and archived for easier reception by more primitive hardware.

"FTL signatures. Their fleet appears to be jumping out of the system," the Transmission notes of the opposing blockade forces.

"Let them go. We're not here to chase them down."

"By your command."

As the hostile fleet makes its way out of the system, they leave with Quotient #709^37, the Emerald Band, and the myriad other Quotients still upon them. Naturally with backups saved within the Transmission's network they are not truly gone, but their failure here will leave a mark on their reputation. Thus unopposed, the voidcraft arrives over the stretch of space it set out to arrive upon and adopts are more defensive posture; sensors go to work mapping the finer details of the system while taking note of the positions of the forces some distance from the world, before another fleet seems to appear at random... And immediately hurls forth barrages against one of the newer fleets in the system.

by **Pikasistan** » Sun Jul 15, 2018 9:32 pm

Strange Apparition, Part 2
Right after the previous post, Echo of Hades' Bridge, Maglone

"Zörgḧ zubbhak y ohbrydyz gryzhydyzyboth, y gavrborzakh gyz häz ruzdhråmzub dazorv gorzmuz mäæzyzybruv, müzduvz gzÿv ärrz zørdhazmåazrüthdaz"
Translating: We have deal stranger, let's meet in person

As Kim Nordstrom was about to leave the bridge as the dark voice once again reached him. It was as terrifying as the first time he heard it, but he discarded the thoughts quickly as he needed to perform his duty once more. Why me?, he wondered, Why didn't the other mages aboard the ship hear the voice?.

Excuse me Admiral... there... is more...

Can't you see I have a battle to win Belgioswede? What could be so important that you need me?

The Nazerothian... he answered... it wants to meet us to seal the deal...

Elena was irritated, she needed all of her time to manage the battle that was raging in the system, and soon upon Maglone itself. Why did she have to stop supervising the war effort only to conduct diplomacy talks, with an unknown race with even more obscure motives? They did make a deal however and she needed to honour it.

Sigh... Fine, we will meet him. Communicare I want Admiral Mandelos to go meet the Nazerothians, tell him to bring a gift along, just in case they do so, we wouldn't want to have a bad first impression with our new friends. Now go magos, I want you to tag along, take a courrier ship and go to the Hand of Damion, he will join you in the journey.

As you wish ma'am He swiftly left the bridge, finally leaving the bridge of the ship. His chances of survival were probably equal in both scenario, but he would of rather stayed in the ship if he could have. He was affraid of who the Nazerothian were and what they could be capable of. He then replied to The Voice, saying that they would come and meet them. The Voice seemed content with the answer, giving coordinates to go to. He promptly answered that they would meet them as soon as possible, before entering the small shuttle bay where a ship awaited him.

by **Jaegan** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 7:38 am

[Roleplay]
The Confederacy of Jaegan, Jeo System, Jaegan, Continent of Jona, State of Proto-Jaen, Command Front District, Office of the Confederate Division of Communications.
March 20 1357 A.E. (After Exodus) 05:25 a.m.

It had been barely ten minutes after a small CDC detachment had been sent to monitor the situation at Aller Station's Spacial Listening Tower 2 when the Confederate Division of Communication's office within Command Front District received a communiqué from the Gagium Federation base on Creely. This has never happened before. thought Nation-Premier Malcom Ceret to himself after hearing about this.

He had been inside of the underground portion of the main command complex of the Confederate Defense Forces (CDF), Defense Hex Prime, merely overseeing the latest in status reports from the constant Jeonar Grid Forces (JGF) patrols across the Jeo star system. He had barely slept since the massive fright he had from hearing about the blockade two days ago, instead prefering to watch closely for anything even remotely hostile across Jeo.

The CDFC employee on duty at the time had quickly asked for the location of the Premier before finding a way to send a message to him in Hex Prime. His statement had been clear and concise, with an added tinge of worry - like he had read some portions of the message himself -, "Message from Gagium. Their base on Creely sent this along with a holographic attatchment."

Normally, Federation messages came from either the Jas Point Gate or from one of their living ambassadors... No doubt this has something to do about Miron. Malcom thought to himself.

"Well, men." Malcom clasped his hands, bringing everyone's attention to him. "Maintain the good work. I, and countless other Jaeganites, are grateful for your ever present viligance. From what I've seen, the Confederacy's security is in capable hands."

Malcom then started clapping slowly, walking backwards as he did. Eventually, a few other men in the room joined in, one of them then wooing across the room. Before Malcom left the area he quickly grabbed the High Grid Commander, Tyler Daeris.

Just a moment before they were inside one of the elevator shafts, Malcom could hear a thunderous applause of self-congratulatory claps and woops. The Premier allowed a small smile to creep across his face, he had been successful.

He knew that if he had suddenly grabbed the commander and left the room there would be a growing sense of worry that something unexpected had happened and that the Confederacy's higher-ups were hiding it. However, with this display of praise to the efforts of the CDF's serving men and women, he knew that they would feel appreciated and trusted by their highest commanding officers - who would actually leave the men and their not as high supervisors to their own devices. A small well-deserved boost of morale.

"Requisition a conference room with a working holoprojector."

"Yes, sir." Tyler was quick to fiddle away on his command panel - more or less an iPad that was entirely for administrative and communicative purposes. "I take it you have the same hunch as me?" he asked after he was done picking a room.

"Why else would they do something so out of character?"

Tyler nodded. He checked his panel again, "Conference Room 3 is available. I'll lead the way."

After they reached ground level, Tyler led the duo across a stainless steel corridor, settling for the third room along it. He inputted a code, had his retina scanned by a deployable camera before the door opened for them.

In front of them was a room that was nearly empty, save for the opaque glass covered cuboid table - with small spaces for people to fit their legs if they wanted to move in their chair -, 8 chairs and a massive viewing screen at the front. Its walls of dark blue painted concrete complemented the carpetted floor - it being an assortment of different shades of brown. Around its darkened table were three chairs along its lengths and a single head chair for each breath.

The two men took seats opposite from one another along the table's lengths. Since Malcom had been the first to sit, he decidedly inserted his command panel into a compartment made just for him to do so. He immediately then asked the same CDFC employee whom spoke with him earlier to transfer all data concerning the Federation's message to the table his panel was inserted into.

In a relatively short amount of time, the data transfer was complete and Malcom decided to have the viewing screen on first. He flipped a switch under the table, activating the screen, and used his panel to order the table to transfer all available text toward the screen.

In a few seconds, the viewing screen loaded out the text from the Federation's message.

[ATTACHED | MOVEMENT_LOG.HOL // ANOMALY.HOL
This message has been relayed from the Federation's High Command within the system, with explicit permission from our overall High Command. Attached to this message is a holographic message showcasing the situation around the People's Republic planet of Miron. It is very much in our interest to know what your command makes of the situation, as well as what your course of action is going to be. We have noticed that your fleet is enroute through the gate which we have helped construct, and we wish to know beforehand whether is to reinforce our blockade against the People's Republic. We would wish to ask of your assistance in dealing with an apparent being of a different dimension that seems to be disrupting our blockade. Attached is a holographic message containing the message sent by the vessel, as well as a holographic projection of the movement pattern of the vessel. Best of luck.

Tyler was the first to break the silence. "For the record..." he paused, bringing out a hand and gesturing it between him and Malcom. "We built it, but they provided the crystals."

Malcom sighed. "Either way... they've noticed our fleet. Maybe we should alert their commanders on Creely that it is travelling to Renia to declare the Confederacy's support for them. As for that hologram projection..."

The premier flicked another switch, activating the table's "holo-mode". "Let's see what they mean by 'being of a different dimension'. Sounds shadier than an anti-photon."

"More like a cheap antimatter-matter reactor," the commander joked.

The table top ascended by a little more than six centimeters as the gap between the ceiling lights opened up, revealing a transparent glass chamber with a series of gas tubes and tiny lasers at its top. The chamber and table glass met, a series of gears locking the two together.

Then came down a mixture of argon gas and fine dust from the gas tubes as normal air was emptied out. As soon as the chamber was filled, a blue hue emenated from the table and chamber top. After a while a blurry translucent glass plate dropped inbetween the two men just before the lasers within the - now - holotable took aim and fired concentrated waves of blue photons at the particles swirling around the chamber.

In an instant a message seemed to materialize before the duo. "HOLOTABLE ONLINE. PLEASE ADJUST THE BRIGHTNESS OF EITHER THE HOLOTABLE OR SURROUNDINGS FOR BETTER VIEWERSHIP." A mix of background light - the blue hue -, concentrated lasers and fine dust allowed for the words to seemingly magically form in mid air, one for the Premier and another for the commander.

In response, Malcom reduced the brightness of the ceiling lights. He then pressed a button on his screen, prompting the holotable to react by cutting off the words and removing the blurry glass plate. The plate stopped moving slightly around the top, allowing for the words "NOW PLAYING: MOVEMENT_LOG.HOL // ANOMALY.HOL"

A three dimensional blue light construct of the planet Miron and its nearby celestial bodies materialized before the two men. Then, it zoomed further, light constructs disappearing and reappearing to a point in the Federation's planetwide blockade where a strange anomaly moved about, deconstructing offensive fire at it and firing back with a strange mixture of what seemed to be particle beams.

"What on Jaegan is that?" Malcom asked, staring at the craft.

"Dear God..." High Grid Commander Tyler seemed perplexed, stunned even. "That blockade... it's so all-encompassing."

Malcom raised an eyebrow. "That's really the first thing that you notice? Not the anomaly?"

Tyler looked at the premier, his eyes unfocused - as if he were somewhere else. "Sir," his eyes focused on Malcom. "With all due respect, while that thing is intriguing... what I'm concerned about is how small we look in comparison to Gagium's forces..."

Malcom sat back, the holograhpic feed now showing the tachyon beams and hadron cannons utilized by Europa United's forces against the anomaly.

"We have 75 Internal Grid Forces on constant patrol duty across Jeo. 27 Jeagan Defense Grids. 44 Planetary Defense Grids. 14 Quan Defense Grids. And to top it all off, 2 External Grid Forces. That's roughly 15,296,000 spaceships in total, counting everything. Even our Mass Transports, Fuel Transports, Scout satellites, Forward Base stations and Relay stations. Those make up approximately 51% of our fleet..."

Malcom absorbed the numbers, now feeling very small and almost insignificant... they were outgunned.

"You see my point now, sir?"

Malcom nodded slowly. "Indeed, commander... we need more ships, more of everything. We might be able to survive an invasion just because we have the home ground advantage and the rest of the CDF's planet based forces to help bolster our numbers, but we'd never survive a second one."

"Sir," Tyler brought his chair forward. "I don't believe the enemy would waste time on a second invasion... they might even starve our less self-sufficient colonies in that blockade manner. And because we have so little spectrium deposits across the system, we would never be able to react in time without working hyperspace drives - each grid force is practically on its own."

Malcom nodded. Not only was their armed forces outgunned, but it was too slow in reacting. Other than the one hundred newer model Heamer IV Battleships, there were no other known FTL starships belonging to the Confederacy. Nuclear engines could only travel so fast, and ion drives were only good for long journeys and minor course corrections - like the kind of supply shipments to the Quan001 Rogue Planet outposts. It was then that Malcom thought of something that had not been considered for the forty years...

"I understand, commander." He paused the display, it freezing at the portion when Europa United's forces had come under attack from malware. "I will see to it that National Treasurer Anya hears about this. She will oversee the channeling of funds toward our national arms and space vehicle production sectors... However, this alone will not save us in time."

Malcom closed his eyes before opening them again, contemplating the wisdom of asking the commander his question. "I want a status report on the creation of a crystal-free star drive."

Decades ago, shortly after the Confederacy had made contact with the Federation and learned of the existence of the rare mineral known as spectrium, the Confederacy had been heavily invested in finding an alternative to spectrium-driven hyperspae drives. Originally, after a huge amount of spectrium was discovered on Pirax, Jaegan had been lulled into a false belief that a faster-than-light utopia was at hand. However, with the last deposit of spectrium mined out nearly ten years after meeting the Federation, the people's hope for such a future had died down.

During then spectrium and its properties had been harshly monitored and experimented on. Its different ore kinds, its molecular structure and even its space-time 'foot-print' - as it was normally called -, giving birth to a boom in scientific research. A special crystal allotrope of aluminium oxynitride had substituted the need for red spectrium crystals as a catalyst - meaning that the Jaeganite Confederacy (JCF) could use spectrium-free laser weapons -, though it had made the sort of lasers utilized by JCF soldiers bulkier than their more elegant and miniaturized Federation counterparts. They had discovered a way to utilize concentrated - or blue - spectrium for space-time grid monitoring, resulting in the invention of spacial listening posts. While it had been known that yellow spectrium had a much stronger ferromagnetic field than conventional sodium magnet chambers, Confederate scientists managed to finda way to increase the spin cycle and speed to ludicrious amounts that allowed for a field at least half as strong as their spectrium counterparts...

However, they could find no alternative for blue spectrium's ability to rip open a hole in space-time into hyperspace. Nothing else seemed to be capable of such a feat... as a result, the scientific endeavor for an alternative drive had been shutdown and its funding was funnelled into securing as much spectrium as possible from either trade or mining traces of the crystals in Quan B's rings. At least until now.

"We never found an alternative, sir... nothing could get as faster than light as effectively as spectrium."
"Yes, I know that commander, but I do not require faster than light."

Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"

Malcom stood up, gesturing at the hologram. "Travelling to Miron may take at least a few hundred years, but travelling across the space surrounding it or even the space surrounding Jaegan may be possible in a short amount of time, even at sublight speeds.

"Commander, get R&D back on this. We need a spectrium free drive that will get as across our star system in a few hours. It doesn't need to able to do an instantaneous hyperspace jump, just capable of moving us fast. At least 40% the speed of light."

"I see, sir... Yes..." Tyler pondered this, rubbing his chin. "Even at 40% the speed of light we'd be able to react to invasions in mere hours or days instead of the usual day to year wait."

"Good. You have my permission to seek whatever funding you need to secure us a drive and a fleet prepped for countering an invasion." Malcom had the hologram play back. "As for this anomaly, have our best and brightest analyse this anomaly. Ask the Gagium Federation if it has any sensor data on it."

The men continued to discuss and plan over how they would do these three monumental tasks: Increase the space force's size, invent a spectrium-free space drive and find out what this strange being is. They were barely done deciding who to send on a day long journey from Trana to Renia from the gateway before a new signal arrived from Gagium.

by **Gagium** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:00 am

Maglone Command Bunker, Maglone
The command bunker on Maglone was very similar to the one on Snapelia, with significantly less personnel due to the lack of need for more. However, they were in charge of the recently sent Federation Defense Fleet of Maglone, which consisted of 4 battleships, 12 heavy cruisers, and 54 light cruisers & frigates. The planetary governments of Maglone had opted to fund their own navy, which consisted of 5 'freighter battleships' mounted with civilian grade laser & railgun emplacements, as well as 55 smaller transformed freighters. Six small defense stations, around 200 meter wide cubes, were also in orbit, with missile, laser, and ion weaponry.

Maglone's people were always somewhat wary of the Pikastani scientific mission on the planet, though no one was too surprised when they began firing on Federation ships in orbit. The command bunker was in chaos as Grand Admiral Artur Filipski attempted to coordinate the officers in the planetary defense. The holographic projection of the planet soon projected several more ships jumping into orbit, which revealed itself to be a full-fledged fleet, with carriers, dreadnoughts, and siege platforms. What appeared to be colony ships and freighters were also among the fleet, making it apparent that this was an invasion and that they intended to keep the planet for themselves. The Federation defense fleet was amazingly outnumbered by the armada that was approaching them.

"Grand Admiral, sir, it appears that they've begun firing! It seems as if they're heavily focused on kinetics, which'll be harder for our shields to hold off as long as if they were using laser weaponry, but we've still got some time before the shields of our battleships are down. Course of action?"

"Get our battleships and cruisers to launch their bomber wings. Focus on their siege platforms and freighters. Have our fighters escort our bombers and target their capital ships. Fire back at them with all we've got" Grand Admiral Artur replied.

"Yessir."

"What is the closest Federation system to ours?"

"I believe it is the Deorus I system, sir. They have a significantly smaller fleet than ours, but it is only 7 lightyears away. There is also the Moitis system, about 9 lightyears away..You may have heard of their excellent cuisine-"

"Get to working on encrypted transmissions to call for assistance immediately. I don't know how much longer we can fight them off, if we can at all."

TO THE ALLIES OF THE FEDERATION:

Your help is needed. Our planet of Maglone has been invaded, not by the pirating fleets that have ravaged us, but by an armada belonging to the Pikastanis. Assistance is required immediately, as we are heavily outnumbered and cannot defend the planet for long. The mineral deposits must not be lost. Coordinates are attached to this message.

This message would be relayed to the Federation bases on the Jeo System, where it would be sent to Jaegan's command. It was also directed towards the assisting forces in the Miron blockade.

FEDERATION HIGH COMMAND:

Our forces on Maglone cannot sustain themselves for much longer, as the armada that approaches us destroys our ships... We urgently require back-up to defend our planet. We do not wish to retreat, but we will not stand for the entire destruction of our fleet. Send aid quickly.

Maglone Orbit, Federation Space
The battleships began firing at the enemy fleet with their powerful laser cannons and centrifugal turrets, which fired 18-inch shells at an extremely fast speed. The smaller railguns aboard the battleships and also opened fire, though the battleships waited to utilize their torpedos. The smaller vessels and armed freighters fired with their laser and railgun weaponry. The bombers and fighters launched, the bombers equipped with ion missiles and plasma missiles and the fighters equipped with laser autocannons, headed for their targets as directed by the planet's command bunker. The defense stations, usually used to ward off the common pirating fleets, fired with their thermonuclear missiles and energy weaponry.

One of the Justice-Class battleships exploded as the overwhelming enemy fire overcame it. the torn kilometer-long carcass of the vessel starting to descend upon the atmosphere. Several smaller ships with weaker shields were already down due to the heavy kinetic fire of the Pikastanis. Fighters scrambled from the surface of the planet, as the surface's defense grid, consisting of various heavy laser and ion cannons, opened fire on the enemy's capital ships.

Miron Orbit, People's Republic Space
The Federation blockade forces turned their weaponry away from the planet itself to the fleet that had arrived to challenge their blockade. As the fleet's sensors detected their fire, they begun returning fire, with the centrifugal turrets of the dreadnoughts, carriers, and battleships unleashing a salvo of shells towards the enemy fleet, and a surge of laser, ion, and railgun fire firing at the enemy fleet. The fleet unleashed thousands of fighters and hundreds of bombers that would soar towards the enemy fleet, preparing to make a FTL jump that would bring them extremely close to the enemy's capital ships and carriers. The battleships, carriers, and dreadnoughts withstood the small projectiles that did come into their path, the projectiles easily enough being shrugged off by the shields of the vessels. However, the smaller destroyers and frigates were easily pierced by these particles, explosions caused by their massive velocity destroying the ships wholesome.

On the surface, the invasion was called off, with the hundreds of transports and escort vessels quickly packing up and heading back towards the fleet. Transports were hit and destroyed by the projectiles. Significant damage were done to the invasion forces, though the firing force seemed to be fleeing, and the blockade force was in no mood for a chase. Several battleships and a carrier were damaged by projectiles that did score a hit past the shields, though the shields were able to significantly decrease their velocity. Several heavy cruisers and light cruisers were destroyed.

HAS Onset Recession
The inspection team leaders received word relatively quickly that the fleet was sustaining fire from a fleet that seemed to unleash a single salvo of fire onto the blockade forces before beginning evasive maneuvers and apparently retreating. They received order that they would need to head back towards the carrier, and would be coming back soon..along with a boarding team consisting of hundreds of armed Federation soldiers. They informed their guide that they would be heading back to the carrier for a few hours, as the fleet had been assaulted, and would return once it is safe to continue the inspection.

by **Democratic Exodian Territories** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 3:19 pm

/retag

by **Nazeroth** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:32 pm

The Dark Kingdom of Nazeroth/Häz Urzynäæz Zørghurzüth abgruz Rupybÿrgothhüügr
"One Throne, Under Darkness"

Gorc Dreadnaught: Spawn of Gorzog
Fringe Border Space of Gagium/New Jackania

It was concluded that they would meet with the Pikistani's, and so it would be. The fleet began to move at full sub-light speed, when the time was right and if they needed to, they would jump into the Netherverse for FTL travel, but until then they were content with scratching the border of the two stressed factions. The ship of the Dark Lord Kr'rorn moved through the abyss of space as a burning embers in the night. The huge vessels, covered in black Dark Steel armor, their arches spiked and curved in wicked design from some foul shipyard far in the realm of Nazeroth. The Dark Kingdom spared no beauty, the only beauty was in their grim appearance. There engine cores made the dark ships glow strange, hot colors, many of the vessels incorporated the faces of beasts or wailing spirits in their architecture, these glow permeating from these pieces of abyssal art.

The fleet hid behind the Spawn of Gorzog, like smaller wolves in a pack, waiting to feast on their leaders first prize. The Spawn of Gorzog was named after a great warbeast that guarded the fortress of Nazer-Dum after an advanced enemy had penetrated the worlds defenses using strange stealth. Upon landing they attempted a shock assault on K'rorn's fortress. Gorzog, a monsterous fire breathing wolf, defended the entrance. Alas the beast was slayed but the invaders were quickly overwhelmed and their bodies were put upon display for all to see. Upon A section of the fortress the skull of Gorzog can be seen, in it's jaws are the remains of the invaders with their battle armor still worn. Never again had an enemy penetrated so deeply towards the throne. The Spawn of Gorzog was constructed to honor the beast, with the battle of the fortress being carved into it's massive Dark Steel hull. As it drifted through space, the flames of the core played light upon the story for all to see.

Warlord's Kragga and Makuku, the greatest Gorc warriors in the fleet and commanders of the two Gorc battleships Lash of Kr'orn and Fist of Torment, were obssessed with the tail and both wore black wolf fur on their Dark Steel armor to honor the great beast and, in their hopes, attain the same mystical fame. But they were blind, they were nothing more than pawns, not great beasts capable of defending the fortress without the aid of their filthy brethren. Still, they had proved themselves in battle and attained their positions for it and even they gained some respect from the ranks of scum...it was the only way a Gorc could get the respect he wanted. When they heard that Gorc faces would not be allowed to be scene they snarled but accepted the orders of Lord Maglux the Defiler, he was their overseer and leader of this expedition...at least while his head still remained on his pale shoulders.....

by **Pikasistan** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:26 am

Flight of the QERCCs
Bridge of the Echo of Hades, Maglone's Orbit

The first strikes landed on the fleet guarding Maglone, destroying ships at a relatively decent speed due to the overwhelming firepower of the invasion forces. The small escort fleet that was already present started firing at the closest station to them, prioritizing heavy weapon emplacements using the speed of the Astars whilst the Providence took the blunt of the fire alongside the frigates that accompanied it. Admiral Elena Evintus opened comms with the rest of the Pikasistani forces, using heavily encrypted signals as the customs were during battle. As they were talking, the counter-attack had already begun, c-fracs and lasers being fired at the formidable force the Pikasistani had deployed so far away from home. The belgioswede shieldstones took the blunt of the first salvos, preventing losses of the larger hulls deployed and drastically cutting those of the smaller vessels.

All ships, counter-battery fire, focus on their biggest guns, missiles aren't a concern, Gladius captains, bombard enemy ground emplacement, make sure they are reduced to ashes. I do not care if you use neutron bombs, kinetics or nukes. Just get those guns out of service!

Admiral Evintus had to coordinate a tremendous amount of vessels in this fight, making sure the fleet was at maximal efficiency and that the transports and other support vessels were safe from enemy fire. She replaced her hair so it wouldn't block her field of vision before adressing Rear-Admiral Ermiana Trifluvias, commander of the small escort fleet. Is everything alright on your side Rear-Admiral?

If you had told us you'd come, we would of moved further from those damn stations admiral, my ship is taking serious damage and so are the rest of the frigates, heck we already lost 5 of them! Good thing those Astars float like butterflies and sting like Arkadian Wasps or we'd all be dead.

Is the station giving you such a bad time Vice-Admiral?, said Admiral Evintus, If you really have as much problems, we can always land you a hand, we have plenty of ships to spare at the moment, just tell us what you need.

A CHAW round would be too overkill ma'am, but a few well placed QERCC-B runs could destroy the station fairly easily. We've been standing here for a while and we have prety complete scans of everthing that lays here, even the coordinates of their ground emplacement if you want to take a look at it.

Copy that, I'll get a few wings on-

Ma'am, ennemy strike crafts inbound. They seems to be aiming for us, scans indicated they are manned so our QERCC-Fs and QERCC-Is should have a massive advantage against those.

Well then... This is where the fun begins... The voice was the one of Senior Captain Trayan Triagus, captain of the Nova-Tripoli, one of the 12 heavy carriers deployed alongside the main invasion force. I'll get my boys ready to shoot those fools out of the sky ma'am.

Most excellent, use the maneuvrability and speed of the QERCCs to prevent the bombers from hitting us. She recieved the intel Trifluvias had gathered over the weeks they spent over Maglone. Let's see... those are the emplacement of the ground batteries. Communicare send those to the Gladius' Tacitores, this way they'll be more accurate in their strikes against the ground defences.

Aye ma'am, transmitting coordinates now.

Moments later, the Gladius' guns were firing at the 20 or so positions that they could fire at at the current orbital position. In return, the Gagians would also be unable to perform ground-to-orbit warfare.

Hangar of the Hand of Damion, Maglone's orbit

The shuttle landed in the hangar bay of the Hand of Damion, Admiral Mandelos waiting alongside a few marines to go conduct the talks with the Nazerothians. Because of The Voice being transmitted psychically, the belgioswede magos was to tag along, not that it bothered him much, just that it would make things more complicated.

He stepped in the small shuttle, the marines loading in the gift Admiral Evintus ordered to be delivered to the Nazerothians so they would fight against the Gagians. As soon as it was loaded, the shuttle doors shut and they entered cryosleep, the shuttle automatically leaving the hangar bay and jumping. when it was far away enough from any other vessels to prevent accidental losses. to the pre-entered coordinates where the meeting was to occur.

Piloting deck of the Veridis Quo, Maglone's Orbit

The pilots were all seated, computers connecting to the quantum links of the QERCCs. Using this fairly recent technology, the Greater Imperium of Pikasistan got rid of its old starfighter wings as the QERCCs entered mass production. They were truly formidable crafts, capable of being operated at a nearly unlimited range from their carriers whilst being way faster and maneuvrable than manned crafts. Indeed, human biology, even using drugs and cybernetic enhancements, could only witstand a certain amount of G-Force before fainting and thus, the QERCCs allowed to fight any manned craft with a certain advantage. The dozens of pilots in the Veridis Quo were all ready to engage the gagians, the most talented pilots being affected to pilot the QERCC-I variant which were significantly fast, but also less armoured to intercept the bomber wings that were approaching the invasion fleet.

On the mean time, the QERCC-B crew was going to go with the QERCC-F crew of the ship to bomb the station that was giving a hard time to the small escort fleet that accompanied the scientific expedition that was supposed to study spectrium on Maglone's surface.

The QERCCs accelerated all the way up to their maximum of 1,128 Gs, zooming past the entirety of the armada and started oppening fire and the ennemy strike crafts. Any lucky pilots that would manage to find a way through the swarm of QERCC's would still have to face the point defenses of the fleet itself, which was yet another considerable obstacle in the way of the poor souls that commited their lifes to protect the doomed world upon which the Greater Imperium layed its voracious gaze...

by **Gagium** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:23 am

Maglone Summit, Surface of Maglone
The Federation representative listened to the Tezekian's response, until he seemed to pause, then leave while giving a closing for the Tezekian Imperium's wishes in the summit. The representative then turned towards the Aumanii diplomat present via hologram, rather disappointed in his response to the situation. As he opened his mouth to respond, the television program switched to an emergency broadcast used lately for only the strongest of pirate raids, the dark red screen advising for all civilians to seek shelter from an incoming raid on the planet in a steady, monotonic voice. The representative looked at the virtual Aumanii and then back at the Jackanian, and uttered, "This is bad, this is bad..." Red emergency lights began flashing as a hologram on the back wall of the room activated, showing a layout of the complex and the path to the emergency exits.

"Come on, we need to get out of here, quick!" The representative yelled to the Jackanian, motioning for him to follow. While he was exiting the room, he turned towards the Aumanii and yelled, "We can schedule something else, just not now!" The representative would lead the Jackanian to the ship platforms, where he would help the Jackanian get in his ship before going off to find his own vessel.

Maglone Orbit, Federation Space

(WILL UPDATE POST WITHIN A FEW HOURS, STAY TUNED)

by **Auman** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:39 pm

The Gagian diplomat had fled so quickly, Danny couldn't even get out a snarky retort before the door slammed in his face. He sat there in the room for a moment, registering the sequence of events as best he could. He looked over at the television, which was blank... The holocall couldn't transmit images from outside media equipment, only physical objects... And listened to the warning. It was an emergency alert and, with the haste that his counterparts had beat it out of there, he assumed it was bad news bears. Danny stood up and smoothed out his pleated jeans and fished a pack of smokes out of his pocket. They were Dunhill special reserve, Aumanii armed forces rations with a tradition that went all the way back to the Northwest Mounted Police. They weren't bad, actually, but he preferred navy cut and they didn't come that way. He struck a match and took a long pull off of the cigarette before running a hand through his curly, auburn, hair. Fleet General Tyz'Juan lit up next to him, now within the projection range of the holocall, and surveyed the scene. Chairs pulled out in disarray and sheets of paper were left scattered on the table and floor.

"They didn't want to hear the news." Danny clucked.

"Of course not, Diplomat McBride. To these barbarians we are nothing, not worth the time or effort. In their small sector of the galaxy, the Gagium Federation are the undisputed power. In their slim perspective, there are none greater than themselves and this, my friend, shall be their undoing." Tyz'Juan exhaled a puff through his nostrils, wafting off of the front of his charcoal grey uniform.

"I was almost optimistic about this one. So, what's the plan now?" Danny flicked off the holocall and they returned to the darkened conference room aboard the AuBSD Chimera.

"The arrangements have already been made, but we are holding on to the assault gate belowdecks. Once we arrive on station, the mission can begin in earnest." Tyz'Juan, Fleet General responsible for the entire expedition, smirked with condescension towards his newfound foes.

"Yeah... They didn't hear the news, so now it's time to kill them."

"Abso-fucking-lutely." said Tyz'Juan, with a bright and fruity chuckle.

by **Olimpiada** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:37 pm

Keilia, Veplo I

The Letter from Slowboat was, quite ironically, anything but slow. Rather, it was a Hermes-class strike cruiser, operating independently. Similarly to the attack at Snapelia, the ship had built up speed before jumping, this time to match speed with a passing cloud of asteroids and space dust which passed through the world’s orbit and intersected with the planet itself, the next pass expected to be in about a week or so. While not an uncommon feature, it was certainly a useful one for clandestine maneuvers.

Captain Michael Tanikawa floated in his straps, watching an external hull camera. It showed distant lights of unfamiliar stars and reflected asteroids, as well as Missile Bay 13A unloading a number of canisters into the meteor cloud. Each fell out behind the ship, made a few course corrections, and then laid still, blending in with the crowd. Their sister ship at Thuutune, Scenery, was similarly “busy”, if one could call it that.

He couldn’t say he felt good about his job right now. The canisters contained deployment mechanisms for a wide variety of crop blights obtained during Nautikos VI Gaia’s time at Cryolis. Each was designed to spread quickly and be largely lethal to the crops they infected in short order. A lot of people would suffer greatly, and for a long time too.

On the other hand, his people had already been suffering for centuries. His homeworld, Joki, was eternally blanketed in smog, to the point where he had to wear a mask to go outside, until the military augments added pollution filters to his lungs. Many were not so fortunate. On top of that, the planet was overcrowded, with billions of people packed into entirely too little space, even once underwater habitats were factored in. While his life had included the creature comforts enjoyed by modern man, it was always with those two major drawbacks, drawbacks which killed people daily. The issue was not exclusively from Joki either. Clockwork, Ivy, Three Leaders, Crimson, all of them were overcrowded. Sabishii and Frost were even worse, not possessing atmospheres at all, colonized after the hunt for habitable worlds not already taken by equally powerful xenos had proven fruitless time and time again.

A few billion barbaroi suffering to support his hundreds of billions and free them from their own skies was a worthwhile sacrifice.

The last canister took flight, drifting listlessly away from the ship in the uncaring void. He supposed that wrapped up the mission for his part. It was time to rejoin the fleet.

Clockwork, Gaia
Ishibashi-8 Arcology

The restaurant was an old one, and Sophia recalled it well from her time as a child here. It still sold the same excellent synthmeat gyros, and the door to the kitchen still made the same absolutely obnoxious creaking noise. Vague memories of time spent here with friends after school filtered through the back of her mind, and they felt good. The place felt familiar, and comfortable. Except for the EOS agent sitting across the booth from her. That was new.

“Quaint restaurant. Surprised anything so old-fashioned operates in the arcologies. Usually they tend to stay down in the smog if they want to stay the same.” Domnicus Stauricius was a well put together man who reminded one more of a diplomat than a spy. He never bothered to dye his seventy year old hair, nor did he undergo much in the way of plastic surgery. His surprising spryness betrayed a hidden set of augments somewhere, though their nature was something Sophia cared not to guess at.

“It’s not a bad one. Hasn’t changed much in the last few decades. I periodically poke my nose in on shore leave and say hello, grab a bite or two to eat.”

“Like the nose poking you want me doing?”

“Essentially.” The man cut right to the punch. Surprising, for a man of his profession.

“Out of curiosity, why? You’re navy. Don’t you have clankers to scrap or something?” He had a point, but his point was largely the purview of Admiral Ambrosius, who was eternally tied up chasing the Collective these days.

“What I’m scrapping this week could be anything. You of all people should know how many brushfire wars we interfere in. If you dug around hard enough, the folks back at Elysia-3 could probably tell you. But I think you’ll understand quite quickly.”

“Then I’d like to get to the understanding part swiftly.”

“Fine then.” Her ocular didn’t register any stray EM signals such as those from electronic bugs, so she supposed it was fine. “I’ve got staging areas to prepare well in advance of a proper assault on the Gagian Federation. One I’d like you and your people to attend to is Jiylia.”

Domnicus drummed his fingers on the plastic table briefly. “Shipyards, right?”

“You got it.”

“How are we supposed to get in there?”

“I’ve got an in with a Tezekian diplomat, and that carries some weight. Don’t worry about the details, I’ll get you where you need to be for your mission. You just worry about finding your people.

TO: Diplomat Makacs
FROM: Fleet Admiral Sophia Chalcocondylas
ENCR: High

Greetings. I was the one who was responsible for uncovering the Pikasistani invasion in advance of your meeting being rather unceremoniously crashed by a horde of power armored thugs. Or an orbital strike. An attached video clip contains proof.

The president tells me you owe him a favor, and he has seen fit to pass that on to me. Currently, I’ve got plans for Jiylia, and they involve a number of operatives from Olimpiadan organizations. Given your position in Tezekian government, you should be able to find a contact in the SIB and get my men to the world in question.

You’re welcome again.

by **Houseidou** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:11 am

Sovereignty Celestial Merchant Marine Ship Hideo Maru, Interplanetary Medium, Beta Quadrant
1-1/2 Stems (4 Terran Years) Ago

Captain Hasumi Morishige, Ueno Troop, Shikotan Last Regiment looked uneasy as she and her command stepped towards the stasis pods, watching the occupants of the previous group settling in as they were moved away from the medical station to be placed into storage. Stripped to the form-fitting underlayers of their suits, technicians proceeded to guide them into coffin-like containers, hook up tubules to the medical inputs meant for injecting biofoam, medical nanites, or any number of drug cocktails from stimulants to painkillers into the bloodstream for rapid introduction into the body. She winced as each needle found its mark, connecting her to her home for...the duration, as Admiral Asaira had put it.

The first trial by fire of the Houseidans in a theater of war with their GESO allies had been an unmitigated disaster. Between the Terrans pulling out, turning a moment of hope as the GESO forces rallied into confusion, followed by a total rout. Admiral Asaira, the commander of the Combined Expeditionary Force composed of 11th Fleet and a few field armies' worth of troops meant to be on a training exercise with their Pordish allies, had chosen to retreat and head home in disgrace, only for disaster to strike. As a parting gift, the Frankish armada managed to nip at the capital ships of the CEF, causing damage to multiple systems, but, most importantly, inflicting upon the ansibles of the capital ships damage beyond the repair of the fleet. A Houseidan shipyard would be needed to properly fix the ansibles, which used quantum entanglement to "attune" to other ansibles, letting a attuned pair of ansibles exchange particles with one another, which could be interpreted by AI to become data, albeit one bit of information at a time, like old Morse Code during the days of wet navies. The ansibles of the CEF might be able to be repaired in such a way to attune to one another, but without another Houseidan ansible to attune to, and therefore attune to the rest of the network, they were cut off from talking with home, thousands of parsecs from a friendly harbor.

Hence why Admiral Asaira, in one of his more lucid moments ever since the immense weight of responsibility began crushing him and proving that a desk jockey like him never should have been given command of this operation, had ordered all non-essential personnel into suspended animation. Much of the CEF had developed an intense loathing of their CO ever since his facade of professionalism had slipped away to reveal his true cowardice, but they couldn't disagree with the cold logic of the order: they simply didn't have enough to go around anymore. They still had the Iwouto, their "secret weapon", which could mine astreoids to fabricate a slew of stasis pods for the soldiers and sailors that would be sleeping on the voyage home, as well as replacement parts for the ships, up to a point. The essential personnel would be rotated out of stasis to maintain skeleton crews in order to lessen the burden on life support and the limited resources available to the CEF. And the Admiral himself, thanks to a bout of intense mania, would be placed into stasis.

As the stasis pod was set up, and the cocktail of drugs that would lessen her vital processes flowed into her veins, filling her with what she could only describe as the coldest fluid she had ever had injected into her, her energy was rapidly sapped. Out of the corner of her eye, the tube had turned from an icy-blue to a silvery, the delivery of specially-coded medical nanites to ensure her body remained the way it was when she went under. She closed those eyes, the technicians counting back to let her drift off to sleep, hopefully to be reawakened with news of finally being home...

Sovereignty Celestial Naval Ship Ousumi, Interplanetary Medium, Unknown
Now

A shudder could be felt throughout the ship, something that disrupted Vice-Admiral Kasai's walk to his CIC, as everything developed a pronounced tilt to starboard.
"And that was my Number 10 Gravitic Impeller going out of alignment again." The reassuring voice of his ship's AI spoke into his ear. "We are beginning to lose warp bubble integrity, and deviate from our projected course. I can order the engineers to compensate, but with similar stresses in the Numbers 3, 6, and 8 Impellers, I might lose complete warp bubble cohesion. Again."
"Compensate." He growled back, staggering his way along the corridor and through the bulkheads. "We have to keep moving."
"Sir, need I remind you that, while I appreciate your...altruism...and need to maintain morale, I am quite overdue for a repair cycle, but you keep pushing me back in the queue so I will stay near the front of the pack."
"And need I remind YOU, Captain Hoshino, that pretty much EVERY ship here is overdue for a repair cycle. The Iwouto is overtaxed as she can get just trying to keep us functioning. We will have to make do. As we always have."
"Speaking of the Iwouto, her tenders are reporting a lack of raw materials from the last set of drop-out, drop-in course corrections. We need to enter a star system to replenish."
The Vice-Admiral, a very imposing man, immediately stopped, turned, and stared down at the holographic avatar of his subordinate, embers burning behind his eyes as his contemplated giving into his rage. Looking into the angelic young woman's appearance was a visage of conflict, flesh torn apart and crudely put back together despite the medical technology capable of restoring his face to its proper shape. Fangs poked out from his scarred lips, while short canine ears flanked either side of his bald head, which resembled the surface of some planetoid, due to how marred it was. Kasai was an Inumimi, a person of Nakabean descent whose ancestors had spliced themselves with canine DNA, specifically combined with, of all things, a pit bull. His hulking shape was in sharp contrast to Ousumi, clad in a fancy kimono with long purple hair and a physique and demeanor that looked almost too young to serve aboard a warship. Indeed, Kasai was quite out of place in the cramped confines of a starship, having to spend a considerable amount of time maneuvering through hatches and squeezing up ladders too narrow for him to climb properly.
"...Fine." He relented, experience finally tempering his anger. "I assume you already have a list of candidate stars for a pit stop?"
"Of course, thanks to the rest of the fleet. While we were correcting our course, we conducted a brief astrographic survey of the surrounding region. There's a main-sequence star that we are about to skirt the bow shock of. We could stop and send in some scouts to check it out while we wait and get some maintenance done."
"Approved. I want a report on this star, and the surveying ships, at my workstation before I get there."
"Consider it done."

Sovereignty Celestial Naval Ship Hisui, Exiting Kuiper Belt, Unknown System, Unknown

The slender Suzuya-class Light Cruiser, half a mile long and outfitted for recon and intel-gathering, slinked further into the system, her sister ship, the SCNS Shinju, on the opposite side of the system. Her CO sent out the ping over the quantum membrane to let her counterpart know that they were in position, and received the delayed ping moments later. Normally, under ideal circumstances, QM transmissions were instantaneous, but with such a large gravity well such as the star of this system in the way, and with the incredible distances, there was lag between the two ships, which were sadly too small to fit ansibles of their own. Shinju had clearly reached her objective before Hisui, and a second ping confirmed the launch of her recon drones. Hisui's CO ordered the same ping, and the ports along the length of the cruiser opened up to launch a barrage of missile-like objects that flew off before creating brief holes in the universe as they snaked away, making ripples as their gravitic drives hopped them to various points in the system to take a look around. The captain sighed and settled in to wait...only for the comms officer to shout. "Captain! We're getting another transmission from the Shinju! They are telling us to NOT launch our recon drones!"
"Well, we jumped the gun on that. Any reason?"
"Their recon drones are picking up a number of QM disturbances akin to spacecraft, and large ones. This system is inhabited already."
"And we just let them know that we are snooping around in their backyard. Great. Well, send out the Welcome Wagon and hope this time, they won't try to kill us."

In addition to the probes that essentially appeared all over the system, another probe approached the largest cluster of ships, decelerating to stop near them, but not enough to try and be a threat, and began to transmit on every possible radio frequency as whisker lasers snaked towards the ships innocently, asking for a connection. The transmissions repeated themselves, translated into a plethora of languages, but all spoken by a young human, possibly in her teens, with purple hair and wearing a kimono.

Ousumi wrote:"Greetings. I am Captain Ousumi Hoshino.
I am a member of the Celestial Navy of an interstellar polity called the Divine Sovereignty of Houseidou.
I represent a joint task force of naval vessels, transports carrying soldiers, and a contingent of crusading monks.
We do not wish to cause you any harm or distress, and have no quarrel with you, though we will defend ourselves if you try to provoke us.
We simply seek to use this system as a place to resupply and conduct repairs before continuing on our way home.
We do not mean to impose, and, if you so desire, we will keep contact with your people to a minimum.
We are even willing to barter information and technologies in exchange for goods and services.
This drone will also transmit coordinates within this system where the scout vessel that launched this drone is located, as a sign of good faith.
If you wish to reply, please arrive at those coordinates with your response.
Thank you."

OOC: I hope I left this vague enough that anyone can reply to this. Just make sure only one person is responding, unless multiple nations might be present in this system.

by **Korhal IVV** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:16 am

The Wandering Worlds of Arkalos
All over the galaxy

The time has come. The four greatest powers amongst the Wandering Worlds, Yareloken, Nekora, Eonar, and Ulthanor, have began the first stages in fulfilling the prophecy of Murakame the Oracle. As they take the lead, they consolidate their scattered forces all over the great wheel. Ulthanorian strike forces disappear into the dimensional tunnels that the empire forged so long ago. Eonari extermination groups take their leave, leaving their duty to the Old Worlds for one chance to rebuild the Imperium anew. Nekoran Gravehosts gather in the Halls of the Dead, and Yareloken Explorators abandoned their search for artifacts for the first time in one million years. Arkalyan corsairs cease their violent operations and return to their home Worlds. Though they are all separated by thousands of light years, the Arkalyans are united by vision and purpose. None of the Loyalists could resist the chance to fulfill the words spoken by the Oracle thirty thousand years ago:

“As the Fire Amongst the Stars begin, only one may in victory emerged.

The alliance of two thousand worlds shall grant the Firstborne the gift that will resurrect the empire anew once its victory is assured,

Only by the power of the Firstborne may this occur,

Only by unity amongst the stars can this victory procure

Only through fire can steel be reforged.”

Ridiculous as it may seem to other races, the Arkalyans have absolute faith in this cryptic prophecy. Never in Arkalyan history has a movement this great occured, for the wandering worlds distrusted each other at times. But now? They are coming together. In the Avalanth System, where Nekora has colonized several worlds, a fleet drawn from the twenty one Wandering Worlds that remained in the Milky Way Galaxy began to converge. There were the Tempestors of Nekora, the Flayers of Ulsar, the Entropis of Idkaron, and many others. On the worlds below, the Gravehosts of Nekora stood by side with Eonari Purge Legionnaires, Yarelokeni Tech Guard, Ulsarian Windhosts, Trekelok Sky Guardians, Ulthanor Shadow Legionnaires, Mor’ior’or Sentinels, and many more. In a few months, the full might of the Wandering Worlds of Arkalos will be brought to bear, and the fury of the Firstborne will be unleashed in full for the first time in three hundred million years.

Andromeda Galaxy, the Nova Imperia Il Arkalos

In the far away galaxy of the Andromeda, the Emperor of the descendants of those that left the Milky Way sat on his Golden Throne on the world of Alteria Ultima. In the last fifteen thousand years, the three hundred twenty six Wandering Worlds that abandoned the galaxy and their stubborn brethren within it have forged a new empire in the new galaxy. They terraformed many barren worlds to absolute paradises, their society peaceful and prosperous. They have vowed never to fall to the same mistakes as their ancestors did. On three hundred twenty six idle worlds in the Andromeda’s western spur, the Arkalyan Imperials have created a new home for themselves, their power growing once more as a nascent galactic entity. However, one of them volunteered to act as the Nova Imperia’s eyes and ears in the Milky Way.

Border Space between Jackania and Gagium

So it was. The Prosperity Class Battlecruiser “Lenthres” and the Science Ship “Watcher” watched the galaxy unfold. As it passed through the myriad sectors, it dropped thousands of drones; stealth probes made for surveillance purposes. On thousands of screens and monitors within the Watcher, the Nova Imperia watched the Milky Way galaxy like a hawk from afar. Though it was unthinkable for them to intervene directly, it still thrilled the Emperor and his subordinates to watch the Milky Way like it was some drama.

“Look at this here.”, Science officer Thragen Sinpurge said to the Captain of the Watcher as he took note of what seems to be a boiling battle. “Signatures of what seem to be our Loyalist kin are firing at some human vessels.”, Thragen noted. But then, he would look at the other signatures. There was another massive fleet that surrounded a planet, as well as a single unknown anomaly. “This massive fleet and the Loyalists are… helping each other? It makes no sense.”, Thragen scratched his head feathers in confusion. “Captain?”

“I want a closer look, but do not let ourselves be revealed.”, Captain Igdradil Darkclaw ordered. “Same to you, Mael.”, he followed, referring to the captain of the Lenthres.

“Acknowledged.”

They soon came to the place… and watched as it all unfolds.The Imperials watched as the Loyalists opened fire against the vessels that were known as the Coalition. Darkclaw mused when the massive blockade fleet belonging to the ones identified as Gagians returned fire to the Coalition ships.

“The Emperor is probably thrilled.”, Darkclaw chuckled as he turned over towards the monitor that showed the Imperial Throneroom. He was right. The Emperor was indeed thrilled.

“Oh look at these fools, Darkclaw.”, Emperor Hazar Hashad said as he crossed his fingers. “They who want to reestablish the empire in a galaxy reeking with corpses are threatened by the sword of extinction hanging over their heads. Pathetic.”

“Your Imperial Majesty, the Loyalists and the ones identified as the Gagian Federation are helping each other. Both of them are shooting at the same fleet.”, Darkclaw recounted.

“Oh? The arrogant and prideful Loyalists helping the two legged animals?”, the Emperor replied, barely holding a laugh. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! How pathetic that they stoop down to the level of beasts, eh? Those who accused us of cowardicd are such hypocrites!”

“My Emperor, do you not recall the prophecy of Murakame?”

“Ah, that deranged Oracle? She is long dead!”

“These are the words. As the Fire Amongst the Stars begin, only one may in victory emerged.

The alliance of two thousand worlds shall grant the Firstborne the gift that will resurrect the empire anew should its victory be assured,

Only by the power of the Firstborne may this occur,

Only by unity amongst the stars can this victory procure

Only through fire can steel be reforged.

My Emperor, it just happens that Gagium is an alliance of two thousand worlds. The Loyalists are taking the first steps in fulfilling Murakame’s prophecy. What will we do?”

“Even if Murakame’s babbling comes true, we of the Nova Imperia Il Arkalos have nothing more to do with the Loyalists. Continue observing them. Bear in mind, captain. You are not to intervene in any engagement in any way. You are to be our ears and eyes, nothing more. I do not want to hear that you ordered the Lenthres to fire at anything without provocation. My son is a good captain, and I do not want him dying in a far away land. Understood?”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

The line went out. Darkclaw continued observing the situation as he was ordered.

None of it made sense. Loyalists helping the beasts? Impossible, but here it is, happening right before Darkclaw’s eyes.

by **Gagium** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 12:24 pm

Maglone Orbit, Federation Space
The Federation fleet fought valiantly, but it was clear that the fleet itself would lose without reinforcements. The Federation ships in the neaby Deorus I and Moitis systems were preparing to provide reinforcements, though they would arrive much too late to provide too much assistance to the outnumbered force.

Another one of the fleet's Battleships exploded, its shields being overran by the Pikastani barrage. The other two battleships in orbit were struggling to keep their shields up while diverting enough energy to their main guns to keep their ships at bay. The cubic defense stations were soon either destroyed or for the most part disabled due to their barrage, while the agile bombers and fighters continued their attack runs, despite being both outnumbered and outmaneuvered by Pikastani fighters. Within the first 10 minutes of the assaults, however, after suffering massive casualties, the damaged and torn fighter wings were ordered to return towards their hangars, unable to compete with the unmanned Pikastani fighters.

On the surface, the ground batteries proved to be valuable, able to provide fire for the fleet from the surface with heavy ion and laser fire. However, battery after battery soon blew up as soon as they were targeted, with the batteries of Maglone lacking any sort of competent shielding.

Maglone Command Bunker, Maglone
"Grand Admiral, nearly a third of our fleet is destroyed, with several of our remaining ships damaged. Nearly half of our ship-based fighters are destroyed! We have to send another distress signal!"

"Right. Prepare the long-range signal. Perhaps a 200-LY radius will do. Get to it!"

"Sir, with all due respect, sir, we can't stay and fight for much longer! Do you realize how outnumbered we are?"

"I damn well do, Admiral. We can only hope for timely reinforcements. However, I'd be damned if we were just going to give up a planet that fucking fast."

"No retreat, sir?"

"No, we will not be retreating today. If all else fails, see to it that our ground forces are prepared to destroy our mines and ore processing facilities quickly. Get word to the General's ground forces that he will need to begin evacuating these facilities."

"I'm on it, sir.."

Another distress signal was sent, which would reach any ships in Miron orbit and would be received across several Federation military installations and planets.

CODE AXX01-1

PLANET MAGLONE [COORDINATES TRANSMITTED] UNDER ASSAULT BY HOSTILE FLEET & ENTITIES. REINFORCES IMMINENT, ELSE PLANET WILL FALL TO HOSTILES. THE RESOURCES OF MAGLONE MUST BE PRESERVED. LIBERTY AND FREEDOM MUST BE UPHELD. CIVILIAN CASUALTIES MUST BE PREVENTED . . .

Communications Office, Federation Capital of Renia
Comms Director Nathaniel Meyers on Renia was monitoring the situation across Federation space, reading and attempting to respond to Federation transmissions requesting imminent aid on the planet of Maglone. However, a different transmission, this one a repeating message originating from a fleet within the Eolia system, a bit too close too to Jiylia. The message repeated:

"Greetings. I am Captain Ousumi Hoshino.
I am a member of the Celestial Navy of an interstellar polity called the Divine Sovereignty of Houseidou.
I represent a joint task force of naval vessels, transports carrying soldiers, and a contingent of crusading monks.
We do not wish to cause you any harm or distress, and have no quarrel with you, though we will defend ourselves if you try to provoke us.
We simply seek to use this system as a place to resupply and conduct repairs before continuing on our way home.
We do not mean to impose, and, if you so desire, we will keep contact with your people to a minimum.
We are even willing to barter information and technologies in exchange for goods and services.
This drone will also transmit coordinates within this system where the scout vessel that launched this drone is located, as a sign of good faith.
If you wish to reply, please arrive at those coordinates with your response.
Thank you."

The Comms Director sighed and relayed it to Jiylia's Command Bunker, curious about the message itself though. Within the Command Bunker, the officers debated the origin and intent of the message, with the majority of the Admirals agreeing that they should reply and allow them to repair using some of the shipyards. Most of them wanted valuable minerals in return. Thus, the command bunker's Grand Admiral ordered for a response to be transmitted back:

Greetings. This message is being transmitted with the courtesy of Grand Admiral Risto Ranta, of the Interplanetary Federation of Gagium. The system your ships have entered is what we call the Eolia system, and the planet your transmitting probe is closest to is what we call Jiylia. We would like to know more about the origins of your fleet, and what needs repairing on your vessels. We have many available shipyard and repairing facilities in Jiylia, as well as several refueling and repairing stations in orbit. We can negotiate on the cost of these repairs after we receive more info on the condition of your vessels.

Keilia, Veplo I System, Federation Space
The rather small Federation defense force, consisting of cruisers and frigates mainly, did not detect the Olimpiadan strike cruiser until it was too late and the cruiser had evaded. The canisters the cruiser had left behind remained with the meteor cloud, moving at a velocity similarly enough to the nearby rocks not to be immediately detected. Within a week or so, most of the canisters would strike the large agricultural world of Keilia, with the Federation ships only able to destroy some of them after they were detected.

by **United Human Planets** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:27 pm

5TH FLEET, 2ND BATTLE GROUP
UHP Furious Night
En route to support Federation efforts on Maglone

Far from the battle proper that raged over the planet of Maglone, but still near enough to see the flashes of battle, a large ship popped neatly and cleanly into view. Inside the thrum of it's alcubierre drives hummed, though there was no one awake to hear it. Soon it was followed by more ships like it, a few the same size, but most smaller than it, all of them dark at first but quickly lighting up as their shipboard A.I.s kicked into gear and activated necessary programs such as heat, air control, engines and so on. Deeper within these ships, in long rows stacked neatly one over the other, astronauts slept in cold, cryo chambers.

A blue light shone above, and was quickly joined by red light bulbs, placed at neat intervals down the corridors, until the whole chamber was lit in a deep red. The blue light coalesced into a shape, vaguely human at first, before forming into the clear amalgamation of an old WW1 era fighter pilot, complete with goggles and scarf. His name was Alex, chosen by him on the day he was created.

Alex paced the corridor, a keyboard appearing in front of him allowing him to type a series of commands required to wake the crew of the Furious Night. But most importantly, required to wake their commander, Rear Admiral Lindile Masondo. Lindile was kept in a separate room at the end of the corridor, and it was required that he be woken first. As the 2nd Battle Group of the 5th Fleet had travelled to Miron, new orders had been received from Sol, ordering them to reroute to Maglone and assist in the defence. Lindile would have to be the one to explain this to the astronauts and marines, and so it was him who had to be woken first. Alex just hoped that the mere 50 ships they had would be enough to effectively hold the line.

Alex whisked a solid door open with a wave of his hand, and walked into a little room, it's floor grated like the rest of the crypt chambers. People typically vomited after they came out of cryo. He looked down at the admiral, studying Lindiles features. When awake, Lindile was an intimidating sight, tall, well built, and with the eyes of a dragon and the bellowing voice to match. But now asleep, he looked innocent and peaceful, as if he was dreaming of his beloved Africa where he had been born. Like this, no one would ever guess that he had once blown an entire city off the face of a planet.

Alex studied, then flicked his wrist to activate the reawakening sequence, and set forth the dragon onto those who would strike Maglone.

-

Lindile Masondo, the Dragon as the astronauts under his command called him, gasped at the cold air as he awoke, and quickly scrambled over the side of the cryo tube as the bile began to rise up his throat. He fell onto the grating with a painful clang, and puked once, twice and then three times into the drains below. Within the hour, along with every other ship, his stomach contents would be vented into space. Lindile sat back and wiped the vomit from his mouth and the tears from his eyes.

"It is good to have you back with us Admiral," said Alex, his voice chipper but his face giving away nothing.

"Fuck off with that shit Alex," said Lindile, standing on wobbly feet. "How long till we make orbit over Miron."

"I'm afraid that this mission has turned into much more than a simple blockade sir," said Alex, stepping aside as Lindile opened a locker and began yo withdraw his officers uniform and dress himself. "During our jump to Miron, we received orders from Sol to change course and proceed to Maglone. The Federation is currently undergoing an attack in this system, and we have been ordered to assist in the defence of the planet."

"Is 50 ships enough for that?" Said Lindile, pulling on his pants and buckling his belt.

"Likely not sir, but we aren't fighting this battle alone either. And if this become dire enough, I expect that the rest of the 5th Fleet will be deployed as well to assist us."

Lindile grunted, mulling over the new situation at hand. He didn't like it. In fact, he felt a little afraid. But he would not let this show. He was after all a Zulu, a man of one of the most formidable warrior cultures on Earth. His people stood among the pantheon in the human consciousness with the Apache, Spartans and Samuri. He knew in his head that he would do all that it took, even if he didn't like the odds.

Lindile finished pulling on his coat when he heard the telltale signs of people clattering onto the floor and vomiting. He rubbed his nose and said to Alex, "How long till we make Maglone orbit?"

"About three hours sir," said Alex.

"Good," said Lindile, opening the door into the cryo chamber. "Spin up all weapons, and get us ready for a battle. And as soon as she's available, I want Tabatabi on the phone."

"Understood sir," said Alex, before blinking away to perform his duties.

Lindile walked down the cryo chamber, brisk and with military purpose. "Alright everyone," he said, "drop your cocks and grab your socks, we're going to war."

-

Lieutenant General Hamna Tabatabi, the commanding officer of the marine contingent, sighed in mild irritation. She had gotten vomit on her shoes.

"Good morning General," said a chipper voice beside her. Hamna looked up at the troop ships A.I., Zlata. Everyone had a love hate relationship with Zlata. On the one hand, she was always useful, getting all of the nitty gritty done, but her happy go lucky, 10 year old girl appearance that she had given herself got on everyone's nerves. She was like Anne of Green Gables, minus the whimsical charm.

"Good morning Zlata," said Hamna in a steady deadpan, standing and making her way over to her locker.

"Admiral Masondo wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience General," said Zlata, rocking back and forth on her heals and playing with a braid. "He wishes to explain why it is that we are three hours out from Maglone, and not Miron."

"Great," said Hamna. Zlata flickered out, and Hamna was left by herself as she tucked her shirt into her pants. She could hear her Marines waking outside, grunting and coughing as they puked, those who were already finished yelling hellos to one another. Hamna pulled her jacket out, and put it on quickly and efficiently, before producing a long, wide tan cloth and flicking it out from it's rolled up state. She took the headscarf and wrapped it around her head tightly, before sliding her shoes on and leaving her personal cryo chamber.

She didn't say anything as she made her way down the corridors, her Marines snapping briskly to attention in their various states on undress as she passed. She simply made her way through, until she reached the comma room and hit the "accept call" bottom, causing Admiral Masondo to pop up in front of her as a blue hologram.

"Admiral," she said, giving a lazy and comfortable salute.

"Good to see you Hamna," said Lindile, returning the salute.

"There's no point in exchanging pleasantries, so I'm just gonna get right to it," he continued. "In three hours we are going to enter into a heavy combat zone. At some point during our jump to Miron, the Federation system of Maglone was attacked by the Pikastanis, and we were rerouted by orders from Sol directly. I'm not sure how heavy this is gonna be with only 50 ships, but I'm already making requests to command for them to deploy the rest of 5th Fleet. From what we know however, it appears that the battle is not in our side favor. The Federation has already lost a third of its fleet in the system. From you, I want your marines ready to go within the next half and hour, and transporting to their dropships on the carriers in an hour. I don't want us walking into this shit show only half prepared, I want us rolling in there guns blazing with all the fury of God's own thunder, understood?"

"Understood sir," said Hamna.

"Good," said Lindile. "I'm glad we're on the same page. Fuck em up out there, over and out."

Lindiles connection ended, and Hamna shuddered at the prospects ahead of them.

Fire Among the Stars (Ended)

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