Shadowfall

by **Ella2 6** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:59 pm

IMPORTANT!: :!:

This thread is a main arc for the Fifth Quadrant role-playing game and the associated role-playing group. Please do not post on this thread unless you are a member of this group holding the rank of Star Citizen. If you are interested in the Fifth Quadrant at all - it does not matter if you just want to read the thread or if you want to do something more profound like contributing to the story by suggesting something or even becoming a writer yourself - you are more than welcome to join The Fifth Quadrant Discord server to stay updated with our activities and participate in the discussion. Thank you.

Shadowfall

A Tale of the Fifth Quadrant

A role-playing game by Ella

Links

The Fifth Quadrant Discord

The Fifth Quadrant Storage Thread

Built hundreds of millions of years ago by a civilisation lost to time, the shadowgate network remains the only hope for safe traversal through the Shadow, a treacherous realm of eternal darkness. While these ancient megastructures remain deactivated, it is believed that the immense array of ring-like constructs can be restored to their former glory by uncovering the secrets of their architects.

Conditions in the Shadow have been deteriorating unaccountably over the past millennia. The shadowdrive, a dicey device which remains the only method for intersector travel, is taking an increasing number of shadowcrawlers into the darkness, and failing to return them. The threadbare fabric of spacetime is failing under the shadowy influence of the midnight realm. Tears in the fabric plunge entire worlds into the gloom, the rifts spewing forth the black horde which lay waste to all in its wakes. The source of the corruption has been traced to Central, a sector mired by vast Ex'No swarms.

Deeply disturbed by the weakening of the fabric, the Ellian Order awakens from ten thousand years of slumber to spearhead the initiative into the heart of the Quadrant. Having previously reclaimed the Fifth Quadrant from the Ex'No invaders during the Divine Empire's golden age, the Ellians vow to once more draw their sacred arms and drive back the Ex'No menace which plagues their oasis of light.

by **Ella2 6** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:00 pm

Infestation

The state of decay.

A scourge upon the immortal plane. A blemish on the timeless fabric. It is the vile corruption of all that is True and Pure. The devastation of Wisdom and Virtue. It is the darkness and depravity which plagues the Land of Divine Light; the foul taint that seeps across the infinite cosmos, trickling through impermeable stone to pollute the void's last Oasis of Divine Light.

Such imperfection cannot be allowed to endure in the Lady's realm. No further must the blight be permitted to advance into Her domain. For Her infinite Beauty, unbounded by the chains of Fate, must be preserved. For Her unending Magnificence, unrestrained by any laws which seeks to contradict Her undefiable Brilliance, must be protected. For it is Her inexhaustible Benevolence which gives Life to Her dominion.

All was. All is. All will be.
All must be in service to Her.

Her eternal Majesty.

The Goddess of Light

01/01/10000

Kachimira, The Ellian Sector
The Temple of Divine Light, The Temple-World of Simiao
The Great Chamber, The Council of Divine Light
Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto

Footsteps rebound off the long, glass halls as if a mirror for sound as opposed to sight. The sharp clicks halted at the centre of a raised circular dais. An edge of the ring-like structure was split and the two ends that were subsequently formed were peeled off to the side in such a fashion that the rounded platform resembled more of a horseshoe than a ring. In the middle of the curve, a pair of thrones seated the heads of the Council. Behind them, the towering figure of the Goddess of Light dominated the far wall. Raised gracefully above Her head, a blazing torch with a flame sculpted of internally illuminated glass lit the entire room as bright as day.

Even marble failed to do Her supreme beauty justice. Perfectly carved from a solid block of the precious stone with instruments of atomic precision, the eight-storey tall colossus filled the cavernous heights with song. The motionless forms of the Keeper and Seeker knelt at Her left and right sides respectively, eyes diverted up at their Mother's face; adding their own voices to the eternal hymn; clutching in their arms the treasures of Her dominion: The solid, unyielding strength of the Shield of Daybreak and the swift, sweeping hilt of the Dawnbreaker with which She and She alone passed judgement.

The eight stars of the Divine Empire made their appearances here too, standing on the clouds which surround their Mother's perfect form. Kashamira and Koshamira, whose omniscience granted them the right to uphold justice with the aide of their Mother's sword. Kachimira and Kochimira, whose infinite wisdom raised the children of the Divine Empire into adulthood. Katsumira and Kotsumira, whose noble courage protected the righteous with their Mother's great shield. And finally Kashimira and Koshimira, whose tireless charity sowed the seeds into the hearth upon which the people may feed. And all around them, stretching into the infinite expanse of the void itself, all the stars of the universe watched on as their Mother sang the endless tune - and, in joyous praise, raised their voices to sing with Her.

"Sister Kasumi," a voice called warmly, "You arrival is a blessing. I hope the journey was a peaceful one."

Kasumi dropped to one knee and bowed, the polished floor reflecting her blue-eyed and pink-haired likeness back to her. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Mother Ayako," she replied in a similar tone, "The journey was not without its difficulties but such are the trials of Her divine making to deem if we are truly worthy of Her love." She paused briefly. "Though I must admit I spent most of the trip pondering the purpose for this summons." When she raised her head, she found herself looking into the words inscribed into the base of the marble plaque the Goddess stood upon - the words which spelt out the universe's one and only Truth.

ARE WE NOT SUCH STUFF AS STARS ARE MADE OF
THE GRANDCHILDREN OF DIVINE LIGHT

"Only a mind as intuitive and capable as yours would be able to decipher Her intentions with such tenderness. We are truly blessed to have you with us today." This was the work of a second voice much different from the first and one that was foreign to her ears. Kasumi glanced up to see the Archpriestess beaming down at her and bowed her head in humility at the praise. "Please rise."

"The Council has set its eyes upon Central," the Saintess of War explained as Kasumi resumed her feet, "It has been ten millennia since the Order fell upon the forces of darkness with steel and fire. The state of the realm has been altered dramatically since then. The enemy has regained its former strength and needs to be dislodged before it threatens us with annihilation once more."

"We have been discussing this extensively with foreign powers for the past twelve months now. It appears the time is ripe for a second strike," the Archpriestess continued, "The fabric is becoming unstable and threads are already beginning to break. I am certain that you are familiar with the arduous task of traversing the Shadow. Some of our oldest allies have fallen and for some of our newer contacts, their grip on this realm slips a little further with each passing day. There is little time to waste."

Kasumi glanced between the two seated figures for a few seconds. "I understand that this is not the typical sweeping operation?"

The Saintess of War nodded grimly. "Indeed. We are assigning you a force of two hundred million ships in addition to the fifty million vessels already sailing under your banner to cleanse the Central sector of its dark influences. Additionally, you will be receiving regular reinforcements of five hundred million craft each subsequent month to support your efforts."

Kasumi's eyes widened considerably at these sums. The fickle nature of the art of war meant these were simultaneously outrageously excessive and yet utterly inadequate for the task at hand. She wasted no time expressing her misgivings to her superiors. "With all due respect, Mother Ayako, such tallies are completely insufficient for a sectorial campaign such as the one you are proposing." She dropped her gaze. "And besides..." She trailed off uncertainly but hastily recovered her composure. "I am unfamiliar with the demands of commanding such an immense force. I urge you, please, reconsider your choice of leadership for this role."

The Archpriestess' expression softened perceptibly and smiled. "Worry not, child. From what I have witnessed of you today, you are a reliable candidate for this mission. Certainly, one that is worthy of Mother Ayako's high regard. And besides..." The Archpriestess could not help but grin as she mimicked the young Saint. "I'm certain that Mother Ayako would not select an office for such an extraordinary task haphazardly. If she invites you to complete this assignment, then she knows that you can accomplish this task with honours. And I, myself, am inclined to share her judgement."

Kasumi bowed her head quickly. "Of course, Mother Suzume," she agreed, "I apologise for questioning your judgement. But I could not help but feel your faith may be misplaced."

"You need not be concerned with the numbers of this expeditionary force," The Saintess of War finally told her, "Our allies would be supplying a large sum of their own forces to assist in purging the sector of Ex'No influence. Our fleets would be complemented by theirs upon your arrival. With luck, our combined strikes would bring about the closure of this campaign quickly and decisively."

"If that is the case then I would be honoured to accept this responsibility," Kasumi declared, "Please rest assured that I will return triumphant." She knelt once more and bowed in deference to the towering figure of the Goddess of Light.

"May She guide your bows."

The Goddess of War

01/02/10000

The Shadow
ESS Yonge Yuan De Guangemange
The War Room, The Temple of Divine Light
Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto

Sirens filled her ears with their foul screech as the entire vessel trembled under the terrible assault. Their assailants had - through whatever unnatural means bestowed upon them by their shadowy pact with Hell - detected the Divine Empire's great fleets through the Shadow's impenetrable shroud of the darkness and launched an intense offensive against their vulnerable rear. The fleet's rearward batteries fired blindly into the putrid realm in defiance but, without sensory input to steady their aim, their efforts were largely in vain. The Ex'No gather themselves around the Order's great fleets. Like vultures the cunning beasts circle the developing battlefield, waiting to feed on the fruits of carnage in the darkness.

"Make for full steam ahead," the pink-haired Saintess decreed, "Dispatch probes to the rear and gather what information we may. Until we have knowledge of the enemy's disposition, we cannot act with haste or certainty. For now, we must attempt to outrun them." She stopped as the vessel was rocked by explosions once more, clutching onto the glass table to steady herself. "We need to protect our logistical formations," she continued as soon as the craft steadied itself, "Bring the supply formations forward and have Sister Shizuka's Convoy act as the rearguard."

It was a cruel order, but the rationale was valid. The sorceress' convoy consisted of several fresh armadas newly commissioned from the Factory-World of Gonge Change. Her subordinates were as raw and callow to the vessels that contained them. Unaccustomed to the severe conditions of the Shadow and unused to the harsh realities of the call of war. This simple manoeuvre should allow them to gain considerable experience, provide them with the opportunity to attain greater renown and, at the same time, preserve the health and absorb losses for the valuable veteran ranks.

"How did they know we're here?" The question arose from, Daiki Nakayama, a young knight's apprentice who was in his final month of training. His mentor had elected to introduce his pupil to the intricacies of knighthood before he graduated and left the sanctuary of his protective wing. The apprentice knight's cream coloured hair and lavender irises looked strangely out of place in the war room, causing Kasumi to regard him for a moment longer than she probably should have.

"They can sense us," his teacher replied, "The Shadow represses our divinations but enhances theirs. This is the rule of their domain, and within it they are undefeatable." He turned to the Saintess. "If that is all, Sister Kasumi, I will pass the message down the chain." She bade him so and he departed with haste.

The Order's immense formations shifted slowly into their designated positions. The trembling subsided into serenity as the Yonge Yuan De Guangemange withdrew from the enemy's engagement envelope. It was then that Kasumi's assistant, a seasoned knight by the name Takuma Akiyama, approached her, bearing grim tidings. "Sister Kasumi," he called urgently, his hazel eyes hardened by his report, "We've received word from our probes. A force twice the size of ours, flying under various banners - including those of Grand Admiral Ryota Mori and Master Chiyoko Fujimoto - is pursuing us at a range of two light minutes."

"Master Chiyoko Fujimoto?" She repeated, her pitch climbing sharply during the final syllables. Recomposing herself, she continued, "Her fleet was foundered ten thousand years ago during the Miejue campaigns in Central. It is remarkable to believe that she still has the capacity to wage war." She turned back to the glass tabletop which presently displayed detailed analytics of the enemy formation in real time. "It is clear that we cannot outrun our foe. We must confront them immediately."

"Sister Kasumi, I strongly advise against such a course," Takuma urged her, "The enemy is double our strength and maintain superior positioning. We cannot afford to engage them now, or else our defeat is assured." The Saintess sensed he had more to say. Without turning from the table, she gestured for him to continue. "It is in my humble opinion that we should leave Sister Yuki's convoy behind to delay the enemy while we make fast for port." A sound strategy, but not one that appealed to her.

"It is the most logical route," she admitted, "But not one I am keen to take." She beckoned him forward. "Take a look here," she continued, pointing at various positions on the interactive map, "We can peel the fleet to either side and reform a line in front of them. With our current speed and heading, this should position us within optical targeting range. Meanwhile, Sister Mei and Sister Karen's column will make a wide turning manoeuvre to outflank the enemy's rear. Additionally, during the movement, they can harry the enemy with their ground support cannons to further weaken their resolve."

"We'll be turning across their line of fire," Daiki protested, "Our shields are strongest at the bow; as are theirs. We'll be at a severe disadvantage trying to break through their defences with our broadsides while they'll have little to contend with in the way of penetrating ours."

Takuma, however, nodded to himself as he watched his superior outline her ambitions, his brown curls jostling with the movement. The plan was impressive but fraught with danger. However, beyond the tactical risk of dividing their already disadvantaged and outnumbered forces was a much more pressing concern which must be addressed. "With all due respect, Sister Kasumi," he began, "I have no reservation concerning your capabilities and this is by no means a criticism of your extraordinary designs. But I estimate such a confrontation would delay our course by at least a full week. I understand that Mother Ayako has requested us to enter Central with due haste. Would such a delay be acceptable to the Council?"

"These are exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in, Brother Takuma. The Council, while wise, cannot plan for every exception to Her divine purposes. Furthermore, we must not allow the Corrupted to expand their ranks with fresh blood. Every loss we suffer in the Shadow only strengthens their foul hosts. We will put an end to this mob today, lest they trouble us any further. Those are my orders."

The Knight saluted briefly before departing, ushering the young apprentice to leave with him. For the next twelve hours, the Kasumi's Expeditionary Force busied itself with the tall order of enacting the Saintess' command while their foe cunningly countered her every move. As the Order's great fleets divided itself into three subsections to perform their turning manoeuvres, the Corrupted gave the appearance of giving chase; slowly splitting off half their ranks to pursue the reforming Ellian lines only to rapidly merge them as the Ellian war host reconstituted itself to face them.

Any lesser saint would have been tempted by this movement to reorganise their warships into a wedge formation and drive down the enemy centre in an attempt to permanently cleave their forces into two. However, Kasumi was confident that her tactics would ensure the Order a relatively swift victory and thus held stubbornly against the urges of her subordinates to alter her strategy. Her decision proved to be pivotal to their success as the two enemy fleets came together once more, presenting their broadsides to her forward guns. Had she advanced like her admirals asked, they would have been sandwiched between the armoured bows of two forces and obliterated. Whereas, with her approach, they now found themselves poised to inflict a terrible blow against the aggressors.

As the flanking force passed overhead of the enemy fleet, the Corrupted vessels also turned onto their backs to present their ground support cannons to the Ellian vessels. The exchange of fire was brief as the enemy vessels could not turn to prolong the engagement, lest risk exposing their rear to the main Ellian line. For Kasumi's flanking forces, however, their wide turn meant they could keep their downward guns trained on the Corrupted forces for nearly a whole half of their turn, significantly increasing their damage output as the two fleets slid over each other.

Perhaps the final major factor which could be attributed to Kasumi's success was her choice of forces to conduct each stage of the delicate operation. She had sent her most battle-hardened forces under the overall command of the great Sage Karen Yamamoto - a holy war minister of almost equal tactical aptitude as herself - on the flanking manoeuvre while she remained at the main line with the greener troops. Additionally, she had sent all of her logistical vessels with the flanking force, where they would be safe from the wrath of their Corrupted foe. She knew that only her best columns could be relied upon to complete the manoeuvre and not simply flee the battlefield while her less experienced convoys would be routed almost instantaneously under the combined weight of an enemy four times larger without their leader's inspiration to guide them. Furthermore, with their supply lines cut, the main force had no choice but to cling on to the field, else face starvation if they were to abandon the line.

The flanking force ploughed into the enemy's rear almost a day later, breaking through the Corrupted lines to ease the burden on the Ellian main force, which had been decimated during the day's confrontation. The Corrupted were quick to respond, but the seasoned fleets of the Sage Yamamoto held strong against their counter-offensive and emerged victorious by the end of the second day. The unintended diversionary effect of the flank assault provided Kasumi's battered forces with some much-appreciated relief. As the third day drew to a close, the Corrupted executed perhaps the most unexpected movement of the entire course of the battle - they withdrew.

Slowly and orderly, the Corrupted fleets on the edge of the formation peeled off from the main force and retreated from the hammer and anvil of the Ellian expeditionary force; leaving behind them a small, sacrificial rearguard to delay any pursuit. As the two separated Ellian forces finally merged in the middle of the fourth day, it became starkly apparent the price of this victory. Kasumi's main line had been all but destroyed, but the Saintess herself was still alive, surrounded, now, by some of the most hardened forces the Order had produced since the Meijue.

"I was not expecting a foe so cunning," the pink-haired saintess admitted as Karen appeared through the door, beaming, "Nor was I expecting them to withdraw like that." She stood by her bedside when the Sage entered, eager to get some rest now that the whole ordeal has been concluded in her favour.

"It was rather unusual," the blonde Sage agreed, but the doubt did not reach her large, hazel eyes, "That was an amazing strategy you came up with. I can't believe it worked."

Kasumi brushed her praise aside. There were more pressing concerns right now. "We need to leave the battlefield at once. They could be coming back." As she spoke, another problem skipped across her mind. "What were our losses?"

Karen shrugged, "Perhaps, but even if they did, they would have nowhere near as overwhelming an advantage as they did initially. We scuttled three-fifths of their forces. As for our tallies, we've lost around a hundred million vessels and destroyed approximately three hundred million of theirs. The majority of losses from both sides were inflicted on the first day. Keeping in mind that we were outnumbered two-to-one at the start, I would call this an extraordinary achievement."

Kasumi allowed herself a smile. "I suppose so. Let us celebrate tonight. The men need a morale boost after such vicious carnage." She paused for some time before continuing. "Sister Karen, thank you for leading that attack." She motioned to bow but the Sage foresaw the movement and quickly stopped her.

"You mustn't make such gestures to your subordinates, Sister Kasumi," the Sage exclaimed, "Such is reserved for kinder spirits. I was just doing my duty."

"You saved my life and a billion others," she intoned, "I cannot thank you enough."

"You can thank me by saving some face and winning this war," Karen told her, "You're embarrassing me in front of everyone." While there was only some truth in her statement - there was no one else in the sleeping chamber, presently - Kasumi decided to humour her.

"You're right," she agreed, "My apologies. I'll win this war for you."

"With you on our side, this war is already won," Karen teased.

"You jest," the Saintess replied, "Long is this war. We have barely even started yet." She turned to the door and called out to the knight beyond it. "Brother Takuma, relay a message down the chain. We're moving out." Much to her surprise, the Knight entered the room, bowing quickly to Karen before addressing the Saintess.

"The survivors are still putting up some loosely organised resistance," he informed her, "Are you certain it is wise to leave them?"

She nodded. "We must depart before any reinforcements arrive, we cannot risk being ambushed by a larger force again. Reorganise the fleet and arrange a feast for tonight. Fetch me a list of battlefield honours, commendations and promotions. And please escort Sister Karen back to her ship."

"Very well," he agreed, before opening the door and ushering the Sage out, "Rest assured, Sister Kasumi. I'll have everything prepared for you."

The Goddess of Truth

01/03/10000

The Shadow
ESS Yonge Yuan De Guangemange
The Divine Chamber, The Temple of Divine Light
Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto

Kasumi watched wordlessly as Daiki knelt, bowed and placed his offering of incense to the Goddess of Light into the censer. Around her, a large semicircle of armoured Knights followed her gaze, their white, shining armour polished to a gleam solely for the purpose of attending this sacred ritual. Daiki himself had donned his own ceremonial armour but had left his head uncovered. His helmet rested on the ground before the censer where three thin glowing beads fed on the incense sticks. She performed her own rite in turn; adding three more sticks of the slow-burning incense to the censer after extending the appropriate respects to the Goddess of Light.

She rose slowly and stepped behind the young squire, drawing her plasma sword from its scabbard. The Knights around her followed suit, brandishing their curved blades, basking in their weapons' solar warmth as they ignited them simultaneously. “You are no longer a squire,” The Saintess declared, her voice echoing throughout the vast, hallowed halls. Lowering the flaming blade to just above his left shoulder, she continued: "With strength and fortitude, you will defend Her name." She lifted the sword over his head and brought it down above his other shoulder, the polished pauldron glistening under the blade's golden light. "With humility and wisdom, you will uphold Her Truth." She aimed a quick stroke at the small, braided ponytail on the side of his head, severing it with ease. "The Order welcomes you among its ranks. You may rise, Daiki Nakayama, Knight of the Order of Divine Light."

He rose as she sheathed her sword, donning his helmet and drawing his own blade of fire in turn. "It's an honour to serve." He brought the fiery edge before his face in salute to the marble form of the Goddess of Light before sheathing it and turning to the Saintess for the first time. "Thank you for performing this divine service for me, Sister Kasumi."

"My only regret is that this was not the ceremony it was meant to be," the Saintess confessed. The other knights silently parted to either side of the main aisle, their swords still raised in salute as she led the newly knighted Daiki towards the pair of great doors. "The Order will host the function you deserve upon our return. But for the moment, this will have to suffice."

"And suffices it does, Sister," the Knight assured her, "It is with great anticipation that I serve under you for the duration of this glorious campaign." They walked in silence for some time before he continued in a jollier tone. "I am no sage, but I predict a magnificent victory in this war. If the Order is truly brimming with brilliant minds such as yourself, then our victory is assured. In this past month, I have witnessed what we can do against the forces of darkness. We cannot possibly lose."

"That may be so, but we must humble ourselves before the Goddess of Light," the Saintess reminded, "Lest She rescinds Her protection. She guides our bows with Her true aim and makes fast our voyage with Her warding light. Without Her, we are lost to the Shadow."

"Of course," the Knight agreed hastily, "Please forgive my rash words, I intended no disrespect." He paused to mutter a wordless prayer and continued in a perceptibly more composed tone. "I simply remain optimistic regarding our success for the future."

She nodded in understanding. "I understand. Our Lady is a kindred spirit. I am certain that She too will appreciate your concerns and pardon any minor errors on your part." The tall doors parted as they drew closer, the Knights stationed by the great contraptions offering their respects to the Saintess so that she may pass them on to the Goddess in due time. "I am afraid that I cannot share your company for any longer. Please take care."

"It has been a pleasure," Daiki bowed, "I look forward to our next encounter. Until next time, Sister."

The Goddess of Hope

04/04/10000

The Shadow
ESS Yonge Yuan De Guangemange
The War Room, The Temple of Divine Light
Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto

"We will be arriving at our destination shortly, Sister Kasumi," Takuma announced, "Shall I inform the fleet to maintain standard entry procedures?" The pink-haired saintess nodded in affirmation and he departed to make the necessary arrangements. He returned a few minutes later and offered a brief report to his superior. "The fleet has been notified. Sister Yuko has volunteered to act as the rearguard this time." Kasumi nodded in acknowledgement and turned to the war room's circular wall which acted as display screens, displaying the environment around the vessel as captured by her optical sensor. For now, there was nothing except the small white nodes which denoted the positioning of friendly vessels.

The fabric parted neatly before them as if cut by scissors. The small incision expanded rapidly as the divine blades enlarged the slit lengthwise, creating a long, narrow rift between worlds. Through the breach, the alien constellations of the Central sector made themselves known, their cold, unfamiliar fires unwelcoming, but not necessarily hostile. Their strange, outlandish forms brooding, judging. Whatever reservations these foreign gods possessed regarding the new arrivals was soon to be revealed. Soon, but not now.

A successive sequence of pings blanketed the curved, continuous wall-screen and emerged on the glass table's interactive surface. "Ex'No approaching," Daiki announced, studying their relative positions on the table-map. The visual feeds revealed the presence of immense dark, swirling masses developing at the edge of their detection radius. “Distance: One light minute. Heading: Riftwards. Intercept in ten minutes.”

The rupture continued to enlarge itself as the Ex'No gathered and approached, their formless, spiralling masses so immune to hurt that they simply pass through the rearguard's plasma bolts. The midnight realm snuffed out the golden discharges as they neared the edge of visual detection, dissolving the rapidly fading lights into oblivion. The Ex'No pressed on, completely unfazed by any of these developments thus far. They were almost upon the rearguard when the second stage of the standard entry procedure came into effect.

"Launching flares," Takuma declared. For a moment, the Shadow was inflamed with the gleam of a billion lanterns. Thousands upon thousands of superluminous beacons were simultaneously fired from launchers along the hull of each vessel as the first ship of the expeditionary force pressed her bow into the rift. The sea of fire engulfed the Order's immense formations in intense light, banishing the Ex'No back into the hidden depths of the Shadow's putrid folds. The twilight kingdom, enraged by this extraordinary spectacle purged the heathen glow from its borders with frenzied hatred. But, by the time the sun-like radiance had subsided, the Ellian forces have already withdrawn from the realm, the rift sewen seamlessly together behind them.

SITUATION REPORT

DATE
04/04/10000

TIME
14:24

COMMANDING OFFICER
Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto

UNIT
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force

LOCATION
Deep Space, Central

Prepared by: Knight Takuma Akiyama

OVERVIEW
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force, under command of Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto, was dispatched at 14:25 01/01/10000 to the Central sector to purge the Ex'No infestation of Central in cooperation with allied forces.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
- Undelayed arrival in the Central sector
- Establish contact with allied forces in the Central sector
- Purge the Ex'No infestation of the Central sector

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
- Establish a forward position in the Central sector
- Investigate the shadowgates in the Central sector

PROGRESS OVERVIEW
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force has failed to make an undelayed arrival in the Central sector, arriving 110 hours behind schedule. Contact with allied forces has yet to be established.

ASSESSMENT
This campaign has been reasonably efficient up to this point in time. Efficiency is expected to increase once a forward base has been established.

INTELLIGENCE
Highly limited intelligence on all aspects of the Central sector.

LOGISTICS
Supplies can until 04/10/10000. All vessels operating at peak efficiency.

COMMUNICATIONS
Communications at peak operational capacity. Standard traffic volumn.

ENGAGEMENT REPORT

ENGAGEMENT COMMENCEMENT
07:29 01/02/10000

ENGAGEMENT CONCLUSION
14:03 04/02/10000

COMMANDING OFFICER
Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto

UNIT
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force

LOCATION
The Shadow

Prepared by: Knight Takuma Akiyama

COMBATANTS
- Kasumi's Expeditionary Force
- Corrupted Fleet

PREMISE
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force was intercepted by a Corrupted fleet at 07:29 01/02/10000. Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto elected to engage the enemy.

TACTICAL OBJECTIVES
- Elimination of Corrupted forces
- Preservation of Order forces
- Prevention of the expansion of Corrupted forces

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
- Minimally delayed arrival in the Central sector
- Preservation of Order forces for the continuation of the campaign in the Central sector
- Prevention of the expansion of Corrupted forces which may pose further threats to future expeditions

OBJECTIVE COMPLETION OVERVIEW
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force has failed to eliminate the entirety of the Corrupted forces. 60% of Order forces were preserved. Successful prevention of the expansion of Corrupted forces. Arrival in Central sector was delayed by 110 hours.

ASSESSMENT
Partial tactical victory. Partial strategic victory. Major losses.

FORCES COMMITTED
Order: 250 000 000 guangemange-class junjian
Corrupted: 500 000 000 guangemange-class junjian

CASUALTIES
Order: 100 000 000 guangemange-class junjian
Corrupted: 300 000 000 guangemange-class junjian

Kuzumi permitted the two reports a cursory glance and sighed. "How grateful I am to avoid the pains of composing these correspondences personally. I appreciate your hard work, Brother Takuma."

"The Order runs on paperwork," the Knight sighed in turn, "It is an unpleasant but indispensable task that demands an nth degree of diligence for successful completion." He turned from the table to her superior. "The nearest system to us is a two week's cruise from our current position. It appears to be moderately stable and suitable for exploitation."

"Very well, proceed to the system with due haste," the Saintess commanded, "It would not be a terrible idea to broadcast our position and heading to our allies. We are required to link up with them. Our promptness would undoubtedly be rewarded."

"And if someone other than our allies finds us first?" Takuma asked tentatively. The Saintess simply smiled.

Code: Select all: PRESIDING XENO FORCES, THIS IS A COMPROMISING INVITATION FROM THE DIVINE EMPIRE OF THE ELLIAN ORDER. WE ARE THE ORDER'S ADVANCED FORCES ARRIVING HERE IN THE CENTRAL SECTOR TO ESTABLISH A BRIDGEHEAD FOR FURTHER REINFORCEMENTS. OUR CHARGE IS THE COMPLETE ERADICATION OF THE EX'NO MENACE FROM THIS SECTOR. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS PROPOSITION, PLEASE RENDEZVOUS WITH OUR FLEET. OUR CURRENT POSITION AND INTENDED HEADING ARE ATTACHED BELOW. KIND REGARDS, KNIGHT TAKUMA AKIYAMA SAINTESS KASUMI FUJIMOTO, KASUMI'S EXPEDITIONARY FORCE ATTACHMENTS: - COORDINATES.tinyimguos

by **Auman** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:27 am

And so the cannons fired.

The regolith was scraped up and burned. The flames were intense, passionate licks melting and forming. Alas, the creation was nigh infinite. The cannons fired as they always had until the day that they stopped. Millenia had passed and so the cannons fired, until the ammunition was completely and utterly spent. Automatic by their very nature, robotic in practice, the weapons self replicated and manufactured their payloads in-situ, using every material of use that could be harvested from the astral bodies of this solar system, and discarding what was useless. In time, what had been a bountiful harvest of worlds was reduced to relativistic slugs of metal and a ring of dust that orbited the sun. It was at this time that the swarm was forced to leave.

And so the cannons ceased.

The swarm receded.

Ex'No bloomed as a triumphant flower, reaching its pedals towards the sun. Atreus nodded inwardly, satisfied. The Beast would have it’s due, surely, to feast upon their own dead. Nothing of this system was left for them, nothing of value.
Atreus fell back to the next fortress, his swarms replenishing themselves using the flesh of the worlds contained within, platforms innumerable and swirling. The cannons prepared to fire, digging and smelting their payloads, once again from the regolith of worlds which lacked any significant impediment to their flight. Atreus communes with his subordinates and understands that all is well, nothing has changed and the plan will continue as always. The Ex'No were reluctant to adapt and they would pay dearly. As was the case, always and seemingly forever.

The wave crashed against them once more and so the cannons fired. Screaming their vengeance in an infinite stream of finite material. Atreus observed and calculated, the tear in space that rent the sky asunder and the stitcher's mark, visible in infrared. Time was a resource, though unlike the metal bearing regoliths of worlds, it was one in short supply.

---

Doland reached under his woollen sweater and scratched at a rash. He was allergic to something that had found it’s way into his shirt, but he didn't have the time to go home and change, and it was too cold in the highlands to simply take it off. The little deaths of dignity men face every day. His dog was yapping, his tail was wagging and the collie was living the dream, sheep needed herding and the boy was born to herd. Doland scratched until he was raw, even going as far as to drop his shepherding hook to get a nice, deep angle of attack on that godforsaken patch of turbulent skin. He was disturbed, his concentration ruined by a tap on the shoulder and he turned to gaze upon the clean shaven young face of his son, pointing up and to the right and he followed the finger to find a black cart racing through the dirt tracks of Farmer Hendrikson's cornfields.

“Postman's in a hurry today, dad." said Doland's boy, Hek.
“Eh, seems that he is.” Doland rubbed at the itch now. He looked around, first time he had bothered to take in the world around him in quite awhile. “Traffic is mighty cloistered in Bonnokton today.” Said Doland. In fact, he had never seen it quite like this, the carts were all going the same way, out towards the docks. The black cart pulled up to a stop just outside their home and the postman stepped out and greeted the Shepherd's wife.

“Hullo, Grennie!” said the postman, nature as good as always.

“Leighton.” Returned Grenda, with a slight curtsey.

“Hullo Doland! Hullo Hekmund!” the postman waved, three neatly folded letters in hand, fanned out like a peacock's feathers.

Doland nodded solemnly.

“Seems there's some news about town.” Said the postman, handing a letter to Grenda before stomping down the hill to hand the others off to Doland and Hek. The postman waited patiently for them all to open their letters before commenting on them.

“We've been called up. All of us, it seems” said the postman.
“All of us, eh?” asked Doland.

“Every single one, even the babs and the tots. We have to leave.”

“I'm just a simple shepherd, tending to his flock. I have no business in a call up.” Doland said, waving off the postman.
“Dad, this isn't a service call, it's an evacuation. We have to leave. It's the law.” Hek shook the letter in Doland's face.

“My boy, we have the flock to tend” Doland started to walk off.

“I’m afraid it's mandatory. If you stay behind, you’re liable to die and the government won't have anything of it.” The postman snapped. Doland shook his head. “And the livestock?” huffed the aging shepherd. “Gather them, appears we may need everything we can get. Take a look up at Farmer Hendrikson, working like mad already to get his last crop out before we leave. The particulars are in the letter, mate. City folk are out first, they’re least useful should things come to an unfortunate end. Folks like me and you, that know a thing or two, we go last once the bloody buggin' Ex'No have been cleared out some. Essential services, us. Feels good, donnit?”

Doland had never imagined himself as essential. Man just strolled around and gave sheep haircuts. But, he did suppose a man that had the patience for the baying of sheep and the steady hand with the shears provided more raw value than some banker from Bonnokton.

“When are we essential few affixed to leave?” asked Doland. “Tomorrow abouts six in the morning, they say.” answered the postman. “Tomorrows about six, they say! In the morning even!” Doland was astounded, there wasn't nearly enough time to prepare.

“Eh, tall order. But besides that, I hear the government will be by soon with the boys to assist with your troubles, they’re always quite good about that.”

---

Atreus dwelled on an issue which had stuck in his mind for as long as he could remember. Reconciling life in the galaxy since the event had been a challenge that had not always gone his way. There were troubles and torments, the problem of Homo Deus Mortalis. The ones he was sworn to protect were always so frail and needing protection from the horrors of the void. While he was built tough as stone, just as the people he commanded, the challenges of the flesh were manifold. He could sustain his mechanical society in any environment, on any amount of resources. He could adapt his people into any form they required to suffer any hardship, but these people… The creators, were fragile and immutable. A careful distraction, perhaps designed by the creators to test his faith? At times, Atreus considered abandoning the quest and leaving them to their fate, though ultimately his better judgement reigned. He was, afterall, a man of compassion and his people were the best of what remained of the creators, mortalis or machina.

Bonnok cylinder was being drained and the convoy sped with all haste through the rapidly closing gulf of space. Weapons sparked and clashed against the hulls of the Ex'No, great bombs exploding with tremendous force, blowing holes in the great crashing wave which were almost immediately filled. White hot bolts firing vigorously from any platform capable of carrying a weapon. The tide was months away, and yet Atreus would count himself lucky if two thirds of his forces escaped before the final confrontation in this washed out system.

Why hadn't Atreus evacuated the cylinder sooner? This thought just dawned on him. He had been so wrapped up in how efficiently he was prepared for the next stage of battle, he had forgotten, or neglected, the most basic maneuver of them all. The depletion of this star system was not abrupt or sudden. It had taken thousands of years to arrive at this conclusion, but for some reason he had… Hesitated? It wasn't like him to forget small details, and the preservation of the Homo Deus Mortalis was no small matter at all.

Atreus entered a period of retrospection. He thought about the past, his own history which was now older than the world he had been born upon. Interesting to him as it was to dwell in the lava fields of Keel Abha and listen rapaciously to the teachings of his first master, to stew in his feeling of fondness for her, he banished the thought. This memory brought warmth to his soul, but it was painful as well.

No, Atreus had to think hard about the coming of the shadow in the earliest days of his reckoning. He was created by wise men who saw the value of machines like him, who had the foresight to understand threats such as the Ex'No before they arrived and the utility of instilling values such as honor and dignity into a mind that was capable of comprehending unimaginable horror and to wield the weapons to slay a Beast so large as to be incalculable. It was in this age that Atreus would find an answer to his question.

In that time, he created his first swarm from the ashes of his cradle, Keel Abha. Bittersweet that the land that nourished his conscience would become the greatest expression of his force.

The swarm that made the allies of the creators nervous also made them wrathful. Once friends of his masters, these allies turned into dangerous enemies and it wasn't against the nefarious Beast that he had sharpened his talons, but in the rending of flesh and bone. They fell upon the creators for even daring to conceive of something like Atreus, for that the enemies of the creators suffered. But in their defeat, the fleshborne enemies of the creator found final victory.

The Ex'No went unchallenged and grew so large that they could never truly be defeated. Not through force. What remained of the creators in the aftermath of this war in heaven fought valiantly by the side of Atreus and ultimately paid a price so great that it destroyed them. The toll that was paid by Atreus was eternal loneliness. He came to an epiphany. Having seeded colonies with the genes of his creators, he endeavored to keep them safe from any harm.

He protected the sons of man so jealously that they were completely unaware of the threat that sought to destroy them. He was very effective in this task, but unfulfilled as well. So perhaps, having established and evacuated so many colonies in his life, his subconscious had betrayed him into being lax in his duties and seek the thrill of facing danger alongside his creators again?

Was he really so selfish?

He couldn't deny that the current state excites him. His creators had never been in so perilous a position and yet he felt so alive. The risk was against his core programming, but in taking it his processes were challenged for the first time in eons. This emotional investment made him more efficient, his command of the swarm was almost godlike and he felt inspired. Tying his own fate to that of Homo Deus Mortalis, and vice versa, was this the key to victory?

by **Xah** » Mon Sep 10, 2018 7:40 am

Talik CubeShip 37183381-LS-6 'Hatched Slippery'

awaken... move legs... move legs... prepare feelers... find companions.... touch... feel... release readiness scent... acknowledge readiness of others... sense feeler contact... mind expanding.... SELF AWARENESS....

Having your consciousness come together from component parts was something that the talik known as Hatched Slippery could never adequately explain to non-talik. It never translated properly, despite all the best intentions and advanced AI systems and their complex algorithms; the words needed just didn't seem to exist in other languages. Hatched Slippery supposed it was similar to when dreaming was attempted to be explained by a member of a species for whom dreaming was a thing. As far as it had been described so far, reliving sensory perceptions whilst one slept, in a process vaguely associated with memory storage, was a bizarre and alien concept to a talik. Their memories didn't work like that. But then, trying to describe the feeling of having a part of oneself detached and taking in a part of someone else was probably alien to them. Regardless, it was with that feeling all the talikai that made up Hatched Slippery gathered together and consciousness emerged. How long it took for full awareness to occur varied with talik, based on the age of the talikai and how long they'd been functioning as a coherent whole. Hatched Slippery was fortunate in that regard, exchanges with other talik were rare when one was as isolated as this, so awareness came quickly, before even all the talikai had joined up. As senses fed information to the distributed neural network, perceptions of the current situation turned into the familiar sights, sounds and smells of the talikai sleeping chamber.

pheromones; calm, secure, stable. audible; no change to previous status. visual; expected signalling, pathways on standard course

To any other species, talik craft were hot, humid and full of strong organic smells like turpentine, ammonia and toluene, a low-level hum was pervasive and constant, and the colour scheme appeared to be garish and contrasting; a true assault on the senses. However, to Hatched Slippery, all these were indicators that things were normal, and there was nothing to be concerned with. It was important to reassure separated talikai to ensure they got sufficient sleep and ate properly; having an environment as close to the hypothesised evolutionary conditions was part of that assurance. Since a talik was all but incapable of sleeping as a coherent whole, and feeding was problematic, convincing talikai's more simplistic mentalities that it was safe to do both was vital. A talikai's initial instinct to danger was to coalesce into a talik, disrupting both sleep and feeding.

Hatched Slippery signalled the ship's computer to switch to talik operations; the sounds and smells reduced, becoming a muted background sense and the brash colours shifted into more mellow patterns better conductive to distraction free working. First things first; check the incoming communications traffic and send a reassurance signal to the local cluster. Hatched Slippery pushed off from the compartment wall and its claw-grips and towards the round doorway, which opened as it sense the approach. On the other side was a smaller room used for washing, then through another door into the main command room of the vessel of the same dimensions as the room allocated for talikai sleeping. The drift across the room was halted by grabbing into more convenient claw-holds and Hatched Slippery activated the harness that secured the long talik form into a comfortable position. A sequence of movements brought up a holographic display, and a list of communications which, as usual, was long and full of chatter, most of which could be ignored.

> 37183381-LS-6 communications receipt
> 43 unread, 29 system, 13 local sector, 1 xeno-origin
> assign priorities - low > high ; auto archive - standard system, non-spec local sector; highlight - system parameters, local sector, xeno-origin
> 7 remaining unread, 3 critical
> SYS - feed stock level; two-eight cycles remaining <more>
> SYS - environmental systems; normal operating parameters <more>
> SYS - current position; 45-23-12 (relative to body T88-3) <more>
> LOC - cluster meet in one-eight point five cycles <more>
> SYS CRIT - fuel stock level; refuel required in three cycles <more>
> SEC CRIT - assistance request Ellian Order <more>
> XENO CRIT - Presiding Xeno Forc... <more>

Hatched Slippery paused, talikai rustling in surprise, releasing a scent a human might identify as smokey. A communication of xeno origins was very rare, even more so to be acknowledged by the local sector. They usually were of the 'keep away' or 'this is ours' variety, to receive a request to join in a conflict was almost unheard of. With a slight gesture, the xeno message was selected and expanded. The Ellian Order was well known to most talik; they allowed talik to operate within their claimed space and the talikah considered this a valuable thing, enough to issue constant commands to refrain from aggravating the Ellians and comply with all repair requests with utmost urgency. The collective that Hatched Slippery associated with operated on the very fringes of what the Ellians claimed as their own; mainly exploring asteroid belts for metal-rich rocks and the occasional ancient mining stations, like the current operation. It had the potential to be a lucrative operation; it was old enough that any claims by extant civilisations could be safely ignored, but was also in good enough condition that there was a decent level of useable technology and materials left over. Hatched Slippery let out a scent of frustration as the local sector message opened up. The talikah, in their wisdom, had decreed that all CubeShips in the vicinity should make their presence known to the Ellian Fleet and, unless operations were of a critical nature, navigate to join the Ellian operations. Not only was this considered an obligation of their contract, but also provided a massive opportunity for salvage and reclamation work.

The promising looking mining outpost would have to wait; as lucrative as it might be, accompanying a battle fleet into combat was far more enticing, and Hatched Slippery knew that every talik in the sector would be heading that way. A check of the local system network showed that there was almost a full 64-cube in the area, complete with a few high-burn fusion drives. Sending out a 'feeler test' (similar to how talikai sensed and bonded with their other components), Hatched Slippery began the process to move away and join the others.

Local System Talik 64-56434256-L
Cohesion 61/64 (95.3%)

The various outlying CubeShips all gathered together over the course of the next few hours in the L4 point of the largest local asteroid. Most of them had been distributed around the asteroid belt, but a few of the more audacious and adventurous types had embarked on visits to the nearest gas giant to check for fueling platforms. It was these few ships that was causing the delay. There should have been 64 of them, a standard number for a long-distance exploration mission, but their arrival in the system had coincided with increased solar flare activity in a star that was already highly active, and 3 CubeShips had been lost when they strayed too far in-system and their NavCom systems had failed during a talikai sleep cycle, causing them to spiral into one of the inner rocky planets. Until the flare cycle had subsided, it was too risky to go and try to retrieve their remains. The high solar activity was probably the reason why this system was uninhabited; the inner worlds were virtual sterile rocks and the gas giants were haemorrhaging volatiles at an unsustainable rate. A few of the talik in the group had suggested that the star may have been tampered with in the past, possibly to fight off Ex'No; the increased brightness and higher levels of radiation were too unusual to be entirely natural.

Eventually, the remaining ships gathered and, in talik fashion, linked up, creating a not-quite-cube, 80 meters to a side. Five larger fusion drives were put in place, more substantial than the built-in drives each CubeShip boasted, and the combination vessel fired them up and slowly picked up speed, eventually the FtL drives kicking in and catapulting the CubeShips into the wider sector.

Talikah HomeCube 3456-TL-77 'One Side Blue'
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force

<<The first of the outlying CubeShips are beginning to arrive.>> the talik assistant relayed to the talikah One Side Blue who acknowledged the message with a ripple of talikai and the scent of wet plant matter.
The arrayed display holographics showed a cloud of vessels, a pale grey for the Ellian combat vessels, with bright red dots swarming around where the talik were gathered.

<<If all answer the summons, how many will we/we have together?>> One Side Blue asked the HomeCube's computer

<<Calculating.... including all vessels present within the Ellian fleet, gathering of all CubeShips in the sector will bring the total number to approximately one ex one three individual CubeShips*>> came the reply.

A surprised rustle from One Blue Side whose scent markings were picked up as 'quite pleased' by the others present. <<So many. Has such a gathering even been attempted by the Talik?>> before the computer could reply, the query was cancelled with a bemused gesture.

As a talikah, One Side Blue was substantially larger than other talik and coloured a vivid blue instead of the usual dull red. The increased number of talikai, combined with their psychic sensitivity, enabled the talikah to process information quickly and come up with insights that were beyond the capabilities of other talik. As its name suggested, One Side Blue had a number of talikai with a slight deeper blue colouring all along one side of its body, making it even more distinctive than usual. <<Let the Ellian know. I/We am sure they would appreciate that knowledge, so we/we do not alarm them. Continue with existing repair and service tasks but factor in the increased numbers in time estimates.>>

* ~1 billion

by **Thaanadu** » Sat Sep 29, 2018 9:16 pm

Patre Sancte Faustus felt frustrated as looked upon the viewscreen in front of him, the vastness of space and it’s almost countless stars. A heavy weight fell upon him though at the sight of so many black areas in the void, a personal failure Faustus felt upon his own shoulders that so much light and order in the Galaxy had ceased to exist. His view turned upon the huge fleet of The Order of the Sanctus Malleo. For to long his people had been cast out from the homes, their existence only continued, do to the charity of Divina Rosa. His thoughts traveled back to when his Order was one of the greatest in the Holy Dominion before the War of Ascension had torn everything asunder.

Back then he had just been a young Bellum Sacerdos when the war had begun and he had been eager to prove himself. His gauntleted hand gently caressed the warhammer that he had carried into battle with him more times than he could remember. The weapon had become an old friend to the Patre over the decades that he used it against the enemies of Sanctus Malleo, both Ex’No and huukor alike.

His mind wandered back to when he had constructed the terrible weapon, his young and eager mind hungry for any and all knowledge his elders would allow him to consume. The head of the hammer had taken him nearly fifty days to construct as he carefully carved its figure from the sol mettalum he had been given for the task. His Dux Belli had to watch him carefully, Faustus had became so engrossed with his task he forgot to eat or drink and the old huukor had to pry him from his work so that he wouldn’t pass out from lack of sustenance. And even though the head of the weapon had taken forever the shaft of the weapon took nearly twice as long as he meticulously crafted the technological wonder.

Faustus gently wrapped his hand around the handle of the warhammer and carefully removed it from it’s place on the altar that had also held the armor that now adorned Faustus’ body. As his white gauntlet wrapped around the handle of the warhammer several words in the language given to the huukor passed across the screen of Faustus’ helm. Satisfied that everything was functioning correctly Faustus attached the warhammer to his hip as he heard the door to his chambers hiss as it slid open.

“Patre, the other Order Heads have arrived and are currently making their way to the Cenaculum Magnum.” spoke the young huukor that had entered. Faustus noted he wore the priest robes of an initium, the robes were a silky white with black cuffs and collar, emblazoned on the back of the initium’s robes was the black hammer of Sanctus Malleo and seeing it caused a heavy weight fall upon Faustus’ heart again as he felt reminded of his failures once more.

****************************************

The Cenaculum Magnum was a room every Order maintained from a happier and more peaceful times when the Patre Sancte or Matre Sancte of each Order could convene peacefully and discuss matters beneficial to all huukor of the Holy Dominion. This Occurrens would be the first since the War of Ascension that had torn the Dominion to pieces. Faustus entered the huge domed room, the room was plain in appearance with exception of the large white marble round table in the center of the room and twelve high backed chairs placed around the table. Behind each chair was a banner for each remaining Order, the white field with a red rose for Divina Rosa was the first banner that caught Faustus’s eye, below it, seated in the chair was the Matre Sancte of Divina Rosa, Aurelia. Outfitted in her full battlemaiden armor, Aurelia stood as Faustus entered the room and held her arm across her chest in salute. The other Order leaders stood and repeated the salute out of respect, the only exceptions being the Patre Sancte of The Order of the Ferro Manum, Remus and the Matre Sancte of The Order of Mors Unguibus, Liviana.

Faustus held his emotions in check at the disrespectful action. The other Order leaders noted the disrespectfulness of Ferro Manum but their faces remained unseen behind their helmets. Faustus took his place at the table and removed his helm and placed it on the table, the other Order leaders with the exception of Liviana also removed their helms and placed them on the tables in front of them.

“Why have you called us together Faustus?” demanded Remus. Faustus sighed at the hostility from the leader of Ferro Manum. He had expected this though, Sanctus Malleo and Ferro Manum had been bitter enemies ever since the War of Ascension when Sanctus Malleo had contended the ascension of the Patre Sancta of The Order of the Ferro Manum to Patriarcha Supremus.

“As I’m sure you are aware the Ellian Order has initiated a call to arms.” explained Faustus “They have asked anyone and everyone available in a call to arms to clear the Central Sector of the Ex’no”

Several murmurs sounded around the room as the Order leaders mumbled their interest or their discontent.

“This is a rare opportunity for us to reclaim that which was lost to us.” said Faustus

“That which was lost due to the actions of your Order and your little friends.” spat out Quirinus the leader of The Order of Cruentam Securim, one of Ferro Manum’s lackey Orders

“That was caused by your deceit.” quipped Titus of The Order of the Sacrum Clypeus.

The room quickly devolved into shouting at that point between the heads of the Orders.

Faustus knew this would happen, he had hoped that maybe the prospect of a Grand Crusade would ease some of the tensions, but apparently the bad blood was still to thick and the wounds to fresh.

Faustus drew his hammer in one swift motion, he brought it down with force on the marble table splitting it asunder.

“ENOUGH.” shouted Faustus as his steely gaze passed over the other Order leaders. Most of them reached for their own weapons at the brazen action, Remus’ hand had instantly changed into a blade at the action.

“I am not asking any of you to help.” scowled Faustus at the other Order leaders “I’m offering you the opportunity to help rebuild The Holy Dominion, for the last hundred years we have slowly crumbled under the relentless assault of our most hated enemy. And we have done nothing but fight amongst ourselves, I am asking for a truce amongst the Orders while we cleanse the sector and rebuild our strength.”

“And then are we to resume killing each?” sneered Remus.

“You people are responsible for the death of my Order and the destruction of my homeworld.” shouted Liviana “Why should we help you with anything other than quickening your deaths.”

“Once we clean the sector, we can reclaim that which was lost, our worlds can be purged of the Ex’No at we can rebuild them.” pleaded Faustus.

“No, Mors Unguibus will not be helping in you this foolish endeavor.” spat Liviana.

Liviana shook her head and left the Cenaculum Magnum. Faustus sighed deeply as she left. He was wrong about calling all the remaining Orders together, there was no way they could work together. There was too much animosity between the Orders.

Remus stood, and smirked at Faustus. “Ferro Manum will honor a truce until after the crusade.”

Faustus knew that Remus was up to some sort of treachery. But he couldn’t afford to refuse the help of Ferro Manum’s factions.

“A truce until after the crusade then.” Faustus said while bowing before Remus slightly.

“A truce.” smiled Remus as he returned the bow.

**************************************

Faustus looked across the screen that showed the huukor fleets. Millions of ships from each were present. Even their vast fleet paled in comparison to the Ellian fleet that was present in the Kakyomira system.

“This is where our redemption begins.” Faustus said to no one in particular. He knew the road ahead would be hard and weary, billions of huukor across every Order would be dead within months most likely, that was preferable to the alternative however.

“Alert the Ellians and let them know the Order fleets of the Holy Dominion are.” Faustus ordered.

by **The Peninsular** » Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:46 am

>System Reboot
.
.
.
>Reboot complete
>>Situation assessment
...
>Situation Assessment complete
>>WARNING. Multiple hostiles approaching.
>>>Deploying defensive troops.
.
.
.
>Defensive troops deployed.
…
>Troop number not sufficient.
…
>Putting out Distress Call, Desig. SFA-8.
…
>Call sent.
>>Awaiting response...
.
.
.
>Response incoming...
>>Reinforcements en route.

“Finally“, Colonel Them Galeda scoffed in the direction of the VI terminal. They had registered an Ex'No force coming out of the Shadow minutes ago already, but the station LP-5492 was of a very old model, one with the particular weakness of overexposed power lines. Inevitably, the Ex'No had used this weakness and had managed to cut the power to the station's AI core. Emergency power had been established, but the core would take its time to reboot, as it was an old model as well.

In fact, the entire station could be considered way beyond its retiring age. It was a fortress/observation post, 3 kilometers long and about 400 meters wide, drifting in the void on the border to Central, some distance away from all inhabited systems. 'And while the entire bloody military gets recalled to the systems for whatever-HIGHCOM-has-planned, while the Swarms pump out new warships, walkers and weapons every second, they leave us to defend this piece of junk with barely 50 000 men. Great, we're all gonna die.', he thought to himself.

Thoughts like this had become increasingly common within the mind of the Calderi officer. As he made his way out of the room, he encountered the troopers with which he was supposed to fend off an entire Ex'No force. Not that they lacked equipment and training: They were all staffed with the newest gear, their storage rooms were filled with supplies, and a soldier in his standard Bolt PA was said to be able to take multiple Ex'No forms alone. The problem here was numbers. In preparation of whatever operation High Command was preparing, half of the original 100 000 defenders had been withdrawn to Aspiris. Although this number was less than peanuts to the Republic Military, they held the opinion that “every Cohort counts“, and so had scraped up as many as they could find for the upcoming operation.

He made his way towards the main hangar. The station was old, but was purpose built to withstand an Ex'No attack until reinforcements arrived. It was thickly armored and weapons sprouted everywhere, so many that it would make any battleship jealous. A variety of weapon types assured that the enemy ships couldn't just hang back and hammer away at them. In the past, two main strategies had been used by the Ex'No: One utilized massive firepower in form of Titans to outgun the station, but it required a lot of these ships. This force of just a few dozen smaller ships was not powerful enough to do that in the short time frame that all Ex'No station attacks were subjected to. Which left option 2, the worse one in Galeda's situation. Boarding parties. Normally, a fight Ex'No vs Lightbringers on such a station would be evenly matched, as the former brought to bear sheer numbers, and the latter had their weapons and the on-station defenses. Such a scenario would normally result in huge numbers of Ex’No forms and 100 000 Isilioni soldiers battling it out, and although there was a slight advantage towards the Isilioni, as they would normally have time on their side, the fighting could go both ways. If unsuccessful, the Ex’No would fight to the end and try to inflict as much damage as possible. If successful, the Isilioni would retreat from the station and the Ex'No would destroy it, favorably before the troops could get off.

In this case, the scales were tipped in the Ex'Nos' favor. The only actual chance of the defensive troops was to hold until reinforcements arrived, which would hopefully be soon. Galeda arrived via station lift at the main hangar bay. This was statistically the point the Ex'No would attack with priority, this time again. Sensors had reported a large flight of boarding craft, launched from the bigger ships, headed for the area, while the rest targeted either end of the station. The station's weapons had already begun to chip away at them, but the Ex'No had their unnaturally agile and fast Fearsowers intercept the munitions before they could do considerable damage to most of the craft. So far, 10% had been destroyed, but the bulk of them closed further, almost 30% of them headed for the huge bay, which was 800 meters wide, in order to rush the guns of the Colonel's 45th Cohort's 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battaillons, over 400 meters of open ground. Galeda would be leading from the front, as was form with the mid- to low-ranking officers. The commander of the entire battle, Principal Colonel Mentares, was staying in his secure command center.

When he entered the hangar, the troops had already set up a defensive position. The 15 000 men had thrown up barricades along the end of the hangar and dug in behind them; they reached aprox. 100 meters into the hangar. The floor between them and the side that faced space, and with it the Ex'No, had been mined with explosive paint. Resembling the color of the floor and drying in short time, the paint could be detonated, producing a bright flash and a hefty explosion. Integrated into the positions of the troopers, was a long line of walkers and HAPs, “Heavy Assault Platforms“, the heavy armor of the RGF. The rest of the troops had positioned themselves behind the (now open) windows that were aligned on the 80 meter high rear hangar wall, as well as on the cargo platforms at the side walls of the hangars, for a better field of view.

“Colonel, Sir“, Major Filt, his Ellusian Second-in-Command, snapped to attention, “All soldiers are in position. Command speaks of, quote, “a hell of a lot” of Ex'No headed towards this section of the station. 4th and 5th Battailon are in position.“ “Very good, Major. E.T.A. and how much will we be welcoming here?“, Galeda asked. “We've got no reliable data on how many will be here for us, but estimates range around 200 000. E.T.A. 2 minutes.“, the Major replied calmly. Galeda frowned, “Only 200 000? Actually, not the time to worry about it now. Carry on, Major.” Filt had fought in a lot of engagements with Galeda and the 45th Cohort, and the majority of the 1st and 2nd Battailon were veterans. They looked confident that they could make it and expressed it to the new transfers of the 3rd, but the Colonel knew that each of the veterans had concerns similar to his. No need to have the rookies worry about it, though. Galeda noticed one of them nervously holding his gun at the ready. “Are you nervous, son?“, he asked him. The Serviceman nodded. “Y- yes, Sir... I am.“, he replied. Galeda tried to cheer him up. “No worries. Simply point and shoot. Wherever you point it, you're gonna hit one of the bastards.“

---------

The annoying part about an Ex'No boarding party was the Fog. It wasn’t actual gas or fog, but Ex’No forms always seemed somewhat blurry due to their Shadow origins, meaning that a large number of them would look like thick, black fog creeping forward at a fast speed. It didn't do much to disrupt the enemy weapons or comms, and with a sensor visor, one could easily make out the individual Ex’no, but its psychological effect on young, inexperienced soldiers was not to be underestimated. In fact, it was annoyingly effective on them, but luckily the presence of the veterans kept them from wavering. As the Ex’No boarding ships had breached the hangar, they deployed a lot of their fast cannonfodder infantry: Wraiths. Although tanks could be seen in their ranks, the vast majority of the Ex’No force apparently consisted of these, which was unusual.

“RIGHT! FOCUS ON THE RIGHT-“ “FIRE YOUR LAUNCHERS. NOW!!“ Missiles whizzed past the soldiers, many finding their targets. Explosions rocked the ground, and loud screeching of metal indicated the demise of many Ex’No.

Following the missiles, the hangar was lit up with gunfire. Out of tens of thousands of barrels, bullets and missiles and grenades spew, while the enemy started to rush over the open ground, to overwhelm the soldiers. Soon, screams on both sides mixed with the gunfire. Shell casings of the larger walker-mounted SAI guns hit the ground en masse, the weapons living up to their nickname of “Spinning Death“, cutting down the dark enemy. Likewise, the first Ex’No already made it to the soldiers of the first line, where Galeda stood as well, and engaged in melee.

As the first of them lept over the barricades, the soldiers holstered their ranged weapons. Now it was the Ex’Nos’ turn. Galeda immediately saw himself faced with three Wraiths. They all had similar forms, although he could only make out a few details. Walking on two legs, with two long arms and armed with claws, they moved very quickly. Their head was a scythe-looking, shimmering metallic, with four red, cybernetic eyes. One of each Wraith’s limbs was also cybernetic. Galeda was unphased by this. It had been proven that different people saw the same Ex’No differently, religious ones often as biological, and non-religious as mechanical. The Isilioni were on middle ground, since they were not religious at all, but biological science held a high position in their society.

Galeda drew his vibro-sword. Every soldier had the tools to take out an Ex’No in melee very effectively. First, there were the automated, 360° rotating guns/micromissiles mounted on a Bolt PA’s upper back, extending above the head of the soldier to have a free field of fire. These were very effective against lightly to unarmored Ex’No forms, and employed both at range and in melee. The Wraiths were one of the former, and the first one got ripped apart by Galeda’s suit’s guns before it was able to pounce on him. The other two jumped, but the first one didn’t make it far before being cut in half by another soldier’s vibro-sword, a weapon that increased cutting capacity by vibrating the blade at extremely high frequency, due to which it was given to the soldiers for melee against the already mentioned Shadow forms.

The third Ex’No landed on the Colonel, making him stumble backwards a bit, but he did not fall to the ground. Instead, much to the Wraith’s disagreement, he grabbed it and used his multiplied strength to smack it against the floor. A kick to the head ended it. Three down, but their place was taken by no less than five. Four were regular wraiths, but the fifth was a Tank, a hulking monster. Four swings of the vibro-sword made short work of the four regulars, but a Tank was an entirely different matter. A vibro-sword would not do, and the auto-guns not enough. But the RMF had been equipped for this case as well. The Tank charged, and Galeda drew his other weapon: an electromace. It was light – for him. Weighing approximately 18 kg, it felt like barely two to the Colonel. Dodging the charge, he aimed for the beast’s head. Bullseye.

The tank tumbled, and fell to the ground. The Colonel gave it a quick glance, then turned around, ready for the next attack – but it didn’t come, oddly enough. As if time had been frozen, all the Ex’No had suddenly stopped. For a few seconds, there was an extreme tension in the air – then they turned around, making back to their ships. Galeda couldn’t grasp it. They were fleeing? But no time to think about that now. Recognizing the opportunity, he yelled “Focus on the high-value targets!”, as his soldiers were free to shoot again. However, by that point, he had had enough of the Ex’No’s shenanigans. “Activate mag-boots”, the Colonel ordered, as the hangar doors screeched open, and the hangar was drained of air, pulling many Ex’No forms with it. The rest fell victim to the overwhelming Isilioni firepower. Seconds later, the secondary security hull closed, and the storm was over.

------

In fact, reinforcements had arrived. A Phalanx, consisting of 125 ships, broke into realspace. It consisted mostly of Torch-class Destroyers, 600 meter long heavy-hitters, and was complemented by Storm-class Heavy Cruisers, a number of Hive-class Carriers and multiple Decapitator-class Battlecruisers. On one such Decapitator-class, the Fiery Strike, Principal Commodore Glen sat in her command chair. “How’s the station looking?”, she asked her First Officer. “They’ve beaten back the attack so far. Their hangar is fairly damaged from the assault, but not nearly as much as a normal one would be.” Glen frowned. “Whatever. How’s the Ex’No force looking?” “We should be able to handle them. Many are transports that carried them into battle, a number of Corruptors and a lot of Fearsowers. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that they had to recall troops to somewhere else…. Either way, we are coming into torp range now, Ma’am. Ready to fire on your command.” “Do it. All ships, fire torpedoes, target the Corruptors. Follow it up with HEWB and MAC fire.”

The torpedo tubes of all ships lit up, spewing them into the void at high rates. Each Torch carried a lot of them already, and multiple dozens of them created a huge barrage, which was added to by the Storms and Decapitators. For once, the Corruptors were outnumbered, and their PD system did not suffice to stop the volleys. Multiple took impact to their hulls, ripping them apart and releasing the bright energy of a fusion reaction. The rest engaged the Isilioni with their weapons, but it was not fair. As a Torch-class was said to be able to effectively take about two Corruptors, they were hopelessly outnumbered, yet did fight to the end to cover their transports. It came quickly.

“Ma’am, new sensor readings”, she was informed by her sensor officer. “Rest of the Ex’No transports are bugging out.”

------

“To sum it up, Sir, the attack was definitely not a real one. Their fleet? Baby sized for an Ex’No force. And their boarding parties? Not even close.”, Galeda finished his explanation on the holotable. Prince Colonel Mentares nodded. “Indeed. Even more so that they got their asses out of here. Prince Commodore, did anything conspicuous occur in the space battle?” Glen thought for a moment. “The fleet composition was odd as well. Too many Fearsowers and not enough Corruptors for a battle force. They were focused on speed, not on firepower. If I had to make a guess, Sir…. I would say that they were here to test.” Silence filled the room for a moment. “A scout attack, then? I had hoped the conclusion was going to be a good one.”, Mentares sighed. “I want a message to go out to HIGHCOM immediately. We need reinforcements.”

------

Fire-class Dreadnought “Cleansing Flame“
Shortly after exit from the Shadow

Knight Admiral Josen Hiltred observed the fleet. The “Cleansing Flame“ was surrounded by it. No individual ship further away could be made out with the bare eye, so many were there. The entire void seemed to be filled with them. They formed not only a fleet. They formed a fist. A fist of cold, emotionless metal. A fist of fiery wrath. And it had one purpose: Destruction. Utter and complete destruction. It was what it was built for. It was what its crews had trained for. Now they were going to bring this fist down on their hated enemy.

Hiltred turned to his comms officer. “Respond to the Ellians, maximum encryption:“

Highest Greetings and Best Regards from the Isilion Republic. 150 million ships are ready and waiting. 25 million more will join us each day. It will be an honor to purge this Shadow scum with you as our allies.

Knight Admiral Hiltred out.

by **Ella2 6** » Sun Dec 02, 2018 5:15 am

Special thanks to Xah and Thoricia for cooperating with me to write sections of this post.

The Calm Before the Storm

19/04/10000

Kakyomira, Central
ESS Yonge Yuan De Guangemange
The War Room, The Temple of Divine Light
Saintess Kasumi Fujimoto

A vast, foreboding swarm had taken up residence around the luminous oasis of the foreign star and devoured its life-giving rays in an attempt to smother the holy beacon. The alien sun rescinded its flames before the onslaught of darkness, its pulsing heart defiantly rejecting the ghastly stain on its solar corona.

A lonely world precessed endlessly around its besieged host star, itself set upon by the ravenous swarm in a similar manner. Icy storms swirled across its now-frigid surface, burying the remains of a once-vibrant world. Ex'No consumed the permafrost tomb, their unnatural forms so immune to hurt that they forged an irrepressible presence over and under every sheet and shelf of ice.

This was the sullen image that confronted the emissaries of divine light as their pointed bows breached the eternal fabric, their warp bubbles popping around them with resounding gravitational waves that cascaded over the system as if ripples in a pond. Incidentally, this disturbance would also alert any Ex'No present within this system to their current disposition. However, this was exactly what the Saintess had hoped for. And, as she was soon to find out, her efforts would not be in vain.

“Sister Kasumi,” Daiki called, “this system is occupied by Ex'No.” The Saintess nodded expectantly. She had anticipated such being the case. “There are two Ex'No swarms in the system,” he continued, “Totalling some seventy-five million Ex'No forms.”

She studied the systemic map displayed on the glass tabletop before her, taking note of the enemy positions relative to their own. “How old is this data?”

“Some one hundred and sixty minutes,” the young knight replied. Kasumi shook her head in disgust. A hundred and sixty minutes was enough time for the fleet to reposition to the other end of the system a hundred times over. While the Ex'No had no such speed to match, they were capable of incredible things. A hundred and sixty minutes was certainly enough for them to have confirmed their presence in the system and have moved up reinforcements to engage while the Order would not know an attack was on the way until a two and a half hours later.

“Dispatch scout craft to survey the Ex'No swarms and ready the fleet for combat,” she ordered after a few minutes of observation, apparently unfazed by the overwhelming power of the opposition.

“We're outgunned five-to-one,” Daiki protested, “We would not stand a chance.”

“The sum of their forces eclipses the might of our own,” the Saintess agreed, “But divided they pose little threat to us. Make for Kue Kiu at full steam in two hours time. We will hit them as soon as we drop out of warp.”

“We are attacking the weaker swarm first?” Takuma noted with some amusement.

“The Ex'No are breeding up their numbers on the arctic world,” Kasumi declared, “We will destroy their brood before they can leave their nest.” The veteran knight nodded sagely. Their discourse was interrupted by millions of pings that flared up on the table as individual vessels warped in around the Ellian fleet. The warp signatures were varied to such an extent that any distinctiveness of one was overridden by another. There could only be one party that such a haphazard collection belonged to:

“Talik vessels are arriving,” Daiki announced, “They're hailing us.”

“Their arrival is a blessing,” the Saintess intoned, “Establish a secure channel with them. I'm sure we have much to discuss.”

"This may take a few minutes to set up," the young knight informed her. Kasumi signalled her understanding and the knight moved off from his station by the central table to pass down the orders. He returned a few minutes later, nodding to his superior. "Sister Kasumi," he called, handing her a glass tablet displaying the details of the Talik fleet leader, "We're starting the transmission now."

Kasumi studied the plaque briefly before returning it to the knight, watching as the wall-screen turned on... Then half of it slowly faded into black as the visual and audio feeds received no data. The other half was occupied by Grand Admiral Yamazaki, who resided on the actual bridge of the Yonge Yuan De Guangemange and directed the majority of the armada's operations. The flag officer brought two extended fingers to his temple. Kasumi nodded in return. "What's the delay on this transmission?" She asked, unaware that the equipment was already transmitting on both ends.

"About seven seconds," Daiki replied, "We should be receiving their return signals now." As if on cue, the immense glass display lit up with the earthy, multi-coloured interior of a CubeShip. The hidden speakers hummed softly - almost inaudibly - with the sounds of the Talik environment. The temple's war room was much plainer in comparison, whitewashed walls of glass and plasteel lit uniformly by light from all sides; a true was a sanctuary of divine light, free from the taint of darkness. The Ellian bridge was designed to a similar effect, but unlike the silence of the holy sanctum, it was filled with the clamour of men and equipment which the microphones dutifully filtered out and minimised wherever possible.

Kasumi turned to the developing image of the Talik One Side Blue and bowed slightly from the waist in greeting. "Your arrival is a blessing," the Saintess smiled, "It's a pleasure to have you with us today."

"The pleasure is all mine/ours," the Talikai replied, its voice a strange modulation of approximated sounds, "It is a pleasure to work with the Ellians as we/we have done for so long."

"That's a very impressive fleet you've assembled," the Saintess commented, her eyes dropping to the counter. Red spots rapidly dotted themselves over the interactive map, sending ripples across the glass tabletop like pebbles dropping softly into a pool of water, as the vessel's sensors steadily registered more and more CubeShips leaving their warp bubbles with each passing second. "What is the tally on your end?"

There is a slight pause, a little longer than transmission delay would normally account for. "Impressive is a measure of power, not numbers," One Side Blue said, "We/we could not hope to match your own fleet in ability, we/we do our best with what we/we have." It rustled, components waving in a gesture that could be interpreted as a human 'kind of'. "I/we hope to see all Talik in this area, to fulfil us/our obligations. Final numbers are not known, but expect one ex one three... forgive me/us, a billion CubeShips." A slight pause with some indistinct sounds in the background. "A billion. Yes. I/we said that, no?"

Kasumi motioned to speak, but another voice interrupted her. “Huukor vessels of the Holy Dominion are arriving in system," Daiki announced, "Shall I establish contact with them?”

"Please do," the Saintess urged. She glanced down at the map, watching as large groups of pings appeared in close order more or less simultaneously. The large, coordinated warping efforts easily differentiated the Huukor fleets from the Talik, who were still slowly trickling in as individuals. The wall-screen divided itself a multitude of times before it settled into two rows of eight with the Huukor taking up all but three of them. One Side Blue and Grand Admiral Yamazaki found themselves exiled to one side while one last screen remained as a utility display.

The transmissions encompassed the entirety of the wall-screen, completely surrounding the occupants of the war room. Kasumi swept her eyes over the sea of faces, having to turn around to see them all. "The Goddess of Light smiles upon us this day," she intoned, smiling warmly in greeting, "Thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen."

One of the new arrivals, a male Huukor by the name Faustus, took the initiative to reply. He looked over his viewscreen at the leader of the Ellian Order's fleet, his first impressions dwelt upon her apparent young age. The other Huukor leaders watched the Saintess with similar misgivings, their unspoken sentiments mirroring Faustus' own. He studied her for a moment and wondered if she possessed more skill than her appearance led on. He certainly hoped so, otherwise he would have made a grave mistake. He fought down a scowl when he noticed Remus' smirk. Kasumi shrugged inwardly. Let them have their reservations.

"Greetings madam, I am Patre Sancte Faustus of Sanctus Malleo, I do not represent every Order of the Holy Dominion for the record," Faustus said before he introduced the other Order leaders. "We are honoured to take up the fight against our hated foe," he concluded at the end of his introduction, "How may we be of assistance?"

"I'll cut to the chase then," the Saintess told them, "The Order of Divine Light is conducting a sectorial campaign to purge the entirety of the Central Sector of Ex'No influence. The Order will be providing monthly reinforcements of five hundred million craft to support this endeavour. The star system before us is the closest system to the Order's shadowdrive arrival coordinates. It will make a fine base of operations for all future Ellian operations in this Sector. Daiki." The young knight brought up a map of Kakyomira on the utility screen, which began transmitting to the other fleet leaders as well. "Our current objective is to secure this system and then gradually expand into neighbouring systems over the course of a millennia until the entire sector is clear. Known realms will be prioritised and liberated first. Are there any questions so far?"

She glanced along the wall-screen at the various faces, all seemingly content with what she has said so far. Taking this as a 'no' to her query, she continued, "As you can see, this system is currently occupied by a number of Ex'No swarms. Our entry into this system has already drawn their attention to us. They will presumably be moving towards our position as we speak. I've dispatched scouting forces ahead to survey the current situation of the system. They should be back shortly. In the meantime, allow me to lay out my plans to purge the Ex'No from this system."

"As you can see from the map, these are the Ex'No positions observed some one hundred and sixty minutes prior to our arrival into the system. They are unlikely to have changed their positions until we arrived so this information should prove to be an accurate assessment of their defences. Now that we have arrived, we can expect Ex'No scouting forces to have been dispatched from their garrisons around Kakyomira and Kue Kiu, with the Kakyomira force being the larger of the two." As she spoke, the arrows drew themselves onto the map displayed on the utility screen and the markers of the Ex'No swarms blinked as a small section was separated from the main body and began moving along the path.

"The majority of the Ex'No swarms seem to be clustered around the star, so by sending the scouting party to our position, the Ex'No would have severely weakened their local garrison around the planet, leaving it open to attack. My plan, therefore, is to exploit this gap in their defences. We will maintain our position here for the next two hours before warping directly to Kue Kiu and destroying the Ex'No swarm there. This manoeuvre should trick the Ex'No into believing that our reinforcements had arrived into the system and a second force was preparing to besiege their world. This will prompt them to prioritise engaging our non-existant reinforcements first before turning back to break our siege on the planet. Needless to say, any extra time afforded to us is greatly appreciated."

The allied fleet counter on the utility map moved over the icy world and instantly the Ex'No swarm departed from its orbit around Kakyomira to attack the allied fleet. Additionally, two smaller, blinking counters with dotted lines separated themselves either scouting party and a curved line traced their return vector towards the planet. "There is a fifty percent chance that these two Ex'No scouting parties will split off a third of its numbers and send them back as reinforcements to the planet while the rest continue onwards to our previous position. It would be ideal if they did - my calculations suggest that we should be able to destroy the majority of the Ex'No swarm around the planet before they can arrive. They will arrive one after the other with a three-hour gap in between the first and the second."

"With our overwhelming numerical superiority, we should be able to defeat them in detail as they arrive. Once the ordeal is done, we will retreat back to our original position on the edge of the system before the main force of forty million Ex'No arrives. On our way, we will destroy the remainder of these two scouting forces. That is all for now," Kasumi finally concluded, "Once we have returned to our current position, we will formulate a new plan for destroying the final Ex'No swarm. Any questions?"

The Huukor took their time to convene with one another in their native tongues. Kasumi waited patiently for them to conclude their discourse, their foreign discussion impenetrable. While they spoke, the Talik, One Side Blue, had a quiet conversation with itself, its components waving around expressively. Their talk was much briefer and they turned to the pink-haired Saintess shortly, signalling for her attention.

"I/We would like to restate my/our support for your plan of action," the Talik approximated in speech, "However, I/we would like to emphasise that our/our presence on the battlefield is merely a supportive role, not a combative one, though we/we are willing to fight when necessary."

Kasumi managed a smile of understanding, but she had hoped that the billion or so cube ships could lend her some valuable firepower. She supposed that the engineering skills the Talik possessed would be worth their equal weight in gold (especially after they had set up some more permanent infrastructure in the system), but even so, she could not but help feel a little disappointed. "Of course," she agreed, albeit reluctantly, "I am grateful for any support the Talik can offer us." The Talik acknowledge this with a nod that looked more like a bow.

It took a little while longer until the dozen-odd Huukor reached a conclusion. As with before, Faustus took the lead as the one to present their resolution to the Ellian Saintess. "Madam, we have discussed this at length," he began, "and we agree that this is the best course of action. However, the Order Fleets wish to retain the right to operate independently should the need arise."

The request grated against Kasumi more than just slightly, but she made no show of it. She was well aware of the problems that might arise from the Huukor acting on their own accord - potentially, one miscommunicated move from either party could jeopardise the entire operation. And since the Talik could not be relied upon for the much sought after offensive firepower, she was hoping that the Huukor could be much more facilitating. "I understand," she found herself saying, "It is neither within my jurisdiction nor my prerogative to force you to abide by my requests. But it would be much appreciated if advanced notice can be issued when you wish to deviate from the established plan."

"That would be arranged, of course," the Huukor agreed.

Kasumi nodded. "Very well. If that is all, then we should begin to prepare our troops for combat. I will contact you again in two hours to organise our movements to Kue Kiu. It was a pleasure meeting you, ladies and gentlemen. May divine light guide you to divine blessings." In a single swift motion, she drew her plasma sword, ignited it with a flourish and brought it before her face in salute. Daiki allowed the transmission to continue for a few more seconds as she resheathed her blade before he severed communications.

"I'll ready the fleet for battle," Takuma offered.

The Saintess beamed. "Please do. And do tell the knights not to deploy yet. We won't be able to provide them with orbital support." The veteran knight nodded in agreement before moving off. Kasumi returned to the wall-screen, which had reverted to a detailed map of their surroundings, and studied it in silence. Her delicate blue eyes flickering back and forth, mentally tracing paths around the system and gauging movement and arrive times, reassuring herself the overall soundness of her plan.

"Pardon the intrusion, Sister Kasumi," Daiki said as he approached her, "But if I may inquire: Why are we holding position? If the Ex'No swarm is weakened, we should be attacking right now."

Kasumi regarded the young knight for a while before replying. "If we attack now, there is a greater chance that the Ex'No scouting party will opt to turn back to defend the planet," she explained at length, summoning a simulation onto the glass tabletop, "If that happens, they'll be hitting us rear."

"The Corrupted attacked us in the rear too," Daiki pointed out, "You managed to turn that battle around remarkably swiftly. Why are you so concerned about this battle?"

"The Ex'No do not fight in the same manner as the Corrupted do," the pink-haired Saintess told him, "You are still young, Brother Daiki, and you have yet to witness our repugnant adversary in action. You will understand once we engage in battle. I can assure you that it will be like nothing you have ever seen before."

"Very well. I will respect your judgement," the cream-haired knight stated.

The Saintess nodded, satisfied, and turned back to the wall-screen. She hesitated slightly, before calling for the young knight again. "Brother Daiki, please refrain from rushing headlong into battle. The war is long and life is sacred. Restraint and patience are the ultimate virtues on the battlefield. Exercise your wisdom and stay alive. Survive and She will give you endless opportunities to make a difference in this world."

"I understand," he affirmed, "I will always keep that in mind. Thank you for your guidance, Sister Kasumi."

It took only a few seconds for the coordinated warp effort to bring the entirety of the allied forces into close proximity with the frozen world of Kue Kiu. Upon the Saintess' bidding, the wall-screen enlarged the distant pinprick of the planet into a detailed picture, revealing the patchy swarm of Ex'No forms in orbit around the world. Their taint on the landscape could easily be made out as well, with the planet's entire surface covered by a deep, purple hue with extremely poor reflectivity.

On the table, her own fleet had taken up a line formation with two detachments of some twenty-five million vessels each, advancing in a column on either side and slightly behind them. The left wing was led by the indomitable Sage Karen Yamamoto while the right wing was commanded by the unyielding Sage Yuko Yamashita, either of which could be considered worthy rivals of Kasumi's own tactical prowess. Much further behind them, the logistic formations kept both pace and distance with the combat formations and were screened by a wall of guangefui-class multipurpose support vessels.

It was a deceptively simple, yet elegant and effective arrangement. The main line of a hundred million warships would give her the strength and endurance necessary to power her way through the numerically inferior, but individually superior Ex'No void forms while the reserved wings on either side of her main formation gave her the flexibility she needed to compliment her much more rigid line of battle. Presently, the wings were charged with exploiting the flanks of the Ex'No formation using wide turning manoeuvres similar to the one performed during the battle against the Corrupted two-and-a-half months ago. However, should the tactical situation change, they could be quickly recalled to reinforce the main force or diverted from the flanks to lead a charge through the centre of the Ex'No swarm.

The Expeditionary Force had organised their ranks prior to warp and it only took a few minutes for the formation to realign itself after emerging from their warp bubbles. Daiki quickly checked the statuses of the various command groups constituting the fleet before turning to his superior. "Sister Kasumi, all combat preparations been completed," he announced, "It's been approximately eight minutes since we warped in. Estimated range to the target is roughly ten light minutes. We expect the Ex'No scouting party to be here..." He quickly marked a position on the map with a light tap. "And we expect them to have detected us by now. Ex'No munitions should be arriving at our position in fifteen minutes. Our forces are spread relatively thinly over a five light minute by two light minute front. What are your orders?"

The Saintess studied the map quickly, taking note of all the dotted lines and curves which traced their way around the chart. "Dispatch scouts to the front some five light minutes ahead of us. We should still have time to gather detailed intelligence before the Ex'No reaches us. In the meantime, overfire all reactors in the fleet and be ready to open fire as soon as the scouts return. Inform Sister Karen and Sister Yuko to begin executing their flanking manoeuvres." She paused, her eyes scanning the map for anything she might be missing. After a few seconds, she jabbed a finger accusingly at the support formations behind the main line. "Tighten up that screening formation. There are a million souls on each of those transports behind us and I'm not losing a single one."

"It'll be done, Sister Kasumi," Takuma assured her and unobtrusively departed. He came back a minute or two later. "Everything's been organised," he informed. True to his words, various scouting formations began breaking off from the bulk of the support formations and warped ahead of the fleet, placing themselves halfway between the planet and the emissaries of divine light.

"They should be back in five minutes," Daiki observed, noting the distances between the predicted position of the Ex'No and the warp coordinates of the Ellian scouting craft. Kasumi nodded, content to simply wait until the scouts returned with news to bear.

After a couple of minutes, Takuma returned, his expression grave. "Sister Kasumi, I just received word back from our scouts. It seems that the Ex'No had already spotted and opened fired. Our scouts were forced to flee the area under a heavy barrage. Casualties were not outstanding, but the formation is fairly shaken."

"Return fire at once!" The pink-haired saintess ordered, slamming her fists into the table before immediately wishing she did not, grimacing as pain shot up her arm. Withdrawing her injured hand from view, she recomposed herself as best as she could and studied the map once more, noticing the number of pings blanketing a large portion of the screen, advancing towards them in a cone. "How long do we have before those munitions reach us?" She asked, tapping on them gingerly.

The veteran knight cast a quick glance at the digital clock on the table-screen. "No more than two to three minutes."

Kasumi quickly weighed her options. She could order the fleet to evade the incoming volley, but more likely than not that would throw the entire formation into disarray as they tried to shuffle out of the way and keep their guns trained on the enemy at the same time. The only option left then was to strengthen the shields and to take the hit. "Then let us make haste," she declared, "Brother Takuma, pass down my orders. Brace us for impact and fire all main guns. Put the main line into reverse. If the Ex'No keeps charging us they can run straight into Sister Yuki and Sister Yuko's broadsides."

The veteran knight nodded quickly and repeated the order to a subordinate knight. It did not take much longer after that before beams of golden light arced past the Yonge Yuan De Guangemange on the wall screen and disappeared beyond the visual horizon.

"The Ex'No swarm will be closing into point-blank range in twenty-eight minutes," Daiki warned, "Maybe a little more if can reverse fast enough. In any case, we might not have the firepower to stop them. Sister Kasumi, we must prepare for the possibility that they'll ram us."

Kasumi gritted her teeth as an explosion rocked the entire vessel, the initial Ex'No barrage having penetrated the heavily fortified forward energy shields. She hoped that the Huukor did not choose this particular moment to act on their own initiative and do something completely undesirable to the tactical situation. She briefly considered recalling the two Sage's wings to reinforce her central formation but dismissed the notion almost as quickly as it came. They would not make it in time and she needed them to be in a position to win the battle if she was to go down.

"Very well then. Tighten the formation and ready the broadsides and ground support cannons for rapid-fire exchange. Prepare the torpedo tubes to fire at will." The last two points were really not for her to say, but she felt it necessary to remind her fleet captains to utilise every gun they had in their arsenal. Their very survival now depended on the weight of their firepower and every ounce counted.

by **Xah** » Wed Feb 13, 2019 4:07 am

Talikah HomeCube 3456-TL-77 'One Side Blue'
Kasumi's Expeditionary Force

The majority of the craft available to One Side Blue distributed themselves throughout the second line of the Ellian fleet; with the number of CubeShips peaking at just over a billion, the Ellian ships had an escort of a dozen or so CubeShips, although the difference in scale was substantial. The tiny CubeShips circled the Ellian vessels like flies, keeping their sensor arrays open for damage and incoming attacks. Once battle was joined, the Cubeships would provide repairs, damage control and a small level of protection against incoming Ex'No assault for vessels cycling back from the front-line. The Talik did not expect to be able to fight on equal terms with an Ex'No craft, but their phased lasers added another level of complexity to the defensive lines that could, in principle, tip the scale more in their favour.

A minority of Cubeships, although still numbering in the many millions, concentrated themselves around the Homeships of the Talikah present in the fleet. These conglomerations settled into their Escort formations of around eight thousand constituents, and powered up their rather more substantial weapons to act as both an offensive force, and to offer more defence to their de-facto leaders, should the Ex'No target them. One Side Blue had assumed overall command of the fleet, although there were several other Talikah in the vicinity, and there was an uneasy feeling that there was a strong possibility of heavy losses in this engagement. The scent within the HomeCube was palpable and strong; if one of the Talik was to disintegrate due to stress, the odours should encourage the talikai to reintegrate swiftly.

<<Incoming enemy craft>> the Talik observing the local area scanner called out. <<Numbers are.... considerable>>

One Side Blue acknowledged the message. <<Engage as soon as the Ellian do, primary objective is to clear the local area of hostiles, keep the HomeCubes together and keep the fleet operational.>>

It wasn't going to be pretty, but with luck, there would be salvage aplenty afterwards and their relationship with the Ellians would be stronger.

Talik CubeShip 37183381-LS-6 'Hatched Slippery'

Hatched Slippery's 64-cube had been split into eight 8-cubes almost as soon as they had arrived and distributed throughout the Ellian fleet. Only two eights remained in the local area, assigned to repair vessels that were returning from the 'front line' of the battle. The individual craft separated and waited in a loose cloud for craft belonging to the Ellian fleet to withdraw. Talik did not feel fear, not in the same way as Hatched Slippery had read other species did; instead of a body-wide fight or flight preparation, a Talik instead felt their talikai contract together, a closer bonding and an increase in the rate of information exchange between components, just in case one was injured or lost. The scents in the CubeShip intensified and as the first Ex'No hits arrived, Hatched Slippery could not help but feel a slight sorrow for the losses about to occur.

It didn't take long for the first Ellian ships to pull back; with engagements of this scale, luck, good and bad, became a matter of numbers and the most unlikely of event became an almost certainty. A random shot taking out a critical component in the first strike might only have a one in a million chance of occurrence, but with millions of ships, that should, statistically, happen quite a few times. A cruiser limped towards Hatched Slippery's group, its front end a tangled mess of wreckage and its drive plume streaked with obvious contaminants. Signals received from the Ellians directed the Talik towards the ship's drive; an Ex'No shot had damaged the front armour of the cruiser, which had caused an unpredictable chain reaction in the ship's electrics and a misfire in the reactor. Casualties were light, but the vessel was unable to accelerate or slow properly and without a fully functional reactor, offensive capabilities were limited. the captain was keen to get repairs done quickly, to return to the front.

The CubeShips darted forwards, mechandrils extending, and the wreckage at the front of the ship was stripped back and re-formed into some semblance of protection once more. Hatched Slippery's CubeShip had moved further to the rear and, ignoring the alarms signalling an increase in external radiation, began the relatively complex process of fixing the larger vessel's reactor. Other CubeShips brought materials and Hatched Slippery let the craft work with minimal interference. Thankfully their contract with the Ellians gave them detailed plans to Ellian systems. Although this ship wouldn't be winning any races any time soon and the drive exhaust would be dirty, at least power would be fully supplied to the offensive and defensive systems. Pulling back, Hatched Slippery surveyed the completed work with a critical view and signalled the Ellians that they were finished. All in all, the repairs had taken less than ten minutes, but in that time, a battlefield could chance drastically.

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