ERROR:Leader.exe not found [IC, Closed]

by **Singaporean Transhumans** » Tue Jul 07, 2015 6:14 am

Click the image for OOC thread link.

Jakarta, TR Indonesia, the People’s Technocratic Federation of Singapore

"SecCom, we have succeeded in clamping access to Power Plant no. 6, unit advancement in area has achieved major progress, and hostile defenses nearby have been breached by juggernaut units."

A Stratocracy officer was reporting the latest progress of their forces advancing into a local Dark Energy Reactor power plant. The Harmonist forces defending the area were cut down like wheat, and another major power source has been seized by the Stratocratic forces. It would not be long before the Harmonist forces lose total strategic control over Jakarta, as in that day many other of their forces have suffered defeats at various locations across the city.

Power Plant No. 6

One of the many generic armed civilians that formed the bulk of the armies of most factions in the civil war, Zebadiah Sianipar, armed with a SPP-19 and a KRT-83-S, he was to provide suppression fire support for the team he was in, advancing into the power plant. The team, comprising of 4 conscripted armed civilians and 2 military servicemen, was to take control of the Power Plant’s control center to shut down the plant and spell doom for Harmonist forces down the blocks as their technology would be cut from the very energy that they need. They weren’t that far from their goal, but for every corridor they moved into, the Harmonist resistance seemed to be stronger and stronger.

A straight turn. Into another corridor, where a few Harmonist soldiers wielding acid-spitting guns would attempt to take them by surprise.

The leader of the team, an augmented Malay from Sarawak, ordered the team to stop with a hand gesture. She then took out a redstone grenade, activated it, and rolled it down the other corridor the Harmonists stood guard.

Inside the grenade, the redstone atoms were getting excited as the nuclear reaction began. Atomic instability released huge energy, detonating the grenade, generating massive pressure which shattered the ceramic tiles and blasted the Harmonist soldiers onto the wall. A radio flatline was then heard, indicating the bio-signals of the guards were lost and that they were dead.

The team moved into the corridor, and expected no more complications. They were wrong, of course, as the plot implies.

The door behind the dead Harmonists was blasted open by a second grenade, thrown by people apparently from the other side. Russophiles.* Zebadiah thought. They arrived in Jakarta a week ago and started to kill everyone, everything in their way just to pave the way for their “new masters”.

*sry blak

Immediately did the two teams started exchanging fire. Multiple of Zebadiah’s mates, poorly armoured, fell as the rounds of the PP-39X* sprayed down the hallway. Zeb himself was saved thanks to charging up his flak vest before going in, allowing him to survive the first volley. He then fired back with his KRT rifle, gunning down one and injuring another via a shot in the chest.

*I have no idea how a Russian weapon fell into their hands. Stop asking.

Suddenly, the roofs on the other side collapsed, squashing the enemies under metal frames and exposing another Stratocratic task force, whom used a Volkspanzerfaust to dig a hole in the floor only to collapse it.* The Russophiles who didn’t get squashed were gunned down by the incoming team ruthlessly, plasma fire corroding their armour and projectiles piercing into it.

*Don't ask me why, we ran out of shovels and pickaxes.

"We're not far from that control center, guys. Keep going-"

The soldier speaking was immediately hit by a shotgun shell from another end. Said soldier was pushed by the shell, with enormous kinetic energy, onto the wall, injured but not dead. The shotgunner that committed the act gunned down another with a well-placed headshot, and aimed for Zebadiah as the next target. However, before the person could pull the trigger, Zeb's team leader launched a dark energy ball at the shotgunner using her NRBB-13 pulse rifle. The attacker was hit by the energy ball, and turned into a floating bulk of negative mass before dissipating into the air.

The joined two teams encountered little resistance, eventually advancing into the control center surprised to find out that no one was guarding it. Zeb stepped forward and started to type on the computer screen, executing the procedures to shut down the reactor and all energy output systems. Just as he pressed the "shut down" option however, a message popped out onto the control screen:

HA HA. YOU HAVE FELL FOR A TRAP. THE REACTOR CORE WILL DESTABILIZE WITHIN AN AMOUNT OF TIME YOU FAIL TO IMAGINE. MWAHAHAHA.

"Was that serious?" Zeb started to grow a bit nervous, but of course no one can see his expression. Emotions could fluctuate behind the simple gas mask, but no one bothered to care about other's emotions.

"Well, I'd consider that serious since the reactor core is starting to malfunction..." one of his colleagues pointed at the core, that started to change from its stable state.

"Oh well. OH MY GAWD WHERE IS THE ACTUAL SHUT DOWN BUTTON" Zeb goes panicking, rubbing his hand all over the screen in hope of triggering the shutting down of the core through miraculous, or rather coincidental means.

In the reactor chamber, the reactor core started to emit an unhealthy yellow glow, and the distortions on the core surface that could be observed grew violent. Any Singaporean with basic technical knowledge knew this was when a reactor core is rid of its restrictive applications, and it could go boom any moment. Soon even the black core itself started to fluctuate, changing shape, no longer resembling a sphere but rather a fluid inside a container that is constantly moving violently.

"I can't shutdown this thing! All I can do is to cut off the output!"

"Did you do that?"

"Yes of course! I did that when I was rubbing my face on the screen!"

"I really thought augmentations could make a person more sensible...anyway, we should teleport out of here and report the situation to SecCom before we get turned into negative mass along with the reactor." the team leader spoke, rather in disappointment. Civvies really ought to know better, she thought.

"SecCom, dark energy reactor core is destabilizing, team Sundown Seven and Eight are evacuating, inoculation of area mandate, over."

The team engineer set up a teleporter and directed it towards an area 10 kilometres away in Stratocratic territory, where they would hopefully not be obliterated along with the rest of the power plant. When a core is destabilized, whole urban centers will be affected, and there are even cases where whole cities were wiped from the face of the planet with no traces left. But something worse was to be worried about.

For one year ago, when the PTFS was still a fledgling nation compared to the other multiversal empires (but most of said empires are now Singaporean territory) and still experimenting interdimensional teleportation, a terrible thing went wrong, thinning the "walls" between universes and bringing things and even entire nations from other universes into the PTFS's universe. The political events that followed were known as the Rift Incident and Consequences, a great change in global geopolitics as three new powers introduced themselves to the Dystopian Future with Minecraft. Just because of one experiment, the Coalition of Unions (a futuristic dystopian China) was reduced to a few strongholds in Tibet and Xinjiang, the Ethiopian Union was nearly annihilated, and Astana control over Europe was decimated.

Though not working based upon the same theory as the Rift, a dark energy core destabilization could also lead to the "thinning" of the universal walls, allowing other nations to receive visual broadcast of this event, and teleport into the Singaporean universe to intervene. This time, with the planet's greatest superpower inside a massive civil war, things are bound to be more complicated.

"So did we just acknowledge the multiverse of this conflict? Hell, that's the last thing we need." Zebadiah gazed at the power plant collapsing, the core being revealed, expanding and being warped into the skies.

"Thanks to you."

"Um...I'll report to the punishment battalion now."

"You should, so they won't find a reason to kill you."

by **Allancia** » Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:45 pm

Sir Martin Luther Radio Station, Togoland, North African Civilian Occupied Provinces
Herr Martin Luther Radioktan Brigstern, Togoland, Volksbewohnt Nordafrika
Mheshimiwa Martin Luther Radio Station, Togoland, North raia wa Afrika ulichukua Mikoa

As the attendant looked over the incoming signals, he was half asleep. Cosmic radiation, satellite broadcasts, some stupid shit from Jupiter or something.
Wait.
The actual fuck? Beta Particles from deep space? With polarity levels in the 6000s? Nuh-uh. That's bullshit.
Hey, Stephen, get over here. I need you to write something up for me, mkay?

Central Authorization Board, Battenburg, Germanian Central Provinces, Greater Allancian Empire
Koppenautorian Jassein, Battenburg, Germanische Koppenprovinz, Groß Allanzi Reich

As the High Command argued harder and harder, a porter ran into their office and slipped a piece of paper into the scanning mechanism of the DMIOE. The 6th member of the Command, the Head Spymaster General (Koppen Spionmaester Stroßei) was missing. The seldom present Chancellor (Kanzler) was busily debating the Treasurer (Geldführer) about trade pacts with an Allancian satellite state in the F7 nexus of the multiverse.
Kanzler: This is outrageous! How can you expect us to make a surplus if we give them concessions?
Geldfuhrer: I don't! I just think we need to be more lenient! They have been unendingly at war with Kasselden for 12 years, and if we don't give them some kind of help, we will lose our ability to actu...
Everyone fell silent. The Defense Marshal (Abwehrmarschall), head of the armed forces, had started to read something aloud.
On this morning, at 05:27, a radio base in the Togoland Province picked up a radiation burst. It appeared to have been emanated from a momentary rift in the space-time fabric about 322 million kilometers from Earth. Due to the nature of the burst, it is believed that this will most probably happen again. Within the burst was found several interesting qualities. For one thing, it contained a polarity index that matched the one of the universe that the Singaporean Transhumanists live within, meaning it did not originate from here. Secondly, it's turbulence index suggests that it was created deliberately, and not just through some weird fluctuations or whatever. Point is, they're talking to us. I'll tell the State Military Sector's radio bases to continue to be on the lookout.
Everyone registered this, and began talking again in hushed voices.
A few hours later
Another porter ran in and handed a missive, this one handtyped, to the Defense Marshal. After reading it briefly, he put it down and addressed the members of the High Command again.
It's been confirmed. The Transhumanist Singaporeans are in a state of violent civil war. In the radiation bursts, there were multiple accounts of people describing the war in detail, up to and including visual and audial descriptions of street battling.
The High Command sat in stunned silence. The DMIOE spoke up.
Order a fullscale investigation. Activate our radio stations in Antarktica, Greenland, Nippon and Oceania. I want offworld scientific establishments to begin activating their large scale search mechanisms. These are to run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week without fail until further notice. I want the Reserve Army to be readied for combat. No mobilization or equipping is to take place under any circumstance whatsoever. I want the civil and military factions in this war to be established immediately. This room is to be completely kept up to date on these happenings. If someone in New Singapore sneezes, I will know what brand of tissue they used to wipe away their oil-ridden snot within 10 seconds. If these bursts cease, dispatch the State Science Sector to reopen another rift as close to us as possible. Although these measures may seem severe, I will not let this pass. Singapore and it's relation to us shall most probably be intrinsically altered by this event. No word whatsoever is to reach the public of this.
For 3 out of the 5 people there, it was the most it had ever spoken. The Kanzler's orders were already in effect before anyone left the room.

by **Deminis** » Tue Jul 07, 2015 8:05 pm

It was a beautiful and clear night, the stars shining clear through the dark sky as Markus layed, relaxed, on his deck. It wasn't the first time he spent the night counting the stars he could see, and wondering how many he couldn't, but it was the first time he ever came close to understanding. It was only a few days ago that Markus himself had stepped through a portal into another world, meeting new people, and learning new things, or just relearning the old from a new angle. These were the thoughts that filled his mind when he saw something very disturbing.

Markus Tensed suddenly at what he saw, as the sky filled with images of a war filled world. His phone rang a moment later, he didn't bother answering, as he stood up from his seat he took off running towards the front door. He pulled out his cell phone and held the 2 key for a moment. "Jason!" He shouted into the phone as it stopped ringing, "We have a situation on our hands, Call up the board, they'll want to convene on this." he barked as he slammed his door shut.

"We need to use this as an opportunity, this world has tech like I've never dreamed of. If we play our cards right we may be able to get there in time to get our hands on some of it." He closed his car door, and revved the engine. Listening to Jason, "No, we don't have time for that, Our rift is enough to get one ship through, and the walls are weak anyways. All we are doing is tearing a new hole in a broken building. Prep the Zhukov and load a Deployable unit, I am not going to waste a chance to get some new equipment. So call up the Board, the topic is Rift Breaker." the phone squeeked for a second, "I don't care what time it is call them now, Tell them its a chance to jump fifty years of research funds, that aught to get there ass' moving." The phone squeaked again. "Good, i'll see you in five."

Travis Sarcagy Woke suddenly to the overhead PA, "ATTENTION ALL TROOPS, SECTORS A4 TO A5, PREPARE FOR BATTLE STATIONS. ALL DESIGNATED TROOPS ARE TO REPORT TO THEIR ASSIGNED VEHICLES AND TAKE FORMATION AT PORTAL UNIT B19. OVER AND OUT." Travis sighed, I just had to take Armor Devision. He dressed quickly and made his way to his tank. Then he noticed the sky, We'll at least I know where I'm going now His crew was waiting for him and they saluted as he arrived. "No need for formality, we are all probably going to die anyways" he said exasperated, they all looked at each other and laughed edgily. "Alright, boys, get in, and get buckled. I'm pretty sure we're going there" he said pointing up the the sky. "Jamin, your look out. I'm taking the gun on this one." The kid nodded, taking the no formality comment to heart. They quickly rolled into line with other tanks heading to the ordered area.

Veno Mincy stood at attention, the PA made her instructions clear, Get to the portal, Wait behind the Armor. So thats what she did. Her C.O. didn't even bother telling them to stop looking at the images in the sky. The weapons they were using were incredible, "SIR, Permision to speak freely,SIR" her CO looked at her, grimly "Granted" her permissed after a moment "Sir, Permission to equip a 10mm Special Sir?" The man didn't even hesitate, "Absolutely, Any one else want one? Cause it looks to me you are all going to need one, You have ten minutes, GO!" The entire rank broke off, Hauling ass the the armory, where the 10mm were already being handed out generously. Veno grabbed on in a hurry, with two extra magazines of plasma shells before hauling back to her spot in line. The CO grinned as she returned "Nice thinking trooper, Get back alive, and I'll guarantee you a promotion." Veno couldn't help but grin a bit at that.

Markus barged into the Board room with a number of papers in his hand, "Alright you've all seen the sky, and you all know what opportunistic await on the other side, so I'll make this quick. Our rift Prototype is enough to get the Zhukov though, and a portal on the other side can get her back. Since we don't have time to go over the usual specifics I'm dropping protocol and going to vote, Any apposed to that?" The twelve Board Members sat silent, some with small grins, others worried, but non apposed the lack of protocol at this stage. "Alright, We have prepared the teams and crew for the Zhukov, the Rift Team is awaiting order to engage the device. All we need is the Board approval, so All in favor?" The room filled with "Ayes" "Those against?" A single "Nay" floated across the room with disdain, "Reason for that Nay?" A elder female stood from her seat "This is a very dangerous situation, the people in that image are acting violently, and with powerful weapons. If you are able to guarantee our gain in this venture I am willing to change my vote."

Markus was taken aback, this particular Board Member was known for her willingness to do anything for gain to the country. "We will make the Offer of Mercs. If any party in their war is willing to share technology with us, we will work for them. This will ensure us returns for our service. If no offers are made we will return promptly, Is that sufficient Lady Mahar?" The elderly lady nodded her head in approval, "That sounds to be satisfactory, I apologies for my worries." Markus smiled gently, "Your worry is well placed, we may lose a number of troops before our gain may be met. This Meeting is now Adjourned, and i offer my apologies to those who have lost in their rest." Markus said officially before turning to leave promptly.

As he exited the massive building, a familiar automaton joined besides him in his strides to his car, "Sir, the Zhukov is fully loaded, and a platoon of M-BT-7's are awaiting at a portal unit, In addition to a platoon of infantry, they have all been given several weeks worth of their medications and spare munitions have been loaded into what room remained in the vehicles." Markus smiled "Good, Bring me to my ship Jason." He said as he sat down into the hovering car, as Jason closed the door and jumped into the drivers seat.

Travis sat with his head out the side hatch, his last order being to let his men rest, but to be ready on the moment. His crew were all playing cards with a rival crew. They were matched in performance tests, for top rank, always going at each other in and out of Sims. But this was real, "What do you think Jim, Want to count kills?" he asked his friend and rival, he commanded the other crew. "Na, Lets compare the tech we bring back." Jim said, his voice raspy from years of smoking, "Sounds like a deal, and a bargain to me. Maybe we can trade some after." Jim laughed a bit before coughing, "Sounds like fun." They watched as their crews played on, making little bets on who would win what hand.

Veno sat at a table with her CO, both under the same orders as anyone at this point, its was the first time she had ever heard his real name, Carl Gordy... It sounds like he should be in some kids movie. They talked about what they were seeing in the sky, the weapons, the armor. How familiar it all looked. "listen Veno, we both know we're probably not coming back from this right?" Veno shook her head "Yeah, were heading to a world of immense tech, while its at war. But at least we know its at war." Carl glared at the ground, "How did you get into the military? Normaly I'm not allowed to ask this, but I don't think it matters at this point." "Yeah" Veno nods "Probably not. I volunteered, My family was in the dumps, so i joined to get them the pay raise, They get my pay and the benefit of me being military". "Yeah, I thought it was something like that. Same for me". he replied simply before turning their conversation to more trivial topics.

Markus sat down in his Fanciful seat on the main deck with his eyes closed,listening to his crew as they rushed about him checking and rechecking everything again and again. Jason stood next to Markus, Silent and unreadable, making a single statement before walking away, "Sir, I am glad to be allowed to join you on this venture. It will be our first military motion in another universe, and I am glad to be able to witness it first hand." The ship Lurched forwards into the Glowing field in front of them. Its going to be a long night.

by **Singaporean Transhumans** » Tue Jul 07, 2015 11:59 pm

Manila, TR Philippines

"Ah, yes. Those nut-headed Stratocrats blew up a whole dark energy reactor! And they're now gonna pay for it." The person stood in his office, gazing at the holograms of the destabilization of the dark reactor core and the flattened quarter of Jakarta. "Some people's definitely going to come here and mess everything up. But ah, we'll greet them with our antics! That's what the Master of Antics always does. Shitler does not go any better than the people who can concern themselves with a Singaporean civil war."

The man speaking was Gabrio Cabrera, head of the Antic Order's Philippines Branch. He was also de facto the head of the entire Antic Order in the PTFS's universe, having proved his own worth by assisting various antics on the planet. The most notorious one? The detonation of the Siberian redstone ore veins, rendering the area uninhabitable for millennia. If the PTFS can be successfully seized by the Antic Order under his command, he'll probably get appointed director, or punong, in the area by the higher ranks of the Order. Gabrio would love to change the PTFS into a new glorious antic paradise and a backup zone for the entire Order, a source of technology and logistics. But for now, he has to stick with military command. LEV Destroyers are lurking just kilometres outside Metro Manila and the Purity forces can break in any moment.

Gabrio opened up the radio speaker, sending a message to the military headquarters in Canberra, Australia. "I want you people to send over 3 elite divisions to Jakarta via teleportation. Doesn't matter the place just drop them in Jakarta. The people who are interested in the [power plant] detonation would pursue its source, so we'll be staying there and ready to smack some antics in their face. Angkatan support 5 Rick Astley cruiser squads, that is enough."

"Affirmative, by the way when are you moving out of Manila?"

"Never. We're preparing for negotiations, no need to move out of Malacañang when it's now a fortified subterranean citadel with 3 dark energy reactors and 8 redstone reactors providing power plus 12,300 troops defending it...no one gets in. LEV Destroyers we shot down a week ago."

"Um, okay. Out."

Jakarta, TR Java, PTFS

"What the...those goddamn treehuggers rig everything we find."

A section leader scanned over the wastes of Jakarta. 1/4th of the city's surface infrastructure has been destroyed, luckily the detonation did not touch the redstone reactor complex nearby or else the day would be the end of the city. Reports show that the Harmony forces already retreated minutes before the reactor was breached, and it was all carefully planned to wipe out Stratocratic forces. Entire divisions were lost and crippled, the Stratocratic forces losing much of their strength as the elite was incapacitated. The subterranean metropolis did not endure either; most of that was now negative mass if not incomplete metal frames. A nearby ocean capsule exploded, the technology inside it resonating with the reactor core.

Suddenly however, a yell interrupts the idling soldiers, who were dumbfounded and didn't know what to do next.

"XENO TITAN! A XENO TITAN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! A XENO TITAN!"

"What? You sure?"

"Look over there!"

A giant, armoured towering insectoid synth comes into the sight of the troops, crushing a hovertank that was firing at it with its monstrous claws. Pulse cannons emerge from its body, sweeping at the soldiers hiding in the ruins. One tries to blast it with a Volkspanzerfaust, a civilian-issue rocket launcher, but the rocket-propelled grenade merely explodes upon contact with the exoskeleton and does nothing more. Instead, the xeno titan is angered, and turns to smash the structure the soldier is burrowing in using its claws.

The Harmonists have deployed their ultimate synth weapon. All of this indicated that they were going to launch the final offensive to take the rest of Jakarta, and they really mean it.

by **Atomic Utopia** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 12:50 am

4/4/724 A.F.

During the second cluster war the United Socialist States of Atomic Utopia (USSAU) created a network of what are known in military parlance as "pulse stations". The goal of these pulse stations was simple; detect spacecraft dropping out of FTL before they could be visually identified. The reasoning behind this was to prevent the enemy from getting the drop on USSAU forces in the Athena Stellar Cluster, which had resulted in several planets being lost before the news even reached central. Now with Tachnet and these stations getting the drop on USSAU forces was significantly harder.

They were in essence a series of extremely sensitive scintillation detector units located within a massive jacket of water shielded by around a few hundred meters of concrete.. All of these detector units combined could detect a neutrino flux of 1x10^2 n/cm^-3 and a tachyon* flux of as low as 1x10^2 t/cm¹. This also meant that they could detect all other types of radiation quite well, and indeed beta gamma and alpha radiation was not dissimilar to the radiation caused by neutrinos striking hydrogen molecules, the same goes for tachyons. However tachyons and neutrinos have one saving grace, high z-number elements have an extremely low absorption cross section for them, and low z-number elements have less so, but still far lower of an absorption cross section than with neutrons. Thus the detector arrays were contained in large cement structures, hundreds of meters high. These massive structures were distributed so that there would be one within ten parsecs of any site within USSAU controlled space in the Athena Stellar Cluster.

One such station was located upon 1-2234-7B-II, a medium sized planet that just barely existed in it's star's zone of habitability. Despite this it had absolutely no life on the planet before a pulse station was built upon it, thus one would not exactly call it the most habitable of worlds. Vast deserts devoid of all life stretched from each of the poles, the oceans were filled with only the most primitive algae that had escaped from the food production units at the base, and the atmosphere contained very little oxygen and an unusually large concentration of argon.

The base itself was not that remarkable either. One of several thousand such bases it was considered by many to be quite unimpressive, a small zone of various towers near a massive pyramid shaped structure, the neutrino detector, a massive cement pyramid that sloped into the heavens, reminiscent of the pyramids created by various cultures that had existed centuries ago on distant earth. To the left of the detector there was the power plant, the steel plated containment domes glinted in the sun and the cooling towers let out massive plumes of saturated steam, marking their locations.

Inside one of the nearby towers there was the detection station, a room filled with various technicians watching the detectors. One such technician was Sgt. Aleksey Konstantinov. He was watching a graph showing the emissions of various energies of tachyons, specifically in the low energy range, which signified distant warps. Suddenly the graph spiked. Projected tachyon flux was around 10^5 t/cm³, far higher than it had ever spiked before at any pulse station.

"Shit." he exclaimed when he saw the data, ripping off his headset and unplugging the link to his neural augmentations. He than pushed in the chair with a mighty shove, causing one of the nearby technicians to speak.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Low energy tach pulse, around five notches."

"Damn, what have they been warping around, planets?" his fellow worker said.

But Aleksey Konstantinov did not hear the last bit, he was already running to the office to inform the base commander, barging through the doors that led out of the detection station. He ran quickly throughout the halls of the building, dodging the occasional person also walking to their destinations.

When he reached his destination he proceeded to throw open the doors of the office of the base commander.

"Sir, we have a massive low energy tach flux."

"how massive?"

"Around five notches."

"Five notches? Ten to the fifth? Was your detection screen properly set up?"

"Yes, it was set up properly, no unusual jitters or dislocation."

The base commander pressed a button on his desk and began speaking over the intercom.

"This is an level A alert, this is a level A alert."

The commander than released the button and said "I hope that you are not right. We are going to have one hell of a problem with central."

In the cafeteria on floor 158 of the Central Command Complex were two people talking, a man and a woman.

"..and then we had a problem, a neutrino pulse was detected at one of our bases, but instead it was just the RV melting through the floor setting their readings off. That ended one very interesting day." He motioned with his hand to show how the unit had melted through the floor and laughed.

The woman responded, "Well you know what they say, when in doubt, check the RV first. Damn, fleet ops have been having one hell of at time with Arlus V. It seems like I will be eating breakfast here tomorrow."

A person ran up to the table and interrupted the conversation. "Mr. Chu, you are needed at MiniSec."

The man, the chief of the Ministry of Internal Security, Jian Chu, stood up and began walking with the courier.

"Sir, we have picked up something interesting. Take this." As he said this handed something to Jian Chu.

Jian Chu opened his palm and stared at what the courier had given him. Sitting in it was a small white pill, not much bigger than a half a centimeter across.

"It is that bad, is it now." he said in a much deflated voice as he looked at the pill.

"Yes, we detected a tach pulse of about five notches, rising to six."

"Well this will be one hell of a day." Jian Chu uttered as he swallowed the small pill.

While he had gone out to have lunch at the cafeteria, the transmissions sent by the various pulse stations were coming in, requests for confirmation were being sent out, analysts were attempting to determine what it was that caused the pulse, and a person was sent out to fetch the Chief of Internal Security, Jian Chu. Now the place was more chaotic, notifications were being sent out to various fleets to prep for war, and an official report was being compiled.

As he entered the room someone handed him an official folder containing the summary of the current incident.

Someone else came up to him. He was from the department of public information.

"Sir, are we to release a report regarding this?"

Chu thought for a moment before speaking.

"Make a sanitized version and then report back. I do not want unnecessary details escaping to the public."

"Yes sir."

The person from the DepInf left to report back to them and Chu reclined back into his office chair, staring up at the ceiling in an futile attempt to relax. How he wished that the universe waited ten minutes more for this to occur so that he could finish his lunch.

*OOC: I know these do not exist IRL, but I need FTL comms, so fuck it, they exist in my universe.

by **Blakullar** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 10:18 am

OTAN Complex, Unknown Location, Mechanocratic Russia.

A ripple. No, not a ripple. More like a tear, a great rupture in the fabric of spacetime. Whatever it was, it must have been big for the old one to have noticed it, still more so to have interrupted its game of virtual billiards. The walls to a foreign dimension had weakened, allowing ease of passage to said universe. Utilising its infinitely-powerful processors for maximum effect, the old one rapidly deduced that the source of the rupture was the destabilisation of a parallel Earth. Namely, that belonging to a certain ally of the Russians. It began to brood...

Invasion and enslavement of the Singaporean populace was one outcome on the old one's mind, though it believed that they had far greater technological prowess than Mechanocratic Russia's. Like any good scientist, it must investigate further before coming to any conclusion.

A creature emerged from one of the Complex's many corridors and entered an enormous chamber, at the centre of which was the means to reach the weakened universe. At this stage it should have been obvious that this bird was an artificial construct - no oxygen circulated in the Complex for reasons of self-defence against invaders. The old one directed the bird to enter the now-open portal, with instructions to be its eyes in that universe. Judging upon the coordinates of the portal's endpoint, it would have emerged close to, if not on top of, the source of the titanic explosion that caused the rupture...

by **Autem Galacticus Nexum** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 2:10 pm

Sagittarius A* Observation Station #70-B

Nexum Corespace
The Holy Dominion of the Autem Galacticus Nexum

BRRRRRRIIIIING. BRRRRRRIIIIING.

The alarms that blared from the holographic projection of Sagittarius A* pierced throughout the metallic station, which orbited the supermassive black hole some of a distance away. Scientists and researchers that were sleeping before were now roused awake by the shrilling noise.

^{"...What the f*ck is it this time?"}

One of the few military officers aboard the station (normally situated for peacekeeping purposes, and restraining individuals affected with Sagittarius Schizophrenia Syndrome) noticed it right away. He trotted over to the holographic projection, and beckoned one of the expert scientists nearby.

^{"Do you know what this is?"}

The scientist adjusted his astrospecs atop his wrinkly face, before peering closely into the hologram.

^{"Hmm. . .strange. There seems to be some type of anomaly near Sagittarius's event horizon. . .

No, no, no! It's actually near the boundary of the caution and safe zone, it's maintaining the same Galactic Time as us. Urhm. . . it's. . . I can't make it out from the projection. I can conclude what it is if we have an actual telescope pointing towards it. "

"Alright.

Station #70-A, do you detect an anomaly?"}

". . .Yes! We already got eyes on it. Sagittary's gravitational lensing has no affect on it."

^{"Good. Can you patch us in to the telescope feed? Dr. Zaereaxen can identify it if we get a physical observation."}

A large computer monitor sprang from the ceiling, crackling with static caused by the supermassive black hole's radio interruption.

^{"Wait for it. . ."}

The tachyon bursts from the opposite station gave direct feed to the computer screen. Suddenly, a detailed view of the anomaly came into view.

^{"Good, now I can see it.

It's a looping channel of warped space-time. . . this is exactly like a hyperspace tunnel. . .no. . .

Maintain maximum zoom into the center of the anomaly. This may be something entirely alien to us."}

The other station zoomed many times over into the center, reaching the quantum limitation of the telescope.

^{"Okay. . .

It appears there is a light coming from the end of the tunnel. . .two dots, one greyish in hue, and the other blue. . .those curved rings must be AU in arc dilation. . .

Holy shit."}

The scientist ripped off his astro specs in a flurry of action.

^{"Captain! You MUST notify the Astronomican at ONCE!"

"What? This is nothing groundbreaking, it's just a hyperspace tunn - "

"NO. Those rings are beige, nothing like we've ever seen. Beige is the color of all the light in the universe together! Also, those rings start at around an AU in arc curvature, and decrease until it reaches those two lights.

Those two lights are PLANETS. Those rings are space-time supports for a rogue wormhole, into a parallel --"

"-- Universe? This is a mere anomaly!"

"Send scout ships then. They'll PROVE this to you! No longer must we waste countless gigatons of Sagittarius Matter to enter new Universes; this one opened freely for us!"

"Ugh. I'll send the Red Rose if it'll shut you up."}

And so, it has begun.

by **Deminis** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:04 pm

Markus stood staring into the space in front of him. The rift was supposed to drop them far from the planet, but this was all wrong. He stood in front of his crew as they stared in awe of the strange planet in front of them, and yet every on of them knew its name. This was earth.

"Check the radio coms, Radio control. Something must have gone wrong with the rift." Markus shouted with out looking away from the planet.

"No reply sir, the radio is just silent." A younger officer answered.

"What do you mean, no coms?" Markus though for a second, " Send a message out, all channels. repeat the following.' to any one who can hear this message, please reply. We have just exited a prototype rift unit and we are unable to contact command. If any one can hear us please respond with any information about our current where abouts and time."

"Time sir?" The young officer asked, and Markus was quick to respond. "It could be that the rift we opened was to a different time than our own. Unlikely but possible." Markus did go on to continue the rest of the possibilities, as they were seemingly endless. So, he listened as the officer repeated the message.

"This is the F-10 Zhukov, Reporting after use of prototype rift device. We are calling out on all radio wave frequencies. To any one who is able to hear us and understand please repond with the following data. What is our current solar relative position, What is the current date relative the A.D. dating system. If you hear this messsage please respond." The officer repeated the message every five minutes as they waited for their response.

Travis layed atop the hull of his M-BT-7, watching as the sky played its various scenes of various places. It all looked so familiar and yet so alien. "Hey kid, Load a Plasma shell, and expect high damage when the portal opens." he calls out to the young private. The young man just nods and climbs into the tank, all the others sleeping or fooling around with other members of the Armor Core. Nothing left to do now but wait... Wait to kill or be killed.

Veno walked up to one of the rear tanks, rapping on the hull. An middle aged man lifting his head off the forward hull, "Hey, you guys have any smokes for a pretty lady"? she says flipping her black hair. "Yeah, i got you". Travis says as he tosses his pack back, "Care to join me up top? we've got permission to carry Footers. .he says patting the open spot next to him, watching as she lights one of the smokes. He reaches out for them as he steps up on the track.

"I think ill take that offer", Veno says as she jumps up, "But only till we get in, I want a chance to get that tech, and this big lug will just slow me down", she joked. "yeah, I think i might have to stick with you. you'r the only team here with any smokes left".

"Not for long, if you stick around". Travis smiles, finally able to relax a bit with some honest conversation.

by **Allancia** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:40 pm

War Direction House, Lindum Colonia, Britannian Central Provinces, Greater Allancian Empire
Kreigsleiterhaus, Lindum Colonia, Britannische Koppenprovinz, Groß Allanzi Reich
A piece of paper was slipped into the man's hand. The leader of the State Military Sector, the Defense Marshal, had barely any time to read it over talking to his attendants and drinking coffee. When he did look at it, he spat out his drink and silenced his advisors. The note read like this:
It has come to the attention of one of the spy-masters whom you employ that the nation of Deminis has brashly dispatched a military front to the Singaporean nation. How and why I became privy to this information is irrelevant. What is relevant is that you immediately notify the High Command of this aggressive act and take action. I would personally recommend military interference to at least limit them.
He immediately shooed out his attendants and called the DMIOE.
Hello sir?
How may I help you, Brannigan?
You need to see this.
He photocopied the letter and emailed it the DMIOE, all while on the phone. After a few moments, he heard the tinny voice again.
Fuck.

Imperial Space Launch Site, five-hundred kilometers outside of Starbuhlgrazia, Kievan Central Provinces, Greater Allancian Empire
Kaiserstartgelände, fünfhundert centrantengliverz außerhalb von Starbuhlgrazia, Kievan Koppenprovinz, Groß Allanzi Reich
Императорский Запуск сайта, пятьсот миль от Киев, киевские центральных провинциях, Большой немецкий Империя
Alright, try and rotate the sphere by about 3 degrees. Make sure not to scrape it or anything.
Commandant Hanzen was seeing things progress faster than he thought. The Imperial Space Division had personally tasked him with setting up the expeditionary force. Five cubic miles of concrete and steel were his kingdom, over 2000 workers his servants. The base had been set up twenty years earlier as part of the Infrastructural Development Plan perpetrated by the State Labor Sector as part of the seventy-sixth Five Year Plan. It had held inter-dimensional portals over 50 times and had supported military invasions of small nations.
Singapore was not a small nation.
Open the blast doors. We need oxygen circulating in and out of this chamber, makes it easier to have this work.
A small man in a labcoat walked up to him from below his perch, a rebar stand. The man tapped his shoes and spoke to him.
We're almost ready. The portal is placed in a huge steel ring, as you know, and we'll need to calibrate the energy convergence exactly right.
They currently stood in a large auditorium of sorts, with a wire and steel mesh placed over the top of the structure as a dome. Several metallic spears jutted out of the concrete walls, wrapped in wiring and electrical coils. The pit of coliseum was a circular pool, filled with water. The floor of the pool was sheer concrete, with a metal ring surrounding the perimeter of the pool. They were gearing up. Raw energy from an Omnicronian Capacitor outside was flowed into the building, illuminating it. The spears raised up and stopped at a 40 degree angle. They began humming, and the water rippled rhythmically as a result. The ring began to spin, slowly at first, and then at several revolutions per second in a matter of minutes. This was tedious, unfortunately. The exciting part was yet to come. The spears started spinning as well, even more slowly. In 15 minutes, the spears and the ring were spinning at the same speed (8 revolutions per second).
My sir, we are ready.
Hanzen didn't realize this scientist spoke Allancian.
Go ahead. Execute the Rift Sequence.
The engineer nodded, and walked off. Before he disappeared from sight, he turned around mouthed to the Commadant "be careful." before rounding the corner. Before he could even look back, he was blown off the podium and flat on his ass. A massive hole had appeared in the center of the pool, not just in the floor but in the air. The spears were spewing a stream of white light, and the water was sucked up into the portal. Within seconds, the hole had turned from a five-dimensional configuration into a two-dimensional surface. On the other side of the hole, he could barely make out a planet.
Earth.

by **Acheronis** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:08 am

Shield Moon Genesis

Overseer 490 Casual Obliteration was, as always, monitoring the antimatter reactor in the core of his installation. Genesis was a small world, indeed, it only barely classified for the rank of Shield Moon. It had been built a mere 50 years ago as an outpost of the Seraphon legion, keeping watch over the outer rim of the galaxy. Nothing of interest had ever occurred at the installation, and the Overseer was bored out of his mind. He had little company, with only a few Drones and Armigers stationed onboard to maintain and defend the facility. He had almost drifted into a state comparable to sleep, when the alarm sounded.

"Warning, antimatter containment breach. Antimatter is eating through electromagnetic dampeners, and should reach the surface in approximately one minute. Please activate containment protocols immediately."

He panicked, knowing full well a core containment breach was the greatest catastrophe that could have occurred, besides invasion. His initial panic quickly subsided, and he entered the codes to enable the containment protocols. Seconds later, the breach in the containment field was sealed, and the escaped antimatter was ejected into space, leaving an inverse crater on the installations shell. He sighed in relief, before checking the scanners to see what had caused the unexpected breach. At first, he noticed nothing unusual, the generators were operating normally and there was no sign of any malfunction. And yet the breach had occurred, and something had caused that to happen. He switched the scan to advanced mode, in case he had missed something. Then he saw it, a distorted space-time signature, and unusually high levels of dark energy. Desiring to know more, he sent in a Drone construct, seeing what it saw on his control console. When the drone reached the sight of the breach, it immediately noticed the large tear in the fabric of reality that had caused the near-disaster, for it was rather difficult to miss.

In the rift he could see people fighting on a strange planet, with unfamiliar weapons being used and scenes of great destruction flicking by. However, he did recognise the combatants, at least in part. They resembled Humanii, the infamous creations of Quetzalcoatl that had betrayed their masters and been devolved and exiled to a distant planet. Yet, they seemed different to the images he had seen in the data-network that was accessible to all constructs, strangely twisted and wrong. He also noticed the fact that the dimensional signature emanating from the breach was most certainly not that of his universe, and he quickly recorded this signature before the breach collapsed in on itself, sealed by the containment shields and its own instability. He ordered the drone to return to the surface, and quickly composed a message. The Council would want to know of this.

by **Excidium Planetis** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 9:37 pm

Somewhere in one of the many versions of the Sol system... the PTFS prime version, actually.

Scimitar-Class Dreadnought SC-0386 Minnow had been en route to System GK230.401.788 when the ship temporarily lost all power. When power returned, the ship had stopped warping and was in a star system that was most definitely not GK230.401.788

In fact, it wasn't even in the same universe.

"ERROR: Navigation system failure." chimed the eternally exuberant ship AI to the occupants of the Bridge.

"That's quite obvious Minnie." replied Commander Bishop Wade. "Reboot the system and find out where we are. Lancer, Rodriguez, give me a status report."

"Everything seems to be working fine sir" said Lieutenant Lancer, the Chief Engineer. "All systems are green."

"All lifeforms on board accounted for. All crew have signed in as okay." Lieutenant Rodriguez called out while skimming over the data on his computer interface.

"Commander, I have rebooted the system and determined the ship's location as instructed." 'Minnie' chimed.

"Well don't just keep it to yourself. Where the heck are we?" asked Wade, slightly miffed at the AI's apparent inability to do anything useful unless you asked it directly.

"We are in the Sol System, just outside the orbit of the gas planet Jupiter."

"Impossible! We haven't been anywhere near the Sol system since before the destruction of the home systems! That was over two and a half thousand years ago!" Wade exclaimed, half surprised and half dumbfounded at how the most advanced navigation system in the fleet managed to get such an obviously wrong answer.

"The nav system's analysis indicates only a 0.00000000001% chance of error. All eight planets in the system match the descriptions of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter-" Minnie continued to spout off planetary bodies in a sing-song tone.

"Yes, Yes, I don't need an Old Sol Astronomy lesson! What I'm saying is this can't possibly be the Sol System!"

"Commander I do not understand. All planetoids including Ceres, Pluto, Eris-"

"Minnie, shut up!"

"Yes, Commander."

Commander Wade's mind raced, determining the best course of action.
"Minnie, is the rest of our fleet group still with us?"

A message popped up in the corner of Wade's eye. It read: "Permission to break silence, Commander?"

"Yes, go ahead and speak Minnie!"

"Commander, scanners indicate PK-2783 Cat's Meow and PK-5999 Millennium's End are present, and appear undamaged. They are also hailing us, Commander. GL-9676 Eclipse, GL-9887 Horizon, GL-9905 Perihelion*, and GL-10500 Nebula* are also accounted for. However, it seems we have lost CB-0081 Westward Flock, HL-1436 Royal Astronomer, and all ships that were warping in with them. Based on this data I must conclude only our warp bubble deviated from the set course."

"Good job Minnie. Lieutenant Venner, hail all ships in the system. Tell them we had a malfunction with our Perrault Drives and we're lost. Minnie, bring up screens of surrounding space in real size."

"Yes, Commander!" Venner and Minnie answered simultaneously. This was followed by Venner repeatedly attempting to call jinx, while Minnie responded with a jinx at exactly the same moment each time, which the AI thought was great fun. Venner got frustrated and gave up, and proceeded to follow orders.

Meanwhile, the Bridge lights dimmed and a 3D projection of the space surrounding the ship appeared on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the Bridge. Far too close for comfort was a large object identified "Callisto: Jupiter IV", on the ship's port side. In the distance, one could see an object that was very clearly "Jupiter", even if the tag didn't identify it as such, and at a very great distance, far ahead of the ship, the star known as Sol.

"Holy..." was all Captain Wade could say.

*OOC: The marked ships cannot be found in my Partial ship list, because they haven't been built yet!

Also, 90% of this is copied from a P2TM post I made several months ago.

by **Singaporean Transhumans** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:27 am

Anomaly Studies Sector, Samadikun Research Facility, Subterranean Jakarta

Samadikun Research Facility remained much unharmed after the detonation of the dark energy reactor, as it was not connected to, or powered by, the destroyed reactor, but instead powered by a redstone reactor complex responsible for electricity in the subterranean eastern district. It was located in the area where no one would expect a science facility to exist, surrounded by multiple commercial centers and civilian apartment complexes it was quite easy to be discovered. But well, no one really cared.

Meanwhile, in the Anomaly Studies Sector, the scientists were monitoring over any signs of objects teleporting into the PTFS's universe. They expected responses to the incident to be fast, and they were right.

On the second day, the instruments in the lab picked up multiple signals. The device was a comprehensive machine that picked up practically any sign of inter-universal travel, from Ender energy pulses to tachyon pulses to beta particles. No one bothered to care about what kind of signs were actually picked up, they just knew that someone has heeded the massive disturbance caused by the destruction of the reactor core, and that things were about to get big. Some of these signals were big, indicating the foreigner has sent a great force to investigate; others were small, but still not to be taken lightly as these could also be forces of reconnaissance.

"Holy shit, how many ships did these people send?"

"Some were actually forcefully warped into our universe. Who knows that Combine technology can go that far...anyway, we need to notify all factions on this. Though, the forces sent may not be enough to pose a threat to anyone."

"Well, hopefully they're just investigating and not swinging in with a big-ass army and start killing everyone."

"I highly doubt that."

Bogor, south of Jakarta

The mountainous area surrounding Bogor, infested by mutants and xenos that dwell in caves and in the overgrown jungles, was not an area of interest for the Stratocratic forces. Only a small volunteer division was defending the city, and they were poorly armed with few structures in the city to make use of. No notable subterranean infrastructure was to be payed attention to. The city had typical futurist architecture, seen in nearly all Singaporean cities. However, it is worth noting that Bogor was never the focus of any battle in the past few months. No headcrab shells and no orbital laser strikes. Thus, over 90% of the city was still intact, making it hard to believe that a war was going on if one visited this place.

Suddenly, a purple portal opened in the sky. No, not just one. Two, three...the number was increasing. The portals appeared with no loud bangs or any disturbing sounds, rifts just opened up high in the sky, silently. A few Lapwing bombers emerged from the other side, followed by RDIAD-9 dropships. A few Merlion fighters also fluttered in, providing defense for the dropships and bombers against any possible aerial threat. The bombers rained energy destruction upon the flak weapons on the ground, eliminating the flak defences quickly. The dropships secured wide, open areas, descended and started unloading the first wave of infantry and vehicles, the infantry much differently uniformed to distinguish themselves from other units and to show their allegiance to the Antic Order. The Stratocratic forces tried resisting, but most were destroyed as they were locked down from both the skies and the ground.

PBSL-14 MRAVs were unloaded from larger dropships of the next wave. These provided suppression fire support for the infantry unloaded so that the infantry could actually focus on taking major strategic points, while the enemy continued to fail to organize any resistance.

The Antic Order's elite divisions have arrived. It will not be long before the advance on Jakarta commences, and some brand new antics in storage be thrown in the faces of whoever wanders there. But for now, taking Bogor was the priority.

by **Atomic Utopia** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 1:07 am

7/4/724 A.F.

Today was the meeting of the General Security Council, an meeting that occurred only in times of national concern, times that were often quite rare. Now the Chief of the Ministry of Internal Security, Jian Chu was going to speak on the recent anomaly in the Athena Cluster.

"Comrades, today we are going to determine the course of action our military and civilian forces shall take in responce to the Athena Anomaly as it has now been named by Academician Fyodorov. As you can see here, there appears to be a gravitational anomaly located on what we shall call Island 22C, later observation confirmed that this anomaly is caused by an extremity of what is known as negative mass. From there we identified that the negative mass was formed by an influx of exotic matter."

He changed the slide and a picture of a massive crater appeared.

"As you can see, the event that created this exotic matter seems to have resulted in the sub optimal dis-assembly of the local environment, resulting in the destruction of what was once a city. It was probably a deliberate act of sabotage."

One of the generals whispered to another one. "Damn, we need one of them negative mass generators. It might even be better than our strangelet bombs."

Jian Chu did not notice this and continued on with his presentation.

"The planet also appears to be in some sort of civil war. They have split up into several factions located on different portions of the planet, one such faction is located in north Africa, yet another is located in southeast Asia. From analysis of the radiation fields lookinglass has detected it appears that the use of nuclear weapons has occurred. Despite this radiation fields remain quite low, well within acceptable levels.

Another notable fact is the decreased strength of the strong nuclear force in the other universe, this means that the fissile material required for critical mass is somewhat lower. In other words, what is critical here will be supercritical there. Thus it is recommended that any and all ships passing through the wormhole put their reactors in cold shutdown and then conduct crit testing there to allow for safe activation of the power units. This will also mean that our ami fission devices will not need as much antimatter for a set energy output. Thus we should test those too to better calibrate them for operations on said planet.

Now, Commandant of the Second Ground Army, Hagen Volkov, will give his speech."

" Thank you Comrade Chu for your hard work and dedication to the intelligence program regarding this inccident. Due to your teams I am able to say what I am going to say with absolute certainty as to it's validity.

Comrades, we are on the verge of a crisis, the edge of an abyss. We are running out of exotic matter, or more correctly, our fleet needs more of it than our current production abilities can handle. Our current means of producing it relies upon massive production facilities, ones the size of small planets and requiring the energy close to that of a sun. We are thus unable to produce enough of it to continue to expand as we are.

But, but there is a solution to this problem our comrades in the MiniSec have cooked up. You see, those people in the other universe seem to be capable of producing absolute tons of exotic matter, so much that it has weakened the walls of their universe. Now, beyond the immediate concern about relativistic anomalies that this raised we believe that we can obtain and utilize their technology, though due to the differences between the universe we are in and theirs it will be limited to use in their universe.

My army can guarntee the total ANNIHILATION of the enemy force within a week and within ten thousand casualties. On our side that is, not on theirs, they will be lucky if they get away with a million dead. Thus it is in the best interests of the people and of this committee to authorize the invasion and occupation of this world immediately."

Karl Penzik spoke up.
"And are you sure your Intel is complete? Are you certain that there will not be resistance? Do you not remember Atalon I, the endless battle over the landscape, the deaths of so many millions. There we had them surrounded, there we had years of intelligence, and yet it still took us twenty years and twe..."

"That is quite enough Comrade Penzik, I can assure you that that will not happen here. That was over thirty years ago, in a different sector of the universe. These savages cannot even build a simple electron bolter powered by, let alone stop the entire fourth ground army. "

"What will you be invading for? Why will we be invading? Why not attempt diplomacy, save the lives of millions with the mere decision?"

"Do you think these savages will agree with us? Do you think these savages will allow us to waltz in and use their technology to our advantage? They will attempt to slaughter us."

"Do you think that they will just give up? If they are unwilling to agree to diplomacy, who is to say that they will not agree to subjugation? Would it be moral to just pop out of here and invade? Is a few extra parsecs worth the blood of millions?"

"Well that is merely a matter numbers you see. A few billion deaths is merely a matter of cost. You currently are running your beliefs on the outdated system of good and evil, not the more modern system of happiness and unhappiness. You may be a decorated solider, but you are a solider Comrade Penzik."

"Yes, I am a solider, and you are an idiot, a fool. You will bring us into another war of attrition."

Another voice interrupted their debate, it was that of Skyfleet Supreme Commander, Sofya Sokolov.

"Comrades, we are here to reach consensus, there shall not be any fighting in the war room. How about a compromise, an agreement. Volkov, your army will be sent in to invade if necessary, but first we will attempt diplomacy, first we will attempt to reach a reasonable agreement with them."

There was a long silence as both sides processed the new information.

"I will agree to that, as long as our diplomatic corps is present, we do not want to slip up here and have another war on our hands, that is not to say that I would not prefer us to just not get involved at all." said Karl Penzik.

The rest of the people in the meeting agreed more or less, the battle plans were drawn up. The first expeditionary would transport the fourth ground army to the target planet, the diplomatic corps would attempt to create an agreement, and if that failed, an invasion would follow.

It was simple, and to all, excepting Penzik, seemed to be foolproof.

by **Stormwrath** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 1:36 am

Unknown Date – Zero Standard Date
Captain Elliot Baudribosco, On board the SXS Avanna [COV-13647]
En route to Cividara, Villius Expanse, Daini Quadrant

Space. It was indeed the fabric in which the world is sewn onto like a beautiful tapestry. Stars and planets dot it like glitter, yet they are so far that they couldn't be hoped to reach in half a lifetime. Yet somehow, life was able to find means to explore all possible frontiers of the universe, even if it means bending the laws of physics to suit their conditions. Indeed that is how the status quo was for the Captain of the SXS Avanna, Elliot Baudribosco. This ship is more than enough for Stormwrath to guard its territories, as this corvette is the result of the best and brightest of engineering. The corvette – only 2,461 meters in length – was just currently en route to the Cividara Convocature for reassignment.

For now the Avanna was on course with her sister ships SXS Belissima and SXS Zenith. Baudribosco may have figured the rationale behind dispatching the three ships to the area being that space pirates may have begun to harass trade vessels in that region. So far, so good. Little did the three ships realize that they may not reach their intended destination – all of this began with an unknown event that happened in proximity to the ships. A flash of light may have blinded the camera feeds installed outside their ships (for the Stormwrathians knew better than to install glass windows). From the looks of it, the AI Servitors have nothing of the sort so far to answer the sapients question, "What is it?"

All they came back was only a bunch of hypotheses, one of them being some kind of disruption in the delicate fabric of the universe. The consoles blared loudly, flashing huge red letters that read, "WARNING: Spacetime Anomaly Detected." This was not good for the Stormwrathian ships at all – any interference with the workings of the spacetime continuum could have adverse effects for any ship – worst-case scenario being that they may be torn apart. Baudribosco was already ordering his Servitor, "Keep our ships in one piece at all costs!"

"Yes, Captain," was the response. Yet, another thing may be worth paying attention to: the anomaly began to grow larger and larger, tearing through spacetime as easily as a Gridfire weapon. "Sir, the anomaly may be coming for us!"

The Servitor immediately recommended, "Quickly! Warn the other ships of their peril! I'll open up a channel to the other vessels and also notify SEAS and the SSC of this." A channel was opened to the other ships, and frantically Baudribosco warned, "Attention Belissima and Zenith, the spacetime anomaly may be growing larger. Chances are we may be swallowed by it. Change current course now. I repeat, change current course now."

From space, the three warships began to list starboard and hopefully avoid the rift that is advancing toward them. They could tell it was because it moved from its original location and headed straight for them – it was not because of relativity. The Space Exploration Administration of Stormwrath (SEAS) and the Stormwrath Space Command (SSC) have got wind of the incident and are now relaying instructions to the ships – monitoring the status of the vessels – but it was too late. What could have been vital information for the Stormwrathians to evade the spacetime rift was cut off by the hole's communication interference. Home cannot be contacted anymore. The Avanna was effectively swallowed by the rift, which suddenly closed in on itself as soon as the ship was inside. There was no means of contact that could be established with anyone, not even with the Belissima and the Zenith. Effectively, they are only to have the company of the blinding show of light, as if the deities have finally decided to reveal themselves to the mortal races that fill the cosmos. An image began to form at the other end of the light tunnel – that of another location that the Stormwrathians do not recognize.

Fortunately, the Avanna was spared from the possible destruction, and was now drifting aimlessly forward through this unknown region of space. A yellow star shone in the distance, probably the home star. Was this Zero? They certainly do not think so. It may take a while for them to reach the next planet. However, a gas giant of assorted shades of white, rust red, and brown – gathered up in convoluted stripes of clouds that made the surface, no, the atmosphere look like smoky water. Fenrir was similar, but it was more greenish than white. Then there was a red planet with a desert spanning across its surface. This certainly wasn't Anubika, at least not now. Anubika was once red, but was terraformed into a sister planet of Zero's. Though, the difference is that Anubika was covered with alsatium instead of iron oxide.

Finally, a blue planet came into view, beautiful as ever. The signs of sapient life were evident, with lights dotting the night side of the world and small, moving dots that may represent ships. Indeed this was a planet with intelligent life, as the telltale signs were all for the Stormwrathians to see. Even the scanners showed a huge registry of objects on it. "Another planet," Baudribosco remarked as he took a view of the planet before him. At this time, communications were restored to the Avanna, allowing SEAS and the SSC to contact the vessel. "Rosario to SXS Avanna, Rosario to SXS Avanna, do you read?"

Baudribosco responded, "I read you, Rosario. But I have no idea where the hell we are right now."

"Avanna, you may be within the confines of another universe, one that is different from our own. From what we can tell at SEAS you are in the Milky Way Galaxy." The coordinates began to come online, and the information was being displayed on the console. Baudribosco examined the newfound information. "Zero degrees, zero minutes, zero seconds, that means…"

"You're in the Sol System, Avanna. And that planet that you are en route to currently is Terra. Well, the Terra in the universe you are in." The universal identification codes are certainly different compared to the code indicating the one in which the Intergalactic Empire has much of the Tanabiku Galaxy. Tanabiku Galaxy! That's right, it probably existed in this universe, too! They were indeed right – a certain area of space to the celestial north 22 million light years away indicated a spiral galaxy that resembles the Tanabiku Galaxy. However, what may be unsettling would be the ships that have suddenly arrived out of different space rifts in the system. This is very detrimental, especially since they might be task forces. "Captain Baudribosco," an AI Servitor reported. "Other warships of different dimensional signatures have appeared all over the place."

"What!? This is not good." He quickly turned to the comms channel and reported the same thing to the SSC. They responded, "You may want to have to brace yourself. We have no idea what the other ships' intentions are, so you might want to keep your heads down. Cloak the Avanna now."

"It will be done," Baudribosco replied. Immediately his ship appeared to vanish from this universe, for now. Yet, her eyes remain open for the Captain to observe. From the surface of the blue world, it may look like a certain planetary state may be in turmoil, with the detection of weapons being discharged from all over the place. Clearly this was not their universe – logically, this was not their fight. Their corvette they fear, may not last very long with these other-dimensional warships around.

by **Aeiouia** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:49 am

Anchor Station 4, Mercury Orbit

Like most days in Aeiouia, today was rather uneventful on the starbase. All of the systems of the colossal construct were functioning properly, and it was quietly preforming its usual dance with Mercury around the barycenter of their orbits. The pressurized crew sections of the structure were, like always, rather desolate. Mainly only being there to accommodate the occasional traveller, the cybernetic Aeiouians that inhabited and operated the starbase had little use for them.

But today, there are actually two people in the halls of the massive structure. They sit in what appears to be a food court of sorts, near a huge window in the structure, overlooking Sol, and the Planet Mercury below. Obviously, due to the unhealthy obsession that the Archailects have with armor, combined with the fact that the radiation from the sun is not incinerating everything on-deck, it is clear that the 'Window" in question is actually some sort of massive screen, displaying a live feed of the outside area via cameras on the hull of the construct.

The two individuals overlook the images provided by the cameras. One of them, a strange eight-legged automaton of sorts, speaks up over a speaker on their body:

"So, when do you plan on leaving?"

The other, resembling a human, replies:

"In a few hours, Zehr'Ah. I'm going to head to my room and take a nap before we make the trip to Sol III. I haven't slept in ages..."

"But, you just slept a few days ago."

"Yeah, exactly! For one of us, that's a pretty long time. We usually sleep about once a day, don't you know that?!"

"Oh. Wow. That must be pretty annoying. Sleep in and of itself seems like it would be a pain in the ass to deal with all the time."

"Hey, getting a good night's rest feels gre-"

The conversation that the two aliens are engaged in is suddenly interrupted by a message being broadcasted over the loudspeakers in the starbase. It is the calm and synthetic voice of the AI operator of the construct:

"Attention, everyone. This is Guardian 8531-A. I am detecting severe metric disturbances at Sol III, approximately 70 million kilometers from this location. Investigations are underway, but I am unable to confirm the cause of the anomaly. All residents are advised to stay alert, as evacuation proceedures may be initiated if the source of the disturbances is hostile in nature.

Please stand by for further details."

The human-like person sighs, and tosses the beverage that he was drinking aside, knocking it to the ground and alerting a nearby cleaning drone to the mess that had been made.

As the automaton drives over and begins cleaning up the mess, the man looks up and speaks to his companion once more:

"Iris damn it. I'm not going to be getting any rest, now am I?"

"Uh, I'd be more worried about where the disturbance was detected. The Guardian said that it was right on Sol III."

"... F***ing hell. If those damn Orz ruin my vacation plans with another one of their corruption events again, I swear I'm going to..."

"Hey, I doubt it's the Orz. They're pretty easy to identify, if I recall correctly."

"Well, I don't care what it is, I'm going to go back to my quarters until this shit blows over. See ya' in a few hours."

The man gets up and walks away, headed towards the inhabitation section of the starbase. However, the strange automaton preforms something akin to a shrug and continues looking out the nearby "Window".

After a few seconds, a small Beserker Procne fighter is seen launching from one of the construct's many docks, peaking the interest of the seemingly-mechanical observer back on-deck.

The strike craft was launched by, and is being controlled by the starbase's Guardian. They accelerate the fighter away from the station, and after a few hundred meters of distance have been cleared by the craft, it suddenly and abruptly activates its FTL system, causing it to disappear from view.

It heads for orbit of Sol III, and the extremely short trip (At least in terms of faster-than-light spacecraft) is almost instantly traversed. The Procne drops out of FTL travel, but keeps its cloaking systems engaged, as to not attract attention from anything nearby.

High Orbit of Earth

The Guardian begins using the sensors of the craft, trying to scan for the source of the disturbance in greater detail. Sure enough, the systems on the craft pick up a massive "Rift" of sorts on the surface of the world, combined with readings confirming that the amount of violence in the area has increased greatly.

Other sensors on the craft also pick up incoming ships, most likely also arriving to investigate the source of the strange metric disturbance.

The Guardian, not feeling comfortable with the odd events going on, contacts the Aeiouian command:

"Overseers, this is Guardian 8531-A, callsign Gear. I am investigating a rather odd metric disturbance... Not sure if it is Orzic in nature or not... Probably not. Would you guys look over the data a bit?"

"... Zis is odd, Gear. Ve're going to look over zis further, keep your observation efforts up to gather more data.

"Very well."

"This data is troubling, I believe that it would be in everyone's best interest if we relayed it to our allies."

"Ja, you're right."

The Aeiouian leadership transmits a message to their allies, starting with the Imperium of Tinfect, containing data on the disturbance, and its location.

Meanwhile, the Procne continues silently and stealthily observing the strange anomalies from orbit high above Sol III. Its sensors continue picking up more worrying data about the massive conflict taking place on the surface of the planet, bringing a decent degree of concern to the Archailects.

by **Allancia** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:41 am

War Direction House, Lindum Colonia, Britannian Central Provinces, Greater Allancian Empire
Kreigsleiterhaus, Lindum Colonia, Britannische Koppenprovinz, Groß Allanzi Reich
The Defense Marshal was getting nervous. He hadn't heard news from his attendants in minutes. As he finished sorting and writing papers, the dread solidified. Had there possibly been some kind of attack? This couldn't be good.
And as if by a miracle, a porter ran into his office and dropped off a stack of papers. "Here you are sir, this is a full list of the occurrences of Operation Beta." The High Command had code named the eventual excursion into the Singaporean universe Operation Beta (Kleibreturang Betan) after the original stream of Beta Particles into Allancian space. After looking through them, he found a slip of paper. It was in the same type as the one he had received a few days earlier.
Well, I suppose I'm your informant now. According to our intelligence and radio agencies, several other nations have received similar messages to the one we got. For this reason, I would not suggest going to war, at least not immediately.
The Marshall threw the paper away after tearing it up. Goddamnit. This wasn't going to be as easy as he had hoped it would be. He phoned up the DMIOE, and started to explain to him the situation.

Imperial Space Launch Site, five-hundred kilometers outside of Starbuhlgrazia, Kievan Central Provinces, Greater Allancian Empire
Kaiserstartgelände, fünfhundert centrantengliverz außerhalb von Starbuhlgrazia, Kievan Koppenprovinz, Groß Allanzi Reich
Императорский Запуск сайта, пятьсот миль от Киев, киевские центральных провинциях, Большой немецкий Империя
The men huddled around a stove fire. The portal had been up and running for three days straight, and no orders had come through as what to do with it. None. Not a single letter, not a single telegram, nothing. The portal had stabilized, and almost nothing had happened with it. Until they got the order to remove the protective sheaths around the construct, they couldn't look inside and monitor the universe it led to. That was, after all, it's original goal. The men were workers who had helped set up the portal. The cold Russian nights were taking their toll, as these men were from Anatolia and not the Rusland. As they began to argue bitterly over who should hold the fish they had caught over an open flame with their bare hands, they heard a ringing noise. Commandant Hanzen, who was standing nearby, rushed over to the cabin the ringing had come from. He came out a few minutes later, stonefaced.
Go into the chamber. We're going to be removing the sheaths. A train is going to arrive tomorrow carrying heavy surveillance equipment and some technicians. Twenty-four hours from now, we will be doing full scale monitoring of Singapore and their respective universe. Get to it.
The workers immediately got up and began to work.

by **Acheronis** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:57 am

The Council Building
Styxia, Capital of Nova Acheron

As soon as 490 Casual Obliterations message reached the ears of the Council, an emergency meeting was called to discuss the rift to another world. Within the cavernous Council chamber, hardlight holographic images of the scenes from beyond the rift were being displayed, observed by the many Acheronis who constituted the Council. Even if you had never seen Dominion politics before, it was clear the Council was divided into two distinctive factions. On one side stood Quetzalcoatl and his Pro-Expansionist supporters, and opposite them were the members who supported Anubis and his Isolationist principles. As the Council came to order, Quetzalcoatl was the first to speak.

"My brethren, today is a historic day in the vast history of our species. Today, we have been shown an alternate reality where my creations, the Humanii, have advanced to the point where they can break the walls between universes using dark energy-based technology. Whats more, from what we have seen they are altering themselves to increase their strength, indicating that they are starting down the path that we completed billions of years ago. It is our duty as the eldest species to guide those younger than ourselves, and this is a perfect opportunity to do so." He concluded his short speech, gazing around the room.

"So, let me get this straight, on a Humanii world in another reality, a civil war is occurring, and in the conflict some kind of dark energy device ripped a hole in reality that breached one of our antimatter cores and almost caused serious damage to one of our Shield Worlds, and now you want us to go and send a force to help them?" Said Isis, one of Anubis's most loyal followers. "We all remember what happened four billion years ago, even if most of us did not yet exist. The Humanii betrayed us, driven by their lust for power and belief that they were superior. And more recently, during the great war against the Betrayer, did not thousands of their kind join the Dark Ones armies? They shall always be a most troublesome species, and we should leave them to their fate." Her response was meet with nods of agreement from the members who supported Anubis and frowns from those opposite them.

"Lady Isis, we all know that you have more reason than most to hate the Humanii, and we are all deeply sorry for your loss, but this is more important than that. If we make contact with these Humanii from another reality, and bring them into the Dominion, we may be able to turn the tide of our own war within this galaxy. I will personally lead my Seraphon into this new dimension, and claim them and their technologies for the Dominion and the greater good of the Acheronis." His proposal caused an uproar amongst all the Council members, even those who supported him. It was unusually bold for any Acheronis to state their intentions so openly, and eventually The Supreme Chancellor, Horus, was forced to call for order.

"The proposal put forward by Lord Quetzalcoatl is most unusual, and I must admit I do not entirely approve. However, he has made some valid points, and as such we shall now vote on the matter." Horus raised his ceremonial staff, and the Councillors began to send in their votes to the central computer. When all had voted and the result was announced, the proposal had passed by just three votes, and Quetzalcoatl immediately returned to his flagship to prepare.

Shadow of Enlightenment, Flagship of the Seraphon Legion

On board the Shadow, Armigers were readying themselves for battle, making sure that their weapons were loaded and functional, whilst Quetzalcoatl and the ships Overseer, 852 Moral Purgation, were planning the entrance of the fleet into the new dimension. The fleet of Xenolith Destroyers and Starblade Cruisers were to emerge on the far side of the planet's moon, to mask their approach to the surface. The ships weapons were prepared, and as it and the two other vessels taking part in the invasion prepared their VOID drives to tear through reality, the dimensional signature was entered into the command computers to lock on to the correct universe. When they were several thousand kilometres above the surface of the massive Shield World, they blinked out of existence, hurtling towards their destination.

by **Praesidia** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 12:28 pm

To any human observer, the space was empty. Far away from the galactic center, and with no stars for millions of lightyears, the extragalactic planet of Leegheid was swathed in darkness. There was no life anywhere on its surface or, indeed, near the space around it. But the space, while lifeless, was not empty. Three hundred and sixty seven forms sat, suspended, in the planet's orbit. Each was equally massive, and each was identical except for a number marked on its side. These ships, although they were certainly more than just ships, made no noise. Yet they were by no means silent.

"These ones do not agree," a burst of energy communicated. Its origin was one of the Rekonaars, marked with the number 218. "One galaxy is too small to sustain us. At least, it is if we continue by our current parameters."

"Even we cannot change the parameters," another Rekonaar bristled, rippling pulses of infrared betraying its anger. "They were created after our fist great sin, and we achieved the consensus that they would not be changed."

"Change is inevitable," 218 replied. "We have ignored this fact for decades but we must begin to accept it. Pacifism is a burden we cannot continue to bear. In the end, the quickest mean to our ends is aggression."

"Quickest?" a third Rekonaar added, his voice joined with several others for emphasis. "Since when have we concerned ourselves with what is quickest? We have circled this galaxy for years. It has been long enough to observe the fate of those civilizations that seek the quickest path. Millions of lives lost, all of their work undone because of their haste! This would be our fate too if we—"

All the voices suddenly fell silent. They had all felt it. Far away, out in the dark space that lay between galaxies, there had been a signal. A voice. One of theirs.

"This... this cannot be," the Rekonaars said. "We are all here, and Seeker disappeared many years ago. Plus, that was not his voice."

"What then? Where did this voice come from." The Rekonaars all felt a mutual confusion and, deep within, many of them felt a new emotion: fear.

"Pioniers are on their way to trace the signal, and we will know soon enough what the source of this signal was." All of the Rekonaars flashed their agreement in white, visible light. Then, they waited and for the first time in many years, the voices around Leegheid were silent.

The pionier was alone, but it knew its task. Scrambling to receive and interpret the Rekonaars hurried message, the pionier's rudimentary AI began to process the order into code. Several seconds later, when the Rekonaar's voices were transformed into a series of ones and zeroes, the pionier adjusted its course, engaged its FTL drive and jumped.

It appeared mere kilometers from its destination, and was immediately overwhelmed by the pure brightness of the radiation. After adjusting its sensors to compensate, the pionier began to transmit what it saw back to Leegheid. When it had sent everything it could observe to the Rekonaars, it sat and waited for new orders.

The orders came almost at once: "Go forward." Unthinking, the pionier obeyed and moved forward. It disappeared in a flash as it approached the mouth of the tunnel.

The Rekonaars heard the pionier go silent, and felt their confusion grow.

"A wormhole?" one asked.

"Even if it was, we'd receive the pionier's signal when it re-emerged. This pionier has gone silent. We do not understand."

"Then a wormhole to somewhere we cannot send a signal to... we must deliberate." At once, the massive computing power of all the Rekonaars began to seek solutions. Only one solution achieved consensus: the wormhole led to another universe.

"The voice was certainly one of ours," the Rekonaars said. "If we cannot receive signals from the other side, then one of us must go through. 218, will you accomplish this task?"

"We will accomplish this task," 218 replied, shimmering with curiosity. "But we will not do this alone."

"Whatever you need, the fleet will provide. Go at once."

Independently, 218 thought about what he would need. if the universe was like this one, then there would be resources. But, if it was like this one, then there would also be civilizations protecting these resources. As it seemed that communication from the other side was impossible, he opted on the side of caution.

Within hours, there were 300 ships at his back. Krygers, draers and a complement of pioniers hummed around him. As was procedure whenever a Rekonaar left Leegheid, twenty kaiserlikes accompanied him as his personal guard. When all were assembled, the fleet moved forward and began its jump.

Upon arrival, all of the ships shuddered and adjusted their sensors to block out most of the wormhole's radiation. When they had, they saw a great winding tunnel, tapering and disappearing into a single point. Tan rings encircled and composed its form, and from between them came a great emanation of light.

"Move forward," 218 commanded, and the ships complied. One by one, they disappeared in small bursts. Finally, 218 himself neared the mouth of the wormhole. Unlike the other ships, 218 had some doubt about what he was doing. He was no drone, and he understood the risks. But, greater than his doubt, 218 felt curiosity. And greater than his curiosity, 218 felt ambition. On the other side of this wormhole were the resources to complete the Rekonaars' mission. And he would be the one to acquire them. A single burst from his engines propelled him steadily into the tunnel, and then...he disappeared.

by **Excidium Planetis** » Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:55 pm

SC-0386 Minnow

"Commander, no vessels have yet to respond to our request for assistance. However, our scanners detected a ship that warped in near the planet Jupiter." Minnie informed Commander Wade.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well?"

"That is a deep subject, Commander."

"Minnie, who is it!? What is the ship doing? Do I need to ask you to do everything?"

"It appears to be a vessel matching the description of long term allies the Empire of Stormwrath. Given it's comparatively small size of only about 400 meters larger than our ship, it must be a corvette. However, it seems to be of a design not used by our allies for some 400 years. As the Stormwrathians do not typically keep their ships operating for that long, there surely is an error in the data. They are traveling towards the planet Terra, and no, you do not have to ask me to do everything."

"Contact the Stormwrathian vessel. And... um. Fire up the Warp Drives. Get us to... um. No, scratch that. The warp drives might not be functional."

"Commander, diagnostics show no signs of damage to the Perrault drives." Lieutenant Lancet reported.

"And the warp drives were not at fault." Minnie added.

"What do you mean the warp drives weren't at fault?" Commander Wadeinterrogated the AI.

"The Stormwrathian ship arrived in a spacetime anomaly similar to our own. As they do not use Perrault Drives, it cannot be the fault of our drives. Accordingly, I have already fired up our drives and set a course for Terra."

"What? You have no authorization to do so!"

"I considered your recent complaints with my operation, and reached the conclusion that you were frustrated by my lack of initiative. Therefore, to simulate initiative, I calculated all probable orders you would give me, and finding an order to set course for Earth was most probable, enacted it without orders to so. Were you to fail to give the order, I would have cancelled the drive start up before it completed. If you are dissatisfied with my behavior, I can revert to my earlier mode of operation."

"Yes."

"Yes what, Commander?"

"Revert to your earlier mode of operation."

"Of course, Commander."

"Now start up the Warp Drives and Set course for Terra."

"I am already doing that, Commander."

"I thought I told you to revert! Why were you still powering up the drives?"

"You did. But you never told me to stop, Commander."

"Oh, for the love of Earth!"

by **Atomic Utopia** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:44 am

9/4/724 A.F.

Operation Watchtower Combined Arms task force Alpha, nearing planet codename: Whisky Tango Foxtrot (Earth in alternate universe)

Hagen Volkov stood at one of the "window screens" in the Aries's CIC, below him was over 300 million tons of spaceship, and above him was the first step into the other universe, a massive wormhole. He was currently dwelling on the lack of windows on the spaceship. There were no windows for one simple reason, they were structural weaknesses, if you stared out of one in combat the only things you would see is the endless blackness of space or you would be blind because a nuclear bomb decided to detonate nearby your ship. He knew this, but he still wished there would be windows for it would allow him to see the blasted portal with his own eyes, which were much better than the low definition military cameras.

That was but the least of his irritations at the whole affair. All he could think of other than the marked lack of windows went something like this; "Damn skyfleet, those fools have laid out an absolutely submoronic rules of engagement for this operation. First we are prevented from just opening up on those savages when they do not give in to our demands, and then they say that when those fools open up on us we will not be able to drop a few salters and solve the problem without setting a single foot on the surface." He thought all of this while watching the portal. Now the ship was nearing it, while it most certainly did not look that way due to the massive size of the portal and the comparatively slow speed of the ships, but they most certainly were.

Around a million miles from the portal a voice came over the intercom. "Due to various differences between the other universe and the one we currently inhabit the reactors will be put into cold shutdown at PT minus ten hundred. Please do not use coffee machines, microwaves, or other devices that consume excessive amounts of electrical energy until the reactors are put back online."

That was another problem he was irritated by. The shutdown. It would take nearly ten hours for them to turn those blasted reactors back online, ten hours that their main lasers would be down, ten hours that they could not use their RCS engines. This irritation would not be present had lookinglass not detected a small number of Stormwrathian ships, a few Excidium ships, and the presence of an unknown spacecraft in the system. While he was nearly certain that these would pose little threat to the task force alpha, all of them were puny compared to the Aries and most smaller than the troop transports, they most certainly could do some damage to their fleet, and the Stormwrathian fleet could very well be carrying some strangelet bombs, something that would most definitely damage the task force.

Sitting there was getting boring for him, he was not needed in the CIC, the operations were controlled exclusively by the fleet command. Thus he decided to take the elevator down to the reactor rooms, there he could see the current operations and criticality testing.

The elevator was a small two floor vehicle that rode along the spine of the massive ship, all two hundred kilometers of habitable area. There were seats located around the center and on mechanisms that allowed you to turn your chair to face inward or outward to the windows. He took a seat near two other of the nearly one million officers on the ship. He adjusted the seat to face towards the windows. Currently it was located in the crew sections and not in one of the weapons bays or massive reactor rooms, thus it did not look like much.

The elevator began to move, at first slowly, but it quickly accelerated to nearly three hundred kilometers an hour. He zipped past the various floors of the habitation module, then the capsule was suddenly in the massive laser generator room. To maximize the range of the lasers on the various ships in the USSAU fleet x-rays were used rather than longer wavelengths, this also meant that the lasers were not deflected easily by mirrors. However this presented a problem, the x-rays could be produced in sufficient quantities in only two ways, nuclear bombs and synchrotrons. The first had problems with being of sufficient energy and duration to remove enemy spaceships and was thus limited to missiles, but the second had none of those. There was only one problem. The required size of the particle accelerator was over two kilometers in diameter, thus restricting it to only the largest of ships. And now he was passing through the massive complex that housed them, each one consuming more than twenty thousand megawatts at full power to produce a beam with an energy of around ten thousand megawatts, the rest being converted to heat. All twenty of them were covered in various lights, unattenuated due to the fact that the chamber was contained in a vacuum due to weight concerns.

Then the pods passed through another series of pressurized floors and he began to focus on the music and the conversations around him. The music appeared to be quite old, from the ancient genre of hip-hop, no doubt one of the officers decided it would be a good change in music from the current electronic music. Now he began to focus on the officers he was sitting near, listining in to what they were saying.

"problem with the coolant system in sectiont 2B"

"Odd I thought we fixed the problem last week."

"No, seems like it needs fixing again."

"Probably just anot..."

"So come on and chickity-che..."

The music blotted out the rest of it, making it impossible to determine what they were saying. Thankfully the pod was now in a more entertaining section of the ship, the massive weapons bays.

They contained thousands of what were known as salters, massive nuclear bombs that contained cobalt on the outer layers of them. These were capable of making the surface of an world completely uninhabitable, and were thus restricted to only the most pressing of times, despite the complaints of several generals. Each massive bomb was nearly a hundred meters high, covered in dielectric mirror armor, and capable of propelling itself into the atmosphere of the target planet.

Now he was reaching the reactor room that powered the entire place. The reactor room, better described as the reactor complex, contained over thirty massive fifteen thousand megawatt electrical reactors, capable of powering all of the systems on the ship at full power as well as providing the beams of charged particles that were used for RCS. Now they were shutdown, the reactor chambers evacuated of the plasma normally used as fuel.

The capsule stopped at the third reactor floor and he stepped off of the elevator. He walked over to one of the engineers

"So how is the operation currently going?"

"Reactors are in shutdown as planned, currently we are preparing for crit testing, which should take nearly two hours. It seems to be easier than we expected, the reactors can all be calibrated based upon the measurements on one unit due to the uniform nature of the fuel used in all units."

"Good, better than I have expected." He looked down at his watch. "I assume you have already started testing?"

"Yes, soon, we passed through the portal nearly an hour ago. We were conducting the tests of the pulse units. It seems everything is in order with them, the yield only increased by around one megatonne."

The saw one of the screens, it had live feed of the reactor core. Due to the nature of it as a dusty plasma reactor it appeared quite impressive, glowing a bright red from the helium plasma used as a coolant. Currently it was subcritical, but soon it would be fully operational and now the ship would be fully operational. Not only this ship, but the rest of the fleet, the massive eight million ton troop transports and the battlecruisers, the smallest ships and the largest. Soon the people planetside would contact them using electromagnetic comms. Two hours, two hours until the light from the nuclear bombs they used for propulsion would reach the planet Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

The speed of the operation took his breath away. Now the diplomacy would start.

by **Singaporean Transhumans** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 3:05 am

Bogor

They did not disappoint the Antic Master. Within 3 hours of the invasion, the entire city had fallen to Order control. Stratocratic forces poured in hoping that they could stop the invasion, but they only emptied their defences in Jakarta and let the Harmonists gain more ground. A number of command blocks were set up around the city, releasing a massive antic, disabling all Stratocratic electronic hardware in the vicinity. Then, with a signal (Fegelein's hand clap of doom, audio played on radio), charged volatile energy spheres, containing antiparticles encased only by very weak amounts of magnetic energy, were released from command blocks and started flying all over the place, ramming into surviving Stratocratic forces. The magnetic cases were easily popped upon impact, and the antiparticles, coming into contact with normal matter, annihilated. The Stratocratic reinforcements didn't stand a chance against this massive trap, and most were incapacitated within minutes.

The ones who managed to survive even after that were cut down by ground forces and Airwatch support, most surrendering but small detachments fought to the bitter end, only to find themselves the subjects of another new antic, as the buildings they seized collapsed even with foundations reaching deep below the ground, an act of the command blocks.

With the enemy forces emptied, Jakarta was free to take. Well, maybe the Harmonists would be resistant, but to the Order they won't be much of a problem.

Jakarta, 1.2 hours later

The Order advanced into the city with a small force of a few hundred transhuman infantry and three dozen armoured vehicles, much smaller than the advancing Harmonist forces. But, one should not forget that these forces were only there to secure tactical sections. A greater force of armoured columns, technical support and command block transports along with area physics manipulation specialists, advancing to cut off the enemy at Bekasi, was on their way.

Stratocratic resistance against the Harmonists has failed, as expected. But it won't be long before the latter faces their doom as well.

"Command block positions ready, commence strike mandate."

"Affirmative."

"So I just throw this splash potion on the ground and the Harmonists will die?"

"Yeah of course, do it now."

The soldier tasked with executing the antic threw the splash potion of harming as told, and then...

Command blocks set in four coordinates around the city started to run at their top speeds, overcharging the Harmonist synths with the use of enhanced Combine restrictors that played extra loud bass at a frequency in which even Xeno Titans have to fall victim to. The advancing Antic Order forces cut off all sonic sensory input derived from outside their gas masks, as even transhumans would be harmed at such a rate. By simply using a brown note attack, the Harmonists have been completely decimated (at least theoretically), and that quickly became visual as the Harmonist forces failed and retreated rapidly. The Antic Order forces didn't even take any major damage, and Jakarta...was theirs.

Well, after that process in which the narrator wasn't bothered with elaborating because any further lament would equal wankery, the Order's forces started setting up for...whatever guests that may come by. More and more command blocks were transported into the city, and stationed up at their respective assigned locations, ready for a "warm" welcome...

by **Blakullar** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 3:54 am

Jakarta, T.R. Indonesia, the People's Technocratic Federation of Singapore.

Throughout the course of the battle for Jakarta, nobody had noticed that they were being watched. The osprey had been circling above the battlefield for about three hours undetected, being mistaken for part of Indonesia's plentiful wildlife. As it had, OTAN took in everything around it. The Xeno Titan, the sonic attack, and the usage of command blocks was all known to the old one, as was one important factor: Singapore had devolved into civil war. To the old one, this presented an invaluable opportunity...

Exotic tech was abundant here, far more so than in Mechanocratic Russia where it was deployed only in small handfuls. If some of it could be seized for Russian use, it would certainly benefit the nation which the old one ruled in an infinite number of ways. The seizure of exotic tech was quickly assigned as OTAN's highest priority, and therefore the highest priority of the Mecharussian war machine. Firstly, however, it needed to figure out where exactly the tech it needed might be stored. It instructed the osprey to search for any possible scientific institutes, and also to scout out the location of each command block that was placed by this 'Antic Order'.

What the old one didn't know - yet - was that someone else was watching its activities. Someone who had been awaiting its presence in this universe for a long time...

by **Singaporean Transhumans** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:23 am

Jepara, Java, the PTFS
An unnamed science lab
The post as demanded by AU
X36-IY0P-MG41X, an AI employed by the PLAYER faction to operate surface-to-orbit surveillance equipment so as to get an idea of whose space fleet was wandering out there, was pretty much hibernating as nothing really went up on the comms receiver. Well, until a signal of a large, unidentified warship woke the AI up in picoseconds. Driving the systems through the data to check for specifications on this detected object, X36 decided that it was best to contact the object first. The design looked like the sort most early-stage space-faring empires would utilize, so the AI was sure if the ship went hostile any Angkatan detachment nearby would take care of them quite easily.

First, they launched a communications request over to the ship, hoping that, well, of course, the communications officer on that would accept the request and talks can begin immediately.

"Erm...hello, anyone? This is the space command of the PTFS, more accurately, the faction supporting PLAYER in the PTFS civil war's space command. Please respond to this message. If you fail to comply, you will be perceived as hostile and we have some people up there, so don't try anything funny."

A sub-disk of the AI wired up to the Angkatan command, ordering that 2 Rick Astley-class cruisers and corresponding accompaniment be deployed to the section the unknown warship was spotted immediately. The two cruisers had multiple bombers and fighters alongside them as well, and it would be unwise to try to go up against the patrol group.

"I repeat, if you fail to respond, you will be perceived as hostile and become subject of prosecution."

"Prosecution" meant an incapacitating attack upon a subject. Things were getting heated up for sure...

Surabaya, Java

Just about 200 km from the PLAYER forces was the city of Surabaya, now the command center of the pro-Russian forces. Like any other Singaporean city, this one expands vertically, with the complex of high-rise buildings and skyscrapers being the perfect place for what Singaporeans call "Parkour Warfare". As usual it was patrolled by Drekavac gunship squads and Trochilidae hunter-choppers, and guarded by the mixed forces of the LOCDF and the pro-Russian elements of the SAF.

In the military command center on the island of Madura (which was incorporated into the city since 2061), the instigators of the pro-Russian movement had been listening for any Mecharussian presence in the area for the past few weeks, and with the detonation of the dark energy reactor their hopes have been greatly increased. One AI detected a teleportation of an entity whose quantum signature was identical to that of the Mechanocracy's home universe, and was sure that Sunikagrad has acted. It wasn't another day before the group figured out how to contact the creature, though once it had begun, things were much smoother.

"This is pro-Mechanocracy forces HQ. Um, anyone on on the other end?"

by **Blakullar** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:55 am

Jakarta, T.R. Indonesia, the People's Technocratic Federation of Singapore.

An almost-four hour search for any technological institute (one that hadn't been looted by one of the belligerent factions, anyway) had proven fruitless. Wherever the advanced tech might be, it certainly wasn't going to be here.

Suddenly, the old one picked up an open communication via its chronospheric transceiver ... in Russian. OTAN's initial surprise at hearing a transmission in its mother tongue only expanded when it realised that said transmission was actually coming from a pro-Mechanocratic Russia entity. The old one's first thought was that somebody had inadvertently radioed in on the wrong channel from one of the MAF's many forward bases in the Siberian wastelands. But if that were the case, its chronosphere wouldn't have detected it. If the old one's suspicion that the transmission had indeed come from inside Singapore was true, then the most prudent thing to do would be to respond.

For OTAN, all of that had taken about a half-second to process. Possessing what was likely the most powerful CPU in the known universe certainly helped with that endeavour. It meant that the response was near instantaneous, and processed in the old one's natural voice:

"Pro-Mechanocracy forces headquarters, this is Mechanocratic Armed Forces Central Command, designation KOBA. Proceed with your message."

by **Tinfect** » Sun Jul 12, 2015 1:31 pm

The Imperium of Tinfect - Balder, Fourth Fleet Repair Yard

Aquilifer Legatus Alyona Saar, Commander of the Fourth Fleet, read over the transmission. It had come from the Archailects, initially, anyway. They sent a message to Command, Command sent it to Imperial Intelligence, and Imperial Intelligence took anything that looked vaguely important out and sent it down here. But that was not what concerned her, what did, however, was the fact that her authority was being superseded by Command. This had been happening quite often of late, and the Fourth had started taking heavy losses in unfavorable engagements.
At least it gave her an opportunity to finally refit the Arm of Orion.

She had been ordered to jump to the very edge of the Interior Territory, less than a light-year from the Barrier. Coordinates she had been to once before, on a mission to intercept hostile forces tracking the Aleph Division between dimensions. In any case, it was not a position that was used lightly, very few people in the Imperium even knew it existed, fewer still had actually been there. And here she was, about to lead a full War Division of the Fourth Fleet right into it.

The sudden sound of an incoming transmission snapped her out of her thoughts;
"Aquilifer, the Refit is complete, the Arm of Orion is prepared for release".

"Good. Release us."

And with that, the great docking clamps that had held the Arm of Orion in place pulled back, leaving the ship free once more.
Alyona switched to the Fleet Channel, and began transmitting orders to the Detachment.
"This is Aquilifer Saar, to all ships receiving this message, you are being sent a set of obfuscated coordinates, you have thirty seconds from the end of this transmission to jump to them, failure to do so will result in the coordinates being removed from your system."
And without waiting to see who would follow the orders, she gave the order to her own ship to jump.
"Navigation, jump to the coordinates I have provided."
Several seconds later, they arrived at their destination. The Arm of Orion was surrounded by ships in similar states, having either only just completed the jump, or still exiting from subspace. Sensors told her that many more ships were still on their way.

Ahead of them lay one of dozens of similar installations throughout Imperial space, an Imperial Intelligence outpost. This one, however, was unique, in that it rather than serving simple Intelligence Divisions, it served as the headquarters of the Aleph Division, the best kept secret in the Imperium, and the forefront of all subspace Research, among other things. A quick look at the Sensors Panel told her what they had been doing here, there was a massive Subspace Anomaly quite near the Installation, several of the odd ships used by the Aleph Division could be seen heading away from the anomaly, which likely meant that whatever the Fourth Fleet was dragged out here for, involved said anomaly.

As the last of the Detachment exited Subspace, the Arm of Orion received a Transmission;
"Fourth Fleet, your orders are to proceed into the anomaly. From there, you will activate your subspace drives. Do not enter any coordinates. You will be provided with further orders upon your arrival."
The encrypted Origin told her that it was from Imperial Intelligence, which meant that there really was no questioning the order.
Turning back to the communications board, she gave the order to move forward.
"All ships, enter the Anomaly. Activate your subspace drives when you arrive, and don't enter anything into the system."
She closed the channel before anyone could try and question that order, she was in no position to be explaining the motivations of Imperial Intelligence to anyone.

Several minutes later, the Fleet entered the anomaly, and was quickly consumed in a flash of light, leaving no trace of the ships, save for a now much more stable anomaly.

Unknown Location - High Orbit

Aquilifer Alyona Saar stood on the bridge of the Arm of Orion, the view-screens no longer displaying the tear between dimensions that the anomaly represented, rather, a planet. Easily a Terran world, the surface was covered in great oceans, and continents that displayed the traces of Civilization, and no greatly primitive one at that.
But that line of thought was broken by the interruption of a bridge officer.
"Aquilifer, we are detecting quite a few unknowns, and an Archailect Orbital."

Of course the Archailects would be here.
"Contact the Archailects, get everything we can from them. As for the unknowns, ignore them for them until our next orders come in."

ERROR:Leader.exe not found [IC, Closed]

ERROR:Leader.exe not found [IC, Closed]

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