Prelude
"How long has it been since we set this in motion, dear King of Heroes?"
Shi'pan Erina Arnork, First of Her Name, Last of Her Line, rested her head upon the man's bare chest, both laid upon a lavish Ottoman made of the finest velvet and Bantha fur. Her finger idly circled the man's breast, teasing the outer edge of his nipple as she lost herself in the past. Her people's exile from their home world so many thousands of years ago had culminated in a culture that had long since abandoned tradition and sought power beyond the Force. She recalled learning of the time when the Triumvirate had first formed. Of when the the Dwarfs and the Strange Men had stumbled upon the Exiles of Teta. Of the long exodus throughout the uncharted regions of the deep core. How the Dwarfs, master craftsmen and engineers, had taught the her ancestors how to harness the power of stars. How the Strange Men had opened their minds to the Ether and its mysteries that defied even the Force.
Erina's eyes gazed out the windows of the observation deck of her personal ship. Before her sat a half dozen stars clustered tightly together, dominating the the void and blocking out all other light from distant stars. Their vibrant, destructive natures played against one another as their countering gravity pushed and pulled one another, ripping large chunks of their neighbors out and trading back their own plasma in a conflagration that would make hell seem as but a paradise. It had not been so long since these stars had once threatened to rip apart any ships that ventured too close, yet she picked out the dot of a ship as it passed between a pair and gradually drew closer to her own ship.
The so-called King of Heroes that she rested upon remained silent - half due to his own arrogance, yet also half because he knew that it was a rhetorical question. Erina raised herself from the man, the thin fabric of a sheet hanging lazily from her small frame, yet leaving nothing to the imagination as a small, supple breast danced against her chest as she walked across the observation deck. Gilgamesh reminisced of his home of Uruk as he watched her - of a time when such dress was commonplace. She reminded him of the women of Uruk, yet she carried with her a grace and sense of purpose that even he had to acknowledge as a rival to his own.
"My armor," she called, to which another man far larger than Gilgamesh simply materialized beside her. The mountain of a man, adorned in armor likened to the ancient Macedonians, carried with him several pieces of armor, atop of which was a singular black octagonal device. Erina let the sheet fall to the floor as she lifted the device from the armor and placed it upon her sternum and pressed a small button on the device. Their was an audible snap, and a black substance burst from the device, wrapping itself around her from pelvis to shoulders. It tightened to her form quickly, and Erina winced in a mix of pain and pleasure as it cinched down before the device locked itself in place. It then burst forth once again, deftly removing the bronze-colored armor from the man's hands. First the torso armor, matched perfectly to her figure, then her gauntlets, then her pauldrons, followed shortly by a mixed silk and metal skirt, and then her grieves. All snapped into place and held by the almost-organic bodysuit that now turned from opaque to transparent save for what could be construed as undergarments.
Erina smiled lightly. "Thank you, Iskandar."
"Of course, my Master," Iskandar replied.
"Has Semiramis completed her preparations?" Erina asked, reaching out to her left. Another being materialized at this motion - a girl not much smaller than Erina, bearing a sheathed, thin sword. Erina grasped the hilt, retrieving the weapon from the more-heavily-armored girl, her coloration of blue and silverish steel contrasting Erina's own bronze.
"Yes, my liege," the girl replied, her alto voice contrasting her own frame. "The last ship has returned from the Cluster with the necessary energy required for the plan."
"Excellent," Erina stated. Her smile played upon her face widely now. She set the sword to her hip, to which the black substance reached out and looped itself to the sword, holding it against her hip. "Inform the fleet we are moving out, Artoria."
"At once," the Saber-class Servant replied, disappearing in a wisp.
Erina's smile turned into a grin. "Let the game begin!"
Across the "Northern" Koros Trunk Line
It happened slowly, but reports began to come in to Coruscant and Empress Teta at first about mysterious raiders in ships never seen before. By midweek, reports were regularly coming in, reaching a crescendo as the planet of Jerrilek sent out a single distress signal before all communication was cut between the Deep Core and the Core, and traffic began to mysteriously disappear at the system.
