The Imperial Conflict (Open-IC)

by **Eztobrughri** » Tue May 15, 2018 4:07 pm

T H E I S S U E

After a long Reign, the Emperor has gained a dislike in the Ancient houses. They are his fierce Opposition, and now, his Rivals in War. They have for along time shown discontentment and given ugly glares to the back of the Emperor's head, but stayed quiet. Now, they rise up against the Emperor, and face the largest Military in Eztobrughri with nothing but an unstoppable Hope at their side. Will the ancient glory of long-dead Houses be reclaimed, or will the Emperor's reign last until the end of Time?

The House of Ancients, as the unified Axis against the Emperor calls itself, is the newly-formed Union House of The House of Dead Kings, The House of Void Cultists, and The House of Forbidden Knowledge. The three oldest and most venerated Houses, they have the upper hand in bringing more Houses to the Front and gaining the Moral high-ground, though their Ancient glory has much faded since their ages of Triumph...

The House of Imminent War and her Vassals, however, is the Emperor's House. They hold an unstoppable force of Advanced and Powerful ships, of which are exactly what he used to secure the Throne. They hold a Political and Military advantage, but Emperor Haram-Innil is no Iron Fist, and his weak Leadership maybe his downfall...

_{Please keep all OOC (Out-Of-Character) comments in (((brackets))) in this thread. Thank you!}

by **Eztobrughri** » Tue May 15, 2018 4:14 pm

The Beginning

A rebellion that has torn a nation into two was sitting at a cold war for two long weeks now. But, it has suddenly gone hot-Imperial Fleets race to the Border and Resistance Leaders are rallying their forces. Surprise attacks have commenced on Resistance Trade Fleets and the Empire is not going to stop there. To War, For Glory!

Emperor Haram-Innil sits in silence in the Imminent War's Flagship, staring at a strategic map in the War Room. Invasion paths are already planned, and the Border is trembling as his legions grow ever near...

..And the Leader of the Resistance, Shodo Lan, has hidden fleets of ships on moons near alleged Weak Spots, as according to Documents siphoned by spies. This would be no easy war...

by **Luminumbra** » Wed May 16, 2018 11:03 am

It was just another day in Luminumbra, but a special day for the State leadership. The Grand Dietus Alphus Brei II was sitting in his throne room, silently. His advisors and councilmen standing at the sides in front of him, silently as well, their faces covered by their masks. They were meditating. Most days were days of meditation for the Cult Leader, as his Sacred Council did most of the work, enforcing his will.

Under that silence, though, lay excitement. The Anti-Piracy Protectorate Accord was finally going into effect today. Eztobrughri's House of Imminent War had promised to help Luminumbra with its pirate problems; problems that had been irking an Authoritarian man like Alphus Brei II."Finally" He thought, "We'll be rid of these thieves for good! And we can restore order, peace and stability within Luminumbra! Perhaps trade can finally continue without interruptions. We have a newly built starport we must worry about defending after all."

Suddenly, a messenger barges into the throne room, running so quickly the guards at the entrance have no time to react.

"Master Brei!! Master Brei!!!"

The Grand Dietus stands up quickly, clearly frustrated at his guards for not vetting him first. His councilmen are startled as well.

"Master B-Brei!!" The messenger pants, "M-master! I have terrible news!"

"Why have my guards given me no warning that this man would be arriving?! If any old messenger can just waltz in here, who else can walk in without being checked?" The cult leader said in a rather annoyed tone.

"Master, I have terrible news!"

"News? What news? Well? Out with it? Speak!"

"Master Brei, my apologies for not being more respectful, but I have terrible news, and it's an emergency!"

"An Emergency..." Thought the cult leader. He stood still, wanting to show no negative emotions to his already rattled audience. "It better not be what I think it is. . . what terrible luck we would have if it's what I think it is. . ."

"Yes? Speak messenger, speak! What is this news?"

"The Star Empire of Eztobrughri--The Honorable Empire that is to help us with our pirates--has fallen into a state of civil war!" The audience gasps and starts mumbling to each other "And the--"

"That's enough! Silence, Everyone!" The cult leader demanded, and thus the room fell silent--lest they be executed for defying the leader. "It's even worse than I thought, not only is there going to be a delay in assistance, but we might not get assistance at all."

"Young messenger, thou who hath brought me this news today."

"Yes M-master Brei?"

"You hath been chosen to do a very important task for me. Send a transmission to the Emperor of Eztobrughri, and the house of Imminent war and find out exactly what's going on! Report to your Council-Minister and request a confirmation of these rumors--"

"They are not rumors sir they're--!"

"--You dare interrupt me?..."

"My apologies Master Brei..."

"Tell your Council-minister that I request a confirmation of these rumors and if they are true notify the Star Empire that we are to offer all the assistance that we can."

"Yes Master!" The messenger hurries out of the room and sends a transmission to the Emperor.

Incoming Transmission Addressed To: The Star Empire of Eztobrughri

This transmission is addressed direct to the Emperor himself

To the Star Empire of Eztobrughri, your contract of protection of trade within Luminumbra is to go into effect today. However, the Sacred Council and Grand Dietus of Luminumbra are disturbed to hear rumors that a civil war has broken out between the Empire and treasonous, ungrateful rebels. Please confirm for us whether or not these rumors are true? And if they are, do you need assistance from us? If requested we will do everything in our power to make sure the agreement comes into effect as smoothly as possible, whilst protecting the sovereignty of Eztobrughri. Please respond to our transmission as soon as possible.

Thank You
--Furoniculia Chroniculum, Council-Minister of Purveyors

"What are you going to do now Master Brei?" One of the councilmen asked.

"We wait for a response then, if the rumors are true, we attack the dishonorables with all might. No questions asked, and no regard for the lives of the treasonous. They shall be crushed, and brutally murdered if still alive after the conflicts. We do not take prisoners."

The throne room falls back into silence, the excitement now replaced with nervous anticipation.

by **The Terran Concordium** » Thu May 17, 2018 6:45 am

Another One Bites the Dust

Captain Julius Kirvic
CRV Desolate Existence
Eztobrughri space

The black emptiness that was deep space was all that could be seen, beside the sprinkle of a few distant stars and the spiralling vortexes of damp galaxies. So perfect was this illusion, that no-one had yet detected the presence of a Concordian reconnaissance corvette that had prowled through the area for over twelve hours. The quiet hum of its engines and the vessel's signature had all been suppressed by a quantum cloaking field that was suspended around the small starship, acting as a bubble of spacetime distortions that hid the existence of the ship to even the most prying of sensors. As of the latest reports from the Concordium intelligence department, the Desolate Existence was investigating the reports of a civil war occurring in the Eztobrughri Empire. Such events were of most interest to the Concordium, which sees them as opportunities to exploit.

If a domino fails to cascade into the next, then do it yourself.

"Captain, I've compiled an extensive report of all data we have gathered in the last twelve hours of our mission. Would you like to see it?" asked the intelligence officer.

Captain Julius Kirvic turned his face very slowly towards the young and handsome-looking officer, whose glistening blue eyes where unweary of the toils of combat. Very much so, lieutenant," he said in a soft but stern voice as he kept his eyes affixed to the situational display projected in front of the cold metal of the commanding officer's chair. A few glowing holo-buttons sat beside the scarred and battered fingers of the grizzled man. The lieutenant promptly injected information into the situation display using a wrist console and read out aloud in the bridge the occurrences of the last twelve hours. He spoke eloquently and swiftly, quickly advancing through happenings of little importance, such as the pirate raid on a supply depot or the breakdown of a warp portal. It was only five minutes and fifty-three seconds since he first opened his mouth when the intelligence officer remarked upon something odd. An anomaly.

"-and in addition to this we have detected excess transmittance of energy signatures radiating from several moons amongst Eztobrughri planets of high importance. Sensors also- " the young officer was cut off by the Captain.

"Hang on. Repeat what you just said."

Caught slightly off guard, the officer composed himself. "Uh, okay, long range probes have detected large amounts of energy signatures radiating from several moons amongst important planets of the Eztobrughri Empire. You see sir, these signatures are inconsistent and inconsequential with historical data on these moons. They shouldn't be pumping out energy at the rate they're at."

"Have the Eztobrughrians got any major energy installations on those moons?"

"Negative sir. Those moons are relatively uninhabited."

Kirvic gazed upon the information now populating the holographic projection of the situation display. He impatiently tapped his fingers on the arm rest of his chair, pondering on the course of action take. The rest of the small bridge crew were now turned attentively in their seats to look to at him. Kirvic then switched the projected situation display to a star chart and began ordering preparations for an immediate warp jump.

"Listen up. Navigator, plot an immediate course to one of those moons. I wan't the entire ship raised to ACTION GRADE 1, we're jumping in hot and we don't know what we'll be getting ourselves into. Comms, dispatch an immediate message to Intelligence,
tell them what we've found and what's our current intentions. Everyone else, prepare to jump."

The bridge crew shouted in unison. "Yes sir!"

by **Luminumbra** » Thu May 17, 2018 1:06 pm

Back in the throne room, Alphus Brei II was getting very impatient. His transmission should have come back by now...perhaps there was a real threat. His audience kneeling before him, in meditation. Tap, Tap, Tap his fingers went. He then stood up, towering above the audience in his glistening black robes, its golden embroidery glimmering in the light

Pacing back and forth he starts to worry.
“Perhaps, there really is trouble in Eztobrughri.”

“Council” he said weakly behind his mask, forgetting his composure for a second.

“Y-yes Master Brei?” The startled councilmen replied. Brei, turning towards them walking slowly, “Where was this supposed conflict taking place within the Empire?”

“Near the border Master Brei, there are several moons involved.”

“Send an unmanned scout there. Now. I want answers as to what’s happening there in the next 12 hours. Have the council mobilize the Imperial Navy. Have the populace report to their spuritual leaders for an all day prayer. This is now a state of emergency, and we must ask the Gods for mercy. The scout shall report to the closest officer on standby, Admiral Zeiadon Zeiades. I have some speeches to make. Let him do as he sees fit for the situation.”
The council nervously stands and splits in two, moving to the side exits.

“It shall be done. Master Brei.”

The unmanned scout is deployed from Saturia, heading towards the Eztobrughrian moons where the reported conflict is. As the scout nears its destination, it notices “hot” energy signatures coming from the moons.

Admiral Zeiadon, on standby, was in bed in his quarters. An alert rings on his screen. Irritated, he crawls out of bed. A naked woman lies up in the bed, adjusting her hair. “What’s wrong baby?”

“Ah nothing, probably just more drills.”

Alert! Alert!

This is Scout 1-052, Greetings Admiral, mobilization has been requested of you emergencyprocedure 125379....

The Admiral’s eyes widen, “Honey, get dressed, quick, now now now, let’s go!”

The woman quickly scampers out.

is nowon alert. Reporting results of the direct order by the Grand Dietus. Conflict Imminent, Permissions for Direct Judgement: Granted.

“Finally, something is happening!” “All men, to their battlesations. Head to coordinates 0.5036, -125.4325, activate the warp engines!” The admiral hardly able to contain himself.

The 5,000 strong fleet eagerly heads to the Moons.

by **Eztobrughri** » Sun May 20, 2018 11:28 am

Luminumbra wrote:-snip-

The Terran Concordium wrote:-snip-

The Rebels were prepared for this. An Expeditionary Fleet had already laid waste to multiple small Spy Probes which were only a threat if ignored. Two fleets were in Imperial systems already, slowly but surely usurping Planetary Governments and claiming colonies. Jamal-Ikan, his name was. An Ughvarlian, like the Emperor, but no Dictator. His Egalitarian ways and strong Ethos had swayed many houses already, and advances were being planned to many key areas closer to the center-the Bulwark-of Eztobrughri. At the moment, The Garden was their target. It was a valuable area between the arms of the Galaxy that held many key jump points. Controlling that region would make the rest of this war easy. In telling their plans to their allies, the Resistance took precautions as to use State-of-the-Art encryptions on their messages, and most communications were to be delivered by hand in secrecy. They had connections in the depths of the Empire-Houses that swore empty fealty to the Emperor that were to turn against him in battle, Diplomats that told the Rebels all that the Emperor told him...he War King's throne would not fall to the Rebel's army, but be torn from it's high place by the hands of the Empire's people.

"Sir, the 5th Liberator's Fleet has detected a small Imperial squadron near our borders. Should we retaliate?"

Jamal-Ikan rose from his view of the Strategic Map. He was noticeably taller than the average Ughvarlian and his voice was very deep. These qualities alone made his Authority in any situation unmistakable.

"Destroy the Imperial bastards. We will show them the prowess of the oppressed."

The Fleet got the order almost instantaneously. The force was not large, but composed of pirated Imminent War ships. Their numbers meant nothing with how powerful the ships were. The small squadrin was close now, but their sensors flared. Something was coming in. Seconds after, a massive fleet of thousands of ships were just behind the small squadron. They were nothing like the Empire's ships, but one thing was for sure-they were outnumbered.

"Retreat! Get back! Get back!!" The Captain of the fleet was shouting orders as the ships scrambled. In the chaos, the advancing Loyalists came into firing range of the disorganized and fleeing Ships.

by **Luminumbra** » Mon May 21, 2018 4:47 am

Admiral Zeiadon, pacing around the command bridge of his RoyG-Class Dreadnought rather impatiently, they were about 5 minutes away from their destination: the moons in the Garden Region. "What are the survey ships and our sensors telling us about the enemy?"

"Two relatively small squadrons. Squadron A has been identified pirated ships."

Zeiadon grinned. "These rebels are so weak they can't even build their own ships? Well, At least we'll get some action. Every victory is important. And this certainly won't be the only threat. I must let the Imminent War King know that his most industrial planets should fortify themselves on scales that will require their entire populations. That's the only way we can prevent them from building their industrial prowess."

"Men of this crew, give me your attention."

The men turn around silently.

"When we arrive, I want you to remember what you're fighting for. You're not just fighting for the Empire or Luminumbra. You're fighting for your families. Your friends, your fathers and mothers who fed you and gave you toys as you grew up, your childhood sweetheart, your wives, your children, your neighbors, the apartment you grew up in, then school you went to, your local spiritual house. You fight for them all and their safety. And you fight for the power most able to defend them, as we do not hesitate to crush those who threaten those things that we love. As such, I want you not to hesitate when you spot the traitors. Lock on and then fire at will!"

Arriving! Arriving!

"Get ready! Into your positions!"

Let's crush 'em!

A transmission from a random cruiser declared.

Morale was very high for the fleet.

As the fleet arrives, it finds the pirated ships on a retreat.

"Fight for what we love." The Admiral thought once more.

Yelling with a passion, "Activate the Hyperspace Jammers!"
"Activated!"
"Activate all Dreadnought tractor beams onto their flagships!"
"Activating!"
"Deploy the fighters!"
"Deploying!"
"Fire all Gravity Cannons and Concentrate fire!!! For Luminumbra! For the Empire!"
"For Luminumbra! For the Empire!"

As the admiral said, the ships did not hesitate, as they had only been in that space for 15 seconds. The ships obeyed the orders to a tee.

[OOC] The Gravity cannon was a mildly accurate weapon (~50% hit rate) that fires a contained gravity well at light speed to an enemy ship, once the container hits the ship, it disintegrates and the gravity well is activated in the direction of impact, focusing the center of mass within towards the well-point. This crushes ships in one direction and makes them useless. 1 Gravity cannon can destroy all enemy fighters within range. 2 Gravity cannons are enough to destroy a small frigate, medium sized ships can handle 5-10, and large ships typically (though it depends) can handle up to 50 gravity cannons at once. It is up to the enemy to decide how many ships he has in his fleet and plan damage accordingly, since I know this is a somewhat unconventional weapon.

[IC]The 5,000 Ships, comprising of 50 RoyG-Class Dreadnoughts, 1 Biv-Class Dreadnought, 1,999 Artisan-Class Cruisers, and 2,950 Templar-Class Cruisers all fired their weapons barring point defense weapons...[OOC]As per the Factbook,

[IC] this amounted to 19,494 Gravity Cannons, and 1,040 tractor beams.

by **Eztobrughri** » Thu May 24, 2018 5:58 pm

Luminumbra wrote:-snip-

The Rebels, though, were not prepared for this. Their SLS Drives were compromised, and fate awaited them. The Captain of the HAES Tirimschaida sent a final message to the massive Dreadnought-a vulgar insult in the Ancient Ughvarlian tongue. No messeages were detected otherwise, and the enemy Fleet made short work of the Squadrons.

But it was not as it seemed.

The Tirimschaida sent a warning message into a Distress Field, as the House of Ancients called it. The messages were hard to detect without either having prior knowledge of this system or actually trying to find messages with encryptions like the ones that the Distress Field's messages had. Being new tech, though, it was very possible that the message could get lost or corrupted on transfer. If all went well, it might get to Jamal-Ikan without trouble.

Meanwhile, aboard The Ikraskras...

"My Emperor, the House of Ancients-"

His Imperial Grace rose his hand, halting the Messenger. She spoke a word of transgression.

"There is no House of Ancients. Rebels are only Rebels. Traitors only Traitors. Do not glorify their disgraceful name. And, you are to refer to me as your Imperial Grace."

His face soured. He tensed and glared at the woman for her careless words. She was in the presence of the Emperor of her people, not some lousy, lowborn Duke.

"My sincerest apologies, My Imperial Grace. The Rebels have been spotted in a small operation in the Garden region. Intelligence suggests that they may be planning a full-scale invasion of the region. What do you will that we do?"

Her voice was shaky. He scared her. Good.

"Survey smaller Planets. Independent systems. These Rebels have proven to me two things-They are a nuisance, and they are fantastic at hiding. Keep fleets nearby, too. We will not be taken by surprise."

She bowed and left without another word. The Empire was officially mobilized against the Rebellion.

Their plans are foiled, he thought. They stand no chance against the strength of my magnificent Empire...

by **Luminumbra** » Thu May 24, 2018 9:14 pm

Admiral Zeiadon was pleased at how quickly the affair had gone.

"Men, this is going to be easy. All drinks at the Starship bar are on me for the next 24 hours! I will order a shipment of the finest wines to the ship straight from the palace!"

The whole command bridge erupted into a roar of cheers. It seems that any help the rebels may have called for might not even be showing up. The squadron had been completely obliterated. And now they were going to celebrate with the staple of Luminumbran dishes: White Wine, grown right in the palace.

Back in the palace, the Grand Dietus sat on his throne meditating. This time he was by himself, with no audience, only his advisors. A lyre, originally used in the antiquity--and brought for a pretty penny--played in the background. one could hear the streams and waterfalls in the palace garden.

"Master Brei!"--This time the messenger was halted by the guards. "Halt! State your business!"

"I have news for Master brei! Wonderful news!"

The cult leader stood up, as if he had been anticipating this moment. "Let him in. He is the same messenger as before, he is no threat." Excitement in his voice showing through his mask.

The guards reluctantly let him through. "Master Brei, Admiral Zeiadon has wiped out the threat--" "Excellent! That brother will be a true saint when he reaches the heavens!" "--Yes Master Brei, it turns out that there really was a threat, and that they were rebels! But as Zeiadon has proved time and time again. Traitors are no match for our forces. He also requests a shipment of Lumin White Wine, if he could be so honored?"

"Send him anything he wants! One would think other nations would come to the aid of these traitors. But perhaps they couldn't be bothered. The rebels will come to regret trusting such unreliables. That is what happens to those without honor."

"Y-yes Master Brei." The messenger bows. "Is there, a-anything else Master Brei?"

"One more thing. I want you to send a message to the Emperor of Eztobrughri, asking him what the state of his forces are. I would like some coordination between our Navies. Unity is crucial to victory." The cult leader slowly goes back to his chair, and meditates once more.

"It shall be done, Master Brei." The messenger bows again and runs out.

by **The Terran Concordium** » Fri May 25, 2018 5:49 am

SNAFU

Captain Julius Kirvic
CRV Desolate Existence
Eztobrughri space

The warpspace jump had only lasted five mere seconds; five seconds of intense fervour in the bridge as the crew hurriedly readied to their posts upon the Captain's call for ACTION GRADE 1. The ship whirred as its warp drive slowed down and the ship slipped quietly out of warpspace, with the expected blue trails of Cherenkov radiation being dissipated by stealth deflectors that masked the ship's exit signature in one of the most vulnerable times of a stealth corvette's operation. Directly in front of his vessel, Kirvic gazed out into the vast stretch of space that lay before him, which also lay host to a planet and one of its moons, in clear view of the observation panels at the apex of the ship's bridge. The uneventful situation was heart wrenching as all of the crew had expected something, anything to happen...

"Lieutenant, focus our centre grade sensors on the moon," ordered Kirvic who continued to gaze out of the observation panel.

Doing so, the intelligence officer reported his findings. "Nothing so far sir, just subtle fluctuations in energy signatures along the moons. I suspec-"

He was cut off abruptly by another crewmember. "What the hell is that?" she exclaimed, as she pointed towards several blips that began blinking on the tactical map. Before anyone could say another word, the number of blips doubled until a several dozen vessels were now within 0.01 AU of the CRV Desolate Existence.

"Sir! I'm reading multiple contacts, military class vessels! They're...they're firing!"

"What do you mean?" asked Krivic, surprised. He was answered as the space in front of him exploded in gun fire. Unbeknownst to the Concordians, they had just entered the battle between the rebel and Imperial fleets and it wasn't looking too pretty. Debris and wreckage flew in all directions as ships tore each other apart in volleys of weapons fire. The CRV Desolate Existence, sitting back, was taking in a whole boatload of data, certainly the most action any of the crew had seen for weeks.

"Sir, positive reading those ships are the rebels and Imperials." stated the Lieutenant. However, before he could continue on, something else was beginning to indicate its presence on the ship's long range arrays. "Sir, I'm detecting something new. Jesus...the quantum fluctuations are going off the charts. This can't be right!

"What's going on?" asked the Captain, leaning over to see the Intelligence Officer's console.

"What in Earth's glory? I'm detecting hundreds...no, thousands of quantum signatures. Christ alive, we've got 5000 ships warping in!"

"5000-what?" exclaimed the Captain.

5000 ship signatures sir. They've just warped straight in. Hang on...running a identification scan. It appears they of Luminumran origin."

"Luminumbra? Comms, get me a direct line to Sub-Sector Command! Now!" he ordered towards the Comms station.

"Desolate Existence, this is Battlestation Command, what's your status?" asked the commander of the local Sub-Sector, which directed all military operations in an around the area.

"Sir, this Captain Julius Kirvic, we've discovered a massive battle that has occurred in our current Cube Sector. We have confirmed identification that the battle is occurring between rebels and the Eztobrughri Empire along with over 5000 vessels of the Luminumbran origin supporting them. I'm requesting immediate intervention!"

"Did you just say 5000 vessels?" asked the baffled commander.

"Yes sir!" he replied.

Alright, I'm getting the 999th Concordian Battlegroup deployed immediately with every ship they've got."

Commodore Charles Vanmore
CCV Insidious Desire
999th Concordian Battlegroup

"Yes sir. I understand the circumstances...very well, let them see war."

Commodore Charles Vanmore closed the video call and exited from the CO's quarters and headed straight for the bridge of his flagship, the CCV Insidious Desire, a massive instrument of untold power and destruction. It was an Invictus-class dreadnought and a truly terrifying behemoth that dwarfed anything that dared oppose it. At over 100 kilometres in length and weighing more than 98 million tonnes, bristling with weapons, Vanmore had been ordered to make fast directly to the position of the CRV Desolate Existence and face down a fleet well over 5000 ships. Any navy would call such a venture insane, ludicrous, crazy, but for the Concordium; well, it was the challenge they had been waiting for. It was of no doubt that the Concordium was prepared to lay waste to nations and now the gears had all been set in motion. The 999th Concordian Battlegroup began assembling itself into formation with the centre axis of the fleet being lined with five dreadnoughts, shaped like an arrow's tip, led by the fearsome Insidious Desire. Flanking the five dreadnoughts, 50 cruisers assembled around and behind the dreadnoughts while 20 frigates assembled into a loose picket, designed to ward off fighters and flanking ships.

Commodore Vanmore walked onto the massive bridge of his ship and loosed himself into the CO's chair. Drawing a deep breath, he addressed the entire fleet. "All ships, prepare for warpspace jump."

75 blue glowing rings began enveloping the fleet's ships as their warp drives began spooling up to activation. Then in one instant, warp portals simultaneously formed in front of each vessel, and sucked their creators inside, teleporting them across space in another dimension to their intended destination.

Within just 10 seconds, the entire battlegroup decelerated out of the warpspace, transitioning through dimensions through glowing blue exit portals. Long trails of neon cobalt Cherenkov radiation flowed behind each ship, like the contours of an atmospheric aircraft at high speed.

Sir, I've confirmed the reports from the Desolate Existence. There are over 5000 quantum signatures to our direct front, range, 0.0092 AU", reported the Chief Sensor Operator of the Sensor Department on the bridge.

Very well...Comms, let's hand our guests a message."

From: CCV Insidious Desire, 999th Concordium Battlegroup
To: Luminumbran and Eztobrughri commanders

Gentlemen, we bring you a message from the Terran Concordium's sub-sector command. We have arrived upon reports of your attempts to rid yourselves of a rebellion within the Eztobrughri Empire. We, the Concordium, will no longer tolerate this belligerency. We demand an immediate cessation of armed conflict and bring yourselves to the negotiation table. Our guns are trained and our gunners are keen sighted. Do not impatient us.

by **Luminumbra** » Sat May 26, 2018 5:01 am

The fleet was in full celebration mode, as they had not lost one single ship in the fighting, having fired the first shots and destroying the pirated ships almost immediately.

The freighter carrying the white wine had arrived, and pods had been retrieving it to take back to the ships when--

"Admiral..."

The admiral, clearly enjoying his glass of Vino Viola^TM as he smacked his lips, wiping his face with his napkin, uttering the words "Yes?"

"You're not going to like this." said the Bridge reporter.

"Hic...I'm sorry, be more clear. C'mon, let's go, give me the news, you need to be quicker than that at your job soldier." He snapped his fingers impatiently as he talked.

The Bridge Reporter fumbled a little "I'm s-sorry Admiral, but we have a report of a massive heat signature coming in our direction. It's in the direction of 10 O'clock, about 0.0092 AUs away... And it's sending us a message."

Suddenly down to the lower left of the of visual panel, a huge object "stretched" into sight, leaving massive blue trails.

"That's Massive! It must take at least 1,000 Gravity cannons to total that thing, and who knows what defense systems it has onboard. It might take more. . ." The admiral was not to let his surprise be shown, lest his own men lose confidence.

The Admiral got up from his chair, walking in quick fashion to the railing above the pilots.

Incoming Message!

A little disturbed now, the Admiral quietly commands his men-- "Open it."

From: CCV Insidious Desire, 999th Concordium Battlegroup
To: Luminumbran and Eztobrughri commanders

Gentlemen, we bring you a message from the Terran Concordium's sub-sector command. We have arrived upon reports of your attempts to rid yourselves of a rebellion within the Eztobrughri Empire. We, the Concordium, will no longer tolerate this belligerency. We demand an immediate cessation of armed conflict and bring yourselves to the negotiation table. Our guns are trained and our gunners are keen sighted. Do not impatient us.

The Admiral, having just used a massive chunk of his weapons, had planned for a moment like this, which is why he had only used the Gravity Cannons. They were still cooling down, and would not be usable for another 10 minutes. But he still had thousands of other weapons he could use.

"Send a message on behalf of the Luminumbran fleet. And do it before Eztobrughri commanders. I want to set an example of strength."

"Yes Sir."

"After that, Get in Contact with Admiral Greadus, Tell him to bring his own 5,000-strong fleet to this location."

"Yes Sir."

The admiral hiccuped again, the wine sitting in his belly. He muttered to himself, "Damn Concordium, interrupting my celebration..." He then had sent a fleet-wide communication. "All ships, spread out and assume defensive formation around your assigned dreadnought!"

Suddenly, he realized his girlfriend was still on the ship, likely wondering what the hell was happening. His heart dropped, and quickly brought himself back to the railing.

"Also before you send any message, evacuate my girlfriend in an escape pod, tell her It's an emergency, that I'm very sorry I couldn't tell her myself, and that I'll meet her back on Luminumbra after this is done."

"It will be done sir."

The escape pod exits the dreadnought and leaves for Luminumbra.

The message to the Concordium is sent next.

From: RoyG - Class 191st Dreadnought, 15th Sacred Fleet
To: CCV Insidious Desire, 999th Concordium Battlegroup

You must be mistaken as to who the aggressors are. All those who dare to cause unrest in their own countries, terrorizing women, children, and families are what we define as being belligerent. Luminumbra is here to defend those families, and to restore order to a great empire. The Terran Concordium has no business getting into the affairs of others while supporting terrorists and traitors. As such, we refuse your demands to cease armed conflict except one. We are willing to come to the negotiation table. But know beforehand that, should talks fail, and the fighting continue, Luminumbra shall refuse to succumb to the whims of said terrorists, and shall fight so long as the Emperor lives. Do not expect us to drop out of any continued fighting on your terms. Unless the Emperor can agree to a resolution of conflict, the default context of these talks will be war.

Just then, the extra 5,000 Ships, led by Greadus got their message. Admiral Greadus, a rather quiet and laid back man, was sipping his own brand of wine. The grandson of the owner of a winery and a direct descendant of one of the first 1,000 Venetians, he holds special privileges within Luminumbra. One of those privileges was--not being on the front lines. He was also not allowed to receive commands from higher ranking admirals, but rather "requests".

Incoming Message!

From: RoyG - Class 191st Dreadnought, 15th Sacred Fleet - On Behalf of The Luminumbra Interstellar Navy
To: Biv - Class 202nd Dreadnought, 92nd Sacred Fleet

Admiral Greadus, we regret to inform you of coming conflict that may create a situation that's out of our control. We request that you warp to Coordinates 0.5036, -125.4327 immediately, Just outside the zone of Conflict. I will give you the signal to come into the zone of conflict, until then, lay low, and turn on all stealth mechanics. My best hopes that you will accept this request.

Greadus calmly looks over at the message. And shoos his hand, as if he couldn't be bothered. "Yeah yeah, let's go."

"Sometimes I think Admiral Zeiadon overreacts. But, I'll check it out, just in case."

"Sir! Entering Warp mode!"

The Fleet warps to the coordinates just outside the conflict zone, in full stealth mode.

by **Eztobrughri** » Mon May 28, 2018 9:45 pm

Luminumbra wrote:-snip-

A Messenger in Eztobrughrian Diplomatic robes approached the Emperor. His Imperial Majesty rested on the Throne Of War, as it was called, on the great Ikraskras.

"My Imperial Majesty, a message from the Luminumbrans?" He looked down at the Messenger. "Yes?" His voice, though loud and powerful, disappeared into the tall ceiling of the Ikraskras' Throne Room. "Their Leader wishes to know the status of our many Fleets, Your Imperial Majesty." Though it could not be seen behind his Helmet, he smiled. "Notify their Leader that they are all primed for combat. Tell them of our vast legions of Ships. Tell them of all 412 Fleets, and don't miss a ship." The Messenger knew this was no joke. They were tasked to give the status of every existing Ship held by the House of Imminent War. If it weren't for existing Databases, they'd go mad. At least they had something to do. The Messenger left without another word.

OOC

The House of Imminent War is known for it's vast legions of Warships. Luckily, you don't have to read a detailed report of each one. However, Stats for each Class of their Ships are listed below.

His Fleets are in various locations surrounding the Garden. They do not yet have orders to advance on any locations, though the current area of Conflict is a matter of concern for him. The 227th Fleet's 3rd Division (2 Battlecruisers, 7 Cruisers, 13 Destroyers, and 39 Corvettes) will be there shortly.

IC

The Terran Concordium wrote:-snip-

Shipmaster Karai San, Commander of the 227th Fleet's 3rd Division, runs a tight ship. He, like many Himeans, value Order, Discipline, and above all else, Honor. He would prove this today.

"Captains! Jump to the designated Combat Zone. The Emperor's Orders!"

The Division jumped into SLS Speed moments later. Through dutiful navigation and with great Unity, they arrived in the Combat Zone...On the wrong side. The Division was on the Desolate Existence's Portside, far from the intended Disengagement Zone.

"All Soldiers, prepare for Battle! Contact those Imperial Ships! Bring them over here, and show these dimwitted Terrans what the Empire is made of! For The Emperor!"

The Ships prepared for Combat. If they could overcome this Concordium Vessel, they could overcome anything the Rebels threw at them.

by **Luminumbra** » Tue May 29, 2018 12:41 pm

Eztobrughri wrote:-snip

"Admiral Zeiadon!" The navigator yelled with excitement. "Admiral Greadus has accepted your request! He is in position now."

"Excellent!" Just then, Zeiadon saw a fleet of Etzobrughrian ships warp into view, although it was on the portside of theInsidious Desire, this did not worry him, as he saw this as an opportunity to flank the enemy. A smug grin grew on his face.

"It seem the Emperor will not negotiate with the concordium. Magnificent news!" He begins walking back to his chair, his hands raised at his sides, in a gesture of arrogance.

"They Identify themselves as the 3rd Division, 227th Fleet." The Navigator responded.

"Send a message to the Eztobrughrian fleet asking them what the plan is, we are suggesting a flanking maneuver."

"It shall be done, Admiral."

From: RoyG - Class 191st Dreadnought, 15th Sacred Fleet
To: Eztobrughri's 227th Fleet, 3rd Division

Greetings! This is Admiral Zeiadon of the 15th Sacred Fleet of Luminumbra, Commander of the 191st Class RoyG Dreadnought!
We wish to co-operate and coordinate with your to the fullest extent with our fullest abilities. We wish to know your plan of action, we see an opportunity for a flanking maneuver, striking at the portside of the Insidious Desire. Be careful of the ship however, the Insidious Desire appears to be a superweapon. Keep an eye on them as you perform your maneuvers. We have crushed all non-concordium rebel ships in the area, and are currently at a standoff. Be on your best guard. We have taken a defensive position.

--Admiral Zeiadon

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Grand Dietus Alphus Brei II was in the palace gardens praying.

"Master Brei." It was the same messenger as before, "I have the status update you were waiting for from the Emperor of Eztobrughri!"

"Excellent, you have been a good brother as of late, come, pray with me."

"Y-yes, Master Brei!" The messenger, clearly very honored, did his best not to mess up in the presence of the Cult leader.

"Tell me, what is your name?"

"Florio Fanio, M-Master Brei."

"Would you like a promotion? Does the title of Spiritual Master of Communications interest you?"

"W-with all due respect, Master Brei, I think I am more fitted to the position of messenger."

"A humble one aren't you? I feel that you will be a Prophet in the Heavens." The cult leader sounded pleased, as humbleness is a virtue in Luminumbra.

"M-Master Brei?"

The cult leader turned slowly.

"I was wondering, and I ask this with the upmost respect for your godliness, I am but a lowly messenger. But what do you plan to do in the war?"

"A bold question...I plan to crush the rebels and, if possible, destroy the nations who partook in the rebellion."

Luminumbra's plan was to destroy the Terran Concordium, along with the Rebels.

The messenger, now silent begins to pray with the Cult leader. Afterwards, he hands him the status report, and walks out of the palace, disturbed by the plan.

Soon after, he begins taking an interest in the Terran Concordium and begins looking at its history, its culture, the idea of defection beginning to enter his mind.

by **Eztobrughri** » Tue May 29, 2018 2:17 pm

Luminumbra wrote:-snip-

At receiving the Message, Shipmaster Karai San showed irritated interest. "Officer, recite the message." He was busy readying his Ships for an attack, but he understood the value of Allies in war.

"Sir, they wish to know what we plan to do with the Desolate Existence. What shall I respond with?"

The Shipmaster considered this for a moment.

"Tell them we plan to take out the Engines and disable their weapons. If we can board the Ship and overtake it, then we will."

The Officer remained for another moment. "Are you sure, sir?" He commented with the slightest undertone of fear. Karai sensed it.

"I am positive. Tell them immediately. With haste! Go!"

The Officer ran to the Communications Deck. The Division and the Desolate Existence were at a standoff as the Officer's message went to the awaiting Luminumbran Fleets.

by **Luminumbra** » Fri Jun 01, 2018 6:34 pm

Eztobrughri wrote:
Luminumbra wrote:-snip-

-snip-

Admiral Zeiadon gets the reply shortly afterwards.

"Excellent." A smug grin grew on his face. He walks again to the railing. His hands resting on the railing he barks at the navigator "I want 500 cruisers--250 Light Class and 250 Dark Class--blocking off any potential retreat. Position them at 5 different points from here, surrounding the Terran fleet, far away. Should the dreadnoughts try to escape, we will have ships ready to warp and catch right up to them. Send a message to the Eztobrughrian Fleet, requesting that they take out the Warp engines on the dreadnought first. We will commence a diversionary attack with half the cruisers directly confronting the Insidious Desire and the rest of the cruisers along with the Dreadnoughts, will prioritize destruction of the point defense systems of the ships. All ships partaking in the attack will deploy all fighters to engage the enemy, with a prioritization on taking out any enemy fighters."

"Yes Admiral!"

From: RoyG - Class 191st Dreadnought, 15th Sacred Fleet
To: Eztobrughri's 227th Fleet, 3rd Division

Greetings!

We love the plan. We request that you first take out their warp engines, to prevent escape. Luminumbra will block off all escape for the enemy and engage them directly while you take the ship.

--Admiral Zeiadon

Meanwhile, the blueprints for the Dreadnoughts of the Terran Concordium were under threat. Luminumbra's intelligence department had, this whole time been attempting to hack the Concordium's systems holding the blueprints for the Dreadnoughts. The idea was to locate the artificial gravity generator on the Insidious Desire, and hack them, so as to make them malfunction, possibly destroying them and make the jobs of its crew close to impossible, if not much harder.

"Admiral! Permission to speak!" It was a Systems Hacker. "Speak!" "The Luminumbra intelligence department has been trying to hack the blueprints to the enemy Dreadnoughts. Should we help them?"

"What is the mission of the department?"

"We do not know, they just requested our help."

"Blueprints would be nice anyways..." "Sure, give them your help."

"Yessir!" The hacker runs back out to his post.

Incoming message! Incoming message!

From:The Spiritual Intelligence Department of Luminumbra
To: Admiral Zeiadon, 191st Dreadnought, 15th Sacred Fleet

-Admiral-

You have new orders from the Department of Intelligence regarding your battle. You are to target the generators of the Insidious Desire's Artificial Gravity. It's very hard for a man do his job when he incessantly floats around helplessly, having to "swim" everywhere he goes. Men cannot aim smaller ship guns when he's forced to point the gun downwards from floating. A man cannot control a larger ship gun when he can't get to the operating system of said guns. We want to make the ship's crew completely fall apart as a unit.

Also, the War Department has developed new modules--scanner scramblers--to make unreliable the enemy's scanners of your ship. The Grand Dietus orders you and all Light-class ships to report to the nearest star base for retrofitting once the battle is over.

Any department may relay orders to the military if it is an order direct from the Grand Dietus. Orders must be confirmed through many personnel at once direct from the Grand Dietus to prevent false orders.

"All ships into position!!" The Admiral yelled.

The ships move into position.

by **Eztobrughri** » Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:54 am

Quick OOC Note to those who don't know: We don't yet know the Desolate Existence is there. The Terrans just affirmed that the Ship was cloaked, and remained that way going into the Battle Zone. Just sayin' because I only now found out :P

The Imperial Ships, now in formation and approaching the Insidious Desire, prepared for combat.

"Destroyers, crack them in two."

The Line of Destroyers launched a volley of Torpedoes at the Terran Warship, all headed for AI-suggested weak points in the ships' hull.

by **The Terran Concordium** » Sun Jun 03, 2018 12:27 am

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Commodore Charles Vanmore
CCV Insidious Desire
999th Concordian Battlegroup

Vanmore smiled as he read the message that the Luminumbrans had oh so hastily replied in earnest. Like any fledging interstellar power, they composed sentences with such forced attempts at asserting confidence and superiority, biding their so-thought superiority through numbers. Too bad for them. The Concordium has seen it too often, and always such attempts brought only a reckoning upon those who would defy the Concordium, whose millennia-old institutions of war have seen battles that had casualties counts rivalling the population of the Luminumbran Empire. 5000 boats... 75 warships. This would be an interesting game indeed.

"We shall send no reply. The Luminumbrans do not know it yet, but we have played them for fools. Leave them confused while we open our first salvos, which shall target their command flagship. Let us cripple them with one fell blow,", stated Commodore Vanmore, addressing the bridge crew. However, before he could continue, he was interrupted by the ship's AI.

"Commodore, I have detected increasing energy signatures from the Eztobrughrian fleet. They are charging weapons likely with intent to fire. Furthermore sir, I have analysed energy signatures from the Luminumbran fleet. They seem to not feature any energy shielding of any type. Rather, some strange emissions are coming off their armour that I am unable to quantify."

Vanmore's smile evolved into a grin. "This is most excellent. Not only shall we have impetus to engage the Luminumbrans, but also the Eztobrughrians. Two birds with with one stone. Very well, let me alter the battle plans. The Luminumbrans are still our primary concern for obvious reason. We shall engage them with an opening salvo of antimatter armatures and then perform a tactical warp jump to 1 AU directly behind their fleet, where we will likely be out of weapons range of their guns but we can still strike them. Since their ships have no energy shielding, we will engage with both antimatter barrages and plasma lances, burning through their hulls and vaporising their vessels. If we do require any aid in our battle, the 801st Battlegroup is on standby, ready to jump. Is this clear?".

In unison, the crew shouted, "Yes sir!"

Suddenly, an alarm rang out on the bridge as red blips on the ominsensor displays began encroaching on the position of the Insidious Desire's location.

"Sir, enemy bogeys, approaching us fast. Counting several hundred cruisers! We've got multiple destroyers approaching our port side! Hang on, incoming projectiles! They've launched torpedoes!" shouted the operators to Commodore Vanmore, who immediately began issuing orders.

"Point defence, take'em down," ordered Vanmore, as several hundred spherical gun pods released appeared out of the surface hull of the port side of the massive warship. Within a few picoseconds, the incoming torpedoes were tracked and fired up on by several million bolts of antimatter infused osmium shells, which, upon impact, annihilated themselves with the normal matter that made up the torpedo, causing a small explosion while also deleting all traces of it from existence.

"Torp's down sir!"

"Good, now scratch those destroyers. Lance them with midward portside battery!"

Several large plasma lances, each the size of perhaps one of those destroyers, charged up their deadly contents and spewed solid streaks of pure plasma straight at the offending destroyers, hitting them at speeds of over half the speed of light, impossible to dodge at such a close distance. To make sure they were silenced, several antimatter accelerator batteries discharged a dozen rounds at the destroyers, with each shell holding more destructive energy than all the nuclear devices of a 21st century humanity. Meanwhile in the bridge, Vanmorewas slightly annoyed. This insolence from the enemy had delayed his brilliant plans and this was compounded by the fact that the AI had detected software intrusions into the ship's systems. While busy ordering the ship's thousands of guns to open fire upon the 'annoyances', the AI was also dedicating about 0.2% of its processing power to stopping the hacking attempts by the enemy forces.

"These people never learn," sighed the AI as it monitored a firewall that isolated and negated the attempts by the enemy to breach into the systems of the Insidious Desire. What the Eztobrughrian and Luminumbran fleets probably did not realise, was that the Concordium's artificial intelligences, more properly referred to as synthetics, possessed processing and calculation abilities far greater than even the combined intelligence of thousands of biological sentients. It would take far more than poorly organised code written by a sentient being to even breach one layer of security.

Meanwhile, the entire 999th Battlegroup began responding to the encroaching warships with multi-teraton yield shells spouting from every direction. Each cannon on the Insidious Desire itself was now firing upon the hordes of Eztobrughrian and Luminumbran vessels like a few hunters having at it at flocks of game bird. What the Concordium lacked in numbers, it made up for with very, very hard hitting projectiles accelerated out of the barrels of their guns at over half the speed of light; a few blasts would be enough to pulverise a planet's crust.

by **Eztobrughri** » Sun Jun 03, 2018 12:40 am

"Shipmaster, what are we to do?"

If it weren't for the traditional Armor he was wearing that covered his face entirely, the Officer and entire deck crew included would see how agitated he was.

"Tell all Captains to fire at will. Destroy the Terran fleet at once!"

Two of the remaining Cruisers broke off to the smaller ships of the Terran Fleet, and began to fire volleys of Lasers upon them as the remaining 5 opened fire on the Insidious Desire. The Battlecruiser Worldeater fired four Aegis Shieldpiercers and fired all of it's guns into the thick of the Fleet. The other Battlecruiser, Spear Of Light, is still Cloaked, but not very well. The Ship's translucency will wear off soon.

by **Aeiouia** » Sun Jun 03, 2018 2:16 pm

Cold? Bad? Same thing, really. This repulsive lack of heat always permeated the the desolate expanses of void between the precious life-giving Warmth Spheres. Zanthe however was hardy enough to survive the frigid cold, and with good reason; the Mineral Spheres were simply not cutting it any more. Having quite recently pupated into her new hull configuration, she was in desperate need of a supply of minerals to continue growing. A supply that those circling inanimate objects simply could not provide on their own.

Like many of her more aggressive brothers and sisters, Zanthe eventually came to a realization that the objects with the highest concentrations of Minerals are Critters. Of course, unlike Spheres, Critters usually shot back at you if you tried to mine them. Meaning that using them as a Mineral source was a somewhat dangerous game. But it was indeed a game that Zanthe was willing to play. After all, she wagered that it was far faster and not to mention more entertaining than just going from area to area and mining boring old Spheres.

This game had brought her to a location a few light hours from a collection of Spheres, she had been hot on the tail of a massive group of Critters that she wagered were going to start shooting at each other soon. Of course Zanthe had no idea why Critters sometimes killed each other like this, but she was not complaining. She knew that the best time to attack a Critter is when it is already distracted by something else.

"... essage from t... cordium's sub...... mmand. We have arrived upon reports of ....... ring yourselves to the ... r guns are traine... Luminumbra, Comman...
ilities. We wish to know yo... rtside of the In.... Desire. Be car.... e appears to be a ... ed all non-concordi.... area, and are curr... on your best guard. We h... fensive p..."

The Critter-Chatter was confusing as ever, and the fact that her eavesdropping techniques yielded garbled reception certainly did not help at all. But, it probably did not matter. She could not understand most Critter-Chatter to begin with. The knowledge that the Critters were beginning to get more and more talky was all the information that she needed anyway. In her previous dealings with Critters, she determined that this was always an indication that they are going to begin shooting at each other.

With this in mind, she decided to jump closer to the location to get more information. Like with all movement in the Place of Transit, traversing distances faster than radiation was a boring and time-consuming affair. But as she began to survey the area with her passive scanners, it was certainly confirmed that the jump was worth it. There were tons of Critters, thousands even!

Her scanners even picked up traces of strange energies on some of their hulls. She could not exactly identify their nature, but they seemed somewhat similar in nature to the Critters that Mother used to hunt back in her early days. Either way, mining such a material would certainly valuable for the continued development of Zanthe's hull, and she planned to capitalize on this fact.

There was a bit of an issue, however. These Critters with their strange energies on their hulls were organized into a huge school, easily being the most numerous in the area. She knew from her previous experiences with Critters that they would probably just scatter if she were to try to attack one of them head-on. She needed to provide another distraction besides their bizarre fight with the other Critters in the area.

Looking around, her cameras eventually fell on a Sphere near the school of Critters. And with that, she had a plan. Beginning a burn, she headed straight for a low orbit around the Sphere. Ready to decloak and begin harassing the swarm of Critters.

As the battle between the Eztobrughrian, Luminumbran, and Terran vessels raged, a large Dreadnought-like vessel seems to appear out of nowhere on the far side of one of the system's moons. Observation by any acute sensors would reveal that the craft had in fact been some kind of stealth vessel, and its appearance was caused by it simply de-cloaking.

The ship itself was massive, and it was definitely an odd vessel. Having only one non-point defense weapon turret at its center, and sporting a number of colossal manipulator claws and mining tools from its stern. Beyond this, it was also painted in a rather hideous zebra-like black and white pattern. The only part of the ship that had escaped the terrible color scheme were the four massive glowing radiator panels jutting out from its hull. Aesthetics were clearly a foreign concept to whoever had built it.

With its line of sight to the nearby warzone obscured by the planetoid, it suddenly began deploying missiles prograde along its orbit. Sending them flying into an escape trajectory via some kind of magnetic launching system. After firing a few hundred warheads in quick succession, the vessel slowly begins fading back into a state of invisibility.

The fleet of missiles continues accelerating without any visible engine flare, clearly being propelled by some kind of reactionless drive system. They begin a synchronized burn to send themselves on a direct intercept course with the bulk of the Luminumbran fleet. Spreading out from each other to target separate craft as they get closer. Oddly however, a few of the warheads seemed to be a bit heavier than the rest. These large missiles remained a bit of a distance behind the rest of the group, and their trajectories seemed to all line up with intercepting the Luminumbran Dreadnoughts.

As the missile fleet gets within a few light seconds of their targets, they all seem to enter a second stage. With the warheads breaking apart into multiple pieces, and each giving way to a swarm of almost a hundred smaller missiles. While the sheer number of warheads seem to be quite intimidating, all of the missiles are clearly quite small. Save for the few heavier ones that did not seem to stage along with the others, none of the warheads were larger than what one would expect to find on a figher-bomber or strike craft.

by **Eztobrughri** » Sun Jun 03, 2018 10:29 pm

PAINT IT, BLACK

The Rebellion recieved the Message, the Eztobrughrians had come with Allies, they were invading their Garden moons. The Rebellion Leader, though unsure of how the House Of Ancients would work, knew one thing in particular-He would need the support of the Void Cultists.

"Hail, Your Holiness." The Rebel Leader, Jamal-Ikan, even though far above this Cult Leader in the grand scheme of things, knew that respect was of upmost importance. Especially after two of his High Guards walked in, he knew that, not only was his Victory on the line here, but also his life.

"Hail, Your Highness. You called me here. Said it was Urgent?" His face was covered by his Mask Of The Void, which probably hid innumerable marks and scars as well.

"The House of Ancients calls for Aid, Your Holiness. The Empire has ridiculed you and your faith innumerable times. This is an opportunity to get back at them."

The Cult Leader looked at the Rebel Leader for a long few seconds, until he waved off the Guards. They left, and he removed his mask. Jamal-Ikan had never seen a Void Cultist's face before. It was not unlike any other Ughvarlian Eztobrughrian's, but the long black marks that crisscrossed his face looked unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was no Tattoo or Mark-he was truly Marked by the Void. He could barely break his concentration to listen to the Cult Leader's words.

"The Void is no simple thing, Ikan. It may be, as the Imperials say, the 'literal definition of Nothing', but once you see it as I have, you will know that, when surrounded by it's emptiness, you fill it. Your Mind constructs everything in the Emptiness, and the Nothing becomes Everything. Your Hopes, Dreams, Desires...Your Mistakes-both the ones you've made and you have yet to make."

He was intrigued, but cautious. He did not intend on becoming a Cultist-He only intended on winning the Cultists over. How far would he be willing to go to win them, he then thought.

"You must prove to me that this will not fill the Void surrounding us with my mistakes, Ikan. If I lose this war, you will never hear the last of it."

He kept returning to the marks on his face. They were so deep-so very dark that it seemed like they went on forever, an infinite cavern into him that could never be truly explored. He pried his focus away from them and turned to the Strategic map, bringing it in front of them.

"We plan on invading the Garden. We've already lost a few Scouts and there's currently a battle taking place near some of our Moons. We'll have a Fleet there soon. The House of Authority, as it promised to us in secret-"

The Cult Leader rose his hand to stop him.

"You have Authority on your side? Why do you need us if you have them?"

Ikan sighed.

"They can't take affiliation to us. Oraksis feels strongly about the House Of Ancients, but if he were to express that, the entire Nation would collapse in on itself. Authority would lose all of it's...Well, Authority. Their Neutrality solidifies their place in Eztobrughri. If they were to openly take sides, things would get many times worse. The most they can do is serious Diplomatic Imbroglio on the War King's life-Raising 'major' issues to his attention, contacting Rebel-supportive Nations and making some Incident with them that really doesn't exist, 'accidentally' saying something insulting to the Khigmorans-which is basically anything at all-absolutely anything to get in his way. Donating a Ship can't go under the radar and as much as meeting with us could raise innumerable issues. We seriously need a powerful House with a solidified place in Eztobrughri. Like yours."

He seemed impressed. The Cult Leader made a silent rolling sound in the back of throat-The Ughvarlian equivalent of a contented Smile or Laugh.

"You are a good Diplomat, Ikan. You are a surefire Leader..."

He grabbed his left hands.

"...And I'd be honored to fight alongside you. Eztobrughri needs to know of it's Ancient Glory that this False Emperor has stolen from it. We will speak soon, and do not worry too much about the Garden. We have friends that can assist there."

The Cult Leader put the mask back on his Face, and after a soft bow of his head, left. The only thing that messed with Ikan now was no longer his Void Markings, but why the hell he insisted on calling him 'Ikan'. Nobody used an Ughvarlian's first name. Ever.
Void Cultists were weird.

by **Luminumbra** » Sun Jun 03, 2018 10:53 pm

[OOC]: Some shady people tried to come into my apartment while I was writing this, they knew my first and last name and apartment number too...fucking creepy. And then I had to go and haven't had time to respond until now, I will respond to Aeiouia's attack in an edit below, since this was happening within the Luminumbran fleet technically before then. Terran Concordium should pay more attention to the first part above the EDIT while Aeiouia should pay more attention to the part below the EDIT

[IC]: The full force of the 999th battlegroup was raining heavily onto the Luminumbran fleet.

The fighters have all but been destroyed, the hackers could not seem to break through.

Amongst the destruction...Admiral Zeiadon was oddly calm, too calm. His navigators were nervously watching the whole disaster unfold the antimatter explosions ripping through space. The concordium was far stronger than they thought.

A hacker runs into the room. "Sir! They have a near-impenetrable firewall!" Zeiadon looks over at them. "Insert he Magnoseium Orb into the systems." The hacker grinned "Yessir." He runs back to his post...All code written by hackers are now more adept at breaking down security protections. It will attempt to (very) slowly chip away at the firewall.

"Sir, it looks like they're getting ready to warp, we have detected an energy signature."

"Turn on the hyperspace jammers!"

The Hyperspace Jammer emits a field that prevents any ship from entering hyperspace or using its warp drive, it must use conventional controls.

"S-sir Admiral? Permission to speak?" The navigator quietly asked.

"Go ahead." The admiral was calm. Oddly calm.
"W-why aren't you saying anything? Can't you see what's going on out there? They're going to destroy us!!"

"No they're not. I'll bet they think we have zero shielding, that they can use their weapons to make direct impact on our hulls...These fools have never seen the power of magiscience. Not only is our armor made of some of the strongest metals in the universe, but that metal is magic infused with layers of specially made particles hovering just above the armor. Those particles specialize in dispersing energy. This in effect triggers the explosion just above the armor, while dispersing it, as opposed to a direct hit on the armor with a concentrated force of energy. This is effectively the same as detonating the explosion just outside the armor and then spreading the energy yield as wide across the hull as possible. We'll still take massive amounts of damage, but it will be less damage over a wider area, an equal amount of energy doing overall less damage. Unfortunately the danger of this is that with enough brute force, the entirety of the hull will eventually capitulate as opposed to one or two sections, and it can result in complete losses. We must be extremely careful on that end not to take too many hits, but for now they're forced to use more ammo chip away at our armor, buying us more time."

"Yes sir. What are your orders now sir?"

"Concentrate all fire from all ships barring the 500 cruisers that will surround them, and fire all weapons onto the Bridge of the Insidious Desire!! Call in Greadus's Fleet! Exclude the firing of the black hole cannon from the order!"

"Sir!" An ominous sound of beeps and the warming up of systems sounded throughout the bridge.

"What happens if we lose all our cruisers Admiral?" "Did I give you permission to speak?" "Er, no sorr--" "If we lose all our cruisers, we will activate the quasar gamma light--which will blind all who see the flash as bright as a quasar, and fry the electronics of any systems with its radiation, this would include our own electronics, and it effectively means a stalemate situation. Should the enemy have protections against this, we would have to retreat...But enough talk! FIRE!"

All weapons in the fleet concentrated on the bridge of the Insidious Desire, while Greadus's fleet was entering the combat zone, with fresh fighters and nearly doubling the fleet strength.

According to the factbook, this means the Insidious Desire has just been subjected to
3,150 Starburst Cannons -- 100 cannons equates to the power of a small star--that's 31 small stars' worth of firepower
17,494 Gravity Cannons
2,500 Plasma Burst Cannons
150 Gamma Ray Cannons
1 Space-time Shockwave Cannon --These disrupt all particles and even briefly reverts the target area back to a primal universal state--a time shortly after the big bang when there was no time and it was trillions of degrees hotter, the area of effect is quite small, yet near universal in its ability to destroy things--perfect for punching small holes into shields.

Greadus then gave the order. "Deploy all fighters, we will need them to fight off any remaining enemies should the Insidious desire be successfully destroyed.

EDIT

[IC]

After they fired their weapons, a few of the cruisers in the fleet suddenly had explosions ripping through their hulls

"GaaaAAAHH!! What's is going on?" Zeiadon, clearly frustrated, ran to the railings again.

"Just some minor explosions sir. The cruiser's magic were not touched by antimatter, but rather conventional projectiles so the shielding held up, however many weapons systems have just been damaged, and they are out of operation."

"Well? How much of our weapons systems?" "About 30% sir. Most of the explosions were on the weapons systems of the ships, but I do see some wreckage."

Still, 30% was a lot. And the Admiral was not pleased. Just as he looked over to his right, he saw a little speck fade into nothingness..."Is that the source of what just happened?"

"How many ships were lost in this recent attack? Computer! Scan the fleet and show me our status!"

Greetings! Praise be to the Gods!
Scanning...
Scanning...

We have: 1,662 Artisan Cruisers, And 2,565 Templar Cruisers in the combat zone.

"We've lost nearly 300 ships in the attack Admiral!"

"Damn" ... "Damn Damn Damn..."

The Admiral then turned back and sat down in his command chair, a drop of sweat going down his face. "What just happened? I don't see anything on the radars, yet just like that, 300 ships were destroyed. I need to make a request to the war department to put shielding on our ships, and fast."

"Admiral? Your Orders? Admiral? Sir!"

The admiral jumped in his seat. "Ah!...Yes?"

"Your orders?"

"Wait for Greadus's reinforcements to enter the combat zone. Our fleet strength is about to double, We will alternate the use of our weapons, one fleet fires while the other cools down." He grinned again.

"Yessir." The navigator turned back to his post. "The admiral needs to stop being so hysterical."

The admiral was beginning to get nervous. The Luminumbran fleet still seemed to have the upper hand, but the potential for the situation to get completely out of control was too great for him to stand idly by. He couldn't do anything about the fleet's current configurations in this battle, but he had to do something for the future outcomes of battles.

He then made a request to the War department to prioritize the development of the shields. He was met with bad news. The war department's selections of R&D must be directly approved by the Grand Dietus. He tried contacting the Grand Dietus only to find that the Cult Leader was making preparations for a royal wedding and he couldn't be reached. (OOC: Invites coming soon for that RP I promise lol) [IC] "Now??? Of all times..." He almost wanted to curse at the cult leader's poor planning but he kept himself under control--lest he lose his own head. So he contacted the war department to make the formal request to be given to the Cult leader.

by **Arkotania** » Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:19 pm

ARRIVAL

The void of space crackled with energy as jagged ripples formed in the vast emptiness. Within moments, four space vessels materialized from the nothingness and continued their slow forward momentum. At the head was the Monkar flagship STO Regix, flanked by two crusiers, the Valin and Eda, while the destroyer Parabel took its position just above the three ships to provide reconassaince and surveillance. Archmonk Xyondar stood on the bridge with his hands firmly clasped behind his back. He looked out at a familiar sight but knew they were a new land. As the leader of the St.Tibr Order, commander of the small fleet, and captain of Regix, it was his duty to lead what was left of his order to a fruitful mission by fighting on behalf of a foreign empire.

The Archmonk began to check his holoscreen, viewing the reports as they began to flow in from the sensors from every ship of the fleet. From ship status reports to crew readiness to regional scans, he quickly filtered through the information. There was no problem with any of the ships and the scanners found no object of concern or interest within distance of the fleet's entry. This would eventually change as the Archmonk was quite serious in his stance to adhering to the agreement he had with the loyalist forcces, where he had pledged to aid them in their conflict against the rebels.

Thus, their first act was to locate a rebel target and attempt to capture it in order to obtain more information about the area they had jumped to.

by **Eztobrughri** » Tue Jun 05, 2018 4:30 pm

Luminumbra wrote:-snip-

Arkotania wrote:-snip-

DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

The Loyalists were strong, that was undeniable. The Terran Concordium wasn't going to win on it's own-and it wouldn't have to. The Hyperspace Jammers did what they do best-disrupt Hyperspace travel. Unfortunately, Pirates are synonymous for terrorizing The Garden-The House of Gold has Trade Companies there, it's Planets are some of the most Industrially productive in Eztobrughri, and it's barely policed by House Authority. So, of course, they're everywhere. The Empire, being as Brutal as it is to the Pirates, is no friend of theirs. As fate has it, most Pirate Clans present in the Garden are Rebel Allies-especially the one whose Fleets were caught in the Disruption. The Clan of True Faith and Gold Blood is no group of kind Diplomats. They are Religious Zealots, and they do not surrender. This is considered an act of War.

To: The Insidious Desire, Terran Fleet
From: The Kraios, The Clan of True Faith and Gold Blood's 4th Fleet.

Greetings on behalf of the Commander, Terrans. We will soon be in the area to end the transgressions of the Luminumbrans. We request that you do not fire upon our ships.

Almost immediately after the Message got to the Terrans, the Clan Fleet appeared at the Horizon-At least 100 of Ships of various sizes, with one giant Ship that almost rivaled the Desolate Existence in size. A line of Precursor-class Cruisers began to fire upon the smallest of the distant Loyalist ships with their Arc Disintegrators from the far Distance. It was possible they didn't even know they were there.

by **Luminumbra** » Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:16 pm

"'Sir! We have bigger problems! Our fighters are being ripped to shreds!!!"

"What?!" The admiral got up in frustration. The weapons of his fleet were all still cooling down from firing at the bridge of the Insidious Desire.

"Get me a report on how far Greadus's Fleet is?"

"It's less than 1 AU sir, it will be entering the combat zone shortly."

"Thank the gods!" The admiral breathed a sigh of relief.

"When will our weapons be cooled down?"

"In 10 minutes sir."

"Have all guns trained on the rest of the Insidious desire. Use the shockwave cannons to punch through the shields of the Insidious Desire and concentrate fire on those spots."

"Yessir!"

by **Seav** » Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:03 pm

Arrival
The Seavian war fleet exited jump space, all weapons systems ready to lock onto incoming fighters. Strangely, they found none.

"Admiral! No enemy fighters in the system!"
"Excellent. Broadcast the transmission of intent to fight on behalf of the rebels."

transmission wrote:Attention Imperial forces. We will be fighting on behalf of the rebels. Be advised that any ships that enter our engagement envelopes will be fired upon. Reignite the flame of glory!

"I want this broadcasted 24/7," said the admiral.

The Imperial Conflict (Open-IC)

The Imperial Conflict (Open-IC)

Who is online