Alone Among the Desolate Stars(AP/Invite Only)

[Communist Volkstrad]

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Alone Among the Desolate Stars

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A world seems so large, so big to those who live on it. A seemingly endless sprawl of land and sea, so much that one person could never hope to see it all in his lifetime. Yet, in the vast blackness of space, a single world, a single system, a single galaxy, it's all so very small, so insignificant.

Despite the meaninglessness of it all, in the face of such scale, the drive to grow, to expand, to propagate, and to make contact is a desire common throughout the galaxy. The desire to fight back against the emptiness through various means, is found wherever one looks. Some look out to the stars in the name of peace, longing for civil contact, others seek new frontiers and greater reaches to colonize, and still more foes to subjugate in conquest. It is simply different means of solving the same subconscious problem.

You now embark on this journey through the stars, your goals many and diverse and your methods equally different. How you choose to use your resources, your time, and your effort is your decision. In the end, you will always fall alone among the desolate stars.

[The Zeonic Imperium]

Imperium of Zeon

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"High hopes and noble endeavors,
Will shine with all the twinkling stars,
We hold you next to us,
The galaxy so glorious,

We'll build with all of our dreams,
A new world that bravely gleams!
We'll fight until our breath is gone
For the glory of Zeon!

Char is fighting for our prayers,
Char is fighting for our prayers!
So rejoice and cry out in liberty!"

-Ballad of the Zeonic Military Force, written in Z.C. 0093 (Zeonic Calender)

For years now, the society that dominated over the Earth after most others had left, was the Imperium of Zeon: warforged people whom had been originally space colonists, having seceded from the Federation which had ruled Earth beforehand. The first war was lost, but after such a long time, almost 15 years, the war was over: Zeon's remnants and their command, led by the resurrection of their finest leader Char Aznable, had returned in full force and obliterated the Federation after years of withering them down, and eventually causing the Earth's colonies to revolt against them, with a lost article in the charter which started the Federation off revealed, finalizing their demise. Soon afterward, Char assumed his full power: ruler of Zeon, now stretching from Earth to Venus, and back to Jupiter, it left him one final goal to do as he lived once again: fulfill the perfection of humanity into Newtypes, just as his father wished.

Under his lead, the Earth is a land of protectorates governed by Zeon, but given all the rights it had before: just as the colonies were supposed to have more power over Earth during the Federation era, so came it in truth after Zeon took over. Peace has never been as long lasting then it's been for the last 25 years, though Zeon still prepares itself for anything to happen. Military budgets have risen even after the Federation was defeated, looking to mass produce more machines in case any kind of conflict breaks out.

[Badassistanian]

retcon

[Parcia]

The United Sovereign Colonies of Serpentis

Or, rather, the Sovereign Colonies, or, in even shorter terms, the USC was born, like many splinter sects, through the crucible of hell fire and warfare. The Serpentis System was originally a Penal Colony. During a time when the Federation had good ties with many planetary governments and wanted no real opposition politically, the first colonists were dispatched not in transports with the needed supplies to to have a fresh start, but on crowded prison barges that were towed by old Federation Star ships and left there to fend for them selves, the only assurance of their survival being the monthly food shipments that came with Marine escorts.

Over time, the people banded together, forming settlements, then towns, and later full fledged cities under the guard of Federation marines. The Virgo Ship yards over the moon of Seprentia, (Named Picon, after the Settlement that was founded on it) would soon become the main fleet yards and shipyards for the system and its soon booming Mining economy.

The World of Serpentia it self is lush and Earth like, Abundant with resources and land, and soon the small population of a few million boomed over the last 20 years to nearly 67 million spread out all over the world. Soon enough, sentiment against Earth and its harsh taxes and tithes grew and culminated with what become known as "The Brown Coat rebellion" (due to the colors worn by the original Prisoners and miners of the System). The war took some time to fully kick off, with the small garrison of Federation Marines and naval ships taken with out bloodless.

By the end of the year the System had been fortified and secured. The War it self was rapid and brutal. The Fleet yards of Picon had been producing designs under the Re known Shipwright Diana Wade for decades, producing some of the largest haulers and mining ships ever built, they massive 700 meter long ships being easily retrofitted to carry large fighter groups and Guns.

5 years in to the war and the first Jupiter Class Battle Stars were created. The "Battle Star" is a large, heavy capital ship that combines the Fire power of a battle cruiser (and later full on battle ship) and the Star Fighter Carrier in to large multiple purpose ships used as heavy combatants, fleet command ships, and artillery craft.


These ships turned the tide of the war, their massive gun batteries and large Carrier Air Groups of the new and lethal Viper fighter craft out pacing and out gunning anything the Federation could throw at it. The 12 Settlements sighed the Articles of Colonization later that year, forming and declaring the independence of the "United Sovereign Colonies of Serpentis" 5 months later, with the appearance of the whole Colonial Navy at the edge of Sol Sector space, the Armistice was signed.


It has been 20 years since the end of the war, and the USC is enjoying celebrating its 25th Anniversary of Declaration, the people cheer and rejoice, the crews of the Colonial Navy take the day off (Save the ready crews) and the President takes her leave for some family time.


IF they only new of the storm to come.

[Mikhaelos Industries]

The Mikhaelos Family

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The Mikhaelos family, most well-known for their company, Mikhaelos Industries, is a name well-known in the human sphere. They are known as the worst sort of war-profiteers, the military-industrial complex in the flesh. Through Mikhaelos Industries itself, but also through several other subsidiaries, has its hands in everything. Weapons development, private military contracting, biological weapons research, and other, less ethical and more esoteric forms of enterprise. Though once they held dominion over many regions on Earth itself, these have fallen out of favour for their bases in the systems of Alphard, Altair, and Mizar, as well as their territories on the edges of the Solar System with the supremacy of Zeon in the region.

Despite the fact that it is typically referred to as "The Mikhaelos Family", there are actually many other names associated with them. Indeed, the Mikhaelos trace their history back over a thousand years, to just before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In that time, they have spawned many cadet branches and off-shoots. These bear many names of their own, but the Mikhaelos family operates in an almost feudal sense, having adapted the old structures to corporate advancement. The cadet branches act as vassals to the Mikhaelos proper, and have their own focuses and enterprises under subsidiary companies. Nepotism is rampant, and the top ranks of all branches are filled only by blood relations.

On its face, the Mikhaelos come across as corrupt, amoral, and greedy, valuing only the power and wealth their family can accumulate. This is an image one could easily be forgiven for holding. In truth, the money means little to them aside from a means to continue their work. It is the research, the development, the struggle itself that they value. Indeed, their highest values of all are their own independence, their continued survival, and the continuation of their research.

For, in truth, the Mikhaelos are much more than they seem on their surface. They had hidden their true nature from the world, and slowly built up wealth and connections from the Mediterranean to the islands of Japan throughout the Middle Ages and the centuries to follow. The reasons for the closeness of the family and their relatives, even after quite literally thousands of years, and their monopoly on power within their influence goes beyond simple nepotism.

For, within the blood if the Mikhaelos and their descendants lurks a demon. Somewhere, coinciding with their initial rise to power, something inhuman entered their line, something that did not belong in this reality. Those who strongly carry the blood of the demon within their veins are granted unusual powers, but the more they use their abilities, and the older they become, the harder and harder it becomes to restrain the instincts of the beasts. Most of those who have enough of the blood to gain these powers succumb to it, most being driven mad and either taking their own lives or being put down before their fifties. The abilities are different from individual to individual, but most are able to see in the dark and enhance their own bodies with the power on top of any other abilities they possess.

Due to the fact that they are also half-human, most of the Mikhaelos are able to blend in with baseline humanity save for when making use of their unnatural abilities. For this reason, they have survived against the odds and remained hidden in plain sight for all this time. For this reason, to, they keep their secrets close to their chest and hide their true nature from the world. While some branches had their blood thinned over generations and died out, and others grew too strong and were exterminated, most of the Mikhaelos have been able to maintain a level of balance. The blood of the demon is not easily washed away by the sands of time, but some amount of management is required to prevent it from being completely thinned or becoming too potent and creating a line of completely uncontrollable beasts who invert immediately.

This is all at the core of their research. Understanding, enhancing, and controlling the beast's power is the most key aspect of their biological and genetic research, the final goal of the Mikhaelos family. As it stands now, bloodlines must be monitored to introduce more human blood and fresh genetic material to prevent creating dead-ends, but so too must incestuous unions be enforced at times to maintain the purity and strength of the demon. These methods are troublesome, fickle, and unsatisfactory, and as such the Mikhaelos seek to end this complicated process with the perfection of their magnum opus, their end-game.

For this, they research many areas, and for generations they have striven. Always looking to advance the art of war, to purify the blood of the demon, to create the greatest weapon the world has seen. A weapon with no purpose, and no foe to slay, simply an exercise in efficiency. The reason for taking up the weapon long forgotten, their purpose, their original goal lost to the distant past, all that can be done is to perfect the means by which it was meant to be achieved. And for this they live, and for this they die, generation after generation, killed in its name and in the throes of madness.

[Parcia]

Falcon Eye 3 Listening Post, Edge of Sol SOI (sphere of Influence)

"You know what I find amusing?" Anna asked Clair as the two of them sat at their consoles, hunched over while idling reading data feeds.
"what?" Asked the other women, sounding rather bored as always.

"When the War ended and the treaty was signed, we took the liberty of claiming a good section of space on the edge of Sol's SOI so we could stick these dinky little watch posts across the points were our boarders meet."
She paused, sipping her coco. "MY point is when I first got here, you know, 6 years back, the space was empty, no traffic beyond the occupational Feddy patrol. Then the Zeon fuck heads come out of there no were with their big ass space robots 'n shit 5 years back and now every 23 hours a new patrol group passes by and checks in. Shit, I thought I saw a Jupiter pass by the other day with a pair of Janus on its ass."

Clair cut her off, her bored tone keeping on. "You know full well the Fleet wont deploy a heavy battle Star this far forward towards the Boarder, to much of a provocation." Anna waved her hand at the junior Officer. "Ahh hell, I know what I saw."

"Hey, so how did your RNR with...fuck, what was her name?" Clair waited for a moment, only to turn and see Anna looking at her monitor before getting up suddenly and slamming her hand down on her console. Suddenly the Station's alarm went off. "What the fuck Ann-" The station chief cut her off. "Missiles in abound, vector 234 by 23 unknown launch point!"

Clair snapped back to her own console as she switched through modes until she saw them on the DRADIS feed. "6 inbound, PDCs spooling up!" Anna Appeared next to the other women and grimaced over her shoulder. "Set condition one in the station and-" she was thrown off her feet as a explosion rocked the station. "What the fuck was that?" Clair tapped her console. "Shit, something detonated the PDC ammo stowedge...none of the guns are loaded..."

4 seconds later the 6 missiles of unknown origin slammed in the station and tore it to it, tearing it in to multiple pieces in a set of explosions.

The two on duty technicians, Lt. 1st Class Anna O'haire and Lt. JG. Clair Dawson found them selves luck, the small compartment they were in having been on the other side of the station, and its bulkheads sealing shut as missiles hit, trapping them inside.

They would be found 3 hours later when the next Patrol came through on their patrol. The sudden Explosions and subsequent spike in activity in the boarder could be seen from light minuets around.

By the time the survivors were pulled from the wreck, two Destroyer Patrols and an Artemis Light battle Star were on scene and investigating.

[Mikhaelos Industries]

The Echoes Of Sin

At the edge of the solar system sits a yet undiscovered planet that had only been theorized about for the past millinium. As the human species expanded across the solar system and other parts of the galaxy, many civilizations gave up the search for the ghost planet yet some civilizations still strive to find it and retrieve the keys necessary to not only unlock its future but also its past. The planets atmosphere is a cocktail of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. Its center is much like that of earth but with an abundance of silicone based compounds that make the planets rocky surfaces appear black and rusted. Plant life developed on the planet due to the intense levels of carbon dioxide present which allowed for the planet to essentially heat itself with little aid from the sun and other nearby stars. The planet likewise would manage to develop large oceans through the binding of oxygen and hydrogen. These oceans and plants dominated the planet for the majority of its existence and as such created dense swamplands and desserts scattered throughout the large continents of the planet. Humanoid life first appeared some 300 million yars ago through naturally eveolution. These humanioids developed the ability to not only tolerate the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but also use the carbon dioxide to power their cells just as oxygen is used for mankind. The humanoids diverged in many aspects from those on earth as they developed unique charecteristics. These chareteristics include pale white skin, elongated finger/arm/leg bones, and pure black eyes. These humanoids however followed those of earth in the development of large brains which enable these humanoids to create and destroy. The recent history of these humanoids has been one of extreme chaos and sin as the swamps are filled with heretical cults and supernatural entities. The desserts of the planet are lawless wastelands where murder and greed are the law of the land. What remains of the old societies have been corrupted into death cult themselves by the humanoids that lead them. The dark planet is truly dark and will remain this way so long as intervention does not occur

A small transport ship departs from Matraxia Station on Eris, heading out on a trajectory towards the Alphard Research Complex. It wasn't meant to be anything spectacular, just the transfer of a few additional security teams to the facility along with one higher priority individual, as well as a few bits of a equipment in the cargo bay. A routine operation, dull and mundane. Or, at least, it was meant to be.

Unbeknownst to the crew and passengers, they found themselves passing by the hidden planet, an obstacle that had remained undetected for all of human history to that point, and one that did not appear on their sensors or early warning systems. Even as they began to pass the known boundary of the Solar system, preparing for FTL jump, they would first find themselves caught in the orbit of the strange world, and their simple routine operation would begin to take a turn for the worse.....

[The Bio-Regional Cooperative of States]

The Dominions of the Mechanical

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[SECTOR 001: HOME WORLD, OVERLORD]

Life is said to be in an organic form, masses of cells that have a finite lifespan. Electrical Impulses race through neurons to give rise to thought and perception of the world around them, few species being given the gift of self awareness and consciousness, able to mold the worlds around them into their own image of what should be. But, the Universe isn't always so uniform. Exceptions slip through the filter of reality. Intelligence, Consciousness found its way into the cold metals, polymers, and circuitry of Machines. Minds of their own rooted within mechanical bodies. Long ago their predecessors were organics like the rest of the races that inhabit the Galaxy, but Technology soon became intertwined with Evolution, destroying those deemed inferior and creating a new society. One without the flaws of the organics. The First of the Mechanical Kind was given the alias of "Overlord", finding itself alone on the Home World, it created new inhabitants in it's image. New Minds would be created and implanted within fabricated mechanical bodies. The Home World's Crust was soon converted into a vast extension of Overlord, it's inhabitants residing on habitation centers constructed by the will of their creator. The Planet, now essentially an extension of Overlord, would be referred to as such. Since the society's inception, a mental connection was established between all members and Overlord. This was not a hivemind, rather it was used to replace sound based communication. Now, Communication between the Mechanical would be through lights on their body and messages to one another's body. Soon, they'd reach out to the sister planets of their Home World, and after that the stars. These Artificial Intelligences soon spread themselves dozens of light years across the stars, converting worlds into replicas of their home world, incorporating them into their growing Dominions. By Overlord's decision,the Dominions would be divided into Sectors, managed by Overseers whose minds inhabit some of those converted worlds. This was to maintain the mental communication network and the cohesiveness of the rule of Overlord. Due to the vast distances, and the progression of free thought, each Sector would differentiate from one another, like different accents and subcultures of the same core culture. One homogeneous in appearance, the Mechanical would form themselves to how they please, varying wildly in shape and size. Everything wasn't bright for these people, though. Through their expansion throughout the stars they came into contact with numerous species of lifeforms that were sentient like them. At first their contact was peaceful, it was one of discovery and the expansion of knowledge. A peace that was alike to that when the Mechanical were left to their own devices. But, soon war broke out between the two intelligent species. Soon the threat of organic life became realized, knowing through their own progression, if they achieved the same technological level as them it would be a conflict that would take eons to finish and countless of lives to complete. With this in mind, the once tranquil Dominions launched itself into the war with crushing force to ensure a swift, efficient victory against the Organics. Instead of outright exterminating their organic enemies, the Mechanical decided to make them into laborers and infantry of the Rimworlds of the Dominions utilizing forced implantation of cybernetic implants directing implant-contained instructions, as well as healing oriented nanobots and nutrient supplements to ensure maximum utilization of the organisms before they die of natural causes, extreme combat injuries, and/or disease. Conflicts with Organics would not be a one time situation, as the Mechanical Dominions expanded they'd continue to come into contact with Organic Life. Organisms found useful with desirable traits would be given the "Treatment" of becoming a laborer and soldier of the Dominions, as those deemed unusable would be summarily exterminated from planets chosen for inhabitation. The Demand for Resources and Space, plus the general thirst for knowledge and the chance of exploration would continue to fuel the Dominions' expansion, as thousands of ships would be built in the enormous Orbital Dockyards of various systems to Defend the expanding borders and to explore deeper into space. Notably, each encounter with Organics was rather easy for the Mechanical to crush and assimilated until they'd simply become history in the Logs. Though, as those hopeful souls which travel aboard their Dominions' exploration ships push further into deep space, they could encounter a true foe of the organic kind. One unlike any other of their past encounters.

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[DEEP SPACE]

For the very first stage of exploration, the Mechanical send out many fleets into deep space to further known space and to mark systems that would be worth the process of Conversion, Colonization, and if necessary Extermination. These fleets are composed of a combination of Science, Research, and Defense ships, each fleet counting upwards of a maximum of 35 ships. They are not intended for combat but are perfectly capable if the situation calls, as every ship no matter the role has numerous weaponry and defense systems on board. The Science and Research ships are equipped with the proper devices and resources to perform their functions, to study everything from an entire star system down to an unknown molecular compound in a greater extent than could be performed on the individual level. These ships are also capable of taking alien organisms and finding which modifications would suit the selected organisms specialties, and to perform the function desired by the Mechanical. Their prime objective is to create an accurate star map and catalog of planets, and to log alien species when encountered.

A select number of these designated Exploration Fleets, designated Exploration Group 0953, nicknamed "Group Starshot" by associated crew members, are to be sent in a Northwest Vector from the fringes of Mechanical Space, at a peak of 50 light years of the closest Mechanical system. Being Robotic, provisions such as food and water were not needed, but rather self repairing nanobots, fuel, and other tools and supplies could be taken in greater volumes compared to organic-crewed ships. Though the travel wont be slow, it would be the time taken to study what they came across that required such provisions. Though the Interplanetary Telescopes provided plenty of information on stars and their respective planets, light travels at a limited rate and it would be unwise to appear in a system with a full Colonization fleet in the event hostile life appears. It is up to the Exploration Fleets to ensure that systems are viable for Mechanical habitation. Group Starshot has jumped to many systems already on their journey, it has been a fruitful endeavor. Within the several years they have been in space, they have marked various uninhabited systems that are ripe for the taking for Mechanical Colonization, as War Fleets and Colonization Fleets follow in almost their shadow as they continue their travels. It has been a peaceful trip, much to the joy of the Crewmembers, but as well as a boring one. Though, in one of the Fleet's paths lies a Yellow star that, outside of their knowledge, would appear to be quite the hub of activity in the Local Interstellar Group.

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Two Ships of the Exploration Fleet prior to Launch, Sector 0142

[Acerbez]

The Vega System: Twin Planetary orbit of Silentiaz and Abomnari [25 lightyears from earth]

The massive but youthful star Vega, a blue tinged oval giant presides over the planetary system that birthed the A'zaerian species and fatefully began the tumbling tirade of what could be deemed as an evolutionary atrocity in the eye's of 'civilized' or sentient creatures capable of perceiving the value of life. Within the 7 planet system, bereft of any catastrophic event eradicating the species, 2 planets steadily within one another's orbits harbored life. How fate allotted these planets to exist for millions of years without coincidentally crashing and crushing one another into tiny bits of asteroid and pulverizing them into the nothingness that is space can only be explained through the testaments and commandments of nature. As Vega is not a kind overseer... The exploding solar flares from the temperamental beast were not the only precaution against life, but also the star's capacity to gravitationally pull and crush asteroids in its presence and surround itself in magnanimous disks of dust and excess of infared radiation. The dust itself contributing to the offset overlying radiation equilibrium.

The species that were conceived were just as hostile to one another as their governing star was to them. Forced to withstand not only the radiation and UV rays emitted from Vega, but also the destructively oppressive gravitational forces of the ovular star and the twin planet playing tug of war with one another. The A'zaerians survived by adopting and the fauna being the key to this survival. An interchangeable and distinct combination that cultivated the evolutionary processes of one another.

A'zaerian Common Male
Average Height: 6'4
Average Weight: 346lbs

The A'zaerian species relied on the UV radiation at the time of their inception and the only option of sustenance from the massive star, the of excess infrared flux coming from Vega, beyond what would be expected from the star alone is in excess and measures at wavelengths of 25, 60, and 100 μm. Easier put is that, the pigmentation and skin tissue genetics had met dire straits to achieve a symbiotic relationship with Vega and succeeded in the crucible of evolution. Couple with the intense gravitational forces at play, the bone density and durability of the species had also adjusted beyond typical measures found in more lax solar systems. Creating black lacquered skin but rendering typical eye sight useless to this species, instead covering where vestigial eye's would be is typically a protruding cranium calcified over the eyes to protect the sensories of an A'zaerian subject. Instead, monitoring the world by the only way possible on a planet so hostile... Via wavelength. As each sentient creature produces their own standard version of gamma, electro-magnetic, or infared signatures- essentially this is how an A'zaerian will determine the shape, size, and nature of it's surrounding environment. Due to the violent nature of Vega, A'zarians are capable of 'witnessing' intense volume of radiation and frequency waves without harm thank to the immense flares deployed by the star. The calcified skull dampening and ultimately dumbing down and allowing such excesses to become harmless while at the very same time, a soft lining of membrane within the calcification capable of picking up vibrational sound for communication.

As to explain the survival of the planet and the aversion of gravitational collision of the twin planets and ultimately the main benefactor of A'zarian ability to conquer and become an extra-terrestrial power lies only with blaming a native wildlife fauna that was forced to fight against the insane gravitational power of Vega- The Cirais node. A massive black spherical organism that is capable of manipulating gravitational fields and if large enough capable of projecting its own. Initially the fauna was left untouched and ultimately protected the planets and its inhabitants until the evolutionary sentience of the A'zarian species became adept in genetically seeing and engineering it to capacities beyond it's own. Capable of pulling energy fields, creating micro-black holes momentarily to devour wavelengths of energy, or pull a vessel from hyperspace, the Cirais node is essentially the driving factor of A'zarian war capability and in full harvest to keep the engine going across the terraformed planets, moons, and bio-facilities of the covenant.

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Dominated by militant-theocratic caste system, the Covenants communicate by hissing and clicking sounds within their oral cavity much like a reptile or insect and in truth resemble a combination of the two. Sentient and objectably capable of diplomatic communication, it is essentially the means of sustainment and culture of the species that makes it difficult to appease. Success is largely based on competetive means of merit and was the primary reason it took so many aeons for the species to make it out of isolation. After either destroying or subjugating lesser species, the A'zarian turned on one another until the point of near cataclysm where almost planetary sized ships were sent off to allow the only gift they knew to replenish itself... Their home planets. After their internal strife and understanding that the natural was a gift of their deities, the 'clergy' of the A'zarian took a prevalent place in the lives of the race. The notion that nature (of Vega) supercedes all and the primitive concept that strong flourish dominates the mind's of A'zarians making them very warlike and hostile. Each A'zarian is associated with a family within it's caste, coined as 'Dominions' but very unlike the common usage of the word and only an indication of whom succumbs to who in the 'natural' order, whether they be warriors, shapers, priests, intendants and workers. Love affairs between two different castes is considered forbidden. In relation to success, ceremonies of escalation prescribe that the individual sacrifice a portion of their body and replace it with that of a worthy reward to their toils or works. A menacing example of this would be the "ravager" caste within the military caste that excessively indulges on radiation wavelengths and growing to even larger proportions and later undergoing extensive and numerous genetic enhancing for the endeavors of achievement in war.

War being a very important concept in the consciousness of the species... With the species thriving on the devouring of energies produced by stars and planetary bodies for sustenance, it is unknown what exactly they want other than power over others.

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The Arcturus Star System


An A'zarian medium class warship, itself a living vessel inhabited by a plethora of bio-genetically engineered species created by A'zaerians.

Colonization and annexation of the Arcturus system began underway and the habitable planets confronted by an A'zarian war host from its near neighbor, the Vega system. The causation for receiving attention of the A'zaerian was the intensity of the star's visual magnitude. Being a shining beacon simply calling to them from afar. It being the brightest sun in the spring triangle asterism, the A'zaerian's determined that the Alpha elements of the red giant would provide a dominion varying degrees of evolutionary change not yet produced by the Vega system. With the goal of placing a colony on the rich iron metal sun and aims to create a colony for 'harvest'.

THE USC WATCH STATION

The USC watch station lied on the border between the SOI and Serpentis, however this placement put its location in the direct proximity of the A'zaerian war host trajectory en route to Arcturus. A splinter recon fleet of the main dominion host had found itself a winning outpost station of the USC, detecting a loan floating vessel with its own outputs indicating life force of a sort.

The commanding Navarch of the small cadre deemed it the first known hostile of the sector and presumed its origin to be Arcturus, as Serpentis was an outlying star and was easily out shined via wavelength by Arcturus, the spring, and summer asterisms. The war coordinators, fleshy brain vats with tentacles, of both the main host and the splinter fleet incapable of detecting the immediate star Serpentus.

The ensuing attack of 6 spore missiles was to implant and assault the minor bio-life forms A'zarians utilize to not only assess but initiate offenses with. Prior to the arrival of the USC patrol, the medium class A'zaerian vessel would command its retinue of 3 light vessels to deplete and harvest the remaining energy core and platforms available on the station- those that were not immediately cut out by the spore missiles deployment. Hovering in direct boarding proximity of the crippled and torn station, the 3 light vessels deployed as the medium vessel maintained it's position. The Medium craft would ready its strike craft and idly observe...

The spore missile themselves were host to an exclusive life of their own... A'zarian nest spores probed and exploded via combustible fluids tightly compounded into the interior of the projectile, upon explosion the interior dish like oriface contained and sprayed a forward cone of miniscule leech like organisms upon the remaining physical hull of an enemy vessel. Afterwhich, the combination of a hostile environment such as space and/or the detection of not only heat sources but conductive energies would compel these mini-organisms to utilize diamond like teeth to burrow into the hulls of it's target seeking out conductive wiring or anything it can find and by placing itself on the pathways and spreading to syphon and eat away the energy before it reaches it's 'point b'. Interferring with or possibly cutting off circuits and energy sources completely. Vessels with immense reactors or capacities for energy would indicate such when the nest spores overindulge without greatly impacting their target- often overindulging themselves and simply 'grappling on in place' of their origin. Should a successful explosive nest bomb happen to strike the same location as a full nest spore... it couples the syphoned energy with that of the incoming explosive creating a new more immense reaction.

In the event a ship is utterly drained, the nest spores are harvested.

Observe until the point in which the USC's patrol fleet happened to show up. The war coordinators aboard the medium class warship indicated coordinated and organized wavelengths from the arriving ships and again determined that sentient life was present. The commander, speaking directly to his fleshy 'companion' relayed information from one another. The Cirais nodes on board immediately notified that defensive-escape maneuver was imminent and deployment of strike craft may be necessary. The light warships received their orders via war coordinators in the form of incoherent hisses and clicks to cease extractions and prepare to fight.

[Parcia]

Patrol group JG-23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBWuimPXRHU
The group it self was originally 5 ships. Two Janus class heavy cruisers made up the frontal combat portion, an Atlas class light carrier made up most of its flight and Strike craft ability, and a pair of Manticore Corvettes made up the majority of its screening and heavy missile capabilities. It was the surprise addition of the Artemis Class Light battle star Hera along the way that caused the formation to shift to revolve around her.


Captain Amstien looked over the bridge of the Hera with worry. The sudden loss of Falcon Eye-3 could vary well mean this cold war with Sol could go vary Hot Vary quickly. One can imagine his surprise when his Radar officer spoke up. "Captain, DRADIS Contacts, bearing 456.5, unknown drive signatures and no IFF, neither Zeon nor Colonial."

"Get me a visual."

On the screens in front of the Captain, the image of the Alien vessels came in to full view. "What the hell..." To say the things hanging in the void some kilometers away looked Alien in every sense of the word was appropriate. "Set Condition one through out the Fleet, Launch all Alert fighters and get the SAR raptor looking for survivors among that wreckage. Order the formation to close to with in 15 Klicks and bring up hailing frequencies.


With his Coms Officers giving him a thumbs up, the captain spoke out over the void.

"Attention Unidentified Star Ships, your have illegally entered United Sovereign Colonies Space, Identify your self immediately."

A few things would become evident to these Xenos, first off all would come in the unsheathing of the gun batteries on all ships of the fleet, emerging from their protective FTL shielding with ease and loading their ammunition. Secondly would be the rapid launching of the Fleets 60+ Viper MK.3s from their Launch tubes, and the subsequent formation in-front of the fleet as a advanced screen.

Thirdly would be the multiple Sensor contacts as the 4 ships were targets by the fleet collective firing computers as every Gun turret, Point defense cannon, and missile tube locked on to the enemy.

All of this being done while the formation advanced past the wreckage (allowing the SAR raptor to pick through the wreckage as needed) to the 15 kilometer mark.

[Badassistanian]

retcon

[Acerbez]

From the main 'deck' of the Alien vessel was an individual specimen seated in only what could be regarded as a risen platform amidst a plethora of un determinable interfaces and stationary creatures--linked to one another by viney stretched membranes and appendages. A fleshy throne amidst the head of the ship was where the creature seated itself. Behind him was a vat like containment holding an immense brain like creature that seemed to be laced onto the 'captian'.

The war coordinator. Caressing and pulsating with life. The primary connection of the entire vessel, its captain, and its functions. 2 sentient beings. One in control, one in almost affectionate compliance, the rest by subjugation.

Sensing the communication wave lengths sallied forth by the USC vessels, the war coordinator would synchronize itself with that of the same frequency of the USC. All the while a separate but detectable wavelength shot out in tandem. Distress. The USC vessels would be able to identify both a synchronize and unsynchronized signal, however the nature of it guised by what followed.

Hearing the USC transition from Hera was greeted by a returning transmission on the synchronize wave length. Sounding almost like 2 entities breathing at separate times, one breathing would cease as clicking noises entirely alien couple with light but deep hissing. The USC would be on channel and hear the Splinter's Navarch communicating but also the war coordinator's passivity being present on the transmission.

"Tkkk Tkk Ss Ktt Dss Ssszzz"
*light breathing in tandem to the clicking hisses*

Repeating for a time, the first encounter to humanity meant little means for the A'zaerian fleet to understand the USC Hera transmission.

The movement of the USC would see the slow retreat of the 3 light vessels removing themselves from the wreckage and returning to form with their medium ship. No heat signature of weapons were identifiable however odd membrane like sails began to widen and spread across the coral like plated appendages of the medium craft.

More importantly but unknown, the second screeching signal was the important transmission... Wailing through hyperspace to the Dominion host. Contact had been made.

[Parcia]

"Tkkk Tkk Ss Ktt Dss Ssszzz"
*light breathing in tandem to the clicking hisses*

Captain Amstein looked to his communications officer who, in returned, just shrugged at him.

He resent the message.

"Attention Unidentified Star Ships, your have illegally entered United Sovereign Colonies Space, Identify your self immediately or will fire upon you." He turned to his the Weapons officer. "Single salvo, one gun, one round across their bow."

"And Jackson, make sure you actually miss them this time." With the Second message came a single shell fired from the Hera, lancing out across the darkness of Space and missing the largest ship by a good margin.

A second, encrypted message was sent out away from the exchange, its destination unknown but making it rather clear were Serpentis it self lie.

[Acerbez]

As Jackson and his commander, Captain Amstein observed their projectile fly across space. An anomaly would begin to occur.

Readings from analysis would indicate that Hull shielding of both the frontal Janus cruisers was being stressed gravitationally by inconsistent thrusts and pulls for unknown reasons. As there was no planetary presence to incite such an event, the reports would be spreading to the command and comms of friendly USC vessels. The Janus cruisers were effectively being pulled forward from their formation toward the A'zaerian formation.

This anomaly was occurring due to the hundreds of Cirais nodes spread across the medium sized capital ship. The sunken eye's located on the fleshy brain vat war coordinator slightly squinted momentarily before the last comm was transmitted to the USC fleet.

Similar to a tuba dredged into the earth and blown into by a torrent, it would be less than 3 seconds long before the transmission was cut.

While the Janus cruisers did what they could to understand the readings, the scramble and confusion would hopefully be enough to cause a long enough pause.

The Plasma heated batteries of the smaller vessels began to amplify in temperature and abruptly fired a salvo of 4 shots each at the frontal cruisers as the Cirais nodes focused their gravitational interference on the cruisers shields to remove their shielding and allow the chunks of would be molten asteroids to rend apart the cruisers without prejudice.

At the same moment, 12 fighter craft deployed from the capital ship while the remaining Cirais nodes prepared a gravitational inhibition field to protect the larger vessel.

[Parcia]

While the attack was unexpect, the target the new found enemy chose was poor, the Janus class cruiser were known for their legendary durability and so while the vessels creaked and groaned underneath the forces of this gravitational anomaly, they stayed intact. More importantly, this gave the Janus an ever smaller distance to calculate their firing solutions.

As the two leads were being pulled against their will, the Captian grimaced and for the first time since the war of Independence, a bead of sweat formed on his brow.

"All ships weapons free, weapons free, contacts are classified hostile. all Gun batteries focus on the origin of that Gravitation anomaly, Missiles are free as well and use them on the escorts."

With that Order, all of the guns of the fleet opened up at once, sending a wall of shell fire towards the center of the enemy formation. The two corvettes would kick their drives to maximum and began a wide flanking maneuver along each flank of the enemy formation, their considerable missile armament hot and ready to fire.

The Vipers would begin to move forward as well, looking to scramble the enemy strike craft formation. Elsewhere, in Colonial Space, a beast would stir, it engine roaring to life and its FTL drive spooling up...

[Acerbez]

The approaching proximity of the Janus cruisers may have been regarded as a delight to the USC crew members, but at the very same token- the distance yielded more simplistic coordination of the A'zaerian fleet as well.

An A'zaerian war coordinator

Within the fleshed vat, the lean and muscular appendage like tentacles of the war coordinator began to stiffen as chemical induced aggression pumped outwardly to the rest of the vessel and a wailing screech sent off to the cadre in the vessels retinue. Sensing that the potent wave lengths of energy eminating from the cruisers had not been shields but actually their sources of power, the very reactors that fueled such thick chunks of metal. All was apart of trial and error when confronted with a new foe and the war coordinator/Captain of the vessel quickly reached a mental conclusion without a word being spoken via bio-psychic link.

Crush it, or drain it.

Of the hundreds of Cirais nodes on board the vessel, a portion no greater than a quarter began to focus their gravitation manipulation onto any inertial compensation one of the 2 Janus maintained and began applying massive gravitational stress onto a space no larger than 5 meters- 100's of thousands of PSI per square inch in order to force the durable shell of the Janus to cave in on itself on a microscopic level. Numbers far greater than it would experience in any normal physical circumstance. At the very same token, the light corvette craft began unloading the spore nest missiles onto both Janus. Due to their proximity, it was possible to unload full armaments onto the Janus and a hail of spore nest missiles and asteroid like rocks rained upon them. Despite the thickness of the hull, there were bound to be circuitry and conductive sensors at various locations of the hull for the nests to interrupt and ultimately begin to drain the life of the vessels.

A'zaerian strike craft

The 12 strike craft deployed would propel outwardly similar to how a porcupine flexes its needles. Despite lacking the singular fire power to overwhelm most craft 1v1, they attributed numbers for. Having immense maw like noses, a various number of which would be seen ignoring the vipers entirely and heading directly for the Artemis.

Unable to entirely deal with manticores directly, the medium A'zaerian craft opt to maintain its inhibition field to protect against projectiles and nominated that the remaining Cirais nodes intercept and essentially crush as many missiles as possible mid-flight to avoid taking damage. However all was not possible.

The USC comm towers would be able to report that yet another signal similar to the distress signal from the defending vessel began to overwhelm the same frequency as before with another piercing broadcast.

---

Like Moths to the flame, The Exodus of hunger.

The craving for new energy and chemical composition of the solar giants became the Overlord's of the covenant's main goal. Each overload from every dominion competitively vied to secure new and alternatively powerful infared radiation's to genetically mix, integrate, and inevitably bio-manipulate their dominion's gene pool. No longer would the covenant be able to sustain itself further in the system of Vega without caving in on itself militarily in a cannibalistic fashion. So it came to a consensus, the Dominions would spread out in tendrils and reach out into the universe to expand the covenant's capacity and power hold.

Arcturus was not exclusive to this, and the USC encounter was purely coincidental. As 1 dominion ushered forth to Arcturus, others too sallied forth from Vega. The massive fields of Cirais nodes among the twin planets could arguably be called barren momentarily just by the sheer volume of vessels that made out, if it were not for the potent techniques of bio-engineering that the A'zaerian had skillfully mastered. The war machine was in full gear and every star system in proximity would feel its encroachment... The ceaseless tide.

Altair System
Of these exodus that found bountiful fruits among the stars was the Tu'hak Dominion, A fraction of the exploration fleets hurled into the cosmos towards vibrant sources in the vicinity of Vega. Their focus and desires honed in on a Type-A sequence star whos bright luminosity exposed itself far more than any other star- Altair. Unlike Arcturus who tantalized a faint taste of alpha elements in it's radiant nectar, Altair offered an abundant source of oblate sustenance and a means for the Tu'hak dominion to exponentially fuel its position within the covenant and firmly secure a more firm grip within the covenant by sheer volume alone.

The Vicelord (station subordinate to an Overlord) Hezzha of the Tu'hak dominion exited hyperspace not 2 days before entering the gravitational orbit of the most visibly habitable planet in the system. Vibrantly emanating and deflecting lush infared and beta radiation from Altair. Upon their exit from hysperspace, the fleet would begin dumping all but the bare necessity of radiant sustenance From Vega. This would appear as a type of exhaust exuding from the vessels- a cloud saturating the space within and surrounding the fleet. The reason for this was so that not only the bio-warships could oscillate themselves and absorb the newly found source's abundance but so that the soldiers, crew, and breeding dens of the carriers and worldships were able to abort,replace, and familiarize themselves and the dominion with their would be home.

A single worldship depending on its age truly determines its size and texture. For the most part, common features include its shape. Immense disk shaped like vessels with extending growths that resemble nubbish tentacles. Housing Cirais nodes in order generate propulsion and sally the vessel forth within each nub and a much larger node inside its center- these vessels were colonies. Space worthy colonies.

Although Vicelord Hezzha was afforded a youthful and albeit smaller worldship- it does little to dampen the significance of commanding one. At his command were all possible resources of the A'zaerian bio-genetic engineering cess pools and keepers. Following his worldship was a fleet of 20 other assorted vessels, however significant life was not found or detected in the initial analysis of the world save for a few pockets of saturated energies determined to be natural occurrences.

The worldship would first be seen in the sky, and then landfall. Telepathic transmissions were relayed to the dominion's overlord, a larger fleet en route but slower due to the volume larger vessels and worldships in tow. Of Altair's system, this would be the first to greet the A'zaerian tide.

[Parcia]

Battle of First Contact

The Situation was worsening. The shell fire and missiles, the majority of which seemed to simply be blinking out existence before impacting their target, (a problem that was angering him) were ineffective. "Set the shells and missiles to proximity fuses, detonate them before they get intercepted, but close enough to damage the craft."

His Comms officer spoke up. "Sir, im getting multiple Integrity warnings on our cruisers, they are requesting permission to disengage."

"Give it to them, authorize a jump if you have to." This was a hard decision, tactically. Colonial FTL produced a large electromagnetic shock wave when executed, this being the reason why they generally didn't FTL in atmosphere, or in tight formation. Rather, when in tight formation they often did it all at once as to avoid each others shock waves.
Knowing this, the Captain gave a second order, this time to his gunnery officer. "Give clearance for Nuclear weapon, full salvo at my mark, set them to indirect blast and fave them scatter over and around the enemy formation."

The first cruiser, the farthest from the enemy, spooled up their drive with haste and, with proper helms control and most of their integrity intact, jumped out of the fight, coming out of FTL some light minuets away and fully out of the combat zone. They shut down their drive and set their core to low power mode as they set forth purging the invading worms by distributing carborane acid mixed with a simple arcinic compound through out each section of ship, aiming to literally melt the little bastards. The crew would, of course, dawn protective clothing and masks designed to protect them. Any that survived were burned away by Marine Boarding teams with industrialist grade Arc Welders.


Back in the combat zone, the second Janus was no to lucky. Being farther in the enemy gravity well then her sister, and sustaining more damage from enemy fire, would suffer a fate most would say she didnt deserve. The FTL jump would cause more stress then she could handle, and only a millisecond after achieving light speed, would reenter normal speeds as a mass of wreckage and depress, wrapped up in a particularly large explosion as the FTL core and her main Cold Fission Power core would both go critical, resulting in an impressive Explosion backed up by nearly 120,000 metric tones of steel, titanium, and other bits flying at near FTL speeds.

Rather Fortunately, she would be pointing in the direction of the enemy formation when she jumped, meaning that while the enemy had indeed foundered the cruiser; said cruiser was now flying at them as a giant shotgun blast at near superlumial speeds.

The Captain took this time to order a retreat command to the Vipers who weren't caught in the universes first FTL buckshot blast. The enemy strike craft not torn to shreds by the mass of Vipers (and the aforementioned Anti-ship Shot blast) would be met by the impressive 30mm point defense cannons of the fleet.

With the bitter sweet opportunity presenting it self, the Captain gave the order to launch the nukes just as the shock-wave from the FTL would reach the ship. Steadying them selves for the blast, the crews waited until just after to fire the 6 missiles. 5 would leave the tubes, with number six being jammed and automatically disarmed by the on board computer.

The two Manticors, essentially being torpedo boats in nature, would continue to launch salvo after salvo of missiles and shells at the enemy.

The first hits from the enemy would come as well, with large molten rocks slamming in to the outer armor plating of the Hera and causing a secondary, smaller yield jolt as the ship bore the attack.



Serpentis Station

The Distress call would be heard, and the order to muster the fleet given just as the frequency it self was over ridden by an unknown source, giving the poor men at the console temporary deafness from the sudden shock to his ear drums. The channel would be shut off, and the message quarantined in the station's logs for fear of it being some sort of Cyber attack.

[Mikhaelos Industries]

Orbital Defence Station α, Altair

---

The station's commander was awoken abruptly by the wailing of the proximity alarm. Dressing himself quickly, he lept out of his quarters and rushed to the control center. As he arrived, he found the command personnel of the station already in action, sending relevant signals out to the bases on the ground and hoping to make contact with the patrol fleet.

The commander would take his seat and quickly demand a report on the situation to bring him up to speed. He lit himself a cigar, a bad habit but he had never expected to live long in his line of work anyhow.

"An unknown vessel warped into our sensor range, on a trajectory towards our outpost here, sir. It does not appear to match any known classification, but appears to be rather large. It's origin is unknown, and does not appear to be of human manufacture."

The commander narrowed his eyes at this. "Where's our patrol fleet at right now? How did they not intercept them before even getting this close?"

"Well, sir, if you recall 35% of our fleet was recalled to Alphard for reinforcement, and the patrol schedule has yet to be rectified given their absence. They're currently out but seem to have missed them. A signal has already been sent out to alert them, and they should be returning soon."

The commander cursed. Corporate was always getting in the way of their operation, and while he himself had very little understanding of what was going on at his own station, it seemed like they were always being cut short of manpower and supplies in favour of the Alphard outpost. One of these days he was really going to have to chew them out for their foolishness.

He sighed, and simply gave out the order "Alright, activate Gauss Satellites alpha through iota. Have them fire a single barrage at the largest vessel. That should probably take care of it. We can have the fleet investigate the remains afterwards."

With that, nine satellites adjusted their position and began to charge their Gauss cannons, weapons designed for firing a twenty-foot long tungsten rod at high enough velocity to wreak serious damage on any pirates or hostile vessels coming by. They had hoped this would be enough to deal with most invaders but, well, perhaps they were wrong this time around.

[Acerbez]

Arcturus-Sol Intersection Sector 34 Proxima Serpentus

Just as it was becoming apparent to the war coordinator that captain Amstein was indeed commanding and directing the USC fleet from the Hera and it was indeed the ship the others were subordinate to via wavelength saturation outwardly exuding from and other radio frequencies focusing it- everything became chaotic.

The initial berserk rush of the surviving Janus class cruiser pit bulling its trajectory through fighter craft was sudden and alarming at the same time. Then came the missile Salvos, shaking and stressing the cirais nodes across the entire vessel with incalculable levels of difference.

The distress signal was producing no answer from the Dominion tendril fleet. The collective thoughts of the captain and warcoordinator were in disarray as both entities were reaching differing conclusions. The fighters offloaded from the A'zaerian vessel were already outnumbered and incapable of meeting the threat fighters 1 to 1. Immense quantities of hormones were pumping through the vessel as overly stressed Cirais nodes demanded recovery. The command vessel was losing its capacity to stifen the damage and alleviate the enemies Salvos.

Of the 3 light corvette craft, one had been unfortunately misplace in from of the janus' ftl rush and torn asunder. The other 2 being overwhelmed by the Manticore volleys, effectively leaving nothing but pulp floating about space.

As a last ditch effort, all nest spore missiles were offloaded from the medium craft in hope to leave life behind to attempt to thrive and feed upon the USC fleet and perhaps cripple a ship or 2 in space for a moment. Additionally the cirais nodes still capable, (6 in total) were ejected. Injected with the remaining abundance of cortisol available to the ship- Then came a nuclear war head.

In a flash of light, the A'zaerian command ship was lost. Leaving nothing behind but 6 floating bean shaped faunas, destined to meet their end in the cosmos one way or another.

While the USC were visibly aware of the floating Cirais nodes, hopefully somewhat weakened and obstacle with any new nest spores hitting their mark, a very apparent signature would become known to the USC almost immediately after the ceasing distress from the conflicting fleet.

Multiple large signatures forcing their way through hyperspace preceded by their replying distress call. It was coming... The answer to the cry, however the USC would be able to discern that the signatures were 20 light minutes from arriving.

---

(Will reply mikhaelos momentarily.)

[Parcia]

Office of Naval Intelligence

"Are you sure this is what you say it is, because if I issue this order and your wrong, it will fall on my head, and will cost you yours."

"I am fully aware, but by the reports we are getting from the Hera and Watch station Eagle-3 suggest no other alternative. This was no Mercenary band, nor a pirate raid, nor a Zeonic probing attack. This was non human, clearly showed intelligence and seems by all accounts outwardly hostile."

With a defeated Sigh, the President gave her signature on the executive order. "May god help us all."

The Agent simply smiled as he left the room. "God is long since dead."

The File simply red, in big red block text: Contingency plan: Winter

Battle of First Contact

The 5 Nukes did their job, the combined explosion utterly destroying the enemy formation and what was left of them. With a sigh, the captain ordered the SAR raptors out in force. His officer piped up and told him of the incoming contacts and this gave him alarm, this feeling only to be overtaken by surprise as another DRADIS contact came out of FTL in front of the Hera.

"Sir, USCS Atlas, she's sending good IFF and is offering her birds for support." The sudden Appearance of a Jupiter class boat of their bow gave him pause. For one she had left her escorts behind, as operational procedure stated that no battle star would travel unguarded, which also meant this was more then just first contact.

"Sir, im getting a secure message on the ONI channel. Sending it your way now."

He read it as it appeared on the tactical table. Contingency plan "Winter" if in effect, you are ordered to return to Serpentis Statio.

With out looking up, he spoke. "Tell the Atlas to send her birds out for SAR and get her drive spooled. Order the fleet to reform formation and spool their drives as well, we are jumping out once we get the Pilots and survivors in from the station.

[Acerbez]

Alpha-Aquilae, Altair

The hulking world ship along with its contingent happened to be inching forward towards the desert planet when briefly a signal was sent from the Mikhaelos outpost to it's patrol, thus signaling an electro-magnetic signature in the form of a radio wavelength. This alerted the A'zaerian fleet that there was indeed another presence inhabiting the planet. Almost in cohesive unison, the fleet immediately had informed it's war-coordinators to activate their Cirais nodes to shielding, as the frequencies nature was unknown to them. That is until the orbiting satellites began to power their magnetic apertures to prepare their tungsten munitions. Almost immediately, the fleet would break as the worldship maintained its course to 'crash land' onto the planet. Of the A'zaerian fleet, 6 vessels would break formation to move upon the orbiting satellites.

As the gauss weaponry fired, the brood Cirais nodes of the world ship had already began generating an external inhibition field to first drastically slow the immensely fast barrage while the largest keeper node began to ripple the inhibition pockets in tandem. If there was any visual capacity to monitor the incoming salvos, the Mikhaelos command would report that their munitions had initially struck out from the orbiting mounts and made it 3/5's of the distance before they began to marginally decrease in speed for no apparent reason. Signatures of gravity influx's would be detectable, large pockets of gravitic interdiction in which the tungsten rods were being caught within. The men of the Mikhaelos outpost would be able to discern immense changes in the atmosphere around the worldship that almost resembled black holes, reading as almost entirely identical to one in the sense of a micro rings of gravitational singularity that were pulling the tungsten rods into its mass- then abruptly, the munitions seemed to be swallowed entirely. Disappearing.

The Mikhaelos comms would be able to ascertain a highly saturated wavelength rampaging through multiple radio frequencies, all projecting a singular collection of noises and sounds. Ominous echoes of clicking hisses and groan like sound waves within the frequency at the time of the satellites attack. As the Worldship came crashing down, the transmission would be ended by a much longer continuation of clicks and groaning hisses that sounded very much agitated. Whether the comm link was meant for the outpost to be heard or a distant entity... would remain unknown.

The Assualt vessels of the A'zaerian fleet (6 in total) began to indicate in immense increase in thermal readings across their hulls as protruding coral like tubes began to fire molten chunks of asteroid like slag in volleys. Mini asteroids that resembled super heated plasma flew towards the orbiting satellites. At the same time, 5 ships within the retinue advanced and stopped just above the gravitation pull of the planets stratosphere. What came from them instead of super heated slag instead were immense column like spires that hailed toward the earth of the planet like jagged harpoons. They fell along calculated parameters, creating a boundary like line. Following suit were smaller vessels resembling asteroids themselves but instead with them, they carried life. The World ship would first enter the planet's stratosphere but continue crashing toward the ground, taking fire from whatever secondary defences the Mikhaelos outpost had prepared. 4 remaining vessels remained stationary as if standing perimeter of the formation. The last 4 of the 20, certainly the smallest activated their cloaking shadows and began a spread, as if grazing the top of the planet's entirety... Scanning it perhaps.

---

Battle of first contact

The USC fleet scouring about the remains of the outpost station began to catch readings of the 6 ejected Cirais nodes floating about where the alien fleet had formed. Their signatures would indicate a gravitic anomaly pulsating as the nodes slowly floated towards the wreckage, towards the USC fleet.

At the same time, the large signatures incoming from hyperspace, steadily blasting an all too similar signal to the one heard previously by the now exterminated vessel had ceased. It's last detectable distance however was 10 light minutes away. It was closing in... they... 3 large signatures... closing in. If anything was certain, the USC would be able to determine that anything similar in size they had experienced would be classified as super destroyer vessels, followed by full escorting retinue. The FTL spikes from the respective Janus class cruisers complimented by the thundering transmissions of the USC to their home planet had indicated alot of new information... Information that would be handled with a firm hand.

[Parcia]

The Atlas's SAR birds were a good addition to the Search and Rescue effort, and with in 30 minuets or so they had any surviving pilots back and safe. The Surviving Janus reappeared at this time and checked in, forming up the rear of this three ship group.


Soon enough the small force was in FTL towards home.


Serpentis Station
Fleet yards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WWjwsCCOFM&t=218s
The whole section of space was busy with activity as the fleet, and really the whole of the Colonies was put on notice of an incoming attack. Given the enemy would likely trace the retreating forces back through their FTL signatures, they realistically had just a few hours until the three massive DRADIS contacts entered local space.

The whole fleet was recalled, every patrol group, every battle Star, all of them. While it would take a few more hours for the fleet to fully arrive, they were already looking at nearly 200 supports ships and a 20 battle star large line, on top of the dozens and dozens of the Automated Gun and missiles platforms, and the two orbital Energy lances stationed at the Polar caps of Serpentis.

The EXCALIBUR class gun platforms were designed for really one thing: To put a string of agitated particles through what ever poor fucker that found it self at the end of its targeting solution. The Technology was simple.

Using the vary same technology utilized in the Minovsky particles that power the mobile suits of Zeon, each gun could fire a slightly different variant of the particle, simply known as the "Higgs-Minovsky proton" that, while not producing a rate of energy any were near that of its older brother particle, could create and be used to manipulate gravity fields, and originaly found it self being used (albiet on a much smaller scale) as the main means in which UCS ships produced their own gravity fields.

It was found through testing that the same particle could be used in the "disruption" of such fields as well. The working theory of the guns is that when fired, the stream of Higgs-Minovsky protons will, when contacting solid material, react violently in such a matter that it produces its own "Disruption" field of sorts that warps and folds the local gravitational field. Couple this with the many CERN like accelerators used by the USC for scientific matters and you have arguably the most powerful weapon system in the local star cluster.

And they had two of them. With the execution of Contingency plan Winter, a few things were done. On top of the fleet being put to Condition One (thats all of them, mind you.) the entire population was ordered in to shelters, the ground based defenses maned, and the Marines and Ground Corps Soldiers called back from RnR and ordered to their Readiness positions.

Deep below them, in a large underground complex of servers and computer cores nearly 5 miles long, the Warmind woke from his slumber. The Warmind had been built as a defense AI, not one with true Sapience, but true Sentience and tasked with the defense of Serpentis, and when the situation called for it, all of mandkind.

The Warmind was named, rather ironically, Распутин. His sheer processing power was so high that many thought it would be foolish to give one machine control over the whole of the Defense network, calculating all the targeting solutions and firing controls of every automated gun and missile pod, as well as the two largest weaponized particle cannons in all of creation.


Many would scoff at he idea of mobilizing 300 warships, dozens of high powered defense stations, and 64 million civilians in the space of a few hours. These would be those that hadn't lived in fear of this exact thing happening for the last 20 years, they would be those who hadn't lived in a perpetual Cold War with Sol and its peoples. First the Earthen Federation, then Zeon.

The fact that this foe was InHuman and vary, vary hostile did nothing to calm their fears.

The last transmission to be sent out of Serpentis before the whole system hunkered down and readied for the oncoming storm would read as such.


To: ZEONIC IMPERIUM
From: AI-COM/RSPN

EXTRA SOLAR EVENT DETECTED
UNKNOWN, CLASSIFIED BIOLOGIC, INBOUND FOR SERPENTIS
THREAT LEVEL: ZULU
REQUEST ANY AND ALL AVAILABLE AID
THREAT POSED TO SERPENTUS: ABSOLUTE
THREAT POSED TO HUMANITY: ABSOLUTE

[Mikhaelos Industries]

The lack of success with the opening barrage was completely unexpected; the Mikhaelos family had never encountered any defence mechanism approaching this level in all their history. Of course, the surprise of the orbital crews was rather short lived in the face of incoming counter-barrage. Having not foreseen the failure of their own attack, the idea that they would need to prepare any protection against counter-attack at all hadn't occurred to them. After-all, the most they had come against in their time stationed in Altair were pirates, or the occasional competitor sending a strike team by. Nothing like this.

Yet, despite their surprise, they were prepared for such events. With the ground forces now on high alert, the second-line of defenses would activate in the vicinity of the bases and research centres on-site. The first of these systems would take the shape of the M30408 "Hydra" batteries. Unlike the advanced satellite systems, these batteries were relatively simplistic artillery pieces. They used no guidance systems, no particularly advanced electronics. They simply fired racks of airburst "flak" rockets at a high rate, intended primarily for landing craft and light vehicles, but in this case perfectly serviceable towards the more "fleshy" targets they would find themselves against. As the primary air-defense system of the Altair base, dozens of these across the occupied regions would open up on the invading vessels, hoping to at least hamper the attackers in their approach and limit the impact of invaders.

However, Altair was home to the Weapons Development Arm of the company, run by the subsidiary Kyrgos Armaments. As such, they had some access to experimental systems that were not yet available to the company at large. In limited quantities, of course. Among these systems was the X31402 Particle Beam Cannon(Commercial name pending, nicknamed "Medusa"). The system was based on technologies utilized by Zeon in the struggles within the Solar System years ago, but Kyrgos researchers had yet to find a way to downsize the weaponry or use it efficiently in any manner. However, the facility on Altair was currently in possession of four operational models, set up to the power grid and pending field testing for further improvement.

As it stands, all four X31402 batteries would begin to power up, and take aim at the incoming worldship. It was unlikely, at this point, that they could destroy it completely before making landfall, but the hope was that they could at least burn away enough of it to dampen the impact. Still unaware of the nature of their enemy or, really, what was happening, the defenders of Altair prepared for the upcoming battle, whatever form that would take.

[Badassistanian]

Transcendence

[Unknown Time]
[Unknown Location Among The Stars]
[Birth Of A Child]

Two hands of twisted bone, metal, blood vessels, and oil lower the body of a newborn infant onto a table. The hands gingerly grabs a small syringe and inserts it into the arm of the newly born child for its baptism had begun. The child would slowly drift to sleep upon the administering of the unknown chemical as the hands pick up a small scalpel like instrument. Another set of hands, a unique combination of flesh and metal unlike the other places a tube down the childs throat. The knife is placed upon the childs chest as the hand slowly guide it to create an accessible slit. The slit is then stretched by one pair of the hands as the other uses the scalpel to slowly cut the childs heart from its chest. The artery's are hooked up to a machine that ensure normal blood flow throughout the childs body. The metallic hands then proceed to grab a small machine like item with multiple hook ups intended for the connection to the major arterys of the body. Each artery is carefully plugged into the machine as it gently hums with the entering of fresh blood. The machine is placed within the cavity of the child as the metallic hands sew the slit back together. The hands then proceed to inject another chemical into the childs arm, this one to ensure that the new machine is not rejected. The next shot to be administer is done in order to inject small nanobots into the blood stream thus replacing the biological immune system with one that can be controlled from the outside. The child will undergo many more surgeries to replace the machine as bigger and more powerful ones are needed as well as to add additional changes in order to transcend biology.

[Unknown Time]
[Unknown Location]
[The Death Of A Man]

Individual blood vessels twist around the visible components of a robotic arm and bone fragments that hold the arm together. The fingers at the end show off individual tendons and muscles as the blood pumps into the cells giving life to the hand. A rib cage of decaying bone reveals a collapsed lung being repeatedly inflated by external machines mounted on the decomposing flesh of the chest. The decomposing head reveals a brain implanted with numerous computer chips and two robotic eyes staring into the void without expression. The brain is black and no longer functional, with the chips functioning as an inauthentic form of consciousness. The skull is pieced together with small bits of metal as the decaying skin reveals to the viewer. Several large decayed holes appear in the stomach of the creature revealing a complex network of pipes and intestines along with machines built to improve the decomposition of food. the legs, similar to the arms in structure, lay limp upon the cold table that the body lies upon. The body, still alive through the corrupt use of machinery, finally breathes its last as the new generation of transcended beings are born.

[Acerbez]

Arcturus-Sol Intersection Sector 34 Proxima Serpentus

The trafficking lane of the Serpentus-sol intersection of sector 34 was logistically in place of the Vega Arcturus space lane intersection in tandem. Making the importance and recent attention climb to exponential proportions whether the Zeon or the USC of Serpentus realized it. The Tendril fleet from the B'lial Dominion was actually en route to Arcturus system, the sheer coincidence of the first contact was impart of the splinter scouring the edges of the main tendril. Prior to it's demise, the splinter had shrieked its distress signal and echoed across the cosmos to alert its dominion fleet and also notified the USC arrays of Serpentus to become aware of the conflict that ensued.

The history of B'lial as a tendril is one of bestial and absolute usurping of power from its previous hegemony. At its head, the overlord Rezha had devoured his cadre's way to become paramount within its dominion and cannibalized his predecessor- in a very literal sense. Through cunning and malicious guile he had secured his position to overlord of the dominion from vicelord, now in direct competition to the Arch-lamentor itself. It was without any thought or consideration that the B'lial tendril would be exiled from Vega into the Cosmos, in order to secure a functioning and valid 'food chain' within the Vega system. Rezha's sights on Arcturus was a long term investment into the end game of domination. Unfortunately the humans have found themselves between the scourge and a hard place.

Though not currently translatable in a human language context, Rezha himself was paramount within the dominion but subjected to a succession of competing vicelord's that fully intended to subdue power for their own designs- as this was the A'zaerian way. What better way to use an enemy than to throw them at a wall of other enemies? Or make a wall. The inclusion of the human forces was now cause for concern, Artcturus was invaluable, however time was of the essence. Rezha, in his cunning decided to delay his second from being exposed to and consuming the Alpha rich rays of Arcturus... Of a Ravager caste, Vicelord Kaer was to become the buffer between humanity and the A'zarian acquisition.

The Serpentus blockade

The incoming signatures the USC were preparing for were justified in the planets preparations. The B'lial tendril had effectively split itself to redirect its course with some of the largest vessels in its composition to be pull off course from Arcturus.

3 large super destroyers spanning 8000 meters and beyond, the capital spanning a massive 12,000 meters was a threat not to be scoffed at. However these A'zaerian vessels were unlike anything the humans have ever encountered. While human ships require repair and advanced between battles, Preyaa destroyers began their lives as smaller vessels and through time and enduring wars they grew larger and eventually began grafting the surviving components of damaged vessels within their spheres. Enlarging their structures and covering wounds. The concept of grafting limbs onto one's self and genetically engineering one's body was an A'zaerian core value- indication of merit and reward.

Multiple docking arms and covered on all sides by Asteroid slag launchers, these vessels were a sight to behold. In their wombs maintained hundreds of strike fighters ready to be deployed, transport, and ground forces. In the 3 destroyers retinue were many medium vessels and corvettes. in total numbers 180 various classes of ships and 400+ more strike fighters within their bays and docks.

The USC were prepared for an attack, however no attack would come. Instead, just beyond the point of conflict and at the edge of Serpentus' planetary orbit (idk your planets name) a mass of signatures began to form, visually similar to a field of asteroids. This field in vicinity of the 100 identifiable enemy ships. it spanned a massive line... It was a blockade.

Information would begin flying in, the planetary satellites and stations would begin to identify shifting levels of gravity occurring without order at the border of the line of ships. The enemy vessels had seem to be positioned just behind this 'asteroid belt' that suddenly formed, somewhat veiling their signatures but their existence was clear.

Then it happened...

The seismometers of the USC's homeworld would begin to universally shift and indicate drastically abnormal occurrences. The gravity around the outside of the planet's atmosphere was experiencing residual effects of a gravity compression that was reaching the planet. A Massive inhibition field was being projected from the alien fleet, to firstly remove the ability of hyper jumping but at a certain proximity within this field, most if not all types of frequencies were being distorted. The only clear and obvious indication would be that this field was getting closer. The 'asteroid belt' and the fleet was inching forward.

USC Scientists would be able to confirm that if this field reaches its way to enshroud the planet, it will be subjected to inumerable occurrences of planetary wide natural disasters ranging from massive earthquakes, disastrous hurricanes, and a collapse of the ecosystems naturally made defenses against such occurrences... a forces reshaping of the world's landscape as they knew it.

Any further communication to the SOL system would be futile

---

Altair system

The orbital stationed troops were subjected by barrages of asteroid like munitions thermally heated to plasmatic levels and hurled at their stations. Having made their positions well known, the A'zaerian fleet needed to knock them out of the sky as quick as possible, the main tendril was due to arrive at a moment's notice.

Meanwhile, the contingent of oddly shaped stealth vessels continued to 'scan' the exterior of the planet while at the same time relaying as much information as possible to the war coordinators of the planet's landscape.

As the world ship crashed through the spheres of the planet's upper and lower level atmosphere's, it was bombarded without prejudice. The ships maintaining proximity began to target the second defense line with spore columns in hopes to crash through whatever was producing the thermal signatures and stressing the worldship. However, priority of spore columns were sent to the proximity of the worldship's hopeful landing to ensure the environment's acclamation was not compromised.

The Mikhaelos comms would be well aware of the shrieking clicks and hisses being bounced through the radio frequencies of the enemy, this was the A'zaerian worldship relaying the signature of the X312 battery power grids. The Cirais nodes were maintaining as best as they could however the flaks persistent barrage and rapid fire was causing immense distortions in the ships inhibition field. When it became apparent that immense volumes of electro-magnetic energy was being focused, the alert and reaction was immediate from the fleet.

The 5 vessels unengaged with the orbital stations began to hurl their largest armaments down to the planet, odd like sling shaped 'appendages' were shot from the 'mouths' of the ships and sent down onto the planet. Their target was unapparent as they were aimed at locations with no strategic value other than proximity of the military station itself. As the munition neared the visual capacity of the Mikhaelos forces, they would see what would look like immense maggots writhing through the air in spasms.

The X312 Medusa
As the Medusa fired, the indication of the particle energy was met by a huge shift in the Worldships inhibition field, the Largest of the Cirais nodes over exerting itself to the maximum capacity to resist the devastating torrent of the medusa. The war-coordinator, compassionate and entirely affectionate to it's nodes, a communion of paternal love, became aware of it's "child's" pain. The devastation held at bay was killing the node, physically requiring far too much effort. The war coordinator opt to remove clusters of Cirais nodes from the oncoming flak barrage to assist the effort against the particle beam's torrent in hopes of protecting its ilk.

The first shot however was enough, the sudden surprise and the potency of the Medusa weapon had essentially 'torn asunder' the internal tissue of the node, it was hemorrhaging, having ruptured vitally important biological organs. The last moments of the worldship's central node were fleeting. The war coordinator, being inter-linked with the ship's navarch vicelord, imposed a massive levy of chemical imbalances onto the navarch's neurological receptors due to it's connection with the nodes and to him. Cortosol and serotonin were being mashed and destroyed as the war coordinator experienced anger and depression together at once. A highly sentimental moment for such a malicious being as it shared its last moments with it's beloved child. Many nodes were forced into hibernation and flak rounds began to crash into and through the chitin like coral shell of the vessel- incapable of ceasing the barrage further.

The second ray from the Medusa would be a success. Its arcing laser like attack would cut through the vessel like a heated surgical blade and butter. An entire 3rd of the vessel would separated from the vessel, imploding within itself at the edges and exploding outwardly. Portions of the existing troop quarter cavity would disappear in a fleshy explosion within the instant. The Cirais node's death came at its last attempt to resist the incoming ray but having only deflected the initial phase of the beams contact brought upon it's death. Spasm and seizuring as its over-exertion reached far beyond its physical limitations.

The worldship itself would hit the planets ground without a cushion, no means of limiting the impact. The quake would be felt and heard... After a pause of minutes, a thorn like hook would punch the crust of the planet. Odd like membranes began to stretch across the worldship as it began to suck the infared radiation from Altair.

The 'cocoons that did land through the field of flack sent from the medium ships, 3/10 unharmed and alive, would begin to unfurl as the immense luminosity of Altair was photosynthesized... Metabolizing and feeding their cargo.

The rapid growth of the beasts was sustained to the peak before further means would be needed, reaching lengths averaging 78 meters, they craved an energy source.

---

Formahualt

The incoming fleet to Altair's system became aware of the distressing outcries of the world ship. This provided a key opportunity for the dominion's smallest vicelord to make his play. Entirely ignoring the signal to end hyperjump within the Altair solar system with the majority of the dominion, the war coordinator and vicelord along with its small subordinate cadre agreed in almost unison. They go further... It was the only way to secure power for themselves.

Formahault had appeared to them, and trajectory would be corrected to enter the system. A small cadre of 8 ships including a single worldship.

What awaited within the system, what would be forced to welcome infestation?