Outpost A-5, Near System 53(Sol System)
Outpost A-5 was a flurry of activity. It was a frontier station, and important for trading with several of the colonies. Civilian and military ships traversed across the void, thrusters slowly burning brilliant blue lights. Near the station however was a small patrol, 4 Frigates and a Battleship. While it wasn't odd to see a military ship drift in and out of the station every now and then, it was odd to see a full patrol. They seemed uninterested in docking at the station, merely requesting some refueling ships. The patrol was quickly refueled, as there FTL drives began activation. The MDA, or magic dimension accelerator, was the standard in use FTL drive by the Union. It accelerated a ship through a upper level dimension, and this dimension was also magic-based. The dimensions were believed to be the Eternal Mother's creation.

"This is Scout-Patrol Alpha, under The Second Fleet, prepared to explore System 53." the voice in the transmission was very authoritative. It was likely who had ever spoken was the leader of the patrol.

"This is High Command, System 53 has been detected with activity that would suggest civilization. Do your best to uphold our Doctrine, and may the Eternal Mother guide you."

The ships accelerated away from the station, and towards System 53. The Entire fleet was nervous, as this would be the first new contact since the Gamilas. The main thing was whether they would want peace, or if they would try to attack the Eternal Union. The ships arrived, orbiting around Mars.

"I have spoken with God, and he has abandoned us"

Midnight, the only sound was the wind blowing through the elder tree's. Salokin sat on his chair by the window, puffing his pipe and blowing smoke through his furry nose.
This small collection of houses about 10 miles north of Turis had long since served as a retirement village for the aging, Salokin had moved here after his 70th year just three years ago, but he had felt old since long before that.
It was the 38th annbersay of the crash... No father should have to bury his child. He let out a longer puff, staring up at the white light of Serkona, the moon. (Daddy, I'm going to be an astronaught!)
He squinted and leant forwards. Was the moon... Shrinking? Something was moving in front of it, slowly but surely. It was too large to be an aerocraft and was certainly not a cloud. The silence was pierced by a loud, screeching noise as the black blob grew bigger and bigger, and began to take shape.
There was a deafening roar, then loud crash, as it smashed into the road and tossed the pavement into the air. He watched in shock as a huge chunk of concrete flew through the air and collided into the house across the street, crushing it into the ground.
"The Zapolos..." He whispered in disbelief. They had so much energy in them still, despite being 74 and 77. He turned away from the window and dashed to the door as fast as his elderly legs would carry him, rushing into the street.
The telephone wires had been brought down along with the Zapolo's house, but he suspected the people in Turis had likely seen the crashing...
He stared at it. What the Fal? It looked like something out of the pictures his daughter had used to watch with him at night. Impossible, those shows were just fiction, as the name implied.
And yet here it was, sitting in the middle of a quant little retirement village, a real Stellarcraft. Something was wrong with it though, it seemed to have been overgrown by some strange type of flesh, bulbous sacks of it hanging out of it.
Others had slowly filed out into the streets, even old Hagga with her cane had made her way into the streets, muttering something about how those "Damned kids should get an appointment with Fal", before stopping short and gasping in disbelief at the hulk in front of her.
There was a small hiss from the stellarship as I cracked open, Salokin held his breath as the ramp fell down near his feet. Slowly, something began to stumble out of the green mist. Salokin took an involuntary step back as it revealed itself.
There were screams and several people began to flee from the creature... Small sacks hung from its flesh, and something seemed to be stirring within them. Its skin was a sandish colour and it almost appeared to be undead. It's left arm ended in some kind of tentacle appendage and its head seemed contorted at an unnatural angle, though it sharply twisted it with a sickening crunch and surveyed the crowd.
Behind it came several more of these weird shapes, and it became apparent they weren't a single species at all, but instead three... Yet all were covered in the same yellowish flesh.
They darted forwards quickly, the first jumping into the air at what Salokin would have suspected to be an impossible height and landing next to Hagga. It grabbed her with its tentacles, wrapping them around her neck. She cursed it and swung her cane at its head, but the tentacles just tightened around her neck until she dropped her cane and twitched.
Salokin turned to turn, but one landed in front of him and hit him to the floor in a single swipe. He felt a sharp and sudden pain the moment it connected, and heard two of his ribs crack. He screamed for mercy as it stood over him, able to kill him with but a single blow if it wanted to do so. He gasped in shock as it turned and jumped away from him. Had it shown mercy...?

He felt something crawling up his leg and looked down in shock. A strange, yellowish creature barely the side of its fist was scrambling its way at an insane speed up his leg. No sooner had he registered it than it was on his chest, and he felt a sudden spike of pain as it bit a small hole in his chest. He convulsed in pain, then watched in horror as the creature somehow squeezed through the small gap it had made.

His cries of torment filled the air, breaking the silence. Other voices joined him, a chorus of torment, the old had been cast down to die in starlit blood pools on the ground...

The following morning

"Av L' Veidu, L Ve Fal"

Daylight, the dead arise, tree's are stripped and Turis cleansed.
Millions had died over the past six hours, and several other such star craft had hit else where in the world. The government responses had done little, soldiers fell almost as easily as the civilians had. Nothing seemed to stop the spread of the parasite. It killed, and killed, and killed, gathering up its stores of biomass.

Space

"Come and burn with us"

More star ships flew out from the infected world, dropping into hyper space. Motivated by hunger, of course, and the hives had detected an interesting amount of traffic on the worlds admittedly out dated sensors ("Note to Ourselves, must find more such knowledge")

The Eternal Mother... How very religious
Religion, what an odd business...
Let us bring them into the tranquillity they must so desire
They say high command, we must show them higher command
Yes, it is time to feast. We can taste them already, can't we? So juicy sweet...
Maybe they can upgrade these sensors...
Which part of us shall feast?
It is within S'Ark influence, we must tell ourselves S'Ark to act.

Eternal Union Outpost A-5

"For forty days and forty nights it rained"

The strange vessel arrived in system, drifting forwards. Its form was over grown with an odd brownish material, and several tentacles seemed to float freely in the black of space. The weird ship held its position a short distance from the station. The ship seemed very damaged, one might suggest it looked at though it shouldn't be functioning at all. It transmitted the ships distress signal, and given its apparent structural damage one could be forgiven for mistaking it as having been attacked by another ship

Central Offices of the Vesselage, Karboria, Sazkar Major

13:00 Central Sazkarjhia Standard Time, it was around the time where reports were submitted by both the Vessels and the Military Cabinet for findings of the week. Grand Vessel Urwan Garama'kum sat at her head of the round table, adjacent to her were the five additional Vessels, as well as her Military Cabinet. Most of the reports were still pretty standard. Vessel Merana'bum of Markura submitted her reports of climate change over certain regions, ranging from green to black; naturally, Bellaran was almost completely green while Daramaska was shaded in a sickly black. The layer of Ozone over the region was almost completely depleted, and the only thing keeping the industrial area from being heavily irradiated were the thick blankets of smog that layered over the many factories and mines. Good to work, miserable to live.

Vessel Yarin'tum of Markarapas reported economic goods income for the week, with a slight--although still acceptable--1.3% increase compared to the previous week. Vessel Orak'dum happily reported that production was at an all-time high, with the new colony Sazkarjhia had founded the influx of titanium and tungsten that was bountiful on the planet provided Sazkarjhia with many metal resources. The only one who didn't have a report (It's quite difficult to report on anything about fortune and misfortune), Vessel Ymar'gum of Oparas said a prayer for the Vesselage to have another successful week.

The only one of the Vesselage who looked quite worried was Vessel Pumar'kum of Mazdabar. The Vessel of the Sazkarjhit God of War normally maintained a strong and stalwart appearance, but at the moment he was visibly troubled. Grand Vessel Garama'kum took note of this.

"Honorable Vessel Pumar'kum, is something the matter?" she asked, a look of concern in her glossy black eyes. Vessel Pumar'kum frowned, then looked towards the Grand Vessel.

"I've been collaborating with Admiral Wesen'dum about exploration around the colony, and in our scouting missions we've come across some kind of station." he stated.

"Do they pose a threat to the colony?" Garama'kum asked.

"That, I cannot entirely determine. We only know of its existence; not who inhabits it or what it's purpose is. However, the presence of an extraterrestrial intelligence may be a good thing, as maybe they might be willing to learn of The Path and spread His good will."

"All right, that would seem reasonable. When this meeting is dismissed, please order a task force to investigate the station."

"As He would permit, Grand Vessel."

Eternal Union Outpost A-5

A small Sazkarjhit warfleet quickly rocketed out of Slipspace. The group, comprised of one dozen frigates, a half dozen destroyers and a Marku-Class flagship, quickly adjusted their bearings and made steady headway to the station. In case it was a familiar species, a message was written onto a codex of every language known to the Sazkarjhit, then broadcast to the station.

"Attention,unidentified installation! This is the Sazkarjhit Outersystem Task Force 031, you are situated near an inhabited Sazkarjhit colony, please state purpose and intentions. Hostility will not be regarded lightly!"

Outpost A-5
"Two new contacts identified. One is a derelict ship broadcasting a distress signal and it has some odd bio-signs. The other seems to be a group of ships from a organized nation. A translation spell has been cast on there ships and we have decoded there message."

"Proceed with normal diplomatic procedures for the second contact...However I want a robot sent over to the the first with balefire explosives on a scout op. Its possible the ship was infected with some kinda of parasite or virus. We do not want that spreading to the Union."

A small drone launched from a bay on A-5. It floated towards the derelict ship, attaching it-self and finding a way to try to get in to the ship. Meanwhile a small selection of ships, 5 frigates and 2 Battleships appeared near the station. There shields were active but there were no visible or scan signs of any weapons activation. They remained alone the station, drifting closer to it. They seemed focused on defending the station, more then anything.

"There is no need to worry Sazkarjhit. The Eternal Union is a proud and peaceful nation. It is our wish to see all guided forward into prosperity. This station has been in operation for 5 galactic years, and serves as a important stop on the way to 3 of our colonies."

Outpost A-5

Not such a bountiful harvest

There is what appears to be a small groan from the ship, and there is an squishy sound as a strange organic door, made of seven segments, opens up, curling side ways to allow entry into the ship. Interestingly, there is no escape of air from inside the ship, implying it was already depressurised. The green mist inside hangs around regardless, some leaking out into nearby space. A single creature slowly draws out and onto the side of the ship, clinging on by its tentacle arm. It appears humanoid in shape, in its other hand rests a welding tool of sorts, the tip glowing green betraying its ready state. Hanging from its flesh are several bulbous sacks, one of which appears to be torn and empty. It twists its head sharply toward the small drone, and speaks slowly in its alien tongue.
"What is this we see before us, an angel of metal but of death or life... Time shall tell us, make us. We are damaged, the rocks of voids set upon our barren fleets from Ark, where the rain has long since settled and the scenes are washed away. Name your mind, shell, for we deal with the master not the slave"

Sol System, Terran Orbit
"That's the last of the bastards!"

A wing of fighters flew through the debris of a destroyed warship. Fergus scowled at the burnt insignia on the wreckage, a Crescent Moon ans star painted over with a Christian Cross, then a Star of David, then another Cross. He knew it was just culture, but the fact that he had to fight off his own parents just because he was different certainly didn't help with tolerating the human religions.

Idiots, why couldn't they just work together? Would make my damn job a hell of a lot easier.

"Sir!"

The voice came from his fighter's comms systems, a surprise to Fergus. Radio silence was usually maintained when he was in orbit with the rest of the squadron, something big must have come up.

"What is it, Command? More terrorists?"

"No, we've detected a fleet of five vessels! They appear to be four frigates and a battleship, there are no grav rings and their engines are centuries ahead of humanity. They're not human."

"Do they bear the Green Belt?"

"No, Sir!"

"Assume hostile. Send all ships in the area, use antimatter jump drives. I'll bring my squadron."

"Understood Sir!"

Fergus tapped a few controls on his panel, then spoke to the other pilots.

"Antimatter jump drives, Martian Orbit, now!"

The fighter squadron's engines stopped glowing blue and began to leave behind an orange trail. After a few seconds, they glowed like the sun, accelerating the fighters well over human g limits. After thirty long minutes, the fighters turned around and began to slow. Finally, they reached Mars after another thirty minutes, and saw the human fleet gathering in orbit. All six dreadnoughts, twenty frigates, dozens upon dozens of OSA patrol ships, and multiple civilian craft that had volunteered.

"This is Wings of Gliese Befälhevaran Fergus McClain. All ships advance on unidentified fleet! Assume hostile, repeat, assume hostile!"

The fleet advanced towards the Iscandarian ships, with weapons trained right on them. Fergus ordered his squadron to stay back, and flew his fighter right up to the alien fleet. He got a good look at the commander through the battleships bridge windows, she looked like an angel in a literal sense. For a moment, he felt at peace, as if all was well. At least, that's what he thought it was. The last time he was at peace was beyond his memory. However, he didn't recognize her species or the species of anyone else on the bridge, and she ship's insignia was anything but the familiar Green Belt. He opened a comm channel to the battleship, speaking as clearly as he possibly could.

"This system and species is under the protection of the Wings of Gliese. You have entered their space and are therefore assumed to be hostile. I am the protector of humanity. If you fire first then they will have less of a chance. We must fire first. If you are peaceful, then I apologize, but I cannot take any risk."

He broke off, flying back towards the human fleet.

"All ships, open fire."

The human fleet let loose a barrage of railgun and torpedo fire, The fighter squadron went up close to the alien ships, tearing at their shields with laser fire.The torpedoes streaked toward the alien ships, leaving behind a green trail of plasma as they accelerated. Marines flew towards the ships, armed with coilguns and laser cutters. Every once in a while, one of them would loose control. Mostly the ones in orange suits, as they were civilians. Despite the heavily decreased mobility, their suits provided much greater protection. Probably a good thing them their lack of skill is taken into account.

Aboard the ERV Unity, a Eternal Battleship, System 53
"Captain Magnus! They fired before we could cast a translation spell, slight damage to our own ship, and the ERV Starfire." shouted a officer on the now frantic bridge of the Unity. Lights and warnings flashed, as the targeting systems of the Unity labeled the fighters as hostile. Magnus pressed a button and sent a message to the Starfire.

"This is Captain Magnus, Captain Emily, you are ordered to fire on the attacking fighters, full barrage. Prepare any drop-pod forces you have as well. The goal of the Union is peace, but if there just going to attack us at first contact, then im afraid there is little chance." spoke Magnus into the comms.

Outpost A-5, Derelict ship
The small drone paused for a moment, as if observing the creature. It backed away slighty, and folded up into a small disc. Visible on the top of the disc was a glass ball of sorts, which began projecting a image of a Iscandarian. The Iscandarian's face looked highly suspicious of the creature. The drone backed further away, before the Iscandarian spoke to the creature.

"We are the Eternal Union... Who are you and what do you wish?"

duck55223 said
"Captain Magnus! They fired before we could cast a translation spell, slight damage to our own ship, and the ERV ." shouted a officer on the now frantic bridge of the . Lights and warnings flashed, as the targeting systems of the labeled the fighters as hostile. Magnus pressed a button and sent a message to the ."This is Captain Magnus, Captain Emily, you are ordered to fire on the attacking fighters, full barrage. Prepare any drop-pod forces you have as well. The goal of the Union is peace, but if there just going to attack us at first contact, then im afraid there is little chance." spoke Magnus into the comms.The small drone paused for a moment, as if observing the creature. It backed away slighty, and folded up into a small disc. Visible on the top of the disc was a glass ball of sorts, which began projecting a image of a Iscandarian. The Iscandarian's face looked highly suspicious of the creature. The drone backed further away, before the Iscandarian spoke to the creature."We are the Eternal Union... Who are you and what do you wish?"

"We are..." The creature jumped outwards into space, placing his hand on the drone and approaching the hologram to appear closer "... The startling silence, the nothing that you fear. We are the echoing pain of violence, the stain of a childs tear." It's throat moved as it speaker, and it became apparent that it's speech wasn't caused by the process of passing air through the vocal cords (Which was just as well, given the lack of space) but through the manual manipulation of the vocal cords. "And we are hungry, so very hungry..."
The ship seemed to respond to these words, as the gas's leaked out, obscuring the creature slightly as it passed the two. The creature pushed off the drone and back towards the ship, one of the tentacles moving to grab him from the void "We are us, and we are hungry"
The words seemed to echo from the vessel its self, and the biomass on it seemed to lurch to life, the tentacles twitching in space

Outpost A-5

Fleetmaster Ramak'sum was quite surprised that an alien nation could swiftly translate Sazkarjhit vernacular like that. He wished he had somebody aboard with magic to do the same thing, but, alas, he wasn't given the best-equipped fleet. He sent a message from his ship stating the following:

"We welcome such peace warmly. We were only afraid of an attack since you are relatively proximal to a Sazkarjhit mining colony that was established not too long ago. A meeting in-person would be beneficial as so I can relay information gathered to my superiors."

Outpost A-5
The hologram shutoff, as the drone started flying away from the ship, its bright thrusters showing across the never-ending black void. The drone was heading for the station, and seemed to no longer care for the ship. The small group of ships that had arrived after the Sazkarjhit showed up starting floating away from the station, there fronts pointed at the derelict ship.

"Hungry, for what?" as a transmission beeped to the derelict ship. The voice was the same one as from the hologram. Meanwhile a transmission was sent to the Sazkarjhit vessels.

"A meeting has been prepared with the Immortals on our homeworld. For security reasons your diplomatic team will be restricted to two frigate-sized ship and 4 guards and two diplomats. We hope you understand."

Outpost A-5

The infected figure faded into the distance and slipped in through the sides of the ship once more. The only response that was transmitted back was a simple one word message
"Food"
The ship continued to hang there, stationary in space. The green mist leaking from it floated in the weightlessness, some clouds floating into the void, some toward the nearby star and others slowly floating towards the other ships. These clouds stopped leaking as the hole from which they had been Emanating sealed shut, and the mist seperated

Martian Orbit, Sol System
Two of the fighters were immediately obliterated, the alien weaponry vaporizing them with ease. All the weapons fire pinged off the alien ships, some of it being deflected back at the fleet. Two dreadnoughts were lost, along with countless smaller vessels. Another fighter went down, the debris bouncing off the shields harmlessly. The civilian vessels fell into disarray, many of them retreating to Earth using their short-burn antimatter jump drives. As they took no time to align with a receiving station, the crew would likely regain consciousness on the other side of the Sun. Seeing that they had no chance, Fergus gave the only order he could.

"All ships, fallback to Earth! Use the short-burn jump drives, align with a receiving station if you can, if you can't, then inform an OSA patrol vessel! We'll cover the retreat! Wings of Gliese, form up!"

The squadron fell into formation behind Fergus, the three lost ships missing. Fergus tried to flush the thought from his mind, he'd never lost a single pilot before.

"Nobody kills one of us and gets away with it. I want all weapons focused on their bridge shields, I'm going to board them. The moment those shields are down, break off and retreat. I won't survive this, but neither will their Captain."

The rest silently agreed, making a run on the bridge shields. It was a bloodbath, of the 16 that went in, only 9 made it out. However, they had just barely punctured the shields, leaving a route through the bridge's windows open. Fergus thrusted toward the ship using a burst from the short-burn drives, getting the cockpit through the shields before the hole closed. He had lost the wings, but the cockpit was all he needed. It pierced the bridge windows, staying lodged as air hissed out. The ship's emergency shields reached quickly, sealing the cracks, but he didn't need the air to be vented.

Fergus picked up the assault rifle in his cockpit, and blew off the hatch. Bridge security personnel reacted quickly, but just before they could pull the trigger, Fergus pulled his. The guards were killed in an unimaginably quick sweep. Smoke rose from his heating rifle, the coilgun took a lot of energy to accelerate the projectiles. Jumping to the tactical officer's console, he shot him int he head and took cover behind the console itself. Poking his weapon up, he fired on the gunners, killing them in another sweep. His combat skills were unheard of, with the skill of a wise old man but the agility of a young athlete. He aimed his rifle at the captain of the ship, but something made him miss her head and instead hit her right foot. Instead of finishing her off, he opened his mouth on impulse as if it was an instinct.

"I don't recognize your species, what are you doing here? Do you want resources, slaves? Or are you here for us?"

He moved out into the open, shooting anyone who dared to clench a trigger. They seemed to get the message. Shooting the captain in the leg and arm, he spoke again.

"Answer me or your captain dies! You killed ten of my people, that's ten less people who can understand my thoughts, my motivations, my feelings. Ten of my only friends. Feel lucky that I don't simply detonate my fighter's antimatter fuel cell and blow this entire ship to metal chunks!"

Valkian Explorer ship, orbit above Moon N-3
The Explorer was a unique class, the Captain often thought. It was a special ship, that could destroy a ship's crew without even causing damage. They would fall, unable to continue to think, to do, to know. They would slobber on themselves until their bodies were no longer able to support itself without more food or water, and then it would die. The ship did indeed strike fear into all Valkians; they all knew that the nose of the ship pointing towards them could mean their demise, and if it did, they would never know it.

And the Captain was well aware of the danger. Every crew member to be stationed on one of the seven legendary were, at first, told and made to believe that the same ship they were about to serve on was about to kill them by turning them into thoughtless, mindless slobbering beasts. Only after the fleet command thought that they were properly aware of the weapon and its capabilities would they let the crewmember go and tell them the news.

The Captain had had to be held under the Explorers' gaze for quite some time, before reality set in that he would never grow up into a major fleet commander, never have the chance to command a ship, or even ships. The Fleet was small, but it was insanely powerful, in the Valkians' terms.

And now one of the feared, scary death-ships was slowly flying towards the outermost settlements' spaceport, as far away from the main Fleet as one could get. A small research hub, with extensive titanium and thorium mining, since all Valkian ships run on Thorium. With this large ship coming in, the many members of the mining base waited fearfully in the deeper areas of the moon, with a welcoming party waiting to greet the ship.

As the ship passed through the stasis field and into gravity and air that consists more of carbon dioxide than oxygen [A Valk breathing oxygen is a human breathing carbon dioxide], an airlock opened on the front of the ship, a team of Engineers jumped out of the airlock, splitting to either side of the 'port to connect Thorium refueling hoses to the ship. As the ship finally touched down, another group, one with two, extremely rare Hunters, an Engineer, and a Tinkerer, stepped out of the cargo bay and headed towards the base's blast doors that guarded the air inside from the void. All of them were in suits, fit to float in space for a decade, so says the guarantee.

When they approached, the doors opened, a less military-type suited group of three, just a Tinkerer and two Engineers. When the two parties faced each other, the Tinkerers bowed to each other, and the Engineers saluted each other. All their tails were infinitely swishing back and forth. Like most of the heads, the tails were open to the air, the unique properties of the Valkians' skin giving some parts of their body the ability to resist the extreme temperatures of the void, as well as the ability to retain its shape and size when in the void. Only the Valkians' "face" was covered, to supply carbon dioxide to their lungs. The ship behind them remained on; its engines produced a dull thrumming that vibrated inside the peoples' chest.

After introducing themselves in the tradition fashion, Hunters introducing themselves first, then Engineers, then Tinkerers, without care of which side they are on, they continued inside for a short talk. Quite simply, the Explorer ship was sent on an exploration mission, the first ever to go outside the solar system. They expected nothing more than to find planets that could be terraformed, and so they sent the ship with the best abilities to test and probe a planet, and also defend itself in the case of a worst-case scenario.

After negotiating a deal- military-grade tools for fuel- the Explorers' group left quietly. They had spoken in low, almost whispered tones, as was common among their race, and had dealt based on the deals made thousands of years ago: military forces must compensate for any resources they take.

A half hour later, the Explorer ship was rising off the platform, fully filled with more liquid Thorium, and with a second, new Ignition Pack. As soon as the ship was high enough, it accelerated, barely missing the bases' many antennas and other communications equipment.

As it accelerated, a blue-white portal began to open in front of it, streaking towards the Explorer like bursts of lightning. When the ship closed enough distance to the portal, both disappeared in a flash.

((Anyone have some scout ships located in a solar system that's on the edge of your space? If so, just post saying so.))

Outpost A-5
The Eternal Union cut all communications to the derelict ship, and moved closer to it, although still a distance's away. Another message was beamed back to the Sazkarjhit

"The meeting will not be at this station, rather in our home system on Alas Prime. The Immortals are the leaders of our civilization and it is a great honor to get to meet them. The Coordinates are attached to this message."

Sol
The guards and tactical officer were easily knocked out, as they had not been prepared for Fergus's clever attack. Fergus could also feel his abilities growing stronger, as if something in the ship was activating them further . Two fully-armored sentinels entered the room, but dare not touch there weapons due to the position they were in. Another sentinel stood up, his uniform indicating he was the First Officer. He spoke to Fergus, anger in his voice.

"You fired first, the blood of your men are on your hands, we came in peace, thinking we could find another civilization who also enjoyed the ideas of peace and harmony, but alas not. We didn't even manage to translate your message before we were hit, we only responded in turn. And the men you just killed? They all had wives and children, and now I will have to inform those children about why and how daddy isn't coming home. Your actions have been much worse today. I would also advise avoiding killing the Captain there, as she is a daughter of royalty. Kill her if you would rather this end in a fully military occupation of your world, rather then a much more moderate peace treaty. And you may be skilled beyond that of even our greatest pilots, but our weapons are much more capable." spoke the Sentinel.

Another voice was heard by Fergus, however it was only in his mind, as the others aboard could not seem to hear it

"Why Fergus? This is not how I expected to a child of Gliese to act, even if there soul is not in the right body. Fergus, in the future, use peace as a answer. Feel your roots, even if you do not know them. And remember, I your dear mother, is there to guide you."

Location: The Void Expanse, Home Fleet
Time: Unknown:

The room was white and sterile, which, combined with the intense lighting, would almost completely blind most organic creatures, and possessed no furniture or equipment of any kind. Three drone like devices orbited around a central silver sphere, it's surface rippling and flowing like mercury, bubbling noxiously and emitting a dull warmth. The machines floated various devices around their points in it's surface, transmitting beams of light into it, and causing the rippling to intensify. Behind them, a tall figure casually observed, it's face ports and panels whirring and clicking together, almost in excitement. A Matron, colored black, a deviation from the standard silver pigmentation of the Special Forces, had stressed to it's superiors it must be present for the activation of their recently acquired relic.

This continued for some time, before the surface of the sphere suddenly exploded outwards, and disintegrated. All that remained was three smaller spheres, having shrunk together from some of the unnatural substance, and began to orbit what seemed to be a small shard, glowing blue and pulsating. The Matron stepped forward and extended one of it's appendages, which rotated and floated from down it's back towards the mysterious device. Several long tendrils extended from the blade, and began to emit light beams of a golden hue into various points in the crystal.

Swelling and fading outwards, the shard disappeared, leaving a hologram with bizarre subtexts from an unknown language. The center piece was a small planet, it's surface pockmarked and covered in foliage, with a single large ocean found on one side of the world. Holographic points formed around it certain locations on the planet, and more unreadable data was presented. But the Matron cared not for what it was saying. For this world was known to them, and they would have no trouble traveling there.

It turned around, and left it's machine servants to continue and sleuth for more clues on the projection. For now, the Overseer had all the data it needed, after all. The only slight problem was that it had already been inhabited by a colony of one of the lesser species. But that issue would be dealt with swiftly when the time arrived.

United Terran Federation News Broadcast, 1900 TST
"And that concludes our special programming for the 48th anniversary of the first Terran Global Sec-Ops victory in Westboro, Massachusetts. We wish to thank General Yuuki Sora of the Terran Federation Ground Warfare Forces for her time here and service to the human species. We will now continue with our breaking news segment. A terrorist cell in Siberia was recently taken down, reports say twenty railgun shots were fired from orbit in quick succession, completely obliterating the cell. No artifacts were recovered. The data released by the Council states that it was an operation carried out by the Wings of Gliese special task force. We asked for more information on this notorious group, but the Council refused to respond."

"Thank you, Miranda. Another story that recently came to light is the malfunction of multiple subatomic particles in the central quantum communications core on Ceres. Apparently, they are connected to two other sources, despite the fact that they are produced by splitting muons, creating only one receiving particle. It is theoretically possible to create a particle that resonates on the same frequency as one in the comms core, but nobody has ever managed to even get close to such an achievement. More on this situation as it develops."

A loud siren blared, the emergency notification system. Flashing red text appeared at the bottom of the screen, and a voice read it aloud.

"Attention citizens! Unidentified vessels have entered orbit around Mars and engaged a response fleet above the planet without provocation! All civilians are ordered to report to the nearest militia outpost immediately and away orders! This is an alien attack, I repeat, this is an alien attack! All ground forces must protect the bomb shelters at all costs, airborne forces are to prepare for fighter combat! Any spacefaring vessels are ordered to retreat to Terra and follow the instructions of Star Forces officials!

The flag of the the Terran Armed Forces was displayed, with a repeating audio transmission.



"Code CN-581. Distress transmission sent. ETA 2066. Assistance has been requested."

Sol
"You're not here for the humans?" Fergus said, his voice beginning to shake. He quickly regained his composure, and threw his rifle on the ground.

"I cannot explain my actions beyond saying I reacted the best way I could with my knowledge. You say occupation, not genocide. It was a mistake. The humans didn't kill any of you, do not harm them in any way. I will, however, state that I have killed far more than a few people. I have killed hundreds of people, at very least. All of them had spouses and children. They died too, if they were a part of the targeted group. Those that were not were taken into the care of the government. I'm still scarred by the fact that I have taken parents, and sometimes even their children if they are too far gone. It's part of my job, showing pain causes doubt in my abilities, and doubt in my abilities gives Command a chance to get me and the rest of my team ejected and thrown in a mental hospital. We can't protect the humans in a mental hospital."

He picked up his pistol and threw it on the ground beside his assault rifle, then held up his arms in the air.

"You may enact whatever justice you wish. I do not know if you condone the death penalty, torture, or even corporeal punishment in general. I ask that you do whatever you believe is right. Just don't go after the humans, they had nothing to do with this, it is my mistake and my mistake alone."

Sol
"I promise you Fergus, that a single human more shall not die today. Our forces shall proceede forward with non-lethal weapons, although we cannot guarantee harm will not become of them." spoke Emily, regaining her composure as she took the Captain's seat once more.

Another Iscandarian came onto the bridge. Unlike the others he wore long silky blue robes, and while a title seemed to be enscribed on them, it was in a script that Fergus couldn't recognize. He seemed to carry a air more authority then even Emily.

"Fergus, I am Basil, and I have some things I would like to explain to you. You will be on-board this ship for the duration of the conflict, but I hope you are fine with it. The thing I would like to explain to you will also help us when we finally do get into a diplomatic meeting with your United Federation. If you would follow me..." spoke Basil, beckoning for Fergus to following him off the bridge.

Earth, Surface
The small fleet had broken through the defenses, as drop-pods rained from the sky. Through the doors of those drop-pods came out the sentinels, there angelic wings in full view, even know they were armoured, as they proceeded with large taser-like weapons.

Outpost A-5

"A lack of vigilance can be fatal..."

The ships turned, and jumped out system, a deep resounding laughter echoing from within in them. There was soon nothing left to tell of their presence but the loose green mist that floated around the system and would slowly disperse given time. It swirled around the station and past the Sazkarjhit and Eternal Union ships, moving past them and glimmering as it flowed along any shielding and off the other end, before moving out of their sight and hassling them no more, slowly spreading out and moving away until it appeared to dissipate.
And so, everything seemed to return to normal, or at least, there was no longer a ship filled with alien parasites encamped on the edge of the system.

Moon N-3
(I'll do some shizzle, I guess)

There were two small ships on the edge of the system, apparently long since abandonned by their crew, and a third which was moving around a nearby planet, which was seemingly covered in thick jungle. The third ship had bulbous sacks of skin growing on several parts of it, each with dozens of small spore sacks growing on it. It seemed to stop and hold still when the other ship appeared, and hung there in orbit, waiting...

Moon N-3
As the ship disappeared, a station-wide all-clear alert was sent through the base, and the underground, fearful people rose through the dark corridors to the upper levels to resume their research and other duties. As some of them returned to their posts at the communications center, the picked up a distress signal from the planet, and a total of three ships, moving at a minimal speed.

With all ships accounted for on the latest update on the system network, an alarm was sounded of foreign ships being in the system.

With the message sent to the inner planets, a panic ensued in which two Explorer ships were sent out immediately, with other ships slowly mobilizing. The two Explorer ships burned across the system with all its crew in an emergency cryostasis, the ships blasting through the system at sublight.