Nouvelle
The scout ship was obliterated instally, and shortly after that a small division of 5 frigates and 2 cruisers arrived within the system. They seemed to be trying to hunt down the pilot, and were scanning the system rather rapidly. These ships were actually equipped for detecting stealth ships, so if the Septonian vessel did not leave soon it was likely they would be found. The ships also deployed several shuttles to Nouvelle, although these were equipped with some stealth equipment and avoiding Nouvellan settlements. They were heading for the small team of Septonians that had landed on Nouvelle.

Nouvelle, Ground
The shuttles landed, not to far away from the Septonian team, the shuttles had brought a much larger team, intent on over-powering them. The leader moved the whole team forward quickly, however they were using entirely non-lethal takeout weapons. They wanted to capture the Septonians, as they wanted to figure out as much information as possible about them and why they wanted this war.

Shipyards, New Alas
The ship supervisor looked at the new plans for plasma weapons. He had finally figured out why they had been ordered to build so many ships without giving them that many weapons first. It seemed they had been awaiting the creation of these plasma weapons. They had borrowed Sazkarjhit designs, although they had boosted the power output of the weapons by a great amount as the power required for one was over-estimated by the R&D Firm. These plasma weapons would be stuck on a whole new series of fast attack frigates and cruisers, with a new dreadnought and battleship design as well. There was also a new fighter design. All ships were also capable of going invisible, except the Auxillary Craft, Dreadnoughts, and battleships. Weapons productions was rushed to get the two fleets that had the ships ready for combat.

Some Septonian planet
After hearing the message, everybody aboard the Iceland breathed a sigh of relief. It was clear that they were not dealing with a hostile species. The captain gave the order, and the red haze around the ship disappeared. The turrets rotated back into the hull, and the support craft reattached to the ship. The dots of blue light all around the ship faded away as the weapons systems went offline. Once again, the ship sent out a message.

"This is Diplomatic Officer Kipp of the Normandy-Class Dreadnought Iceland, we come in peace for all Terrans. We were dispatched to make contact with other civilizations, only recently was our fleet freed up for exploration by a cease fire treaty. However, fearing it wouldn't last long, they sent us out instead of a real exploration ship. This vessel isn't any normal warship, it was built to lay siege to a star system, thus the extensive weaponry. If the cease fire is broken just like the first one was, then we'll be within striking distance of their homeworld from here. Now, officially, we're out here to gain allies. Unofficially, we're out here to determine if that nation has attacked anyone else. So tell us, have you come into hostile contact with a nation known as the Eternal Union?"

Sol, Mercury
There was a short pause as the Captain analyzed the situation, searching for any sort of hint to the thoughts behind the voice.

NightLords? He thought Obviously military, but not like our own. Perhaps religiously driven? Yes, that would explain the odd name. They say only their power systems have failed, but there is a gigantic gash in their ship, maybe it's supposed to be there. Interesting, they obviously focused on offensive power over aesthetics, as it appears to be perfectly function. They must value strength, yes.

Without the mic on, he ordered a quantum message to be sent to Utopia Planitia, requesting a Normandy-Class dreadnought for diplomatic purposes. He then switched the mic back on, and sent another message. He made multiple assumptions about the culture of this new species, mostly based off of sci-fi for lack of any other reference.

"The United Terran Federation is a collection of member states that fields a unified military force, which recently fought off an invasion. The attackers retreated using their FTL, they had never fought a battle in the history of their species, so I cannot blame them for being cowardly. As for your minor problem, I have requested that a larger vessel be sent to assist. I do have to ask, though. Is that gash across the hull of your vessel actual damage, or just there for show?"

Sol, Eternal Union
Getting another message on her tablet, she hurriedly read it. after finishing, she continued.

"The hospital ship is docking at Luna station, this ship has begun a burn for it, and we'll be there in about half an hour. You can meet with the one survivor who they kept conscious, the others are being prepped for surgery."

Nouvelle
Praskoviya jumped up out of her seat, running over the the Valkians. She radiated concern, keeping her distance from the Tinkerer just in case the Valkians had cultural laws governing such occurrences.

"What happened?" She said "Is this normal?"

Nouvelle, Space
Upon detecting the explosion, the Alcubierre launched from the planet's surface. The railgun began to charge, it's small opening glowing a bright red as heat built up. It's missile tubes opened, revealing dozens of warheads prepared to launch. It positioned itself between the Eternal Union and Septonian ships, aiming weapons at both of them. It transmitted a message on all frequencies, making sure that the entire system would hear it.

"The Queen of the planet below has asked that no violence occur here! Do you dare to disrespect her wishes by killing in orbit of Nouvelle?"

Nouvelle
The EU ships broadcasted a message to the Terrans.

"Do you think we would be so stupid as to commit to violence here? The Septonians intiated the attack, and to make it worst they tricked us into believing that a pilot of theres had been sitting in space for weeks, and needed food and oxygen. We gladly came to their aid, but it was a tricked, they destroyed the shuttle we sent to resupply them and our scout ship as well. We never intended for any violence to occur."

Sol
Aaliyah quickly healed the men, however she seemed to be in rush. She merely said that she had other things to attend to, and would be leaving Fergus at Sol. With a final good-bye she left, with Emily in tow.

VALKIAN

---

Nouvelle, Orbit
The two Valkian capital ships in orbit, seeing the Eternal Union people and the Human and Septonians, moved into flanking positions to the Human ship. All they sent was binary into what would be translated into the DNA structure of a plant that would cause passiveness and calm into any who ingested it, and a holographic messages depicting the three ships working as friends against an unknown foe. They couldn't speak to them directly, due to a lack of translators, but they could get their point across through other ways.

The Explorer locked half of its active sensors on the different shuttles moving to the ground, and the other half on the incoming Eternal Union ships. Shortly afterwards, the Varren locked all active sensors on the Eternal Union ships. In a way, it was saying that they were being targeted, more or less. They were watching them extremely closely. The Explorer then sent out a beamed holographic message to the shuttles, and to their mother ships, depicting several scenarios. Some were where the Eternal Union fired on either the Septonians, the Humans, Valkians, or the Nouvellians, and went on to show the three human and Valkian ships destroy the Eternal Union ones, and showing that the times when the Eternal Union retreated and took their shuttles back were the times when the Valkian and human ships stood down. They sent the same thing to the Humans, so that they could understand what they meant, and their intentions for different scenarios. Beamed again, just to the humans, was a plan- Eternal Union fired on anyone, the Explorer would follow on the human's ship closest to the Eternal Union, essentially offering to be a wall for them, while the Varren retreated, and fired on them as well.

The Valkians weren't sure why they were to be protecting the planet, but it was their charge now, and their small exploration fleet commander wouldn't be happy if they didn't follow his orders.

Nouvelle, Queen Sabine's Palace
The Engineer Valkian turned to the agitated human, trying to gesture with its hands for several moments. It gave up, threw its arms into the air, and paced nervously behind the chair of the Tinkerer, while the Hunter looked more like he'd kill anyone who came close. After a few moments when the Engineer began pacing, the Hunter's readied stance, suggesting that he'd come close to violence, slackened, as the Tinkerer's body fell into less of a limp, dazed form into a more stabile, simply unconscious state. Then, he stepped back. He studied the worried alien for a moment, picking up its mood, and then gestured to it to be welcome to try and help the unconscious Valkian. While Hunters were not particularly smart, simply just clever and trained, good at fighting and tactics, and little else, they were smart enough to know that they were not suited for this situation, and everything the Tinkerer had done thus far, and everything he had told him, was that the Eternal Union were the ones to be kept away, not the 'Humans.'

The Hunter liked the 'Eternal Union' even less, now. The "Lord Tinkerer" had translated everything that had been said for them, and it appeared that despite saying that they were a peaceful, helpful race, the Eternal Union did nothing when an alien race fell to the floor, unconscious. The Hunter's small mind darkened with anger, but he made no move. His superiors, including his charge, the Tinkerer, would hear of this!

Planet Nouvelle, Capital City of Hollie.
Trade District, Café De’Leeone Ruins

Police crews had cordoned off the area that had once been a bustling café and shopping area. All told a total for five shops were completely ruined from the flames. The blacked wood and rubble lay strewn in their runs and across the street. Fire crews had battled for well over two hours before finally containing the flames. Now, along with the police, the fire fighters picked through the wreckage and rubble, sifting through the ashes to find both evidence and those that had not made it out. It was a grim task to say the least.

Three police officers stood neck to a wall pillar that still stood. They had marked this area off specifically. A few military guardsmen had stood there as well, taking notes and photographs of the marking that had been left behind. Their uniforms marked them as having come from the palace guards, meaning that whatever they were here for was highly important. One thing was very clear, the Red Hand was back, after all these years of peace and prosperity.

Royal Palace, Capital City of Hollie.
Queen Sabine Addressing the Eternal Union

Queen Sabine sat uneasily in her seat as Archmage Cavenus related to her the uneasy state of affairs for the Eternal Union. These Tyrants, whom were known as the Immortals, were still very much at large. They were powerful magic users, having risen into power and greater strength through their years of dedicated service and practice within their fields of study and practice. The Tyrants, while deposed, had left a vacuum of power in Sabine’s mind. She looked at Archmage Cavenus with concern as he continued.

The Tyrants were in hiding, and while Cavenus said that their supporters were few and far between, Sabine had her doubts on this. She knew all too well that lingering effects of a former leader could have on the people, even ones who had long since died and been buried. She withheld her questions, choosing to hear the full account in detail before making any comments. The Tyrants could not use their stronger powers, as in doing so would reveal them to those that hunted them, something that resonated within Sabine’s mind. Magic, or whatever they wished to call it, could be detected when used. She took note of that detail, knowing it could come of use in the future.

The E.U. was now lead by their sole remaining Immortal, named Aaliyah. She was the only one to disagree with the others whom wished for war with the Terrans. Old age was no longer a threat to her, and perhaps with her in power, a new direction and level of prosperity. Sabine found it very intriguing that the magic of the Eternal Union was dispersed between three unique subsects of their people, and it was the Immortals who could manipulate all three. When one were to become one of the Immortals, such powers that they had are somehow increased, perhaps gifted or amplified by the people whom chose to put them in power. The Immortals were all powerful, and they could be serious threat if they were ever enemies.


Sabine listened intently to Cavenus speak about his people’s history surrounding the Immortals. They came to power through great deeds, some older than others, but the oldest, wisest, and strongest of the four was one named David. Cavenus assumed that it was David whom influenced his two compatriots, who was the mastermind behind the attacks upon the Terrans. The power could have corrupted them perhaps, but she could not be sure. Sabine nodded at Archmage Cavenus when he said that Sabine could ask whichever questions she needed to in order to better understand the E.U. and to make herself feel more comfortable with these new people.

“Archmage Cavenus, I am honored that thus far you have been honest and upfront with me. I will have more questions no doubt, but, I will honor your request, or perhaps your right for privacy is a better way of putting it. If you would be so kind, would you allow for me to schedule a more in depth meeting between the two of us tomorrow? I can allow for a three hour block where we can just speak amongst each other, our two races can more privately interact and schedule more interactions for the future. At least that way we can ask the more sensitive questions, if you are all right with that, Archmage Cavenus.” Sabine smiled at the E.U. leader, bowing her head to him in respect.

“I am glad that I have been able to answer your questions as well. I hope that with this needed break in our negotiations will allow for both time to digest what has been said here, and for perhaps new questions to be readied. I will ensure to have a scribe would be present in order to write down anything worth recording, and it could also allow for a formal agreement to be drafted up. Does eight in the morning work for you? This would allow for you to be done by lunch, and for me to be able to address the others as well.” Sabine had finished speaking, offering a polite nod to the E.U. representative. She waited for Archmage Cavenus’s response before moving on to address the others before her.

Royal Palace, Capital City Hollie
Queen Sabine Addressing the Terrans

“Good, this is very good, then would you do me the honor of attending a musical with me, I believe they have one playing tomorrow night, which could be a nice ending to a day of business. I would like to speak to each one of you privately, in the hopes that if there are things you wish to discuss away from one another, it can be done without the fear of revealing private state affairs. Plus, it might be nice to just speak your mind as though you are with friends, rather than on state business. So, how about twelve to three? Is that time slot sufficient for you, Captain Lovisa?” Sabine seemed truly genuine in her tone and conveyance of speaking to the Terrans. She smiled at Lovisa, adding, “And it would be also nice if you would join me for a walk sometime in the future, if your time permits, Captain.”

Queen Sabine eagerly awaited Captain Lovisa’s response. She liked the Terran woman, and her knowledge of courtly proceedings. She also found the Terrans and her people to be the most similar in appearance and culture wise. She listened to all Captain Lovisa would have to say, before thanking her, and directing her attention to the Valkians.


Royal Palace, Capital City of Hollie
Queen Sabine addressing the Valkians

After finishing her discussion with the Terrans, believing that all was wrapped up for now, she turned her attention to Lord Tinkerer and his party. She smiled at him, bowing her head before speaking to him. “Lord Valkian, please, speak, you do not need to wait for me to address you. We are an open people, come, let me hear what you have to say my friend.” Sabine scooted closer to the edge of her chair, focused on what the Valkian leader had to say. She leaned forward, and placed her right hand upon her chin as she heard what Lord Tinkerer had to say.

Lord Tinkerer bowed his head, always respectful to Sabine, another reason why she enjoyed speaking to both the Valkians and Terrans, they seemed to have a bit more… tact for speaking to the queen as opposed to the Eternal Union, though, it was a small thing that was more of icing on the cake. He spoke of marking the throne room in a mutual gesture of friendship, a way to signify that the Nouvellians and Valkians were friends, and that all who came here from the Valkian home would forever know that the people of Nouvelle were no enemy. Sabine herself thought this to be a wonderful idea, thinking of how to best allow this mark of friendship to be integrated into the throne room.

Sabine paid close attention to the next part of Lord Tinkerer’s request. He wished to also gift Sabine with a tattoo of friendship, a permanent mark upon her body that would show her to be not just a friend of the Valkians, but also a figure head of her people in their relationship with the Valkians. Sabine found this not only highly intriguing, but very flattering as well. It would be a great honor to have such a mark upon her arm. It would no doubt be tasteful, and in a political stand point, solidify Sabine’s name in the history books. She smiled at Lord Tinkerer as he spoke, listening to him speak of his home world, and the cities that the Valkians lived within. He made sure to touch on their beauty, on the exquisite nature of them, even if that lacked color and lights. It was then that the incident occurred.

Lord Tinkerer went suddenly quiet, as though something had caused him to stop mid thought. He seemed to tense up, like some long unknown feeling washed over him that he had never felt before. Sabine stood up, deeply concerned. She looked at the Valkian as his inky black eyes changed drastically, the pitch blackness of them receeding away to be replaced by the white of his eyes, and striking deep purple retinas. It was nothing like she had ever seen before, and in striking contrast to the other Valkians. Sabine was slowly moving towards Lord Tinkerer, gravely concerned, as the Valkian breathed deeply, stunned no doubt by his newly apparent eyesight.

Lord Tinkerer collapsed suddenly, falling back into the table that he was standing at. The crystal like spikes that adorned his body deeply scored the wooden table, before he fell to the ground. He was quickly picked up by his kin, lifting him up and sitting him into his chair. They were deeply concerned with their leader, looking only upon him, the attention set upon his face, and how his eyes were closed, the first time that Sabine had ever seen them closer, and no doubt the first time the Valkians had seen it.

“Is… is he ok… “ Sabine was on the other side of the table, her voice full of concern and care. She looked at the Valkians, and then realized they probably could not understand her language. So, she resorted to kneeling before them, and offering up a gesture of peace, slow and controlled, showing she meant no harm, and was merely concerned for their leader. She slowly stood back up, and back away a bit, to give them their own personal space, and to let them respond in kind. She turned to one of her guards, and spoke to him aloud. “Fetch my personal physician, tell him to come at once… understood?” The guard nodded, and ran off, quickly replaced by another guard from the antechamber. Sabine looked at Lord Tinkerer, hoping that he would be ok…

Royal Palace Parade Grounds, Capital City of Hollie.
Arrival of the Sazkarjhian diplomatic envoy to Hollie

The biplanes circled about in lazy manuvers as the two vessels made their final approach. The pilots chatted to their copilots, while waving at the new vessels. They dwarfed the Nouvellian aircraft, while the only comparable vessel were the two zeppelins that floated over the city, and they looked flimsy and archaic compared to these new vessels. Still, whoever these beings were, they meant no harm. Telegraph messages had eluded to the possible arrival of another group, another nation, so, the Nouvellian air forces were more so there to provide escort or direction if need be.

Police and guard forces worked peacefully to keep the crowds of lookie-loos at bay, have called in numerous units to provide security and cordon off the entire parade ground. It was hard work, but no one complained nor resisted. Truth be told, even the military and police were very interested in to what was going on. But, they had a job to do, and even though they wished they could be looking at the new-fangled sights, they focused on making sure that their citizens were safely behind the barricades. This was an order from the queen after all, she wanted to make sure that the vessels of her guests remained isolated and free to leave at a moment’s notice.

The two ships finally landed, their skids or landing pedestals opened up, extending outwards to support the vessels upon the ground. Their engines and technology alone were envied by the pilots above, and created a brief wind gust on the ground below. The Sazkarjhit ships finally touched down, easing into their resting places, engines spooling down, the wind from their exhausts and landing valves calming down. The Nouvellian forces not assigned to containing the civilian populace quickly set up barricades around the ship, not in an attempt to block them in, but rather, give them a safe space from the people around them.

As the ships rested, they both opened up, a portal on the underside revealing a bay like area where the beings own security personnel came forth from. The Sazkarjhit’s had brought the most personnel with them out of all the queen’s guests, but, to each their own the guards thought. These security personnel for the new arrivals now doubt set up their own perimeter, before a being clad in the purest white strode into view. Their regalia adored with a star upon their chest displaying three vibrant colors. Perhaps a symbol of whomever these beings were. As the security personnel and their white clad figure looked about, an entourage from the palace came striding towards them.

“I am Major Chateon`, of the Royal Nouvellian Palace Guard. I was briefed by my commander and my Queen to welcome you to Nouvelle, and, if you would allow it, escort your diplomat to our palace, in order to meet with the Queen herself. Please, if you would, we must hurry, as the hour draws late, and the sun no longer shines the sky. Queen Sabine was most eager to meet you, having heard of those that made landfall on the frontier of our great kingdom.” Major Chateon` saluted the Sazkarjhit delegate, before moving aside to show them the way to the palace proper, and if need be, allow them respond as well.

Nouvellian Frontier, Cherac Territory. 8:35 P.M.

The Nouvellian airship Château flew loudly overhead, having been dispatched many hours ago to fly to the town of Cherac. Its loud turbo diesel engines roared through the night sky, while its contingent of biplanes flew escort around it. The airship took its time, not wishing to hurry, as their orders were to be there by the morning, and the captain enjoyed the scenery of the countryside greatly. He sat in the command chair, looking at his crew move about, while the countryside pass by slowly. He was drinking his coffee when he saw something rather odd, if not unbelievable. He set his cup down, and ordered into the primitive communication system to turn on the ship’s spot lights.

The lights flared into reality, the brightness in contrast to the engulfing darkness of night in the country. There, as bright as day, sat the strangest looking things the captain had ever seen. It appeared to be a handful of unknown vessels upon the ground, sitting in a clearing, with beings moving out from them. He ordered an all ahead stop, completely perplexed as how best to proceed. He looked amongst his command staff, who were equally as lost as he. Still, whatever were to happen, it would be on his shoulders.

Thinking on the fly, he ordered all pilots to take to the skies, and for the current pilots to return, for rest and refueling. His signal man relayed this to the topside crew, who worked their spot light and flags to signal this to the flying biplanes. At the same time, he ordered the nose gun crews to fire five flares, high into the sky, to better illuminate the area. He moved to the fore of the command deck, straining to see what was going on. Whatever these beings were doing, it was not sanctioned by him, or, at least no one bothered to tell him.

He guessed they were looking for something, and at any rate, it was his duty to protect the frontier, even if it meant helping strangers. He went over to his loudspeaker, equipped to address the outside world, and fired it up. It took several moments before the scratching noise dissipated, and was replaced by his voice. “The is the Airship Château of the Royal Nouvellian Airforce. I do not know who you are, or why you are here, but, I must ask that you be so kind as to initiate contact with us, and explain to us why you have landed out in the middle of the frontier. Do you need assistance? We mean you no harm, and we do no seek any violence. Please, make contact before further proceeding.” The loudspeaker system cut off, and he awaited a response…

Uknown, Warp Space

The Daemons were restless.
Having come from every banner they were prepared for the most important battle of their immortal lives.
Today they would bring a Godess low.

The portal opened with a sickening gasp.

For a moment the light flooded into the warp.

Golden and pure.

It would not last.

The first Daemon through the breach was vaporized by the defenders. But Hundreds of warp creatures hurled themselves towards to defenders of The Golden Fortress.

Domain of Faust.

The time had come for a reckoning with the Goddess of light.

Sol, Mercury's Orbit

Nullus grinned at the question.

"The damage to the our vessel was originally actual damage inflicted by our enemies. We could have repaired it long ago but for one reason or another it has been allowed to remain. She certainly doesn't like it though... she complains all to often that it hurts."

He paused letting the man's mind form the question.

"Perhaps you would like to come aboard and meet face to face? Or do you need to wait for a diplomat to arrive...I know sometimes humans need other humans to do things for them, it's quite alright."

Lord Nullus said the insult obvious.

Screw double posting!!!

New Condria

The energy instensified around the Siege Engine, as it kept up its continous beam. The systems star seemed to dull again and the huge vessel advanced on the energy shield, coming dangerously close to the shield as the beam intensified. It fired at anything in its path to get to the shield, and the engine stopped for nothing, simply trying to plough through anything in its path. The energy readings were off the charts; If this couldnt crack the shield, then debateably no weapon in existence could...
Debatably.

The voice echoed out again throughout New Condria, seemingly more irritated
"Submit! End your torment and my own. Do you not hear? The Star its self cries out for your destruction."

2 of the smaller craft broke off to investigate the warping vessels on the edge of the system, their weapons ready for usage if need be. The remainder of the ships kept up their engagements

STC Syren ( BH-109)

Commander Vellais and her crew couldn’t help but laugh and cheer at the destruction of the EU ship, they had completed their mission, but at what cost. One shuttle and a pilot had been killed, a solider, trained for 18 years before ever setting foot on a Septonian vessel. This was a bittersweet almost Pyrrhic victory, so much had to be sacrificed to gain a minor victory against the enemy. They had no idea of the pilots whereabouts, or even if he was alive. The EMP from the mixed nuclear and HE explosions burnt out all beacon and communication software the stranded pilot had, making detecting him very hard. After a half an hour of visual searching and the introduction of the new EU fleet commander Vellais decided to back off, keeping her stealth systems activated until she was far away from any ship in orbit over nouvelle, almost like she wasn’t even there. The Special forces team was still fresh in Commander Vellais’s mind as she put distance between her and the planet nouvelle.

The Syren had one more Kaave shuttle available to pick up the special forces team, the problem was getting enough fuel on a shuttle to get them there and back. The shuttle crew knew where they’re extract was but to get around the new EU fleet and remain hidden from the rest of the on alert ships in the area, they needed to plot a wide course under and around the planet, entering the atmosphere on what looked like the twilight portion of the planet. Portable fuel bladders would have to be introduced which would increase the weight of the shuttle and probably have to be removed once the shuttle touched down on the planet. Recovering the special forces team was of the utmost importance to Comander Vellais, so making a Septonian footprint on nouvelle was the least of her worries.

Icarus, confronting the Terran ship

Another alien language confronted the Septonian concordant, however this time Analyzing the language was left to the brilliant minds of the diplomatic corps. Within hours a rough translation was worked out, although the removal of the red aura around the ship and the removal of fighters greatly helped their deduction. Trainees and teachers alike deducted they this ship was no longer pursuing hostile action and were trying to actively communicate with the concordant. One part of the message still confused them however, ‘Who was the Eternal Union?”, the Concordant had faced hostile action on Jaques rest but they did not know the name of the nation who they fought with. After debate among he diplomatic corps students and teachers, it was decided to invite the unknown race down to the planet to allow them to watch the footage of the engagement and see wether or not they recognized the force. A very rough translation of their language was sent to the siege ship in orbit “ Please make your way down to the planet, we would like to speak with you”. Which probably sounded more like “ Come down, we speak” in the Terran language.

Special Forces group 1
Two man recon team.

Kacha let out a quiet curse as the airship flew overhead, it was loud and could be heard for a ways off. The introduction of the flares really complicated things, washing out their night vision visors and forcing them to go prone against the ground. When a spotlight appeared the pair became increasingly nervous and careful, wondering what they could be looking at. With their armor painted and their off grey rucksacks, they hoped they looked like rocks in the dark, but on could never be sure. The pair just stayed as sill as possible, hoping the contact would go away.

New Condia
The Fleet shield was holding, but barely, clinging on to it's last strings of Life. A few more shots and it would die.

Message to the Terrans
"This is the New Condia Defense Authority, under attack by hostile forces, please assist!"

The Golden Fortress
"On a Dark night, the Golden Fortress will fall. Corrupted. and so will the mother. The Hero of Gliese and the remaining defenders are all that will be left. The Seeds of Harmony their tools to bring the Mother back from her corrupted state."
-The Book of Prophecies

The Golden Fortress, the center of Faust's domain. Pure gold, guarded by the angelic Defenders of Harmony. Chaos had struck at a excellent time, as Faust rested, being such a ancient god. The Defenders of Harmony easily bested the daemons and chaos forces one on one fights, but their sheer numbers overwhelmed them. The horde broke through, breaching the throne room. Their Faust wrested, her long flowing hair, her white gown. Truly she did indeed look like a loving and caring mother.

Lahnha looked, she had her few remaining guard retreating, they already had grabbed the Seed of Harmony that would allow them to retain their magical ability, severing their connection to Faust so as to avoid being corrupted by Chaos. Faust somehow knew this day would come, and she had prepared. Several bright white doves flew up as Lahnha summoned them to go off to the Iscandarians who had joined their order. She took one last look at the beautiful Fortress, before it fell into a darkness.

The Tower of the High Archmage, Alas Prime
Basil was tending to his research as usual, before hearing something outside the door of his office. He went their and saw a dove, the symbol of Harmony. And it sang in a sad tone.

"The Mother Dove has Fallen."

Basil immediately ran, grabbing his shuttle and he cast the spell. Pain he felt, his connection to Faust now severed. He headed for Sol, feeling some of the pain dissipate as a new connection replaced the one he had with Faust. He needed to see Fergus, and he needed to see Lahnha.

Sol
A ship arrived in the system, but it was unique. It seemed to be made of pure gold and silver, and scans showed had signatures like no other ship.

"I need to speak to Fergus, tell him Jyuu-Ichi. Tell him Lahnha has come back." broadcasted the ship, in perfect English.

Epsilon Indi, Terran Space
In response to the call for help from the Iscandarians, the UTF has mobilized it's fleet. Within hours, all the available FTL ships in the Terran arsenal had massed in the Epsilon Indi system. Six hundred warships, including six dreadnoughts, all lined up for a jump to New Condia. After all the ships had finished reporting in, the Dreadnought Normandy broadcast a message to the fleet.

"The planet of New Conida, an Iscandarian world, is under attack. You all know this, and you all know that the Iscandarians have fought and killed thousands of us. However, their people did not. Their farmers never shot down one of our fighters, their factory workers never took down a battlecruiser, and their scientists never killed a single one of our footsoldiers. Those people are who we fight to save today! We fight to save them because we are Terran, and to be Terran means to have a responsibility! A responsibility to protect those in need, a responsibility to redeem yourself, to free yourself from the actions of those who came before you! Those that freed themselves from those actions are called 'Heroes', and for so long we have relied on a few of them to save us. Well, no more I say! No longer will the sons and daughters of Terra have to look to a few select heroes to defend them! No, they shall look to thousands of heroes! For after we win this battle, we shall have redeemed ourselves, freed ourselves of the actions of those who came before us, we shall all be heroes!"

The fleet, connected by the channel opened by the Normandy, let out a thunderous cheer. The communications officer broadcast the speech and reaction far and wide. From the white towers of New Eden to the floating cities of Venus the cheer was heard. Then, a sphere appeared before the fleet, bending the light around it in a gravity lens. The fleet rushed into it, disappearing into the wormhole's tunnel, all the while, cheering.

"For Terra! For redemption!"

New Condia, Arrival of the Fleet
An odd sphere appeared above the planet, warping light around it. It was truly gigantic, larger than both the Iscandarian and Sazkarjhit fleets combined. From it emerged a giant fleet of stark white warships, with six dreadnoughts taking point in an arrow formation. Torrents of fighters and bombers launched from their carrier vessels, the hangar pods rotating around to reveal plasma cannons. The red haze of hydrogen plasma surrounded each and every ship as their engines began to burn, bringing them up to the Sazkarjhit and Iscandarian line. A single sentence was transmitted to the entire system, announcing the arrival of the fleet.

"The Grand Fleet has arrived!"

The fleet reached the line quickly, a symbol could be seen painted on all of the ships. It was an image of Earth, an archaic iron sword driven though it. The words "Per aspera ad astra" appeared just below the image. It was clear now, the starships were Terran. If everything went just as they hoped, that symbol would embolden those in need and strike fear into the hearts of any enemy of the Terrans. An unlikely outcome, but to the Terrans, it seemed completely realistic. However, in the end, all that would matter would be if the Terrans won.

It sure seemed like they were intent on doing so.

"We're falling in with your forces!" The message was directed at both the Iscandarian and Sazkarjhit forces, coming from the TSS Normandy "We're entering the fleet shield, our vessels are extending their own plasma shields to provide extra protection! I recommend that all vessels concentrate on that weapon! Our fleet has six hundred warships in it, if we take that thing out, then we can push them out!"

Support vessels docked with the Iscandarian shield generators, transferring all of their power to them in the hopes of strengthening the fleet shield. The plasma shields of the Terran warships extended and combined to form another layer for the fleet shield, much stronger than the original due to the sheer number of ships. Falling into position, the Terrans opened fire with everything they had. A barrage of argon plasma flew towards the Hivemind's Siege Engine, the Terrans focusing all fire on it. Antimatter missiles were launched as well, impacting against it in an attempt to remove it from the battlefield entirely. The fighters and bombers simply fell in to support the allied small craft, taking orders from them as well as the Terran force. Dreadnoughts send messages offering to take in damaged allied vessels for repairs, though obviously they couldn't service anything larger than an escort during the battle.

Icarus
The Dreadnought replied to the message as it preformed a burn to negate it's orbital velocity for landing.

"We understand, we shall land in the sea."

The massive vessel began to fall straight down, but the gravity lens distortion appeared once more. The ship floated down to the ocean steadily, as if riding atop a cloud. It set down gently in the ocean, causing barely a ripple. The ship transmitted a message once more, while it deployed sea vessels to begin repairs from micrometeorite hits and the stresses of atmospheric descent.

"We can reach any location you wish, just transmit the coordinates."

Sol
There wasn't even a response before Fergus spoke, as the one that picked up the message was a member of the Wings of Gliese. They had instinctively severed their connection to Faust without even feeling it. All they knew was that their magic no longer worked.

"Our magic is gone, and you just used the code word that is reserved only for the more dire of situations. If Lahnha is back, then it;s even worse. What the hell happened?"

Sol, Mercury's Orbit
"I see you know of our greatest strength." Said the captain, deliberately twisting the insult with his amusement obvious "As the captain of an FTL-capable warship, I am authorized to act as an ambassador in First Contact situations. I'll come aboard, just tell us where to dock."

He hid his discomfort at the words spoken by Nullus, though in his mind, he analyzed every detail. Had Lord Nullus been able to see his face, it would be obvious how disturbed he was when he spoke of the ship. He often called his own ship "She" affectionately, but the way Nullus had spoken of his ship... it didn't sound like he was talking about a creaking in the floors as a result of damage. No, it sounded like he was talking about the ship as if he truly believed it to be a sentient being, capable of feeling damage it took. Even though he was trying to be diplomatic, he saw no way that these aliens and humanity could avoid a future war. They just seemed too different.

Or, perhaps a more horrifying thought: they were too similar.

Nouvelle
Praskoviya moved up to the Tinkerer, knowing that she couldn't even begin to figure out what had happened, much less help. Then she remembered the nanobots.

Fearing the Eternal Union, she had sneaked medical nanobots in through her necklace. It was a pearl one, but five of the pearls were actually nanobot containers, capable of injecting their payload into the skin of the patient. Once inside, they would search for any problems and attempt to fix them. They were programmed to read the genetic code of the patient and construct an image of their body as it would be ideally at the age determined by the decay in the genetic material. Though they were meant for humans, if they couldn't understand the genetic code, they would simply leave through the entry point.

Figuring it was worth a try, she took off her necklace and pressed two of the five containers against the Tinkerer. The nanobots immediately began to search for his genetic code. Having been wiped of the human-exclusive coding beforehand, they would probably be capable of fixing whatever was wrong. However, it could take some time.

"Those were medical nanobots." She said, explaining the situation to everyone in the room. "They'll try to determine the right state his body should be in and return it to that state, though sine they've never been used on an alien species, there's no telling if they'll work. I myself do not follow any religion, but at least one person here probably will. I urge those that do, if you think it will help, then pray. I don't know how to tell you this, but despite believing in no God, I can tell you for a fact that it might help."

New Condria

The largest ship it scanned the Terran fleet as they passed through the fleet shield and then scanned the great sphere. The gravelly voice echoed out
"You will pay dearly for that..."
There was a pause as the weapons began to hit the shield... then the siege engine raised its shields, diverting power from weapoms, and moved forwards into the fleet shield... and passed through it
"Thank you, dear humans, for the key to the fleet shield. Your paths have heen mapped. Now the graves shift to offer room, a fate you will abide..."
The siege engine detonated, using the fleet shield against them as super heated plasma, innuemerable explosions and some ungodly black energy that consumed all in its path, richocheted off the fleet shield and filled it with flames and fires and death. Even if the fleet shield now failed, the reach of the explosion could be devastating... It was an obvious attempt to kill 2, or rather 700, birds with one massive stone, at the cost of the siege engine.
But the debris from the destroyed craft would almost certainly be pulled towards the planet and impact the planetary shield regardless. It was a costly move, to be sure, but one S'Luk was confident would pay off. If it could destroy even a majority of the terran Grand Fleet, the blow to morale resulting from its destruction so soon after entering the battlefield might cause a rout or at least demoralisation
"This tomb is now yours."
The four battleships advanced on the remnants of the Iscandarian and Terran fleets, aiming to try and destroy any remaining vessels they could
The voice barked out over the Sazkarjhit fleet again
"Leave now or meet their fate, our patience wears thinner by the moment!"
More disturbances appeared behind the Sazkarjhit fleet, though obviously of a different pattern of ship engine. The two cruiers investigatingbthe warping ships broke off and moved towards the disturbances...

DRACONIAN

---

New Condia

Taking in the increasingly large numbers of new, unknown starships merging with the enemies, the Draconians rapidly reconsidered their tactics. They were heavily outnumbered now, more than 3 or 4 to 1, and knew it. The enemy fleet did next to nothing to hide themselves- while appearing a bit less advanced than them, numbers alone would give them victory.

So the Draconians did the only logical thing. When they had warped in, the signature was so great that they practically left a giant arrow pointing straight from their origin. Knowing full well that they could not attack this force, nor that all other fleets were currently out of instant communications range, they again, went on the offensive. They slowed down, fired as many railgun rounds as possible, launching all the ballistic inactive missiles they could, all of it silent, near-undetectable, and then they did what one might say they would never did:

They all slowed, and began disappearing. They all shut down active sensors, making it harder to be detected, harder to trace, harder to detect where they were going, and they warped away. They warped to a system farther away from Eternal Union/ Terran space, a barren, desolate, empty system, and they regrouped. For all appearances, they had abandoned the fight. They had completely left. And so they joined together again, and after letting their drives cool, they warped again.

Epsilon Indi, Terran Space
Over a hundred and fifty Draconian ships teleported into the outermost reaches of the unknown space. They knew it was risky, going to a possibly heavily defended system, but found little to be worried about. All military ships, it seemed, had left with the fleet, and none had been left behind. The system didn't appear to sport very many defensive platforms or satellites, not that they could tell by passive sensors, but for once the Draconians decided to proceed under stealth. They shut down mostly everything, fired off drones that, too, were passive, slowly scanning the system with neigh-undetectable clusters of communications and detection equipment the size of a bus. A hundred and twenty remained at the edge of the system, slowly spreading out, with the three Battleship-Xes moving to outlying asteroids. A Cirrus-class Lightship checked each asteroid before allowing the Battleship-Xes to come close, a Sleipnir passing by the third and disabling any communications equipment or beams from the small asteroid mining operation while several fighters flew out and moved to quietly destroy the miners.

They would watch, horrified, as a ship big enough to be seen by the naked eye approached, and then another one appear much closer, a much smaller ship. They would watch with even more horror as they realized they couldn't get into contact with anyone, and shortly afterwards, the miners and their equipment were all scrap, floating slowly away into space. Not before, however, they were secured by the fighters, and a shuttle moved into range, and launched Draconian spec ops. They wiped out the defenders, except three, which they took prisoner. There was no chance of a real fight- elite, trained operatives with heavy, space-proof suits against a bunch of miners. To their disappointment, the commander of the group had destroyed the consoles, including navigation. However, they tore it apart even more, searching for the embedded systems underneath the flooring of the small bridge. Finding what they wanted, they left, returned to their shuttle, and returned to their ship. Then, the Novas slowly approached, grinding up chunks of the asteroids to replenish their railgun ammunition stocks.

Some distance away, a small fleet of thirty ships, 10 Novas, 15 Nimrods, 3 Sleipnirs, and 2 Cirruses moved closer into the system, sweeping for enemies with passive sensors at full. None dared to open up any active sensors- with a fleet as large as six hundred, it's unlikely they have any more ships, but it's also likely that they could have more if they spared so many.

A contingent of two of the Battleship-Xes, and 60 ships broke off, and headed farther into Deep Space. When they were sure they were out of range, they vanished, heading towards a new target.

Sol System
Too far away for even Pluto to detect, the contingent of 60 Draconians warships exited their warp, again being as stealthy as possible. This time, the four accompanying Cirrus Lightships were immediately ordered ahead, with full stealth. They vanished, from visual and everything, completely unable to even be contacted with the best communications, and the ever-so-slight ripples left by them vanished as they left. They glided through the solar system on the lowest of systems, scanning everything as best as they could.

They arrived by starcharts- the language was unreadable, but star charts are pretty hard to differ. With a bit of tinkering, a bit of analysis, and a bit of comparing, they had matched the Terrans to the Draconians', and arrived at what was presumed to be the central most system- the home.

They would sorely regret coming to the aid of New Condia. The other enemies had been fine- it would have been an honorable battle, with almost equal odds. But with the massive reinforcements, lessons must be learned. They were teachers... and soldiers, but they were sorely meant for such odds.

((This means that you can decide whether they are detected or not. Though, due to the entire passive-active sensors and the stealthiness, detecting them in BOTH systems would be insanely unlikely. Choose which one- Epsilon Indi, or Sol System. Either way, you'd be hard pressed to disengage from battle, and head back to two different systems. ))

New Condria

"Do you think us defeated?!" The voice boomed out, and in place of the disturbances appeared a large asteroid that hurtled towards the planetary shield at roughly 70% the speed of light, hurtling towards the planet. It was about the size of Earths moon, slightly smaller, but definitely a massive rock. The transports moved towards the planetary shield in anticipation of its destruction, save two which turned towards the Sazkarjhir fleet and flew towards them. the L'Er preparing themselves for another tactic. Then other disturbances lit up all over the system, clearly incoming reinforcements. The small number of vessels currently in system spread out in an attempt to split the enemy forces, forming a loose sphere around the enemy forces and blasting at the Sazkarjhit ships with the same devastating weaponry they had used to destroy the EU anti-matter frieghters so efficently earlier.

Sol, Warp Space

As the cool liquid passed Fausts lips she could instantly feel a change within her.

The golden light within her died and was replaced with a smoldering (color) fire.

She began to levitate above the ground slightly as the transformation took hold of her physical form.

Her brilliant blue eyes became jet black as her irises grew.

Her golden hair became an oily black.

Her skin took on the purplish hue of the warp itself.

Finally her gown itself transformed into a neatly pressed military uniform.

And so was born Faust Chaos Goddess of Order and Tyranny.

Every Iscandarian who still held a connection to Faust would began to be corrupted by the change.

"This has always been your path... Sister."

The four voices said in unity.

"The time has come for the galaxy to serve the true God's or burn."

Sol, Mercury's orbit

Lord Nullus chuckled at the clever response.

"We will open a hanger for you now. Feel free to dock at your own leisure. I'll see to it that you are greeted appropriately. "

Nullus said.

A hanger facing the escort creaked open as if it was hundreds of years old.

The dark metal inside made it hard to see in the low light of the hanger.

Above the main entrance to the hanger there was a massive 8 pointed star with a human skull engraved into the center. The skulls teeth had been filed to points.

Nullus waited for a response before dispatching a "welcoming" party to the hanger.

carus, Ocean of Jul
by the Terran ship

The Septonians tracked the vessel down to the planets surface. Shortly after the plane touched down Large battleships and carriers could be seen in the distance. The Aradites evolved as an ocean going people and maintain a rather large conventional navy. Space travel is still relatively new for the species and the concordant, both relate to one another nicely however. TheBattleships cannons remained unmanned and locked in their travel positions as they collection of ships moved forward and fighters remained on the deck of the carrier. On all of the ships, every crew-member seemed to be on the quarterdeck at once, trying to steal a look at the alien ship. As the ships got closer a collection of four armed speedboats left from the carrier and made their way towards the Terran vessel. The speedboats were big enough to fit six or seven guys, a large caliber machine gun sat up front while two mounted grenade launchers sat on the port and starboard sides. There were only two people on each boat, the pilot and the front gunner, who had locked the turret in the up position, pointing up in the air. Both grenade turrets remained unmanned to conserve space and to seem as non-threatening as possible.

As the first speedboat pulled up next to the Terran vessel the front gunner quickly picked up a rope and threw it around the nearest protruding object, possibly an antennae, to anchor the small boat to the vessel as they floated there. “ We will take you anywhere you need to go, no need to waste fuel for atmospheric travel. We have boats ready to take you back to the mainland, where we have a feast ready for you and those who will accompany you.” The entirety of the Diplomatic Corps academy staff and students were ready and waiting to give the new arrivals a good taste of Septonian hospitality.

New Condia
Another Iscandarian Fleet arrived, telling the Terrans to focus on destroying the enemy targets. The devoted all of their power to the fleet shield, which hadn't been strengthened by the Terrans as the systems are not cross-compatible. The shield held strong once again, and the parasites would not be the victors here.

The Eternal Union
Faust had never used her connection with the Iscandarians to exert much influence over them, only guiding when necessary. However she forced Chaos across the connections, slowly and safely corrupting each and every Iscandarians. It would take a while for them to become fully corrupted, but they already stood with their new Chaos brothers and sisters.

Sol
It was Lahnha who spoke this time.
"Times are indeed grave. For you all know of Faust, even if only indirectly. Not even the purest of hearts can always resist corruption. Faust knew this, and knew one day it was likely she could be corrupted. That is why you no longer have magic, your connection to her has been severed. We severed our connection to her, but she has prepared for this. She took some of her power and separated from her, creating two objects known as the Seeds of Harmony. The one which we have we can connect all of you to and grant you magic, or any sentient for that matter. The other is capable of purifying Faust. If we are to succeed we must find willing sentients and train them in magic, and then assault the Golden Fortress and purify Faust. A small number of Iscandarians we recruited, and they should be on their way. They are already separated from Faust."

As if on cue a single Iscandarian Frigate, one that Fergus recognized as Emily's ship, and several shuttles appeared.

"This is Basil, we have arrived."

New Condia
"All vessels retreat, pattern Echo 001-C!"

The Terran fleet immediately began to fire engines, turning around and negating their velocity. The reason was obvious; if they were planning to jump away, then their velocity would have to be changed depending on their target location. If the enemy knew the gravity of Earth, then they would wuickly be able to pick up on the fact that that's where they were heading. The warp rings began to distort light around them as the fleet prepared to warp out.

With a flash of light, the Terrans were gone. The telltale gravity lens effects moving away from the system at FTL speeds made that much clear. However, a message came from the retreating ships, most likely a vain attempt to dissuade the enemy from following to their homeworld.

"You will soon meet your fate."

Just after the message was recieved, a barrage of argon plasma smashed into the aft sections of every ship in the combined enemy fleet. Missiles tore into engine pods, an attempt to prevent the enemy from turning to face them. Fighters and bombers savagely tore at the hulls of the enemy vessels, their pilots seemingly having no fear of death. A message was sent to the allied forces using the FTL comms system onboard the Normandy, it seemed that they didn't want to give the enemy a way of intercepting it.

"We'll distract the enemy fleet, just save the planet!"

((Sorry for the tiny post, I'm doing other stuff right now. I had an odd day, which involved me being put in control of the Game Design Club despite not actually have any knowledge of how to code.))

((Yeah uh… the asteroid is now travelling at a constant speed of around 10% the speed of light, so just under 30,000 KM a second.))

New Condria

The S'Luk ships jerked as they were attack by the Terran ships, one of them activating it's pulse to push the kinetic weapons away from the first group, before being damage by the plasma weaponry and drifting towards the plane, clearly no longer capable of movement (though apparently capable of firing, as it still kept firing one of it's aft weapons at the fleeing Terran fleet. The rest of the damage resulted in the destruction of one of the cruisers, and the failing of another cruisers shields. Two of the others, the group which had been moving to investigate the disturbances, suffered engine damage as the missile pods slammed into them, taking away the cruisers advantage of speed. As the fleet fled, a single message was transmitted back through electronic communications in an almost sad and mournful tone. It wasn't as omniprescent as the voice of the mind it's self, apparently sent by a battle form or thinker form rather than the Mind.
"Your deaths are all as inevitable as the deaths in this fight, but we shall suffer the progress of infinitude. We shall not follow you, but should our paths cross again we shall hasten your end."

The asteroid continued to travel across the system towards New Condria and it’s shimmering shield. (One post from both Duck and Alpha, and another post from myself (Obviously the impact post) until impact)
In the wake of the asteroid, however, arrived 50 new ships with varying sizes, with another new ship which appeared somewhat larger than the others and more up to date. These ships were overgrown by the same sickly coloured biomass as the one from Outpost 5A, and the way it fired a warning shot to drive away the two S’Luk investigating cruisers identified it was a separate hive. The two minds communicated with each other telepathically
”Did you think we would not come?”
”Why have you come? I offer no forgiveness…”
”They tell us of a change in the heavens, sense the closing of a chapter and a turn of the page. So naive, the poor child!”
”Then we must finish the feast here and move quickly… This is our feast…”
”We shall see”

The S’Ark ships moved forwards and began to engage the hostile fleets, twenty of them firing at the weakened fleet shield in an attempt to break through it and fight the newly arrived EU fleet. The rest of it engaged the Sazkarjhit fleets, while the S’Luk ships moved above and began to engage the two on their flanks, apparently eager to let S’Ark take the blows despite S’Arks higher position on the hierarchy. The transports under S’Luk control, tried to ram the Sazkarjhit ships in an attempt to break into them and board them.
The largest S'Ark ship, apparently the flagship, broke off and went to engage the Normandy, apparently angry that a single Terran ship had remained behind.It fired off severaral barrages of plasma towards the Normandy, and engaged a similar beam like weapon to the one the S'Luk battleships had been using before, attempting to destabalise the Normandy's shield systems.

S'Arks arrival heralded a new danger for the pilots of the bombers and fighters the Terrans were using. As they would discover when they first strayed too close, the ships were very much alive and very much against being bombed. Tentacles escaped from small protrusions and attempts to grab at the passing ships light hungry chicks being fed a worm, attempting to crush the human fighters and bombers before seeking out and taking the hapless individual from within and proceeding to pull them inside. The tentacles had a deceptively and surprisingly large reach, and any they could not reach were shot at by laser point defence weaponry. S'Luk attempted the same tactic it had tried earlier, attempting to spam any computers the human small craft were using.
The two forces of the hives spread forwards, and behind the S’Luk ships jumped in another set of S’Ark ships, 20 of them in total, who moved forwards to join the battle on the right flank of the Sazkarjhit ships.
The voice of S’Ark boomed out over the planet, followed by the quieter and more composed voice of S’Luk
"We have no pity within us, but in its place impatience –Other minds like yours have been consumed. Although once we were embraced willingly on the deathbed, the moment when sentient life discovers it will do anything to evade deaths iced embrace. We shall gift you eternal life!"
”Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Meanwhile, another ship appeared on the other end of the system. This time, it was but one ship and communicated with neither of the other ships. It was of the same size as the S’Luk cruisers, but didn’t seem to interact with them. It just hung in place for a few moments, before turning and leaving the system again.
More disturbances again cropped up around the system, in preparation for the “Feeding” or “Joining” of New Condria…

DRACONIAN VERSUS VALKIAN
FIGHT TO THE DEATH

---

Uncharted Space 2: The Sequel
A partially damaged Explorer, accompanied by an escorting Varren, had just finished both self-repairs to the fullest extent it could without a drydock, and finished scanning the second system. There had been no more incidents of note since the skirmish with the unknown aliens, and without serious damage preventing them to complete their objective, they continued onwards, rather than waste fuel.

As they approached the edge of the star system, they began powering up their warp drives, and the crew went into pre-warp emergency state, everyone securing everything and climbing into cryopods. Anyone outside a cryopod could suffer from trauma from being torn apart and reassembled, since their mind would 'see' it happen, see it dissolve around it. At least, so the scientists think- no one has survived it, or survived with their sanity to the point of being able to speak.

The two ships flashed, and were gone... and reappeared several lightyears away, in another system neighboring the Valk Home System. As the two ships had their alarms shut off, and the bridge crew stumbled out of their cryopods and to their stations, they met another chilling sight- five ships were flying through the void between the outermost two planets, actively scanning. All five simultaneously disappeared from the half-active sensors on the Explorer, before it could fully focus in on the ships. Obviously, they went passive before they could get an accurate reading.

As the crew came back online and studied the short recordings of what the weaker sensors picked up when they came online, they came to the conclusion that five smaller vessels are in striking vicinity. Already faced with having two or three enemies, they figured this one was hostile to. The ship commander, another Tinkerer, already figured that the best way to survive in galactic interactions is to be aggressive against enemies, and very defensive at home. Both of which they've done so far, and they've only sustained... somewhat minor damage. As it was, they were quite sure they could dispatch of the smaller ships just as they have with every other ship. The Varren had a kill; the Explorer three. Both ships moved forward, coming to full alert and sweeping the space around them with active sensors, searching.

Some time later, as they approached the first, outermost planet of the system, out of five planets, they detected slight energy readings from the other side. They quickly altered course, and began retreating from the planet. Several minutes later, sixteen signatures appeared around the planet, slingshotting themselves around to face the Explorer and Varren. When they pulled out of orbit and began aggressively moving towards the Explorer and Varren, the crew of the Varren... panicked. Four turrets opened fire without authorization. Eight slugs flew through the void, and went straight through three of the enemy ship signatures. Both of the ships paused in their retreat- the enemy was using decoys to scare them away. The Explorer brought its bow about, and prepared to meet the bluff head-on, while the Varren began moving into a supportive position. When the Explorer reached range, and fired a swarm of missiles, they quickly found out that all the ships were simply small decoys, half of which were destroyed by the swarm.

Moments after absorbing the fact that they were not, in fact, outnumbered, at least at the present moment, the Explorer was abruptly blinded as active sensors very close to its hull lashed out, scanning the armor for weaknesses. The Valkians reeled- not even their mass-sense had felt anything moving- and struggled to regain their footing as a laser blasted into their armor. It fired for three seconds, burning through ablative, ceramic, titanium, carbon, and special armor alloys, and hit the arm that connected it to the ship.

With a sickening lurch, a plate of armor bigger than a frigate shook against neighboring and overlapping pieces, and slowly drifted off. The arm, relieved of its pressure and torn nearly in two, drifted slightly off, still connected to the ship. The entire crew watched, horrified, as the ship that had fired turned, and fled. Orders were shouted, and the crew dove into action, working desperately to do something about the horrifying fact that they lost 20% of their forward armor, and lost a plate of armor that cost more than a multi-billion dollar ship. The Council would not be happy, if they returned.

They watched with even more horror as three groups of possible decoys approached, slinging across the planet's gravitational orbit. They approached, and the Explorer barely responded as pretty much all of the ship disappeared into just one group of four, due to the Varren's intervention. The lesser armored ship had moved closer to the Explorer, firing rounds at the fleeing Cirrus, failing to score any hits, and tried to cover the Explorer's newly unarmored section. Before it could, a barrage of a Nova's MAC rounds flew by. Several impacted the hull of the Varren, tearing off a small chunk of the lesser armored ship, but not enough to cripple it. The Varren returned fire, rolling and moving in front of the Explorer. The crew slowly came to as another MAC round flew past, and another scored a lucky hit. The round penetrated the almost entirely unarmored weakspot, burrowing into the ship and venting atmosphere into the void.

The Explorer reeled again, coming very close to being mortally wounded. A small ship would've been outright destroyed by the round- as it was, it destroyed CIC and the XO ((XO being a sort of second-in-command)), leaving the emergency XO in the second CIC and the ship commander in the bridge left in charge. This time, the resolve of the crew hardened. Hatches were shut, those that could be saved were taken to the infirmary, and Engineers went to work, sealing and repairing everything they could. The souls of the Valkians hardened, and the Explorer turned to present full broadside armor to the incoming ships. Another barrage flew by, but the Explorer had already fired its engines, and may have been hit again had it not moved. When the Draconian ships came out of their low orbit, and approached the two damaged Valkian ships, they were met with fierce resistance.

Outright, a Nova received its final rites as a lucky shot from the Varren tore it apart, shattering the hull and its innards. The other ships randomized their course, reducing the chances of being hit again to a very, very, very tiny chance. They got too close, though- the Explorer unleashed a three-fourths full force swarm, the fourth turret having been lost to the damage taken by the Novas. When the Explorer fired, though, a several missiles, maybe six total, diverted away to the rear of the Explorer. It became exceededly obvious as to why when the missiles approached an unknown target, split, and roared into a... Cirrus-class Lightship, which had just shut down its stealth systems in preparation of a fatal blow to the ship's FTL drives. The small, fragile ship was obliterated by the even smaller warheads, torn apart by the combination of high-explosive and armor-piercing warheads.

This small victory caused the crew of the Explorer to cheer- another possibly fatal mistake, though not as much as their lengthy stunned silence. Before the Swarm missiles could close half the distance between the Explorer and the Draconian ships, the two Nimrod destroyers opened fire with their own. A storm of plasma point defense came online and fired on the incoming missiles, trying to target and sprayin'n'prayin'. The missiles, small enough to not be easily targeted, weaved their way through the void towards the Draconian destroyers. As they closed in, nothing could necessarily escape from the storm of short-range plasma erupting from the ship's plasma defense.

One Nimrod went up in flames, little missiles tearing into the hull all over, explosions mounting as it pierced its shields and bucked into the hull. Moments later, a missile hit the engine room, and the entire ship erupted into pieces, flame and debris tearing it apart. The remaining Nova and Nimrod kept firing, tearing off chunks of the Varren as it moved to block the Explorer from more damage. The Explorer lashed out with its particle cannons, summoning energy from the rapidly draining supply, striking shield and doing little the damage. The Varren fired again, launching as many projectiles as it could, but only one managed to hit, taking off one of the engines of the Nova cruiser, smashing through its shields.

It was then that the Nimrod destroyer unleashed a full salvo. A half-dozen sublight antimatter missiles fired, and were followed by over a hundred bomb-pumped laser missiles. If the Varren had any kind of medium shield, it may have survived the initial sublight barrage, but the damaged, heavy hull of the ship did little to protect it. The six missiles darted nearly instantaneously into the craters and holes in the armor. The entire forward section of the Varren blew into a massive fireball, radiating outward and shaking the Explorer it had saved. The Varren progressively destroyed itself, ammunition lockers, fuel tanks, and other rooms being consumed and exploding, adding to the damage. The rear section slowly began to tear itself apart, following the end of its bow.

Shortly afterwards, the Explorer began picking up the distress signals of dozens of escape pods. Their kin had died to protect one of the seven legendary ships. They had survived genocide before; here is one that means true genocide against them. Armor plates rearranged, switching arms and extending to the side facing the last to enemy ships. They reloaded their swarmer missiles as fast as possible, and the particle cannon lashed out again. It broke through the Nimrod's shields, mercilessly cutting through the hull, scarring it. They scored a lucky hit; after the cannon lost power and began recharging, the ship still approached, but then a small explosion flared in one of the furrows wrought by the particle cannon, and then another. Moments later, the engines in the ship exploding, tearing the rear of the ship apart.

The last ship took in the heavily wounded, possibly dying Explorer, and clearly rethought what it could do. It turned, and began limping away from the Explorer as fast as it could, desperately trying to escape the wounded ship's wrath. There was no way it'd close in on the ship to come around to its unprotected side in time to escape the swarmer missiles.

Then the Explorer gave chase. While the Explorer may originally been outrun had the remaining Nova been fully repaired, it lost a third of its engine power, and had to make adjustments to keep it from knifing into a lower orbit, and sending itself into the atmosphere of the planet. The Explorer barely kept up, straining its thorium engine drives. The Nova, out of range of optimum firing range for both the swarmer missiles, and the particle cannon, charged up its last weapon.

The Nova limped away, charging up its own FTL drive, getting ready to flee, and gain reinforcements. They had been expecting only one dreadnought, and a large freight ship. No regular warship was armored as much as the Explorer, not even a Battleship-X. When pain erupted inside the heads of the Draconians, and they slowly began dropping to the floor, unable to think or do anything, not even send a message, and the Nova stopped adjusting itself, the Valkians knew they won, at a heavy cost.

Days later, the ship returned to Valkian space, the Nova firmly secured to its hull. The outermost moon watched the Explorer limp into orbit and give out, scrambling messages all across the system. A Varren destroyed, the Explorer coming a fraction of an angle close to being destroyed, multibillion dollar plates of armor lost or critically damaged. A full crew of a nearly completely intact ship, ready for study and dissection, secrets to learn, data files to decrypt and understand.