Task Force Blue (50 ships Strong) Still well outside of visual and sensor range [Encoded messages from BH-571]Last, 72 hours] ——Multiple oddities on long range infrared scope—— 10/16/2399-08:12:00 —— 5 small heat signatures sighted, Shutoff all non essential system . Remaining radio silent—— —— 10/16/2399-16:24:01 —— 5 ships identified as military vessels unknown origin, unknown nation. Confirmed new alien race——13/16/2339-16:24:01 Admiral Kalai reviewed the latest targeting coordinates after reading the report, furrowing his brow as he read over the specifications for the alien ships. The new arrivals didn’t interfere with plan at all, but if it came to open fighting they would surely be outnumbered. He chuckled, Aradites were always outnumbered and out-gunned but they have been victorious. ’Stick to the plan’ he thought to himself as he fought the urge to adapt to this new situation. “ All ships, ready to fire sir” the communications officer said “ BH-571 is standing by for corrections when needed” Admiral Kalai nodded and reviewed the targeting plan once again “ Right, Orbital Stations go first, we will fire our salvos and then move to a new position. Once the stations have been confirmed destroyed or disabled then we will begin targeting the ships. Just target our known enemies for now, leave the new contacts alone, we don’t know where their loyalties lie.”. The admiral walked to the star chart in the center of the bridge and began drawing up the movement orders. The fleet would move in a clockwise pattern as they fired, setting mines as they moved positions. This would serve two purposes: one, they would ambush any forces that followed them and two, this would mine some of the entrance points to the system. Any reinforcements called in might warp into a minefield or simply run into it while making a slow burn. “ Fire the first Salvo…” Admiral Kalai said flatly as he keyed a stopwatch, finishing the movement orders before sending them to the rest of the fleet. The ships lights dimmed slightly as the first magnetically accelerated torpedo shot off into space, followed by half of the ships. Ten seconds later the lights dimmed again as the second torpedo shot out as the rest of the ships followed suit before having to cool. “ Tubes one and two cooling sir” the weapons officer quipped before the navigation officer began moving the ship “ Moving to pre-confirmed bearing sir…”. Half of the fleet moved in unison as the second half fired their MATs, setting mines as they moved to follow the rest of their ships. They would continue this leapfrog until the orbital stations were destroyed or coming full circle.

**Icarus** The Diplomat was completely silent for the first half of the trip, his eyes glazed over. After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke. "I have suggested the evacuation of Sol. If you are at war with the Iscandarians, then we'll need to help you. I don't know about your military power, but the Iscandarians have the largest fleet we have encountered so far." **Sol, Jupiter Station** Interstellar transports encircled the space station like the gravity rings of a civilian ship, waiting to take the chosen few to the colonies along with more population bombs. Amazingly, nobody seemed to be protesting, they had all pledged to fight for their homes. The military had said that they had a plan to stop the Iscandarian superweapon, and they did, but it wasn't the best. Nevertheless, military vessels streamed in from the colonies, built with the hope that they might be able to overwhelm the Iscandarians with sheer numbers. Civilian ships lined up with the military vessels, armed with railguns built for splitting apart asteroids and modified tractor lasers. A few even had missiles, mostly conventional explosives, but some of the ships from the District had multiple nuclear ICBMs haphazardly strapped to their sides. It was amazing that the same people who had been scrambling to leave a few weeks ago were now lining up to fight, maybe they had found their courage, or maybe they decided there was nothing left to live for. All in all, there were one thousand military vessels, the largest fleet yet assembled. The fleet wouldn't last long though, as such a massive fleet simply couldn't be maintained for any extended period of time by a nation like the Federation. All of the extra warships were like disposable cameras: meant to be thrown away after use. Still, every single one of them bore a hand-painted symbol on their hull, the symbol of the Terran Military. It seemed that the Terrans were nothing if not dedicated. A message was transmitted across the system using sublight radio, though it was not encrypted. The Sazkarjhit station would almost certainly pick it up, but the Terrans didn't seem to care, it was almost as if they wanted them to hear. "This is Kai Vivian, High Admiral of the Federal Star Forces. The Council has seceded control of all Federation matters to me, as of today, I have complete control over this nation. I know that these are hard times, and I know that you're all afraid. Things look bad, the Iscandarians are threatening to wipe us all out, and they most certainly can. But there's something my father said: 'If a Terran believes they can, they will'. We can survive this! We can defeat the Iscandarians! We have to redeem ourselves for what happened all those decades ago in the Third World War, and this is our chance! If we don't fight them, what will we tell our children? That we gave up and let them terrorize the galaxy? I will fight even if I am the only Terran left, I don't know what your choice will be, but I implore you to stand with me. If there is one thing I know for sure, it's that nobody deserves to live out their lives in fear!" **2019, Prefecture 24, The District** The Woman awoke to the beeping of a heart monitor, all she could see was a clinical white ceiling illuminated by a standing lamp that blinded her relaxed eyes. Not able to feel her legs, she tried to look down at them, then thought better of it and laid her head back on the pillow. She had no idea what had happened, but she certainly didn't want the first thing she saw after waking up to be two stubs where her legs used to be. "Wh-where am I?" She asked instead, closing her eyes to block out the light. "Oh thank god!" Said a voice that she seemed to recognize, but she couldn't quite place it. "You're in Missouri, we couldn't take to a hospital, cover and all." "You mean this isn't a hospital?" She said, clearly confused. "Not a registered one, didn't you get that whole Missouri bit?" Responded the voice, which she had confirmed was definitely male after much deliberation. Blaming her mental disorientation on medicine, she continued. "How did you get hospital equipment then? You need all kinds of permits to get your hands on that stuff, and the illegal stuff is always half broken. What even happened to me?" "Hey, look, I really can't explain everything. There's something kind of important happening, and I really can't be missing it. It's been a week or so, okay? Is that good enough?" "I'm not inclined to lay here without knowing at least why I'm hooked up to a fucking heart monitor!" She yelled, still keeping her eyes closed for fear of seeing the actual extent of her injuries. "Look, you got shot when the National Guard tried to disperse the protest you were a part of. We found you lying on the ground, in critical condition. We managed to keep you alive for the two hours it took to get you here, then put you here. This is the first time you've waken up, we kept you out in case the pain was still there." "Why was I out for a week from a bullet?" "It wasn't a bullet." "Yeah, no. The National Guard did _not _use explosives on peaceful protesters." "They... I... it's a long story, okay? What matters right now is that you've fully recovered physically, we were just waiting for you to wake up. We've got arms and armor waiting for you, if you're willing to help." _Well at least that means I've still got legs._ She thought, before speaking "You're trying to recruit a woman who was just in a peaceful protest to fight? For all you know I'll report you." "You won't I know that. Look, let me show you what we're fighting for, then you can make the choice. Please, just give us a chance." After a pause, she shifted her weight, getting up out of the bed. "I'll do that much." She said, opening her eyes. "Wait, are you-?" "Call me Kaguya." He said, throwing a badge to her. It was circular, a smaller circle inside was white, followed by a band of green, then a red crescent. "About those equations earlier, were you actually right about them, or were you lying about solving them?" "Let's just say you'll find out soon enough."

**Falacia** "Admiral Tanuu! Two torpedo salvos heading straight for the orbital stations!" shouted a officer as the fleet began planning there moves. The stations, planet, and fleet had already combined their shields into one massive one to hold against any enemy attack. The Admiral shouted is orders as officers scrambled and rushed to stations. The first order was to redirect the auto-cannons turrets scattered in the asteroid field to shoot down the incoming salvo, with many the Septonians could see and many they could not firing and taking out a decent portion of the incoming torpedos. The auto-cannons cooled down and awaited more torpedos as the other rail-guns, lasers, antimatter missiles, plasma cannons, and various other weapons fired on the Septonian fleet. The remaining torpedo impacted the shield and while to the Septonians it seemed like it had no effected, it brought down the entire shield to 92.145609% integrity. The fleet and stations began firing a salvo much similiar to the ones in the asteroid field had fired, intent on destroying the Septonian fleet.

**Taoshe** Velka let out a particularly feminine giggle prompting her accompanying officers to crack a few chuckles. Velka smiled and blushed embarrassed by her outburst, turning a darker shade of green around the cheeks before covering it with her hand. Although she was the commanding officer of the ship she maintained a casual attitude with her officers, joking was not forbidden, as long as it was in good taste, and this certainly was. “ Interesting eye for fashion Commander” an officer said as he walked behind the formation, joking with his comrades. It was good to be home and off the ship, no matter how the crew felt about each other confined spaced worked on everybody’s nerves. The group continued to walk down towards the center of the station, towards the space elevator where a delegation from the concordant was already waiting. To Commander Vellais’s surprise Valag Timonus himself was with them, causing her pulse to jump rapidly as she bowed to greet the leader of the Concordant. "Welcome back Commander, was your time in the void fruitful? I see that you brought back a guest?” Valag said as he sized up the Lorca “ From what your communications have told me, I expect nothing short of greatness from these new beings”. Valag and the delegation joined the group as they boarded the space elevator “ It seems we are popular now Commander, Terran vessel landed in the Oceans on Jul on Icarus a few weeks past and a small detachment is coming to Taoshe to discuss our war with the Eternal Union. I trust you are eager to hear how that war is going commander?” Velka nodded politely “ Yes sir” she said, waiting to be briefed on the current war situation. The view from the elevator was simply breathtaking, the entire northern hemisphere of the planet was within view with the sun just starting to rise. Soon the sun illuminated the landscape, showing the large mountain ranges and valleys that was the planets trademark. Valag spoke both to the Lorca and the Syren’s crew as he explained the tactical situation. By his reasoning, if they were here then they had already made their choice on who to side with. He informed both groups about the current offensive by Falacia and how that was going, then he discussed his plans for a new training regiment and the new directives of the nation. New Directives: - - Pulling back all forces for specialized training - - Joint training with new allies - - More world colonization - - New tech research begins - **Icarus** The shuttle had landed and the small delegation was already in orbit by the time the Terran diplomat spoke. The captain simply nodded “ Size matters not…” he said flatly, his mind too occupied with his own thoughts to come up with any other answer. The flight into orbit was a short one, stopping only to dock with the larger diplomatic shuttle before making the short jump between planets. The docking procedure was uneventful and the delegation made their way down the same elevator that the Syren’s crew had taken shortly before them. **Falacia** Task Force Blue Admiral Kalai grumbled as he read the latest orders packet “ They want us to return to Shao IX?! For what?!” he said, sighing before closing the holographic window. The orders came straight from the leader of the concordant himself and there was no questioning the validity of them, but he was curious to see what his cousin was up to. “ Call the scouts back, ceasefire and lets make for Shao IX at full burn..” he said as officers began sending orders. Soon the entire fleet was out of the system, disappearing like ghosts into the vacuum

**The Valkian Home System** More droneships began to be produced, half of them being armed with another recent idea- taking the already-existing construction drones, adding the droneship-specific docking port, and then letting them loose to construct *more* ships. Because of this, the frames of the ships can be assembled, with major technological pieces such as the FTL drive and various consoles and engines included, and then can be pushed out to the outside of a shipyard or asteroid facility, where a droneship will launch construction drones, which would promptly swarm over the uncompleted ship, adding armor, internal systems and everything else needed. It was a simple matter for the Valkian Engineers to come in and complete the wiring, hooking up the cables and pressurizing the hull. It didn't take very long for production to jump, and suddenly there were quite a few droneships indeed. With the ships practically going into mass production, gobbling up the vast reserves of unused mineral ore and electronic pieces, it was likely that the nation would have hundreds of droneships before all reserves went low. With the entire system slowly uniting into one production unit, regular commerce had almost been put on halt, research specific to surviving on alien worlds and to train men to serve on warships and study alien technology in the field. As soon as a dozen droneships were ready, they departed to system 04, heading for the remnants of the other Draconian vessels, and then later, to search for the unknown [Etheral] ships and see what they can learn. Already, shields were being planned; the experimental shields around the droneship flickered every now and then, far from refined but capable of preventing damage. Point-defense turrets can be seen, alongside Swarmer missile turrets. Due to the nature of the droneships, Swarmer missiles were to only be used in the case of close combat or before drones launched- there would be too many missiles and drones flying through space to *not* cause a collision. As more groups began to be assembled, droneship fleets started appearing in orbits of almost all the worlds, one by one, from the outermost to the innermost. More were traveling individually in the empty, patrolled interplanetary space. As more and more droneships were produced, a small fleet of the warped into Nouvelle, moving to take up the Explorer's position. The experimental droneship, the first, integrated with its fellows, while the rest of the non-droneship fleetships moved to the gas giant, planning on setting up stations and cloudscoops for the precious gases swirling within the planet. The Explorer and a single cargo ship diverted off-course, moving to one of the other planets, fully intending to set up a base near Nouvelle, and establishing a definite presence in the Nouvelle system.

**Sol** As the Terran ships gathered in preparation for a coming war with the Iscandarians, a huge disturbance was detected. It originated from Gliese, as it began moving towards Sol at a FTL speed, and within a few seconds it arrived. It was a massive Iscandarian Armada of 808 ships, 8 fleets in total. Four of the fleets consisted of the Iscandarian's original designs, with the other four consisting of the new upgraded designs that held plasma weapons and stealth generators. Their plasma cannons glistened a pure red as they began charging up, pointing at Terran ships or defenses. The Dreadnoughts and Battleships came up to the front of the fleet, one dreadnought in particular appeared to have been modified, rather then the standard symbol of the Iscandarian Navy, it was the seal of the Immortals. A message was transmitted from that particular Dreadnought. "I am Immortal Aaliyah, Supreme Ruler of the Eternal Empire. A few of my agents recently completed a interrogation of a few men of your men, and while they did not know exactly how it went, they did know of the nature of the Theory of Everything. You shall hand it to us immediately, or every single one of your worlds will burn, all of your civilians dying in agony. What shall it be Terrans?" Upon that the weapons of the Iscandarian Armada immediately went to full power, as they got ready to fire at and destroy the Terrans.

**Sol** A little disturbance, off to the side of the two massive fleets, appeared, and moments later, three Droneships appeared. After a couple minutes, one could almost see the point when they realized what was about to happen. They cruised forward lazily, but then as information began coming back, each of the three banked hard up, to the left, or down-right. Moments later, they disappeared again, very clearly saying, "Ohp, shit, not wanna be here, no wanna go here, WANNA GO HOME!"

null

**Thought for the day: "An idle mind will wander into dark recesses"** **Taoshe** Major Voroei's head recoiled slightly as he heard Commander Vellais giggle, then he quickly attempted to correct the motion in order to hide any offence, raising his head slightly as if to right his posture. He proceeded to examined her, intrigued by the following actions, despite them lasting only a mere few seconds before disappearing into the minds of those present. What was her response there. Shame? Why the change in attitude? That laugh? He shifted somewhat awkwardly in place as the officers chuckled, his stance changing to one of alertness and his mandibles opened slightly. He remained like this while the crew of the Syren moved, then finally dropped his alert stance and returned to a similar stance to his previous one. He and his two Minors turned, following after the chuckling officers. The Lorca somewhat loosened their atmosphere of respect and formality as a result of the shift away and into a more standard tone. The tone shifted rapidly again the moment they laid eyes upon the delegatio,... Causing another disconcerting blow for the Lorca, who had barely recognised the previous behavoir, they had no idea how exactly they were supposed to be acting. The newcomer appeared the commanders superior, so Voroei decided to play by ear from Commander Vellais and revert to their quiet and stone faced behavoir and in turn the minors decided to copy him in their stance and attitude. This being was obviously someone of some note, a superior to the Commander at the least. He listened intently as the superior of note spoke. The Lorca boarded the elevator in near silence, though the voice of a minor shattered their mutism as the elevator began its descent "May the communications not bear false witness" As the elevator descended down into the planet and the light of the sunrise began to filter in through the windies, the Major peered out across the sky and to the sun on the horizon as it illuminated the landscape before him, scanning his eyes over the shapes of the mountains. In the moments he allowed his thoughts to stray from the task, he whispered under his breath "A vinda ni tamrielle, sunnabe weltam." He was pulled back into reality by the words reaching his ears. The minor spoke first as Voroei slowly turned himself on the spot, the stun rising behind him and catching his black armour, causing the faint outline of his shielding to become visible and his armour to shine. "Forgive us our ignorance, who is this superior we are speaking with?." The Minor inquired, his bottom left mandible clearly clicking out of its joint when he spoke "Specialised training?" Hr questioned with a tilt of his head

**Sol** The Terran fleet stood silent, no message being sent even between their own ships. After what felt like an eternity for the Terran crews, the blue plasma shields of the fleet suddenly activated, parting for a split second to allow for an all-out barrage of plasma and missile fire. Fighters launched from their carriers, swarming the enemy as their motherships took on the role of frontline battleships with ease. Planetary defense platforms opened fire as well, their long-range shots piercing deep into the Iscandarian fleet. The Terran military fleet had a total of a thousand and ten ships, the extra ten being the dreadnoughts. All of them were Normady-Class vessels, though the landing craft and tanks that would normally be kept on the rotating platforms were replaced with small craft, which formed up with the rest of the fighters to swarm the enemy. Civilian vessels also joined in, opening fire with light railguns and converted mining lasers. Missiles were also fired from a few civilian ships, joining the giant barrage towards the Iscandarians. On the ground of every inhabited planet, civilians and soldiers alike picked up weapons and set up ground-to-space railguns and missile batteries. If the Iscandarians were interested in finding the theory of everything, they would have to get through every last Terran in the Federation. Every last human was united in their resistance, refusing to let the Iscandarians gain the most safely guarded secret the Terrans held. The lead starship was a custom model similar to the Normandy, but armed with different weapons. In place of the usual plasma turrets, this ship had a mixture of the normal plasma weapons and a new kind of beam weapon. Mounted both spinally and on the turrets, this strange weapon created an incredibly bright blue beam that seemed to just _delete_ anything it hit. In reality, it was a Gluon Disturber: a device which broke apart subatomic particles by disturbing gluons. Unfortunately, it had a side effect that nobody wanted to talk about, and its use was restricted out of fear of that side effect. That ship broadcast a message to the Iscandarian fleet, as it fired off a barrage of antimatter missiles in tandem with every other Terran ship. "This is Kai Vivian of the United Terran Federation. On this day, we formally declare war on the Eternal Empire. We will sooner go extinct than allow you to destroy this reality and create your own. Let it be known to all Iscandarians that we will not rest until the last of you takes their final breath!" **Icarus** "Is there any specific way we should address your delegation? I wouldn't want to offend them." ((Oh God don't kill me please I know that was short and terrible please no my plots are too unfinished for me to die.))

**Taoshe** _"Forgive us our ignorance, who is this superior we are speaking with?."_ echoed around in one of he officers heads as he stared down at the planet. He was in an almost trance like state as he watched the sun slowly rise over the rather large mountains. It had been months since he last was home and seeing Taoshe in all of her glory was almost overwhelming for the junior officer. Not wanting to be rude, he quickly snapped out of his trance and turned to face the Lorca with a melancholy half smile. “ That is Valag Timonus, he is the current leader of our nation. You are in for quite a treat if he is here, I hear his family distills some of the finest brandy known to the planet and maybe even the sector.” he said nodding his head towards Velka and Valag. This caught the attention of the pair who slowly walked over to join the group by the window. “ It is my understanding that the Eternal Union has special abilities outside the realm technology. Their shield strength is something I have never seen before but remains resistant to nuclear EMP and heavy weapons strikes. In our tongue we would describe this as ‘sorrcel’ or sorcery, but this is disputed amongst my scientists and analyst. I however believe that sorcery is exactly what it is, this universe is to large to not find something completely out of the ordinary”. Valag stopped for a moment as he realized he never introduced himself. He was used to people simply knowing who he was, the burden of being stuck on the core planets for too long. “ I apologize for my manners, I am Valag Timonus, Leader of the Septonian Concordant, heir to the Septonius family and former commander of the veteran 9th marine legion.” he said giving the Lorca file a crisp military salute. “ I want to train my soldiers and marines to effectively combat this sorcery, so that they can confidently and routinely defeat it. We have suffered some embarrassing losses to these Iscandarians due to sorcery, and I believe the solutions is training and research”. Valag finally finished as he looked looked out over the planets horizon for a moment before meeting the Lorca’s faceplate again. The weight of the defeats weighed heavy on his shoulders, it was obvious on his face. He almost looked sad if not a little detached from his true emotions but remained stoic, per Aradite custom. **Icarus( Now over Taoshe)** The captain shook his head as he stole a glance down towards the planet before turning to address the Terran diplomat. " Just be sociable, my people love to talk. Answer questions, drink what is given to you and you should be fine." ( lets just pick it up on the ground, we will all meet by the exit to the space elevator)

**Sol** "So be it. The end shall come for every last Terran." The first barrage took out a few scattered Iscandarian Frigates, but they were much more determined then that. To weather the tide of coming Terran Fighters the Iscandarian's own stealth fighters and bombers deployed, immediately going invisible only to reappear later, with the fighters firing plasma cannons and the bombers unleashing antimatter bombs upon the Terrans. The next action was swift, as the fleet moved into position and unleashed a huge storm of antimatter missiles upon the Terrans. The Dreadnoughts and Battleships formed a huge line, as their weapons began charging. The frigates and cruisers came to the front and immediately began unleashing plasma, rail-guns, other explosives, and of course magical lasers. They seemed intent on defeating the Terrans, pushing their fleet further into Sol, destroying any defenses along the way. The Dreadnoughts and Battleships then unleashed their own weapons, adding onto the intense storm already coming to the Terrans. While the battle raged a ship came up, the E.U.V _Starfire_, Emily's ship that had come with the Defenders of Harmony to Sol, joined the battle on the side of the Terrans. It positioned it self near the civilians, using it's weapons to take out projectiles coming at the civilian ships. "We shall fight along side you! For the revolution!" While the Iscandarians on-board knew there was no revolution, they were merely playing the part that Fergus had given them. **Defender of Harmony's Space Station above Sol** As the Defenders of Harmony and Wings of Gliese watched the battle raging on ahead they gathered and prepared weapons and armor. Fairlan, Robert, the Human version of Emily, and the crystal that Robert has said contained the remnants of a former goddess also joined, the three had also introduced themselves to Fergus. Lahnha approached Fergus, carrying a set of armor he had not seen in a long time. It was a set she had given to Fergus when she began training the Wings of Gliese, and then had taken with her when she left. "Its your old armor Fergus. Basil and the rest of the mages managed to scry the location of the other Seed of Harmony, with the Eternal Empire distracted s they now call themselves we can seize it. From there we head straight to the Golden Fortress to purify Faust. It will not be a easy fight, but will you join us?" asked Lahnha, as Fairlan, Emily, and Robert stood behind her. ((Please do something with your characters Key.))

 **Space station 'Proephus origin'** **Planet Sevren IV, Capitol of the Ahmun Sul state.** -+-+-+ The sound of trade. Money moving.. economy pounding, the real beating heart of every nation is the movement of goods.. and what better place to move them than through the most prolific hyperspace crossroads that exists. Outside the station, ships originating from most major nations sit idly, waiting for a dock to open up. The refueling pods in the distance had equally long lines. This was the problem being addressed in this days meeting. Broad bronze doors slowly opened in a long seemingly empty hallway in the deep parts of the station. As the first few people stepped in to the hallway, turrets quickly deployed from the ceiling in various, random locations. Blue beams shot out from the turrets, acting as a sort of holographic net around each person. This did not impede the targets movement but it was an uncomfortable feeling, knowing that you were indeed being scanned. Your body violated in every way possible. Females outfits being pierced and every part available for easy viewing by who ever is observing through the turret. The group moved down the hallway until reaching yet another bronze door. As it slowly opened, the men and women in the group moved single file through. Upon entering the chamber, a massive triangular table was sitting in the center. Giant lights in the ceiling illuminated every part of the room. There were no shadows, no place to put secret listening devices or bombs and the walls were insanely armored. This was the trader command center. There were many creatures in this room, be them renegades from other nations or just those who were travelling and just... lingered.. began debating among themselves on the topics of trade inflation, pirate activities, interest rates. Everything one would imagine in a trader union meeting. That typical boring shit some would say. One voice seemed to overpower the rest. A Valkarian male "Tinkerer" with an imposing physical build but a voice so serene. "I believe we should stop the talks regarding piracy and focus on the real problem here. Have you all heard the situation between the Terran and iscanda-" Before he could finish, one of the many Iscandarians in the room stood up and leaned over the table. "Why do you care? My race will end the fight and things will return to normal." Two Septonians just pressed their palms against their forehead and some Terrans pinched the bridge of their noses. It was always a fight between the two, each arguing over what nation was best.. Just wait, the Valkarian would begin his counter soon.. "You just have no clue do you." the 'Valk' said. "You're lucky there aren't any Valkarian warships nearby.. someone has to clean up the mess." he said then smiled. "Oh please, after the Terrans are destroyed, your nations stuff would arrive and be destroyed. Hell, even if they join forces in the fight, Iscandarians would just destr-" A voice seemed to shatter the room, deep and powerful it was... "Shut.. the fuck.. UP!" Th voice responsible was the Jeon of the state, a man of real power in the room. "Sorry Jeon Harris" was the only words the Valkarian could muster while the Iscandarian just crossed his arms and sat back down. "Let them have at it. Only means refugees will head here. We will have to purchase more rations..." He took a deep breath and walked around the table. "Also, we will need to start upping the interest on space based weaponry transports. Always make the market work to your advantage. THIS is what you should be concerning yourselves with, this nation and its continued prosperity." -+-+-+- **Varal flight 34, outer system patrol.** -+-+-+- "This is flight lead, we have some activity ahead." Indeed, ahead was something they really didn't want to see.. a pirate ship, of course. One of the Varal pilots joking said, "So, another routine pirate stomp?" Another laughed over the comms but as they drew closer, they could see it was one of the higher end warships, armed with "Magic lasers" and plasma based weapons. This was a predator. The Fighters engaged their stealth systems and moved in for a closer look. "Looks like an iscandarian warship. Likely purchased third party long ago. Sure, it wasn't front line new age but still formidable. "Alright, set targets. Hit their engines." "Roger that." "Copy". The fighters took up a 'V' formation and began approaching from behind. The warships scanners were fully active but weren't able to compensate for the advanced emission controllers and light absorbers, along side other high level ECM suites. Maybe a captain had some sort of sixth sense or something as the ships shields activated all the sudden. "Shit. we'll never get through those shields. and if we try to use long range communications, that thing will find us." The other pilots kept comm chatter down as well but the short range was tight beam and not able to be detected. The fighters turned away and moved back towards a nearby asteroid field. As they arrived, their stealth systems dropped and seemingly from the shadows, Two Struh frigates emerged and docked the fighters. With subtle engine bursts and a holographic emitter, they became "trade ships".. the perfect prey for a beast like that Iscandarian inspired warship. They silently moved towards the ship and before long, a image appeared on the holographic viewers of the Struh frigates. "This is Arch mage Alyas, surrender your ships or pray for your lives." Great. a Iscandarian butt-hole, likely left the nation and just decided to take the title of arch mage to inspire fear on his targets. As the Struh frigates slowed down, the pirate ship began moving closer. Shields at full power, guns trained on the frigates. Dangerous for any foe but the Frigates were hunters and knew how to kill a beast. In less than a second, broadside missiles launched from the frigates as the holographic image dropped. Fighters launched in large numbers from the sides as well and within maybe ten seconds, forty advanced fighters and two hunter frigates were engaging the ship. Before they could even target the fighters, massive particle beams fired a sustained wave against the pirates shield, draining it rapidly. The pirate ship began firing in earnest but the shields of the frigates weren't toys and were withstanding the fire for the time being. It wouldn't hold forever but when the shield burnt out on the pirate ship, the launched missiles shot in and exploded in to a shower of MIRVs. CIWS began firing wildly from the pirate ship and indeed shot a few missiles down but most hit and did extreme damage to the outer hull. At the same time, cannons fired from the frigates, hitting the ship with incredible force and blowing turrets off. Fighters had engaged the ship during all of this, sniping turrets and destroying the engines with their anti ship missiles. It was within five minutes of the battle, escape pods began launching from the ship before it exploded in a flash of light. two halves of the ship slowly drifted from each other, which was the signal for the salvage ships to fly in. It would be an half hour before the salvage ships completed their work. But when they were done, it was if a battle never happened..

Taoshe The Lorca were bombarded by a situation all too familiar to the one at the top of the elevator once they finally arrived at the bottom. By this point, they had accepted that they would be surrounded by those who had seemingly escaped from the nearest mental institution and did their best not to stare (Though it was admittedly still hard). The Major spoke to Valag again "Do your people believe in Gods?" He asked as he turned his neck to face towards him "If they do, then you are right; They must accept that there will be a lot outside of your ordinary, as they have already accepted the immaterial. And well met Valag Timonus; I have Major Nhas Voroei, unworthy to represent the great Lorca Ghaj and stand in the presence of you and your most hospitable Commander" The Major fell to his right knee as he spoke, crossing his arms over his chest in an X, a clenched fist resting over each heart. The outline of his shield was barely visible as it connected with the floor. "I bring words from a council many light years from here" The Major stood up a few moments later, his eyes darting to the side of his HUD as he read the commands scrolling down it. "Where might we meet away from the eyes of the public? The council demands discretion and I shall give it them." He heard the elevator come down behind him a few moments later and the three Lorca spun, peering into it as it opened. He couldn't tell whether it was a third alien race or just some short Aradites with a wildly different skin pigmentation; He guessed it would be the former One of minors approached them. The Aradites would know his words were merely "Wait! Who are these beings?". To the humans of course, his speech sounded much the same as it had to the Aradites before they had attuned the translator device; A harsh, guttural language that sounded more like he was issuing a stream of abuse and threatening to brutally murder the Terrans rather than the more benign words he spoke. ((Because you know, I want to see how the Terrans react to what seems like a raving mad alien warrior)