The language structure was shortly deciphered by the ship and placed into readiness on the transmitters, converting any message sent through to the Mortean language and vice-versa. They desire the fourth planet do they?, Vostach thought, requisitioning a scan of the sytem they resided in, identifying the planet at which the C’ran task force had landed as the fourth in the system. Hopefully the search does not take much longer. Connecting to the transmitter, Vostach responded to the Mortean message, “Greetings 1st Expeditionary Fleet of the Morte Empire. I am Admiral Vostach, commanding officer of the task force dispatched to this system to retrieve an artifact from the planet you seek to colonize. May we ask as to who your companions are?” Finished speaking, the words beamed across space to the Mortean fleet.

@Willy Vereb

"Sir, the other fleet are hailing us back! It's...in Gothic Standard!" Second communications officer Kevin Jager said. The fact they received a message in their native language was a shock to the crew but Sterbstahl half-expected it. Whoever the aliens were they had a more sophisticated technology than them. Reactor readings also indicated that the single alien ship near them was more powerful than any of the Morte's Dreadnoughts and of course stronger than the flagship Tanhauser. Now it also became apparent that the alien fleet has more advanced translator devices. "Patch it through the main screen!" Sterbstahl ordered and the two races saw each other for the first time. “Greetings 1st Expeditionary Fleet of the Morte Empire. I am Admiral Vostach, commanding officer of the task force dispatched to this system to retrieve an artifact from the planet you seek to colonize. May we ask as to who your companions are?” The blue humanoid figure said. compared to other races they've met the C'ran was the closest to themselves. Yet the man's features also felt very alien. "Our companions, you said? Well, I'm afraid I don't understand your question here, Admiral Vostach. I'm Kampführer Alexander von Sterbstahl, leader of this fleet. I can introduce my bridge crew but I feel there are more pushing matters to discuss. As you said your men are looking for a certain artifact on the planet's surface. Only a few minutes ago we transported several million colonists and their escort to the planet we call Blume Vier. Our empire doesn't wish to interfere with the policy of other civilizations. On the other hand I could mobilize my men to aid you in search. Of course this would require us to know a bit more about this... artifact." Sterbstahl said in response. The sooner foreign armies leave the planet is the better.

Hinansho System, Midway Debris Field
Kestral ( BH/L-001)
Captain Velka Vellais

“ Sensor contact bearing 104, 3,000 meters!” the radar officer said in a terrified tone. A red dot appeared on the holographic star chart, showing the Excalibur’s position in 3D. Velka had been in system no more then a minute and had already attracted the attention of a vessel much larger then theirs. * This is just my luck* she thought silently, running a hand through her straightened hair. Fighting was not an option, that vessel, what ever it was, outclassed them and probably already had a firing solution. They did not have the authority or the resources to fight anything, everything they had on their ship needed to last until they could get resupplied. Resupply was months away at top speed, not taking into account the time it took for the message to get there. For once in her life, Velka felt real fear, terrifying mind numbing fear. If they died out here no one would know about it, they would just cease to exist, nothing but matter floating in a very large vacuum. Suddenly, it all made sense. The classified orders, elite handpicked crew, JIIC spooks and operators, there was almost no “ vanilla” military personnel on board. This was affectionately known in the intelligence community as a “black” operation, or as the many JIIC personnel on board liked to say “ Deep in the pit”.
“ Ten small craft heading our way, fighter sized, probably small assault craft.” the radar operation yelled again as smaller red dots appeared moving towards the Kestral. The point defense turrets automatically locked on to the incoming objects, tracking them as they moved through the debris field. The weapons officer tapped on the safety button, getting ready to disengage the safeties as the objects got closer. “ 1000 meters, 800 meter…..600 meters….magnify display…..600 meters….400 meters….wait!” the weapons officer yelled looking at symbols on the incoming mechs. “ Thats……thats Terran!” he said looking towards the radio officer.

“ Run that through our system, see if you can confirm that” Velka barked cooly further examining the mechs as they came closer. “ Ouui Captain, its Terran…..what are they doing all the way out here?” the radar officer asked inquisitively as the mech landed on it on the Kestral. Velka was thinking the same thing, * why were the Terrans all the way out here?*. She chuckled as her mind immediately jumped to espionage, maybe the Terrans weren’t the allies she though they were. Regardless, she was overjoyed to run into allies way out in the vacuum.

“Well, you're about to have one hell of a day. Welcome to the Hinansho system,
and welcome to no man's land. If you happen to enjoy life, you'll want
to go to battlestations if you haven't already. The Romans will be here
soon.”

Velka raised an eyebrow at the message they just received * who are the romans?* she thought as she tapped a couple commands into the console, dropping the stealth measures. “ Set a 20 degree down angle, half burn and take us out of this debris field. Boot the translation software and send them a message” Velka said as she eased into the captains chair.

- Message to Excalibur-
“ Greetings Terrans! We are delighted to find you out amongst the vacuum. We would love to rendezvous and compare information about where we are and who these ‘Romans’ you speak of are. “


Area 1, Space
Aurora laughed upon hearing the word spirits come out of the Triarii’s mouth.

“What do you take me for? Some kinda of insane person who still believes in such primitive ideas? Regardless that plan will work, although since the beacons cannot be there forever I hope you have some way to implement long lasting directives with them. I need to make a final few preperations and then I will signal you with the location so we may begin.” said Aurora.

She did a final handshake, and a bow, before leaving the hangar.

Arcadia, Training Camp
“I accept this mission, but if possible I brought my own armor with me. It bears the symbol of the Royal Family and as such I like to wear it to represent the New Roman Empire. It is in the crate next to my bunk if you could bring it to me.” said Lelouch, as he began preparing for the mission. Lelouch paused for a minute as he pulled out the blade that had been gifted by the Roa’marii to the Romans.

“And I am trained in use of a sword. If this sword is as strong as your people say it is, it is the only weapon addition to my magic that I shall need.” stated Lelouch.

Ashes to Ashes
Roman soldiers lined the whole of the area, also rushing to get the Collective Scientists into the facility. Before they were in however they could see several areas being carefully excavated, as the Romans searched for more Aetherii artifacts. A female scientist greeted the Triarii scientists, shaking hands with them.

“Greetings, I am Dr.Vahlen, I shall be leading the Roman part of this project. If you are comfortable we can proceed with a tour of the labs before we begin our work.” said Vahlen, in a weird sounding accent. While it was Latin it was not the accents the Triarii had heard before, it sounded more like that of the humans of German descent living in the Collective.

New Rome, Magical University
It was Lloyd who stepped forward and spoke.

“We opened the artifact for the purpose of discovery, to see what was in it.” said Lloyd. He seemed very nervous at the sudden appearance of the angel.

The Golden System of New Rome
((Listen to this as you read this part of the post))

As the Abh’s ship appeared s new Roman Fleets appeared in the system, positioning themselves near New Rome. The Roman Anthem was transmitted across the system, in both Latin and an Abh translation that had been perfected. Abh across the system suddenly felt a huge psionic presence in their minds.

“You think you can win Abh? You think you can face down the Empire that I carefully built over centuries? I knew the moment I first saw your faces that I could win. You did not evolve, you were created. Created in fact from Human DNA. We Romans are humans Abh.”

As the voice finished speaking, images appeared to the Abh in their minds. Images of test tubes full of DNA harvested from what looked like Romans being taken to genetic labs. These images showed the Abh developing in cryotubes, their DNA being modified to become warriors.

“Those humans who created you were apart of the Allied Interstellar Federation, which I found easy to manipulate and bend to my own will. Despite their failings they managed to develop a interuniversal drive, which is why you are here today. I actually remember the day I as a member of the research board ordered the development of the Abh, back before the Earth Alliance had formed the AIF.

Images briefly flashed of a research proposal being submitted by a mysterious figure, detailing the Abh and parts of the culture they were to have.

“Originally you were to be created to be a slave army to a rebellion I was apart of the time, but alas the researchers did not follow everything detailed in my proposal, and you ended up with the strong will you have today. However I still did manage to trick a few of you into doing my bidding.”

More image flashes, showing a Abh not only killing what looked like humans, but several other species unknown to the Abh, as well as what clearly looked like a Abh Empress. The Abh after the killings looked confused, as he was dragged off by police.

“But my Aurora, who I named after a Abh that I found I was rather fond of, while not knowing any of this, came up with a plan to crush you into the slave army you were originally to be. And now my goal can be realized...the goal to enforce the superiority of the terragen genes on the universe. Terragens are those who have human DNA in some form. You are terragen, and shall help in this goal. Glory to the Terragens! Glory to the future Terragen Empire!”

While the Collective felt the psionic message they could not hear it contents. A message beeped across the encrypted channel the Romans had setup with them.

“Roman High Command has been informed that the message was merely a scare tactic to the Abh, and is of no concern. Roman High Command also request classification of New Rome and the Roman Emperor as value Absolute incase of a battle in this system.”

Midway, the Golden System
While the Romans did not send a ship they did sent a message, in many languages including English.

“You are currently communicating with the Abh, a deranged and hostile alien race. We are the New Roman Empire, comprised of the Romus Humans and a few other species. The Abh have been involved with mass genocide, proof can be provided. It was unprovoked and resulted in approximately 100 million deaths. Cooperation with the Abh will have your entire nation labeled as hostile as precaution, and result in termination by the combined Roman-Collective Alliance. Beyond that the New Roman Empire wishes for peaceful relations.”

The Romans quickly beeped the Collective, informing them of the new contact.

“ Captain, new message incoming…..from an unknown source…?” Velka raised her an eyebrow and pressed a button on her command console before the message began playing. The message played with the many different languages overlapping before it was reduced to a language the Septonians could understand, english.

“You are currently communicating with the Abh, a deranged and hostile alien race. We are the New Roman Empire, comprised of the Romus Humans and a few other species. The Abh have been involved with mass genocide, proof can be provided. It was unprovoked and resulted in approximately 100 million deaths. Cooperation with the Abh will have your entire nation labeled as hostile as precaution, and result in termination by the combined Roman-Collective Alliance. Beyond that the New Roman Empire wishes for peaceful relations.”

“ Was that a threat” the radio operator asked “ It sure sounded like one…” Velka finished as the tried to trace the message source, following the decaying line of electrons back to wherever it came from. They had been in system no longer than an hour before they met two extremely different and probably warring nations.

“ are they both….Terran?” said a new voice on the bridge “ Splinter factions possibly? or are these completely independent nations? he JIIC senior chief said as he walked closer to the forward veiw screen. Velka hated having spooks aboard her ship, they undermined her authority and didn’t understand naval military procedures. Everything they were involved in was also “classified” and on a need to know basis, making cooperation extremely hard. In this instance however, the JIIC officer was right, this was an odd change of events, well outside what the Kestral was sent here to do.

“Full burn bearing 12 degrees, get us out of this area…” Velka barked, mapping a course towards the nearest planetary body. “ How long until our jump drive is repaired” she asked through the intercom, hoping it would be on the shorter side of time.

“ Two hours at the least madame, we need to replace the entire coolant tubing” was the response from the crew chief, much to her dismay. It made no difference, the Septonians were leaving this situation behind them, hoping it didn’t catch up with them.

As the Roman psionic message spread through the minds of the Abh, the entire empire fell silent for a few moments, as the Abh absorbed the information. Then, a giant signal emanated from the gas giant Orenjiro, reaching into the minds of everyone in the system and even beyond as it spread into interstellar space at FTL speeds. It wasn't a psionic or magical signal, but anyone sensitive to either could feel its power. Whatever it was, it burrowed deep into the synapses of all within its range.

It was an incredibly powerful burst of energy, manifesting as a giant mental shock. It was as if the recipient had just been informed of something they couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams. For the Abh, however, the experience was different. Once again, something changed in their minds. The dreams of exploration they once held crumbled, replaced by images of dead Romans and the Imperial banner flying on New Rome. Just as it had always been, everyone was well aware of it. No explanations, no reasons, only the end result. While they could question it, they could never escape it.

With every Abh the signal reached, it grew stronger, some kind of power within then amplifying it. They themselves began transmitting, each giving off their own signature signal. Countless voices, screaming out into the void, showing all that might come across it the dreams of their owners. To leave their planet, to become a hero, to meet an alien, to learn, to explore, to love. For a moment, it was a beautiful melody, but then it changed. The voices began to synchronize. They became more uniform with every moment, until they formed only one word:

Win.

A message was sent from the Excalibur to the Roman flagship, with the Empress' voice passed on from her mech.

"Hah! You expect us to take the word of the King of Lies, the man who would steal the minds of our soldiers and force them to do your bidding! The man who carved an Empire to take from those who joined it, not give to them! The only peace with the New Roman Empire will come from your surrender or our eradication! To the aliens who would ally themselves with our enemies, you have one chance to back out or join us. After the choice you make here, there can be no going back."

She quickly redirected her attention to the Septonian vessel, transmitting a map of Abh space along with known Roman positions to the ship. She also transmitted a heavily compressed file, along with some sort of program to decode the information inside of it.

"We cannot guarantee your safety if you leave our space, so I'd have to advise against it. The 7th planet-the gas giant-is the location of our shipyards and fuel production facilities. You'll be safe there. Another good choice is Heiwa no Tochi, it's a pacifist colony outside of Imperial jurisdiction, though we trade with them quite often. I doubt the Romans would bother attacking it. We are honor-bound to protect and provide for you as you pass through our space, so don't hesitate to ask for help. If there's anything you need, it will be provided for you. That file contains all that we know about the Romans, as well as everything we know about ourselves."

She broke up her flight to bow, her mech carrying out the complex action the moment she ordered it. Lasis had demanded that the mechs be able to bow during their development. Apparently she had said that if they couldn't bow, then there was no reason to let them be able to fight.

"May your gods and our own grant you luck on your journey. Oh, before you do, what does 'Terran' mean? Our translators are based off of ancient technology, and usually get things right, but it identified the word as a proper noun."

The Roa'marii fleet at Kibō-hosh sat in orbit around the planet. Since the Draconian fleet had left, they had moved the entirety of the fleet back out into high orbit so as to be ready should more Xenos show up. It had been some time since they had sent the General down to the planet's surface to meet with these Abh that called the planet home. As the fleet waited, a message suddenly shot through the system, sensors picking it up as slightly psionic in nature, yet at the same time not. While whatever was sent couldn't be translated, it seemed to be having an effect on the Abh below. While the effects could only really be guessed at due to the difference in species, the wave seemed to ignite some sort of aggression in the Abh, especially towards the Romans if their treatment of the fallen soldiers was any indication. As this information was relayed down to the Roa'marii on the planet, General Jer'rahd Kaisur was noticing the same thing from his position. An angry grimace seemed to have overtaken the Abh he was currently in the company of. He made a point to mention it.

"I'm sorry, it seems some form of psychic message has been sent through your people. It held no meaning to me, yet I could sense it. Based on its effect on you Abh it seems you understood it to be important. Would you mind explaining it to us?"

The Nightmare Emperor watched over the planet of Dullahan closely before turning towards the Valkyrie next to him.

"General Silvad, I'm going to return to Arcadia once more. General Velkorn will see to the repair of Dullahan before returning to her duties with the Queen's Cross. I'm going to leave you a small piece of my fleet to replace that which you lost from the expeditionary fleet that investigated the Fairy Trade house and defended this planet. You may continue to watch Dullahan if you wish, but I suggest you move forwards in your expeditions. Perhaps you can find the home worlds of the Faerie or some of the other Xenos you picked up. Regardless of your choice, I am leaving soon. I suggest you gather the Valkyrie to fly once more."

With that said, The Nightmare Emperor dismissed General Silvad to her own ship. A short time later, the piece. Of Battlefleet Nox that had traveled to Dullahan left to return to Arcadia. The General gathered her troops who had recovered from their injuries in the time on Dullahan and along with the ship's left for her, prepared for a jump towards a not too distant nebula. While the Roa'marii had fought in Nebulae before, they tried to avoid doing so unless necessary. Yet this was no longer a war expedition, it had become one of discovery. With that mentality, the Roa'marii Expedition fleet A-9 prepared to make its journey into the unknown once more. This time with a small group of fairies on board who had wished to return to the Roa'marii fleet as a sort of payment for saving their lives as well as the Sakari mage wishing to return to territory under the control of his C'ran Dominion.

In the Keep, General Zer'icia Velkorn was busy among the wounded of the city. While there were a large number of wounded, many had only received somewhat minor wounds and we're capable of being housed in normal hospitals not under the Queen's Cross. The wounded Xenos however, as well as those with severe wounds had been brought to the keep for their treatment. It had kept the general fairly busy over the course of the Nightmare Emperor's time on the planet, with hardly any time to even acknowledge his presence. Yet they were learning much from the corpses they had scavenged from the battle of the Xenos belonging to the democracies. When General Silvad taking the majority of her soldiers away again as well as some of the Xenos that wished to leave, it cleared up a good deal of time as General Velkorn no longer had as many patients. The Democracies ships still remained in the system as well as the replacement ships for the Dullahan Defense fleet. She got the occasional question from the Democracies soldiers, but for the most part, they remained on their own, some seemingly against the decision to join the United Empire. Yet, regardless, her work continued.

The Roa'marii soldiers were shocked, to most of them, it had seemed as if the Naga tank had suddenly turned on the Naga around it. Those that were paying closer attention however noticed the unknown xeno running from a nearby building and with an almost unnatural speed and expertise board and capture the tank before the Naga could really respond. Now the tank was firing on any Naga not behind cover, and those that were on the edge of town were quickly retreating. There wasn't much left to do but clean up those that remained. Once this was done, the officer in charge of the Roa'marii soldiers walked towards the Naga tank, now no longer firing, yet still powered and being operated. When he reached it, the hatch on top opened, revealing the Abh Empress inside, who then climbed out. As she stood there, her injuries visible, yet seemingly going unnoticed, more Roa'marii soldiers walked up, weapons at hand but lowered.

One soldier walked up, seemingly no weapons on his person. He stood tall before the Empress for a moment before bowing slightly. As he bowed, his form changed, his hair turned an inky black and his eyes pale red. Meanwhile, his combat armor changed, taking on an almost pristine black shine, a marking on the shoulder signifying the 69th legion. The Soldier then stood from his bow and introduced himself to the Abh Empress.

"Greetings, I am General Rhe'deri Peltis of the United New Roa'marii Empire. If I'm correct, you are an Abh are you not? While I could be wrong, your appearance matches the descriptions received from both our Battlefleet Alpha and other sources. If this is so, I'd like to welcome you to Arcadia, though I'm sure that's already been done if you were staying here. Your injuries look extensive, yet don't seem to bother you. Perhaps that has something to do with the magic you seem to be using. Might I ask, who exactly are you?"

"If you wish to use your own armor, then I will allow you to do so. I will ask that you at least carry a mana rifle with you regardless of whether or not you decide to use it. Now, I suggest you get some rest before we leave. The forces should be arriving at their starting locations soon. We will be among the first to strike, so you'd better be ready."

After the piece of Battlefleet Nox sent to deal with the trouble on Dullahan returned to Arcadia, the Nightmare Emperor had gone straight to the Moonlight Castle. Something had changed on Arcadia, and though he couldn't quite tell what yet, he knew it was important he find out. After a short time spent in the Castle, the Nightmare Emperor took a trip down to the Statue Garden, where the source of the imbalance seemed to be originating from.

Once there, the reason became immediately apparent. Standing on a pedestal formerly occupied by the ancient Roa'marii General Ruin was a large man. He was a Roa'marii soldier, although it was near impossible to know this for certain due to the great amount of heavy armor the man wore. The armor itself was ancient, seemingly crafted from the long dead bones of some enormous creature. The armor hid the entirety of the man's body, even through the plates all that could be seen were more pieces of armor. The helmet he wore covered the entirety of the man's head, only two eye slits allowing any vision through the wall of bone. Through these eyes came a pale white glow.

Then, without even moving from his spot on the pedestal, the soldier spoke, his voice dull and featureless, the only emotion a sadness buried deep as if even the man speaking had forgotten it existed.

"Nightmare Emperor, Lord of Shadows, King Among the gods, and Ruler over all the Roa'marii. It has been a long time since I've been able to move. You know who I am, and while I myself am not completely sure how I was freed, I think you at least have an idea."

"General Ruin, the god that time forgot. I admit, while I felt the imbalance caused by your being set free, I did not expect it to be so. I am curious as to how you know who I am, seeing as you have never been let out during the entirety of my reign. In fact, if I'm correct, you haven't been released since early in the Mad Emperor's rule millennia ago."

"Correct. I was sealed in stone under my Emperor's reign and not let out since. I have, however been awake this entire time. I can see what happens around me, and I've known about your reign since it begun. Though, being free now, I wonder if it might be coming to an end. Something powerful freed me, for what reason I haven't a clue. All I do know is that I will serve you now as I did my Emperor then."

"You are the seventh god of the Roa'marii, I am sure you would be useful among the soldiers. Your experience is even more invaluable than that of my other Generals. I will accept your assistance in any matter in which it is required, but should you wish to return to stone I will not stop you."

"Very well. As much as I liked the cold embrace of my stone tomb, I must stay active for now at least. I am obviously needed for something, whatever that may be."

The angel Aviana responded to the Roman's reason for calling on her with a smile on her face.

"Do not be afraid, I have no ill will towards you. You say you brought me forth purely for the sake of discovery. Well then it seems you now know of me and my sisters along with our goddess. Since I am now awakened, I will give you a warning. Corruption is beginning to spread through this galaxy. I was tasked with guiding those under my care away from this corruption of chaos and towards harmony. The Goddess Faust will protect all who come to her, and it is my duty to guide you to her if that is your desire."

Once the Romans agreed to the use of their meeting room, the Roa'marii spoke once more to the builder.

"Xenos refers to your being of a formerly unknown species. Now that we have a true name to call you we will use it to refer to you. I am pleased to meet you Builder of the Congregation. As a representative of the United New Roa'marii Empire, I am honored to make first contact with you and your people. I will also extend an invitation to our home world of Arcadia once you are finished here. I'm sure the Nightmare Emperor would like to meet with you and your Congregation. Any information you wish to exchange would be greatly appreciated."

Roman Colony World A-01 - Capital

"Indeed, this is a good offer, excuse me a moment." The Builder bowed slightly, in a moment he communed with the Congregation. "As I suspected, the Congregation believes this is a good offer." The Builder looked to his escorts, before looking back at the Roa'marii. "If it is alright, give us the coordinates of your planet and we shall meet you there, or if you wish, we shall travel there together. We have finished our engagement with the Romans." The Builder looked to the governor. "Once again, governor, thank you for this exchange, we shall take our leave now." The Builder looked toward the Roa'marii and nodded.

The Builder, with his Seighis escorts floated out the structure, onto the docked Teynen. He turned to the entrance of the structure and patiently awaited the Roa'marii.

Velka wasn’t sure she could break their operational security by exposing that they were from a different Galaxy. It wasn’t exactly outside of her orders to say where they were from the neighboring galaxy but she had to run it by the JIIC senior chief on board. * at a later time….* she thought as she keyed the command console send a message back to the Abh vessel.

“ We are allied with another people that use a similar language to yours. The “Terran’s” are the people we have mistaken you with. We will seek out these worlds and see if they fit our needs, we will be sure to maintain contact with any of you people we meet".

Velka then scrolled down to the message sent by the “Roman” people, still wondering what to make of the message. They did not have much experience in the ways of diplomacy it seems, was that information? a Threat? or both? To the Velka and her JIIC handlers it sure seemed like a threat, it didn’t seem like they were two keen on “ Peaceful Relations”. Velka tapped a series of commands into the console and replied to the Roman vessel

“ We are not sure who you are used to dealing with, but our people don’t respond well to threats. As far as first impressions go, you are not making a good one, we will cooperate with whoever we deem necessary”.

Velka sent the message and sighed, keying the intercom for the engineering compartment “ What is the status on our jump drive?” she said flatly, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. “ Fitting the final coolant hose now” a crewman said “ Five minutes, then try the drive. The five minutes went by quickly before a green status light light up, signifying that the drive was ready.

The Golden System of New Rome
The Line
Situation: Zero, Zero, Zero

"Ugh, this is going no where." The Fleet Master said before waving his hand dismissively "Get me firing solutions on all infected vessels within the system and prepare to operate."
"And the new contact in the field, praelatus meus?" One of the Bridge Officers said, turning gently away from the terminal and letting his eyes grow duller for a moment
"Dispatch a nano tracker, that we might send an emissary to wherever they come from at a later date. For now, they appear to have no trouble communicating with the other nations, key in to the Roman dialect of the Standard Language and send them a courteous message. I sense... something." The Fleet Master paused for a moment and examined the view screen before speaking again "Get me a standard scan report on that ship and match it to all known space particles, see if you can't find an outline; I want to know if this is some Abh ploy to delay the inevitable." The Fleet Master replied with another dismissive hand wave, before clasping his hands before him. There was a pause of silence on the bridge before the Overwatch subprogram chimed in
"I detected heightened blood levels. Are you frustrated?" She inquired in a rather upbeat and informal tone, the hologram of a star appearing on the holo-pedestal beside him
"I am, Nova. It is a source of continued consternation that our opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat and simply give up this senseless struggle." He grunted and leaned against the pedestal and glanced over the reports

Message to the Aradite ship

"Attention- please. This is Overwatch Sub Program 9993821 of the Collective of Civilised Species Equitem transmitting non-priority message; Unidentified vessel of interest, confirm your civil or military status immediately."

Message to the Romans

"Attention- please. This is Overwatch Sub Program 9993821 of the Collective of Civilised Species Equitem transmitting message; Romus praelatus, the requested has already been assigned a tactical value, this program has decided that value shall stand."

Ashes to Ashes
Secrets of the Ancients
Situation: Midnight, Investigate, Establish

The Argutus glanced towards Posthuma, who waved them on with her right hand as she tapped a few commands into a terminal and directed her units over the facility. The Argutus turned back towards Vahlen and one of them spoke slowly
"Proceed."

Midway, Between the Golden system and Abh controlled territory
STC Kestral
Capt Velka Vellais

“ This cannot be happening” Velka said aloud as yet another message was received. They were certainly not keeping a low profile. * it is just my luck* she thought again, letting out loud sigh before forcefully pressing a key on her terminal. The language was quickly matched with another roman message from before and was quickly translated into english.

“ Another Roman message?” the radio officer said rather puzzled before combing through the message again, trying to translate certain words manually to make it easier to understand. “ I think this is from another ship….maybe even another nation? It doesn’t match the same electrical pattern as before” he said as his face was buried in his terminal.

“ Two Allied nations, in one place, at the same time?” The JIIC senior chief said in a thoughtful tone, the gears were certainly turning in his head. As a master of political action and covert operations, Velka expect him to come to the answer before she did. It seemed however the mind of a spy master was easily fooled by conventional military tactics, something she would surely make fun of him later for.

“ We just warped into the beginnings of a battle…” she said quietly before tapping a series of commands into her terminal, bringing up the adaptive star chart.

“ Engage the active radar, give me one ping, 360 degree scan please.” she said calmly as the radio officer set out to work. Some of the younger members aboard the vessel laughed a little inside as she said the word ping. Due to the lack of oxygen in the vacuum there would be no audible ping, this was simply a phrase used to describe a radar scan, or using the active radar array. The Septonian orbital navy naturally evolved from the terrestrial navy, keeping much of the terminology as their sea-borne counterparts. Although humorous, everyone knew what she meant, even if they thought it to be archaic.

If the Kestral hadn’t made their presence known before, it certainly did now. By using its active radar, it would be able to see all of the objects around it, be it rocks, planets, black holes or other vessels. The downside to that action was anything that was running a passive radar, or anyone that happened to look at their radar scope would be able to see the Kestral for a moment, lit up like a super nova.

Would her fears be confirmed? Velka would have to wait for the response from her radar.

"Psychic message? So that's what they are. We call them Sceca Events, the oldest one recorded by our scientists was after the Two Centuries' War. I'm surprised that you called it a message, we assumed it was latent genetic code that activated at certain times. Frankly, I can't believe that you don't have them. We always assumed that they were an essential part of the development of a spacefaring species. Then again, we thought the same about these."

He clutched one of his apparent earrings, holding it out in front of his head as if presenting it to them.

"When we discovered that the Romans didn't have these, we couldn't understand where they got computer technology. We had no idea that having a natural organ inspire digital technology was the exception!"



The magic energy still flowed through the Empress, keeping her from more or less collapsing. Before greeting the soldier, she bowed to the dead Naga. Only then did she turn to face the soldier, and bowed notably deeper as a kind of apology for waiting to get to him.

"Yes, I am Abh. My name is Lamsar Na'brel, High Admiral of the Spaceborne Navy and Empress of the Eight World's Empire. I don't know what this magic you speak of is though. It's understandable that someone who had never met a Na'brel would think I just did something special, but calling it magic seems to be going a bit far. The ability to overcome pain is something every child of the Na'brel family has."



The Kestral's radar ping showed exactly what they didn't want to see: hundreds upon hundreds of starships, lined up with weapons trained on each other. The entire section of the asteroid belt seemed like it was going to turn into a shooting gallery any minute, with the Kestral right in the middle of it all. Most of the Abh ships had pulled back slightly behind their flagship, an almost incomprehensible choice at a battle line like this.There simply wasn't any reason for the formation, it was like they were planning to put new ships in front of the old ones. Obviously, however, there wasn't anywhere for new ships to come through.

As they monitored the scope, they picked up a radio transmission coming from a tiny buoy within the area. It had been sent from the gas giant of the system, one of the planets the Empress had mentioned as safe.

"Empress, we're ready over here. The ships are in the air and ready for deployment. I can send them over right now."

The Abh flagship launched its own buoy, which was almost instantly accompanied by another one from the gas giant.

"Understood. I'll need the exact coordinates, so the fleet will be late. Are you sure about this?"

Yet another exchange took place, with there being only a few seconds between the launch of the first buoy and the arrival of the second one.

"No, the risk is still too great. I wouldn't give that order if Ningen himself told me to."

The flagship launched another buoy, and the exchange was over.

A final message was sent from the Abh mechs as they broke off from the ship, knowing that if the Romans found them inside the debris field they would be obliterated.

"I'll see to it that they are prepared to receive you. We must return to the Excalibur, I can do more good on the bridge than at these controls."



"You know, Lasec, you might want to go to the doctor. I'll bet Ningen himself heard that one."

Lasec let out yet another sneeze, something that had been all too common recently. It wasn't allergy season, and that seemed to be good enough for him. He kept refusing to get checked, and blamed it on the Romans being dirty. Yoshdach also blamed it on the Romans, but said it was an alien virus of some sort. Despite Lasec constantly reminding her that diseases usually don't infect alien species, she considered the Romans "close enough". To be honest, she could be right. It's not like anyone had compared Abh and Roman DNA (or at least released the results).

"I still say they just don't bathe. Besides, there are more important things than my sneezing."

"It'd better not be another drink. I think we've all decided that exactly one Abh can handle that, and it's you."

"It's not! I've built a thing!"

"How very specific."

Lasec simply ignored her comment, and motioned for her to follow him. She did so, knowing that he probably wouldn't take no for an answer. He led her to an old shed, where farming equipment had been kept before the Romans reorganized the labor force. When he opened the door, she discovered just why he had kept what he built a secret. Sort of.

"I understand exactly one thing here: the Commune's flag. And that these are completely worthless."

"That's because I got the idea from a dream!"

Yoshdach stared at the device, now horrified by its origins. Considering how the food kept ending up, she wasn't exactly optimistic about the device.

"And what the hell is it? I mean... they're just really big hunks of metal."

"You can put them on your legs! Watch!"

Lasec jumped into the two metal... things, which he had apparently situated upright for that very purpose. His legs slid into them perfectly, but he let out a yelp as he hit the inside of it hard from the jump, and fell forwards. He and the device smashed into the floor, bruising his arm.

"It worked in the dream!" He said, trying to defend himself.

"Did that dream happen to involve badly written genre fiction? Because I'm starting to think that your life is a parody of badly written genre fiction."

"Hey! It really works!"

"You said that about the gun too."

Refusing to answer, he simply closed his eyes and focused extremely hard.

"Bad. Genre. Fiction." Said Yoshdach, and just after she did, Lasec's legs lifted up into the air as they pulled him along.

"Negative mass floats!" he exclaimed triumphantly, floating upside down with a stupid smile on his face.

"You can't control them." She said, planting her face firmly in her hand. "You got your hands on skycar fuel and you can't control what you made with it. I pray that the Army gets here before you have a chance to do anything."

"I'll be able to soon! I'm getting miniature antimatter thrusters soon!"

Yoshdach stared for almost a minute before finally responding.

"How the hell do you plan to get those?!"

"There's a resistance, you know."

"The traders? Like you got a deal with them."

"I did! Look!"

He reached over to a desk, stretching his arm out as far as it would go. When he found that he couldn't reach it, he began wiggling, trying to get himself closer. Finally, he managed to reach a piece of paper, presenting it to Yoshdach.

"Holy shit you got a deal with the traders."

"They provide the thrusters, we both get the fuel."

"Lasec, please don't do this. Just sell the thing to them, you shouldn't risk your life."

"Only I can control it. The negative mass needs a... whatever the hell this is current to be controlled."

"Well then I'm coming."

"No! It's too ri-"

"Then why are you going?"

Lasec paused, before quietly mumbling "Okay", then deactivating the device. He fell right on the tips of it, presumably where he was putting the thrusters. A few wobbles later he was on the ground.

"We're meeting at the old school at noon tomorrow, look stereotypical. There'll be groups spread out across town, all ones of two. I can explain the plan better when it's time."