@6slyboy6
Relica Surface
High-Temple of the Seeder-Gods, High-Prophet Office
13:08 Relica Central Time

Xanathor sat easy in his chair as the marines barged into his office. Reckoning would be at hand. Whatever happened, he would not bow for the governor. But instead of the governor, Militiantus came inside. Xanathor did try to get up, for defying such a man would surely mean a much greater insult. But then the man let him sit. Almost as if he did not care for the whole situation.

Filled was such a heavy word. It was certainly not so bad. But getting two fleets stationed within orbit surely was an issue. Xanathor sensed that they served a different purpose. A blockade?

Xanathor observed the images. It was far from quiet, far from calm. He had hoped that his Shadowstalkers would have kept themselves and the others at bay. But alas, when tanks are stationed at the monastery, a battle would unfold obviously. Secretly it pleased Xanathor. These humans were utterly crushed by the Geomancers. The old order had lost none of its robust strength. Yet he faked a troubled sight as he watched the video unfold.

"You misunderstand." Xanathor began his defense. "Why would I acknowledge there fanatics? These zealots that believe the old can return?" he countered at the human. "They are not Relicants. They are but... relics. Memories of a distant time that will soon vanish." he tried to assure the man. "As for steps taken to apprehend them, I am afraid that such a task has long since been surrendered to the human authorities. our own officials do what they can. But it was by human decree that our peace keeping forces were to be cut."

The High-Prophet let out a heavy sigh. Once again, his species had to suffer at the hands of the opressors. Declaring that freedom is the price of security. But Xanathor knew they would get no security. Humans did not care less for Relicants. They only cared for their creations and their knowledge. "You desire a blockade." Xanathor stated. "I hope you will understand the consequences that come from this."

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Relica Surface
Heiseria flatlands, the Amber Expanse
14:09 Relica Central Time

The field had long since been abandoned. The farmers either fled the place or died tending the fields. Either way, the wild wheat had grown higher than Relicants ever could be. In fact, it grew even higher than humans could ever hope to be. Through the field untouched for ages, a small group of Relicants moved. Looking around to avoid detection. The EOM forces in orbit would find them sooner rather than later. But before that happened, they had to reach their destination.

Which was a clearing near a lake. Near the shore an Angel-class corvette landed. Before it a small group of rugged looking Relicants stood. Boasting scars and some even fresh wounds. They were far from the elegant, small creatures on Relica. But they were Relicant either way. "Captain Oborus." The Voidwalker leading the group of Geomancers greeted. Keeping a careful distance from the pirates. The captain, a female Relicant with quite a few scars but no fresh wounds stood in the middle. She stood more decorated than her crew and above all else, she held the shoulder-pads of an actual captain. Oborus was formed Relicant Navy.

"I'm happy you received my signal." the Shadowstalker continued in his altered voice. "I have a proposal for you. We know that you only have a handful of tide casters at your command. They are the only reason why you're still alive. But you lack the strength to deliver meaningful and powerful strikes."

"That's strong coming from a grounded whelp. You ruin two tanks and they've stationed 2 fleets in the orbit. Piracy was nice and easy if you bunch didn't throw those humans off the cliffs. Now I need to hide more than I can fight. So tell me, why shouldn't I fly up right this damn second?"

"Because, if you disliked us so much that you wouldn't want to work together, you wouldn't be here." the Shadowstalker stated. Oborus raised an eyebrow but then did gave him a small nod. "Again, you lack the killing power. The rebellion on Relica will survive. But the times of piracy are counted in this system. But if they must station 2 fleets here-"

"Those 2 fleets must be taken away from somewhere else..." Oborus finished off. "You're not talking about hitting the blockade. You sneaky bastards." For a moment, Oborus remained silent, thinking about the proposal. "I will take a few bands of these Geomancers. But they will be under my direct command."

"How do we know we can trust you will use them to the advantage of the rebellion, and not just to the enjoyment of your own pirate ventures?" Asked the shadowstalker, already anticipating the answer.

"You don't. But trust this, I hate those humans a lot more than most Relicants. They slaughtered the fleet, Shadow. They killed my admiral, murdered my colleagues and massacred crew under my command. They'll pay for all of this. Don't worry."

A few minutes later the Angel-class Corvette began it's lift-off. The tide casters hid the ship in the watervapor of the lake. The scanners would be confused, thrown off. Sooner rather than later the EOM would know that something got past their blockade and they'd send scout crafts. But in the end, it would all be too late. The Relicant rebellion had made a gamble. Now they had to hope it would pay off.

@Sophrus

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Uncharted Sector

It has been 5 minutes since the Mekhar ship made the jump, and the crew has been waiting patiently for the Gargan ship. However, knowing the power of the EOM fleet on pursue, if they don't appear quick then it may mean that they have been destroyed. You never know with the tech difference between the warp drives how long it takes for them to reach the same destination. The captain sat down in his chair, and looked at a display with a big timer on it. Almost 6 minutes. He sighed and signaled for the pilot to warm up the engines.

But as the engines began rumbling, the Gargan ship suddenly jumped out of the warp. It's a relief that they didn't get blasted to tiny metal pieces. Without much of a delay, the captain opened a direct comms channel with the Gargan ship, voice only, on the point-to-point lasers. "It is a welcoming sight to see that you've escaped the EOM fleet using basic knowledge about the galaxy." Maybe such a smug introduction wasn't the best way to begin diplomatic relations, but this was just one race from the many thousands that the humans have thrown into what is essentially slavery. Jumping into conclusions about their power may lead to further Mekhar deaths. "Gargan, you have proven yourself worthy for a meeting with the Mekhar Independancy. You will be monitored from now on, and your actions will be relayed directly to the Council." The Captain signaled for the crew to get ready, and then continued the message.

"You will have to prove your worth in a set of challenging tasks aimed to determine your potential. If we are to help you, you must show us how YOU can help us, and why we shouldn't help one of the millions of other races that rebel against the EOM." The captain signaled for the pilot who began accelerating the ship towards a nearby asteroid field. "For your first task, we'll see just how good your ships and your skills are. Follow us through the asteroid field without using your warp drives, and we'll talk once you made it across." With that, the Mekhar ship began accelerating rapidly, reaching a lightning fast speed without effort. It would soon fade out of vision from the Gargan ship, waiting for them on the other side of the massive cluster of asteroids. Unbeknownst to the Gargans, a few automated drones have been hidden in the asteroid field as a security measure to protect the Mekhar fringe worlds from intruders. However, the Mekhar have turned off all but the smallest of these drones for the test's duration. A thousand cameras are now watching the performance of the Gargan ship, relaying the feed to the Council of Mekhar.

Diarg, Captain of the catapult cruiser Firblog, arrived in the uncharted sector on the tail of the Mekhar ship. He still had his crew at high alert, weapons primed and drone craft in the launch tubes. However there was only the one ship that he could see.

"full scan of the area! i want no-" Diarg started
"Incoming Hail sir"
"open the channel, i still want that scan"

The captain listened to the Mekhar about worthiness and tests. He tightened his grip on his command seat, Worth? tests? this was insane. The Gargan had been fighting the Empire single handedly for 300 years. No support, no allies, nothing and the Mekhar wanted to test their worth? Sure, them Mekhar had been doing the same with more advanced technology and whole planets of resources to draw from. Before he could reply he noticed the Mekhar ship accelerate away.

"fine" he grumbled to himself, if that is how they want to play this. he would play, briefly. The cruiser was not designed for complicated high speed maneuvers but what it lacked in speed or turning ability he more than made up for in firepower. If he had to he could blast a hole in the cluster of asteroids. So the cruiser started its sublight drives and moved forward, accelerating much slower than the Mekhar. As they drew within the range of the Asteroids several of the Mekhar small drones took off out of the asteroids and sped towards the cruiser.

"Captain, he have signatures. Appear to be light attack drones."
"Launch drones, target with point defence guns. Our armor should hold off these attacks"

after a moment 36 Gargan light drones exploded from the cruiser and took off to intercept the Mekhar drones. The combined fire from the Cruiser and drones made short work of the Mekhar drones. The captain quite annoyed now watched as the gap that may have allowed his ship through started to close between the asteroids. "Lock missiles, asteroid 1, 2, and 3. prepare to reload and lock asteroid 33, 46, 81, and 90."

As the cruiser closed with the astroids within a few kilometers a punishing salvo of missiles launched from the cruiser blasting the asteroids away from each other making a hole for the cruiser, and peppering in exploded asteroid dust. It pressed on, a shield of drones around it keeping any mekhar drones back while the cruiser blasts a hole through the asteroids. A display of obvious frustration by a ship who could not have easily navigated the asteroids in the same manner.

Upon reaching the other side and drawing up near the Mekhar ship Diarg opens a hailing channel. "Now hold on a moment." he starts, voice obviously twinged with frustration "The Gargan, Void Raiders have been fighting against the Empire for 300 years after we lost our home world. We have had no allies, no support. How does that alone not make us worthy?" Said the captain quite upset, like the hundred of years his people fought to survive, much less build the grand fleet they now have was for nothing. "My ship may not be that advanced, but we had to build her in space floating in a nebula. 6 Gargan engineers where killed during her construction from lighting in the nebula. If you want to continue your frivolous tests, fine. But! if you had been watching anything outside your borders for the past few hundred years you would have seen us fighting the Empire on the fringes of your space. You would have seen us growing, and winning."

@Sophrus

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Uncharted Sector

The intolerance of this "Captain Diarg" made the Mekhar captain raise an eyebrow. If he would have the chance, he'd mock this Gargan, but the council was watching their actions. He heard a bleep, and his command screen switched to the face of a council member shrouded in darkness, and many more standing behind him. "Captain, show him our surveillance. Tell them who we are. Share with them our story. See if they will stay insolent after learning some of the truth." The captain nod silently, and opened up the channel to the Gargan ship again.

This time, the face of the Mekhar captain appears on the screen, his voice no longer morphed. A creature that resembles an octopus in many ways, but somehow still looks humanoid enough to be considered more than a monster. A large breathing apparatus is covering some sort of a nostril on his face along with his beak, and his large baloon eyes focus on the screen. He speaks up in a soft tone and his words are all clearly understandable, but his accent with Common still needs a lot of work. "You accuse us of turning a blind eye on the state of the galaxy." He grumbles behind his rebreather and signals to a crew member who activates a few weird looking terminals. "Very well, we shall show you the extent of our sight." The broadcast switches again, this time showing the human's homeworld.



The bustling cities and the vehicles flying above in the shimmering sunlight, and the large crystalline towers that are a reminder of the human's architectural feats. A few holo billboards show recent pirate attacks: one is showing a Gargan ship attack in Sector 17. It is obvious that the footage is realtime, and there are no signs of tinkering in the footage. "This is the core of the EOM. You can almost see the Iron Fortress from this angle." The captain smirks and continues with his monolouge. "We have eyes even in the places that the humans think are the safest in the universe. We can see their diplomatic affairs and we can see their fleet's movements. We can see your mindless rage and fury as you do barbaric acts of aggression against citizens of the EOM who have done no wrong. We can see everything in this universe without a moment's delay."

The footage fades, and the captain's face returns. "You may find us to be advanced in technology, but our technocratic triumph is just a shade of our past selves. We were once a proud race that controled a large portion of a galaxy, far far away. We once thought that the epiphany of our science was the most advanced in the known universe." A grim look takes over the captain's face, and he turns away from teh camera. "But we were wrong. We have been tossed from power by a race even greater. We were also slaves like you, but we broke away and escaped to this galaxy. We were nothing more than humble and silent observers for hundreds of years. But the rampage of the EOM has disturbed our isolation and forced our hands. We know the ramifications of giving lesser races technological advancements, and we don't want to risk getting the same results again. That is why we defend against the EOM in a war of attrition, and that is why we are hesitant to help you. That is why we must see if you are worthy for our technology and knowledge. If you were to lose, our advantage will be gone in a second, and the rest of the galaxy will also stand no chance in the face of the tyrant emperor."
The captain now turns back, his face more serious than before. The rest of the crew watch him silently, and their tentacles are clenched in anguish. Whatever he has to say next, will be a moment the rest of the galaxy will praise or curse for millenias to come. "Gargan, are you truly ready to bear the weight of our knowledge, even if it could mean the end of every sentient life in this galaxy if it falls into the wrong hands? Will you alone, decide the faith of every other race that suffers under the humans tyrannic rule?" The broadcast shows footages of many different worlds revolting against the EOM. A minotaur smashing a spider tank, Yorvans blowing up a church, and geomancers throwing tanks off a cliff. "Are you willing to take all that responsibility alone?"

@6slyboy6@Liotrent
Chapter 4: Those away from home
Sector 15 Gemini asteroid mining facility

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Halflings and elephant morphs mine the floating rock day and night , providing their master with an endless supply of precious minerals.

Once renowned members of an empire reduced to slaves that toil for unworthy masters, they wait and endure vowing to avenge this dishonor, they secretly train every second while preparing for a prison break, waiting for the perfect time to break out.

They train, make weapons, and test the facility exploiting all of the weaknesses that plagued the facility, all was ready for their escape all that they needed was an opening.

The Gemini mining facility is a fairly-guarded mining facility to prevent precious cargo from being stolen by pirates or other rebels that inhabits the space of the EOM, equipped with automatic point-defense systems and a mercenary group by the name of the Red cloud in case of a break out by the Rarian slaves or a rebel cell attack.

The Red cloud’s flagship the Mist guards the facility, equipped long range missiles and two formidable Railgun turrets, with a tried and tested crew this ship is not an easy obstacle.

The mining facility houses millions of Rarian slaves that are mostly comprises of elephant looking Rarians and a breed of Rarians most call Halflings, crossbreeds of other Rarian species, because of the dangers of working with revolt prone species the mining facility has its own mercenary garrison and their own patrol ships.

*Mining facility Mess hall*

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The mess hall was a mess with hundreds of Rarians trying to get lunch out of the small kitchen hall manned by Rarians, because of hunger and exhaustion a fight ensures resulting in 3 dead and 5 injured as the mercenary intervene.

“We can’t take this anymore.” A elephant morph that has two pickaxes for hands speaks as he eats “Don’t worry things will change” A Halfing with antlers with the features of a Minotaur answers as he finishes his meal “We just need an opening and we’re as good as free “He continues as he finishes his drink “My men are prepared and we have enough weapons for the plan.” He finishes as he leaves “So are mine Titanus” He answers as he continues eating.

Chapter 4 next step

Mount Tamir

*Industrial Breakthrough* (the industrial revolution)

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The Rarians have stopped their raids against the EOM to work with their special projects, as the fortress mountain industrial complex has been completed flowing the empire with weapons, gear and above all materials to increase the Rarians technological capability.

And with the sudden increase in goods the first trade company of the empire takes root assembling favors and money using it to get manpower and supplies that Karduke focuses.

Soon the new vehicles and the new weapons prototypes gets distributed to the public but more importantly the special project the opera music has been started.

*Research Breakthrough*

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Because of the success of the industrial complex Jake and his fellow science has started expanding their place of operations buying out caverns and materials to create the first research complex of the new Rarian empire.

Because of the success of the prototype guns Jake and his pupils starts on developing an suit or armor that can withstand the power of guns but because of little success and no access to needed supplies Jake was forced to stop the research until the needed supplies has been acquired.

Since the number of injures has risen Jake invention of body tinkering has improved in a lot of ways from increase in uses like increase speed, to replacing arms with weapons, and applying armor to expose areas to burned parts of the body.

Due to the increase in body tinkered individual the Rarians have developed a new unit called the hardened elites, veterans that survived combat with the EOM ready to take their revenge, commonly used as shocked infantry they are men that will not surrender to pain.

*The war council chambers*

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The followers of Karduke gathers as they discussed the next steps of the empire.

“The city of the bunny morphs was captured by the EOM in the first Rarian-EOM war but I heard they buried the city when they captured the last remaining surface cities of the old empire.” Shiya says as she places a few documents in the middle of the room showing the property of the old city.

“Expanding to the old forgotten city is a very beneficial as it is also said to be surrounded by precious minerals.” She continue ending her presentation.

“I remember the city its fall was a great defeat for us.” Karduke nostalgically says “taking the city back will provide us will supplies and valuable space.” He continues

“How do we even get to it.” Diy argues “How about the underground river? “Ren proposes” if we ride the underground river then it should take us to the city” She explains.

“ok then I’ll permit it Diy, shiya take your men and escort her to the city.” He says ending the council “be careful and take care” He says to them before he leaves.

Soon the three armies prepare for the trip stocking up on food, water, gear and weaponry for the long journey.

Chapter: 4 Those that wait

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The hidden dagger focused on stocking up on weaponry and supplies for the next coming years as the presence of ships have stopped rebel operations on the planet.

Focusing on getting more recruits and equipment the hidden dagger waits for their next move against the slavers because of this decision the hidden dagger grows in numbers integrating more zenos into their organization.

Soon the hidden dagger has started to acquire more resources and equipment but because of the loss of Luke the training efforts were falling behind.

Chapter: 4 Time bomb

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The slavers that occupied the planet has demanded the lifting of the blockade in the planet saying that if it ensures there will be accidents.

Soon they station men in the walls of the cities not letting any of the EOM soldier inside.

The Black Sun have been monitoring an unknown human faction that threatens the formation of a free Republic, an Era of unity and peace, no more rampant civil unrest, no more rampant war, it was time to put an end to it one way or another, however this UAE or the United Anarchist Empire as ironic as it sounds is a threat to that ideal.

Sector 15, Gemini Mining Facility, the Black Sun have been monitoring this for days, it was time for them to make a move, the fleet, a hodgepodge of stolen imperial ships modified and completely overhauled for their needs, along with several xeno ships that have been found abandoned or stolen from docks on imperial worlds, also heavily modified.

"This is The Hellfire, when do we engage?"

The fleet admiral simply waved a hand at the glowing screens, and spoke in reply to the Hellfire's captain, "When the sleepers say we can."

Another ping this time it was encrypted, "Captain, the prisoners in here just started a commotion, there are several dead and injured, some of the staff are diverted into the medical wing and morgue to transport bodies, this as good a time as any to strike."

The communication was short and brief, the captain then opened fleet comms on a secure channel, "All missile frigates and torpedo corvettes, prepare your payloads. Helmsman, get the ships to slow burn, I want the FTL drives to be ready, we are going to hit this place hard and fast."

Activity started to fill the bridge and the ships alongside the main flagship started to whir their engines to life, their main weapons ready for combat. The captain of the main flagship Hammer of Thor then barked another order as he pulled up his other tactical view's and User interfaces. "Ensign Cruz, scramble all squadrons, they hit first, make sure the pilots know to fly like bats out of hell am I clear!?"

The Ensign then replied "Sir the pilots are scrambling, they're launching now, all pilots ready for combat flight, they also wanted to relay that and I quote 'We'll give 'em hell Captain, just give us a keg of cold beer once we get back!' end quote."

The captain chuckled and cracked a smile, "Tell Mccormic to go to hell and start their assault, frigates and corvettes close behind!"

The ensign nodded and the captain began his assault on the Gemini Asteroid facility, before doing so he opened comms to the sleeper agents "Have you prepared your little surprise? Cause once you here fighting above I need you to give them that surprise."

There was a short answer, "Surprise is ready. Acknowledge signal." as he said that the fighters and bombers went into FTL and started the assault on the facility. as they exited faster than light they started darting in all different directions doing brilliant maneuvers, the frigates and corvettes were next, waiting for confirmation that the target is distracted, the fighters and bombers really making it seem like a random pirate attack, ten whole squadrons of seven fighter and bomber craft, making it seventy small craft, doing all sorts of evasive maneuvers, they are battle hardened and crazy pilots, willing to do stunts and maneuvers a normal EOM pilot wouldn't even dare do with his craft and they were damn cocky too maybe a little too cocky as they started their attack runs.

The rest of the forces were ready to engage, at any moment, as soon as the point defense started firing. The captain then started his speech before going into battle himself. "The Mist, a formidable opponent, but like many in my own fleet, it will be boarded and it will be captured, no survivors! let the black sun rise to the occasion once again." the engines whirred to life as the rest of the fleet readied itself, ten modified corvettes, five modified frigates, two modified destroyers, and two main line modified battleships, along with a compliment of several boarding ships and assault landers.

The sleeper agents went along their business and heard the signal, their 'surprise' was ready.

@Wildman13

As the Rarians worked inside the institution the garrison doors opens letting out wave after wave of mercenaries all desperately making their way to the defensive positions of the facility not stopping to check for the any of the Rarians as the automatic-defense systems starts up guarding all of the exits of the facility.

"THIS IS THE TIME WE BECOME FREE!" Titanus says as he and his men charges into one of the doors execution the first phase of the plan "Grab the weapons" He says pointing to the floor but before they could pry open the floor some of the mercenaries opened fire on them suppressing the Rarians behind cover.

"THROW YOUR PICKAXE!" Titanus yells to one of his men which throws at them luckily scoring a hit to his head but they kept on shooting despite their loss, soon they were near them but once they were near Titanus, he let out a piercing yell catching them off guard making them drop their guns a chance titanus and his men grabbed as they crush the men with their drills and pickaxes.

After the messy encounter they opened up the hidden weapons cache also grabbing the mercenaries weapons before they head out, as they successfully secured the weapons he and his men started liberating the other Rarians.

*The Mist bridge*

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Captain Joseph Killan the proud owner of the mist and leader of the red cloud stands on one of the interrogation rooms of a nearby Gimini mining facility surrounded by strapped men in each corner "hang on your belts boys cause this is gonna be a very interesting show" He says mockily the trapped men as he throws a knife to one of the men who pleads for his life.

"PLEASE I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING JUST LET ME LIVE" He begs as the knifes gets near his head "Sorry but I'm afraid I can't let you go until I have my f....."He tries to say until one of his men hurriedly enters "Sir th....." he tries to say but as he enters a knife lands between his eyes killing him instantly "Sorry but I'm busy." The captain tauntingly says.

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"Where is the captain?!" The one of the crew yells as they scurry to their positions trying to manned the ship in absents of the captain "EVERYONE TAKE AIM TO THE APPROACHING SHIPS." A officer says as he tries to keep everything in order filling up for the captain, soon the ship lets out a volley of missiles to the black suns ships.

As the ships starts to fire the automatic-defense systems of the facilities powered up taking aim at the bombers while the garrison shambles to secure the storage facilities and the exits of the facilities preventing the loss of any slaves or minerals that were important to their cause.

The Mist starts to lets out its swarm pilots, the red clouds famous ships designed to engage in tight corners or crowned space battles, soon they go into tight formation and launched their assault against the black sun's ships.

After firing the first volley the Mist starts powering up its mightly twin Railguns.
@Liotrent

As the garrison started responding, the sleeper agents started working, both prisoner and mercenary, the surprise was about to be unveiled, as they started killing fellow mercenaries, one click of a button from a remote detonator, and all the sections where the other mercenaries were exploded, the other sleeper agents start killing operators and men from the inside, slitting throats and killing the main operators of the point defense system, the sleeper agents then start freeing and distributing arms to prisoners who didn't already have any, as the point defense system was rerouted to attack the swarm pilots, the seventy others could fly much more relaxed and free ranged as the pilots began to disengage from the point defense the red cloud of fighters, started to get lit up by the now taken over point defense systems, whilst bombers fired off their payload into The Mist and it's fighter compliment.

"Engage, oh and ensign, raise alert, I want everyone working at one hundred and ten percent."

The rest of the fleet went into FTL, as they started to engage, several torpedo corvettes and frigates came out first in all different directions, firing their payloads into The Mist and the cloud of fighters, as this created enough of a distraction to let the transports and landers dock with the facility.

The Hammer of Thor came out last and fired their own munitions at The Mist, it's sister ship, Odin's Fury came along with them, the names of the ship were from old norse mythologies that survived the Empire's purge. They wanted to practice their religion without torment from the EOM, just like many others from fringe worlds, they view the EOM as oppressive and ignorant to the needs of the ones in the outer fringes, and careless of what happens to the inhabitants that they've displaced to Xeno worlds.

"Right, ready all transports for boarding procedures, and tell Conrad to make it bloody!"

The captain barked his teeth flashing a large grin, the ensign responded with a short "Yes sir!" before relaying his message, the fight had just begun, the captain noticed that some of the ships have put their engines off, he yelled "Ensign, tell those gits to get their engines on, if the Empire hits us here, we need to be ready to scat, understand!? We're drawing too much attention here especially with multiple FTL signitures appearing out of nowhere." again the ensign answered a brief yes sir as he understood that the EOM have hit them unexpectedly before and they barely got away with their lives, half the fleet suffered because of it and the captain was not pleased that the rest of the captains still haven't learned their lessons, these were new ships and crew, it would be a waste of resources and man power if they were lost for something stupid as not keeping their engines warm.

The rest of the ships immediately powered their engines up, and charged for a quick escape some slower than others. Conrad a famous mercenary has his own reasons for joining the Black Sun, not just because he hates the Empire for ruining his business, but the fact that he was separated from his family when he was younger during a forced relocation, he has never found them, and is still searching the galaxy for them. He boarded the vessel filled with men, and readied for his departure.

"Alright boys, girls, and people in between, these bastards are lawless and cruel, our objective for the Black Sun is to fragment their presence, strike them down like the devils we all are!" he put on his helmet, and sealed it airtight, his oxygen supply was high, and his body was heavily armored, his boots allow him to magnetize to surfaces in zero gravity, and he can disengage it at will, allowing for controlled RCS flight with the suit. All the other members are equipped similarly, all they're waiting for is the Mist and its fighter compliment to be disabled.

@wildman13

@Liotrent@Wildman13

=GEMINI BREAK OUT=

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Everything seemed to be going according to plan. The enemy ships lined up with the asteroid, ready for departure once the Red Mist and her guns are disabled. The rest of the fleet hanging back, and bombarding the mercenary fighters and their flagship. Insurgents inside the base were killing the guards and staff, and inciting a riot. It was just like the Praetoe has planned. Foolish xenos think that their movements and actions go unnoticed. The Rarians have been peaceful for a lnog time, but ever since they unified their clans, their hidden movements gather more and more support. They want their race to be enslaved no more. The Empire shall help them reach this goal. The Praetor spoke up from his chair. "Take them to the afterlife captain. Initiate the SDDs. Tell all ships to follow." The captain nod, and began barking out commands on the brdige.

Amidst the mayhem that ensued around Gemini, 5 Destroyers of unknown specs appeared, covered in a matt black paint that made them inidstingushable from their bacgrounds. Their arrival didn't make any signature, and their arrival was instantenious. They bore no markings, and the sensors could not indentify them as any known vessels. If they could identify them at all. The captain started to issue orders on the bridge at lighting speed, clearly a sign of his veterancy. "Fire up the ECM jammers, make us indistungishable from background radiation. Load both tubes of the axial coilgun. Ready the SDD, we're getting out of here in a hurry." Their presence nothing more than a shadow, they started inching towards the Gemini mining base. 2 of the destroyers stayed back, and powered up their coilguns in case battle would ensue.

The praetor stood up from his chair, and looked outside the window. The beautiful sight of a space battle that ensued around a massive rock. A massive bubble of oxygen, waiting to be popped. "Captain, are the coilguns ready to fire?" The captain nod and switched teh display to a tactial view, showing structural stress on the ships in front of the ships, from the fighters to the asteroid. The current state of every weapon system was also displayed on the sides of the screen, but most of the data was just gibberish to normal people. "Captain, fire the first tube at Gemini."

A sudden silence befell the bridge, as the weight of the command sank into the minds of the crew members. Was the Praetor really going to blow up the station? The captain turned towards the praetor, but he found himself looking at a face that was hellbent on accomplishing it's task. "Did I say something weird captain?" There was no answer from the man, just the shaking of floor plates and armor panels as the first coilgun sped up it's massive payload and shot at the mining station.

The first hit made a spectacular impact crater, and made dozens of stres lines that strecthed across the hemisphere of the asteroid. However, the station held together with no signs of immidaiate failure. "Captain, fire the second tube, and get the SDD ready. I want to be out of here as fast as possible. I don't want a single asteroid piece to make even a scuff on the paintjob." With that, Praetor made his way back to his chair, and focused on the show about to ensue. As the second tube emptied the deadly payload, the enemy fleet started to notice their presence. It was a tad too late, as the stress on the Asteroid began rapidly growing, and making a convoluted web of fault lines on the outer layer.

Then with a brillian white explosion, the Gemini station exploded, spweing out massivbe rocks and metal parts at speeds over 2 machs, propelled by the gases that escaped the debris field that was once the asteroid. The ships nearby, including the transports, fighters and the Red Mist stood no chance in the face of the destructive force unleashed by the explosion. Large rocks tore through the armor plates like a knife cutting butter. These rocks would go on and cause trouble for the ships further away, as they carried metal shrapnel with them that they stole from the hulls of the destroyed ships. The 2 destroyers the Praetor left behind have already left, and the two accompanying his ship were all ready to jump. But before he would leave, he broadcasted a message to the pirates.

"Listen to me Xeno scum. You may get a glimpse of hope in the absence of our marines stepping on your throats and our ships bombarding your planet, but if it's war you want, then know this: We have been at war for Millenias longer than you, and we are always ready to triumph over your petty fleets. Your hopes of freedom will be crushed, your pockets of rebellion trampled one-by-one, until your souls and bodies alike will break under the magnificence that is the Emporium of Man." The 3 destroyers fired up their SSDs, and simply disappeared from the sights of the enemy ships. Their presence now public knowledge, Sector 17's xenos had a reason to tremble as they looked up at the night sky, as they ushered the name of Praetor Maximilian Brutus.

Unknown Regions
Shadow' Gleam, CIC
15:00 - Standard Imperial Time

Grandmaster Alexius stood calmly on the bridge - watching the various techinicians do their work and keep the ship going through the void. The bracelet on his arm, felt...strange, but as long as those Imperial servants didn't over-bother with their fancy gizmos needed to be attached to his body, then he was fine with this...sacrifice.

It was kind of ironic - as Alexius namely towered over everybody in the CIC. Even inside a Empire of Man warship, he refused to remove his armor - one might never know, what kind of xeno filth might come to attack the Emperor' resources. His reading would show...very well beyond the average human norm - his body chemistry was that of a human, or rather close to it. As was his bodily structure underneath, the bracelet would however read a different sort of coloration of his epidermis - one namely meant to resist radiation better. The Order' soldiers meanwhile - had taken occupation in the main cargo hold - set up a few pictures of the Emperor and had remained their in vigil and prayer. All heads turned towards the Emperor' picture and chanting the Oath of Servitude to his Glory and Majesty.

It was as such, the calmness was broken - when suddenly the entire sensor grid lit up with red dots. "ENEMIES ON THE RADAR?!" yelled the com-tech.

"What do we have!?" asked the Captain of the Shadow' Gleam - as many OpsTech personnel quickly identified the targets.

"Small...very small targets...fuck these are barely the size of a skycar...shit, there is over ten thousand of them..." yelled on the OpsTech, as she scanned the readings. "Their ahead...no..above...us. Bringing up on visual!"



"Fuck! They are swarming the hull....fuckers....!" yelled the XO, as soon readings were being channeled from the Engineer' Deck to his datapad. "Those bright-red buggers are drilling into the hull....those long-peaks are...trying to crawl inside...they are heading for the engines. And those bright yellow fucks are buzzing around the cannons - they can't get a clear shot without hitting our own hull..."

"Options?! What the fuck are these freaks!" yelled the XO, trying to get the OpsTeam in formation and giving the Captain results.

"Scramble fighters? They are so small, yet deadly we might be blasting our own ship. We could try get Marines in vaccum and get those xeno fuckers off us!" replied one female OpsTech. Meanwhile, as the human team started to argue and exchange ideas - Grandmaster Alexius had gotten on the move, once he had heard the offer of getting people in vaccum-proof suits and to drive those xeno drones off the ship.

"This is Grandmaster Alexius...Sphere of War knights. Prepare for void combat..." he stated, as several hundred of Order knights from the Sphere of War rose up in the cargo hold and made way for the nearest airlocks. They soon reached the airlock just as Grandmaster Alexius had as well.

Leading them was Grandmaster of War, Lucius. As they soon cut the power to the air-lock compartment and went weightless, activating their mag-boots and starting to head out into the vaccum of space. As their suits soon self-sealed themselves and they slowly started to make their way towards the xeno space-drones.

Soon enough the first drone spotted the defenders and made a beeline for them - wanting to pick up one and shove them into the vaccum of space. Instead it made the blade of an Order soldier - the Order didn't use guns in space, therefore - it didn't need to worry about physics. Plus, the dozen of them were all linked together also by a spiked chain - teams of ten total; about one-hundred twenty Order soldiers, walking on the hull of the ship. Slowly starting to clear the drones away - namely the ones drilling into the hull.

Any drone that tried to shove them into space, found it difficult, as their linked chain - prevented one from being eliminated that way. Since eleven others kept him grounded - plus the Order soldiers also seemed skilled in zero-g combat. Using the spiked chains to also trap the drones and crush them into pieces.

It was a sign that the Order' soldiers were much skilled - and that they had in a sense, trained in zero-g and void combat. For preventing such acts or maybe in preparation of assaulting a void ship in the first place - who knew.

@6slyboy6

The captain listened to the Mekhar, ok maybe he was wrong. The Mekhar did see, and did nothing to ease their suffering. He wasnt sure what was worse. The Mekhar allowing the suffering to continue while they watched whole planets burn and do nothing, or his first thought that they simply didnt know. Either way the Mekhar where infuriating, he was half tempted to turn his guns on the ship and blast them until they gave up the tech, or he could pick it from their burning wreck. That was a bad idea he was sure, so he patiently waited and listend.

"Gargan, are you truly ready to bear the weight of our knowledge, even if it could mean the end of every sentient life in this galaxy if it falls into the wrong hands? Will you alone, decide the faith of every other race that suffers under the humans tyrannic rule?"
"Are you willing to take all that responsibility alone?"

"how... can you, the Mekhar, not see this! It doesn't matter if we Gargan or these creatures" he says waving a hand at the Rarian minotaur bending the barrel of a tank "are ready to bear the weight of such power, the human beings have been purging Xeno life from their galaxy, you are not far behind. if you do not help us NOW! there will be nobody left to help save you from fleet after fleet grinding you all to dust. If you could have you would have pushed the Humans back out of this Galaxy already... No we will not be alone in the responsibility, we will recruit help whoever will help us. We are not stupid enough to fight the humans alone. Every Xenos willing to join us will help burn the human empire to the ground and form a mighty alliance. You can either assist us with what you can or you can hide behind your borders and watch species after species burn beneath the human Empire and you know you could have helped save us."

The captain finished, he said his peace. If the Mekhar did not give him what he was after he would return to the General and request a small raid fleet and start Pirate operations against the Mekhar too until they stole the technology they needed. He was loath to do it, but they where pissing him off it was getting easier each time they said something stupid that pushed every Xenos closer to extinction. He sat back down in his command chair and watched the screens for a reply

---

The Gargan main battle group sat near an ion storm cloud in deep space, light years from any star. The civilian ships where also close to the storm, making food and constructing a few frigates and cruisers. They would be stuck near the storm for a few weeks while the ships where constructed. The main battle fleet sent out raids against any human transport. Over the last week they took 4 transports and destroyed 8 escort ships while only losing 1 destroyer, It was a good week. Their hope for victory was off deep into Mekhar space, but even if they did say no they where going to fight the Empire to the last.

---

A group of transports carrying arms and munitions drops from FTL in the vicinity of a huge red giant. They sit waiting for their FTL dives to charge and make the next leg of the journey. Before their engines where cooled down from the last jump dozens of Gargan ships dropped into the space above them and within range, even before the human ships have realized the danger the Gargan are plotting firing solutions, when the first transmissions of the problem are sent to the escort ships the first volley of missiles, rail slugs and drones have launched and within a moment had destroyed the majority of the escort ships. Those that survived tried to flee, but the Gargan frigates where prepared and chased them down, hammering their engines with heavy rails. Each transport and the ships that where disabled surrendered, Which Argas accepts. In moments the ships are taken by Gargan marines and a few engineers on the disabled ships, debating if they should repair and steal the whole ship or strip the useful bits. While The engineers sorted things out each human was either shot or launched into space without a suit.

They decided to steal the transports with full racks of Imperial guns and ammunition and one of the least damaged frigate escorts. They repaired the ship quickly and got it out of easy range of the shipping lanes. Examining the logs the planet with "Rarians" would have some under armed soldiers for a few weeks until the next transport got there. Probably wouldn't make a significant difference but its an extra headache for those in command there.

@Sophrus

---

---

Uncharted Sector

"If you are the best diplomat that the Gargans could muster, then it is no wonder you live alone in a nebula fighting the EOM by yourselves." The captain shook his head in a humanly fashion and sighed with disstatisfaction. He signaled for his officers who began silently working in teh background on their terminals. Then he turned towards the side, looking at something out of the camera's perspective. He looked back into the camera for a second, before turning back to this unknown source once again. About half a minute later, he focused his attention on the broadcast once again. "You are one lucky captain. If it was up to me, I'd transmit the location of the Gargan fleet to the nearest EOM commander for your way of talking to me. However, your answer is not entirely wrong and the Council decided to give you chance. Show us that you can rally the other races behind your cause by getting some of the other xenos to help you. You are weak alone, but you may stand a chance united. Perhaps revisiting the idea of the Free Planets Alliance will prove useful. Until then, the Mekhar will be monitoring your actions and preparing the final decision."

The small ship began powering up it's warp drives and getting ready for the jump. It activated it's cloaking devices to mask it's jump coordination and destination from the Gargans and other parties who may be spying on them. To stay virtually invisible, it would start to rapidly cool itself down to the baseline temperature of the vacuum around it to stay hidden from the thermal sensors. It's ablative coating absorbs most frequencies, and returns a wavelenght indistingushable from cosmic radiation. In a matter of seconds, the ship disappears from every passive sensor, and only the more sophisticated active sensors can pick up it's presence. But before jumping away, the captain sends one last message to the Gargan ship. "Make sure to log the coordinates of this location. We will meet here once you've completed your task. Until then, try not to get yourselves killed."

Chapter 5: Burned Seeds
Sector 15 Gemini mining facility (minutes before the first rocket hit)

---

Titanus and his men now armed, has started freeing the others, brutally killing all of the guards that unfortunately stood in their way, becoming more of an unstoppable horde with each Rarian they free, they finally have the numbers to execute the next part of the plan, Titanus and his men then bulldozed their way into the automatic-defense control room.

"WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS TH..." An UAE tries to call for help before getting split in half by Titanus giant axe "QUICK! GET THE SKY PIERCES ROUNDS!" Titanus yells out commanding his men to get their escape vehicle an over sized tightly sealed hollowed out round capable of housing 3 giants or 12 Halflings.

"Whats the plan?" one of his men asks as he drags one of the bullet shaped rounds "See that giant gun there?" He asks pointing at it with a grin "That's freedom." He continues laughing as he grabbed his bloodied weapon "NOW TO FREEDOM!" He yells out "TO FREEDOM!" He men shouts out as they follow their commander.

(Yamir)

Yamir and his men we're being broken free by the black suns sleeper agents, "What are you doing?" He says shocked seeing humans for the first time helping them but doesn't get an reply as the sleeper agents moved on to the next imprisoned Rarian only leaving weapons behind but as most of the weapons we're too small for the elephants with their enormous hands to operate property so grabbing their pickaxes and drills they start to escape.

"I own you me life." He says as he takes the sleeper agents with him carrying them while they charge to where Titanus said to meet up, despite clear oppositions by the humans they were ignored as they charge on.

(The captured Cannon)

As Yamir finally meets up with Titanus he sees that the massive gun firing waves after waves of Rarians throughout the different planets of sector 15 appearing as massive asteroids to those in the groud or in a distance.

"We are finally free from this place." Titanus says as he and a handful of his men loads up the next rounds sending the next batch of Rarians out of there "Titanus!" Yamir yells out catching Titanus attention but as he looks at yamir the station shocked violently.

He knew that this was gonna happen but it was still too soon in a panic he drags Yamir and two of his other elephants failing to see the humans that they were carrying to the shells and stuffs them inside "DOUBLE TIME!" He yells out as he loads the other shells for the others inside the cannon once full it fires firing Yamir and his men to the vacuum of space.

As soon as he launched Yamir he hears the collapsing of the walls and the sirens blaring out "EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" Words that made Titanus panic and rush placing himself and his men inside the empty rounds, entering it in a hurry, slamming the seal shut then counting to three waiting for any signs of launch.

The enormous cannon fires sending them to the vastness of space, barely escaping the enormous blast that soon followed ending the space station with a blast of white consuming everything near it and because of the added acceleration caused by the massive explosion the shell they were riding on was boosted quickly outrunning the ones that were fired first.

Chapter 5: Forgotten Cities

---

As Ren with her warriors accompanied by Diy's Minotaur's hardened elites and shiya Naga Escorts they begin to
transverse the large underground Rivers that connects most of the Rabbit cities hidden inside the Ram's crust.

Soon the expedition was attacked by a wave of Bat morphs nesting from the caves ceilings catching the caravan off guard but because the convoy was equipped with guns and spotlights they were able to make quick work off the attackers.

(Bat morphs are black skinned humanoid Rarians that has two wings, two arms, two legs, and eyes that are sensitive against any bright lights usually living inside dark caves or underground rivers they only go out at night to hunt, bat morphs usually use echo location to travel or find their preys but are still capable of seeing with their eyes but due to the lack of light in their daily lives they have very poor eyesights.)

Defeated the leader revealed himself a slightly bigger Bat morph dual wielding a pair of swords "I'am pitch dragon of the black mist." He announces landing in front of Ren "Fight me." He says to her pulling out his swords Ren nods as she throws away her gun pulling out her Naginata soon the Rarians stopped as they turn to watch the fight.

Starting off pitch flies above disappearing off to the darkness but ren being careful she waits readying her weapon while adopting a defensive stance waiting for her foe, soon pitch moves letting out a loud shriek as he descends to her seeking to confuse her.

Acting confused she looks in the wrong direction baiting her flying foe, baited pitchs pulls out his weapons targeting her defenseless back, but before he could reach her, she pulls up her feet imitating a cane making pitch miss stabbing the ground presenting his neck to her as he tries to pull out his swords.

But before he could escape she slashes her Naginata towards pitch's neck cuttingit like it was butter and because the cut was so clean she was able to lift up his head with her Naginata presenting to everyone her victory.

The Bat morphs now without a leader has now been subjugated by Ren becoming a part of her clan.

Chapter 5: Hidden Control

---

With the hidden daggers trying to organized everything and stock up on weaponry they have without a doubt grown in numbers soon this once hidden rebel cell has started secretly governing the inhabitants of the prison city equipping them all with weapon, secretly training them for the time to fight back against the slaver then the EOM while they provided their people with food and equipment the city becomes more habitable but because of the blockade the stocks have started to run out.

Due to the rebels finally getting control with the majority of the inhabitants without the slavers noticing they were able to get more materials that they needed for the Rarian war machines being manufactured in hidden underground locations under the city, careful and secretive they are able to keep everything under tight wraps.

Soon they would need to buy or steal their food and other needed necessities but for now they will wait as long as they can before going out of the shadows for they know that the time they do their was no turning back.

The escape was doing good, the torpedoes hit and The Mist and its fighter compliment were completely disabled, the break out was going to plan, however other high value targets within the mixed race mining facility were still inside, the escape pods and a cannon was seen firing off the facility.

However a blip on the sensors, multiple contacts out of nowhere, it was the Empire.

"Abort, any and all ships disengage, jump to random coordinates, meeting point at deadman's run!" The captain of Thor's hammer instantly jumped out of his seat and yelled the order as if possessed, it wasn't their first tangle with the Empire, but this was different, he recognized this Modus Operandi, a sudden and deliberate strike out of no where, it was one of the Empire's most feared ships that was rumored to belong to the Praetor.

The sensors then picked up one torpedo heading towards the station, then bright light where it impacted, the asteroid facility physically moved, many of the ships that attempted docking with it suffered damage and were no longer able to make an FTL jump.

The fighters tried as they might were not able to recharge their FTL drives fast enough, the frigates that were able to make a jump went first, then the two stolen battleships, then the second blast finished Gemini for good, casualty rate high.

Five corvettes, three xeno frigates, several transport vessels, seventy fighter bomber squadrons, and several dozen sleeper agents.



Deadman's Run, there were many places near the fringes named Deadman's run, but this referred to a thick nebula cluster that housed a large gas mining facility harvesting the nebula's abundant gas resources, many of the gasses are used for commercial and industrial uses all through out the empire, around the facility is a large station surrounded by docking platforms, these station modules were used to house the workers and its residence, along with trade fronts and other such commodities, any ship that docked there have many reasons to be there, the place turned into a super city prospering on the income of trade from the refined gasses harvested from the Nebula, this of course brought their own problems such as crime and piracy which eventually dominated the city, making it seem as if it were still clean. It got it's name due to it being a notorious site for dirty dealing.

The fleet arrive at Deadman's run, now a safe haven for even Revolutionaries to stay, the captain of the Hammer of Thor then asked,

"How many are we?

The fleet responded and the staggering amount of losses was too much to bare, Conrad stepping out into the hangar never getting his chance to even shoot his weapon took off his helmet and fell on his knees, he heard everything through the radio, the morale of the fleet was crushed. They've had these losses before but in a prolonged engagement, they were gone in a matter of seconds simultaneously.

The admiral of the fleet slumped back in his chair and said "Dock at the port, if the Imperium comes here, they'll think our ships are just part of the local militia, and the xeno ships just random traders, so we should be safe, and send the word, The Praetor is on the Prowl."

"Sir!" The Helmsman yelled, "We have dents and holes all over the ships hull, it seems we were struck by something, some of the objects are still embedded in the dents".

"Take them out once we dock."

@wildman13

(Mechanized weapon platforms will come in another post)

Perennial Introduction: Five Years Ago

Abandoned System

An old dilapidated space station hung in the sky orbiting the local star in the habitable zone. It was one of only a handful of fixtures in this solar system that was habitable by human standards. That was because the sparse planets were bathed in solar radiation, and routinely bombarded by asteroids. The station itself was a heavily armored mining outpost left over from the Kegran expansion days, and as such all the valuable materials have been mined from the system. Since then it had fallen pray to scoundrels and pirates seeking to evade the grasp of the EOM or other factions.
In the years it had taken to cause the stations painted emblems to fade beyond recognition the system itself became less and less strategically important. Paired with the dense asteroid fields, the violent star, and a nearby gaseous nebula it was a difficult place to reach and reinforce.
The system was home to a jump gate that aided freighters and cargo ships in generating a warp field larger than they could otherwise sustain, allowing them to travel to and from the remote system with significantly more ease. However, since the pirates took hold few ships come too and from the system these days and the mining trade has all but disappeared. That was also due in part to the gate being redeposited in a disadvantageous place to incoming travelers.
Despite this, a few holdouts remain and mine base metals that have little value outside of being sold in bulk. A bulk quantity that simply is impossible to turn a profit on in cargoholds the size that pirate raiders have, and so they are largely ignored.
Near to and on the station itself, a new order of law has set in: a primal order. "Do not hunt from your own kind." It was a lesson new pirates frequently were required to learn the hard way, as one was about to do, when a derelict hulk started to slowly push out of a near solar orbit. It was an older ship. A science vessel struck down by straying too close to a solar flare. As such it had long since been picked clean by the system's scavengers and left to rot in the irradiat sun. But now that it began to move again—meter by meter toward the mining station—it was approached by heavily armed light corvette.
The hulk's crew was a motley few mercenaries hired to salvage the hulk itself, rather than stripping any remaining components, and they had set up in the astrogation section. The only section of the ship not so irradiated as to prevent environmental suits from sustaining their meager human lives.
"Incoming hail," one mercenary said in acknowledgment of the light corvette's communiqué.
"Well, don't just gawk at it," replied their bodacious brunet of an employer.
"I don't know by what power you got that thing moving again," barked the captain of the light corvette. There was no need for introduction because the circumstance spoke for itself. "but it's mine now."
Alalia Wallice brought one hand to her mouth as to mockingly laugh, whilst tucking the other under her elbow. Despite both being encased in a leaf green environmental exoskeleton she still managed to project an air of being dainty and proper. "I don't think you remember where you are, good sir. This is Tortuga."
The moment the light corvette fired a warning shot across the lumbering hulk's bow, as to demonstrate that he meant business, five pirates descended on him like a pack of ravenous wolves crippling the corvette instantly.
Alalia turned to her mercenaries, and laughed: "Shall we resume?"
After an hour the ship had manage to limp its way to the station, and through docking procedures, while the corvette was sacked by raiders.

Station 37 - 'Tortuga'

The gravity on Tortuga Station was heavy—nearly fifteen percent higher than Earth Standard, but that couldn't be helped. Despite the apparent weight a spanner sailed fifteen meters through the air and struck a large metal sign that had been bolted above the cargobay's entrance. "No goons!" the sign read, and onto the deck plating below it the spanner quickly clattered to a stop.
"I thought you assholes learned your lesson last time," the young upstart mechanic yelled across the bay to a pirate, whose henchmen had days old bruising on their face: one in the shape of a wrench, the other the tread of her boot. "Get the fuck out of here!"
The feisty freckled redhead stood just over 150 cm in height and glared upward at a well built man 30 cm her superior, and his two even larger human escorts. Her loose attire of cargo pants, and an old tank top that lifted to reveal her midriff when she threw her tools, was an obvious contrast to the sharply dressed criminal enforces.
"You've fallen behind on your protection payment miss..." the bruiser paused as he looked down at the young lady's name-tag. "Mac. We're simply here to collect."
"Ya can't pour from a cup that's empty," Myriam Mackenzie paraphrased the ancient proverb both to summarize her financial situation, and their moral situation, as she prepared for a fight. Well, as far as a kick to the balls, a punch throat, and being taze'd with a cattle prod count as a 'fight'.
As Mac and the two goons lay on the ground, in various degrees of agony, the primary enforcer got low and threatened her again. "You've got one more day, Mac. Then we find... other ways for you to pay off your dept." The enforcer reached out at her belt loop, and give it a suggestive tug, before he himself collapsed to the deck plating in a bloody heap.
"I hope that I'm not interrupting," Alalia said as she shifted her weight in accentuation of her hips. She turned over the recovered spanner in her hands while inspecting its one bloodied end before she spoke again. "I am in need of a mechanic."

Tortouga I - Planetside

The surface of the first world that still remained intact orbiting this star was burned and scarred by stellar radiation. The atmosphere was thin, and large domed cities dotted the planet's pock-marked surface. There had been nearly a 150 year gap between the humans first appearance on this world, and their reassurance, as in that time the planets surface had been irradiated by massive stellar bursts. Their return, of course, heralded the fact that the technology of the age was now advanced enough to carve out a spot for humans on this otherwise uninhabitable world.
What was once a mining colony, these domed cities have since been expanded to a surveillance outpost. Interestingly, however, the only significant feature of the system is its lack of significance to the Empirium of Man. Even still, if left unchecked the degenerates whom congregate in the area may eventually amass enough power to become an inconvenience to the EOM. The station served more as a reminder than an enforcer in the area. That was because the annalists stationed on this remote world have advised their leaders to not interfere too much, as doing so may galvanize the yet unaligned pirates to join the Free Planet Alliance, which would create a problem where one does not yet exist. As a result a tentative, unspoken, and informal truce has developed between the EOM colony and Tortuga Station. It was a manifestation of the second natural law: "don't shit where you eat."
To suggest the EOM presence was a military one would be an erroneous for they were mere civilians contractors. As much as the humans considered the colony a forward reconnaissance station, it was more a minor line item than an actual bullet point, and the colonists were largely left to do as the please. Often what they pleased was experiment in fringe science out in their piece of frontier space. That science was in experimenting on the native flora and fauna that evolved under these conditions and exploring possibility of adapting them for terraforming. The extreme virulence of the life native to this planet was a cause for concern, however, as several earlier domes were completely overrun with them.
In one such dome genetic researchers collectively scratched their heads. Two of which had all but pressed their faces to a hermetically sealed glass box. "Sensors aren't detecting the rat's life signs at all," one researcher said as he glanced down to a readout to confirm.
Another turned her head to confirm. "Are you sure you got it calibrated correctly?"
The first researched nodded and the two went back to staring at a lab rat that was running on a wheel. "Yes! All I'm getting is the background flora." the lead researcher shot back.
Her assistant peered back to her lunch and slumped into her chair. "I guess we'll have to scrap it and start again."
The rat stopped running on its wheel to watch the exchange.
"There are no signs of illness in it," the lead researcher noted from a readout. "Decommissioning the specimen would be a waste. We'll observe it for now."
A ping from the assistant's computer drew her attention to a new correspondence from maintenance. "Oh, hey," she said while pointing to the screen, "the geothermal shaft is going to be complete any minute. We'll be switching of nuclear power in the next day or so."
"It's about time," the lead researcher said as she took a sip of coffee from her mug. "We always get stuck with the old tech," she said with a pointed stare at the rat who sat oddly patient staring back.
The rat's sclera, iris, and pupils were all black: a new development to occur in the last few seconds. The researcher cocked her head and leaned in to get a closer look. As she did, so too did the rat, and the ground rumbled as elsewhere in the facility. The final layer of rock had been broken and a cavern exposed in the deep below which sent a minor shock about the facility.
At that instant the rat welled up and exploded into a cloud of spores in its sealed cage. The lead scientist nearly dropped her coffee as she screeched an obscenity, before reining in her nerve. "That scared the shit out of–" but before the sentence could be finished the entire a wave of spores washed over her from the open door. The entire facility had been filled with an explosion of spores from the deep under that so massively overwhelmed the security measures that it in moments the air was rendered breathable and emergency safeguards went into effect.
The blast knocked the researchers to the ground and, as they gasped for breath, they scrambled to the big red 'lockdown' button, but collapsed before they could lift its clear protective cover.
Minutes later after after the air cleared and a thick coat of pollen and spores covered every surface Gretchen Gravage arrived on scene. Every precaution had been taken to ensure her arival would go undetected by the lab's equipment and all personnel had been incapacitated. She unceremoniously stepped over these unconscious, but otherwise undamaged, humans and inspected the area. They are exposed and vulnerable, she internally conferred with the Great Web, Are they to be incorporated? A chorus of emotion surged through and she replied Yes. I understand.
In following her orders she made her way to the main communications room to send out a message. The message was routine in nature, so much so that an automated version already existed in the system, and took little effort to mark up and send. The message indicated that a nearby ion storm would be interfering with communications, and none would be sent until its passing: an estimated two weeks from now.
In that time the researchers would be made receivers of the Great Web's seed, which nudged them away from studying The Spore's cognitive capabilities. Yes, Gretchen confirmed her orders after initiating the automated message, We shall observe them as they observe us, and the word was stressed in her mind the manner in which they do so. These humans were not to be incorporated like the others as doing may threaten to raise awareness of the Perennial existence. As far as the humans were concerned, the Perennials weren't even sentient, despite having settled the Perennial home-world twice. It was best to bide their time for now and allow the humans their ignorance.
What about the pirates? Gretchen internalized with the Great Web as she cast her gaze heavenward, allowing herself to see them as Alalia's did, and after a moment of silence she responded internally once more: I see. No unnecessary complications. We leave them for now.

“And finally, output has risen with 32% since the use of Rarian slaves.” The human finished his report. He was Adranos, overseer of mining facility Delta-745. There was literally nothing special about the location. Just another asteroid belt around an uninhabited star. But the empire need its resources. The supervisor on the other side of him nodded and then closed the conference call. The two didn’t talk. Adranos was capable and competent in his current role, but know that anything more than overseer would put a strain on him. Besides, he liked the peaceful life. Well, he used to like it. Things had gotten a little rowdy lately, as several Minotaur and Rhino Rarians slaves had been forced upon him. He wasn’t fond of them. They ate a lot, gnarled and roared like animals and smelled absolutely horrible. But he could not deny their raw strength when it came to moving machinery. After work though, he made sure they were chained up. The last thing he wanted was letting those beasts wild in a pressurized space station in the literal middle of no-where.

Adranos stepped out of his office into main control. Several operators were sending out orders to the various haulers and miners passing through. It was an efficient operation. While technically main control did not need windows, it did have them. A morale boost, according to some human scientist back at the capital. Adranos was skeptical at first. But now as he could see the sun in the distance and the rocks of ice and stone in the distance, he couldn’t deny the beauty of the scene. In the center of the room stood the holo-table, showing the various ships and the station. But one thing grabbed Andranos’ attention. The yellow light. High-speed, small particles approaching. Normally he wouldn’t be bothered. At best it would scratch the paint. But the last time such particles had come for the station was years ago and the astronomers hadn’t picked any up.

Diverting attention. They held Relica in vice maybe, but that meant they had to weaken their hold on other places. Who would care for another mining station? But industry was industry. Humans already complained when haulers were finished. What if an entire station was thrown into the void? “Are you sure you’re up for this?” asked Oborus to one of the Geomancers. “You probably haven’t thrown many rocks at the enemy before.”

“We’ll be fine.” Talzoran said with a light tone of suspicion. He didn’t like killing humans. But at the same time he didn’t like being killed. He was with the resistance now, if he liked it or not. And if he liked it or not, he was a capable geomancer. His brothers and sisters were all aboard the Imperia-class cruiser, Estilia’s Vengeance. Formerly the Ysterïa. But Oborus had renamed her and then baptized the ship in the fires of piracy. Estilia was the fleet she was part of. Like all Imperia-classes, there was plenty of room and both the tide-casters and the geomancers could practice their art. As a cloud of various gasses they moved in for the kill. Behind them a single ice-rock was tailing in the cloud. Just invisible and hidden within the moving cloud. Until, of course, it was too late.

“Hull breach in level 4, 5, 6 and 7.”
“Multiple fires detected.”
“Main hanger is depressurizing.”
“Cargo hauler Goran, Sylvis, Tona and Ypres reporting damage.”
Andaros looked with wide eyes at the cloud as he realized what just passed him. A few levels below him there was a gaping hole in his station, leading all the way to an ice asteroid that had been slammed into their station. Defense systems, or rather those still functional, were opening manual fire on the gas. But how could they hit something they couldn’t see.
“Sir, multiple crafts incoming! Not hailing any friendly codes.” Andaros turned around and watched wide eyed as his people were sucked in the vacuum. In the distance he thought he saw three lights moving. So small were they. “Shoot at them!” he yelled, but once again it was all too late. Torpedoes were hitting the wound. Tearing the metal to shreds.

Oborus looked at the chained down Rhino Rarian, having never seen one before. She had heard rumors of feral beasts working as slaves. Their cells saved them though. It would seem the overseer had put them in electable, vacuum sealed prison cells. Probably a precaution should they attempt to break out. But one that saved them all the same.

Much like the human overseer, Oborus wasn’t planning on endangering her cruiser. All around the Rhino stood her marine corps. The Relicants remained silent, pointing their caster-rifles at the ground but eyeing the Rhino with suspicion. One wrong move would earn him a slug in the head. Or several. If that didn’t kill him, getting thrown out the airlock would. There were a few other cells still floating I space with his brethren in there. With any luck, some other Rarian would talk.

The captain showed no fear. No mercy. No weakness. But at the same time she didn’t show any passion. She didn’t show anger or hatred. She looked icy cold. “Who are you? What are you and why are you here? Answer those questions in that order.” She demanded.

“I’am Grind the Rockbreaker, dragon of the Rockhorns.” He answers with pride “and I am here because of the weaklings cowardness.” He continues with the same tone as he looks at his surrounding “I believe I have answered your questions.” He finishes as he looks around more.

He lets out a small grins as he looks at her eyes “the eyes of a seasoned fighter I see.” He says happily “A Rarian in the making.” He says with a grin “You would have made a worthy enemy or friend to the Rarians” He continues with a sarcastic tone.

Next to Captain Oborus Talzoran appeared. A scholar, a student, a teacher. He had none of the captain’s iciness. Nor any strong appearance. For the longest time he had simply studied the art of Geomancy. Now he was a fighter but he didn’t look like one. Yet still, he and his Geomancer brethren had earned the Captain’s respect when they hurled that frozen rock into the station “Captain… do you think it wise to bring this it onboard?” he whispered. “It is clear that he is still a lower life-form. The Edicts of the Seeder-Gods demand that we do not interfere with the natural course. Maybe even by letting him on the ship we could have inadvertently altered the course of his species.” All Relicants were religious, to a point. But Talzoran had deepend himself into the teachings of the Seeder-Gods. Beyond that which the humans made of it.

But the Captain was not a zealot. “If he tries anything, I’ll have him killed.” she coldly said, without changing her tone. “I can assure you, I am not Rarian. Whatever they may be. I am Relicant. A proud one at that.” She said back at Grind. “And I have my enemies already. I will assume we share them. The humans.” She didn’t like him calling them weakling cowards. There was truth and lie in it both. Some humans were cowards, but she had seen many a human stand up to fight for what they believe in. In a way, humans were more courageous than her own brethren.

“Tell me, Grind-” she left the title away on purpose. This beast was far too proud for her. “ from where does your species hail? And how exactly did you end up on a mining station-” she looked up and down at the unsealed cell and the chains. “-as a slave to the Empire of Man?”

“A Relicant-Rarian what a weird name.” He answers with the same annoying grind “We are a race of the strong and if you are strong you are a Rarian.” He continues “We are a race that we’re conquered physically but never mentally we will never yield to the likes of a coward.” He continues.

“Our home was Ram the home of dragons.” He says telling you about his planet “We are dragons the killer of gods.” he follows up eyeing at the zealot “those who are strong are Rarian and those who are weak are not.” He finishes his explanation.

“The EOM were cowards that didn’t fought with honor!” He says as anger starts to fill his voice “They were cowards that shot us from the skies” He says remembering the actions ever getting anger “They will meet our wrath!” He yells out calming down after.

Long ago, when wars were fought with swords and mail, the Relicants may have agreed. But times have changed. Swords made ways for muskets. Then guns and now for railguns. Honor became an outdated concept. The idea that one should always see who he kills was rendered obsolete when the distance became too great. Honor became discipline. Discipline became respect. With the rise of the Tranquil Order, honor got a new meaning. Instead of fighting with it, they helped each other in the honorable way.

So when the Rhino raged about honor, both Talzoran and Oborus remained stone-faced. It was clear now to the captain that this was indeed a lesser life-form like Talzoran had suggested. However, it was clear that he was physically a lot stronger than any Relicant could ever hope for. And the captain knew it when she saw opportunity. “Tell me about these strong Rarians. Are there more like your kin? Are you all like you?” The captain asked with great interest. Talzoran took a step back, casting a final glance at the Rhino, then back at his captain before he walked away.

“The Rarians were indeed many, from mighty to the cunning, to giants or your size.” He answers calmed and humbled by their words “Your words are true but I have not measured you worthy.” He answers seriously as he looks at the female Relicant. “ Fight me and I shall tell more.” He proposed serious and prepared for any outcome.

“Our empire might have been shattered but our identity lives on.”He explains not changing his tone “We are proud dragons of old” He starts to sing a famous Rarain song “with hearts and souls of honor” he continues “Evading death till the end.” He softly ends his song waiting for their answer.

Captain Oborus eyed the Rhino. She wasn't a fool, the beast was massive. Even if she chose to fight him, the Estilia’s Vengeance would suffer greatly because of it. There was no place for fighting onboard. But at the same time, she knew that the Relicants could use some dumb forces. They themselves were physically too frail. Still, fighting was not an option. How would she convince this beast that the Relicants were stronger in other things. Like technology. but she forgot the true strength of her people.

She chose that she couldn’t give the Rhino a fair fight. Not on her ship. Should she try to land on a nearby planet, she risked his brethren’s death and what was one wounded ally? No she needed them all and above all, she needed them unconditionally. But how could she do that if she couldn’t fight him hand to hand. Well… she could break the law even more. Relicants did swear they would never inadvertently change Fate. For only the Seeder-Gods were Weavers of Fate. But here this giant was and here the Relicants were. Dying in opression. Laws would have to be bend.

Instead of releasing him for a fair fight she reached out with her hands towards him. In her mind she reached out to the shackles and began to magnetically charge them. Some Geomancers around her who wisely stayed out of the viewing field of the Rhino, aided in her endeavour, as they realized what she was trying to do. Grind’s binds would pull him down to the ground, forcing him on his knees. With faked confidence she said: “We are not mere creatures of flesh and blood, Grind, Dragon of the Rockhorns. We are more powerful than you can imagine. Now kneel and show your respects!”

As the binds forcibly pulls him down, Grind desperately tries everything to stand his ground, thinking that he rather die than bow down to a non-Rarian, he prepares to sacrifice everything just to preserve his honor, soon the massive beast’s skin turn red as his shackles starts to crush the bones of his arms.

“I WILL NOT BOW DOWN TO THE LIKES OF WEAKLINGS!” He yells out trying to pull back the shackles as blood starts to pour from his broken hands desperately trying to gain his footing.

Oborus saw how the giant Rhino was fighting her power. Going even so far as getting his hands broken instead of bowing down. But the captain could not let the beast win. If anything, they were of equal determination. Some Geomancers around her falter. Dropping down on the ground as drops of blood flowed out of their noses. The fight had put a terrible stress on their bodies. But the bodies weren’t the only thing tested. The very metal of Grind’s chains was fighting both Grind and Oborus. Until one chain could no longer bear it. It snapped, freeing Grind’s broken hand.

Immediatly the Rhino trusted his fist as Oborus, who was ill-prepared for hit. She was send flying through the ship, slamming into the wall and fell down in a few boxes. Her leuitenant saw her flying with fear in his eyes. “Detain the beast!” Marines moved in with their railguns.

“Stop!” yelled Oborus, who pulled herself up. Her right legt was bent wrong and she held her left rights tight. Blood flowed from her nose and the few wounds across her body. While beaten and battered, she still stood up, her broken leg barely supporting her. But there was still fire in her eyes. With one arm outstretched again she held the binding of his freed arm in place. Making sure he wouldn’t trash any others. “Grind of the Rockhorns. I believe we have come to a draw.”

Seeing that his attack connected, he calmed down feeling the full extent of his injuries as pain start to surge to his body as his hand lays broken the results of his desperate action but despite the injuries and the pain he smiles for his lost yield out a thousand victories an new ally, sanctuary and a million opportunities he tells to himself.

He smiles visible to all as he stands down showing not an ounce of his previous rage “I told you an Rarian in a making.” He says to the bloodied Oborus “I have tested you and I have found your worth.” He continues as he looks at his broken arms “You fought me and I have fought you, you bleed and I bleed.” He comments as he feels the sting of the pain of his injuries.

“You are a Rarian now.” He says with pride “though frail like a Rabbit you have shown me that you have the courage and the bravery of an Rarian.” He continues explaining “Though you're far from being a dragon.” He remarks chuckling a little bit as he takes a look at her eyes paying no mind to the hostile men aiming their railguns at the giant enjoying the new fires that now rest in her eyes.

"Make sure to log the coordinates of this location. We will meet here once you've completed your task. Until then, try not to get yourselves killed."

Diarg scoffed, "End Transmission" he said and waited for a moment until the transmitting light winked off. "Cowards!" he shouted "Their inaction consigns thousands or millions to death!" He huffed out a sigh and slumped back into his chair. He was angry because this empire could easy push the war effort in favor of the xenos, but the Gargan had to 'prove their worth' as if they hadnt for the past 300 years. It should be simple enough however. Uniting rebellion forces under one banner, and most of these races would be utterly reliant on the Gargan for naval power for years to come until they build or stole enough to wage a real war. How many other factions had a true Battle Group with capital ships.

He nodded to navigation to log the location and to engineering to launch a small passive listening probe, just to collect transmissions and sensor data in the area. The Probe was small and only had minimal power use to store any and all data. He didnt care if the Probe was found, The Mekhar had earned little of his respect and been proven to be too timid to be trusted. "take us away Navigation" he said solemly, still thinking about slaughter of those unable hide behind Mekhar technology.

The small cruiser made all haste for the Void raider rally point and linking up with the Void raiders within a few days, just outside the Mekhar border. The trip was uneventful and the rally point was a place in deep interstellar space, days from the nearest, and almost a week from the nearest habitable planet.

"Hail the Grand Carrier" said the captain when they got within range of the battle group. "General! We have made contact with the Mekhar."

The General sat in a large command chair, that looked more like a throne with displays and controls all around him. "Very good captain, will they help us?"

Diarg sighed heavily "Yes and no general. They demand proof that we could be successful. Essentially they are asking us to unite the various rebellion factions... and then they might help us." he said, summarizing quickly.

The General groaned "Bloody cowards.." he said while his gaze unfocused thinking deeply "Very well, We can not win this war alone. we have data that many small rebellions are sparking all over the sector. We can unite them into one grand alliance and burn the Human infestation from our galaxy.. Very good Diarg, thank you for your service. Join the main battle group and we will decide the next course of action" he says and closing the hail. "Navigation, where is the closest rebellion?"

"Uh, we have a few options sir but i believe the Rarian region is closest, and with the shipment of arms we captured they will be slightly under strength for... a week or two. That said, we will have to make a stop to refuel at a gas giant, the process will take a while."

"Ah, fuel... yes." mumbled the captain "well while we refuel we can scout the various near by rebellions and see which would be the best target for our intervention... assuming they join our Alliance." he says with full seriousness, Fully expecting to exploit Alliance membership for assistance with the war effort.

@Wildman13@Liotrent@Sophrus@Legion02

=THE BATTLE OVER RARIA=

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High Orbit, Rarian Homeworld
12:54 Galactic Central Time, D-Day

Space and time warp at the will of the FTL. A truly magnificent device developed hundreds of years ago to make time a much smaller place. But since it's developement, a new methods of space travel have been developed that allow for faster or safer travels. Like Wormholes that allow entire fleets to transit almost immidiately if they don't need to hide their exit points. The massive whirlpool of gases and dust particles was filled with lightning bolts created by the kinetic forces. The wormhole sucked in any and all material around it in space, creating these beautiful, but not exactly stealthy gateways for fleet movement. The Rarians have been seeing many of these shining whirlpools lately as fleets arrived and left their sectors, using the primitive world as a safe haven from pirates. But this time, the gateway was much bigger than any they've seen before. The moon of the planet shrinked in comparison to this massive space anomaly, althought it was probably a trick of the eye. Nevertheless, the first ships started pouring through the gate in great numbers, mostly being corvettes and frigates. But minutes went on, and their endless stream didn't stop. By the time the massive battleships pulled through, the wormhole has been open for 15 minutes. Then it collapsed behind the last ship with an unworldly grace, eating up all the dust and gases that were stuck in it. The entirety of the 171st, 173th, 174th and 176th fleet arrived above the planet, and were beginning to perform a methodical blockade operation. Smaller detachements of the 172nd and 175th fleets could be seen dispersing from the main group and heading towards the planet's moon. Thought the planet was big, the bloackding fleet was so large in size that several dots blocked out the sun by the time they finished.

On the surface, Militia and Military alike stood on the streets and made fortified cordons. Loudspeakers blared on the streets. "All human citizens are required to evacuate to the nearest shuttle facility. Bring only food and drinks with you along with basic necessities. Follow the guide of the guards if you are unsure where to go." Panic wasn't the right term to use to describe the situation. It was more like mass anxiety. Nobody was crying or shouting, but everbody was nervous. Nobody knew this was going to happen, and they had the right to be afraid of being bombarded from their own fleets from above. The massive crowds slowly walked down the streets overwatched by automated gun turrets and dozens of guards. The shuttle facilities were overburneded with people, and the wait times were taking forever. Even though as soon as a shuttle left another one landed, the lines didn't really seem to move.

Some Rarians tried to sneak into the crowd. Those who managed to escape the sights of the turrets or the guards were quickly pushed aside or beaten up by the rowdy crowd. Those that were spotted were shot on sight. Near the shuttle facility a Minotaur began his rampoage along with a few dozen other morphs. The first wave of Militia guards were trampled and beaten to death, and the massive body approached the second line of defense. He shouted some unintelligible crap about honor and the proud Rarian race before he received a copper coated tungsten bullet to the face from a nearby tank. Without a head to speak of, his body slowed down and the tumbled to the ground, his legs kicking for the last time. The others behid him charged at the cordon nevertheless, but they were shot down by the gunfire. Some in the crowd cheered for the guards, and one even gave them a high five. Others turned away with disgust on their face. They were certain about one thing: they will never see their homes again, and that is all the fault of the Rarians.

Hours and hours later

The streets were littered with junk left behind by the crowd. The walls were filled with graffiti quoting xenomorphic slogans. One the side of one apartement building, someone used some digital paint to immortalize the death of the "proud" minotaur warrior and the "heroism" of the tank's operators. It was a shoddy work, but it got the point through. A few Militia members laughed at the painting and then moved on towards the shuttle center. Just a few minutes ago, the last group of civilians left the planet's surface, and approached one of the many cruise ships waiting to take them away. Ever since then, dropships and military shuttles have been keeping the complex busy, with multiple takeoffs and landings every minute. The situation was same in every Rarian city. The Military occupied the cities, and systematically evacuated every human civilian from them. Then as the Military set up the HQs, the Militia members began to "remove" the former settler of the cities. And they weren't happy. Even thought many of the Rarians rose up to the EOM forces, they were quickly killed or subdued by the Militia. Those hiding in houses couldn't escape the all-seeing gazes of the IFV's sensors, and those who tried to run were gunned down by the gunships patrolling around the edges of the cities. If one looked up at the sky, pillars of different aircrafts could be seen entering and leaving the Glory-class battleship that still hanged graciously above the planet. With the main space fleet, many of these atmospherical monstrocities arrived, enough to be distributed to every city, and even have some spare for the larger metropolises. They would serve as the regional HQs for the ground forces in the coming days.

Even thought many Rarians have been killed on sight, those of the weaker morphs gave themselves up at the sights of the EOM militaries marching through the streets, and after hearing the loudspeakers spewing the Imperial propaganda. "For a single human casualty, a thousand will die! Surrender now, and you won't have to be one of the thousand!". Soldiers would subdue them and take them away in prisoner transports. No rest for the Rarians, not even those who never raised a finger against a human. They may live for now, but they won't last long in the concentration camps where they'll be taken. Even those working in the mines as slaves would consider themselves lucky if they saw the place these poor souls were going to. Ever since the great war of 300 years ago, the galaxy has never seen such terrifying acts against civilians. Either this was the beginning of another great war, or the Butcher himself decided to pay a visit to Raria.

High in Orbit, Main fleet formation

The matt black flagship of the Butcher floated above the atmosphere in silence. Around it were it's sister ships and escorts forming a circle around the Praetor's ship. Then the rest of the 171st fleet surrounded them. Near them, the old civilian dockyard floated, now repurposed as a staging point and repair station for the fleet. Shuttles hauled all kinds of goods between the station and capital ships creating the effect of a buzzing hive. Praetor Maximilian Brutus gazed out the window of his flagship and smiled confidently. His grand plan was finally approaching it's next climax. Whether they win or lose here, he would succeed in crippling the rebel factions. If htey wanted the valuable manpower, they would need to regain control of Raria. It is unknown how many Rarian have managed to escape the EOMs grasp, but a lot of them will be captured and killed during the initial assault- Even if the xenos claim victory somehow, Sector 17 isn't the only sector with Military fleets. And with Iserlohn fortress controlling the only route out of Sector 17 towards the rest of the Empire, the battle fought here will definetly alter the course of this skirmish, but will be unlikely to change teh course of the war.

The door opened to his private workroom and his assistant entered with a large tablet. It was the complete report on the occupation of Raria. The praetor grabbed the tablet out of the assistant's hands, and the motioned for him to be gone. The assistan nod in silence and left the room as the Praetor began reading. Everything seemed to be in order and fit in his plan. But as he kept on scrolling, number started to mismatch. Low Rarian losses and minimal gear seized from them. So they were hiding a movement after all. That is the only answer to such a small amount of resistnace. Any competent leader would recall their troops before a big battle. The Praetor sat down in his armchair and grin with excitement. Maybe this battle won't be so uneventful after all. Truly a grand victory for the Butcher, one that could elevate him to the ranks of a consul member.

But the joy didn't last long. There was one small mistake in this report. Initially he didn't notice it, but after reading through the report several times to find exact numbers about the Rarian losses, he began tumbling into controversies. They were tiny mistakes in wording, but added together they caused confusin in the reader. "Shiv, come here my dear." A piece of the wall shimmered for a second, and then the shape of a beautiful woman emerged from the mirage. She has been hiding in the room ever since the assistant entered. Now she walked closer to the Praetor and sat down on top of the desk. She didn't say a word, just looked at the tablet.
"Dear, do you think this could be the work of the Black Sun? I am sure you've killed more them than me, so I'll leave the decision up to you."

For some minutes, Shiv scrolled through the pages before returning the table to the Praetor. She nod in silence, her facial expressions cold and still as ever. It was always hard to figure out what she was thinking, and this instance wasn't an exception either. The prateor clapped his hands together and stood up with a smile on his face. "Eliminating Xenos AND Insurgents at the same time? It must be my birthday! Shiv, be so kind as to escort our unwanted guests to the afterlife. I don't want any ships turning on us as we battle the main opposition." The woman nod yet again, and hten silently left the room. The door shut close behind her, and the Praetor was left alone yet again. Before he could finally attend to his master plan, he had a call to make.

The large holopanel on the desk lit up, and 3 hooded figures appeared in front of him. They spoke up in unison with the Praetor. "Glory to Mankind" Their voices were also masked, but they were of a familiar tone, and those who knew them would instantly recognise them. Thought two of them seemed to be indistingushable from any other generic voice, the third one ringed with a feminine tone and the words seemed more childish than the others. Magnificus Chrisjen Helga herself was present. The other two remained to be identified. But they must also be very important characters if they are talking alongisde the Praetor and the Magnificus (//God, too much exposition, I get it//). The Praetor spoke up with a soft tone, unlike that of before. He even managed to force a calm look on his face for the call. "The plan is going smoothly, just as I predicted. We have yet to run into any real complications."

One of the indistingushable figures spoke up rashly. "What about casualties. Are they within an acceptable range?" The Praetor nod and brought up a page on his tablet. "As you can see, we haven't lost a single armored vehicle. We had 2 shuttles crash into each other, and 5 bombers were shot down by Rarians who were later killed. We had many morphs attacking Militia members, but we only have a few dozen losses in the ranks of the Military. I would say this is the definition of acceptable." The figure nod, and then left the call.

Then the Magnificus spoke up, her voice light and playful, but every word as sharp as a blade and as refined as starship armor. "I hope you haven't crashed the ships I gave you Brutus. It would be a real shame if they ended up being damaged or even captured. I hope I don't have to go through that disgrace." The Praetor has to take a deep breath before he answered. She wasn't just saying to take care of the ships. She told him to not lose a single ship or his carrier, or perhaps his life, would come to an end. The praetor forced a smile on his face and replied. "Of course not. I am taking care of your gifts. I will make sure to prove you my loyalty." The Magnificus giggled and replied before leaving "I expect so."

The Prator sighed as he tured to the last shadowy character. Then they waited in silence for a good minute. The Prator was sweating in anxiety by them time his peer spoke up. "You have no need to feel anxious." His voice was void of emotions, but it still felt unnerving and soothing at the same time. Words cannot describe the man's words properly. "When I appointed you Praetor of Sector 14 I knew I made the right call. Now I stand here, about to see the fruits of my work. Do NOT fail me Praetor. I can guarantee you that making me regret my decision is a good way to end up in an unspecified airlock somewhere. Should you fail here, I will let you live because of our friendship, but if I am forced to intervene, you will be the firts casualty of the SDF. Am I clear?" Crystal clear. The Praetor was confident in his plan, but the words of this man made him nervous. He simply nod, and murmured a yes under his nose before cutting the connection. He sighed as he leaned back in his chair, finally being able to relax. Maybe he'll visit a holiday resort on Raria, once ever filthy xeno that infest the planet has been killed.

The Gargan battle fleet arrived at a solar system that was entirely unihabited, and rather boring. A pair of large gas giants orbit the small star. It was rather close to the Rarian home world but would take several days travel to get to the warzone. The battle fleet quickly scanned the system and found nothing. The Fuel tankers where dispatched to the nearest Gas Giant to harvest gasses to be used in the ship generators. it would take several days to fuel the whole fleet, but while they where fueling a few scout frigates where fully fueled and prepped to investigate the situation over Raria.

The general stood over an outdated map of the Rarian Solar system with several other officers from the fleet. "Gentlemen" the General started "we need to know the siuation over Raria. reports from captain Diarg seemed to show that the rebellion there was becoming quite heated the humans will not tolerate such impudence for long. They will likely have sent a battle group or several to either exterminate or bring them to heel."

the other officers silently agreed, the General was stating the obvious but it was still important. "we need to know what the situation is in orbit before we commit the fleet to battle. A standard scouting mission will be too dangerous, they can not know that we are out here at all. We will need every advantage."

Again, this was all obvious but they where not sure how to scout the system without the imperials at least seeing a scout craft that would quickly be identified as Gargan. Even the General stared at the map trying to puzzle through the problem. Once officer started slowly, as if he where still molding the idea into a concerete plan. "Sir, what if we use an imperal ship instead? some of the ones we captured"

The General looked at him for a moment thinking through the idea. "No, Their security codes and identifiers would be out of date. They would be viewed suspiciously, and alert the fleet that they where not alone out here... but.. If we take an imperal vessel far out from the standard FTL entrance and accelerate into the system hard before going dark we could get all the information we need at the edge of the system only seen as dark space junk. It would take some time to passively collet all the data we need but there would be very little danger."

The officers all thought hard, trying to poke holes in the plan and come up with better ones, but they where all at a loss. So the general decided that it was the best plan they had and theoretically the ship would only have to spend several days in the dark before it was far enough out to jump to a rally point without alerting the Imperals to their presence.

Captain Diarg was briefed about the plan. He would spend 36 hours inside the edge of the solar system and in passive sensor range, collecting information but two days of hard acceleration and drifting dark, and another day after the 36 hours drifting out of sensor range. The captain did not like the plan, as clever as it was, becuase if any ship got close enough they would ping him as a ship rather than a chunk of space depris. He had a solution however. they coated the ship in ice and rock before it started its accelerationa and drifting. Making the ship absolutly appear to even active scanning as a bit of space junk.

Captain Diarg left the battle group soon after and took an old imperial frigate, one that had been retired from imperial service nearly 60 years ago, and jumped the ship near the system but still in deep space, far from the sensor range of any known ship. Then they coated the ship in rock and ice, which actually made them easier to see, but it appeared as a lumpy bit of frozen rock. With very little time to spare they started the engines and burned hard, at the maximum acceleration the little ship could manage with the extra weight of its camoflage. It did this for many hours, reaching speeds that would generally be considered dangerous before going dark and shutting everything down except for the minimal required heat and oxygen required for survival, relying on the extreme range and their camoflage to hide their presence.

((@6slyboy6 I think ill need a post from you on how this goes and what i learn))

@Sophrus

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High Orbit, Rarian Homeworld
23:27 Galactic Central Time, D-Day

The fleet was preparing for the enemy to arrive. Thay have been for quite a while now. There are always things to do, logistical problems to solve. However, it shouldn't take too long before they finish the preparations to face the rest of the Xeno fleets. Unbeknowsnt to them, the forementioned xeno fleet had their eyes on them via a small scout vessel.

The detachements of the 172nd and the 175th fleet constantly stayed in the dark side of the moon and intercepted transmission from up to a few sectors away, whilst looking out for any heat signatures or FTL disturbances. Their primary job was to make sure the rest of the fleet would know if the enemy was coming, whilst they could stay hidden from spying eyes. They used mostly passive sensors to scout the area, as activating any active scanning would illuminate their position like a christmas tree. And even thought this was an effective method to stay hidden, it hindered the gathering of accurate data on faraway objects. That is why the Gargan ship could pass by them unnoticed, simple marked as a rampant asteroid of little concern.

The other fleets orbited the planet on a high altitude, ready to escape the gravity of the planet for space combat, but close enough to the atmosphere where they could retreat into the cover of the ground defenses if they needed to. To those from below, the sky was buzzing with spaceships and fighters, and it was adored with the massive battleships and destroyers. However from outer space, the vision was much different. The planetary haze blocked any observer from truly identifying the fighter crafts, whilst the large ships blocked out corvettes and frigates that were currently docking on their underside. However, the vast number of capitla ships were visible, even if the Praetor's ships were blocked out by other ships. With hundreds of capital ships floating above every major city and staffing the areas of the atmosphere where there weren't any other defences. Some of the Glory class battleships could be roughly seen from orbit, but their presence was generally well hidden. The blockade was undeniable, but it's size was that of an invasion force. It isn't often that more than half of a Sector's fleets mobilize to a single planet, even if it is one of great importance. The sight should forever incite fear in the foes of the enemy.