[IC] Void of the Stars II: Return to the Stars [Sci-Fi] [Always Accepting]

[Keyguyperson]

Serentiy
The LCF vessel sent a message to the planet below.

"We respect your right to refuse religious freedom. However, we do respectfully request that those who reject your religion be allowed to leave your nation should they choose to do so. Those who do not and engage in violent protests would still be considered rebels and acceptable targets for military forces. We will need to remain in this system for some time, our warp drives have run dry."

G-X-957 ("Phantom")
The Yamadai exited warp, a blue pulse of radiation flying free now that the warp bubble had dissipated. It began to scan the system, moving forward with the velocity left over from the jump. A blip appeared on the screen of the sensors officer. Acting quickly, he re-calibrated the sensors, hoping it was just a glitch. No such luck, more blips appeared, enough for a whole fleet of warships.

"Twenty warships off the port bow! Distance is five astronomical units, orbital eccentricity of 2.54 relative to the star, 0.1 relative to the habitable planet!" Cried the officer, looking back at Keloush

"Jump us into orbit!" Responded Keloush "Battlestations! Those are almost certainly Ceramus warships!"

The giant battleship jumped into orbit of the planet, right in front of the alien fleet. Its Antiproton Beam Lance was glowing with particle buildup, as were the other weapons. Fighters fell out of their hangars, leaving behind blue plasma trails as they flew alongside the ship. One of the main cannons on the ship fired a simple projectile shot through the middle of the fleet as a warning. It detonated after clearing the ships, and the Yamadai sent a message to what appeared to be the alien flagship.

"If you are Ceramus, and can understand us, then know this: We will see you destroyed. You took our worlds with a supernova's fire, you destroyed our only symbol of hope to show off your power, we will have our revenge! If you are not, then respond to this message stating your allegiance and the world from which you hail if your culture allows it."

[TehAlphaGamer]

Serenity
"We will begin evacuations once we locate those responsible for the insurrection. We agree that the innocent should not pay for a crime they themselves did not commit."

[Keyguyperson]

Serenity
"Understood. We are standing by. It has been a pleasure to assist our allies."

Titan, Sol System
"That could not have been the great evil."

Urania was floating alone, within a pool of liquid methane. It was one of her favorite places to think, although with Chaos moving throughout Sol, the seas of Titan were becoming less and less peaceful. She felt pity for the alien animals that swam through the orange liquid, they had no idea what was coming, what would happen to them. Sometimes a no-interference policy hurt, and this was definitely one of those times. However, not once did she doubt her decision, every time she interfered something went wrong. She refused to allow harm to come to others because of her stupidity.

"What if that twisted version of Fergus was right?" She said to herself "What if the great evil is life? No, nothing matches the prophecy. Six shall turn them back, they will be not of this circle. Not a sphere, a circle. The other galaxies are gone forever, does that mean the prophecy has been broken? Is there no hope to defeat the great evil? Does it even exist?"

She chuckled uneasily, then continued.

"Here I am, a goddess, questioning a prophecy because it doesn't make sense. Sense was long ago abandoned."

One of the creatures swam up to her, brushing her starry dress with its tail. It swam right up to hr face, seeming to study her with piercing membrane-covered eyes. It made a series of clicks and whistles, tilting itself on its side as if it were asking her a question. She smiles softly, reaching out to touch the creature. It didn't move away, it simply floated there while she slowly and gently stroked it, taking care not to disturb it in any way.

"What do you think, do you know what the great evil is?" She said, trying to comfort herself. The creature wriggled up to her face, swimming in circles around her head. Finally, its right fin touched her forehead. She felt a rush of thoughts enter her, thoughts of a self-aware creature. Being a goddess, her mind naturally attuned itself to the mind of the creature.

"What are the lights?" It asked telepathically, the fear apparent even in the mere thought "Why have they devoured the Red Jewel?"

she quickly realized it was talking about Mars. Using the already existing link, she spoke to it.

"They are invaders. The Red Jewel was in their way, so they devoured it."

"You are saddened far more than any other, why? The question made her realize that they didn;t even consider her a different species. Perhaps they only knew each other through telepathy, recognizing her as on of their own due to the signature of her mind, which had changed to match that of the creature.

"Because it was the last home of my children. It's all my fault, too.

"Your children? Do you mean the Blue Streaks"

"The Blue Streaks... no, those were nothing more than devices created by my children to collect resources from the giant orb in the sky. Everyone else calls the Blue Streaks plasma engines."

"Everyone else?"

"The other species, the ones that travel between the stars.

The creature seemed to understand, showing that they had ideas about space travel and the orbits of the planets. It occurred to her that they must live a painful existence, knowing how to reach the stars but not having the hands to do so. They were in the same situation as the humans were in the early 21st century.

"Your children, are you... are you a goddess?" It asked, shocking Urania. She hadn't expected them to have a religion so close to reality. She was, however, deeply saddened by the fact that the creature asked excitedly, she hoped it would not ask for a miracle.

"I am, my children were adopted though, I did not make them. They came into being as a result of random occurrences."

"What will you do about the lights?"

"All that I do brings more death, it is my curse. I can do nothing. Please do not tell anyone of the coming evil, they... I... it..." Her voice trailed off, breaking up. she simply could not bring herself to even request that the information be withheld. Her eyes began to swell with tears. The creature could understand, the link between their minds made it possible.

"We believe that all deities have a purpose to be fulfilled, you can be no exception. I'm sure you will find your purpose. Perhaps you dwell too much on your mistakes. I must leave now, perhaps we will speak again." It turned and swam away, leaving Urania curled up in a ball, floating in the orange liquid methane.

"Gee, imagine what they could do with arms." She said to herself. "I hope Chaos doesn't notice them."

[TehAlphaGamer]

Insurrection of Serenity
Operation MAZDABAR'S FURY was soon put into action as one of the largest air mobility campaigns in Sazkarjhit military history was launched. Around 250 HV-6 Sparrowhawk VTOLs were launched from a dozen frigates in low orbit and maneuvered over the city of Gurin. Alongside them, fifty CHV-1 Arkon Cargo Ships carried MWA-01 robotic mech units with them. The 3rd Regimental Division had begun to push into the city limits.

Lead by Colonel Yasira Ramak'mum, one of the highest-ranking Moguhl soldiers, somewhere around 4,000 Sazkarjhit airdrop soldiers leapt from the Sparrowhawks, running off then jumping off of the fifteen foot long wings of the ships, with hundreds of channels of radio communications were loud and jumbled enough to be more audible than the thrum of the 250 utility vessels' plasmajet engines. The soldiers, sixty kilometers in the air, quickly dived into their squads and maneuvered to their designated points of entry on Gurin. The operation was simple enough: Land onto Gurin, cooperate with the PA 3rd Regimental Division to occupy the city, and finally storm the capital and take the rebel leaders into custody where they'd meet their fates at the hands of a firing squad.

The soldiers, once reaching the ten-kilometer mark, activated their disposable thruster packs to change position and steadily slow them down. The Arkon cargo craft had gone down farther, and were dropping massive, fifteen-foot-tall MWA-01 robotic mechs onto the streets from rooftop-level. Soldiers began getting closer to their starting points, with the purpose of their mission in mind.

Colonel Ramak'mum's squad was the first to land, situating about four kilometers from the central capital. Most of her men unclipped Type-4 cyclonic assault rifles, while her two support gunners unstrapped their Squad Support System energy-machineguns from their backs, three antitank soldiers hefted Type-11 Personal Anti-Armor Weapons--peculiar guided missile launchers with two tubes for either remotely-targeted or heat-seeking missiles sat on top of each other. Colonel Ramak'mum herself, rather than reaching for her personal energy submachine gun, unsheathed a double-edged sword made of bronze and steel, with a slightly curved blade that parted at the end with two, extremely sharp points--The Light of Mogus, forged by her family 1600 years prior, was an awe-inspiring and fear-striking weapon within the Mumaso Clan; an accurate reflection of Yasira herself.

The firefighting began almost immediately after soldiers touched on the ground. Out in one of the many commercial districts, most likely the central marketplace, a column of fire spiraled in the air as HT-1 scorpion hovertanks demolished buildings and caused utter havoc with their coilgun turrets. PNS Spirit of the Damned also provided support, leveling large areas of the city with only a handful of slugs raining down; solid white pillars streaking across the sky only to be followed by wreckage being launched into the air and the ground shaking as they slammed into the ground with extremely high kinetic impact.

Several HV-6's could also be seen at rooftop level, their four-barreled autocannons ripping apart enemy opposition while guided air-to-ground missiles sent rebel combat vehicles flying in the air. A squadron of Basilisk-Class fighter-bombers also flew up above, dropping canisters in the air that spread white-hot clumps of ignited thermite, making short work of rebels and materiel alike.

Within a matter of hours, the air was filled with smoke and soot as Gurin fell to overwhelming Sazkarjhit force. Once insurrectionist security had been dealt with, Colonel Ramak'dum saw her window to get to the leader of the rebellion, and with her squad moved into the central capital district.

[MrFoxNews]

Sol, Real Space

The purple glow emanated from the tear in space as yet more entities poured forth.

Mars was now completely transformed into the sickly world of Badeb.

Jupiter and it's moons were next to be transformed as the eerie purple glow begin to reach them.

The great Jupiter itself turned a deep black, the great storm becoming a living red eye for the Daemon whom now controlled it.

Darkness fell across Titan as the hordes arrived.

[null123]

UHC Outpost A-4
A-4 rested on the outer reaches of UHC space. Very few ships past this point, with only small shuttles and freighters occasionally leaving the outpost. Standing before this tiny irrelevant was the Gorgon-Class Super Battlecruiser. Standing at 90km long the massive carrier was recently built and would act as the lead ship of the entire Confederate fleet. Bristling from the front appeared to be a spire-like weapon. In actuality it was a enlarged version of the Confederate's D12 Dark energy Rail-Gun. These types of rail-guns were not seen on regular ships, but rather capital ships. The weapon accelerated a mass of dark energy at high speeds to impact a enemy's ship. Besides the rail-gun the Confederates had equipped it with a Yamato Cannon, as well as several DE Torpedoes. The ship was also bristling with the Confederate's improved APSes and several auto-cannons to combat fighters and bombers. The ship also had some bays for smaller craft, like fighters and bombers but like other Confederate Battlecruisers it did not have that many.

Behind it was the much smaller Minotaur-Class Battlecruiser, standing at about 20km long. The ship acted as the head ship in any Confederate Fleet. It was equipped with a similiar, but down-scaled D12, as well a a Yamato Cannon, along with a few compliments of Confederate APSes and Auto-Cannons. The launch bays were much smaller then that of the Gorgon, and fewer. Backed by five 12km Behemoth-Class Battlecruiser. They were the same as the Minotaur, but with less weapons and down-scaled. A few C2 Auxiliary Ships, with almost no weapons but launch bays to back the rest of the fleet with fighters and bombers. They did not seem to be apart of the compliment of ships floating around the near-empty station.

The Minotaur was lead by Admiral Raynor. He questioned why Daniel had come all the way out here just to oversee a scouting mission. Daniel was the Fleet Admiral, making him leader of the entire fleet, and giving him command of the CNV Pride of the Confederacy, the sole Gorgon the UHC had built. Never-less Raynor prepared for waht Daniel had to say.

"Are you ready Raynor?" spoke Daniel over the comms. As he usually was his voice sounded cold and unfeeling, as most Confederate officers and Admirals did over time.

"Yes, but why bring the Pride of the Confederacy here? This is just a simple scouting mission, not something worth bring it out for." questioned Raynor.

"Simple Raynor. The planet you are going to is on the edge of a signal zone, what we believe to be the space of another nation."

"Still doesn't seem worth it Daniel."

"That is just your opinion Raynor. Regardless I wished to see you off. Good luck Raynor."

Daniel then proceeded to cut off the comms, as Raynor's group prepared for a FTL jump. New FTL tech had been developed that allowed for travel across a upper level dimension then back out to arrive at the destination. It wasn't as good as plane-space, which the UHC was still searching for the remnants of that particular technology, but it was better then a standard warp drive.

Edge of Triarian Space, Planet A-23(As designated by the UHC)
Raynor's fleet arrived at the world, and began deploying equipment and various shuttles to explore the space. It consisted of Raynor's Minotaur and the 5 Behemoths. They were sending a simple comms blip in the direction of Collective to see if they could catch there attention.

[Sukui]

2 lightyears from Tyne Hyra (Sol)
A colonization fleet abound for the star system halted right in the middle of its travel. The captains questioned his reasons for an emergency stop, but the Peranef, the soon-to-be Jarl of the upcoming colony, quickly responded to the radiation energy sensors acting up towards the direction of where they were headed. Indeed, the fairly slow speed of light rendered the situation unseeable by mere eyes, but usually such detections would mean that continuing further is a terrible idea.

The fact that the sensors couldn't even recognize what sort of energy this was meant that curiosity got more hold on nearly everyone in the fleet rather than aversion. Lured by this situation, the twoscore group of ships traveled a bit more to the outskirts of the star system. And quickly, aversion took them back. As hurriedly as they can, they turned away from what would've been another habitat for the Empire's citizens, and charged up their interstellar engines again.

Research on Radioactive Crystals: "Syndareon"
Scientists plan to test the crystals if making a prismatic laser beam with them would produce interesting results. As of now, the gem is still being shaped, but the test runs will be underway soon.

[TehAlphaGamer]

Sortegi Memorial Hospital; Karboria, Sazkar Major

OFFICIAL HOSPITAL REPORT

REPORT NO. 1

Patient SUAR'KUM, FAKEEM "SON OF DAMWAR", was admitted a few days ago reporting fatigue, high fever and a hoarse cough. The 296-year-old Grand Vessel through our own investigation was also giving off signs of illnesses related to human Dementia, and the development of some kind of severe memory problem (Human reports labeled a similar such malady as "Alzheimer's Disease"). He was treated but did not respond well to care--as a matter of fact, it seemed that his condition actually worsened as treatment continued.

To make things worse, two members of his military cabinet whom he worked closely with given the Serenity situation; FELASI'HUM, DOMAN S, and MAGAMA'YUM, DARAYA Y, also showed very similar symptoms. The Supreme Commander, 290, and the Supreme Fleetmaster, 309, have also had this problem where treatment has worsened their symptoms.

REPORT NO. 2

Anarchy may soon break free across Karboria. Three nights ago, patient SUAR'KUM, FAKEEM "SON OF DAMWAR", suffered four severe seizures and promptly entered Anaphylactic shock, two hours after we were able to contain the shock, he became comatose. Now, his health signal has dropped by half, and we fear his rate of survival has followed suit. His breathing is light and labored, and his heart rate is at about 50 BPM and seems to be slowly--but steadily--decreasing.

REPORT NO. 3

At 04:26:09 Center Regional Time, SUAR'KUM, FAKEEM "SON OF DAMWAR" was declared deceased. Cause has ruled out almost every other major Sazkarjhian disorder known to us and we have thus confirmed that this may be a new condition related to increasing old age. In honor of our Grand Vessel, the ailment has been given the name of Suar'kum's Syndrome.

FELASI'HUM, DOMAN S has entered a coma. Now experiencing similar lifeline dips similar to SUAR'KUM, FAKEEM "SON OF DAMWAR"'s. MAGAMA'YUM, DARAYA Y has had one seizure but is still behaving normally; however, he has no memory of anything that transpired within a timeframe of between 1-2 hours before and after the occurrence.

REPORT NO. 4

At 13:53:08, FELASI'HUM, DOMAN S was declared deceased. Her symptoms, being extremely similar to SUAR'KUM, FAKEEM "SON OF DAMWAR"'s, we have deduced that she also began to suffer Suar'kum's Syndrome. MAGAMA'YUM, DARAYA S has now gone through three additional seizures, all within a few hours of each other, yet miraculously has still survived and has not entered shock like the former two.

REPORT NO. 5

The news of the death of the Grand Vessel and Supreme Commander has strongly affected MAGAMA'YUM, DARAYA Y. In his discussions with our psychoanalyst, he had requested time and time again for euthanasia to, quote, "Join my brother and sister as they complete the Path of Divine Right." Due to religious affiliation not allowing for such a procedure to be conducted, he was denied. He did, however, quietly respond by asking that if he suffered the same fate as SUAR'KUM, FAKEEM "SON OF DAMWAR" and FELASI'HUM, DOMAN S, if he could then receive the euthanasia while comatose. Given proper medical stipulations we allowed.

REPORT NO. 6

We apologize for the temporal gap between reports. Two weeks after the previous one, Supreme Fleetmaster MAGAMA'YUM, DARAYA Y has entered a coma. To fulfill his wish, we used lethal injection to euthanize him. What was most odd about this was at the last moment, when he should have become braindead, he smiled and whispered the following, a passage from Declarations:

"When in time does thee suffer thy worst, whether through personal or loss of thine father, thine neighbor, or thine farther kin, thee shalt have thine permission to join thine brothers and sisters as thee complete thy final step of the Path of Divine Right: To pass from this world to thine next, for thine tribunal at His feet."

At 22:09:41, the final patient, Supreme Fleetmaster MAGAMA'YUM, DARAYA Y, has died of consensual euthanasia.