[IC] From Stardust, To Stardust

[Keyguyperson]

New Condia
The Terran plasma shield started to dissipate, the beam weapons dispersing the plasma slowly but surely. The red haze began to fade away, the armor of the ship beginning to melt under the beams. The half of the small craft platforms that didn't rotate around to reveal cannons began to move. The first thing to be seen was grey armor, magnetically locked to the platform through metal treads. As the platforms continued to rotate, small two-barrel turrets could be seen on top of the rectangular platform, jagged angles giving the objects a menacing appearance. A radio message was transmitted to them, showing that they weren't fully linked to the ship.

"All armor, fire at maximum output!"

Metal slugs flew towards the enemy flagship, some of them were tiny and obviously meant to fight infantry, others were armor-piercing, and yet more were explosive. The weapons definitely weren't built for space combat. In an odd move, the Terrans suddenly switched to physical ammo in all their other weapons. Instead of the bright blue plasma bolts, tungsten slugs flew out of the railguns. It looked as if they had simply run out of ammo, and when the engines stopped glowing, it became obvious that they were running out of plasma. Since their shields used plasma, the battle was already lost for them. Still, they kept firing with every single weapon they had, choosing honor over their own lives. A message was sent to the alien flagship, surely last words.

"You can speak of how you are superior, you can speak of how we will fall to you. But we've heard those words before, spoken by Terrans to Terrans, many years ago. We've heard those words hundred upon hundreds of times, and every time someone said them, their enemies won. When someone claims superiority, says they will destroy us, we know that they are wrong. Terrans are stubborn, sentimental, superstitious, and so many other things. Those flaws are our strength, they make us who we are. They make others cringe at what we are willing to do, they make others look upon us in confusion and call us fools, they make others think that they can break our morale with threats. I promise, on behalf of my entire species, that you will regret crossing Terra!"

Suddenly, the red haze began thicker than every before. It began to turn purple as it obscured the ship's hull, and in a few short seconds, the entire ship was covered up by the shield. The shield moved to let the engines fire, and they flared up in orange fire instead of the soft glow of plasma. The ship accelerated faster than ever before, barreling down towards the flagship. Escape pods flew through quickly opening and closing holes in the shield, as if the crew was evacuating. They weren't.

The escape pods rammed into the flagship, causing massive explosions from the antimatter that had been stuffed inside. Still, the Normady rocketed towards the flagship, the purple haze localizing at the ship's bow into a lance of plasma. The Normandy's plasma shield smashed into the enemy ship, the plasma ripping into the shields and hull alike. The Terrans drove the lance deeper into the flagship, and suddenly it launched out in all directions, ripping through the hull of the ship and cutting it clean in half. The plasma extrusions tore through the ends of the two halves, tearing them up into debris. The Normandy flew right into the middle of the two halves, and pulled back the plasma into the shield generator, leaving the red haze. Interestingly, the red haze was strengthened, the tanks adding their own shield power to that of the ship.

Parked between the two halves, the Normandy opened fire with it's plasma weaponry. The blue bolts of argon savagely bit into the insides of the flagship, vaporizing the hull and interior indiscriminately. It was a truly insane strategy, and after it, the ship likely wouldn't have much of a weapons system left. Still, the Terrans carried through with it, refusing to let the enemy flagship get away.

The rest of the fleet moved to assist the Sazkarjhit and Iscandarians, moving to flank the enemy. Long-range missiles were fired, once again directed at the engines to decrease mobility. The fighters and bombers joined the allied fighter wings, filling the gaps in their squadrons and transferring their command channels to work with the allied commanders. With all of the enemy attempts to slow down their combat computers, they switched to manual. The moment they switched, the Terran fighters began to perform unorthodox that would never be programmed into the combat computer. Banking as if in atmosphere, high-g turns, and turning around entirely to shoot down pursuing craft. Realizing that the Iscandarian forces were using brute force tactics against the Hivemind, one of the two surviving dreadnoughts sent a message to their forces.

"Listen! You must focus on taking down their shields! I need you to send your small craft to take out their weapons emplacements, keep them away from the ships though! If your fighters are equipped with missiles like ours, then use them against the emplacements. If you don;t have any precise weaponry, then still keep away! A turret isn't worth ten lives! If at all possible, the aft weapons should be taken out, it'll give flanking maneuvers a much lower casualty rate! I know taking orders from a lower species must be demeaning to you, but we know how to fight! If you don't listen, you'll all die!"

Sol, Iscandrians
"I'll gather the Wings of Gliese, we'll meet at our base. Also... I recognize that Frigate, is Emily here too?"

Icarus, Ocean of Jul
A small door on the Terran ship opened, about two meters above the water. About five or so humans stepped out, wearing large backpacks. In an unexpected move, they jumped right into the air. However, instead of slashing into the water, they floated slowly down towards one of the speedboats. Their backpacks caused a gravity lens distortion just like the two giant rings on their ship, obviously some sort of antigravity harness. They lanced on the speedboat delicately, and took off the backpacks. They released them into the air, and they floated off towards the top of the ship. It was hard to see, but there was a team up there collecting them and bringing them back inside.

"Thank you for picking us up." Said a man dressed in a white suit with gold trim, bowing politely. "You have no idea how glad I am that we can translate each other's languages, our non-verbal contact protocol is extremely awkward."

Sol, Kuiper Belt, Draconian Fleet Location
A message was recieved by the Draconians, coming directly from the planet marked as "Terra" on the star charts.

"We have not encountered vessels similar to your own before, as such, we will assume that you are a new contact. We are the United Terran Federation, it is our sincere hope that our two peoples can coexist together without military conflict. If you have any specific first contact protocols, we are happy to accommodate for them."

((Sorry for no Nouvelle, I'm just glad I managed to get this done today))

[WilsonTurner]

VALKIAN

---

The Engineer and the Hunter grew more and more worried, growing more and more erratic. If the Tinkerer died while in conference with the Nouvellians, it would permanently hurt relations with them- to the point of revoking what the Tinkerer had accomplished, all but the basic protection that was promised. Might even hurt it to the point of Valkians moving in to take the innermost planets of the system, and to construct cloudscoops in the gas giant.

But they hadn't feared- shortly after the nanobots entered the body, and were brutally crushed by both the higher pressure of the bloodstreams inside, and the slightly acidic properties of the blood itself, the Valkian awoke, staring at Queen Sabine, directly ahead of him across the table. He blinked, and then looked surprised, as if he didn't know he'd do it automatically. He warily, carefully, looked about the room, taking in the sights. A headache rapidly grew, processing both mental imaging, and actual images and colors. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, an arm coming up to rub his forehead, then he rubbed what was more or less his temples. After a few moments, I said, "My apologies. The All-Mother seems both fond of me, and of giving no warning to her miracles. Do forgive my dramatic scene; I was too shocked to stay conscious. Where were we?"

---

DRACONIAN

---

Sol, Kuiper Belt
The Draconian Fleet Admiral aboard the Battleship X was quite surprised when the navigation console pinged, and its Draconian officer called, "Admiral, message from the native inhabitants. Looping it to the mainscreen now." A moment later, it flashed up on the centermost screen in CIC, or Combat Information Center, and he knew that the same was happening on the bridge, where the ship captain resided with an identical layout.

The foreign script appeared, and the Draconians in the room took a moment to study it. The Admiral was intrigued, and he immediately ordered it to be sent down to the combat analysis team for translation. The Admiral decided to do nothing until they had gotten it translated, and so several hours went by before he received another ping from his navigations officer. "Sir, rough translation received. Applying to the mainscreen," and it reappeared in Draconian text. The Admiral quickly read it, and reconsidered his options. Yes, he wanted to fight them, quite badly, but they may be too powerful for them at the moment, at least for now.

A plan formulated in his mind, one that would work both ways. He sent off a stealthed Cirrus to take a message back to the system in the other Terran system, and proceeded to the next bit.

"Navigation," he rumbled, "Open up a message with the U-T-F. Tell them we will come forward for a meeting with their leaders- people of power, not people of negotiation. Tell them that we will bring forward our entire fleet, and we will remain wary. And then tell the good Captain to advance forward, and include, say... the Dauntless, the Black Bullet, the Dragon, and our personal fleet. They move forward in formation around us."

Outside, the Battleship X's massive bulk shuddered as its engines came alight, active sensors coming online and routinely sweeping space for contacts. Three Cirruses fell in close around the Battleship, with a dozen Destroyers moving in around the Battleship, two Sleipnirs trailing behind, ready to launch fighters to combine with the Battleship's own fighter squadrons.

The Novas began to line up, not very close together, still separated by a kilometer or more, but were ready to target anything the Battleship beamed or ordered. Hidden, hopefully unseen. They were all powered down nearly as far as they could go, with only the minimum life support and the majority of the crew in stasis. Dangerous if they decided to attack, but orders are orders. The only ships that weren't powered down and trying to hide were the Sleipnirs. Appearing for all the world as transports or freighters, which they were, in addition to being carriers, they moved about in mock-fleets, flashing each other with active sensors as if they were laser cannons. Their manuevers were clearly not military, novice tactics, something that any soldier could say that are most likely just harmless, or foolhardy. That was what they were supposed to appear; harmless, goofy. They flew about in and around each other, randomly switching sides or going out on their own. A couple neared asteroids, a single one moving close to a mining ship clinging on the nearest, flashing it with active sensors as it flew past, rolling.

Each time they flashed each other with active sensors, it was not only a mock-cannon, but also a burst of data. The fleet of Sleipnirs were systematically mapping the entire system while making it seem like misses, fake 'explosions' with their sensors, and dramatic lock-on sequences. Every now and then, a single Sleipnir would 'miss', and strike the Battleship's hull instead, and burst the data over to it in a moment.

They wanted to appear all for the world a small military fleet guarding a bunch of loony ship captains who knew how to fly, but didn't care for order and wanted to have fun.

[Apollo26]

Icarus, Ocean of Jul
by the Terran ship

The gunner chuckled at the display and nodded towards the man as he landed on the deck of the speedboat. As the Terrans spoke the translation unit fastened to the sailors belt roughly translated the language, coming out of the earpiece in his ear. “ Its a pleasure sir, welcome to Icarus….We kinda wished you phoned ahead..” the pilot laughed as she heard the comment and took a long drag on a cigarette in her mouth. The smoke rolled away from her face and washed over the Terrans before blowing away from the boat, it would smell sweet, almost like a flower. “ Khala, hu’hala, u sho saou” The pilot said towards the gunner, roughly translated to ‘Khala, Lets go, its going to storm soon’. The gunner nodded and looked over the horizon to his left before looking at his watch “ She’s right, its almost 17:00, you don’t want to be out here on a speedboat when those storms hit”. The gunner made a circling motion with his hand and the speed boat quickly sped off, moving back towards the carrier. The speedboats had rigid hulls and were jet driven with two more mounting points for more weapons, fully staffed these things could lay down quite the firepower.

15 minutes later the speedboats pulled into flooded well deck and tied up on the raised platform that leads to the interior of the ship. As the storm clouds rolled in the well deck hatch closed and the water quickly drained out, revealing a slip rubberized floor and ladders leading up into the ship. The crews dismounted and began stowing the ships for travel. “ Up the ladder, go right and head up the stairs. The captain will be there” the gunner said towards the Terrans, pointing up into the ship. Aradite custom is to show their guests the utmost hospitality and trust, but to the Terrans it might seem a little odd. Since the Terrans were now deemed not a threat, they would be treated as trusted guests and locals. The carrier dwarfed the speedboats from the outside but inside, the halls looked like you could ride tanks down them. Everything inside would be kept impeccably clean, not even a stray hair was out of place. Sailors walked the halls like it was business as usual, only stealing a few seconds to look at the Terrans before going about their business. As the Terrans reached they’re destination, they would find themselves in the Combat information center, surrounded by holoscreens and Septonians at desks. The captain would be at the center of the room, over a large holographic display table of the ocean.

[null123]

Sol
"Yes that is her, all of her crew, her, and every other Iscandarian here has already had their connection to Faust severed, so we need not worry about the corruption."

New Laws
"By Order of Immortal Aaliyah all councils are hereby dissolved, and replaced with a 1000-man council consisting of the most powerful Archmages, Sentinel Warriors, and Earthen Barons. The military also now has the authority to search any ships in Iscandarian Space with impunity, and can carry out all of the normal functions of the police force. Blood magic, Dark Magic, and necromancy are hereby legal, as is all teachers for these arts and any study materials. The Gamilas no longer have any status, and are to be enslaved immediately.

New Condia
The Iscandarian's small ships unleashed and went invisible, appearing right above the Parasite's ships and unleashing Balefire and anti-matter, as well as kinetic payloads.

Chaos
A Iscandarian ship appeared near Chaos's highest concentration of forces, and sent a message.

"Brothers and sisters, we are in need of assistance. We have the coordinates attached."

[Keyguyperson]

Sol, Mercury
"A shuttle will dock with you shortly."

A tiny vessel, not possibly able to hold more than five or so people, launched from the escort. As it approached the hangar, it's passengers began to feel somewhat nervous. The skull certainly didn't make them feel any better, especially it's shape. It was obviously human, like these beings knew what would make a Terran feel fear. Or worse, like they were trying to make a good impression using outdated data. They were obviously bad for different reasons, though.

Sol, Iscandarians
"All the Iscandarians here? The message didn't get to everyone else in time, did it?"

Sol, Terran High Command
"They've covered all bases. If we don't send a leader, then they know that we know who they are. If we do send one, they'll be killed. They try to appear like a bunch of clowns, playfully engaging in mock battle using tactics made for fun, not war. Those miners in the Kuiper Belt are all going to die, and if we tell them then the aliens will realize that we know."

"On the bright side, they do assume that we don't know who they are. We do though, and we also know that they jumped into the system and started shooting, having never made contact with any of the present species. They wouldn't come in with a diplomatic fleet, not from what we know. We have to assume that they have more ships, probably minimizing heat output."

"To do that they'd have to deactivate and purge all of their systems. They'll be extremely vulnerable in that state. Alert the mining vessels, tell them about the situation. Have them ready their antimatter engines. Until then... order them to engage in their play. The illusion must be held."

"What about the leader issue?"

"Our interplanetary network uses quantum transmitters, so they likely haven't gotten in yet. If they come across a facility that has a network connection via standard communications, then they'll have a way in, but for now I doubt they have a single byte of info from it. The Kuiper Belt is too far away to pinpoint our central servers on Terra, so it's safe to assume that they don't know who's in charge. Purge all info about the current Council from the database, have it say that the military took over after Paris was destroyed."

"Who will we send then?"

"It would be wrong for me to send someone as our leader knowing they would die. I'll go. Send a mandatory file to all networked computers, have it say that it's the anniversary of the military freeing the people from the treat of terrorism or whatever, end it with the code phrase AngelFall 00. The net will play along, just in case, censor out anything with any mention to a council. Make it obvious it was censored, they might see it as a strength to control your citizens."

Sol, Draconian Contact
The mining ships began to jump off of the asteroids, engaging the Draconian ships in their playful mock battle. They were using actual lasers, but they were low-power sensor versions on a different frequency. Still causing no damage, but unwittingly spamming them with worthless gibberish. While they engaged in a carefree manner, another message was sent from Terra.

"I am the leader of the Federation, Kai Vivian." Their voice was higher than that of the admiral at New Condia, implying that they might be of different races or genders. "I shall represent humanity, our belief is that in first contact a species should show who they are in actions as well as words. It would seem as though you have a similar idea, so I shall honor that similarity and give you a glimpse of what humanity is like."

A giant fleet approached, large enough to be entire military force of a species that claimed only two systems. The design of the ships was similar to that of the ones seen at New Condia, though they did not have the two rings that seemed to be a signature of Terran design. Only one had such rings, a giant vessel that was completely unrecognizable as it's original form. It was a dreadnought-sized warship, covered in plasma shield projectors and turrets. It had the same basic design of the Norway-Class, but was no longer built to accommodate any ground forces. All the rotating turret platforms held small craft, instead of the 50/50 ratio of small craft and ground vehicles it would normally have. However, the platforms were roated so that only the small craft were in view, giving the ship the appearance of a very badly designed carrier. In a completely different language, three words were painted on both sides of the ship's bow: Försvarere av Humanity.

"This is who we are."

Nouvelle
Praskoviya breathed a sigh of relief, not sure whether the nanobots had worked quickly or if he had recovered naturally. She decided not to assume anything, it wouldn't be right to take credit for his recovery if she actually had nothing to do with it.

"You're on the planet Nouvelle, in an audience with Queen Sabine. You weren't even out long enough to be moved, I'm amazed at your recovery to be honest."

Icarus, Ocean of Jul
The Terrans were clearly amazed at just how disciplined the crew was. While some branches of the Terran Navy held strict guidelines on their ships, there wasn't a single vessel where the crew would nearly ignore visiting aliens or keep every single door handle shining in a fully lighted corridor. The hallways were extremely large for any kind of ship, making it clear that while they held discipline high, comfort could very well be a close second. They marveled at the layout, having never before seen a military vessel with such large hallways.

When they reached the CIC, the Terrans smiled. It looked just like the bridge of any Terran Naval vessel, though the interactive holographic displays were somewhat surprising. Small Terran holograms couldn't be reliably used as a touch interface device, so they used more standard keyboards and mice for input. The large holographic map of the sea, though, was fully expected. On Terran vessels, they used advanced tracking cameras to scan the observer's hand movements and manipulate the map accordingly. They all secretly hoped to see the map manipulated, wondering if they used the same technique.

Seeing the captain, the man who seemed to be leading the rest spoke to the captain.

"Diplomatic Officer Kipp, commanding officer of the Norway-Class Dreadnought Iceland. I assume you are the commander of this fine vessel?"

The word "Dreadnought" would likely be translated literally due to the bad translation quality, as though he were telling them not to dread, instead of it's military connotation. The same would likely occur with the name "Iceland", whether or not they would cause confusion would likely depend upon the ability of the captain to speculate about a completely alien culture.

[darkwolf687]

New Condria

The L'Er ships didnt bother acknowledging the cloaked ships and merely moved at speed towards the planet, many were obliterated by the explosions, but the asteroid impacted the shield, destroying it and spewing dust and darkness over the world. The remaining L'Er ships smashed onto the planet, land in and around cities, and the remains of the siege weapon fell and crashed into the planet, causing further rampant destruction.

The two hives were trying to direct the battle to the ground by deploying their forces onto the planet and harvesting whatever they could find. Feasting on the thoughts, sending the knowledge to all the hives. A decision to be made, and fast. The hour grows late and darkness falls, the reaping must be performed quickly, then the force to extract them sent even quicker.

The S'Ark capital ship broadcasted a message to the Normandy right before both vessels were consumed by both their own destruction and the Iscandarians attacks

"Superior? You misunderstand. Supremacism is... Lies for the weak, beacons for the deluded. Our feasts on your people show that there are those among you who have in the past eaten meat. Are they supremacists? No, they just follow nature, which inevitably leads to one conclusion. Beings eat others. Almost consumption is death for the consumed, we all kill a being or a plant to live. Nature is a cruel mistress, and she does not play favourites; Times and time again we have taken that into our own hands, because some things do play favourites.
So we are merely obeying the natural world, predator and prey, hunter and hunted. We do not care for 'superiority', because we know there are those stronger, always." The voice becomes even more solemn "And now human, the two of us will burn together. Because battles do not play favourites either. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. And now your dead, you cannot pass on your new knowledge. I would leave you with parting words for your species, but it would never leave this small corner of space, where your people throw their lives away for a species which is already falling. We taste it, we find it in their thoughts. Alas, poor Terran, but at least you will die with your mind composed."
The resulting explosion consumed both vessels, ending the conversation short

[null123]

New Condia
What they found were empty cities, maybe some grazing cattle. The mysterious ships from earlier had been evacuating everyone from the planet, and they had suceeded, leaving not a single soul for the parasites to claim. The Iscandarian ships had the parasites exactly where they wanted them, and fired a massive payload down upon every L'Er force, everything from balefire to kinetic weapons, and a few anti-matter missiles as well. The ships split half and half, one monitoring the system for any sign of reinforcements and fighting any other L'Er ships, and one bombarding the planet.

"You are nothing but foolish creatures. Creatures that will soon fall to a coming tide. A coming tide of chaos, nothing will stand against. No Empire, nation, or hive will survive. We may not be the most united, but our resources are vast, our soldiers innumerable, our fleets gigantic. We are Chaos, and from that comes great power. All Hail the Dread Mother Faust."

This message was broadcasted to the L'Er, but seemingly only in a format they could detect.

[MrFoxNews]

Sol, Mercury's Orbit

The hanger door gave a deep groan as it descended once again locking the docking party within.

The lights within the hanger flickered a dull red glow across the dreary room.

There seemed to be only one access corridor and no one within the Hanger itself.

The door hissed open.

An unmistakable whisper assaulted the party's ears.

It's tongue was foreign to the humans.

It only served unsettle the party more.

Out of the corridor walked a humanoid being.

As he approached he looked much the same as any other human except for 2 features.

He was unmistakably malnourished.

And his irises were massive. As if he loved in perpetual darkness.

He carried with him a torch. (A flashlight)

The "man" waited at the foot of the disembarking ramp for the diplomatic party to descend.

[Apollo26]

Ocean of Jul
Aboard the Carrier Hu’long

The captain put the cigar in his hand back in his mouth and pointed at a space between two small atolls on the map. “ Thats where’d I be, cover from the storm and a small amount of concealment from the islands.” The captain tapped a point a couple miles away and a selected the carrier from a drop down menu, making a holographic image of the carrier appear there. He then tapped three separate locations closer to the atolls and selected the three destroyers. “ Guided missiles and fighters first, then the destroyers will move into cannon range. From there we wing it and see how it goes, yeah? right then?” the captain said turning to face the newcomers as he heard the Terran’s voice. “ Hmmm, Captain Kalai of the Carrier Hu’long, I am the commander of this vessel and the small task force you saw on the way in. I apologize in advance but you happened to catch us in the middle of war-games. You welcome party will have to wait at least a couple hours, after this engagement we will go to the mainland.” the captain said as he nodded towards the Terrans blowing a large plume of sweet smelling smoke out into the room. “ You lot are welcome to stay here during the engagement,” he said before producing an evil smile “ Or if you feeling adventurous you could go topside with the crew, see how we ‘really’ train.”

Taoshe Dockyards
Staging area

The largest fleet ever assembled in history was getting ready to step off and head towards enemy space, after all the data from the last engagement was analyzed and compiled into battle plans and operating procedures. Two marine battalions, Three army regiments and nearly 50 ships were ready to head off. This was an invasion force, set on conquering a planet. It was fully stocked with materials to defend a planet in every which way, orbital cannon parts and materials for building fortifications. What ever planet they came across would be in for one hell of a battle.

Nouvelle
Special Forces Group 1
Special Recon team

The pair remained on the ground for 10 to 15 minutes after the last flares died down. Each man remained completely silent as the airship flew over them, turning their heads to look up at the massive craft. Something was obviously going on and it the team wanted to find out what was causing this ruckus. After waiting for the airship to pass them, the pair slowly rose to their feet and began following the craft. It was easy to discern the large craft against the twilight sky in their night vision but what concerned them was the blinking light source on the other side of the hill they were on. “ IR?” Ura said quietly over the team radio “ Looks like it” Kacha said in response, making a slight jog towards the crest of the hill. “ Shit..” Kacha said quietly as he looked at the EU dropships down below, the IR beacons clearly visible from their point on the hill. “ That can’t be for us…..can it?” Ura said pulling the scope up to his eye to study the force. “ I don’t know? Those are the aliens from before.” Kacha quickly interjected, dropping behind the crest of the hill “ Lets wait and see what happens”. Ura nodded and quickly lowered himself to stay hidden, studying the new force with his scope.

Task Force Blue ( 50 ships stong)
STC Vala ( BH-102)
STC Hijuan ( BH-076)
Some distance from Falacia

The two Blackhole class ships exited slip-space and cooled their jump drives before moving again. Each made one burst and activated their stealth protocols, drifting silently through space. The ships began using passive radar to try and detect any signatures that might be in their area, turning it on and off to conserve power and their thermal footprint. It wasn’t long before they picked up something on their passive radar and quickly came to a stop using compressed air thrusters. The ships shutdown all non essential functions and deployed two recon drones each, sending them in the direction of this radar signal, what they saw surprised them. A rather large planet with obvious space elevators acting as docking points for something. Each drone took grainy thermal and EM pictures while documenting the main power centers and the possibilities of shields. Within a few hours the drones were back aboard the ships where the pictures were being analyzed.

(Tell me what they see Duck)

[null123]

Falacia
Falacia did not infact have space elevators, as to at least the Iscandarians build a giant black cable into space and trying to keep it stable so it could be used as a way of transporting ships into space was stupid. Falacia had multiple stations around it, civilian and defense and many more defense stations then would normally surround a colony, presenting a difficulty for the Septonian ships. It was also surrounded by a asteroid field, in which many mining operations were occurring, as well as there were many defensive weapons. It was likely that they were more hidden out of site of the Septonian fleet, so they would need to be careful. The power cores of the stations were not obvious, but all of the stations did have shields, and most them had them active at the time. A fleet was also around the planet, numbering a 101 ships. Several points on the planet also had extremely high levels of power output, and formed a network with one another, indicating a planetary shield. It wasn't activated at the moment, but could be activated quickly in the event of a attack.

Nouvelle
The two shuttles landed were the soldiers were observing. Two people stepped out first, and they wore the same uniforms and even had the same gems as the mages that attacked the Septonians back on New Condia. They had a different symbol on their suits though, indicating they were of higher rank then the ones that had attacked the Septonians. Each combined their efforts and projected a shield over the shuttles. 4 sentinels flew up into the air after leaving the shuttles, with what appeared to be tactical goggles on that allowed them to search using multiple forms of wave-lengths, and each had a shield around them. They began flying around, using a mix of night vision, UV, and infrared in attempts to find the Septonians.

[Keyguyperson]

Sol, Mercury
The captain gulped, slowly approaching the... being that stood before him. The two guards held their weapons at the ready, but not aimed despite every instinct they had telling them to open fire right then and there. It was painfully obvious that the humans were afraid of the man, and judging by the looks on their faces, they would much rather run and shoot than talk to him.

"You look like one of us who hasn't eaten a bite in days, yet you seem intimidating. Am I correct in assuming that you have powers other than the physical?"

Ocean of Jul
A few of the humans looked to the man who had introduced himself as the diplomatic officer, a questioning look on their faces. The man nodded, and they rushed to the top deck, eager to see what their training engagements were like. Before that, the humans had seemed impressed at the fact that the hologram was made to be touched itself, instead of making movements outside of it's borders. It was odd, considering the fact that they had just landed a multi-kilometer warship in the ocean, which was commanded by a diplomat.

"An apology for being in the middle of war games?" Said the diplomat "Watching war games is one of the best ways to learn about another culture, this is the first time we've been able to see others fight without needing to focus more on firing our own weapons!"

After a few moments, the diplomat continued, looking at the holographic display.

"Even the fact that you have separate weapons systems for long and short range speaks about your history and thought process. We think alike, most of our seagoing ships used the same setup. However, those ships were recently replaced by ships that use variable range cannons. It takes extremely complicated calculations to target them though, only those who are genetically modified like me can operate them." He said, tapping his forehead. It wasn't obvious at first, but his head was abnormally large when compared to the heads of the others.

"But that's a story for later, let's see if your opponent has any tricks." He smiled, walking closer to the holographic map. His eyes moved incredibly fast, apparently analyzing the entire map every second.

New Condia
As the Normady was torn apart, it's commander smiled. It's entire crew smiled with her, knowing that the enemy's words made no difference. All that mattered was that they died to protect a people they had called their enemies, just because they asked. The Admiral's thoughts were not in turmoil over their imminent demise, for the first time in her life, she was truly, perfectly calm. She had redeemed herself, her crew, and every last Terran that fought in the battle. She knew that she had brought the Terrans one step closer to redemption. What she didn't know was that redemption would not come from other battles, but from the aftermath of New Condia.

With the enemy ships gone from orbit, the rest of the Terran fleet prepared to land ground troops. However, they found that the EU ships were bombarding the surface of the planet, the still occupied planet. The new commanding dreadnought, the Warsaw, sent a message to the EU forces.

"What are you doing?! You're killing your own people! We have ground forces, we can take back the planet! We all fought to protect the civilians here, I won't watch as they're killed to destroy the enemy!"

Earth Orbit, 2051
The hissing of ruptured pipes and the screams of the crew filled the bridge of the OSV Rudneva, lights and computer screens flickering in the background. The captain's body floated in the air, blood flowing out of his head as his hand slowly lost it's grip on the ceremonial sword he had recieved as a gift so many years ago. The rest of the crew was struggling to stay conscious after the surprise attack, which had forced their ship into a two-minute seven-g spin, with the exception of one woman. She was the ship's scientist, usually operating the small onboard lab or the quantum communication equipment. Somehow, she was perfectly fine, no signs of any pain appeared on her face.

The rest of the crew looked around the room, their seats having been previously occupied by the actual bridge crew, the dead bodies of which now occupied the walls of the bridge. They were all low-level personnel, most of them just enlistees. Despite her being little more than a science officer, the woman was now captain of the ship. It was an impossible battle, five rebel escorts against a single OSA patrol vessel, but everyone had heard the stories. Praskoviya Lovisa, the science officer, had become famous for one fateful day in Siberia five years ago. She was just fourteen years old, but she destroyed an Active Denial System that had been modified to be lethal. Taking that into account, it was no surprise that she felt no pain from the crushing maneuver.

"Tactical, sitrep!" She yelled in a thick Russian accent, grabbing hold of one of the many handholds on the bridge.

"All external weapons systems disabled, electromagnetic redirection is still active!" Called the tactical officer, pulling up the system monitors on his computer screen.

"Perfect, nobody destroys a valuable ship. Now that we have their attack vector, our redirection systems can deflect anything they fire at us. The only way they can hit our hull is with a large missile, which would destroy us. They'll be forced to board the ship, using standard weaponry. Those ships can hold at most fifty marines."

"How does that help us?" Replied the tactical officer "We've just got pistols in here!"

"They can't fire on their way in." Said Praskoviya, grinning devilishly.

"You can't possibly be suggesting suited combat! Guns have too much kickback, and a single mistake with a plasma saber could kill you! You know that, dammit! You can;t expect anyone to throw their lives away for a battle we can retreat from! Just fall back, our redirection system can cover their fire!"

"I'm not ordering anyone to fight them. I want everyone on the redirection systems, I'm going to deck 2."

Before anyone could protest, she flew out of the bridge, headed for the airlock on deck 2. She picked up a spacesuit on her way, it was one of the newer form-fitting ones. As she floated towards the airlock, she put it on mid-air. The simplified, one-piece design made the process quick and simple, though somewhat painful due to the tightness. She took her plasma saber in her hand, heading out the airlock after a nerve-wracking depressurization sequence that seemed to last an eternity.

The moment she reached the outside of the ship, the disorientation kicked in. Up and down no longer had any meaning, especially with the absence of a floor to stick to. Still, she turned to face the three enemy escorts, finding exactly what she expected: fifty marines headed towards the ship. She activated her plasma saber, the ceramic cylinder was instantly obscured by a cloud of blue argon plasma. The enemy marines continued towards the ship. After all, what could one woman with a melee weapon do against fifty marines?

They would soon know.

She launched her self at them off of the ship's hull, cutting one of them straight in half effortlessly. The others opened fire without a second thought, sending themselves spinning and killing ten more from friendly fire. With no way to defend themselves, she cut them down one by one with immunity. The battle was already won, the rebels couldn't do anything but leave now. Still, she flew towards the enemy ship in the middle of their formation, landing just below their bridge window. With her plasma saber, she cut a hole in the floor, depressurizing the compartment and sucking them all out into space.

After the air was gone, she swung herself inside the bridge and opened every door and airlock on the ship, overriding their manual controls. The rest of the crew met the same fate as the bridge officers, a short but painful death by vacuum exposure. With a network connection to the other two ships, she used the same tactic on them, depressurizing both ships at once. The combined seventy crew of the three enemy ships, dead within the time span of a few seconds.

Praskoviya activated the transmitter in her helmet, connecting it to the one on the Rudneva.

"This is Lieutenant Lovisa of the Orbital Security Agency. The OSV Rudneva has engaged and captured two rebel escort/transports and one enemy battle escort. All enemy vessels are in full operation condition, and we will begin a rendezvous with the nearest station."

They shouldn't have messed with an outdated ship named the Rudneva. She thought. That's like naming a ship Icarus, then sending it to do scans of the sun.

[TwistedSun]

The 34th Avalas of the 7701, precisely at four hours, seventeen minutes and seventy-five seconds of galactic standard time after lunch, an insect of the family of Culidae, capable of more than twenty-six thousand wing beats per minute, landed perfectly on a cup of unknown liquid, orbitating with its carrier, a desk of fine birch-wood situated in the 45th sector of alien archeology department, transported itself by the massive interplanetary research station Jabdia, only to be smacked afterwards by the oppressive head-department Ludivg, generating by chain reaction the unmerciful spilling of what thereafter was discovered to be Ourian fine coffee. At the same moment, probably somewhere around the 6th of Ilian road, Valla, eastern continent of Vituvia, chief editor Vol'Hirvig, forty-five, single, characterized by a thicker exoskeleton than its fine collegies, rejected the scriptwork of the aspirant writer Blirgamm, who himself lacked of confidence. At the very same moment, Kirk Valeria decided that something was doubtlessly wrong with the galaxy, and that probably its 8 billion stars had to pack up and definetly leave him alone.
Always, in the same lilliputian instant, the unexpected connection between the 1.507.192th and 1.507.193th neurons caused an illumination to sir Geledron Olian, who deciphered the last glyph necessary to... well, he was not even aware of what big aftermath would have caused that joke of fate.

'Do you see anything?'
'Nothin', I've already told you.'
The darkness was as deep as the lack of words of the two crewmen. The ship had fallen in an unexpected slumber, and all the systems appeared of having been jammed by the traversal of the Gate: not even the assistive emergency lights seemed to work. However air continued being filtrered by the rough machines they had recovered from the older models spaceships. Bemusing how those were the only things that continued working, opposed to some of the most modern technologies their craft was equipped with. Probably all the other mates were alive then, though probably in a state of panic caused by the sudden darkness.
'Have I told you abou-'
'Stop it.' interrupted one of the two.
'What? Oh, c'mon, I have yet to say something!'
'I don't wanna hear about it. If we're gonna die here, I want to die in silence.'

Time passed. Normal. It was an evidence of their existence; they were still in the known universe. And by Vituvia they were! He could still feel his heart beat like never before, his breath on his cheecks, the oppressive feeling of the emergency cap. He turned by his side. That colonization sh*t had gone wrong as expected since the beginning. No wonder their bodies were probably going to be discovered in some years by some other unfortunate souls. He could not help but chuckle at the idea of a spacecraft cimitery.
'Jaletia, the eternal rest of five billions of colonizers.' thought. The crewman could not rest, so decided to turn again to his other side; the cap was terribly bothering, and finding a good position to take a nap was pretty difficult. He sighed, only to be silenced by the mate.
'Shut up, Kirie. Try to not move a muscle or I swear to all of good it's left in this mission I'll end your sufferings personally... now.'
'Umpf. Why are you so quarrelsome? Chill down. There's no hope anymore'. How could he believe there was still some? How naive of him.
'Ah! You should respect your superiors, twit. And yes, there's still hope.'
'How, Commander?' said Kirie, faking a surprised and interested tone of voice.
He heard a soft laugh coming from behind him. 'Hear; you new generations surely don't care of what surrounds you.' said the official, with the typical accent of southern Lorena.
Was it worth trying? The answer was obviously yes. Not that he had more compelling things to do aside from waiting his own end.
He concentrated himself on capturing sounds. The craft was as void of light as of sounds, beside its own heart pulse. However, just before he gave up, a fleeting note whispered at his ears. One to another, he began hearing a more structured sound, composed of thousand of pulses and... and of vibrations. How could the empty space be filled with such a impetuous sound? He... he perceived something outside of the mere sound... storms, particles; conflict, ancestral strength.
He felt something enormous: in front of them there wasn't nothingness, there was...

'A gas giant.'

As soon as his commander spoke, a beam of light wounded the darkness. As the empty shadows began to dwindle, casting obscure meanings on the chamber behind him, the light grew; radiant, soon after filled the scope of view. Next to the light, the giant mass of the failed husk of a star orbited graciously, revealing a particularly strong atmospheric activity. Beneath their eyes flew thousands of crystals, circumnavigating the whole diameter of the gas giant.
Shining gently, the sun rays greeted with joy the arrival of the colonizers, who, baffled, observed their ship returning to optimal activity, as the solar panels sanctioned the first exploiting of that system.

[null123]

New Condia
The bombs only dropped faster, as the remaining 3 million civilians who did not evacuate fell victim to the firebombing.

"There is no hope for them, we evacuated who we could. If we stop now they would be consumed by the parasites, there bodies turned against there families. This is not a cruel act of violence, this is a act of mercy.

The Dreadnought, The Last Hope
“In a universe far away, and long ago. There stood many proud nations, many powerful ones. Now it lies in ruins, this dreadnought a last ditch effort to save that universe. A massive one built with technology from all nations. It failed, but it was destined to. Not even the Goddess could stand against what ruined us, what threw us into chaos…”

The Captain of the vessel stood, he had refused to let people call him by his original name. He had acquired many over the years since he had returned to the now dead universe and became Captain of The Last Hope. He was tall, wearing the same black stretch uniform he always did. It had 3 letters in silver on the front. He remembered what they had stood for, and what the values of that nation had been. He had committed acts that still haunted them to this day against that nation. He would never be redeemed from them. His face was gaunt and pale, from all of the years of space travel that had happened since this dreadnought had fled the universe from where it had come. His eyes a bright green, his hair and beard the same brown color it always been.

He took a minute and overlooked his bridge crew. They all were concentrated on their work, the bridge falling into total silence because of it except for the occasional beep of a computer system. They all had fought bravely to try to defend their homes but they had failed, and they had been traveling from universe to universe, hoping to find a new home. The Captain left the bridge, to inspect the rest of the ship, and check on someone that had been wounded their the final few battles, one that he had betrayed.

Many civilians had been picked up in the aftermath, as well as few soldiers. Most stood quiet, as there was nothing to talk about expect sadness over what had been lost. He saw a grey in his enviro-suit listening to a old song that had come from his civilization. He had refused to call this generation of greys by their proper names, the generations before were at least somewhat noble despite all of their failings. The atrocities this generation greys had committed towards the end of the war that had ruined them just to survive made them undeserving of that name. The grey tried again as was usual to penetrate the mental barrier of Captain to force him to call him the name that they once had, but the Captain’s mental barrier was too strong. He ignored the grey and proceeded further into the ship.

He thought in silence as he walked through the next part of the ship. It was beautiful, forged of silver and gold with various decorations scattered around it. It still unsettled him, as the noble species who had built this had all died in that war. Proud, Strong, and peaceful they had been, and now they were no more. He looked around, seeing that the 6 gems that once had belonged to the 6 greatest heroes of their nation, however they remained silent, the power source that had fueled them destroyed. The Captain picked up one, each was a different colored gem laid into a finely crafted gold necklace.

Dark thoughts were all that filled the Captain’s mind. He saw first-hand the destruction that those forces had wrought upon their former universe, the war they had caused with the once proud nations who had built the The Last Hope. He finally left the part of the ship, reaching his final destination. The medi-bay, where three people he needed to speak to were.

The Captain stepped in, a few doctors attending to the sick and wounded. They payed no attention to him, not many beyond his bridge crew and officers did. To many who had seen the archives of his actions he was nothing but a monster or a mad-man. He ignored them as well, as he only wanted to see those three.

He reached the final room, where a doctor monitoring a computer terminal monitored a medi-tank of sorts. A female human sat near a window, looking out through it and off into the distance, disconnected from everything around her. A small shining gem also sat near the medi-tank. Inside the medi-tank was a blue-skinned humanoid with two stalks protruding from his head. He had short black hair, and his eyes were closed shut. The Captain approached the crystal first, using a limited telepathic ability he had acquired to access it. Upon attempting to access it he felt great sadness and sorrow from the presence inside, before he was quickly forced out by its barriers. He approached the human female first, garnering her attention.

“Are you doing alright?” asked the Captain.

“He’s been in there so long...will he ever come out?” responded the female in a sad tone. The Captain attempted to try to get her to talk to him further but she refused to give any further response. The Captain went to talk to the doctor on the status of the patient within the tank, when the patient began shaking inside, and according to the tank’s automated procedures it immediately released the alien side, as he awoke coughing and dripping with the tank’s liquid. The Captain and the female human rushed to his side. The Captain spoke first.

“Fairlan, Fergus… Are you alright? Do you remember what happened?” asked the Captain.

Another person stepped in, mentioning that they had arrived at there intended destination, but the Captain waved him off as he awaited Fairlan response.

Sol
At the edge of the Sol one of the largest Dreadnoughts the UTF had ever seen arrived. It clearly looked as it if it had been built with technology from multiple different species. Shortly after it arrived it beamed in multiple languages to Earth, including English, the following message.

"I am the first officer of this vessel, It is known as the Last Hope. We are travelers so to speak, we lost our true homes long ago, and in we are in need of assistance. And we carry a warning."

[Keyguyperson]

The Dreadnought, The Last Hope
As Fairlan coughed, his face took on the look of a frightened child's. His antennae folded backwards, pressing against his wet, black hair. Still, he wiped his face clean furiously, retreating slowly backwards into a corner. Once he finished cleaning his face, he took his hand away, revealing his eyes, opened as wide as they would go. He desperately tried to make sense of his surroundings, but it was just a blur of light to him. He groped around with his hands, after hearing the voice, they immediately became fists. His antennae wiggles furiously now, as if searching for something.

"Where am I?" He said in a panicked tone "What did you do to me, what the hell was that liquid? My arms are too light, what planet is this!?"

After a mere moment, his fear faded into a full panic, his antennae picking up speed as he continued to grope around as if trying to pick something up. His breathing became faster and faster as he began to sweat.

"Where's Emily?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?" He screamed, as his eyes began to glow a brilliant purple. He stood up abruptly, waking straight up to the man and grabbing his uniform. With the man closer to him, he could see his face. The image was still blurry, but basic features were noticeable. He certainly looked like a human or maybe Boskop, but Fairlan had never heard the man's accent before. He suddenly realized that the man had asked if he was okay, an odd thing for a captor to ask. He slowly let go of the man, using his freed hands to massage his temples.

"I have no idea who the hell you are, so let's start with a request: give me my visor. It's that glass strip that looks like it would clip onto my head, I kind of need it to see. I also need to know just what happened to Emily, and I would prefer to have the latter first."

((WIP, posted because I gotta get this bit out))

[Apollo26]

Ocean of Jul
Aboard the Carrier Hu’long

There was a collective chuckle in the CIC as the humans hurriedly ran topside, they were in for quite a sight. The ship had started to pitch slightly rocking back in forth due to the storm, but this was not felt inside the ship due to stabilizers. On the flight deck however the full wrath of the storm could be felt. Rain fell at a heavy constant rate, feeling almost like needles as the high winds impacted the drops. These were easily hurricane force winds that blew at a constant rate, luckily everything was tied down with chains to prevent them from being blown away. This was a normal occurrence on Icarus and even around the core worlds, locals could predict the time of these storms down to the minute. The rain and the high winds were one thing but the waves caused by the storm were simply frightening. 150 to 200 foot waves crashed against the hull, washing over the deck at times. The crew on the flight deck were always tied down by a lifeline attached to a carabiner , but none of them seemed to alarmed by the massive storm. They walked around the flight deck in a casual manner, some even sitting outside to talk and watch the ferocity of the storm.

Inside the captain was delighted to see the Diplomat’s interest in naval tactics, quickly bringing up the battle plan once again to talk it over with him.
“ So you see, the enemy force numbers maybe four to five ships outnumbering us by one or two. Surprise is important here, we have to take one or two ships out of the fight almost the second we start. I will start with fighters and long range missiles while my two destroyers close the distance. Once within cannon range, it should be an even fight if everything goes to plan.” The captain nodded as he looked over his plan again before picking his head up slightly as if he remembered something. “ Oh, the rules. If the majority of the crew is not able to do their job then the ship is considered destroyed. This can happen due to the crew being blown overboard or too beat up and disoriented to continue their duties. We use old riot control force rounds to simulate explosions, it simulates the shockwave of the explosion without actually destroying anything. So it pretty much just moves things around, blowing men and material all over the place. Injuries do happen, so this is training for our medical crews as well, broken bones a few lacerations here and there….its all in good fun.” The captain said laughing. "If it is done right, you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between this and real combat.”

Task Force Blue ( 50 ships stong)
Special Operations Group 4
12 man team, Lt. Gul Timonus

“ Approaching insertion, going radio silent” Lt. Timonus said as his two delivery vehicles inched closer to the dark side of the asteroid. The delivery vehicles themselves were extremely simple, small crafts that was propelled by compressed air. Each vehicle had space in the back for six men with all of their gear, all open to the vacuum. The team had planned their insertion perfectly, waiting for the least populated asteroid to revolve around the planet before making their way to it. On the asteroid was a small mining operation, with what looked like one or two structures. This was going to be their observation post for the planet, as it offered a good view of the interior of the asteroid field and the planet itself. Each member had a standard load out for assaulting a target, carbines, stun and frag grenades. One member on each team carried breaching charges and equipment along with the rest of his gear and everyone wore small spare oxygen bottles for extended time in the vacuum. The only large piece of gear the entire force carried was the communications and observation equipment, carried in four large hard cases. The two crafts quietly made their way up to the surface of the asteroid, anchoring itself in the hard rock before the team got out. The team made there way to within visual range of the first mining structure, taking up observation positions to prepare for their raid.

(Once again, tell me what I see duck)

[null123]

Falacia
For being a small mining operation it was suspiciously well defended. Heavy turrets as well as soldiers equipped with huge cannons patrolled the area. Each had a shield, supplied from a unknown source. A soldier equipped in some type of mech-suit patrolled the premise, as well as soldiers who unlike all other Iscandarian soldiers encountered by the Septonians had obscured visors. Mages also patrolled the premise, as well as fighters who were watching for any enemy attacks of the asteroid.

[WilsonTurner]

Valkian names to remember:
Explorer - Heavy Dreadnought, seven only, four swarmer missile turrets, two particle cannons, Sentients’ Bane, heaviest armor known to the known galaxy
Varren Warcruiser- Medium-Heavy Dreadnought, two swarmer missile turrets, 20 dual rail turrets

-vau - clan name of the Vau clan, an agriculturally based clan, lay claim to two planets
-vaun - clan name of the Vaun clan, a militarily and technologically based clan, lay claim to four planets
-rau - clan name of the Rau clan, a heavily militarized sect of more troublesome Valkians, lay claim to one planet
-raun - clan name of the Raun clan, a scientifically and technologically based clan, that focuses on self-independence, lay claim to the asteroid belt and one planet

Valkian Coreworld Research Facility
Three Tinkerers stood in a large bay, chunks of the Draconian ship littered about the edges and several more important looking pieces sitting in the middle of the expansive room. All others that were watching or assisting were currently protected behind lead-titanium-carbon alloy-layer plate armor. The three Tinkerers were the head of foreign research and development- a new department specifically organized for the research of alien artifacts or technology.

The pieces in front of them was a very small piece of a Draconian Power Core, a blackened half of the Crippler Laser System, where one can see where the containment chamber had ruptured and blown out the side and rear, a sparking and snapping Draconian shield generator, and a variety of different salvaged vessels- from a couple drones, to a small fighter and a larger shuttle, and several rounds belonging to the captured Draconian cruiser. They had a variety of power generators, tools, makeshift adapters, and protective gear to assist them in surviving the testing and breaking apart of the Draconian technological items.

They wordlessly moved to the shield generator, the most damaged but operational item. It was already hooked up to the generator- at the moment, it appeared that the generator was only producing a fraction of the energy required to run the shield generator, and it became obvious that the invaders had little care for efficiency, but rather just using massive amounts of energy. It seemed they were arrogant in that way. They pulled off pieces with tools modeled after the bolts and screws in the machine, and used plasma cutters to get through anything that was sealed shut. Several times, an item sparked or even tore itself apart. The only real danger that had happened throughout the deconstruction of the machine, and its careful documentation, was when they reached the core of the machine that transferred the energy into what was used to form the energy shields. This bursted through the yet-untouched 'portal' that sent it out and helped form a bubble around the ship. The result was a Valkian on the other side, pulling it apart from that side, getting a full blast of the shield. He flew back, crashed into the ground, and groaned, having had his leg broken on a piece that he had put down some distance behind him.

After replacing him with two more Tinkerers to help speed up the process, they finished. They had taken apart the entire thing, and passed on the gained data to the analysts, so that they could fill in gaps and figure out how it worked. From there, they called in several Engineers, and got to work on the fighters and drones. They were completely foreign, as a concept. With what they began to learn about them, they soon figured out that building such craft would be very easy- true, they could even convert construction drones to be some kind of combat drone.

And then it came to one of them. Hey! he thought, I've got an idea!

Council Chamber, the Valkian Homeworld
"Are we seriously debating on constructing new ships? The Explorers will be enough! We have a small enough territory, and everything we have is already industrialized and claimed! No one will want to attack us, especially because of our defenses. We are safe in our system; no need for the construction of a warfleet, or, may She forgive, new ships for new, weaponized alien technologies!"
The speaker, an unusually tall Tinkerer by the name of Henrau, pronouced hen-raw, was from the innermost planet of the system, closest to Valeu, the system's sun. He was one of the ones whose ancestors dated back to the original Councilmembers who had originally decided on the construction of the Explorers- ships to appear like nothing more than heavily armored scoutships, complete with highly advanced scanning and communication technology, but seemingly devoid of any kind of weapons. Very similar to his ancestor, both of them had been highly against any kind of military moves. Wise, perhaps, but not in a hostile world.

"And we have already lost a Varren, and we have yet to see even a real fleet. What if they came to one of our planets, in force? We may fight them off if its a Coreworld, but it takes upwards of three weeks to evacuate the lighter-populated planets, and upwards of two months for a Coreworld. We need a team that can respond to any threat, and counter attack it if need be. And if we're going to be taking the Nouvellians underwing, then we need the extra firepower to cover both systems." This next speaker was of the outermost Coreworld, being named Calvau, having recently reached the status in the past three planetary cycles, known to humans as 'years.' He was the newest and youngest of the group, but the most ambitious.

"We all know that while the ship Commander acted without discussing us, we could use this alliance. They may be a technologically primitive civilization, at least in comparison to us, but they could be useful allies, even if we just use them to keep our own from getting killed. At best, they may be a race with faster reproduction, and if we're closely knit allies..." He gestured vaguely. "The production facilities we set up before hand will be a large investment, especially so if we're making larger facilities, but they can fill them and work them faster than we can. Think of the future, not the present." Calvau leaned back in his chair as several of his political allies spoke out their agreement.

The third major speaker, as there were three that mainly spoke out and gathered allies, nodded his consent, saying, "We need a larger fleet if we want to both patrol and control the Nouvellian system, and even more so if we want to ensure the safety of our own. Already, the Commander at Novelle spoke of a possible threat, a species with some kind of internal well of power. And, the Commodore in charge of the ship attached a file of their ship. Apparently, someone didn't like them and blew the ship apart. A nation with enemies, it seems. It stranded its diplomats on the ground, but shortly, far too shortly, another fleet bearing resemblance to their own apparently appeared, and immediately launched an attack at a remote spot on the surface. They're already taking their battles to Nouvelle- if we have had one of our own promise protection, then it would not do to reject it here. Do I have your consent to continue?"

This third speaker, named Salvaun, waited for Henrau to speak. After several silent moments, filled only with the tension being wrought by the glaring Henrau, Salvaun continued. "My designers have already finished designed a military drone ship. We took technology designed for use in construction drones, technology modeled after the type used in the alien fighters, and the systems used in Swarmer missile systems. A single drone will not be able to do very much damage at all- it has about the same firepower as one of my Enforcers. However, combined with up to two hundred other drones, which is the amount that a single droneship is predicted to hold, the drones will create a network with all friendly drones and starships. These drones will be able to do anything from repairing one of our ships' minor damage or seal major damage spots, which we know can happen to even our best, to act as a shield by intercepting enemy ordnance. Their primary purpose is that of combat- each will be armed with sixteen Swarmer missiles, and a plasma cannon. They bear next to no armor, just enough to protect them from debris, radiation, or otherwise. If the rest of the clans agree, we can mass produce these drones far faster than droneships, giving us the ability to rapidly deploy drones from droneships or any converted freighter or passenger ship. Questions?"

Immediately, the most troublesome of political group leaders spoke up. “Sal of the Vaun clan, I say this is preposterous. You expect the rest of us to simply just go with whatever you think up, as if our opinions matter not! You arrogant-” At this, Henrau is interrupted by Calvau and several supporters of both. “You speak as if he did it all himself- no, rather we have all pitched in, some more than most! He has headed the project for some time now, and this is the first opportunity!

“Really, if you think he would do such a thing without consulting anyone, you are the foolish one! He has already gained support of myself and my supporters, and a few of yours, too! This isn’t a hindrance to our people- this’ll push us forward without risking our necks. The entire crew of the Kindhru Varren Starship that was destroyed out in the third discovered star system was of mixed clan- we all had people on that ship, save for your own. If you would like to protest, you may do so, but you shall not declare the like here. None of us will- Salvaun made it obvious enough what he was up to when he approached many of us in the open to speak with us.”

The clan leader of the militarized sect steamed over being cut off and interrupted, and Salvaun nodded his thanks to the young Calvau. Salvaun, being older than the rest of the Valkians arrayed around the table, took a moment to regard Henrau. After another moment, he said, “I will place a vote to remove all Rau clanmembers from the crews of the Explorers, and to exclude them from the selection of crews for the new droneships. All for, raise your hand.” Nine of the fourteen hands went up, and he added his own. “All opposed, raise your hand.” The ten went down, replaced by two from Henrau and his closest associate. Surprised, he said, “All abstaining, raise your hand.” The last two hands went up, closer members of Henrau.

Apparently, the troublemaker’s base has weakened much more than known. An interesting revelation- that was why he was quick to lash out. Salvaun spoke, “Rau clan, your members are going to be reassigned to any new Varren warships that are built, or to any freighters or put in the reserves until needed again.” One of the lesser-known Clan members raises his hand, and says, “Move to dismiss.” “All for being dismissed, raise your hand.” All fourteen hands went up, some more reluctantly than others.

“Dismissed of the Council until exactly one suncycle from now unless otherwise needed. Have a good cycle, and let the Great Mother bless us all.”

[Apollo26]

Nouvelle
Special Forces Group 1
Special Recon team

“ Damn, we’re in a tight spot” Kacha said, sliding back behind the crest of the hill “ We need to move, its only a matter of time before they find us.”. There was no doubt in his mind that these alines were looking for them, why else would be be here and so obviously armed? Pulling up the tactical map in his HUD, Kacha went over the terrain they just analyzed, trying to find an appropriate place to hide. Half a kilometer from their position was a small village, they passed it on the way up the hill. No lights, no movement, they looked completely abandoned to the Aradites. There was no room for discussion, the pair waited for the Iscandarins to fly over them before moving down the hill towards the small collection of cabins. Weighed down by their heavy bergans, they walked at a brisk pace, keeping an eye on the flying pair as they continued to fly away. Upon reaching the small cabin the two set up on either side of door with their weapons pointed at it, setting up to breach the door. Kacha nodded his head three times before mule kicking in the door, nearly kicking it off its hinges. Ura instinctively stepped through the doorway first, covering the left side of the room with his long sniper rifle while Kacha stepped through immediately after covering the right side with his designated marksmen rifle. Within seconds of entering the pair learned a couple things very quickly:
1: The building was infact occupied by a small family
2: The building looked unoccupied because of the shutters over the windows.

While Septonian night vision is excellent, it still has its problems. The shadow casted by the building over the windows made it look like the interior of the house was dark, the actually shutters could not be seen. Once the door was opened however the light completely washed out their night vision visors, making the system automatically turn them off. Out of the blinding light, the figure of a woman, man and three small children appeared in the room, obviously terrified of the heavily armed aliens. Ura immediately threw his hands in the air, holding his long sniper rifle vertically as he tried to calm the children down. The woman was on Kacha’s side as he breached in quickly turned towards the pair. Kacha quickly slung the rifle around his back hand held his hands up as well, making a shushing sound towards the woman. “ No no, its ok…” he said through his exterior speakers before the woman let out a loud piercing scream.

Task Force Blue ( 50 ships stong)
Special Operations Group 4
12 man team, Lt. Gul Timonus

“ Mining asteroid? or Military installation?” an operator said as he studied the defenses, before falling back to join the rest of his team. Every member of the team had painted their armor black to blend into the surface of the asteroid and space behind them, making it hard to locate the team without the aid of their HUDs. “ Whats the plan boss?” another operator said over the radio still studying the patrolling patterns of the Iscandarians. Gil hummed a bit as he slowly made his way back towards the observation post, taking another look at the defensive positions and roving patrols. His attention was then brought towards the small structure that occupied the asteroid, what he guessed was the command center of the operation. Gul activated his EM visor and studied the structure for a moment, looking for any spike in electronic activity or a communications hub. By his reasoning, any sort of off asteroid communications had to be something other then a personal communications system. Long range communication required a larger more powerful unit, something he would expect to be in that structure. Turning off his EM visor Gul backed away from the observation post, regrouping with the rest of the team “ Im getting a large EM reading from that structure, it could be their comms hub or it could be something else. Either way, its a good place to start.”. The rest of the team nodded and pulled in close for what was going to be a hasty briefing. Gul drew three X’s in the loose sand on the asteroid, drawing cones in front of each one. He then drew the paths of the roving patrols around the heavy machine gun emplacements, marking the direction of their path. “ We stay behind this ridge until we get here” he said pointing towards a point off to the side of the structure. “ Then we need to move from cover to cover, making sure to move only when we are out of the patrol’s field of view.” he said drawing a jagged line around the back of the structure. Gul then drew a line around the far end of the structure and drew a circle, marking the breach point “ From here, we make our way along the backside of the structure and make a soft breach into the building. It is important that we don’t use any explosives until after this comms hub is taken out, one message of our presence will certainly bring death upon us all.” Gul nodded and tapped the ground twice, “ Ready?”. The operators nodded and began slowly picking their way around the asteroid, making sure to stay below the line of sight of the turret gunners. With the lack of gravity on the asteroid, their movements were extremely calculated and slow, making sure to check their trajectory multiple times before making a short leap to their next position. Reaching the end of the ridge, Gul peaked his head around the rocks to steal another look towards their defenses, checking for changes.

[null123]

Falacia
Upon activating the EM scan it had been revealed that the entire asteroid had been minded out and converted into installation. It housed a communications base, and something more. The entrance into the lower part of the asteroid was a circular dome, although it was pretty small. Two entrances existed, one for shuttles and one for just personnel. However due to how small the dome was it was surrounded on all sides by men and turrets. The fighters also posed a problem as they seemed to have cameras on every surface, which posed a problem as the asteroid was a very light gray and not black. The soldiers stopped, planning out their next moves further.

Nouvelle
One of the Sentinels flying around heard the scream, and assuming it was the Septonians, radioed it in as soldiers moved and surrounded the house. A few canisters of gas were tossed in as it flooded the house with the gas. The patrons went from being scared from the Septonians to laughing, rolling on the floor so to speak. A Archmage approached the front of the house, and broadcasted a message with a extremely loud voice that was in a perfect recreation of the Septonian's language.

"Give yourselves up, your place of hiding is surrounded. You can not stand against the Eternal Union."

[WilsonTurner]

Nouvellian Orbit
A small capsule, identical to the one the Valkian Explorer had launched a couple hours earlier, reappeared close to where its counterpart had warped out. It remained in stealth mode, waiting for the Explorer's active sensors to find it before it fired thrusters and approached the Explorer on collision course. The Explorer, in turn, collected it, and quickly scanned through its contents.

Orders received, the Valkians set out to carry them out with grim determination, now firm where there had been indecision before.

Valkian message to all Eternal Union Units [Excluding Diplomatic Party]
"Unknown species- labelled, "Eternal Union." Alias, "EU."Translation Matrix activating. Cease all military activities within Nouvellian territory, including any activities on its soil or in orbit around its planet. This land is currently belonging to the Nouvellian government, by order of their Queen and our government, under the protection of the Valkian nation, which is us. I repeat, cease all combat and military activities before a diplomatic incident is caused, and forced intervention is necessary. This is the only warning- this territory of the planet and its system is under the protection of the Valkian nation. To continue to do unauthorized combat operations within its territory is to cause a diplomatic incident with its owner, the Nouvellian government, and their new protectors, the Valkian nation. Assistance is being called, and forceful intervention will become necessary if you continue to operate illegally in foreign territory. We repeat, stand down and return to your ships in orbit around the planet, or a diplomatic incident will be caused. Any conflicts you have shall be taken elsewhere. This is a no-fire zone from here-on-out. No military operations will be conducted in this territory without permission from the Valkian government and the Nouvellian government, or an incident will occur. Received and understood, please respond. Out."

With this, the Varren moved lower into the atmosphere, preparing to send in dropships and call in fire support, while the Explorer moved to a point between the Varren and the Eternal Union fleet. It was very obviously a sign of combat preparation- the EU may cause another war by conducting another.

((Will have a post at the Nouvellian conference up soon))