[IC] From Stardust, To Stardust

[Apollo26]

Nouvelle

“ Shit!” Kacha said outloud as the woman screamed, he had no doubt that the flying aliens would find them now. It was only a matter of seconds before the hut was surrounded and gas canisters were thrown in, subduing the civilians inside. The gas made them laugh uncontrollably which must of been terrifying and possibly dangerous for the civilians inside. How long would it last? Was the gas safe or would it be ultimately fatal? Ultimately, the pair was very grateful to be wearing their full kit and grateful not to be feeling the effects of the gas.

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

They heard from outside of the hut, cracking a smile as they mulled over the words ‘give yourselves up’. “ Is that who we are fighting then?” Ura said looking for another exit out of the hut. Kacha shrugged and stood off to the side of the door, covering it with his rifle. If anything came through the door the rounds from his heavy caliber rifle would shred it. The hut itself only had one door which posed a problem and the area around it was flat for a few meters before dropping off another hill, an impossible run with heavy bergans. They really only had a few options, fight and endanger the civilians inside by exposing them to enemy fire, or give themselves up. The second choice was beyond the scope of any Aradite, surrendering was tantamount to treason and horribly unhonorable. Endangering the lives of these peaceful civilians was also not acceptable, these people could be future trading partners and allies, endangering them was out of the question. Either way, they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, waiting for the airship to return or simply picking them off as they tried to enter the hut was the best idea right now. Kacha let out a quiet chuckle, pulling a stun grenade from his combat harness before passing it to Ura. “ Throw it through the window” he said over the team comm channel as he continued to cover the door. Ura nodded and stood over to the right of the window, quietly flipping the latch on the shutters before quickly shoving it open and throwing the primed stun grenade out. “ Daiwa!” he yelled as he closed the shutter with the same quickness. ‘Daiwa’ was a colloquial curse in the core worlds, equivalent to a fuck you in Terran language. Being slang, it would be hard for the Iscandarians to translate.

Falacia
“mining asteroid” ( military installation)

From this angle Gul could see the dome and the increasing number of defenses around it, this mission just went from a normal raid to a special reconnaissance mission. It would require more then 12 people to take down a installation of that size, no matter how well trained they were. Whatever was in there must be important or they wouldn’t bother defending it so heavily, which means the Septonians wanted it. The first step in this process had to be the destruction of communications, if they could isolate this asterioid then they could take it without anyone knowing about it. When the marines landed, they couldn’t be shackled with trying to remain silent, it would take away from their operational strength. The destruction of communications rested solely on Gul’s team, which means they had to find it. “ unpack the communications array, I have a plan” Gul suddenly said, backing away from the edge of the ridge and moving the team back into a fairly deep crater. The team’s communications specialist did as ordered and unpacked the hardware, setting it up with practiced speed. “ Its up…” he said calmly as he booted the system “ What do you want me to do?”. If they set this array up as a relay, he bet that they could at least intercept the radio transmissions and trace them back to the source. “ Set the array to passively listen to any transmissions coming or going, then trace the strongest one. That should be our target” Gul said before moving the team into a defensive perimeter. Destroying the antennae would kill their long-range transmission capability but destroying the comm tech would render all communication impossible.

( Alright, where is it Duck)

[Keyguyperson]

Nouvelle, EU/Spetionian Conflict
Two fiery streaks lit up the sky, anyone watching would have assume that they were just meteors. However, as they began to slow down from the drag, a clear shape could be seen. They were some kind of aircraft, each white with a scorched underbelly that showed the wear and tear of multiple atmospheric entries. They glided down, towards the area where the Iscandarians and Septonians were fighting. Just before reaching it, light was bent around both of the craft as if through a lens. This odd effect was accompanied by the two shuttles slowing down, ending up hovering over the house where the Septonians and Iscandarians where having a standoff.

The underbellies of the aircraft opened, and twenty soldiers dropped down from each, along with two land vehicles that appeared to be light tanks. They slowly came towards the ground, apparently assisted by the same antigravity device the aircraft were using. The aircraft illuminated the area with floodlights, clearly identifying both the house and the Iscandarian forces. A large device on the front of both craft began to glow, it looked like some form of laser, but the configuration of the firing mechanism was odd. One of the tanks opened up it's top hatch, and a Terran man wearing a military uniform stuck his head out, speaking into a microphone. The recorded message was fed to the aircraft, which translated it to Iscandarian. The Nouvellians could understand it anyways, though it would sound odd to them. The Septonians, on the other hand, would only know that someone was yelling at them.

"All forces, stand down immediately! This world is protected by the United Terran Federation, and it's ruler has wished that no conflict occur here! Iscandarian forces, put down your weapons and inform your enemy of this message! Failure to comply will result in the use of force!”

Four Terrans entered the building, wearing exoskeleton frames that enhanced their strength. Such frames were used only by spec-ops forces, due to how fragile they were. The moment the saw the Septonians in the same room as the family, they instinctively assumed the worst. As if it came naturally, the four leapt straight over the Septonians, skimming the ceiling on their way. They landed in front of the family, each one perfectly in position to take a bullet for one of them. The man who appeared to be the leader took out his pistol and shot both of the Septonians in the head before they could react, but neither of the shots even pierced the skin. They were darts, but they definitely served a purpose.

A split second after the impact, both of the Septonians felt an incredible pain as the darts surgically drilled into their skull, releasing nanobots into their brains. After a mere second, they had effectively read their minds and deciphered their language. With the data sent to the translators inside of the soldiers' helmets, they could now speak to the aliens without needing to play a game of space charades while hoping nobody killed them.

"United Terran Federation, Spec-Ops. This ruler of this world has wished that no conflict occur, we will enforce that wish. If you surrender now, I won't have to hurt anyone."

Icarus, Ocean of Jul
The moment they stepped outside, most of the humans scrambled to get back in. One, however, stayed outside. He made an odd flicking motion with his hand, and he suddenly seemed unaffected by the storm. He walked normally on the deck, without a harness. His face didn't show the fear that the faces of the others had, in fact, he seemed calm, as if he were taking a literal walk in the park. He stood there, observing the action while being sure to stay out of the way of any operations. While he was unaffected by the storm, he would certainly be affected by being hit by a launching fighter.

Meanwhile, in the command room, the Diplomat nodded while the captain explained the battle plan.

"Interesting, a close-quarters battle involving carriers. For my people, this situation would be the result of a major tactical blunder. When a carrier is involved in one of our battles, the fleets will rarely even see each other. The battle ends up being decided purely by the aircraft. Say, how exactly do your cannons work? The word makes me think of gunpowder, but they could easily me railguns, coilguns, or even magic-based weapons." Realizing just how foolish he could have sounded in the last part, he awkwardly added on to his comment. "Those do actually exist, but you might already know that. From what we know, the species that uses them likes to get all tangled up in everyone else's business."

"Apparently for some sort of sick fun, too." Said another one of the Terrans in a spiteful tone "Those damn Iscandarians attacked before the ink was even dry on the treaty."

The Diplomat cringed when the other Terran mentioned the Iscandarians, they were only supposed to be mentioned after a formal meeting could be established, and he certainly had no intention of introducing them by talking about the invasion of Earth. Unfortunately, now the aliens could probably deduce why they were here: to gain allies against the Iscandarians. All he could do now was sit and hope that they'd never even heard of them.

Sol, Alien Dreadnought
Before Earth could respond, a fleet of about four hundred starships exited FTL behind the dreadnought. They bore clear battle damage, a few even leaking a blue substance that seemed to be plasma. A message was sent from the lead dreadnought of the fleet, apparently to Earth, but it could be heard by anyone who happened to fall in it's path.

"Admiral Dietmar, Terran Grand Fleet. Admiral Valeria was killed in action. We won the space battle, but we couldn't stop the invasion. We were getting ready to drop troops when those bastards took their entire fleet and turned it on their own planet, and they hadn't even gotten the civilians off yet. We sacrificed two hundred thousand people only to see them kill three million innocent people and an entire planet's ecosystem just because they refused to admit defeat. Using my authority as a fleet admiral, I have cut off all friendly relations with them."

Another message was sent back to the fleet, from the third planet of the system.

"That's... that's half as many as... surely there was hesitation!"

"None. They opened fire on their own people casually."

"Go to Mars for repairs. I'll order the constructed of new warships, as well as a fleet of bombardment vessels. The council will be petitioned to raise war taxes, and believe me, the entire galaxy will know about this."

The channel was cut off, and the fleet turned it's attention to the massive dreadnought. A quick scan showed traces of magical energy, and the entire fleet began to swarm around the ship, shields up and weapons online. If it was an Iscandarian vessel, they would be ready.

"This is Admiral Dietmard, United Terran Federation. Your systems show traces of magical energy, we have been tricked into complacency by others that use magic before. I will be personally boarding your vessel, if I'm right, and you are here to trick us, then you can die knowing that your people will soon be... enlightened by those whom they called inferior."

[REDACTED], Asteroid Belt, Sol System
"Do... do we really have to do this?"

The voice came from Dr. Akiko, one of the most respected (living) women in Terran science. Whether or not this was due to the name of her father was still in hot debate across the federation.

"Plasma weaponry is a simple technology, the Iscandarians probably already have it by now, along with a way to counter it." Said another scientist "Nothing could counter this."

"It's just... is it safe to do such a thing? To manipulate reality in such a way? The universe itself seems to be against the idea."

"What choice do we have?"

After a long silence, Dr. Akiko finally responded. Her back was turned to the other scientist, so as to hide the tears on her face.

"Begin construction of the prototype."

She looked at the portrait of her father on the wall, every Terran remembered him as a man born in the wrong time. The man that made it necessary for them to hide their greatest accomplishments for the greater good.

Father, I'm so sorry.

[null123]

Defenders of Harmony, former Iscandarian Space-Station orbiting Sol
"They just opened fire like that...? Dammit, we did not think that chaos would corrupt that fast." said a voice as Fergus and the rest of the Wings of Gliese walked into the station, which the Defenders of Harmony had converted into a operational base. They had already been linked to the first Seed of Harmony to restore their magic, which was tucked away safely behind a shield. Basil, Emily, Lahnha, and one other Iscandarian that Fergus had never seen before surrounded a holographic display.

"And now a from our scans a likely inter-universal dreadnought has come to Sol. This is just a excellent start for is is it not?" said Basil, as the four looked up at Fergus. The Iscandarian that Fergus never met walked up to him and shook hands.

"Greetings Fergus, I am Ironbones. I am Supreme Commander of the Iscandarian Navy, or was anyways before the corruption. I will be running operations and logistics for our little group here. I assume you have already informed your government of the corruption situation? And I have some information regarding the Iscandarian's ships that might be useful for your military" asked Ironbones.

Nouvelle
"Terrans... You should not be here" said the Archmage, as he fired a huge blast of energy up at the Terran aircraft. It was not like other magic the terrans had seen before, it felt more evil, and more destructive. One of the shuttles came and also began firing at the Terran Aircraft, as Iscandarian used the Septonians confusion to breech the building and fire at everything in sight. The weapons they were using seemed to be designed to cause massive amounts of pain, as if they were designed to incapacitate rather then kill.

The Last Hope, Sol
"I am afraid we do not have access to magic any longer, and if you really do think we are this species you have encountered, do a bio-scan of this ship. I have lowered all scanning counter-measures. I think you will find our peoples have a great relation."

Upon initiating the scan they found that aboard the ship was not just humans, but several other species who shared huge genetic markers with the humans.

Medi-Bay, The Last Hope
The Captain handed Fairlan the exact visors he asked for, but updated. It included many new features, or it seemed that way to Fairlan anyways. Emily was right next to him, crying tears of joy.

"As you can see your dear Emily is perfectly fine, and you are not captive. I will have to restore your memory." spoke the Captain, as the doctor on attendance pulled out a small injector that was clearly filled with nanites. After a few minutes Fairlan's memory was completely restored.

[Apollo26]

Nouvelle

“ Great, more people outside” Ura said as he heard the Terran yell over the microphone “ How did we mess this up Kacha?”. Kacha sighed and shrugged, keeping his rifle leveled towards the door “ I don’t know, a whole multitude of things. I don’t even know how anyone knows were down here. Something must of happened in orbit” he said pointing a finger upwards. The thought of all of their friends up in the Syren getting killed instantly killed the mood. The sound of a idling motor and a the crunch of gravel under boots quickly brought them back to reality, as a figure appeared in the doorway. Training took over and within an instant Kacha’s finger was on the trigger, with all of the tension pulled out. As he tracked the figure through the door he noticed something different, these were much smaller then Iscandarians and they didn’t look like Iscandarians. By the time the man began his jump Kacha’s finger was already off the trigger, with his rifle moving to the upward position. He continued to track the Terrans with his head until they took up positions protecting the civilians, hunkering down over them as if to protect them from fire. Kacha chuckled through his exterior speaker and was about to speak before Ura screamed “ Gun!”.

As he whipped his head around to face the Terrans he saw the gun being drawn in slow motion and instinctively dove towards the ground as the round left the chamber. The shot impacted his left shoulder and whipped him around onto his stomach, the floor of the cabin scraping against his magazine pouches as he fell. Ura had already dove towards the ground by the time the Terran shot, making the round go over his head and into the wall behind him. The pain from the shot subsided quickly making Kacha question the type of round that was used. When the Terran began to speak however it all make sense, he could understand them. Before he had time to say anything back he saw Ura quickly get up to engage the Terrans, pistol in hand. “ No!” Kacha screamed getting up off his stomach and running over to Ura, tackling him to the ground before he fired a shot. “ Some Spec-ops you are…” Kacha yelled after taking the pistol from Ura “ I……” was all he got out before the Iscandarians broke through the door, shooting everyone inside, including civilians . It wasn’t long before the pair was overwhelmed with pain from the Iscandarian fire, passing out.

Oceans of Jul
Icarus

The captain let out a quiet hum as the Terrans discussed the Iscandarians, he guessed they were talking about the war and this new enemy of theirs. He also deduced that they weren’t too fond of their new enemy either “ We abandoned simple ballistics some time ago. It was just too inconsistent with too many variables able to make the mechanism fail. Now every weapon in the concordant has switched to magnetic acceleration for propulsion, making them…….railguns…as you say?. As for these Iscandarians, I believe we have met on the field of battle once. If that is what you came here to talk about, then I suggest we start now, I can better brief my superiors when we return to land.”

[WilsonTurner]

Command bridge of Explorer #3, in orbit around Nouvelle
"Captain! Weapons fire detected on the surface, Terran units descended and engaged both unknown aliens, and Eternal Union units." Acting quickly, the ship's commander began barking out orders. "Drone Commander, launch three drones and two satellites. Position satellites in orbit about the area of the skirmish. Launch drones towards Eternal Union fleet, we will have to engage their fleet. Keep them under passive sensors, and link them through our active sensor network. Tactical, orders to prep weapons, weapons locked for now. Navigation, plot a course towards the Eternal Union fleet- Communications, send message for Eternal Union ships to stand down or be taken and-or destroyed, depending on your response. Send another message- the Varren will be unable to provide fire support, due to the skirmish being in a small village."

A series of "Aye-ayes" and "Yessir" rang out as the Valkians plotted on holographic consoles, keyed in commands, and typed out messages or called in to the departments. "Set the ship to battlestations, Systems. Set armor to overlap to the fore, and prep the particle cannons, Tactical. Overcharge them for the first shot- I want them to know we can do damage." Then Navigation spoke up, saying, "Course plotted sir. Proceed along?" "Aye, Navigation, thirteen percent sublight, direct shot. Order the Varren to flank in Manuever-Echo-43."

A message was sent again to the Eternal Union fleet, stating:
"Eternal Union command, order your ground forces to stand down. I repeat, order your forces to stand down and cease hostilities against Nouvellian peoples, Terran enforcing units, and unknown aliens. Diplomatic incident has occured- illegal invasion of Nouvellian soil and a declaration of war against Nouvellian, Terran, and therefore Valkian may occur due to unceasing hostilities on the ground. Cease hostilities immediately or face a Valkian strike fleet, which should be arriving shortly. Repeat- cease hostilities immediately or you will be acting as if at war, and will be met with due force."

Nouvelle Diplomatic Conference
The "Lord Tinkerer" waved the human's explanations aside. "I remember everything but what happened just before I passed out. A gift to the Queen, but beyond that, I remember not." Then he froze again, realizing that his eyes were shut- a movement that had never been used in centuries. He slowly, cautiously, peeked through, purpled eyes hurting at the bright lights, before slowly adjusting.

He looked around with wonder and surprise, a blessed feeling coming over him. This was the Great Tinkerer's doing for sure- there was no other explanation. The science into restoring the vision of a Valkian had occasionally come up, but it was always shot down. After all, seeing all around them, through anything and everything, was far better. But it left out the beauty, he realized. With eyes, you could see true beauty, not just the shape and mass of things.

And then the Engineer began speaking, running through text that was rapidly appearing on his computer. As he talked, the Tinkerer's eyes widened, a beginning of future facial expression. He stood, and turned to the Eternal Union diplomats, looking for all the world as uninterested people who took emergencies as they would as if someone inconsequential had sat down behind them. That is to say, they were doing nothing at all.

In a flash, the three Valkians were up, the Engineer calling for reinforcements, the Hunter putting himself between the Eternal Union and the rest of the diplomats, including the Queen, while the Lord Tinkerer approached the Queen [in a rather informal way], stating,
"Conflict in the skies above. Someone attacked the Eternal Union ship, and the Eternal Union responded by deploying troops from a new warfleet to a village on the frontier of your territory. Apparently, one of the aliens that had attacked them was there, and they attacked. The Terrans are moving to intercede, but the Eternal Union has fired on them. As of right now, I am marking all Eternal Union peoples as possible hostiles, and therefore, you need to leave right now, and get to safety. Now. Guards!" He called in the Queen's Royal Guards- it's not like they wouldn't come in, since their charge is the Queen, and an alien is saying that they're attacking a village, essentially, and attacking two other alien races... and three of them are in the Queen's presence.

The Tinkerer would go with the Queen or stay, it didn't matter to him- his second in command could take care of the ship in orbit. His concern was the Nouvellians.

[Apollo26]

Task Force Blue ( 50 ships stong)
1 LY from Falacia

“ The data we are receiving from the recon party is that they have 101 ships around the planet, standard vessels, like what we saw before” a junior officer said, speaking to the entirety of the senior leadership of the fleet. All of the ships captains had assembled on the flagship to discuss their next moves. “ What would you do Lieutenant” asked one of the captains as he studied the star charts around the planet. “ Well sir, I would bait the enemy into a minefield and destroy most of their number before attacking with the main force. T-98 heavy mines would suffice in destroying both shields and causing structural damage.” as he finished a image of the T-98 mine appeared on the main holoscreen. The T-98 mine is the heaviest class of mine in the Septonian Navy. It carries two staggered timed nuclear charges thatt are contained within its shell until maximum pressure is reached. Then the mine explodes destroying everything near it with intense heat, radiation, shrapnel and a massive area of effect radius. During trials it succeeded in denting a Septonian hull 50 miles away, before peppering it with molten shrapnel. These mines were surely a force to be reckoned with, one can cause serious damage but hundreds will cause nothing short of chaos. “ We can retrofit a few drones with beacons and boosters to make it look like our force is moving to attack the planet. Once the enemy responds and is within range of the mines, we will activate the tracking systems and watch the fireworks.”. The senior leadership nodded and talked amongst themselves for a moment before the admiral spoke up “ Good plan Lieutenant but it could be better, why not overwhelm their sensors with more ‘fake’ contacts once they are in range, this why they cannot pick off the mines once they begin tracking.” The Lieutenant nodded towards the admiral a little embarrassed his plan wasn’t good enough to be implemented. “ I still like the plan Lieutenant, lets do it, I trust you can run the operation?” the admiral said with a smirk “Consider the Jakke your first command……oh and congratulations Lieutenant commander.” With that the meeting ended, leaving the stunned newly promoted Lieutenant commander speechless in the room.

STC Jakke ( L-376)
Lieutanat Commander Hauglot
Some distance away from Falacia

“ Set the mines up in groups of three, and spread them out, I want every possible angle of attack to be covered. LTC Hauglot said while the crew was busy loading, priming and deploying mines. They had set up a massive minefield already,set up in a asterisk like formation. The Septonians really didn’t expect the Iscandarians to warp right to their position so they set up the beacons a short distance away from the minefield but still not activated. If everything went to plan, the EU ships would warp right into the minefield and be destroyed before anyone knew any different. The main fleet would then warp into the battlespace and finish them off with nukes, missiles and cannons. Once the minefield was set, all they needed to do was coordinate with the scout party to find the right time to strike.

[null123]

Falacia, Asteroid
Upon scanning there was two comms arrays, one for long-distance communications and one for in-system communications. Both were on the same level, that level being right below the entrance dome, and right next to each other. However they could not tell where the long-distance array was sending signals, some form of counter-measure was preventing outside resources from reading the place where the signal was being sent. The only issue with penetrating the facility still was the fact that it was being watched from all angles, however a opportunity had opened up for the Septonians.

The mech watching the entrance moved to the shuttle-bay, and so did several other guards. They appeared to be loading a shuttle with some kind of cryo-tubes, and several scientists were over-seeing the process. It was clear now, this was some kind of research facility, which would explain the heavy guarding of the place. The other entrance was now clear of guards, and if the Septonians moved fast and quickly they could avoid the patrolling fighters and get into the facility.

Falacia, the Iscandarian Fleet
The fleet detected the signals coming off from the deployed drones, and did mistake them for Septonian ships, but contrary to what the Septonians thought they did not move to engage. The fleet moved back towards the planet and combined their shield strength with the defense stations orbiting it, while the many defensive guns pointed at the spot where the Septonian signals where detected. They appeared to be waiting for the Septonians to strike first.

Nouvelle, Ground
"Move in now! Get the Septonians while there down!" screamed the Archmage, as several smoke grenades were tossed in to obscure the vision of those inside. The Iscandarians moved in, fired another way of incapacitation shots and grabbing the knocked out Septonians, taking away their weapons.

Nouvelle, Space
"Our forces are withdrawing as we speak, however considering the Terrans and Septonians fired first, do you not think it a bit unfair to be telling us that we should stand down?"

The Iscandarian ships were moving away from the Varren and the drones that had been deployed.

Nouvelle, Ground
"Oh? They deployed forces to the ground? I was never made aware of this, this must be some rogue military commander acting on his own. It has happened several times in the past." spoke Tullen.

Message to the UTF
"After certain recent events we think you may be interested in starting a war with us. Now we can not have you silly terrans doing such a thing, so we have a warning. We see even one sign of attacking by any of your fleets, we will deploy a ship with a warp drive to Sol, without any of the measures to prevent it from destroying the entire system."

[TwistedSun]

Jaletia; Fifth planetoid orbiting around the omonimous red dwarf; Halflife Pub.

---

The ghostly howl of the wind intertwined frequently with the deafening clatter inside the bar, and shouts or disembodied voices fought harshly to dominate each other.
However, as a particular tune played on a wide screen that had gone unnoticed till then, all other sounds seemed to cease altogether. Then, the volume of the screen increased, and a nourished crowd drew closer to the counter. Those who had occupied the seats raised their rueful eyes as well, focusing their attention from the half-empty glasses to the Hegemony News Network latest update. All except one, who kept twitching his mandibles from one sip to another.
'-today was held a formal conference, celebrating the anniversary of the end of the so called Sdruth civil war: during the years starting from 7696 to 7699, six thousands of honorable hegemony soldiers distinguished themselves by standing against the rebels of Loralia, fighting over the dry surface of Hillum . A federate delgation has set as tradition asked a chaplet of flowers over the tablet commemorating those who had fallen during the infamous conflict which deflagrated only eleven years ago.
'Moreover, the steward himself seized the opportunity to officially announce the start of negotations in the G.C. for the greatly requested law on citizenship. After few words of complacency over such a great step forward colonial righteous collaboration, he announced the upright possibility of equalization for Fringe and Core rights cards bestowed by each citizenship. However, given the onerous weight for the government, Lorc couldn't ompletely deny an inevitable tax raise...'

'Bullshit, that's what i say; if they had to levy new taxe' they could have just sad it without these goddamned tv chitchats.' shouted someone from behind the pack in a far too drunk sneer. None dared to counter. Tension had been quite high in that period around the colonies of their sector, and both cops and rebels played cats and dogs with each other.

'And in other news,' continued the anchorwoman, grasping a rapid glimpse from her summary 'the duchy of Valla has succumbed to the rebels' highly impredictable military operations. Today the Vallian embassador Khur Lias has publicly announced the decease of the long respected duke Von Strillghard, and the subsequent inhability of the sovereign government to proceed in any repression policy against the rebels without the stamp of the new ruler. After several aid demandations from the duchy's senate, the hegemony has reminded Vallian government its estrangement from civil and local issues, thus its impotence in intervening directly on any kind of treat which wouldn't wholly damage or significaly cripple all nations.'

Some of the crowd holded their breath. Someone in particular was captured by the news, and abandoned the gloomy alchol he held in his hands to join the others in sorrow. Memories of their old nations were still vivid in their eyes, and the image that flashed mercylessly on the screen concurred to make more miserable the colonists of that dry planet.

'Our military reporter Kehella is on the scene; studio confirms me the service is ready to go live. Kehella?'

'Thank you, studio. From the footages we are currently trasmitting you can clearly see the state in which the duchy is currently: minutes ago left wing activists going under the name of Valla's childern engaged a dramatic suicidal attack against this Vallian medical facility, right behind me; there. We can count already twelwe injured and six ascertained losses between the local militia. I can assure you that though in this neighborhood the situation is still under control, in other parts of the capital fightings proceed from house to ho*static*- can you hear me, studio? The sign*static* is disturrrr-*static'

The anchorwoman swifly closed her jaw and regained her composture. She nonchalantly took the paper back, coughing in order to reclaim the audience's attention, only to dismiss it with few minded words of reassurement. It was not clear if she had intention to calm down her viewers or herself.

As some advertising started being trasmitted ("Rent now the Gutt-2, the best and cheapest interplanetary personal car. Now avaiable in your nearest orbiting station!") the crowd disappeared. However someone was apparently pissed for some reason, and thus hit soundly the counter with his glass to claim a bit of attention. The barmaid moved clumsily, showing a bothered expression on her face.
'What do you want, brat?'
'I have a name as well, and feelings; never forget about shattered feels. I would love you to remember who I am.' spitted.
'Shut up, I'm just f**cking with you. Geez, what-do-you-want, answer. I have a pub to carry on my old shoulders'.
'Try to guess.' giggled Kirie.
Wordlessly, the barmaid hurled a piece of cloth she had in her hand to the counter, turning her back. She returned with a bottle of transparent liquid. Untapping it, she widened her mandibles.
'How socially obnoxious. I just wanted to talk, and forget about this rebellion crap.' sighed, shooking mindlessly his hand.
'You shouldn't talk like this, especially here.' said.
He closed his eyes his eyes. 'Nobody sane of mind would really think an armed rebellion would do something good at all.'
'Nevertheless a scant few still believe it, y'know brat. So shut up at once, and drink.' said the barmaid, mindlessly tilting the bottle.
Kirie inhaled slightly when the glass was refilled. He grasped it and gulped immediately the trasparent liquid.
He shook his head. Man... that thing was surely heavy to take down. Somehow, he had the clairvoyant vision of a pretty bad hangover.
'Will you put this on my personal debt, as well, sweetheart?' uttered, widening his mandibles.
'I do on a daily basis, brat. You have already plenty, don't you think?' snorted the woman.
'You know I'm going to be rich some day.'
She narrowed her eyes. 'I only know we are going to find the weeny announce of your death in some random mass grave some day, soon. And then I will surely not regret having offered you...' she paused, swiftly taking out a pocketbook '... two hundred, no wait' interrupted again, putting diligently a pen on the paper ' two-hundred-and-two drinks out of pure mercy.'
Kirie chuckled, sensing some truth in her sarcasm. He raised his glass to the ceiling, twitching his mandibles. 'To the best barmaid in the system... no, the entire hegemony!'
'You know your glass is empty, brat?' chuckled from behind the counter.
He moved his head, fixing his blank stare to the glass he was holding. 'Of course! I do...'
He put the glass on the wood, wobbling towards the door.

He was thoroughly drunk.

The door closed soundly behind him, shielding once again the pub from the outside world. The news report was again on, and the barmaid called forth back those interested. However, as she took the telecontrol from her pocket, she could hear some police cars fly near her shop. She sighed as the sirens went away, and raised the volume of the screen. That area was becoming dangerous.

'Welcome back, this is the H.N.N. live from our studios on Aeonas, your costant source of news twentyfour hours, five days per week. The current galactic standard time is 19:34, and space weather is stable, with some isolated solar wind turbulence around Koswip.
The anchorman lowered his papers, and looked emptily behind the glass of the camera.
'Has ended few hours ago in Aeonas Geledron Olian's press conference on the newest recoveries in the fields of alien xenolinguistics and archeotechnology. During the four hours speech presented to the vast public of dignitaries and experts in the field, the scientist, philosopher and self-declared genious has publicy announced to cameras a new interesting opportunity for space colonialism. It seems that the Firstborn foresaw the boundaries of simple one-to-one portal connection, thus creating in some portals a specific exchangeable code. Olian itself explained the functionalities of this system, however plainly defining his own theories as 'statements which, although literally true, are nevertheless deceptive'.
The man in the box received a new paper, and after having exchanged few rapid glances with it, turned again its face to the camera.
'And, regarding the Vallian civil war, we have new reports on the fights which are bursting all around the country. It seems that a new heir has been recognized to the duky's starred chamber. Nephew of the deceased Von Strillghard, already officially embeeded with the title of grand-prince of Hil, Kirie Strillghard is now the new duke of Vallia. It seems that he, last of the genealogy, has survived the onslaught of the duke's family by leaving the country just one month before the hostilities began, with his mentor and mother, in the first colonization expedition towards Jaletia. His whereabouts are currently unknown, though the Vallian government has best hopes for this young soon-to-be leader.'

The barmaid couldn't refrain herself from dropping her jaw and mandibles.

[darkwolf687]

((Yep, Nouvelle, because that isnt already cluttered! xD))

Thought for the day "Pain is temporary, Honour is forever"

Ardent Inquisitor
Inquisitor Class Prowler
Nouvelle Space
Hiding in the shadow of the gas giant

The Special Operations Major stood, looking into the holograms of the High Councillors; Mercy, Wisdom and Integrity. He couldnt help feel out of his league. He, a mere Spec Ops Major, was consulting directly with the high councillors. The Special Operations Majors black Combat Dress dully caught the blueish light, its metallic armour pieces and somewhat stylised headpiece giving his already imposing form the unmistakable air of a warrior, though the armour modules currently lay dormant in order to avoid detection. He spoke in the Grey Tongue, as expected of Special Operations when addressing the High Councillors
"That is correct, the sightings of the transport can be considered confirmed" He reported
"Alien life? What does it look like?" Wisdom inquired, his hands coming to rest clasped before him
"Our equipment suggests several different types present on the planet. They appear to be bipedal. There's another thing... We identify that from 4 of the present aliens, they grow... fur on their heads..."
"Fur?" Integrity questioned
"Yes, fur. In some so long it would make a garg bow."
"They are non-reptilian then." Integrity concluded with a small frown
"Yes. They appear to be descended from primates mostly"
"Describe what you see." Mercy demanded, waving the Major on. The Major turned to the second hologram as it displayed basic representations of the species
"One species... flesh varying around dark red hues... black-red fur... Second species, wildly varying flesh colours and fur colours... I would propose they were the same species but they seem... different. They are definitely far more advanced. They're attacking a maybe a space craft... Might be yet another nation... I see another space craft. I'd guess it belonged to the native species due to its thicker armour but its design seems off. None of this makes sense" The Major paused for a moment
"You are confused, Major?" Wisdom asked, to which the Major slowly nodded
"Yes. The scenario makes no sense, they all look like they are related in some way... but the tech gap is unimaginable"
"I see. Continue your observations as you see fit, keep your craft running dark and in the shadow of that gas giant. I want to know about this planet. First comtact is only to be made on my command, Major." Mercy decreed, ending the holofeed with another hand wave
"Of course..." The Major began, then was cut off. He turned and marched out of the chamber, meeting one of the Special Operations Minors outside
"When do we make contact?" The Minor inquired, tilting his head curiously. Naturally, he spoke in the black tongue and the Major quickly switched his language, becoming even deeper and harsher when many would have deemed such an action impossible.
"When I say" The Major responded, waving him off as he approached the center bridge hologram. He paused for a moment before turning his head "Ensure your Combat Dress is prepared and your Active Camoflague modules are attached." He ordered the crew, staring intently at the holographic planet

[Keyguyperson]

Nouvelle, Iscandarian Conflict
One of the Terran aircraft was destroyed, and crashed just beside the house. The second one opened fire with it's laser weapon, dodging the Iscandarian fire using it's antigravity system. The Terran ground forced opened fire as well, the Iscandarian weapons striking down many of the Terran soldiers. The commander took one look at the Iscandarian weapons and was suddenly overcome with anger, he knew exactly what they were. They were like the ADS that Captain Lovisa had faced in Sibera so many years ago.

He tapped a button on his tablet, then focused all of his energy on the battle. Before he could close the tank hatch, a stray Iscandarian shot hit his left arm. Suddenly overcome by pain, he screamed as if he had just been killed five times over. Still, he knew that the battle would be won. He just hoped that all the events would fall into place quick enough.

Meanwhile, the Spec-Ops forces opened fire on the Iscandarians, but it was too late. All of them fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The leader turned to the Iscandarians with what little strength he had left.

"V... vous monstres extra-terrestre!" He said weakly, before finally going unconscious from the shock to his nervous system.

Nouvelle, Meeting
A muted beeping noise came from Praskoviya's pocket, she took out her communicator. Hoping that it wouldn't offend the Valkians, she stepped aside for a moment, listening to the encoded message. Throughout the message, she was searching the room for weapons. Unfortunately for her, the Queen was definitely holding to her wish of a weapon-free environment. Aside from the Valkians and their ceremonial weapons, everyone was unarmed. Everyone but the Iscandarians, who had their powers.

She moved closer to Queen Sabine, whispering in her ear.

"I have no doubt the Valkian has explained the situation. They are the only ones here with any ability to fight besides the Iscandarians, given that the weapons of your guards wouldn't even scratch Iscandarian armor, the Valkians should escort you out under the guise of a one-on-one meeting. One of my people can get our weapons, they look ceremonial when deactivated. We can cover you using them, especially considering the Iscandarian choice of weapons."

Icarus, Oceans of Jul
'It is why we're here." Said the diplomat "It's hard to talk about why we hate them, mainly due to the beliefs of our species regarding our place in the universe. I'll only say it once, and that one time won't be now. However, suffice it to say that they have broken a treaty, killed a million of our people, caused two hundred thousand of us to die in vain, and killed three million of their own people for the same reason a child would break a toy another child wants. We're out here to find allies against them, we might have a strong industry, but a thousand warships is a hard figure to match."

There was a short pause, and the Diplomat's eyes widened. He was clearly horrified at something, but nobody had said anything.

"They... they just threatened to drive my species extinct in one blow!"

Sol, The Last hope
"How the hell..." Said the Admiral, still transmitting. "Just were are your lost homes, anyways?"

Space Station orbiting Earth
"I told them, but they didn't believe me. They're still against the corrupted Iscandarians though, but they think they've been like this the whole time. I managed to convince them that you're revolutionaries. As for the information on your ships, I'm sure our people could find quite a few weaknesses. Oh yes, speaking of weaknesses, we have a... shall we say... situation. Do you know the intimate details of the warp drive?"

Message to the Eternal Union
"We have warp-capable vessels outside of Sol. You destroy our species, and your species goes down with us. If you declare conventional war on us, then we will kill every last one of you using the warp drive's power. Your people are idiots, you shattered your disguise and threatened a species with the ability to destroy hundreds of systems in an instant of we wanted to. The galaxy will hear of this threat, we are broadcasting a recording of your message to every single star system in this galaxy. Everyone will hear of this, even if we haven't made contact with them yet."

Colonial Report
=Decoding Transmission=
=Data Packets Retrieved=
=Jigsaw Process Complete, Displaying=
"We have made contact with the natives, they are far more advanced than we thought. They have antigravity devices just like our own, as well as laser and railgun weaponry. Oddly, they have no form of space travel. Their negative energy generators are far less efficient than our own, so their antigravity devices can't get them much further than the lower stratosphere. They also never invented the wing, possibly due to lack of inspiration (The only flying creatures here are living blimps). There are two species: the Ethra'Hirel and the Kaa'ri. The Ethra'Hirel are a tripedal and reptilian species, who seem entirely subservient to the Kaa'ri. Oddly, the Kaa'ri are benevolent masters, caring for the Ethra'Hirel like a mother would care for her child. The Kaa'ri appearance is similar to that of a nanobot operator born with complications, thought their form is much weaker and their heads much larger. Their skin colors have the same variety as ours, their eyes are the same, but they do not have hair on their heads. They appear to be vastly intelligent, apparently creating all of the technology currently in use. What's more interesting is that the Kaa'ri seem to be obsessed with us, going so far as to ask what it takes to join our federation. My best guess as to why they are this intrigued by us is our use of space travel (their legends speak of it), but that's not a reason to give up independence. As for our expansion, the human population of this system is already at twenty billion due to the clones, and we have begun producing interstellar spacecraft in facilities over three of the planets. This was a resounding success, and I suggest that we dispatch more colony ships in a similar manner."

Message to all Nations (Including ones not yet contacted)
"This is High Admiral Kai Vivian of the United Terran Federation. Some of you may know of my people, others may not. That is not important. What is important is that at 0900 GMT on my homeworld, my people recieved a message. It was from a nation known as the Eternal Union, also referred to as the Iscandarians. They said that if we declared war on them for causing two hundred thousand of my people to die in vain, killing three million civilians to defeat the enemy, opening fire on innocent men, women, and children with barbaric weapons, and breaking peace treaties, then they would destroy our entire species using a method of faster than light propulsion that is capable of destroying a star system if used properly. The proof is enclosed within this data packet, it is a recording of their message. I do not ask for help, I only ask that the crimes the Eternal Union has committed in this threat and many previous actions be known to all people."

The District, Prefecture 12, 2016
What the hell am I doing?

It was a gloomy, rainy day. Quite appropriate for the current situation. It seemed that the universe had a taste for the cinematic, especially considering that every single song that the radio played was in some way related to it all. The man sat on a bar stool, blueprints and equations spread out in front of him, with some of them stained by blood. His hair was a dark brown, his hands all torn up from what was presumably a high-speed encounter with the pavement. His face had a giant bruise on it, accentuated by dried-up blood on his nose. He wore a trenchcoat and long, brown pants. Every part of him was absolutely soaked, despite the fact that there was an umbrella at his side.

He looked over at a woman next to him, whom was in a similar state. The bartender went to her first, asking what she wanted. The response was somewhat surprising-sweet tea. Not a common choice at a bar after having been beaten up, but he couldn't argue with it. The stuff would help someone relax all right, but he wasn't here to relax. He was here to forget everything that was going on. The bartender had been kind enough to keep the television off the news channels, then again, most bars did that. The news was just doom and gloom at this point, not something people in a bar want to hear about. If you weren't there to forget about it all, then you were there to celebrate, thus forgetting about it all. In other words, everyone just wanted to forget it all.

"I-95?" Said the man, reaching for his drink.

"Courthouse." Replied the woman in a light southern accent. "I'm not looking to end it all yet. Surprised you made it out in something other than an ambulance."

"I didn't make it out in anything, they broke up the blockade with tanks. My car was either blown up or run over. Can't remember."

"Why did you even go there anyways? Road blocks always end with that kind of bullshit."

"It's exciting." He sighed, taking another sip. "I just... I don't even know what I'm doing anymore."

The woman looked at his face quizzically, in a manner that the man could best describe as "ridiculously cute for someone covered in bruises".

"Excitement? You gave up your car and risked your life for excitement?"

"Not like anything else is exciting."

"Don't you have any dreams? Surely your life isn't worth risking for some excitement."

The man's expression changed from somewhat depressed to very depressed, and he hung his head while he took a much larger sip from his drink.

"Yeah, ya' see the stars out there?"

Looking out of the window at the night sky, the woman replied, slightly confused by the question.

"Yeah, why?"

"The one that's in the center is twenty-one light years from here, it's called Gliese 581. First potentially habitable exoplanet humanity ever discovered orbits it."

Who is this guy? Thought the woman He memorized the location of a single star?

Before she could respond, the man continued.

"I've wanted to go there for as long as I've been alive. When this whole shitstorm started I was a teenager, decided that if I wasn't going to go to space, I might as well have some fun. Ever since then, I've just been looking for excitement." He gestures to the papers on the bar, then continued. "I found these after going home, they're from high school. Turns out the equations work out pretty well."

"What are they, anyways?"

"Alcubierre's warp field equations, I reworked them a bit. If they exist in eleven-dimension space, then you can figure out how to create negative mass using the answer."

She stared at the equations, she had a degree in mathematics, but they made no sense to her. She was pretty sure that at some point in them it was stated that 1+1=-1, what's worse was that it actually started to seem plausible if you looked at it long enough.

"How-"

Just after she had stared speaking, the door opened. A police officer walked in, wearing riot gear. The man put on an ill-fitting baseball cap that had faded words on it, accompanied by a slightly less faded chariot. The woman just turned her back to the officer, hiding her face as well as she possibly could. However, the man slowly moved his hand down towards his umbrella as his muscles tensed, getting ready to make a move.

[Apollo26]

Oceans of Jul

The captain rose his eyebrow and looked concerned for a moment “ How did you come across this information?!” he said, slightly raising his tone. His concern was for his guests and his own people, he knew that if one species can be destroyed so could theirs. As much as he hated to break tradition war-games had to be postponed. “ Contact the Fith fleet, tell them I’m calling off the battle, explain to them that we have a situation to take care of” the captain said to the radar officer before turning towards the Terrans. “ Come with me” he said, quickly walking out of the CIC and through the hallways “ You are going to meet the senator first, then be shuttled to Taoshe to meet the current leader. We know of the enemy you speak of and are already conducting operations against them as we speak.”. The captain stopped at a door and put his hand up to the palm scanner before the door hissed open. The smell strong smell of oil and machinery flooded the air as the captain walked into the extremely large hangar bay of the carrier “ Prepare a shuttle for immediate departure, I will brief the crew in transit!” he yelled making his way to one of the many Kaave shuttles on the floor. “ The remainder of the crew can stay on the ship, I am sure they will have a good time, but it is important that this reaches the ears of our leadership” he said waving the Terran’s in before entering the shuttle himself. Unlike the special operations models, these had doors that could be slid closed and were unarmed. These were outfitted for speed and range, stripped down and stuffed with extra fuel and engines. Made for ferrying supplies between ships, there were no seats and the passengers had to sit on the floor.

The pilots looked like they had been roused from a particular heavy smoking session and looked disheveled and quite out of it as they got to shuttle, quickly jumping in and doing preflight checks. “ Where are we going Captain?” the pilot asked, sticking his head around the divider between the cockpit and the passenger bay. “ Kuulas, drop us right by the train station “ the captain said back as the shuttle powered up, lifting a few feet off the ground. The engines dull whine quickly turned into a roar as the ceiling of the hangar bay opened up, allowing rain to pour onto the shuttle before it shot up in the air. As the shuttle gained altitude it quickly switched its engines to the rear and shot off across the sky, heading for land.

Nouvelle

The pair drifted in and out of consciousness as the Iscandarians took them, unable to do anything against their shocked nervous system. The sounds of combat could be heard outside as they laid there next to the civilians and the Terran spec ops.

Falkaide XXI
Marine recruit training base
3rd Platoon Barracks
Pvt. Suki Jaalal

The sound of yelling and jeering roused Suki from her bunk, drowning out the sound of the water below her. This training planet was way outside of anything she could have imagined. Being a jungle planet, it was hot, humid, rained almost constantly and the insects continuously swarmed and bit at any exposed flesh. Even the living quarters were something extremely foreign to any Aradite, consisting of tents and sandbag bunkers that the jungle had half reclaimed. Fleet marines live in style, living in the big cities while in garrison or on some of the best ships in the concordant while deployed. Every effort is made to keep their gear in top shape, with some of the best technicians working on them. Recruits however live in absolute filth and in horrible conditions, working constantly just to keep their gear functioning at a basic level. It would be one thing if this training wasn’t life or death, but the fact that it is almost makes it feel like its rigged against you. So far, the casualty rate was about one fatality a day from the company, with fifth platoon having the most fatalities. They lost most of their senior leadership in one day when some green recruit made too much noise during a patrol, attracting the attention of a Uchigata. She shuttered remembering how many body parts she had to carry back to the base, it took weeks to get the blood out of her pack.

Her attempts at getting back to sleep failed once again when the shouting got louder, almost seeming to be right outside her tent. With a sigh she slowly rose to a sitting position and reached towards the end of her cot to grab her underlay top. Clothing and grooming regulations were not followed on this planet, mostly to the lack of anyone really caring. Because of the heat, it was common to see people walking around in underwear and boots, topless or downright naked. You could tell who the new arrivals were by what they wore, green service fatigues and hats, trying to adhere by the rules as best they could. After slipping into her underlay top she hopped off the cot and eyed her fatigue pants, before looking down at the spandex underlay bottoms she was wearing “ Dai’at” she said before walking out of the tent barefoot, another colloquial term meaning ‘fuck it’ or ‘screw it’. It was simply too hot to care and everyone thought the same way, no one followed regulations but they all operated well. On the training planets you either learned how to operate well or you died, it was simple do your job right or die. Everyone still alive learned how to do their job well, learned their weapons and were just downright tough. She guessed that if you could make it through this, you could survive anything the universe could throw at you. “ Shouting wake you up Ki?” said a man sitting on a stack of ammunition crates outside of the tent “ New arrivals, straight from the academy” he said nodding towards the Aradites walking around in fresh green fatigues with brand new gear. It was common place for the recruits who had been there a bit to harass the newcomers, Suki got it, everyone was harassed and hazed when they first arrived, but you earn your stripes quickly out here. “ This doesn’t get old to you Laiz? I mean most of these people will be dead by tomorrow so why even bother” Suki said leaning against one of the metal tent posts. Laiz shrugged and chuckled a bit “ tradition” he said flatly before handing a large jagged claw to Suki “ Here, I tore it off a Uchigata during our last patrol and fashioned it into a necklace, think of it as an early ‘getting out of here gift.’”. Suzi raised an eyebrow and took the claw from the man before smiling slightly, bending down to give him a peck on the cheek. It was common knowledge to the platoon and to the rest of the company that the two were dating, Laiz courted her all through the academy before she finally caved. “ Thanks Laiz, ill make sure to wear it, maybe its good luck or something?” she said with a chuckle while resting a hand on his shoulder. Liz laughed again and shook his head as two of the new recruits began to walk up to their tent “ Is this third platoon? Second company?” the new arrival said before Suki nodded silently. “ Go inside and stow your stuff, we go on a patrol in the morning…” Laiz said flatly nodding the pair inside.

[WilsonTurner]

Some distance behind the Nouvelle-facing Prowler
Energy fluctuated wildly as seven ships came out of warpspace. Three Varrens lead the way, headed only by an Explorer, the last to leave the Valkian home system, with only four left in the home system, one exploring. Behind the four military ships were two obviously civilian ship- a weak passenger ship, presumably with Valkian people on it, though it's actually filled with about half its capacity of soldiers, and the other half filled with military equipment, ranging from walkers to ammunition and construction or repair drones.

The other civilian ship was a freighter. While a freighter, when without cargo, really resembles a bridge, a very large stubby cylinder that contains the primary engines, and the thorium reactor, with a long 'stick' of clamp-studded steel girders. When at full capacity, it rivaled the size of an Explorer, with either hard goods, such as supplies, ammunition, or otherwise, in large rectangular containers, or liquid goods, such as highly-concentrated liquid thorium or water, stored in large ball containers.

Behind all of these, as if it were the highest priority to NOT be harmed, was a ship similar to the freighter, except obviously much more sophisticated and refined, with only four large, long containers positioned on the front half of the ship. More numerous engines glowed from its rear, and point defense turrets could be seen on it, as well as four external Swarmer missile launchers. In comparison to all Valkian military ships, it was remarkably unarmored or unarmed, and showed signs of it just recently being finished in the drydock. The point defense turrets showed signs of a skilled designer, but only in construction, not in theory. They were rough in theory, single-barreled light railguns, designed to take down Draconian fighters... in theory and simulation. The ship was naught but a prototype, and not built with the best of materials, due to it being built in secret.

But it held a great deal of drones, and that means that if there were a fight, it might be useful for a back-up plan... if it worked correctly. The skeleton crew aboard were all volunteers, and had all advocated that it would be combat-effective, even with civilian-grade armor and tech, instead of the stuff used on military vehicles. Either way, the twenty drone commanders- each commanding ten drones at one time- and the single Primary Drone Commander, who coordinates them all, were very optimistic- they thought that they could do anything, with their drones, and not take any harm. Maybe they were right.

The fleet, coming out of warp a mere three kilometers from the creeping alien Prowler (Darkwolf), immediately began moving forward with all active sensors offline, besides an initial scan of the space surrounding it. Finding nothing, meaning that they skipped right over the foreign vessel without detecting it, they moved forward under light stealth.

Their destination was most obviously Nouvelle, and their origin was most obviously out-of-system.

Queen Sabine and the Nouvelle Diplomatic Conference

duck55223 said
"Oh? They deployed forces to the ground? I was never made aware of this, this must be some rogue military commander acting on his own. It has happened several times in the past." spoke Tullen.

At this, the Tinkerer hissed, speaking with an unknown emotion in his voice- a Valkians' voiced emotion is different from an aliens' completely different one, "Just like how your most prominent, most decorated, most well-known and most prestigious leaders decided to attack a completely innocent and vulnerable race for little reason? Rogue commanders happening all the time is a weakness, is a sign of a lack of discipline and loyalty- the opposite of what you might claim."

"My people in orbit will rid the system of this 'rogue' commander, but I suggest that you return to your dropship and stay there. I have no way of ensuring that you are not with your peoples' tendency to try and kill everyone you meet, and so I ask that you leave immediately. I will make no attempt at secrecy with this- you are a risk to the Queen of this planet. Queen Sabine, if you would please retreat to a safe bunker of some sort. If the battle above turns to war, your safety is priority. If you will not leave, then I will order reinforcements to do so immediately. Do not make this difficult, Iscandarians, my people have no wish for war. Unfortunately, your people seem bent on the opposite of that statement."

With this, the Valkian turned to the Queen, eyes fiercely alight with an anger that gave them a red tint. "Queen Sabine, if you would allow, I would like to accompany you."

Nouvellian Orbit
The Explorer, still guarding its Varren charge, got the momentary beam from the hidden reinforcements, and launched its next phase. The reinforcing fleet arrived just in time for the first Explorer to beam a message to the Eternal Union fleet.
Attention Eternal Union Personnel and Command. We have come to the conclusion that you are purposely attempting to ignite war against multiple nations, and that you have no disregard for law or order except for your own. Due to your lack of compliance in your illegal activities in foreign territory, it has come to the point where warnings are no longer acceptable. All Eternal Union vessels are hereby marked as hostile until otherwise revised. Intervention is now necessary.

With this, four Varrens turned about forty dual railgun turrets against the Iscandarian fleet, an amount of firepower that would heavily damage or destroy even an Explorer if half the rounds hit. The two Explorers began advancing on the Eternal Union ships, while the Droneship, emitting a series of disruption software that would possibly distort the position of itself and the Varrens behind it, as well as provide it with additional data of the space around it. Filled with about two hundred experimental drones, each armed with a small particle cannon, a small experimental antimatter power cell, a series of thrusters, a gyroscope that took up most of its center, and yet another experimental device attached to the back. This part made it so expensive- a small microwarp system, similar to sublight, that would allow the drones to deploy much farther away from its mothership, allowing Droneships to stay safely removed from combat while commanding the swarm in real-time, disrupting enemy communications and scans with its own electronic warfare devices. It was insanely fragile when compared to even a Valkian freighter, but was probably as heavily armored as a scout of another nation.

[null123]

Nouvelle, Ground
"Even if we were a conquering nation what use would this planet be? It take to many resources and to much time to get up to a point were it would be useful. I think we shall be leaving anyways, there is not much to discuss at this point." said Tullen, bowing to the Queen before heading to his shuttle. The shuttle took off, heading back into atmosphere and hten into space.

Nouvelle, Space
The Iscandarian ships had already combined their shield strength into one, but it was dropping slowly. Another Iscandarian ship warped in near the planet, but it's weapons were not active. The only reason the enemy ships had been able to tell was that it had magic coming off it, it had a completely different and new design. It stealthed, it's signatures were completely gone. It did not take much longer after that for the ship to cloak and go invisible. Multiple shuttles left the atmosphere, one of them being Tullen's diplomatic vessel. It floated to where the ship had been, and went invisible itself, presumably having gone under the ship's field. Two more shuttles left the atmosphere and cloaked before they reached were the vessel had been. After a few minutes the ship reappeared, all shuttles docked to it, and warped out. The rest of the ships left ever that.

Space Station Orbiting Earth
"I never studied the warp drive. At a early age I went into a military academy, I have understandings of physics and astrophysics, but that's about it. The data I have on their ships is limited, it only reveals the composition of the alloys used for their armor, and they built a entirely new series of ships that uses entirely new alloys, but I hope it helps some."

The Last Hope
"We come from a entirely different universe, where not once but twice we built a mighty instellar federation. And that was with our allies helping us along the way. Our allies did indeed have magic, and they also shared their gift with us, but they were totally wiped out and we lost it as a result. They were perhaps the most noble group of species to ever exist, during the time our universe was under attack by what destroyed us I saw them personally on three occasions sacrifice entire fleets to give their allies and civilians a few more seconds to evacuate, and heard many more reports of them doing it. And these fleets were not a few 100 ships, but some a 1000 or more. I saw their civilian doctors charge onto battlefields and heal soldiers, regardless if they were friend or foe. I saw them stand against evil oppressive dictators and free civilians that had lived under their rule. They built the mightiest nation of all, not through war, but through using diplomacy and letting races willingly join them. And to them magic was everything, they used it for weapons, FTL, shields, even lighting and healing.

Which is where I pose a question to you, for a very short period they were corrupted by the same force that would come to destroy our universe. While they did break of it during that time they became the exact opposites of themselves. I saw them wipe out a entire planet just because of a epidemic. They never forgave themselves after breaking free of the corruption. The force that destroyed our universe and corrupted our allies is known as the Ruinous Powers or Chaos. 21 light-years from Sol we have detected large amounts of chaos energy in that system, so this magical race that has apparently done bad things to you, did you ever hear any reports of them being corrupted, by anything?"

Facility A-1
The Septonians awoke in some kind of glass chamber, each strapped down with a collar attached to their neck. They wore what could be best described as a prison uniform, as a Iscandarian appeared who was clearly some kind of scientist. When she spoke it was in the language of the Septonians.

"Hello Septonians, my name is Dr.Vahlen. Now you will tell me the locations of any worlds of yours you know about. And if you do not..."

Dr.Vahlen pressed a button and all the Septonians felt a extreme jolt of pain, enough that it should have knocked them out, but it did not. The pain stayed there, not as bad as the initial jolt, but it hurt still.

"Every time I press this button you will feel a extreme amount of pain, and not only that I have spells in place to make sure some of the pain stays in your body, just constantly building up as we continue. Oh and I have another spell in place that will keep you awake despite any pain, so you get to feel the full force of everythign I can do to you." smiled Vahlen, in what was probably the most evil smile the Septonians had ever seen.

New Alas, Shipyards
The shipyards were now running at maximum capacity, with no specific order for the amount of ships to be constructed, just to construct as many ships as possible. They churned out ships of old and new classes, and so did all of the other shipyards across the Eternal Union. The Iscandarians were gearing for war, and against everyone in the galaxy if necessary.

[Apollo26]

Falacia Asteroid

“Sir…sir” an operator said, trying to get Gul’s attention. “ They moved, I feel like this is the only shot we are going to get” he said placing a navigation marker on the Iscandarians loading the shuttle. Gul increased the magnification on his visor and studied what they were unloading for a moment before looking back towards the empty entrance. This was going to be risky, the only way they would make it across in time was to quickly hop from crater to crater. He would leave one man on overwatch to observe the unloading party, just in case they decided to head back their way.
Placing his marksmen on overwatch Gul and the rest of the team made their first leap towards the closest crater, everyone landing within 5 feet of another operator. As Gul peaked his head over the crest of the crater to eye their next jump he heard a crisp “ Wait” over the radio. Gul quickly pulled his head back down into the hole and waited for the green light to jump again. “ Clear, 20 seconds” the marksmen said over the radio as he observed the team make their second leap into another crater. Operating in zero G was disorienting but very fulfilling when done right, luckily his team had the opportunity to practice often. “ Clear, 10 seconds” the marksmen said as Gul peaked his head over the crest of this crater. They were now within hand grenade range of the entrance, close enough to see the details printed on the metal. They would have to slice the door, probably with a plasma torch and crowbar. It was always funny how some tools never changed no matter the age. The crowbar, an archaic tool to the Aradites hadn’t changed since created, just hardened for tougher metals. As Gul dropped back down into the crater, he floated their for a bit before turning himself around to look at the rest of his team. After tapping his helmet with a closed fist he held up two fingers and pointed towards the door, indicating that he wanted the breacher to be first and to move on the door in pairs. Even though the team had closed communications and sound insulated power armor, the team relied on hand signals. Aradite troops commonly train without their armor, just to add that extra challenge. Hand signals were an integral part of the training for these special operators and they used them in lieu of talking. It is common for these missions to happen without any dialogue between the team members, only hand signals.
The team understood and quickly arranged themselves accordingly. waiting for the green light from the marksmen. “ Clear……uh….looks like for a while now” he said as he watched the guards struggle with a particularly heavy package, finishing his sentence with a slight chuckle. Gul instantly took the opportunity and ordered the first pair across, watching them sail close to the ground before gently landing on the entrance itself and begin the breaching process. The breacher reached back and pulled the plasma torch over his shoulder from where it was stowed in his pack before activating it, waiting a few seconds for it to heat before sticking in between the frame and the door. After a couple seconds the breacher had burned a small hole through the door and the lock before pulling it out. One thing that caught his eye was the fact that no oxygen had escaped when he breached the door, this led him to believe that this was an airlock entrance. The operator with the crowbar took the breachers place and quickly jammed the flat end into the hole before violently jerking it back towards him, making the door crack open slightly. After a few more violent pulls, the door was open enough to allow the pair to enter the room, waving the rest of the team in. The marksmen would stay behind to cover their exit, watching as the team pulled the door closed behind them, sealing the hole with some sort of putty. Looking around to make sure the team was ready, Gul pressed the only button on in the room, pressurizing the airlock and opening the door into the interior of the facility

Facility A-1

The Iscandarians monologue was mostly a mix of gibberish and noise to the half awake Aradites. The jolt of pain tore them from their stupor quickly however, making them observe their surrounding. “ Damn…..” Kacha said quietly, testing the restraints strength against his own before looking over towards Ura. Ura had his head lazily hanging to the side as he laid against the restraints, looking rather sick. A few moments later he vomited on the interior of the glass case, suddenly seeming rather awake “ Rough wake up” he said in a raspy tone before turning to look up towards Kacha “ She wants us to betray our nation and tell her where our worlds are…” he said with a half smirk. Kacha rolled his eyes and looked the Iscandarian in the eyes before calmly speaking “ I am sorry miss, I cannot answer that question” he said in a practiced way.

[TehAlphaGamer]

((Very, VERY sorry for the late response, I've been caught up in a lot of things))

Nouvellian Frontier, Near Mining Town of Cherac

The sudden appearance of this flying object was a little to close to Might of a Thousand Suns and the nearby Rakora-Class corvette, and within minutes a high-alert emergency dispatch was sent throughout the destroyer. A series of the ship's magnetic accelerator cannons trained their coiled barrels on the target, while a trio of AV-1 Furosi Fighters lurched out of the launch bay to intercept the vehicle. Upon reaching it, two of the aircraft aligned themselves with the airship's flanks, and the third aircraft settled behind it, adjusting their engines swiveling to vector the thrust of the J4 HyperJet Engines. The rear aircraft armed its six autocannons while two heat-seeking missiles mounted on hardpoints under the wings acquired a lock.

Might of a Thousand Suns sent a message from hull-mounted loudspeakers. The Sazkarjhit vernacular was translated to the Nouvellians' own using a crude translation software.

"This is PNSS Might of a Thousand Suns, envoy of the Peoples' Navy of Sazkarjhia. While we respect your duty to uphold the law and to protect your citizenry, for your own sake we strongly recommend you do not interfere with planetside operations. We are conducting survey work while we get support to lift off and get back into orbit. Keep in mind that even while our numbers are small, the three Furosi assault aircraft surrounding you are formidable enough, but attempting any action that can be considered threatening and thus cannot be reconciled, and this heavily-armed destroyer will open fire under military operating guidelines put forth by Honorable Vessel of Mazdabar Pumar'kum and by extension the Peoples' Military of Sazkarjhia."

Hollie, Capital City of Nouvelle

The white-suited delegate, an Ambassador Runton Warkan'tum, extended his hand in greeting. "We thank you for the warm gesture," he said cheerily. "Yes, please, let us make haste. I'm sure there are many questions that your wonderful Queen has to ask us, as much as our holy Vesselage has to ask you. Alliances and economic dealings and whatnot can be addressed. If you would please lead us to your monarch."

[darkwolf687]

Thought of the day "Pain is temporary, Honour is forever"

Riellealasil (Translation: Beautiful Vision. Lorca Homeworld)
Mathmalatu (Translation: True Home/Home of Truth. Lorca capital city)
Cava At (Translation: Elder District. District containing the majority of councils and ministries and other government administration buildings)
Aranseli (Translation: Kings hall/Halls of the King. Main council buildings.)

The 200 members of the council converged. 100 sat on one set of council seats, 100 on the other, opposite each other. At the north end sat the High Councillors upon their thrones. The message played for the council to consider. It was partly deciphered by the painstaking work of many language experts, who confirmed it was definitely an alien language. It was littered with suggestions as to what might be said, though there was no way to confirm accuracy
"This is [Councillor? Leader? Military officer?] Kai Vivian of the United [Terran = Race name?] Federation. Some of you may know of my people, others may not. That is not important. What is important is that at [Unknown] on my homeworld, my people recieved a message. [Important?] nation known as the Eternal Union, also referred to as the Iscandarians. They said that if we declared war on them for [actions?] causing two hundred thousand of my people to die in vain, killing three million [people unable to fight?] to defeat the enemy, opening fire on innocent men, women, and children with [evil?] weapons, and breaking peace treaties, then they would destroy our entire species using a method of faster than light propulsion that is capable of destroying a star system if used [incorrectly?]. The [truth?] is enclosed within this data packet, it is a recording of their message [Attached message is not currently translated] I do not ask for help, I only ask that the crimes the Eternal Union has committed in this threat [and others prior?] be known to all people."
The council paused. The painstaking work had clearly paid off, the terrifying message waa translated. So, the international community were honourless worms, unwilling to give honourable deaths to their opponents, using unstable drive liable to destroy star systems.
The shock was almost unbearable, this wasnt what they had expected from Star Walkers at all.

Nouvelle, Space
Ardent Inquisitor

The Major watched as the vessels passed by them, missing the Prowler. Good, so the systems worked. He turned his eyes to a small shuttle that was leaving the atmosphere, then watched as the ships began to open fire on each other.
"Send a message to the council. It appears the contacts are at war. Move to high alert, make sure we have dropships ready." He reached out for the broadcast command
"Major, a signal could give away our location." The Minor warned, glancing to the command console
"I do not believe they will be looking for transmissions. I'll have long turned it off by the time they look for the source."

Open transmission in Nouvelle

The Black Tongue sounds out in the transmission. Like always, it is guttural and harsh. Untranslated, it almost sounds like a threat or in its self a declaration of hatred and war
"We are the Lorca, identify yourselves with dignity and honour. Speak, so we may proceed and know each other better!

New Alas, Space

The Corvette Latta O A Adais dropped out of FTL and glided softly across system. A simple Corvette, it had diverted from its scout route upon picking up a surge of energy in a nearby sector. Expecting to observe a natural space phenomenon, it was surprised to detect an inhabited world, dotted with shipyards and other significant technologies. The species was clearly space faring.
Deep withon the ship, the Shipmaster convened with a representative of the "Ministry of Contact", which was suddenly recieving a lot more attention now that it was discovered that alien life consisted of more than a swarm of parasites trying to consume them.
They made their decision quickly, and the corvette glided softly towards the planet, halting some 200 thousand kilometers from the world. Two transmissions were sent one back to command and the other to the planet. Speaking the dark black and aggreesive black tongue, the data packet declared its presence
"We are Lorca. Identify yourselves with dignity and honour, so that we may proceed and know each other better."
Naturally, the military was defaulting to its military regulations for communication. Communication was naturally going to be an issue, so a series of dots was sent with it, indicating numbers, arranged in neat rows of eight.

[Apollo26]

STC Syren
In the space around Nouvelle

“Ma’am! unencrypted signal originating close to our position……and the recon pair we sent hasn’t checked in yet.” the radar operator said with a slight sigh “ They haven’t checked in at any of their checkpoints and based on all the activity around the planet I have to assume the worst.”. Commander Vellais sighed and dropped her head for a moment, trying to shake the thought out of her mind. Loosing two members of a special forces team was like loosing your two front wheels in a car, part of their support structure was gone. She refused to believe they were dead, she would of heard something; a mayday call, secondary extract location or something regarding their status. The fact that they just disappeared was odd and made her wonder why the enemy ships left in such a hurry, this was all pushed to the back of her mind however as she thought about this new alien contact. “ document the vector the enemy took on the way out of the system and trace that transmission back to an area.” she said flatly, watching her bridge crew go about their tasks. “ The signal originated somewhere behind us, we didn’t intercept until it had already past the Syren. Who ever sent it obviously knows what they are doing” the radar officer said, sounding a little worried. “ Why is that?” Cmdr Vellais said, lifting a brow as she turned towards her star chart to study possible locations. “ They sent the transmission and probably turned off their systems, keeping the source unknown unless………” was all the officer said before getting cut off by the commander “ Yes yes, unless we were deliberately looking for it. Play the message…..” she said, sounding a little annoyed.

The harsh alien language played through the speakers on the bridge as the message played before abruptly cutting off. No one understood anything of what was said but it was obviously somebody new to this galactic mix. Once agin the decision rested with the lone ship captain, making Commander Vellais chuckle as she remembered part of her training.

“ You will make decisions that will mean the life or death of your crew and you will make decisions that will mean life or death for the Concordant as a whole. As ship captains, you are fathers, mothers, leaders and ambassadors. Placed on your shoulders is the weight of our entire existence, you will be asked to make decisions that are far above your station. So listen when I tell you this ladies and gentlemen, you MUST make the right decision.”

She would never forget that speech for as long as she lived, but Vellais never thought that it would happen during her first command. “ Power up just the rear short range communications array and send a burst message, just to let them know someone is out here” the message was sent in an area behind them, able to be picked up by whoever was back there.

Message: This is the STC Syren, please identify yourselves

[null123]

New Alas
New Alas was a shining gem of a planet, and important in the vast industrial machine of the Eternal Union. The system had several mining operations in it's asteroid fields as well as a vast amount of shipyards around the planet, which had entered full production. A message was sent to the corvette, and oddly it was translated into their language already.

"Greetings, we are the Eternal Union. Welcome to New Alas."

Facility A-1
"Oh, so you are those kind of soldiers. Looks like we will have to do this the extremely hard way." said Vahlen. She pressed a button, as each Septonian felt a sharp jab into their arm, some kind of machine was gathering blood samples. Vahlen gathered them up as they came out of a different machine and two large looking Iscandarian soldiers came into the room, the glass chamber opened for a minute as Kacha's restraints dropped off, and he was grabbed by the soldiers and slapped into a pair of cuffs. He was dragged somewhere else as another two soldiers came into the room and the glass chamber resealed.

Meanwhile Kacha had been dragged into a new chamber. Three mages stood there, one of which was a extremely powerful Archmage. Kacha was strapped down to what he could best describe as some kind of ritualistic summoning circle. The three mages stood around the circle, each with a black gem in their hand, as they begun channeling energy into the circle. Unlike the translation spell this spell was subversive, forcing it's way into the Septonian's mind. There was a lot of energy behind the spell as well, as this time a Archmage was apart of the casting, Archmages being known to be some of the strongest mages in existence. When they had gotten into the Septonian's mind they ripped it apart, taking information about locations of Septonian worlds as well as military intelligence and how huge their navy and ground forces were.

Falacian Asteroid
What they Septonians had not realized is that they had just triggered a alarm, and it was now full on blaring in the facility. Immediately upon entering was a turret gun hanging from the ceiling, which began firing pretty heavy rounds at the Septonians. The entrance behind them quickly sealed with a much heavier door that was probably going to take a while to cut through. A few soldiers began approaching, backed by a mage who was shielding them. This was not going to be easy for the Septonians, at all.

[darkwolf687]

Thought for the say "Pain is temporary. Honour is forever"

New Alas, Space

The Shipmaster listened to the message playback, including that which had become redundant in translation to the black tongue. He turned back towards the communications terminal, tapping a few commands. The liason at the Ministry for Contact flashed up for a moment, and the shipmaster repeated back the message. Just seconds later, the hologram turned to the council, the four high councillors, Respect having returned from his undisclosed business. The Shipmaster fell to his knee, one fist smashed into the centre of his chest and the other hand touching the floor. Respect was the first to talk, eager to delve back into his position. The tongue switched accordingly, and became softer and more respectful
"Rise, shipmaster. Now, we have nothing embedded in galactic politics, no way to tell Terrans and... Did the Terran name them 'Iscandarians'?" Respect paused, glancing to the other High Councillors. Wisdom nodded and Integrity spoke
"As Respect notes, we have no way to tell them apart. You are the instrument dispatched, and you will be trusted. Know them better." Integrity said. Wisdom took over
"Be warned, Shipmaster. The alien may be confused by the customs. Do not mistake their actions as an affront to the ways of the warrior." The councillors disappeared and the shipmaster tapped another command on the console, transmitting a message, reverting to the black tongue

"You understand us then. Meet with us in corporeal form, that we might know each other!"

Nouvelle, Space

The Major looked to the terminal as they received a response, his mandibles twitched as he tried, and failed, to reproduce their language. It was impossible for him, and it dawned on him that differences in anatomy likely meant they'd never be able to reproduce his language either. He let a long "ah" sound as he checked the signals source. He could make no sense of the alien language and with the click of a button would direct it back to the Department for Language at the Ministry of Contact for translation.
He tapped a few of the holographic buttons on the command terminal. The Minor glanced at him again. They were Special Operations Warriors, he understood the Minors concerns. Talking was not theirs strength, they were used to being unseen.

The message he transmitted back was a simple one. It contacted imagery, an arrowhead with a single dot underneath. Then, block of metal with a blade upon it, a hammer smashed the end in order to bend it, rendering it worthless. He was attempting to convey that he had but one ship and wished peace, whether that would be the view of the alien was unknown. After that he cut the transmission again, but he had a feeling they would be found.

The Major turned towards the Minor
"Fire up the engines. After that signal, they will have found us anyway. Halt us 200 thousand kilometers from the source of the response. Disable all stealth features and move out of the shadow we've been hiding it. We are not part of this war, they shouldn't fire"
"And if they do?" The Minor inquired with a tilt of his head
"If they fire, then we ride to paradise tonight."

The small ship glided out into the black of space, its engines glowing a brilliant blue as it did. Its shields powered up and shimmered slightly before becoming invisible to the naked eye and the sleek black ablative paint would make it almost a silhouette were it not caught in the glow of its own engines and the nearby star.

[Apollo26]

Nouvelle
Somewhere in space

Vellais smirked and eyed the image they received “ Well I get it, but…..why so theatric” she said chuckling some. “ Ma’am! radar contact bearing 095! its the source of that last transmission.” the radar officer yelled, sounding quite surprised. Vela’s quickly brought up her rear cameras just in time to see the dot of the ship move across the sun before disappearing into the blackness of space. “ Give them two radar pings, one of our location and one for range. Track their heat signature and make sure that ping hits them directly, we can’t mess this on up.”. Commander Vellais chuckled as she thought about her next statement “ Send them a docking image as well……and try to make it look not so intimate please”.