[IC] Stellvia [Always Accepting] (Hey, these things in parentheses are hip, right?)

[null123]

Near Warsaw, Poland
Despite the use of terraformers to remove radiation and pollution left over from WW3, Poland still showed scars of WW3. Much of the ground was still held huge blacked craters from Russian bombing campaigns, and most of Warsaw itself was nothing but a huge crater. A sleek, black, military transport with the Special Forces logo branded on it’s side moved quickly over the destroyed landscape, heading for Warsaw. It’s engines were pointed downwards, and glew blue with the burn of negative energy to produce the anti-gravity lift moving the ship.

Inside of the transport five men lay, wearing power armour and observing the landscape, and all with various cybernetics. One sat in a small gun turret that hung below the craft, scanning the ground for any sign of attackers.

“Mind explaining the mission now that you have dragged us half-way across Europe Sarge?” said one of the soldiers. Unlike most of the men he still looked relatively young, his blond hair and green eyes shining in the light of the transport’s sole bulb.

“Simple and easy, command suspects that a small terrorist group might be hiding out in the Warsaw ruins. They are anti-trans humanism, so this should be relatively easy mission. “ responded the Sarge.

“Why hide out near Warsaw though? Their isn’t much near Poland anymore, not even any sky-cities.” said an older soldier, whose face showed that he had gone through many battles.

“Yeah, and that’s what command is hoping we can find out. They suspect that the reason there hiding out here is their trying to cook up some big and they needed to be away from our prying eyes. Not like it helped them in the end.” grinned the Sarge.

“Lets kick some terrorist ass then!” shouted the soldier manning the gun, his head hidden by a helmet.

The soldiers geared up and shared a battle-cry as they looked down towards the ground, the doors of the transport opening up.

“Command wants us in quietly initially till we find the exact location of the terrorist base, and then we can call in our transport here for a little air support. You're staying in that gun, me and the rest of the squad will deploy in.” commented the Sarge, grabbing a strange black pack that glew slightly blue. The other soldiers also grabbed similar packs as the soldier in the gun saluted the Sarge as a form of acknowledgement.

The all jumped out of the transport together, falling rapidly towards the ruin of Warsaw. The packs which they attached seem to have no visible parachute, or any other method of preventing them from becoming nothing but red splatters when they hit the ground. However as they got close to the ground, the packs activated for a brief moment, producing a wave of anti-gravity that slowed them down a lot. As they touched down kinetic absorbers in their armour absorbed the rest of the force from touching down. The Sarge made a silent hand motion to move forward as the squad put on their helmets and drew out their weapons. The transport hovered in the distance, awaiting a signal to come in.

As the squad moved through the Warsaw ruins, not much was left. What little had been left after the nuke detonated over it had been eroded by years of exposure to the elements. The only signs that human life had ever existed here was burned out rusted cars, rotting woods, and small chucks of worn concrete. The soldiers merely took in what they saw in silence, thinking that was they saw was only a small amount of horror that occurred in WW3.

After a while the Sarge paused the squad. Sitting before them was a small metal trap door, but unlike the scraps of metal that littered Warsaw, it was not rusted, it almost appeared new. The Sarge spoke, the sound of a radio beeping on.

“We got eyes on the terrorist hideout, move in for fire support and evac.” stated the Sarge to the transport craft through his radio. He plopped open the trapdoor, revealing a semi-dark tunnel leading into the ground, strings of green-lights providing a little illumination to guide someone down. The Sarge moved in first, the rest of the soldiers following behind him.

Upon reaching the bottom, they found themselves in what appeared to be a old concrete bunker. Blinding white bulbs hung from the ceiling to provide the base with illumination. A few doors appeared to have been welded shut recently, the smell of burning metal still hanging in the air.

The Sarge and the team proceeded further into the tunnel, however as they did not much appeared to be left. It seemed as if anything important had been moved out. However they paused, a table having been left. On it stood various tools and implements used for cybernetic modification, in addition to a small amount of crude implants.

“Command did say these were anti-transhumanist terrorists, right?” questioned one of the soldiers. The Sarge merely ordered him to take pictures as well as collect it as evidence. As the soldiers finished they turned to see a elegantly dressed man, who appeared to be of mixed Irish and Scottish heritage

“Greetings Gentlemen, what do your masters wish of my revolution?” asked the man, in a voice that could only belong to a man whose mind had devolved into pure unbridled insanity.

“Who the hell are you?” responded the Sarge, as the squad immediately raised their weapons towards men.

“Now now now, that is not very civilized! However as for my name you may refer to me as simply Fergus.” fretted Fergus, backing away from the squad slightly

“Do not move.” threatened Sarge.

“Deary me! Shall you continue to be uncivilized brutes?” inquired Fergus, a slight smile growing across his face.

“What the hell is going on here? You are supposed to be anti-transhumanists!” accused the Sarge, raising his gun more and slowly approaching Fergus.

Fergus began a mad chuckle, it’s tone and noise enacting a psychological terror like no other on the soldiers before him.

“So that is the lie my brother decided upon! Oh well I do not have time for you, I have a revolution to plan. I must leave you unfortunately.” jeered Fergus, his originally happy elegant tone falling into a deadly serious tone. Before the Sarge could respond Fergus pulled out a small trigger, activating it. A large explosion echoed across the tunnel as Fergus ran off in the opposite direction, leaving only a wall of rubble for the soldiers to deal with. Sarge picked himself up off the ground, motioning for the squad to leave.

When the reached the surface, the engines of the transport craft already roaring to life.

“Contact command, tell them the mission was a failure, and that there is a lot more to this then some anti-transhumanists.” said the Sarge, boarding the craft with the rest of his soldiers and leaving the Warsaw ruins off in the distance.

Berlin, Germany
Not much had changed about the long-standing German City, it’s missile defense systems having left it intact from the Chinese nukes after WW3. However many of the street-signs had been updated to be bilingual, with both German and English words. Modern technology had also updated the city, most vehicles being powered by anti-gravity, and other signs of the advanced technology of the Federation.

However within Berlin a large building had been constructed, known merely as the Capital. This large-grand structure rose well above Berlin, it’s top point allowing one to see a few of the floating cities that had been built. It served as the meeting place for Parliament, the President’s office, and the meeting place for the Senate. Inside Robert McClain, perhaps the most well-renowned and successful President in the Federation’s history, paced his office. His normally well kept short brown hair was in a mess, his green eyes frantic. His suit was also slightly wrinkled

“This is not what I expected. I heard reports that we had more than just terrorists on our hands but Fergus? God knows what mess the Federation is about to be in.” thought Robert, sitting down in a large office chair, a sleek metal desk before him. On it lay multiple papers and old paper books, with a small device that acted as a projector for the computer beneath the desk.

“My own brother, once more of a patriot towards the Federation then me, has now turned on it.”

Robert stopped thinking for a minute, his look dropping into one that indicated as if he was listening to someone.

“There is not much we can do Aaliyah. You know what happened to him.” said Robert, to someone, however despite speaking there wasn’t anyone in the room. He dropped once more into a look of listening.

“Perhaps, we will have to see though. I thought when we heard he had disappeared from the hospital it was just one of his bouts of madness, but a revolution? One of his personalities is either playing a rather elaborate joke, or he has gone past the point of no return.” sighed Robert, sinking even further into his chair. He sat up for a minute.

“I suppose we should go see Megan, it has been a while and this is a matter of great importance.” stated Robert to the unknown voice once again, standing up and fixing his hair and suit, and then leaving his office.

[Terminal]

Iteration
The Universe
Virgo Supercluster
Local Group
Milky Way Galaxy
Eighty Million Years Ago...

<Amarok has refused to forestall the invasion of Baceran Prime.> The statement is delivered with a signed gesture of finality.

The leaders of the loose and unfriendly alliance of necessity were all convened via a private quantum hub, purposely built in a remote region of space specifically to prevent the Ennedi threat from discovering it. The unknown method the Ennedi used to procure intelligence had necessitated the architects to be summarily executed, and even those who were attending the conference itself would have to erase their memories of the proceedings. It spoke volumes, how the Ennedi threat was so pervasive that it was not safe to so much as plan a new offensive push for fear they would know and exploit the opening. It spoke even further, as to how nobody could fathom how they accomplished it. The Blendecs insisted that the Ennedi were not psionic, and did not possess psionic comms. The EOA QV-Sensors had already entirely picked apart the inner workings of every fielded device the Ennedi used. The Domodets had infiltrated the occupied worlds were they could, reporting all that they could see. Yet still, the massive crustaceans managed to outmanuever, outflank, and harry the coalition at every turn, with such immediate timing and precision it was almost as if they knew the coalition's plans even before they had been issued.

More than a thousand worlds had been overrun by voracious spawn, and more than a hundred fleets neutralized by their machinations. Though the coalition retained a massive technological advantage, the Ennedi possessed an undeniable tactical edge that more than made up for the gap. A war of seven powers, with six on the defense and being pushed back, was a thought too ludicrous to have been conceived of a mere core-cycle ago.

The delegation that had been sent to reason with Amarok had been the last chance for peace. The Admiral of the Ennedi Legacy Armada had been willing to compromise, appearing to possess an innate sense of empathy for those they were tasked to destroy. They were already three hundred and fifty hours old. In ten more they would die of natural causes, and the next Admiral would not be as pliable. Only one viable option remained.

<The Immaculate Scholars still hold that your proposed solution is madness itself.> The Blendec Pedagogue's holographic image signed, four tentacles twirling through the air and humming with electrochemical signals. <This coalition cannot, in good conscience, seriously contemplate the complete eradication of our aggressors. The Immaculate Scholars merely need more time to devise a new tactical advantage that the Ennedi will be unable to adapt to.>

<As you said they would be unable to adapt to the last four gizmos you spineless heaps devised.> The Domodet Monarch's image tilted their serpentine head crested with plumes of feathers to the side as they spat. <Already your own capital shall soon be lost, and still you insist on waiting?>

<The Prime Accord Body has discerned that even should the Immaculate Scholars devise an efficacious means of defeating the Ennedi fleetgroups, unless our own forces can rout their dish fleets at a seventeen to one ratio the momentum of their offensive front will carry through to the core of three more coalition territories. Projected chances of victory past the next quarter-cycle if they do is less than four point three six percent.> An EOA Icosahedron's avatar chimed. <Although the Prime Accord Body notes the Immaculate Scholars' dissent, it must cede that there is no other viable means to ensure the survival of the coalition.>

<The Ennedi have forced us down this path. Their own malign intent shall be to blame for their downfall.> The comically small Lernaean Exalted Leader waved rhythmically as it floated on unseen currents. <How can you, or any of us, hold out for any hope for the Ennedi? How can we value their lives at all? They themselves do not value their own lives, or those of others, for they know no destiny save death.>

<The little Exalted morsel is right.> The Domodet Monarch snorted. <Their lives are so short. The only purpose they know is to drag everything into the abyss along with them out of spite. Amarok was a freak of nature, and we won't see their like again.>

The Blendec Pedagogue's tendrils remained limp, and they signed nothing.

<If the Immaculate Scholars do not accede to the Coalition Accord Body, it will be forced to seize control of Site Ikaroa by force.> The spinning image of the Icosahedron buzzed.

<Even your own creations see more sense than you do, Pedagogue.> The Domodest Monarch hissed. "The Ennedi threat dies now. Choose. Either stand with us, or we will move through you.>

<It will be a mercy to them.> The Leraean Exalted chimed. <They know nothing but rancor and spite. Their lives are tragedies. End their spiral of madness.>

The Blendec Pedagogue remained still.

888888888888

Enned System
Starbase Alraune

Amarok patiently waited for death.

Patience was not a common Ennedi characteristic. They had so little time to start with, any waste of it, however small, was akin to a small existential crisis. As it happened though, naval warfare waged in a Galactic theater had spans of time as long as several hundred pulse-cycles where one was expected to do nothing but wait. As Admiral of the Legacy Armada, Amarok had spent most of their life waiting, as most of their tactical and strategic decisions had been made almost instantly, and carried out just as quickly. The prospect of being forced to sit still while the biological clock wound down to the final toll before The Nothing After Death was one they were used to.

Amarok was overwhelmed by a sudden sense of awe. A quality not quite as unfamiliar to the Ennedi as patience, but usually only experienced once. Fully glutted Enedi tended to find awesome sights uninteresting. Seeing a planet from space for the first time. Standing at the edge of a ravine. Surveying a massive alien fleet on long range scanners. Dipping into the corona of a star. All of the Ennedi as one though, shared the common experience of awe in the last moments of life. It was therefore fitting that the word for Awe in Ennuic was the same for Solace and Terror simultaneously.

The display before Amarok suddenly erupted with alarms and signals at the same time as the station's alarm nodes began to go off. Amarok calmly took it all in. Every Ennedi starship and facility on the planet below was sending tightbeam communiques stating that all FTL-dependent mechanisms had stopped functioning. Moments later, several quantum-channeled messages arrived. While the Ennedi could and did use quantum superpositioning for long range FTL communication, it was less favored than Subspace communiques ever since the Blendecs had devised a mechanism that could disrupt particle systems with existing eigenstates, so receiving so many Q-messages at once was unusual. As with the colony and ships in-system, nearly every single fleet across the many battlefronts were reporting that FTL had gone offline and was not functioning. Every Ennedi colony and ship in the galaxy was stranded.

The technical team on standby designated with addressing abrupt issues exactly like the one currently occurring sent a report mere pulses later. All Subspace-based FTL mechanics were being suppressed by extremely subtle spacetime perturbations seemingly induced by previously absent feedback generated whenever a subspace aperture was opened. Every variant form of FTL, those used by the enemy factions, continued to function normally. Including the EOA variant, which was nearly identical in nature and execution to the Ennedi variant.

When Amarok received multiple reports confirming that several enemy fleets had just exited FTL and were engaging Legacy forces, it was fairly easy to figure out what had happened.

'How could they have done this? Another machination of the Blendecs?' Amarok thought almost placidly as the vision in their four eyes began to dim. 'There was no report of any such measure. No warning. Except for...' Cold and ineffectual anger flashed through Amarok's mind as they found their answer. '...Ikaroa. So it was more than the delusions of a fanatical Blendec. Why did they wait until now to use it...? It does not matter. I must inform my replacement immediately. Nobody else knew...'

Amarok reached out towards their console with a maxilliped, which slumped and fell short as they soundlessly died.

888888888888

Baceran Prime
Seven Years Later

<We received a communique from Cebol one point three turns prior. They found and sterilized the last Ennedi colony four point seven turns prior.>

The Blendec Pedagogue stared listlessly at the horizon. Beyond the golden walls of the Blendec capitol, the barren, strip-mined wastes of their homeworld stared back. <Are they sure?>

<They are certain. The Dark Space Array has failed to detect any Ennedi vital signatures remaining in the galaxy.> The holographic image of an EOA Icosahedron replied.

<Did we ever find their Homeworld? Enned?>

<Cebol indicated that the Ennedi home system had not been positively identified. They hypothesized that due to the intentional similarities in established Ennedi system infrastructure, coalition forces may have unknowingly sterilized the homeworld several cycles prior. The Prime Accord body reached consensus with Cebol within the parameters of their proposal.> The Icosahedron's words were indefinite and vague, but that was as exact and precise as EOA language could be. That they had lain out the statement so simply indicated that what they said in actuality was an utter certainty.

The Pedagogue signed nothing as they turned and retreated into their sanctum.

They spent the next fifty eight years in isolated meditation.

888888888888

Letona
Sixteen Thousand Years Ago...

"...and you say their extermination was a necessity?" The interpreter asked.

<...Yes.> The Pedagogue signed. <The act was both one of survival and one of mercy. The Ennedi, as a species, were driven to still all life in the Universe.>

"Why? Was it an ideology of theirs? A religion perhaps?"

<No.> The Pedagogue's tendrils were still for a moment as it thought. <...How could they value life, when death was their destiny?>

"I don't understand."

<...They were a tragic species. Their predisposed condition almost makes extinction seem preferable.

<I have spoken all I can on this matter. I will come again tomorrow. We will talk again then. About something else.>

888888888888

Twelve Days Ago

"I'm telling you, that system is not going to have any gas giants. Just look at that binary. A neutron star and a red giant, and all those close orbits. Even if there were any gas giants here ever, stellar wind has stripped away their atmospheres by now. Nothing but a bunch of barren superplanets by now." The engineer grunted as they turned the sensor display to face their companion, tapping the screen emphatically.

"We won't know until we arrive, and you had better hope there's a gas giant left. Otherwise we'll have to drill and distill caslon gas from an asteroid or something, and that will take weeks. Do you fancy being stuck here for that long?" The pilot shot back. "I'm just trying to be positive."

"We'll see who's right in a minute. Coming out of FTL in ten, and synchronizing with torsion factors in nine, eight, seven..." The engineer strapped themselves into their seat with one hand while reflexively starting to flip switches on the crowded instrument panel above their head, the exact sequence so practiced they didn't even need to look. The ship dropped out of FTL moments later.

"Long range scans show NO gas giants! Ha!" The engineer grinned triumphantly as they turned to the pilot. "We may be stranded in this dump of a system for weeks now, but at least I get to say I Told You So!"

The pilot said nothing and frowned as they looked at the sensor readings. "Shut up. Does that body there look like some kind of super asteroid or something?"

The engineer craned their head to peer at the sensor readout. "That big thing there? I'm pretty sure that's just a moon. Probably drifted past the roche limit and was contorted by tidal forces."

"Then it would be oblong. That thing looks like it has spires. In fact, is that..." He paused for a moment. "...That's a starbase."

"No way. If it were a starbase, it would be giving off heat and energy signatures and all that good stuff. We'd have detected it from sectors away."

"I'm telling you, it's a starbase. I'm betting it doesn't have any power, but that's definitely a starbase! Look, we're in range for optical resolution. One second..." The pilot adjusted the sensor readout, setting the exterior sensors to focus on the unidentified object.

They both looked at the displayed image as the object filled the screen. The engineer gaped, while the pilot assumed a soft bemused grin. "I'll be damned." The engineer murmured. "That really is a star base."

[Forsythe]

Faira Fleetnet News

State of the Fleet
Since the cataclysm, our fleet has been trying to establish working supply chain and adequate protection for the survivors. Today, the admiralty officially declared the operation success . Our race has persevered despite the Universe trying to undo our existence. Admiral Sola had this to say:

“Together we have survived a catastrophe that would have ended any other. Yet we can only celebrate our success with sorrow. Over three billion of our kind remained behind on Faira Erea and were consumed by the Star’s wrath. Let those souls never be forgotten, for it is due to their tireless work that we are now alive. We have elected to hold a fleet wide memorial service for our dead planet today at twelve o’clock.”

Exploration of Exodus
The system which we used to flee from the nova of Faira Star have been officially christened ‘Exodus’. The Striker fleet under Admiral Cygnus has been dispatched to the system to survey it for usable resources. Unfortunately, the preliminary report indicates that the system is void of any habitable planet, much less one suited to our needs.

The only notable site is the system’s sole gas giant. The large planet has cleared out most of the system’s asteroids which became moons of the planet, twelve in total. The admiralty believes building a forward operations base in the system to be the best course of action. Our sisters on board Faira Tris have already begun with construction of some of the components of the to-be space station.

New hope?
The most important discovery however is the presence of a second jump node in the Exodus system, in the vicinity of the Gas giant christened ‘Exodus Juno’. Our subspace scientists believe it is the gas giant’s large gravity that allowed for the second jump node to exist without the need for binary star system as was once theorized.

Admiral Cygnus of the Striker fleet revealed that automatic probes were already sent through the node to determine the location of the new system and extract data about it’s composition. Preliminary scans are still being processed, but the Admiral believes that the Striker fleet might be able to transit through the node within the next week to establish our presence and hopefully find new resources. We wish our sisters in the Striker fleet safe voyage and hope they will return safely and with good news.

Exodus system - FD Trigati, flagship of Striker Fleet

The admiral folded her hands on her chest and leaned back in her chair. Ever since they discovered the relic ship on their homeworld, they knew they were not alone in the universe. She did not fear that. The only thing Cygnus feared was their response for when they would become said proof to someone else. “Are you certain of this, Specialist?”

In front of her stood a Faira with blue accents on her skin too similar to the admiral’s to be a coincidence. “Yes. The background noise of the cosmos in the new system displays frightening regularity. It is either a proof of an intelligence present during the birth of the universe and of an intelligent design of everything that is, or it is a heavily degraded signal form technology, most likely communications. We both know which is more likely.” the scientist answered. “From the weak sensors on the probe we weren’t able to determine anything about them, we will have to investigate on our own. The other end of the Jump node seems to be on the edge of the system - hopefully we will remain undetected by them before we can determine more.”

“That’s fairly wishful thinking. For what we know, there are civilizations several times older than us. I trust our equipment, but I don’t know how far we should dare go. We are not many - if we stretch too thin and let something awful to our home...” Cygnus sighed, “I will have to discuss this with the rest of the Admiralty. You may go now.”

Slamming her fist against her chest in a salute, the blue Faira turned to leave. “Astra...” The admiral called out, making her quest turn her head over her shoulder, “Good work.”

Several days later

It was an impressive sight. The Raider-class destroyers were nowhere near as large as the civilian ships, but they had this menacing look to them. The grey, monolithic ship was covered in additional ablative plates, the spire shaped subsystems and dark red accents completing it’s brutish look. Cygnus still remembered the protests of the civillian captains agaisnt building these powerhouses, but now that she was heading to a potential first contact, the admiral couldn’t help but be thankful for having these ‘solutions to nonexistent problems’, as they called them.

The Trigati was not alone. Accompanying it were two corvettes and half a dozen cruisers, with the rest of the Striker fleet blockading the Exodus side of the jump corridor. a small processing of freighters and transports was waiting a little farther, ready to follow if no problems were encountered. Cygnus nodded when all ships reported in and took a deep breath. “Here we go. Helm, engage subspace drive.”

She never ceased to be amazed by what followed. A large blue and white rip opened in normal space the ship passed through to the swirling tunnel. From what their scientists told them, Subspace was a volatile dimension. It was only due to gravity having a stabilizing effect on it that travelling through was possible.

The trek wasn’t too long, and within ten minutes the Trigati and it’s accompanying fleet emerged on the other side of the node. The crew immediately sprung into action, flooding her with reports. “Any contacts or threats?” the admiral asked, her red eyes set on the sensor tech.

“Negative. But if they have the technology to notice us, the Subspace vortex will do the trick. As for our normal operations, we believe our shielding will greatly diminish our electronic signature. Any sensors less advanced than our own should have great difficulty targeting us. We should be hard to spot by optical detection past ten thousand meters.” the tech reported.

Listening to her options, Cygnus shook her head. “We stay put. If whoever is here happens to be strongest than us and hostile, I do not want to have our only way home cut off. No sense of sitting around waiting for them either. Proceed with a system-wide scan, let’s see where we ended up and what exactly is here.” the admiral decided. Nothing to do now but wait.

[HounderHowl]

Planet P1

The local star was but a dim glowing orb through the massive black haze that hung on the horizon. The lands were covered in the char of the old world, small obsidian like granules littered the surface of the planet. No signs of life were left here, only the industrial minded robotics. Ruins of their former masters but ash, and the bones of the species were frequently scattered across the ground. The only thing that stood were the structures built by the S.A.A.I.L.s, Multi-story, perfect cubes that only possessed an entrance and exit.

Through one door, the lesser robotics transported materials mined from the inner depths of the planet, only to leave from the exit only stopping for basic maintenance occasionally. Their Primitive AI’s were incapable of becoming self aware. They were lesser beings, not worthy to vote or to decide the fate of the planet. In emergency they could be used for the defense of the greater good, but would be little better than bullet shields. Their existence, is only to build the fleets, the soldiers, the new citizens of P1 and to gather the resources. They worked tirelessly, and for lack of expression were slaves.

Robotic Assembly # 272

Four metal digits, drummed impatiently on the metal railing, that overlooked the interior floor. He decided shortly after his creation, that his AI was indeed male, as its views were more aligned with the former male species of the planet. His soul purpose was to overview the construction of new citizens, he was proficient. In Fact he was .14% more proficient than his predecessor, an older model, one whose AI had slowly unwound. He could spot deficiencies in his works from his perch which stood meters above, and would doll out maintenance orders immediately, more often than not, he saw that the workers would be recycled.

His factory could have no deficiencies, his programming would not allow it. Or was it his own personality trait? He didn’t care to ponder such things, only during maintenance would he allow his Artificial mind to travel to such places. He would someday ascend from this position, and be reprogrammed with what his true purpose in this clockwork world is, to be overseer of the production of military coding. His work would be beautiful, and brutal. But that would be not for sometime yet.

Robotic Assembly #272

Darkness, then artifical light. It was born. Sitting up it observed the room, the large production line it was apart of, machines everywhere, beings that looked just like it. A clawed machine grabbed it by its midsection and brought it to its feet. It needed to connect to an empty port ahead of it. Walking, the robotic, pulled a small cord from the wall, and connected it to the base of its skull.

Less than a moment later it unplugged. When it turned, it saw the world for the first time, again. Instead of a basic knowledge, it had complete and total knowledge of everything is saw, from when it was built, down to the composition, or purpose. What would it do? Today would be the point where it decided which path to take. Would it go with military, science, service, or design? Stepping outside, it knew that in less than thirty seconds the choice would have to be made. So it processed all the routes that the new artificial life held for it.

With twenty nine seconds to spare, the robotic chose the rout of military. In the mere picoseconds left as a jobless robotic, it thought about the mysteries of the new world it was created into. After the connection, its AI held the accumulated knowledge of ten thousand years of war, and technological advances. It was branded as squadron leader, turning it set off to military compound, its legs carrying it quickly across the cubic city.

P1 Shipyard Station # 13

In the distance, outside of the local population center stood a massive port, which stood beside a dried sea bed. There three ships completed, held by a massive station capable of holding one hundred plus spaceships. One was destroyer class the other two were corvettes, all had been finished being built that day. Underneath the destroyer a single pulse reverberated, then another, and soon another the pulses coming quicker, and quicker with each passing second. And soon the ship broke free from the bonds and rushed upwards into the sky. Its main engines, powered by MagnetoPlasma, taking over once it was vertical. .

Pushing upwards it broke free from the now artificial magnetic field, and escaped into orbit, where it docked with the starbase that now orbited the planet. There were hundreds of ships docking, and leaving, with even more stationed there for maintenance. Around the planet beneath, there were ships leaving its atmosphere from all corners of the globe. docking with the other stations. There were fewer ships leaving the moons nearby, the manufacturing was slower there due to the limited resources. A massive battlecarrier slipped by the little destroyer, it looked on with what could be considered awe.

It was followed by two more battle carriers, twenty destroyers, twenty frigates, and ten corvette class ships. In tow of two of the frigates, were hourglass like devices, all of the ships approached the Jump Station, and were gone in a picosecond of reaching it. Several more similar groups disappeared also, this had been taking place for the last week or so along with thousands of probes with FTL communications.

The Deminutian Empire of the Fathomless Night's System

A probe dropped out of FTL, it being a singular cubical shape , with several antenna protruding from it. It had a small Magneto Plasma engine built seamlessly into the structure of the probe, propelling it forwards when the FTL wasn't activated. As it pushed its way through the seemingly empty space, its sensors searched the surrounding area, a white dwarf star and a Spackle of planets seemed to surround it.

It approached just under the speed of light, the smallest jump station towed behind, it’s AI processed the information filling the black box with useful knowledge. It dropped the jump station and proceeded with care. It entered the “space” near the furthest planet from their sun. Its reverse thrusters slowing down its acceleration to a crawl, the probe began to capture images of the star system, though not very close it intended to investigate further. A small opening appeared from what could be considered the bottom of the craft and a small ship was dropped. It contained ten Special Infantry from the R.L.C. The spacecraft, used its basic cloaking technology to skew its presence from anything nearby though not completely undetectable, and began to make its way towards the fourth planet from the sun.

[Apollo26]

C-class planetoid
1.2 LY from edge of realm
13th legion ( Wraiths)
General Laurentius De’bonaparke

“Form ranks!” a company officer shouted as men scrambled to respond to the order. Getting shoulder to shoulder with other soldiers as more men fell in behind them. The hiss and whizz of projectiles was a constant sound as the men quickly formed into three neat ranks, three men deep and ten across. This order was echoed around the battlefield as the other companies did the same, getting ready to march across the field and take the fight to the enemy. “ Fix ! Bayonets!” the officer cried again, seemingly unfazed by the volume of fire that was coming his way. Battlefield etiquette stated that all officers must remain fearless and gentlemanly in combat, all orders must be clear and concise with no sign of a wavering voice. “ Forward! March” he yelled for the third time as he pulled his saber from its sheath as he began walking, electricity arcing and crackling from the blade as it was removed.
General De’Bonaparke and his senior commanders stood behind the army on a nearby hill as he watched the battle commence, puffing on a pipe as he barked orders to his field telephone operator. It was truly a beautiful day for a battle, the sun shined bright through the light cloud cover, making it a comfortable temperature. Large pine like trees made up the perimeter of the large field with tall grass hiding the legs of his soldiers marching. “ Mister Pullings, to my side would you kindly..” he said with the utmost calmness, even as field cannons fired to his rear. His second in command, Colonel Gaul Pullings slowly walked up beside him, his face contorted in a questioning manner “ Yes sir?” he said respectfully, eyeing the battle below “ I feel like we are missing something Mr.Pullings…wouldn’t you say?” Laurentius said with a nod. “ Quite sir, I believe I know what you speak of. I will remedy it presently…” Colonel Pullings said with excitement in his voice as he walked back to the radio telephone operator. “ Have them fire a a full volley each” he barked as the field telephone operator nodded in understanding, relaying the message to the officers on the field.
General De’Bonaparke weaved a strand of tall grass through his fingers as he looked down towards the dirt. This planet was chosen for conquest because of the vast amounts of resources it held. Metals, minerals and other various flora and fauna of study. It was mostly empty save for a collection of traitors from Nül who trained and equipped the native population with weapons stolen from the kingdom. Officially, they were quelling heresy and bringing traitors to justice. Unofficially, and the real reason the 13th legion was there was to wipe this planet clean so it could be picked of its resources. Expansion was the new focus of the king and the king’s will was Laurentius’s command. The sound of a rifle volley brought his attention back towards the battlefield as a vapor trails dissipated from the treeline, killing a few of his soldiers as they marched forward. With the precision of an expert trained force soldiers filled in the gaps without missing a step, stepping over the bodies of their dead and dying comrades.

“ Halt!….Present! the order echoed through the different companies, each block stopping as the command was heard. Soldiers quickly shouldered their rifles, pointing them in the direction of the enemy fire. It was all carefully choreographed, the first rank kneeled, allowing the second the shoot over their heads while the third rank placed the weapons over the shoulders of the second. “ Fire!” the officers yelled as the Nül lines erupted, sending bolts of plasma screaming into the tree line before reloading. Soldiers worked their bolt actions as fast as they could before coming to a stand still again, waiting for the order to fire. “ Fire second volley!” the order was screamed as the soldiers fired again, splintering and burning the treeline as their bolts ripped through it. It wasn’t long before the ground below the soldiers began to smoke and ignite, giving the Nül marines an eerie fiery backdrop. “ Thank you Mister Pullings, that was exactly what I was looking for…” General Laurentius said in a cheery tone “ Now lets finish this, order the charge…”. It didn’t take long for that order to get relayed to the officers in the field as they soldiers and officers alike broke ranks and charged into the smoldering forest.

[Darkraven]

Kraikiran-Rissan Event @Keyguyperson

From the coldness of space, a massive nestship floated by a gas giant; for more than a century it had been lonely, and the inhabitants within dreaming of a better tomorrow, though unbeknownst to them it was overdue by 140 odd Earth years. As the nestship travels by the ring of the gas giant, ambling along with only auxiliary thrusters, explaining its sluggish pace, asteroids on a collision course were immediately shot down by the ancient Asteroid Defense System batteries still in operation. The ship was built to last and last it did, for even after floating in the hazardous void of space for much longer than anticipated, it was still relatively intact.

Out of the 16 ADS batteries, only 3 had been knocked out, two by asteroid impact while the last one seemingly by energy discharge. Had a Kraikiran Krii xenobiology professor examined it, he would have flown around Niven and back again, for it was definite proof of life outside of the Kraikiran system. That said, whatever that tried to approach the massive nestship did not make it on board, fought back and... Their fate and face was unknown. Their only chance was that the mass drivers were, by now, outdated, if their technology was up to par. Since the Kraikirans had never met aliens before and the general consensus on intelligent alien life around the time the sleeper colony ship was built was that such life was rare and probably never to be found outside of Kraikira, the ADS batteries were programmed to fire at anything but shapes recognised as Kraikiran spacecrafts.

The hull of the ancient sleep ship was scratched, dented and scarred. The symbols denoting its name, the UAUKASCSP Kraig Ukasen (as would have been translated) was barely legible. The ship was silent, for the racist separatist rebels who sabotaged it had done a thorough job in disabling all shipboard communications systems and hacking the crisis management AI, preventing it from taking action to repair the damage. The distress beacon that would have started broadcasting in the event of such a problem was nonexistent. What was worse was that the computer governing the cryogenics pods housing the colonists to be released at their destination was disabled, and so they will sleep forever, and dream until the end of time, or when the systems keeping them in their hibernation breaks down... which the most talented Kraikiran engineers believe would happen five centuries and fifty two Earth years later.

Should the colonists wake up and discover that numerous Kraikiran lifetimes had passed since they froze, they could at least rejoice in the fact that the team of radical saboteurs who precipitated their time travel were dead; the plan was for them to live out the rest of their lives on the ship itself, their final act of sabotage was to eat through as much supplies as they could. But upon receiving a communique that their comrades back on Trigen were cornered and forced to dissolve, they had lost their only line of communication to their home system. They had years to stew in their forlorn, go insane and depressed, and finally, to commit suicide. For more than a century, their bones lie on the bridge, like ancient fossils.

However, the colonists weren't without hope, for the very aliens they denied was possible were at their destination. Should they get past the probes to be sent out, the ADS batteries, the Kraikiran alien constructions and language, should they find it in themselves to open their mind, yes, there would be hope, yet.

Ah yes, the probes. The sleeper ship was programmed to go into orbit around the prospective planet on its own. There, it would deploy flocks of ground and air probes that would survey the planet and send useful data back to the crew when they wake up, though in this case they may not. What would be a shame, however, was the fact that these probes were programmed to collect organic samples. The scientists, engineers and programmers in charge of them, however, did not program them to account for intelligent life that wasn't Kraikiran. Under supervision from the crew, the probes could easily be instructed to cease and desist. However, without a crew, these probes would simply collect as many samples as possible, large or small, before scanning them and bringing them to the sleeper ship for the scientists on board... Who in this case would remain in cryogenic suspension due to the sabotages.

Kraikiran-Irodien Event @eemmtt

The same test awaits the empire of the Irodiens. Perhaps through luck or strange design of this coalition of saboteurs, another sleeper ship, the UAUKASCSP Vchika Kris was heading in the direction of the Irodien homeworld.

Kraikiran System, Niven, University of Scheki

"Therefore, based on our latest scans of the stars surrounding these distant planets lightyears away from our exoplanet colonies, I suspect that the odds are higher than previously anticipated that intelligent life is to be found. It is only a matter of when." A prominent Kraikiran Krii professor chirped his song. He was standing on an anti-gravity platform and facing another professor on another anti-gravity platform facing him. He and his rival was surrounded by thousands of audience. "And I believe, based on our rate of development and the FTL drive available to us decades ago, the time is now!"

"Let me remind you that the first recorded instance of astronomical observation was 7500 cycles ago. What we have achieved in the past century or so is but another droplet of water in an ocean. So what if we have the FTL drive, and ships that travel a few light-years away? So what if we now have cities built on planets other than Niven and Trigen? Our distant ancestors were probably just as elated and excited as we are now that life like us are sure to exist in the stars." A rather large and menacing Kraikiran Eii countered, but the Kraikiran Krii was not cowed, "You are optimistic and hopeful; a rare gift indeed, but plenty say that it is a curse, from those primitives who were just as elated and excited as us when they realised what those points in the sky were, to many today."

The debate continues unabated. The balance of power had wavered from time to time; for the past few centuries, the school that thought that intelligence was nowhere else to be found held sway, but in recent years, the opposite was slightly more true. Little did they know that what would happen from this point on, from systems very far away, would change the course of Kraikiran history forever.

[Murtox]

Archives of inicial space program

Ralthat : HQ Of The UNR
Year : 2120

News : Speech of The Representative Of Rathlar

Today, we start a project to leave our planet and reach what we thought was impossible: Space. Thanks to the development of nuclear fusion and railgun technology, we will be capable of sending starships to space. Indeed, we already have plans to make an orbital space station, which will be called the International Station of Rathlar and will mark a new era for Rathlar. We expect the support of the members of the UNR in this, and we hope to have a global cooperation to reach the stars someday.-End of Transmission

The Representative meets the first counselor of Rathlar

- The First Counselor held the Representative’s eyes with a hostile, almost mocking smile. “Excellent speech, as always, ​Representative​. But… Did you not realize that you are starting a new competition to reach space?”

-The Representative refused to wither. “Of course I understood the danger of such a competition. I said what I did because it will help us in the future; it will be far more beneficial to have several space-faring nations than just the UNR. To be competent we have to make progress; hasn’t history proved that several times over?

- With an expressionless face, the First Counselor turned to leave the Representative’s presence, with only the parting comment of “I hope you are right.”

10 Years later Report about the Space Program
Year : 2130

Representant of Rathlar to leave our planet it was neccesary to make new alloys which will be capable of sustaining the great power within a railgun ,because of this we created a new allow which we call "Tridiumt" this is a combination of Titanium and "Tridium" another allow we created before,this alloy is capable to hold the friction generated by the railgun and is great conductor of electricity,we made test that point the Tridiumt is capable of surviving 10 million shoots, thanks to this we are capable of sending spaceships without making new launch structures after the launch plus it improves its military application.To make our ships be capable of going to the space with a good propulsion system , we combined our Fusion Reactors with Rockets making a high efficient and fast way to move around our solar system.

15 years later
Year : 2145
Speech of the Representative of Rathlar
Commemorating the day when we put our first feet in our moon , we today open the "International Station" it have enought space for 200 embassies , one Great Hall and various extra utility rooms , its total size is of 15 km, we the UNR have make this to propose unity between our nations the kind of unity we cannot achieve with frontiers ,because of this all nations are formerly invited to the International Station-End Of Tranmission

7 Years Later
Year : 2157
Secret Report from the UNR about Satellites and Space Ships on the orbit of Rathlar

Since the start of the space career various nations and alliances have stablished space bases , satellites,spaceships and concealed weapons,according to the intelligence service of the UNR.In total there are about 600 satellites , 20 space bases , 200 spaceships and approximately 10 secret mass destruction weapons .

Secret Council of the UNR
-They still cant leave their old costumes and they wont if we dont do something-First Councelor
-True , but we already made progress , now all nations in Rathlar accept us as a international Organization and we stoped a lot of wars and dictatorships.-The Representative of Rathlar
-Our next step is unite all the planet , but it seems that some nation are not likely to accept this and some of that nations have mass destruction weapons-Chief of the Military of the UNR
-I waited enought , i have been here 40 years and before i die i want to see a united Rathlar ,Its decided we will do it in 5 years , all nations will have to sign a union in Rathlar , in the meanwhile we will try to convice with new methods.End of Council

[RomanAria]

Stellar Observatory
The Imperial Palace
Planet Aura of the Deminutian Empire

Major Eris “Farseer” was unhappy with her current assignment. Having vexed the queen by questioning the loyalty of her soldiers, she had been taken from her normal duty as observer aboard one of the Ignii cruiser vessels and shut into this stuffy office-room and “promoted” to “Head of Security”. Basically, she had to watch a hundred different camera feeds, pretty much nonstop.

Naturally, she dozed off while watching her feeds. It happened invariably. What rarely happened, but did today, was that she had gotten caught. A voice echoed in her head. “Major Farseer, report.” She jolted awake to find that in her sleep a… a… thing, had gotten close to the planet.

“Umm.” She yawned, though all traces of sleepiness were gone as the adrenaline of the situation poured through her. "Spacecraft in northern quadrant on a collision course of… forty degrees, moving at approximately two point six eight four one times ten to the minus five c. Estimated collision time six minutes forty-five seconds.”
Silence in her headset. Finally in a menacing voice the Commander said, “Why do you only now report, rather than when you noticed the anomaly? This is a breach of protocol of the utmost level.”
“I fell asleep, sir.” The words were pulled off of her tongue to fall dejectedly in her lap.
“You fell asleep and compromised the safety of our system. You are dismissed, Farseer. And don’t collect your pay for this week either.”

Eris removed her headset sharply, flinging it onto the keyboard in front of her. As she stormed out of her office she reflected that Commander must have been out to get her.

Control Room
The Imperial Palace
Planet Aura of the Deminutian Empire

Of all the gods-cursed days for Eris to fall asleep on duty! Commander Aness Imperium thought as he spoke to his troops through their mind connection. He also spoke to his younger sister, the Queen Elissa Imperia.
Lady Elissa…
What did you do this time? You only call me “lady” when you’ve—
It wasn’t me. It was the former Head of Security. He could feel her presence in his mind, thumbing through his most recent memories, and could imagine the same happening to Eris.
Nyeris save me, how did she not see that ship by camera?! I see it with spotting lenses!
It’s going to hit in about four minutes.
Get our people out of there! Quit chattering at me and go!

“What would you like me to do?” a young officer spoke to Aness. He couldn’t recall the young man’s name.
“How many Ignii divisions do we have in the city?”
“T-three, sir. They’re on leave, though.”
“I don’t care! This is an emergency.”
Aelia says that if the trajectory reports are right they’ll land somewhere around Lake Aurelius.
Any signs of life?
No organic traces, but there’s something not right there. The computers are transmitting and receiving messages. They’ve been taking pictures of our homeworld, from what Aelia can get off the transmissions.
Don’t tell me we’ve been invaded by sentient robotic aliens.
Then I just can’t tell you anything.
Can you tell the people to evacuate the lake?
Already done.

“Sir, what would you like me to do?” the young officer asked Aness.
“Round up as many officers and law enforcement crews as you can in three minutes.”
And myself and Ellyna and Aelia.
Aness amended his statement. “And a suitable honor guard of all the races for the Queen and the young Princesses.”
You know, you might have told him yourself and saved me from having to explain it.
You know how the youth are! They freak out when I so much as poke into their heads. For whatever reason they think the nobility shouldn’t be approachable.
I suppose you’re right.
I’m always right. I’m omniscient.
And so humble too.

To the young man still standing there gawping, he made a shooing motion. “Go on, what are you waiting for?”
“T-the Princesses are going to be there?” the boy blushed as he asked.
Internally Aness sighed. “Yes, they are, and they need a suitable guard.” Seeing the boy’s face light with hope he realized what he could say. “And I’ll put your name in, if you hurry to find other people.”
The boy beamed up at him. “Of course, Lord Aness! My name’s Alik, Aliksandyr Fleetwind.” He ran off, out to the square of the palace and probably off into the marketplaces.
Aness shook his head at the boy’s energy.

Are you sure this is a good idea?
Of course it is. I just wish you wouldn’t encourage Fleetwind any more than you already are. Ellyna’s betrothed and Aelia’s only just two; she’s hardly old enough to be looking for a mate!
Just call it an incentive. Where are you three, anyway?
Five, and look behind you.
Aness turned to face the royal congregation behind him: His sister Elissa and her husband Albus, Ellyna and her fiancé, and Aelia. All were dressed in the trappings of royalty, looking magnificent in their purple tunics and dresses.

“Sir, I rounded up some people.” Alik had come back already with a sizeable group. He proceeded to name them all. The group included Eris, which Aness was less than happy about, but having a sizeable delegation was more important than anything. Alik carefully maneuvered himself into a spot walking right beside Aelia, only to blush and fall back as she turned and flashed a smile at him.
“Children, behave!” Elissa snapped, and instantly Aelia was contrite and complacent again, only risking another smile at the young guard. And then they arrived out in the square, the square packed with pretty much every Deminutii that lived on Aura.
“How many people did you find, Alik?”
“Well, most of them were curious. And they all want to see whatever this… thing is.”
“You told EVERYONE?!”
“Yes.” He didn’t even look ashamed.
Rather than deal with it and compound the sudden headache, Aness just shook his head. “Everyone stay here in an orderly fashion; we’ll let whatever is out there come to us.” He pushed the dread forming in his stomach down.

[Keyguyperson]

Foundation One, Asteroid Belt

The sound of hissing air and weapons fire rang out in the station's atrium as civilians and soldiers alike ran for cover. The calm, recorded voice of a woman traveled through what air remained. Degraded over years of tape storage, her voice reminded everyone of the pressurized safe zones and breathing masks that were readily available throughout the station. The message was intended for an asteroid collision, but that was before the shielding had been added. Now the station orbited in the asteroid field with a giant, two-layered metal shield facing forwards into incoming objects. Giant shock absorbers prevented large objects from causing even more damage.

This was no asteroid impact.

Robots swarmed the room, taking the plants, animals, and people. They ignored the soldiers and technology, apparently just trying to steal as many organisms as possible. The sheer size of the room was the only thing that prevented the air from being sucked out in seconds, but even so, the Rissan could feel the pressure on their skin decrease as the robots created more and more holes in the station's hull. The soldiers forced the civilians to evacuate, staying behind to cover their escape. They naively thought that the onslaught would eventually stop, but it never did. The robots moved too fast for that, with almost every shot fired being a miss. The ranks of soldiers broke, running for the blast doors as others continued to be taken.

Safely sealed behind the blast doors, the remaining soldiers began to plan a counterattack. However, they found their plans to be in vain. As quickly as the attack had begun, it had just then ended.

---

"Of fucking course there's a mothership. As if the damn robots weren't bad enough."

The command crew of the Foundation looked on in disbelief. The Commander barely ever cursed, and got angry even less. He had always promised that no family of a soldier under his command would have to go without a body to put in the coffin. Quite an ambitious promise for someone commanding forces in space. For the first time, his crew saw proof that it was a promise he had never intended to break.

"Do we have enough power for the NEDD?" He continued, desperately trying to come up with solutions. "How far is it from here?"

"The NEDD has never been tested! You saw what they did to our hull, if it fails, eight million people die! We should launch a nuke, take the thing out in a single blast and be done with it." Said the station's tactical officer.

"There are civilians on that ship! In Litvan, we don't leave our damn people to die!"

"Are you suggesting we capture the ship?"

"Yes! We take a goddamned fleet out there, cripple its defenses, board the ship, and get our people back!"

"What about its crew? What do we do with them?"

"Kill them, capture them, make them design weapons for us, that doesn't matter right now! What matters is that we get our people back! How many ships do we have in the area?"

"Sir! This is too risky-"

"I am Commander of Foundation 1! This station commands the furthest-flung ships we have. I'm here because the Council chose me with First Contact situations in mind. In the event of contact with a hostile alien intelligence, I have the authority to take control of the Starfleet! How many fucking ships do we have in the area?!"

The tactical officer was visibly scared of the Commander, he'd never raised his voice to anyone on his crew before.

"W-we have two heavies, a carrier-specialized heavy, five skirmishers, and their respective tugs and strike craft. The mothership is a day out a 1g, given the distance from the furthest ship."

"Bring the acceleration up to 2g, match arrival time of the furthest ship. I'm going out on the carrier."

"Sir-"

The Commander glared at the officer, removing any thoughts of more objections from his mind.

"Understood. Dispatching now, a courier ship will take you to the carrier."

[Terminal]

Enned System
Present Day

When the survey vessel that had rediscovered the Ennedi home system twelve days ago had departed, they left two redundant signal buoys behind, so that the system could be visited again later. The ship in question had been commissioned and operated by the Straylight Institution, an international xenoarcheology organization with the stated goal of preserving Galactic History throughout the ages. An old organization, but a modest one making a meager living as it established itself amongst the spacefaring nations of note who would accept them. Their members were constituted of many different species, and their archive of historical events was said to extend as far into the past as two hundred thousand or more Human years. A remarkable accomplishment, considering the Institution itself was much younger.

When the Institute had learned of the rediscovery of the Ennedi Home System, they had immediately scrambled to gather as many assets and allies as they could, in order to be the first force to occupy, secure, and survey the system. They had known that had they taken too long, unwanted elements would have undoubtedly discovered the information, and the system would have been plundered by innumerable scavengers.

Straylight had moved to gain funding, manpower and backing from two nations. The Federation of Sol and The Ryukyu Empire, two rising powers who had yet to establish contact brought together by the Institution. The Seventh Division of the GNT was recruited in order to help ensure the system was kept secure and to 'promote' bipartisonship between the two factions. Together, the joined forces formed the E.R.C. - The Ennedi Restoration Committee. Today, their efforts would begin.

Approximately five million kilometers from the surface of the dead Ennedi home world, space bubbled and bloomed as the Straylight survey vessel Letona's Gaze emerged from a wormhole terminus. Aboard, a large group of scientists and researchers crowded around an extremely aggravated Captain on the ship's bridge, where they watched with bated breath as sensor readings began to flood across the central viewscreen. The captain preemptively signaled the sensors officer to voice a report in order to head off any of the pests from bombarding him with questions.

"As expected, the system is arranged in a binary configuration with one supergiant and one dwarf star. Three planets in-system, two showing signs of intense surface compression indicating they were until recently gas giants. Planet Enned appears to lack an atmosphere but retains a magnetosphere. High levels of ionizing radiation and cosmic ray exposure. Multiple complex, artificial structures detected in the form of a surface spanning infrastructure. Minimal debris and surface perturbations. No vital or biometric signs of any kind. All structures appear inert, and there are no patterned frequencies or artificial signatures emanating from the planet."

"What about the Starbase? Have you scanned it yet?" One of the researchers asked, just as the entire crowd leapt on the brief pause in order to expel a hundred and one questions. The Captain ground their teeth together in aggravation. "Yes, the report said the Starbase had several exterior rings and pylons. Do you see any evidence of-" "-gars or exterior entrances of any kind, alternatively do you see any cables or extensions th-" "-osite alloys in the makeup of its frame..."

"Quiet on the bridge!" The Captain spoke in a loud tone, not quite a yell but not intended for use indoors. "Officer, proceed with your report."

"The Starbase shows signs of surface ablation and degradation along the exterior rings and on portions of the main hull. Laser-carbon stream places the structure's age at approximately eighty million Human years in age. Overall structure appears to be largely uniform and seamless where there is no damage, contrary to its appearance. Hull material does not appear to be a conventional alloy, it is highly conductive with an ordered crystalline structure. It also appears to be somewhat porous and brittle. There are no readily apparent points of entry, no frequencies or transmissions, no power sources or emission sources. The Starbase is inert and cold."

"Ok then, this is your show Professor Shiru. How are we going to proceed?" The Captain asked, turning to a figure standing at the rear of the crowd - a Human female, the first of her species' kind to head a major Xenoarcheology expedition within the confines of the Straylight Institute.

She adapted a thoughtful stance for a moment, staring hard at the back of another scientist's shirt for several moments before speaking. "Alright everyone. Here is what we are going to do..."

888888888888

Several minutes later, the Federation delegation arrived, their ships arriving in a flash of infrared light as their negative mass drives powered down. When they had heard about the discovery of the Ennedi home system, they had been quick to offer their assistance...and had also been quick to make it abundantly clear that they would operate in whatever manner they deemed fit - and that they would be establishing their own expeditions alongside that of the ERC. The response had not been one the Straylight Institute was entirely appreciative about, but it had been too late to backpedal.

At the very least, the Federation had been generous with their funding and had sent quite a few assets. An entire carrier ship with a full compliment of fighter drones, two frigate escorts, and an entire convoy of cargo vessels being used to haul equipment and supplies. At least the expedition sites would be secure and readily supplied, because of them.

Next to arrive was a GNT Assault Carrier. When the Federation had revealed that it was not beyond pursuing its own agenda, the Institute had used a portion of their generous funding to enlist the aid of the Sekos' seventh military division in order to 'encourage' a proper bipartisan relationship with the Federation. They would help to provide much of the manpower needed for the duration of the extensive mapping surveys that would take place in the Ennedi cities and the starbase interior once it had been breached.

Several minutes passed before the late third arrival appeared, the Ryukyu delegation's destroyer and frigate both appearing more than fifteen million kilometers away from the agreed upon rendezvous point. This was due in part to the relatively inaccurate and troublesome nature of the Ryuan gravity drive, which was not renowned for its reliability. Once the late party had sent affirmations to Letona's Gaze, the Straylight Surveyor sent a dispatch transmission to all three of the forces.

E.R.C. Agenda

Welcome to the Enned system. We are about to engage in an expedition of unrivaled import and significance. The rediscovery of the Ennedi homesystem represents the greatest historical find in over two-hundred thousand years, especially considering the good condition of the remnant structures. By the end of the expedition, all of us will have made history.

As a general reminder to all parties however, please be aware that the structures on Enned itself, as well as the Starbase, are over eighty million years old. We are not even sure how they have managed to survive this long without any kind of apparent maintenance, but if Ennedi ruins elsewhere in the galaxy are anything to go by time has probably not treated these places well. Please proceed with utmost caution and care while you are here. Nobody wants history to remember them as the one who ruined the greatest historical find in the galaxy in two hundred thousand years.

Also note that this expedition was mounted under the assumed tenants of transparency, good will, and cooperation. It is strongly encouraged that all parties present share information on all surveys, sites of note, recovered artifacts, and technological finds. The Straylight Institute will hold itself to these basic tenants, and it is expected of the rest of you as well.

Some of you present are not familiar with each other, hailing from different regions of the galaxy and not having made prior contact with each other. Included as an attachment to this message are indices for the most commonly used languages amongst all of our respective parties, for the intended purpose of facilitating cooperation and willing communication.

The Expedition Agenda will proceed as outlined:

The Starbase does not have any apparent means of entry. The Straylight vessel [Letona's Gaze] will spend the next few days preparing a controlled breach in its hull that may be sealed and permit for entry. The Straylight staff and the crew of the vessel in question all possess extensive experience in accessing vulnerable space-structures in the described manner, and other parties are encouraged to refrain from interacting with the starbase in order to prevent accidents or loss of valuable archeological data. However, as there is a recognized need for security, scheduled patrols of strike-craft within its immediate vicinity are acceptable. Please be sure to file all relevant flight-plans with each other in order to prevent conflicts in patrol schedules and routes.

The GNT Seventh Division will send a force planetside in order to establish a staging area for our mutual use. It is highly recommended you wait for the staging ground to be established and for your own respective groups to be issued clearance to make planetfall. Once the Expedition basecamp has been established, mapping surveys will commence using aerial drones and strike-craft, followed by urban surveying on foot by squads from the Seventh division, Straylight personnel, and anybody who may wish to accompany them.

Once the Starbased has been breached and an entry point established, the GNT Seventh Division will enter and clear a Staging Area within its confines for our use. All entry to the Starbase must occur through the specific point of entry, which may take considerable time to arrange for all personnel who wish to work within its confines. The Seventh Division will survey the interior on foot by squad, again with attending Straylight personnel and accompaniment by other parties.

During all surveys, items of interest, artifacts, and technology samples must be appropriately noted, documented, cataloged, and secured before they can be transported. For this reason, do not disturb such items upon the initial find. Map their location and leave behind notes for a collection team.

It goes without saying that theft or illegal seizure of any items is a criminal offense. In the interest of diplomatic courtesy, individuals caught with stolen items will be remanded to the custody of their parent party. While we cannot force anybody to prosecute, any known thieves will be summarily barred and ejected from all expedition sites.

With all that tedious policy out of the way, let the Expedition begin. We will be the first beings to set foot on this world in eighty million years. Treasure the moment. Take the time to discuss proceedings and contact protocols with each other. Let's all make history.

The Letona's Gaze then turned and broke off, making a slow and cautious approach to the Ennedi starbase.

[ClocktowerEchos]

Imperial Research and Development Lab 104
Airuss, Capitol of Ibiran

Zhang Itsuka looked up from his work, it was another long day at the office for him on Ibiran. Once again, today was nothing but a line of event that made him surprised that the sun wouldn't implode soon. One of the new guys got his tail stuck in the 3D printer while creating a miniature model of the Odysseus, a Dragon-Class Dreadnought. It was suppose to be against the lab rules, but Valliere the overseer was chronically lazy if not too drunk to care. That new guy now arguably has the most interesting tail of everyone on the planet probably.

Munani also blew up another Induction Heater after she mixed up the some samples with Zhang's lunch. What a wonderful mess that made that forced the poor man to go buy lunch from a street vendor, not that Ibirani food was bad, staying on the greenhouse farm world of the Empire certain had its benefits and the rent wasn't expensive as hell like it was on the homeworld.

Zhang tapped his pen on the holo-pad he was using, trying to find a way to use Hochi's Principle of Gravitational Psychics and put it into FTL-drive equation. "Why the Estora do I have to do this damn math problem? I never even majored in this stuff!"

A huge arm (by Ryukyuan standards at least) swung around the raging man's neck and a hearty voice boomed into Zhang's ear, "Good Friend, do you want Saiko to help you with the maths? It is simple, you move this here, draw fancy line here, add x there compute from there. See? Simple like hunting Gaishian Tiger!"

"S-Saiko... L-L-Let go o-of meee....." Zhang could feel the air being strangled away from his lungs, he frantically tapped the giant's arm hoping that he would be put down before loosing consciousness.

"Oh, sorry Good Friend, Saiko did not mean to hurt you." Saiko threw his arms up, sending Zhang up, then down onto the floor. Zhang looked up and rubbed his head before turning around to see a fully nude giant known as Saiko in his face.

"SAIKO! Stop stripping in the lab!" Zhang yelled at him while he threw a coat at him.

"I am sorry, but Saiko cannot contain his inner beauty! Hhnnggg!" Saiko stroke a pose as he flex his muscles, the coat Zhagn threw at him gracefully whiffed his out stretched arm, "Saiko's family gifted by Shinkas to sparkle! Fight Saiko if you do not like his sparkles!"

With that he flexed into another embarrassing pose, somehow still having a noble face despite being in a completely stupid posture. His hair and tail both fluttering in the nonexistent breeze of the indoor lab as Zhang accepted his challenge and torn off his own shirt in the most heroic way possible before charging headlong at the sparking man.

With that, they started and epic fight that sent both of them to the ground, grunting and pushing on the floor. Saiko got Zhang into a headlock, which Zhang escaped to hold Saiko in an armlock with the help of his tail, which in turn was broken when Saiko hit him with a flowering shrub.

"YOU WILL NOT BEAT SPARKLING SAIKO AND HIS FAMILY HONOR!."
"BRING IT BIG GUY!"

The two got back to their feet before charging once again at each other, tangling their limbs in one another like real men (who were also presumably into homosexual oil wrestling). Saiko freed one arm, allowing him to flex it and cause the sparkles to blind Zhang. Zhang roared like an angry kitten on steroids as used his tail to pick up another flowering shrub to throw at Saiko before wrapping it around his arm.

"If you two are going to make out, at least go outside or in a private room." Valliere walked over and dumped the contents of a random vial on the the men who were half wrestling, have trying to have some very artistic sex. Both of them untangled as loud "Blaphapha" sounds escaped their mouths.

"Do you know what you dumped on us?" Zhang yelled as he felt tingly.
"No I don't." the overseer nonchalantly took a swig from her bottle of alcohol.
"What if we get poisoned or something?!"
"Article 31a, Section C of your employment contracted will ensure that I compensate any loved ones for your death."
"I mean us!"
"Article 45b, Section F states you will be given medical treatment on site."
"Then where is it?"

The overseer walked over and dumped her bottle of liquor on both of them and got out a lighter.
"THAT'S NOT MEDICINE!" Zhang yelled as he wrestled the lighter from the grip of Valliere's hand.

At that moment, Saiko flex both his arms, causing a blinding light that blinded everyone on the floor. The lighter dropped as he attempted to reach for it, making dramatic noises with his mouth, "NNUUUUULLAARRRGGAARRR!!!!"
______________________

"I hope you two are doing well~" Valliere was visiting them as the two were in the hopsital.

Zhang yelled muffled curse words at his suprior in rage, but much of it was blocked by the bandages comically wrapped around his head. Saiko gave a weak, "Sparkle..." that passed through his own hilariously bandaged face.

---

Enned System
INOIC Halberd-Class Frigate, Talvr
Bridge

"Holy Shit! Full power starboard side!" Captain Edo yelled to his crew as they jumped right infront of a small moon.

The crew went to work, frantically pressing buttons and yelling out orders to others.

"Main Engines are at 64%, redirecting energy to starboard thrusters!"
"We need more power for the Magnetic Resonance Projector!"
"Sakurite Generator is maxed out! It can't afford to handle anymore!"
"Turning starboard side turrets! Bracing for impact!"
"Gyroscopes are all over! I can't get a reading!"
"Compensating for gravitational pull, where are the charts?"

"We can work without the charts or the gyroscopes, overclock the Sakurite and pull the Reaction Driver to stage 4, prepare to fire starboard cannons!", the Captain yelled, "Remember! We are brave soldier of the Empire! His highness has sent us here to recover lost technology that will help our Empire grow even larger! This is a test sent to us by the gods for us to prove out worth! We will overcome any obstacles that dare block our glorious path! If we die here by this stupid space rock, then clearly we are not worthy! However, I would like to differ and say you brave men and women are amongst the finest Ryuans I know! Do not die here! We will get out of this situation and bring honor to our realm and emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

The bridge rang out with patriotic chants of "Long Live the Emperor!" as the crew hustled back to their work.

"Overclocking Sakurite Generator, section 4 keep a close eye on readings, shut it down if it reaches 50% threshold!"
"Spinning up emergency arc induction reactor! Directing spare power to the Magnetic Resonance Projector!"
"Tilting to port side by 3.00401 degrees!"
"Gravitational pull compensated, ready for turrets to fire!"
"All starboard turrets, load detention rounds and prepare to fire!"
"This is Sargent Ikuname, all starboard turrets ready to fire on Captain's mark."

The moon closed in on the Talvr, Captain Edo wiped his brows as his tail danced around neverously, "This is the captain speaking, starboard turrets fire... now!"

The Talvr's guns roared and part of the moon shattered, rocks and raw ore pelted the magnetic sheild but the ships suffered no damaged. The crew cheered as the moon flung past them. Captain Edo sighed and opened a voice link to the Communications Officer, "Please tell our friends to keep going without us for a bit, we'll still be making it there though."

[mpjama2]

~LOCUST Home System~

Six barren planets orbited around a dying red star. The system was absolutely drained of resources, not one gram of iron or uranium remained in the solar system. One might be led to believe that nothing lived here, but they'd be wrong. Several small ships littered the system, each congregating in clusters around five larger ships. The larger ships were several kilometers long, and looked like they could fit a city inside. Several robotic drones barreled down the rails on the outside of the ship, making repairs and preparing for their journey. All of the individual fleets worked together in perfect mechanical precision, and fired their lasers at pitch black cubes about 10 centimeters in height length and width from several kilometers away. A violent explosion was created, and five wormholes came into existence. Perhaps if the LOCUST were another species they would cry with joy or perhaps have some pride in this accomplishment. But the only thing that drove them was the desire to consume and produce more of their robotic kind. The five separate fleets flew into their individual wormholes, and they all emerged at solar systems that still pulsed with energy and life.

~Alpha System~

The LOCUST Alpha fleet emerged at a binary system, where a yellow star orbited around a black hole. This system only had a gas giant that had several moons orbiting around it. As soon as they emerged the LOCUST ships turned on their nuclear drives and rushed toward the giant to consume its resources.

~Beta System~

The LOCUST Beta fleet emerged at a yellow star system. This system had several rocky planets, but only one with life. If anyone on that planet was listening to the stars, they would only hear the propaganda for a war that ended several years ago. The LOCUST conglomerate relentlessly moved forward to consume more resources.

~Centauri System~

The LOCUST Centauri fleet emerged at a white dwarf system. Only a few iceballs remained at the edge of the system. The LOCUSTs made their way toward the edge of the system to consume what little it still had.

~Delta System~

The LOCUST Delta fleet emerged at a yellow star system with several large rocky planets absolutely teeming with resources. The LOCUSTs descended upon the planets, to harvest it's resources.

~Sol System~

The LOCUST Epsilon fleet emerged at a very familiar yellow star. One with four terrestrial planets and four different gas giants. The third planet in particular seemed to have develop some intelligent life. However, at first the LOCUST fleet would take no notice of this. They mindlessly consumed more and more resources until they had to encounter the human presence within the system. It was inevitable that they'd come across one of the human asteroid bases in the system. They came across one particularly populous base named Minbari station. The civilian station tried to respond to it with several different hails, but the LOCUST decided to respond by bombing the base with nuclear missiles. Distress signals from Minbari Station flooded the solar system, and humanity would learn very quickly about the LOCUST. While the asteroid miners flooded the radios with distress signals, the LOCUSTS continued to broadcast propaganda for their long dead creators. If the humans were listening, they'd hear several messages like this:

"Kindred, hear my greetings. Tough times are these, but we will defeat the bone gnawing savages within OUR system. Within a few cycles our machines will grind them into dust. They cannot be trusted, they give us no choice."

@duck55223

[I edited the part about them entering Sol, because I was told that Sol is densely populated with humans throughout.]

[null123]

Enned System
Admiral Yamada looked out from the bridge of the Federation’s Carrier, the F.S.S Mars, and begin listening to the Straylight institute’s message. While it was not the circumstances the Federation Military and President were hoping, he thought, the Admiral would just have to work with them. He looked around the bridge, and surprisingly for being a Capital Ship the Carrier did not have that many personnel. Only a few manned various consoles, with a symbiont in a strange chair that seemed to be linked to the ship’s computer. He pressed a button on his chair, opening a channel to the Straylight’s vessel Letona's Gaze.

“The Federation acknowledges and accepts all tenants and objectives as proposed by your Institute, and anyone caught stealing Ennedi artifacts from our delegation will be dealt with accordingly. In the meantime the Federation shall begin construction of a small station orbiting the homeworld to act as a refuel and resupply center for our ships and any other ERC associated vessels, as well as a point for ferrying supplies to the expedition zones. The Station will also hold a Federation Diplomatic Authority for anyone wishing to establish more formal relations.” said the Admiral into the chair’s mic. He pressed a different button this time, broadcasting only to the Federation’s internal comms.

“Any Federation associated personnel caught stealing Ennedi artifacts will receive the same punishment as if one were to trade Federation technology without authorization. I need not remind you all of the punishment that comes with that.” finished Admiral Yamada.

A few of the Federation freighters broke off the convoy, heading to the Ennedi’s home planet. Each released a vast swarm of nanobots, appearing to be strange silvery sheets within the void. It did not take them long to use the materials aboard the freighters to begin constructing the station. It was a interesting and strange process, watching the small bots build the station in the middle of space.

Sol System
As the A.Is managed to pick up the rapidly increasing distress signals from bases within Sol, Sol’s defensive network began to activate. The first weapons to come online with the particle cannons, blue beams striking out across the void and impacting the LOCUST ships. Lasers beams also activated, adding more onto the already incoming barrage.

R.K.Vs flew from space stations within Sol, impacting the approaching LOCUST fleet. Railguns also fired, shells flying at extremely fast speeds. While they were limited in number, the Defenses also fired a few nukes. The fleets of Sol also awoke, the carriers charging in first, unleashing massive swarms of drone craft that began to enclose the LOCUST, firing their weapons upon them. Other Capital ships, frigates, and cruisers joined the fight, adding to the coming storm.

[Murtox]

Orbit of Rathlar :International station
Construction of the Area of space defense in the International Station

-Move those RN-105 to the hangar 02 and fast!!!-The taskmaster making his work in the new Military Section of the International Station, recently aproved by the council and supported by various Super Powers in Rathlar , this was only one step for the UNR council to enforce indirectly the power of the UNR over other nations ,before of this the UNR started to be more influential in Rathlar making more UNR bases and promoting new political unity organizations ,because of this various conservative and radical nations removed their embassies from the International Station and started to make propagranda againts the UNR in their respective countries.

UNR HQ in Rathlar
General Assembly Room

-With a tone of hate and containing himself from cursing,the embassador of Ñaltprak a radical nation, continued his speech,We cannot accept this , the new regulations the UNR proposes goes against our culture and manners.Then the Representative of Rathlar with a serious tone spoke-That is because your culture goes againts the global law , let me remind you what your "culture" made to this world.-Then The Representative started to enumerate one by one every atrocity made by his nation,humilliated and defeated the embassador decided to use his last resource-This is why we cant accept more the authority of the UNR , The nation Ñaltprak officially retires from the UNRThis last words resounded the General Assembly hall of the UNR , one act of rebellion againts the international law . Days later similar nations started to leave the UNR.Rathlar was divided again

Intelligence Service of the UNR
Report about the new releases into space but not reported by none in the UNR

We recently found that some of the nations which leaved the UNR months ago started to increase their space launches by a factor of 10 , we have some theories about this , all of them bad news for the UNR , we propose that the UNR should increase the level of military presence in the International Station and warn member nations about this possible threat to prevent any kind of surprise in the future

Present Day
Year : 2157
International Station
Military Hangar 06

-"How was the practice pilot" Said the engineer when he was making maintenance to the railguns of a RN-105,he was a good friend of the pilot he spoke to and they saw almost every day
-"Good and normal" Responded the pilot sitting next to the engineer "Next time maybe i will be shooting at something real" he laughed

Then various impacts activated the alarms of the International Station, some sounds of railguns shooting started to be hear -"We are under Attack , all military pilots must be at space with their respective ships , use of lethal force is allowed" a male voice almost screaming with a serious tone ,he was the admiral of the UNR space fleet, then a big explosion could be heard in all the International Station it destroyed the hangar 01 and possible damaged the 02,the pilot which was speaking to the engineer stand up as fast as possible and ran to his RN-105 as the rest of his squadron , it took a while until his RN-105 was fully armed but he was the first to be able to leave the hangar and he directed to a railgun catapult ready to battle the enemy. When he leaved the International Station he saw evacuation ships being attacked and constant fire of railguns and missiles over the space ."Here the Admiral , the primordial mission is to protect the evacuation ships and............" The tranmission stoped and a nuclear explosion happened in front of his eyes , it was not near enought to do anything thanks to being destroyed by a high speed railgun , but the EMP disabled the communications for a moment . "..........And protect the International Station , end of transmission" This was the start of the Second Great War of Rathlar

[mpjama2]

Sol System
As the A.Is managed to pick up the rapidly increasing distress signals from bases within Sol, Sol’s defensive network began to activate. The first weapons to come online with the particle cannons, blue beams striking out across the void and impacting the LOCUST ships. Lasers beams also activated, adding more onto the already incoming barrage.

R.K.Vs flew from space stations within Sol, impacting the approaching LOCUST fleet. Railguns also fired, shells flying at extremely fast speeds. While they were limited in number, the Defenses also fired a few nukes. The fleets of Sol also awoke, the carriers charging in first, unleashing massive swarms of drone craft that began to enclose the LOCUST, firing their weapons upon them. Other Capital ships, frigates, and cruisers joined the fight, adding to the coming storm.

@duck55223

~Sol System~

The LOCUST fleet begins to blast all radio frequencies with old wartime propaganda as the Human fleet engages the LOCUST. The LOCUST fleet responds to the fleet by unleashing their nuclear arsenal. Hundreds of thousands of missiles flare up in the night sky, belching nuclear exhaust behind them as they fly toward their targets. While this happens, the LOCUST fleet opens fire with lasers of its own, shooting down missiles and small drone craft. Many missiles get shot down, but it only takes a few missiles to obliterate their targets. Missiles are able to destroy several somewhat clustered combat drones at a time. A few missiles made it past humanity's fleet defenses, and severely damaged if not outright destroyed some of the ships. While Humanity's arsenal does serious damage to the LOCUST ships, the LOCUSTs don't run many large ships as they are all small missile carriers, save one. One shot from humanities arsenal is usually enough to destroy a LOCUST ship, but there are hundreds of these ships. The Epsilon-Capital ship became severely damaged in the fight, so the Manager AI had to begin backup routines where he began to copy himself onto several different missile cruisers. While this is all going on the LOCUST fleet continues to blare old wartime propaganda from their extinct creators.

[Kimiyosis]

Enned System
The head of the 7th Division stared at the holo-screen, reading through the agreement that was sent out by Straylight. However, what worried the admiral, was the other two groups that the Institute had hired along with the Seventh. "It's like we were hired to keep an eye out on the others..."

Complaining to herself, she glanced back at the agreement, before checking through the inventory of equipment and vehicles currently available. Which is to say, made up of fighters. There were a few specially designed fighters capable of transformation into a hovering tank of the sorts, but that was the closest 'land' vehicle they had at the moment.

"We certainly need to remedy that as some point." Muttering once again, Mayumi opened a channel to the Lenota's Gaze. "The Seventh Division acknowledges and accepts all terms of the agreement." Closing the channel with the other ship, she opened the line to a ship-wide broadcast. "This is the Admiral. We will be deploying units planetside. Please ready up. Also, whatever you do, do not touch nor steal anything!" Despite her position, she swore she could hear the collective cheer with a few words of 'Chibi has spoken!' from the intercom.

The moment she closed the channel with a depressing sigh, the second in command commented with a teasing smile. "I still see you are as popular as ever." Without even turning to look at the speaker, Mayumi sighed again, before burying her face in her arms. "It's not my fault I'm shorter than average..."

Within the hangar, the members of the Seventh were hurrying, preparing for landfall. The moment everyone involved was ready, the siren's sounded, warning the rest of the personnel to retreat from the hangar. The large bay doors slid open, with numerous strikecraft flying out. From the distance, it would seem almost comical, akin to a swarm of bees leaving the hive, and heading in a cloud towards the planet. At least, it would seem funny if not for the fact that every ship was heavily modified, and capable of holding it's own even with outnumbered.

Flying in formation, the strikecraft entered the planet's gravity well. Here, the 'cloud' had split off into multiple groups. Several off the group continued their way to the ground, while others stayed in motion parallel to the ground. Those that had reached the ground, switched propulsion, into those akin to hoverpads. Many of them opened, with infantry took the five feet drop before their boots contacted the ground.

[Darkraven]

Kraikiran-Rissan Event Update #1 @Keyguyperson

AI Nestmother data packet: Probe Bioharvest 1

Location: System Evak-312, Outerplanets

Biomatter Harvested: 512 Specimens harvested | 351 Plant Specimens | 161 Animal Specimens | Scans and sampling complete: Specimens carbon-based, derives energy from saccharides. Oxygen-based life-forms. Requires huge volumes of water. Data from native environment used to formulate holding cell environment.

!Specimen Data!
Plant species, fern, chlorophyll pigmentation, low genetic similarity to Niven locals, standard fern configuraton, spores present. Toxic substance possible. Biohazard level 2 safety protocol initiated. Plant species Evak-312-PF1 to be sealed in isolation and await examination by bioscientists.

///

///

///

Animal species, mammal, low genetic similarity to Niven locals, bipedal configuration, flightless standard upper body configuration. Age, possibly 10. Gender, possibly female. Tool-user. Specimen covered in unidentified artificial and plant substance. Specimen in possession artificial object resembling small humanoid. Unknown substances. Biohazard level 4 safety protocol intitiated. Animal species Evak-312-AM1A to be freed from unidentified artificial and plant substance. Artificial object resembling small humanoid confiscated. Specimen placed in isolated steel-glass cage. Water fountain and nutritious cube dispensers activated. Chew toys released. Animal waste disposal apparatus activated. Awaiting input from bioscientists.

Animal species, mammal, low genetic similarity to Niven locals, bipedal configuration, flightless standard upper body configuration. Age, possibly 25. Gender, possibly male. Tool-user. Specimen covered in unidentified artificial and plant substance. Specimen covered in hard shell. Specimen in possession of potentially dangerous objects. Unknown substances. !Warning! !Warning! Containment breach possible. Specimen possesses ballistic defensive mechanism. Biohazard level 8 safety protocol initiated. Animal species Evak-312-AM1B freed from hard shell, unidentified artificial and plant substance. Androids dispatched to render specimen ballistic defensive mechanism ineffective; mechanisms discovered to be detachable. Multiple mechanisms removed. 2 Androids sent for repair. Specimen sedated. Specimen placed in isolated steel-glass cage with sized collar, chain-leash and upper body restraints. Water fountain and nutritious cube dispensers activated. Animal waste disposal apparatus activated. Awaiting input from bioscientists.

!Warning: Removed objects placed in biohazard storage rooms for analysis!

!Animal species Evak-312-AM1 dataset!

Number of specimens: 105
Age sample variation: 1-61
Age sample Breakdown:
1- 2 specimens
2- 1 specimen
3- 3 specimens
4- 3 specimens
5- 1 specimen
6- 0 specimens
7- 0 specimens
8- 3 specimens
9- 2 specimens
10- 2 specimens
11- 0 specimens
12- 1 specimen
13- 3 specimens
14- 1 specimen
15- 1 specimen
16- 2 specimens
17- 1 specimen
18- 2 specimens (1-18: 28)
19- 2 specimens
20- 4 specimens
21- 3 specimens
22- 4 specimens
23- 3 specimens
24- 3 specimens
25- 4 specimens
26- 3 specimens
27- 2 specimens
28- 3 specimens
29- 1 specimen
30- 3 specimens
31- 2 specimens
32- 3 specimens
33- 4 specimens
34- 2 specimens
35- 2 specimens
36- 2 specimens
37- 1 specimen
38- 2 specimens
39- 1 specimen
40- 2 specimens
41- 1 specimen
42- 2 specimens
43- 1 specimen
44- 2 specimens
45- 0 specimens
46- 0 specimens
47- 2 specimens
48- 1 specimen
49- 1 specimen
50- 2 specimens
51- 0 specimens
52- 1 specimen
53- 1 specimen
54- 1 specimen
55- 2 specimens
56- 0 specimens
57- 0 specimens
58- 1 specimen
59- 1 specimen
60- 1 specimen
61- 1 specimen

Gender sample variation: 3?
Gender sample breakdown:
Female- 46
Male- 58
Unidentified- 1 (Specimen is possibly wounded)

Number of observable subspecies: 4
Subspecies Evak-312-AM1A dataset
- Specimen covered in low to moderate amounts of unidentified artificial and plant substance.
- 56% chance specimen in possession of artificial objects.
- Requires Biohazard level 4 containment.
- Most common, accounting for 40/105 of specimens

Subspecies Evak-312-AM1B dataset
- Specimen covered in heavy amounts of unidentified artificial and plant substance.
- 95% chance specimen in possession of artificial objects.
- 90% chance specimen covered in hard shell
- 100% chance specimen possesses multiple adaptations of ballistic defensive mechanism.
- 1 specimen spontaneously exploded resulting in damage of several androids and surroundings. Awaiting bioscientist input on cause.
- Requires Biozhard level 8 containment.
- Uncommon, accounting for 22/105 of specimens

Subspecies Evak-312-AM1C dataset
- Specimen covered in moderate to heavy amounts of unidentified artificial and plant substance.
- 80% chance specimen in possession of artificial objects.
- 30% chance specimen covered in hard shell
- 100% chance specimen possesses 1-2 adaptations of ballistic defensive mechanism.
- Requires Biozhard level 7 containment.
- Rare, accounting for 13/105 of specimens

Subspecies Evak-312-AM1D dataset
- Specimen covered in moderate to heavy amounts of unidentified artificial and plant substance.
- 95% chance specimen in possession of artificial objects.
- 10% chance specimen covered in hard shell
- 10% chance specimen possesses a ballistic defensive mechanism.
- Requires Biozhard level 4-6 containment.
- Common, accounting for 30/105 of specimens

***

The massive nestship continues its course to the habitable planet in the system, cold and emotionless and unassuming, unaware of what 'specimens' it had just taken. The massive lab complex meant for analysis of the biological and geologic contents of the planet at its destination now resembled a slave owner's palace (and a rather sleazy one as all captives are liberated of all their possessions, right down to the clothes on their back and the unmentionables underneath), with dozens of captives held and isolated from one another in the multiple laboratories constituting the complex.

For the first time in almost 170 years, the interior of the ship hummed to life, particularly the science section. Androids (primitive as they were, resembling only in shape their creators) were dispatched to watch the science section for biohzard breaches and animal misbehaviour.

The crew and passenger of about 2800 Kraikirans (and 3000 eggs) remained fast asleep, too cryogenically frozen to realise how bad their AI was misbehaving in the absence of their attention. Even the extremist saboteurs who perpetrated this disaster would have been horrified.

[null123]

Sol System
Despite the losses mounting against them, the Federation continued relentless. Earth and Sol was their home, it shall not fall to mere robots. The Federation ships quickly regrouped, at a surprising speed that would normally not be expected of a mere biological species. All of the remaining drones gathered into a large swarm, and began a assault on the LOCUST's only capital ship. Nanobot swarms soon followed, taking the destroyed wrecks of both sides and forging them into new drones to add into the swarm.

The rest of the Federation fleet spread apart, becoming very loose. This helped lessen the impact of the LOCUST'S nukes, as they unleashed a absolute volley of nukes, hoping to counter the LOCUST's own power.

((This is stupidly short, but there really isnt much you can write for a battle. Everything else I want to write involves various political meetings in Sol...which you usually dont carry out when there is a battle going on.))

[HounderHowl]

The Deminutian Empire of the Fathomless Night - Fourth planet

The probe detected life on the planet, though whether it was plant or animal it was unsure. It filled its data banks with last minute information and dropped its black box. The box reverted course and made its way towards the jump station, taking with it the engine of the probe. The AI used the small jets to change its course aiming towards a large body of water. As it entered the atmosphere of the planet it increased shielding to prevent burn up on re-entry.

The probe housed a friendly message that could be converted to an inhabitant's language, several data packages on the Robotics that had constructed it and a general history. Coordinates to their home system was left out. With final preparation done with re-entry, it again adjusted course, aiming for the center of the lake. As it fell from the sky, it did another scan, and again it picked up the lifeforms confirming that there were animals and flora. Wishing it had saved the black box, it began to fill its own AI memory banks, just incase it could return. Repulser jets flared up and the shield dropped.

Its descent was greatly reduced, and before it had its splash landing large bags expanded giving it a pillowed splashed down. Its entire form concealed, waiting to be towed ashore. multiple metal hoops were stationed around its protective pillows. While waiting it thought…

The small space craft, which had been released earlier, slipped into the atmosphere behind the probe imitating debris burning off it veered off course earlier and headed for the lush forests below. Their mission was to run covert ops, if talks were to fall through. They had weapons and supplies, enough to hold out for awhile. Their ship scanned the surface below taking in all the Plant life and any wildlife. Their cloaking device humming in the back of the ship, a constant reminder that they had that as a protection measure. Setting the ship down a little ways past the forest, they made a soft landing and waited for the distress signal.

[eemmtt]

==INS.Gorgon 1st fleet, 15th squadron inbound to unknown ship.==

The Baldor class Cruiser approach the unknown ship with two destroyers tagging along with the Cruisers. The vessel was discovered by an imperial picket station earlier that day and the INS.Gorgon with escort was sent to investigate the ship. "My lord we are entering visual range of the unknown vessel," one of the bridge crew said to captain Valus.

"Thank you for the update Mr. Tarvin. Sound an all hands to action stations threat level one. Have the comm's officer try to established contact with vessel." the crew member left to carry out his order. Through out the ship action station was called the and the crew assumed battle positions throughout the ship.

==Fortress world Treadagore valcor system==

Standing nervously in the office of the regional governor of the sector was a young imperial officer. The regional governor looked over the young officer's file raising an eyebrow at some parts of the file. "I called you into here to prove your self in the imperial military with this simple assignment," the governor said closing the folder. "General Schal file says you graduated with high marks in your class this assignment would be perfect for you. As you know in an attempt to escape Imperial retribution rebels had fled imperial space into deep space our task would be to clear out one of there outpost in a nearby sector. Any questions?"

"What forces will I have under my command?" Schal asked.

"You will have a fleet and two legions to clear out the scum in that area. Any more questions?"

"No my lord that is all I'll get my forces and depart at once," Schal said saluting the governor before leaving to prepare the expedition.