NationStates Jolt Archive

The Kythons had been brought a long way since their initial inception by Godulan and Balroggan scientists, both seeking the ultimate weapon in their search, strangely enough, for universal peace. Long since evolved beyond their standard bodies of metal and circuits into forms more organic and devastating, they had shown with no small amount of ease that they were a force to be feared by ally and enemy alike. Enemy fleet after enemy fleet had fallen to the sheer ferocity and mercilessness of the Kython Scourge.

But times change, and as the tides of time ebb and flow, such things begin to draw the notice of some who would prefer the formerly powerful Triad pacified or removed from existence entirely. Treaties had been made to ensure that hostilities would no longer be an issue, but it was decided that present circumstances demanded a more drastic course of action than simple watch-dog duties.

So it was that above the Godulan world of Terivine, a lush and green world home to a great many Godulan citizens and local aliens who did not mind the presence of their bipedal cohabitants, an alarm went out among all the deep monitoring stations that kept their eyes to the far reaches of space seeking out anything that could be a threat. A strange vessel had just completed Superspace transit from an as yet unrecognized dimension. This vessel did not correspond to any known archetypes and did not display any discernible form of identification. Initial visual contact confirmations revealed a strange falcon-like figure some twelve kilometers in length and several times that in effective wingspan. Its wings moved lazily in the inky void of space, but its movements were the only part of it that held any form of serene nature. The vessel's surface burned and roiled with barely contained energy that gave the intruder an aura very much akin to a solar surface, and the entire thing seemed to shift in and out of existence at random, as if one were watching a poorly constructed projection film of the vessel as it drifted through space.

Though its bodily movements seemed slow, it was only a matter of minutes before the massive vessel passed within a quarter of an AU of the planet, and passed it by. Several minutes later, it vanished.

Information of the disconcerting flyby was compiled and sent to Baron Skye with the assistance of one of the savants stationed on Terivine. Multiple suggestions were made within the report with respect to an explanation as to what the curious vessel represented.

Baron Skye needed no such suggestions. He remembered exactly what the strange thing was.

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"Bullshit!" Maximillian raged as Baron Skye and Xenith Steele sat in deep thought. "He agreed to the blasted treaty! We don't bother him, he wouldn't bother us! It was fucking settled!"

"Be that as it may," Skye replied, "For some reason he has seen fit to renege on his end of the treaty, and I for one wish to understand the aforementioned rationale."

"Whatever it is," Steele offered, "It must be huge. He has NEVER broken promises before. His reliability is legendary. For him to break the treaty like this has got to be some kind of precedent."

Maximillian shrugged. "One of the few things I programmed that actually took hold in that bastard. I wanna see why the hell he's come back so I can decide whether I wanna punch him in the face again."

Xenith's eyes widened. "You know what happened the last time!"

Maximillian grinned his feral grin and answered: "I know what happened when we tried challenging him one at a time. Only Skye showed the capability to properly defend against his attacks. I say its time we gangbang his ass."

"Team up on him?"

"Why not? We need a return to the good old days. When the whole of the chamber whispered our names in hushed tones for fear we'd hear 'em! We used to be respected, dammit! No thanks to that big metal dildo, we were all but ruined! We were lucky to escape with what little we had!"

Skye nodded slightly. "Though, we DID start that fight."

"We're Phages! We ALWAYS start the fight! WE'RE the fucking predators here! WE'RE the godslayers! They. Fear. US."

"But we're only three!" Xenith replied.

"And they're only four. What's your point? We could start repopulating whenever we want. We're our own brands of Vampires. Vampire GODS even! We can create spawn! Pretty soon we could have Soultakers, Willsappers, and Mindsyphons romping around all over the place. Only reason we don't is cuz it takes a part of us to do it. Our own greed has held us back, and them too. They can do the same thing, but they don't even think about returning to the bigass pantheons of old. They're plenty happy with just the four of themselves."

Baron Skye stood in deep thought, as Xenith and Maximillian bounced questions and answers off of each other, then finally held up a hand.

"Above all else we need to know the reason for his arrival. It could be that he is here to offer us something, rather than antagonize us. We shall allow him to come to us, and we shall speak to him, and we shall be CIVIL. Then, once we know what his plans are, we shall decide how to reply."

Maximillian and Xenith considered Baron Skye's plan in silence, then both nodded acquiescence. Baron Skye immediately turned and departed the chamber.

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And so it was that when the great burning falcon emerged again, this time at the edge of the Talbott sector on a direct course for the Godulan Capitol world of Alitar, that a designation was immediately tagged on all sensor readings, displaying the following:

>>SOJUN MAJESTATUS, CHRONOTHEURGE<<
>>DO NOT INTERCEPT<<

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OOC: And so it begins. This is gonna be a biggun, folkses. Gonna stop here so I can give a few people a chance to detect the arrival of the God of Time as well, if they so wish it.

*tag*

Tag

A very large tag.

The great burning falcon roared through the bulk of the Talbott sector with the strangely languid yet perfectly measured beat of its massive wings. Two Homeguard Fleets followed it towards Alitar, though they made certain to keep a safe distance between themselves and the newcomer. It paid no heed to anything that skittered out of its path as it approached the Godulan Capitol world, but it did finally slow as it came into geosynchronous orbit over the northern hemisphere.

Several seconds passed, causing a few of the more anxious members of the Godulan Homeguard to ask what was to happen next, and eliciting shush noises from associates in response. Then, with a great flash of crackling energy, the burning falcon vanished, replaced by a mere speck that hurtled down to a courtyard of the Triad Headquarters.

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"Show him the utmost respect," Baron Skye commanded to the Gendarmes and Marines as they all moved to the largest courtyard, "We are dealing with no less than a god, so treat him like you would any other foreign dignitary."

"Yes sir!" Came the simultaneous response.

The courtyard doors thundered open to allow Skye, Maximillian, and Xenith outside, where they awaited the arrival of the Chronotheurge. Skye showed nothing more than his typical calm, while both Xenith and Maximillian seemed to have set themselves to a low simmer. Those who knew both would appreciate the amount of effort even showing any level of restraint at all as the unique circumstance it was.

A slight breeze blew overhead, carrying some of the previous night's snow away in little wisps of icy dust. This was not interrupted in the slightest as a seven foot tall human of indeterminate ethnicity came to a soft landing just in front of the assembled Triad. He was clothed in what appeared to be a black one piece ankle-length overcoat with golden vine pattenrs twining about the right side, ending in a dragon's head that draped over the god's shoulder. His unnaturally silky black hair fell down his back without a single strand out of place. His face was sharp and angular, with several tribal designs marking the areas around his eyes and chin, and he bore a grim expression that his glowing red eyes could only enhance. He shifted his plated boots such that he stood at a ready stance and brought his similarly plated hands out in a gesture of diplomatic intent.

"GREETINGS."

Baron Skye responded immediately. "Greetings and salutations, Sojun Majestatus. To what do we owe this unexpected and, shall I say, unprecedented visit?"

"Unwarranted, too," Xenith mumbled.

Sojun's hearing, like all of his senses, far surpassed even the greatest limits of mortal imagination, and he could very easily hear every single voice on the planet as if such voices were right next to him. So Xenith's comment sounded more as if the youngest member of the Triad had whispered the words directly into his ears. However, he chose to ignore the comment.

Xenith smirked slightly. He knew Sojun had heard.

"THERE IS A MATTER OF GREAT IMPORT THAT I MUST DISCUSS WITH THE TRIAD. I WOULD PREFER SUCH DISCOURSE TO BE CONDUCTED IN PRIVATE IF POSSIBLE."

Skye nodded. He chuckled inwardly at Sojun's usage of the words "If possible" as if he were giving the Triad a choice in the matter. "We shall speak in my chambers, if such is acceptable."

"IT IS ACCEPTABLE. LET US PROCEED."

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The doors to Skye's main office had barely even shut before Maximillian returned to his old self. "All right, spill it. Why the hell are you here? No bullshitting either, you know full well that the treaty was a two-way street. We don't bother you, you don't bother us."

"Indeed," Skye continued, "that you should choose to break even such a small aspect of the peace covenant between our respective forces is something of an exceptional happenstance. I must reiterate that I wish to understand the reasoning behind your visit."

Sojun stepped forward and began. "I HAVE RECIEVED DISTURBING INTELLIGENCE IN RELATION TO THE FRUITS OF A RECENT ALLIANCE YOU HAVE FOSTERED. PARTICULAR ATTENTION WAS PAID TO THE SUPPOSED 'KYTHON SCOURGE' THAT YOUR SUPPOSED ALLIANCE HAS CREATED."

Skye said nothing, however he maintained a thoroughly expectant look, never taking his eyes off of the Chronotheurge.

"THESE KYTHONS POSE A SERIOUS THREAT TO THE CHAMBER, AND IN THE INTEREST OF MAINTAINING THE PEACE BETWEEN OUR PEOPLES, IT IS REQUIRED THAT THE KYTHON SCOURGE BE DECOMMISSIONED AND DISPOSED OF. REFUSAL TO COMPLY WILL BE CONSIDERED A VIOLATION OF THE PEACE COVENANT WITH RESULTANT CONSEQUENCES."

"BULLSHIT!" Maximillian roared, "you can't modify the damn treaty--"

"We had your WORD, Sojun. You won the fight, but you agreed to the treaty as it was--"

"UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRE UNEXPECTED ACTIONS--"

The argument broke out all at once, and Baron Skye allowed it to proceed for exactly ten seconds before he unleashed himself.

"SILENCE."

All three complied to the psionic rumble that generated the colossal voice that drowned out even Sojun's penetrating speech.

"You agreed to the treaty," Baron Skye began, "As did we. No regulations were placed on the form of armaments we would be allowed to develop as chances were we would never reach the level of power we used to sustain. Even now, at our present power, we are but a small fraction of what the Triad Consortium used to be.

"But your arrival here today betrays you, oh Great and Invincible Lord Of Time. You came here personally, you came here personally to demand that we remove a thing that we created with an alliance of another nation, and you came here personally to threaten us with the consequences of noncompliance.

"Whatever intelligence you have gathered frightens you, oh Wise and Powerful Arbiter of the Dead. A threat have we created that chances the capacity to overwhelm even your vaunted forces, and such a thing cannot be allowed, as the strength of the Overpower is unsurpassed!"

Sojun stood, no indication of any emotion present on his face.

"So, you come here, in an attempt to strong-arm us into removing the threat, even though you and I both know that if we have thought of them, there are most certainly other dimensions that have as well. And I find myself, against all odds, ready to do something that I suspect has NEVER been done to you ever before."

"PRAY, ENLIGHTEN ME."

"I am going to stand up, like so, look you square in your red glowing eyes, and say two wonderful words:"

Skye paused, drawing in breath as well as steeling himself for what might happen next.

"Screw. You."

Xenith and Maximillian both burst into laughter.

OOC: It is important to note at this point in time that the next post that occurs is gonna include events that will very likely be noted by any ambassadors roaming around the Triad headquarters, so anybody who has diplomatic relations with the Godulans may have someone roaming around that might well get caught in the brawl...

OOC:

*looks around innocently*

Me?

*ducks*

You, CoreWorlds, any GFFA partners, so on and so forth.

Sojun stood imperturbed for what seemed like an eternity, ignoring the derisive laughter of the two younger members of the Triad and letting it fade away after a while. His expression unchanged, his stance unaltered, he raised his chin slightly as if to acknowledge this strange turn.

"IT HAS BEEN MANY YEARS, MANY CENTURIES SINCE WE LAST MET IN COMBAT. MEMORIES CAN DEGRADE. ANY RECOLLECTIONS CAN DEGRADE WHEN SUCH LENGTHS OF TIME PASS."

Maximillian quirked an eyebrow. "REALLY? I'm under the impression that last we met you picked us off one by one. How about we show you how a damned pack works?"

"NUMERICAL ISSUES DO NOT CONCERN ME. I HAVE FACED YOU BEFORE AND EMERGED VICTORIOUS, I SHALL DO SO AGAIN IF YOU INSIST ON THIS COURSE OF ACTION."

Baron Skye smiled back at Sojun with an oddly predatorial glare. "Sojun. Define 'Gestalt,' if you would be so kind."

"A COMBINATION OF PHYSICAL, BIOLOGICAL, OR PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA SO CONFIGURED AS TO HAVE PROPERTIES GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THE COMPONENTS."

"Indeed, dear deity of time. You shall find that three may we be, but greater still are we three as one."

It was Sojun's turn to crook an eyebrow. "HOW... POETIC."

"Yes, which brings us to another concept: Poetic Justice. Maximillian, Xenith, I believe my presence would be better suited to enhancing present combat capabilities."

Sojun had already formed his hands into great jagged blades, and stood in a ready stance.

"Fine by me, boss," Maximillian growled as he cricked his seemingly uncoiled himself with a massive number of cricks and pops. "More fun for the rest of us."

Xenith simply replied with a single word.

"Accelerando!"

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Doubtless the sudden emergence of waves of otherwordly song from Skye's main chamber would have confused the guards standing outside. Any confusion however would immediately turn to panic as the entire wall came crashing down to permit Sojun's expedited, upside-down, airborne egress.

He twisted deftly through the air, landing not only on his feet but in a position to ward off any subsequent attacks. His hair, surprisingly enough, was tussled. His eyes, surprisingly, betrayed a sense of shock.

"MURDER REND DESTROY FRAG!" came the heavily distorted voice of Maximillian over what appeared to be an entire immaculate choir, each member singing their own twisted song in discord with their companions.

As the dust from the crash cleared out, they stepped forward.

There were only two of them, though they both exhibited a brilliant blue aura that crackled with psionic energy. Side by side they stood, and they were far removed from the Maximillian and Xenith that the Godulans had come to accept as their own... if only severely disturbed members of the populace.

Maximillian stood twelve feet tall and an equal length wide at the shoulders, covered in spiked ebon plates that seemed almost to emerge from his body itself, giving him the appearance of some nightmarish black night, though nothing lent more to the image than his wicked grin, six feet in height all told, and made up entirely of hideous equivalents of row after row of serrated razor blades. His eyes stared forward with unsurpassed malevolence and hatred of the stunned deity standing before him.

Xenith stood only slightly shorter, but seemed only slightly less gaunt than a stick man. Moving forward with lithe and graceful movements, his emergence from the dust revealed a face that could easily be mistaken for a great jawed skeleton. Its eyes were black wells of darkness, and its mouth was locked open, issuing forth several separate arcane melodies at once as he strode forward along side his companion.

"HOW UNEXPECTED," was all Sojun could manage before the two charged with phenomenal speed, running up the walls, across the ceiling, down the walls, and lunging at the reeling deity as he brought his blades to block Maximillian's thunderous charge, only to find himself unable to react quickly enough to account for Xenith's leg tackle.

Sojun was the god of time, and a Resisteel Titan to boot. He instinctively added mountains of mass to his legs to block the takedown in a matter of milliseconds, but the psionically charged force of Xenith's tackle proved too much even for Sojun to compensate for within such short amounts of time.

Knocked to the floor, he instantly reformed himself into a standing position, only to meet Maxie's colossal right fist before he could reinitiate any viable defensive maneuver, sending Sojun flying again.

They were too fast. No, they weren't just too fast, they were anticipating him. How? Such a thing should not be possible. Such a thing should not be concievable, yet here such things were taking place before his very eyes. Not even Orion had been this difficult to combat. Such things would require... innovation.

And so began the fight between the Triad and their one-time enemy. Their dreams of returning to the good old days drifting through their heads only occasionally in between thoughts of dodge block parry punch block punch punch kick sweep duck kick punch swing, and giving no attention to the massive amount of damage that even the initial stages of the fight had caused.

Yet both sides remained strong still, with neither showing any signs of giving up any time soon...

ooc: well I wouldn't have anyone there in an embassy but it wouldn't be unheard of for small stealthed ships to be popping in and out of Hyperspace along people's borders to see what they are up to. At least that's my reason for knowing.

IC:

A shadowed fighter shimmered from into existance from the seperate dimension of Hyperspace. The Abh had grown acustomed to travelling in all types of dimensions from regular space, plane space, and now hyperspace. Such were the joys of being a people of the stars which was alos their mark of pride.

It was hardly an effort for the craft to detect the massive falcon like ship and its destination towards the homeworld of the Godulans. The ship quickly disappeared and broke back towards the capital.

A Day Later
The message had been delivered to Emperor Dubeusec who spent a while sitting on the throne thinking about the consequences. What potential did this situation hold? Surely Lord Dusanyu would need to be informed of this as he was heading this alliance. The emperor slightly moved his finger over a button on the arm of the throne to make a screen appear.

"Yes your Majesty?"

"I need you to call Lord Dusanyu back and round up the Rangers. A pity we are occupied by the Huntaer civil war at the moment. I'm sure the Imperial Admiral would like this assignment."

The man on the other side of the screen didn't really know what to make of the last remark. "Umm yes your Majesty. I will contact Lord Dusanyu's ship and find the Rangers."

"Thank you."

The screen was promptly clicked off.

It was hours before Lord Dusanyu's fleet was brought back and all of the Rangers could be rounded up. They all met in the grand hall where seven pillars lined the back wall representing the seven royal families of the Abriels.

Dusanyu strode in with his usual confidence and flair. "Hello your majesty. It is good to see you again and in good health." He looked around and noticed that all the Rangers were lining the wall. "It seems something is amiss."

A small smile tugged at Dubeusec's lips for a moment. "So it would seem. I have just received an interesting report from a scout on the frindge of Godulan territory. It seems that the most of unusual ship has appeared in their system and is enroute to their homeworld. No doubt it has already arrived."

"What does his majesty ask of me?"

"I am surprised at you Lord Dusanyu. You are now the Praetor of the alliance. It is your duty to see to the protection and needs of all nations within it. This could pose a threat to the Godulans and who would they look to for help?"

Dusanyu bowed his head slightly. "I am an Abh first your majesty. I still hold me allegiance to this nation therefore I would not take resources unless they were given to me."

Now the smile did grace his young face. "And I am giving them to you. You have the Rangers now at your disposale and what ships we can currently spare among those that have been upgraded."

"Your majesty is too kind. Surely Lord Rahl or Lamia would be better for this mission."

"Lamia is busy killing Zetans and has already secured one planet. Lord Rahl is with his men and preparing for a ground assault. Keirn've is with Lamia along with Sargaent Savage. The Mord-Sith are not mine to command, only Richard's. I do not understand your hesitation at this. I am lending the Rangers, who you created, to aid you in your task."

"I am grateful your Majesty. I shall make my selection then. I would like to take four with me along with my fleet that was to be designated for the war."

"Granted. Who would you like to take?"

"My choices are the Black Knight Ashram, Elbryan Wyndon, Jilseponie Wyndon, and Marcus. They will accompany me on the Sankau."

"Then go with the grace of the Abh."

Lord Dusanyu took his four Rangers and departed from the throne room and made their way back to the docking facilities in the center of the capital. There they left for the flagship that was standing by awaiting Dusanyu's return.

OOC: Are you taking into account that this is taking place at the same time as my war? (which I need to respond to). Taggage.

OOC: As has become the catchphrase of late. Go go fluid time.

The foam of war surged in the water around him as Nyen surveyed the battlefield around him. The last battle of unification was perhaps the greatest victory for the government forces in the last 100 years. It was one that Nyen had returned to in his mind over and over again.

Ahead of him one of his subourdinates came under attack from two skilled rebels, he was holding them back but loosing ground and possition fast. Nyen acted quickly, with a pump of his fins and tail he covered the ground between them in an instant. He braced himself collided with the nearest rebel transfering his momentum to his enemy's ribcage. He felt a crack and the rebel collapsed under the impact Nyen brought staff to bear.

When the rebel lay motionless on the ocean floor he turned to his brother in arms and together they finished off the remaining rebel. A torpedo detonated nearby, the concussion knocking them both over. Nyen, rising first, helped his friend up. He smiled and patted the younger soldier on the shoulder, who smiled back and together they charged off into the frey again.

The horns of battle, thousands pounding tones back and forth through the water between the lines pushing the soldiers on and communicating orders to their side's soldiers, was one of the things that caught Nyen in his fantasy often. They were mesmerizing even now...but wait. It was different this time. No not just different... all wrong. He awoke from his daze and realized that the sound he had heard was still assaulting his ears.

Nyen stood up, something was wrong. In all his time on the Godulan homeworld he had never heard anthing like this. The old soldier, turned diplomat, feared the worst. There was something about the sound that made Nyen immediately fear attack, he didn't know why. What he did know though, was that anything that could penetrate to the Godulan homeworld was bad. Very bad.

He got up from his desk and ran out of the building to find out what had happened.

(ooc: this is me indicating my knowledge of the event. As for my character he can die, never be mentioned again, or whatever. It doesn't really matter. I doubt he could be of any help in a fight against a god.)

"Yes. Send the latest draft of the trade agreement to the Chancellor. Make sure his secretary schedules a trip on the Cruiser of the Chancellery here within the next week. He needs to meet with Baron Skye on the agreement," Ambassador Bauer said as he handed a small holocube pulsing with violet light to his adjutant.

The woman clasped the cube in her palm and pivoted completely around on her toe. She softly opened the enormous mahogany double doors and exited the office.

Bauer stared briefly at the intricate inlays on the office doors as he straightened his dress robes before he sat back down in the grav-chair behind his desk. A traditional man he was, and had had an ancient cherrywood desk imported across the galaxy from Menach. A small inkpot and quill sat at the top right of his desk, blank paper situated in a small stack beneath it. The left side of his desk was piled high with various holocubes. The varnish in the very middle of the desk was visible, a surprising void for the desk of such a high official. The desk sat in the rear center of the room, flanked on both sides by tall Beech bookcases which ran the length of the office's walls. The office was large, and many hundreds of books sat on the shelves. Two ancient armchairs, carved with a depiction of an ancient battle, sat before the desk.

Bauer executed a command in the office Net through his neural link, and within seconds a seamless deformation formed in the desk. In less than a second the wood had reformed to allow a holoprojector to appear in the center of the desk. The Ambassador activated another subroutine, and a small square device appeared out of the wood directly in front of the holoprojector. The Ambassador stretched out his left arm and began searching through the pile of holocubes. Near the bottom, under a few red-pulsing cubes, another cube, unlike any of the others, lay a seemingly inactive gray cube.

"Ah-hm, eh?" He pulled back his hand to a resting position on the desk. In the blink of an eye, Bauer's right wrist jerked up, his fingers outstretched, thumb pointed toward the cube, and in the same blink the grey cube appeared in his palm. He closed his fingers around it and placed it gently on the small square pad before him.

At first the cube pulsed with some unseen energy, though Bauer definately knew it had passed through him. Slowly the cube began to pulse green. After a few seconds it began to disintegreate into tiny floating specks of green light. They formed fractal patterns, geometric shapes, increasingly complex forms. Bauer knew very well they were not just three-dimensional. A second later the particles ceased swirling about and disappeared into the square.

A hologram of Federal territory appeared, a list of statistics on all sides of the image.

MARKER//1442A-/SYS.fedwelt.4/E-001M

RETURN{inf.exe.NORMANDEICHT}

SYS>>OUT>>PrDisplay;

HEX11A5D90BB;

SYS("PAUSE");

Ah-hem... There we are...

INITIALIZE();

RETURN(1442A-/SYS.fedwelt.4/E-001M)


The Ambassador stared at the image presented on the holoscreen. Bauer's irises seemed to shrink, his left eyelids twitched. His brow seemed to fall, a crease forming down the center of his rather large, square forehead. The pouch of skin beneath his jaw retracted, pulling the skin taught, revealing his jaw's square shape. His lips moved to speak something, but as they did...

*BOOM*

The Ambassador shot out of his chair, standing straight up at seemingly the speed of light. As he tried to push his thoughts into an order to his own mouth to shout for his secretary, a wave of psionic energy swept through the room, blocking Bauer's mind like the solar wind impacting on Ancient Terra's magnetic field.

Slowly he began to levitate off the floor, and when he'd reached a foot above it, his adjutant burst through the office door. She nearly screamed as an echoing mental burst of pain shot through her brain as she locked her eyes with the fire-red eyes of the Ambassador. Anguish poured from Bauer's consciousness into the poor woman. Her small face clenched up, eyes and mouth closed tightly, her body locked up, and with one final tremor, she fell to the floor.

Eye contact broken, the Ambassador crumpled to the ground also. He recovered enough to call a Corpsman before he shot out the door to find the source of the psionic waves.

The conflict did not go unnoticed by the Imperium. In the night, nearly a dozen psykers died in primal agonies; screaming through bloodied mouths of the sights they saw through burned out eyes; of a God returning to the plane Material; to the tumult that would unfold and consume all. Of Phages and true, utter and terrible Battle.

One of those who lived through the atrocity; which came to be known as the night of Blood and Fear; was Remiel himself. The mighty Lord of the Imperium accepted the visions, absorbed them, and yet lived; unharmed by the massive psychic discharge from the battle that had even now but begun to rage.

"Beautiful" He whispered "Glorious and terrible and amazing all at once; they seem to dance and fight and set all order to chaos and burning and I want it, no I need to touch it, taste it. This battle will not wait for mortal men; it unfolds and it becomes and we shall not be denied it. Perhaps...Perhaps we can ingratiate ourselves in some small way with the Triad by aiding them through this dark time. Ready my vessel; ready a fleet! We ride to the aid of those who once swore to destroy us."

"And if they do not agree to our help? If they do not appreciate our generosity, and instead smite us in our turn; what then, great Lord?" A servant asked, waiting in attendance as Remiel whirled, grinning maniacally, fingers dancing across the blades of his immense runeswords; whispering their names in soft melody; making them shudder and twist and mewl.

"Then we shall let them face their God alone; and have his judgement fall upon them and theirs. It shall not come to that; I have...Seen much. Understood much. Much of what is to come; much of the New Age; begins here, at the Crucible of a Gods War."

To all who came to seek the source of this strange combat, such would be easily enough recognized by the trail of destruction and the thunderous sounds of battle to which the trail led.

Surprisingly, beyond the initial explosion of battle, most of the devastation had been caused by Sojun's defensive efforts. Earth Elementals were summoned forth en masse from the surrounding materials to assault those who found themselves Sojun's equal this day, and the distractions they brought as Maximillian and Xenith turned even momentarily to destroy and dispell allowed him to engage his more complicated forms. He had grown in size to better combat their phagestates, though he still found himself pushed back in every regard.

They were too fast. They were too strong. How could such be possible?

He swung one of his wicked sword-arms at Maximillian, so swiftly that the only evidence of its passage was a slight bending of light and a faint glittering as the sword severed molecular bonds in the air itself. A sonic boom answered, thundering across the ravaged battlefield as Maximillian miraculously appeared behind the swing, seemingly without moving in any way other than to launch a punch that could shatter asteroids into the Chronotheurge's chest with a velocity similar to Sojun's blade swing.

Xenith, now operating in a support role, focused his attention on removing the elementals from the battle, though he found support in his own tasks from one of the Godulan HomeGuard fleets overhead, which even now conducted a precision orbital fractal bombardment to destroy the constructs of the one who had so blithely decided to challenge the Godulan leadership.

But like any battle, Sojun was calculating his own moves, and with Maximillian's massive punch came an answering front snap kick that took the Warlord square on the chin. Punch and kick connected at the same time, sending Sojun flying and Maximillian reeling. Again, a deft twist in the air enabled the Chronotheurge to land in a combat stance, and finally find the respite he had been looking for.

A decidedly uncharacteristic growl accompanied Sojun's sudden split into two separate entities, identical to his original form. Both lunged forward at Maximillian, who had recovered from the thunderous kick well enough to shout for assistance from Xenith, who only needed to look but an instant to see that their numerical advantage had vanished.

"LET THE BLASTED HOMEGUARD HANDLE THE ELEMENTALS, I'M GETTING A LITTLE PRESSURED HERE!" Maximillian bellowed in the midst of dodging and parrying approximately one hundred and thirty five sword swings from two separate sources.

Xenith rolled his eyes and returned to the fray, jumping in with a resounding sidekick to the midriff of the lefthand Sojun. Even though he saw it coming, it came with such velocity that Sojun could not hope to dodge, and the kick sent him flying into his other self, leaving both in a crumpled heap amidst the rubble.

The reformed to a standing position instantly, but this time they did not advance.

"THIS IS NOT AN ANTICIPATED SEQUENCE OF EVENTS."

"Too used to winning all the time aren't ya?" Maximillian replied

"WHY DO YOU FIGHT? WOULD IT NOT SIMPLY BE SIMPLER TO REMOVE THE KYTHONS AND HAVE DONE?"

"Because we're tired of having that thrice-damned treaty hanging over our heads, living under the constant threat of you trundling in to raze us to the ground if we break even the smallest portion of the covenant, and not recieving the respect that we so readily recieved before the damned war."

"And if that wasn't bad enough," Xenith began, "You come here, without announcement or fanfare or even your standard escort, and try to bully us into accepting a change in the treaty because we're doing something that you don't like. Well boo-fucking-hoo! The treaty's ironclad, homeboy, or did you decide to neglect that bit at the bottom about not being open to retroactive amendments?"

"THE KYTHONS ARE MORE OF A DANGER TO US ALL THAN YOU REALI--"

"We."

"Do."

"Not."

"Care."

"And for once, you aren't in a position to bitch."

Sojun considered both Maximillian and Xenith, standing there with their crackling auras of psionic energy, ready to continue the fight as long as necessary. Sojun could not die, but he realized that the signs of his kick on Maxie's chin had already faded entirely and the two of them were more than willing to continue the combat for as long as they deemed necessary.

With more HomeGuard fleets moving into orbit to support their leadership, all simulations pointed to a no-win.

The two Sojuns merged back into one, and the Chronotheurge shot into the sky. Upon reaching the limits of the Alitarin atmosphere, he converted back into the colossal burning falcon and vanished from the system.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xenith, Maximillian, now returned to their nominally human forms and accompanied once again by Skye, alternately surveyed the damage and looked up into the blue sky above.

"We won," Maximillian whispered in disbelief. "We challenged the strongest of the lot and he's the one who ran!"

Xenith kicked a rock at his feet. "He'll be back. He's never known defeat. I bet he thinks this was just a momentary setback."

"Like the Phoenix that symbolizes him," Skye commented, "he shall return. He will return with a fleet. Knowing him, it will be the one that seems most apt for the situation."

Maximillian found himself unable to respond to the declaration, though Xenith did it for him:

"Bloody hell... not the Victory."

"I am afraid so. The very fleet that defeated us so soundly those thousand years ago. Dare I say that we will be facing them again. Come, we must prepare."

Skye looked out from the battlezone to the multitude of bystanders who even now seemed dumbstruck with awe. Noting several foreign ambassadors amongst the ranks of the dazed spectators, Skye advanced two steps.

"For all who answer to governments that have an interest in the Godulan Well-Being, know this. There is going to be a fleet of vessels unlike any you have seen before arriving soon, possibly before the week is out, intent on laying us low. We know not whether any assistance would be of help in the battle we know is coming, but we are somewhat more certain that such aid would not be an impediment.

"Go now, report what you have seen here today to your superiors, and whatever action they feel necessary to take. Should it be to stand back for fear of annihilation, we will not begrudge you for such. With the forces soon to array themselves against us, and knowing them as I do, I would be tempted to do such were I in your stead."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Triad decided that the headquarters was not of much use anymore, in its presently demolished state, and decided to hold preparation proceedings in the military command headquarters not too far away from the capitol city.

"Get my General Lear," Skye ordered to an adjutant as he entered the main doors of the complex. "And Adjutant General Majestatus."

"Right away sir."

Xenith gave Skye a curious look. "You're going to bring Kelvin into this?"

"I have a sense that what has occured will be a surprise even to the son of the father. He would also assist in providing insight as to the motivations behind Sojun's decidedly aggressive stance today..."

ooc: I was hoping to have my coup event over by now, but working out the details while finishing projects and preparing for exams has been much harder than I had hoped. Never the less, I may not know the exact steps I will take to get there, but I know the end result. And so unless anyone objects I will take this from after my Lost Ones story line.

A short summary of changes: The Tidani discovered they are only one of 12 distinct factions (subspecies), the evil faction known as the Core attempted to take control of Aquila by staging a rebel coup, it was defeated with the help of their new found brothers, and Tidan as it was known before entered the alliance known as the Confederation of Tidan based in another galaxy. Ta-da

Nyen reported all that he had seen and heard that day to the Universal Council. There was much debate amongst the tribal elders, especially considering 10 of the 11 tribes had only just joined the GFFA in the past months. Now they were being asked to not only risk military forces for allies they knew only through the Orothean Tidani, but to risk the wrath of that ally's god! Mobis, the new leader of aquatic Orothean tribe, worked frantically to gain support amongst the other tribes to aid his allies.

The vote was taken on whether to commit forces to aid. Monarch called out the tribes and they answered with their vote. Arderial-Yah, Bograth-Nah, Cald-Yah, d'Resh-Yah, Kybar-Yah, Nar-Nah, Naroom-Yah, Orothe-Yah, Paradwyn-Yah, Underneath-Nah, Weave-Nah.

It passed 7-4. There was no need for the Monarch to add his votes to the total, for he agreed with what the council had decided.

A force would be sent.

Lord Dusanyu, Ashram, Jilseponie, and Elbryan quickly assembled in shuttle bay where Kenesh awaited them all to escort them back to the flagship. The Abh woman clicked her heels and saluted as soon as she spotted their approach. "Your highness."

The Abriel returned the salute. "A pleasure to see you as always Chief. I trust everything is prepared."

"Actually there has been one slight alteration to the plan. The Sankau is heading back to port to be updated and modified."

"Then what will be the flagship for the fleet?"

Her light blue eyes twinkled as a small grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. "You should remember it quite well from the Angelic Wars. It's the Forger and it's contigents."

The remark caused Dusanyu to pause. "Well that's interesting only this time we won't be battling the Infernal armada, we may be fighting some new race or whatever the reports are."

Kenesh smiled. "I thought that would please you. All one thousand fighters have been loaded up along with all provisions. Your crew waits for you my lord."

Dusanyu was just about to move everyone towards the shuttle to be off but the sound of the elevator arriving caused him to turn around and see an unexpected sight. Out stepped the nine foot tall Agradulous adorned in a breast plate of high tempered diamond armor. "Elf," for some reason he still thought of the Abriels as elves, "I must go with you."

The Abh looked up into reptillian eyes of the now lizard man form of Agradulous. A powerful ally indeed for any melee battle. What was there to do but bring him along.

Shortly after the formalities of being reaquanted with the ship, the Abh fleet accompanying Lord Dusanyu was on its way to Godulan territory.

A swarm of glowing green disks and larger black insectoid Kythons descended upon the wreckage. They rushed and whorled around the devastated capital building in green and black streaks. The constant sound of chittering filled the air as well as the smell of disintegrating stonework and other debris. The Kythons streaked away towards the edge of the city leaving a thunderous wake of ruptured sound barriers.

At the site reserved for sorting by Godular volunteers, the Kythons rematerialized the debris they disintegrated from the wreckage. Rows of neatly organized wreckage lined the site even before the first volunteer or the military arrived. They would be analyzing the wreckage for any sigh of clues to a way of defeating Sojun as well as possibly rescuing any of the important artifacts or equipment from the building

Within an hour the entire building was reduced to a flattened field of scorched earth, ready for the construction crews to begin work at rebuilding the Triad’s seat of power.

Over at the government center a single Kython, of the B-Strain, walked through the halls. It’s nearly two meter height would have placed the head at eye level to the Godulans it encountered if it had possessed eyes. The creature perceived reality in the same way it’s creators, rather as the various energies everything consisted of.

The scrabbling of the metal legs and claws echoed through the hall, announcing the imminent arrival of the Kython. Two guards stood watch over the double doors at the end of the hall, the obvious destination of the approaching horror. The creature came to a sudden halt inches from the guards who stood their ground. The thing rose up and studied the fleshlings that attempted to block its passage.

After a second or two, the voice of the thing spoke directly into their minds.

“…inform Skye I am here…”

One of the sentries touched the communicator’s button and spoke softly into the mike. The Kython watched the energy of the sounds waft from his whispering lips and converted it to language using the information it could access through The Link.

The Link was a connection all Kythons possessed, a kind of consciousness they shared. It was way beyond the hive mentality that the Borg or even the Gargants on Arneb 2 shared. It was at both times an individual consciousness and the sum total of the Kythons, almost as if the entire race had a gestalt all their own. There were very few races that would understand the concept but the Childer and the Ta’Nar were among them. They were made in their creator’s likeness. The outer shell was another matter.

The two sentries quickly stepped aside and let the Kython enter the room, closing the door behind it.

The tall monstrosity quickly scanned the room, reading the energy patterns of the wood furniture, marble floor, painted walls, and the air currents from the ventilation ductwork within moments. The room was empty for the moment but it was expecting at the very least Baron Skye to arrive shortly. It folded its legs underneath itself, crouched and waited near the table after moving aside the chair. The four arms rested lightly upon the surface so as not to accidentally damage the antique table.

Ambassador Jared Reeds stood openmouthed at the damage done to the Triad's headquarters. The battle had completely demolished the building, leaving him afraid of the being that chose the engage the three leaders of Godular in such an aggressive fashion. He knew he had to report to the Jedi Council on this immediately, a formality as he knew that they would already be alerted to this...

----

The disturbance in the Force caused by Sojun's arrival and the subsequent battle was definitely noticed by the Jedi Council, and as they debated on the course of action to take after the Ambassador sent word from the Triad, one member of the Council brooded silently, concerned by the uncharacteristic maneuver done by the God of Time.

It's not like him to just show up and start attacking the Triad. I thought, frowning. From what I know, Sojun has a treaty with them, and to break it...it must be serious. It may be troublesome, but I need to get to the bottom of this before blood is shed...

"Grandfather." I spoke, and the ninety-year old man turned to me. "I suggest you recall the embassy, just in case war breaks out between the Triad and Sojun. In the meantime, I'm going to head over there and find out what's going on."

"An astute idea. You, of all of us, know Sojun personally, and may be able to speak with him about this." Grandfather nodded. "Go quickly. I doubt we have much time."

"I know." Without another word, I vanished, only to appear at the Temple's hangar bay. A warbling sound greeted me with a note of question. "Rocky, prepare the fighter. We're going to Alitar."


THE GODULAN HOMEWORLD? The droid quirked in surprise. SOUNDS SERIOUS.

"More than you can imagine." I hopped into my StealthX, an XJ4 modified for Jedi purposes. The matte blue-black fighter is the newest addition to the Starfighter Corps and packs the latest equipment every Jedi pilot needs to do his job and stealthily, too. To put it simply, there's not a lot of ways one could detect a StealthX (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/StealthX), especially with cloaking jutsus and/or Force techniques on top of the already nifty features.

I turned on the engine, feeling the familiar hum of the craft give way to an almost eerie silence, then lifted off, headed into space and then disappeared into hyperspace.

"My Lord, we are moving into position to exit hyperspace while the fleet is on standby."

Dusanyu looked over to Kenesh who had just graced the bridge and added to his now crew of five Rangers. "Very good. Send the communication ships to inform the fleet that they are to remain in hyperspace."

"Already taken care of."

"Very good."

Both looked out over the rail to see the tactical display map imbedded at the floor of the ship. "Have you ever been to the Godulan homeworld?"

"No."

Kenesh frowned. "You don't look pleased."

"What makes you think I am not pleased? How can you decipher the emotions of an Abriel. Perhaps I am getting to close to you that you can read me so easily."

The frown continued. "So I was right."

Dusanyu sighed. "Does this look like a vacation to you Kenesh? It seems I have become too popular for my own good and must always lead the battlefront though I hardly mind."

"Or perhaps it is that you are one of the most dependable commanders as of yet."

The Abriel dismissed it with the wave of his hand. "It does not matter at the present. Senior officer, send a communication to the Godulan government once we exit hyperspace."

The 45km Forger glided from hyperspace into Godular territory. A message was soon dispatched to prevent any alarms rising.

This is the Forger of the Abh Empire carrying Lord Dusanyu. We request permission to land a shuttle and discuss matters with the rulers of your nation.

Baron Skye and the other members of the Triad entered the large situation room and acknowledged the presence of the Balroggan-Strain Representative that had taken a seat opposite and approximately 30 degrees rightward of the room's entrance.

Xenith and Maximillian were almost vibrating with glee as they moved to their seats, and even Skye could not help but show a small quirk of his lips as he stifled a satisfied smile.

"I haven't felt so alive since we fought off Zeus and his cronies!"

"Did you hear me? I was like a blasted orchestra! I can't even remember the last time I fired off so many spellsongs simultaneously like that."

"Gentlemen," Skye began, as General Lear entered the room with a concerned glance at the three phages, "We must make certain not to get overconfident. The Victory is a fearsome opponent to behold as much to combat, and we stand a great chance of once again being outnumbered and outgunned by the Caleshan Valkyrie."

Adjutant General Majestatus entered the room, somewhat shocked, but Skye recognized immediately that it was not because of his rather unexpected summons to the Triad Situation room.

"Ah, Adjutant General, do take a seat. I have a question to ask you."

"Yes, I knew he was coming," Kelvin replied as he took a seat of his own. "No, I did not know he would act in such a fashion. He told me that he was going to negotiate for the Kython removal, that he would offer you something in return for the losses you would incur. I did not expect his position to be so... aggressive."

Baron Skye considered these words, then leaned back. "Okay, I guess I do NOT have a question to ask you... however, I would like to inquire as to your stance on this issue. Sojun is your father, and I am curious as to whether I should send you back to him. Your services have been quite a boon to us, and I feel it only right that you be given the opportunity to leave if you feel it necessary."

Kelvin's expression did not change. His self-control was just like his father's. "I thank you for the offer, but I shall decline. My father broke the rules, and I will be right beside you in pointing out the wrongfulness of his actions."

Xenith and Maximillian stared at Kelvin wordlessly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the Forger of the Abh Empire carrying Lord Dusanyu. We request permission to land a shuttle and discuss matters with the rulers of your nation.

The message was recieved by Alitarin air control, and coordinates were relayed back, providing a landing site close to the tactical command center for Dusanyu to depart. An escort of four Godulan Marines rushed out and waited for the Abh commander's arrival.

"Y'all seen the videofeeds yet?"

"Yeh! Awesome shit that. But kinda spooky too... what're we gonna do with all the tapestries and stuff of Sojun floating around?"

"Y'know, I have no clue... DAMN its cold out here..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Daniel Masaki approached Alitar, it would have been easy to note, even in hyperspace, that Godulan Forces were mobilizing everything for SOMETHING. Planetary shields went into full power, Onslaught Minefields came into existence, defensive drone swarms mobilized, and even the old Red Rain supplies were being shuffled about in preparation for rapid deployment. As for the Godulan fleets, all three Archonal Command Ships had moved in to the Algremron system in a holding pattern over Alitar, and Godulan HomeGuard, Expeditionary, an Abh fleet, and even hearty contingents of both Godulan- and Balroggan-Strain Kythons roamed about, though in the case of the Balroggan Strain they would only show up as solitary vessels roaming about.

Things were busy indeed throughout Godulan space.

The behemoth stirred as it turned its head toward the newest entry into the room.

“Your devotion to your Triad ally is quite inspiring? It is good to have you on our side.”

The Kython turned back toward Skye again.

“So what are we to do about the fleet that will be here soon? The imperial fleet still stands by you. I commanded it as your second in that duel years ago and I will still stand by you. This system has been my second home for the years we have been constructing these.”

The Kython spread all four arms in a familiar gesture. Admiral Ga’Ton continued.

“We need to know the capabilities and weaknesses of the attacking fleets. We need to figure a way to ward ourselves against the offenses that are about to be thrown against us. We need to figure if we have anything that could and would hurt his fleet. Even if it is only a slight bit, even a splinter or thorn could cause enough of a distraction to come at him from a different direction.”

Ga’Ton suddenly realized why everyone was either staring at him or deliberately avoiding the desire to stare.

“I must apologize for my appearance. It seems we are having problems with out clone bodies and cannot inhabit them. We either have to move about as disembodied minds or use the Kythons as hosts. With the troubles approaching, I figured it would be better to be prepared for anything.”

The Kython looked down, inspecting its own form.

“I still think we did a damn good job with these. Is that why Sojun seemed to be so afraid of the Strains?”

"Your highness, it's time."

Dusanyu looked over to Kenesh as she approached. "Very well but you are staying with the ship."

The woman stopped in mid-stride and clenched her fists at her side. "My lord I must protest."

A small smile turned up one corner of his lips. "Why is that? I won't need to protection as I have five Rangers attending with me including Agradulous. I need you here to take care of the ship."

Somewhat distraught the Abh looked down. "Yes my lord."

Dusanyu walked over and squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, I will return."

With a final parting Dusanyu gathered up his five Rangers and made their way to the communication ship. The small shuttle launched from the mouth of the ship and raced down to the planet. Thrusters fired to soften the landing and the back ramp lowered.

Dusanyu walked out in typical Star Forces dress complete with golden tiara, blue cape, and command saber. Behind him was Elbryan and his wife Jilseponie each with a sword attached their hips and cloaks drawn around them. Marcus followed next in a black cloak with no visible weapon. The last one to follow was the nine foot tall Agradulous with only a white breastplate on. Dusanyu saluted the marines and indicated that he was ready to be on the way.

Ambassador Bauer stood awestruck by the creatures before him. The battle between these superbeings brought forth memories of the legends of the war between the Ancestors and the other factions of the Terran Empire, millennia ago.

Bauer was the product of Federal Experiments into the capabilities of the Human mind. So far, he had shown psychokinetic abilities, as well as the ability to sense brainwaves and even to control them. In a sense, he could read and control minds. But what he saw before him went way beyond Federal experiments. Far, far beyond.

Slightly perturbed by this extra-dimensional being's appearance in this dimension and galaxy. He fell into a near-catatonic state, contemplating the ramifications of these observed powers with relation to the human mind. Bauer managed to snap out of his reverie, though to hear Baron Skye's address to the numerous other diplomats he found to be standing near him.

The Ambassador activated his neural uplink and patched in to the FedNet. He relayed what he'd seen, inferences, conclusions, and a soundbyte of Skye's message. He also attached a reccomendation that, if a fleet could be spared from engagements with the IRF, the UFGZ aid its allies as soon as possible.

The four marines, shivering somewhat in the cold of a standard Alitarin evening, were all to eager to show their charges inside and to the situation room, and the Abh delegation was ushered in just as the Balroggan-Strain Kython had begun asking about what to expect from Sojun's forces.

"I felt the rumblings of what happened to your people recently. While I will not venture to say whether such a thing is a blessing or curse, I dare say that it might have been that event which caused enough ripples to catch Sojun's notice. I suspect that the other reason is as you say: Our joint project has provided us with a great boon, and no doubt the Chronotheurge fears what these creatures could do if let loose without restraint.

"A concern that has no practical basis, considering the nature of our control over them," Skye continued as Dusanyu and company took a seat of their own. "For the Kythons to sever contact and rebel would be very much akin to one's own hand detaching from the wrist and subsequently working to strangle its previous owner. They have come to be a part of us, Godulan and Balroggan both. I only wish we could have reassured Sojun on this, but his approach brooked no possibility of negotiations."

Skye sighed slightly as he began to download pictures onto the main screens on the far side of the room.

"It is as you say, Admiral Ga'Ton. The Victory is a fleet as vast as it is powerful. His weapons and defenses push the envelope of temporal mechanics and probability in ways that we could only hope to understand. It is difficult to describe the technologies he uses as they are as much powered by his own force of will as they are by the actual machinery in each vessel, so reliable definition is but a pipe dream.

"Among the things that we do know is that these are the primary vessels of his fleet. The flagships, if you will."

Skye pressed a button and the main screen flickered to life, revealing four lobed grappling hook with an apparatus consisting of four containment plates rotating around a central pillar of energy at the intersection of the grappling-prong-analogs. These four containment plates tapered slowly to a point, extending past the limits of each of the grappling prongs, and indicated the nose of the vessel. With the press of another button, the picture realigned and placed another ship beneath the strange vessel. The other ship looked slightly less than half as large as the Victory vessel.

"This is what the Caleshan call Aeon Lance Dreadnoughts. That vessel beneath it is an Archonal Command Ship, the largest vessel in our arsenal, barring our battlemoons, at 30 kilometers long. As you can see, this vessel is bloody enormous. Sixty five kilometers in overall length and approximately half that wide, these vessels serve as Sojun's avatars when he goes to battle.

"Their shields operate through usage of a condensed field of pure entropic destabilization that essentially dissipates energy-based fire and turns more conventional slug-based fire into small poofs of distended photons. As far as we can tell, even Dimensional weapons and Spatial Flux weapons are rendered inert by this field, likely as an augmentation of divine energy.

"Their weapons are three fold. These shields can be extended like spines into enemy ships, effectively disintegrating them by virtue of hyperaccelerated entropic forces alone. The Aeon Lance can also fire pulses of what we believe to be some form of temporal phase disruptor, causing enemy ships to fall apart as portions of their superstructure phase in and out of existence.

"The last, and likely the most devastating weapon these vessels will throw at us, is their 'Guiding Light.' Those who have delved into research with Singularity weapons may have wistfully considered the possibility of a weapon utilizing black holes in reverse, however the Caleshan have not only considered it, they developed it. The Guiding light is a simple torpedo, not much larger than a standard fusion warhead, but the explosion it generates is truly gargantuan in scale. When it detonates, a shockwave of pure concussive gravitational force resonates out to a radius of no less than ten thousand kilometers, battering everything caught within the aforementioned radius and then exposing such unfortunate vessels to radiation intense enough to destroy any and all organic material aboard, in essence irradiating all hands on victimized vessels unto ash."

Baron Skye pressed another button, and the screenshot returned to its original state, showing a single Aeon Lance. The screen then zoomed out, a panoramic view of the Victory fleet. Most notable were the number of the flagships.

"There are ten of these vessels in the Victory. There are also somewhere in the range of ten to fifteen thousand vessels approximately two to five kilometers in length that carry arms and armor more typical of the Dimensional chamber. A medley of weapons from typical blaster cannons to mass drivers to dimensional cutter beams to fusion torpedos to singularity bombs.

"I will not sugar coat things. This fleet is Sojun's most advanced and devastating war fleet. He destroyed the original Triad Consortium without taking even a tenth of his fleet in losses. I can only hope that our recent technological advances will assist us, and that in the unending variety that is this universe I feel priviledged to be but a nominal participant of there might be weapons that even Sojun has not been able to anticipate and counter."

Amtlicher Bundescommunique

Büro des Außenminister

Betreffen: Militärisches Hilfsmittel


The UFGZ stands ready to assist our Allies, the Godulans, in any way possible. We have only a few fleets, but have been constructing more since the Schism.

We are prepared to put on alert two Flotte-Befehl class Über Schlacht-Schiff to be at your disposal should this 'Sojun' attack. The Flotte-Befehl are both truly massive, measuring in at 200 miles of sharp teeth. That translates to 321 kilometers, roughly.

Their accompanying fleets of 400 vessels will also be placed at your disposal. For now, this is all that we can place at your disposal.

We await confirmation of receipt of this communique.


Herzlichst,

Der FöderativcAußenminister

Dusanyu had two Rangers sitting on both sides of him with Elbryan and Jilseponie to his right and Marcus and Ashram in black armor to his left. Agradulous stood behind them with scaled arms crossed.

Throughout the entire lecture, Dusanyu had his chin resting on a fist. "I'm assuming then that this rules out anything along the lines of Ion fire, EMP or transphasic torpedoes. This 'Guiding Light' versus the Graviton Cannons should prove to be very interesting. It seems we've come to the right party. My fleet is on standby in hyperspace waiting for the word to go to war."

We are prepared to put on alert two Flotte-Befehl class Über Schlacht-Schiff to be at your disposal should this 'Sojun' attack. The Flotte-Befehl are both truly massive, measuring in at 200 miles of sharp teeth. That translates to 321 kilometers, roughly.

Keep the largest vessels to yer Bismarck Class Dreads. Unless ya gots documentation on NS that ya built those big honkin' ships I don't think I'd recognize 'em. 'Sides, chances are ya might lose one or both of 'em. Temporal tech against the God of Time might cause... backfire issues.

Beyond that tho...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Der FöderativcAußenminister,

Any assistance would be welcome, and we are heartened that our oldest allies should choose to provide aid in our time of need.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Indeed," Skye said in response to Dusanyu's comment. "As of yet we have been unable to determine a means to get through the Aeon Lance's entropic shielding. However, it has been a long time since we engaged the Victory in direct combat, and we have developed many new weapons. It is hoped that the same can be said of all assembled.

"As far as I can remember, interaction between Guiding Light and Singularity weapons of any nature is somewhat dramatic. I had only heard stories of the reaction and from my understanding it is akin to a feedback loop.

"It is further important to note something that may or may not be of use to all involved. The nature of Caleshan Armor is such that these vessels are not very maneuverable, sacrificing motility for extremely heavy armor. This armor, though heavy is not very thick, and is in fact another work of our enemy's status as the Chronotheurge.

"Chronoton-Doped Neutronium-Carbonide Steel is a VERY durable substance that allows the Caleshan vessels to withstand large amounts of incoming fire even when their conventional shields are brought down. The Caleshan use this to their advantage primarily by loading down their vessels with as many weapons systems as possible, effectively rendering each Caleshan vessel into a league of firepower all its own. It is hoped that relative differences in agility will be enough to offset and possibly counter their overwhelming strength, however lumbering it may be."

As Daniel Masaki approached Alitar, it would have been easy to note, even in hyperspace, that Godulan Forces were mobilizing everything for SOMETHING. Planetary shields went into full power, Onslaught Minefields came into existence, defensive drone swarms mobilized, and even the old Red Rain supplies were being shuffled about in preparation for rapid deployment. As for the Godulan fleets, all three Archonal Command Ships had moved in to the Algremron system in a holding pattern over Alitar, and Godulan HomeGuard, Expeditionary, an Abh fleet, and even hearty contingents of both Godulan- and Balroggan-Strain Kythons roamed about, though in the case of the Balroggan Strain they would only show up as solitary vessels roaming about.

Things were busy indeed throughout Godulan space.
Damn, I haven't even arrived yet and the energy signatures are already flying off the charts... I thought as I neared the capital system. I pulled back the lever to revert to realspace and took a good look at the planetary system. Scratch Coruscant and Jurai, this place is the most heavily defended in the galaxy.

"Supreme Commander Masaki to Godulan Control, I've arrived as soon as I could." I commed. "Requesting clearance, over."

As I waited, I mulled over the questions that I wanted answers from...

Keep the largest vessels to yer Bismarck Class Dreads. Unless ya gots documentation on NS that ya built those big honkin' ships I don't think I'd recognize 'em. 'Sides, chances are ya might lose one or both of 'em. Temporal tech against the God of Time might cause... backfire issues.

Beyond that tho...



OOC:

I have documentation.

"If the armor is so thin, how does it hold up to large energy discs?"

OOC:

I have documentation.

NS Documentation please. Linkz0rz 'n such.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Supreme Commander Masaki to Godulan Control, I've arrived as soon as I could." I commed. "Requesting clearance, over."

This is Godulan Air Control. Welcome, Commander Masaki. A landing pad is ready for your arrival and marines will escort you to the proper location.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If the armor is so thin, how does it hold up to large energy discs?"

"I said the armor is not thick. It is by no means thin. The Caleshan Valkryie are not stupid enough to put all of their faith in the simple strength of their armor alone. In answer to your question, the Chronoton Doping allows their armor to absorb incoming enemy fire of many types without suffering much in the way of deleterious effects. As far as we can determine, the armor reduces damage to approximately one third normal, as it experiences time approximately three times as fast as normal, so everything seems so much slower and weaker to the material. Weapons will still deal damage, but their effectiveness is heavily reduced by virtue of the treatments Sojun has made available to the Caleshan.

"Another thing I would like to point out is the following: The Caleshan Valkyrie is quite possibly the most elite fighting force you will ever have the displeasure of meeting in potential toe-to-toe combat. They are disciplined, effective, and so heavily enhanced by several thousand years of selective breeding and genetic engineering that I do not exaggerate when I inform you that it is not an uncommon occurrence to see a Caleshan Shock Trooper, at approximately six feet tall, walking through a battle dual-wielding vulcan cannons with surprisingly little sacrifice in the area of overall accuracy, while still maintaining a disturbingly high level of agility."

OOC:

Here is the link:

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=440847

Originally posted in September, 2005.

Godular, the original plan was to have three Flotte-Station and six Bismarcks. Two per Flotte-Station.

This was to be a part of the new face of the Federal fleet. Ships were going to begin to be built to a much higher standard. As a result, the Federal fleet would phase out many of its vessels, trading numbers for quality.

However, thus far the only ships which are of superior quality within the Federal and Independant Republic are the Bismarcks and the Flotte-Befehl.

These ships will not be easy to destroy, even against the Calashan. They'd probably hold out quite a while, barring a full attack on them by everything that the Calashan fleet will have. In other words, they'll be fine for a while unless they're the focus of enemy fire (Which, watch, they will be).

OOC: Ai'ight, I'll allow it, but ya might wanna watch what ya try to pull against the Caleshan... just some advice ta keep in mind...

OOC: Ai'ight, I'll allow it, but ya might wanna watch what ya try to pull against the Caleshan... just some advice ta keep in mind...

OOC:

Last OOC for a while; I promise.

Can I send a delegate (Ambassador Bauer) to that meeting if it isn't over already?

He needs to ask about the defenses that the Caleshan have against Spatial weaponry (Like the QSDs)

OOC: I'm wondering why ya haven't.

The Godulan marines ushered Ambassador Bauer into the complex. Orders had come down from the Ministerium von AußenAngelegenheiten to gather as much information as possible on the forces that the Federation had sent its two greatest military assets to fight against.

So, Bauer had done a little digging through the Godulan information systems that he, as a diplomat, had access to, and found a briefing for allied nations' representatives. He figured that was a perfect opportunity, and arranged for transportation.

He quietly entered a somewhat-crowded room, dominated by a holodisplay of what would appear to be the enemy vessels.

Trying not to attract attention, let alone interupt the conversation that was going on at that moment, the Ambassador found a chair somewhere and sat down, watching, listening.

This is Godulan Air Control. Welcome, Commander Masaki. A landing pad is ready for your arrival and marines will escort you to the proper location.
"Thank you." I answered and headed down to the planet as ordered. Upon my arrival, I was escorted by the marines to the proper location, catching the tail end of the conversation.

"Ah, Mister Masaki!" Skye said as the Coredian Commander entered the room. "So good to see you join us in our most desperate hour. Doubtless you are as perplexed by Sojun's actions as we are, if not more so. Beyond Adjutant General Majestatus, you have the most experience in dealing with the Chronotheurge."

"Yeah. It does seem pretty out-of-character from what I remember." I frowned. "Wbat happened to cause him to basically freak out? I saw the damage coming down here."

Baron Skye considered the question, then gave Kelvin an inquiring glance. "Why DID he do that?"

Kelvin cleared his throat slightly and gave Daniel an apologetic look. "Father told me you occasionally sparred with Aries during your time there. Aries is dead now, and all is not well in the dimensional chamber."

News of Aries' death took all three of the Triad by surprise.

"Aries?" Skye asked, dumbfounded. "Dead? Who got to him?"

"Sojun's brother Orion, the Hunter."

"Brother?!" Maximillian blurted. "No damn way. How the hell does that work out?"

"Your original programming of what eventually became Sojun took on a mind of its own, and though he never showed it, Sojun actually had a severe case of multiple personality disorder. About four hundred years ago the original programming got enough material to force a split between itself and Sojun."

Maximillian suddenly looked like a boy who had discovered a portal to candyland. "Oh YES."

"Orion took over what remained of the League of Destructors and has been rallying support for himself. He is effectively the primary force against Sojun at this particular point in time, and his recent assassination of Aries and subsequent status shift to the Armetheurge has shaken up the Chamber in general.

"Sojun still retains the capacity to defeat Orion in head on combat, though personal combat leaves them both on equal terms against each other. Sojun wished to make certain that his defense against Orion would be free of distractions, and he sought to find and elminate any anciliary threats such as the Triad. The development of the Kythons struck him as a serious threat.

"I shall point out again that he informed me of his intent to reach a negotiated settlement between himself and the Triad. I was actually under the impression that he was prepared to forgive the Triad and allow them back into the Chamber in exchange for assistance against Orion and his forces. As I also said, I did not expect him to take such an aggressive stance. Something else must have occured to make him... desperate..."

"Is there any way we can manipulate events so Sojun and Orion will come into conflict? I admit I know nothing of these entities other than their mythological references of Aries and Orion but if Sojun is afraid of anything that could cause a distraction, then sending his fleet would constitute such a distraction."

The bulk of the Kython remained absolutely still. Most in the room might have forgotten the mind of the Admiral was inside, preferring to pretend it was just an ugly sculpture instead of a living creature capable of unknown destruction. Ga'Ton's voice continued within the minds of those around the table.

"Also. if Orion were to become aware of it, he might decide to use this to his advantage. Perhaps then Sujun would realize that confrontation with us would cause events between those two to arise, he would postpone his attack indefinately..."

"As far as we know," Kelvin began, "Orion's forces are constantly moving, from dimension to dimension to dimension. Orion knows that Sojun's forces are very capable at the art of the siege. Simply finding Orion's forces is a daunting task, catching up to him moreso, and even then the chances of successfully negotiating anything with him would be impossibly minute."

"'There can be no peace,'" Maximillian said, as if reciting a quote. "If Orion's the one who operates under the original programming I'm surprised he's even worked to rally any kind of support at all. He'd be an engine of destruction first and foremost, and the best way he could achieve his goal is to remove the only thing presently known that could stop his rampage: Sojun."

"Yes," Kelvin replied, then gave Maximillian a studious look. "I suspect that when it comes to Orion, Warlord Maximillian would be our most effective source of information."

"Seeing as I built him? Yeah, I think so too! Brat, didn't you say that Orion had taken Aries' portfolio?"

"Orion killed Aries, so it would be logical to assume as such."

"Then as soon as battle breaks out Orion would be aware. That actually simplifies things a bit."

"How so?" Baron Skye asked.

"We'd only be fighting a holding action. If we can make Sojun pay dearly enough for any progress whatsoever, chances are damn good that Orion will come out of nowhere and the two will end up beating on each other. And I bet that Orion's armaments are just as good if not better than Sojun's."

"That is quite a serious 'if'."

"Us living is a pretty big 'if' too. Right now I say that one more if to the already bigass pile won't really hurt."

The Sword of Arioch ripped the fabric of existence; materialising in a flurry of warp flame, an announcing corona of raw energy above the Godulan capital world; a mighty black monolith hanging almost oppressively in the skies above. Remiel gazed down upon it, smiling softly; reaching out to caress the image of the world with one crackling powertalon; twin runeblades strapped to his sides.

Attention Godulans; this is Remiel De Drakan; Lord and Emperor of the Chronosian Imperium. We see your plight, and come to aid you against the might of a God. We lend all our might and the assurance that the blessings of the Ruinous Powers go with you. Come, Phages; let us have parley; let us have discourse together.

For only together shall we stave off this menace; and save yourselves and your precious little toys from the wrath of the Destroyer.

At the entrance of the Chronosian battlefleet over Alitar, very nearly every single gun, mine, and torpedo in the system locked on to each Chaos vessel and was prepared to open up. Strangely though, they held their fire, however targeting locks were maintained even after the transmission of Remiel's message.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Will wonders never cease," Skye commented as the Chronosian fleet appeared on all screens, along with a playback loop of Remiel's transmission. "An interesting choice presents itself, one with wide-ranging ramifications for the future. At the present time, however, I do not care who they are, and ulterior motives be damned. They offer assistance in our time of need and that is what matters to me."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A message was sent to the Sword of Arioch, accompanied by a sudden drop (but not total disappearance) of all targeting locks on the Chronosian vessels:

Lord Remiel,

While we have never met, and have for the longest time shared naught but the deepest of animosities towards each other, know that your severence of relations with the imperials has cooled the burning hatred of the Godulans somewhat.

Still, were this any other day and any other circumstance we would cut you down as you arrived. But this is not any other day nor any other circumstance, and you have offered aid in what may well be our darkest hour. Such a thing never goes unrecognized.

We shall have parley. We shall have discussion.

Landing coordinates were transmitted afterwards, and a rather large escort contingent of Godulan Gendarmes emerged to await the arrival of the Chronosian warlord, their fifteen foot armored bulk and massive weapons a warning to the Chronosians not to try anything, and a warning to any Godulans who would take umbrage at the very thought of any Chronosian walking the surface of Alitar.

Of course; these are strange times. Difficult times. We held only hatred while we held a position amongst the decadant Empire. These are difficult days; times that are destined for great change; and we shall stand with you on this. We shall stand as brothers, and in time you shall see how truly similar we are; how we should not be divided by petty antipathies.

Remiel smirked; stepping into the Thunderhawk; seating himself as it hurtled towards the surface of Alitar. Descending through air and fire, he felt the shudder as they reached land; stepping out, walking between the rows of silent Gendarmes; alone, stoic; a warrior gazing out upon countless warriors. He smiled; the feeling of being amongst a martial people pleased him; it had been long since he had walked with another culture that could be deemed almost...Worthy.

"Well; here I am."

In silence, the Gendarmes turned smartly and marched into the headquarters, their massive armored feet thudding heavily upon the ground in unison as they led Remiel to the situation room. The Marines stationed at the door had already moved to open it for Remiel, allowing him passage into the room.

Baron Skye and the rest of the Triad regarded the Chronosian warlord silently, after several seconds, Skye's right left hand gestured for Remiel to take a seat, and also sent a datapad sailing lazily through the air to him on what seemed a cushion of telekinetic force.

"That datapad holds all of the information we have divulged thus far throughout the course of this briefing. Rough schematics of the Aeon Lance Dreadnoughts are provided on the main screen. We shall answer any questions to the best of our ability. I suspect that of all of us, your forces hold a very useful weapon against the Caleshan forces."

"In so much as it is ours to give, we shall contribute to the war effort. The power of the Warp shall be a cleansing flame to lay low your enemies in glorious change and entropy. Whatever weapons or forces you require shall be utilised to their fullest; we shall strike with you as one, as brethern. This shall be the way of war."

He lifted the dataslate, perusing it at his leisure, smirking softly, before lifting his eyes. "Please; continue."

As I took in the information that Aries is dead, my mind echoed Skye's statement on Remiel's arrival. Will wonders never cease, heh.

"So, for this one time, we're banding together against a God." I smirked towards Remiel. "It'll be interesting, to say the least."

The highlights of the day, when sworn enemies face a great threat together. As for me, as I looked at my datapad of Voctory fleet's known abilities, I wondered how I could contribute when this level of god-tech is involved. Then I had a thought, but I will need some time to set it up...

You see, I remembered a history lesson in which when Coreworlds' religion was originally based on the concept of the Shishin, the Four Gods of the ancient world. They were Genbu, the black Tortoise God of the North; Byakko, white Tiger God of the West; Suzaku, the red Phoenix God of the South and my personal symbol, Seiryuu, blue Dragon God of the East. As I'm a dragon summoner on the side, and we're dealing with a God, I would have to ask Seiryuu for assistance, and that's going to take a hell of a lot of energy. But hey, sacrifices will be necessary to defend my allies...

The more I think about it, the more I think I can contribute in this way...

"To confirm my suspicions," Skye began, clasping his hands together and gazing directly at Remiel with his electric blue eyes, "I would like to know whether I am correct in assuming that some portion, if not all of Chronosian weapons are infused with Chaos energies.

"The reason this is asked is that, being that Entropy is a universal application of chaos, it may well be possible for your weapons to directly damage the Aeon Lances' shielding. However, as none have been able to perform such a measure in my experience, I would be unable to provide any details on exactly how much damage the shields could actually take, or whether it has secondary defenses at the ready."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Not just any god," Skye reminded Daniel, "He is a god almost universally percieved as Just and Fair. I will not deny it, this god is supposedly a force of good. That he has been driven to perform such measures as threatening us in this manner both shocks and amazes me.

"Speaking of shock and awe, I believe you still hold one of Sojun's staves of power, do you not?"

The reply from Tidan reached Nyen. He read it over carefully. This would be the first action taken by the newly reunifed Confederation of Tidan. He hoped they were up to the task of ending their isolation.

He sent the message along to the Godulan Government.
Triad,
The Universal Council sends its regards, hopes, and soon our sons. We will stand by our ally, for if one of us should fall we all will have failed. We are assembling a force worthy of combat and we pray it will arrive in time. Any information you could disclose regarding the enemy we will soon face would be appreciated.
___________________________________________________________________________

Above Gravity, the Emec's Forge Shipyards were working at full strength finishing the new Orothean Orpus Cruisers. This was the gathering point for the taskforce that would soon make full speed for the Godulan Homeworld.

Admiral T'dek sat aboard his galiant command carrier, Starfall. Around him arderian and kybarite crewmembers and officers busily went about the ship's business. His own naroomi staff hung close by going over priority communications, and the business of the fleet.

Soon they would be ready, he thought. But soon enough?

Unnoticed until now, Bauer had sat quietly in his chair, listening to all that had been said since his arrival. The folks back at the Ministerium were also watching via the neural network that was implanted in the Ambassador's brain.

Bauer, reclining in his seat, was waiting for a pause in the current conversation so that he could politely interject. Finally, a momentary lapse occured, which the Ambassador seized upon immediately. Bauer qiuckly leaned forward, raising his right arm, fingers extended, a bit off the table so as to attract the Triad's and the other delegates' attention.

Once he was sure that all eyes were on him, he pulled his lithe frame to a standing position before the table. Very carefully he reached into the inner pockets of his Dress Robes, pulling out a purple holocrystal in one hand and a small emitter in the other.

Very carefully, Bauer leaned over the table, placing the emitter down slowly, as if the slightest jolt would cause it to shatter. Bauer brought his face even closer to the emitter as he placed the crystal within it, for certain miniscule grooves had to be precisely aligned. Ambassador Bauer drew back from the device and sat down. He issued a command over his neural connection, and an instant later the holoprojector flickered to life.

Floating above the table now was a massive behemoth, set against the starry void of space. The scale below it indicated that the vessel was 200 miles in length, 75 miles abeam at its widest point, and 100 miles at its greatest height (the ship overall was 125 miles tall, but no more than 100 miles between two horizontal points). It's prow was the most notable (and recognizable) feature, followed by the rather large, bulky hangar bays and cargo areas. Somehow, though, it managed to have an overall streamlined look to it.

"This, gentlemen, is the pride of the Federation. The Flotte-Befehl class. Armed with the latest weaponry, powered by the most advanced AIQSM in the Federal Navy, shielded by Null-Dimensional, Phase, Spatial Distortion, Energy, and Temporal shields, constructed of the strongest alloys known to the Federation, equipped with Gravitational, Quantum, Temporal, and other sensor suites, and manned by the finest naval personnel in the whole of the Federation. Two such ships, and their accompanying fleets of 400, are due to arrive within the hour now."

Pausing to catch his breath, Bauer looked first to Skye, and then to the General. "Rear Admiral Kranz will command the Schutz, and Fleet Admiral L'Salle will command the Verpflichtung. The Federation does wish to express concern, however, for the possible loss of these vessels. Great energy will be expended to maintain a quantum window to non-contested space against any FTLi, so that, in the event of exceeding damage, the Flotte-Befehlen will retreat."

"The UFGZ will do anything feasibly within its power to aid its Allies, the Godulans. I now request," Bauer directed his glance toward Skye, "on behalf of the Bundesministerium Krieges, that you, Baron, brief us, the Federation, on how specifically you believe the Caleshan weapons to affect our systems in as great a detail as possible. I believe you have adequate information concerning the operation of our systems?"

With that, the Ambassador, and everyone watching his Neural Feed, sat back and awaited the Godulan projections.

"Not just any god," Skye reminded Daniel, "He is a god almost universally percieved as Just and Fair. I will not deny it, this god is supposedly a force of good. That he has been driven to perform such measures as threatening us in this manner both shocks and amazes me.

"Speaking of shock and awe, I believe you still hold one of Sojun's staves of power, do you not?"
"Yeah, I do." I said. "You think I could use it against him or what?"

"Knowing the Aeon Lances as I do," Baron Skye began, "I suspect it will still be difficult for your rather large vessels to combat Sojun's dreadnoughts on even ground. Particularly considering his skill at manipulating temporal and dimensional mechanics. Being a God of Time, doubtless even the forces of Indra Prime would find themselves outmatched in a direct confrontation.

"But then this is not a duel. If this is how we hope it comes to be, it will be a knock-down drag-out brawl of tremendous proportions, with the hope that the Caleshan Valkyrie is forced out not through any form of tactical blunder, but through a sheer level of all-out attrition that will force even Sojun himself to step back in amazement."

Baron Skye stood up then and walked over to Masaki, extending his hand. "Give me the staff, if you would be so kind."

Looking at him with a slight suspicion, I thought it over for a second and then shrugged. "All right."

A small black toothpick floated out of one of my many pockets and then grew into a black staff as tall as I am. I handed it to Skye. "Here, then."

As Skye took hold of the black staff, the runes that drifted across its surface surged with energy and great flames enveloped his hands as if by some form of security measure. A surge of heat blasted through the room, and Skye was quick to move where nobody would be put in danger of feeling the arcane fire.

"Indeed this is one of Sojun's Staves of Power," Skye commented, seemingly unperturbed by the roiling flames enveloping his arms. "Warded against possession by a phage. But also much, much more."

He held the staff as if to speak to it and began: "I know how the staves work, Sojun. This staff is a part of you, and like any resisteel creature any one part of you has the full range of senses and capabilities of the whole. Cease the pretenses."

The staff melted in Skye's hands, and formed into a two foot tall representation of Sojun, who now gazed his typical grim gaze back at Skye.

"I WAS NOT AWARE THAT MISTER MASAKI HAD INFORMED YOU OF HIS POSSESSION OF THIS WEAPON."

"He did not need to tell me about it in order for me to sense it. This does answer how you knew of the Kythons, though. In order for you to directly sense anything not related to your portfolio you need to be present. This staff was your antenna. You knew all along he would not use this weapon, you simply wanted him to carry it under the guise of some protective gift, to keep tabs on the Triad."

"IT WAS A GIFT. THE ANCILLIARY USAGE DID NOT REQUIRE DISCLOSURE."

Skye smirked. "You always speak the truth, Sojun. Such is a constant. How much of the truth you choose to divulge, however, is rarely such a simple consideration."

"NONDISCLOSURE OF THE INFORMATION WOULD NOT HAVE RESULTED IN HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES TO MISTER MASAKI."

"But would he have been so eager to take it, I wonder, had he known that it was little more than a trans-planar wiretap?"

"IRRELEVANT CONJECTURE."

"Indeed. But I would say the same of your concerns about what we may or may not do with our Kythons. Irrelevant Conjecture does not a basis for threats and war make."

"PAST EXPERIENCE, AND INTELLIGENCE REGARDING DEVELOPMENT OF A GALACTIC SCALE PLAGUE DOES HOWEVER RAISE SPECIFIC ISSUES AS TO WHAT YOU MIGHT DO ONCE YOU RUN OUT OF ENTITIES UPON WHICH TO UNLEASH IT. THE POTENTIALITY OF THE THREAT IN THIS SCENARIO WAS FAR TOO GREAT TO IGNORE."

"Orion's spooking you, ain't he?" Maximillian asked. "Making you all paranoid and shit. We held up our end of the treaty and I bet I speak for Skye and Xenith when I say that this joint's a lot more fun than the Chamber. A real breath of fresh air."

"I SUSPECT THAT YOU DO NOT QUITE HAVE SUCH AN EASY TIME ACQUIRING ENTERTAINMENT OF YOUR PECULIARLY CARNAL TASTES."

"Waxed virgins? Shit I'm over that now! The local chicks here gots SKILLZ! Of course, some of them are actually into the whole wax bit--"

"Maximillian..." Skye said in warning.

"Yeah... prolly not a good subject in front of everybody here."

Skye shook his head with a sigh. "Remind me to thank you for the imagery later."

"K!"

"Returning to the subject at hand. Sojun. You are going to return this portion of yourself... TO yourself. Begone from this dimension. I banish YOU."

Quick as lightning, Skye's foot lashed out and slammed down on the mini-Sojun. Four rune circles emerged at the impact site, and when Skye drew his foot back up, a small puff of smoke was all that remained.

"If only such a spell would work when he sends his entire form here. Banish spells only work to send extensions back to their source when it comes to creatures like Sojun."

Skye returned to his seat and sat down with another sigh. "Unfortunately, Sojun also knows the technologies that those rather large vessels flying under the banner of the UFGZ will use. When he comes, no doubt he will have rotated in vessels built to specifically countermand them by the time he deploys. But now I can speak more fully of tactical considerations."

A sleak, black Bagala destroyer arrived in the system. It approached the planet with all defensive, offensive, and cloaking systems powered down so as not to draw any harmful attention.

This is Korremar, Avatar of Durresh, and agent of the Tidani Adept Service. I am here to confer with the allied commanders in preparation of the battle foretold.

"And I thought it was a nifty gravitational weapon..." I muttered. A paragon od virtue playing 'James Bond' is something to behold, that's for sure. Then I sweatdropped at Maxi's perverted words. Lo, and here we have an ero-phage. Scary!

OOC:

Tidan. I'm just gonna go ahead and let ya assume that you got the permission to land and the coordinates for where. Anybody else who comes in can assume similar.

OOC: That solves some problems for me. I am not going to put this off any longer.

IC:
Kem Aershaar, Warrior-Prince of the Tel-Quessir, put his small crystal ship down on the Godualan landing pad. He greeted the Godulan guards in the traditional manner, bowing his head and saying a greeting, his ceremonial full plate not even making the smallest of squeaks. It was inlaid with gold, in very beutiful desighns, and one who looked close enough would see texts written in the armor. He had a longsword one his belt, though it was obvious he was not going to use it on anyone.

OOC: Be prepared for some arrogance. He is not as bad as some of my other generals will be, but all of the Velen are arroagant to a degree.

(ooc: Ok thats perfect. I decided it would be better to ask before I just walked in. While all of my species are alien, d'Reshi resemble humans. Korremar is d'Reshi, and I will probably use them more often to make nations who are uneasy around aliens more comfortable. Korremar (http://images1.filecloud.com/138442/korremaravatar.jpg) is a member of the Tidani Adept Service, and so is skilled in stealth and the martial art known as The Weirding Way. Think Dune. This way I am not totally left out in this collection of supermen.)

Korremar entered the room just in time to see the end of the events that had just taken place.

"I hope that is not what happens to those who are late. Hello, you most likely do not know me, but I know of most of you. It is good to finally meet such legends as yourselves. I am Korremar, Avatar of Durresh."

OOC: Will there be the possibility of collecting salvage after the battle?

OOC: Much though I'd like to, I'm trying to keep participants down. I basically meant this for staunch allies and those I mentioned in the thread title. (GZ isn't mentioned because I keep thinking he's GFFA). So unfortunately, if you are not tied to the GFFA or have already standing exceptional relations with the Godulans (Chronosia's presence, though he's not an ally, is actually a plot element), the answer is no. Sorry.

OOC: Be prepared for some arrogance. He is not as bad as some of my other generals will be, but all of the Velen are arroagant to a degree.

Should cause some interesting Byplay with the other two of the Triad. Xenith and Maxie are about as arrogant as they come. But is it really arrogance when they can back themselves up?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baron Skye gestured for the two newcomers to take a seat. He sent more datapads their way so that they could catch up on the information as necessary and began:

"Now that enemy eavesdropping has been removed from the situation, I shall proceed with the potential strategy of the impending battle. There is one primary issue to this whole issue, and that is the simple fact that we have no idea where the Victory will make their strike, though we have a decent idea.

"It would appear that Ptolemy, the host system for Terivine, was the primary jump point for Sojun to enter this universe, and telemetric information suggests that Ptolemy's connection to Balrogga's wormhole network may well force Sojun to enter Godulan space through that system simply because the heightened gravimetric flux in that system due to the wormhole causes it to attract Superspace Jumps like flies to sugarwater.

"Should such be the case, it may well be that we could set a decent trap for his arrival."

OOC: Yeah, but he should be smart enough to stay away from them. They are powerful enough to have his respect. But if he thinks someone is getting uppity, he will go for the throat unless he has a reason not to.

IC:
Kem thought about this for a bit, and spoke "I do not know much about these superspace jumps, but in theory, if they are attracted to the gravimetric flux, would it be possible to heighten this so much that we could stop superspace jumps out of the system? It would be dangerous against such a large fleet, but if we knew we could win then it would be worth it."

"Would that it were so easy," Baron Skye replied. "Superspace jumps only attract toward a source of long-term gravimetric distortions, and our connection to the Balroggan Wormhole network has seen consistent use over the course of many years. A simple dimensional FTLi would be sufficient to prevent them from making egress from combat, but Sojun's skills with spatial distortion far outstrip the capability of any FTLi to hinder him."

"If you don't mind me asking, how is it that you plan to set a trap for Sojun if his skills with spatial distortion are so great?"

"I suppose it is somewhat awkward for us to speak of setting a trap for him, primarily when such things require the target being held immobile. However the entire objective of this scenario is to get Sojun and the Victory to leave. So it would be somewhat counterproductive to make any attempt to corner him as the case may be."

Maximillian nodded slightly. "Caleshan bastards fight twice as hard when they're trapped like rats."

Skye continued: "As such, the trap I speak of is actually rather simple. I wish it to be arranged such that the Caleshan Valkyrie begins taking casualties at the exact point they arrive in-system. That is, I intend to emplace a very thick minefield around the general area of their emergence region, and have every single piece of space-borne artillery we can muster pound that particular spot with liberal amounts of malice, forethought, and ammunition, as soon as anything bearing the symbol of the phoenix should be so foolish as to poke its prow into my territory.

"I suppose it would be more rightly considered an ambush."

"Ah then you are speaking more in Abh terms now. We will add several hundred thousand mobile mines to your own then if you so desire. Is your enemy solely bent on destroying your homeworld or is it possible for setting up a diversion to at least draw the heat off of your main force for a time. Obviously the idea of splitting our forces is not appealing but the ships that are to attract a bit of their attention need not be anything substantial, just large enough to catch their eye."

"So we can definitely trap their fleet, and hurt it as well. Good. Still I think the key is Sojun. What is his connection to his fleets, and their command? Is he the direct command, or does he work with other groups? Finally, if we could not kill him, is there any way, at all, that we could immobilize him. Trap him in a crystal cave, as Morgan Le Fay did to Merlin?" Kem addressed this mostly to the phages, but he would let other respond.

"I suspect he will fight in the exact same manner he did when we last met in full-scale conflict. His is not a war machine geared towards extermination, but pacification. The Caleshan rather single-mindedly hunt down and kill any and all military personnel they might encounter without even a hint of a second thought. I honestly do not know what his final objective would be destination-wise, only that we are all dead certain that he is coming.

"As it stands, diversionary actions would be a gamble at best. Sojun's awareness can extend to a multitude of places at once, so it would be difficult indeed to draw him off or attempt a feint. Flanking maneuvers, however, are somewhat easier to initiate as the Caleshan Vessels are not very mobile as I previously stated."

"What about some sort of... interdimensional harpoon. Hit him with it, and either follow him around, dealing damage as we go, or hold him in one place. If it were locked to him it might be able to hold his physical form, if not his conciousness. As to the problem with the fleet itself if he is attempting to destroy us completely anyways and will hunt us down one by one, then it is more beneficial for us to face him at once, and possibely equal there strength."

"I am not quite certain you understand Sojun's nature as a Theurge. Without going into the details of it, I shall simply say that were such an option feasible, it would be a death wish.

"Though we are in agreement on the notion that we must face them with everything we have all at once if we are to have any chance of pushing him back."

Tidani reinforcements appeared in the system. Two fleet groups arrived and held station while they transmitted their identity to the Godulan defense forces.

This is Admiral T'dek commanding the Tidani Hercules Task Force from the TCS Starfall. I am sending confirmation codes now.

After the codes had been sent, the Tidani fleet began linking communications with the other fleets there to defend the Godulan homeworld.
___________________________________________________________________

Almost as if on cue, as Skye finished saying they must face Sojun as one, Korremar saw the Tidani Fleet appear on his datapad's scan of the system.

Finally. He thought.

Dusanyu reclined and looked down at his clyuno. The gem flashed only bright enough for him and those sitting next to him, which would have been the Rangers, to see. Silent commands were issued to the fleet in hyperspace. Ships by the score began to turn around and depart until only the Forger, the Frontlineships, and a few other vessels were left.

I watched the proceedings with interest. I'm not sure how a standard Impstar would be useful at quantum-level battles such as these...on the other hand, I wonder if Brianna has finished her secret project yet...maybe I will ask...

"Our Quantum String Disruptors effectively turn space into unnavigatable soup. We could surround the minefield with a continuous QSD field to keep the Caleshan there. If they made it to the barrier, they would be 'lost in space,' so to speak," Bauer suggested.

"The Flotte-Befehl can literally dump tens of thousands of torpedoes toward the Caleshan as soon as they drop out of space. The Torpedoes wouldn't take long to reach their targets, primarily due to built-in Fold drives. We could decimate their first wave very quickly."

"Also, do they employ any form of energy-field as a means of guarding against attack? If not, our Phased Particle Cannons would be able to do massive internal damage if they de-phased within the Caleshan ships. To our knowledge, temporal shielding does not really affect the PPCs, and spatial shielding which does not refract linear movement would also not affect the PPCs. And, should they prove to carry energy shields, we would need only alter the phase frequency to the same frequency of the energy shields."

"As Maximillian previously stated, the Caleshan become even more of a bear if we do anything to disrupt their mobility, however ponderous it may be. The precision of their weaponry defies reason during normal conditions, but they seem to go into a form of rage when they realize that they have been trapped by enemy forces. We have estimated that their efficacy in large scale combat situations alone increases by somewhere in the range of fifty to seventy-five percent.

"Caleshan Standard defensive fields are a form of Phased Virtual Particle Shielding much like Godulan Ablative Shielding, mixed with a weakened version of Sojun's Entropic Shielding. While this shielding is not special in the dimensional chamber, it is noted for its use in ruining any precision control that such energy weapons as you describe might require. It de-phases such weapons, and unfortunately it would be impossible to account for such a thing as the phasic field is located within the weakened entropic ward."

"Hahahahahaha!" Bauer burst into laugher.

"I take it that you guys have never seen battle-feeds involving Federation ships? Precision control with PPCs?"

The Ambassador cackled for a moment before realizing that he'd just laughed like the stereotypical egotistical holier-than-thou bad guy from ancient 'motion pictures'.

"Er... Um... The only thing precise about them is the range to the target, so that the PPC bolts will end up within the enemy ship somewhere near the maximum of the phase curve. This is illustrated here," Bauer pointed to the holoprojector he'd set up earlier, which had changed to display a three-dimensional graph (He figured that most people in the room couldn't see higher dimensions) of the standard PPC phaseform. "Where the first derivative of the phase waveform function is zero, and the second derivative changes from positive to negative is the point at which the most energy is in phase with our space-time."

"Theoretically, if we fired enough PPC bolts, we'd be bound to do something,"

"And, if the Caleshan fight harder when trapped, why don't we seal them off within the trap? Create a bubble universe? Sort of like that nasty weapon that JJR used to use?"

"Allow me a demonstration of my own in response. Phased Particles, correct?"

Baron Skye typed in a few commands on his console, and the main screen suddenly shifted to be what appeared to be a time further in the battle the screenshots were taken from, and had gone into full motion.

"I should have mentioned that Phase-Based technology is quite prevalent in the chamber and is widely recognized as indispensable," Skye commented as the vessels shown on the screen seemed to flicker and waver, there one instant and gone the next.

"The entropic ward around these vessels will weaken any particles that attempt to pass through, however as they are somewhat weaker than those present on the Aeon Lances the effect is not total. In addition, the shielding itself is what one consider broadband in the phase spectrum and will intercept incoming fire on any quantum level."

The collection of vessels was presently under what appeared to be a heavy bombardment, as Skye finished his statement, several pulses of white energy focused on one of the vessels, causing a bright flickering in the shielding but otherwise no ill effect on the vessel itself, even though the vessel eventually fell to enemy fire.

"I do mean precision control as a weapon requiring any form of manipulation into a state that it would otherwise not occupy by conventional means. Those white bursts of energy were Irradiator bursts, what you call Phased Particle pulses. As you can see, it had about as much success getting through the shielding as the rest of the fire incident upon it."

"You must understand, Ambassador, gizmos and whirlygigs will not work against Sojun. The Caleshan make it a point to be equally prepared for any and all weaponries that should happen to be utilized against it, and it is folly to think that they might have missed anything. No. Tricks will not work here. Only sheer, brute, unrelenting force will assist in pushing the Caleshan back at all."

The screen flickered back to a scene of the Aeon Lances, and Skye sat back down in his chair. "And I feel it necessary to reiterate what I mentioned about Sojun's grasp of dimensional mechanics. Chances are that attempting to trap his forces in a bubble universe would work for..."

"Three point six femtoseconds," Xenith mentioned. "Just like last time."

Korremar was going through the weapons his people used in his head. Most were fairly regular and so did not need to be clarified, except for two.

"I would just like to make sure I can know what to expect. First, I assume that tachyon beams are also anticipated and so will not have any effect on their ship's systems.

"Second, I understand that their armor is..." He read over the notes from before. "'not thick' but relies on chronoton doping to increase its effectiveness. If meson weapons were to hit this armor would they be any more effective? Since the damage is done by the atoms of the section hit disintegrating into their component pieces and unleashing great amounts of energy. I am unclear if the chronoton doping would hamper this or not, if I understand the engineers correctly it would disassemble their armor partially while creating something like a nuclear blast."

"The efficacy of energy based weapons is reduced as not only is the input essentially spread out over a larger amount of time but the output is as well. Any attempt to force a chain reaction between individual molecules of chronoton-doped material would essentially need to be four times as powerful simply to get the initial effect."

Skye's console beeped three times, as did the consoles for General Lear and Adjutant General Majestatus. Skye tapped a button and read his console intently for a moment, then looked up at those gathered in the room, and then his two compatriots.

"I apologize for the abruptness of my departure, but I believe that there is little else to discuss. If you will pardon me, I must go see to the nature of a number of probes that have been making superspace insertion and paying special attention to the world of Terivine. Thus far none have made it in to scanning range, but it does indeed seem that our suspicions were correct. It is generally hard to pin point when the probes will turn into the fully fledged battlefleet, but it is generally on the order of a couple days. I suggest that you all prepare if you wish to assist us in the defense of our home. Datapads will be provided to all as a recording of what was discussed today."

With that, all five of the Godulan representatives nodded farewell and departed the room. Several guards walked in and announced that they would escort the assembled representatives back to their ships.

Korremar picked up the data pad given for his study, and walked out with the escorts. When he got outside of the complex he notified Admiral T'dek, and he was transported aboard the Starfall.

Dusanyu collected the datapad and stood from his chair. Nodding to his five companions, they left the room without need of other escorts and made their way back to the shuttle on the landing pad.

Several minutes later they were aboard the Forger. Kenesh was there to greet them with a salute. "Well that was a quick meeting."

"Of course it was. You expected much of a conversation?"

"Well perhaps a little intelligence on the situation, estimated enemy strength and the usual formalities."

Dusanyu walked past her. "Two out of those three were included. Now if you all will follow me to the command room, I would like to discuss a few matters."
----------------------------------

The holographic images showed the approximate position of what was left of the Abh fleet in Hyperspace. "As you can see, I have sent the majority of our fleet home. I see no need to lose lives over such a battle and what I have planned for this battle will be more than sufficient. As in the Angelic War, the Forger will take up position at the front."

"Sir if you remember, we took some heavy damage from that fight."

"Yes chief, I do remember and we almost lost a fine admiral had it not been for this ship. The main weapon of this ship was a saving grace alone. Now back to the logistics of the matter. We have fifty Frontlineships remaining and a number of the Rambirds. The rest of the fleet I have sent back to Vobayrunay and D'Hara so that they may be put to better use. What you all may not know is that I am expecting reinforcements within a few hours from D'Hara."

Kenesh looked up from her glass data screen. "How many ships?"

"About one thousand, all from the Symphonic Fleet. The Silver Noah will be joining the fleet adding to its power along with Commander Arc and his crew. Marcus, I would like you to command the fighter wing once they arrive."

"It will be done my Lord."

"The rest of you will remain on this ship if things get sticky and the enemy wishes to be barbaric and initiate bording parties. Now, the fleet will be here within a few hours. I suggest everyone catch an hour or two of rest. I want the crew to temporarily stand down from their posts and relax for a while. Send a communication shuttle out into normal space to monitor for transmissions."

Grand Admiral Ga’Ton left the room. He did not need the data pad because he had memorized all the details already and it would be a simple matter to transfer them to the computer systems aboard the fleet or at the research complex.

The Empire would show their best because they were not only fighting to help their allies, but also to save their creations. This Sojun would try to erase the Kythons from existence, that included the knowledge the Empire learned when they assisted in their evolution. Balrogga was tied as deeply as Godular in this mess and they would use every means possible to see Sojun was persuaded to forget about the Kythons.

When the ebon horror exited the building, the legs folded and the thing flitted off towards The Complex. Ga’Ton had preparations to make.

"What have we got?" General Lear asked as she and Baron Skye entered the combat command chamber. Maximillian, Xenith, and Kelvin had wandered off in their own inimicable directions as soon as the meeting was concluded.

"Six probes over the last three hours, General," one of the adjutants below replied. "Each of them made a direct course for Terivine before they were intercepted and destroyed. We don't think they're getting any readings, but..."

"Why are they paying so much attention to Terivine itself?" Skye asked as he walked towards the front to investigate the tactical maps.

"Exactly, sir. We think Sojun might try to take it as a beachhead."

Lear moved up to inspect the tactical maps. "Have all HomeGuard mobilize at the Ptolemy system between the insertion point and Terivine. The Expeditionary is to maintain holding status in their respective systems until we require their assistance. Relay this information to allied vessels, including the information you have gathered thus far.

"We will need onslaught mines placed en masse at the insertion point, and I want every single Gun of Archona in the system warmed up and ready for action. Sensor jamming is required at all times for Terivine and the insertion point, in order to minimize the damage any orbital assault might cause, and keep the enemy confused for as long as possible when they get here. The longer they are trying to figure out where we are the longer we have to shoot them and that will give us enough of an initial boost that it will hopefully carry through the rest of the battle.

"Get battlemoons one and four into the system as well for added artillery firepower. We will need as much as we can spare."

OOC: Bump. Assume at this point that a couple days have passed. So whatever preparations you were thinking to make have had time to be made, so on and so forth. Just wish to make sure that people are in place before the fleet comes...

OOC: Hello? Get yer preparations done, people. Prepped or not, Sojun's arrival starts up tomorrow.

The Abh fleet had slipped through Hyperspace and was replinished by the ships that Lord Dusanyu had requested. Now their numbers stood greater and more heavily armed. The hundreds of Frontlineships that posed as the Abh artillery, made their way into the Tervine system. The plan was to create a massive mine-field and that's what these exactly were for.

Hole after hole after hole in normal space opened up as thousands upon thousands of mines poured into the system. Each one capable of separating into three segments with anti-matter warheads once they detected an energy discharge in their direction. If enough mines were laid, thousands could easily turn into millions of projectile weapons.

Dusanyu stood at the bridge of the Forger overseeing to the placement of the Abh fleet. "Here is where the hammer will fall the hardest. We must be prepared for both the enemy and the casualties we will take. The analysist crystal just ran our chance for victory and it doesn't even reach double digits. I don't have to tell you that we are fighting out-numbered and out-gunned in every aspect. This startegy is the best that could be assembled by all nations present in this effort to save an allied nation. For that reason alone, we will not fail this mission and help to protect their people. In so doing, we may even somehow protect our own by preventing this scourge to spread to other systems."

He looked around at the commanders of the fleet one last time and raised a glass up to a toast. "Here's to the battle at hand. May we all fight bravely and return to finish the bottle in a celebration. To the Empire!"

They all rose their glasses in unison. "To the Empire!"

EDIT: All was cleared up on MSN

Korremar met with Admiral T'dek and his commanders. He shared what he had learned on the planet earlier with the fleet.

Now the Tidani fleet approached the determined front line as the minefield was being created. Orpus cruisers took their possitions in the front of the line. Behind them stood the Quors ready to unleash their longer and heavier version weapons. Toward the rear waited the Galiant command carriers and the Bagala steath destroyers.

As soon as the invaders appeared and began taking damage from the mines that were and will be placed, the Orpuses and Quors would begin assaulting them.

Korremar opened communications channels to the allied fleets gathered to wish the commanders good hunting.

All was silent in the void of space.

No sound.

No ripples of great force in space as the a bright flash of light burst forth from the Void.

In immeasurable fractions of a second following the light-flash, a small Frigate appeared from where the flash had emanated. It manuevered about for a minute, positioning itself near the fleet. An uninterceptable signal passed between the Frigate and some unseen vessel. But a moment later another flash appeared, and then another. Soon tens of flashes were occuring as one, and in the last moments, a hundred flashes shone in the same instant.

After the flashes had subsided, some eight-hundred and two Federal Warships hung in high orbit over the world below. Slowly, a wall of ships began to disperse, revealing within them the two great vessels which had been spoken of within the briefing.

Spreading out before the planet, the Federal Fleet come to battle awaited the challenge of its Ally's foe.

The area had become a veritable cloud of pure destructive potential, with the establishment of overlapping minefields and the truly colossal number of vessels aiming as much artillery ordinance as they could muster towards the general region expected to be the location where the Caleshan Valkyrie would emerge. The last couple days had gone by in a whirlwind of preparation and anticipation.

Tension and confusion hung thick in the air of the Godulan fleets. Over the course of the last few days, they had found their very nature threatened by an entity that the Triad had even gone so far as to allow reverence to despite their previous conflicts. He was seen as a paragon of virtue to all, trustworthy and reliable, but these latest actions on his part had shown that trust and honor did not necessarily preclude manipulation and outright domination. Such a happenstance had already begun something of a shakeup of the Godulan concepts of the differences between right and wrong. At present, however, the Godulans knew only that their home systems were under threat of invasion by the Final Arbiter, whose gentle but iron hand ensured that wayward souls would get their just rewards for lives lived. Justice... an odd word to describe the forces arrayed against the Godulans.

It was thoughts such as these that drifted through the minds of every Godulan soldier and officer as they waited with open sights for the enemy to emerge...

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Alarms went off across the fleet, and sensors adjutants everywhere blurted out almost in unison:

"Detecting gravimetric and dimensional distortions all throughout the wormhole junction. By the gods, there's thousands of them!"

"Wait for the mines to activate before opening fire!" General Lear barked, letting the psions relay orders as necessary. "Keep everything steady for as long as possible. Begin loading the Guns of Archona!"

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And thus did the flagship fleet of the Caleshan Valkyrie, the dreaded Victory emerged from superspace transit. In a flash of light that radiated across the sky in a form of rippling wave of prismatic energy, they came.

And came.

And came.

It was by sheer luck alone that the sheer breadth of the fleet did not extend beyond the boundaries of the minefield set by the Godulan and allied defensive forces, though such soon changed when the minefield activated, and minefields already in place around the system as standard defenses engaged as well, probability jumping into the fray and throwing themselves at the Caleshan vessels. The mines did not approach any of the colossal Aeon Lances, however, being programmed instead to focus on the support vessels of Sojun's fleet.

Godulan and Allied mines alike slammed into the Caleshan vessels with abandon, while many Caleshan Vessels collapsed under the bombardment, some collapsed even further as they found themselves struck by a newer version of Onslaught mine: the Doomsday Mine. A singularity bomb inside a modified Onslaught mine, each one smacked into a Caleshan vessel, tearing it to shreds, component molecules, all the way down to awkwardly behaving photons, and then nothing at all. As a matter of seconds passed, the Godulan artillery rung up with a colossal salvo of Protium Arc Disintegrators, accompanied by the two weapons that the Godulans dreaded to use in combat under very nearly any circumstances.

Plasmatic Pulse cannons were intended for use against the imperials' Death Star, but thus far such a use had not been necessitated, and instead found itself relegated to home defense for the most part, as the sheer level of firepower it could dole out at enemy vessels required only the biggest vessels to sustain. Vessels such as the Archonal Command Ships and the Two BattleMoons that rested equal distances from the planet, both of which were now pouring as much cannonfire as possible into the newly arrived enemy fleet.

The Guns of Archona were a Godulan national symbol second only to the national animal. A singularly large mass-driver that put out a slug-based equivalent of an axial laser. Ground based versions rested on a turret the size of a football field, while the space based versions used their lack of need for support structure to increase their firepower. The massive shell propelled by each cannon had enough momentum to smash through multiple enemy ships along a single line before being forced into a stop, and this was the purpose for which they were fired today. One shell in particular went through a Caleshan Vessel's entropic shielding, through the hull, through the command compartment, through the other end of the hull, ignoring the now failed shields, through another vessel's shielding, through the other vessel's hull, and eventually lodging itself in the unfortunate vessel's primary power core, resulting in a very flashy explosion that snapped the Caleshan vessel in two straight across its lengthwise axis.

Eventually the minefield depleted, save for those mines that did not have any form of motility other than magnetic attraction, and the Caleshan used the sudden reduction in overall firepower, and the resulting clear up of their sensors, to commence return fire, opening up with massive salvos of weaponry ranging from souped-up blaster cannons, to disintegration beams, to temporal flux pulses, to cutter beams, all the way to enhanced mass drivers. The Caleshan were very nearly literally throwing everything but the kitchen sink at those who had been so foolish as to cause their vessels harm.

A kitchen sink pinged off of the ablative shielding of a Siege Dreadnought.

"Leave it to Sojun to take analogies too far," Skye commented in response to the confused commander's report of the sanitary device's offensive implementation. "Just keep firing."

"Well I must say that they are quite flashy. The wondrous display of multiple colors, the flashing light of exploding ships, and soon it will all be erased by the terrible screams of the dying."

Kenesh walked up to the railing as she took her first glimpse of the battle unfolding in normal space. "My Lord...the battle has begun and the allied forces are greatly out-numbered. Not even our own numbers will stem the tide."

Dusanyu sighed and rested his elbow on the rail. "The battle won't be lost I assure you. Oh no. Flames of war will rage uncontrollably taking many inosant lives that did not need to be here this day and the only consolation that they will have is that in death, all are equals. Death does not care what you did in your life, who you are or what nation you lead. Maggots will still infest everyone's body, our body will turn to dust and replinish the earth as fertilizer for plants. The living will go on wondering why they lived and their brother died who stood only a few feet from him. The only consolation that we of the stars have, is that we do not have to worry about burrying our dead. Alas dark times seem to be upon us all." The Abriel stood from his contemplations. "I want half the fleet to prepare to make the jump to normal space. We will go as well. How much longer until the Silver Noah's detachment arrives?"

"About one hour sir."

"I see. Well, we will have to make do until they arrive. Prepare to jump."

"As you wish my lord."

He comes.

The mere Force signature of the God of Time reverbrates across the cosmos like a gong, alerting me and the Jedi Council of His arrival. I grimaced, knowing that many people will fall this day. Coredians included. Strange how I send my people to fight against an old friend that has helped me return to life. Such is the quandaries of the universe...

I saw a major fleet, over 100 ships, prepare for the jump to hyperspace. A meager force, all we can send at the moment, but a force that does mean we're here to help, however little that help can be. Besides, it gives me time to prepare for the Summoning.

Normally, a summon or Kuchiyose is simply all about biting your thumb to draw a bit of blood, spinning your hands into the appropriate seals and then slamming your hand palm-down while uttering the words required. But for a major summoning like this one, I would need the scroll of Seiryuu, a lot of blood, and a good portion of my entire reserves, not to mention a major focus from which to draw additional mystical energy from.

Good thing I asked Scieszka to cancel all my appointments.

I moved out into an open plain, away from prying eyes with a large scroll on my back. Once I reached the center of the field, I swiftly opened the scroll, cut my arm with a kunai so that blood can flow onto the scroll, and then began gathering energy...

"Dragon. Horse. Monkey. Boar. Ram. Serpent. Dragon. Tiger. Hare. Rat. Bird. Ox. Horse. Monkey. Boar. Ram. Dog. Serpent. Dragon..."

As I concentrated on the Kuchiyose, blue began flowing with green and the breeze flowing through the field picked up speed...

When the mines grew silent the Tidani on some 1000 ships ranging from the 2k long command carriers, to the 10 meter long field frigates, to the supply transports hidding behind the warships, all held their breath at the sight of the fleet they had been sent to stop.

Then, as the Godulans opened fire with everything they had and the enemy returned, the silence on the ships was broken. Commanders and officers screamed orders and crews raced to work.

They unleashed a barrage of Tremor energy cannons, energy charged and stored from a beam cannon then released all at once in a massive burst of light and power. They were the most powerful weapons their ships were armed with.

Razor beams lanced out from every ship, the blue energy looked like a laser light show being projected from the Tidani fleet. The energy beams that were focused to a point would try to puncture hulls and slice through systems, conduits, corridors, powercells, and anything else that would hamper the ship's actions until it was crippled or destroyed.

They had been warned that their weapons would be less effective against the enemy's defenses so AIs worked together to coordinate fire of multiple ships onto targets. Tremors would hit targets repeatedly in the same location. Razors would fire together from many ships to slice at the same point on the hull of an enemy ship. Their Star Burst cannons and Meson torpedoes, as they relied on atomic chain reactions, were powered down and not used. The tachyon based Frost cannons were also offline. Power would be taken from those weapons to the Tremors, Razors, and shields.

Forward shields went to full strength as the enemy returned fire. The shields did their best to deal with the energy weapons as the gravity shielding crushed and deflected the mass drivers. If a ship came under heavy fire and its shields failed it would activate its last chance defense. Phase shields would come online, phasing anything that came in contact with it. The shield took enormous amounts of power and could not be held for very long at all. What time it gave them would be used to try to move behind the lines where the ship could repair and recover amongst the supply transports.

Thousands of fighters in the command carriers waited for orders. Fleet Fighter Command was unsure what scale of ships they were up against yet. It was likely that the fighters would not be able to cause any damage to the so called 'Victory' fleet, and unless they were in need of fighter defense there was no point in wasting the lives of their pilots yet.

The Imperial frigates from three fleets Emerged above and below the Enemy. The 20 torpedo launchers on each fired continuous barrage after barrage of Grav Torps, missiles with singularities projected in front of them. The score of projectiles was set to attack a single ship, hopefully causing enough stress on the Enemy’s shield systems to allow one of the others attacks to make it through.

The frigates danced as they fired salvo after salvo of missiles at the Enemy. The flickered about the battlefield hoping their quick and seemingly random jumps would keep the enemy from locking onto them, allowing the assault to continue longer and someone getting through.

For the most part their tactic was successful. The enemy fire managed to strike a few of the ships, resulting in some heavy damage, the dimensional shielding and adaptive armor straining to keep the ships alive. So far a dozen were damaged critically had had to retire for repairs or sat “dead in the water”, so to speak.

Strange gossamer craft flitted up to the wounded ships and left after a few moments, almost like they were picking up something although it never touched any of the ships. The craft would then return to the rest of the fleet forming a line between the Enemy and the planet behind them. The AoD (Angel of Death) were being employed to save the crews of the Imperial ships that were damaged.

Back at the fleet, the huge carriers were disgorging the rest of the fleets, forming a line that they dared the Enemy to cross. A line that would need to be erased in order to make it by them.

Shortly after the Balroggians entered the fray, the fleet of the CSD Revan exited hyperspace and immediately tagged the Godulan side as blue-friendly and the enemy side as red-hostile. With the IFF established, the fleet's fighter squadrons boiled out of hangar bays or exited hyperspace as well, a full three thousand fighters added to the firepower of the Coredian Fleet.

Commodore Swanson was an old man. Seventy-five years old, he was old enough to remember when Emperor Masaki ruled with a fair yet firm hand and he wished the young Daniel would officially take the mantle, despite his wayward sister's path to darkness. Still, he was pleased when Masaki took the post of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces after Pellaeon retired. It's not quite the same, but a Masaki at the helm of the nation's future makes Swanson pleased to fight for them one last time.

And looking at the battle unfolding, it would truly be the last battle he would ever fight. And it would be against a God, too, if the Council's orders were accurate.

"Shields up. All power to weapons. Singularity packages armed immediately, but do not engage with them until I give the order." The Commodore's soft but commanding voice gave out orders. "Initiate firing solutions."

"Firing solutions initiated." A weapons officer reported.

"Come about 1-8-4. Prepare to Alpha Strike the enemy. Fighter Squadrons, remain on the defensive unless otherwise noted." The commodore ordered. The fleet now maneuvered to bring their potent weapons to bear on the Caleshan fleet.

May the Force be with us all. "Fire!"

As one, the entire Coredian Fleet sent sheet after sheet of destructive blue plasma, electric-blue globs of ionized energy and thousands upon thousands of missiles at the Caleshan vessals. The Coredians have entered the fray on their allies' side...

The sheer brilliance of the Onslaught, coupled with the artillery fire from several thousand separate sources, made it difficult to pick out the Caleshan ships. However, as the shockwaves and explosions cleared out, Caleshan fire shifted from spotty counterfire to a strange... a proper characterization would be difficult beyond comparing it to a symphony.

Caleshan fire seemed to take on an unearthly rhythm as cannon fire in all directions took on the deliberation and precision that the Triad had warned the allies of. The Aeon Lances remained silent for the most part, but the more mundane vessels in the fleet began putting out weapons fire directed at sensors and conn structures, weapons batteries, and something more.

The Balroggan singularity torpedos had only taken approximately fifty ships before cannonfire erupted not in the direction of the Balroggan pincers, but towards their missiles. Caleshan sniping created a set radius around the fleet entire through which missile and guided weaponry simply could not penetrate. All the while, Caleshan fire continued to focus with uncanny precision on all enemy vessels, particularly those involved in the artillery bombardment.

The fleet moved forward, splitting off into sections and shifting to engage individual collections of enemy ships.

Then, previously silent, the Aeon Lances spoke the word of their god in the form of Guiding Light.

Like mass-driver shells, the gleaming torpedos surged into collections of enemy ships faster than any missile could possibly travel. As they reached a particular point, they detonated with a shockwave of light and radiation and pure concussive force capable of flattening nearby ships whether they were shielded or not.

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Sojun stood upon the bridge of each Aeon Lance, his form separated to ensure harmony between the vessels of his fleet in as certain a manner as possible. He watched the battle, somewhat surprised by the ferocity of the opening assault.

Present Fleet Strength: 13,845 / 17,650
Damaged Vessels: 7,665 / 13,845
Aeon Lances: 12

Sojun reached out with a hand towards one of the enemy vessels. A Balroggan vessel, in particular, dancing in and out of reality in much the same means that the Caleshan vessels were. His hand encompassed the offending Balroggan vessel, and with a slight flex, he clenched his fist tight.

The Balroggan vessel itself instantly shattered under the strength of unseen forces. A brilliant explosion accompanying its departure from existence as Sojun's manipulation of the Aeon Lance's Entropic Ward wrapped around the unfortunate ship and clamped down.

Sojun began to repeat this process, clenching his fist around enemy vessels and ripping them apart with his Entropic Ward.

"DEPLOY SKIRMISHERS."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Godulan fire continued to keep up the pace, not even slackening under the newly harrowing assault of the Guiding Light and the renewed Caleshan counterfire.

The Guns of Archona maintained their fire for as long as they were able, though their numbers were being swiftly depleted by Caleshan snipers.

"Deploy fightercraft and prepare the Makos for insertion! We need to keep up the pressure!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so it happened. On the Godulan side, the strange bladed HellKites materialized from the void and lanced into the enemy fleet, opening fire in all directions and doing their best in an attempt to bring the Caleshan down. Accompanying them: some four thousand Godulan Mako Star Destroyers burst into existence within the Caleshan fleet, opening fire with Fractal Guns and Torpedos at point blank range while bucking and weaving through the slower moving enemy fleet.

On the Caleshan side, strange arrowhead-shaped fightercraft began to billow forth into the battlefield, emerging from those Caleshan vessels still capable of deploying their fighters. Many tens of thousands of fighters issued forth, swift and agile and graceful, to combat the enemy on even terms...

"I suppose we should add our voices to this symphony."

Flashes of light followed shortly by tears in the fabric of space signaled the entrance of the Abh fleet. Ship after ship glided out of hyperspace and formed up alongside the Forger which anchored the entire fleet. Its sheer size dwarfed the rest of the ships around it. Dusanyu walked out onto the bridge with Kenesh as they appraised the situation.

The Abh fleet steadily moved to cover the Tidanian's side with everything they had. "All ships, prepare for normal space generation. Once complete, merge with the Forger."

Small lights on the sides of every ship began to light up and stabilize. The only sign that anything had changed. Cartridges were loaded into their respective batteries. Power surged through the ships as they fed into energy weapons and defensive systems. Mines materialized into their tubes and were prepared to fire.

"My Lord, all ships have taken up their respective positions and are prepared to fire."

A moment of silence passed with the Abh fleet standing steady and poised to fight. With a heavy sigh, Dusanyu's command was only loud enough for Kenesh to hear. "Fire."

As one, shots rang out from the Abh fleet. Hellfire and transphasic torpedoes went forth targeting the nearest enemy vessel. They were followed closely by rounds from the Graviton cannons mixed in with the electromagnetic rifles.

"Admiral, we have launch detection."

"Send the launch command to the fleet. Have each carrier launch a quarter of their fighters."

"Yes Sir. Command sent."


As fighter after fighter left the launch bays, a small cloud of gleaming death numbering in the thousands formed between the fleet and the enemy. The swarm of Proteus Fighters rocketed towards the Caleshan fleet, attack vectors being taken as they close upon the Enemy fighters. The incredibly maneuverable fighters literally danced through the confrontations between the Skirmishers and the allied fleets. They were literally flying sideways, backwards, upside down, and every possible combination while targeting and firing at the enemy Skirmishers.

The pilots seemed to dance out of the way just moments before they would have been hit, almost as if they knew where the next shot was coming from (precognition psi ability). Sometimes it was not viable to be able to maneuver out of the way when several Skirmishers teamed up on a single fighter, giving it nowhere to dodge. The resulting explosion sent large blackened chunks of fighter spinning into other ships and Skirmishers alike.

Several hundred fighters were cornered once that tactic was discovered but not before they made sure the Caleshans felt their bite.

OOC: RESERVED FOR GZ.

Just so y'all know, for the next week I will be studying for AP tests, and so, I will be unable to post. Just figured I'd make you all aware of that particular situation, so that you do not get angry at me for not posting...

Bump to give Chron a chance ta post afore I start detailing fighters and point-blank tactics.

Enemy fighters boiled towards the Coredian fleet and the Aurebesh soup of lettered fighters awaited the call to respond. It came swiftly...

"Lancer Cruisers and Victory Star Destroyers: Keep those fighters off us! Ruby and Emerald Wings will support the antifighter ships. Gold and Silver will attempt to flank the enemy fighters and Sapphire and Amethyst Wings will defend the capital ships." The commodore ordered.

Over threee thousand fighters answered the call and over three thousand began to assist in combatting the swift arrowhead fighters the Caleshian fleet sent out. They were supported by dozens of larger antifighter craft and the devastating rapid-firing guns of the Lancers and Victories. They moved forward to provide a screen so that the capital ships, the Strike Cruisers, Star Destroyers, Star Cruisers and other powerful flagships would target and destroy the enemies with continual blasts of plasma energy and swift projectiles...

In the meantime, the Commodore had a plan...

The massive Caleshan fleet, now partitioned into several groups while the Aeon Lances maintained something of a central wedge formation, continued to accelerate towards their respective targeted fleets while skirmishers, or Broadswords as they were known to the Caleshan themselves, surged forward into the enemy fleets ahead of them.

"INITIATE TANK RUSH. KNOCK THEM DOWN AND GRIND THEM TO DUST."

As the massive vessels closed on their targets, they began to reorient themselves, focusing their topsides towards the enemy vessels and allowing for the application of both broadside batteries, rather than the bow guns, while at the same time allowing for the greatest amount of firepower with the smallest targeting profile. The topside of the Caleshan vessels were very heavily armored, in order to complement this particular tactic. A strange version of a shield wall structure formed as the Caleshan vessels fell into formation while maintaining a small amount of forward acceleration. As soon as this formation was fully active, the broadside cannons opened up, and at this point it was easy to note that the weapons utilized by the broadsides were not so varied as those involved in the bow guns.

They were all mass drivers. While not on a scale of the Godulan Guns of Archona, what these guns lacked in overall potency they more than made up for in sheer volume of fire. Strange ripples seemed to accompany each massive shell as it was launched towards the opposing fleets with typical Caleshan accuracy.

Such a move was not without cost, however, as the Godulan fleets continued their point-blank assault on the Caleshan forces, though they were also being harried by Caleshan Point-Defenses. Caleshan sniping was making for a very difficult time for the HellKite corvettes, though their survival was assisted somewhat by the size with which the Godulans had crafted them. In this case, the HellKites' durability was their greatest virtue, as they continued to pound the enemy vessels with all their might, leaving a trail of dead vessels in the wake of the Caleshan formations.

Though, a similar issue was now becoming apparent to the allied forces: The Caleshan Broadswords were not so much fighter craft as they were fighter bombers. They were relatively quick, though nowhere near along the capabilities of TIE fighters or X-Wings, though such things were made up for with a penchant for winking out of existence in one place, only to show up several hundred meters away. Such made it frustratingly difficult to keep any one fighter tailed for even a token amount of time. As the Broadsword Skirmishers meleed throughout the enemy fleets, they would occasionally join impromptu formations to make a run against a particular enemy vessel, diving along a selected vector and launching high-yield fusion torpedos at the enemy vessel from point-blank range, blinking away immediately after the torpedos were away.

All the while, the occasional Detonation of a targeted Guiding Light bomb, or the sporadic disintegration of unfortunate vessels targeted by the Hand of Sojun took place even while the Caleshan laid into their targets without mercy or prejudice.

It was very much a chaotic tableau indeed.

OOC: Oooooh Chronosia...

OOC: Is it too late for me to add a fleet? If not, I'll use fluid time to catch up...

OOC: Sure... Last one I think. Not much time left afore things start to get reeeeeeally hairy. And expect Casualties.

OOC: Kinda figured about that last part. I'll post a more detailed catch-up description soon; for now, a summary.

Kendari sent every ship that could be scraped up, with the exception of defensive fleets in each of the three primary systems and the border patrol. Tens of thousands of 'Dart' heavy combat drones and similar mobile explosive devices would have best been used in the initial mine field. There's around a score of heavy battleships, several times that many ordinary battleships, and lots of smaller vessels. Most important are Doomweaver the only ship in the Kendaryn navy capable of carrying turret-mounted Type V cannons, and Karval, a 'Lance' class heavy battleship equipped with some experimental KaosKorp gear. Since it rapidly became apparent that missiles can't reach their target, such weapons are being conserved. Fighter crafts are currently launching, both light one-man vessels and smaller numbers of four-person heavy fighters. Pyramid-shaped long-range attack vessels keep up a constant stream of fire from behind the fleet.

Reality itself rent, burning with the exertions of the warp upon reality; the mighty battlefleets of at least three Chronosian Primarchs; each a thousand strong, slid into existence, and immediate trained their reality sundering weapons against their black foes; hurling waves of raw warp energy; sending lance batteries and waves of howling projectiles into the fray; lending their mighty power to the Godulans who already fought.

This was the Long War; the great War; the apex of war and madness amongst the howling stars of a benighted Cosmos. Remiel had lent his power to the Cause and it was a sight worthy of the gods; the focussed fire of Chronosian might and arrogant power; the legacy of the De Drakan line; the sundering blow against a cosmic enemy. Only Chaos and Destruction would reign here.

Upon his flagship, the Sword of Arioch Remiel offered his prayers to the pestilant Gods he worshipped; the runes of his invocation hummed and growled; the warp seemed almost tangible; so close it could be touched; a howling wind surged about him as he focussed his mighty intent. The future was clouded, hidden from his eyes; yet he knew that he would have some grand role to play. His invocations grew more pitched, more fevered; blood ran from self-inflicted wounds; offered to his maddened Lords; his terrible Gods and unknowable Masters. His prayers seemed to boom and thunder in the warp; requesting glory; requesting power; Horus had once bore their power as a great boon and burden. Would they now bless him?

As the Chronosians opened fire again and again and readied to invoke their ancient, near sacred art of war; he imagined that he would have to find out quickly. For if the fickle master of Fate was against him? What then would the price be?

The combined allied onslaught continued to take its toll on the Caleshan fleets, but they continued to pummel the allies with everything they had, tearing into the enemy fleets with horrendous salvos of curiously rippling mass-driver fire.

The reason behind these awkward shells quickly became apparent as each shell impacted on whatever target it was directed towards. They would strike normally upon enemy shielding, slamming into the fields with massive amounts of Kinetic energy. However, those shells that broke through, only when their external layers were peeled off by the friction of slamming through the enemy ships, or when the shell's structure was severed by secondary means, detonated into a massive black sphere that seemed to absorb all light incident upon it. These were not singularities though, no gravitational attraction pulled unfortunate ships to their doom. Instead, anything that directly touched it was simply rent unto nothingness by the sheer power of infinitely accelerated entropic forces. Death was instantaneous and painless for all caught within, but horrific and painful for those only partially caught, as conflicting temporal frameworks ripped apart organic tissues with connections on both sides of the annihilating sphere's borders.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhilst, a stray shot from the Chronosians struck the entropic shielding of one of the Aeon Lances...

"POWER LOSS? HOW SEVERE?"

"It was only a small fluctuation, sir. The shields have already recovered."

"WAS SUCH DETECTABLE?"

"Several Caleshan vessels are indicating similar readings on their own sensors, judging from their readings, it would be folly to assume they haven't spotted it."

"BLAST. ORIGIN OF WEAPON?"

"The Gothic Archetype vessels."

"DIRECT THE AEON LANCES TO ENGAGE WEDGE FORMATION AND INITIATE A CHARGE. THREE AEON LANCES BREAK OFF AND MOVE PLANETSIDE, WE HAVE JUST BEEN GIVEN A TIME LIMIT."

"What about the other fleets? We're reading enemy reinforcements still arriving, and the present forces are dealing significant damage!"

"THE FLEET CAN HANDLE THEM LONG ENOUGH. WE SIMPLY NEED TO COMPLETE THE OBJECTIVE AND WE CAN DEPART."

Lights that had once represented ships on the holographic display on the Forger suddenly flickered and disappeared without warning. Flash after flash should ships disappearing by the groves.

Both hands gripped the railing as he stared at his ships disappearing without a trace. "This can't be. What in the universe is going on here?!"

An Abh manning his station turned around. "It's the enemy's main weapon just like in the report."

"Oh bloody blazes. Kenesh! Inform our ships to scatter to reduce the number of casualties."

The woman was already moving to stand next to him while taking notice of the enemy's formation. "Then what do you intend to do about this? They appear to be readying for a charge."

"Inform all Urbanuss Flankers to ignite energy blades. If they went to come our way, hopefully this will do some good. All Flankers are to report to our flanks and form a wall of energy to guard the rest of our ships while they fire everything they have."

Kenesh saluted. "Right away my Lord."

Ships began to spread out to avoid too many losses from the Caleshan fleet while Urbanuss Flankers formed off to the side where the wedge was coming and locked formation. Volley of Abh fire erupted from the ships as they continued to manuever around the enemy.

Korremar stood on the bridge of the Starfall watching the battle unfold. The Orpus cruisers struggled to maintain their wall formation shielding the rest of the fleet from the onslaught. Holes began to open as the beligured ships on the front lines fell to the enemy's weapons before they could cycle to the back and recover. The second line could no longer fill the gaps with replacements. Several Quors began taking heavy fire behind the wall, one of the carriers in the back took direct hits but was still in good shape so far.

The ten carriers launched their fighters. Swollen bays burst, giving way to the stream of almost a thousand single pilot ships each. They would do their best to protect the fleet from the enemy fighters, but the supernatural craft had already proven more than a match one-on-one. The commanders hoped they would be able to overwealm them, there seemed little hope to control them any other way.

Another cruiser on the front line blinked out of existance.

"CURSE THEM!"

Korremar looked over to the admiral. T'dek was known to be big and loud, but in battle he was always calm. His outburst told Korremar things were going much worse than they looked. And they were looking bad.

Here he was, avatar of a being many considered a god, and he was helpless. Forced to be a spectator.

Sensors registered a momentary power drop in the shields of one of the larger ships that had been hit by one of the Chronosians. The command staff quickly looked over the readings. "They are definitly having a dramatic effect."

Admiral T'dek nodded. "Do what you can to link our targeting with the Chronosians. Everytime their weapons hit those larger ships, I want at least a dozen of ours ridding in on their wake. We've found a weakness, I want it exploited, and by the makers whatever happens keep firing."

~~At the time of Sojun’s initial confrontation. The Royal Palace, Planet Kendari. Local time: 03:27.~~
King Garnyn Delerän was awakened by thunderous pounding on his door, followed promptly by the sinister sound of a number of complex locks opening themselves. Suddenly quite alert, he rolled out of bed and snatched up his black metal scepter, preparing to face an assassin. Then he saw who his visitor was, and lowered the weapon.

“Terdak! Are you all right?”

“Close enough.”

The Yamiri ambassador staggered into the room, three eyes staring wildly at nothing, four hands clutching at the air.

“There is… trouble… elsewhere, though. Big trouble. A fight between being of such power that it echoes across the galaxy….”

“Where?” Garnyn demanded. “What happened?”

“Godular.”

The Kendaryn Monarch threw on a deep blue robe over his pajamas and rushed to the door, grabbing his belt as he moved. “Come! You can give me the details on the way to a com station.”

Terdak followed him, dropping wearily to four legs.

“There isn’t much I can tell you. I was asleep when I first felt it. The strongest impressions I received were a great deal of surprise from both sides… and a sense that something more subtle is wrong.”

Secret transmission to the Godulan government:
-“I have been told that you had or are having some sort of trouble. Is there anything we can do to help?

Garnyn Delerän, King of Kendari”-

~~An emergency meeting of the Kendaryn Legislature, several hours later~~
The Monarch commands the Kendaryn military, but any large military operation, especially outside of the Kingdom’s borders, requires the consent of the Legislature. Little now remained of the isolationist movement that had dominated Kendari for so long, but this struggle would still require all of Garnyn’s political ability. A strong case could be made for staying well away from this struggle.

“I know all of you are familiar with the nation of Godular. Their military might and technological expertise are rightfully famous, and their firm opposition to genocide has certainly earned our respect. Now they find themselves facing an enemy that they cannot take on alone, and they need our help. I will be blunt – from what I have heard, it is quite possible that any fleet we can send them would simply be destroyed. However, there is a chance that our presence could mean the difference between victory and defeat. I feel that it is our duty to send what help we can. We cannot turn our back on an ally in their hour of greatest need!”

The debate continued for over two hours, covering both practical and ethical concerns, but finally Garnyn emerged victorious. He had secured permission to use all necessary force. Leaving the Legislature to their discussion, the King departed to speak with his generals.

“I want this force to include every vessel that can be scraped up besides our system guards and the border patrol. I don’t have all the details, but from what I understand, we’ll be facing an enemy like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

“Even Doomweaver?”

Garnyn paused for a moment, then replied with a sigh.

“Yes. Even Doomweaver can be repaired or rebuilt. If worst comes to worst, we still have the plans. We can build a replacement from scratch, if we must.”

“What about Karval?”

This name was considerably less well known than the former, but Garnyn was quite familiar with the vessel.

“Especially Karval. If we’re lucky, some of the experimental equipment it carries could give us a very important edge.”

~~The Terivine system, about a day and a half before the start of battle~~
The portal started as a tiny hole in space – little more than a pinprick, and virtually impossible to detect. It was quickly verified that the anchor hadn’t struck space in the center of a star or some other such hazard, and the portal widened to a few meters in diameter. A small probe darted through, performed a swift scan of the area, and reported that the fleet had reached its destination. As soon as this message was received, the portal grew swiftly larger and the fleet began to move. A massive ‘Pike’ class heavy battleship began gliding through the rapidly widening hole, and ‘Longbow’ interceptors started streaming past it as soon as there was enough clearance around its weapon-studded hull. After the tail end of the almost 3.5 km ship emerged from the portal, it was followed by two 2 km long ‘Halberd’ heavy battleships. Ten of the 2.5 km ‘Lance’ class vessels shot through, every one of the swift, powerful ships currently in existence. After these came 14 more Halberds and a second Pike. Throughout this process, smaller vessels moved around the heavy battleships: more Longbows, assorted variants on the ‘Javelin’ class frigate, a swarm of ‘Morningstar’ destroyers, and even a few scout vessels. As the last of the small ships made the jump, a neatly organized formation of lesser battleships moved in – both the maneuverable ‘Broadswords’, with their formidable array of forward-targeting weaponry, and ‘Longswords’, bristling with smaller turrets. Slow-moving support vessels lumbered through the portal next. The pyramid shaped Long Range Attack ships, the hulking, blocky drone control platforms, the enormous supply transports and gleaming medical craft spread out behind the rest of the fleet, further from where the battle was expected to begin. Finally, Doomweaver itself drifted through, and the portal closed. Slightly longer and considerably more massive than a Pike, the pride of the Kendaryn navy could challenge a small fleet of ordinary vessels alone… but on this battlefield, it would be just one insignificant piece among thousands.

While the Kendaryn fleet began moving into place with the rest of the forces arrayed here, ‘Dart’ heavy combat drones glided into place in the deadly mine field, and drones with somewhat more subtle modes of operation were scattered about the area.

~~The Battle Begins!~~
When the Caleshan fleet first arrived, the Kendaryn vessels held their fire to avoid detonating mines prematurely. Instead, they joined the initial strike only with the carefully placed Darts. Swift moving, shielded against light weapons fire, and directed by the powerful computers of the DCPs, Darts carry considerably more energy than simple antimatter missiles of the same size. They also served as observers, giving the Kendaryn fleet a real-time image of the Caleshan fleet until the last few of them were destroyed. A few seconds before this, the ‘Ballista’ LRA vessels that waited behind the fleet all fired their cannons in one great. They ranged in size from Type III guns, suitable for attacking frigates and smashing small gunships, to weapons that rivaled the power of Doomweaver mighty turrets; some fired thermokinetic Tor Ganot bolts straight at the enemy while others arced Delvar Artillery fire around the defending fleet. Every single shot, however, was carefully timed to reach the killing field at the same instant. At that instant, the rest of the fleet opened fire.

After that, the battle got messier. The sharp points of Longsword battleships, sheathed in deflection shielding, could shrug off all but the heaviest of blows, and the massive armor and powerful shields of the heavy battleships could take a lot of punishment, but the many of the other vessels were soon damaged by Caleshan return fire, and losses mounted quickly. Even the strongest Kendaryn vessels couldn’t withstand concerted fire from several enemies, and of course weapons like the devastating Guiding Light bombs obliterated anything unfortunate enough to be within their area of effect. Indeed, a Halberd and several smaller ships were destroyed by the first one to detonate.

Most of the Kendaryn vessels used simple brute force, sticking largely to simple, destructive Tor Ganot weaponry. A few, mostly scout vessels and interceptors, tried other techniques. Their findings were swiftly reported to the rest of the fleet – mostly along the lines of “T’larth shield slicers have no effect what-so-ever!” and “Needle rays cause minimal damage.” Still, they kept trying, and a few Longswords probed with unmatchably versatile Yamiri guns. If the Caleshan had any weakness, it would eventually be found.

As fighters deployed (“Blast! I can’t maintain any sort of lock on those Kzekdril skipping fighters of theirs!”) and the fleets began to mingle, Admiral Kron Teval decided it was time to test what might, with luck, become the Kendaryn fleet’s secret weapon. The Lance class heavy battleship Karval, known affectionately by its crew as “the Lance of chaos”, was the government’s vessel of choice for field testing experimental KaosKorp gear. Such equipment is highly unpredictable, and there is only so much that lab testing can reveal. One weapon, in particular, seemed to have potential: the entropic amplification beam. This device could reduce iron to powdered rust in a fraction of a second, and had an equally destructive effect on most other substances. However, there was no predicting how it would react to the Caleshan shielding. It might be weakened, blocked, or even reflected; it also might pass through unaffected, or even increase in power. There was only one way to find out, and now it would be done.

“Open fire!”

Four beams of invisibly accelerated entropy lanced out…

OOC: Your call what they do, if anything. The technology dates back to my creation of the character Xhertahk for the Heroes and Villains threads.
I was unexpectedly busy on Friday, or I’d have written this up then.

OOC: I won't be able to post for a week or so because of finals. Godular has permission to control my forces if necessary to prevent delay to the storyline.

No prob... still working up on a post actually. Again, kinda need Chron to post afore I can continue :(

"IT IS NOT A POWER LOSS, THEN?"

"No. The best way I can describe it is those four beams made the field go all... 'ripply'. We might have to keep an eye on that though. A lucky shot might make the ward wobble right into something critical."

"SUCH ASTOUNDINGLY SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY MAKES MY HEAD SPIN LIKE A CEILING FAN," came Sojun's reply to the commander's analysis. "SHIFT POWER FROM GUIDING LIGHT INTO THE STABILIZATION FIELD AND CARRY ON AS NORMAL. WE WILL NOT BE NEEDING THEM."

"Aye sir."

"ALL AEON LANCES PREPARE TO CHARGE ON MY MARK. MARK."

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The massive dreadnoughts began to thunder forward towards their respective targets. Nine of these massive vessels, including the one that had just been affected by the Kendaryn weapons, surged towards the Chronosian fleet in a form of pyramid formation and forsaking their devastating artillery weapons in favor of streams of dimensional warp energy to slice and tear at the Gothic vessels that, at this point in time, presented the greatest threat to the Aeon Lances.

The other three went straight for Terivine.

"Open fire"

Remiel spoke with renewed strength and confidence in the face of the enemy; their fire foccused against the vessels who opposed them. Ships of the Imperium dissapeared; torn into nothingness, rent asunder by their foes. He continued on; ordering the onward push of all Imperial might against their enemies. They fought alongside countless other cultures against a common foe; pledging their own strengths to a unfathomable goal.

Pushing on against their targets, against these heathenous beings who would try and oppose the servants of the true Gods; those foolish creatures who strove against the Chronosian agenda; as labyrinthian as that might prove to be

Warp and dimensional ripping energies crisscrossed in a hideous display of firepower between both the Dreadnoughts and the Chronosian fleets. Sojun's vessels shuddered slightly beneath the feet of his Avatars as the shields strained, but refused to relent, under the onslaught of the Chronosians' firepower.

At the same time, though they were taking their share of losses, the Caleshan fleet partition formations collided with the defending allied fleets, using navigational thrusters to move themselves out of the way of any intervening allied craft while keeping up with the Shield Rush broadsides against the enemy fleets. The fighters also kept up the pressure, having the allied fleets outnumbered by at least a factor of two and using their mobility to escape the more dangerous situations.

The Godulans kept up the pressure, however, and Makos and Marauders danced and pranced through the Caleshan fleets with abandon, leveling Fractal Cannonfire at their opposition with as much fury as they could spare, while HellKites presented a grave challenge to Caleshan fighter superiority simply by virtue of being able to pump out more firepower than the Caleshan Broadswords could possibly dodge.

One Caleshan fighter swerved to tail a Tidan fightercraft moving across its vector, narrowly avoiding a direct collision with one of the Tidanian carriers and collecting a pair of tailing Abh fighters in the process. The Abh fighters opened fire just enough to score the Broadsword's shielding before it blinked away, reappearing on the other side of the narrowly-avoided carrier. The Broadsword rose over the Carrier, bringing the Two Abh fighters into a lock for its own cannons, and fired three shots before a Godulan HellKite, ever the opportunist, took advantage of the Broadsword's distraction and leveled three separate streams of Fractal fire on it, ripping the Broadsword to shreds.

Several other Broadswords entered formation to assault one of the Kendaryn vessels with their Anti-Capital ordinance, remaining in formation just long enough to loose a wave of Disruptor Torpedos before breaking off to rejoin the dogfight. Of course, two broadswords met their end in this maneuver, thanks to the swift response of a Coredian X-wing that followed them in and laid into the temporarily not-so-dodgy Broadswords.

In a spontaneous demonstration of the hazards of using their Blink function too much in a crowded situation, one Broadsword vanished from the sights of a Balroggan Proteus, only to return to existence in front of, and be caught by, the Entropic ward of one of the Aeon Lances making way to Terivine at full speed. There wasn't even an explosion... unless one considers a glittery poof of dust and light an explosion.

A Godulan Mako dove mere meters past a Caleshan battleship that was preparing to focus a Broadside on a weakened Abh vessel, throwing its aim off just long enough for the Mako to swivel about and slam the starboard broadside batteries of the offending Caleshan vessel with fractal fire, shredding three of the batteries entirely before the Mako found itself pummeled by another battleship's unmolested broadside. A third of the Mako's mass suddenly gone, it immediately pushed forward at ramming speed into the Caleshan vessel's bow and detonated its self-destruct. The Mako vanished from existence in a blistering shockwave of disintegrating energy that snapped the rammed Caleshan vessel in two, causing the wrecked vessel's neighbors some distress as they caught the shrapnel.

And through it all, the Aeon Lances pressed on, three of them using the distraction of the situation at hand to push forward towards Terivine unnoticed... well... as unnoticed as a 65km dreadnought could be...

OOC:

Official Message from the person behind GZ:

My sadistic English teacher gave us a huge final project. Won't be able to post till sometime between May 26 & June 2.

Until then, my vessels are at Godular's disposal.

(JUST DON'T LET THEM BLOW UP WITHOUT MY APPROVAL!)

Each Flotte-Befehl carries a fighter/bomber/assault craft compliment of 10,000/1,000/200. 2,000 of those fighters are human-piloted, the rest are drones. All other light craft are manually piloted.

There are an additional four BattleCarriers in the fleet, adding another 800 fighters each. 600 of those fighters are drone-piloted.

OOC: I'm just carrying on as though yer chugging along with everybody else. Really, this is just something to showcase the strength of the Caleshan Valkyrie until a few posts from now. (keep in mind the fundamentals of the situation are scripted)

The distance between the Caleshan push and the line of Imperial ships was closing fast. The Enemy had quickly punched through the other defenses and all that stood was the meager line of small capital ships of the Balrogga Empire.

The Line was composed of multiple battle groups that made up a fleet. Three full fleets were here to defend their ally, Godular and they were not planning on letting anyone through without losing at least a few ships. The Torpedo Frigates of the force had already struck with the initial attack, resulting in several ships being destroyed. The Proteus Fighter swarm had been launched and was busy trying to help eliminate the Skirmisher threat. The distraction had allowed the push toward the planet and it appeared as if the only thing standing in the way was the few hundred vessels.

As the ships advanced, the battle groups condensed to absorb the rush and the outer groupings were to fire at the exposed flanks.

Aboard The BelDragos, Grand Admiral Ga’Ton was fuming.

“Why doesn’t anyone try to stop them? Are they so blind to see the other offensives are just decoys?”

“Sir, they are closer and cannot see the whole picture. We set up lines out here just in case this happened.”

“Command the frigates to concentrate on this push and set the lines for impact. I want the ships taken out any way possible, even in we need to ram ourselves down their throats.”

“Orders issued and relayed.”

At the scene of the battle, the Torpedo Frigates failed to return when they winked out of existence. The only sign they were there was the twisted wreckage of several of the victims of the Caleshan return fire drifting in their engine wash. Moments later they began to pop into formation in their respective battle groups. Their losses were heavy and less than a quarter remained of the original number that first entered battle. It will have to do.

Each battlegroup was centered on the individual carrier which operated as the command for that particular group. The carriers launched the remaining 3/4th of their fighters held back for just this contingency which took their position in a defensive cloud. The cruisers, battleships, and destroyers assumed battle formation and it seemed as if the entire fleet held it’s breath for a moment.

Then all hell broke loose.

The Caleshan vessels began to fire upon the Imperial defense positions as soon as they came within range. The Idolator and the remaining Torpedo frigates were the first to come under fire, being the closest. Lances of energy struck the Dimensional Shielding of the frigates, causing most of the damage to be shunted away across the dimensions. Even with that help, massive amounts of damage was registered as the adaptive armor attempted to materialize enough bulk in the way to absorb the excessive damage. The vapor of the disintegrating hull armor left a sheen of ebony powder, forming a cloud around the frigate, trapped by the gravitational mass of the ship. Many of the ships got off their volleys of Grav Torps before they were cut to shreds by the Caleshan weapons. Hundreds of torpedoes generating singularities in front of them sped to their targets. The charge of the enemy would keep them from breaking rank to get a flanking position on the torps as before. This would mean more point defense fire would be absorbed by the singularity itself instead of going past and striking the source sheltered behind it.

Aboard The BelDragos, Ga’Ton watched the initial strikes of the 18 battle groups against the godlike ships upon the display.

“Close the outer groups around and fire at their flanks. They are concentrating their shields at their fore. Hit them alongsides and from behind. Warm up the SGEs and fire at will. Hold back with the fighters until they are away.”

“Orders relayed Sir.”

“Comm, I want to know what they are broadcasting to their fighters. Get me a signal frequency.”

“Working on that Sir.”

“Once you get that, modulate out Cutters to use the same frequency and open fire. If their COMMs are getting through without interference, then they should too.”

The next like was a mixture of Destroyers and Cruisers. The Repulsive and Peacekeeper class cruisers opened fire with their arrays of Beam Cannons and their Torpedo tubes launched almost continuously. The Shadow and Vengeance class destroyers followed the example of their brethren. They opened up with their own Nova Cannons and their Torpedo tubes.

The Battleships would add their might to the conflict only holding back to protect the carriers while they were busy finishing launching their fighters. After they were off the deck, the Desolator and Enforcer class battleships advanced and opened up with their Beam Cannons and their Grav Torps.

The carriers were the last to act. Being delayed by their discharging of the fighters, they turned to battle their foes.

The Deity, Avatar, and Intruder classes achieved their positions and opened up with everything they had. Beam Cannons, Lasers, and Torpedoes by the hundreds. The Avatar Carriers turned their backs to the Caleshan forces, exposing the Mega Ion cannon and they fired. A dozen Ion beams powerful enough to cause planetary shields to falter lanced out to strike at the Enemies shields, hoping to cause some sort of weakness and exploit them.

The order for a massive SGE strike was issued by the Grand Admiral. Across the fleets, hundreds of SGE were raised from concealed bays and they began to glow with energy. The energy surged and massive singularities were fired at the enemy line. These were different from the Grav Torps because they were directly controlled from the Emitters and they didn’t have a torpedo to shoot at. The miniature black holes moved forward at sub-light speed much slower than the torpedoes but they would be more devastating.

That is if they made it through that dammed cursed shielding.

“Sir, I think I have a frequency for those COMM channels they are using.”

“Relay that data to the rest of the fleet and get them firing.”

“Yes Sir.”

A minute later, purple beams lanced out from the Peacekeeper Cruisers, the Vengeance Destroyers, the Enforcer Battleships, and all three classes of carriers. The Cutters were in actuality nothing but a low power containment beam with the strength of a standard communications laser. If the containment were broken by shielding or any mass, the object would be subjected to the innumerable dimensional fluctuations contained within. This usually resulted in the area struck ceasing to exist for a short moment, enough time for the surrounding mass to become disconnected from the matter struck. The end result would be a clean slice through almost any object.

The result of the attack was felt almost immediately by the Imperial defenders.

The enemy returned fire with several of their entropic weapons, leaving twisted and blackened wrecks. The numbers of frigates were almost completely finished. The Cruisers were taking a great many hits and the destroyers were not far behind. A couple of the carriers were hit, resulting in two Intruders and an Avatar crippled. Their battleship escorts attempting to provide some sort of cover for the wounded ships to withdraw.

The entropic fire from the Lances had a heavy toll at the center of the formation. Several ships were left burning or crumpled. The Despoilers Shade, one of the destroyers in the path of a lancer was burning with a halo of sparks flying from several gnashes in it’s gothic hull.

“Damage Control, get the systems online.”

“Damage Control Circuits have been fried. The ship is almost crippled.”

“What do we have left?”

“We still have Engines, Navigation, and the Space Minus Transmitter. Weapons are offline. The SGE has been hit and destroyed. The shielding is failing and the adaptive armor is dead in three quarters of the ship.”

“Status of the enemy.”

“We seem to be right in their path. As a matter if fact, there is a 32% chance our present drift will take us into a collision course with one of the Lancers.”

“Well, we will have to fix that. Set Navigation to ram the lead Lancer. Order the crew to evacuate the ship. The guidance computers can handle it from here.”

“Yes Sir, Evac procedures commencing.”

“Set the proximity alarms to trigger the targeting of the Lance with the ram tactic and get out of here. I will follow you through the transmitter.”

A couple minutes later, a drifting Shadow Class Destroyer suddenly came to life and entered a full speed ram into one of the Lances. When the ship hit the shielding, the ship was shattered, breaking into the Kython elements making up the Construct. The ebony Kythons settled upon the hull of the Lancer…



OOC:

OK, the rest is up to you Godular. I think I got it the way you wanted it.

OOC: Yuppers... that'll do for the first bit.

The Caleshan fleet barging its way into the Balroggan quarter fell apart with the rather sudden development of the black vessels suddenly firing their weapons at the same frequency modulation as the Caleshans entropic shielding. Those vessels that didn't get sliced to pieces suddenly broke away in order to let the colossal Aeon Lances through, having created a sufficient breach in the allied lines to penetrate to the planet proper.

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Alarms across the planet screamed into activity, and Godulan ground forces all around the surface of the verdant world scrambled to get into position.

"ALL STATIONS PREPARE TO REPEL ASSAULT FORCES. HIT 'EM WITH ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING AND IF IT TWITCHES, SHOOT IT!"

Even with all the forces that had come to their aid, the Caleshan had breached. They had known that the Caleshan focused on defensive effort, but no simple transfer of information prepared anybody for the sheer precision and skill of the Caleshan forces. Well, they knew their ships more than lived up to reputation, now to see about their soldiers in closer quarters.

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And so it was that the Godulans awaited the arrival of their Caleshan antagonists, though they were initially confused when one of the Aeon Lances broke away from formation as though it had been struck by a rock. It swerved... and stopped... something was seriously wrong with the Caleshan Superdreadnought, but what was it?

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"Magnify that damn thing! I want to know why it stumbled!"

"Aye sir... sir... those black dots..."

"Balroggan Strain... the Kythons got through the Entropic Ward... and now they're playing all kinds of hell with the dreadnought's systems. I have to tell command. COMMS, GET ME ONLINE WITH GENERAL LEAR!"

"Aye sir!"

General Lear's voice came on the security line within a few seconds. "Admiral, this had better be good."

"Oh, I think you'll find that its pretty damn good in fact. The Kythons... at least the Balroggan strain, anyway, have broken through the Entropic ward on one of the Aeon Lances and are wreaking havoc--"

"Oh no... sir? They're not slowing down!"

"--with its systems. Transmitting data now... wait... what was that? What... in the flying fuck? BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

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>>Connection Terminated<<

General Lear and Baron Skye gave each other confused looks before Lear turned to the comms adjutants. "Get me comms with somebody out there. I want to know what the hell just happened, and I want to know it YESTERDAY."

"Aye sir... uh... well... I can't."

Lear moved towards the Adjutant with murderous intent. "What. Was. That?"

"We're getting spammed... the entire fleet is sending us comms... I'm trying to filter through but several thousand signals at once is kinda fucking me over something fierce."

"Try to filter it out as best you can, and put what you have on speakers."

"Aye sir! I think I can filter down to twenty or so... Putting it on now."

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"--ammed the planet itself for no apparent reaso--"

"--iding Light just as they reached the core an--"

"--hy did they do that? What major malfunction explains this atroci--"

"--ow could Sojun, of all people, do this--"

"--ad FAMILY down there! My wife! My son! My daughte--"

"--no no no no no... this just isn't right... this can't be...--

"--asive action, evasive action! See if we can swerve the shrapnel into those bastar--"

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Skye and Lear's confusion turned slowly into blind horror as they listened on and on to the comms coming from the system.

"Sojun... what have you done?" Skye asked, staring at the situation screen.

"Get me confirmation!" Lear screamed with a heretofore unheard tone of urgency. She very nearly strangled the sensors adjutant as she waited for visual confirmation to arrive, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to see what had just taken place.

"Recieving... visual..."

The main screen switched from a tactical display to a single image of the green world of Terivine, host to a nonviolent indigenous species, home to the Godulan diplomatic core, home to two hundred and sixty five million Godulan Citizens, as two Aeon Lances rammed directly into it. Three seconds after that, no less than six Guiding Light detonations turned what was once a verdant and wonderful world...

Into space dust.

Its death as a world was swift and catastrophic. Rays of light emerged from the two holes generated by the Aeon Lances, then the world's crust shattered and after a few agonizing seconds of world rending force, the planet simply fell apart.

Silence reigned the command room for about a minute, not paying attention as the comms signals originally relaying confusion and shock turned into a blind rage that was immediately directed upon the Caleshan fleet. The Godulans dealt with rage in their own way. They knew that they needed to destroy the enemy on as massive a scale as possible, and that Sojun would finally understand the concept of revenge.

Baron Skye's gaze went blank, and he sat down clumsily on the ground, still staring at the situation screen...

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"IT IS DONE. WE WILL TROUBLE YOU NO MORE."

"What is done?" Skye's avatar asked Sojun as soon as the Chronotheurge had issued his 'statement'. "What was that supposed to accomplish? What is the reason for what you just did?"

"INTELLIGENCE POINTED TO TERIVINE AS THE PRIMARY MANUFACTURING CENTER OF THE KYTHON SCOURGE. REMOVAL OF MANUFACTURING WAS DEEMED NECESSITATING A 'SWIFT' SOLUTION."

"Wha--? Who gave you this 'intelligence'? It is completely false! The Kythons build themselves out of space debris and destroyed enemy vessels. That is what we designed them for. We built the first ones at THORN."

"THERE WERE KYTHONS DEFENDING THE PLANET."

"Balroggans were defending the planet! They use Kythons as well! Those weren't ours! There was no reason for such an act! None! Especially not for you! I hope you enjoy being the murderer of hundreds of millions of men, women, and children, and driving a peaceful race of sentients to extinction in one fell blow. That world was the home of our diplomatic corps. Oh Sirzan... almost his entire family... gone... because you... you relied on cooked up intelligence."

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"We've analyzed the information regarding the ram, sir... It looks like the Kythons managed to absorb the entropic ward energy. The power surge broke them apart into individual kythons, but supercharged them into a level of propagation that's... just... holy shit..."

"Bring in the Godulan Strain Kythons," Lear said, visibly trembling, tears making their way down her cheeks, "No need to try drawing the Caleshan off... now I say we kill as many of them as we can..."

"Aye sir!"

"Comms, get me all vessels."

The communications adjutants buzzed with activity for several seconds, then a single hand went up. "You're on, General."

"Godulan HomeGuard! This is what Sojun has done to us! This is what he has deemed just and proper to inflict upon us! We gave him reverence. We gave him our thoughts. And in return he has brought us death and destruction. Is this what we have been fighting for? Is this what we deserve?"

A chorus of "HELL NO"s rumbled through the chamber.

"Then I say that we give Sojun a piece of our mind. Burn them. Kill them. Lay them low. Rend them. Tear them. Destroy them. Let them understand with blood and iron that nothing. Nothing at all, will stop us. In the words of our founders... NOT EVEN DEATH CAN KEEP US DOWN!"

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"Sir! One of the Aeon Lances sent to Terivine is not responding!"

"ANOTHER ENTROPIC WEAPON?"

"Kythons," Skye answered for him, a malicious grin on his face. "They broke through the shielding, and are eating your prized toy even now. Such is the action of only one ship, and now, its Ward is gone. The Balroggan strain is feasting upon the bulk of your dreadnought and will not stop until the Aeon Lance's nameplate is on the fore of a Kython Slaughterking."

Sojun turned to Skye, a grim expression on his face.

"You have called down the thunder, you automaton. Burn in righteous fire."

Skye's avatar vanished.

"Sir! Sensor contacts appearing throughout the system. Thousands of them!"

"IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THIS BATTLE IS NOT OVER YET. ALL HANDS, BATTLESTATIONS, AND PREPARE TO REPEL BOARDERS!"

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And so it was that the shimmering green menace of the Godulan Strain Kython swarms surged into existence, Slaughterkings, Slaymasters, and Deathlords alike. Their goal was twofold: Propagation, and revenge upon those responsible for the destruction of a life-bearing world.

Immediately, the swift vessels drove into the Caleshan fleet, spreading wave after wave of Shardbolt fire in their wake and leaving the Caleshan vessels to be torn asunder by the Slaymaster fighters, which immediately began scrambling about on the surface of various Caleshan vessels, completely ignoring the entropic ward of the great battleships while they ripped off weapons emplacements and sensor arrays and scrambled into fighter launch bays to begin 'propagation'.

"PREPARE TO WITHDRAW. ALL SHIPS PREPARE TO WITHDRAW..."

The Forger lurched to the side after just barely missing a direct attack from one of the Caleshan vessels. That alone though was enough to remove a complete section of the ship. Regenerayive bio-armor went into effect but that could only do so much as the bodies of human and Abh alike were sucked out in the vaccum. "Close pressure doors in all sections!" Dusanyu leaned at the railing as they were rocked with a secondary explosion. "Damn. I want some destroyers up here immediatly for added firepower. Prepare to fire the main weapon."

The Aeon Lances caused a stir amongst the crew as they could only watch as they plunged into the core of Tervine. "There is no honor in this. What a lowly thing to do to destroy a planet that had no real military significance."

Kenesh staggered up to the bridge with blood running from her head. "We have reports of Kythons in the area and they are attacking the Caleshan fleet. Our losses are starting to mount as well."

Dusanyu slammed his command saber down on the railing. "All ships are to aquire whatever shot they can and take. All power to weapons systems. I want whatever Urbanuss Flankers we have to light up their energy blades and charge into the Caleshan vessels. Tear them to shreds."

Abh ships opened up with renewed furry. Even those that were basically dead in the water fired with what they could even if it was simple laser fire. The remaining Urbanuss Flankers that hadn't been destroyed when the Caleshan vessels pushed through, charged into the enemy fleet with energy blades ignited. They dove in and around slicing into sides of the ship or just trying to decapitate the ships at critical areas.

Commodore Swanson saw the destruction of Tervine on his screens and deeply sympathized when he heard Godulan intercepts. "Since Alderaan, since Juria, the destruction of a world is a sin most abominable. Masaki will not be pleased. Fleet. Prepare to make the jump to hyperspace for home. I believe we are needed at Jurai..."

With a heavy heart at their failure, the Commodore's fleet moved to enter hyperspace and let the Godulans deal with their vengeance...

Hyr was crowded that day. Over two million souls had already appeared on the Crossroads, finally home, and the sun had not set yet.

As the group of Caleshan ships targeting the Tidani fleet pushed forward the last of the Orpus cruisers covering the fleet was ripped apart. The rest of the fleet was now completely open to the advancing ships. Open, not vulnerable.

The remaining Tidani ships fired with everything they had as the enemy seemed to push through them like paper. An Aeon Lance charged toward the carriers who were already in a desperate fight to control the skirmishers. Vellup fighters were flying for their lives as they tried to battle the Caleshan fighters and avoid the point-defense fire from the capital ships.

The enemy dreadnaught emerged from the other ships as it fired on one of the carriers. The carrier's shields failed and it burst as explosions rippled down its length.

Bridge of the Starfall

"Sir, we just lost the Keeper's Staff. It was one of the enemy dreadnaughts, it's still coming."

T'dek looked over to see the fireball fighting against the vacuum, the two forces trying to consume each other. "Focus all fire on that ship. We can't survive while it still exists!"

Then the world of Terivine ceased to exist. The horror of the act shocked everyone.

Korremar fell to his knees as he felt the pain of so many overwealm his soul. "Durresh no! What have they done!" Then he blacked out and fell to the floor.

Another carrier fell.

T'dek's fists clenched his chair. "Keep fire concentrated on the dreadnaught!"

"Sir, the Hammer is charging the dreadnaught!"

"What?"

"It's on a collision course and it's at full burn."

"Open a channel."

"I'm trying Sir, they aren't responding."

The Hammer's emergency thrusters burst and its engines were overheating. It charged at the vessel that was over 30 times its size. It unloaded all of its weapons and took devestating hits as it became a 2km missile. As it collided with the ship the captain activated the emergency phase shields, phasing part of the enemy ship out of this universe. This caused havok with the bordering sections of the ship but it didn't last for long. The shield lasted only a minute before overloading, but it provided enough time for the Hammer to move at full speed a good distance into the dreadnaught. As the carrier began to fall apart from the devestating fire the section of the dreadnaught rephased trying to occupy the same point in space as the carrier. Atoms and forces merged and collided ending in a massive explosion.

The Caleshan vessels thundered their response to enemy fire, more and more of them succumbing to the sheer ferocity of the Kython scourge and the renewed and invigorated Godulan counterstrikes. Several Caleshan vessels even now were glowing iridescent green under the disintegrating energies of the Kython swarms, comms signals from the afflicted ships told a tale of agony and horror as even the skill and strength of the Caleshan forces could not prevent them from being absorbed and reconstituted into more drones for the swarm.

The Aeon Lance first beset upon by the Balroggan Strain Kythons withered beneath their influence, floating free and dead in the sky while the black monstrosities crawled along its surface and through its corridors.

Another Aeon Lance rather unfortunately found itself in the instantly explosive situation of having the entropic regulation spire suddenly comaterialized with a portion of Tidanian carrier. The result was as brilliant as it was devastating, as the Entropic Ward suddenly destabilized and rent itself asunder with a shockwave of pure entropic forces that would remove many of the vessels within a ten thousand kilometer radius from existence.

Sojun, for the first time in his relatively short life amongst the beings of the chamber, found himself considering the possibility that he was, for once, overmatched. Though the defending fleets were in disarray, the Kythons were proving to be more of a threat than he realized. As he considered the multitudinous pathways of the battle ahead, he found himself distracted by a voice surging forth into his mind. An eminently familiar voice. A voice that filled him with dread at this dire hour.

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O BROTHER. WHERE ART THOU? sang the lilting voice of Orion, the manifestation of the second half of the combined entity from whence spawned Sojun as the first half.

Sojun's response dripped with venom.

YOUR PRESENCE IS NEITHER NEEDED NOR WANTED HERE, MURDERER.

YOU WOUND ME WITH SUCH APPELATIONS, DEAR BROTHER. AND WHERE IS HERE? HERE IS THE DEFINITION OF THE LOCATION OF THE SEEKER. THE HUNTER WANTS TO FIND THE SEEKER. THE HUNTER HUNTS THE SEEKER.

WHAT I DO CONCERNS BOTH OF US.

INDEED. INDEED. PERHAPS YOU WISH TO PREVENT ME FROM LEARNING OF A NEW WEAPON, HMM? SOMETHING I MIGHT SEEK TO BEND TO MY OWN WILL?

THESE CREATURES CAN DESTROY YOU. YOU AND ME BOTH.

A WEAPON THAT YOU WISH TO SUBVERT, THEN? NO. YOU ARE TOO SQUEAMISH FOR THAT.

AH BROTHER YOUR PLOTS ARE AS LABRYNTHINE AS TO MAKE ME PROUD. BUT YOU ARE FAR EASIER TO READ. YOU DO NOT CALCULATE AS FAR AS I. YOUR ACTIONS WILL HAUNT YOU, BROTHER. YOU AND I BOTH. KNOW YOU NOT THAT ACTING TO PREVENT A PROPHECY IS OFTEN THE BRINGER OF FRUITION? YOU SOUGHT TO PREVENT THE ONCOMING SCOURGE. YOU SOUGHT TO PREVENT IT AND IN DOING SO YOU BROUGHT IT TO BEAR.

YOU FOOL.

I DID NOT SEE YOU MAKE ANY EFFORT TO PREVENT THE COMING.

THE PROPHECY SAID NOTHING OF THE EVENTS AFTER THEIR RISE. I HAVE BEEN PREPARING. BUT YOU... YOU I THINK ARE CAUGHT OFF GUARD.

BROTHER, I MAY NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, BUT I MOST ASSUREDLY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE NOT. PERHAPS I SHOULD PAY A CALL ON THE BITCH AGAIN? I HEAR MY SON PAYS YOU KNOW END OF CONSTERNATION.

YOU WOULD NOT DARE.

DARE YOU TO PREDICT MY METHODS? DARE YOU TO SPEAK OF WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT DO? COME NOW, DEAR BROTHER! THE ONLY REASON I DO WHAT I DO IS THAT NO ONE CAN STOP ME! AS YOU ARE THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE, I RATHER HUMBLY SUGGEST THAT YOU WOULD DO VERY WELL TO REMEMBER THAT WHILE THE TRIAD WAS A THREAT, *I* AM THE THREAT NOW...

AH BROTHER. TRANSPARENT AS THE FINEST CRYSTAL AS ALWAYS. PERHAPS IT WAS NOT SO PRUDENT TO ALLOW THEM THAT TREATY AFTER ALL? SEEING AS YOU BROKE IT, I UNDERSTAND NOW HOW YOUR ACTIONS BRING FORTH THE SCOURGE. HONESTLY BROTHER, YOU SURPRISE ME. I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY ATROCITIES, BUT NOT ONCE HAVE I BROKEN MY WORD. I CAN SEE NOW THAT MAYBE YOU ARE THE BLACK SHEEP OF OUR LITTLE FAMILY. I MAY BE THE MURDERER, BUT YOU ARE THE BETRAYER. THE LIAR. THE SHAM. SOJUN THE FRAUDULENT! PERHAPS YOUR PORTFOLIO SHOULD EXPAND TO INCLUDE INTRIGUE AND DECEPTION!

ENOUGH.

NO. IT IS NOT. YOU HAVE PLACED YOURSELF INTO A TACTICAL BUNGLE, BROTHER. YOU MOVED AND DID NOT DEFEND YOURSELF PROPERLY. I, IN TURN, WOULD BE A FOOL NOT TO MAKE MY MOVE. I WOULD SO ADORE THE LOOK ON THE FACE OF THE BITCH TO HAVE HER LOOK UPON MY COUNTENANCE ONCE MORE. PERHAPS I MIGHT EVEN... REQUISITION HER...

IF YOU TOUCH HER I WILL--

WHAT WILL YOU DO? KILL ME? I CHALLENGE YOU TO TRY, DEAR BROTHER. NO, YOU WILL THREATEN AND GRANDSTAND BECAUSE YOU CAN DO LITTLE ELSE.

COME, BROTHER. PROVE ME WRONG.

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"ENGAGE DIMENSIONAL DRIVE NOW. ALL VESSELS PREPARE FOR JUMP."

"Sir? We're not in formation! Half the fleet will be left behind!"

"THE FORGES ARE UNDER ATTACK. ORION FOUND OUT ABOUT THE VICTORY'S DEPARTURE."

Gasps erupted throughout the bridge, and activity suddenly doubled.

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A ripple of gravimetric dimensional energy, and two thirds of the Caleshan fleet were gone. Left to their own devices were two more Aeon Lances, suddenly little more than cumbersome bulks now that the source of entropic energy that powered their shielding had vanished into Superspace.

The remainder of the Caleshan Fleet... the Victory, was now stranded, weakened, wounded, surrounded, and outgunned...

OOC:

I'm back. I'll finish reading and post up tomorrow.