NationStates Jolt Archive

Prologue

“...It is unknown what has caused the communication blackout…”

“…Strange Subspace occurrences were recorded moments before the outlying colonies ceased all communications…”

“…It is feared that the refugees from all over the galaxy who were settled on the thought to have been abandoned planets, left by a nation that disappeared many decades ago have been wiped out…”

“…Search and rescue operations launched into the Lathranos Cluster, where the colonies ceased communication over a month ago, have not since returned or reported in…”

“…It is now found that the territories were controlled by the somewhat secretive nation of Outer Heaven Mark Two. Outer Heaven was viewed with apprehension by many, due to its surprising mastery of Subspace and weaponry technology, as well as its early expansionist campaigns that took a hold of many outlying territories in this galaxy and others. However, many decades ago, the nation vanished without a trace, leaving its territories undefended and planets littered with destroyed technology…”

News reports like this, and others, flashed across News Channels across the Galaxy. On one outlying planet, a silhouetted figure sat at a table, a cigar in his mouth, thanking a waitress as she took away his finished lunch. Tapping some ash into an ashtray, he sat back, and watched another report on the ‘Dark Colonies’. As the report went on, he sighed, and scratched an itch on his arm. What happened next surprised him.

“What the hell?” He muttered, unbuttoning his right sleeve on his shirt, and pulling it back over the lump that had appeared. Only it wasn’t just a lump, it seemed to be opening. Blinking in disbelief, a distant memory returning to him, he shielded his arm from sight, and pulled out a tiny device from the opening in his arm. Placing it into the palm of his left hand, he watched as the little device opened up, and revealed a screen. A few numbers ran across the screen randomly, followed by a sequence of flashes, before the device self-destructed with a small pop. Shaking his hand, the man blinked, and as more memories came to him, he let out a breath.

“My superiors…they’ve returned.”

Suddenly finding himself standing, the figure, dropping an inadequate tip, wondered why he had such a feeling of urgency to go somewhere. Running and jumping off a ledge, he thought it best to concentrate on landing safely and figuring out what just happened later.


The mysterious return

Gate #241 of the ITH Hub sat with the rest of its companions, its running lights offline, the whole thing pretty much turned off. It had sat there for decades in its current state, its destination restricted at the request of the nation it led to: Outer Heaven MK II. No wonder then, that when the Gate activated, and widened the portal to about 20KM in diameter, that there was a great deal of commotion. Within moments, it was apparent to the Balroggans that, with the power feeding between Gate #241 and its connecting gate, that something huge was going to appear.

What was more worrisome was that the Subspace readings that were coming through were frighteningly similar to that of the Shivans.

Moments after all this occurred, the ship appeared, slowly making its way through the portal opening. The hull was a dark, dull grey, lined by numerous small trenches that created a type of ‘net’ over the surface, that carried high amounts of energy across. As the ship reverted fully into real space, it was apparent that the ship was a very unlike any design used by Outer Heaven, the ship basically being a massive sphere with no visible weapons or propulsion. What was also surprising was the encrypted message being broadcast across private Balroggan channels, used only for allies. Once decrypted, the message read:

Balroggans, hold your fire!
This is Supreme Admiral Zuthros of the OHM Jugular.
We greet you with warm regards and ask that you ignore the very apparent Shivan readings emanating from our ship, which we will be explained in due time.
We also wish to meet any high ranking member of your nation with due haste, if possible.
Please communicate back using the same fashion, and please, keep all vessels three kilometers away from the surface of our vessel!
This will also be explained in due time.

Regards,
Supreme Admiral Zuthros

A message was return using the same system and codes, as required.

Greetings

It is good to hear from you after all these years. We have often wondered what has happened but figured you would contact us if you needed help.

There will be a ship there within ten minutes. As requested, it will remain at least 3000 meters from your vessel at all times.



About eight minutes later a vessel appeared. It did not fade into being as if it was Emerging from T-Space, nor was there a wormhole used. Saying it was there as if it was always and not noticed was the easiest way to describe its presence.

The ship waited for the Outer Heaven vessel to initiate contact.

The OHM Jugular slowly rotated, with nothing remarkable on its hull. After a few minutes, there was a bright flash of light, and it was barely visible that something blue, a sort of energy field, had retracted by an unknown distance. What was strange though was that the vessel itself, aside from the subspace signatures, just didn’t seem to exist to scanners. When focused upon, it merely appeared as a gap in the sensor’s readings. Aside from some sketchy hull compositions and measurements, no other details could be taken from the ship to any degree of usefulness.

A transmission was sent out to the vessel:

Attached to this message is a flight plan, please do not deviate from this if possible. The crew of the OHM Jugular welcomes you, and I personally look forward to meeting you personally shortly. I suggest that you approach the Mothership at approximately half the apparent speed of your vessel; we have a special sort of docking procedure.

A few moments later, the OHM Jugular began to slow its rotation to a halt, and as the Balroggans began to near the Mothership, a cross of light opened up across the hull, and it then became apparent to the Balroggans that the Mothership was opening. Slowly, the Mothership’s outer hull opened out into eight separate sections, and raised, exposing what could be best described as a glowing shaft at least five or so kilometers wide, reaching from the top to the bottom of the Mothership, with some large buildings of unknown use surrounding it. More unknown buildings and small spires were littered across the interior side of the outer hull. The Flight Plan apparently led straight toward the shaft, and after a few minutes, the Balroggan ship would arrive in a fairly non-descript and mostly empty hangar bay. As the ship landed, a man in a dark Military Uniform was seen approaching the vessel, flanked by two Troopers wearing a suit best described as some sort of red and black strong shell mixed with normal Quantanium armour. The Rifles held appeared to be in line with something Outer Heaven would make, but they were also new.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/beldragos/Serendipity5.jpg

The Serendipity folded and retracted several of her spines to allow a better fit to the many docking ports in the hanger bay. The mammoth dreadnaught, the personal flagship of the Emperor himself slowly moved towards the end of the preprogrammed flight plan. The ebon vessel seemed to contrast with the bright light and the dominating silvery colors. It almost seemed to be absorbing the light itself, an ominous shadow within the world of light it found itself.

Within the vessel, Nhur-Galladu watched everything through the ship’s sensors, viewing everything from several different angles and vantage points simultaneously. He watched as the sensors ticked off the meters to the docking ports, the ripples in the floor of the landing bay, the almost fluid metal of the walls and the breath taking light illuminating everything. Behind him he noted the eight segmental doors closed, safely enclosing the world inside the sphere from the outsiders that might be unfortunate to arrive.

The great vessel came to a dead halt as they reached the end of the course and waited. The silence of the gravity drives added to the mystery of The Serendipity. Several docking arms grew out of the hull to match the ports. The midnight tendrils of Thur’Tahg reached out to meet the silvery metal of the ports. There was a ripple as they found their mark and locked into place.

As the sensors noted the arrival of a man dressed in a uniform with two escorts, Nhur-Galladu willed himself to the appropriate docking arm where he personally met their host.

Supreme Admiral Zuthros took a moment to readjust his uniform, waiting patiently for the Balroggans to finish docking procedures. Putting his arms behind his back, he closed his eye for a moment, and did his best to ignore the near muted whispers inside his head. The nanites could only handle so much, and Zuthros wondered whether the Balroggans would find out, or rather, if they'd be alarmed once they discovered that Outer Heaven had gone further with Shivan technology than perhaps they already feared. Zuthros was a middle-aged man, a few streaks of grey running through a modest head of neatly kept black hair. His left eye was covered by some sort of scanner, and a scar ran across his face starting from his forehead and ending just under his left eye, slanting towards his nose.

The corridor Zuthros and his guard were stood in was somewhat circular, but the shape leaned slightly to the right, creating a somewhat strange environment. The corridor was completely silvery, with a light white light emanating from it. Strange and seemingly random patterns of lines went across the corridor, but it was not just the décor that made the environment strange. This could be attributed to the fact that while Zuthros was on the ‘floor’, his guard was standing on the ‘roof’, without any apparent special gear.

As Nhur-Galladu appeared before him, Zuthros took a deep breath, and bowed, his mind apparently shielded to any telepathic readings Nhur-Galladu could take passively. Raising his head and standing at full height, he smiled, and approached Nhur-Galladu. He stopped barely two meters away, his mind still blocked off from the Balroggan. There was, however, a seemingly background murmur that the Balroggan could pick up on, as well as a presence not associated with anybody Outer Heaven had encountered before they had vanished. Zuthros spoke up.

“Nhur-Galladu, it is an honour to finally meet you in person. I am Supreme Admiral Zuthros; I suppose you could call me Slavik’s predecessor…”

A small hint of sadness crossed Zuthros’ face for the barest second, before he returned to his confident, diplomatic mood.

“The Grand Admiral spoke highly of Balrogga; I just hope I can be as accommodating as the Admiral once was.”

Standing rigid, Zuthros waited for Nhur-Galladu’s response.

Nhur-Galladu watched Zuthros for a moment, taking note in the micro-electrical emanations emitting from within him, which was much more than he remembered. The whole ship seemed to course with multiple sources of energy. As a Ta’Nar, his natural “vision” was to observe the energy of the universe. When you do not have any physical organs, you have to observe your surroundings somehow. The Ta’Nar literally saw by observing the natural energy movements around them. They saw sound, heat, electrical, and many other various forms of natural energetic emanations. When you only exist as a psychic emanation, a pure mind, an energy being composed of thought and psionic power you need some way to observe the world around you.

The man in the uniform approached the place Nhur-Galladu was waiting. He seemed to be deep in thought about something. The mind behind the man was obviously active and Nhur-Galadu could feel it but there was also something creating a static of some sort. Like a white noise designed to keep out errant psionic intrusion. He could easily have broken through them but that would be rude to do to your hose. He just made note of the curious passive resistance to telepathic snoops.

“Nhur-Galladu, it is an honour to finally meet you in person. I am Supreme Admiral Zuthros; I suppose you could call me Slavik’s predecessor…”

Nhur-Galladu noticed an involuntary control of his facial muscular when Zuthros spoke of Slavik. It matched the normal facial expression meaning sadness. He could not blame Zuthros; Slavik was not only a good man, but also a friend to the Emperor.

“The Grand Admiral spoke highly of Balrogga; I just hope I can be as accommodating as the Admiral once was.”

“I trust you will do your best. That is all anyone can do. I can see you have changed much over the years, as have we. Where would you like to talk? We can use The Serendipity or your ship. Either works for me.”

Zuthros smiled, glad that the Emperor was similar to the person Slavik had made him out to be. Kneeling down, he tapped at a few random shapes on the floor. They lit up, and morphed into a few more shapes, that he tapped on again. Standing, he looked up, and after a few moments, a Subspace Portal opened.

"We have a facility already prepared. In events of FTL counter-action, we would use a different method, but more on that later. Please, follow me."

Not wasting a moment, Zuthros turned to his left, and walked, and quickly made his way to the 'Roof' where the Portal opened out above the floor. Without hesitating, he dropped into the Portal, his guard in tow.

_________________________________________________________________

Landing as if he'd merely dropped a couple of meters, Zuthros bent over slightly as he walked out from under the Portal. Kneeling again, he began to tap on some of the shapes on the floor, and hit some of the new ones that appeared. The room appeared to be a massive chamber, shaped as if it were the hollow inside of a sphere. Many meters away, the floor changed, and began to morph. After a few moments, a large holographic projector had formed, along with two chairs next to each other, sitting in front of it. Standing, Zuthros waited for the Emperor, before leading the way to the seats. The Subspace Portal closed behind them.

"As you can see, a new technology we've developed enables me to command the Mothership from any point, and construct anything that is required to be built."

Nhur-Galladu willed himself to follow the sentience of Zuthros so when he stood and stepped into the hole, Nhur-Galladu appeared beside him. As long as they did not actually cross any dimensional borders he could follow Zuthros this way. When he stood again after manipulating the controls in the floor, Nhur-Galladu was standing behind him waiting.

"As you can see, a new technology we've developed enables me to command the Mothership from any point, and construct anything that is required to be built."

“Admirable, but it would seem easier to have the controls on a vertical surface so you don’t have to stoop down so much. An even better method would be to use those nanobots to send commands to the Mothership. It would be both faster and more efficient.”

He looked around the room that didn’t exist moments before. The two chairs appeared to be comfortable but that didn’t really matter to him. He would just project the image of himself sitting along with the kinetics to simulate the body.

As he walked over to the chair indicated he examined the holo-projector which besides the large size seemed to be standard.

“Thank you, you are so kind. Your etiquette certainly has not suffered over the years.”

Nhur-Galladu sat down and waited for the presentation.

Zuthros nodded as the Emperor gave a minor criticism of the integrated command system.

"A fair point indeed, and we do have vertical systems standing by in more...crucial areas of the ship. The crew doesn’t have to stoop; I personally see any exercise at my age as good. We use the system we do to ensure security, for instance, without probing my mind, you would have no idea what that triangular shape on the floor would activate. Of course, we would use the nanites you have detected inside me and the other crewmembers, but opening them up for more external tasks rather than electronic communication puts us at risk from external sources. While our technology is proven safe, I'd rather not take too many chances Emperor."

As the Emperor sat, Zuthros nodded his head in thanks for the compliment, and activated the Projector.

"We are unsure exactly when, but lets just say over a century or so ago, we pretty much vanished without a trace, with no reasons given, only asking that any access to our territories via the ITH was restricted. I'm afraid that I can only give you a limited picture of what happened. At the time that all this happened, we were much more focused on fighting than recording what happened."

Tapping in a few commands, Zuthros sat down, and pulled his seat in a little closer, the bottom attached to the floor but moving in an oddly liquidly fluent way. A planet appeared, a large one, parts of it's lush green surface covered in sky-reaching spires and cities, as well as many large lakes, some the size of minor moons. Above it, a fierce battle raged, but the view was not in close enough to reveal much more.

"This planet is Serpantis Prime, our birth planet and capital. Thought to be the most secure place in our Nation, it had several safeguards in place to prevent unauthorised travel to it. It was off any official maps, and it was even moved, along with it's system, to a very out of the way place. Even so, at approximately a week before we pulled out of this universe altogether, Serpantis Prime sent out a distress call, stating it was under attack by unknown forces that had somehow managed to bypass our FTL Counteraction Devices, using Subspace.

"Naturally, we sent in three fleets, who were at the time set on patrol duty at Serpantis Minor, the heart of our Military Operations. We found, to our dismay, that it was the Shivans. The battle you can see above the planet was us apparently prevailing over the forces. We outnumbered them by about two to one, but unfortunately, not even Slavik fore-saw what happened next."

Tapping in some more commands, a new planet appeared, surrounded by shipyards and heavily fortified moons, it's surface covered in factories and other industrial buildings, it's atmosphere polluted. As the view zoomed out, it changed into a 2-D representation of the system in question. The objects in green were identified as Outer Heaven designs, and the shapes were closely related to their actual real life counterparts, with numerous ships, spaceports etc shown.

"Serpantis Minor was by no means undefended; on the contrary, a normal sized attack force would have been vanquished. And just to clarify, Serpantis Minor is in a completely different system to Serpantis Prime. Even so, as the Shivans were being defeated above Serpantis Prime..."

Zuthros tapped in a few more commands, and what was represented as Subspace Portals appeared, in huge numbers, just inside the Defensive Perimeter of Serpantis Minor. A few moments later, the area was flooded with red triangles.

"The Shivans again, completely bypassed any of our Defensive measures, only this time, they came at us in huge numbers...we still aren't sure today, but within the realm of four hundred and fifty or so ships, a sizable chunk of them above what we would rate Cruiser Class. Caught completely off guard, and outnumbered, the Shivans literally made mince-meat of our forces..."

Hitting in a few more commands, the red triangles moved in and collided with the green, with the greens disappearing fast. Zuthros watched for a moment, and sighed.

"At the time, we only had about five fleets on station, our best three were at Serpantis Prime, the other twelve out in your Universe. We have no detailed recordings, but out of about two hundred and fifty vessels, only three survived the battle intact, and only one was a Destroyer, the other two were Personnel Carriers carrying civilians that were due to leave for one of our strongholds in this Universe. The surface of Serpantis Minor was bombarded relentlessly, causing munitions, including several Quantum Bombs, to detonate. The planet was destroyed, alongside a large amount of our shipyards. Thankfully, two were left reasonably intact, abandoned and apparently of no consequence to the Shivans. It was from there, they spread."

Zuthros tapped in some more commands, and a multi-galaxy map appeared, one with a small red dot on it. Zuthros pointed at it.

"On day one, the Shivans had struck a blow to the core of our Military, killing millions. We reclaimed Serpantis Prime, it was thought to be a mere feint. By day three..."

The red dot expanded drastically, with many arrows sectioning off and leading to other Galaxies. Outer Heaven territories were shown and quickly pushed back.

"They were destroying us from the inside out. Our forces were scattered, and many civilian sectors were erradicated, as well as some Military footholds. Slavik knew at the time that there was no hope of stopping the Shivans using what little Navy we had left. On day four, Status Alpha reached the border worlds, as well as our network of Jump Gates. Alongside the alert status was a standing order to recall all Outer Heaven ships that were combat ready, and once they were inside, to send out a brief transmission ordering the ITH to restrict access to us. Shortly after this occured, we locked down our borders, and destroyed all but a few gates to this Universe and others. This was finished up by day eleven."

The holographic image detailed some of these events, particularly some of the recall and the destruction of most of the Jump Gates Outer Heaven used to get to other Universes.

Zuthros turned to The Emperor, and glanced at the projection.

"By then, most of our inner systems were lost. We were continually pushed back, loss after loss hit us, and after a month, we had abandoned our core Galaxy, all inhabitants lost, as well as at least half our military. Thankfully, Slavik had survived with the three core fleets, and by then, he had managed to rally most of the scattered fleets and vessels in a secure location, somewhere inbetween our core Galaxy and another. It's here that I end the story briefly, for we don't have much on what Slavik had planned at the time, nor what happened for the next two months..."

Zuthros powered down the Projector, and tapping a command into his chair, a small glass of water formed itself on the chair's armrest. Taking the glass, he drank some of the water, and took a deep breath.

"We left so abruptly because of what happened. At the time, the losses were too great, we hadn't the resources, the manpower, the forces to mount any sort of fight, and we couldn't allow such a terrifying force to spread out here. That was at least a century or so ago. Do you have any questions so far Emperor?"

“You should have asked us for help. I would have come with every ship Balrogga could spare. I know they are subspace creatures but they would have found out what super-spatial weapons would do to their ships.”

He re-examines the map in his mind’s eye, wondering what a push from the edge would have done to their battle tactics. Would it have been enough to pop their bubble of invasion? Would it have mattered at all? Would it only have made Balrogga a Target? Unfortunately there is no way to ever know now. Time is a one-way mirror that only works in a single direction no matter how you try to look.

Nhur-Galladu sighed.

“But if the case was reversed, I would have done the same thing. I would have tried to draw them away from those that were more susceptible to their brutal warfare. Many of the nations in the universe would never even stand a day to their style of war, much less almost two weeks as your story has shown so far.”

Nhur-Galladu looked to Zuthros.

“You fought them for how long? It must have been a long time and you obviously won or else you would not be here. I also note there appears to be some Shivan technology in your ship. You did win, right?”

[OOC: Taggishness]

Zuthros allowed himself a small chuckled, and smiled.

"Yes...we did prevail, at a huge cost Emperor. I will show you what little else we have if you'd like, but the war raged for, recent estimates predict, sixty two years and six months. I was born ten years into the war, on board one of the few Outposts still standing."

Sipping his water, Zuthros let out a breath.

"My childhood was particularly hectic, I began my career as a fighter pilot at sixteen, my schooling surprisingly okay looking at how things were. Outer Heaven rarely recruits children for Space Campaigns, but at the time, we were running low on numbers. Slavik was certainly a clever man, smarter than our first leader ever was. He forced our ships to disable, if temporarily, their Subspace Drives and make use of the primitive jump drives some of the old Destroyers had. In the older days of our Empire, we couldn't afford to put backup Subspace Drives onto our Vessels, until some time after we called peace with your Universe.

"Slavik split Outer Heaven Forces into three seperate splinters, with three different sets of short and long term orders. We frequently found ourselves raiding Shivan Convoys and having another fleet join us. We effectively dug in Emperor, and employed Guerilla Tactics for a sizeable chunk of the war. We had little of our own original technology, so we scavenged. We developed ways of disabling Shivan Cruisers and boarding them reasonably safely, we even eventually saw some Shivan vessels fighting with us, refitted so we could use them."

Zuthros stared into space for a few moments, apparently remembering the old days somewhat fondly. Perhaps when all you know is war, sometimes some of the moments, no matter how terrible or hard pressed, could be remembered fondly in later life. Zuthros snapped out of his daydreaming, and smiled.

"But I'm rambling on, so I'll cut this down a little Emperor. We eventually found ourselves, fifty four years in, on equal terms. The Shivans found it hard to track us with our avoidance of Subspace, and some of our covert operations really did put a big thorn in their side. We eventually found ourselves able to recapture Serpantis Minor. Serpantis Prime was still okay, we saw fit to install a Subspace shield that stopped any attempted assault, although some of the ruling class died out, small pity. It was a pitched battle..."

Zuthros bit his lip, and rubbed his eye for a moment.

"I, at the time, commanded a Shivan Cruiser, the type if I remember correctly was 'Hades', a multi-purpose Destroyer that packed a punch, one of only five in our forces. We sent our Shivan element in first, looking like a hunting party. We made it past their first line before they realised what we were, but we were in further than expected. Slavik and two of the splinters jumped in as the Shivans tried to focus on us. Their command ship, a terrible terrible form of Juggernaut, was present, and battering down on us. Slavik saw an opportune moment..."

Zuthros paused, emotion crossing his face.

"What he did, we later realised, won us the war. He drove the Colossus on a suicide run through the Shivan Armada, and drove the Flagship right through the engine of the Juggernaut, before the munitions went off..."

Zuthros bowed his head, and finished his water.

"Apparently Slavik had loaded the Colossus with all the Quantum Bombs he could fit alongside the normal munitions. It was enough, and the Shivan Mothership was destroyed with such ferocity...it split through the middle before it finally detonated. Once the shockwave subsided, we found ourselves with a disorganised bunch of xenophobic, confused telepaths. We destroyed some, captured what we could, and the rest of the war involved clean up efforts..."

Zuthros smiled.

"You were right Emperor. This ship is the end product of decades of labour, and many years of Science figuring out how to utilise the technology we scavenged and implant it into our own. We have completely changed our Military. We spent the rest of our time, at least fifty years, rebuilding after the war, repopulating, building up our forces, terraforming new planets to replace the ones we lost. After all this, here we are, over a century later Emperor."

Tapping his head, Zuthros sighed.

"I hold a great deal of technology inside my head Emperor, some originally ours, some owed to the Shivans. The nanites in my mind are what is blocking you from passively reading my thoughts, but it's the Shivan gene therapy that's given me..."

The ability to do this...

Zuthros' voice was a whisper inside Nhur-Galladu's mind, and Zuthros grinned widely.

Yes, we are all a little Shivan now Emperor, but do not worry. The Shivans we didn't experiment on or use to get us to this point are now worker drones. We were able to domesticate them, dumb them down, remove the brains but keep the brawn. The ships we captured, well, they were eventually dismantled, but built into the line of ships we have today. If you are acceptive of our current state, might I interest you in a demonstration of how far we have gone since our last meeting?

Nhur-Galladu was not shocked by the demonstration of the TeleSend ability. He had suspected there was the existence of psi abilities just from the static Zuthros' mind produced in it’s attempt to provide a barrier to block him. If he had wanted, nothing technology would provide could have stopped him from entering a target’s mind. There was no reason to even consider such an action so the point was moot.

Their progress after such a kick in the groin by the Shivans was something to be impressed with.

Most nations would have folded under the assault the Shivans threw against them. The Emperor was not sure what Balrogga would do in the same situation. He had confidence the Ta’Nar would have survived but the Childer were still too week for such an experience and would need another century or two until their racial maturity was developed enough for the purpose he had them designed.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Zuthros’ last statement. An idea formed in his mind and he quickly made some subtle connections to a commander of a Battlefleet across the galaxy. He entered just deep enough to plant an idea and then returned. He looked over to Zuthros.

“I will most certainly take you up on your offer and return the favor all at once.”

Nhur-Galladu sent a set of coordinates into Zuthros’ mind.

“I have a simple Battlefleet in a situation where things could get ugly real fast. It is a collection of small fleets responding to an invasion of an unknown nation of a planet bound humanoid civilization, class three on the scale. I have just planted the suggestion in the Fleet Commander’s mind that everyone unknown to us are to be considered hostile. This will result in them taking action against the rest of them. If you could send a small fleet there we could demonstrate our techs to each other and deal with the situation from a third point of view.”

Nhur-Galladu waited to see what Zuthros’ reaction would be.

Admiral Zuthros sighed, which was surprising. Most Outer Heaven leaders would have jumped at the chance for a good fight. Even Slavik had that streak, but his tactical and political genius had kept the Nation on it's feet during those few random rampages.

"I am flattered, and would normally accept, but there is one thing I don't think you understand Nhur-Galladu, with great respect."

Opening his arms out, he gestured around himself.

"When I said we won Emperor, I think I neglected to mention that it was bittersweet victory..." He bit his lip, and laid his hands on his lap, "In effect Emperor, this IS Outer Heaven MK II. Our Universe was wrecked, with a few planets left that we could use. We are here not only to remake contact...but to move here. Those planets can no longer support us, and our resources are dwindling. This Mothership is not only the pride of our Military, but it also contains our Civilian Population. We have used Subspace in a devious way to pack our population on, but they are there Emperor, all of them in their millions upon millions."

He glanced around, and looked Nhur-Galladu in the eye, or what he assumed was his optical viewers.

"We have a Navy, but that is currently recapturing our once-held planets in this Galaxy. This is the only ship that we can throw into your situation. I will accept, but I need a guarantee that we can display what we have on offer...with minimal losses to the Mothership. Can you promise me that Emperor?"

Nhur-Galladu sadly held his arms apart with his palms upward and shook his head.

“Unfortunately I cannot promise anything on a battlefield for that is where Fate is it’s most fickle. Perhaps another demonstration at another time. I do not want you to risk your nation for a silly demonstration like that.”

“But, if you wished, I could offer you a system or two on our borders. Our systems are mostly scattered through out the galaxy much the same way in ancient times city-states and island nations were part of a larger empire.”

“I am even planning on moving a large number of them into a single area to consolidate some of the more distant ones into a more easily defendable situation. After this ESUS-GFFA war is over they will be moved into The Cluster.”

Again Nhur-Galladu directed information into his mind but this time it was about The Cluster. The information detailed the history and the residents of the stellar cluster and the 20 territories it had been divided into.

“If you decide to take us up on the offer, just let me know.”

Zuthros smiled, and nodded.

"I will consider your offer, but I think we will be fine. It's just a matter of ensuring that our old territories are secure before we unload our entire civilian population. We're smart enough to realise that without our nation's non-military public, the military can't exist."

Looking at his empty glass, a flash of slight horror went across his face.

"Damn...I knew I forgot something. Regardless of the fact that my sensor indicates you are energy...can I give you anything? Water? Something that you can erm...'intake'?"