NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC note: This is closed to everyone except myself, Neo-Mekanta, Xenonier, Balrogga, and Yukatania (and any allies he chooses to invite)

IC:

Ring a ring o'roses

The ships swirled around Harvest, their silvery forms prepared to deliver the final blow to the ailing planet. Tiny pockets of life, not human, merely plants, and animals, and plankton, in the seas, were still in existence.

The ships were moving in a ring formation around the planet, deadly, thin, silver rings of death, blurring as they moved, crackles of red shimmering from form to form.

A pocketful of posies

Blasts of red energy were filtering down into the planet's atmosphere now, the forces that had left leaving behind only death, and that death being dealt a blow of greater death in turn.

The metal-spiders in orbit above were swirling, swirling around with the fleet.

ah-tishoo,ah-tishoo

Spurts of red energy burst from the orbiting ringfleet above, the ships unable to contain the energies that swarmed through their forms, the spurts burning away in the still-existant atmosphere.


We all fall down.

The energies stored within the fleet, crackling with their unreleased potency, prepared to rain down upon the planet below. Brilliant bursts of energy lit up the sky, tearing atmosphere and mountain alike, shattering the surfaces of oceans, ripping open gaping wounds within the planet.

Everything was dead. The planet itself was still alive, by a measure of sheer fortitude, but all the life that had once existed upon it was gone. No city, no landform, and few mountains still marred the surface of the bleeding earth, the raped gaia.

It was not a sight to behold, if you were human. It was impressive, but it was not beautiful. But to the Maker-Mind's forces, it represented perfection, stilled life, silenced existence. And... this was only the beginning. The clarion call of hatred had gone out, sent to those who would aid the Maker-Mind in the destruction of such life.

Message sent to Balroggan and Mekantan forces
The beachhead is established. Come, and partake of the.. bounty that we have found. Mercy is dead, sorrow is his slain brother. Let us drink the power of life, and find truth in the ending of it!

Message sent to Xenonian forces
Harvest is ours. The beachhead has been established. Come now, for the glory of what was, and what shall be, and for the eternal might of the ESUS.

A simple message was sent in reply, singular in form but unique in the way it was sent.

The very same channels of communication the drones shared with their controllers seemed to vibrate with bizarre energy. The disturbance formed into a single thought broadcast out to all the Makermind drones.

“WE HEAR YOU. PREPARE FOR OUR ARRIVAL.”



Ten Minutes later:

A massive worm hole opened near the Maker Mind fleet and many Imperial vessels began to arrive. Destroyers, cruisers, frigates, and carriers filed out of the tear in reality before it finally closed.

“Where is the food?”

So glad you could make it.

It was interesting, the Maker-Mind knew. When talking to other 'real' beings, as it termed them, it took on a more conversational tone.

The burning world below us is Harvest. We will be using this system as a beachhead, as it provides us with a convinient staging point into this.. nation. We/I have created a disturbance upon the surface

There are three systems nearby. Troy, Biko, and Harmony, from what I/we have gleaned. They must all be destroyed, if we are to continue.

[co-ordinates]

We wait here. Others are coming. My/our main forces will arrive soon

-Aboard the Coreship [/I]Koral'ze'Enkya[I] (Death's Beginning)

In the darkness of the massive Coreship's command node, two figures sat in amused silence at the transmission from thier allies.

"<Of foolishness. Of fighting-make thier own, to fight-make on thier own.>" The smaller of the two figures chuckled, not noticing the larger turn to him.

"<Of Kaenin to foolishness-have.>" The larger figure chuckled at the smaller, turning away again. "<Of allies, to request of aid. Of foes, to have. Of more to need-not.>"

"<Of Xaethrial to go alone, then. Of Coreship, of fleet, to move-not.>"

"<To confirm. Of Zircon to strike. Of Zircon to kill. Of Zircon to consume.>"

With that, the larger figure vanished, crumbling to a fine dust as the Zircon Hivemaster abandoned that avatar. Kaenin just shook his head, a mental command bringing up map of the galaxy. <"Of Darkship being one, to prepare to move out. Of aid to possibly require sending.">


-Harvest

A massive energy spike signaled the Zircon's arrival. Their red-brown spines crackled with barely restrained energy lingering after thier jump, the jagged hulls of thier living warships pulsing lightly. They gave a simple signal that they were present and remained. Ever vigilant. Ever hungry.

An ebon-black claw arose within the Maker-Mind, giving birth to a new train of thought. It would be rude not to invite all of your friends, after all, said a tiny girl. A flurry of silver blades cut her to shreds, but the thought was there.

After all, the Godulan Kythons would make them the proverbial Four Horsemen. And a chance to mimick popular mythology was simply too good to pass up upon.


[Godulan Kythons]. There is much to feed upon. We have found great bounty, and there will be much in the ending of life. Come now, and let the skies be torn asunder under the power of our fury!

[Harvest co-ordinates]

The Maker-Mind paused. They would all be there, soon. The four who would bring utter destruction and ruin to this part of the universe, leaving naught but death and fear behind them...

One moment there was nothing, the next, there they were. Silent and sudden, they appeared as though they had always been in geosynchronous orbit over the blasted world of Harvest. Three and Three, the angular arrowhead form of the Slaughterstar preceded the massive bulk of the Heighliner in their specific path.

A psionic cacophony of thousands of voices erupted into existence. Screams, whispers, curses, and praises, each independently audible in their own right but coming together into a single voice above all the rest.

*We shall mourn the loss of life we inflict, but oh, how we shall enjoy the infliction of such destruction upon the enemy. Praise be to the Legion for the Magnificent End we shall all bring forth.

Let us slay. Let us feed.*

The Maker-Mind noted that all four were there. Good. The remainder of its own forces were on their way, however, they would be some time in coming. Throughout the red, raging storm of sheer lightning that was the lattice, the Maker-Mind threaded delicately along, finding the minds of those who were part of it.

Killscytheblood! We are legion! There will be endless purpose! Purpose without purpose, but without end!

The message was ended, and the Maker-Mind decided to talk to the Kythons, and the Zircon. A projection of the more sane parts of the Maker-Mind was created, and a voice, almost stable, seemingly almost sane, was created, shimmering directly into the minds of those nearby.

Harvest are we now. Troy, Harmony, Biko near. Troy-fortress, Harmony and Biko-worlds. Divert attention from Troy, we attack Biko/Harmony. Then, when enemy comes, attack Troy. Agreed?

The plan was a simple one. But, then again, with no concern for human life, or politics, those assembled did not need much deliberation. The plan was simple. Assault Harmony and Biko, the two nearby worlds, with as many forces as could be spared, to draw the attention of the enemy from Troy. Then, they would strike with the remainder of their forces on Troy, crippling the enemy in that region.

The Maker-Mind waited, as it felt the forces plummeting through the lattice towards it. They would arrive soon enough. For now, the others would deliberate the plan. Once they had spread themselves through enough enemy systems, their progress would be unstoppable... This sector would be put to the flame.

Without a word, two Imperial vessels simply faded away as they made the transition from Real Space and Uplifted into T-Space. Once securely within the 7th dimension, they sped off in different directions, one towards Harmony and one towards Biko.

Once they were near the systems, they Emerged into Real Space. They immediately dissolved into a swarm of hundreds of Kythons and began to work upon the plethora of stray material floating outside the system, using the infection method to create more Kythons while creating an empty area in interstellar space for the next part of the plan.

First was the Replication Phase and soon there would be thousands upon thousands of Kythons, all hungry with tasty worlds nearby…



Harvest:


The Shipminds spoke to the Maker Mind, their voices merged into a singular voice.

“We are ready.”

The Three Heighliners reoriented themselves slightly, and the Slaughterstars moved away from the planet in differing directions. As the latter vessels moved, however, their angular shape began to morph into something more... heavy duty. Smaller but thicker, two giant pillars dominated this structure while the central column of light compressed lengthwise but seemed to thicken.

*Shock Mode engaged. Executing tactical contingency plan gamma 3. We shall wait here until such time as we are ready to move. Deep scanning.*

Reality altered. There was no other way to describe it. A moment before, Harvest, although a barren, dead world, had been boiling away, lava searing across its surface.

It was as if the planet had been disorted by heat, the image distorted in the same way, but by strange, ethereal red light. And, as the light poured down, into the planet, the surface was torn by silver-red protrusions.

Tendrils of silver, thickening, and becoming massive tentacles, embedded themselves into the ground, forming the 'factories' the Maker-Mind used to fuel its war effort. They would be much time in the building, however, as they took root, they grew almost like trees, trees without branches, or leaves, an intricate root system spreading deep into the earth.

Harvest had been seeded already, by the tiny particles of the Maker-Mind, some of which had survived, and had prepared the way for those ships which would be part of the new system. Harvest would be the first of those worlds which would allow the Maker-Mind dominion over the worlds it wished to claim, and it would serve as a staging point into Yukatania.

Kythons have-left to Biko. Other-Kythons have not. Zircon remain. First forces are arriving.



Imagine.. a swarm of silver, without end, without mercy. An endless swarm, all the same colour, myriad shapes, tearing through space as if it were cloth to be torn so. The rifts that were created, in their own right were deadly, and the Maker-Mind's servants had been sent to this point for a single purpose. Destruction.

Twenty thousand drones, enough to overwhelm a world by their own right, the Blades of Battle, the tiny, whirling, silver blades of death that knew the fury of life, and knew the exquisite ending of life too well, were a mere segment of the forces that the Maker-Mind had sent.

Eight thousand Battlespheres, the fighters of the Maker-Mind, the shining spheres that served to decimate the shields of the enemy. Eight thousand Scythes of War, the larger, whirling blades that were the elder briothers of the Blades of Battle, the servants, if you would.

Five hundred of the immense blades, those their enemies adeptly named Whirling Death. They spun wildly, dancing across the void, blood and pain their music. Five hundred of the stolid Warspheres, the Maker-Mind's truest servants.

And a second Instrument of Cleansing. Now there were two, in the Yukatanian war. And there would only be more. They writhed as if in pain, their forms twisting, constantly changing, as if to escape an invisible grasp which sought to destroy them. The metal-spiders that would destroy the enemy were already here, but, still, the greater portion of their fleet was yet to come. This was the vanguard of the Maker-Mind's fleets, and a vanguard that would assault Troy with all of their strength.

Harmony remains. We will send some to delay the enemy. Kythons, Zircon. To Troy?

Without waiting, the original forces of the Maker-Mind, a few hundred fighters, a few thousand drones, and thirty or so Warspheres leapt into the lattice, shimmers of red the only hint that they had ever been there. It is amusing, how they name their systems, one of the Battlespheres 'thought'. It ignited a brief storm of conversation with the others, after all, despite their devotion to the Maker-Mind, they were intelligent. Not as the Maker-Mind was, but as, say, humans were. Harmony no longer, the Harvest has been reaped... A lick of red lightning swept into the Battlesphere, the corrosion that marked the lattice disintegrating it into mere energy. Thought within the lattice was a dangerous thing...

Harmony would fall, nonetheless. Within a few minutes, a tiny rift would open in Harmony - and the relentless assault would continue. After all, it was a dilemma the enemy would have to face. Would they see through the trick for what it was, and lose both Harmony and Biko, or fall for it, and let the ESUS storm Troy?

Harmony and Biko:


After the Replication process had been started at both Harmony and Biko, the original groups of Kythons reassembled into their shipform and Uplifted to T-Space. They had done their purpose and they were to return to the fleet. The seeds they planted here would be enough to carry out the mission. They had more important duties ahead.

The Kythons left behind continued to swarm the excess matter floating around out here that the solar system didn’t want. It would be fitting that they would be used to get back at the system. An inanimate revenge, if you will. Or perhaps just simple irony that the ejected matter would become the instrument of its downfall. Either way, remaining time was drawing close like a noose around a condemned prisoner’s neck.


Harvest:

Two ships faded into existence as they emerged from T-Space. They were returning from their mission of seeding and the Shipminds were eager to return to the fleet so they could participate in the fall of Troy.

Troy, such a historically unlucky name for a city, or even planet. It seems history might be soon repeating itself.

The Shipminds sent a message to the Maker Mind.

We are prepared.

For a time, the Zircon were silent. Not a ship moved, save the occasional twitching of spines. They simply watched, and waited, biding thier time until they were needed. Thus was the will of the greater whole of the Zircon Swarm.

When Troy was mentioned however, the Zircon fleet slowly began milling about, spines begining to wave up and down slightly at a steady pace. Their psionic sensors flared to life, Zircon Eyes flashing brightly as the dormant vessels became active.

Then, just as soon as it started, the ships died down again. A simple message transmitted from each to the Maker Mind in unison.

Troy. Confirmed.

Electricity began to crackle across the surface of the three Slaughterstars, and strange spines began to emerge from the hull, glowing in hues starkly contrasting against the radiant green of the Godulan Strain.

Deep scans reached out into the void, looking out towards the nearest systems of Troy, Biku, and Harmony, seeking out the basic layouts of each system first and foremost but also extrapolating tactically advantageous defensive positioning and general insertion vectors. A great deal of information could be gleaned from deep scanning, even by simple optical readings, and deriving planetary positions, optimal insertion vectors, tactical attack patterns, and even temporary hideouts, proved to be something of a pasttime and competition for a great many Godulans.

General Lear still could not help but express amusement that so many seemed to find such... mirth... in defining strategies and contingencies to make her job of destroying everything in sight and spawning more Kythons from the remains all that much easier. Not that she minded, of course. One of the chief points of leadership was delegation, and this was the ultimate expression of that very thing. Everything came together so clearly and so quickly, even incorporating rough tactical data for the Maker-Mind and Zircon fleets, and far more precise information from the Balroggan Strain. It all worked out exactly as she wanted when she wanted it done.

Still, her job was not to follow the battle plan, but to react properly and decisively when (there's never an if) the fight deviates from what is outlined. Her position just had the added bonus of approving the fight plan. It just works out better that way.

Troy was a conundrum. A puzzle to be solved, nothing more and nothing less. General Arcturus was the defense commander, General Achaedus was the first strike commander, General Majestatus was the Covert operations commander, General Lear topped them all. She was the Long Haul commander. That she was overseeing the Godulan presence of this campaign alone spoke volumes.

Things.

Would.

Die.

When she was satisfied with the rudimentary information, the Slaughterstars relayed information to the other forces.

*Target System designated as Troy, acknowledged and confirmed. Probability calculations initiated.*

The main-force will arrive within hours. We will wait, for now

At Harmony, a rift shimmered into existence, the edges of the rift swirling, and swaying, as the forces that had been sent to invade Yukatania originally left. They were the forces that existed to destroy, and destroy they would.

Hello.

The chilling message, like a foretaste of despair, ran through the minds of those in the system. The Maker-Mind had arrived, and those who were there would know that, before they died...

The swarms of Kythons formed into ships. It was not just ships of the Balrogga Empire that was present; there was a cruiser from Coreworlds, a Drama Casserole and a battleship from New Dornalia, a Sharlin from Whyatica, and some other various ships observed from the GFFA.

The forces at both Harmony and Biko assembled in the shelter of the Oort Cloud, waiting for the signal to begin the attack. Their sensors mapping everything they could see. Ships, planets, rubble, satellites, and whatever was there. Anything that might be used either against the Horde or against the Prey was noted.


OOC:

I believe all we need is the information from Yukatana on the three systems that our sensors have detected.

*bump for Yukatania to maybe respond some day in the next eon*

This was posted in the General Area of the GFFA boards.

As of now most of you have noticed my absence from anything NS Related, well the fall has set it and with it comes school. Now hopefully this absence will only have to be continued for a little longer, but as of now, any dealing with the Federated States of Yukatania are null and void. It saddens me to do this especially with the ESUS War, but it is a necessity, and has to happen. Hopefully I can return shortly.

Apparently RL has worked against us all and decided it wasn't going to let any of us play.