NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC: I briefly involved myself in FT once before with the Nagorii, however the other members of that galaxy were inactive, with the exception of Phoenixia. Thus I have decided to establish a new race, the Drazgal. A factbook is under construction, but I will give a few brief pieces of information here.

Firstly the full name of the race is The Theocratic Technocracy of the Drazgal. Their entire technology is biological, with metals and standard technologies daemonised as tainted and evil.

The planet-wide religion rules the planet as it is comprised of all the scientists, science and religion being one body to the majority of the species. Without the theocracy, the biotechnologies of the planet will die off and result in a descension into barbarism.

As for the Drazgal themselves, they are effectively Humans, however have undergone slight evolutionary differences in that their ribcages are essential fused with very tough cartilage. For all other intents and purposes they are identical, however due to their biological development, members of the priesthood often have additional organs or biological armour in the same way other civilizations use metals.

Finally, the Drazgal reside on a single planet, Drazgal, which is in a relatively isolated part of the outer rim of the galaxy. Feel free to get involved provided you aren't going to wank-tech all over it.)



Drazh K’aanan leant upon his staff, his knuckles white from gripping it too tightly. Throughout the room, the Priesthood rushed back and forth from one console to another, running their fingers over the membranous control panels. Dominating the scene was an enormous screen thirty foot in height which displayed a dark brown vessel, so dark as to be almost black.

“How many minutes until launch, Brother Ci’saan?” The Lord-Hierarch addressed one of the priests at a console.

“Four, Your Grace. Brother Thaleb reports no difficulties thus far, all systems responsive. Should I order him to proceed?” The Archbishop inquired, while continuing to brush his fingers across the console before him.

Drazh K’aanan nodded lightly and raised his aged head to look upon the viewing screen. Drazh K’aanan was an elderly man, his hair since gone white and his body emaciated. From within the deeply sunken sockets, his eyes stared out seemingly devoid of emotion. Yet for all this pretense of indifference, he knew full well that this could be the single greatest achievement of the Drazgal since their earliest days.


Archbishop Thaleb sat within the bridge of the vessel, his hands playing across the twin consoles before him. The life beneath his fingertips pulsed and felt warm, relieving him of some of his stress and worry, and instilling a sense of confidence that had otherwise begun to wane.

“Brother Thaleb, continue launch sequence.” The voice of the Archbishop filled the room.

“As his Excellency commands, Brother Ci’saan.” He replied, keeping his voice as level as possible. The immense funding that had gone into this project would not be lightly matched again if things went awry this time.

With careful precision, he ran his fingers over the membranous surface and relaxed as best he could; “Brother Mii’r, increase power output. Brother Farran, ready to engage engines on my command.” The two Bishops altered the manner in which they toyed with the consoles before them, stroking and pushing in a seemingly chaotic fashion in order to gain the desired effects.


Across the globe, nearly half a billion people watched. All activity had ceased early for the day that people might watch the launch, and what was prospectively the birth of a new age. Within the city squares, thousands gathered in crowds to observe the ships launch. Many were gossiping, giving their opinions on the outcome, causing a deafening roar within the squares planet-wide, each of which formed a seemingly identical scene.

Upon the screen, the figure of Lord-Hierarch K’aarna appeared, his wizened figure covered in robes and holding his staff of office. “Hear me.” At this stern command all speech ceased, and a billions eyes gazed at his form.

“O’ my children, what we bear witness to this day is the creation of a new era of existence for our peoples. It has taken more than a century of planning, research, development and construction, and today our labours shall give fruit. Behold, as our people launch forth into the eternal sea of space.” Cutting from the Lord-Hierarch, the image of the vessel returned.


Archbishop Thaleb closed his eyes as the vessel shuddered, and he was sure he could hear a groan, as the engines sprang to life. With effort, the ship, some six hundred foot in length, two hundred foot in height and breadth, ascended. As the construct journeyed higher, the twenty-plus priests within the bridge continued to issue commands to the ship, while elsewhere, other clergymen issued their own commands to keep the various systems properly balanced.

Climbing ever skyward, the starship reached the upper atmosphere of the planet and readied to pierce it, breaching forth into space. Within the ships, the various priests and workmen held their breath, praying to the ship in which they sat that the thick modified chitin armour would protect them.

With a shudder and a roar, or so it seemed to the passengers, the vessel freed itself from the confines of its world and reached space, while within it, the crew cried, screamed and cheered it exultant ecstasy at being alive. After the celebrations died down, the vessel began to beam forth a message; a message of joy, of power, and of success.


Planet-side, the populous cheered, though in a detached fashion, whilst the priesthood wept with joy at the fruition of their hundred years labour. Only the Lord-Hierarch K’aarna continued to scowl, his bowels knotted in anxiety. As isolated as they were lead to believe, the likelihood of another sentient race in existence, and more advanced, was too high to be discounted lightly. It was his fervent hope that this development would not be detrimental to his people.

tag for later.

*Bump*

tag for later.


Within the darkness of space many things are created and destroyed. Peoples.. technologies.. planets. And to see something new was indeed a rare occurance.

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

Floating in space was a medium sized object that was semi-spherical in form and black metallic texture just floated around. The sphere however would almost explode sending bursts of energy. The light emitted from the cracks shown with a bright green that thrums about every seconds.And a strnage sound came from it sounding like moans...

Slowly the vessel inched its way through space, first passing the Moon of Drazh, then the Moon of Moth'naan. Gradually it reached Lii'oarth, sixth planet in the system and an enormous gas giant. For the first time, the Drazgal gathered clear data on the planet and its make-up as deep scans spread throughout the world below.

Thaleb rejoiced at the freedom this vessel offered and watched the primary viewing screen, displaying as it was the enormous gas giant below. Smiling to himself, he half-wished he were still a simple Priest, working in the research labs and analysing the data being gathered. With a brief sigh he reminisced, while back on Drazgal the people celebrated in a truly Human fashion- they were getting bladdered.

*Bump*

Bioship Specifications

The Theocratic Ship Drazh is the first vessel developed by the Drazgal race. In accordance with their blanket ban on all metals and ‘standard’ technologies, the vessel is a biological one, comprised of both plant and animal cells and organs to create a highly advanced hybrid vessel. Designed for research purposes, it has only minimal offensive weaponry but is highly defended due to its myriad biological systems.


Height: 210ft
Length: 612ft
Breadth: 277ft

Energy Source, Primary: Fusion Reactor; generates raw energy which is used to power biological systems through a complex array of organs and tissue.
Energy Source, Secondary: Solar Power; providing photosynthesis within various plant-cell chambers resulting in oxygenation of the ship & a sustainable food supply.

Propulsion System, Primary: Fusion Engine; intense energy from the fusion reactor expelled from several exhausts in the rear of the ship provides the primary propulsion for the vessel.
Propulsion System, Secondary: Liquid Oxygen; standardized rocket-fuel designed for emergency maneuvers and produced from the excess oxygen during photosynthesis is expelled through side exhaust ports.

Defense System: Armour; 22ft thick modified chitin exoskeleton fused to a 17ft thick cartilage body provides an immensely strong and defensive carapace tougher than the hulls of most standard ships.
Defense System: Point Defenses; 3ft long jellyfish-like creatures have been modified to respond to incoming enemy artillery and maneuver themselves into the path of oncoming projectiles and thus defending the ship. They are expelled automatically from various near-surface chambers within the ship when the sensory organs detect incoming projectiles.

Weapons System: Cutting Lasers; by harnessing the light-energy produced by the fusion reactor and directing it through a series of lenses, a thin and powerful laser is produced capable of cutting through the thickest of minerals. These are two such devices, both of which are contained within appendages that can be extended from within the body.

Organic: Regenerative; being comprised of animal and plant cells, the ship is capable of regenerating itself over time and, with the miracle of bioengineering, at a rate far faster than would be otherwise expected.
Organic: Clotting; as with living creatures, the bioship is capable of swiftly clotting in order to prevent air loss, energy dissipation and other potentially harmful problems.
Organic: Sensory Organs; the ship is fitted with a complex array of various sensory organs capable of reading a myriad variety of effects in space, as well as penetrating planets and metals where standard sensory equipment would be rendered useless.
Organic: Immune System & Bacteria; as mentioned, the ship is comprised of a mixture of animal and plant cells, and as such has a developed immune system and positive bacteria. This immune system has several practical applications in that it can ensure damage sustained by the vessel does not become infected, and that any foreign debris that gets lodged within the ship is broken down. Furthermore, the bacteria results in any attempts by foreign bodies to invade the interior of the ship immensely difficult and potentially fatal.

The fringes of the Galaxy were a wild and lawless place. Largely uncharted, few of the races and systems that resided there had been fully recorded; some of them, never. Some of the civilisations that occupied the systems here on the periphery were not spacefaring; some of them kept very, very quiet; but all of them, within a growing radius, were being watched. Some less than others; those that lived on worlds rich in metals common on the Homeworld were largely ignored, whereas those worlds containing greater concentrations of carbon and organic compounds were concentrated more heavily on, and ultimately scoured clean.

The Shadowlanders made their home somewhere in this tangle of uncharted systems and weird spatial anomalies; and they had virtually cleaned their home system of organic compounds to devour. Carbon was a necessary part of the Shadowlander diet, but it was recently becoming relatively rare on their homeworld (partly due to the expanding population, three and a half billion and growing) and their bodies produced very little of it. Thus, they were constantly searching for new sources of carbon to consume, and experimenting with weapons that would kill the inhabitants in advance to reduce the workload of the Shadowlands Military Forces.

Normally, however, the Shadowlanders did not venture this far afield. It was many light-years from the Homeworld, and almost within the boundary of charted (and regularly monitored) space; thus, only a few Shadowlander ships had been deployed this far out. Nineteen of them in all, nine of them warships; a kind of escort, with the other ten being science/research/exploration/transport vessels. (These transport vessels carried Shadowlander infantry equivalent along with civilians; this was another mere precaution that the Moderators had deemed it advisable to undertake.)

And out here, in what was for galactic authorities an unimportant backwater of their universe, but for Shadowlanders was the outer periphery of theirs, the lead ship stumbled upon something. Its name, or as close as one could get to it in this limited alphabet, would be Txa'kelith'gaz; although no-one unacquainted with the Shadowland alphabet would know this, as it was represented by five or six strange-looking symbols on the hull. It was the largest of the ships, almost a kilometre; and as it entered realspace two dozen light-years off the unknown system, its sensors began working overtime.

"Large carbon and organic-compound deposits present in system..... Sentience discovered, previously unknown alien race; advise?"

"Excellent. Mark it as a Priority One. Anything else?"

"We're detecting what may be a primitive spacecraft in the system, although it could be just an asteroid or a bit of spacedust; we're too far off to see."

"If we come in any closer, they could detect us; perhaps they already have. Only one spacecraft?"

"So it would seem; again, though, we're too far out to make anything of it."

"They haven't responded yet... perhaps they don't see us," the Commander mused. "We'll hold position here and wait; don't want to dash in, they may have a nasty surprise awaiting us. Send in a few probes instead."

"Righto."

A few moments later a pod lowered from under the starship, and out shot several objects; entering hyperspace for a few seconds, they slowed to normal space and, drifting along at a mere .1c, were soon within a light-hour of the outer fringes of the Drazgal system; their unbroken metal capsules were probably a heresy, but the probes were far from sentient and thus didn't particularly care. They were here to record information, and record they would: anything and everything about the population of the system, the starship, the chemical makeup of the system and so on. The information would be sent back to the Shadowlander expeditionary group at five-minute intervals, continuing as long as the probes did; until they were destroyed, or reassigned.

In the darkness and the void beyond, keeping silent and cloaked, the Shadowlanders waited; they had plenty of supplies with which to wait. When they deemed it right, they would make their move. In the meantime, it was all quiet on the western front.

The TS Drazh continued its high orbit around the gas giant. Various sensory organs penetrated deep into the liquid inner body, probing it for information that astounded the members of the Church. Excitement grew at the potential for fuel from the planet below, the sheer volume of hydrogen could power the entire Drazgal civlization for millenia to come.

Archbishop Thaleb stroked his hand across his console, stimulating the membranous tissue beneath absently, while contemplating how the hyodrogen could be harvested, and whether it would lead to the creation of a fleet.

"Your Emminence, sensors have detected something of note toward the the edge of the system!" Bishop Mah'aerek interupted the Archbishop's musings and brushed his fingers swiftly across a second console, his excitement was palpable.

The Archbishop's eyes widened at the results. "A habitable moon!"

"Not entirely, your Emminence, but with warming certainly. What are your orders?" The Bishop flexed his fingers, eager at the concept of investigating further.

Thaleb closed his eyes, contemplating. “Very well, Brother Mah’aerek, we shall investigate this moon. Record all findings from this gas giant and transfer them back to Drazgal, inform them of our new course of study.”

Nodding, the Bishop retreated to give the orders, leaving an exhausted Thaleb at the helm.

*Bump*

"What have we learned?"

The lead ship's Commander strode onto the bridge. Well, "strode" is what he would have done had he had legs; it is the nearest analogy to the brisk, rhythmic yet strangely undulating motion by which Damalgians move. "Bridge" is also inaccurate, although the ship's control and command systems are all in the same general area, deep within the hull of the ship where it cannot be penetrated by weapons or transport beams (above the engines).

"Just a minute, I'll grab that probe data."

On the screens appear characters in Damalgian script with the approximate meaning of "Accessing data uplink... Downloading data... Decrypting... complete." A series of characters appears, while a voice "speaks" -- again the nearest human equivalent, as no actual sound is involved -- summarising the information on the Drazgal system.

"At least six planets.... various sundry moons.... life largely carbon-based, residing upon the fifth planet. Technological advancement: post-industrial, entering first stages of spacefaring. Physiology:..."

As the Commander "listened", he turned to the Science Officer, or at least its nearest equivalent in the Shadowlander Navy (we shall refer to him as the Science Officer for simplicity's sake); if he had had a face, it would have borne a feral smile. "Science Officer, do you see the potential of this system so clearly as I do?"

The Science Officer looked puzzled; rather, smelled puzzled. "It seems rather pointless. There is little to no technology we can loot, and the total sum of its race may be enough to feed us for a few months, a year or two at best. Additionally, I'm inclined to be cautious around any new races; we don't know what they're capable of."

"First of all, the spacefaring race is only one of, potentially, many in this system. There may be significant inorganic carbon deposits on the world itself, in the form of coal or oil; there may be areas with significant enough deposits of iron and aluminum to serve as shipyards; we have no idea, so why not come in a bit closer?"

"You're proposing sending a ship?"

"'A' ship? The whole battlegroup should suffice. I'll subspace the nearest Damalgiru battlefleet of any substance in case we really need firepower, but I somehow don't think it'll be necessary."

"You sure we want to come out in force? That'll send a rather belligerent message, won't it?" asked the First Officer equivalent.

"Of course. That's exactly what we want. May scare them enough to co-operate."

"Perhaps they're interested in peaceful co-operation?"

"Peaceful co-operation?" The Commander was amused. "You tell me, how can we ever co-operate with a race if we are not stronger than them?"

"Good question.... if everyone is equal, doesn't seem like much would get done, does it?"

"Exactly. Now, move in."

A flash through hyperspace, and nineteen Damalgian ships were less than a light-year outside the Drazgal system; surely within sensor range of the other ship. The ten escorts remained further back, of course; but there was no mistaking their heavy weapons, although the weapons seemed to be running on minimal power for the moment. In front were the nine exploration/science vessels, including the lead ship; and it was transmitting a message to the Drazgal vessel.

This was a problem. The visual was incompatible with Drazgal forms of communication, and the audio would sound, to human ears, like a strangely melodious and rapid series of calls, whistles, low throaty gurgles, groans, clicks, and snaps. Translators made gibberish out of it; add this to the fact that the Shadowlander ships bore no visible external markings apart from the strange symbols denoting their names, and seemed crafted of the smoothest metal, and one would end up with some very confused Drazgal. Apparently the Shadowlanders hadn't imagined that alien races would speak a different language.

The black sphere could feel the life of the ship as it came closer to its self. The feeling of power and matter was like a wake up call for the sphere, as it pulsed more frequently and more powerfully. Sending large waves of energy out deeper into space hoping at attached its prey from the dark, cold claws of the void.

Thaleb frowned. The reports of the moon were coming in rapidly and yet he was being disturbed.

"Your Eminence, the ship reports numerous objects entering the system. Further to this, there are also waves we believe to be a communication coming in, but they are not on a frequency we are equipped to deal with."

The Archbishop's frown became a scowl. "What does the ship detect regarding the objects, Brother Vaar'nak?"

"Nineteen of them, whatever they are, they seem to be on a course that will intercept with our own. Further to this, the heat coming from them would suggest they are moving under their own power and are...” The Bishop blanched noticeably, “metallic. It has been theorized that the waves are emanating from these objects.”

Archbishop Thaleb rubbed his forehead in consternation: “Vehicles.”

Bishop Vaar’nak’s confusion was more than evident. “Vehicles, Your Eminence?”

“Ships, Brother, ships! Space-faring vessels that received our message; they are doubtless investigating.” The Archbishop continued to scowl.

“What do you propose, Your Eminence? Should we attempt to make contact-“

“Contact?!” The Archbishop looked appalled. “Any contact we make will be with our mining lasers. No. Focus all sensory organs on these blasphemous creations and attempt to discern their intentions. If any unusual energies are discovered within or around the vessels then inform me at once.”

The Bishop nodded and retreated, leaving a brooding Thaleb surprisingly isolated in the busy command room.


(OOC: By the way, the Drazgal are far ahead of simple post-Industrial. All energy is based around nuclear fusion with enormous living cities containing hundreds of millions of Drazgal. Really they are immensely advanced due to their command of biotechnologies, however have never managed to get anything biological to survive the trip into space. I'm working on their factbook currently, both sociological and technological which will eventually be linked in my sig.)

Amplicon Communications Post A (ACPA)

ACPA was the primary Communications Post on Amplicon. It dealt with all messages from both Amplicons own battle and trade ships and with others should they need assitance or dealing with. The Communcation Scans swept the galaxy for any messages or ships. Details staredt flashing up on the screens of the control panel.

" We have found a new ship sir. Type and registration unrecognised. No records of this thin exist in our database. We can only assume it is a new ship making its maiden voyage. What course of action should be taken?" , asked one on the Mission Controllers.

"Send a message of greeting and friendship. If it is a ship making its maiden voyage send a message offering a resting place on our planet shold they need it.", replied Commanding Officer Haynes.

"Yes Sir. Sending communications now."



Opening Communication Wave Sub 32A

Sending Message.....

Greetings to you. We have picked up your ships signal and do not recognise its type. We therefore assume this is a maiden voyage for your ship. Well we on Amplicon welcome you to the galaxy. Since this seems to be your first voyage we would like to offer you shelter and supply replenisment should you need it. Please reply if any assistance is needed.

Amplicon Space Communication

End Transmission

Bishop U'luusan turned about on the chair-like object and spoke to the Archbishop. "Your Eminence, the ship is detecting another wave-length. It seems to be coming from a much greater distance than the others."

"Very well, what do you make of it, Brother U'luusan? Another transmission?" Thaleb was growing continually anxious as the nineteen objects closed on their position.

"Potentially, Your Eminence, though of that I cannot be sure. Brothers Exa'uun and Bley'aal are attempting to develop a sensory organ based around the frequency. Shall I update you then, Your Eminence?" The Bishop rubbed the stubble on his chin, looking cloesly at the Archbishop. While Thaleb was a master scientist and biologist, he was no diplomat or tactician. U'luusaan considered how much knowledge he would trade in this instance for a Chaplain or Deacon.

Thaleb sighed wearily. "Very well, send another message that... greets them, or some such. In the mean time, I need sleep. Rouse me in the event of any new occurances."

The Clergyman merely nodded as the Archbishop vacated the room. All eyes returned back to their consoles. U'luusaan composed a message that was then broadcast generally;

"We are the Drazgal; the Divine Race. If yours is a sentient species, then we welcome you to our space. Communications must be made on this frequency for maximum convenience. Attack us at your own peril."

"Sir message received from the unidentified ship."

"We are the Drazgal; the Divine Race. If yours is a sentient species, then we welcome you to our space. Communications must be made on this frequency for maximum convenience. Attack us at your own peril."

"Haha we wouldn't attack them. The Drazgal? I've never heard of them. Must be new Space Travellers. These ST's seem to be in some trouble otherwise they wouldn't have added that last sentence. Respond."



To the Drazgal,

We welcome you to the vast expanse of space. We sense you may be in some kind of trouble and again our offer of assitance is extended. Space can be a dangerous place full of hordes of rogues and bandits and occassionally the small army that wants to spread influence. In that dark space up their we will help to guide you from our own bases on our planant.

Regards.

Amplicon Communication Post A.

(OOC: Drazgal speak a bastardised English, what language is that message in out of interest? Just want to see whether there will be understanding of it or not.)

(OOC: Drazgal speak a bastardised English, what language is that message in out of interest? Just want to see whether there will be understanding of it or not.)

OOC:A form of basic English which found its way to the planet. Ampclonian is restricted to the planet of Amplicon as it is a very complex language.

OCC:Cruxium i want to fight you, do you accept?

To the Drazgal,

We welcome you to the vast expanse of space. We sense you may be in some kind of trouble and again our offer of assitance is extended. Space can be a dangerous place full of hordes of rogues and bandits and occassionally the small army that wants to spread influence. In that dark space up their we will help to guide you from our own bases on our planant.

Regards.

Amplicon Communication Post A.


Thaleb listened as the message was replayed for his benefit. Rubbing his eyes, he did his best to be as excited as the others, but sleep deprivation was taking a heavy toll. After some thought he spoke; "Send a reply asking them if they have issued anything into our territory. Try to ask in a firm tone, but one free of hostility and defensiveness."

Pausing, the Archbishop thought before speaking again. "If it is not them, invite them here under the premise of making first contact. Should those other... things then turn out to be hostile, mayhap we would have an ally of sorts."

"And if they themselves are hostile, Your Eminence?" U'luusaan did his best not to irritate his superior, but the lack of sleep was making the Archbishop slow-witted and fast-acting, a poor combination.

"Then we shall just have to show them the power of the Drazgal!" Thaleb's reply was curt, and brooked no arguement. Turning on his heel, he stormed from the bridge, his red robes flowing behind him as he did so.

U'luusaan scowled. Did no one else find it odd that this communication had been in Ingliss? Sighing, he composed a befitting reply;

"Amplicon Communication Post A.

Your welcome is warmly accepted. Have you issued forth any vessels or similar such things into our space? Numerous objects have breached our space without permission.

In any event, we would make first contact with your species, if you are so inclined.

Faithfully,
Archbishop Vur'ook Thaleb,
Order of the Diocese of the Drazgal."

A ship, only a small frigate, enters the system. It bears the red and black markings of an Xiscapian ship. The Xiscapians reside deep whithin the unknown space, out of contact with most other races. This ship is a expeditionary ship, backed by a cruiser. Onboard the ship...
"Sir, we've got 20 ship blips, and some kind of moon." This was said to the commander of the vessal, Foxfire. Xiscapians look exactly human, except for fox ears and tails, yellow eyes. They are faster and more graceful than any human could ever hope to be. Foxfire's yellow eyes flashed. "Put a scan on them." "Already did, chief. 19 of the ships are from an unknown race, intent unknown. One of the ships is a huge, biological thing, not unlike the Infected ships, but much less, er, evil looking. Contact?" "Yes, sent a message to the biological ship.
To the Drazgal:
Greetings, fellow space travelers. We are the Xiscapians. We come with peace, and would like to open talks with you. Accepted?"

A cloaked Observer, the Odyssey, was now traveling through this uncharted space.

Officer: Sir our scanners have come in contact with numerouse vessels, it appears there is more than one race.

Fleet Cammander: Dont communicate with them, we need to know what kinds of weopons they have and how many.

Officer: Yes sir, we will approach and continue our scanning.

OOC: Aw, no more Infected? :(

OCC: i still have them, and as a note the infected were under control from us(were like zoo keepers, we think we are the ultimate race and try to play god) so i might bring them in, this is just my personal countrys ft.

Well, first of all my ships are all pretty large.... the smallest of them is about 250 m long, and the largest is over a kilometre. Just to make sure people don't get the wrong impression.

Also, "post-industrial" to us refers to anything between 20th and 22nd century technology; spacefaring is post-industrial with the ability to go into outer space. The Damalgians are also post-industrial (nuclear fusion, experimenting with antimatter, on a mission to find out whether they can use "dark matter" for anything)

"They don't seem to understand us..."

"That's odd. I wonder how they communicate?"

"'They'?"

"Eh, Science Officer?"

"Well, from my readings that isn't a ship... it's a life form of some kind. At very least, it seems to be alive, rather than artificial. The other life signs aboard it may be some kind of parasites."

"It's a life form, you say? Looks like it has weapons."

"Well, of course, any life form that size would require some kind of defence mechanism to prevent it from getting eaten. Of course, in this case it'll be the hunter-damalgian against the dzark'sheytgahh..."

"Life forms. Well, in that case it's no big deal. We can just eat it."

"Righto. Shall we power up weapons?"

"Shields, too, just in case. There may be more of the life-forms around. We don't know what kind of defences they have, anyway. Comms -- send word to the nearest harvesters; also get those cruisers online, we've got a system to claim."

A few seconds of preparation.

"Virus canisters one through twenty-four, away!"

Something descended from below the lead Damalgian ship and ejected, in short order, twenty-four semi-spherical projectiles. They paused in space for a moment, then were propelled into the thirty-second gulf between the Damalgians and the strange vessel/life-form, immediately hitting high c-fractional velocities. As they increased in velocity, they seemed to elongate until the tip was keen and sharp enough to puncture just about anything; each projectile contained enough of a highly specialised virus to kill a hundred men. (Even the armour and point defence of the ship wouldn't defend against it; if the ship came in contact with any samples of the virus it would begin spreading to any and all tissue, essentially sucking the life out of it.

"Commander, we're detecting another object entering the system. Foreign. Looks like a ship."

"A ship? This is our system now, tell them to leave."

The audio communication the Xiscapian frigate received was incomprehensible gibberish, as already described (squawks, calls, whistles, growls, moans, clicks); the gesture that accompanied it, of a strange missile-like object being fired across its bow, was not. Already the largest of the Damalgian warships, eight hundred plus metres in length and with a wide array of weapons, was turning to face it.

The metaphorical shit had hit the equally intangible fan.

OFFICER: Sir, we have detected another ship, it not organic,...sir there charging weopons and shields, i think they have detected us.

Cammander: Deploy our squadrons, and power the ping.

the massive ship decloaked and and began spitting out 300 probe class fighters.

"Shit!" the pilot yelled as the shots streaked out in front of him. "Hostiles, firing on both us and the bio ship. Attempted communications failed. The implication, however, is clear: Leave. Now." Foxfire thought hard. His little frigate didn't have nearly enough firepower to take down a capital ship, especially an unknown one. "Call in our backup fleet. Contact these aliens and tell them that if they do not cease fire at once, we will be forced to do battle with them. Contact the bio ship and tell them help is on the way." With that the frigate took evasive manuvers as the fleet jumped in. 2 Battleships, 4 Cruisers, 1 Carrier (holding 10,000 fighters and 50 Gunboats), 2 Destroyers, and 10 Frigates jumped in-system. The flollowing messages were sent:
To: Tenuria (OOC:what is your race called again?)
Cease fire and stand down at once! Continued aggrssion towards us or any other ships will result in combat! Do NOT fire! Failure to comply will result in battle!"
TO: Drazgal:
Help is on the way. Hang in there, the Xiscapians will get you out of this mess."

Pilot: Probe squadron here.

the fighters were now fully charging the ship.

OFFICER: Sir, the main weopon is almost done charging.

FC: Good, fire when i order.

"Damn it!" Foxfire cursed. "Who the hell are they?!" "Unidentified sir, readings indicate that their powering up their main weapons, their fighters are attacking." "Fuck. There goes any hope of negoiations. Alright, have the Carrier launch 5,000 fighters and 25 Gunboats, send 5 Frigates to defend the bio ship from further attack. Put the fleet on full readiness. If the situation escalates, I want to be ready." "Yes sir." The fighters, gunboats, and frigates race to the defense of the bio ship.

OCC:dude, im attacking theTenuria ship

North Calaveran Observer

"A large ship has appeared.... it was using some kind of cloaking device."

"What kind?"

"Evidently not mass-based; we detected it, but apparently mistook it for an asteroid. It's launching something... or a lot of smaller somethings."

"Weapons?"

"Not likely, they're too maneuverable. Perhaps fighters."

"Aggressive towards us?"

"Can't tell. Should we fire on them?"

"Just to be safe.... well, there are far too many of them."

"Damn. Those harvesters better be escorted."

"Clusterfuck."

Xiscapian Frigate

"We're receiving a communication from the unknown ship we warned."

"Audio? Visual?"

"Audio. Here it is."

"What? Makes no sense at all. Do none of these races speak a civilised language?"

"Hard to say, Commander. Perhaps it's surrendering."

"Not likely.... it's engaging in evasive maneuvers, and we've detected communications to other outside forces. Look, more contacts."

"Reinforcements. This is really bad. We have ten warships, with a reasonable offensive capability, but against all these potentially hostile combatants we may be pretty much doomed."

From somewhere behind them: "Harvesters will be in-system in about five minutes, Commander."

"Thanks. Fire on those newcomers, we'd better hope our virus does its work in the meantime."

The arrival of reinforcements had sent the Damalgians a clear message: the Xiscapians weren't listening. Five of the warships opened up with all weapons on the new arrivals. (Damalgians had no distinction between cruiser, frigate, and battleship. Indeed, they had no ship classes; there were larger ships and smaller ships, most of them laid out in a similar manner but with noticeable differences between any given warships.)

The weapons arcing across the void consisted first of beams of directed energy, to break and weaken shields; second of Type One missiles, the powerful antimatter explosive showering everything around with shrapnel; third of Type Two missiles, this time not exploding until the penetrator was lodged in something solid, or the timer went off. The assault began thirty seconds after the foreign ships had arrived in-system, and was supposed to cripple them immediately, or at least convince them to back off; mainly because the Damalgian ships couldn't sustain a particularly long firefight.

Meanwhile, the other five warships prepared to fire upon the North Calaveran fighters should any hostile activity be indicated from them.

[We're the Damalgians, or Shadowlanders to outsiders (see sig). We're using this opportunity, OOCly, to make ourselves known to the universe.]

U'luusaan's jaw dropped and he feebly sent a message, asking the Archbishop to return.

"What is it now you incompetant bast- Ancestors!" Messages were flying in from all angles, with a new ship having arrived.

"Eminence, those metallic things have launched something, presuming them to be weaponry!" U'luusaan practically screamed at the Archbishop.

As the weaponry approached the vessel, it took defensive measures. Exhaust ports to the starboard side opened, strafing the ship to the left, whilst hundreds of defensive creatures were released from the hull. As the projectiles closed, the jellyfish-like creatures seemed to maneuver suicidally into their path. Upon contact they released tiny, powerful electrical bursts.

From within the body of the ship, two lengthy tentacle-like protrusions extended between plates of chitin.

++++

"Your Eminence, one set of ships is proclaiming they intend to defend us."

"Send a reply of welcome and peace and hope with fervour that they understand. As for the other ship, demand they stand down!"

"Yes, Emin- By the Hierarch! Additional vessels appearing, Eminence! All metallic. They seem to be readying to engage the aggressors!"

Thaleb felt suddenly insignificant and helpless, a bad feeling for such an egocentric subspecies of humanity. His mouth moved wordlessly as the battle unfolded on the enormous display screen that dominated the front of the bridge.

++++

To Xiscapian Ship: "Welcome to our space. Make no act of aggression toward us."

To Tenurian Vessel: "Cease your attack upon our vessel. Your acts are being considered a declaration of war. Leave our territory."

The latter of these messages was placed on a repeat.


(OOC: Okay those point-defenses are designed to over-load the neuro-system of the weaponry used by the Drazgal. Whether or not they will damage your missiles I will leave up to you, but play fair. *grins*)

OCC:dude, im attacking theTenuria ship
Yeah, I know, us too, we were trying to get them to back down peacefully, instead of a full scale battle. We're speaking English.
IC: The large ships manuvered away, but the blasts from the SHadowlanders ships still caught them, one Cruiser that did not have it's shields up was crippled, it limped away into hyperspace before it could take anymore damage. The rest of the ships were realativly unharmed, their shields taking the brunt of the damage. One frigate was utterly destroyed, though. The Carrier was at the fringes of the battle, hiding behind the rest of the fleet. "Open fire! Heavy guns, all forward to those bastards!" As one the fleet turned and fired on the Shadowlanders ships. The three cruisers, 2 battleships, 2 destroyers, and the remaining frigates fired their weapons at the enemy fleet. Missiles, laser beams, plasma, and other assortments of odd weaponry slammed towards the fleet.

[Whoops. Wrote that before NC decided he was attacking me.]

North Calaveran Fighters

The five otherwise unoccupied Damalgian warships turned towards the sudden assault of the dozens of tiny ships. The missiles used here were Type One missiles; the sudden hail would fill the squadrons with thousands of flechettes traveling at near-light speeds, while the explosions would weaken or destroy shields (a direct hit could take out a fighter easily). The Damalgians fully expected that some fighters would survive, and point defence/directed energy weapons were already charging up to deal with them. Meanwhile, the Commanders hung on for dear life and prayed to the Damalgian equivalent of a deity that their reinforcements would arrive soon.

OCC:im using thins to show my side as well.

the massed fighters split into two groups, the incoming fire destroyed a quarter of the fighters, they now targeted the weopons and began there assault.

The communications were flying thick and fast on the lead ship. At the first hints of battle, it had withdrawn to behind the warships; nonetheless, all communications seemed to be targeted at it anyway. The Commander noted that the repeat-message emanating from the shiplike life-form threatened to overload Damalgian sensors, and wisely shut down all non-Damalgian comms; unable to communicate with the other involved races due to the seemingly insurmountable language barrier, the Damalgians had resolved to keep their heads down and their guns up, so to speak.

The Commander switched to the screen showing the path of the virus. The missiles carrying the virus were bombarded with electrical impulses; their guidance systems were upset and they began to veer crazily off in all directions, some of them even heading back towards the Damalgian fleet. Sighing, the Commander hit a button; the spheres self-destructed, some of them within only a few metres of the Drazgal ship while others released their deadly cargo into the safe void many thousands of miles from anything important. Small areas of the ship were coated with the virus, which began to simply kill any biological systems in the immediate vicinity.

Upon Drazgal, the street parties entered their third day as the Apostles filled the streets proclaiming the glory of the Theocracy at allowing the Drazgal a new age of existence. Revellers were over-joyed at the excuse not to work, and across the planet, over twenty billion souls did little besides celebrate. Within the stations, research laboratories and military installations, skeleton-crews of the Chaplaincy & Diocese maintained a semblence of order.

Within the command building in Drazh, the primary continent, the Lord-Hierarch and Lord-Chaplain were involved in swift discussion, gesticulating at the various images being transferred back from The Drazh. If the ship were killed, it would be death to the heathen creatures that murdered it and the crew. Members of the Inquisition readied themselves to restore order from the celebrations if necessary.

Meanwhile, the battle continued to unfold at the edge of the solar system.

OFFICER: The main weopon is ready sir, it is fully charged.

FL: Open fire

the Globe in the center of the ship fired the massiver concentrated plasma ping. The ship wouldnt know it would be hit until the plasma connected.(this should be able to cut threw your ship)

The communications were flying thick and fast on the lead ship. At the first hints of battle, it had withdrawn to behind the warships; nonetheless, all communications seemed to be targeted at it anyway. The Commander noted that the repeat-message emanating from the shiplike life-form threatened to overload Damalgian sensors, and wisely shut down all non-Damalgian comms; unable to communicate with the other involved races due to the seemingly insurmountable language barrier, the Damalgians had resolved to keep their heads down and their guns up, so to speak.

The Commander switched to the screen showing the path of the virus. The missiles carrying the virus were bombarded with electrical impulses; their guidance systems were upset and they began to veer crazily off in all directions, some of them even heading back towards the Damalgian fleet. Sighing, the Commander hit a button; the spheres self-destructed, some of them within only a few metres of the Drazgal ship while others released their deadly cargo into the safe void many thousands of miles from anything important. Small areas of the ship were coated with the virus, which began to simply kill any biological systems in the immediate vicinity.
OOC: Please RP my capital ships attack on your capital ships

<Deploys Forces>

<Accidentally Fires on North Calaveras because I didn't have time to respond yet>

<I respond to Deploys Forces>

[OOC:] I consider my attack to have occurred before any of your attacks did, as it was written in response to your deployment of forces and the post in which you did attack was due to misreading a post by North Calaveras as though I had made it. So if you'll be so kind as to actually attack me (or word your post in such a way that it appears you're attacking me as opposed to NC), I'd be obliged.

The chitin hull began to turn grey and shrivel in upon itself as the virus ate away at it, killing the tough material. Before long, an enormous concave of some twenty-five ft in diametre had developed. Beneathe the near-black chitin, fleshy-red was revealed, and it was here a battle between the virus and the vessels' immune system began on a cellular level, far more vicious than anything the lumbering ships could manage.

++++

Thaleb gestured angrily. "Yes I am sure, close with the attacking vessels! The closer the range, the greater the damage our cutters are likely to do."

U'luusaan protested; "But your Eminence, what of their weapons! They are immensely well-armed. Already their weapons are eating into the hull, surely they would destroy us?! You propose suic-"

"Insubordinate fool! You saw how our defenses upset their blasphemous machines! If we get in close enough, the Ancestors only know what damage they will do if they make contact with their vessel."

U'luusaan cringed before the Archbishop, the other Bishops already carrying out the orders.

With defiance, the TS Drazh began to approach the foreign vessels when the Xiscapian ships approached.

"Your Eminence, incoming ships from species 2. Orders?" Bishop Tuul'orn asked from his console.

"Maintain course! Let the mechnical monstrosities follow us if they dare, and if our defenses destroy their electronics as well, so much the better! Ready the cutters."

Motion filled the bridge as the vessel advanced toward the Damalgian ships.

[OOC:] I consider my attack to have occurred before any of your attacks did, as it was written in response to your deployment of forces and the post in which you did attack was due to misreading a post by North Calaveras as though I had made it. So if you'll be so kind as to actually attack me (or word your post in such a way that it appears you're attacking me as opposed to NC), I'd be obliged.

Okay, I've reworded my orginal post to attack you. I was firing ON YOU, not NC. I'm not sure how it seemed that way, but I'm sorry for an confusion caused.

Quote:
The chitin hull began to turn grey and shrivel in upon itself as the virus ate away at it, killing the tough material. Before long, an enormous concave of some twenty-five ft in diametre had developed. Beneathe the near-black chitin, fleshy-red was revealed, and it was here a battle between the virus and the vessels' immune system began on a cellular level, far more vicious than anything the lumbering ships could manage.


++++

Thaleb gestured angrily. "Yes I am sure, close with the attacking vessels! The closer the range, the greater the damage our cutters are likely to do."

U'luusaan protested; "But your Eminence, what of their weapons! They are immensely well-armed. Already their weapons are eating into the hull, surely they would destroy us?! You propose suic-"

"Insubordinate fool! You saw how our defenses upset their blasphemous machines! If we get in close enough, the Ancestors only know what damage they will do if they make contact with their vessel."

U'luusaan cringed before the Archbishop, the other Bishops already carrying out the orders.

With defiance, the TS Drazh began to approach the foreign vessels, when without warning, the Xiscapian ships approached.

"Your Eminence, to port! Vessels approaching!" Bishop Taak'li turned to regard his superior.

"A guess of their intentions?" Thaleb replied.

"Unclear, Eminence, they are not attacking the aggressors. Orders?" His voice broke under the stress.

Thaleb closed his eyes weakly. They weren't responding to hails. They showed no signs of aggression, where the nineteen ships were. Yet why did they close in, if not to dog-fight? He sighed.

"Open fire on incoming vessels." He felt sick.
OOC: We sent you a message stating our intentions to defend your vessal. I edited my post so we we're speaking English. Please edit this post. I'm gonna be off for a few minutes, okay?

OCC: I fired my main weopon at your ship.

<Plasma>

The metaphorical smoke of missiles and warfare screened the battlefield in space; but the lead Damalgian ship, even as it was behind the warships and a variety of other foreign vessels, would not go unscathed. As it was in the middle of a maneuver, the bolt of plasma did not rip through it directly in the centre, but rather along a jagged slicing line that simply ripped off a corner of the science and exploration vessel. Of course, this was a quite significant corner, as the vessel was over a kilometre in length; in the mighty explosion a ring of debris was projected outwards and the ship was shot the other direction, "up" (or along the z axis), where it rolled over and came to a shuddering rest.

The Commander was upside down, although it did not particularly bother him, yet. "Damage report!"

"Hull breach on decks seven through nineteen.... half of the infantry complement is gone. A few sensors are offline.... we've lost some point defence.... a big chunk of the hull is missing...." These and a wide variety of other such phrases entered the Commander's brain as he groped his way across the bridge in search of a working computer. Everywhere around him Damalgians lay injured or even dead.

"Fire at the larger vessel!" he managed to broadcast to the warships.

"We can't. We're swamped!"

"Aye, those little ships are attacking us from all sides.... shields are starting to fail in places, we're running low on ammo, there are just too many of them!"

The Commander sank back. "Withdraw to the following co-ordinates...."

Space ripped itself apart above him as the harvesters entered the system from hyperspace, weapons and shields already powered up. There were seventeen warships in all accompanying the vast and menacing harvester ships, each one designed to retrieve organic material and form it into a usable material for sustenance and building: the base of the Damalgian infrastructure.

The lead ship was a warship a kilometre and a half in length, one of the largest such vessels in the Damalgian navy; it had been nicknamed 'Titan' due to its size and power. As the sixteen other warships powered up weapons and began to fire on just about everything, it remained in reserve, communicating with the Commander.

"We heard you were in a spot of trouble.... came in prepared."

"Good. Leave the harvesters cloaked or something.... we're not quite dead in space yet, but we're pretty bad hurt."

"Head that way."

"Thanks."

The Titan moved in to rest above the other warships; behind it, the science vessels withdrew, all nine of them (apparently abandoning the crippled tenth), and vanished into cloaking, along with the harvesters. Their time would come later. Now, there was battle to be done.

OFFICER: We didnt get a direct hit on them.

FL: Prepare another shot, and tell the fighters to target the exposed part of the ship.

OFFICER: Yes sir.

Pilot: Alright, attack the exposed section of the ship, hit close to the undamaged parts.

(OOC: Previous post edited accordingly with the revelation Xiscapians.)

The Archbishop blanched with the arrival of the new vessels. "Increase speed and be ready to make evasive maneuvers. Strafe to starboard as we gain in distance an target the outer-most of their vessels."

Moving closer, the clergymen in the heart of the vessel held their breath. It seemed the fleets of species 2 & 3 held the attention of species 1, and thus far the ship remained unscathed bar the biological weapon assaulting the hull.

Two intensely-bright lasers fired forth from the tentacle-like prostrusions of the TS Drazh. Travelling at light speed, as light has a habit of doing, they sought to cut into the hull of one of the outlying, smaller vessels.

The assault on the Damalgian ships was intensifying by the second. Hundreds of fighters swept in to attack it; weapons from enemy capital ships and escorts alike pounded the ten Damalgian warships that remained. One of the warships was hit by a combination of plasma and laser at the same time, and as its shields bubbled past the breaking point a missile swerved in towards it. The resulting explosion showered the other Damalgian ships with debris, although their shields still held; the battle had disintegrated into what was almost a highly deadly dogfight. The only other significant damage was dealt a smaller warship; Drazgali lasers sliced into its hull, blowing up its fuel supply and leaving it stranded (although technically, its weapons were still working). Virtually all of the warships had taken damage by the time the third or fourth wave of Xiscapian fire struck; but as the seventeen Damalgian reinforcement warships arrived, the tide of war appeared to be turning.

The occupants of the crippled lead ship had been transported to other vessels (Damalgians salvaged their dead, as they made a good meal); it remained there, hanging in space, above and around which the Damalgian warships formed a diamond. Missiles of all kinds and directed energy beams ripped into anything and everything -- you don't really have to aim when everyone else is hostile -- and point defence systems caused fighters to explode in droves. The projectiles carrying the deadly virus were fired in all directions, aiming to exterminate any and all life they could find; the battle in space was a veritable mess.

Any further shots the North Calaverans directed against the crippled lead ship would completely destroy it; of course, this would be kind of useless since there were plenty of not-crippled ships they could be destroying, twenty-six in all to be exact. The reinforcements turned the Damalgian assault from a merely powerful one into an overwhelming one, with the sheer volume of weapons being fired overloading sensors on smaller ships. However, the blanking over the battlefield would be cast by the Titan; the weapon it fired into the midst of the battle, upon detonating, released a powerful pulse that disabled communications and sent all but the most dedicated sensors awry.

[OOC:] Leaving for a bit; won't be available to answer posts for a while, so don't get too impatient. Please summarise any loose ends I left untied -- the most recent post I have is Cruixium firing lasers at me.

The Xiscapian casualties in the battle had been light thus far. Another Frigate had been lost, and one of the Cruisers had lost forward and portside shields. The capital ships fired another salvo at the fleet, when suddenly the bio ship began attacking their ships. "Idiots! Don't they know that the ships have been sent to protect them?!!" screamed Foxfire. "Pull them out! Have the Carrier launch the additional ships into battle and then have it jump. Get our other fighters out of there and have them attack the main fleet!"
Message sent to the TS Drazh:
Stop your assualt on our ships immediatly! We are here to HELP YOU! Do, not, repeat, DO NOT fire upon our ships! We are trying to assist you!'
OOC: My people speak English, your people should be able to understand them.

OFFICER: Sir the ship is crippled, we are directeing the weopon to the next closest ship, we are opening fire.

FL: order the fighters to finish off the crippled one.
OFFICER: yes sir, ordering.


OCC: I have great sensors, even my fighters have good sensors, but the fighters sensors will get mess up.

A raucous cheer went up from the priests at the incredible reaction their mining lasers had upon the vessel. Whether by blind luck or the ship taking a guiding hand, the enemy vessel's hull was deeply penetrated by the lasers and evidently something important and volatile had been hit, as large amounts of heat registered in an aftermath explosion.

Painfully slowly the TS Drazh moved past the Damalgian ships many times its size, dwarfed by comparison. Further of the jellyfish-like defense creatures were vomited from the ship as a myriad variety of projectiles were launched toward the ship. As before, those that passed too close to the defensive beasts underwent severe circuit damage from the electrical impulses.

Archbishop Thaleb smiled broadly and the entire Diocese were uplifted, all anxiety fled, in the face of their surprising success. Something struck the ship, resulting in the Archbishop sprawled upon the floor in a most undignified position.

"Your Eminence, several explosive warheads have collided. Reports indicate our hull plating is down by seventeen percent and decreasing, albeit slowly. Enemy virus is about to breach deck twenty-two. Coagulation rendered impossible by enemy virus, orders?"

"Curses. Seal all passages in danger of breach and evacuate decks twenty to twenty-two. Target the next ship in the same spot and take us in, then evasive maneuvers away from enemy lines. We may need to regenerate the hull if this virus doesn't kill the ship." Another dull thud was heard as more of the hulls chitin was blown away by enemy explosives.

"And for all that is Holy, increase power to the birthing pools. We are running out of point-defenses!"

Thaleb returned to his console and inspected the damage. It seemed the enemy virus was being slowly matched by the over-developed immune system of the ship, but it would come too late for part of the ship.

(OOC: Xiscapia, did your vessels follow mine into the fray?)

Edits begin.

(OOC: Xiscapia I edited my previous posts when you informed me about the English. The ship will be concentrating fire on the Dalmagians, however if any of the biological point-defenses attaches itself to your ship it may cause problems. Of course that depends whether or not your ships are actually defending mine still or not. *grins*

Out of interest what sort of pulse? Technically my ship has organs rather than sensors, so if it obscures electronics no problem, otherwise my ship is about to be pretty much struck blind, deaf and dumb.)

Edits end.

A raucous cheer went up from the priests at the incredible reaction their mining lasers had upon the vessel. Whether by blind luck or the ship taking a guiding hand, the enemy vessel's hull was deeply penetrated by the lasers and evidently something important and volatile had been hit, as large amounts of heat registered in an aftermath explosion.

Painfully slowly the TS Drazh moved past the Damalgian ships many times its size, dwarfed by comparison. Further of the jellyfish-like defense creatures were vomited from the ship as a myriad variety of projectiles were launched toward the ship. As before, those that passed too close to the defensive beasts underwent severe circuit damage from the electrical impulses.

Archbishop Thaleb smiled broadly and the entire Diocese were uplifted, all anxiety fled, in the face of their surprising success. Something struck the ship, resulting in the Archbishop sprawled upon the floor in a most undignified position.

"Your Eminence, several explosive warheads have collided. Reports indicate our hull plating is down by seventeen percent and decreasing, albeit slowly. Enemy virus is about to breach deck twenty-two. Coagulation rendered impossible by enemy virus, orders?"

"Curses. Seal all passages in danger of breach and evacuate decks twenty to twenty-two. Target the next ship in the same spot and take us in, then evasive maneuvers away from enemy lines. We may need to regenerate the hull if this virus doesn't kill the ship." Another dull thud was heard as more of the hulls chitin was blown away by enemy explosives.

"And for all that is Holy, increase power to the birthing pools. We are running out of point-defenses!"

Thaleb returned to his console and inspected the damage. It seemed the enemy virus was being slowly matched by the over-developed immune system of the ship, but it would come too late for part of the ship.

(OOC: Xiscapia, did your vessels follow mine into the fray?)

Edits begin.

(OOC: Xiscapia I edited my previous posts when you informed me about the English. The ship will be concentrating fire on the Dalmagians, however if any of the biological point-defenses attaches itself to your ship it may cause problems. Of course that depends whether or not your ships are actually defending mine still or not. *grins*

Out of interest what sort of pulse? Technically my ship has organs rather than sensors, so if it obscures electronics no problem, otherwise my ship is about to be pretty much struck blind, deaf and dumb.)

Edits end.
OOC: Yeah, their right behind yours. Ready to kick some butt? *grins, lifts shotgun*

(OOC: Right ho I'm off to bed. If you guys could answer the questions I've left and avoid destroying my civilization that'd be great. *grins* Ten, if your pulse would affect the sensory organs of my ship such as its eyes, heat sensors, ears and other frequency receptors, could you include that in your post about which organs specifically 'shut down'? Cheers mate.)

The Damalgians had the numbers rather than the technology; they were semi-nomadic scavengers, after all. Thus, it came as little surprise to everyone but the Damalgians themselves that far from being totally blinded, enemy electronics were only mildly adversely affected. The twenty-five remaining Damalgian ships were quickly reduced to twenty-four as another warship was crippled by a plasma burst, cloaked, and hyperspaced out before further damage could be done to it; the Titan and a few of its surrounding ships quickly focused their fire on the North Calaveran ship, firing a wide variety of weapons towards it. The Titan also responded with a concentrated beam -- if not the same as -- at least highly similar to NC's glorified plasma torch, a beam of directed energy concentrated enough to bore holes in planets. This beam was set to pulse; the pulses lasted six seconds and were separated by about a quarter of a second, cutting in a rough semicircle. By then the Xiscapian ships had succeeded in drawing the attention of the warships once more, and the battle continued.

Meanwhile, virtually unnoticed, the strange bioship floated in daringly close to the Damalgian vessels; partly because it was smaller than they, and partly because their attention was focused elsewhere. Its further shots were not so lucky; the ship it had crippled was already severely damaged and its electronics had been taken out by a daring hit from a North Calaveran (now ex-)fighter. As the laser shots lanced against a smaller Damalgian warship's shields, causing them to sparkle blue against the void, it turned; and from its weapons ports rained death. The Drazgal ship was already engaging in evasive maneuvers; the missiles and lasers were aimed at the spot on its hull already breached by the virus, as well as generally everywhere else. Mixed in were a few canisters of the virus itself; but unlike the virus containers, the missiles were hardened against electronic warfare due to a Shadowlander version of the Faraday cage, and would not be affected by the point-defence. If they detonated simultaneously with the virus canisters, those canisters would spill the infection into the wound in the chitin, possibly crippling the Drazgal ship.

Of course, by now the Damalgian ship was almost out of ammunition; it would have to disappear into hyperspace for a few moments to restock from the larger support vessels, which carried all the weapons as well. And so it did.

[OOC:] Crux, basically disables electronics (like real life EMP, except a few thousand years advanced). Therefore, you ought to be fine.

The losses were worse now, only 6 frigates were left, one of the Cruisers had been utterly annileted, a destroyer was heavily damaged, only it's guns and controls worked, it went forward and rammed itself into the Titan ship, firing all guns as it did so. Now there was only two Cruisers, two Battleships, one destroyer, 6 Frigates, and an unknown amount of gunboats and fighters left. "Do we call for reinforcements?" asked Foxfire's XO. "No, we'll see this thing though unless losses get too high." said Foxfire.
OOC: I'm going now, I won't be on until tommorow. Try not to kill too much in my absence.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/hobbeeb/ships/orbfighter.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/hobbeeb/ships/orbfihgter-side.png


" My time has come... Chaos has proclaimed victory and peace has lost its hold. My time to spread has come, to infect and spread and conquer." spoke the sphere as it started to expand and grow. Contorting itself into a oval-like sphere.. then into small spheres thousands in numbers and about the size of a fighter. Most carrying the fire power greater then that of a normal fighter.

With a large sphere which seemed to command the smaller ones. The thousands of orbs all facing the battle which was ensuing around the organic vessel. By now it was of no questioning that everyone knew they where there. But the question at hand was there enough fire power to stop them from completing their gaol...?

The larges of the Orbs gave a solemn order..

Attack and kill all those expect the Organic vessel.

After the order the innumerable amount of attack orbs flew away to extinguish yet more lives from the universe. They that they may feed upon them and there corpses...so they may grow and continue their path of darkness....

As they came into the space of Combat the orbs locked on to the first ships they saw... The Tenurian ships. Smaller and much faster then fighters the orbs swarmed the ships like carnivorousness fling insects. The constant attacks while not much if it where only one was now a major reason for concern as the attacks would quick take out energy shielding...and those who had no projectile shielding would soon have hundreds of the orbs fling into their hanger bays, wrecking havoc from within the ship, millions of heavy pulse cannon blasts bombarded the Tenurian ships. Lighting the area up like a super nova.

"We've got some kind of new aliens imbound. Orders?" "Recall the fleet. Form a defensive line at the edge of the system and bombard them if they get too close or start attacking friendly ships. Radio the NC as to this new development." The entire fleet broke off and made their way to the edge of the system, ready in case of attack.

"Swing the cutters about, target incoming artillery!" Thaleb's frantic order was bellowed at the other members of the Diocese. Coming about in great swinging arcs, the lasers vainly attempted to cut the dozens of projectiles out of space, while the various point-defenses latched themselves upon seemingly immune missiles.

Deep gouges had been cut from the hull by a barrage of laser fire far exceeding the ships own.

"Many enemy weapons no longer responding to point-defenses, Eminence. Five seconds till impact." Brother Tuul'sok reported and closed his eyes.

"Strafe to starboard, bring us around to enemy vessels!" Deseperately the ship lurched, its primitive gravimetrics resulting in people flying from their controls.

As the wounded vessel turned, a barrage of missiles impacted upon the right side, currently one of the last few remaining areas with any semblence of armour. Explosions sprang up across the hull. And the ship was blind.

"Report!"

"Eminence, breaches on all decks, visual nerve-centre severed, heat-receptor nodes destroyed. Further instances of the disease are infecting the ship, the immune system is being over powered, orders?" A Bishop had replaced Tuul'sok, who was currently lying on the far side of the cabin. And the other far side of cabin.

"Continue previous strategem. Bring us alongside new enemy vessel and prepare to fire point-defenses, their precious electronics may be short-circuited. Fire cutters!" Thaleb gripped his console desperately as another missile impacted, blowing a chunk of flesh from the vessel.

Amplicon Communications Post A:

"Message received. Sending reply."



To the Drazgal,

That is a negative. None of our ships have entered that area of space. We would like to make proper contact with your people and creat diplomatic ties."

Signed
ACPA

As the message was sent an alarm started sounding off. As communications had been started, scanners had picked up the bioship and followed it on its radars. Now what they saw was a mess:

"Sir! Attacks have been launched upon the Drazgal. A number of races involved fighting each other and the small Drazgal ship! What are the orders?!"

More images filled the screen and contact was mede with the Emperor, Lord Klash. His image filled the screen and he began to speak.

"These Drazgal are potential allies. I do not approve of attacks on a peaceful ship especially one that embarks on her maiden voyage. You know what to do."

Orders were sent to the bases of Amplicon including those that were not known about outside of the military. Battleships launched into space escorted by hundreds of Battle Class 1 fighters, some of the best fighters in the galaxy. It was a given some of them would never see Amplicon again.

"Send another message to the Drazgal!"



To The Drazgal,

We have sensed you are in danger and our forces are en route to help your ship. From now on until the end of this battle your ship is under our protection. Just hang in there and we'll be there soon."

Amplicon Military Command

Space was dark and vast than anyone can imagine. Three Star Destroyers suddenly came out of hyperspace slowing down to a cruising speed. They were the ships of the IUCG, sent on a exploration mission to find new life and chart the unknown regions of space. Several contingents departed from the Imperial Union Homeworld of Comerand, scattered into the void.

Captain Andrei Kalinin was commander of Exploration Group 21-A. The group consisted of one Ryurik-Class Star Destroyer (http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a287/GeneralZhukov3333/untitled.jpg), his flag ship the Union, two Victory III Star Destroyers, the Hammer and the Rostov and three Carrack-class cruisers. He walked past the pits to the viewport and stood watching outward being swallowed by the expanse. A subordinate came to his side with a datapad that had the scan reports.

"I see there is activity about .4 lightyears away from here. What is your estimate Lieutenant? Would you deem it hostile activity?" Kalinin asked.

"It would seem so, we are getting energy readings that would suggest hostile action between at least three unknown parties probably many more. Course of action sir?" the Lieutenant Tretin asked.

"Send a Carrack over to observe the fighting and relay the images back to my datapad. Tell Commanders Dono and Gunso to standby. You're dismissed Lieutenant," Kalinin ordered.

They exchanged salutes and Tretin about-faced and headed towards communications. Kalinin looked out into the expanse once more thinking to himself. Perhaps this mission will not be as boring as I thought it would.

"Sir, we've got more ships incoming. A Carrack class is coming, and some ships from a nation known as Amplicon are preparing to go into battle in defense of the bio ship. Orders?" "Send a message to the Amplicons stating our intentions and request for assistance. Keep an eye on that Carrack, there may be more of them around. Maintain the line until further orders." "Yes sir."
The following message was sent to the Amplicon flagship:
Greetings, we are the Xiscapians. Our ships are positioned on the far side of the system at the edge of the battle. We have 2 Cruisers, 2 Battleships, 1 Destroyer, 6 Frigates, and about 9,694 fighters and 43 Gunships. The bio ship has been attacked by a race known as the Shadowlanders, and now we've got some new aliens, all their ships are small orb-like fighters. Also engaged is a nation called North Calaveras, who is doing the bulk of the fighting. If you will commit your forces to saving the bio ship and destroying the hostile invaders, we will reengage.

OFFICER: Sir, we are at 75% shields, and dropping... sir our weopon is ready.

FC: Fire at the big one.

OFFICER:Yes sir...opening fire.

the fighters were now easily firing off at enemy ships, they allways aimed at there weopons.

The Flagship Honour was relaying orders to and fro for each ship. This was going to be a big battle but luckily many of the enemy ships had seemed to have sustained a lot of damage.

"General. Message being received from the Xiscapians. Seems like they're on our side. Orders?"

The General looked up from the screen that showed all battle stats.

'"Relay a message"



To the Xiscapians,

We will protect the Drazga at all costs and we will allow you to go in for another push at the enemy. Our sensors pick up they are growing weaker. We hope to get them by surprise. About to engage.

Spaceship Honour

"Engaging with enemy fleets now!'

As the order was given hundreds of fighters opened fire on the ships that were attacking the Xiscapians and the Drazga. The Flagship held back acting as a command station relaying orders from bases on Amplicon. The 30 larger battleships targeted the larger ships of the other fleets firing all laser cannons to take out these ships and any unfortunate enemy fighters to get in the way.

EDIT: Oops Amplicon is my FT nation. Posted on the wrong name.

"Alright, let's go get the bastards." Newly reinforced with 2 more Destroyers, 2 more Cruisers, and a Battleship, the Xiscapian forces charged into battle. The capital ships opened up on the Shadowlander forces once again, while the fighters, gunboats, and frigates concentrated on the orbs. Shields on the capital ships were contstantly drawing power from all non essential systems and being repaired as fast as the techs could go. Hopefully, with the combined power of the Xiscapian, NC, Londim fleets and the bio ship, they could overwhelm and defeat the Shadowland fleet and the odd orb ships.

OCC: just saying, im not on anyones side, i thought he was going to attack, if he didnt charge his shields or weopons i would have watched ths.

OCC: just saying, im not on anyones side, i thought he was going to attack, if he didnt charge his shields or weopons i would have watched ths.
OOC: If your not on a side than what's your purpose for being here? Also, who is "he"?

OCC: My nation in the future researches races, it was on a mission to observe new planets, and this all unfolded, i will chose sides when im ready.

ah. warrior scientists

OCC: i guess, we like to play god, have yuo seen the movie(the forgotton)

I'm afraid not. RPing any further is pointless until the Shadowlander guy comes back.

OCC: yeppp, piuntles, hey,do you want a war with me? a seperate thread it will be quick war.FT

my current people, and the infected may come in later, and i dont know how i should start the war, maybe i could have an observer in your system studing you, and you detect it, that means that if i know im detected, i must try to eliminate you.

wait!, i want some nations in lie 2 extra, like alversia again

Xscipia, i suck at beggining, could you make the thread?

(OOC: Okay guys can you quit the OOC conversation please? Also, when you're done with them, can you delete the ones not pertaining directly to the thread? Cheers.)

The Shadowlander ships were outnumbered. There was no question of that; at one point they had held the numerical advantage, but with a wide variety of reinforcements arriving to back up the enemy they were even further reduced. Of course, they had had the disadvantage in terms of technology to begin with; after all, Damalgians were semi-nomadic raiders, scavengers in a sense, and had only the technology they'd picked up in their travels across the void. Indeed, the next time they engaged their enemies, it would be likely that they'd picked up fighters, and plasma weaponry, and what have you.

The Titan's commander made one exclamation; its nearest human equivalent would be "Harvest the 'field, then let's clear the f*** out!" Even as the attack was redoubled, Damalgian ships began vanishing into hyperspace, all but a few of them which remained behind in a fist, as though shielding something.

It was one of the harvesters.

As the blinded bioship strafed in once more, attempting to get a clear shot on another Damalgian ship, the harvester decloaked; or perhaps it entered realspace. It resembled most Damalgian ships; but its shields and armour were far stronger (it carried almost no weapons aside of point defence) and extending from it were a variety of what looked like tentacles but were actually large tubes, each capped by a sliding portal, and each one about ten or eleven meters in diameter. Virtually instantly the portals opened; Damalgians usually liked to wait until the battlefield had been cleaned up, but here they had no choice.

The tubes simply began sucking in everything within a wide radius. The Damalgian ships seemed to be at one edge of that radius; the other edge included almost all of the debris and matter left floating in space, as well as the bioship and what fighters and other smaller objects were in range. As the harvester traveled back to Damalgia, it would process all of the matter it had gathered, expelling inorganic or otherwise unusable matter on the way; that matter was frequently used to create more ships, but frequently abandoned, and such trails were the mark of the Shadowlanders throughout this area of space: small, almost spherical lumps of heavy metals and other indications of harvester poop, as it were.

The tubes were large enough that they could suck up the wreckage and debris (plus ship and stray fighters) within literally seconds; evasion would require faster-than-light speeds, or a more powerful gravitational pull than that produced by the harvester's large antimatter engines -- thus, a Star Destroyer or an asteroid wouldn't make it in, not as though there were any Star Destroyers or asteroids in this particular region of space anyway. The bits of organic matter that had once been jellyfish were seized; even the bodies of dead Damalgians, as the Damalgians were a practical race and recycled even their dead.

It would all be over in a short time -- far too short for the North Calaveran plasma weapon to fully recharge, aim, and fire, especially considering that its last potshot was only a few seconds before the harvester decloaked (although to its credit, the weapon succeeded in tearing apart an unwary Damalgian warship). Nonetheless, the warships tripled, even quadrupled their barrage of weapons, flooding the area with munitions in an attempt to dissuade enemy ships from firing upon the harvester itself.

Then, silence.

The portals shut, the harvester and escorts vanished in a ripple; and space was empty. Denied even the luxury of debris or wreckage from the battle it had so recently endured, apart from those ships and fighters that had been destroyed within Xiscapian, Calaveran, or Amplicon lines. Tracing the hyperspace path would be difficult; it took the Damalgians off towards the galactic rim by a hundred light-years or so, then into another uncharted system, and then behind the protective cover of some kind of anomaly beyond which sensors could not penetrate (assuming those sensors could track objects so far away).

Safely away from the battle, the Commander of the Titan raised his superior appendage ("head" would not be appropriate).

"Lieutenant, damage report!"

"Not good, commander. Of twenty-six warships, ten science vessels, and two harvesters, nine warships and a science vessel are completely gone. Virtually every ship aside from the harvesters and two or three science vessels has sustained damage. The Titan's shields are down to thirty per cent; there's a leak in the power, we're fixing it so we can recharge them, but who knows how long that'll take. Hull breach on deck six, number of survivors unknown; fire control teams are suppressing fires throughout the ship...."

"I get the idea. What about the other ships?"

"Well, commander, we came out better than quite a few. One or two have no shields left at all.... another one's weapons ports are just gone.... the rest have lighter damage, but still significant enough to be of note."

"Casualties?"

"Ninety-one dead. Seven hundred fifteen wounded."

"Fuel?"

"We're practically out.... used everything we had to get behind the Curtain."

"This is bad. Should we notify the Union?"

"Practically speaking, commander, what could the Union do that we haven't?"

"For starters, the Union has three thousand ships at its disposal. We had thirty-eight.... twenty-eight now, and less than half of them would stand up in a fight for fiften minutes."

"Union has two thousand nine hundred ninety then... remember, we're part of the Union. So are all the Thalië."

"Well, true."

To: Moderators, Shadowlands Oversector
From: Thalia "Titan"

Warning, we may be pursued by hostiles, lacking the power to withdraw to Damalgia; will remain in system at star co-ordinates 671.38.914; if any special orders, please advise.

To: All Thalië within range
From: Thalia "Titan"

Warning, we may be pursued by hostiles, lacking the power to withdraw to Damalgia; currently at co-ordinates 671.38.914; please send reinforcements.

671.38.914 was a system traditionally rich in carbon, and thus commonly used as a stopping-point; some of the carbon on its second planet's surface was harvested by the other (unoccupied) harvester, but it would be perhaps an hour before it could be synthesized into fuel. Meanwhile, the other harvester was expelling the little spheres of unusable matter, now collected into the growing orbit of such spheres around 671.38.914's second planet.

Low on fuel and lower on morale, the Damalgians waited; for their enemies, and for their reinforcements.

[OOC:] Hope it's ok. Rather than responding to individual attacks separately, I just indicated that they had occurred and caused commensurate damage. As for the harvesting.... well, at least I didn't do your planet, right? ;)

EDIT: Also, 100th post!

The Xiscapian ships withdrew back to a distance. "Damage report, now." said Foxfire. "We've lost 1 of our cruisers Dark Star, another has taken significant damage. One of our destroyers is just gone, it's the Saber, it rammed intself in it's death throes into that huge ship. The shields are down on one of our battleships, but aside from those already mentioned, we took light damage." "Alright, get that Carrier and some med ships out here."
A few minutes later the Carrier repappered, and the fighters and gunboats greatfully flew black in to be serviced. Two med ships, the Chrystal Star and the Chrystal Moon appeared and began taking on the wounded. The ships stayed insystem just in case. The enemy ships were tracked a few light-years, but they went along the curve of a nearby system and deployed some sort of sensor blocking system, and the ships vanished from Xiscapian screens. "Contact the other races. See if they need medical attention."
Combat losses:
1 Cruiser destroyed
1 Destroyer destroyed
1 battleship heavily damaged
1 Cruiser damaged
1,282 fighters destroyed/MIA
12 Gunships destroyed
5 Frigates destroyed
Total Xiscapians killed: 18,029
"I hope that bio ship's happy." Foxfire muttered.

the observer cloaked immediatly

OOC: NC, this is happening at the same time as our other thread, so if my people get word of your attack, they will fire on you. Now they presume you are an allie, although are keeping an eye on you. Oh, by the way...
600TH POST!!!!!

OCC: I know, i cloaked

"Any reports from the Carrack, Lieutenant?" Kalinin said, standing above Tretin who was in the pit.

"Yes sir we are relaying an image display to the tactical room."

"Good. Carry on Lieutenant," Kalinin said.

Kalinin walked into the tactical room and saw the holo display. Debris was littered about, dead ships rotating slowly. "The battle was bigger than I thought. Hmm? Whats this? Enhance image of that ship," he pointed out to the ship with some sort of appendage coming out.

The image was enhanced and Kalinin was intrigued. "Whats your guess at what this is Commander Ingram?"

Ingram studied the vessel. "It would seem those are tubes sir. They are sucking up all the debris into the ship. Could it be that they have an onboard production facility Sir?"

"Could be commander," Kalinin looked at the display and saw some of ships disappear into hyperspace, "it would seem some is leaving."

Kalinin got out his commlink and spoke into it, "Lieutenant Tretin, contact the Carrack and tell them to continue observing. If they are engaged, they must leave the area and return to the group."

"Yes sir. Transmitting now."

"Good, Kalinin out," he said then looked back at the display.

Thaleb let out an impotent scream as the TS Drazh was unable to escape the powerful vortex. Across the members of crew entered escape organisms, but those jettisoned were swept away all the faster. Further holes were eaten into the hull by the bacteria and several Drazgal found themselves swept from the vessel as all protection fled.

Organic material tore, leaving blood spraying from enormous wounds, and with a sickly-rip, the flesh of the ship was ripped apart. Thaleb let his weary eyes fall shut as the ship entered the tube.

++++

Lord-Hierarch K'aarna scowled as the last of the information was relayed. Throughout the command room shoulders slumped. A few members of the Diocese wept openly as the century of work was lost. The sound of the Lord-Hierarch's staff rapping upon the floor caught the rooms attention.

"Cease your pathetic displays, all of you!" His voice snapped like a whip. "Firstly, analyse all data returned to us before the destruction of the Drazh. Everything, from the materials used in the construction of those vessels, theoretical lay-outs of the structures fought, language deciphering.

"Secondly, initiate growth of the Project; I deem it successful. Three are to be grown. Further to this, we shall be redesigning it, clearly space is more hostile than previously presumed.

"Inform the Deacons & Apostles of what has happened and develop a story for the populace. Tell them to prove themselves for once in covering the truth. Now!" Again the wizened figure let out a bark of a command that belonged to a man many times his size.

The Bishops, Archbishops and Hierarchs in the room instantly began to delegate and go about business, while Lord-Hierarch K'aarna set down in his chair. There was blood owed, now. A great deal of it.

APS Honour

"Battle reports!" yelled the General. The battle had een quick yet had become the largest battle Amplicon had ever entered. Now the battle was over crews needed to fix the ships.

"We have sustained damage. 2 of our Warships were destroyed in the battle, 5 cruisers were also damaged. The other Ships sustained damage but can be rebuilt and have enough energy to return to Amplicon. This Ship sustained a little damage from stray fire and already crews are fixing these. Around a thousand fighters were lost in battle". said one of the Commanders.

"And the Drazgal?", inquired the General.

"They're all gone Sir. Those tubes ripped the ship apart and it seems got the crew aboard. Our mission failed.", replied the Commander quietly.

"Shit! Try and locate their home planet and send a message if possible. We're not going to let them become unprotected. Who knows who will go after them now. Try the frequency they used with their ship. Maybe they use the same frequency on the planet. At least then no one can intercept it."



To The Drazgal,

We of Amplicon send our deepest condolences to the loss of the TS Drazh and its crew members. They did not ask for this and we tried our hardest to save the ship but we arrived too late. We are now worried your planet could become a target and offer our protection. If ou accept we will send our own patrol ships to keep your space safe and act as a first defence should you come under attack. We await your reply.

"We're being recalled." said Foxfire on the bridge of the Battleship Pride of the Emperor. "The Amplicons will have to take it from here."
The three remaining Battleships, 3 Destroyers, the Carrier, the med ships, and all five Cruisers jumped system, going back home for refuleing and rearming.
OOC: It's been nice RPing with you all, I'm under attack back home so I won't be back. I'll be keeping an eye on this though. :p

Lord-Hierarch K'aarna dictated the reply to the aliens with some distaste;

Amplicon Fleet Commander(s),

Your condolences are accepted, but the loss of the Drazh is a minor setback. We appreciate your offer of aid during this time, though be assured, our planet is more than capable of defending itself, even against a horde of fleets such as swarmed our system.

Upon consulting various transmissions sent us by the Drazh's crew, we have discerned the intended course of action was to make first contact with your species. Being aware of this, we shall maintain this offer of first contact with your species, should you be willing to have a small team of representatives make planet-fall.

Lord-Hierarch K'aarna,
Grand Master, Order of the Diocese.


Once sent, the Lord-Hierarch looked upon the enormous visual screen dominating the room. Gesturing with his staff the image brought up was one of three pod-like items sitting at the base of test-tubes. With a smile, K'aarna rubbed his sagging chin. Growth would take a decade with the best of their growth-technology, but that was a decade they could all afford to wait for.

Turning away, he left the room, his black robes and red sash blending with the fleshy-walls. Soon, all the combat data would be analysed and banked, and new defenses and weaponry developed; even if it took another century before a satisfactory war-ship were made.

The thousands of orbs that took to defend the organic ship was now without a target. The large orb that spawned the thousands slowly entered the planets space in which the organic ship belonged. Like an asteroid that just floated ominously above the planet. The wreckage that now littered the space above the planet was now the targets... but not for destruction... but for consumption. The orbs that once was set forth to attack now seemingly slammed into the wreckage, like drunk drivers and trees. As the orbs touched the wreckage the black metal seemingly covered the wreckage and begun to grow. all of the orbs found food and feed, and grew. Soon most began to grow as large as the first large orb...

Lieutenant Commander Yuri Renkonov watched the display of information on board his Carrack-class cruiser Foresight. He had been sent on a reconnaissance mission to uncover what was going on in this area that interested Captain Kalinin. "Eh? Whats this?" he said.

"Sir one of the parties have sent some sort of message somewhere, the computer estimates to the direction of the homeplanet of the fleeing ships seen earlier."

"Can you pick up something from it?" Renkonov asked.

"Negative sir there seems to be a encryption on the message. Unable to make it out."

"I see. Let us continue to watch them for the moment. In the meanwhile prepare one of the recon TIEs on the racks. Just in case."

"Yes sir."

I wonder what they are up to, Renkonov thought.

The scoutship Renaldvan, commanded by Captain Gaouran, once a captain of a warship - but since the loss of his ship in the Incognitian conquest, he had been remanded to mere exploration.

It was a mere flicker of energy on the scale of things - had he set their sensors a whisker away, he would've missed it. Of course, when scanning stars and their surroundings, one was unlikely to move a whisker away, and so.. well, meeting with a new species was likely to be interesting, to say the least. The Renaldvan had been a support corvette previously, but the exploration of stars near the Kingdom's sphere of influence had been deemed to be important, so.. here he was.

"Prepare for the jump, gentlemen. Uin, I wish for our weaponry to be prepared to fire as soon as we are in-system. Activate both railguns, and the point-defense grasers. If we are fired upon, we will make the Sovereign proud of our defense."

The engineer nodded, and, adeptly flickering his fingers along touchpads, prepared the ship to re-arm itself after transit.

Gaouran bowed before the ship's tiny altar, drawing a carbon-knife, and delicately sliced the top of his hand, letting drops of blood fall to the altar, each of them hissing as they touched it, evaporating into nothing, as though they had never been there.

"My lord, my Sovereign, all-seeing, all-ruling, I beseech you. Grant us success in our endeavours, victory in our conflicts, and glory in our status, and let all I do, my greatest accomplishments, my most bitter defeats, all my efforts be dedicated to you, and your truth."

They did not have an Adept-Priest aboard the ship, however Gaouran was one of the most loyal men to the Sovereign - he was an incompetent captain in war, it was proven, but his loyalty to the Sovereign had saved him from death after his failure, and, instead, had granted him another chance to prove his dedication.

The tiny scoutship materialised with a flash of beta particles, and the websensors came online immediately, the screens flooding with information. Gaouran cursed. "Capital ships?"

"Yessir. Or their equivalent."

"Send a message. We're peaceful. We wish only to make peaceful contact with all races here. Don't, for the sake of the Sovereign, make them think we're enemies. I don't want to have to answer to one of those.. Shade creatures, for one thing."

Message to all races present; unencrypted
From: Interstellar scoutship and diplomat, Renaldvan

We greet you in the name of the Sovereign, and in that of peace. We wish to establish peaceful contact with your respective people, and would care to engage in diplomatic discourse with any here who are willing to do so.

Captain Gaouran
End Message

The orbs that had begun to consume the debris where not longer existing, but in their stead came warships, hundreds of them. The orbs that numbered in the thousands now became warships less in number but greater in power. The black metallic surfaces of the ships was bristled with the barrels of weapons and missile tubes. The ships acting individual of each other.. a drastic difference from the once drone like activity they first displayed. But one orb still existed. Like a small dead stars core it merely sat in space... boring to the activity that is happing around it. The cracked surface on its body glowed even brighter as the dark fleet grew in power. As the large orb like structure would have by now casted large shadows upon the land.

The message that was received from the H.T. ships was of no concern to the orb as it stood guard atop the planets north pole.

"Commander we are receiving a message from one of the parties." one of the tech Sargents said.

"I see put it through to my datapad."

The tech Sargent relayed it to his datapad. Renkonov started to look over the message. The Sovereign eh? he thought.

"Get Captain Kalinin on a commlink," he ordered.

Meanwhile at the Union.

Lieutenant Tretin was in the pit surveying the situation with one of the techs. Trying to fix a bug in one of the nav computers. "You called me, Lieutenant,"
said Kalinin who was standing above Tretin.

Tretin stood and replied, "Yes sir, we are receiving a message from Lt. Commander Renkonov," he gave him the datapad with the message.

"I see. Someone wants to make contact. Tell Renkonov we will be there shortly. Notify the Hammer and Rostov, we will microjump to that location."

The three Star Destroyers raced into hyperspace and shortly came out it to Renkonov's position.

Within the enormous living spire that was now the Stellar Naval Research & Control Building, the various messages from the even more varied xeno-species within the system continued to flow. In many instances the words were just gibberish or incomprehensible noises that were being translated even now, though with little progress.

Elsewhere in the building, the Lord-Hierarch was discussing plans for an variety of bio-electrical weapons, as well as other weapons that would be usable in space. Under his scrutiny, progress was steady, though admittedly the majority of it was little more than glorified nonsense supported by rampant stretching of the laws of physics.

Finally, across in the primary Chaplaincy Temple, ground forces were being monitored and organised through fear of planetary assault. Defenses were made ready planet-wide, with hundreds of thousands of priests manning weapons station, and hundreds of millions of soldiers being drilled by Chaplains.

Through all this, the populace went about unknowing, unaware, monitored by the Inquisition, placated by the Apostles, and informed by the Deacons. Life was good on Drazgal.

*Bump*

The now fully formed dark fleet flaoted ominously within about 20 miles above the planets atmosphere. The scans of the planet showed that the source of the biological ship came from within this planets populace. A planet ripe with carbon and other elements.

As the fleets floated above the planet messages where sent in thousands of other languages...



This is the Harbinger fleet, we have come to you... not to destroy you but the assimilate you into our being. To absorb your kind and your planet. Inturn you will gain life ever lasting. This assimilation can be peaceful..or with conflict you decide your fate.."

The Lord-Hierarch scowled at the message and laughed derisively.

"Our science vessel may have been terminated after a fire-fight, but our planet is not so lightly defended. Archbishop, prepare to send reply. Excellent.


"Harbinger fleet, you have violated the space of We, the Most Holy race of the Drazgal. Your metallic heresies are to be purged from this place if you fail to remove yourselves. Should you proceed in your efforts, then you shall die."


The room fell quiet. None dared to question the Lord-Hierarch, but all within the room felt that the message was more than a little fool-hardy. Planet-wide members of the Diocese were put onto alert and filled the various planteary defense stations; elsewhere the Chaplaincy organised the armed forces, their enormous armour-clad forms towering above the soldiery whilst litanies of faith filled the air.

"Interesting. Some sort of assimiliation fleet. Non-Kython, but still.."

Captain Gaouran's voice trailed off, and the engineer spoke. "Such things are living heresy, captain. We must report this."

"And? What we will we do then?"

"The resources of the Sovereign are mighty. Heresy must be stamped out, wherever it is found. Humanity must remain as the truest servants of the Sovereign. Error in belief may be forgiven, and other races may be permitted to serve, in lesser capacities, but such races as these.."

"I see, Ithik. And I understand your concerns. You were once an Adept-Priest, were you not?"

"Yes, Captain. Before the Sovereign's power was unleashed through me to provide a Servant-Admiral with protection, and my suitability to channel his power was reduced. Now, I serve as I did before the Sovereign was brought into this world - as a mere engineer."

Gaouran smiled. "Then it is suitable that you should give the call to exterminate this.. this abomination, is it not?"

Ithik nodded. "If we Portal here, the fleet can be here within hours. Enough to save this planet should we arrive in time - and, if not.. well, it will face the flame and the sword."

Gaouran's smile widened. "I will send a message to the people here. You send another. I believe we have enough of our transmissions

Greetings, both Drazgal and abomination fleet. I give you both fair warning. The first is simple. Should the abominations persist in their continued existence in this place, we shall end it for them. We wish no conflict with the Drazgal, despite the improbability of you serving the Sovereign, however, no abomination shall be permitted to threaten mankind, nor any subsets thereof. You shall cease, and leave this place, or we shall remove the taint of your existence from reality.

"Captain, the message is sent, along with all pertinent data. Apparently these beings are abominations against mankind. An expeditionary force has been dispatched. A larger one can be gathered within the hour. I advise we withdraw from the battlefield - we can't jump yet, but an expedient rate of sublight travel should allow us an 87% survival rate, provided that no major contingent of the enemy fleet comes after us."

"I think it seems wise, yes. Let us wait.."

"Status report, Commander."

"Commscan has picked a fleet of ships in orbit of what seems to be the homeplanet of the party that just retreated. A third party only known as the Sovereign known from the message we received earlier has contacted the natives and seems to be waiting. The fleet seems to be hostile against the planet. Course of action sir?" Ingram asked.

"Let us wait as well. Deploy the Carracks so that we can get a good sensor sweep of whats going on. Tell Dono and Gunso to standby."

"Yes sir."

"We have received orders to vacate the system and continue with the expedition Captain."

"By who's authority."

"Grand Admiral Ryurik sir."

Kalinin loosened his tunic. He looked over to Tretin. "Tell Gunso and Dono of our course. Relay coordinates to them and the scouts for next jump to hyperspace."

"Yes sir."

Soon the ships began to speed up and disappear into hyperspace.

OOC: Moving on to another thread.