NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC:
A few notes, before we begin,
I am well aware that the operation described below would, in fact, be silly and pointless, even if the science was right, in the galaxy as we know it. The concept of super massive black holes somewhat negates the point. But, being the horrible nerd I am, I'm going to tell science to bugger off and go ahead with this, 'cause I think it makes a neat story.
Also, for the record, this particular 'Earth' is not Earth, but an alternate, almost identical, but not quite, Earth, in a separate galaxy, so no, I'm not annihilating half the NSverse with a single blow. That would be silly, wouldn't it?
So unless you WANT to be destroyed, I'd suggest not placing your home world in 'my' galaxy.
And finally, those with Black Hole Dispersal Rays, sprays, beams, bombs, torpedoes and so forth are not welcomed. Others are free to note that a rather large galaxy seems to be acting strangely.)

Earth Command Conference Room; Istanbul, Turkey
"You do realize we may well be making ourselves into the most hated humans in the universe, right?" Minister Able, presently Minister of Defense, was nervously prodding at a stack of impressively scientific looking papers which was steadily growing before him as a troupe of aids made a steady loop between the office of the Minister of Science and the conference room.
"That is for our children to decide, Minister." Admiral Yar was a tall-ish, balding man who was currently still wearing his hat because every time he removed it he lost a few more hairs, "But if we don't try this, we wont have any children to judge us."
Able grunted in response, filing through a report about Schwarzschild Radii and slave generators.
General muttering around the room signaled that those present and not previously party to the plan had begun reading the mission statement.
"Gentlemen," Yar stood, his not-very-impressive height somewhat augmented by the lighting effect as an overhead projector snapped on, "Most of you know of Project Eltreum. What you have not been told is that it is NOT a colony ship...anymore. Two years after the initial construction began, we received a transmission from the Expeditionary Fleet stating the estimated number of Space Monsters. The mere fact that they were able to dispatch the fleet to our system is evidence enough that simply evacuating the planet will not suffice."
There was a click as the projector cycled to the next image.
"This is the first phase of Operation Carneades. Even as we speak, the planet Jupiter has been reduced to approximately 1/9,000th of its original size using gravity manipulation. The details are in the report for the scientifically inclined." The image of Jupiter shrinking cycled as the projected clicked rapidly to display the slides one by one, the only sound in the room aside from the droning voice. "The miniaturization will continue until the planet has been reduced to a diameter of four hundred kilometers. Approximately 1/30,000th of its original size."
Raised eyebrows and scattered denunciations of madness passed through those present. Many were shocked, some horrified.
"This is our only hope. We must destroy the Space Monsters nest, just as they seek to destroy ours." Yar said, flatly, removing all traces of emotion from his voice, although his eyes betrayed that he was just as horrified as any other present, "Our target is their primary breeding ground, rich in the stars they require to breed."
He paused, taking a breath.
"We are going to destroy the galactic core."

This is the Republic News Network, bringing you an emergency announcement regarding the war with the Space Monsters...

The plan was simple in execution, if not in implementation. The compressed mass of Jupiter, housed in a construction known as Buster Machine III (christened the 'Black Hole Bomb') would be piloted to the Galactic Core, where it, with 3,000 slave units, be detonated, compressing the already relatively tiny sphere of Jupiter past its Schwarzschild Radius, collapsing it into a black hole. This chain reaction would destabilize what balance the region already had, creating a black hole of ever-increasing mass which would swallow the prime breeding grounds of the Space Monsters, the vast globular clusters that constituted the majority of the Galactic Core.
The reaction would, hopefully, die out before reaching the relatively distant Earth.
The seventy-kilometer Eltreum, colony ship cum fleet flagship, and virtually every remaining ship in Earth's fleets would escort Buster Machine III on its one-way mission.
Once in place and activated, Buster Machine III would require approximately thirty minutes to fully activate, after which the final stage of the compression of Jupiter would begin, giving the entirety of Earth's fleets approximately ten seconds to initiate warp and escape into subspace before the resulting black hole turned the region into a deathtrap.
Estimates were that roughly %75 of the galaxy's mass would be consumed by the resulting chain reaction.
The affects on the solar system itself had not been underestimated either. Already most of Earth's coastal areas had been evacuated. Venus as a whole was depopulated and Mars' terraforming program had been temporarily suspended.
Fortunately there was plenty of time to prepare. The compression of Jupiter would take another ten years at least, and Eltreum's construction would require at least fifteen to be operational at a level acceptable for its mission.
Time enough for ten billion people to prepare for what would probably be the worst disaster to befall the solar system since a few trillion billion particles of dust decided to get to know each other better.

A special committee of the Senate announced today that Eltreum was a cover for a much larger operation, called, apparently dubbed Operation Carneades. Although the details have not been released, Eltreum will travel with its fleet to the galactic core, the Space Monsters main nesting grounds..."

"The time frame for the mission, once we reach the core, is thirty minutes. The Eltreum and its fleet will act as a defense for Buster Machine III until the process has reached its critical point. After that, we estimate it will take some time for the black hole to swallow the area, but it should progress very quickly, we are told. The level of mass in the region we plan to detonate in will provide roughly one to two thousand units of mass equivalent to our own sun in the first day of the reaction. After that any estimation is impossible, and even that guess is very rough."
"The plan has already been approved by the Senate. We will make it public once we are sure that security measures are tight enough to prevent Buster Machine III or Eltreum from being sabotaged in some way."
"Gentlemen, this is our final hope. If Operation Carneades fails, humanity will be wiped out. We are an infection, if you will, and these space monsters are the galaxies white blood cells."
The room was briefly plunged into darkness as the projector shut off. The lights came back on in a moment, and showed the faces of those present to be a great deal more pale than they had before the briefing started.
"If there are no questions about the report, then that is all. Pray that God and our children may forgive us."

Once there, the fleet will seek a means to end the conflict once and for all, perhaps by finding some sort of 'queen' Space Monster.

Eltreum was a massive ship, its construction yard visible from Earth even in daylight from the right part of the world. Its entire hull was composed of the artificial metal for which the ship itself was named. Theoretically it was impossible to destroy except in a reaction with anti-eltreum particles. To even heat it was a challenge. Working it would have been impossible had humanity not harnessed the laws of gravity for their own uses, allowing hull to be formed without a scaffolding from the basic elements required, then compressed and processed to the point where they joined together to form what Earth science had initially thought was an impossibility.
It had required a system-wide search to obtain the amount of elements required to produce enough eltreum to form the massive plate which was to be the outer hull of the future flagship of Earth's, perhaps, final fleet.
It had taken much longer, though, to build the inside of the ship piece by piece. A staggeringly huge task, but well worth it in the end. Those working on the largest object ever constructed by human hands were convinced, by and large, that they were working for all of humanity, that through their efforts they would save the lives of nine and a half billion people, defeat the great enemy and save what was left of the galaxy once the problem was dealt with.
Despite its virtually indestructible hull, there were vulnerabilities. The fact that building a solid brick of indestructible material was not a good plan for a warship design unless you intended to throw it at the enemy, required that the hull be full of holes, in order to access the inside of the ship. The ships turrets and other protrusions would be built of the same material, but that wouldn't stop a strong enough force from knocking them off.
For this reason, the ship had been constructed with a new technology, only very recently developed to the point of usefulness, a combined gravity/energy barrier, which would repel or disintegrate matter and stop energy as well. The same technology, on a far larger and stronger scale, was being employed on BM-III.
Next generation weapons technology was present on the ship as well, in the form of larger, faster, photon torpedoes. The ships lasers had been upgraded significantly as well, reducing their focusing time and removing the need for protective lens-covers (as well as the need to perform the dangerous and boring task of cleaning said lenses manually.
One of the ships greatest advances as its ability to exceed light speed while in normal space. Once gravity was mastered, humanity had rapidly progressed in its reality-manipulating ways, discovering that the re-writing of space itself, within a limited area, could be achieved by a sufficiently advanced computer equipped with the correct set of tools. The previously impossible level of energy required to travel faster than light was reduced to a merely insanely high level of energy, something Eltreum was quite capable of producing. Warp was faster, but every bit of speed helps in combat.
The ship, being even huger than Excelion, incorporated several transport system. Ten grav-train lines crossed the ship, leading to the important stations. At each stop a number of small transport pads were available, which allowed the crew to cruise along at a steady speed.
The bridge was a marvel of ship design. Each station was suspended on impossibly thin spires within the spherical cavity which, through the marvels of science, allowed a full 3-D view of space in any direction, with up to x12,000 magnification. Crew stations were arranged according to section. Engineering, command and weapons had their own platforms, giving maximum space and allowing for perfect views of the surrounding space no matter where you were. Crew moved between stations on small pads similar to the one used for transport in the rest of the ship. No expense had been spared in this endeavor, and Earth wanted to ensure that its champion was not uncomfortable.

We can only wish them luck in their efforts, as this is apparently the final effort that will be made to defend this system. Should the operation fail, the returning ships will act as lifeboats, taking on as many passengers as possible before evacuating the system.

The fleet of ships assembled to escort Eltreum and BMIII was easily the largest military force assembled by humanity. Drawing from the population of an entire planet, with a population approaching ten billion, Earth had been able to throw together a fleet that would have been immovable with a hundred Hellen's of Troy. New ships stood alongside veterans of the Second Expedition, all preparing for the great voyage about to be undertaken. Huge supplies of food, supplies, and other goods were shuttled up from Earth on orbital elevators, via shuttle, and mass drivers, while the final polish was being put on Eltreum's hull.
The fleet, many of its ships plainly visible from the surface, added many thousand points of light to the night sky, as if to make up for the number they were about to remove.
Another object was also visible, beyond the fleet, beyond the solar system. The black hole so-recently formed, the one called Excelion. It formed the center of a horrible red-orange eye in the night sky. While it was far enough away that its fairly weak gravity had no serious effect on Earth or its colonies, it was still a reminder of the desperate straits humanity was in. But the sacrifice of the flagship Excelion had been enough to give them the time needed to assemble their final counterstrike, the Space Monsters were apparently assembling a new attack force close to the core, where their main nesting grounds were.

Please make sure to retain your raffle cards, and do not attempt to board an evacuation ship if you do not have authorization. W-we all want to get on the evacuation ships, but there wont be enough room...not...enough...

Fifteen years later

Over twenty thousand ships, discounting fighters and other ship-based craft, were assembled at the edge of the solar system, the massive fleet using the rapidly evaporating Excellion as a slingshot to buildup the required speed to break into sub-space. Technically this was no longer required. most of the ships in the fleet were equipped with next-generation drive systems which allowed nigh-instant acceleration to near light speed Mostly the 'Excellion round' was a tribute, the fallen crew had sacrificed themselves, and their ship, for the sake of Earth. And now this fleet was likely to do the same.
The journey, nearly half the length of the galaxy, would take several months, even with the new sub-space engine designs that allowed nearly unprecedented speeds. The new hulls, the algorithmic drives, the high-end organic computers and a slew of other advances made this one of the safest, and fastest, voyages in the history of Earth space travel.
If the timetable held, the main Space Monster force destined to assault Earth would be relatively close to the detonation point, and would thus be destroyed once contact was made. It was hoped that, if they realized what was happening, that the massive escort fleet would be able to hold off the inevitable assault.
The Last Fleet, as it was being called, was huge by the standard of any nation, but even the vast bulk of the entire assembled fleet was but a tiny speck compared to the Space Monster fleets. Intelligence gathered by long range probes indicated a fleet numbered in the billions gathering, only counting objects more than one hundred meters in length. At its current rate of growth, it was thought that the number would be in the trillions by the time the fleet arrived. How the Earth Fleet could possibly hold off such a massive force was a subject of speculation. Eltreum was a unique design, nearly invulnerable, designed specifically to combat the Space Monster method of warfare. However, many of the other ships in the fleet were fourth or even third-generation designs, their crews well aware that they would probably be nothing more than fodder for the remainder of the fleet.

"Fourth battle group reports light speed as been attained. Estimated exit-lag is 5.56. Battle groups five and six report light speed Estimated exit lag is 8.22."
"Second Fleet is now fully engaged. Eltreum is preparing to enter subspace."
"Prepare to disengage Algorithmic Drive. VM set to auto-engage in five..."
"VM engaged, Eltreum is engaged. Estimated exit lag is 12.2."
The ships hull shuddered slightly as it left behind the mundane reality that was normal space, the short-lived tear in space allowing the near-blinding white-then-red-then-blue-then-green light of subspace into the regular universe. It shone briefly on the hull of Eltreum as the ship passed the threshold of subspace, then vanishes when the subspace engine maintaining it left the universe.
The bridge was a virtual sea of chaos, albeit controlled chaos. Small gravity platforms zipped between stations as a frantic stream of technicians from virtually every department on the ship struggled to work out the inevitable last-minute kinks discovered in the system. A ships maiden voyage, and its first combat voyage, always brought out errors, and there was plenty to go wrong in the seventy kilometer long bulk of Eltreum.
The captains chair, an impressive feat in ergonomic architecture which the captains of the first exploratory vessels, such as the famous Luxion would never have recognized, was surrounded by a mass of holographic displays, showing all manner of data relevant as the ships captain called it up.
"Block E reports all systems normal, captain. Minor power fluctuations in the central computer complex...apparently the 3C is getting uppity again."
3C was the common name for the Cetacean Computational Core, although those who worked with it typically referred to it as 'The Think Tank', a unique design which was 'crewed' by a dozen or so genetically modified dolphins. These acted as the ships navigators, performing the amazingly complex equations which were required to operate the Algorithmic Drive system. All of them were considered sentient, although their level of intelligence was subject to some debate. They operated the Algorithmic Drive by linking into a central unit which combined their brainpower in such a fashion that virtually any artificial means known to man was a poor comparison in terms of number-crunching ability.
Most of their spare time was spent either harassing the female crew members or jumping through hoops.
"Probably want their fish ration increased again. Tell them that we'll arrange for a fugu chef once we get back to Earth, and they can eat all they want. They'll be the fattest damn dolphins in the universe." Captain Daitetsu, his real name was Amano, but he had a reputation, having served for nearly four decades, and was widely considered the greatest officer in the entirety of Earth's fleets.
"Affirmative. I'll pass that along. Estimated time 'til re-entry is now 115 days, ship time."
The captain sighed, relaxed back into his ergonomically perfect chair, and nodded, "Maintain level one yellow-alert, just in case. We don't want to get caught in sub-space like the Second Expeditionary Force. And make sure that the pilots know that the regular training schedule will be maintained."
"Roger, captain."

There had long been speculation as to what drove the Space Monsters. The prevailing theory was that they were simply an 'automatic defense force' for the galaxy as a whole. They did not colonize worlds, nor did they build. They simply viciously attacked any space vessels, manned or otherwise, that they encountered. Earth had known about them since the early 2000's, when the Luxion, the first vessel to break lightspeed, had ventured out to Sol's neighboring stars, and promptly been destroyed. The few crewmen who made it back had reported the huge insectoids, many over a kilometer in length, which had swarmed the ship.
Shortly after that, fleets had been sent to deal with this threat, only to return battered, or not at all. While each Earth ship could take on a hundred Space Monsters, they were outnumbered and out gunned millions to one in most cases, and had yet to develop the tactics and technology to defeat the threat. But, gradually, things had improved. Events had culimated with the Second Expeditionary Fleet, which had gained enough ground to attempt an organized retreat when they were overwhelmed. Unfortunately, it seemed, the Space Monsters had been gaining technological ground as well, or perhaps 'biological' would be a better term, and the SEF was followed through sub-space, back to Earth.
The First Battle of Sol rapidly took a turn for the worse, with much of the remaining fleet having been annihilated in sub-space. In the last desperate moments, Excellion, the flagship of the fleet, had begun its final run, an attempt to ram an enemy vessel, when the determination was made to launch Buster Machine 01, a combination of numerous developments in both ship design and hardsuit technology, which proved quite successful. The Space Monsters initial assault force was rapidly destroyed.
Unfortunately for Earth, a few billion more were rapidly assembling on the edges of the Solar System.
The decision was rapidly made that Earth's sole remaining warship would travel to the edge of the system and initiate a chain reaction within its degeneracy reactor, allowing the micro-black hole to gain enough mass to overtake the ship and destroy the Space Monster fleet. With any luck, another enemy horde would be far enough away that Earth could rebuild before they arrived.
With luck, Excellion succeeded in its mission. Becoming the short-lived black hole known for the ship that created it, and a major feature of the night sky on Earth. The swirling cloud which surrounded it, mostly the pulverized remnants of space monsters, was easily visible through a modestly powerful telescope.
The building of Eltreum had begun shortly after that, the initial plan being to take at least some small fraction of humanity to another system, or hopefully another galaxy, to avoid the hordes. The remainder of Earth would be forced to fend for itself, to allow the escapees some time to get away.
Then the plan had changed. Gravity manipulation technology had advanced sufficiently for the concept of Buster Machine 3 to be made workable, which is where history ends and humanities last stand begins.

The months had passed quickly, the constant excitement, agitation and nervousness combined to accelerate the voyage in a way that mere relativity could not explain. Though many years had passed on Earth by this time, the crews of the Last Fleet had been prepared for this.
It had been hard. It was impossible to compose such a vast number of men and women soley from those with no attachments on Earth, Eltreum alone housed enough people to make up a small city, and although few ships were comparable, the sheer bulk of the Fleet accounted for a vast number of humans. Humans who, on returning to Earth, would have aged eight months, in comparison to those left behind, for whom time would pass at a normal rate. Dead parents, wives and girlfriends dead or aged and moved on, friends barely recognized, the Fleet psychiatrists had done their best to prepare those who manned the Last Fleet for these trials on their return.
This, in itself, was a subtle manipulation. 'On their return' implied that they would be returning. Placed into combat against such massive entities as the Space Monsters, with their virtually innumerable fleet, it had been estimated that, if it should succeed, the Last Fleet would suffer upwards of %75 casualties, in terms of ships.
Every ship in the fleet was upgraded to red alert, fighters and hardsuits were readied, the new RX-7 'Sizzler' models, far more capable than the old RX-6's. The RX-7 had been designed to accommodate a railcannon as well as the RX-6's 'taser' weapon. Although few of the railcannons had been ready for the operation as most of the budget had focused on the larger capital ships, only one in ten RX-7's were armed with the new weapons. Many ships were still operating RX-6 units as well. Virtually every piece of military hardware that could be crammed into the ships hulls had been. As Operation Carnaedes was a fairly short-term voyage and few were expected to be returning on the vessels anyway, maintenance and supply was not a huge concern.
Warning lights blared on the bridge of Eltreum as the final phase of re-entry began. The shifting colors of sub-space parted before the vessel, opening up to a world few human eyes had glimpsed before.
The center of the galaxy, its swirling clouds of gas, its massive clusters of stars, a nearly solid sheet of shining suns three hundred and sixty degrees in all directions. Old, red, giants next to young, yellow, stars, just beggining their billion-year lives. Vast blue giants, dwarfing everything around them, mixed with stars of every other shade, greens and purples and oranges, a vast panoply of colors, sizes. Binary and trinary systems, a few closer ones even had planets, visible as tiny dark spots.
No person who saw this sight did not feel regret at what was about to be done.
With the last shreds of sub-space vanishing behind them, Etreum set to work, its sensors reaching out into the confused mass of static and interference from the billions of nearby stars to pull what data it could from the area.
It seemed like only seconds later when the shout rang out across the bridge.
"Buster Machine III, preparing to re-enter! All ships brace!"
Eltreum's drive kicked in just in time.
It seemed for an instant that Hell had broken loose in this almost idyllic place. To those watching, it looked as though space, for an instant, CRACKED, then shattered, loosing the huge ovoid shape of Buster Machine III into the area. The surface of the vessel, covered with the numerous Slave Engines that would drive its suicide plunge, had a strange, glistening effect about it, as though it where coated with oil. The massive portal which it re-entered reality through was clearly visible, the vague shimmering at its edges marked with sharp-edged lines radiating from the wound in space. Looking through it, one could see the comparative dimness of sub-space, for next to the light show of the galactic center, there was little that could be called up in comparison.
Even Eltreum was dwarfed by the sheer size of the Black Hole Bomb, which stretched over four hundred kilometers from bow to stern, and nearly three hundred to each side.
"Black Hole Bomb has achieved full re-entry. Ready to initiate countdown...crew reports ready to evacuate."
Daitetsu nodded, "Initiate the first compression sequence and have them evacuate. The enemy will be showing up any time now."
"Roger. Detonation sequence initiated...timer countdown starting...now."
A huge clock appeared, centered on the bridges main display, transparent so as to allow viewing of the space behind it. Thirty minutes and counting.
It was only a minute later that the first space monster 'ships' warped in. Huge spikes, kilometers in length, which spawned similar spines. Analysis of captured specimens showed that their vast exoskeletons were composed of a variety of elements and minerals extracted from stars and asteroids. Their entire purpose was to skewer ships, and apparently had learned where the ships reactors were typically located. They were fast and deadly, though easily dealt with using the correct tactics.
Behind those, line after line of 'battleships', massive armoured pyramids mounting organs which hurled plasma and solid projectiles at massive speed, all of them virtually coated with fighter-sized crab-like organisms which seemed to act as fighters. Space was rapidly growing crowded with Space Monsters, the brilliance of the surrounding suns blocked out by the green-purple bodies of humanities enemy.
"Computers estimate approximately 80,000 new sub-space signatures...100,000 now. Total of 22,420,000 confirmed contacts...we cant track them all, sir!"
"Stay calm. Scramble all fighters and hardsuits, prepare the main batteries, pick your targets and open fire as soon as they're in range. Remember that we're on the defensive here. All units screen Buster Machine III."
"Number of contacts has doubled! Over forty million! The computer is losing count!"
The tactical display, showing the surrounding space for several thousand kilometers, showed a small black right filled with blue dots, surrounding by a huge field of white, which gradually ate away at the little island in its center.
"Approximately 155,000 contacts have broken off! They're making an attack run!"
Eltreum lurched hard to one side as a ten mile long spike impacted on its port side, the ships drive rapidly kicked in, correcting for the huge impact as the Space Monster slid off the sloped armor, leaving a long streak across the hull.
The sensors were whited out now, static from the sheer mass of fire being exchanged blotted out the radar and electromagnetic sensors.
"Fermion is hit! Its going out of control! Lorion wont be able to evade!"
"Tarzion reports major damage to its engines, its withdrawing towards BMIII!"
The secondary tactical display, showing the status of all the fleets capital ships, already showed a number of ominously red lights, and this was on the first wave, a mere ten minutes after they had arrived.
"Four contacts have broken through! They're making a run on the Buster Machine!"
Three huge spines, followed closely by a carrier, had penetrated the fleets defensive formation and were accelerating rapidly towards the massive ovoid. A massive beam from Eltreum caught the carrier, sending it spiraling off to starboard, trailing fluids and gas, the other three vessels, still on target, were moments from impacting when the space around the huge device suddenly seemed to solidify, the three vessels halting instantly and, for a moment, hanging in space, perfectly still.
Then physics caught up with them and they shattered, collapsed in on themselves and exploded, rather messily.
"Buster Machine III's defensive barrier seems to be fully operational." Daitetsu remarked, as the blotch where the enemy vessels had impacted gradually faded back to transparency, "Keep up the formation! Don't let any more through!"

Of course, 'not letting any more through' was an exercise in futility. The number of Space Monsters was virtually inexhaustible, against a 'mere' 20,000 human vessels. Had the fight not been timed, with the 'sudden death' being in favor of the weaker side, then there would have been no question as to the eventual victor.
But nineteen minutes later, it seemed that humanity might have a chance.
"Buster Machine three reports barrier is still holding, down to %19 power..."
The tattered remnants of the human fleet, battered, bruised, and many barely functional, were still putting up a fight. The bridges tactical display was telling, displaying the remaining number of friendly vessels in red, easily visible to the bridge crew, who were doing their best to ignore them.
Four thousand, eight hundred and twenty three ships remained.
"Seraphion has lost all power to its weapons systems. Captain Kirov is preparing to ram." There was little shouting now, as the sheer, crushing, hopelessness set in on the crew. Most kept to their stations, after all, where could they run to? Eltreum was operating on minimal power now, though it had survived with relatively little damage, even its mighty reactors were struggling with the demands being made of them, and the bridges gravity-platforms were offline.
"Captain, carrier Kravion reports...%100 casualties in hardsuits and fighters, they're withdrawing to attempt to gather escape pods and stranded fighters..."
Then, a bright spark of hope, one which brought some life back to the bridge.
"Buster Machine Three reports one minute until final compression stage!"
Daitetsu sat up in his chair, as did many others on the bridge.
"Signal all ships to prepare for retreat! Gather as many survivors as possible! I want full emergency power to the Vanishing Motors as soon as we have confirmation that the final phase was succesfull!"
The message went out, and the human fleet, what remained of it, fanned out, attempting to guard the bomb while staying out of its initial 'burst radius'. Traveling via sub-space, fourtunatly, did not require one to be oriented towards a particular destination on entry, allowing the ships to maintain a defensive formation while preparing to evacuate.
"Buster Machine III is initiating the final phase! Firing the slave motors in five..."
All across the huge surface of the massive machine, towers filled with the finest in gravetic technology hummed to life, initiating the final operational phase of Buster Machine III's life. The entire operation hinged on the simultaneous, perfect, operation of virtually ever tower across the whole surface. If more than %2 failed, then the device would not function.
The whole of humanities naval forces held their breath as the towers began the last compression of the remnants of Jupiter.
As if sensing the impending carnage, the whole of the Space Monster fleet, trillions, perhaps quadrillions of vessels, surged forward, straining to converge on the instrument of galactic-level destruction, discounting the human fleet and seeking that single target.
Then, a communication from the bomb itself.
"Final compression failed. Tower blocks 2-4 non-operational. Backups inoperable. Insufficient power to surpass Schwarzschild Radius."
The shock rolled out across the bridge, seeming, for a moment, to silence everything, even the raging space battle, the impacts on the hull of the ship as streams of monstrous creatures rocketed past it, attempting to stop what had already happened.
It held for a moment, before the ships captain stood up, and spoke.
"Full thrust to the engines! Prepare to jettison degeneracy reactors one and two! Tell the rest of the fleet to return! Do it NOW! You don't need to ask for a course, ensign!"
It was the ultimate gamble. Two degeneracy reactors, each containing something like a proto-black hole, might be sufficient to initiate the reaction required to finalize Jupiter's transformation. It was a bet which encompassed the entire population of Earth, those people now fleeing on the remnants of Earths Final Fleet, and the thousands of souls on board Eltreum itself.
There would be no time to collect escape pods, nor any purpose in attempting to use them. The storm of space monsters outside virtually guaranteed that a small escape pod would be destroyed in less than a second. Eltreum was the only ship in the fleet with multiple degeneracy reactors, even the ten-kilometer long Super Excellion class only mounted a single reactor, which produced more than enough power to keep such vessels operable.
Captain Amano 'Daitetsu' Tashiro, perhaps humanities last admiral, attempted to keep himself composed. He knew full well that, perhaps, it exceeded even his authority as captain to order this many people to their almost certain deaths without even letting them know what was about to happen, but, with ten billion lives in the balance, perhaps condemning himself to Hell was a fair exchange.
Eltreum smashed through the outer skin of Buster Machine III, a surprisingly simple task, for it had been designed to hold against internal pressures and was not heavily armored. A thick mist, almost surreal, filled the ovoids interior, coolant gases which kept the towers from melting down had been vented into the interior as part of the final phase.
Eltreum plunged on, accompanied by Space Monsters pulled into the gravity well generated by the strange sphere in the center, not quite a sun, nor a black hole, nor a planet, but something else. The ship groaned as gravity began to pull unevenly upon its hull, stressing it in ways the designers had not imagined possible. Fortunately, the eltreum of which the ship was built held itself together.
After what seemed an eternity, the ship reached its goal, in an instant, two metallic spheres, a few dozen meters across each, fell from its hull, vanishing into the strange object below. There was no brilliant explosion, nor a flash of light.
It was, quite simply, the end.

((tl;dr
Galaxy just exploded, post losses ;)))

A passing deep space probe was sucked into the black hole. This angered those who financed it.

Another space probe that was passing by and watching what happened was sucked into the gigantic black hole.

OOC: And there are those who insist that for every super massive black hole there is a matching white hole, and of course everyone knows that if you enter a white hole you end up else where...but that may or may not have any bearing on all of this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Captain, I'm getting some very strange readings. They don't make any sense." It was off shift and normally Captain Nicnossaes - Nick Nose to his poker playing buddies- wouldn't have been on the bridge, but he'd been fighting with another bout with his infamous insomnia. Though some swore it wasn't insomnia at all but a highly developed stranger sense. If he couldn't sleep, things tended to get stranger than fact far faster than any one liked to think about.

And for a Tanaran Long Range Explorer that was saying something...

The More Than One Way, or the Wrong Way as her crew affectionately called the converted Battle Cruiser, was far beyond where even the most intrepid of the Imperial Scout Service had ventured.

The Universe was a big place and while the Tanaran Empire had scouted and probed a vast amount of it, and their allies the Xa' Cz'inni' and the Grendels - two Elder Races- had explored and studied even more, there was uninaginably vast amounts more to be probed, studied, cataloged, and explored. Which is what the Wrong Way was doing...

"How don't they make sense" the Captain asked gently. His third shift science officer was new to the ship, new to exploring and very shy. He'd only heard her speak a total of five words in the various officer debriefs and meetings she'd attended. And those three had been "Please" "thank you" and "No, thanks you".

The science officer spun her chair about, eyes wide and a deep blush reddening her cheeks. "I'm sorry Captain" She began as he waved her apology away.

"Its quite a distance away, but we just registered a chronospatial pulse. And there seems to be a galaxy missing."

It took the Captain a moment and then he blurted out, his face sheet white "You mean some one's playing with ..." His voice a normally rich baritone faded into nothingness as he contemplated the horror of what she'd said. "Go to battlestations." And order he'd thought he'd never have to give again once he retired.

(OOC:
DO - Its nice to know you at least got to the black holes :P

Tanara - Sssssssssh! ;) )

This is Republic News, your source for news from Venus to Mars.
Riots have finally calmed in the capital city of the Uzbek provinces as food supplies arrived via plane today. Global food shortages continue to be a major problem, with many of Earth's major grain-producing areas flooded. Officials hope that efforts to re-cultivate the Martian grain fields will be successful soon, however they have stated that rationing will continue until further notice.
Mexican senator Stephen Ramirez had this to say while addressing a crowd outside the Central American main administration building.
"Although Mexico and the other Central American States have suffered much, the tidal disturbances, the climate shifts, and the many riots and terrorist attacks, we all have to look forward. Although our future may seem bleak and uncertain, we must remember that even if the Final Fleet failed in its task, we still have a chance to survive if we pull together. Despite our depleted resources, we know that there is intelligent life besides the Space Monsters out there, although this was kept from the public for many reasons until very recently, we know that hopefully our fleet will be returning within a few years, we know that we will be recieving shipments of Martian grain within the year to alleviate the famine, and we know that, above all, we, humanity, have an overwhelming desire to continue our species."
"Hope is our defining charecteristic, from some of our earliest legends, hope is what has driven humanity and kept us from, if you will, going quietly into the dark."
"It is because of that that we have not simply surrendered, watched our fleets destroyed at the hands of the Space Monsters, and observed as our sun was devoured, allowing our planet to become a lifeless ball of blasted rock."
"So, I urge my countrymen, do not give up hope, after all, things can only get better from here."
The Central American Region has suffered some of the worst effects of the global climate shifts, along with the North American SouthWest region and Central Asia, where already dry climates have been heavily affected. Recently abandoned recovery efforts in the Low Countries of Europe and along the Yellow River in the China led to some controversy, but freed up more funding for the attempts to recover arable land areas in other states.
This is Republic News, signing off. Tune in next hour for more reports on the developing hostage crises in Washington D.C., where the North American senator is being held...

Earth was a planet in trouble. Anybody with a pre-2030 map would not have recognized it, the coastlines had been annihilated, Australia was split in half, massive floods had covered huge portions of land in water. Those areas not submerged were now rapidly drying out as temperatures increased across the globe.
The worlds resources, poured into the military for so long, were rapidly depleting. Earths easily accessable mineral resources were virtually gone, formerly vast forests reduced to dry wastelands filled with endless lines of stumps and fallen, rotted trees.
Cities, long overcrowded, had rapidly become hotbeds of dissent against the world government. The only place one could go to escape the mass famines, plauges, and general distress was the military, and even then there was a good chance one might end up getting killed by a giant bug from space.
Fourtunatly, perhaps, the long term solution to Earth's problems lay in its neighbors. Although mass movements to Mars and Venus were impossible, it was certainly within the bounds of reason to encourage settlers on both.
Mars, in its partially terraformed state, was bearable to most, although outdoor sports were unpopular amoung everybody except Sherpas and Andean tribesmen.
Venus was a challenge, where attempts at terraforming had been less successful, but Earth's inner neighbor also hosted some of the largest material resources in the Solar System, although it had been speculated that the asteroid belt and the moons of the outer planets would provide more, those goals were not quite so convinient. The challenges of Venutian mining were not so great that Earth science couldnt overcome them.
Aside from these challenges, it was somewhat ironic that most of the people of Earth lived in, essentially, a 20th century environment. Few had access to the amazing technological advances brought by the military, indeed, as time wore on, few had access to cars, a constant electrical supply, or clean, running water.
With the military gone, the situation was volatile. Earth's ground-based military forces had suffered long periods of budget cuts in favor of the space forces, after all, what could a tank do on the sun? Aside from evaporate, of course.
The few old ships left behind by the Final Fleet still held something of a perimeter around Earth, and even made the occasional patrol to Mars or Venus, but the question on the minds of those who made policy was whether or not Humanity had just sacrificed a galaxy for its own sake, only to be destroyed in the long run by the sheer cost of the undertaking.

tag

A small klaxon pinged at the station for Surveillance Optic 2. Quizzically, an Ensign stopped over and took a look at the telemetry that was filtering in. He appeared to be a normal human, almost. As with all native Dominion citizens, his skin held a greenish tint and his eyes held multiple reptilian triats. Unlike most humans, who evolved from apes, the history of the Dominion never saw the cataclysmic extinction of dinosaurs, who continued to evelvoe into the humanesque life forms now inhabiting five star systems.

"Huh, that's odd," he opened a channel to his supervisor, "Commander, I'm getting an odd reading coming from the core of galaxy 1171-Zeta. That's only about three over from us on bearing 742 by 328! There are heavy gravometric disturbances that seem to on some level transcend space-time. Yeah, no doubt about it, it's a low level temporal singularity. A black hole so big it was able to produce a small tear in space-time."

"Interesting," a voice piped up from his communicator badge, "We've never recorded a singularity this large, letalone at the core of a galaxy. This might just make the next edition of Stellar Science magazine."

"Yes sir, I'm sure it'll-wait," he looked over the latest telemetry as the array continued its sweep across the galaxy. In reality the scan had been sent years ago and the beam was kept constant. Though the scan was old, the events they were seeing were in the present, give or take five hours, "Some of the planets could have been habitable sir. Those people may need help."

"Ignoring the fact that even with wormhole technology it would presumably take a month to reach them, what reason would we possibly have to intervene? There may not even BE people. What I will support is a close pass by a science vessel near the core to take closer readings. Thank you for informing me of your finsings Ensign, I'll include this success in your next report."

With that it was over. The higher-ups deemed a black hole more important than granting aid to any potential victims of the aftermath. Within an hour, the Dominion Science Vessel (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/freighter.jpg) Amerigo was released from spacedock. A Raven class Capital Ship used its massive artificial wormhole generator to open a corridor to the core of Galaxy 1171-Zeta. The threshold was to open just outside the limits of the Amerigo's ability to resist the gravitational pull. Within a moment the red vortex xlosed and it was gone.

OOC: I'll pretty much leave what they find up to you. Your galaxy, your call.

On exiting their wormhole, the crew of the science vessel would be greeted with, more or less, a galaxy-sized black hole. The entire galactic core had been devoured rapidly, however, the situation had stabilized somewhat to the point where growth had virtually stopped. A few (hundred thousand) suns were caught in what would be a million-year long death spiral, caught at the edge of the edge of the black holes area of effect, but as the overall mass and gravity of the area had not changed, the remaining part of the galaxy looked as though it would go on generally unharmed.
There would be no signs of life or battle, since they would all be contained within the event horizon, and thus rather inaccessable.
What WOULD be present would be the remnants of a rather annoyed Space Monster fleet, scattered through the remainder of the galaxy, presently confused and lost, followed, in a one and a million billion chance, by the emergance of the Final Fleet more or less around their ship.
Sub-space portals, brilliant tears against the sucking blackness behind them, promptly dumped the remaining ~4,000 ships into realspace as they prepared to take stock of their losses and conduct repairs on those ships not fit to make the long journy back to Earth.
Perhaps it could be considered little suprise that the ships initially did not notice the science vessel, the veritable rain of debries that promptly filled realspace as the ships deactivated the shielding which prevented subspace from tearing them to pieces. Many appeared to have had anything protruding from their hull scraped off cleanly. A few bore the massive spine-ships directly through their hulls.
The space not occupied by falling rubble was rapidly filled with a blitz of uncoded comm traffic between the various ships, attempting to establish who was in charge and which ships were in the worst shape, followed by increasingly strident demands to locate the Eltreum.
The edge of a supermassive black hole was, naturally, a fine setting for such chaos.

No one aboard the Wrong Way wanted to even think of doing a DTD Jump Gate around such conditions, so the Wrong Way made it's way closer to the disturbance via 'normal' FTL, that is via Transwarp. Slower by far, since DTD was instantaneous, or so close to that -save in multi billion LY distance Jumps- as to make no difference.

The now shocked speachless and extremely alert crew of the Wrong Way had every possible sensor homed in on the area of the event, and recording it all. This included a very power consuming real time link back to the nearest Empire out post. The Empire would galdly foot the 'fuel bill', since the last time records showed that someone was that desperate, and /or idiotic enough, to use such a weapon was before the Empire even existed. It was Xa'Cz'inni records- which went back well over a billion years -that spoke of such, and gave data on the results...

Soon enough though the More Than One Way was close enough to the Event location to have what was effectively a ring side seat to all the various activity.

"I sure hope nothing inhabited was closer than oh, say... some several hundred thousand light years" The Chief Science Scholar - and the only Xa' Cz'inni aboard- said somberly from where the feline appearing - but not feline evolved- the Xa were a created race - sat looking over a slew of monitors, comfortably multitasking her way though the immense flow of data.

"But nothing that looks like currently active combat?" The Captain asked concernedly.

"No, I'd say we could stand down from full Battle Stations" The Xas replied.

The Captain nodded and the craft relaxed , slightly. The Shiva did not go back to sleep however. He wasn't going to let the converted Battle Cruiser get jumped just because he wan't paying attention. Not with things as strange as they currently looked to be.

The Captain had had insomnia, hadn't he.

As the wormhole opened, an angry red wound tearing itself into existence, its backdrop was...nothing. The gravitational forces began ripping the waves of energy emanating from the threshold toward an event horizon large enough to swallow the Epsilon System (containing the Dominion homeworld of Epsilon Prime). The Amerigo was given no reprieve, being buffeted mercilessly until its shields came online, though due to the nature of Dominion shield technology the shearing forces were still having more of an effect on the science ship than they would any vessel with conventional shields.

The ship still vibrated slightly as the wormhole closed and aboard the bridge observations were underway. Captain Bryce Kerrigan was overseeing the crew's efforts,

"Alright, get the array pointed toward the EH and let's get cracking! Let's get this bad-boy on screen!"

There was a resounding "Aye sir!" as they set to work. An exterior hatch opened and a sensor array attached to a cable dropped out, heading toward the hole before reaching the end of the cable and stopping. Astrometrics was starting to get telemetry when the bridge viewscreen lit up, or, rather, darkened. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the mixture of debris and nothingness floating gently at first, but rapidly speeding up, toward what looked like the gates of hell. No light penetrated, and the force was so great it was tugging at the towed sensor array, fouling the readings slightly.

"My God," the helmsman muttered, "What could've done this?"

His pondering was interrupted by the Sensor Operator, "Captain, we've got multiple objects that are moving against the pull of the hole. I can't tell for sure, but they may be ships. They seem to be large enough, but they're registering as organic, not artificial. That could be interference from the gravometric sheer being thrown off the horizon though."

"Maybe Leutenant, but maybe not," the Captain's eyes narrowed, "With no way quickly out of here and the Astrometrics department using the towed array on the black hole, I want our ship's sensors monitoring their movements. We didn't get the new plasma weapons suite the rest of the main Fleet got and we'd have to get farther away to go to transwarp. A lot farther. If those are ships and they're hostile, we're at a disadvantage."

The vessel was at one quarter engine power simply holding position. Having to move quickly away from the balck hole would be difficult unhindered, letalone in combat. But in all honesty, everyone was pretty sure that nothing could have survived this close when the thing coalesced into existence.

As the fleet gradually calmed down, the chain of command re-established itself and some vauge semblance of order was called up out of the mess of ships. Assistance was rendered where possible and those that were unable to keep up against the pull of the new Galactic core were abandoned, escape pods snatched up before they could be drawn into the seething nothingness below.
Gradually, people began to notice the science ship, its design being somewhat out of place amoung the terran vessels.
"Oi, whose that? I cant get a classification or ID number...is it an alien?"
"Hold up, we'll do a scan once we've got Andalusion stabilized. Somebody inform Admiral Smith about it... if it isnt shooting its not a priority right now."
"Roger."
Word, eventually, reached the newly promoted admiral, who was attempting to coordinate the fleet from the bridge of the Ikonion, a difficult task since the ships artificial gravity was offline.
"Captain! We've got a number of reports from across the fleet, it looks like we jumped out around an alien craft. They dont seem to be hostile, but they havent attempted to contact us."
Smith dragged a number of display screens out of the way, attempting to get a clear line of sight to whoever was speaking to him. Some brilliant designer had seen fit to equip every seat on the bridge with restraint belts for just such an emergency, allowing the crew to remain seated in the event of gravity loss. It was not, however, an overly dignified position from which to command a fleet.
"Really?" Smith growled, "Well...somebody tell them to bugger off. This place isnt exactly safe right now. And we've got bigger problems to deal with."
"Sir...standing orders are to-"
"Standing orders can go to Hell, ensign. We've just blown up a damn galaxy! We can worry about the aliens later!"
"But what i-"
"No, ensign. We'll deal with our own problems first, THEN help out the tourists." Smith had, in the last few hours, developed a twitch under his right eye. Many others in the fleet were displaying stress symptoms as well.
"Err...sir." The ensign saluted and floated off back to his station. A lot of the crew were working on pencil and paper now, as power was low and many of the ships computers had been fried by a close range EMP burst, whether from a 'friendly' californium bomb or some undocumented Space Monster weapon was unknown, but it was lucky that the backup systems had kicked in quickly.
Another horde of shuttlecraft passed by the bridge, engines barely turning over in their efforts to avoid getting pulled into the blank space in front of them while attempting to rescue the crews of stricken vessels that had managed to make it this far.

"Captain, massive energy surges off the starboard quarter!" barked the sensor operator, "Decidedly artificial, and greatly differing from the sporadic organic readings. We're actually getting clear readings on these sir, suggesting that the organic forms are some time of space-dwelling creatures. Either way, they seem to be drifting aimlessly. These new vessels seem to have taken a beating, many of them are being evacuated and left to sail into the event horizon. Astrometrics reports spectacular readings.

What's curious about the vessels is their hulls. I can't locate the compostion anywhere in our database. Looks like from desnity readings and integrity they put our construction to shame. It's one solid mass, no seams and limited protrusions. Can't say how it's stand up to weaponsfire, but that's an experiment I'd rather not conduct."

"Agreed," Kerrigan replied, "It might be best to maintain observation. We're not equipped to offer help, but they might know what's going on. Is there any apparent flagship?"

"One moment, I'm recalibrating sensors for an active communications-band scan," the SO replied as he typed furiously on the console, "Most of the activity is being relayed through this ship."

The Ikonion appeared onscreen, with multiple smaller craft zipping around it.

"Our translators have deciphered their language," subordinate Science Officer spoke up, "It's a variant of English, not unlike our own with a few different terms due to dialect. Communication without translator assistance should be very smooth sir."

"We wouldn't want to seem rude. We are, after all, in their house presumably. For now let's leave them alone. They know we're here, they'll contact us when they're ready," the Captain finished.

"If they're hostile, Captain?" the Tactical Officer asked raising an eyebrow.

"You earn your pay," he replied simply.

Scanning of the black hole was eventually completed, and the towed array was focused on the organic life forms drifting about. It seemed they were indeed a spacefaring race, existing perfectly out in the void. They were insectoid, the exoskeleton apparently offering protection from the harsh stellar environment. The crew was quite fascinated and it was decided that one should be collected for study. Being a converted freighter, the Amerigo had a large stasis cell in one of the holds for biological specimens.

The towed array was reeled in and the ship veered toward one of the smaller ones. Upon nearing it, the ship's meager disruptor array was powered up and they readied a tractor beam to catch it once the weapons stunned it.

When one uses a DTD, a Desitter Translation Drive- Gate / Jump, one has the incredibly rare, but still remotely possible, possibility of ending up in a Dimention, a Universe, that's not one's own. This can also happen around super massive black holes, where there might naturally occur portals leading to places decidedly elsewhere, and even when...

And as no one on the Wrong Wayhad signed up for that particular adventure, both Astrometrics and Navigation were hard at work identifying and cataloging anything that even remotely looked like a tear, rip, or even a snag, in the local fabric of space/ time. And there were no few of these.

Other departments were trying to locate the debris of the remains of whatever had created this Super Massive. For it most certainly wan't a normally occuring one. No, someone had made this very bad boy, and in civilized parts of the Universe that as strictly a no-no. Wholesale killing of the better part of a galaxy was equivallent to genocide, and no one sensible did such.

So by default whomever had done this wasn't sensible, wasn't sane and thus another war might start.

Many hours later...

"Nick, I think we're on the back side. I don't think it was created 'here' at all. And while the various factors out there are playing hob with the communications link" The various results of what had happened out there, from the disaster - for disaster it most assureedly was- kept interupting the link, and at the moment the techs were still trying to come up with something new...

"I think that once we get it restored, Double U is going to agree with me." Lady Idris's elegantly pointed ears drooped ever so slightly. The Wrong Way's Chief Science Scholar had been working nonstop the entire time and she was both exhausted and hungry. The entire crew was, but sleep and more than snatched energy bars would have to wait.

"And I think there is a construct out there, on the ragged edge of the event horizon, but the 'storms' are kicking up such that I'm not certain of these readings. Can we ease in closer?" She looked at the main hologram and her silky soft fur rippled as horror swept over her. So many suns, some most certainly with planets and many of those planets most assuredly with life...gone, swallowed as if they never existed...

Nick looked at her for a long minute, mentally communicating, though his implanted Captain's Link, with the ships C.I.'s, then nodded as he directed an order to the helm. "Ease her in carefully, and if any one gets any funny sensations don't hesitate to sing out." The Captain always shipped with as high a percentage of Psionics as he could muster up. Some of their abilities were marginal for 'every day' use, but wild ass feelings had saved him, his crew and ship more than once...

And Rox and Themia, the Wrong Way's C.I.'s were positive that unless they weren't barrelling in at dangerous speeds and getting with in the deeper rim of the event horizon, the converted Battle Cruiser's engines were certainly enough to pull her back out. And the Shiva was certain, as always, that he could out- gun anything out there...

(OOC:
Only the Eltreum was made of eltreum ;)
All the other ships in the fleet are made up of various metals with fancy names like 'quadranium' and 'tritanium' and 'wtfpwnium' and so forth.)

The Amerigo's efforts yielded little except an extremly angry Space Monster, which promptly bellowed out a wide-band 'screech' across the local comms bands, followed by a rapid series of manuevers which turned its massive frame around in an effort to bring the ships into the sights of its own plasma weapons.
"Captain! The aliens...the new aliens, I mean, they just did something...uh..."
Admiral Smith jerked one of the display consoles that hovered around his chair around, this one displaying a local sensor report, which did, indeed, show that the alien ship had decided to pester the local wildlife.
"Those damned...Get them on the comms! That bloody monster is going to bring the rest of them down on us now! Grab what you can and prepare for a sub-space jump rimwards, give us a couple of lightyears between here and there! And tell the aliens too! And blast that damned monster before it gets here!"

Ship-to-ship communication was already staticy, the proximity to a black hole certainly was not assisting in the clarity of com traffic, but the opening stream of explitives directed at the alien craft was quite clear, despite being shouted across the Ikonion's bridge. The comm officer then managed to wrestle his microphone away from the captain.
"Alien craft, advise you cease all hostile actions and prepare whatever FTL device you have on board for a jump. Coordinates will follow. Be advised that Galion will commence fire on Space Monster shortly. Will advise further once we're not about to be swarmed by hordes of angry space bugs. Over.
One of the vessels that appeared to be in better condition than the rest, that is, it only had a few hull breaches, broke from the fleet and arranged itself broadsides to the approaching insectoid. Along its hull, numerous plates, previously flush with the hull, popped up and slid aside, revealing rows of lenses set into the sides of the ship.
Most of the power in typical terran ship's weapons came from their somewhat excessive power generation. The basic policy was to simply dump as much power into a weapon as was required to acomplish the requried task.
In this case, the ships beams vaporized a nice chunk of the Space Monsters insides, after cracking open its exoskeleton and steaming its innards.
"Prepare for lightspeed. We're getting out of here before company shows up."
And with that, the fleet began to advance, its remaining ships once again tearing open portals to sub-space before vanishing on their way to a point in space.
Meanwhile, numerous other Space Monsters appeared to be converging on the location which the terran fleet had so recently vacated. Though not so numerous as they had been recently, there were still several thousand even within this relativly small area, and they did not seem to be pleased with their comrades demise.

A ranging shot from the monster had raked the shields, the energy being absorbed and use to reinforce the shields. Dominion shield technology was enough to stymie all but some of the most ardent energy weapon salvos, which was exactly what they realized was coming. The next events happened in a matter of seconds.

"Captain, we're being fired upon," the Tactical Officer reported, "Shields recycled it and we're-"

"Sir!" the Communications Officer barked, "the fleet is hailing us!"

Alien craft, advise you cease all hostile actions and prepare whatever FTL device you have on board for a jump. Coordinates will follow. Be advised that Galion will commence fire on Space Monster shortly. Will advise further once we're not about to be swarmed by hordes of angry space bugs. Over.

A klaxon sounded as the Sensor Operator now threw his voice into the chaos, "Captain! That screech must have been a signal, because we've got all organic life forms in a two light-year radius heading this way at speed."

Captain Kerrigan looked to his Tactical Officer, then to his Helmsman, "Get us out here, spin up the transwarp drive and follow the alien fleet! Dammit, what I'd give for a squadron of Attack Ships right about now..."

The Chief Science Officer spoke up, having to yell over the momentray rumble of the deckplates as the ship left real space, "But sir! The samples! What about-"

"The samples be damned!" the Captain yelled, "Samples mean squat if we've no ship to bring them back with. Our energy absorbing shields are one of the earliest models. Do you really want to test its endurance against weapons on the level of our warships? We maintain course and speed, and the alien fleet will feed us new coordinates when the need arises."

Having put a decent distance between themselves and the oncoming insectoids, the fleet once again dropped out of subspace, looking even more forlorn than it had at the edge of the black hole, having lost several hundred ships to the maw.
This time, they settled down to wait for the aliens. Being in the middle of dead space, there was little to worry about. Space Monsters tended to stick to star systems for breeding purposes, usually employing their on board sub-space jump organs to move from system to system.
"Order all ships to wait here." Admiral Smith, now engaged in disentangling himself from the various belts of the captains chair now that gravity had been restored, "I want an assesment from the rest of the fleet, which ships will be able to make it back to Sol and which ones we leave here. And SOMEBODY figure out what happend to Eltreum."
"Ensign, if the aliens show up, signal them to hold position for now, I'll recieve them in my quarters later. Once we're sure the gravity will stay on."

>_>

The Amerigo came back into reality from the transwarp conduit about 500 kilometers from the alien fleet. She held position, only sending confirmation that they had indeed come out of subspace.

"Status?" the Captain inquired.

"Sensors still operable," the SO chimed in.

"Weapons, shields, and armor all intact," the Tactical Officer replied.

"Engines, life support, transporters and all other ship systems are A-OK," replied the Ops Officer.

"Helm responding," the Helmsman said.

"All science stations are on standby and the towed array appears unharmed," the Chief Science Officer finished.

The Wrong Way had almost crept into and back out of a short Slipstream hop, and now was settled most cautiously into the outermost bands of the Super Massive. Very cautiously, and some of the crew joked about hazzard pay. It was ignored, they already got hazzard pay.

The Tanaaran CBC (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13512237&postcount=9), the instant they recalibrated their sensors to take into account of the incredible distortion of space that the Super Massive created, began anew upgrading the data on the black hole and what effects it was having on what remined of local space.

In fact many atifacts from what had to be 'local' civilizations had been found and cataloged, and samples brought aboard. Though due to the black hole's effects this was slow and dangerous, not to mention power consumptive, though that was not really a concern.

The fact remained however that someone, a previously unencountered culture or race, had committed genocide on a trememdous scale. And nothing they had yet been able to scan seemed to be the causitive device, though Scholar Lady Idris was certain that such a device would have left some rememants behind.

"Sir, reports are in. We...uh...lost five vessels in sub-space. Three more are going to be left here. It looks like none of them are in immidiate danger, so we're leaving skeleton crews behind. All volunteers."
"Right. Transfer any provisions they need and prepa-"
"Sensor spike, sir! The alien craft is jumping in!"
Admiral Smith sighed, firmly planting a palm on his forehead, "Great. Just what we need. Since they apparently got the last message, invite them over. We can have some damn tea while we chat. Enjoy the gravity."
Something in an important looking panel fizzled, spraying sparks across the bridge.
"Somebody fix that bloody console! Send another message along to the aliens. Try to get some information on them. Earth wanted more diplomatic contact with the ex-gal's, so lets see what we can give them."
"Aye, captain..."

Attention alien vessel. This is the flagship Ikonion. Request you identify yourself and state your purpose for entering a combat zone, provoking the space monsters, and endangering the entire fleet.
The accusatory tone of the comms officer was quite clear at this point.
Admiral Smith has stated that if you wish to gather more data on this particular event, you are welcomed to acompany us back to Earth. Provided its still there.

"Flagship Ikonion, this is the Dominion Science Vessel Amerigo. Our Deep Space Array picked up the massive fluctuations of the black hole as it formed, and we were sent to investigate why it happened. I'm guessing it had something to do with thise insectoid creatures? You seemed bound and determined to get away from them and our readings show their weapons on par with our own," Kerrigan replied.

He tried to shake off the enmity focused on him and his crew, but it was obvious by the alien reply that by going after the creature they'd screwed up and nearly killed themselves, letalone they're new 'friends'.

"Given the current situation, I think accompanying you back to Earth would be a good idea. It's obviously unsafe to stay out here. And Ikonion," he said bowing his head slightly, his mood more somber, "our condolences for the loss of your ships and your crew. It...was never our intention to worsen the situation, we came as impartial observers."

We try to avoid messing with them when possible. You'll probably get some sort of briefing once we get back to Earth. We're feeding you a set of sub-space coordinates now. If these wont work, we'll arrange for a ship to tow you.
...Apologies for the hostility. You chose a rather bad time to show up, but that cant be helped.
There was a brief break in the transmission, which was then picked back up.
Admiral Smith says that if you wish he can give you a brief summary of the situation as it stands right now. Docking bay six has been cleared on the Ikonion.
We've got about an hour for every ship to charge their VM's. After that we're going to make straight for Earth.

The Captain could have thanked them and offered to beam in, but thought better of it. Best not to scare them by having a slightly reptilian-looking human suddenly appearing in a flash of light. Instead, he replied,

"Your offer is appreciated and accepted, we're docking now. Stand by."

With a nod to the Helmsman, the Amerigo turned and made its way to the Ikonion, decelerating from roughly one-half impulse a few yards from the docking bay, reverse thrusters were fired and the ship eased into dock with a fluid ease. There was barely a thump as it came to rest in the docking clamps.

At the main airlock, Captain Kerrigan stood with his First Officer and Tactical Officer. Their black navy uniforms were neatly pressed and their standard issue plasma pistols were secured at their hips. They hadn't yet seen these people, and were hoping that their reaction to them wouldn't be too severe. They did, for all intents and purposes, look human.

The only differences came with their reptile, and not primate-based ancestry. Their skin had a greenish tinge, and appeared slightly scaly. One who was unfamiliar with the race would say the skin looked abnormally dry. The most striking feature were the eyes, which were still quite noticably that of a reptile's.

The door hissed open and they stepped into the airlock, waiting the door on the other end to open as well.

As the door opened, the slight preassure difference supplying a nicely dramatic hiss, a sudden cacophony erupted.
Fourtunatly, all was well. The aural assault in question appeared to be a band which had been assembled for the occasion, apparently by grabbing random crew members and assigning them an instrument. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that the hanger was simply a large, empty box, not designed for musical acompanyment.
Two RX-7 hardsuits were present, probably as an honor guard. At their feet stood a row of the ships officers, who were not occupied with some critical task. Admiral Smith, having scrambled to don his dress uniform, was standing at the best he could do for attention, although the effect was somewhat hampered by the leg brace, serving to keep his knee from breaking any more than it was.
Nobody appeared particularly shocked at the sight of the aliens. These werent nearly as unusual as the sentient machines, or the blobs. Nobody was sure which of those two was least pleasant, but the blobs smelled worse and made a mess wherever they went.
Smith stepped foward, jingling slightly under the weight of the various medals proscribed as part of the standard admirals dress uniform.
"Greetings. I am Admiral Smith, acting commander of the First Galactic Core Expeditionary Fleet, operating out of Sol. Not that you've probably heard of any of those." Smith bowed very slightly in lieu of a salute, a product of the heavy Japanese influence on the fleets culture, "Welcome aboard."

Kerrigan returned the bow, though it was more of an inclination of the head whcih the standard Dominion greeting, then saluted, "Captain Bryce Kerrigan of the Stellar Sciences Corps, Dominion Starfleet. Not that you have heard of those either."

The Captain smiled at his last comment, then looked briefly around the hangar, "Quite the reception for a bunch of scientists working out of a converted freighter. Admittedly I sometimes wish that Dominion protocol allowed for such things to be more commonplace. But, lest I be rude, allow me to introduce my First Officer, Commander Alynna Kaldaren, and my Tactical Officer Leutenant Kevin Almayda."

He gestured first to the woman on his right then the man on his left.

The admiral nodded to the other two, quickly returning his gaze to Kerrigan, "Admiral Tycho Smith. We find its always a good idea to give a first meeting a certain amount of pomp. You never know when the news back home will get ahold of a story like this. For some reason they stations back home seem to think its a cardinal sin not to welcome every alien with gold-threaded carpet, fifty year old wine and hordes of semi-naked women."
"In any case, please come with me. The gravity should be restored in my quarters by now, so we can at least sit down."
The admiral steppd slightly to one side, gesturing, "By the way, if the gravity DOES go off, grab whatever looks solid and try to get down to the floor. We're having some power issues at the moment."
As if to confirm the admirals words, the lights in the hanger went out. A moment later, red emergency lighting flickered on.
"Damn. I apologize for this, but as you may have noticed, we had a rather close call in the core."

Captain Kerrigan nodded, "Understood."

They followed the Admiral, the First and Tactical Officers always looking for a possible handhold, not being used to having gravity randomly 'turn off'. With most Dominion ships powered by a microsingularity, gravity was never a problem so long as the core maintained integrity.

The battle damage was clear in some corridors, with others seeming virtually untouched. The red glow of emergency lighting didn't necessarily bother the Dominion naval personnel all that much. In fact, it felt quite comfortable, almost like being under a red sun constantly and it felt far less abrasive than what mammilian humans would deem 'normal lighting'.

Noting the concern on the part of the aliens, Smith smiled slightly, "Normally we dont have problems like this, but it seems the ships VM was damaged slightly, which resulted in the Ikonion exiting subspace...at a wierd angle, I suppose. Anyway, part of the ship isnt properly lined up with the rest, and we're trying to figure out which wires arent connected anymore."
"Ah. Here we are. Please have a seat."
The admirals quarters were, by the standards of a military vessel, fairly luxurious, being about the size of a single bedroom apartment, which they strongly resembled. A television sat in one corner, across from a couch and recliner. The walls were decorated with enough diplomas, boxes of medals and assorted military regalia so as not to look empty, but managed to avoid being over crowded and show-offy.
"I'd offer you something to drink, but the last time a diplomat offered an alien coffee it had six simultanious heart attacks and its stomach exploded. Fourtunatly they're a fairly easy going species." Smith filled his own mug, which had a teddy bear on it, acompanied by the words "To the worlds best daddy".
"In any case...I take it the black hole is what attracted your attention?"

The Captain nodded gratefully and took a seat, his officers tanding at ease behind him, "Yes, the black hole was what drew us here, so to speak. Our deep space array picked up the gravometric forces and monitored its progress. In fact, I'm sure they can see us as miniscule dots as well. But I digress, we came to ascertain how a black hole this big could have formed and what the repercussions on the galaxy would be."

"Interesting." Smith nodded, setting down his mug, "Well, if you require any information, we would be happy to provide you with it. That is probably the most carefully planned black hole in the universe. We've got expansion rates, rough weight, diameter ever five hours since its creation...everything."

Kerrigan flinched, "You mean...this isn't natural? You intentionally created it? My God Admiral, what for?"

His two senior officers shifted uneasily.

The admiral sighed, sat back, then leaned forward again, gripping his mug nervously.
"Its a long story, but we've got time, I guess." He glanced at the cases on his wall, a number of which seemed to be filled with photographs.
"We first achieved faster than light travel about thirty years ago. The Luxion traveled to the star system RS-64, where it was attacked, and most of its crew killed, by the Space Monsters."
"Ever since then, they've visciously attacked any ships they come in contact with."
"And, about ten years ago, they found Earth's location."
The admiral's voice was charged with emotion now, trembling slightly.
"Those things...they breed inside stars, we think. Whatever they do, it makes the star age increadibly fast. We've revisited stars that were young only to find they've either gone nova or are red giants by the time we get back."
"We dont know what they would've done if they'd gotten to Earth, but it would not have been pleasant."
Smith carefully set the cup down, "Their fleet ended up just outside of the solar system. Our sensors counted upwards of a billion before we lost track. We've got no idea how many there really were, though. Either way, there were a lot of them."
"I was a junior officer on Excellion, our flagship. We were fleeing the Battle of Leaf-4 after they swarmed us there, and they followed us, somehow."
"Earth command decided to use Excellion and a prototype hardsuit to lure them in, then a skeleton crew would set Excellion's degeneracy reactors up to implode, creating a short-lived black hole. Thats where we got the idea for this mission."
"In any case, it worked. Most of them were destroyed, but it they took out most of our fleet, and our flagship. We couldnt keep up that sort of battle."
"So...we poured everything into this operation. We risked it all, you understand? We knew that there wouldnt be any sentient life in the Core anyway. Those things attack anything they find. We only escaped notice because Earth is so far out on the rim. So...we built Buster Machine III around Jupiter...thats a gas giant, the biggest thing we could find, and artificially compressed it until it passed its Schwarzschild radius...that is, until it collapsed into a black hole."
"The density of stars in that area ensured it had plenty of...food."
"In any case...they tried to destroy our homeworld...so we went in and took out theirs. The rest of the galaxy will be alright, since the actual mass of the center hasnt changed...and hopefully the remaining Space Monsters will be too disorganized and few in numbers to bother us...or anybody."

Captain Kerrigan had paled slightly, "I've been familiarized with the saying 'desperate times call for desperate measures', and I would also do everything in my power to save my homeworld if it suffered a similar situation. However, I can't help but think what else may have been out there...or the adverse effects it would have on your homeworld.

Ironically, the Dominion could have helped you to contain them, but it was the black hole in the first place that attracted us. You see, we use them not as weapons, but a perpetual power source to fuel our ships and generate the artificial gravity onboard. Due to the awesome power of such a stellar body, we've never used them as weapons unless one of our warships was destroyed in battle. That being the case, the captain pilots the vessel as close to the enemy fleet as possible before the core breaches. There is usually too much interference for a transport and too little time to get to lifepods. I guess, on a smaller scale, we're not so different."

"As do we. Our degeneracy reactors are what allows us to achieve the required punch to get through to subspace."
"This operation though, hasnt left us unscathed. I'm sure you can guess at some of the results of removing a large planet from a solar system. Our home planet was in bad shape when we left, barely hanging on. The colonies were abandoned, and we ended up having to move the capital to the moon just to keep the riots from taking it out."
A panel in the desk beeped. Smith leaned over to insepct it, then looked up at the aliens.
"We're preparing to enter sub-space. You can come along for the ride or return to your ship, if you like."

Kerrigan nodded, "Thank you Admiral, I think we will. If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to see some basic specifications on this 'Buster Mavhine' once we get to your homeworld.

This has been...educational."

As he rose to leave, bowing slightly before turning, he added, "If there is anything we can do, any aid you may require, we have vessels only a few hours away. I can't promise any sense of normalcy in terms of your world's climate, but we can provide relief supplies."