NationStates Jolt Archive

Within the Infinite reaches of space were many mysteries younger nations could not comprehend. Among these were The Swarm and The Warp. Yet this was perhaps a curse instead of a blessing, for what one could not comprehend, one could not prepare for, and what one could not prepare for, one could be surprised by.

The Swarm was said to be infinite and vast, and perhaps it was. It went from world to world, consumed all it's resources, and then left behind a barren ball of rock. But recently this had changed, and they began consuming the entirety of the world, even it's non organic components. Perhaps this was just compensation for their Bio-steel Evolution, perhaps, maybe they were looking for something.

Within The Galaxies of the Universe lie many, many worlds, and if one seeks to find something special, something unique, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but that is precisely what the swarm is doing, looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. What they seek is a rare crystal, formed on Terra like worlds only once every ten thousand years, and it has been called many names by many species. To The Swarm it is The Khaydarin Urajis, and with it, they can accomplish an otherwise impossible feat, and give form to The Overmind while not reducing it's power any.

This had been the Swarm's secret objective, besides hunting for the fabled Black Library, ever since it's inception. Sometimes they would arrive early, thus preventing it's mining, sometimes they would arrive late, and the precious gem would be gone.

Today The Overmind was in a state, for it had extended it's senses to a world called Earth, and found it's communications networks ablaze with news it found most exciting.

"New Rare Crystal mined from the depths of the Kamorian mines! Miners today unearthed a ten pound solid crystal glowing with a luminosity equal to that of the sun! Named Mineral X-13, it has been taken to a nearby lab for tests, more details as they arise."

Many people thought it heralded something called Armegeddon, or some other nasty way in which The world would end. Others thought it a sign from the gods. The Overmind knew the truth, it was the raw power of the higher evolutionary planes. All who found it skipped a few levels of evolution.

It did something most extrordinary in response to the news. It did not wish them good luck, or congratulate them on their find, instead, radiated through the entire infinite might of The Swarms, and spoke to every Swarmling in creation.

"Awaken my children and embrace the glory that is your collective Birthrights, know that I am The Overmind, the Eternal Will of The Swarm, and every one of you has been created to Serve me." It said.
"We know this Overmind, why are you beating on this tired old drum again?" Irene, the Queen of the swarms asked.
Ignoring her, The Overmind continued on.
"Long have we been searching for the Crystal Essence of Perfection, the Khaydarin Urajis, and many in number are the near successes and constant failures we have tasted in our search. But this time my children is different, for as I felt for the Khadarin Urajis, whose power nearly rivals that of The Gods themselves, I was drawn to the planet of Earth, home to the godless apes called man. There they have unearthed The Khadarin Urajis, knowing nothing of it's true power. Quickly, before they know what the crystal's power truly is, lets us descend in nightmarish numbers upon their world and pluck from their feeble grasp, that which is rightfully ours. Let us Form together as Ultimus, and with the entire combined might of The Swarm, crush Man's Homeworld once and for all."
******************************************
The Crystal glowed quietly, yet suddenly it began to pulsate. With words easily understood by those around it it spoke only once, and it's meaning was unmistakable.
"Their coming, those who dwell beyond The Stars, they come for me."
******************************************
Several days through The Warp Later, Earth Surveillance systems would detect something astonishing, The entire Solar System was surrounded and being advanced upon! A massive Swarm of things was coming for Earth in such record numbers that the stars beyond the system were blotted out, and soon, even the light of The Sun itself would be gone. Slowly, inexorably, The Swarm was coming to Earth.

The newly constructed Prometheus orbited around Earth, above Africa at the moment, it had taken many years and much money but the former members of the Greater Chazaka Empire had banded together to complete it, hoping the coordination effort would bind them together again. But all this history was behind the 5 scared chazonauts as they watched the stars suddenly disappear

"I repeat the stars have gone out."
"That isn't possible.."
"Well than get the Jubble to take a shot, and then maybe you'll believe us."
"Fine, we'll humor you, Jinkins get that satellite moving."
..
"Control?"
"Prometheus, I want you to listen very carefully, the stars have gone out and thats not it. We are detecting a very odd vessel out there.."
"How many control?"
"How many stars are there?"
"But control thats impossible, no race, species or beings could possibly have that many ships"
"Well seems we will all have to rethink what impossible is..."

HMS Shattered Dawn, Over The Skies Of Ustio North

A massive ship floated above the clouds. The Shattered Dawn, a new Airborne Aircraft Carrier, protected the skies of Ustio. As a pair of F-37's flew past the Carrier, the Captain stepped over to the phone that had just begun ringing

"Hello?" he said after he picked it up

"Captain Morris? It's Edward from the Ustian Space Agency. Just though i'd let you know we've been monitoring strange readings in space. We don't think they're anything important, but i though you should know all the same" the man on the other end said

"Understood, thank you" Morris said, before replacing the phone

"Sir" a voice called his attention to a woman sat at a computer terminal "Sir, i'm getting some strange readings here" she said

"Ignore them Lieutenant. USA just phoned in, they make nothing of it" Morris told her

(ooc: we don't know about X-13 yet)
On the world of Charzak the Charzakians were peaceful. Yet all was not as it seemed.
In orbit a task force of 4 superdreadnaughts (ooc: will make a smaller force if this is bad)
and 10 dreadnaughts with 20 cruisers were preparing to jump to a newly discovered planet called Earth on the edge of the galaxy. The Empire was running low on slaves and needed more to meet the demand of their ever growing military needs. However earlier that day probes that had been deployed came back with something strange. Swarm ships had surrounded the Earth system. The Empire was going in guns blazing the Earthlings were theirs.

It was very still at the Analysis Department. At this late hour most of the employs had already gone home, leaving a skeleton crew behind. Dietrich unfortunately was apart of that crew, setting practically by himself in the Data collection room. His job seemed simple enough, exam all of the data gathered from the Birds Eye sky search satellites in orbit and across the Solar System and log them for further study by the rest of the Department. This simple job however was a long and boring process of tagging and bagging, which is why Dietrich and his partner Matthew had each fallen asleep at least once. The bright light from Dietrich and Matthew's computer screens where the only piece of noticeable light in the large dark void, which is why when the screen from Dietrich’s console began flashing, he immediately woke. Dietrich’s eyes strained to see what had appeared on the screen. His eyes slowly began to adjust; as they did he started to see what was flashing. The window in the top left corner of his screen was flashing a red rectangle diagonally across. The window contained the complete list of the Birds Eye satellites and showed their current status, so as Dietrich starred at the one flashing red it showed a complete system failure. He narrowed his eyes, making sure he wasn't seeing things, "What the hell?" Dietrich looked up at Matthew across the room, "Hey Matthew, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" He didn't say anything at first; he just looked at the screen with a confused look, "Doesn't make any sense. Let me start a system check." Matthew immediately started typing away at a rapid pace, he checked everything but came up with the same conclusion, they had lost a satellite. "This is the real deal Dietrich, we've lost one."
"Damn it, and its the furthest one out too." Dietrich placed his hand on his forehead and shock his head, "Do you have its last transmission?"
"Yeah, I'll send it to you now." Dietrich opened the sent file; the satellites last scan showed what looked like a wall of some sort of objects approaching it. The visual scan had not been rescued however, leaving them only with absurd data. "This information has to be corrupted, there's no way it could have been scanning something like this!" The data servers suddenly started to squawk, all of the satellites were sending their routine data update. Both Dietrich and Matthew combed threw the new information seeking answers to the mysteries findings of the lost satellite. They were shocked to find that every satellite was showing the same thing, an endless wall of unknown objects. None of the visual scans had shown anything useful, until Dietrich clicked on Birds Eye II. The pictures from the satellite revealed a huge mass of what looked like an unimaginable amount of ships.
Dietrich was astonished at the photos, which is why he wasn't surprised When Birds Eye II suddenly failed a couple seconds later. "Shit! We just lost another one Dietrich!" He didn't respond, all he did was grab the phone next to him and dial the number of the department head. The line connected and after ringing a few times the head picked up, "Hello?"
"Sir, this is Dietrich Abendroth from the Data Collection Center. I have some data that requires your attention ASAP."
"What kind of data are we talking here?"
"You'll want to see it yourself sir."
"Understood, I'll be down there in a few minutes." A short time later the Head arrived. He walked over to Dietrich's console and glared at the screen with tired eyes. Images of the enormous mass of ships were dotted all over the computer screen. The Department Head took a long look at the images put before him, "What are they?"
"I have no idea sir, but they don't seem too friendly."

Minister House, Directus:

Inside his private office, Prime Minister Jeff Carson was going over the daily business of the Commander and Chief, the only thing he found interesting today was that rare crystal found in Chazada. He was about to go over the recent Education Bill when his Defense Minister marched into the room, manila envelopes in hand. "Mister Prime Minister I need to speak with you immediately." There was a sense of urgency in the Defense Ministers voice, never a good sign for Jeff. "May I ask what about?" The Minister placed the envelopes on his desk. On the top they read "TOP SECRET, FOR EYES ONLY" The PM felt a lump forming in his stomach, the last time he got a document like this he ended up sending troops into Dinsmer. As Jeff opened the first envelope the Defense Minister continued speaking, "The data and images where collected from the Birds Eye Sky Search Satellite grid over an hour ago. OASE (Office of Aeronautics and Space Exploration) had no idea what they where seeing so they sent this information to MCI (Military Command and Intelligence) hoping they might have some answers..." The Defense Minister stopped as Jeff looked at the photos, the first few showed the massive swarm of ships as they continued forward while the last few contained close ups on the unknown vessels. "Are these..."
"Aliens? Yes Mister Prime Minister that is what we have determined." The second envelope contained all of the data on the huge mass, the evidence was quiet clear. "As you can see there is an unimaginable amount of them sir and I assure you that data is correct, we triple and quadruple checked it."
"My god.....do you know there intentions?"
"No idea sir, but it seems they took out two of are Birds Eye satellites, the furthest ones out too." Jeff felt his heart beginning to race, "Is OASE evacuating the National Space Platform?"
"No, they don't want to cause an alarm. They’re going to keep this quiet for now, and so should we sir."
"Yes your right. Is there anything else you want to advise?"
"We should put the Armed Forces on alert and recommend that the Provincial Governors put their National Guard units on Alert as well."
"Alright then, we will upgrade to REDCON-4 immediately and within one hour upgrade to REDCON-3."
"Very good Mister Prime Minister, I'll see that it’s done." The Defense Minister gathered up the envelopes and turned to leave, however as he did Jeff spoke to him one last time, "Carl, is this the end?" The Minister stood silent, "Only if you let it.....Prime Minister."

OOC: Alright, I can't resist, I just gotta do it!

IC:

The Swarm had advanced past the Asteroid belt, and stopped.
Then, something no one on earth would ever forget occured, The Overmind spoke, and it's voice was filled with the full horrific might of The Swarm, no one would ever forget, and indeed many would wake from slumber in later years with a cold sweat at the mere memory.

The Overmind spoke over every radio frequency, every TV signal, through every website, and through the very air itself. Every man, woman, and child on Earth, without exception, including the Deaf themselves heard The Overmind's voice, and would understand very clearly every word it said.

"Greetings to you inhabitants of The Blue Sphere. Know that I am The Overmind, The Eternal Will of The Swarm inhabiting the space just inside of The Asteroid Belt. By this point in time even your common hand held binoculars can see us from any point on the street at night.

I find my purpose is two fold and very simple. The first is mere congratulations on finding The Khaydarin Urajis, that rare glowing crystal found recently in the Kamorian Mine that you call X-13. It only forms once every ten thousand years on similar worlds, and those who find it evolve beyond their wildest dreams.

As for my second Purpose, I'm sure you've guessed, give me The Khaydarin Urajis, that precious rare crystal glowing with the might of The Gods, or I will Devour your entire world, eating Every man, woman, and child, every blade of grass, every tree, every bush and wild thing. I will drink your oceans and breath in your atmospheres, and grind your rocks and metals betwixt my children's jaws. And when we are done, all that will be left of Earth and her peoples is, a memory, and we will have the Khaydarin Urajis either way.

Thus I give you but one chance to survive, and keep your world, hand over Khaydarin Urajis, and My Swarm shall depart, leaving behind only the painful knowledge of our existence, and that even in one thousand years, your combined militaries can never stand up to The Might of The Swarm." The Overmind's horrific voice was distinctly alien, and could never be confused for human, or a Hoax.

Grand Mother continued her deep breathing exercise, that voice why is it so familiar and what does it mean by The Khaydarin Urajis, she continued to breathe trying to contact the ancestral memory locked within her.

"Sisters and mother please I need your wisdom and your guidance, Chazada and the very earth may be facing its greatness challenge in these coming weeks."
"Well if it isn't Grand Mother Eos Tithonus quaking in her boots."
"Come to gloat again former Grand Mother?"
"No, not tonight child." replied the inner spirit as its tone and body language began to soften. "I had hoped that this would not come to pass in your life time or indeed in any of our life times, that voice you so rightly tremble against is the overmind of the swarm, it has manifested itself again. the spirit signed, "Now listen to me Eos, you must not allow the Khaydarin Urajis to fall into its hands, while it may indeed spare Earth today if you do, they will return and destroy our world after they have destroyed any hope/power that would dare challenge them leaving us to rot in our fear and our cowardliness as they use the gem to start a new genocide."
"Now by some stroke of lucky or misfortune the Khaydarin Urajis has showed itself in Chazada in the gem you know as X-13, you must move quickly to stop the swarm. You must first round up all that know where the gem is located, most likely at least one has already been compromised by the swarm, either outright controlled or given promises of power and wealth the reasoning is not important, the results are you must...(occ is there anyway to tell you little swarm-human look alikes apart from regulars The Eternal Swarm? at least I think you're one of those that does that little trick)

Once that is done you must gather your people, using the same method as before you must purge yourself of the swarm and take your people into the mountains, outright military action against the swarm will just end with your people massacred you must doing something unexpected...

If you have not already, you must evacuate all manned satellites and space forces and prepare to lose your satellites as those are likely to be their first targets. As long commutations will be severely damaged it is best to do any long range commutations now, warn the Chazakans, the Chazakains, if you have made contact with any aliens before now you must request their assistance as they are likely not to want the swarm to have the gem either....

The Overmind spoke over every radio frequency, every TV signal, through every website, and through the very air itself. Every man, woman, and child on Earth, without exception, including the Deaf themselves heard The Overmind's voice, and would understand very clearly every word it said.

"Greetings to you inhabitants of The Blue Sphere. Know that I am The Overmind, The Eternal Will of The Swarm inhabiting the space just inside of The Asteroid Belt. By this point in time even your common hand held binoculars can see us from any point on the street at night.

I find my purpose is two fold and very simple. The first is mere congratulations on finding The Khaydarin Urajis, that rare glowing crystal found recently in the Kamorian Mine that you call X-13. It only forms once every ten thousand years on similar worlds, and those who find it evolve beyond their wildest dreams.

As for my second Purpose, I'm sure you've guessed, give me The Khaydarin Urajis, that precious rare crystal glowing with the might of The Gods, or I will Devour your entire world, eating Every man, woman, and child, every blade of grass, every tree, every bush and wild thing. I will drink your oceans and breath in your atmospheres, and grind your rocks and metals betwixt my children's jaws. And when we are done, all that will be left of Earth and her peoples is, a memory, and we will have the Khaydarin Urajis either way.

Thus I give you but one chance to survive, and keep your world, hand over Khaydarin Urajis, and My Swarm shall depart, leaving behind only the painful knowledge of our existence, and that even in one thousand years, your combined militaries can never stand up to The Might of The Swarm." The Overmind's horrific voice was distinctly alien, and could never be confused for human, or a Hoax.

HMS Shattered Dawn, The Skies Of Ustio North

Morris and his intelligence officer, Lieutenant Sasha Borinoff, watched in awe and horror as the Overmind spoke over the airwaves. It was not the first recorded alien contact - the Shattered Dawn was built from scaveneged alien tech - but these were the first live aliens that they had encountered.

"Sir" Sasha whispered "What are they talking about?"

"I don't know" Morris said, looking at her "I don't know. Get Wilson, tell him to organise the pilots and get them to their planes. Quickly!" he hissed. Sasha quickly exited the room.

The red phone on Morris' desk rang.

"Oh boy" Morris thought as he picked it up "Mr. Prime Minister"

"Captain, I want you to be ready for a fight. We don't know what they're talking about, and they may attack at any minute" the Prime Minister told him

"Yes Prime Minister" Morris replied. The phone line went dead.

The Charzakian forces exited hyperspace on the very edge of the system. One of the comms officer on the Heart of Charzak the lead flagship and one of the superdreadnaughts spoke to Admiral Thi Gor the leader of the enslavement operation.
"Sir, Swarm ships are in system as well and are advancing on the third planet from the sun. It seems to be the only one that can support life."
"Open me a comm channel."
"Yes sir."
Hail from the Empire of Charzak to the Eternal Swarm
I am Admiral Thi Gor of the Charzakian Enslavement Fleet. We demand that you surrender the planet Earth and its inhabitants to us. If you do not all of your ships will be destroyed.
"Ensign, hail Charzak and demand reinforcements this could get ugly."

Morris turned to Sasha

"Come with me" he said, heading out of the door. She followed him back to his quarters, where he took a small key from his pocket, opening his desk to reveal a compartment with a lock. Opening that with the key, he removed something small - some sort of disk. He also pulled the Webley Mk. IV from the drawer, before turning to Sasha.

"I understand now" he said "I understand everything that I was told"

Sasha looked at him, bewildered

"What were you told?" she asked

"It doesn't matter. It's in the past now. All that matters now is that you take this" he pressed the device into her hand "Go to the escape pod. You must get back to Earth before it's too late. Go to 13 Bannerville Road, in Pelagioius. Tell them that Captain Morris sent you"

"Tell who? Captain, what about the crew?" Sasha asked him. She had known him for a long time, and had never seen him like this

"They'll know you when you arrive" He stopped suddenly. The crew. All those men and women that had served under him faithfully. "We'll Go Out Fighting" he said, reciting the motto of Ustio. Sasha looked at him, still confused by everything he had said. They walked quickly to the only escape pod. Once there, he turned to her. "Good luck, Lieutenant" he said, holding the door open. With one last, fleeting glance back at him, she entered the pod. She did not look back as the pod bay doors opened and she plummeted back towards the ground. Soon, the parachutes deployed, and she came gently down to Earth.

Back on the Shattered Dawn, Morris watched the pod vanish from view, then headed back to the bridge, the loaded pistol in his holster.

OOC: Might seem random, but all will be explained soon...

OCC
Long live the doctor!, hmm and only one escape pod? that seems like a bad design choice.

IC
Grand Mother Eos Tithonus gazed into the distance, thankfully after their first brief broadcast the aliens had remained hidden, allowing enough time for Chazada to carry out Plan A-012. Some of the mothers had protested activation but they had been quickly overruled, and no one yet questioned the Grand Mothers order so it had been carried out, Chazada's borders had been sealed as best as possible, its people either abounding their towns to find relatives in nearby Chazakain and Chazaka or heeding their leaders advise and retreating into the bomb shelters that had been carved into the Chazadain Hills many years before when the threat of nuclear war had been much greater, thankfully most had been cared for and continuously stocked since that time. While the surface may radically change most of the Chazadains would survive.
Mentioning to the door guards, Tithonus stepped back and watched as the heavy doors were shut and locked as best the Chazadians could.

"Report!" the Grand mother smiled as she noticed a nearby aide jump.
"Erh, most military units have withdrawn to their appointed positions, with only a few fleeing to Chazakain and Chazaka..., the cities and countryside have emptied, Bunkers 1,2,3,4,5,6 have reached peak levels, Bunker 7 is reporting a problem with their water supply and have sent their number to reserve bunker 1, The 502nd have volunteered to remain behind to carry out your plan Grand Mother."
"As I thought they would, continue."
"Bunker 1-10 report that they have enough food for 2 months, bunker 3's reactor is already reporting some strain, the gem has been moved as ordered though I have questions as to why you sent it to one of the most active volcanoes in Chazada. We have warned the other former members of the Greater Chazaka Empire of our plans and the likely outcome and they have agreed to a mass evacuation, o and the catalog (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=579332) has finally replied..."
"Dismissed, now we must wait for this swarms next move..."

OOC: This swarm's next move is to wait 24 hours for Ustia to post, and then going on anyway.

OOC: My apologies to everyone. I've been kept busy due to some personal matters, but now I'm good. I well post my IC response shortly.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/eggcimpprr456/images-1.jpg
UBC ALERT

As every Ustian citizen tried to rationalize what just occurred, some tuned to the daily news for answers. There was a short music intro as the Ustian Broadcasting Center (UBC) began their news report. A dashing young news reporter started the show off, "This is a UBC Alert." A slick graphic appeared at the bottom of the screen, confirming what the reporter just stated. "Minutes ago, a being calling itself "The Overmind" somehow infected every communication device on the planet simultaneously, broadcasting its demand for the X-13 crystal that was just recently discovered in the Kamorian Mines of Chazada. No one can explain why our how this has occurred however The Overminds words were chilling and stern as everyone on the planet already knows. We will have more on this issue as it develops."

3 hours later....

On televisions across the Fatherland, Ustian's see the grim, Bold-faced words plastered on UBC.

RIOTING IN LUMEN CONTINUES

"This is a UBC alert." The same news reporter covers the developing story. "Riot police and citizens continue to clash near the market center in Lumen and other areas across the city. A short while ago the market center became a warzone as looting broke out in several stores along the markets main street. People could be scene stilling everything from food and water to chairs and cash machines. Local police quickly responded but found themselves outnumbered by the vast amount of desperate citizens. As Riot units arrived on scene the situation became and is still becoming increasingly violent, spreading beyond the confines of the Market." The reporter suddenly stopped. He touched his earpiece, nodding several times as his listened. "I'm....yes...yes I believe we have Mark on the scene in Lumen, Mark are you there?"
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/eggcimpprr456/copsstandoff2.jpg
The picture switches over to a shaky camera facing down the length of the Markets main street. A line of Riot Police could be seen shooting Tear Gas and Pepper Spray rounds at the mass of violent Rioters in front of them. Several people tried to rush the line but were either beaten down or shot with tazer's and cuffed. The camera moved away from the scene and refocused on Mark. "Yes, yes I'm here. As you can see the rioting in Lumen has reached a tipping point as the police try desperately to clear the streets, but as you can see many citizens are resisting this push. Many have been arrested by authorities while others have been injured, some severally by the less than lethal weaponry of the police." The picture briefly cuts back to the news reporter, "Do we know why this violence has suddenly flared up Mark?"
"Yes we do, unfortunately this is the result of mass hysteria do in part to the message broadcast across the world by the unknown being calling itself The Overmind. These people are taking as much food and water as they can steal in order to prepare for what may come."
"I see, what about they other sparks of violence Mark?"
"Those have been mostly targeting police stations in response to the authorities quick and decisive response."
"So your saying the violence is starting to be resolved?"
"The police are starting to quiet things down yes." The camera pans around the Market center showing shattered glass littered everywhere from the looting and violence that gutted almost every business. "They've cleared most of this street and have been cracking down on the riots focused on police stations across the city but it is far from over."
"I see, thank you for your report Mark and stay safe."
"I will." The reporter shifts his eyes towards the screen, "Stay with us, we'll be back after a short break."

Several hours later....

Minister House, Cabinet room:

The Prime Minister starred down at the table with his hands on his head, his Foreign Affairs Minister was briefing him on the world’s reaction to The Overminds statement. The fact that Chazada had just sent a large proportion of its population underground showed they knew more then everyone else. He had to establish a dialogue with them; they were the key players in this god-forsaken mess. The Foreign Affairs Minister finished his briefing, leaving The Chief of the Defense Staff with the task of being next. Jeff raised his head and starred directly at the Chief, "What do you have for more?"
"Sir, in response to the Parliaments decision and your approval of the initiation of Marshal Law across the entire Fatherland, we have stationed military and National Guard units across the country and are enforcing all aspects of the Marshal Law legislation."
"Good, how’s are back up communications working?"
"All long range military back up communications are in good condition and up in running. If and when they knock out are satellites, we'll be ready."
"Very good. Have all REDCON-2 Procedures been carried out?"
"Yes Mr. Prime Minister."
"Good." Jeff paused for a second, over the past several hours his country has gone almost into complete chaos. Rioting, looting and violence had become ramped as civilians did everything in their power for self-preservation. Most Major cities had become ghost towns as mass migrations took place across the Fatherland. Some took shelter in the old mass fallout shelters built during years passed while others escaped to the countryside, hoping to find a refuge. The Fallout Shelters were being manned and supplied by the Office of Emergency Management along with Military and National Guard support. These facilities where spread out across the Fatherland, in numerous numbers and sizes. As Jeff sat their, he could only wonder if those facilities would provide any protection at all.

The Overmind directed it's voice only towards Charzak in response to their demands.

"I desire only the Khaydarin Urajis, you may have all else, and once I have it, I will leave peacefully and let you have these heathen monkeys."

Meanwhile, it turned back toward the Earth, and as evidenced by the Ustian news reports, sufficient time had passed for them to hand over the crystal.

"I am through waiting. Make peace with your false gods, for tonight you shall meet Hell in person." it said, once again causing everyone on earth without exception to hear it's words. There was no mistaking what they meant. An unannounced deadline had passed, and they would all pay dearly.

With that, the Swarm advanced at a much faster pace than it had previously, and within minutes was over the Earth on all sides. The light of day itself had become blotted out, casting the world in darkness, save for whatever lights man could make on it's own. Great bulges could be seen building on the sides of the Hive fleet, even as Orbital Bombardment began, the ships firing on whatever happened to be flying in the atmosphere, or orbiting the planet.

OOC: Yes, I'm basing time off of Ustia's post, and since he had several hours pass, I went with that.

The Shattered Dawn was one of those things flying in the atmousphere. The ship shuddered as it came under fire from the Hive Fleet. The crew were rocked and thrown from their stations. As they had only been cliped by the attack, Morris and most of the crew were still alive. He helped another crew member to his feet

"This is it, ladies and gentlemen, we are at war" he said, just before another blast took the Shattered Dawn out of the sky with a direct hit.

_______________________________________

On the ground, Sasha's pod had landed. She had been knocked out by the impact, and was not sure how much time had passed since Morris had told her to go. She grabbed what things were in the pod that she would need; the disk, an M4 Carbine (Para-version) and her beret, which had been knocked off in the impact.

She pushed the door of the pod open. Outside, all was calm, apart from the fact that it had become night. Checking her watch, she realised it was day, but the sun had gone. She cast her mind back to what Morris had said: 13, Bannerville Road, Pelagious. She knew the area relatively well; some friends of hers had once lived there. As she looked around, though, she realised that she could be anywhere. It was too dark to make out any landmarks. Even Bedivere Tower was invisible in the current light. The only light nearby came from the pod's internal supply. She slumped back against it, no way of finding her way to Pelagious like this.

What is this Khaydarin Urajis you speak of? Why is it important to you? Answer the question.

The Charzakian fleet moved in system making advancing all the way to the barren fourth planet where they held position waiting for the next move. Weapons began powering up and shield came on line. Point defenses came online to protect the ships from fighters. When all this was done they moved into Earth's orbit waiting for a reply from the Swarm.
"Ensign status on those reinforcements?"
"Sir, they are five hours out."
"That is to long a period! What delayed them?"
"Sir, it appears that the gas giants of the system interfered with our transmission out and it took some time to arrive."
"Blast! Well we will just have to make due with what we have."

OOC: Reply to Charzak only. Waiting for other world bound terrans to respond, hopefully with outright terror and pleas for mercy, so that I might crush whatever hope they have left of surviving.
IC: What is this Khaydarin Urajis you speak of? Why is it important to you? Answer the question.
"It is a Crystal, the only power in all the universe that will allow me to properly manifest as a physical being."

We will not hinder nor help you with this quest we are here to enslave these people Transmission ended.

Then the Charzakian fleet moved to Earth. As the Earthlings primitive fleets surrounded the planet the ships began pounding the enemy with turbolaser fire and ion cannons.

Then the Charzakian fleet moved to Earth. As the Earthlings primitive fleets surrounded the planet the ships began pounding the enemy with turbolaser fire and ion cannons.

"We shall niether hinder nor help you in your quest as well."

As the ships approached, The Hive fleet moved slightly to let them through.

ooc: waiting for Earthling reply

OOC: Same here. My reply is going to be quite empty without Ustia and Chazada's responces.

occ
isn't much for me to respond to. Most of my people are underground and no one sent a message directly at us yet.

The Grand Mother stared at her people, the huddling themselves against the darkness and the cold of their mountain refugee. she noticed a young brown eyed and haired female messager coming towards her.
"Report." she barked.
The girl gazed at the Grand Mother before handing over the envelope she had was carrying. Eos ripped open the brown envelope with its official looking seal hoping that some good news had come after the horrifying voice of the swarm from the previous hour.

She sighed it was just more reports from the surface, more maintenance problems, more belly aching. Eos casted the report away, she tiring again to call upon the ancient lineage stored within her.

"Sisters and Mother please I need your wisdom and your guidance again." Eos tried again and again but no one answered not even the former Grand Mother to gloat over her pupil...

The massive station (http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/eggcimpprr456/UMI-MSPS/0805spacf4.jpg) floated lifelessly above the planet. The crew was long gone, evacuated during the panic. The station, once praised, as the heart of the OASE effort toward further space exploration and colonization was now nothing more than a man made satellite. The only instruments that were still in use were the exterior observation cameras. The footage these cameras had contained a grim sight. As far as the cameras could see there were ships in formation around the planet, waiting to attack. OASE employees at Cape Concord monitored the situation, waiting for what was to come. After what seemed like a lifetime later, the attack began. Blasts of weapons fire could be seen lighting up the darkness of space, a series of lights quickly followed by several explosions. Military, GPS, and Communication satellites disappeared within seconds leaving massive amounts of space debris to fall from the sky like shooting stars. It was at this moment that the men and women at Cape Concord armed the twelve highly modified Trident III Ballistic Missiles attached to the sides of each Docking extension. The cameras picked up the arrival of another hostile Alien species that seemed to be working with the Swarm. Quickly, The personnel at Cape Concord picked there targets and launched the missiles, hoping to possibly catch the new arrivals off guard. Each missile contained six, four hundred and seventy five kiloton Nuclear Warheads, a powerful punch. As the twelve missiles approached the Swarm and the new Alien threat, they spreaded out to avoid a chain reaction and maximize there destructive force. As the missiles closed on there targets they would deploy the six MIRV's carried inside. The MIRV's would then close the distance to there targets and then detonate. No one expected it to stop the Aliens, but it might buy everyone some time.

A few minutes ago....

Minister House, Cabinet room:

Jeff sat in his chair typing up a message to the leaders of Chazada on his Gründer Industries laptop. He knew this would be his only chance to get a message across to the nation; he had to make it count. He tried to contain as much as he could in the message, but time was running out so he quickly finished it and sent the message off towards the Chazadian leaders. As the message was processed, he starred at the screen.

Checking link.....
Link is secured.....
Loading message.....

From: Prime Minister Jeff Carson, Republic of Ustia
To: Leaders of The Holy Empire of Chazada
Subject: *URGENT MATTER*

I do not have long to type this message so I will make this quick. YOU MUST unlock the secrets behind the X-13 crystal. The Overmind wants it to exhilarate his and most likely his species' evolutionary development. These powers must not fall into his hands or other civilizations besides are own will be destroyed. The Ustian Armed Forces will hold the Swarm off as long as we can, but I know eventually we will be defeated and most likely exterminated by The Overmind's forces. The fate of humanity may very well rest in your hands. If you cannot accomplish this task then YOU MUST completely and utterly destroy the X-13 crystal. I pray for your success and hope God smiles down upon you.

End message

Loading complete.....
Sending message.....

OOC: Alright, time to quit fooling around.

IC: The bombardment abruptly stopped, as the growing swells on the Hive ships suddenly burst, launching, no, RAINING Mycetic Hive Spores on the earth, to every nation below. They weren't alone, for the Swarmling jets flew with them, accompanied by three GIANT swarmlings. Two looked identical, except for coloring, and they were big ugly massivly horrific bug lizard things. They were of course Zasz and Dangaloth, Zasz colored Red, Dangaloth colored green. The third was Irene, all three grown to their forty foot Bio-Titan size. The swarm wanted the crystal, and they WEREN'T taking no for an answer.

Zasz, Irene, and Dangaloth all three headed for Chazada, accompanying the swarm deployments there, drawn directly to the crystal.

The incoming missiles had no chance to even touch the shields of the outer most fleet. They were obliterates as they came in by point defense systems. Not one shield was touched. If they wanted to play that game then so be it. One of the super dreadnaughts fired its fully charged superlaser at the space station. The laser could destroy the most powerful ships of the Jedi and Shivans so why not these puny Earthlings? Landing ships carrying thousands of troops, supplies, and vehicles began their descent towards the nations known as Ustia and Ustio North.

From: Prime Minister Jeff Carson, Republic of Ustia
To: Leaders of The Holy Empire of Chazada
Subject: *URGENT MATTER*

I do not have long to type this message so I will make this quick. YOU MUST unlock the secrets behind the X-13 crystal. The Overmind wants it to exhilarate his and most likely his species' evolutionary development. These powers must not fall into his hands or other civilizations besides are own will be destroyed. The Ustian Armed Forces will hold the Swarm off as long as we can, but I know eventually we will be defeated and most likely exterminated by The Overmind's forces. The fate of humanity may very well rest in your hands. If you cannot accomplish this task then YOU MUST completely and utterly destroy the X-13 crystal. I pray for your success and hope God smiles down upon you.

End message

"Grand Mother, message from the outside."
..
*sigh*
"Grand Mother?"
"Not all that much different from the previous ones, telling us to research the crystal and destroy it if we must, its really getting pretty annoying as if we hadn't done that the second we found it."
"Anything else?"
"No Grand Mother not mu.. Hmm seems that the alien bombardment has stopped."
"Well thats some go
"and that they were last seen coming towards Chazada."
"But of course, did the general survive the bombardments?"
"Yes, says he lost acouple squads due to a low in the bombardments when he thought they may have been over then restarted but most of the Chazada military is still up and running, long range commutations are down for the most part we've been forced to use the old underground telegram lines."
"Well they know their orders lets just hope they have give them enough time..."

To: Prime Minister Jeff Carson, Republic of Ustia
From: Military Leaders of The Holy Empire of Chazada
Subject: *URGENT MATTER*, over old telegraph lines.

.-- . / .-- .. ... .... / - --- / -.-. --- -- -... .. -. . / --- ..- .-. / -- .. .-.. .. - .- .-. -.-- / ..-. --- .-. -.-. . ... / - --- / -... . - - . .-. / -.. . ..-. . -. -.. / - .... . / -.-. .-. -.-- ... - .- .-.. / .- -. -.. / --. .. ...- . / --- ..- .-. / ... -.-. .. . -. - .. ... - ... / -- --- .-. . / - .. -- . / - --- / -.. . -.-. --- -.. . / .. - ... / ... . -.-. .-. . - ... --..-- / .--. .-.. . .- ... . / .-. . ... .--. --- -. -.. / .- ... / ... --- --- -. / .- ... / .--. --- ... ... .. -... .-.. . .-.-.-

translator (http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html)

Sasha looked up as the bombardment stopped. Even with only the dim glow of the capsule lighting her surroundings, she knew they were coming. Taking the PDA from her belt pocket, she tried to guess at her surroundings. After a moment of ajusting the settings, she now knew that she was just outside Pelagious, and that the glow of lights was the city. Taking her steps carefully, she began to walk to the city, repeating the address in her head.

Meanwhile...

The Defence Perimeter Towers lit the sky with cannon fire as the Swarm descended. 90mm shells pierced the air and flew towards the rapidly approaching aliens, whilst AA missiles opened up on the Swarmling jets.

*special*

In the area where the X-13 was been researched, those in there would notice something change. No longer was it's glow steady, but pulsating. The sound of millions of bells would fill the air. Then, it would stop, as the crystal lost it's glow.

For several long minutes, the crystal would do nothing. Then it would begin to levitate on it's own and begin to pulsate slowly.

"I am the Khaydarin Urajis, I am the gateway, and the key to the gateway. Save me from the eternal darkness encroaching this world, and I shall show you delights beyond imagining."

Bump

The dropships landed on the very outskirts of the borders of the two countries. Thousands of troops came piling out of the ships. 20,000 grunts and 14,000 commandoes along with 300 tanks moved into Ustia. 40,000 grunts 12,000 commandoes and 400 tanks moved into Ustio North. The Earthlings would be the newest slaves of the Empire.

bump

*special* *snip*

The three scientists turned towards the crystal, one had been blinded in a freak accident many years ago and had put all of his time into studying the skys, one had been mute from birth due to a rare genetic defect and had become a linguist. The third? Well Bob was good with numbers.

"Interesting" spoke the mute man.
"It dazzles the eyes doesn't it" replied the blind man.
"Bah, wheres the mathematics, this is physically impossible due to the Par theorem of reality." muttered Bob.
Who was quickly pelted with a shoe.
"Ouch my ear! Who did that?" screamed bob.
Wasn't me indentation the mute man, "I didn't see who pelted you with a red size 12 right shoe." replied the blind man.
muttering Bob went back to work.

The three scientists turned towards the crystal, one had been blinded in a freak accident many years ago and had put all of his time into studying the skys, one had been mute from birth due to a rare genetic defect and had become a linguist. The third? Well Bob was good with numbers.

"Interesting" spoke the mute man.
"It dazzles the eyes doesn't it" replied the blind man.
"Bah, wheres the mathematics, this is physically impossible due to the Par theorem of reality." muttered Bob.
Who was quickly pelted with a shoe.
"Ouch my ear! Who did that?" screamed bob.
Wasn't me indentation the mute man, "I didn't see who pelted you with a red size 12 right shoe." replied the blind man.
muttering Bob went back to work.

The crystal glowed brightly, to prove it's power, it gave sight to the blind man, and gave speech to the mute. And bob, well, bob got to see it glow pretty colors.

The crystal glowed brightly, to prove it's power, it gave sight to the blind man, and gave speech to the mute. And bob, well, bob got to see it glow pretty colors.

ooc: that made me laugh. waiting for Ustia's and Ustio North's posts.

The Charzakians had broken across the United Kingdom. With the lights out, the territorial army troops and militia had a tough time fighting the advanced tech of the Charzakians. Soon, they were in a state of retreat, but they would not be subserviant to these aliens. Not one Ustian would let themself be captured - it was glory, or death.

The Charzakians realized that the Earthlings of thias country would rather die then become slaves. So the Charzakians switched to a different tactic. The commandoes powered up their personal shields and forsake all weapons. The only lethal thing they had on their persons was their tails, glimmering with poison and spikes. They advanced further alone. Their huge height made them hard to miss but they still got close enough to the pitful Earthlings. Their weapons barely drained the shields power source. As they got close to the humans they fired slave nets. The energy in the nets had the power of ten stun bolts and could easily knock out a human.

OOC: My apologizes to everyone, this week has been a busy one for me. I'll post a lengthy response tomorrow ASAP.

bump waiting for that post

OOC: Its coming, don't worry. I don't have much time for the computer right now but I have the post about half way done, just haven't been able to finish it. :(