NationStates Jolt Archive

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”So many years I have been trapped with these demons. For so many years I have forgotten what it means to be human, to feel empathy, sorrow, or even fear for what my life has become. Instead, I hold nothing in my heart, except the dull truth of the pen, and its ice like virtue in its expression of my most terrible of nightmares.

I can still remember when the Destroyers took me all those years ago. They boarded my ship, they killed my family, my friends, my colleagues. I can still hear my children crying before they fell to the ground. They both looked up at me accusingly, for their deaths. Some may see it as a mercy that I am still alive, those that do are fools. Who would want to live this waking death, imprisoned to chronicle tyranny after tyranny. They are welcome to my life, I will gladly accept their death for it.

These Destroyers, or Shivans as some call them, I believe view a natural death as something more like a mortal eccentricity, as though it were a flamboyant gesture of biology. Though, I accept that such a view would belittle the many who have already died, but I cannot help but express the reality in these creatures souls. Irrespective, of however the Shivans see death, I can tell you this, they see it as something they must bring. It is their lives purpose to bring death.”

~ UNKNOWN

Daron System
Remote Colony


Space collapsed and twisted as the blue swirl of subspace bathed the inner-heart of the Daron solar system in a dark menacing glow. From within this tumult, black ships emerged, glistening with crimson patches of red which effervesced enticingly with the small task groups formation.

Carriers and Cruisers had arrived numbering no more than ten vessels which had crept out of subspace. Their spiked designs, and cruel size, laced their intentions with foul intent. Their arrival sudden and without warning expectedly dominated the solar systems attention, as eyes danced on screens desperately attempting to find out exactly whom these ships belonged to.

Just as it had, in time immemorial, greetings and queries were dispatched, questions as to whom these beings were, what did they want, and why had they chosen to emerge so close to a vulnerable planet- teeming with developing life? And as it is with all times past, the frequencies and questions went ignored, amongst the dominating background of the Shivan’s willing purpose.

Posturing followed, shouts of fear and anxiety rose from disgruntled warriors, each one culminating in a dance of futility before the oncoming menace. Fighters and bombers emerged, the Shivan motherships giving birth to their creative young from masked and hidden hangers. Bold dancers of war, these nimble dragons are to the Destroyers. These would certainly be the first scalpels of the onslaught, the coming tide that is to envelop everything as it is known.

BEGIN

This will was declared, privately and singularly within the Shivan heart. For the humans, communications within the system ended with mysterious ease, these destroyers had brought the dampening veil of privacy with them. In a sudden movement of collective toxicity the dragons advanced, the red tide of darkness beginning its first taste of pain. Devastation, is what it could be called, while others would regard it humorously as sanitation.

The murky peace that had reigned for so long was now gone in Daron, instead, it was the first to see the Death Black Ships rolling forward like a tide, enveloping everything in suffering. Hulls broke apart, and ships tore into splinters. Yet, from all around, hope died with the innumerable blue hazes which spawned more of hells demons.

"We knew of the Shivans, and in a way, we had always tried to prepare for them. We knew the recordings in the ESUS archives, how the ESUS had nearly failed before the onslaught of the Shivan menace. How countless nations and worlds had crumbled before their might. Not once, but twice has these invasions come. We had tried to ensure we would survive against the Shivans, preparing, building, all in the hope we could withstand their onslaught. But it seems, no matter how much one prepares, it is the collective strength of all those who wish to survive that is needed to overcome the Shivans. No matter how mighty we had become, no matter how many great ships we built, the Shivans remained impassable unless we were willing to let rivers of our people's blood flow and sacrifices to be made...and to make an alliance against the demons of this universe. That is a lesson to be learned; no matter how strong we are alone, we are stronger when we draw on the support and power of others."- President Alara Carli, the Third Shivan War.


************************

The Daron System belonged to the Ss'hess Hegemony, a formerly dictatorial and genocidal species who had sought to expand through violent means and use conquest as a vehicle to increase their power. Those who resisted were wiped out, as an example to make the next target more prone to outright surrender. Three races and nations had fallen this way, while eight more had surrendered outright. That was until, however, the Union stepped in. Disgusted at all the death and genocide about them, they decided to step in to prevent such things, but only then. When the Hegemony had caught their attention, they moved to intervene. The Hegemony, once they saw the Union's beginning attacks on their planets, moved to stop them. The war lasted two months. The government tried to flee, once the Union fleets entered their home space, but they were followed, captured and put on trial. The Hegemony was then reduced, as all nations were restored and then put on protectorate status under the Union. They would retain their autonomy, but they could not have an advanced military nor could they develop such technologies as antimatter and such. Attempts were made and crushed and soon they fell into line.

The peace that was created was good for all, and trade flourished. Police units and militia groups were all that was needed, since the Union ensured their protection. But with the Ork attack on the Clans, the continuing threat of the Chronosian and Mekantan nations and other threats popping up, the Union was distracted. And no one had expected the Shivans to come back, not after their sudden disappearance after Eris. That was proven to be a lie, when they entered the Daron System and once they came, the fate of all in it was sealed. Not to say they were caught off-guard; they had detected the subspace entries and noted their entries. Police units were readied and messages sent out, asking for identification. The first sign of trouble was when they refused to answer and instead fighters poured out of their ships. Instantly, they sent out a distress call and militia along with police forces began to prepare themselves. The defenses were brought online and targeting systems locked onto the unknown ships. The end began when a jamming field was set into place and blocked off their communications.


The battle began, as energy fire, missiles, and railguns were sent forth into space, with pulse fire smashing into the fighters, joined by the guns of their own fighters sent out to engage. It was to their shock when the shields barely even flickered and the answer fire cut through shield and hull alike, destroying countless fighters. Energy beams lashed out from the Shivan ships, blasting apart several patrol cruisers and a militia destroyer, filling space with debris, fire, and bodies. The defense stations entered the fray, focusing all their firepower on one ship and launching powerful shells at the ship. All of them collided and massive energy was put into the enemy shields. But again, nothing happened. No effect. And as all this desperate fighting occurred, more and more of these ships appeared from blue apertures in space. The defending fleet soon fell, wiped out as fast as the Shivans could fire their weapons. Cries for help, mercy and offers of surrender were all ignored. The Shivans knew their calling and they would not stop for anything. The defense stations fired until the end, when beams sliced them apart.

The people on the planet were uneasy and afraid, as all communication died and debris fell from the sky. It was fortunate that they did not see what was coming, as the Shivans were quick and methodical. Blasts of fire were sent down, obliterating anything that showed life on the planet. Advanced civilization of any kind was destroyed. Cities were destroyed and life smoldering craters; farms set afire and turning everything to ash. Forty million lives....wiped out in minutes. And as soon as they came, they turned and left. Blue openings in space appeared and they vanished into them, their work done in this system. But many more were going to feel their touch, the pain and despair of such an alien foe spreading to all nations. The Shivans had returned and all would know the horror twice experienced by the galaxy at large.


Far away, on the Union homeworld of Terra, the President opened up a file detailing an urgent report. The report detailed the distress call, telling of strange black ships with reddish markings and asking for aid before suddenly getting cut off. She feared it was the Mekantans at first, but the supplemental part of the report by Union Intelligence detailed that subspace signals were detected in the system shortly before the communication cut off by long range sensor stations. Black hulls, red lights, and subspace signals. All that only meant one thing, and fear filled her very being.

Shivans. The destroyers had returned. She instantly sent out a call across the intellect link, calling for all Telrosians to enter the Link. She had to tell them...and prepare them for what was to come. A delegate to the ESUS was also prepared, ready to ask their aid in the coming storm.

It is, as the nature of life is, that while some races expand peacefully and properly, others find their first few steps into space riddled with war and strife. The Pulsatus were just one of the unfortunate species that managed to wind up in the Third Shivan war quite accidentally. Still, perhaps it was beneficial for them to wind up in the mess of affairs - it taught them that despite their accomplishments, despite their knowledge, despite whatever power they had collected, in the grand scheme of the galaxy it all meant nothing. A refreshing reminder that surely averted many disasters that pride could bring in the coming years.

But in the beginning, the taste of evil that the universe could wrought was unwelcome. And thus, as the Veneficus Regnum had done in the past, it tried to contain and remove all evil in it’s presence, to try and banish the evil they found in space like they had on their own world. They were fools who should not have gotten in the way.

The first taste of the Shivan’s power came to a lone vessel, one of twelve vessels the Regnum had dispatched into space to explore and record what they could. One such vessel, Rimor Astrum Septus arrived at the Daron System shortly after the genocide began. It’s Linear Transmission Drive manipulating the vessel back from the energy pattern it had become. Thus in a flare of pale blue light the primitive hunk of junk, 80% chemical rocket and 20% cockpit got to see the last of the local fleet devastated.



On board Rimor Astrum - Septus, off to the side of the Shivan fleet

“That was… weird,” the commander of the vessel spoke. He could be described as the cowboy type, given that if he was wearing the hat and other such accessories one would expect him to be riding a horse like creature on some plain on some ass backwards planet. But instead of a stylish hat he had an open helmet and a nice, pale blue jumpsuit. “Did you guys feel that?”

He looked to his left to see the scholar the Regnum had assigned to him, who was in charge of creating the space maps as well as handling contact with other species they came across. He too had the same, peculiar look on his face - a mixture of fear and confusion. A turn to his right confirmed the same look upon his mechanic.

“A passage through a Space Line should be a peaceful, enlightening experience…” the scholar spoke in a soft, humbled tone. His eyes drifting out in front of them to the thick glass-like substance that separated them from the vacuum outside. From their distance, without any magnification, the battle was quite uninteresting. The occasional twinkle of light came from a vessel that met it’s end, yet such random twinkling amongst a field of stars were hard to catch, and if they were are just written off as some phenomena of space. “Yet in this case… This case… What is this feeling of dread, of doom that’s weighing upon our shoulders?”

“I don’t know,” the commander spoke as he felt another shiver crossing through his spine. Another turn to look at his mechanic and a nod confirmed what the boy was thinking, thus with a few flips of switches and presses of buttons on the command consul, the ship looked forward with whatever sensors they had. Radio waves were sent forth to bounce across anything they came across, primitive telescopic cameras started to snap pictures.

One second for the radio waves to reach the battle, and one more second for it to come back, the ship registered multiple contacts around the area of the planet. The telescopic cameras thus affixed themselves to zoom onto that location, and a few more seconds later the commander got to see an up close view of some poor ship being sliced apart.

“By the twelve damnit! Sidonius, I want a map of the Potential energy NOW! 23 degrees right, 10 degrees up.”

That was one thing they did have though, a Potential Energy sensor could also be called a Life Sign detector, or if you preferred, Life Energy detector. Another five seconds later and the view port started to glow in a myriad of colors, before zooming forward to give what one could describe as an abstract work of art of the deaths of millions. To those that were trained to read it though, it showed a vivid glow around vessels still intact. Small sparks, or rather concentrations of the energy moved around in the aura of the ship, revealing living people who created that aura, but soon after those sparks were snuffed out, the glow of life dispersed into the hard vacuum of space. The crew looked in horror as they watched the death of more people they could count, until finally the rather quick destruction of the space station finally snapped them out of their stupor.

“Sidonius, full burn! Get us back to the Space Line before they turn their attention to us! We have got to warn the Regnum about this. Twelve damnit, Phoebus is only twenty five parsecs away!”

The ship’s chemical rockets flared, turning the ship around as fast as they could go, trying to escape the wrath of these unknown assailants. They didn’t have time to try and message them, or to even see if one of those vessels were coming for them. They could only hope that they were preoccupied with the planet and wouldn’t be interested in a small, primitive ship like theirs.

One minute and twenty-two seconds later, nearly five minutes after they had first entered the system, the Septus’ Drive flared, a pale blue energy started to encompass the ship, transforming the physical vessel into energy. They escaped luckily, but it was quite obvious to which star system they were escaping too, and although the system was uninhabited, it was only a few star system jumps away from their star cluster. But hopefully, just hopefully, they would be found by those that could help before the demons decided to visit the Pulsatus’ home world.

RMV Tiberius, 4 Parsecs out of Daron System, Telrosian Union Space

Through the dull blue of Nebula Alpha-1456 the great Metallinautsi warship prowled through its hunting grounds. Her prey was elusive and dangerous, the cult known simply as "Kronos' Shame". A group bent entirely on destroying the STC and thus extinguishing all life in accordance with the wishes of their leader "Kronos" a Suchae warlord.

The Tiberius had tracked them into the nebula with a little help of espionage. Lieutenant Horner had gone undercover and infiltrated the cult, "providing" them with high grade weapons and sensitive information.

"Captain, we have reached the eye of the nebula. The asteroid field that Lt. Horner identified is 98 AUs into the clearing. Permission to activate phased cloak" Petty Officer Jenna Gleason said.

"Granted bring us into the clearing, scan across the Temporal Band. They are out there somewhere" Captain Lilith Reynolds said.

Inside Asteroid Zeta-7230, "Burden of Retribution", Kronos' Shame base of Operation
"My children" a deep and raspy voice rang out over the crowd in the massive hanger. "My children, for too long have we quaked in the shadow of the great oppressors. Too long have we stood by as they protect the cosmic joke known as life. Many of our brothers, our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters have gone into the loving arms of blackened oblivion in service to our cause" the man's voice escalated in anger and conviction. "Now they will in turn kiss the cold ebony nothingness that we have to accept as the inevitable. And we will wreak our sweet salvation on those who have yet to suffer the terminal illness known as birth by preventing them from even existing" he said raising his arms to the ceiling, the crowd roared in a frenzied approval.

He then began to soothe the crowd by slowly waving his arms in a downward motion and began to speak once more, "thanks to our converted disciple, Sigrid Horner and his bountiful contacts in the Interdiction Fleet, he has provided us with a way to steal the crown jewel in our enemy's arsenal". He began to nod and smile at the crowd, "that is right my flock, we will have the mighty Solstice at our command; and the multiverse will thank us in its fleeting moments before nothingness" he proclaimed.

Sigrid motioned closer to the cult leader and said into his ear, "not exactly".

The leader was taken back by the unexpected comment, "I don't understand".

With no response, Sigrid upholstered his P-49 "sunburn" rifle and pulled the trigger at the man's torso. A bright blue light pierced the darkness of the hangar and turned the abdomen of the man into a bloody mist. "Captain Reynolds, this is Lt. Horner, Kronos has been eliminated requesting permission to beam aboard" he said into his implants.

In a split second he was in the receiving bay of the Tiberius and on his way to the bridge.

"Welcome back Sigrid" Reynolds said with a smile. "I assume that you set the charges" she said.

"Aye ma'am and activated the timer as soon as you arrived in the system. We have 45 seconds to clear the blast radius" he said sitting in his usual chair on the bridge.

"You heard the man, clear the nebula. Make port for the Daron system once we cleared the nebula" Reynolds ordered.

Within a few moments the Tiberius cleared the massive nebula just as it was sucked into a singularity the size of a ball bearing.

"Captain, I am reading a total silence from Daron, nothing no contact no traffic nothing. There is a glaring amount of radiation though" Gleason informed the captain.

"Take us in immediately. Notify the Telrosian government of our presence and of our discovery in case they haven't noticed yet" Reynolds barked.

"Aye ma'am. ETA 35 minutes" Jenna responded.

.

Ancient humanity in their boundless curiosity once looked up to the darkened heavens every evening with innocent wonder. Shamans, priests and witch doctors counted the veiled stars vainly, hoping that the fates would reveal some favourable fortune for their people. Some I know, even worshipped these eternal lights entrapped in a curious awe.

This attraction to the unknown, pulled humanity to leave their humble beginnings behind and take those first cautious steps to join the stars in the heavens. I have read, that on that day many wept at no longer having the mystery of creation to marvel at. Yet, the great curiosity which drove so many generations remained . . . remains to this day, unsatisfied. Humanity needed more, and with the subspace technology they birthed, the first explorers bravely ventured into realms of unknown physics, and just like the stars in their initial creation, mankind fell to its knees and cried out like god’s.

They grew in numbers and in pride. They abused their rights, and for it, the Destroyers emerged from their slumber, to lay to ruin, a society which deserves nothing more than to be humbled.

~ UNKNOWN

Tru Antier
Day One – Fifty Minutes After Doron

History, in its pragmatism will look upon these moments with questions, with many surrendering to the inevitable desire to know why the Destroyers chose to come here. In a Galaxy of millions of worlds, where billions of people exist upon any one of them, ignorant of rumoured darkness’s and terrors. It is only natural to hear the tempered queries of history asking surely they were the better worlds to ravage?

Yet history, is a fickle thing, doting from day to day upon a preferred scheme or monopoly of thought, yet, in their presence, the smug superiority of hindsight will never be able to counteract the Shivan’s remarkable unpredictability in their actions.

Chaos, is their merit, their focus, their goal to any observer. And it is chaos that birthed the terror of Tru Antier.

Like Doron before it, subspace rippled open revealing the Destroyers in their might. Three warships emerged, shadowed by the pulsating dimensional tear which pulsated with raw anticipation at the events to come. A Molech Destroyer, and two Lilith Cruisers filtered through the purple dust clouds of this society hesitantly. They were only three, in a solar system millions of kilometres in size. Their range, their capacity, too limited to subdue this vast realm was only the beginning of a staged advance to secure this vital foothold.

Tru Antier, a system which held two subspace nodes linking the Shivans to the rest of the Galaxy was ignorant in its great importance. And so, as their security services responded, their cries would fall short of any listeners in the depths, as communications faded into impossibility.

The first vessels to suffer, were those least deserving, as the Shivans began cutting open civilian freighters and cruisers, gutting the commerce which drove the destroyers here.

Beam weaponry, crimson like rage, lanced out and sliced directionally in repeated salvos of malevolent purity. The screams, the cries, of those trapped without aid, only found the cruel ear of space to find consolation, before the un-merciful vacuum emptied their tears.

More tares exploded from the subspace node, as further cruisers emerged building the pre-text for victory.

OOC: Is this open? If so reserved for post. I haven't fought Shivans since 2004...
Nope this is a character interaction thread as far as I know

OOC: If by 'character' you mean 'fleets geared for bloody war' and by 'interaction' you mean 'desperate coalition.'

IC:
The Golugan system was the home of a singular star orbitted by 22 planets, all but one of which had been grossly terraformed over the centuries to synch up with the environmental conditions of the exception, the planet Golugan itself. The conditions in question were cold, barren, rocky, and with an above-average gravity, but that's what the native khazukan and the wildlife they used for food and cloth were most suited for. In any case, it was nearly two dozen planets, each with anywhere from a dozen to a thousand city-states of their own, each ruled by a Thane. Add in the Thanes that lead the city-ships that guarded the planets, trade routes, and outsystem terraform projects of the Boundless Empire, and one had a lot of nobles to manage.

The nobles were managed in a grand chamber known as the Council of Thanes, which could convene at any time thanks to a combination of holograms and modern communications. The chamber itself was like a giant stone ampitheatre, with the Thane of the Imperial Clan taking the center stage upon the Throne of Ancestors. At present, attendants and courtiers were hustling out of the chamber so that the Imperial Thane could call the Council to order.

"Thanes of the Council, I have reviewed reports from exploratory Drengi battlegroups and several Gandongliz observational vessels, and I have reached a conclusion. There is a threat approaching the Zonankori the likes of which we have never seen, and one that they know well enough to fear it. All we know about this enemy is that their ability to jam communications is sufficiently advanced that the only way we can know where they are attacking is when a system ceases communicating with us. As such, I have prepared a response.

"Three Gandongliz class vessels guarded by an equal number of both Ginithrong and Dalgorak fortress-ships will form garrisons in the Inner Systems, along with double the normal Drengi escort for each vessel. The Outer Systems, being uncolonized and unterraformed, shall be abandoned until such time that it is certain that our borders are secure. Three Gandongliz with an escort of six Khazurbaz merchant carriers, all four being escorted by double standard Drengi, will be deployed to various spacefarring nations that have been identified as either mobilizing against this threat or being targetted by it, so that we might be able to coordinate a defense. All remaining forces with garrison the Home System.

"A twenty-four hour communication array is to be maintained by all the Gandongliz with regular status reports, both for Imperial forces and the natives of visited systems that accept our assistance. If we lose contact with a system, we are to assume that it is under attack by this threat. In such a situation, all outbound Drengi fleets are to immediately launch for the muted system, in addition to six each of Ginithrong, Dalgorak, and the experimental Uzkulrhun class fortress-ships. In the case of simultaneous strikes, the Drengi fleets are to deploy to the first system to be muted.

"Any questions?"

One of the holographic Thanes rose in the far right quarter, in the nineth row from the front. "How do we know the Zonankori will cooperate with us?"

"As the records indicate, the Zonankori value the future at least as much as we value the past. If aid in safeguarding their future is offered, only those unaware of the magnitude of the threat will refuse."

"And what of those them? Those that are unaware?"

"Simple. We put them in contact with someone who is."

Oovo

The great tomb of Adas stretched far above the robed head of the Sith Lord, Marka Ragnos, as the genetically advanced human meditated upon the ancient sands of the Sith tomb world within the Shroud. Adas was the original Sith Lord in the giant, gaping, lethally-charged nebula that formed a cave around the current government in the Dominion, a hybrid human and Baragwin of enormous stature who had carved out a giant swath of territory before being blasted apart on his capital of Pugnor by forces of the Polusian Commonwealth, the power of the time and predecessor to the Amazonian reign. Nonetheless, Adas was well-respected within the Dark Force ranks - and his tomb was a lightening rod for Ragnos, the most powerful Amazonian Sith of the time and potentially the greatest in quite some time, to channel his thoughts and focus his energy perfectly in tune with the flows and ebbs of the waves of the Force - the energy field that, in the Dominion at least, few could manipulate but all felt.

A shock rippled across the channels of the energy field, jolting Ragnos out of his near-unconscious trance. Something had just happened - something big enough, though something farther away, that had been felt through the Shroud's nebulous barriers into the heart of Dominion space on the tomb world. Ragnos tried to search for an answer, but his head was clouded and still ringing from the scream of millions instantaneously. The cries of anguish echoed in his head, strange for the Sith Lord and a new sensation - he generally relished in killing, bathed in the dead that he had conquered on the battlefield, but now they pulverized his mind, warned of a greater threat. Something was out there that would not stop with that great psychological outcry, but would continue on with horrible deeds until an insatiable hunger was finally either ended, or quenched.

Ragnos's communicator beeped quietly, the Sith Lord answering quickly.

"Lord Ragnos."

"Marka," it was Sion, fellow Sith Lord and contemporary on the ruling Council. "Did you feel it?"

"I did," Ragnos replied. Sion was on Amazonia, the capital in the beating heart of Dominion space amidst millions of sentients on the ecumenopolis core world. Apparently the scream had more power than just on a quiet tomb world of Sith legends.

"Do you have insight into what it was?"

"Unfortunately I don't. I was shocked out of my meditation by whatever that was...whatever happened."

"I'm on edge. That wasn't natural."

Sion's voice sounded angry, spiteful - and Ragnos liked the sound of that. Amazonian Sith never started their path to the Dark Side with fear - they jumped straight to anger.

"Keep the Home Fleet on guard around the Core. I'll return shortly from Oovo," Ragnos replied, watching around him, on edge just the same. After what had just happened, it couldn't hurt.

"A wise choice. I will contact Sadow, track his coordinates."

Ragnos confirmed that into his communicator before shutting the conversation down. The top minds of the Dominion would be convening some way or another - whether apart great distances or on the capital world, the most heavily defensed planet of the Dominion with a battle line envied wide - to figure out what had shocked the Force so much. It was unnerving, and yet somewhat exhilarating at the same time...

The Veneficus Regnum was a weak nation to put it politely. Not only was their army small, their power lacking, and their experience in space all but nonexistent - but the actual national government was weak with most of the power laying in the five Protectorates that made it up. This meant that, if the Regnum needed more power in times of crisis, it was up to the Protectorates' representatives sitting on the Council of Seven to decide what and if was given to it.

The evidence of such a slaughter, virtually in the back door of the Veneficus' world, was an issue serious enough for the Council of Seven to assemble and delegate the release of power to the Regnum to deal with such a threat. Thus the council was assembled and the witnesses to the Shivan's deed brought forth, even a member of the Council of Twelve, the most wizened advisers the Pulsatus had ever known, had attended the meeting.

Council Chambers, located in the capital city of Phoebus II

The council's room was large enough for what it's purpose was, an open enough to allow people to speak freely and not feel like they were shoved into a political office never to see the light of day again. It's architecture could be described as a circular room with three circles around a central podium five meters in diameter. The first ring around this podium composed of seven chairs reserved for the Council of Seven, and enough space for any apprentices or servants they needed to fetch or hold whatever information they needed presented. The next ring sat twelve, and was meant for the Council of Twelve although it usually went empty except in the rare times (such as this) that one of the advisers decided to lend a helpful word to a crisis. Finally the largest, outer ring (and also the most cramped one) was to hold whatever witnesses or other members needed to be assembled at the time. Currently the podium was taken by the three crew members of Septus, above them a floating, 3D image played of all the information the ship had managed to record before fleeing.

"Captan Servil, you say the first hint of danger came from when you first exited the Space Line, can you specify on this?" one of the wizened councilmen spoke, an old man who's hair had long turned silver and face wrinkled.

"Well... You know how it goes, a transit through the Line is supposed to be a calming experience... Whole, temporarily becoming one with the universe or other such crap a Magus wants to sprout," he said cautiously at first, but starting to gain momentum as he went on. "However, instead we just had this dread... As if, well... Kinda like if you knew something really bad was about to happen and there was nothing you could do to stop it. I dunno, I've never quite felt anything like it in my life..."

"It's possible," another council member spoke, this time a women who was younger than the previous man. "During the Linear Transmission your spirits became aware of the death about to come, or rather that was happening. Our minds can't hold the information we gather during the brief ascension, but we keep the feelings we had garnered during the time."

"That is one mystery sorted out then," another council member spoke. "However, this is just delaying the real issue here. There's no doubt that whatever beings the Septus managed to film that they are powerful, and given their close proximity to Phoebus we must assume that we are in the firing path. Such actions must then merit the increasing of power to the Regnus, an expansion of the aerospace force as well as a solid effort to build whatever warship we can with whatever time we have!"

"Councilman Arsule, just because the Septus witnessed a battle does not mean they are a threat to us. For all we know, they could have been two parties in an exclusive war, given that they did not fire upon the Septus we can equal-"

"The only reason that they didn't fire upon us, ma'am," the Captain spoke up, "Was because we were well over a light second away from their fleet and turned our tails and ran as soon as we realized what we were dealing with. That was no, battle of war, that was a massacre! We got out of there just as they were starting to bombard the planet, who knows how many survivors there left!"

"None," Arsule thus took up his speech once more. "The Unus arrived at the system five hours ago, they reported that all Potential Energy in the system was ambient. If there was anyone on the planet, their dead now... The entire world is dead, their souls most likely sucked into the Space Lines." Arsule remained silent, letting that discovery be absorbed by the others before moving on, "If this was a battle of war, the planet would have been captured by the nation who planned to claim it for settling later if need be, they wouldn't have destroyed every paramecium on the rock."

"Even if what you say is the truth, even if they are eventually going to come to our system, what can we do then? Reports show that the ships that were slaughtered were much more advanced than ours, how can we stand up to their might? What point would there be in even trying?" another one of the women members spoke up, talking in almost a whisper.

"While some races may be more advanced than others in one way, they may be inferior in another," the member sitting in the second ring suddenly spoke up, causing everyone to fall quiet. "This race was obviously advanced in the Science of Physics, as most are within this galaxy - however their knowledge of the Science of Potential is laughable, if they know of it at all. Your weapons and technology function differently, and thus it's possible that your people can stand a better chance if they come."

"Wise words," Arsule said while nodding. "But, even if we can't stand up to them, we owe it to the people we protect to do everything we can do defend them. However, in addition to trying to fight off the potential attackers, we should try to create contingency plans, things we can do to lessen the casualties and save some of our people."

"So what exactly do you have in mind, Arsule?" This prompted the mail council member to shuffle a paper forward before tapping it's heading twice. This then caused the lettering to glow a fervent blue before apeparing in place of the previous image.

"I request that we refurbish the ZiGs in storage and prepare 80% of them for combat, this will nearly double our air force. The other 20% should be scrapped for repair parts, as well as set aside to create prototype upgrades for the other fighters - stronger shields, better weapons... Perhaps even figure out a way to get an Invisibility Imbuement into them, hell I'd settle for an Imbuement on the internal canons so that they could be actually useful."

"Next, although I would like to start a long term project to create an actual war vessel to defend our space, we probably don't have the time nor the resources to undergo such an effort, nor to create any sort of array of defenses to hopefully deter them, our next best course of action is to try to find others that are fighting them, or have fought them. Any experience we can get from them will make our own defenses all the more likely to succeed... And, finally, we must make plans to evacuate civilians."

"Evacuate where? They killed an entire planet, where are we going to hide them?" someone else interrupted.

"Simple enough," the Adviser from the second ring spoke up once more. "My kind has the potential to create a stable Rift at any of the Nexuses on your planet, there are a number of empty worlds that could be used as colonies if it comes down to it." That caused another wave of silence in the room, not so much as respect to his words, but at the revelation that they might have to leave the planet that gave them life, that cradled them, as it remained to die in a fiery inferno. "I, realize that it might not be easy for your race, but evacuation is better than extinction."

The council quickly disbanded after that with Arsule's plan ratified, with some modifications. Five civilian ships were conscripted to fan out in all directions to try and find a civilization that had encountered this mysterious foe before. In addition to this, the old fighters were build out, but more than this the Council had declared that all of the Rimor Astrum class ships would report back to Phoebus to be refitted for war duty, well most of them at least. Two were allowed to still explore and map the Space Lines while given the other duty to look for potential allies, while the Unus remained in the Daron System to try and get some more answers there.

Tru Antier

The emergence of the Shivans was met with five minutes of total confusion and bewilderment. As FTL communications were cut off across the system the poorly funded and mostly ineffective traffic control system suddenly found itself flying blind. As a number of cargo haulers and commerce vessel were obliterated, crippled or subsequently hidden beneath an enveloping eruption as their own power cores erupted. The confusion stopped when old fashioned radio waves and traditional photo-receptive feeds began arriving back at Trun Auntier, the systems main world to much shock and surprise.

Vessels had dropped out of sub-space in a series of sudden jolts, bursts of light and unexpected rips in the space time continuem. Vessels closest to the Shivans were immediatly destroyed, those lucky enough to be just withen spitting distance turned and attempted to flee to the edges of the system; most failed. Others on the other side of the system meandered along, confused as to why their vessels were stranded, panic however set in once the out of date transmission from every vessel in system degenerated into panic.

Vessels began lifting off from the planets surface, streets became crowded as people turned their heads to the sky hoping to see an enemy force, instead they only saw ships heading out of the atmosphere.

-----

Traai' Haai' Heei' zet

Ieat Ieaz Iii suddenly discovered that the buissness conversation he had been hosting was cut off; most unexpected, most of their services were mostly reliable. Releasing a burst of nitrogen in irritationhe filed a complaint and left it at that.

OOC: In response to VR's post
The Dominion of Ruthless Slaughter, normally simply referred to as the Dominion, took up two neighboring star systems of 14 and 8 planets. The Epsilon System housed the homeworld of Epsilon Prime as well as many of the central governing planets while the Gamma System was where most of the industry took place, surrounded by nebulae and asteroid fields rich in raw materials. Most of those planets were already terraformed. Formerly a galactic power, these are the remnants after a long and bloody civil war. Led by the Free Democratic party, this New Dominion fled to a new galaxy and started over. It had encountered Shivans before, many decades ago. The Grand Admiral of the Navy was an ensign at the time and had served on the flagship Saving Grace during the Attack on Coreworlds.

The Navy was powerful, having developed since resettlement toward plasma and beam-based weaponry. While largely isolationist, it kept good if infrequent relations with a number of civilizations and was an unknown to most of the newer powers. It had bustling trade and industry, with the Navy mostly relegated to border patrol and escort duty these days. The [Saving Grace[/I] itself was now one of two flagships and was away on a diplomatic function with the President, Vice President, and Grand Admiral. While the Shivans existed in the old Military Archives, the data was from the last time the Dominion had fought them, and was most likely out of date.

In the event of any distress call, the Union was very punctual and always moved quickly to ensure they could deal with the situation without a major loss of life and supplies. However, with the possibility that the Shivans had launched an assault on them, things moved like lightning. In the aftermath of the Union sending Battlefleet Hades under command of Grand Admiral Muller to begin preparations to aid the Clans against the Orkish threat, plans changed when news of Daron hit the Union. Immediately, all Battlefleets were put on alert and the Union jump-kicked its many factories, fabbers, and nano-assemblies to construct the weapons, supplies, and replacement ships they would need. When battling the Shivans, losses were guaranteed. Battlefleet Hades was recalled and instead Battlefleet Hercules was tasked with aiding the Clans. While they mourned the loss of using Admiral Muller against the Orks, his expertise and skill would be needed in the battles ahead. As the Union flexed its military muscles and began to prepare for the horrors of war, Muller and his fleet was immediately sent to the Daron System to investigate what happened. Ordinarily, scouts would be used, but seeing as the Shivans had increased technology that prevented jam-breakers from stopping their communications from being cut, they had to assume that any scouts would be cut off from reporting and killed. Besides, for all they knew an invasion fleet could be waiting in the Daron System, using it as a beachhead into the rest of the Union proper.

Once again, President Alara Cyril sat in Meeting Room Omega, facing a council of the highest ranking officials in the Union. Muller, still in transit to the Daron System, was there in hologram form. Alara clasped her hands together and began to speak. "Thank you for joining us, Admiral. Have the recon probes returned yet?"

Muller nodded, his face grim. "Yes and it's as bad as we feared. The entire defense force was wiped out, the debris was left alone, and the entire planet has become a wasteland. Terraforming can fix it, but the fact of the matter is all life, sentient or not, has been wiped clean. If these are the Shivans, their quick, random, and efficient brutality is evident at least. The Hegemony could hardly repel a Xiscapian force, much more the Shivans of legend. All the other protectorates are in danger and we cannot protect them all."

One of the others nodded. "We know, Admiral. We are working on a plan to do so, but I am afraid in a worst-case scenario, our primary directive is to protect Union space and citizens. As such, we may have to abandon them to their fate." The room went cold at those words. They all knew what had to be done in the situation just described, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow. Muller spoke first, breaking the thick silence.

"How far along are our preparations?"

Samantha Nor, Director of Union Intelligence, glanced at a holopad. "All five Battlefleets are at Code Black Status, and are currently on heavy patrol. Only Battlefleet Perseus remains as the last group to be rearmed and prepared for war status. Defense forces are rising, with rearming and drafts being put into place. We have rescinded the ban on the protectorate's militaries and have allowed them to construct full on military ships, with access to our fabbers and some technology. I know we are all uneasy about this but if we can get to the point where we can worry about them, I'd say we have cause to celebrate."

"Understood, Director. We are about to enter the Daron System. I will contact you as soon as I get a clear picture of what's going on in the system. There was quite a lot of subspace interference, so I cannot trust the drone's readings of no Shivan ships in the area. Muller out."

The hologram dissipated and they all turned to the President. She sighed and stood up. "Until he reports back, we have no reason to be in this room. We all have our duties; let's fulfill them and ensure another Great War doesn't break out." With that, they dispersed, tense and worried about the coming events. A future once almost set in stone now had become chaotic and uncertain. A new path would be created; whether it lead to a galaxy that had the Union surviving was not assured.


***************

Blurred images of steel-gray and bright blue, the ships of the Union shot into the Daron System and become sharp warships, eagerly watching the system about them. Their supporting ships had been left in the adjacent system and if any sign of trouble, they were to jump in and support the fleet as it tried to retreat. No such thing happened, as the only things in immediate sight were shattered hulks of the Hegemony defense forces, the reddish-brown planet of Daron, and the ghosts that wandered unseen in this graveyard. Recon probes were immediately deployed and began to scan the system. Significant interference caused by the attack prevented them from getting a clear image without entire groups of drones working together to get a good picture. So it took some time before the Union ships realized alien ships were in their territory. Tensions shot up and they all tensed, but it was revealed to be ships not even close to Shivans or anything like them. One was a group of attack ships that were of an advanced nation, the other of a nation who looked to be just going into space. A sigh of relief was breathed throughout the fleet as Muller began to give orders.

"The entire Battlefleet is to move into defense formation Beta and secure orbit around the planet. Recon drones are to switch their missions from scanning the system to scanning the weapon scarring on the Hegemony hulks and the subspace interference. We need to confirm if this was the Shivans or some race who has managed to tap into subspace. And if possible, we need to get data on subspace. We could use that to deal with our enemies, be they the real deal or imposters. Have Strike Groups One and Three jump over to the alien ships and.....gently inform them of the situation, our ownership of this system and ask their reasons for being here."

Confirmations sounded and the entire battlefleet shifted, taking a wider but more defensive formation, covering the orbit of the world with an overlapping field of fire. The strike groups mentioned shot into blurry specks, only to reappear a fair distance from the RS and VR ships. An open channel was broadcasting a message to them.

"Unidentified ships, you are in the space of the Telrosian Union. As one can tell, this system has been hit by an attacker and as such, is being locked down. We ask you identify yourselves and your purpose for being here."

Muller watched as drone fighters and manned gunships began to go on hunting patrols, seeking to find any hidden enemies with the advanced sensors of the cruisers in the strike groups headquarters ship. A beeping noise on his holopad attracted his attention. He pulled it out and opened it up to find a message from Command had been sent to him. Upon selecting it, he saw that a Metallinautsi warship known as the Tiberius had been conducting a mission in the nearby Nebula known as Alpha-1456. They had noticed Daron's communication blackout and had sent a warning to the Union. It had come shortly after the distress call and during the Communion called by the President, they had not noticed it until now, as chaos began to subside into grim diligence. He took the frequency noted in the message and opened a long range channel to the ship.

"Tiberius, this is Grand Admiral Muller of the Telrosian Union, Battlefleet Hades, currently on war status in the Daron System. The communications blackout you noticed was due to an attack that wiped out the forces here and turned the planet into a wasteland. They used efficient communications jammers that made it impossible to know what was going on. We have reason to believe it was the....Shivans. I assume you know how dire this is for both our nations. You are on your way here, if the message you sent me is accurate. Do whatever you can to get here as soon as possible; the Union is in a very vulnerable position and any help from our Metallinausti allies would be appreciated very much."

He sent the message along and could only wait to see if they had received it. The situation here could only get worse, as he soon received another message from Command, detailing reports from a long-range sensor station which had picked up a strange zone of silence in a communication network of a far off nation. It had the same area as a single system and had the same sudden appearance as in Daron. Muller gripped his pad even tighter. Even though they could not be certain, this pattern was fitting the Shivans more and more. In every war, the Shivans attacked indiscriminately at first, attacking random targets for reasons unknown. He sent a message on back and then sent a request for another meeting. After some time, the screen moved from the waiting sign of the Union to the sight of the President and other members of the War Council, as it was becoming known.

Alara sighed. "It is good to see our fears were not proved correct, Jonathan."

He nodded. "I am afraid I have some bad news, however. We have confirmed the loss of the entire recorded defense force and the now ruined planet. We have also made contact with two alien races who have come into our system. We are currently in the process of finding out who they are and if they are somehow connected to what happened. But that is not the bad news." He called up the report so they could see it.

"LR Sensor Station Alpha-4 picked up a strange hole in another nation's communications network that suddenly appeared. It has the same area as would be seen in a single systems network, and has the same suddenness and timing as the one in Daron. I am afraid I can only conclude that the same foe who attacked us here...."

Samantha finished for him. "....is attacking there as well. More evidence to prove our fears of Shivan involvement correct, but not completely. I take it you ordered the stations to start monitoring for these signs?"

Muller nodded. "Yes, and I have instructed the Diplomatic Core to prepare several diplomats to be sent to those nations, once we have an idea of what is going on. Even if these foes are not Shivans, we have to warn them and get everyone to work together against a foe that can block our communications and strike without warning. A bit of good news, however. We have received a message from a nearby Metallinauts ship. As you well know, they fought in the wars against the Shivans and should be able to aid us in determining if it is them. And either way, we can work together on stopping this threat before too many systems and lives are lost."

Rimor Astrum Class Ship, Unus. Currently in the Daron System

The Unus took a few seconds, perhaps minutes before they finally detected the Union ships - which coincidently was right around when they found them. The primitive radio sensors locked on to the new fleet and cameras focused in to get whatever snap shots they could. The ships crew was tense at first, fearing that whatever had caused this destruction was back, but as the black and white images came back showing that the ship configurations were different.

So to be friendly they fired up their chemical engines, orienting themselves to the alien fleet just as they received the message. Quickly they replied, “This is the Rimor Astrum class corvette, Unus, exploration ship of the Veneficus Regnum. Our sister ship the Septus recorded the devastation in this system and we were stationed in wide orbit around the sun to gather some more information.”

The communication then paused for a few seconds before the captain of the vessel spoke up once more, “Namely, if this massacre was a battle in a war, or if whatever forces caused this pose a threat to our nation.” Another pause, this time he seemed to be deciding something. “We have the data recorded onboard, and are willing to exchange it for information about this to help us combat the threat - or at least to put our people at ease if it’s nothing to worry about.”

The ship then ended it’s communication, waiting for the reply as the engine continued it’s burn - cutting it’s orbit down so that they would slowly approach the fleet. Scans would reveal that there seemed to be only two defensive canons on the ship, just enough to maybe knock a medium sized asteroid out of the way. Other scans revealed no armor to speak of and large, vulnerable chemical rockets that could easily be targeted. However, the ship was full of anomalous energy readings that lacked a clear explanation, perhaps telling that their technology functioned differently than most, which might explain how a chemical rocket managed to jump to FTL without exploding.

As I watch the Shivans begin their work afresh, I find that my thoughts turn to wonder and questions. Why now I ask myself. Why did they begin here, in this, the remotest part of possibility. The odds for these Galactic purge’s of civilisations, to begin, on objects of infinitesimal unimportance leads me to believe that these Destroyer’s are not omniscient, but, it gifts my knowledge with fear.

Perhaps, these beings see the potential of small beginnings and act upon their foreknowledge of a thousand years. They destroy colonies, and outposts out of pre-action or, as many have claimed, do they instead visit undeserved carnage upon the helpless because they revel in butchery? Truthfully, I say, I will never know.

Yet, what I do know, is that for humanity, for civilisation to survive, it needs a greater reason then survival alone. We must have a purpose for existing, we need a great nexus of attraction which will draw the heights of our society to refine, and further our cause of beneficial development. To remain, trapped in our simple need to live, are we ignoring manifest paths the promised land or do we walk instead into the valley of kings?

I write this, because I believe it is a question that is important for my species, yet, I never believe that they will see it.

- UNKNOWN.

Tru Antier

Sadness, grief, despair, and dread. Tru Antier now stank of perspiring anticipation at the inevitable and the sudden. The Destroyers, manifest in an instant, poured forward from subspace and pooled within the very centre of Tru Antier, allowing whatever ships that could to flee from their very presence.

Unlike, the two systems before them, the Shivans did not attack the populated world as a priority. Instead, their warships and fighters sprawled in mighty holding patterns within the womb of a dying home, preparing to birth their destruction.

Black as Hades, with the reaching tendrils of death, the Shivans, in their meditated patience, waited, as more and more of their ships pooled through subspace one by one.

Those defending military vessels that were within system, done nothing to antagonise the selection of warships which were already present. Instead, the precipice was delayed, as the Shivans continued to allow thousands to aimlessly flee for their lives.

Wreckage and bodies drifted past the crimson coloured ships. Scaffolding and metal shards which impacted with a dull attempt at justice, vaporised against shielding, while small clouds of atmosphere drifted apart into the solace of vacuum. Some, who were still alive within the few intact compartments that remained of those vessels that were ravaged, cried out for aid, pleading for mercy, to all and any that could hear. But, the destroyers offered none. In their stagnation, the Shivans, one by one, vaporised those that lay trapped within their tombs.

Time passed, seconds turned to minutes and as time ticked away, the Shivans came closer to their objective. Unknowingly, inexplicably, the Destroyers vessels accelerated, each one, ploughing in different directions, tearing apart whatever infrastructure could be found.

Installations were engulfed, asteroids were cracked, and fighters hunted their kindred. Above the planet, one lone, Demon cruiser, released its payload, quenching its thirst with fire. As everything burned, more ships continued to emerge as subspace rippled with revelation.

OOC: Hope you don't mind me rping a few things for you. If so let me know and I will change the post.

Phoebus

The Thanes of city-ships such as the Khazurbaz trade carriers tend to be less secure in their personal authority than planetbound Thanes. It makes sense when one considers that the kingdom they rule over is, while mobile, ultimately finite. As such, getting three Khazurbaz Thanedoms to coordinate is ordinarily very difficult.

This is one of the secondary roles that the Gandongliz observatory vessels play. One of the few ships classes still in regular functionality despite not having a full city infrastructure on board, the ships were flying temple-forges devoted to detection and communication, the name literally translating to 'find what we cannot reach.' These ships, all managed by the High Temple, would coordinate the tactical patterns of the Khazurbaz and Drengi support fleets.

The plane was simple: All ship command systems would be rerouted to direct control by the ship's Thane. The docked defense corvettes of the Khazurbaz would be locked in and linked to the ship's primary power systems, turning support ship into broadsides and shield amplifiers. The Drengi were to be ready to jump at all times, in case a different system was cut off. The force was divided evenly into thirds, and would arrive at equidistant locations in far orbit of the inhabited planet.

Each battlegroup, upon arriving in the system, appeared roughly the same. Clusters of boxy cruisers and frigates decked out with ion cannons and missile arrays, centered around a hexagonal plate ship above a kilometer-long capital ship shaped vaguely like a trieme without sails. Upon arriving in the system, one of the runesmiths heading a Gandongliz hailed the apparent head of the local military forces.

"Greetings, local Zonankori. We have reason to suspect your people are similiarly aware of the mysterious threat that has become present in the galaxy. We're trying to set up a communication network to combat them. Would you like your planet to be part of the array?"

Captain Lilith Reynolds stood in silence for a moment at the mention of Shivans. There have been no Shivan incursions since the great war nearly a millennium ago. "Admiral Muller, what evidence do you have that would lead you to think that the Shivans were involved" she inquired in her usual commanding voice. As she awaited her response she looked to her helmsman, "What is our ETA to the Daron system".

"We are about 3 minutes out, we should be able to obtain some preliminary readings on the system" the man replied.

"Captain I suggest that we get right down to the source, Subspace radiation dissipates within hours, the most sure way to tell if it was what the Grand Admiral fears then we need to know now, not the next time they strike" Lt. Honer said.

The huge battleship broke temporal hyper space at the system's fringe. Immediately her sensor suite began analyzing every particle in the system.

"Captain I am detecting an unusual amount of subspace radiation. I am not seeing any kind of natural occurring phenomena that would warrant such an amount in this magnitude. It is worth noting that the energy patterns from planetary surface are inconclusive with any sort of Shivan weaponry encountered" a voice came from the VI portal. The program then provide a holographic display of the energy wave compared to the Shivan to illustrate it's point.

Reynolds stood in deep thought, "Very well, keep searching the area. Maybe one of the fighters picked off a smaller vessel and we can analyze it's make up. As of right now I am going to call a probable Shivan involvement. Perhaps they weren't directly involved with the attack. In any case put a priority bulletin on our wetnet and the ESUS Battlenet that there is a possibility of Shivan activity. Due note that there is inconclusive evidence into our findings. Also send it along to any non-aligned nations we are in contact with, in these messages please include the readings on energy weapons" Reynolds ordered.

The messages were sent.

Phoebus Star System

The Phoebus system was a small system, made of a star that was slightly smaller than Sol and three planets, two of them rocky and one gas giant. Still, despite it’s size the myriad of (at first glance) primitive ships seemed to be moving about the system randomly. In truth that wasn’t to far from the truth, lacking any sort of device one could call a computer, there was no organized lines of space traffic going to and fro from the system. No automatic system that would greet the aliens as they came into the system. In fact there was not even a detection grid to alert them of any entering vessels, such was their ignorance of the dangers of space.

However, in place of a coordinated grid it did have at least several hundred civilian vessels moving through the system for whatever odd end they were on, and each ship had enough sensors to detect the Golgugan fleet. But again, while they were fairly new to the whole space thing, the odd passing alien vessel wasn’t enough to cause a system wide panic. So, until the message either reached a government installation and made it up to the people who could act on it, or was transferred to that person via a civilian ships, the Thane’s message went unanswered. However, while the busy cogs of the bureaucracy went to work the alien dwarven vessels were free to watch the ships in the system.

Speaking of which, there was one vessel. A primitive one at that, one of the first design of ships capable of travel within their own solar system. If someone wanted to describe it, it would be trying to imagine a Saturn V rocket with some sort of device resembling a rather large spider curled around it’s main fuselage and a variety of glyphs and runes etched into it’s hull. In fact, as the ship started to move away from the alien vessels they would note that a lot of the forward glyphs started to glow a pale blue color. The light growing stronger until finally a glyph was projected out in front of the vessel, the seemingly magical runes casting their spell upon local space and time. Within a matter of seconds the continuum was torn apart as a rift formed, which the ship quickly made it’s way through. A few seconds later their sensors would pick up the same ship exiting a similar distortion millions of miles away.

Finally though a secured message was transmitted to the dwarven vessel. “This is Councilor Arsule, in charge of the defense against these… invaders, if they turn out to be a threat to our star system. However, the civilian sector is currently being kept… unaware of this threat until we are confident we can deal with it adequately, so we’d appreciate any mention of these Destroyers (if you’re referring to the black and crimson vessels that destroyed the world less than twenty parsecs away) through unsecured channels…”

"Say no more, Councilor. We had forgotten that Zonankori resolve becomes weaker in the face of adversity rather than stronger. If the civilians ask questions, we're a diplomatic group looking to set up trade relations. It may technically be true in the future, after the current scenario has been addressed.

"Before I ramble, however, introductions are in order. I am High Priest Grong Rili, Grandmaster Runesmith of the High Temple and Lorekeeper of the Seeker Beyond Reach Crafted for The Architect. If you would accept our presence, we believe that we can help secure your people in our communication array."

ooc: You went a bit to far into it. Don't worry, what you did was inevitable, i'll just work my response around it and take your words as the eventual plan.

Tru Antier

Thousands of vessels fled in the wake of the Shivans, using sub-FTL drives to escape from the field of the FTL-Inhibitors; those that made a break for it and reached the edge jumped away to their various destinations. In system craft, mostly construction or for limited pleasure purposes, also took to the outer reaches but were ultimatly trapped unless they were picked up.

As the Shivans descended upon the world the various orbital construction sites were obliterated, sattellites already in a precarious state crashed into wreckage, each other, and the various vessels fleeing from the planets surface.

-----

Trun Auntier

The Traffic Control center was relaying it's increasingly up to date information to a conference room filled with an assortment of the most influential merchants on Trun Auntier, although half of them were missing, either on their way there or on their way out of the system; also the Chief of Constabulary was present via video conferencing.

"What are we to do!" Screamed a particuarly snobbish merchant in the five minutes left before the unknown vessels came screaming through the atmosphere.
"More to the point where in the galaxy is the M.R.A?" Roared the Chief of Constabulary over the video-conference, various personnel could be seen running around in the background looking at various tactical systems.
"I can't believe it! I simply can't believe it!" Another wailed.
"They're destroying the upper facilities now," another observed calmly whilst examining the data flowing in on his data pad.
"Well, theres only one thing to do." The Chief replied adjusting his hat, "I'm in charge here, I say everyone for themselves, and put into motions contingency plans A, B and C." He nodded at the assmebled traders and switched his end of the video of. The traders exchanged significant looks before departing for their personal vessels.

-----


"All persons are to evacuate the planet immediatly, all persons incapable of doing so are to retreat to under ground complexes; I repeat. All pers-"

That message radiated across the planets various broadcasting systems, causing a total panic. Meanwhile the Constabulary set into motion emergency plans for resistance; he armed his admittedly small lawkeeping force and contracted any planet based mercaneries. More importantly however he brought the planets antique defense systems online.

As the planets population gave into terror and fled in fear as the Shivans dropped down through the atmosphere and unleashed terror; troops took cover in the shelter of buildings. More importantly however twelve assorted mercanery operated vessels appeared over the horizon, three of which broke off at the sight of the Shivans vessels. The remaining nine stood by their wallets and fired everything from lasers, missiles, bursts of plasma and rail-guns. The Shivans were also in range of the ground based magnetic accelleration cannons, only two of five of them though. They hadn't been activated, let alone fired in years. They could however fire a car sized metal slug at 72% the speed of light, and so sluggishly at a rate of one shot per 45 secconds, they let loose upon the Shivans.

OOC: Not the Magellan System of Wolf Hold, for the record.

IC:

The winds were shifting - and at the military hub of Polus, information billowed in like a hurricane gale through a cracked window. Intel at the various communications networks across the icy military nexus rushed in, combing through virtual intelligence-manned systems and information causeways as it filtered to more advanced, sentient AIs that proceeded to organize and analyze specifics of the intel that was rushing in from outside the Shroud or even Dominion space. Data processing droids and bioengineered ganglion clusters picked over the data, working in conjunction with the AIs to sort and separate what was useful from what could simply be passed along to individual assignments and posts. Something interesting did come up, however. Something big - and once the lid had been broken on it, reports from past files began pouring out and information scoured to attempt to analyze it in depth. The persona-less ganglion clusters poured through data and information as it picked apart the computers.

In the end, a threat was identified...to more than the Dominion's sphere of interest.

Rather than copy this to military leadership, the AIs sent the message out not only to command, but directly to the Force Temple. There it was quickly picked up by the various Sith Lords, despite the three leaders not being on Amazonia at the time. A chatter went up, a hum across the Force Temple about what could be coming - and what would be needed to act.

Word got around to Marka Ragnos, leader of the Sith Council and de facto leader of the Dominion with Naga Sadow and Sion. He didn't like the news, but Ragnos knew what he had to do. The Dominion was not a civilization for helping others much - extremely secular, Amazonia was always looking out for #1 - but this time, Ragnos recognized that the threat was too great to overlook. Amazonians would be found eventually, and traced back to the Dominion - and by then, Ragnos would need some help. Better to start early making those connections. To achieve his ends, Ragnos sent out an armada of hyperprobes to every civilization he knew of in local space, with a request - a simple request.

-Civilizations of the galaxy, there is no doubt we are no strangers to war. The societies of space have been fighting for eons across the stars: for country, for ideology, for spirit, for resources. We are now faced with a threat greater than each other, more powerful than our exchanging guns and minds: we are on the brink of a fight for our very survival, in a fight we cannot attempt to even consider as lone wolves, each in our secluded pockets of the cosmos.

Unless we can put aside transgressions and unify into a force capable of challenging a threat greater than our imaginations - the invaders, the Shivans - we will face extinction. These Shivans have come before and been repelled in the face of unity in adversity - but they have returned as strong as ever, with a force that can exterminate entire civilizations. Every one of your capital worlds, your beacons of hope in your darkest days, are at risk of their fire and blind anger. We will eventually have nothing left to defend as everything is laid waste - and we are faced with only one option: Band together.

What I ask is not an easy thing: to lay down your caution, drop your face of peace in the threat of a cancer that can rip apart the very fabric of our sentience and lives. But it is a necessary move. If we want to see our children grow, our societies prosper, and our people flourish in the wealth of a golden era of galactic society, we must lay down our walls and form together in the shadow of an onrushing crisis. We will stand to the pushing wave of these Shivans and shove them back into the dark hole in which they came from! This is when we can correct our courses, cement our survival as species and civilizations across galactic history! My fellow galactic sentients, let us come together and drive back the encroaching darkness and let our light be seen for all those who would cringe!

Another, shorter message was enclosed, not in Ragnos's voice and figure in a holo-image, but a short transmission recorded by a female AI.

-Your presence is requested by a representative party at the Gammel Space Citadel in the Magellan System, at the fringe of Dominion space, for a conclave to enact a definitive and unified course of action against an oncoming Shivan invasion across massive regions of space. Coordinates are attached.

Toopoxican Freighter Convoy

Captain Gerhardt took in a deep breath. The long runs to and from New Vol' were always the hardest ones, the ones that tested his capacity to stay awake. He looked down at the information screen, still one freighter ahead and one behind. The screen also highlighted the presence of a nearby system just coming up, it was an alien world named Tru Antier. He tried mouthing the name to himself, struggling with the foreign accent.
IndentThe green dot on his console, the lead vessel, vanished without warning. It took his sleep deprived reactions a second too long to react to the Warp eddies now crackling around his vessel. "Skug!" He yelled, pulling on the emergency deceleration as the ship was slammed out of the Warp.
IndentThe ship crashed forwards and the inertial dampners roared in pain before failing. Boxes, papers and crew members were thrown about the deck. Gerhardt braced himself; he swung forwards and jerked back in his chair. The stunned crew members all groaned in agony as a vague normality returned. Gerhardt stole a look at the console, the convoy had scattered. The lead vessel was now on the other side of the planet, his own was now behind the rear vessel which was now situated in the center of what the console had displayed as a giant green blob.
IndentThe gravity of the situation hit him as he gazed out of the vessel. Fire wrapped around MRA vessels as hellish intruders swatted them from the skies. He spotted the rear vessel amongst the chaos, only to witness its destruction seconds later, "Skug!!!" He yelled with despair and urgency, grabbing the radio on his desk, "Unknown vessels, this is Toopoxican freighter number three nine four, we are civilian vessels and should not be fired upon!" He pleaded, in the vein hope of avoiding death. The console suddenly screamed for his attention warning him of a possible weapons lock. He made a desperate dash for the Warp computers, they flickered and waned, unwilling to compromise with the increasingly desperate man. "Deatrix!" He grabbed the radio again, hoping to reach his ally in the lead freighter, who was stranded at the other end of the planet. "Deatrix, our freighter is not going to make it out of here. If you can... escape!" He began to weep with distress, putting down the radio and tapping out a sequence on the console.
IndentFour explosions on the Freighters midriff released each a small package which opened up and swang themselves towards the hostile vessels. They began releasing a small stream of bullets at whatever they could make of their targets. The freighter tried to limp away under this cover, it made it as far as to distance itself from the automated attack drones before it too was caught in the maelstrom, a piercing beam slicing into the civilian vessel.

++++

A thin chunk of heated metal impaled itself into the deck as Deatrix attempted to control her failing vessel. The freighter had been so suddenly pulled from the warp that most systems were now in critical condition or offline entirely. Her focus had been the deployment of the emergency auto drones, realizing that escape was impossible.
Indent"Skug!" One of her crew members yelled, "Gerhardt's gone!" Deatrix skipped the news focusing on her freighters survival instead. Four loud cracks signified the late release of the drones, she sighed. "They're released..." He paused, observing their staus from a console, "But they're not firing!" Deatrix wiped grime from her console, the Auto Drones were just sitting idle on her flank.
IndentThere was a sudden quiet on the battlefield. Excluding the continuing explosions from already dying ships. Deatrix nervously anticipated her own death, watching the consoles ahead of her as if hoping they would find a solution. The flickering screens of the Warp computers went suddenly dead, she rested her head in her hands. After a short pause the screens came alive again. Gasping, and thanking merciful fate itself, Deatrix rushed over to the computers, "I don't care why they're letting us go but we have to get out of here!" Hastily she punched in a nearby destination where they could get repairs and inform the Empire of this incident.

Not long after the hyperprobe arrived in Golugani space, one of the outward watch fleets of Khazurbaz, Gandongliz, and Drengi support arrived in the Magellan System. The Gandongliz closest to the Gammel Space Citadel hailed the facility almost immediately upon arriving. "Greetings on behalf of the Boundless Empire. We received an invitation, but no date and time were set, so we assumed the council was to meet as soon as reasonably possible."

Elsewhere, Namely the Phoebus System

The Gandongliz in the Phoebus System were quick to locate and jam the local Amazonian hyperprobe, feeding the message unedited to the local government upon the agreed private channels. "I believe, Counciler, that my people aren't the only one with such an idea."

The councilor nodded from his end of the conversation, although since they were only talking through an encrypted radio transmission the aliens wouldn’t have seen it. Although, Arsule knew that they couldn’t keep the secret forever. While few Veneficus ships traveled outside of the seven-star nexus system that they claimed, there were a few trade vessels that went out to neighbors and conducted trade. News would filter in from them, and soon the whole planet would know of the danger that was threatening local space. Still, he needed whatever days, weeks, or months he could get to bring some sort of a defensive fleet online, so that they could at least believe that their nation was capable of protecting them.

He was about to respond to the dwarves though when they sent him the transmission. He conveyed his thanks at having the message jammed for them, although they were capable of doing it themselves it would have taken far to long and a leak might have been created. “These coordinates… We haven’t mapped out Space Lines to that location yet… I don’t suppose you’d mind giving me and my apprentice a lift to join the delegation? He’s quite the smart lad and interested in alien technology and society, and I assure you he won’t be a trouble.”

Ace High March (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZJdRRN3dOQ)

The Star-Spangled Banner celebrates the fact that, after a night of battle, the country's flag was still there. The Polish national anthem celebrates the fact that, after centuries of battle, the country is still there. This cautious, realistic anthem — "Poland is not yet lost" ...

- Between Two Worlds: Time Magazine, 1954

The trumpets of an orchestra soared through the late morning, playing Poland is not yet Lost in their native idiom, pieces of decorative paper floated through artificial wind streams above the sky rise and airships pulled massive, six kilometers long flags of Federation with its circle stars around the golden eagle through the skies across the entire world, visible by every man, woman and children who ascended to the terrace of their classical houses, residential domes and skyscrapers forming the geography of Warsaw, many raising smaller flags in honor of their nation, to remember of all that has come and may yet come, of a nation that has survived even past the loss of its very sovereignty, and outlive many of those who once conquered its former lands.

Prayers for hope, for thanks and for needs that had to be attended were directed to God and to Jesus Christ by those who placed their faith over their patriotism. A few stood in maternity wings of hospitals, smiling with the fortunate coincidence, or for some, fate, of having their sons born in Poland's independence day, while ironically, Panzer XV main battle tanks marched on the streets with the Federation red and white checkered blazon, side by side with members the Orbital Cavalry in their ceremonial garbs, who carefully guided their horse, and resembled dragoons of the 19th century in their pomp and classy manners. However, both were in part overshadowed by the imposing Tripod Corps, as the brooding, tall, powerful machines walked with their three oversized spider-like legs, magnetic levitation drives and flexi-metal air cushions over the streets. Decades ago, such was a symbol of fear and terror, but like true survivors oughted to do, the greatest threat to their future would be transformed in one of their greatest weapons.

In the skies the air supremacy was reminded, and the Polish Air Force stood homaged for its herculean struggles of the past, present and perhaps future. Old, still functioning Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes flew over the skies in tandem, performing aerobatics for the awe of many spectators, of which a few had active flight during the Battle of Britain, and even fewer the prestige of being surviving airframes which were gallantly piloted by men who risked their lives piloting them to defend humanity, daring to face air superiority fighter centuries ahead of their in technology.

The day had come, an interstellar holiday in homage to yet another year of a sovereign Poland, which has given, with many other nations, humongous leaps of technology, achieving the capability of colonizing outer space only a few decades after the abrupt end of the Second World War. High above the venerable piston prop fighters, which have for too long served mankind, past the very limits of Warsaw's atmosphere, rows and lines of PZL S.16 spaceplane fighters, streamlined, wondrous marvels of technology painted with classical roundels, with the capability of flying in both atmosphere and space, formed a sphere escorting an atomic rocketship, which vertically arrayed decks, unlike the horizontal decks of spaceplanes, were plentiful of space, their cold metallic hull covered by classical wooden paneling, marble flooring and fine tapestries built by the most accurate weaver robots ever developed in aid of the creative potentialities of human artisans. A large desk built of ebony wood stood at the front of a wall filled with photographs of the pioneers of space flight in their nation. Cosmonauts in their former bulky space suits constrating with the officers in their tight-fitting, elegant space suit uniforms colored like classic air force uniforms, and helmets built of a nearly invisible, flawless glass covered their heads.

A gloved hand tapped the desk with a certain degree of impatience, as an officer voiced some concerns that have just appeared, right into such day to celebrate, like if History was again playing cruelly against them.

"What an unfortunate way of commencing a glorious day like now," the man behind the desk mumbled, "to receive reports that our Defense Robotmind has optically detected an unidentified, probe-sized spacecraft heading on our direction."

"Officer Pietroski, it saddens my heart that we must cancel such great event due to what could be another ploy of the fascist or communist filth," he said, clenching his hand as he mentioned the regimes of the Fuhrer and of the Great Comrade, "History is truly cruel to place us again, right between the borders of Soviet Union and Germany, to have in our systems wormholes leading to each of them."

"Space Marshall," the officer said, saluting him once again,"Defense robotmind has reported no optical pattern-matching. This probe seems to have no technological or engineering commonality with any known human-controlled technology."

"No!" the Marshall said in a louder voice, perhaps to baffle the obvious, "this is another ploy of our old enemies. No alien could accidentally come through our wormhole networks, and meanwhile, light speed lag and the sun itself occult our existence, and perhaps most are afraid of showing themselves as well, for there is only one reasoning with aliens. This must be something else."

"Yes sir," the officer said, as he argumented in favor of the Marshall, "we lack intelligence to keep up with the latest developments of our enemies, therefore, employing Occam's Razor..." suddenly he would interrupt his words, as a new, female voice would echo through the classical interiors of such rocket.

"Your presence is requested by a representative party at the Gammel Space Citadel in the Magellan System, at the fringe of Dominion space, for a conclave to enact a definitive and unified course of action against an oncoming Shivan invasion across massive regions of space. Coordinates are attached."

"Those coordinates..." the Air Marshall grumbled, seemingly in attempt to pick a detail that would allow him to forget the whole message, "those coordinates are five thousand light years from here and point these... subspace nodes! This... this probe came from somewhere, but that is too much for a single wormhole."

"Perhaps it did not came through an wormhole." the Officer promptly suggested, shocked about the content of the message, and hoping it was just a Nazi or Communist trick rather than an honest message of warning.

"This subspace node claim is pure Gibberish!" the Space Marshall, Antoni Glowacki shouted, "There are only wormholes. Anything else like these 'nodes' is pseudo-scientific babble from Amazing Stories writers!"

"Space Marshall Glowacki. This is defense robotmind," a military-like, but humanity-devoid voice announced, "you have been assigned to a diplomatic mission into such Dominion, and to verify whether such Shivans are real or a trick. Refueling rockets shall arrive soon, change your escort course to the following coordinates in the space telegraph to come."

"Yes, robotmind," the Marshall and former ace said, "You have listened to the new orders, set automatic piloting robot to the new coordinates........ we are going on blind, so stay alert."

Yet he wanted to ask for more safety. It was staggering to go in an unarmed rocket with only an escort of nuclear fighters, completely blind.

"Robotmind, requesting battleship escort."

"Request given, the ORP Grom shall meet you in the following coordinates."

And thus, they departed...

The travel, uneventful but long, of nine PZL S.16, one battleship and one space rocket, would eventually take them to the system of Magellan. As they approached the citadel, they began to observe it, marveled by its complexity, of only a technology either far beyond that of the same used to construct the nuclear rocket engines their spacecrafts used, or which took an entirely different way than that of mankind. It was a good thing their contacts with the West have made their knowledge of English sharp.

"This is Space Marshall Antoni Glowacki of the Polish Space Navy to Gammel Citadel Station, we have come on behalf of the Shivans. Requesting permission for docking procedures."

The permission was thus granted, and soon the Marshall, the Officer and two honor guards would stand next to an wood covered docking clamp which seemed to remind the inners of some old submarines, dressed with ceremonial, diplomatic attires that resemble the uniforms of 19th Century officers, featured by white, red and golden. The two guards wielded Lee-Enfield rifles with sharp bayonets attached on their lugs, while the two veterans wore cavalry sabres on their belts, while the officer also held a Polish flag.

Such anachronistic envoy would eventually, while amazed by its unique aesthetic and frightened by the illogical mix of humans and aliens alike in such station, and it was noticeable how they held their handgrips tighter whenever such beast passed by, like if stirred by the mere presence of nonhumans, while avoiding eye contact with such beings which would inevitably clash with mankind, sooner or later. Their eyebrows across the station and its strange personell for them were probably shared by the eyebrows of those who saw them.

Until finally they found themselves at the majestic meeting room, and there they looked for the representative of the dominion, wondering whether such Shivans were real, or some sort of myth created for scheming ploys.

Meanwhile, Despite heightened alert, the celebrations of Poland's independence day continued.

The crowd quietened as the twelve Estate Holders took their seats, behind them hung a large mural depicting a large brute of a creature fighting a fearsome warrior over the collapsed corpses of Toopoxican citizens, an analogy to Toopoxia's willingness to come to its citizens aid.
IndentSat behind a large plain oak bench were the seven surviving crew members from the attacked freighter. They all stood in respect of the Estate Holders position of authority. Behind the crew members was an amassed crowd of advisers, dignitaries from across the Empire and other important person, they had all too stood for the Estate Holders.
IndentSat in the center of the Estate Holders was an old man dressed in full military regalia, he motioned for the crowd to sit. "Captain Deatrix Felletaine. Upon reviewing the recording instruments of the Freighter dubbed unofficially 'Sawney Red' and in light of incoming news we the Estate Holders find you and your crew not guilty of treason." There was a exasperation of relief on the faces of all the crew members. "However, the Estate Holders are in agreement with the punitive damages set forwards by the Constantine Shipbuilding Company. Your licenses to pilot and operate on CSC Freighters has been revoked." Suddenly the pang of despair filled the hearts of the crew again.
Indent"Sir!" Deatrix stood before the chamber, "I would like to apply personally for officer training in the Imperial Cosmo-Naval Service!" There was a mutter among the crowd and the Estate Holders.
Indent"Captain Felletaine you dishonor this court by speaking out of turn." The crowd quietened. "Considering your valiant actions in returning the 'Sawney Red' under extreme stress, the consideration of the Estate Holders is to accept your application. Court dismissed!" The crowd began to mill out. The crew of the Sawney Red filing out last, leaving only the Estate Holders who quietly exited through a small discreet door off the side.

++++

This room was far smaller than the court, it was filled mostly with a large marble table. Each Estate Holder took a seat, "I'm still skeptical, the evidence of the Sawney Red does not conclusively prove that this was not some accidental stray ordinance." One among the men voiced.
Indent"Foolish." An older man spluttered, "Energy readings dictate that the weapons which destroyed the 'Drake' and 'Eisen' Freighters were not Ordinance!" He retorted. "Some damnable energy weapon. This was a hostile action aimed at the Toopoxican Empire and we need to retaliate!"
IndentThe Herald of the Court, sat at the center of the rectangular table, leaned in forwards. "Estate Holder Castus is correct. My Court has received word from the Great Library who have indicated that our enemy are feared across the galaxy as 'Destroyers'." The table began to hang on Herald Icarus' words. "You are aware of the transmission we have received from a species afar. 'Your presence is requested for a conclave to enact a definitive and unified course of action against an oncoming Shivan invasion across massive regions of space.'" He read, verbatim. "We believe the Shivan's are the loose term attached to these destroyers. Regardless, if there are threats near our galaxy we must consider sending a delegation to this conference!"
IndentA junior member, sat at the end of the table, of the Estate Holders stood. "Herald Icarus. I volunteer to assemble this delegation!" Icarus stared at the young man, questioning whether it was valor or lust for recognition that encouraged his sacrifice.
Indent"Agreed then, Estate Holder Victus Brahe will assemble the Toopoxican delegation to this meeting." Icarus boldly ordered after musing over the decision. "In the meantime I want planetary garrisons on heightened alarm." The table agreed and the conversation began to slip back into idle chatter.

Psalm 88

O LORD, the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.

May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

For my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like a man without strength.

I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.

Your wrath lies heavily upon me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah
You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, O LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.

Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?
Selah
Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?

Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
But I cry to you for help, O LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Why, O LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death;
I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.

Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.

All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.

You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend.

Tru Antier.

The surprise of annihilation always comes with the timeless question upon the mortal afterlife. Those, in the present, just like those in the past, reach up to the heavens and ask, “Just who will ferry the souls of all those butchered by the Destroyers cleavers? Who will carry the innocents to their final resting place? And what type of God allows such madness to envelop the Universe?” These are questions that the Shivans in their great antiquity have probed from the countenance of untold numbers in their most dire of days.

And so the darkness the Shivans have brought to Tru Antier is no different. Their Demon class cruisers, and Cain frigates both dance eternity into the present even as the defenders send their last railing cries against whatever foe has beset them.

Churning and shimmering a crimson red, the Destroyers ships gleamed a fateful rage as their fighters dance around their motherships, gladly embracing the sidelines of a much larger design. Railguns, slugs of vicious intensity are cast out into the solar system from the planetary bastion that fearfully awaits the Destroyers concocted attention. Traversing the great ranges of shadow so that they may impact their target, the Shivans do nothing to get out of their way.

As if, life means nothing to them, the Shivans allow a Cain class frigate to detonate in joyful exuberance, almost as though the Shivans gladly sacrificed it, and its atomic fire for the sins that they were about to commit. More, of the defenders resisted and another frigate was lost to the black, yet more, and more of the Destroyers emerged from subspace.

The first cruiser which was challenged, as it emerged into high orbit of the planet, singing threatening judgment above the elliptical plane shrugged off the foolish assault, its shields turning bright red in diligence as the vessel dared another strike.

Power fluctuated.

Energy Sparked.

And the red lances of the Destroyers fell upon everything surrounding the planet.

Tru Antier

The Shivans blood red lances of destruction fell upon the world, beams of energy ripped through roads penetrating into sub-terranian networks of gas and electrical systems. Buildings erupted into showers of shattered concrete as the Shivans beams glanced their sides.

The populace fled in terror even has thousands were either converted into atomized dust under the Shivans light of destruction or crushed beneath falling towers. Wheeled cars of all kinds, packing the streets in their attempt to flee the major population centers, detonated like strings of fire crackers; the lucky few cowered in intact sewer and subway systems. Air going craft, from planes, luxery airships and hover cars, spiralled down and exploded in mid air like a fire works display; turning into meteors that fell to the worlds surface in torrents of fire.

The mercanery craft retreated in the face of this onslaught with their lives as cities were rendered down to funeral pyres and mass graves for the fallen citizens.

The five magnetic acceleration cannons open fired as the Shivans came in range, the first two were destroyed as the Shivans sliced through them with their weaponry, a third erupted like a volcano as it's high velocity slug caught withen it's ancient shaft destroying it from withen; the fourth toppled as it was bombarded with the debris of a fallen vessel.

The power supply gave out as the Shivans amputated the power lines running through the cities.

The dark side of the world flickered with light.

The heart of Tru Antier beat it's last with a resounding thump of the MAC cannons last shot.

And the world succumbed to the enveloping darkness of the Shivans.

-----

Central City Of Zraaii', Traai' Haai' Heei' zet

Surfacescrapers, the aquatic Phale A'Theins equivilant of the skyscraper, rose high above the landscaped ocean floor upon which the Central City of Zraaii' stood upon. Engineering and artistic triumphs it was a collosal maze of these surface scrapers of varying diverse style; smooth flowing designs stood next to robust imposing soire topped towers; each buildings surface covered with complex intricate designs and patterns composed of aesthetically pleasing materials such as aluminium, bronze and copper which gave the entire city a mystical auroa as the buildings themselves relfected the light emitted by thousands of shimmering lights. Vessels cruised through the valleys between the skyscrapers as Phale A'Theins swam by the thousands to their destinations as they went by their buissness. The concept of street applied little to a race which inhabited the ocean; instead the "street" was the entire space between whole buildings, Zraaii' was a hive of activity.

The shortest building withen the city was the M.R.A building itself, and even then it was over seven hundreds meters in height. A number of patrol craft circulated the surrounding street to keep citizens at bay, although from the exterior it seemed as calm and organised as ever this tranquility belied the developing crisis withen it's high offices.

"...cement our survival as species and civilizations across galactic history! My fellow galactic sentients, let us come together and drive back the encroaching darkness and let our light be seen for all those who would cringe!"

The figure of Ragnos which had been projected across the Council Chambers flickered and jarred as the message finished playing for the seventh time.

Commence transcriber, let it be known that this is the ninth convening in the Council Chambers on the day as specified by M.R.A central time. It is the eighth discussion today on the topic of the unidentified message from a realm calling itself the Dominon. Can the Chancellor confirm this?

Yes Chairman one can. Said Chancellor Haa A' O' Iii raising a tentacle.

Good The Chairman continued, Then let it be known and documented that we shall resume the discussion on the chosen subject once more; commence.

My fellow Councillers, The Chancellor said bobbing upwards for additional height, After much discussion we have assertained a number of things to be convienient truths, the first that this Dominion is inclined to warfare, the second that they are an established civilisation, the third, that they cannot be found withen the Klikiss or Ciscilian databases handed down to us, and lastly, that these specified "Shivans" could quite be related to the unexpected dissaperance surrounding Tru Antier. Comments?

Chancellor, another Councillor said raising up from his seat, What you suggest with regard to Tru Antier is based on conjectur from vague rumours that not even the infamous Infomerchants cannot procure. Is this so?

That it is yes. A murmour of dissent and mutterings flowed through the Council Chambers.

And do you recognise that the dissapearence of Tru Antier could be related simply to a technical fault through I.I.S Comm?

Yes.

Well in that case my fellow Councillers, continued the council man waving a number of his tentacles at the other members, then surely we should and must assume that as a convienient truth that Tru Antiers dissapearence is simply the result of I.I.S Comm experiencing difficulties? Agreed fellow Councillers?

Hear, hear! The room's electrical current jumped up as the Phale A'Theins filled it with their odd form of communication.

Chairman is this relevant to the message and topic at hand? Asked the Chancellor.

No it is not, please remain on topic, let it be known transcriber that we digressed.

With regard to the actual message, the Chancellor continued gesturing at Ragnos's displayed form, need one remind you all that it accompanied an invitation to meet with them, regardless of whether or not these "Shivans" of which they speak are real we should not pass up an oppertunity to learn more about our interstellar brothers. Agreed?

Hear, hear!

Good, then it is ones immediate suggesstion that we dispatch a delegate to the Dominion's proposed meeting place and implore I.I.S Comm to discover the real reason behind Tru Antiers cutting off. Agreed?

Hear, hear!

-----

Magellan System

A M.R.A cruiser, carrying the diplomatic attachment, steadily resolved from an indistinct interstellar blur to a dull black hulled vessel reminiscent of a flat topped submarine; it even had a tower placed towards the rear. six hundred meters long it made it's way into the system, broadcasting to the Gammel Space Citadel as it went;

Greetings brothers from beyond the stars. This is the Metropolitan-Regional Association of the Phale A'Theins cruiser Continental Convections, responding to a message we received about a meeting here offered by your Dominion; we come with just intentions and have enclosed the received message in an additional transmitted file. Awaiting your response.

Nineteen Galaxies Away
Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance
GTVA

"To the officers and crew of the GTD Aquitaine, this is Admiral Petrarch. At 0125 Hours, we received a transmission from third fleet headquarters. A Shivan cruiser and five fighter wings, ambushed and destroyed the GTC Mandate and the GTC Lucid as they patrolled the Capella jump node in the Vega star system. In response command deployed the GTD Tribune and the GTC Respite. Though these vessels neutralised the immediate threat, all allied vessels are now in a state of enhanced readiness.

The incursion of a Shivan Cruiser into the Vega system is the first contact we have had with this species in over five years since the end of the second Shivan war. Command had believed the jump node leading from Capella to be closed but it would appear the Shivans have been able to stabilise the portal to begin a second incursion into our space. This is the third time that this species has launched an unprovoked assault upon our civilisation. Our priorities are clear, we must secure Vega and ascertain how to collapse the Capella jump node, or we will face extinction for a third time.

Command has ordered elements of the second fleet to the Epsilon Pegasi Star system, while the GTD Aquitaine along with elements of the third fleet are to begin reconnaissance operations into Capella. No one knows what we will find there, the most recent information we have on the system is reports of the Capella star exploding. At this moment, the severity of precipice on which we all hang resembles the first skirmishes in Gamma Draconis five years ago, I urge all pilots and crew to approach their duties with extra caution in the coming days ahead."

GTD Aquitaine
Mission Briefing

“All right pilots, now listen up. Command has given us the honour of being the first through the Capella node, along with the GTC Salvation and the GTSC Faustus. Recon operations through the node have revealed only a limited Shivan presence inside the system. Initial scans have detected only two Cain class cruisers along with a Molech carrier, holding position roughly eighty thousand kilometres away from our exit position.

The plan is simple. The Aquitaine and the Faustus will remain close to the jump node in case we have to retreat, while the civvies begin taking detailed long range scans of the system. This operation is critical to determine whether or not command will be sending more ships through to hold Capella, or form a blockade on the other side.

The civvies have given us a heads up that they expect the scan to take at least two hours, so the Salvation is going to proceed twenty thousand kilometres out and maintain a fighter perimeter between the Shivan task group and the Aquitaine. Admiral Petrarch has okayed the mission. Alpha through Cisco squadrons are to join the Salvation and her CAP on this one while Gamma flies defence around the jump node.

Based on the previous combat intel we have on the Shivans from the second war, we don’t expect them to sit by and let us take a look at whatever they're up to. So you can bet that those ships are going to make a straight line for the Faustus. Alpha squadron, you will be flying the MKII Artemis bomber. They are agile ships, and you should be able to disable the Shivans engines and beam turrets before their cruisers get in range of the Salvation.

This, is a simple hold and destroy mission. But, if the Shivans get past the Salvation, Beta and Theta squadrons, you are ordered to pursue and destroy any Shivan vessel before it reaches the Faustus. Dismissed."

Muller waved for the communications officer to stabilize the connection, so that both commanders could see each other. Aside from a minor encounter that involved one of the Captains under his command, there had not been any official relations aside from being allies by the ESUS charter. Coughing, he began to speak. "The evidence I have, Captain Reynolds, is that there is a significant amount of interference in ths Daron System that is close to the old subspace readings of the Shivans. Not to mention that all communication was lost suddenly and we received a distress call that talked about "red demons". Now, this may not be enough, but we have been keeping an eye on the situation in other nations, and several nations have had one of their systems suddenly be cut off from all sensor and communication. This is random but if the wasteland that was the temperate world of Daron is any indication, I'd say the defenses and worlds are being turned into similar wastelands as well. I can discuss more when you get here."

He sat back to wait and a short time later, the Metallinautsi ship was detected arriving in the system. And a info burst was detected, detailing the possible Shivan involvement to the ESUS and the readings on the energy weapons. He nodded at the information; they were still unsure if it was the Shivans since the weapons were so different, but his gut told him it was them, and he was not one to ignore instinct. He was about to reply when the communications officer spoke up.

"Sir, we're getting a message. It appears to be from the Dominion of Amazonian Beasts."

His eyes narrowed in interest. "Put it on screen."

The officer put in the command and the message played:

Civilizations of the galaxy, there is no doubt we are no strangers to war. The societies of space have been fighting for eons across the stars: for country, for ideology, for spirit, for resources. We are now faced with a threat greater than each other, more powerful than our exchanging guns and minds: we are on the brink of a fight for our very survival, in a fight we cannot attempt to even consider as lone wolves, each in our secluded pockets of the cosmos.

Unless we can put aside transgressions and unify into a force capable of challenging a threat greater than our imaginations - the invaders, the Shivans - we will face extinction. These Shivans have come before and been repelled in the face of unity in adversity - but they have returned as strong as ever, with a force that can exterminate entire civilizations. Every one of your capital worlds, your beacons of hope in your darkest days, are at risk of their fire and blind anger. We will eventually have nothing left to defend as everything is laid waste - and we are faced with only one option: Band together.

What I ask is not an easy thing: to lay down your caution, drop your face of peace in the threat of a cancer that can rip apart the very fabric of our sentience and lives. But it is a necessary move. If we want to see our children grow, our societies prosper, and our people flourish in the wealth of a golden era of galactic society, we must lay down our walls and form together in the shadow of an onrushing crisis. We will stand to the pushing wave of these Shivans and shove them back into the dark hole in which they came from! This is when we can correct our courses, cement our survival as species and civilizations across galactic history! My fellow galactic sentients, let us come together and drive back the encroaching darkness and let our light be seen for all those who would cringe!"

Your presence is requested by a representative party at the Gammel Space Citadel in the Magellan System, at the fringe of Dominion space, for a conclave to enact a definitive and unified course of action against an oncoming Shivan invasion across massive regions of space. Coordinates are attached.

Muller chuckled. It would appear someone had jumped the gun on this. He had planned to do such a thing but only when he had confirmation on what was going on. He opened the intellect link and spoke with Alara.

"I take it you've heard."

"Yes, Jonathan. I'm going to visit personally, so we can clear up some things for these guys. I hope we can be a form of leadership and work with them. But we don't want them getting hyped up; if its not the Shivans, bad things will be happening."

"Understood. The Metallinaut ship has arrived. I'll inform you on our findings."

"Thanks."


Muller reopened the channel to Reynolds and spoke, a grim tone in his voice. "Welcome, Captain Reynolds, to the graveyard that is the Daron System."


******************


In the Magellan system, a large cruiser was detected moving at high speed into the system and suddenly shot into normal view. A channel was opened to the Gamma Space Citadel.

"Gamma Space Citadel, this is President Alara Cyril of the Telrosian Union. I have come to speak on urgent matters concerning the possible arrival of Shivans or a race like them. I have much information on both, and wish to come aboard as quickly as possible."

Peace covered the people of Mythrandir and wrapped them in its warm embrace as light from the rising sun fell over the land. Farmers were already at work in the fields while shepherds tended their flocks. Guards patrolled the high walls that enveloped Mythrandir as they went about their daily regiment. Ships anchored in the harbor as they loaded supplies and workers for the daily catch. A gentle breeze filled their sails in promise of fair weather and possibly a good full net.

Already the people of Mythrandir were busy with their lives. Many headed to the streets for the markets and the food stands. There in the city center was where all of the races came together as one. Humans worked alongside dwarves and elves while selling their merchandise. Griffons abandoned the skies and walked the earth among its inhabitants and added to the majestic mosaic that was often viewed on the streets of the great city.

Resting atop a hill was the hall of the human Elder, Sebastian and his wife Sarah. It had been days since Atrox left their land to head back home along with his companion, Hera. Together, Sebastian and Atrox had succeeded in ridding the lands of a plague that still remained from the Battle of Knights and Tyrants when the Tannelornians invaded. Despite the time that had passed since that battle, war and hatred still left scars that would not always heal. There were just some wounds that time could not heal. It took the valiant deeds of Atrox and Sebastian to bring low the beast that fed on the people of outlying villages.

Sebastian had tracked the beast for over a month before gaining the aid of the Balroggan and successfully claiming the beast’s head. He had missed so much time with his wife and every moment away pained him greatly but their relationship needed to be sacrificed for the people that Sebastian had sworn to protect. With the help of good friends, the Elder was allowed to retire with his wife.

Even as sunlight flooded the window in their home, the couple still slept on. Sarah had her arm draped over Sebastian’s bare chest as she nestled into his side. Exhaustion had taken them amidst the tangle of blankets and not even the sound of birds chirping merrily in the trees along the grounds could wake them. It wasn’t until a loud pounding came at the door that they even stirred.

“Elder Sebastian? It’s Captain Brad. I need to speak with you.”

Sebastian groaned as he opened his eyes to the light. Sarah tightened her arm around his chest to hold down. He leaned over with a smile and gave her a kiss on the forehead. The Elder grabbed his trousers from the floor and tied the leather cords on the front as he put them on. Another knock at the door beckoned the Elder to hurry.

“Elder Sebastian.”

Dipping his hands into a water basin on the dresser, Sebastian splashed a bit of water on his face to help wash away the sleep. By now, Sarah had managed to cover herself as Sebastian reached for the door knob at the end of their room.

Outside, Captain Brad and a few of his closest guards were waiting in the hall. Light from burning oil in the sconces cast a warm glow over the hall allowing the Elder’s eyes time to adjust.

He patted the armor plating on the captain’s shoulder and led him away from the door. “Alright Brad, what is it?”

The guard captain fidgeted with the mace handle at his side, a clear sign to the Elder that Brad wasn’t sure where to begin. “We’ve been monitoring a several transmissions that have been sent through space.”

Sebastian smiled at the man. “Is that what you were nervous about? We monitor transmissions in space everyday. That’s one of the reasons for the SIRENs, so we can listen to any free floating messages out there.”

“I know Elder and if it was anything else I wouldn’t have bothered you. However, something is going on out there and it has Elder Alurial worried. It’s not just her either, the others are unsure of what to do.”

Sighing, Sebastian nodded his head. “Alright, have my horse ready and I’ll be there shortly.”

“It is already done, Elder.”

Sebastian dismissed the captain and the rest of the guards with a wave. “One of these days I’ll have a moment to myself.”

Returning to the room, he saw his wife sitting up in the bed with the blankets pulled around her chest and a frown on her face. “Duty calls?”

It seemed that every time the two of them were allowed a moment to relax and enjoy the love they shared for one another, something else always came up to pull them apart again. Perhaps one day they could find a bit solitude and just enjoy each others presence. For now, his people and the Kingdom called to him.

"It seems to be the reoccurring theme. Why don't you stay in bed for a little bit longer. Hopefully this won't take long."

Sarah snorted at the idea. Rarely did the Elders gather when there was nothing of importance to be discussed. "Not likely. Besides, I was planning on tending to the garden before we get the first hard frost of the year. Afterwards, I was hoping we could go through the residents of the city and make sure everyone was prepared for winter. I guess I'll have to go by myself."

Sebastian felt a pang of guilt at abandoning his wife to duties that he should help her with. Of course the people Sarah visited would understand but still Sebastian preferred to be amidst his people, helping them whenever possible. "I'll have Brad and a few other guards escort you and lend a hand."

One last kiss goodbye and Sebastian was off for the door and out the mansion. Tied to a hitching post, his horse was already saddled and ready for him. A few guards sat atop their armored steads as Sebastian approached and rode with him as an honor guard.

------

Blood curdling screams filled the room as men and women cried out for their loved ones, their god, or anyone that would listen to them. Explosions echoed in the background as the all too familiar sound of weapon fire dominated the sounds of battle aboard space born ships. One transmission would cut out and another would take its place with much the same violence and death filling the air.

Thrandur stroke his long blond beard as he listened to it all. "Bah, ain't nothin' we haven't heard before. War follows these people like flies to a goblin's arse."

As always, Elder Alurial was ready to disagree with the dwarven Elder. "Not since the time when most of the larger nations were at war with another have we heard something like this. The death seems absolute and it comes from many different sectors. At the moment, there appears to be no logical pattern to it all."

Elder Raigar narrowed his raptor gaze as he listened intently. His bird-like voice squawked into the still room while the jewel around his neck pulsating as it translated his speech. "War rises and falls like the tides. At their highest point, the flow of blood is at its greatest until it recedes again. We know not enough to make an intelligent judgment on whether or not other nations are simply bickering once again or if something else is at large in the universe."

Sebastian had been listening to the other Elders discuss the situation back and forth while listening to the different transmissions flooding space. Alurial however would not be so easily deterred when she was adamant about her opinion, which was usually always. "If that's the case, then this message should be explained."

-Civilizations of the galaxy, there is no doubt we are no strangers to war. The societies of space have been fighting for eons across the stars: for country, for ideology, for spirit, for resources. We are now faced with a threat greater than each other, more powerful than our exchanging guns and minds: we are on the brink of a fight for our very survival, in a fight we cannot attempt to even consider as lone wolves, each in our secluded pockets of the cosmos.

Unless we can put aside transgressions and unify into a force capable of challenging a threat greater than our imaginations - the invaders, the Shivans - we will face extinction. These Shivans have come before and been repelled in the face of unity in adversity - but they have returned as strong as ever, with a force that can exterminate entire civilizations. Every one of your capital worlds, your beacons of hope in your darkest days, are at risk of their fire and blind anger. We will eventually have nothing left to defend as everything is laid waste - and we are faced with only one option: Band together.

What I ask is not an easy thing: to lay down your caution, drop your face of peace in the threat of a cancer that can rip apart the very fabric of our sentience and lives. But it is a necessary move. If we want to see our children grow, our societies prosper, and our people flourish in the wealth of a golden era of galactic society, we must lay down our walls and form together in the shadow of an onrushing crisis. We will stand to the pushing wave of these Shivans and shove them back into the dark hole in which they came from! This is when we can correct our courses, cement our survival as species and civilizations across galactic history! My fellow galactic sentients, let us come together and drive back the encroaching darkness and let our light be seen for all those who would cringe!

The room fell silent as stopped to think on such a message and the reasoning behind it. While the others thought, the elven Elder would not relent her point. "If this is some unknown race that wants to enslave all of the universe or simply destroy life, then we should not throw away an opportunity to ally ourselves with others that could potentially aid us. At least we could go and listen to what they have to say."

Sebastian took a seat in a nearby chair. "I agree with Alurial. If this is indeed some marauding force that is preying on colonies and defenseless territories, then we should at least help them. If it is a war between competing factions, then we simply risk a bit of pride at showing up at a meeting that we have no stake in."

Thrandur grunted as he ceased stroking his beard and listened to the message as it played again. "What if it is neither of those?"

The human Elder rose from his chair while taking his cloak from its back and threw it about his shoulders. "If this is something else, then winter will be coming early. May Christio protect us because we will need all of heaven's angels to stand by us. In any event, I'm going to the meeting.”

Captain Lukien and War Mistress Shizra had been standing off to the side, listening to the conversation but keeping quiet through it all. Their duty was the defense of Mythrandir and keeping the Elders safe. Such times when Sebastian came up with insane notions that he truly tested their patience and talents. Their silence was quickly broken with his proclamation as the dark elf spoke up first.

“Sebastian, I must protest this idea. You know nothing of this nation nor who is calling a meeting. Common sense screams caution here yet you’re walking into an unknown situation blindly.”

Lukien nodded his head. “I agree with the War Mistress on this one Elder. There are too many uncertainties here.”

Sebastian smiled at his two friends. “Don’t worry, Shizra will be coming with me for my protection. You both act like I am completely helpless.”

The dark elf crossed her arms under her breasts and shook her head. “Clueless would be more appropriate. Besides, death does not only come at the end of a blade or from a bullet. The ways of assassinations or murders are great.”

“Which is exactly why you are coming with me, for all those little varieties that I am so naive of.”

Elder Sebastian was virtually alone in his arguments as neither Elder Raigar or Thrandur were willing to support him. All of them knew how stubborn he could be and were not willing to argue with him. However, support came from the most unlikely person as Alurial, who rarely took Sebastian’s side, voiced her agreement. “Let Sebastian go. He has a knack and a reputation among other foreign dignitaries for being agreeable. For some reason, they see something in the human that they respect and listen to. If anyone should speak for us, then it should be Sebastian.”

“You’re just worried about your own pale hide.” Shizra sneered at the elf as they locked stares in a silent dual.

Sebastian waved their concerns away and stood between them. “It’s settled. Have a shuttle prepared and we’ll leave shortly. Lukien, please tell my wife that I’ll be leaving on a diplomatic mission. Hopefully I will return before too long.”

“Now who’s worried about who’s skin?” As Lukien bowed and left, quite aware that Sebastian did not want to face Sarah with news of his departure. Not that the elf blamed him.

------

Shizra and Sebastian sat alone in a shuttle as they talked of what could possibly entail from this council. In all probability, there would be few nations present that they would know but their main objective was to listen and learn what they could from the others. Sebastian wore a simple traveling cloak and leather breeches while Sebastian brought along her prized weapons. Twin scimitars hung in sheaths under her arms while a pair of silver plated pistols were holstered at her thighs.

When the ship exited the Warp at the designated system, all signs would show that the shuttle was unarmed. It was tradition that all diplomatic visits would appear nonthreatening in nature. It was for that reason that Myth ambassadors were unarmed and respective of their hosts.

A message was sent to the Magellan System controls that an Elder from Mythrandir had arrived and was asking permission to land and sit in council.

(Phew. Apologies for taking so long.)

Away from Phoebus, nearby Amazonian Space

It was by fortunate coincidences that while Councilor Arsule and his apprentice waited for the Golugan response, one of the many civilian vessels contracted by the Regnum popped back into corporeal reality in the Magellan System. Introductions were given, the name of the system identified and, a rather curious question if they were part of a meeting that was being called forth to talk about the presence of the Destroyers. After all was said and done the ship sent it's report back to Phoebus, at which point a reply told them to return to Phoebus and that anything they learned from that system was classified, to be discussed when they returned to orbit.


Now with the Space Line mapped to the Magellan System, the Councilor and his apprentice were capable of arriving by themselves. Another message was sent to the Golugan's thanking them for their assistance, and that they would indeed partake in the sensor network, although details would most likely be discussed at this conference. Forty-five minutes later Arsule and his apprentice booked passage on the Rimor Astrum Quinque, one of the nine ships that were slotted for retrofitting with heavier armor and weapons (yet had not started and thus not currently offline). The ship's chemical engines flared, letting it pick up speed before the entire vessel was turned into a pattern of peculiar energy, then vanishing as it jumped at faster than light speeds.

The ship arrived slightly later than everyone else, but hopefully not before the meeting started.

The hull of the CNS Light Cruiser "Bastion" glinted away the light of far stars. It hung motionless minutes away from the conference co-ordinates.
Indent"The Bastion is anchored, Admiral." An officer saluted to the Admiral. "The delegation has assembled in Hanger Deck One, requesting permission to disembark!" The Admiral looked down at his own console, gilded in gold leaf and dressed to finery.
Indent"Thank you First Lieutenant Haxtes. Inform the delegation they are free to disembark." The Admiral took a sip of his fine Kushwe tea and returned to his work.
Indent"Right away Admiral." The Lieutenant turned to face outwards onto the operations deck where men sat at machines, plotting the devices and functions of the vessel. "Hanger Deck One clearance for disembarking; First Delegation of the honorable Holder of Estate Victus Brahe. That is all!" The Lieutenant cried out over the voices of a thousand chirping workers.

++++

The clinical Grey exterior doors of the Hanger Deck slid open. Its floor evacuated of non essential persons not in proper attire. The master crafted Yacht belonging to Victus took from its moorings and slid out of the Hanger.
IndentOn board was Victus himself who was sat in the study opposite an old gentleman, together they poured over old books discussing the nature of diplomacy and any relevant pieces of information they could piece together on the Destroyers and their soon to be hosts.

The Phale A'Thein delegates were whisked by the Amazonian representatives to await the arrival of the other interested party; little more than brief pleasentries were exchanged to avoid any unwanted international incidents by smaller parties over small points; one of those small points may have been the fact that the Phale A'Theins were jellyfish.

Their glass domed water filled containers were two feet in diameter and five foot in height; these glass domes in turn sat upon a boxy metal platform which contained the motors and other mechanical appendages. Withen the dome floated the Phale A'Thein itself, a gelatanious domed head with four evenly spaced pairs of eyes around it's circumference, they trailed an assortment of tendrils and tentacles from the base of their domed heads. With a smooth rolling grace upon their four small wheels the Phale A'Theins took their place in the appropriate waiting room where they conversed amongst themselves using a form of sign language which was their "tertiary" language. They decorated themselves with sheaths of material along their tendrils, the males, if one could identify them in anyway, wore a number of belts to arrange their tentacles whilst the females hung additional strips of reflective material amongst their own tentacles along with a single belt. From the belts a collection of items hung like trinkets on a good luck charm but more often than not served a more functional purpose.

There were three Phale A'Thein delegates, a politician, an economist, and a psycologist all well versed in other areas of Phale A'Thein culture, as was standard principel when it came to their diplomatic ventures.

Gammel Space Station

Three Amazonian combat ships were already linked via atmospheric lines to the space station; two Nova-class frigates and a larger Voxyn-class battleship. While a fighter vanguard consisting of ten squadrons circled the station, the Dominion had gone all-out to ensure that the meeting went smoothly with a minimum of interference. Once ships began entering space and were accounted for, sensor wands coating the outside of the station - recently attached to the ancient deep-space relic - began throwing out false readings to counteract the sensor profile of the space station to outside units. Guidance to the station for foreign ships was provided by an encrypted channel and escorted in by a squadron of fighters for each foreign craft. While the conference was open to any opponent of the invaders, the Amazonians were taking full assurance that the isolated system - indeed, the station was the only inhabited thing there - would remain isolated from watching eyes.

Those who welcomed the guest in were not of pleasantries or gracious welcomes, either - rather, as was typical of Dominion affairs but even more so in the times that befell, war droids stood by to escort delegations quickly from outer hanger bays to the interior citadel of the station, on the top deck with a transparisteel ceiling looking out into the vastness of space. While the room was well-lit and expansive, with a central meeting table that could accommodate fifty and a central speaker, but darkness permeated the sides and corners of the room - well-suited for the darkness and evil that was slowly creeping into the galaxy even as these delegates convened to discuss matters and problems.

As delegates began sitting down, no Amazonian delegation had arrived yet. The droids left as the doors sealed behind them, a single door towards the front of the convening chamber opening to reveal a cloaked figure. Rather than immediately step in, the figure raised a hand and hurled an ungainly object straight forward, a deactivated vibroaxe singing with a whirl through the air and smacking straight into the central speaking stand blade-first, the axe handle sticking vertically into the air.

"A plague is upon us," the figure said walking into the room, lowering his hood and stepping forward into the lit central area of the chamber and up to the speaking stand. "A plague that is not going to listen to your diplomatic pleas, your civilians' screams, or your requests to sit down and solve things peacefully - because not every civilization in this universe believes in peace. Do not think that messages can not be conveyed across such rifts, however - we still share a common language with those who look to cause us harm. Not anything vocal, or through movement or telepathy - no, we share the actions of violence."

"Oh, proper introductions, where am I? I am Tulak Hord, adjunct to the Dominion Council and Sith Warrior. Additionally, as it concerns to these monsters that invade us, these Shivans," - Hord spat the name out with a hatred full of malice - "I too do not believe in peace. I understand the languages of the galaxy, but with these voiceless monsters who fail to sing our own tunes, I believe merely in the fight - and fight we can, if we put aside our petty misgivings about one another and band together for the one moment we need to to ensure we can continue our infighting in the future."

"I would love to hear from those amongst us present who believe we can provide peace with these Shivans...or do you all see my view?"

Gammel

The Golugani delegation, the heirs to each of the three Thanes of the Khazurbaz city-ships, glance between one another before the one seated central rises... Not that that shows well. "I believe, Adjunct Tulak, that I speak for all my people when I say that the only peace these creatures can know is that of the grave. Assuming my people aren't the only ones, however, I believe that a pooling of tactical information is in order. Time is of the essence, after all."

OOC: Placeholder

The two delegates moved forward along the corridors, even though one was normal and the other was merely his apprentice. Arsule was dressed not like a councilor, but rather in an old attire he wore in his days of the military. The wide brimmed trench coat and black shades had a few strands of dust on them, but otherwise were still in good condition despite the few holes his trench coat wore from the fields of battle. His apprentice though, wore much finer clothing, a light blue robe that covered most of his form and sandals typical of his station in life. But even despite his more professional attire, he was the much less formal of the two, his wide, silver eyes looking out to see everything he could of the alien station, his mouth a gasp at the war droids that escorted them, “What… what are these things?”

“You could call them golems, at least that’s our word for them,” the councilor stated calmly while one of his arms reached out to rest on his pupil’s shoulder, calming him as they finally made it to the meeting room. He sat down in his seat, while a chair was pulled up for his apprentice.

Of course once more his apprentice couldn’t help himself but stare amazed and wide eyed at all the new species, especially the jellyfish in the tanks. Hell, he was about to remark for everyone to hear if they were the food for the evening when his Master interrupted his first word by smacking him on the back of his head, “Quiet Anima, your place in this meeting is to sit quiet and observe.” His apprentice gave a meager nod and did his best to remain silent for the rest of the meetings events.

“Now then,” Arsule spoke without the need to constantly make sure his pupil wasn’t going to say something embarrassing that could wreck negotiations with another species for centuries to come. “Our race isn’t as, experienced, as your kind, and thus we have no knowledge of experience with what you call these Shivans. No way to judge their power or their capacity… I don’t know if we’re the only ones who are so unfamiliar with what we’re dealing with, so I think the best place to begin this meeting is to explain just what this threat is.”

THE FOLOWING IS COMMUNICATION TRANSCRIPTS OF THE CAPELLA EXPLORATION SURVEY

COMMAND: You are clear for launch Alpha One.

ALPHA ONE: Roger that command, engaging burners. Alpha two to four, form up on my wing, all other squadrons fall in on rear guard.

BETA ONE: No problem Alpha One.

CISCO ONE: Good hunting Alpha, we’ll watch over the barn.

THETA ONE: Hey CISCO, rumour has it that you guys requested watchman’s duty.

CISCO ONE: Rumour has it that you guys got turned down.

THETA ONE: That’s because command knows when to let loose a can of payback. You know how many people died in the last war?

CISCO THREE: I lost five brothers, and my parents in the evacuation of Capella.

BETA TWO: Shivans got themselves three of my cousins, and my mother. Bastards shot down the transport three clicks away from the node.

COMMAND: Alpha one, the Faustus is detecting two Cain class cruisers, and a Molech class carrier, only fifty thousand kilometres from the node. They have a course set along this trajectory your hud should display updated objectives. Reduce engagement distance to twenty five thousand kilometres.

ALPHA ONE: Acknowledged. Okay pilots form up, three thousand kilometres ahead of the Salvation. All squadrons on my wings.

SALVATION: Command, we are detecting serious interference with our targeting systems, we’ve only got flak cannons going green on the grid.

ALPHA ONE: Command, I think the Shivan’s are trying to jam our ETAK comms, not much is happening though.

COMMAND: Salvation, report on the status of your beam cannons?

SALVATION: Primary weapons are reporting green command. Proceeding to the engagement line with minimal fighter support.

ALPHA ONE: Command, my screens gone fuzzy here, I’m not picking up any bogies on long range.

SALVATION: We’re updating your hud with sensor returns now Alpha.

FAUSTUS: All squadrons be advised, we are detecting massive subspace interference in system, it may effect your combat efficiency. Command, we have to update our mission time to three hours, interference is slowing things down a bit.

COMMAND: Just keep at it FAUSTUS.

ALPHA ONE: Received update Salvation, I’m seeing three squadrons of enemy fighters twenty six thousand kilometres out. Three cruisers twenty nine kilometres out. Command requesting permission to accelerate and engage.

COMMAND: Negative Alpha one, remain in escort of the Salvation, then engage and Destroy.

ALPHA ONE: Received Command, all wings hold position in CAP around the Salvation.

FIFTEEN MINUTES RADIO SILENCE

SALVATION: Enemy Cruisers twenty eight thousand kilometres out and closing. Beginning slow burn and holding position at twenty five thousand kilometres from the node. All pilots please be advised of forward engine burn in five, four, three, two, one, and burn.

ALPHA ONE: Command, enemy fighters have entered our engagement zone.

COMMAND: You are authorised to engage Alpha.

ALPHA ONE: Roger that. Gamma, Beta and Cisco squadrons, weapons free, tag them and bag them people.

FAUSTUS: Command, we just detected two additional subspace nodes, five hundred thousand kilometres from our present position. They don’t match any previous records on the Capella system, there appears to be an additional Shivan presence between them. Unknown ship specifications at this moment in time.

COMMAND: Duly noted Faustus, continue your scan. Salvation, be prepared for additional hostiles, undetected ships could be carriers.

SALVATION: Understood Command.

ALPHA ONE: In range of first fighter, opening fire.

ALPHA THREE: Augmenting shield focus to aft, I’ve got a bogie on my tale.

CISCO ONE: They’ve got me in missile lock, trying to shake em.

BETA ONE: One bogie down, enemy bomber neutralised.

SALVATION: Alpha, enemy cruisers are coming into beam canon range, all pilots are advised to stand clear of firing vectors.

ALPHA ONE: Alpha Squadron, commence bombing run on Cain one, set bomb targets for their beam canons, and augment shield focus to forward.

ALPHA TWO: Commencing attack.

ALPHA THREE: On your lead sir.

ALPHA FOUR: Orders received, commencing run.

ALPHA ONE: Theta squadron, we need some support here, got some Mara’s on my tail.

THETA TWO: On it.

SALVATION: Commencing Firing sequence in three, two, one.

COMMAND: Pilots clear the Salvation’s firing position, Theta Two has just been vaporised.

ALPHA ONE: I need another pilot to come in for support.

SALVATION: Detecting energy spike in enemy cruiser, all hatches and bulkheads are closed, all hands prepare for hull breach. SC Cain Two is down to Sixty percent hull integrity, pilots take out the other cruisers beam cannons.

ALPHA ONE: Alpha squadron, commence attack run from the aft of the Cain, the flak wall isn’t so strong there. Engaging burners.

ALPHA THREE: WHERE IS MY SUPPORT?! I’VE GOT A DAMN FIGHTER ON

ALPHA THREE SIGNAL LOST

ALPHA ONE: Continue bombing attack. Command, we’ve lost Alpha Three.

COMMAND: Deploying recovery craft now Alpha.

ALPHA ONE: Direct hit to beam cannon array, no damage.

ALPHA TWO: Direct hit to beam weapon system, I saw some atmosphere venting, I think we’ve done some damage.

ALPHA FOUR: Miss, I missed the array, banking back for another run.

ALPHA ONE: Clear the Cain pilots, energy spike in the forward turrets.

SALVATION: Direct hit to aft sections, atmosphere venting from deck fifteen to twenty-two. Pilots take out the Cains beam turrets before the carrier gets into range.

ALPHA ONE: All squadrons, abandon Salvation CAP and commence attack run on enemy cruisers.
SALVATION: Charging beam array.

COMMAND: Cain Ones beam array is disabled pilots, move on to the second. The Salvation will deal with number one. All fighters, resume CAP of the Salvation and begin taking out those fighters.

SALVATION: Command, enemy bombers have just disabled our sensors, uplink to all squadrons have been disabled. We need the Aquitaine to come in for support.

COMMAND: Negative Salvation, you are to continue the mission, provide fighter coverage for Alpha and get your sensors back online.

ALPHA ONE: Commencing bombing run on Cain Two.

THETA ONE: Enemy Mara off your tale Alpha one.

THETA THREE SIGNAL LOST

GAMMA ONE: Command we’re being eaten alive out here, those damn cruisers are pouring out flak at us.

COMMAND: Continue your mission pilots.

GAMMA ONE SIGNAL LOST

GAMMA TWO SIGNAL LOST

GAMMA THREE: We just lost Gamma one and two Command. Alpha, hurry up and take out the damn beam turrets.

COMMAND: Incoming jump signatures. Two more squadrons of Shivan fighters are heading your way pilots. Mop up the Shivans now.

SALVATIOJN: All pilots clear our firing vector. Firing in three, two, one. .”

ALPHA ONE: Commencing bombing run, be advised, Shivans have rotated their flak turrets to aft Alpha squadron.

COMMAND: Beam weapons of Cain Two are disabled pilots. Alpha, you may request assistance from DELTA squadron, they have been given launch permission from the Aquitaine.

ALPHA ONE: Have them jump here as fast as possible command.

SALVATION: All pilots clear Cain Two, I repeat clear Cain two, she’s going critical.

ALPHA FOUR: Damn it Salvation, not enough warning. Pulling up!

ALPHA FOUR TERMINATED
THREE SHIVAN FIGHTERS DESTROYED
SALVATION: Enemy Carrier has entered range, charging primary beam cannons. Detecting energy spike from the Molech. All hands brace for [Transmission Cut]

ALPHA ONE: Command, we’ve lost contact with the Salvation, looks like she took quite a hit. Requesting order?

COMMAND: Continue your assault Alpha, take out the carriers primary beam weapons. We are deploying the GTD Carthage from Vega, estimated time of arrival eight minutes.

ALPHA ONE: All fighters form on my wing, keep your distance from the carrier and allow it to close on the barn.

ALPHA ONE: Command, I’m detecting subspace ruptures.

DELTA ONE: Don’t worry Alpha it’s only us.

DELTA TWO: That’s it, I got the last of the bogies, enemy fighter down and out.

ALPHA ONE: Command, the carrier is turning about, it’s leaving the zone of engagement

COMMAND: Do not pursue Alpha, maintain CAP around the Salvation until the Carthage arrives.


DEBRIEF

The following findings have been classified level Rho, punishable under article fifteen subsection C of the GTVA Deneb convention 325.

The GTC Salvation is the third cruiser we have lost to the Shivans in less than four days of conflict since the outbreak of the third war. The ship had to be abandoned and scuttled by her crew due to irreparable damage.

The mission however was a success with the GTSC Faustus obtaining a full systems scan of Capella. In brief, the Faustus detected a Lucifer class destroyer, entering an unknown and unchartered jump node that must have formed some time after the second war.

It appears that Capella is a transit ground for the Shivan armada. In one sweep the Faustus detected over fifty cruiser class vessels proceeding directly towards an unknown subspace node. Though this node was across system, command believes it presents a significant threat to warrant further deployment, while the techs secure a more permanent way to closing the Vega-Capella jump node.

Dismissed Pilots.

Gammel Space Station

With their four pairs of eyes the Phale A'Theins easily took note of Anima's staring, they were not in the least concerned; they were jellyfish, but the humans were essentially pink hairless monkeys. Oie, the politician of the Phale A'Thein delegation spoke up, gesticulating with his tendrils and pulsing with an inner light of various colours in their particular form of body language; the translator rang out soft but clear.

"We agree with you on this matter," Oie said waving a tendril at Arsule, "on these beings you call the Shivans, we ourselves have had no dealings with them and our archives composed of two other races scannings and watchings do not recognise the name. A report we received however seems to clarify that one of our worlds has befallen an as yet... unknown fate." Oie paused, although his alien body language veiled his emotional concern.

"Our databases have drawn a rough link bewteen another race we know of," the economist Ieeatz continued, his translator more refined and stiff in it's modulations, the kind one would expect with someone speaking a perfect English without an accent, "they are identified as... let's see, ah yes the Mekantan's, perhaps we use different names for the same foe?"

"I doubt it," the psycologist Iea interrupted, "This new contact matches none of the psycoligcal and cultural traits you'd expect of the Mekantans, no threats, taunting or deathly proclomations; just a swift blanketing of the system."

"Anyway," Oie resumed raising a tendril, "We know little if nothing about these... Shivans yes? Perhaps it would be wise if you... informed us a little of their motivations and your past experiences; perhaps we are capable of securing peace in manner you are not..." Oie trailed off, intentionally "stepping" on Tulak Hord's rather damming and forceful suggestion, "We would after all like to judge the situation for ourselves rather than follow you blindly into a situation you have not shed light upon."

"It cannot be denied that you have come across as rather warlike" Iea said, tapping two tendrils together in front of him they sparked as the tips came together, another tendril lifted a thick monocle to one of his eyes to better view Tulak, "i'm sure you'll understand our concern when a nation we know nothing about invites us to a space station after a mysterious event upon one of our worlds occours to inform us, quite simply, if elegantly I might add, that we are all doomed unless we pull out our guns, rally together and wage war against a foe we confirmed barely two time units ago."

"For all we know this could be a trap on your part" Oie added, "i'm sure a man of learning and strategic warfare such as yourself can see of the oppertunities this meeting invites, gathering important members of various races together, more or less at your whim." Oie released a cloud of bubbles around himself which the translator turned into a tired sigh, "this is all speculation on my part of course and I do not doubt that your intentions are honourable and as such I mean you know offense, but we must be realistic until we know of the other facts." He gestured at the other diplomats gathered, "We must not rush into the unknown, we must conduct ourselves in a measured manner; after all, it is my kind that seems to have suffered one of the first blows but we remain calm and collected. True we may be so out of ignorance" he waved at Tulak, "but hopefully our host will illuminate us on these matters... then we can do the rushing."

As the two Myths were ushered into the meeting hall, they were greeted by the vast difference in treating diplomats. A warlike essence was felt throughout the room from the armed guards to encroaching darkness that stopped at the edge of the meeting table. It was enough of a foreboding that it put the dark elf on edge and had her wishing that Sebastian had just once forgotten the tradition of arriving unarmed in another's hall.

While Shizra concerned herself with the Elder's safety, Sebastian thought on the people that they would be dealing with. There were already quite a few other races present that made him believe that the trek through space was worth it. If nothing else, he would gain an understanding of what others were like.

Sebastian took a seat where Shizra still did not quite trust the host and decided to remain standing behind the Elder. The dark elf kept her senses open to any subtleties in the room that might lead to a hint of an assassination attempt but at the same, she kept her appearances relaxed. Sebastian could only sigh and shake his head. He wished that she would relax a little bit more and at least take a seat. Despite his wishes, he appreciated her presence and her constant vigilance of Sebastian's protection.

Already delegates were beginning to voice their questions and concerns. It seemed that most were unfamiliar with their host and this great enemy that was apparently threatening the universe. Grateful for others that were of like mind as him, Sebastian sat back and listened to learn what he could. A small smile crept onto his face. Whoever these people were around him, he was thrilled to learn that they were at least rational beings. So many times he had encountered those that were quick with emotions and rarely thought their decisions through to a logical conclusion.

Sebastian's olive green cape bounced slightly as he stood. The Elder carried the appearance of a common traveler though he could adequately afford greater clothing other than the simple leather jerkin and breeches. It was a testament to his humility and his respect for the power and position that he carried.

"I will simply add my voice to the consensus of the others here. The Kingdom of Mythrandir has had dealings with other nations but we have never heard of this name before. Perhaps you could enlighten us all with a bit of history."

Under polite circumstances, discussing on many of the beings that Space Marshall Glowacki has witnessed would confer the adjective "exotic", but whenever circumstances did not demand such pomp, "alien scum", "insect" and "mockery of human race" would probably be said around any group. The Polish emissaries, holding the white-and-red flag and their anachronistic weapons, although avoiding direct hostilities in their expressions, did not force themselves to hide in their mannerisms their implicit belief on the nature of what was not human.

Back in Earth, dolphins were highly intelligent animals, and that never served as a deterrent for men to hunt them for food and oil. It was a fact, that while a natural mechanism exists to provoke displeasure at the act of killing one from the same species, the same does not exist for the act of killing a being of another species, sentient or not.

To the supposed Shivans they spoke of, they were nothing beside annoying insects and animals, just as Glowacki saw every alien at the room as perhaps a greater threat to the Federation than such Shivans they claimed to exist. ´"How could the word of traitors of the human race be trusted? What sort of scheming were they attempting to do with such hoax?´" the Marshall thought while he quietly listened to the arguments defended and questioned. The way the jellyfish-like beings demonstrated their suspicion granted a respectful nod from the Marshall towards them, like that of a knight in honor of a worthy enemy, for it seemed that at least them had a chance of survival, for such beings seemed wise enough, and perhaps even wiser to take the second best choice in a prisoner's dilemma that interspecies diplomacy sooner or later becomes.

"My father was a whaler," the officer said as he stood up with a Polish flag, defying the usual convention, "but now we know whales are intelligent, yet we still whale, because they are just whales, because killing them brings no emotional reaction just like stomping on an insect wouldn't. The Shivans, if they exist, are hunters, who know their prey are intelligence... and yet they don't bother. They simply pave the way for their continued survival, by eliminating what may threaten their survival in the future. And who the Shivans are, is a relative question"

Although clearly bothered, the Marshall realized it soon the reason behind the initiative of the officer, as he whispered to his watch, in a near silence, covered by the officer's speech:

"Wipe any strategic or tactical information from our databases, now."

"Acknowledged Marshall. I understand what you imply." an equally hushed voice answered him back through the communicator, while the officer continued:

"...what will happen once the Shivans leave, if they exist? Many of the civilizations here would be militarily and economically crippled, should they survive, and thus, in their demise to pave the way for their own survival, the Shivans would pave the way for the survival of those with most military might and access to strategic information, and perhaps for the ambition as well," he paused, trying to avoid staring at a specific individual, "of others, others who may finish the Shivan's job if given the chance, others who will have exact information on the military and industrial capabilities of every civilization represented in this room. Perhaps being among these civilizations would be a greater threat to the future than Shivans alone, if again, they even exist."

"I saw men who promised to save nations on the verge of collapse, becoming ruthless tyrants. I saw nations who went to liberate other nations from invaders, to then take the bounty of a defenseless land for them. And that I have seen, among nations of the same species, for those of a same species have a natural aversion of killing themselves, even if such aversion can be bypassed. Imagine how far civilizations of different species would then go? And why not? A man would not blink an eye while a lion hunts a deer, and let us be frank: beneath all these facades, we are nothing to the eyes of those who are not humans, for we do not belong to their species, why should they care? Deep within, everyone would want to be the only sentient species in the universe... for cooperation between species is a temporary effect at best, and a conspiracy of one of such species at worst."

"Apart from the Golugani delegation," Hord hissed, "it appears the rest of you have not seen deeply enough into the threat present. The Dominion itself has not even been attacked yet - but that has not stopped our recon and deep-space sensory units from reporting on further activities and allowing our own domestic units to deploy to higher alerts."

Tulak Hord stopped talking for a moment, flipping a plasma saber to his right hand and igniting the weapon.

"But you," Hord pointed the weapon's dual tip directly at Marshall Glowacki, "You and your self-centered thoughts are exactly what will lead us all to annihilation. You and your pompous ignorance disgust me. Your blatant specism is an affront to every multi-race civilization across the galaxy - the Amazonian Dominion included. Every species wishes to be the only galactic race alive? That is a far cry from what a glance into the reality of civilization has shown us, delegation. We are not trying to liberate any one civilization from the silent Shivan advances - we are trying to stymie them before they come to destroy each of us. Not for protection of another, but for survival."

"Now to address the broader question," Hord moved on, simmering in his energy and calming down to avoid a potential release of such. "I am quite aware that I have come off as warlike - I intend to to represent the Dominion and its interests, and to make you all who would doubt more aware to the threat. These Shivans historically have struck before, some time ago in galactic anals - repulsed by a combined effort of galactic powers in a unified front. From historical records, they attacked with strong waves and little contact - merely destroying whatever in their wake completely and moving on from there. Possibly deriving pleasure from destruction is there aim - a noble one at that, even if inefficient - but much about their psychology is unknown. However, from the scattered reports that seem to be running about now, as well as from what has been gleaned from a recent string of attacks on civilizations, we can link reports together - as there is a pattern here, definitively - and find a similar trend to what the Shivans inflicted during their last attack."

"I will sum this up for you, however: based on their last attacks and their historical campaigns, the Shivans are a technologically advanced race without compunction in slaughtering your, my, and anyone else's civilizations without a second thought. Your individual fleets may slow them down, but not stop them - and if you think they can, I wish to allow you first to stand in between my Dominion and them so you can take the blow. If you wish to experiment, if I knew where they would strike next I would gladly tell you to throw away lives on a scout mission that may never report anyway. I am not telling you that we immediately need to construction underground vaults for our entire populaces - that would likely not even save them - but however, we must be prepared to defend from an inevitable threat and be able to work together in common resources, strategic actions, and defense in the inevitable campaign."

A red-armored Sangheili walked up to Hord at the central speaking position, bending down from his 9' height to speak in a whisper: "Lord Sadow has requested your presence, Tulak...I am taking over for you here."

Hord snarled angrily, but remained under control: "Deal with them as you see fit - but close the deal here and now. We lose them here, they will simply go and cower in their ignorance until we are all destroyed."

"I know enough about this to secure it."

Hord departed angrily, without much of a response to anyone else. The saurian Sangheili stood up to his full height, clicking his mouth mandibles and glancing about the delegations with his two slit-pupil reptilian orange eyes.

"Tulak Hord has prior business to attend to," the Sangheili motioned. "I am N'vrance Tal - direct your questions to me."

Animamos almost stood to shout at the Polish delegation if it wasn't for the fact that his Master held him down with a strong hand against his shoulder. So instead he just shouted from his seating position, "How can you say such atrocious things? Have you no empathy, no capacity to feel another's pain and joy, or are you so ignorant as to believe that because someone did not evolve on your planet and don't contain your custom can not feel pain, are not any more important that yourse-"

"Enough Anima!" Arsule shouted, one of the few times he actually raised a tone to his apprentice, which alone was enough to reduce him to a cowardly silence underneath his teacher's hand. "To you or us it may seem cruel and ignorant, a behavior fitting that of demons that can only be saved by destruction. But you must remember their side," the old soldier turned to look at his pupil's silver eyes, staring at the slightly glowing irises with his own, wizened greens. "But to them, they must be very knew to things here indeed, perhaps this is the first day that they've met other aliens and are only forced here by this threat. To them we must be nothing more than monsters who they could not care nor sympathize for, and the only way they will assist us is to save their own cowardly skins."

This small speech seemed to stem any more future outbursts from the boy on this matter, but Arsule had been with his apprentice long enough that he knew he didn't like it, the entire thing didn't set well in the boy's heart. It was something that actually caused the old councilor a small bit of pain to realize, he had done as much as he could to protect the boy's ideology and optimism with his powers as one of the seven heads of state, but a meeting in front of alien civilizations that could probably wipe out their small world with a wave of their hand (or tentacle) was not the place for such actions.

"Now then..." he spoke in a calmer tone, but the bitterness of what he had to do to the young child showed itself in the undertones of his voice. "I will have to agree with what Tulak mentioned... During the battle at a system with galactic coordinates xxx, yyy, zzz while using point 0, 0, 0 as the black hole at the center of our galaxy, a scout ship far off to the side of these... destroyers... fleet managed to grab a few minutes of radar and passive scans. They left as soon as the shock and devastation of the defending fleet being massacred finally left them, but..." he took a moment's pause before continuing, "They reported that as they left, the destroyers ships began bombarding the undefended planet. A later vessel sent reported that the entire planet was burnt to a cinder, not a single blade of grass or microorganism on the surface could have possible survived."

He then leaned back against the chair, resting his arms inside the large pockets of his cloak. Of course it was a carefully calculated wait and relaxation, a trick he had picked up while serving as an army captain to let an important statement sink in. "If these destroyers were out to colonize our galaxy, they would not destroy an ecology so precisely. If they had some vendetta against life in this galaxy, they would have drawn out the matter instead of being so ruthless efficient. It can merely be attributed to the fact that they wish to bring out swift and certain destruction to all life they have come across. Perhaps they believe us to be unfit or inferior, and thus don't have the right to exist. Or perhaps they are aware of what happens to a soul after in its afterlife, and thus believe they are blessing us with death. Either way, unless we want to see our family vaporized and our worlds destroyed, the only action I can see is to fight them..."

He then turned his head to look at Tal and nod, "And by your former's information, I can see that my initial assumptions about this civilization was correct... I merely wish that we had more information about them, some sort of weakness... Hell, a true purpose behind their grand plan would put me and my people at ease!"

Exodus Fleet, Twelve Hours Ago

"What do you mean it was destroyed?" A shout rang out throughout the fleet despite vacuum supposedly stopping sound.

"Calm yourself down, Daniel." A yellow-haired-orange-clad person scowled at the shouter. "Now, please, tell us what happened."

"Of course, Lord Hokage. You see, the CSS Avalon was on a scouting mission as you know and after we received a distress call and sent forth a task force to rescue it, we found it destroyed with all hands, torn apart by some kind of energy blast."

"Superlaser?" The first speaker, Daniel, asked.

"No, the energy residue is too high...sir...you're not going to like this, but the energy signature found on the Avalon's remains is reminscent of a race we fought years ago. It's closest match is...the Shivans."

The Emperor's face drained white in fear and he buried his face in his hands. "Tell me its not true. I still have nightmares from those bastards."

"I would agree, but we intercepted a communication that points to the truth." The officer said, giving His Majesty a sheet of flimsiplast.

Daniel Masaki read it.

-Civilizations of the galaxy, there is no doubt we are no strangers to war. The societies of space have been fighting for eons across the stars: for country, for ideology, for spirit, for resources. We are now faced with a threat greater than each other, more powerful than our exchanging guns and minds: we are on the brink of a fight for our very survival, in a fight we cannot attempt to even consider as lone wolves, each in our secluded pockets of the cosmos.

Unless we can put aside transgressions and unify into a force capable of challenging a threat greater than our imaginations - the invaders, the Shivans - we will face extinction. These Shivans have come before and been repelled in the face of unity in adversity - but they have returned as strong as ever, with a force that can exterminate entire civilizations. Every one of your capital worlds, your beacons of hope in your darkest days, are at risk of their fire and blind anger. We will eventually have nothing left to defend as everything is laid waste - and we are faced with only one option: Band together.

What I ask is not an easy thing: to lay down your caution, drop your face of peace in the threat of a cancer that can rip apart the very fabric of our sentience and lives. But it is a necessary move. If we want to see our children grow, our societies prosper, and our people flourish in the wealth of a golden era of galactic society, we must lay down our walls and form together in the shadow of an onrushing crisis. We will stand to the pushing wave of these Shivans and shove them back into the dark hole in which they came from! This is when we can correct our courses, cement our survival as species and civilizations across galactic history! My fellow galactic sentients, let us come together and drive back the encroaching darkness and let our light be seen for all those who would cringe!

Your presence is requested by a representative party at the Gammel Space Citadel in the Magellan System, at the fringe of Dominion space, for a conclave to enact a definitive and unified course of action against an oncoming Shivan invasion across massive regions of space. Coordinates are attached.

The Emperor sighed. "We fought alone and nearly died, and that's with the majority of a galaxy's strength behind us. Today we are a shadow of our former selves and a Shivan attack, especially here, would finish what Vorman and Remiel started. What do we know about this Amazon Dominion nation?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not that much. All we know is that it's a Dark Side nation. A guy named Marka Ragnos is ruling it, but that's about it. Our records indicate that he's a Sith Lord or a guy with the same name as an Ancient Sith Lord."

"A Sith Lord, eh?" The Emperor smiled ironically. "Well, nothing like a supergalactic threat to bring two unyielding idealogies to fight together. Who's available to send to this meeting?"

"Um..." The newly minted Hokage leafed through his flimsiplast. "Uchiha Sasuke's team is available. I know he's itching to get out and do something."

The Emperor thought about it for a second. "Fine. Cut orders for Team Eight to head to this place. And put the Battlestars on standby. As our most powerful ships, we'll need to use one to assist in this campaign."

Naruto nodded. "Sounds good."

=====

Now...

With the arguments, the shoutings, and even the unleashing of a plasma saber on someone's throat, it's a wonder that this delegation would be able to band together long enough to face down the Shivans as one. The Uchiha Clan Head gave it a one in ten thousand chance of survival, -not that he liked gambling anyway- and figured he should input something in.

"Are we going to tell them of our experience with those Shivan things?" His daughter and apprentice, Reika Uchiha, whispered to him.

"Not yet." Sasuke twitched a corner of his mouth upwards as he whispered back. "The delegation certainly don't seem capable of building on that experience. Only the Sith seem that capable and I'm not about to reveal our secrets so soon."

Reika smirked slightly. "Ah. What then?"

"Watch." Sasuke stood up and rapped a knuckle on the table to get the delegation's attention. "A good question, my friend. A weakness...and information in general. It's not likely these Shivans will simply grant us their secrets on a silver platter. Thus, it would be necessary to take such information from them, likely through a series of skirmishes. Of course, it goes without saying that our mutual enemy would not reveal its secrets without taking a blood price in return. The question is, does this delegation have what it takes to pay that blood price?"

"So far, it seems that that sort of courage is lacking in this place." Sasuke smiled sardonically.

Gammel Space Station

"If you are implying that you know where these Shivans keep their homes then by all means tell us, indeed, perhaps we should go further and simply drop an asteroid on them." Oie said gesticulating at Sasuke, although he didn't turn to "look" at him his four-way symmetry gave him the same ability to talk to people at his sides, front and back at once without turning to do so, "If you already know of where the Shivans rest then the war could be performed with relative ease; given however the Dominions concern..." he gestured at N'vrance Tal, "I suspect that anything remotely easy as this is out of the question."

"Unless of course," Ieeatz continued, "the Shivans have decided to use the smoldering remains of Tru Antier, which this one now fears is the case, as a... let's say a rest and relaxation point, then we could launch an expedition against any possible forces lingering there." He tapped at the console mounted withen his tank, "Indeed we already have a fleet en-route to assess the situation."

Oie for one thing had put the situation of Tru Antier out of his mind, for he found the current situation to be far to pressing, and indeed much more urgent than he had suspected. He weighed the words and subsequent implications of the Polish Worlds delegation who seemed to have pushed the conference to it's edge; he glanced at his console which was linked to Ieeatz and Iea, it displayed a short message from Iea which he read and responded to; this was what psycologists were for in these situations:

Iea:> One would presume these particular humans, or at least the officer, are xenophobic to a degree which could affect the course of this meeting. Their condition seems to stem from fear which is this ones assessment, although without historic material to assess on their world it is difficult to say.

Oie:> How do you suggest we proceed?

Iea:> Be completely straight forward with them, be polite, make them see that they have nothing to fear from us at least; in the end we are the most alien here, if they can recognise that we mean them no harm they may be more reciprocating to the others, or the humanoid ones at least.

Oie flicked a discreet tendril at Iea by way of confirmation and resumed addressing the delegates, but most particuarly the representatives of the Polish Worlds:

"You express concern that we may turn upon you yes? It is understandable, a possibility we considered ourselves as you heard, but perhaps your rationale is misplaced. You presume that these Shivans attack out of an understandable desire to succeed, to be the most powerful, to be the sole remaining beings in a galaxy and to possess the whole of creation unto themselves. And why do you presume? The forces of evolution? Survival of the fittest? That after all is what many races and galaxies presume, but there are more than enough worlds in this galaxy to settle and colonise for uncoutable millenia to come."

He paused, turning slightly to look at each of the delegates in turn before coming back to the Polish representatives.

"But... that is a human rationale, one which you have projected upon other beings in self defense, but you fail to take something into account. These Shivans are not human."

He rotated once more to address all of the delegates equally.

"The Shivans are alien, their minds may be incomprehensible to us, my kind are alien to you, but most significantly you are alien to us, it is only through significant co-operation and investigation that we have come to understand the human psycology; and let you tkae it from myself that your kind are indeed bizzarre."

"The Arcadium Nebulae is one of the greatest concentrations of alien diversity in this galaxy," he said, "Do you know why they are there? Humans." He waved a tentacle across the majority of the human based delgation before ending at the Marshall and lowering it, "Your kind are one of the most, shall we say profilic, races in this galaxy, you multiply and expand, devouring resources, but most significantly you are a race which forces others out in order to create room for yourselves; not only do you fight aliens however for space you fight your own kind as well."

"Humanity, my dear Polish delegates, has caused the rampant disruption, relocation, destruction, distrubance and in many cases extinction of more races in this galaxy than any other force in the history of the galaxy back to the point when your race emerged as the highly adaptive and tenacious beings you have proved yourselves to be. Your kinds darker acheivements certinaly exceed the more recent and incomprehendable action of the Shivans; you think aliens are a threat? Well try looking at things from the view point of alien history, and humanities track record may be notable and proud but it is smeared with the blood of a thousand races."

"Thsi one makes a point gentlemen," Oie said rasising five tendrils as though to indicate the entire delegation, "to imply a fundamental fact. If there is a race to fear in this galaxy it is humanity, for it is one of the few races to be capable of adapting to any given situation and crushing all other kinds in a truly marvelous display of survival of the fittest." Oie lowered all his tentacles, instead raising a pair of spectacles which looked more or less normal, "But yet... humanity is capable of expressing conflicting emotions of love and pursuing goals of harmony familiar to more peaceful races and alien to the more violent, your kind is living paradox that possesses the darker and lighter sides of psycological creation."

"Mashall," Oie said turning finally and waving the spectacles at him, "believe me, that you may fear not only the factions of your own kind but aliens such as myself but whom you consider aliens should fear you above all else. You should have nothing to fear, but conduct yourselves with the assurance that you are safe to pursue lofty goals of peace and development. It is with this in mind that one hopes you can set aside your concerns and at least accept that for now we are interested in peace amongst ourselves... and that you will honourably overlook the actions of the now gone Dominion representative Hord." Oie tipped his domed body/head at the Marshall to assure him of his respect and hopefully gain his trust to enable the delegation to work together. Finally finished on his philisophical blurb he turned back to the other delegates.

"The M.R.A fleet of my goverment will soon arrive at Tru Antier where they will do what they will. In the mean time we should all accept one thing, that we face an enemy, and that we are stronger together than seperate. Each of us may harbour fears of the other, but each of us should take note that one of our realms cannot stand against the might of all the others combined; this alone should assure any doubters that one of us here would attack us. We must unite, not under a banner of war and panic as Hord suggested, but a banner of mutual understanding, respect, reason and common goals; we have a common enemy, and if anything is more effective in bringing disperate factions together it is the impending undeserved destruction brought upon them by a mysterious enemy. Now, N'vrance Tal, please enlighten us all about this race you fear so we may take a few tentative... steps, in facing off against our foe."

"If we are done pointing fingers and proceeding to needle one another with stupid accusations and prideful boastings, we can got to what is the real problem here. The Shivans." President Alara of the Telrosian Union stood up, getting ready to speak. She nodded at the Uchiha, recognizing their informal allies, the Coredians. She pulled out a device, which then began to give off a soft glow and holographic symbols appeared. She pressed one of the floating keys and an image appeared. It showed the planet Daron, which had been wiped out by the "Shivans".

"As you all know, we are possibly facing a Shivan invasion once more. I must however hasten to say that these very well may not be Shivans. My people, along with one of our allies, the Metallinautsi Empire, have been studying the strange signals in the Daron System as well as the residue left by their energy weapons. So far, we've found readings far different than anything the Shivans used in the previous wars. So, it could be race that managed to reverse-engineer Shivan tech and then move on to become even more powerful. As for their reasons for attacking, they are unknown. As others have noted, they have conducted a pattern of attacks that appear to be entirely random. Union long range listening posts have detected numerous systems being cut off from all communications and sensors and when it goes away, all we find is destruction in their way. Tru Antier is a puzzling exception, as the jamming continues. It's possible they are going to use it as a base of sorts, or they are waiting for something. We don't know. All we do know is that they are incredibly powerful, and knowing from the experiences of the last two Shivan Wars, these Shivan lookalikes will be incredibly powerful and nigh-invulnerable to our weapons."

She turned it off and looked at the entire room. "Consequently, the Metallinautsi Empire and the Union both have the greatest knowledge of dealing with the Shivans, and access to databases concerning them, which should help even with these strange imposters. We will be doing what we can to help you, by researching them and trying to find if they are Shivans are not, as well as developing weapons and technology to counter them. We do not mind working together with the Dominion to lead an Alliance to fight these creatures. Also, the Coredians do bring up a good question. If you are going to fight these creatures, know this. The price will be high, countless thousands if not millions of lives could be wiped out in this conflict. Stars may be destroyed, worlds incinerated, entire fleets wiped out. If you are going to commit to this, understand this is not a war. This is a battle for our very survival. Telros, as well as the Metallinautsi Empire, is ready to pay the price needed to stop this plague. My first recommendation is that we organize our fleets into groups, with what fleets all of us are capable of sparing, and tasking each group with defending an area which we will define in this conference. Then I will link the listening posts to the fleet, and when a system goes dark, we can jump in and try to stop them. I suggest we leave Tru Antier alone until we have a solid way of countering this menace. For all we know, that place has hundreds of ships and become a veritable fortress."

She sat down but continued to speak for a final time. "Now, before I cede the floor to your suggestions and comments, I will say this. We need to put aside any xenophobia, pride, ambition, or anything of the sort. Any one of those, even in just one action, could tip this desperate war we are about to fight into total defeat and cause a massacre not seen in this galaxy for centuries, if not millenia. We must unite and work together, lest we fall to this locust. With that said, if we catch even a hint of a betrayal or a nation attempting to sabotage this alliance, our wrath will be terrible and we will see to it that it does not happen again. I will not let billions of lives be put at risk because one of us wants to take advantage of the situation."

Lupus System, Empire of The Wolf
The Moraga shipyards was a hive of activity, they had been working ceaselessly for the past several months to finish the production of the new flagship for the 5th fleet. The new flagship was the TCAF Balkar, a Nova-class battlestar. At almost twice the size of the old Columbia-class battlestars and a third longer then the Mercury class battlestars it was one of the largest ships in the system. The TCAF Balkar was still in the orbital holding dock preparing itself for launch. Meanwhile the 5th fleet had formed up in front of the dockyards preparing for the release of its new flagship. The 6 Mercury battlestars had just finished having their paint touched up so the red lines that ran the hull were bright and vivid and the wolf motif that was painted on the front of the battlestars was as fearsome as ever. Meanwhile the 16 odd BC-304s began to take up their positions in the two wolf pack flotillas on the edges of the 5th fleet formation, the glinting lights of the sides of the ships lit up the system. As raptors, vipers and F-302s criss-crossed in the black abyss of space on patrol in the system to ensure that the deployment went smoothly.

Patrol 32, Approaching un-identified object
“This is Ares, I have the contact on my DRADIS now, its looks like nothing bigger then a probe. Larka actual I repeat unidentified contact appears to be a probe. Please advise, Ares out” The 4 Vipers were approaching the small object at highs peed, their pilots straining their eyes in an attempt to get an eyeball on the small object that had sent them so far out of the system.

“This is Larka actual, we receive you, we are jumping a raptor to your position to recover the object, establish CAP around the object and await Mad Max and his raptor. Larka actual out.” Departing from the system defence station was a raptor, its pilot was slightly rueful that he would probably miss the release of the TCAF Balkar but he had his orders. “This is Mad Max to Larka actual, preparing FTL drives…..FTL jump in 5.…4.….3.….2.….1.…jump!” The raptor disappeared and reappeared further out of the systems some seconds later. “Larka actual jump complete, linking up with Patrol 32 and proceeding to pick up un-identified object, Mad Max out.”

TCAF Larka, Some time later“So we have confirmed it’s a foreign communication probe?” Nhilus queried as he and Admiral Roberts, the commander of the Larka, walked along the corridors of the system defence station. They were on their way to the research department to discover what all the fuss was about over this hyperspace probe.
“Yes, apparently it gives warning of a impending Shivan invasion and an invite to attended a meeting to discuss the response to such an invasion.”
“Shivan invasion, please say you are taking the piss? We may not of fought them but we know enough to know how deadly they are. So yeah this better not be some sick kind of practical joke”
“Sadly I don’t believe it is. No one would send out a warning about a Shivan invasion and then invite nations to their own worlds. I think we should re-call all our fleets and spread them out evenly between the Lupus and Magellan systems.”
“Are you sure Admiral, such a move could create great panic and might serve to worsen the situation. I could raise the alert level to the highest possible and re-call the fleets to nearby jump points, that way there will be some time before the press catches on and if we are attacked we can jump our fleets in system in a matter of minutes. Also should we send a delegation to this meeting do you think?”
“Sounds like a plan Lord Nhilus, I will place the Larka to full readiness now. Sadly from what I have gathered due to some problem with the probe, it reached us too late and we believe this meeting is already in progress and given the amount of time it would take to extract data of the meetings place and location from the probe would make it impractical. So it looks like if there is an invasion we will standalone for the moment. As Lord Nhilus and admiral Roberts passed through the bulkhead blast doors into the R&D department the vixen and racoon standing guard on the door snapped to attention, paws in salute and tails swishing behind them. Just before entering the section dedicated to foreign objects, admiral Roberts stopped and turned to an access hatch. “Lord Nhilus if you would excuse me I must put the Larka to full alert and if you would permit me re-call the fleets to Level 2 jump points”
“Very well admiral you may re-call the fleet, I will raise the alert level as soon as I finish seeing this message in person, always run free admiral!” Nhilus moved his paw with lightning speed and it came to rest in a full military salute, something most politicians couldn’t do.
His knowledge of military communication also surprised admiral, Roberts returned the salute and the other half of the saying, “Free all the way to paradise sir!”
“Very good admiral, now dismissed, lets get this nation ready for war”

Admiral Roberts left Lord Nhilus standing in the hallway as he made for the access hatchway and the ladder inside it. As he was walking he know knew why the military so liked Lord Nhilus more then any of the other lords, Nhilus respected soldiers, he understood them and most of all he knew that they were not just statistics, which most of the Lupus lords thought that was what soldiers were. Hopefully with Lord Nhilus one of the lords set to replace the 1st Lord, maybe they could pull through the impending crisis. Admiral Roberts powerful white tail swept side to side as he paced his way to the command centre of the Lupus system’s, System Defence Centre the TCAF Larka.

1 Hour later
Klaxons all around the TCAF Larka and all the ships in both the Lupus system and the Magellan system began to wail as Admiral Roberts voice was broadcast across the Empire of The Wolf to any active military vessel. “This is Admiral Roberts commander of the TCAF Larka, the Alert Level now stands at Red-1, I repeat Alert Level is now at Red-1, all fleets are to take up defensive positions in system and all fleets engaged on patrol are to return to Level 2 jump points, TCAF Larka out.”

The Empire of the Wolf sent no delegation to the Amazonian Dominion believing it was too late to attend. History would tell if this decision made by two furs, would be one of wisdom or one that would lead the Empire to the brink of destruction. Only time would tell but for now the Empire of the Wolf stands alone

((OOC: Finnaly, its up, damn I hate intro posts, sorry for being so late))

A great roaring of anger and pride washed over the room as many sought accusations over reasoning. The magnitude of ignorance that plagued so many nations and people was astounding. While others argued over the strength of an alliance of so many different people, the War Mistress had other concerns in mind. This meeting had proven fruitless thus far and the company that they were keeping was less than reputable. Shizra bent down and touched Sebastian on the shoulder.

“Let’s leave. These fools will be here for eternity arguing over the validity of their existence and who should be in command. From a tactical standpoint, we would be far better off alone than in the company of cut throats and traitors. We cannot plan a campaign effectively if we cannot trust those that stand by us.”

Sebastian had little room to argue with the dark elf’s concerns considering there was very little that had impressed the Elder since the council had degenerated into name calling. The Elder was about to rise from his seat and walk out when the meeting took a turn towards the better. Delegates he had not paid attention upon their arrival suddenly spoke out against the moronic state of the delegates and their attitude towards each other.

Sebastian eased back in his chair and held his hand up for Shizra to halt. The dark elf huffed then turned back to resume her guard around the Elder. It was refreshing to see that others were providing information on this unknown enemy known as the Shivans. Information had always been the key to Mythrandir’s style of fighting so they remained so long as the information proved beneficial.

The Elder remained at his seat though he approved of what he heard from the Telrosian woman. “The Kingdom of Mythrandir has always stood against tyranny and those that would seek to make slaves of peoples’ minds. Freedom of the mind and will is something that we value highly and have paid in blood to protect many times already.

I believe you when you say the cost will be high, because the hordes of ignorance and tyrants know no limits nor do they ever stop their attacks on those who wish to live their lives free. Those who would live a life to better themselves are often seen as prey of those who hate the good or simply find amusement in destruction. Such acts cannot and will not be tolerated by us. For that, you have my cooperation and whatever might we can bring to bear.

However my concern is in the tactics of these Shivans. You already say that they attack randomly and without warning. I would be interested in learning of your idea on how we can adequately defend an area when the enemy has no pattern to their attack. I fear we would leave innocents left unprotected and thus fall prey to the Shivans.”

Shizra listened to what the Elder was saying though she was more focused on the information provided by the Telrosian. In matters of planning war, the dark elf was key for the Myths. She could already see the workings in Sebastian’s mind and knew that he would not suffer people to fall into darkness. He would sacrifice good Warrior lives to save people that he knew nothing about simply so that they may continue living happily. It was a quality that few knew what to make of. It was the quality that made the dark elf love and respect him.

“Madam if I may. I would like a copy of any information you have on the Shivans for my own study.”

"Well said, Telrosian," The central Thaneson smiled and nodded approvingly at the president, deciding to heed her closing wisdom than respond to the insult to his people's honor for now, "I also agree that a battleplan is neccesary. Our people are currently following a model similiar to the one you have suggested, as the three Gandongliz outside this station are constantly exchanging status reports with other such vessels in other systems, such as those in our territory or the Venefican homeworld. Should any such outward forces go silent, all outward Drengi fleets immediately jump to the threatened system, as well as an augmenting force from the Golugan system if that is not the star being threatened. Naturally, we stand ready to modify or expand upon the plan to better include those gathered in destroying this menace.

"However, I must put forward a modest request regarding salvage rights. We have, under development, a new class of capital ship that has its energy weapons and shields exponentially enhanced against foes that the ship has been forged to fight, as determined by the alloy of the death runes in the power array. As such, my people having even a fraction of the salvage rights to what Shivan vessels we destroy would give us an extraordinary edge in combatting the Shivans should they come again after this, and that's assuming we cannot bring the advantage to bear in this conflict."

In the end, the most alien of them seemed to be, ironically, the most level-headed. As the previous representative of such improbably multi-species civilization drew forth a blade of light towards Officer Pietroski, the two bayonets of their honor guards were slightly inclined down, although not pointing directly towards him, as a precaution, although in truth they stood no chance with such anachronistic guns should the situation down into bloodshed. With the tensions slowing down and every information that could be used against their nation wiped from their spacecraft databases, Glowacki took a step ahead of Pietroski as he attentiously listened to their claims.

"You express concern that we may turn upon you yes? It is understandable, a possibility we considered ourselves as you heard, but perhaps your rationale is misplaced. You presume that these Shivans attack out of an understandable desire to succeed, to be the most powerful, to be the sole remaining beings in a galaxy and to possess the whole of creation unto themselves. And why do you presume? The forces of evolution? Survival of the fittest? That after all is what many races and galaxies presume, but there are more than enough worlds in this galaxy to settle and colonise for uncoutable millenia to come."

"But... that is a human rationale, one which you have projected upon other beings in self defense, but you fail to take something into account. These Shivans are not human."

"The Shivans are alien, their minds may be incomprehensible to us, my kind are alien to you, but most significantly you are alien to us, it is only through significant co-operation and investigation that we have come to understand the human psycology; and let you tkae it from myself that your kind are indeed bizzarre."

"The Arcadium Nebulae is one of the greatest concentrations of alien diversity in this galaxy, do you know why they are there? Humans. Your kind are one of the most, shall we say prolific, races in this galaxy, you multiply and expand, devouring resources, but most significantly you are a race which forces others out in order to create room for yourselves; not only do you fight aliens however for space you fight your own kind as well."

"Humanity, my dear Polish delegates, has caused the rampant disruption, relocation, destruction, distrubance and in many cases extinction of more races in this galaxy than any other force in the history of the galaxy back to the point when your race emerged as the highly adaptive and tenacious beings you have proved yourselves to be. Your kinds darker acheivements certinaly exceed the more recent and incomprehendable action of the Shivans; you think aliens are a threat? Well try looking at things from the view point of alien history, and humanities track record may be notable and proud but it is smeared with the blood of a thousand races."

"This one makes a point gentlemen, to imply a fundamental fact. If there is a race to fear in this galaxy it is humanity, for it is one of the few races to be capable of adapting to any given situation and crushing all other kinds in a truly marvelous display of survival of the fittest. But yet... humanity is capable of expressing conflicting emotions of love and pursuing goals of harmony familiar to more peaceful races and alien to the more violent, your kind is living paradox that possesses the darker and lighter sides of psychological creation."

"Marshall, believe me, that you may fear not only the factions of your own kind but aliens such as myself but whom you consider aliens should fear you above all else. You should have nothing to fear, but conduct yourselves with the assurance that you are safe to pursue lofty goals of peace and development. It is with this in mind that one hopes you can set aside your concerns and at least accept that for now we are interested in peace amongst ourselves... and that you will honourably overlook the actions of the now gone Dominion representative Hord."

He was quite impressed with the eloquence and rhetoric skills of such aliens. Perhaps it was time, to, after all their explanations, which made the existence of those Shivans no longer a question. Perhaps some information would not bring any sizable strategic advantage should one among them decide to act opportunistically.

Thus, the Space Marshall grabbed a pouch, and opening it, he began to scan for that image they would be able to understand. A folder he would unwrap, with many images, images of loss (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/69/Warsaw_siege3.jpg/180px-Warsaw_siege3.jpg), of tyranny (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Execution_of_Poles_by_German_Einsatzkomanndo_Oktober1939.jpg/180px-Execution_of_Poles_by_German_Einsatzkomanndo_Oktober1939.jpg), of genocide (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/89/Selection_Birkenau_ramp.jpg/200px-Selection_Birkenau_ramp.jpg), of a nation whose people continued to fight even after her loss (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4d/Polish_Flag_Monte_Cassino2.jpg/250px-Polish_Flag_Monte_Cassino2.jpg), and at last, the image of an alien nemesis (http://th08.deviantart.com/fs22/300W/i/2008/024/8/9/Takedown_by_godwinfj.jpg), hundreds of years ahead of their best weapons, which nearly led mankind to extinction.

From the folder, an old, weathered newspaper would slip, as the Marshall carefully held it, and explained.

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/914/invasionpoland5septembecr1.jpg

"This happened little more than twenty years ago, back when I still piloted piston prop fighters. We have been invaded by men and alien alike, and every time it happened, we came closer to total and utter defeat, for our nation never was a strong power in Earth. The Shivans cannot more frightening than the prospect of fighting invaders from an interstellar civilization with bolt-action rifles and towed artillery guns, and initially facing their advanced fighters with at best a Messerschmidt two-six-two, and usually, with Mustangs and Spitfires."

Pointing specifically to the image of the tripod, he, unfolded another black and white photograph, one of a somewhat similar device, except for some aesthetic differences, and for bearing their flag, firing a beam of light and with a single autocannon visibly shaped as wrapped in coils in its hulking frame.

"Had we not managed to capture and reverse-engineer their technology when they have conquered nearly three quarters of Earth already, we would not be here today. Had we not been careful, we would not be here today either. We have wiped the aliens from Earth, and yet our old enemies from Earth remain, enemies we stare at, enemies who are likewise, humans, but differently, they are humans ruled by fear and lies. Fear not anything officer Pietroski might have proclaimed, for the ruler of our Federation has no prejudices against any sentient being, for it is neither human, nor of flesh and bones. Our ruler is another involuntary gift of the aliens that tried to conquer our home planet. Its mind is not organic, but a machine, intelligent, but lacking of ambition, desire, fear, hatred or love."

Suddenly the Marshall interrupted his speech, as he took a look at his watch again, and placed it near his ears, listening as one of the officers inside his space rocket informed him of an objectives update.

"I see... very well, I shall discuss the matter further," he replied to the communicator, and then, placing it back, he finally explained what has changed, and he immediately pointed towards the jellyfish-like aliens:

"Very well, the Defense robotmind has requested from us to provide support to the M.R.A. for scouting the Tru Antier system, and thus I shall prepare for our departure. It has also considered unlikely that passive optical communications could be jammed, and our shipboard telescopes would be able to capture the images of such events. If the Shivans cannot be able to black the entire light coming from a system they occupied, we can position some of our vessels right beyond their interdiction field as strategic communication missions to relay communications sent through traditional means like the human Morse Code towards any of our systems, or the simple visual ID of a Shivan attack. With the smaller distance between the the relay and the vessels into the targeted system, the light-speed lag shall be small enough to allow for a practical response time."

"However," he then added, "how effective would high muzzle railgun autocannons and nuclear pumped X-ray laser beam missiles be against the Shivans? We must know if we have the necessary armament to stand a chance first."

"You mentioned on how to lure them out," Tal spoke up with a throaty suggestion. "I propose a slightly more radical idea than to simply attempt to follow them after the plan, though on precise execution we would need more deliberation. As I have considerable authority on behalf of the Dominion Council here at this meeting..."

Tal took a slight inhalation before speaking, though it wasn't nerves - his species barely suffered from them.

"I am more than willing, and my superiors likely to agree, to leave the Dominion capital world open to assault. Not undefended, mind you, that would be too obvious - but rather than inhibited through multiple defensive setbacks for entire sectors before a ship can even reach the Core worlds of my civilization, the Dominion can drop the primary defensive lines before Amazonia and simply leave the system itself up for attack with its considerable defensive line and the Home Fleet for defense. I admit a massive number of casualties would be taken - and while I am not sure as to how your civilizations respectively operate, I can presume based on the majority of other civilizations met that the Dominion is likely far less centralized as a form of government and operation. We can afford to temporarily lose the use of the ecumenopolis we call a home world in exchange for a potential significant inroad to defeating the menace."

"The Dominion is ready to take the lead on such a project of galactic defense and is willing to take the losses needed as well, but we simply need your cooperation. I do not lie," Tal had kept his voice level and without inflection throughout his entire monologue, but now his voice dropped to an even graver level. "When I say that if you choose to fight the menace on your own terms, you will take as many casualties as the enemy decides to inflict. If you choose to actually work together and put aside any preemptive notions," - Tal was a level-headed alien, but his wording at the end was a shot at the Polish delegation once more, who he believed could end up simply being a roadblock as a newer race to space travel, in comparison to the Dominion and other like races that had been doing it for millennia - "and start anew, we have a strong chance at sacrificing losses now for a stable future. It is your choice to decide, however - I can not decide for you."

Tal's voice was completely serious throughout the entire speech - the Sangheili had very little room in culture for humor, unlike humanity and other Dominion races.

“That is brave of you to offer, Tal,” Arsule stated gravely as he realized just what the shangheili was offering. The death of a capital world, the razing of an entire planet central to one’s government and heart was not something to think upon lightly, and to offer it willingly came with either a large supply of courage or a belief that they could be stopped short of their world razed down to every square centimeter. “Although, meeting a… Shivan… fleet on our own terms might grant us some measure of success, and my only regret is that I won’t be able to pledge much support to your exercise.”

The middle-aged man gave a small sigh as he looked down, his wizened green eyes to ashamed to look at the alien. He was still a soldier at heart, and it disheartened him to stare in the eyes of a man with such courage, such conviction, and not being able to support him with a fleet of his own. Even if he was authorized to pledge his force’s entire forces to the Amazonians, all that would marshal up to was a few hundred fighters and nine corvettes… once the retrofit and recommissioning was finished. Still, there was one thing he could offer, “I’m afraid that my people do not have your military might, our fleet would mean nothing amongst your own ships. I’m afraid that we would only get in the way, however…”

He took a breath and turned his eyes up to look at the alien, “Where I cannot offer you military might, I might be able to offer you intelligence. You say that you wish to lay a trap to meet a Shivan fleet on your terms, and I agree that it may lead to our first success against these aliens. However, I believe that we should add another goal to this trap.”

He then took another breath, strengthening his own will before going on, “I believe that when the Shivan’s do come to your trap, that we should work to try and gather as much intelligence as we can on this threat. If we try to disable a Shivan vessel, hell even bring down its shields for some length of time, a few covert teams could try to infiltrate the vessel.” He let out a breath this time, his eyes looking up to the ceiling of the meeting chamber now, “It might likely be suicide, we don’t know what sort of defenses they have onboard, or what type of aliens they are… We’d be stepping into the unknown. But I believe that the risk is worth it. Even the most insignificant detail could lead to our victory in the long run.”

He then brought his eyes back down to watch the delegation, “In pursuit of that, my nation can spare a vessel and a strike team to board a disabled or defenseless Shivan vessel. I would welcome any others who want to add personal to this endeavor, but we should keep the number of teams small. Two to three at the most.”

He then dropped into silence to let the others talk. Of course, the hard part wasn’t them disagreeing with him, he could hire a privateer ship on his own coin and dedicate one of his race’s strike teams to the goal. The problem was cooperation with the others, trying to coordinate a plan to disable a single vessel and let it remain limping so that the spies could do there work. On his own, he might be able to get a few personal onboard a vessel, but nothing would safe guard them from that vessel going up in smoke from the defenders fire.

GTVA THIRD FLEET COMMUNICATION

To the officers and crew of the allied third fleet, this is admiral Petrarch. Three days ago, in response to the Shivan incursion into Vega, command deployed a light reconnaissance mission through the subspace node to ascertain the size and disposition of the enemy in the Capella star system.

Led by the GTC Salvation, the GTD Aquitaine and the GTSC Faustus. Initial scans detected a massive Shivan presence, though most vessels were recorded as being in transit between two distant and previously un-chartered subspace nodes at the other side of the solar system.

Initial theories indicate that at the end of the second Shivan war, the destruction of Capella’s star created these new portals, and stabilised the subspace node leading to Vega. Currently, command has not been able to confirm if we have a secure way of disabling the subspace node, and until the research division has found a competent way of achieving such a method, the third and fifth fleets are now being deployed into Capella to secure the GTVA as best as possible.

In our initial skirmishes with the Shivans, sensor recordings from the GTC Salvation, indicated that Shivan firepower is stronger than previously faced. Additionally, Alpha wing of the first blue lions also reported increased combat effectiveness and technological superiority in enemy fighter squadrons. It is clear, that our enemy is not the same we fought five years ago.

Indeed, the very intent of the Shivans in travelling through the Vega node is puzzling command. Perhaps the Shivans themselves wanted to ascertain if the node was functional with their own reconnaissance mission, or perhaps they had other intentions? Irrespective, the Shivans are now aware that they have once again, direct access into the heart of our civilisation.

Initial orders are to begin engaging Shivan formations inside Capella, and prevent any attack into Vega. The GTVA security council is preparing to make a statement to the civilian population, and prepare evacuation protocols. At this moment in time, all allied forces are no longer in a state of enhanced readiness, but have been requested to maintain a war footing unless otherwise notified.

This is admiral Petrarch signing out.

Testimony of the Ancients
Discovered by GTSC Fanatic
Dated:- 8078Years old.

“When the destroyers came for us, we attacked. Never had we been defeated. They were like the others: strange, hideous, resisting, fighting. Only these were not like the others: They did not die.

We made our first retreat. We could forego one system. We left it to the destroyers and went elsewhere. But they followed. They hunted us. They followed us when we retreated, discovered where we lived.

For a long time we did not know why they chased us. They were no ordinary enemy. They did not seek our territory, our technology, our resources.

Now we know our crime was sin.”


”How many have tried to stand against the tide, even amidst the most magnificent of full moons? The folly of rebelling against natures power, some wise man would comment, yet he, just like the rest of humanity is guilty of the same mistake. I recognise that my ancestors in their dullness once built damns to try and hold back the force of nature, believing their stand , their wall of conglomerated concrete to be strong enough to whether the taxing corrosion of time.

Yet, they ignored the value of nature and its persistence. They ignored the terrible truth that exists in this cosmos. That whatever we do, however we do it, it is all but a fleeting glimpse in the causeway of destiny which will in the end, return from where it came – the dust.

I review pictures of earth long gone. I see that the great constructs of ancient humanity no longer exist, each one has been washed away, and in its place, a larger one built, a prime example of a lesson unlearned. How many times have the Shivans come to this Galaxy and washed it, I can only assume that it has been as often as the tide rolls in and out. Yet for some reason, they delay in perfecting their baptism – how natural.”

- UNKNOWN.

The time for patient observation was over. The delegations had gone over the proof of existence of these Shivans and their threat posed to the galaxy, now was the time of tactics from where the Toopoxicans could provide great assistance.
Indent"It may be-." One from the four Toopoxican delegates spoke. "-That we require only the single victory over these Shivans. A nation such as theirs which thrives from barbarism and chaos must also carry with it such pride as to be exhausted upon a singular unexpected defeat.
IndentIn such spirit of co-operation I suggest that engage the Shivans with a large multinational flotilla. If nothing else this shall provide us with enough initiative to carry back the threat of future Shivan attack." He spoke with complete confidence in the structure and impact of his plan as if unable to comprehend the unemotional warpath the Shivans followed.

(OOC: Okay so its short, but I could think of nothing else to add)

Oie listened to the Polish representative, glad that the humans had opened up to him in the very least and soothed his fears of understandable betrayal; he rose a tendril in the Marshalls direction in a sign of acknowledgement.

"Marshall we are immensly grateful for the assistance offered and that you have recognised that we mean you no harm; hopefully you will be able to co-operate with all in the impending defense of the Shivans. On behalf of the Metropolitan-Regional Association we respectfully accept your request to aid us in the investigation of Tru Antier."

Throughout this Ieeatz had been typing up a brief note on his console, pressing a button upon it a panel on the front of his containment vessel slid open, a number of whirring and clicking sounds could be heard before a mechanical clawed arm removed a slip of laminated paper; extending the arm
he slid it across the table to the Polish delegates.

"Co-ordinates to a designated meeting point withen the Arcadium Nebula a few A.U's out of Tru Antier," Oie explained with a wave of his tendril, "if you would be so kind as to meet with our forces there we will proceed into the system. The Nebula is a navigational hazard so don't deviate from the route we specified, ionized gas, electrical discharges, radiation plumes and neutrino bursts from nearby pulsars coupled with an all encompassing have of interstellar gas makes it a nightmare . Marshall this one thanks you for your assistance."

With that Oie focused on the continuing debate, from his point of view it lacked any coherent direction; for a while he merely listened to a few races essentially repeating what he had said, Iea, Oie and Ieeatz exchanged a few private messages on the situation in which they agreed they weren't getting anywhere; they held their silence breaking it only to answer the Thaneson's query regarding salvage.

"If you wish to salvage any craft withen Metropolitan-Regional Association territory," Ieeatz explained, "then you will have to bid upon the exclusive rights to the area as our corporations, tradesman and other interested parties would do so; it's standard procedure in our territory." Aside from that however the Phale A'Theins listened as Tal proposed his honourable, if somewhat misled, plan and Arsule's idea to gather information upon the Shivans; deciding that this was the prime time to seize these two ideas by the reigns use them to steer the delegates onto a clear structured path of debate Oie spoke up.

"N'vrance Tal, what you propose is indeed an honourable and truly... sizeable sacrifice on the part of your government, but this one must stress that it feels it is misguided." Oie gestured with his tendrils at the many delegates in the room, "What is the purpose of any of us abandoning our worlds and rushing off into the darkness? Indeed, what is the purpose of us amassing a vast force as the Toopoxican's suggest when it comes down to a simple, fundamental, fact." Oie's translator stressed the last two words, a mechanical claw from the inside of his containment unit had emerged to tap on the table with each word to further stress the point he wished to make, "We, do, not, know, where, the, Shivans, are." He said simply, letting it hang for a moment he continued, "Unless the Dominion or others here can tell us exactly where they are we have nothing to go on, we'd be abandoning our posts for nothing; we cannot make such plans untill we know where to strike and when."

He turned slightly to look and indicate Arsule with one of his tendrils as he continued,

"Arsule here raises the best suggestion, we need to gather information if we wish to be more than a collection of headless blundering beings storming out into the unknown. Only once we know the fundamentals of our enemies strategic positioning can we retaliate in the suitable manner. As such, this one proposes three things we must uncover if we hope to stand a chance. Firstly, we must assertain the locations and bases of our foes, secondly, we must uncover the interstellar routes and medium of travel which these Shivans use if the Dominion or others cannot already enlighten us, and thirdly, we must prepare our forces for the defense of our worlds as best we can in the intervening time."

"The M.R.A, one is sure, will be willing to provide one of our top of the line covert infiltration craft for the use in your information gathering mission Arsule, complete with a navigational crew as well as the best equiptment we provide. Given our phisiology we would not be as an effective boarding crew as any other races here, if any of you here would wish to provide forces for such an expedition..." he let it hang whilst gazing at the other members.

"If all else fails, we may be able to obtain some insight into the Shivans at Tru Antier by picking over the wreckage, or, if they are still there, observing their movements. On the other hand perhaps one of the Thaneson's would care to dispatch a salvage crew to the system Arsule mentioned earlier to see if there is anything of value left there; some small glimmering of information."

"Now, in the hope that we can agree that being informed and cautious if better than being clueless and headstrong, although we cannot deny haste is needed, then perhaps we can agree to dispatch probes and exploratory craft as the Dominion has to assertain our situation. Once we have a firm footing of understanding we can co-ordinate our forces from a designated meeting area; but that discussion must be delayed else we will make no progress. In the mean time, here, and now, if anyone has any information on the Shivens, please, share it now."

Sasuke smirked inwardly at the idea of trying to hijack Shivan ships. It appears that his people were the only one to actually see the face of the enemy, such as they are. He wondered what these other races would make of them.

Besides, there was no telling if the Shivans are any different from the time they struck Coredia. Even now, there was barely any information on them, though there was speculation aplenty.

Yes, the temptation to let the impromptu alliance see the face of the enemy for themselves and decide whether it's worth grabbing a ship or not was pretty strong.

Unfortunately, Coredian morality is too strong to simply let the alliance go without at least letting them know of what they're facing. Even a small amount of information was better than nothing.

"Keith. The holoprojector, if you please." Sasuke spoke as he stood up again, getting the attention of the group.

"Hai, Sensei." Keith nodded and gave the projector to his master.

Sasuke turned it on, letting the crowd get a look at a Shivan for the first time.

http://ui19.gamespot.com/562/shivan.jpg

"This...is a Shivan. Two Coredian decades ago (about 5 RL years ago), they came to our systems, ravaging many worlds as easily as they ravaged any other and left as mysteriously as they arrived. As you can see, a Shivan has multiple eyes, some of which seem to have the function of compound eyes, not unlike some insectoids or arachnids. Shivans possess five legs, and can run equally well over floor or ceiling. Our scientists have hypothesized that Shivans may have spent their evolutionary process in a zero-gravity environment, but don't make the mistake of believing they will be weakened inside a planet's gravity well. We have fought them on a planet before and know for a fact that they are not slowed down in the least no matter where you fight them. Note the claws at the end of each leg. It is a potent weapon, capable of crushing starship armor and spearing through man and machine alike. It may be that this spider-form is a form of exoskeleton, for it can operate equally well in space or atmosphere, but don't take my word for it. Any further information about the Shivan species will have to wait until we have actually captured and studied a Shivan and/or their ships."

The Uchiha patriarch smirked. "Of course, that would be easier said than done, as each Shivan possesses an energy beam that could slice through power armor as if they were naked and there's the aforementioned physical strength. The energy beam has been able to be deflected by lightsabers, though I know not if that would be true today, for many of our forces were cut down by the energy beams despite that ability. I would not put it past the enemy to change their beam width or intensity at will." He glanced at the Sith with a knowing look. "And the personal shields that could survive the energy beam has not been invented as far as I'm aware. I would not underestimate their ability to fight in any form of combat, melee, ranged or ship-to-ship."

"This is all we know of this race." Sasuke swept his eyes across the table. "If you intend to take a Shivan ship in a boarding action, I would not underestimate them, nor would I pull any punches. Better that pieces be available to study than a near-intact ship, but I am only one delegate and perhaps my fellow delegates would be able to devise a plan to do what we could not."

Xystus

"...cement our survival as species and civilizations across galactic history! My fellow galactic sentients, let us come together and drive back the encroaching darkness and let our light be seen for all those who would cringe!"

Three figures, sitting aloft in the air upon carved stone thrones gilded with a bright shiny slivery metal carved embellished with symbols and shapes of varying significance stared down upon Ragno's form as they listened to his message; forwarded to them by the unbelieving and staunchly practical Metropolitan-Regional Association.

The three figures were Fiani, a race of biped bird like beings whose once glorious civilization had vanished, as far as they knew, overnight; leaving behind a few scattered... survivors was not the right word, rather members of their kind, to continue their species. What had happened to their bretheren over four millenia ago was still shrouded in mystery, and the common consensus amongst their kind upon the reclusive world of Adytum was that it would stay that way for the forseable future. For others however, the solution, indeed the entire reason, was already at hand.

The High Arc Of The Technocracy, headed by their three hierarchs who took the title of "Technologists" for themselves, resided on the world of Xystus, seperate from others of their kind by distance and belief, the M.R.A upon encountering them had included the sugestion "Psycological balancing stimulus suggested for the masses of their population." In their aftermath of their otherwise peaceful and fruitful diplomatic meetings; such a statement was commonly thrown around by the M.R.A whose race had in fact, unbeknownst to themselves, killed off every force/magic/etheral sensitive individual during the course of their primitive tribal cultural evolution along with anyone who claimed to invoke a higher power. As such, any Phale A'Thein who began believing or talking about anything along the lines of "divine being" were in fact clinically insane. And as many races in the galaxy were in fact in contact with the higher planes of existence it was unfortunate for all parties that the Phale A'Theins thought that a session in spiritual healing and a religious sermon should be accompanied by ample amounts of appropriate chemicals to balance their psycological mindset.

Whether or not the Technocracy was in touch with their "gods" was something to be debated. The Fiani were indeed a spiritual race, capable of manipulating the force like other races out there, but the Fiani of the Technocracy were something different. They looked upon the technoloical wonders of their ancestors in amazement, then turned to their force wielding capabilities which allowed a lucky few to ascend to a higher plane of existence; it had been a short step of faith away for them to take into account how their ancestors had vanished all at once. Their solution to this dissapearence? A mass ascension.

The Technocracy preached eternal salvation, power, knowledge and immortality for all those who followed their lead. A lead which took them along the path of their ancestors, the Ancients, the Ones Who Came Before, the Ascended, the Saved. A path which would lead them, in their faith and belief, to the technology left behind to them, in their ancestors wisdom, to ascend themselves to the higher plane of existence. For them this belief was unwaverable and, for now, unproveable; so for now their claims were as anassailable as any other religion out there.

What perturbed these three Technologists was the learning of the Shivans, a race who seemed to suppress the technological capabilities of a race, which was heresy, and then destroy those who stood before them; for the Technocracy and it's religous leaders this matched the prophecies foretold from the ancient manuscripts of a great demonic power which would emerge to cleanse the galaxy of the unfaithful and prove those whom were worthy and thus propel them further along the path to salvation. If that time was upon them, it would be a great day indeed; not a tragic one, for they, in their faith, would be saved.

----------

Vorstellung

Executive Director Fil'ip Ilgram St'nfourd was the founder, owner, and senior director of Occipital Laboratories. A powerful, scrupulous and shady corporation which dealt exclusivly in the shadows of interstellar buisness; this was not uncommon. With the Arcadium in a state of perpetual anarchy it allowed buissness to thrive regardless of the questionable morals which many of the corporations pursued; Occipital Laboratories was not merely a part of this, it was an exceptional example, a history of rapid progress coupled with unexplained incidents of all kinds which wre unknown to all but it's senior executives, had made it a poweful player in interstellar buisness, forcing the M.R.A to co-operate with the combined might of all the Vorstellung corporates. Indeed, the Infomerchants, the most powerful information dealing group in the Arcadium, was suspected to be Phale A'Thein, but indeed impartial. As such, Fil'ip perused through the documentation detailing what information had been gathered by the Infomerchants on the Shivans, for him, this was a massive oppertunity, the information had cost a small fortune, but if he could use it to his advantage then it could result in a further burst of unprecedented prosperity for his finances... if only his technicians could get hold of Shivan technology for themselves.

ooc: Just setting the various forces of the Arcadium into motion... Am also waiting for others to respond before I do myself, is customary for my kind to watch the conversation unfold and jump in at the oppertune moment...

Councilor Arsule nodded as Sasuke spoke, his green eyes staring at the holographic image of the Shivans as if he was studying them. His mind quickly appraising how one would deal with such a foe, what Incarnations would be best use, what equipment should be equipped… He noted the powerful energy blasts, even an experienced Armor of Ithan Incarnation would be dispatched in but a few shots. The best bet for a strike team dispatched into a Shivan vessel would then rely on stealth and deflection to survive.

“A powerful foe indeed…” Arsule spoke softly, “But as has been noted by others, this foe has appeared twice before. Defeated and turn back, and yet they appear again. I believe that if we truly want to banish this foe, we need to actually understand them. Fighting a foe blindly, ineffective by itself, is just as ineffective at banishing them forever.”

He would then lean forward and peer at the council that had been collected, “We have talked about luring their fleets to someplace so we can pounce on them. As for the offer of a ship to use,” the middle aged man turned to the floating jellyfish and gave a nod of recognition, “I know a… pirate captain who owes me a life debt. Luckily for me, his ship is not only incredibly stealthy but also bearing heavier armor and firepower than any ship my people have under commission.”

“Now then,” he turned to address the council as a whole once more. “Now, there’s not much I can add to the effectiveness of fighting them off, and such I leave you all to talk upon a strategy to fight them. I only ask that in any fight plan you come up with, you allow an opening for my strike team to act, leave a vessel crippled rather than destroying it at the very least. If not though…”

He gave a soft sigh and turned his eyes to the table, “My strike team will act on it’s own, even if it halves the chance of success.”

"Golugan will do what it can to give your people an opportunity to fight, Councilor. If your people are half as respectable as you've made yourself appear, I personally would not want to pass up the honor of fighting alongside your people." The Thaneson that spoke, who had been seated to the central khazukani's right, received a nudge from his opposite, who tapped the side of his helm in gesture. The right and center Thanesons put their hands to the archaic looking headgear, and the center figure stood again.

"I concur with my kinsman's sentiment, especially considering that your boarding team will, permitting your government's approval, be the first in a millenium to don the Zonankori Armors. I'll not ramble about the specifics, but a nonpsionic human in such armor could take on a fightercraft unarmed and emmerge victorious more than half the times. Just got approval from the High Temple to open the Reliquiary of the Zonankori, provided the Regnum leadership approves."

"In any case, it seems evident that we're going with Amazonia's proposed strategy. What we need to be discussing at the moment is tactics: What sort do the Shivans use, and what sort do we have access to? We know they can jam whole systems, but what capacity do they have to jam in-system communications? Can fighter squadrons maintain contact, for example? Do they favor boarding action, making such melees that have been alluded to common, or do they focus on total annihilation? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered for most of us, and there are those here who actually do have the answers."

With those words, the central Thaneson reclaims his seat.

The President turned to the Mythrandir representative and his...bodyguard, by the looks of it, and replied. "I am glad to see a similar mind on this council, but to answer your question is, the plan I put forth is the only one I can think of that has a chance of working. The Shivans are beings we know exceedingly little about, and both wars preceding this have had it where we had to discover what they knew about them over the course of the war. And as to your bodyguard's request...." She called up hologram device around her arm, tapped some keys and a beeping sound came from it before it faded. She handed over a simple disk. "This will carry the information we have. It's not much, and may not apply, since we still do not know if these are truly the Shivans or a race similar to them." Turning to the Golugan representative, she nodded. "I cannot speak for this Council, but the Union was planning on giving any technologies discovered, unless deemed too dangerous for use, to any nations who saw fit to aid in the coming war. So you will have salvage rights, but we ask you let us have the majority and most important pieces, so we can use the Metallinautsi Empire's resources to delve into their technology."

She then sat back and listened, letting the other delegates speak and offer ideas. The Dominion's offer to sacrifice their homeworld for this war touched her heart but also made her all the more against it. As another stated, it would be a useless sacrifice at best, due to the lack of information on the enemy. As the call by the Golugan representative came to ask for those who knew of the Shivans to speak, she stood up again. "We do have some idea, if these are Shivans, of what they do. If not, we will have to discover them. The Golugan representative seeks answers of which we have few. We do not know their jamming capabilities in system, what extent, or what make up they are. We are just as surprised as you when they cut off anything we had, even our ECCM devices couldn't penetrate them. if these are the Shivans, they do not favor boarding. The actions you were told by the Coredian representative were from allied forces; the Shivans focus on killing everything. They kill everything that gets in their way. We do not know what tactics they use aside from hit and run. Another of you has asked us to understand the Shivans. If by their technology you mean, we do stand a chance of doing so. If by their reasons for coming, and these are the Shivans, do not hold your breath. They refused every single bit of communication, and the Shivans themselves are such powerful fighters, I doubt we will be able to get any information from their ships, assuming we wouldn't have to figure out Shivan language.

I also must agree that the Dominions proposal, while brave, is not going to work. Their pattern is random; they have hit strong and weak points, places with lots of ships or hardly any at all. We do not know why they choose, and so we cannot use a plan such as that. We need to get information on these invaders. Now, do not think we can just find their bases and attack them, as our current crisis is due to our inability to harm them effectively, finding their mode of travel will help, at least in perhaps figuring out a mode of defense, and the last is something that is going to be the hardest." She leaned forward and set her hands on the table. "We currently, even the best of us here, with years if not centuries of space travel, invention, everything behind us, cannot harm the Shivans in a way that does even the slightest bit of damage. If we defend our systems and people, it will be with battles that cause you to attack foes whose defenses may block every single weapon, while ships burn around you and you watch the worlds you protect burn. You will see every horror imaginable in situations such as this. We will do our best to seek out information on the Shivans, we will be sending drone scouts to aid the Tru Antier reconnaissance mission, but we will all be fighting a war that is essentially a siege against a force who is able to hide, kill us at impunity, and raid wherever they choose. All of you have accepted the sacrifices this will entail, but be warned, we will all probably lose much more than we are prepared to accept."

The Telrosian turned to the VV diplomat. "We thank you for continuing to aid, despite your internal problems and small military. I agree that boarding teams and the like will be needed to capture and secure ships for study so we can find out what we can about the enemy." She then turned to the Council once more. "The Telrosians are in a bad position right now. We only have five battlefleets at our disposal, and one is off to deal with an Ork invasion. We will be willing to donate the remaining two for any campaigns or missions, unless we say otherwise, for this Council. The two are for defense, in conjunction with the protectorates and their forces."

"If the Amazonian proposal is impractical against the Shivans, I would like to take the opportunity to put forward an alternative solution. My cousin, Thaneson of the Azklad Thanedom, will elaborate." The central khazukani took to his seat, and the Thaneson who had been quietly sitting on the left rose in his place.

"At present, there are fifteen star systems being monitered by Gandongliz heavy cruisers, vessels specialized for communication and detection. The Golugan system, twelve systems adjacent currently being terraformed for planetary colonization, the Veneficus Regnum primary system, and this star system. All the Gandongliz are in constant communication with one another, using regular shift rotations so that there are no breaks in communication. If contact is lost with any of the Gandongliz, the Shivans are assumed to be attacking the system that has lost contact and reinforcements deployed.

"We propose to have such communication nodes as our present in this system brought to each star system that is valued by our respective nations. If contact is lost with any of the contact points, the local governments in each system will immediately be informed by the crewmen that had been tasked with communicating with that system. If there are enough forces assembled from each nation, we should be able to overwhelm with Shivans with weight of numbers, if nothing else, in the first monitored system that they attack.

"Any suggestions for improvement in light of what we ourselves do not know about the Shivans from their previous attacks are naturally more than welcome."

Tal capitulated on his idea but was wary of the Golugani idea for more than one reason - more specifically, it was never going to work in the Dominion region of space. He didn't look at the Shivans as a terrifying species in any means; simply technologically advanced, which could always be beaten in a number of ways (if not superior firepower, than with creative tactics). However, part of it was that the others were looking for a more proactive strategy - Tal figured that the collection as a whole here could not even begin to put together such a strategic move until more was known about the race as a whole. The Coredians, in particular, had attracted his ire - in meeting the race before, he figured they probably knew more than they were letting on. In addition, they seemed to be overstating the problem of the individuals of the Shivan race. Perhaps they did not have overbearing infantry weaponry, but other races did - the Amazonians having plenty of oversized and far-too-powerful weapons that could unleash hell in numerous forms.

Tal had another idea, however - but he did want to post up a potential problem with the Golugani idea first.

"The system is impractical, at best. Not every civilization merely has limited numbers of valued star systems in the single digits or teens - and such a system would never work in the Amazonian regions, for example. I am not sure why a general special alert beacon be broadcast via super-luminal speeds to nearby communication nexuses for each race - such an action would take less time than it would take to destroy a single capital-sized ship. No need for such an extensive system to even fall into place."

"A different idea," Tal put forth now. "If we can get one of their bodies safely away hopefully dead, why not develop a biological counter to their actual physical forms? It would be less costly and fairly easy to do with the Dominion's resources in genetics and biotechnology, and it would have the power to potentially leave sitting hulks devoid of live crewmembers. If their bodies have cellular activity of any kind they must be susceptible to attacks smaller than any missile or physical weapon, yet potentially far more lethal."