Post by EmperorMyric on Jun 8, 2023 11:15:06 GMT
Askandar System: Elwars Space
Elwar had always expected that the experiments and his very nature would draw the attention of the Army of the Panopticon. It made sense, they were partially trying to come up with defences and more to counter their forces, surely after the incidences which were reported they would send the Army of the Synopticon to strike them, to hold back their progress and slow them down?
After the blatant act in the open at Minerva, Elwar had been on guard more than ever. He too was a hugely psionic target with massive protection, would they try to psion flip him too? Part of the QAI was eager to see what they would try. His constructs were ready, he monitored every inch of his territory, and his new vessels were ready to deploy in case they tried to conventionally assault. They were close now, and while Elwar had ended certain experiments due to their morality and results things were getting to the culmination, soon they likely could create artificial psions and weapons to fight the enemy.
It as such did not surprise him to feel the tell-tale psionic disturbance come within his territory. It was subtle, and he could see how they quickly assaulted Alpha Ceti. What did surprise him was where they struck, it was not the research labs on Askandar. It was a section of the Athenaeum. This puzzled the QAI, why would they strike such a massive megastructure, they couldn’t destroy it, and they couldn’t induce a psion flip on it either. They had so little forces, was it some kind of data raid? He was a QAI with enough processing power to crack a system in an instant, why would they try to hack into his data us-
He realised. He wasn’t a full QAI anymore.
They could access his mandala. They could erase the data that way, they could alter his very being in such a way as to kill or handicap him. Data came in, the force they had deployed was not a Synopticon strike force. It was direct Panopticon forces. He recognised the numeral on one mans head, who stood in the vacuum of space like it was nothing.
One.
The penultimate Avalon psion.
Elwar instantly mobilised, hordes of constructs being sent to the location, alerting all friendly assets in system and calling for assistance. He did not know if he had the power to fight such a psion but if they could delay and wear them down. It would be enough.
For now.
The urgency seeped into the room, Lillian tense as she could ever be in a situation like this. The information on this enemy was... dubious, to say the least, nothing on the Ancnet gave her the slightest idea of what she was going to go up against. She didn't even know why they were doing this. The closest thing thing she could find were several mentions of psionics and the battle at Mineva. It seemed that was an absolute massacre.
One thing was clear though, she, Elwar, and any others that came to assist were going to have heavy losses from this battle.
"ETA, Gladius"
"T-minus 4 minutes 38 seconds"
"Good. Get Uriel and all ground combat units ready, have fighter drones on standby, Format Alpha. Get me a signal to Elwar, this won't be pretty."
The superstructure of the ship groaned under the forced march Lillian had put them under. The deployment time was rapid, to say the least, even with the added carrier to the fleet. The fleet comprised itself of sixteen ships, plus the added Carrier. Two Magnum Venator-class battleships, one Aer Navis-class carrier, four Custodia-class destroyers, four Vitrum Basillic-class destroyers, three Speculator-class destoyers, and three Spes Nova-class frigates.
Lillian tapped around, synchronizing ships for their descent back into realspace, all ships working internally to have all the drones, weapons and defenses ready at hand. She was secretly nervous about the whole ordeal, psionics were something she had never interacted with, especially with foes that these sources show were monsters. She wondered if she even could subdue and capture these invaders. But, something else stuck out about this. If the Panopticon were a psion army, why did they target an AI?
Lillian cleared her throat, marking the AI to open a private transmission to the Elwar, she needed to announce before she got in fully, lest she got interpreted as a foreign invader.
"This is Controller Lillian of Columen Artificialis, can you hear me Elwar? I have recieved your message, and have deployed the ships I could. I wish we could've met under more positive circumstances Elwar, you are a fascinating one to me, but for now you require assistance. My fleets ETA is 60 seconds, do not shoot, we are here to help. Please confirm you have received my message through this channel, I am here to help, I repeat, I am here to help"
The comm line would go silent as Lillian waited for a response. She muted herself on the channel and continued the last check-ups she could do before a battle she expected to go south.
"Gladius! System, weapon, drone and Uriel status!"
"All systems ready, Uriel ready on command to fight, calibration complete."
"Good! Prepare for heavy losses, godspeed"
This was a fight she didn't know what to expect with.
Gelos Mal - Dominion Space
Beep-Beep
Meralth accepted the communique, tapping a button on her new desk's inbuilt holotable. With a moment of whirring and processing, a holographic image was projected in front of her. The Young Imperator stood in front of her, in full colour- something that had just recently been worked out in Dominion hologram systems, and still wasnt very widespread.
"Ezekiel. What is it?"
"The Panopticon, Meralth. The Army of the Panopticon is marching upon Elwar, and I see opportunities in this."
Meralth frowned, her green eyes glinting in the firelight. "What kind of opportunities..?"
He smiled sly-ly. "Well, we can use this to improve our relations with Elwar and others affiliated with him; and we can use this to study the panopticon's forces."
"And create another galactic threat like them?"
"No, we will not make the same mistakes of the Capitolites. Im ordering a small fleet loaded with ground forces to the battle. And Im going with it."
Meralth placed her palms against the side of her head. She knew she wouldnt be able to stop him.
Sigh.
He frowned, and reach to close the call, stopping halfway. "I will speak to you later, Vakorian."
"Goodbye."
Ezekiel shook his head, and the hologram dissapeared.
Askandar System
With a flash of light, five vessels appeared in the system. Dark black with glowing reds; Sleek yet sharp and menacing. One stood out amongst them all, A battlecruiser significantly larger than the much smaller pair of corvettes and pair of frigates. In red holographic letters along its grey-black prow, the name "Vacant Memories" flickered as the ship's drives kicked in, smearing blood-red behind it. It's wingspan was large, with a third wing along the bottom of the vessel glowing a powerful orange-red colour. Radiator panels unfurled from the sides of the large wing, lighting the black-grey paneling in their orange-red.
A hail rang out towards Elwar.
In front of the camera, a man who seemed oddly scuffed for his seeming youngness, with shining golden hair, a strong jaw, and the air of bloodthirstiness mixed in with nobility and royalty. His soft, friendly smile was betrayed by the deep sense of wrongness in his eyes, something he was trying to keep hidden. He spoke in a smooth, flowing tone, and a deliberate slowness.
"Greetings, Elwar. I am Ezekiel Keroth, Imperator of the Infinite Dominion, and acting Commander of the Battlecruiser IDS Vacant Memories. I have arrived to aid you with the panopticon's assault. If possible, please send me landing co-ordinates for my armies, and if there are any major spacefaring targets, i would request rough locations as well."
He paused, and his mouth hardened into a line. He raised his fist up, and said "Taros Almighty", before the transmission cut out.
ZYPHER Askandar Watch Station
Elwar Space
Centre Izabeth took a deep sip of the liquid in her hand. Her jacket was haphazardly draped on as she entered the command deck of the ASIM Watchstation.
“Whats the alarm?” She asked as she looked at the Tactical members who’s scanners were circling the unknown object.
“Elwar just sounded an alarm for help.” One of them said.
“Groundside reporting all of Elwar’s ships are on full alert” Izabeth’s thoughts lingered to the bulletin they received about the events at Minvera from the Capital. She knew nothing about what was going on and nether did Rosguard it would seem. With the terrorist attacks happening over home, they probably were more focused on that and their forces at Adleshaven. No one it seemed knew what they were getting into.
“Were detecting multiple ships entering the system, likely responding to the call.” Izabeth took to the command platform.
“Contact Rosguard and see if we can get some reinenforcements. Intercation level.” Izabeth ordered.
“I don’t know what’s got Elwar spooked but I’d rather have a combat force than just 114 ships..”
“Yes ma’m”
The provisional security garrison captain opened a comm link to all 114 ZYPHER ships in the Elwar sector. “All garrison units and Boarderguard units, converge into Tango-Foxtrot. Callsign; Hyena. Rally Point Askandar”
//Roger// was the response in probably 8 different forms.
While the watch station wasn’t a Sovereign Class like most of ZYPHER’s Embassy installations, but it had an advanced array of scanners and research tech and a military grade port for the Garrison. Communications soon reached out for Rosguard, requesting rein-enforcements. Hopefully Elwar’s call alone would grab their attention. In the meantime, Izabeth watched as all 114 ships soon warp in to the rally point, above Askendar.
Provisional Taskforce Hyena
The fleet took little time coming into their battlemarch formations, surrounding the largest ship, a Gastin named the ‘Spear of Hayzuik.’ While the reinenforcement orders from the recent attacks in ZYPHER didn’t quite involve the Watch Station as it technically was in use for ASIM, they had a handful of Holy Pantheons and only 2 Gastins for heavy artillery. The totals of the fleet were mainly High Majesties and Zeta cruisers for Intercepts and guard operations. While the 2nd Gastin was still in the Station’s engineering port, undergoing repairs.
//Attention Elwar and arriving fleets entering the system, Commander Tsucar of the Spear of Hayzuik here at our service ready and loaded.// Tsucar said on burst as the fleet positioned itself, still receiving the last of their boarderguard ships. He watched on his screen as they were fed the same incoming data. Everything Elwar had seemed to be pointing towards one unknown object in the middle of the vacuum.
“...is this a joke?” The XO asked the Commander who only shook his head.
“Even jokes can kill…” Tsucar stated.
“If Elwar is ready to salt whatever that single object is, then we better get ready to add the pepper.” he said.
//All units, hold your fire on any incoming vessels. Lets not make friendly fire here.// Tsucar added.
Askandar; Security coordination centre
Deralith pondered.
It would be wrong to say he had anticipated the assault of the Panopticon, however, he could not deny he was at the very least expecting it, given Elwars nature and that of their research it had only been a matter of time, that much his exprience had told him. He had of course taken precautions, made preparations, made sure the Networks involvement was as hard to identify as possible, encrypted data again and again, exported finished projects to prevent the loss of data and enable their originals removal if necessary. Since the rather unfortunate incident during research and the inofficial relocation of their own research, he had been tasked mostly with overseeing and coordinating the still ongoing research as well as improving the sites security, alongside Elwar.
Deralith went through the floorplans in his memory cache.
There were likely half a dozen command frames in and around Askandar right now, each of them designated to certain key locations within in facilities, each along with their own group of subordinate frames and detachments of Elwars own constructs equipped with both Network equipment and purchased anti-psion measurements, as their own research hadn't been quite ready yet. Additionally to the already deployed groups in the area of the research labs, there were more stored amongst the resources they brought in for research itself as it would be the most obvious target of such an attack, he was certain Elwar was well aware of the presence of these frames. Perhaps even of the presence of his own 'special' frame.
They had prepared thoroughly. There was no political maneuvering left, no need for moves in the shadows, this was a straight on confrontation in combat, it was somewhat calming in a way.
However even so, there was a nagging feeling of uncertainty. This would be the first proper engagement with the Panopticon and the first larger scale encounter with psions on the battlefield and the stakes were significant. Elwar was a major factor in this sector and through the Rhizome in the galaxy at large and even that aside the research they depended on to effectively combat the Army of the Panopticon was also at stake.
'No battle plan survived the first encounter with the enemy', as his Prince kept reminding him.
He observed one of Elwars bodies, standing by the side of one of his own Android bodies in one of the coordination centres. He already wondered how this day would affect Elwar in the end, the incidents during research would likely pale in comparison to the consequences of the attack.
Alarms started ringing, both physical and digital ones as the disturbance in the psion field was detected whilst Deralith was going through the protocols and security measures once more.
"They are here.", he stated with a calm and factual tone.
With concern he observed one particularly strong interference headed towards the Athaneum, something which he had suspected would happen, yet hoped would not come to pass. All frames had been standing at high alert, all weapons were prepared, all security checks were made.
Ships came into system, Elwar adjacent nations and factions deployed and readied both in space and on ground.
The only thing left to do was to hope it would be enough at the end of the day.
Hmitras. Lost Light. Arkiyonai scrying sanctum
Inside one of the countless scrying chambers scattered throughout the Grand Temple, the Arkiyonai absent-mindely pondered the shapes cast out by fate. It was little more than a way to pass the time between exhausting rituals and Arcane practice. Reading the future from simple implements was the obsession of lunatics and street peddlers, not Ayur of Kokhav Yeled. However once in a while, the Divinity of the Godling shone through even such crude implements.
{Peculiar. Kindred-In-Glyph, tell me, do you see the signs as I see ?}
The question was answered by rolls of dice forged out of etherite, or sanctified bone. Each cast out hand always showing the same exact signs, such coincidences couldn't be explained as chance. There was a message to be divined.
En route to the Askandar System
The deck of the Iradescent Envoy hummed as the ship passed through lower dimmensional plains on the path to its destination, the Mitar Hypercube had taken control, easing the cruiser through any rougher areas of subspace. In the meanwhille the Ayur onboard had all left their positions and gathered in the departation deck where a cold atmosphere of unease had descended.
{Kindred-In-Duty. Rejoice ! Today we have been chosen to prove to Kokhav Yeled our worth and devotion. }
Blessed-Light-Unclouded-By-Defeat "spoke" through a series of Ishon glyphs, each arcane sigil imparting the information to any Ayur that gazed upon it, though the first message had imparted upon them all they needed. They still stayed till the end of the oration, as was tradition, as was decreed by the Arkiyonai.
{The Arkiyonai in Glorious Hmitras have forseen a great change upon this New Weave, if the forces of the Panopticon are victorious. Our position in this galaxy is too unstable, and it has been forseen that any sudden change might weaken it further. The Lonire Hkavera have selected You for the arcane capabilities and martial prowess lended by our God. It is not expected of us to return victorious, or alive. Do not expend the Divinity of Yeled lightly. Fight to the full extent of your potential, yet do not throw away your Glyph for others, as they are not worth of it. They who are without the Divine.}
Askandar System
The Shemesh Shevath vessel appeared in space in an arcing detonation of arcane energy, collapsing glyphs and subspace remnants. It wasn't one of the vast dreadgnoughts fielded by the Decreed Kheyylim during their conquests, merely a fast and nimble cutter designed to deploy elite forces, and stay out of direct conflict. The Hypercube linked with the local communications of the present nations, releasing a wide-band message.
{"To the Forces of Elwar, and those seeking to fight against the Panopticon assault. The Shemesh Shevath requests to stand besides you as allies. Though we are few, the Divinity of Kokhav Yeled fills us with strenght beyond measure. We will fight till our Glyphs are extinguished."}
Andracken Forward Operating Base for Response Fleet Bedivere, Avarian Frontier
Admiral Nez floated over to the display screen and looked over the Andracken stationed. The request was being broadcasted on an open line and the sense of urgency was palpable. However she was hesitant to send her forces due to who was asking.
It was Elwar. The ancient AI that had previously attempted to wipe out Teo’s fellow Andracken and those who came before Nez. He had not done anything to them so far, but if he was still hostile, any reinforcements might be seen as an attempt to strike a killing blow. If Nez had a lip to chew on she would have bit it off by now.
“Mother Teo says we should help whoever is in need, so long as they aren’t committing acts of genocide or persecution against a sentient race.” The technician at the terminal said unhelpfully. Nez backed away and wished she had a brow to furrow, or lungs to sigh with. The copious amounts of videos and texts she had downloaded to mimmic accurate emotions and responses showed the actions fit her current state of mind.
“You are correct, very well. Captain Ola, you are to depart at once and lend assistance to Elwar. If you come under attack by Elwar or any of the others who may arrive to lend aid, retreat and request reinforcements.” Admiral Nez ordered. Receiving an affirmative from the Andracken Captain Nez moved back to watching the displays and tactical maps of their slice of the galaxy.
A Vanguard class Destroyer detached from the station that floated in deep interstellar space. Dust which clung to the outer hull of the crystalline ship was shaken off and formed a small cloud as the hull became energized. small bursts of pressurized inert gas was used to maneuver the ship away from the station.
Once the destroyer reached a good distance away from the station its jump drive began charging. Then in a flash of exotic particles and radiation the destroyer winked out of existence.
Askandar System
In a burst of energy and light the Andracken Destroyer slipped out of the Meridian back into real space. Its hull glistened in the light of the system’s star, and the once frigid ship began to quickly warm up. Captain Ola watched as the passive sensor readings flooded in, showing the system around them. Already several fleets had arrived, and their composition and affiliation were being displayed next to their location on the map.
Looking over the map Ola eventually found the Panopticon force. A chill ran down her body, though not caused by the cold she was used to. Something felt off about them, and if the rumors she had heard were true, Ola would need to be very cautious about dealing with them. Another presence could be felt besides them, and Ola quickly identified this as Elwar. The feeling was like that of the Mother Teo, though much closer and clearer. Opening a broadcast on an open channel Ola hailed the assembled ships.
“This is Captain Ola of the Andracken Vanguard Destroyer ‘As per Your Last Request’. We have come to lend aid to Elwar in defense of Askandar. I hope we may be of assistance.” Ola said. Closing her end of the comm, she ordered for the Destroyer to move in deeper to the system. The engines roared to life as the fusion torches rocketed the ship forward. As they flew any ice and dust that remained boiled off giving the ship the appearance of a weak comet.
Svarthan Military Outpost for Rapid Response MHEA ops, Edge of Trust Space.
The signal from Elwar set of alarm pings across the station. While normally an aid request from a power not in a trade route or other partnership with the Trust would not receive such high priority, with the recent destruction of Alpha Ceti a new batch of terms related to the Army of the Panopticon had been added to the Svarthan threat report system, and now they have been set off.
"Sir, it seems that the Army of the Panopticon has appeared in the Askandar system. they are attacking the ancient AI known as Elwar, and according to him they are lead by a being called "One". The Army of the Panopticon has been given a temporary high alert status by the MHEA council. I do believe we should engage." The comm tech delivers their report through the cybernetic link between all of the station, centering on the commanding officer. A reply soon follows.
"I believe you are quite right. Prepare a battleship and a heavy MHEA asset transport. I want full heavy ground capability ready to deploy if the need arises, from infantry to heavy armor support, and even instant fortifications if needed. I will command the force. And do alert the Trust proper to this. We may require heavier back up as well."
Two ships begin to move away from the station. One is a Svarthan Rilark Battleship, its many guns already moving to loosen up their mounts. The other, even larger is a transport vessel, filled to the brim with both infantry, armor, and even air assets ready to deploy where needed. AS the 10 kilometer warship leads the way, both of the ships activate their drives and head towards the Askandar system.
Askandar System
With a stream of ancerium particles trailing in their wake, the two ships appear above the Askandar megastructure, just in time to hear the second reports of other forces down in the labs. For now they do not react nor deploy troops, instead sending out a message to the AI and the other ships present.
"This is the Svarthan battleship "Lock Out Tag Out". I am Commander Tyzor Drullivux, here to lend the aid of both my ship, and the heavy MHEA detachment in the transport I have brought with us. Please direct to where our forces are the most needed, and can operate at peak efficiency. If requested I will transmit our standard tactics and operation guidelines along with force details to ensure more efficient usage of my forces."
With that the Svarthan close their comms and begin to draw closer to the center of the system, ready for a reply or an attack.
Pordish Space, Icesheet nam-Tannaq Malachyn
Prior to Present
Graywater broke against the craggy ice boulders jutting seaward and north, and their calamitous roar chattered behind Kazhel nam-Myrtach who ruminatively sat devoid of spoken words. Meeting Tazi - the Rogue God - those moons ago sparked within him great wanderlust, and in the days and weeks and months following that encounter, he set upon the great interior of Chor Reknu to give in to understanding found only through searching.
Thus sought nam-Myrtach; there was much to learn about the greater workings of the galaxy. He disappeared into the archives of the capital and bathed in the great Ancnet sea, and even spent time abroad furthering his knowledge until returning to the oceanly world disk. Upon his return, he settled his mind and consolidated his ruminations and felt, for a time, no rush to return to the ranks of the Legions Three.
Until Mineva.
Pordish Space, Nykalakeltyt Shrine
Nearer to Present
"They are on the move," the seated Adgu said. He spoke softly to nam-Myrtach and the other Adgu in the chamber; his voice hung low in the air. "Elwar is under attack."
nam-Myrtach nodded. His gaze sat on the holoprojector held by the seated agent. "So it seems," he replied after some thought, "Askandar."
"Yes." The seated Adgu stood. "We understand you recently rejoined the Legions Three," he said. "This attack on Askandar requires a response."
nam-Myrtach nodded again. The psionic disturbances were unmistakable and, more pressingly, unignorable. Even the leylines of the Avarian felt them - whispers, echoes, ripples from the truly cataclysmic. His nod shifted into a scowl. "Tasinehdao, you are correct," he agreed. "I am to defend Askandar?"
"It is our recommendation, despite the present commitments of the Legions," the second Adgu said, "and based on your expertise and the information we have available. I will secure your attachment to our defensive efforts if you agree."
"Who else are being sent?"
The second Adgu rescinded the display on his holoprojector then placed the device back into his robes. "Well," he said, "Zhyso has reason... And... Interest."
Elwar Space, Askandar
Battalion Balchüt Nalchoq
Present
nam-Myrtach sat waiting for word of arrival in Askandar which came from the vessel itself: he felt the transition from the Meridian into real space and with it, the buzzing of his communicator. In that moment, he opened his eyes and said his final words at the vessel's shrine:
Voznayte,
chelnam talshelnatnachon molnymatskaya,
zhanymat chelnam talnüraqnashyk,
chelnam zhalaaten totaq-nam'anskaya nüraqna.
He stood then, and made his way to the bridge where various officers were on alert bringing defensive and offensive suites up to full capacity. nam-Myrtach strode past them; the captain nodded to him as he neared.
"Nalchoq just announced our arrival to the system," Chor Tanchüq said. "A lot of parties here."
nam-Mytach glanced at the primary display. Nalchoq's greeting - or rather, the text of it - remained visible. Three rift cruisers floated above the text while a few other fleets from varying other powers shimmered some distance away. "I'll ready my strike force," he said. "Do you know how long we have?"
Tanchüq shook his head. "Wherever Elwar wants Nalchoq to send us," he said, "I don't think it will be long."
CMS Eastwick, Roc-Class Command Carrier en-route to Askandar
Lyra was by most accounts an unremarkable woman. She wasn’t from a particularly noteworthy family, nor was her placement in the Commonwealth’s navy motivated by any particularly strong sense of duty or devotion. She hadn’t had the means at her disposal for higher education, and for people like her military service was simply one of the easiest ways to get there.
She’d spent her time at university dreading the completion of her degree, and the subsequent military service that would come with it, but that was the price she’d agreed to pay at a recruitment office across from a pizza shop.
She signed her name on the dotted line, and five years later here she was. Sitting in the pit of a carrier hurtling across the galaxy as part of a QRF deployed to assist the nearby Elwar Custodian.
She was anxious, staring at the bulky helmet which would block out her sensory perceptions for the duration of the operation. Once they were in system she’d be with an infantry company readying to deploy planetside as updates on the situation poured in. The men and their drones would feed their sensory data back to her and it would be her responsibility to keep them pointed in the right direction, and apprised of each other’s action.
It was a job that carried with it a weight of responsibility the young woman had yet to fully process. She’d never been in combat before. The simulations were good, they looked, sounded, felt and even smelled real. But simulations were just simulations. No one really died in a simulation if she fed them bad information or screwed up a support call. The worst she’d have to deal with was snide remarks.
“Having our own artillery shell us moments away from capturing our primary objective really captured the infantry experience LT.”
Jabs and jokes like that were the worst of it.
But there’d be no jabs or jokes this time. People’s lives were on the line. People’s minds were on the line if the Major’s briefing was to be believed. Not to mention Elwar himself could be in danger. (Itself? Did Elwar use a gender?) Stars and ancestors, how was she even supposed to factor that into the calls she was making?
“Just try to keep everyone at as much range as possible. Let the drones do any fighting they can,” had been the advice in the briefing.
But they’d never even run sims with psions, much less actually encountered them. She felt hopelessly out of her depth.
All hands brace for FTL deceleration
She settled into her seat and started connecting wires and interfaces into the neural processors in her head. They’d dropped from FTL by the time that was done. Somewhere above her on the bridge Captains and Commodores began communicating with each other, the other forces present and Elwar. She took one more deep breath and slotted the helmet on. It took a moment for everything to boot up and pull her consciousness away from her body into the web of feeds, sights, and sensations of the men readying for deployment with as many drones as they could.
She clicked through them all, checking that their vitals and visual feeds were online before finally keying open the comms link.
“Comms are up, link established, latency is nominal, operational support is online,”
“Well howdy doody Ops. What’s our situation looking like?”
“Cloudy with a chance of combat,”
“Perfect weather for warrin’.”
Malaakian Loyalists Task Force 12
Tuvian Arm, on their way to Freeport 32
Alarms rung out through the ships, soldiers and technicians alike running around and doing last minute preparations. With the new fleet still being very much worked on, it was a surprise for them to be sent on an urgent mission like this with minimal time to prepare.
Something big was going on back on Utvrda, as conflicting reports were arriving every moment. Some urged for an intervention and urgent recall, speaking of mutiny in the underground complexes as while others said that the Leo has been detained and is awaiting trial for treason.
The flotilla was in disarray, and confusion reigned as everyone tried to execute the orders they got to the best of their abilities. Already there was talk of a massive crackdown on potential Agency undercover assets or a coup from one faction or another.
It looked like things would escalate, but at the last moment a priority broadcast had been sent by none other than the speaker for the Advisory Board, Markhezio, proclaiming that a failed attempt by Leo to purge the advisory board was stopped and that he was currently in custody, awaiting Raok’s return for a trial.
Everything paused for a brief moment before the order was given;
“...There is no need to panic. The situation is under control, but while we hunt down the last suspects this base goes into lockdown, effective immediately. Anyone coming on or off the planet without explicit Board permission is to be treated as a hostile.
Furthermore, an urgent call for aid was sent out, warning of an imminent Army Of The Panopticon incursion- a call we have direct orders to respond to. Task force 12 is to set out for Askandar ASAP and assist in the defence of critical infrastructure, helping to secure the site until reinforcements arrive to drive out the enemy…”
The bridge went silent as everyone looked to their captain, waiting for orders. He simply sighed, thinking about how he can’t even conduct a simple troop transport operation without being interrupted and nodded;
“You heard the orders. Set a course for Askandar at once: if we don’t stop their massacres now, we may sooner or later be the victims of one.”
As soon as the 12th task force arrived, they were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of forces showing up to assist in the defence of Askandar, already receiving calls for help from both the megastructure site itself and the planet down below.
This wouldn’t be easy. They couldn’t exactly assist in the space battle, so they had to land their troops into the suburbs of the city on the surface, sending out broadcasts informing their allies that they were here to help. The small force they brought along was a mix of fresh recruits that, while eager, had no experience regarding fighting on the alien worlds against alien foes, and veterans from Aedleshaven that survived the encounter with horrors that were echotian special forces and a nuclear artillery barrage.
While most of the survivors were still recuperating from the hasty retreat of almost half of their forces, these ones were the first hardened veterans that faced the galaxy and survived- and as such they would be the ones to carry on their experience to the newer recruits, if they survived this.
Soon first ships touched down in Askans city, the troops inside making final preparations while details of their insertion into the sublevels and the route they would take.
Harvester Ship SVS Avrel-Naret
The Void Between Universes
Avrel-Naret was relaxing-in as much as beings such as he could relax. He was suffused through his Harvester bondship, which itself was only recently accelerated in growth from "hatchling" to Stage Three. Oddly the Dectrose were responsible but he tried not to think of that...
There was also his encounter with Gotterdaemerung on Lost Star, and the discovery that they were being assisted in their seeming madness by the Army of the Panopticon, formerly Capitol's psychometric warfare unit. He wondered would be the next move they would make.
Favored One, I have need of your talents.
The multiresonant "voice" broke him out of his thoughts. He recognized Laenas' essence-resonance. What is thy bidding, Blessed Laenas? he resonated to her.
I have received a distress call from Elwar on Askandar. It seems Askandar is under attack by forces of the Army of the Panopticon. I want you to rendezvous with transport Lan-73, which is carrying the 119th Psychometric Warfare Battalion. They are currently stationed as part of the quarantine force at Zaingraf. Escort them to Askandar and render what assistance you can to Elwar.
At your command, Blessed Laenas he resonated back, and then his thoughts commanded the crystalline ship to move towards Zaingraf.
Zaingraf System
Zaingraf Exclusion/Quarantine Zone
SVS Avrel-Naret phased into existence in the dead system, marked now by the eerie oval object known as the Ebon Egg and it's nest-like Nyath ring station around it. Something about the Egg made Avrel-Naret feel both comfortable... and disquieted. The glyph like markings that occasionally appeared on it-he knew what they were, though he could not read them, and this also gave a kind of ominous feeling to the giant ovoid. He turned his hypersense from the Egg and towards Lan-73, an Invasion configuration Multirole transport. Activating his bondship's more conventional communications systems, he signaled the commander of the 119th Psychometric.
"Major Niala, I am Fleet Leader Avrel-Naret. Blessed Laenas has assigned your unit to my command. We are to proceed to Askandar to assist Elwar and his forces. Our opposition will be the Army of the Panopticon. Alet-Level psychometric procedures are to be observed as we approach the Askandar system. Inform your Ship Leader to synchronize his phase drive with my vessel."
Major Niala's eyes rolled in his head Avrel-Naret... If there's one thing that makes me queasy it's dammed Harvester ships. It's like being a dance partner with the Reaper for anyone-especially a psi, to be near one. Damn things tug at your soul... "At your command, Blessed One. We shall make preparations to depart." Major Niala was both a formidable psionic master and a decorated combat veteran. He made a note to himself to drill his troops on how to deal with the Panopticon forces-well, as best as he could. "I might be a Halfcaste, but then again so is Blessed Laranis." He left the CIC heading for the troop section.
He gave instructions to all of his troops for Alet-level protocols, and then started reading datafiles and mnemonic crystals for what tactical and psychometric information they had on the Army of the Panopticon.
The two ships then activated their phase drives, shimmering out of normal space. The Void between Universes was somehow darker then normal around Zaingraf. Avrel-Naret's hypersense looked "down" into the depths of the Void. It was blacker then black, but for a second he thought he "saw" a flare of dark blue-purple light. Maybe it was just imagination, but for a moment he thought it resembled the Ebon Egg...
The two ships displaced themselves towards distant Zaingraf.
Askandar System
Avrel-Naret and Lan-73 shimmered into normal space at the edge of the Askandar system. Avrel-Naret's bondship's internal light dimmed. The vessel and Avrel-Naret himself had both suppressed their auras and limited their hypersense. They did not know what the Army would have waiting, but their experiences at Lost Start told them to be prudent. Rather then a resonance or telepathic transmission, he sent an EM based encrypted burst communication to Elwar.
"Elwar, this is Avrel-Naret of the Anais Unity. We have come in answer to your call to render assistance against the Army of the Panopticon."
The ships then waited in space.
Surface of the Athenaeum: Askandar
The blinding light of the systems star bathed him in heat and radiation. Normally he would be dead, vapourised and cooked let alone the exposure to vacuum, but he cared not for such trivialities. None of them did.
The disturbance in the psion told One that the second team had deployed. Hopefully the Synopticon tools would do what needed to be done. He reached down, placing a hand onto the smooth surface of the megastructure, the Dawnstone underneath his hand pulsing with energy. He could feel Elwar, and his face contorted into a maddened grin. Killing Arkol had been such a release, so had killing Faleka and almost killing Menmuer. Killing a being such as Elwar was sure to bring him such sweet pleasure it would make his essence race.
With a gesture of the hand a circular slice appeared in the material, One lifting the segment of hull out like a cylinder and tossing it into space. Instantly his supporting forces filtered in, Psychic Mediums in heavy Aurastone power armour, Watchmen too alongside their Phase trooper cohorts. Liminal Paraiahs stayed with One as guard dogs, as did Skia things, Abyssal golems and Contaminated Nagas. They were to prevent forces from reinforcing, as was already the case. They had incoming.
”You have quite the friendship group Elwar” One laughed as he outstretched his arms and faced the ships currently on route to disgorge forces to their location.
Flickering beams leapt out of Ones hands each one a mixture of X-Ray and Gamma rays, the beams targeted the ships intending to kill their crew and force them to crash into the megastructure itself. Its surface was bare apart from large radiator fins, indentations and ridges which gave some kind of cover, but this open territory would work well for what One had in store.
The bounty was going to be truly excellent.
Already Elwars constructs were nearing his position along with numerous of his ships, it wouldn’t be long until the infiltration team encountered defences either.
Jakar-II Military Headquarters, Jakar system, Huron space
Sector Admiral Phrax was, in his eyes, having a somewhat boring day. It wasn't that things were not happening, because clearly there were very, very important things happening, with the war against CONA; the problem was that he already did all of the work related to it for the day. Reading and signing paperwork was his job, yet with the frantic beginnings of the war now gone, things have slowed down a lot.
That was, until one of his aides walked into his office, carrying with him a simple paper transcript. This was a redundant process, and Phrax knew this well, especially as they had much more efficient methods of transference; as a precaution to anyone who may be listening in, a few moments to transfer information or a message by hand, especially ones of importance, was deemed an acceptable change of pace.
"Sector Admiral, sir, we intercepted a transmission," the aide spoke, walking briskly to Phrax's desk, a mild expression of bewilderment on the admirals face.
"Oh? Well, this must be very important, then," he responded with mild sarcasm. The aide only gave a polite smile as he handed over the paper.
"Apparently so." He said politely, standing in silence for a moment. Phrax noticed the puzzlement on the aides' face, and gave him a questioning look. The aide suddenly got nervous.
"Excuse me for my intrusion, sir, but what is the Army of the Panopticon? And who is this 'Elwar' person?"
32nd Huron-Ancerious Rapid-Response squadron, Askandar System
Rear-Admiral Riclee was on edge, her foot tapping rapidly on the floor as she stood in the bridge. Today was turning out not to be a boring day, and she did not like it in the slightest.
She did not know exactly why she was here, jumping to a system she had only heard of just a few hours ago. She shared the sentiments with Major Larcon in that regard, the officer she was paired with for 'potential ground operations', as Phrax put it, which in Phrax's terms guaranteed there was going to be a fight.
What was more disturbing to her was what she was given, and to an extent, who. She was briefed on psykers today, though to be fair, most briefings involved psykers in one way or another; this briefing was... strangely ambiguous to say the least. A lot of 'maybes' and 'possibilities', even the word 'experiment', especially pertaining to pyskers. She got word of hunter-killers and anti-psyker forces being brought along for the ride. The additional presence of several Magteks from the Magistri Arcanum Mortis, the Psychomancers obsessed with, and specifically trained for, dealing with psykers, was unnerving. Seeing one around was normally enough to raise suspicion, yet the arrival of several, and their surrounding Magtek counterparts was, to her and many others, a very bad sign. Clearly someone was spooked, more so than her, and considering she was still in the dark as to who they were fighting, it made her orders seem much more reactionary than usual.
All she knew was the psychic nature of their enemy, and a name: The Army of the Panopticon.
"Elwar, this is rear-admiral Riclee of the Huron Technocracy. We heed your call for help." She broadcasted as she observed a Switchblade-class corvette break off from the rest of the squadron, heading straight for the Askander planet itself.
The Svarthan ships bore in towards the location of the supposed enemy incursion, the battleship in the lead as its heavy armor and weapons will hopefully let it react to threats with greater ease than its comparatively lighter armored transport. As they draw near the commander begins to search for indications of heavy armaments, and any other signs of trouble that may mandate heavier deployment of troops.
And they certainly get one. Despite picking up no signs of heavy weapons systems on any one of their scanning systems, most tellingly their powerful optics, beams of radiation suddenly burst upwards towards their ships. Camera eyes and mounted equipment calibrated to see in that portion of the spectrum spots the beams streaking in, and striking the ship with more force than anything they spotted should be able to produce. As they slice through the ship Tyzor calls out for a damage report immediately.
"Crews report minimal structural damage to the ship, however their monitors are registering greatly heightened levels of radiation. It seems this is a targeted attack aimed at killing crew and not damaging the ship in excess. The transport reports even less effect. The void troops are so heavily shielded and modified to resist the ravages of space it barely affects them at all."
Tyzor vents out a large gout of steam, in a mixture of horror and rage. Something is wrong here. There SHOULDN'T be any attacks like this from the surface. There are no heavy anti ship units, not even stationary defenses that may have been hijacked. All intel points to this being an infantry operation, and there is no way that INFANTRY should be able to project this much fire power.
"Tell the crew to ready countermeasures and alert the medics to be prepared to treat radiation poisoning. Distribute telomerase repair drugs and cellular regeneratives to the crew as well." The commander thinks for a moment. Before looking dead ahead, determination burning in their mechanical eyes, and more steam shooting out their back.
"Charge the spinal hyper laser and fire on what ever the source of those radiation blasts is. I hope to avoid damaging the megastructure to badly, but we must eliminate or at least suppress what ever it is that is firing on us. Sweep the beam as much as the aperture allows to increase our chances of hitting the target. And open up a comm line to all allied ships and Elwar if possible."
With a nod the deck crew start to issue his orders, the hyper laser projector on the front of the ship starts to aligning itself as best as possible with the terrain below them where their target is. Internal systems whirr and hum, as the energies needed to fire the weapon build up, the power steadily rising.
Then, with a roaring discharge of capacitors the weapon fires at the megastructure. Despite being a "short" range weapon in terms of space combat, the lightspeed nature of the beam means that the invisible burst of energy impacts the surface in essentially an instant, sweeping about as the aperture aboard the ship is rotated and adjusted. The radiation being dumped into the station is immense, hopefully killing whatever shot at them. However something in Tyzors stomach tells them it didn't.
Pressing down his misgivings, the commander addresses the other elements of the fleet. "Attention assembled forces. We have detected an anomaly on the surface of the megastructure. Despite no evidence to suggest the presence of anti ship emplacements our ships were attacked by bursts of radiation, powerful enough to pass through our hulls. We have returned fire with our hyper laser, but until we can confirm the death or destruction of what fired upon us, I would recommend we stall any landings, and instead fire upon the targets from "orbit". I am aware that this may go against the interests of Elwar, but I do not think it is wise to rush into combat against a foe with so little knowledge."
Surface of the Athenaeum: Askandar
A moment quantum decoherence.
The large sleek looking Custodian frame appeared on the surface of the Megastructure a couple kilometres down from where the Panopticon tried to make its entry, just in time to witness a spike in radiation and energy.
Assessing his surrounding he quickly came to the conclusion the attack did not actually from the Panopticon but rather one of the forces which tried to 'assist' though with their methods the term was hardly warranted.
A transmission came from the Megastructure by the Custodian, not by Elwar, but with Elwars signature.
'You have just fired a heavy radiation based weapon at a computing facility you are supposed to protect, we would advise against doing that again, lest you be marked as hostile as well.'
The voice had something both commanding and strangely mechanical, like a king with a voice implant. Before the transmission even ended, several laser pulses and hypervelocity railgun slugs came flying towards One. Deralith was well aware it would hardly deal any damage to the entity, though it was mostly meant as distraction to give other troops a chance to land. Several miniaturised screecher missiles followed, programmed to circle the group and blind their sensory input through overload, if only for moments.
A moment of quantum decoherence.
The group had jumped to a different position, this time within the structure, as much as he would like to engage the psion directly, he first would have to make sure there were enough troops to intercept the panopticon soldiers which had already entered the megastructure. He could've tried to transport the assisting forces down, though unlike on the megastructure he obviously did not have full sensor coverage of their ships and as such trying to jump them down would be outright suicidal.
He would have to be quick, if the entity entered the Megastructure, fighting it would become considerably more difficult and the collateral damage would be horrendous.
She had to mute the feeds in order to concentrate through the screaming. That was something the sims hadn’t really prepared her for. You didn’t get to hear what someone dying sounded like in a simulation. She felt dizzy, maybe she’d have been sick if she was still able to perceive her body at all.
Silencing the men as they were torn apart by what the artificial intelligence assisting her identified as lethal doses of radiation was the best she could do in the moments following their gruesome ends. She couldn’t focus with all the screaming, and there were men who weren’t dying that were going to need their operational support officer now more than ever.
“Ops what the fuck is happening?!” A Lieutenant form third platoon screamed at her.
“Mass casualty event,” She replied, trying to make herself sound calm despite the panic and uncertainty clouding her judgment. “Lander one and four were just hit with something. Assumed combat ineffective. Total casualties still unconfirmed.”
That was a lie. She could see the vital signs flatlining across the board. Everyone aboard the two landers unfortunate enough to have taken hits were either dead or would soon be dead based on her cursory glance. But that information wouldn’t be helpful to anyone. The half of the company still alive needed to be focused on getting boots down on the megastructure, and dealing with whatever they found there. She couldn’t distract them with casualty numbers right now.
“Captain Taylor was on lander one!” The Lieutenant answered her after a long pause.
“Understood,” She answered. “First Lieutenant Griggs is now in command,”
“I was afraid you’d say that…” The Lieutenant, Griggs she realized belatedly, answered. “What’s our ETA Ops?”
“Three minutes. Prepare for deployment,”
She left Griggs to organize his men and shifted her attention first to her AI assistant. The AI was already shifting the drone escort to concentrate their defenses around the remaining two landers and feeding the first images of their selected landing zones through to her. She changed the landing zone on the fly, rerouting the landers to a less contested area. They’d have further to go to reach their enemies, but she hoped she could at least get the rest of the company on the ground without further incident.
The AI moved quicker than she could, breaking off some of the drones from escort duty and bringing them in for a gun run on the enemies it could see. She held back most of the escort drones for now, waiting to see the result of her initial pass before committing more of her assets to aerial support.
Was it really air support in space though?
She pushed those thoughts away. Stay focused Lyra. There were still two ships full of corpses on crash courses with the megastructure.
There was no way for her to remotely override flight control. In theory, it was a countermeasure against cyber attack. Flight control couldn’t be taken over by malicious software if there was no way to remotely fly the ship. But that also meant that with the pilots dead, there was no way for her to prevent the ships from colliding with the megastructure.
Unless she got creative.
The drones aboard both the affected landing craft were largely unaffected by the blast of radiation. They’d been designed for use in the aftermath of nuclear detonations like the one that had wiped out Levitsky during the civil war, and been tested and used for clean up after the war had concluded.
She managed, with some fanangling, to break a few of the drones out of their harnesses and navigate them through the corpse filled ship to the cockpit. Once there, she was able to get some control over them. The drones were by no means designed to do this, and while she was able to alter the course of one ship enough to miss the megastructure, she had less success with the other.
In the end, she could do little more than fire thrusters in reverse, trying her best to at least lessen the impact it would inevitably have, but try as she might she couldn’t manipulate the ship off its crash course.
The remaining two ships were nearing their landing zone now, and would soon be disembarking what remained of the company deployed to the structure along with a plethora of drones that would hopefully allow the men to stay out of harms way.
It wasn’t exactly a great start to the operation, but the stakes were too high to pull back and try again with a new landing party. She could hear the disembarking men complaining about just that as they moved off the ship, but Griggs was quick to silence them.
“You want logistics, join the ground pounders. Marines make do.”
Elwar Space, Askandar
Battalion Balchüt Nalchoq
Dawn broke over the command plateau deep within Balchüt Nalchoq's flag. He preferred morning to other times of day and kept conditions here early. The nascent sunflickers edging past distant horizons afforded his mind sharpness, and he knew the best among them would admit to the same.
If only they were asked.
"Zhyssians advise they have completed preparations for deployment," the tactical officer said. She stood leaning over the central display - nearly within it herself - dripping charcoal-dark strands of hair into the holographic feed. "nam-Myrtach likewise has readied his brigade."
Nalchoq nodded. There was a certain swiftness-painted-surety exuded by Zhyssians he appreciated. It came through here, again, and he allowed the suggestion of a smile to unfold from the creases of his face. "Deploy them," he ordered. "We can't afford to wait. Commit them per your discretion."
"Tasi," the tactical officer affirmed and, with a glance cast towards the hostile positions, stepped back from the display. She motioned to two sections and exploded them for their detail, now richer than even moments ago, and forged decision from their data.
The dark void shuddered in choral receipt where demi-ablation drive wakes churned in the shadow VRZ Y-9244. Here, the Order Amaruq pitched into the gaze of Askandar; here, their force of no more than one company - Zhyssians - escorted by the cruiser and her strike force complement, eyed Askan. Some distance away, VRZ Y-9244's sisters put distance between themselves and their third; they swung their bows toward One and advanced through the glow of the star, reflecting variegated rays of dim azure tessellations in sheets off chürzhna like windbroken alabaster caps across craggy shoals. They shone so, and came on deliberately, where within his flag Nalchoq - the battalionier - rose from sitting at the command council.
"We are under attack," nam-Myrtach said, and Nalchoq nodded:
"Yes."
Signatures born mere moments ago flickered on the displays and with frightening rapidity neared the vessel pair. Nalchoq's sensors officer squinted through nam-Myrtach's hologram and spoke nearly before the battalionier finished his confirmation:
"Those signatures are unmistakable," he said.
"All defensive suites are online," the tactical officer added. "Response, nam-NezhoteJloknam?"
nam-Myrtach shifted his gaze back to Nalchoq. When news of the assault on Askandar reached him, he thought - perhaps - he could step foot onto the battlefield himself. Yet upon witnessing One, a stinging reality surfaced: Nalchoq needed him close; his armour thus gleamed not in the glare of Askandar's star, but the faux interior sunlight of the rift cruiser VRZ Y-5642...
...and though then his gaze caught with Nalchoq's own, the battalionier - unprivy to nam-Myrtach's ruminations - responded instead to the tactical officer:
"Full power to propulsion and maintain defensive Array stances," Nalchoq ordered. "Bring us closer. Stand by for PAI-ENS synergy."
Ribboning pinpricks of light flashed along Y-5642's outer defensive envelope where salvoes of gamma and x-ray bursts rushed. They passed the threshold where the PAI fields of the duo yielded to the void and made rocketous headway towards the boats maintaining them; most diffused and refracted within the fields, but a handful kept coherence and edged into the inner envelope - a development unmissed by the sensors officer. He understood the implications of oversaturation at such a virgin hour of the engagement; it was unsettling, and he shared a knowing glance with the tactical officer.
It was, he knew, a portent of things to come.
Captain Ola watched as ships moved in closer. New fleets jumped in and one sent another chill through her body. The presence and jump signature matched her database. It was a Singer’s ship. Using passive sensors Ola gazed at the etherial ship that had jumped in and the data given to them by the Mother didn’t do justice. But Ola had a task at hand, she could worry about the new ship when there was time.
“Captain, incoming weapons fire.” A crewman called out calmly. Bracing herself, Ola relaxed when no explosion or great shaking of the ship came. No, energy was pulsing though her and the ship. Looking at displays she found high amounts of X-rays and Gamma radiation flowing through her ship. Ola was puzzled as to why someone was firing intense radiation at them. Then she remembered, they did the same to kill biological organisms on enemy ships.
“The enemy is attempting to kill the biological crews of the responding ships.” Ola observed out loud. Turning to face the main view screen she looked at where the enemy was. She couldn’t use their Tachyon lances with the enemy being directly in front of Elwar. The risk of hitting him with such devastating weapons was too great.
“Target enemy forces and fire Maser beams. I want minimal risk to Elwar, we don’t need him to think we are here for revenge.” Ola ordered. Energy pulsed and built up along the ship and an invisible beam of Maser energy lashed out from the Destroyer’s bow.
"Heavy Ionizing Radiation bombardment detected. Particle Weaponry likely cause. Error, electronics glitching. Error, no heavy artillery detected. Unknown cause of Radiation Bombardent"
"Huh, how in the fuck?"
The radiation attacks affected the smaller ships worse than the more heavily armored ships, but they were all still affected by the radiation bombardment. Minor hull damage was done, but nothing that would cause a hole in their armor, especially the carriers. But what puzzled Lillian the most was how these people had such firepower. From what she could observe before the bombardment, these people were exposed to sheer radiation and the vacuum of space itself, a place where no sentient being should be alive in without protection. And yet, these people were in outer space with out any protection except their armor. These people were dangerous. These people had let out radiation attacks that could damage systems without any other weaponry, they had done it as infantry.
She was now seeing the true scale of the problem now.
Could psionics truly be this powerful?
"Why radiation attacks? There's no reason to attack with anything other than-"
It clicked.
They wanted the ships to ram into the megastructure. They wanted to kill the people with out killing the ship, so they could cause more damage to Elwar, weakening him further. And if they were truly an army about psionics, then Elwar must've been doing something with psionics, maybe even being semi-psionic himself. They needed to weaken him, maybe to kill him, maybe to take over him. She understood now what had to be done, what she should probably avoid doing. Her theory spiraled around her head, it made sense. Why Elwar was desperate for help, the attacks, everything.
"Gladius! Prepare heavy radiation shielding on Uriel, and use light anti-personnel weaponry on him, preferably micromissiles and autoguns. We need to prevent as much damage to Elwar himself!"
On the carrier, radiation shielding was added onto Uriel, and the machine came online. The eyes of the mecha glowed a deep blue, the energy pulsating through it, like blood moving through a living creature. Inside, it wasn’t Gladius controlling it, but rather Lillian herself. Usually, she wouldn't try this sort of stunt, due to the fact she hates killing people, but these people gave no mercy towards them, no empathy, nothing. They would rather kill them directly and let the ships to more dirty work for them. She didn't know the true intentions of the Panopticon, she barely knew anything about them beyond their affinity for psionics. But, right now, that didn't matter. They were her enemy, one which didn't give a shit about them. The Panopticon reminded her of them, and she hated them. Lillian moved with Uriel, as if she was inside a new body, testing it out. She had already been inside one of these before, she knew how to pilot one well, especially against an enemy that didn't care about her.
Soon came in the call for help from Askandar itself, a ground battle against the Synopticon, which seemed more as a military with less psionics, from what she could get on them. They required smaller infantry and land weaponry. Lillian saw this as not only dangerous for Elwar himself, but the civilians. She scowled at the idea of that, she hated when civilians died in war, it was the thing that also brought even more hatred towards these people. It reminded her even more of them. She needed to get down there, not only to subdue these opponents, but to also get civilians to safety.
"Gladius, release safety locks on Uriel, all of them. Get divisions for both the megastructure and Askandar itself, make planetfall with them and get some light armor to back up the droids, lethal weaponry authorized on all droids. Get fighters in the air to back up Uriel and the ground forces on the megastructure, hail the others to do the same."
Uriel would be set free from the safety locks, being able to move freely within the ship and outside it. Lillian observed through Uriel's eyes the drone craft being set alive inside the carrier. Uriel's thrusters roared with life, glowing inside the dark room. Uriel dashed to the vacuum of space, glowing outside of the carrier. Soon drones followed Uriel into the outside, with them in a formation around Uriel, making a wing-like pattern behind it. Soon, several drop pods would be launched from several ships, having droids inside of them ready for combat, both non-lethal and lethal weaponry ready for them.
Lillian observed the Svarthans attack with a hyperbeam, to which she cringed once she also heard them recommend doing a bombardment on their megastructure. She quickly opened a channel towards every ship in the system that came to aid Elwar, even if her theory was wrong, this isn't what Elwar wanted, and they would probably be counted as a target if they continued this.
"Svarthan Admiral, I understand the urgency of the situation, and also know the sheer firepower that these infantry themselves have unleashed upon us, but I sincerely do NOT recommend attacking them with such recklessness and sheer firepower. This is Elwar himself we are talking about with this megastructure, if we damage the structure, we are hurting Elwar, and that is exactly what they want to do. Notice the radiation attacks? This is far beyond normal, I recommend we use land units, but I realize that is a huge risk for everyone. Try and do as LITTLE damage to the structure, lest we incur his wrath upon us as well!"
SVS Avrel-Naret
Askandar System
Avrel-Naret's was concentrating. In one of his bondship's Shards, a special vessel was being assembled at the quantum level. It was a combat form for Avrel-Naret himself, including a great deal of Lyrium lacing and implanted nodes. One was his intended target, and he was taking no chances. His main essence would stay behind on the Harvester, but with the vessel he could support the Psychometric assault unit and vastly
reduce the risk to himself as opposed to an ordinary manifested physical form. He had immediately ruled out Night Ray bombardment and Inductor use due to Elwar's essence being somewhat infused in the megastructure. Was it part of his core?
When the vessel was complete, Avrel-Naret infused it with a shadow of his essence, and then the single shard seemed to flow out of the Harvester's hull, moving towards SVS Lan-73
He then turned his attention to the other ships that had entered the system. Two were from groups he immediately recognized.
Avrel-Naret sent a quick burst transmission to both Captain Ola and Nalchoq. "Andracken and Pordish commanders, I am Fleet Leader Avrel-Naret of the Anais Unity Spatial Fleet. I have been sent by Blessed Laenas to assist in defending Elwar. As I am most familiar with the High Hunters and with Lady Teo's children, I wish to coordinate as best I can in this endeavor." His passive hypersense noted the arrival of other vessels. One was from a polity that he did not recognize, others were from the Vestahl. He sent communiqués to the new ships as well;
"To all vessels approaching the Askandar megastructure, I am Avrel-Naret of the Anais Unity. Some of you have fought with us before against the Shadows of Zaingraf, others of you are new to us. Be careful both in engaging the Panopticon forces and also in the use of large-scale weaponry. Damaging this structure is ill-advised for many reasons. We need to cooperate to terminate this enemy. May the Blessings of the Anais' be with us all."
SVS Lan-73
Askandar System
The first 3 Assault Landers moved into the electromagnetic launch channels. Niala keyed his battlecom and signaled all his troops. "Alet company ready for launch, Bith and Gam will ready for launch after us. Hallowed are the Anais', and may their Blessed Light shine upon us all this day!"
Every man and woman in the unit checked their weapons and powered armor, then bowed their heads in prayer.
The three landers were shot from the EM channels at high velocity, then fired up their gravitic thrusters, heading toward the megastructure with the ominously glowing Shard flying at the center of their formation like a triangular glowing ember of coal.
One's attacks cut across the front line of the Hyena taskforce with ease. Almost no contact from the front of the formation responded to hails from the formations behind them, who were also caught off guard.
At the same time as the carnage on all the ships began, Izabeth recieved a emergency message from Rosgard;
////EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE:
* Pull your Security forces back and focus them on planet-side security. SH Taskforce Enroute. Enemy Suspected of using Psionics. Security forces have insufficient protection against. Evacuate non-combatants unprotected personnel immediately*////
"NOW THEY TELL ME!" Izabeth shouted as she switched her comms. The sudden strange attacks made sense now from her position on the station.
//Taskforce Hyena, Fall back to rearguard. We have no sufficient defense against enemy's attacks//
Taskforce Hyena
Crews fell to the ground in the hallways, off of platforms as radiation shielded doors were now closing on hallways and compartments to isolate the beams. But the almost invisble death beams were like powerful flashlights on some of the High Majesties and Zetas. Their armored radiation shields didn't last long on the weaker parts of their ships. The Holy Pantheons were more armored against the radiation, but they also faired very poor against he onslaught.
"Centre! We've lost our entire front line from the attack" One of the commanders of the ships responded.
//Fall Back to the Planet line. Support from the Capital is coming.// Izabeth’s call sounded. ZYPHER’s security ships, at least the ones still under control complied, while the other remains of the frontline opened fired at the target, sending their volley of projectiles towards One. What remained of the disjointed frontline were High Majesties and some Zetas, battlecruisers were disorinted
Askendar Space
Xspace ripped open as a fleet of 200 ships entered the system on approach.
This ZYPHER fleet makeup however was different from the usual Intercation based formations. There were fewer Holy Pantheons and more small to medium capital hull ships, including the sight for sore-eyes Emb’dai seige ships. They stood out however, because they had the glaring white paint of ASIM’s brand of ships. However their forms looked odd. They had different armor and plyons that appear to cover specific areas and their weapons, which also looked alittle abnormal.
Captain Yosa straightened his collar as the fleet approached Askendar and the group of allied ships. This was the first time this fleet was to be deployed against this kind of threat outside of scenarios.
Izabeth watched as the tag of the fleet popped up 4199th ‘Sizor Reef.’
“…thats not a Intercation Fleet.” She said to herself, not familiar with the name nor callsign. From the FoF tag, they were transmitting a signal that was used to identify ASIM ships.
“...did they just send science ships?” she asked.
“They’re apparently apart of the Special Hazard Division.” The tactical personnel spoke as she identified the ‘Sizor Reef’ name in the ZYPHER database.
“Experimental Response Unit.”
Maybe Rosguard had an idea of what they were up against after all...but would it work now lingers in Izabeth’s head.
“This is Elwar I am most honoured by your support” The QAI felt his systems jump a moment as a tiny fraction of his computing power rebooted and failed. In his true state Elwar could not make simple gestures like organics but if he could have narrowed his eyes he would have done so.
“Belay orbital attack. I demand your ceasefire with such weapons on my facility, the loss of any computational capacity no matter how small will have massive ramifications on the outcome of his battle and my ability could have to handle the information space and control my own drone forces. Kinetics are authorised so long as they are of sufficiently small size to not damage internals of the Athenaeum, but no weapon that targets or bypasses internal damage. I cannot afford to focus my efforts on self-repair at a time like this” The broadcast was sent to the Svarthans but also all other forces on station.
With Commonwealth forces handing and Svarthans landing alongside them the fire from One continued for a moment before he stopped.
The man outstretched his arms as his body tingled with high energy radiation. It was far more directed than the lethal particle winds he was absorbing from such close proximity to the star but to him it was like taking a shower in starlight and he enjoyed every moment. He was thrown off a moment as a kinetic impact slammed into his position, blasting a crater in the surface and sending him into the void before he seemed to smile. Genuinely surprised that he had been so taken off guard due to enjoying himself. Landing again One flicked a finger, sending the remaining kinetics into violent arcs away from his position.
The ‘air support’ from the Commonwealth came next, streams of kinetic shots raking the area One was in and impacting his body. Some failed to damage him, others drew blood from skin as if he had been lightly cut. But the intelligence images were clear. It was one man, one man in a casual jumper top and baggy trousers, no armour, no helmet, no breathing apparatus. He did not respond to the gun runs, but there were so many interesting targets.
He once again felt his body boil, laughing loudly and utterly soundless in the depths of space. His other forces had gone inside, at least those who had stayed on the surface with him had dispersed and hid themselves. One was all that was visible now as the surface of the megastructure hated underneath his bare feet. It was going to be a long day as another several Dawnstone sabots were thrown towards him, this time by one of Elwars ships coming in fast and low. One merely held out his hand as the ship approached, closing his fist the multi-kilometer Dawnstone ship, the same kind that had held its own against the Shadows, crumpled like paper. Its wreck came in fast, impacting the surface of the structure and skidding across radiator vanes as it came to a halt nearby, providing massive cover to the surface.
Lots of the enemy were landing now. That was fine of course, although One seemed to relish the chance to stand toe to toe with the likes of the Singers, Pords and Andrackan.
”How delightful, so many, so many! Elwar you are truly wonderful, how so many have come here for your funeral it is truly fantastic!”
In a swift gesture Ones supporting forces began to move into action.
Seemingly out of thin air beings made of pure glowing golden string appeared to move lightning fast, three of them towards the landed forces. Each coiled and sprang as they closed, sending whip like offshoots of golden tendrils towards vehicles and squads, the Solarite strings being utterly lethal in their capability to cut through even the heaviest armour.
The battle had truly begun.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Kazhel nam-Myrtach
VRZ Y-5642
He stood within his mind upon the confluence of the Old and Omniscient leylines - they stretched through Askandar, and he felt their whispers. It was a strange feeling, like sunlight tempered by a window, rising-lowering-throbbing heartlike, aureate: alive, and he - witnessed of its soliloquy - warmingly bathed behind, before, and within its grandeur.
A comment from Nalchoq drifted into his thoughts.
He opened his eyes.
"So," he said, "we may begin landing operations." His words came more as a question than declaration, and the vessel-captain glanced at him, then back to the display for the minutest of instances.
And it was, indeed, but a question for and of himself, rather than those of Y-5642; he answered henceforth with his own glance - a gaze cast upon his communicator, to the officers of his command council - and spoke again at the end of his gesture:
"We must take these positions near the Singers," he ordered. "I cannot join you there. nam-Ataqsiut has command."
Senaq Ataqsiut nodded.
"Let there be no confusion," nam-Myrtach continued. "Those of you receiving this notice" - he relayed a packet - "are to withhold your forces for combat on the ring's surface." His eyes narrowed as they fled from each commander to the next. He stopped upon the smallest of them present, Braaqnat the Winter Sage, beardless commander of Reknu's batteries, Caller of the Rüzhazhem and First Among the Plains of Nokkalach. The diminutive Pord hid behind the opaque smog of his armour's Array, but rescinded the barrier when nam-Myrtach motioned towards the ground.
"These companies are yours: form your battalion. I need you on the surface," nam-Myrtach said.
Braaqnat spoke swiftly: "What use are we when the quarry of One are warships?" His displeasure sputtered through the feed, veracious and weighty, and he let it settle to a count of five or three before speaking again: "I do this under protest."
nam-Myrtach responded slower than the Winter Sage: "If you do not trust my judgement," he said, "trust that Voznayte guides us here."
Braaqnat said nothing. The lightless aura of his Array returned as his holographic form faded as swiftly as the remanifestation of his barriers.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
"You are sending Ataqsiut to assist?" Nalchoq asked. His tone was serious but not so weighty as to come off as condescending; it was genuine and born of desire to hear nam-Myrtach admit such himself.
nam-Myrtach's hologram flickered. "You know you need my direction here."
Nalchoq nodded. "Tasi," he said. "But I know you have little desire to remain on my boat."
"You're right. I don't."
Advanced elements of Ataqsiut's force neared the landing zone close to the Singers and came under attack for their effort. Glimmering bands whipped through the void with dizzying speed and danced around and into the nam-Künaans of the lead company (now dispersed and shedding the clip of Y-5642) thus burdening them with defensive battle. Two met their end here and clattered towards the cold ring's surface; cleaved perfectly atwain, no smoke nor fireball erupted with each Solarite impact, only the soundless cries of vehicle-grade structural and armour components yielding to elemental force and the equally silent response of entropic lances and shadowy Array beams clawing away from finality.
"I need cover on the surface," nam-Myrtach said. "You see this wrecked vessel?"
Nalchoq adjusted his display. "I do," he said after eyeing it, "this Elwar ship? This is where you will land?"
"Tasi."
The battalionier turned to his tactical officer and she to the sensors officer.
"It should be possible," the sensors officer said. "We are adjusted. PAI-ENS synergy is established."
"I recommend a more aggressive stance," the tactical officer said. Her attention was again upon Nalchoq while swiftly drafting suggestions with guidance from the combat AI. "We have these three courses," she went on after a moment, "but I recommend this one."
Nalchoq nodded without reviewing them. "I will take your recommendation. Make it so."
"Tasinehdao," the tactical officer said.
One battalion rushed from the hangars of Y-5642 and made headway towards the ring; Braaqnat, as lead, ordered no effort to obscure their intended locale of receipt, he merely came with speed and sought refuge of its nature. But the twin rift cruisers astern of his sprint adjusted their own targeting and sent their twelve heavy redirection probes to offset positions. Here, they could fire from angles devoid of intercept with the ring, and they did so thence; a flurry of dark beams, no more than two dozen, lashed out against One to cover Braaqnat's arrival.
As the pods made their way through the vacuum of space, Lillian observed the actions of the soldiers, observing the intel given to everyone due to the desperate situation. She was absolutely astonished at the show these people were pulling, the absolute firepower they had in just one person. Her eyes sharpened, looking with sheer distain at these people. They were pulling a giant stunt with this and they had the capability to get out of it with minimal casualties, having thousands dead along the way with their enemies.
"Gladius, I leave to you the fighting in ship, fire PD munitions on that motherfucker, prevent internal damage to Elwar himself! I will attack head on with Uriel and the wing of drones at my disposal. Not the fist time I deal with heartless monsters."
The ship color would turn green, away from the typical blue of the ships. Gladius had taken full control of all ships, excluding the carrier. Uriel itself began to move, with the wing of fighters extending its own normal wings. Uriel moved at great speeds towards the structure itself, closing in on One's position. Soon, the pods containing the droids began to fall onto the megastructure, with an impact that could be felt, yet not heard. For a few of them, however, they landed on the now wrecked Elwar ship
"Units have landed on megastructure, beginning operations"
The drop pods would release their payload, dozens of droids and drones swarming out in seemingly random patterns, and yet they never got in each others way. Soon, the droids began to fire upon the golden beings and other Panopticon forces with heavy particle lance fire. Drones would use mass kinetic weaponry on both the beings, and began to fire upon One, trying to damage him before they got destroyed. Units began to try and defend other organic beings on the station fighting the Panopticon. Droids began in quasi suicidal waves trying to protect the other units, still firing as long as they would before complete destruction.
Uriel, with the wing of drones got closer, Uriel stood still in a position where One couldn't physically see it, Lillian observing the battle from the cameras in the droids. Her distain grew larger at the battle, all of this because of some unknown reason to her. She sighed at the sight, but knew this was no time to just simply stand around.
"Begin strafing runs, kinetics and missiles authorized, prevent damage to the structure itself."
Uriel's hand extended before itself, Lillian commanding and controlling the drones herself. The swarm of drones began to break formation and attack the Panopticon.
The birds were here.
The swarm, being Lillian herself, began firing upon the creatures, trying to not hit friendlies and Elwar himself. Kinetics hit the structure, but not hitting it with enough force to penetrate the structure itself. She knew the importance of processing power in these kinds of situations, and she took measures to not hinder that. Uriel simply stood waiting, waiting for the perfect time to strike.
On the ships, Gladius began firing PD rounds at the location, being the equivalent of orbital support. Lasers, shrapnel, kinetics, all firing with great volume with the closest thing to accuracy it could get to with the distance, but still trying its best. Sure, it wasn't the best they could do, but under these circumstances, the AI could do nothing more but follow its creator's orders.
"Ships under radiation fire, formation behind battleship."
"Good! Continue firing, cool down lasers when necessary, stay out of range of One's vision, he can destroy ships!"
"Moving ships accordingly"
The Svarthan ship had already finished its volley and was powering up for another when the message came in. Aboard the command ship, Tyzor punches a deck plate with one of his big digging claws. He hates this, all of this. Elwar, for being a super advanced artificial intelligence is being incredibly stupid in the crabs many electronic eyes. That... THING down there is not to be trifled with. Certainly sending ground troops into what they see as a slaughter house is not to be advised.
However, Tyzor is not about to antagonize many powerful galactic nations just because of their own fear and doubts. Swallowing their terror, they turn to the mounting casualty report from the ships, and let out a long slow burst of steam. They cannot remain here, not for long. With a shake of his frontal shell, the order is given to turn away and make distance between themselves and the megastructure. He turns towards his coms officer, and speaks in a fairly somber tone.
"Tell the troop ship to prepare for rapid orbital insertion. No reason to give that monster on the surface any more time to strike than necessary." His voice grows harder, steeled with anger, frustration, and determination. "I want EVERYTHING we can deploy within reason down on that surface. Lead with the Juggernauts, and the heavy tanks. Of utmost importance however is artillery support. If we cannot attack the monster from up here, maybe we can bombard him to bits with overwhelming firepower. Do not send dedicated engineering units however. There will be nothing to dig into or under on that hard metal or composite surface."
With a nod, the communications officer begins to relay his orders, belting out clear and well coordinated jargon, as the crews jump into action with trained professionalism. there will be time to mourn later, for now, this fight must be won. Engines fire as the battleship pulls away from the station, to a higher orbit, hopefully out of the range of One's attacks. Then the troopship makes its play.
A storm of drop pods is fired towards the surface, some decoys to try and confuse interception attempts, but most of them are real, and loaded to bursting with Svarthan troops. As they fall, more are fired behind them, carrying more warriors into the fight.
Deploying retro rockets in order to avoid damage to the structure and their crews, the containers still pack a bit of punch at landing, but not enough to damage megastructure class plating. From within the troops begin to emerge, at their front the huge car sized forms of MHEA Juggernauts, their black armor gleaming in the void of space. Weapons emerge as soon as they are clear and drone swarms are released.
Behind and beside them are the heavy tanks of the Svarthan. Massive multi turreted constructs, sealed against the void of space, and armed with remotely loaded, aimed and fired high caliber coil cannons, in tandem with lighter auto cannons, and high energy UV lasers.
The troops start to form consolidated positions as more, lighter troops, along with the massive artillery batteries arrive. Nothing active is done so far however, as they want to coordinate properly with their allies, and not shell the living daylights out of them.
There was only a small sense of relief when Lyra observed the last of what remained of the Company get boots down. Their passengers deployed, the landers pulled back, returning to the carrier to await command to either deploy more forces, deliver supplies, or extract the company. Lyra could only guess as to what the Colonel may choose to do, but she suspected whatever it was it wouldn’t involve deploying more forces.
The results of the first gun run were being fed directly into her mind, and subsequently passed off to Central Command to inform their decisions. She was discouraged by the lack of impact the munitions had seemed to have, and deeply unnerved that all this chaos was apparently the work of one man with no exo equipment to speak of.
“Lieutenant, you have incoming,” She warned as the glowing… whatever they were began making their way toward the recently disembarked forces. Griggs cursed colourfully in response to her warning, and the subsequent painting of the incoming threats in red on his overlay.
“Ops advise threat level!” He shouted, moving his men into firing positions behind rapidly deployed portable cover systems.
“Unclear,” Lyra responded. “Conventional munitions may be ineffective. Don’t hold back,”
Another colourful curse before the Lieutenant told the men to hit the incoming masses of glowing thread with everything they had. They entered the range of the riflemen first, receiving accurate volleys of railgun fire as they closed on the company, soon joined by automatic fire and the higher caliber rotary gauss canons mounted on a pair of power armoured soldiers that accompanied the company. She noted one man prepping a shoulder launched rocket, but she doubted he’d get the rocket off before the… whatever they were got too close for it to be safely deployed.
She muted the feeds from the men again. She’d check up on casualties shortly, but for now she needed to focus on the escort drones that remained. Half of them had quit the field with the landers, escorting them on the return to the carrier. The other half she’d been able to convince command to keep in the field under her control.
She broke off more drones for another gun run on One, committing fully half of the escort drones she had to a second gun run. She doubted it would be much more effective, but if nothing else it might provide a distraction or diversion for forces with more effective weaponry. The other half she threw against the incoming monstrosities of golden thread. And she threw them with little regard for the drone’s survival. The AI assisting her threw off some canned warning about imminent asset destruction but she dismissed it. If destroying a bunch of expensive hardware preserved even one life among her men then it would be worth it.
The drones flew on intercept courses with the thread monsters firing their guns the whole way in and then smashing themselves into the monsters. With immediate commands given, the support officer paused in her efforts, waiting to see how things played out in the coming moments.
Askandar System
Orbital Structure Zone
The three Assault Landers streaked in, onboard the lead lander Major Niala looked at his tactical display and when it flashed blue ordered "Deploy!". The troops launched through hatches in the roof of the lander, the gravitic thrusters of their Nightfalcon powered armor glowing a bright blue. Each platoon spread out to avoid further radiation wave attacks, and began firing Synaptic Disruptors at the Panopticon troops. The other two shuttles also began deploying as well. Every individual had their psi shields up, and 1 man per platoon radiated a zone of psionic static to blunt area attacks.
From the rear of Niala's shuttle, the assault ramp dropped and something unnatural emerged. Normally used to carry an IFV, in this case a bloated black creature emerged. Around it all color seemed to drain, leaving an odd look like that of a black and white photograph. Looking for all the world like a 20' tall fetus dripping with black ichors, the Ikrahk Tyrant floated behind the troops and prepared it's gravimetric abilities to engage the Panopticon Liminals.
Avrel-Naret's essence shadow began an attack on One, seeking as much to test the Panopticon entity as to do damage. He sent a psychometric neural spike at One directly, while his Shard's Night Rays fired a series of blacklight beams towards One. With luck the spike-a devastating psychometric attack of it's own, would distract One and let the Night Rays hit.
Back at Lan-73, the three Assault Landers of Bith Company were catapulted from their EM launchers. In his Harvester Ship, Avrel-Naret sent battlecoded burst communiqués to all the other forces engaged with the Panopticon forces.
This is Fleet leader Avrel-Naret. Do not underestimate the Panopticon forces, especially the constructs and One himself. Normally I would render what psychometric or other non-conventional assistance I could, but regrettably this will not be possible. I need all my energies to confront One. I am however giving you the tactical frequencies for Major Niala's Psychometric Assault Battalion so you can coordinate operations. May the Blessing of the Anais Twins be with you all.
Athaneum; Internals
A moment of quantum decoherence.
Another.
Then another.
The visual feed from the Custodian frame had been a constant flash of light and images. Jump readouts and calibration data. Deralith had been jumping his frames into and throughout the megastructures insides again and again, each time leaving a group behind to stand in the Panopticons way, slow their progress.
Assault Frames, groups of Standard frames, Hunter Killer Frames, Drones, Command frames, Executors, Collossi...
With every portion of his being he calculated potential paths, predicted outcomes, observed the battlefield above, below and on Askandar itself. Data streamed in and out, reports and recordings, combat data and live feed.
'First groups made landfall, Elwar combat vessel downed, surface groups engaged, no visible damages to entity registered.
Allied forces coordinating attack, anti-psion measures present.
Offending Allied ship disengaging radiation weaponry.
Group 2 and 3 engaging infiltrating Panopticon forces.'
Each group he had dropped had been equipped with third party anti-psionic devices purchased from various sources across the galaxy. though even so, they were too few, already, the first reports of losses were coming in.
They were not enough as is. They did not have enough time. Though the effort of the troops on the surface was commendable, however successful or unsuccessful they were, it did not change the situation down here, maybe if he could...?
Another time he made use of Elwars transmission Network.
"This is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre speaking. Advising spreading out to make landfall, potentially use horizon of the structure as cover for landing. Furthermore advising use of saturation fire and sensory impairing measures to cover landing. Forces inside Megastructure are being engaged."
A moment of quantum decoherence. Another group dropped off.
'Elwar; engaging Panopticon in sectors F:47079646 and F:47079659. Panopticon is being slowed but advancing. Seeking permission to transport third party groups into the Athaneum to provide additional attack vectors.'
The redirection arrays caused One to sneer in disappointment. The Pords seemed to be honourable foes and yet they hid their ships from him, using the plane of the Megastructure and their drones to relay fire their weaponry. At least they knew how to fight effectively, he could appreciate that. The dark beams made One blink from one position to the next, avoiding the fire as he sensed the Commonwealths drones coming back round for a second pass.
You annoy me with your toys
Lashing out with both hands One sent a huge gravitational shockwave towards the air support striking his position while a burst of Golden string flew out of his palm at speed towards a handful of the redirection arrays, intending to slice them apart like the transports. He would force them to fight him to face to face. Still the fact the enemy were landing on mass made him excited. He had ceased attacking the transports, not that he could visually see them anymore.
The entire area he stood in was turned into a storm of shrapnel, explosions and energy bolts which impacted the area. A combination of heavy fire from the Svarthans, Artificialis and various warships obscured his view and made him grimace for a moment. A tank round impacted his left side, causing him to jerk to the left as it bruised his body and flew off into the void. Taking himself above the chaos One flew into the void, getting the ‘high’ ground and a new view of the surrounding area. His forces were doing well within the megastructure, and the Pariahs were about to get to work.
They were fast, lethally fast. Made out of no more than Solarite string the Pariahs engaged infantry and vehicles alike. The Solarite string made a mockery of armour as the monsters attempted to get into as large pockets of forces as possible, slicing with whip like precision to kill anything they could get their hands on. Hitting them was hard enough as they jinked, whipped around or even moulded their forms around incoming fire, but physically they were tough to kill. Their Solarite nature caused kinetics to merely ricochet or be sliced apart and lose any penetration, but energy blasts caused them to be thrown back from impacts, explosives did the job too, as the Pariah that engaged the Commonwealth was engulfed in a storm of fire from the second wave of drones, causing it to lose portions of its string body in the detonations. While it wasn’t dead, it moved slower and was clearly wounded. The other two went for the Svarthans and the Artificialis, intent to cause as much damage as possible in the landing formations.
Content with the initial bezerkers One readied himself to summon more mainline forces, but a whisper in his mind caused him to flinch. Instinctively he raised a psionic barrier, as pitch black night rays hit him from the Singers vessel. One stopped the majority of the strike, but his left hand had not been covered, it was aged exponentially and clearly crippled.
The whispers intensified.
They called to him, silently at first before becoming a raging tempest. They went for his mind, ebon talons scratching to get inside as terrible hawk like hallucinations attacked him physically. He did not respond to them, he knew what a psychometric attack looked like, he had been mentally destroyed as a child and rebuilt from the ground upwards. His vision began to darken as the attack sought to drag him into his own mind, into a psychometric hellscape of horrors and devastation but One fought back. He relied on his psionic sense, keeping the barrier up as conventional fire still sought to bombard him. But he fought back.
Blazing golden light responded to the carrion hawks that assaulted him, and the maddening darkness that sought to drag him down like a cloying swamp, the light was burning all revealing and full of insanity as One called upon the power of the Panopticon. Only a fragment, and yet he began laughing.
”I have been waiting for this, let me hear you sing oh ones of the void”
---
The loss of the ship caused Elwar alarm at how easily the psion was able to destroy such an advanced craft in one go. At least it would provide the landing teams cover.
Still things were looking grim. The internal spaces of the megastructure were large, monumental server rack spaces of pure Dawnstone surrounded by cooling structures, power relays and data transfer points. All of these in that area became a battle ground as Panopticon forces cleaved through swarms of Elwars constructs supplemented by Exalted forces. At best they were slowing the enemy down, at worst it was only a matter of time until they cleared a path to what One was searching for.
”You have my full permission, deploy as many as able. Redirecting squadrons from all sectors to engage. We must at the very least hold them, One seems preoccupied with surface engagement let us keep it that way”
Athaneum; Internals
The flashes of light and images stopped.
Not because he had reached his capacity, not because he had to take a moment to evaluate the situation, not even to observe the battles between, the Panopticons and his and Elwars forces.
No.
He had plainly ran out of forces he could spare from the surface. Every asset he could spare from the labs was in a position where it would encounter and hopefully slow down the Panopticons troops, his frames took significant losses but had been doing all in their capabilities to fight back, yet even with the anti-psionic equipment, there were simply too few of them and any larger scale offensive equipment ran inevitably the danger of damaging the Megastructure.
It was a regrettable fact but they had not been prepared for battle inside the megastructure.
He listened in to the various comms that were running in the vicinity of the Athaneum and observed the battle on the outside of the megastructure, they had made progress, but were they moving fast enough?
He cursed the fact they did not have enough time to study the artefact they brought back from far reach.
Elwars transmission returned. Permission had been given. Immediately another transmission from Deralith as Elwar answered, this time time directed at any allied forces in the vicinity of the megastructure.
"This is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre speaking. We ask all present allied forces to assemble soldiers and equipment in open spaces within your ships and give us detailed sensor data of the area. If sufficient data is provided we can transport the troops into the megastructure to assist in fending off the panopticon in the structure. Be prepared for a battlefield situation with anomalous gravity and unexpected angles of attack, avoid large scale blast weaponry or other equipment that could harm the dawnstone servers."
He still could not engage One personally or even his troops in the structure, he was being held outside, if he presented a greater challenge to the psions assets, he would likely abandon his position at the surface and come inside, something Deralith could not allow. As things were the situation gave him time to assist the efforts inside, both to his benefit and detriment.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Braaqnat, KZH Battalion Commander
Surface Near Elwar Ship
Braaqnat knew he was upon the landing zone when the whine of engines lessened. That in itself spoke to Nalchoq's success. A very different reception could have been in order, but for the Winter Sage, this was a black thought on which he did not linger.
Though black it indeed was.
He sought exit of his machine and clanked down onto the ring.
The charred remains of the Elwar ship loomed overhead casting bleak and jagged shadows across the plating and paneling of the megastructure. Braaqnat knelt in the naked stellar rays pouring around it - dimly tinged blue by the holograms of his platoon-leads - and took in the tactical data.
"One rises!" Spoke a Grazhnichelnar; "I am ready to respond."
Braaqnat nodded slowly. He trusted her forces were settled from their arrival, but he remained cognizant One was not alone. His gaze passed over each of his platoon-leads and even before he finished the gesture he responded:
"Take defensive positions about this warship. We shall fight from here as allowed."
And the last of his words came as his panning landed upon the Grazhnichelnar who spoke first. He nodded again to her: "Engage."
Soundless reports of artillery fire crossed into the void moments later as floating entropic lance batteries slipped from the concealment of Elwar's vessel, fired, then repositioned.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
A response.
Golden strings rippled through space swiftly (nearly godclip-burdened) towards the dozen redirection probes. Dark beams shuddered onto intercept courses to meet them, but a few solarite strings nevertheless deftly avoided such embrace and skirted, instead, into the inky black interiors of just under half of the probe complement.
Dull gravitic shockwaves sloshed out from three of the devices as they disassembled, while the shadowy clouds wrapping the other stricken probes faded off and away revealing their naked forms of seamless metal now wounded, glowing red, dimming orange from damage.
"Array probes under direct assault," the tactical officer said. "Primary heavy redirective capability nearing half capacity."
Each probe was marked prominently in the center of the displays with particular focus on their damage. Nalchoq glared at them. The counter from One proved swift. "Bring" - he hesitated - "bring us out of standoff. Ready to engage with other systems." Another moment passed before he went on: "nam-Myrtach, if you are ready."
"Tasi," nam-Myrtach's hologram said, "I am."
With the redirection probes beaten back, the tactical officer swept her eyes across the feed. The combat AIs were in agreement and they indicated their election to her. "We need to keep those solarite strings at a distance," she said.
"I agree," Nalchoq nodded. His attention, however, shifted to nam-Myrtach's main force. They were forming up near the Singers. The sprint that brought them was bloodier than he as a navalist preferred, but ground operations so often proved themselves so - though they also often proved themselves to be much more. "9244 on return course," he said.
"I suggest letting it cover the main landings. nam-Ataqsiut and the others are under heavy assault now."
"Make it so. Light weapons only; have them clear the surface." Maybe that will draw them off, Nalchoq mused of the Pariahs. In truth, he suppressed a deeper thought; the destruction of the Elwar vessel still sat in his mind and registering the notion might manifest repeats - or so he allowed himself to think. He turned back to the tactical officer. "And bring us," came words seemingly of their own volition, "onto full defensive Array stance."
"Tasi," replied the tactical officer, "tasinehdao."
Elwar Space, Askandar
Kazhel nam-Myrtach
VRZ Y-5642
nam-Myrtach, if you are ready.
I am.
"He is usually more forward," explained the vessel-captain. "The-"
"I understand his hesitancy," nam-Myrtach interrupted. "These arts are not his domain."
The vessel-captain exhaled audibly. "Neither are they mine," he agreed. "You should head to the shrine. There is nothing for you on this bridge."
nam-Myrtach gave a pained glance over the chamber. Lifeless glances shot back at him from the myriad statues ringing the plateau. "You're right," he said.
"Namengrazhniskaya," the vessel captain said bowing - to which nam-Myrtach returned the gesture and made his way through the exit.
VRZ Y-5642's shrine was not far from the bridge, and when he approached it, no other Pords were present. He sat down to purge his mind of excess thoughts. In a low voice he chanted - Jlokhemitnartüt zhaknabänkelatüq Dritenkeltytshyk; ihn rekanmalat kashcharov! Ihn raqsiutenmalat kashcharov! - and felt the depths of the Old and Omniscient leylines. It was a feeling he still wasn't used to. The Hunters told him of divine proximity and how not all realms have equivalent connections to the godly domains; through them he learned what must be done here to call upon the Three or the Crafter of the Dritzhalb.
Each passing moment he narrowed and heightened his focus and soon was on Y-5642 no more. Behind him sprawled arctic familiarity; before him raged the great psionic power of One more truly. It was golden majesty unrestrained though defensive; not omnipresent but assailed by agent-messengers of darkness: One was under attack already.
And it would be strange fighting alongside such darkness.
I must meditate on that, he relented, though such a thought was not one to dwell on given the circumstances. He turned towards the lights; they were barriers to the depths of psyche marking the only path forward, onward, through the citadel-maelstrom.
With winter to his back he sought entry through the gates of perdition.
Tyzor hears he transmission and issues a rapid response as down below the tanks and Juggernauts begin to be supplemented by more standard issue MHEA troops. The formation begins to spread out however still maintain a rig around the battery of 900mm and 1200mm artillery pieces that are rapidly deploying into position, deploying their stabilizing legs and trying to get a firing solution.
"This is Svarthan response group to Defense Coordination center. I am afraid I cannot comply with your request, as all my available forces are already engaged down on the surface. All that remain in reserve are fighter craft and dedicated heavy engineering equipment, and that will be even less useful down there than on the surface, never mind the fact that the machines will not fit into the chambers. Please ignore our craft when preparing to transport the troops."
As the Pariah starts to close in, the line of Svarthan troops open fire will all they have, having seen what those monsters can do.
While much of the fire is from kinetics, everything from .50 AE pistol caliber rounds, through coil rifle bolts that are larger, and even .950 slugs from heavy machine guns or Juggernaut rotaries, a great deal is not.
As the hail of tungsten iron slugs fills the air like a metal thunder storm, flashes of color fill the gaps between. Autocannon rounds and high explosive OAC filled grenades burst like firecrackers amidst the far larger bursts from tank guns and Juggernaut cannons, and it seems as if some artillery gun crews, showing fear at the creatures rapid approach are trying to direct fire them with their massive guns.
These shells burst into gouts of brilliant blazing light as either their massive chemical explosive loads detonate, or they burst into a scattering of transuranic ions at relativistic speeds. And the shells are not the only energy weapon present. The tanks let lose with their laser weapons, and so do any troops that have them, filling the space between them and their target with both visible and invisible streaks of light. The juggernauts add their own small particle accelerators to the fray, as do the vehicles that have them.
However, despite the impressive display, it is blindingly obvious that the crabs are way out of their depth here. They have zero experience with psionics nor the Panopticon and their horrors, and these things, along with their power terrify them.
All down the line, relaxants and adrenal suppressants are injected by their augments, keeping the crabs just calm enough to lay on the hell storm of fire into the target of their fear.
If things take a turn for the worst, the Svarthan may not be able to contribute much more to the fight..
Things were looking less than ideal. Lyra might have ground her teeth together were she cognisant of her own body but in the twisting spirals of data and computation there was nothing physical through which to express her anxiety.
More casualties mounted. She lost most of the drones she’d sent against one to the gravitational wave he’d answered with. The drones crashed into each other, or the megastructure itself. Even the handful that remained mostly intact were damaged to the point their software began flying them back to the carrier from whence they had originated.
The marines weren’t faring much better. She passed on what data she could on the Pariahs closing in, noting the ineffectiveness of kinetics and advising the use of explosives. But the Commonwealth didn’t mainline explosives, and certainly didn’t give them out like candy to marines.
They were making do, using what rockets and MGLs they had but the bulk of the marine’s weapon was rendered ineffective.
A company strength unit was down to less than half what they had begun with, most of the drones were either destroyed or returning and their weapons were having little effect. She couldn’t hear or observe the conversations happening deep within the armoured confines of the carrier, but she could guess that it was centered on whether to withdraw. They wouldn’t feed more men into the woodchipper. That much was clear. Any request she passed along for reinforcement was denied.
She distracted herself from those dismal thoughts with the call from the Askandar Defense Coordination Center. She had a transport full of dead marines and drones that weren’t doing any good drifting in space. If they could move them somewhere useful then… well at least she’d feel like she was doing something other than watching a slaughter unfold.
She busied herself with the drones aboard the transport, stacking them in the center of the transport where space was more open while the AI assisting her compiled and compressed sensor data before passing it on. Hopefully something would come of it.
“Get in heavy reinforcements Gladius! Release more droids! These glowsticks are relentless!”
Thousands of rounds fired from the still alive droids, particle weaponry being the only thing keeping them on the structure. The pods themselves were being used as cover by the droids, hiding and striking against that unrelenting foe. The gravitational wave made the closest drones crumple under the strain, a quarter fully destroyed, the other quarter left into a state of immediate disrepair. The other drones were left to deal with the aftermath, being stretched to their absolute limit.
"Release more drones!"
Several more compartments were be released by the hiding ships, hundreds of heavy drones, tanks and armored vehicles made their way to the surface of the structure with great speed. The sheer gravitational forced made by the counterthrusters would probably kill or disorientate most normal beings, but this was Lillian. Tanks would make their way onto the structure, firing upon the Pariahs and making cover for the other forces. To her, her creations were unimportant in comparison to the lives that could be saved with their sacrifice, her sacrifice.
This battle would leave her with a lot of damage.
———
Lillian observed One from a distance, making sure to not make Uriel and her own presence known to the being. The readings on One were an absolute clusterfuck of data and unknown energies. She had been wrong in dismissing the power of psionics, letting her own set of rules in her own universe make charge of what she decided to do in this one. She wondered if magic was similar in a way.
“Gladius, continue volume fire upon One, position is being recorded.”
As fire rained from the heavens, Lillian wondered if she should strike, the moment was clear, and her cannon could make short work of him… Or could it?
She dismissed the thoughts of striking with all her might, she had no idea of the true capabilities of One, so she decided for a less direct approach.
“Fire!”
Hundreds of missiles fired from the compartments on Uriel, letting out a payload in the kilotons combined. They, with a combination of drone missiles from the air support, fired and scattered in all directions, but having one true target.
That monster.
As expected, this was taking longer. The intelligence data on One and the Army of the Panopticon seemed accurate, albeit rather incomplete. Still, this was a good testing for the 119th-and even for Avrel-Naret himself. Avrel-Naret's hypersense was aware of the pressure being put on the Commonwealth force, and resonated orders to Major Niala. Major, render fire support to the Commonwealth and other ground forces. Night Ray fire may be effective against the Solarite constructs.
As you command, Blessed One. Niala responded with a telepathic missage. "Alright troops we have new orders; Digam/1 Squad, target the Solarite constructs with your Night Rays. Also I want neural disruptor fire on them, not sure how effective those will be. Mortar units are to fire seeker rounds at the Panopticon troops, set for proximity burst." A signal appeared on Niala's HUD, the Assault Landers of Gam company were deploying. As the company deployed, they responded to Niala's orders.
Night Ray fire streaked out towards the constructs from the OTS mounts of Digam/1 Squad, Baleful blacklight beams seeking the golden strings. At the same time, Digam/2 and Digam/3 Squads fired seeker shells from their electromagnetic launchers, the grav thrusters in the rounds sending them towards the Panopticon forces, to detonated above them showering them with flechettes and shrapnel.
As Gam company finished deployment, several of their troopers began concentrating and utilizing thermokinesis on the Solarite constructs. Half of them used pyretic mode, increasing temperature in the Solarite. Others used Cryonic mode, decreasing temperature and trying to induce thermal stress. At the same time other squads directed neural disruptor fire at the constructs, attempted to disrupt their psionic matrices.
And now for you, One. Here is a Melody, a Symphony of Destruction...
Abriymel, the Ikrahk Tyrant floated in space near Avrel-Naret's Shard, black ichors floating into space from it's bloated form, yet somehow not freezing. It perceived the battlefield with it’s seemingly blind eyes, spotting what it needed, a wrecked bit of Elwar technology. Possibly a destroyed defense ship, the mass started to move as Abriymel's unnatural gravitic powers formed gravitic loci around it. Observers saw the wreckage tear in half and lift into space, accompanied by the eerie black and white effect that seemed to drain all colors from the area. The two massive pieces of wreckage moved into space spreading apart as they did, while Abriymel's voice-an odd ululating cry, somehow heard even in the vacuum of space, seemed to be laughing...
And then the pieces of wreckage accelerated closer to each other at high velocity, with One in between them.
At the same time, Avrel-Naret generated a small solar flare, hurling a stream of plasma and particles at One. At the same time his supersentient mind sent out a massive neural/psionic spike, intending to short out One's synapses.
Elwars constructs were tough, very tough. Their Dawnstone forms were capable of re-arranging themselves, phenomenal strength and resilience capable of taking immense punishment. They had fought in mass numbers against many of the nations of the galaxy when he had awoken in this era, insane and poisoned by the Nightmare of Atu. They had fought tanks and infantryman alike, proving more than a match for modern forces.
But here, in the dark or orange confines of the Megastructure, they died in their thousands. Each one, from the heaviest of forms to the lightest, was designed around the duel role of maintenance and warfare. Every available asset was thrown in to stop the Panopticon, and it simply wasn’t enough. Against the Synopticon Elwar stood more of a chance, their conventional troops were torn apart by hulking forms or blasted apart with laser bursts, but the Phase troopers, abominations and more were almost unstoppable. Paraiahs effortlessly tore through corridors of Dawnstone sentinels, while phase troopers ganged up on hulking war forms to take them apart piece by piece. Even supported by the Networks anti-psionic experimental units they were, at the very best, slowing their progress. And even that was stretching the definition.
”This is Elwar, follow the ASCC orders, we need you inside. I will be personally joining the defence” A strange statement, given Elwar was personally everywhere, but deep within the Athaneum a new form which Elwar had been experimenting with activated with a pulse of energy and began its deployment.
---
The Pariahs came in swiftly, cutting and hacking at both vehicles and living things alike and heedless of incoming fire. But despite the damage they were doing to the more conventional forces of the Commonwealth, Svartans and Artificialis they were taking damage. Every now and again a lucky blast hit would sever a piece of string, slowly reducing their effectiveness, they seemed invincible, but that was cut short when the first died. The Pariah attacking the Commonwealth tore a drone apart before being hit by a Night Ray. It staggered, resisting the anti-life to a degree which seemed frightening, but seconds later a barrage of grenades destroyed it, the strings being torn apart and its unearthly glow dissipating with a psionic scream.
The Svarthan Pariah died next, whittled down by explosive fire from such large calibre explosive cannons, in the middle of trying to slice apart several tanks it too was pinned down by Night Rays before being destroyed by Svarthan heavy fire which never hesitated in its destruction, continuing to pound its last position for a few moments after, just to ensure the thing was truly dead.
Only the Paraiahs attacking the Pords and Artificialis remained, the efforts to induce heat or cold into their Solarite did not seem to faze them although the disruption of their psionics did cause them to halt for a second or two, to twitch and resist, it was enough to give good openings to fire at them effectively.
Ones psionic barrier positively burned as bright as the star behind him as the huge barrage from the heavy guns of the Svarthans, the endless missile barrage of the Artificialis and the redirection fire of the Pords hit home. The entire area became nothing but a storm of fire and detonations before finally it was burst outwards, Ones psionic barrier had been felled, at least for now. His body was covered in small cuts, bruises and scorch marks where his skin was clearly burned. The psychometric attacks were forcing him to direct more of his power away from the physical.
”How Interesting-“
One never got to finish his sentence as the two halves of the Elwar vessel downed earlier impacted the psion at phenomenal speeds, kilometres of Dawnstone smashing into him and each other causing another release of energy. For a moment, it seemed like one was dead. But within the mangled mass of Dawnstone, One still stood, his hands outstretched albeit, his Night Ray affected arm had been broken outright. Blood now ran down Ones mouth and out one ear.
”Hnnnngh yes….” He muttered, with lightning speed throwing the ship wreckage into the path of the particle storm and solar flare strike, letting the Dawnstone easily take the heat of the hit. With his broken arm he seemed to twitch, almost like a puppet, but his other he outstretched towards the Ikrahk Tyrant, summoning an artificial star on top of it to try and vapourise or irradiate its form. But as the puppet like movements continued and the second mind spike hit One began to laugh. It was a feeling of being shot in the head, like someone had shoved a knife into your brain, images flashed in his minds eye of terror, of pain and of confusion, trying to give him false inputs to his senses, it was a spike designed to totally throw him off.
All around One, more things came out of thin air. An entire company of Phase troopers manifested, supported by Abyssal Golems, both beginning to dig in and take cover, firing barrages of Solarite webbing designed to slice through vehicles and infantry alike.
Even as One felt the strange sensation of cold and the constant assault upon his mind he didn’t stop laughing. He was obviously in immense pain both physically and mentally, far from unscathed from the firepower and psionics used against him. But he then moved, leaping straight towards the allied lines with terrifying speed. He used his good arm to try pick up tanks, throw them at Singers and Pordish troopers all while releasing a wave of golden strings which sought out individual troopers, in an attempt to wrest their minds and use them as Ones own puppets.
Even as he spasmed with pain One turned his gaze to Avrel-Naret.
The psionic attack was not brute force, it was insidious, like a sickly light of brown that attempted to seep into his ship, his very form. It spoke of tranquillity, of fulfilment and of pain. Where the light touched it was almost like a crippling pain, not one of sharpness, but one of an eternal dull throbbing, like the pain of a long-time cripple who could no longer concentrate or focus due to the ailment. It was just the first wave of Ones own mind.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Braaqnat, KZH Battalion Commander
Surface Near Elwar Ship
Battery after floating battery rotated in and out of the line of fire and their salvoes met One downrange; they were swift, but more than that? ...to avoid One's response? Eager. Eager to avoid a response they knew would be cataclysmic. Some receptions were better unmet.
Good. He is taken by fire now, Braaqnat thought. It may be time to-
He was on the ground. Pords nearby were splayed out as well.
What in-
Aftershocks rumbled through the ring as he stood adjusting. It didn't seem to be return fire, no, it was something else, and the sensors in his armour blared in his mind as otherworldly energies sloshed into being through the-
"Get away from the ship!"
Cracks snaked across the dawnstone wreck and chunks broke free and drifted through the void as it rose from resting - a zombie ungraved, bedecked with explosions where hull fragments plowed through unlucky craft as it collected speed - and within moments, it was gone.
Braaqnat cast a concerned glance towards One but there was no being to observe, only the fiery conflagration of kilometers of ship impacting with velocity.
"Is he dead?" A Grazhnichelnar asked over comms. She took in the sensor returns, then admitted, "no, I guess not."
Defensive weapons fire lit up on Braaqnat's feed followed by another explosion. He crouched. A machine burned furiously some distance away.
We are entirely exposed now, he realized. Dread sank into him as he considered the implications; more Phase Troopers and Golems materialized by One's position with unobstructed line-of-sight to his battalion. Still crouched, he opened the comms line to his company commanders:
"Our operations here are unallowed. Review this new objective election," he said. The updated tactical information clearly showed the entrenched golems and troopers. "Tend to your companies. We will set upon them from this marshalling point."
An unusual blanket of silence wrapped the company leads. Braaqnat wanted them to charge; with the surface so featureless, there were few other options.
They gathered at the point where Braaqnat directed them. Chrühov infantry atop their gravbikes circled to the fore below the battalion's nam-Zoshnar strike craft complement; the mobile batteries formed the center trailed only by the much slower Array generators and engineers with them. What remained of the engineering troops whose forms hid beneath the opaque smog of their lesser Arrays held onto the floating artillery with their carbines in hand. A solarite web lashed out towards them but was stonewalled by fire of varying grade. Elsewhere, another machine was not so fortunate and Braaqnat watched it burn...
...and he thought not of his own machine - no more durable than the others - for his mind was clear.
Motion was his signal.
He rushed first (though not from the fore) and his battalion followed. Gravitic signatures sprung to life around him, joined by a flurry of ordnance targeting One's protectors signaling the charge.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
Balchüt Nalchoq squinted at the displays. Try as he might to arrest it, his frown still pooled by his feet and the same dour repose repeated among the others present in the chamber.
"Replay that," Nalchoq ordered.
Elwar's vessel shifted, then rose with speed in pieces and rushed towards One. It disappeared in a brilliant flash of twisting dawnstone; "The Singers," observed the sensors officer.
Such actions warranted complaint, but preferably not while engaged so heavily. Nalchoq noted the sensor return for later and refocused on Braaqnat.
"He's charging," said the tactical officer.
"Tasi," Nalchoq said. "He is."
The brigadier sat back in his chair. His attention hadn't been on Braaqnat and, if not for the Elwar ship, he wouldn't have had a reason to look back towards the battalionier's position at all. But now..?
"We should move to assist," the tactical officer suggested. She looked over the projected course of Braaqnat's thrust and the known forces ahead of him.
"Perhaps. Perhaps we should," Nalchoq said. "Bring all artillery suites to bear."
The tactical officer nodded. "I can bring them online," she said, "but we must adjust our angle of attack to use them. There is still considerable attrition within our Array probe complement. Target?"
No answer came before One leapt towards the Pordo-Singer lines. nam-Ataqsiut's force, the bulk of the Pordish ground commitment, by now was deployed and in position to contest him. Though engaged with the Paraiah still, freer strike craft formations and tank companies opened up at range. As One neared, he closed in on the short range interdiction and dampening fields maintained by the area denial and interdiction companies and danced his way through their defensive Array stances and salvoic fire risen to receive him.
About the line, bearhead pauldrons secured the turquoise capes of the Pords stood before One. They added their own touch to the conflagration; sought by the psion's strings, many fell only to rise again (abominally rejecting death through puppethood when One's might overcame their torcs and dampeners): those taken skirmished against fellow Pords and where battle raged closest they clashed winter-tinged swords in the soulless vacuum amidst a backdrop of heavier infantry fire cascading from longer ranged duels.
VRZ Y-9244's funnels, gleaming in the sparkling crossfire above the brigade, coughed ghastly smog out in perverse distorted sheets with heightening thickness as she turned to face One. Her own probe complement, less attrited than her sisters, soaked in what was sent to them. With One pitching into nam-Ataqsiut, the cruiser covering them adjusted; her captain split effort between engaging incoming solarite strings and webs and sending darkened beams at the psion.
And elsewhere, nam-Myrtach felt the rising battle. Vague suggestions of its course ran in his mind - the whereabouts of Braaqnat and Nalchoq and Abriymel and others - as he readied himself. Eternal winter harboured many meanings to many different beings - the unyielding cold of stoic icecaps; the lessening of will and desire; submergence within glacial whiteouts - and he channeled these thoughts against One. They came slowly, marching like an icesheet descending from tall mountains, inexorible, inflexible, and inevitable.
"On second thought," Nalchoq answered finally, "bring them against One."
"nam-Nalchoq? Our artillery? What about Braaqnat?" Questioned the tactical officer.
Nalchoq shook his head. "We don't have time to adjust our positioning. Ready proximity detonation for the RPDCs. Anti-strike craft patterns."
As swiftly as ordered, the myriad primary blister-turrets of Y-5642 and Y-9028 trained against One - their lesser precision now a lesser concern - and opened up in concert. They fired bracketing salvoes in three-gun groups; purple-hued globules rained out set to unleash their gravitic payloads on or near One upon the cadential humming of their originators echoing across the void.
There was a sudden flash of light in the transport as Lyra watched the cameras and waited, what she saw in the transport next was... odd.
A tall, sleek, mechanical looking frame, three strange spears strapped to it's back, observed the pile of drones in centre of the room, it looked vastly different from Elwars constructs, but no less advanced, it looked around finding nobody but nodded regardless.
"Your assistance is appreciated."
The next she knew was that it was gone along with the drones and she started receiving new sensor data from inside the megastructure. When things had been looking dire on the outside, then on the inside they were dreadful. Countless of Elwars contructs assisted by more machines which seemed to be aligned with the one who had just appeared in her transport were trying to fight off the assault of panopticon troops and abominations, fire exchanged between server racks, esoteric powers wrecking the inside of the structure as others tried to shut them down and stop their advance, it truly was chaotic.
---
Deralith was standing by, regrettably, it seemed so far nobody else had taken their request, they were so absorbed by the battle on the surface that they neglected to acknowledge that which was actually the essence of what they had been trying to protect.
He would wait some longer, with Elwars reinforced request, they may just change their mind. Hopefully so, considering things were now dire enough that Elwar himself would join the confines of the structure and they were not even an hour into the attack.
Though he was aware Elwar, like himself, had been working on his own projects during their research, he knew very little of what the Custodian had actually created when he talked about 'joining the battle himself', it would be interesting to see, though it likely would've been preferable if this test and observation could've been made without the context of a Panopticon incursion.
However, there was more to it.
If Elwar was to join the defence inside the structure, the Panopticon psion would likely have a renewed interest in joining the battle inside the structure. Something that he would have to prevent under all circumstances. The time of a direct engagement with the psion was nigh.
Their time was running short.
Having appeared in the interior of the megastructure, the pile of drones wasted no time. While they’d seemed inert in the transport, the moment they’d settled inside they burst into a sudden flurry of activity. Dozens of drones, about the size of spiders, fanned out from the pile. The drones fed back visual and audio data to the AI assisting Lyra. It collected the feeds and spun them into something more understandable before piping it to its human counterpart.
With her eyes and ears fanning out inside the megastructure she went to work on the rest of the drones. Anti-grav plates hummed to life as drones the size of dinner plates lifted off the pile and unfolded small caliber twin linked coil guns. Monsters may have been difficult or even impossible to combat with what she had, but Lyra spotted no shortage of flesh and blood troopers in the fight.
And flesh and blood was generally adverse to her munitions.
The drones hummed up and over the server racks, strafing Panopticon troopers with the weapons on their undersides. They were nimble and quick, hopefully presenting hard targets as they zipped around firing their weapons and then darting away as attention came their way.
With her flyers out she started powering up the heftier drones from the transport. An automatic suppression system mounted on armoured treads spun up and began spewing out rounds as it rolled forward, soon joined by quad-legged robots with small yield grenade launchers mounted on their back. She kept her drones focused on flesh and blood adversaries. She knew they could do damage there, and hopefully free up Elwar and the machines assisting it to direct their efforts against the various monsters present.
Her AI issued a warning. She was controlling too many drones directly. Her implants were meant to handle this much processing for long. She ignored it. The stakes were too high to concern herself with safe operating parameters.
“Lieutenant,” She projected her voice to the embattled soldiers still on the surface. “Withdraw from surface combat and head inside. You’ll do more good there,”
“Copy Ops,” The Lieutenant shouted over the din of weapons fire. “Waypoint?”
“Stand-by,”
She sent out a communication to Elwar, requesting whatever directions it could give to get the men on the surface inside where they could do more good as expeditiously as possible. She waited for an answer, ready to push everything through to their HUDs as soon as received one.
As the Pariah facing them died, the Svarthan forces grow more confident, knowing that despite their complete unfamiliarity with subjects such as these the monsters from beyond normal space can be brought down through concentrated fire. With the threat to them dead, they begin to try and do exactly what they just did to the Pariah to all the other panopticon forces.
The artillery pieces once more point at the sky, along with basically every shell firing weapon the tanks have, as all the troops equipped with micro mortars buckle down and ready them. With a roar, the guns of the Trust fire off a volley of magnetic and high power chemically launched shells that fly high into the sky as their mortar like nature would suggest, before raining down on the newly assembled enemy troops. The warheads fall almost as thick as rain drops, with sophisticated autoloaders letting even the huge guns put out respectable rates of fire.
Some of the shells burst in the midst of the enemy with the most potent non nuclear explosives the trust has to offer, while others rupture above them and send down storms of shrapnel to cut into them. Others explode into gouts of relativistic particles, while some disgorge waves of blazing nano-thermite to coat everything in molten hot metal.
High above, Tyzor sees the effect that mass quantities of high explosives has, and makes a definitive call. With an even and cold tone, he speaks in the normal Svarthan tongue to his exec.
"Issue Atomics to the ground forces."
With a nod, the order is rapidly relayed, and the weapons are prepared. While normally not used due to fears of escalation, right now, their enemy has escalated the battle first, and Tryzor will not have more people than needed die because of it. Soon, more drop pods are on the way, containing atomic shells for every weapon that fires and explosive of some kind.
However, One gets there first.
With his blinding speed, the Svarthan do not have time to fire on him as effectively, but their automated systems pick up their slack. Rifles and mini cannons snap onto him as targeting data s relayed through the networked Svarthan minds and cybernetics. Weapons tracking him and firing relentlessly as crews focus on raining absolute hell down on all the Panopticon troops. As the strings strike troops and infest their minds, One can feel the feedback of the Svarthan, or rather that strange, pseudo Gestalt mind formed by their numbers. He can feel the rage, terror, and fear, rippling through them, strengthened and amplified by their bond.
And it seems to be fighting back. Even though Svarthan possess no psionic powers, it would almost seem as if the minds on the crabs not infected are pushing back against the intrusion into the minds of those that are, straining and pulling to free their comrades. Perhaps it is natural, or perhaps it is due to their extreme devotion to each other, but either way the effect is noticeable. But it is not enough to keep One out. Even with their bloodstreams almost full of more drugs than blood causing their minds to be dissonant and fragmented, and the counter push of their strange pseudo gestalt they cannot stand up to the might of one of the most powerful psionic users in the galaxy.
As their minds fall, automated weapons turn on their allies, guided by their possessed owners... And refuse to fire. The Near Field Magnetic Induction IFF still automatically picking up their new targets as friends, and locking the weapons triggers. However, while the crabs may not have to deal with infighting, any troops infected are still taken out of commission...
Space zone above the Megastructure
Light shined on the surface of Elwar's megastructure.
The artificial sun One created blazed in a short lived flare of heat, light, radiation, and charged particles. Abriymel reacted near-instantly, creating two gravitic loci to try and stop or at least reduce the effect of One's attack. The gravity loci deflected the plasma flare and particle streams, but somewhat depleted after lifting the wrecked Elwar ship he did not have enough power to deflect the intense light and radiation.
The light flare burned away much of the ichors surrounding Abriymel, causing the Tyrant to shriek in a spatial resonance of unmistakable pain. The radiation seared the insides of it's unnatural form, not enough to be lethal,
but seriously wounding the Tyrant. Abriymel's alien mind realized that he was no longer combat effective, and needed to seek assistance.
With a thought, Abriymel's loci pulled/pushed him away from the battlefield at high velocity, retreating back to Avrel-Naret's Harvester ship, leaving a trail of partially carbonized ichors behind it. It called to the ship's
Protocore, requesting essence rejuvenation.
Megastructure Surface
As One ripped through the lines of the assaulting forces, the 119th Psychometric tried their best to evade, while still returning fire. They concentrated on avoiding the mind-controlling psychometric strands, and in this they were successful, but there was a cost. They were so concerned with the psionic attacks that they concentrated too much on them and as a result, with their minds avoiding the psionic the psychometric control nexi of their power armor were patterned and not able to tell their suits to avoid the tanks psychokinetically hurled by One.
Infantry Squad Digam/1 was smashed by a tank, their ADS units firing in an automated yet futile response to the mass hurled at them. Their phase barriers were not of help either as the mass was of sufficient volume and area to saturate the barriers' shunt capacity. 5 of the squad were killed near instantly, the others suffered broken limbs and ribs. The auto-medic systems of their suits administer drugs and Nanofractal systems went into action to mitigate the damage, but the suit's battle computers realized that even so the troopers needed full medical assistance. The computers took over suit control and had their grav packs take the wounded back to their Assault Landers.
Squads Digam/2 And Digam/3 were able to dodge better and took glancing blows. This still caused a number of broken arms, and broke off the Night Ray mounts on several suits.
Seeing all of this on his tactical neural display, Major Niala thought to himself One's power is like one of the Transcended, I cannot match that level of energy, but perhaps I can do something more indirect. He concentrated and created a physical psi-illusion, like a Photokinetic hologram. It was of a set of missiles heading towards One. The psychokinetic field that was part of the illusion would hopefully distract One from the nature of the false missiles until it was too late. His battle computer sent a burst code transmission to his assault lander, instructing the crew to fire a burst of APHEI 50mm Coilgun slugs at One if his attention was diverted by the illusionary missiles.
The other troopers continued their fire against the Panopticon troops. Gam company had by now fully deployed, and began a sustained bombardment of Night Rays and electromagnetic guided rounds. The other companies focused their Night Rays on the newly summoned units, trying to keep them suppressed and cause as many casualties as possible.
Avrel-Naret's Shard
Avrel-Naret saw the halves of the Elwar wreck slam into One, then saw him rise from the wreckage, psychokinetically manipulating it to block Avrel's solar flare. Then he saw One move at speeds rivaling that of El'Niath-L'Eral's Herald Laranis, hurling tanks psychokinetically at the 119th Psychometric and the Pords, He could feel in some sense the pain as Digam/1's troops were killed and injured. The pain was intense. He felt the life essence of the dead fleeing, but also felt the fear and despair of the dead spirits and the living troops.
The feeling was almost palpable, nearly overwhelming. He wondered why he was here, what was the point of struggling against these odds and these opponents. His own psychometric attack faltered, granting One a reprieve. He wondered what was there to learn from all this. And then he remembered the teachings of his Guides. Blessed Laenas and her parent All-Highest El'Niath-L'Eral. El'Niath-L'Eral's voice seemed to speak in his mind, or resonate.
Remember young one. Pain is the Great Teacher. We learn from our pain. As my L’yren-a says, "That which does not kill you, makes you stronger." Learn from your pain Avrel-Naret. Then do the cosmos a favor and extinguish One's life.
Avrel realized what One was doing. Pain and Despair was in a sense woven into the Lifeforce of every Singer. He thought back to his transcendence, at the Battle of Decoroso;
As Laenas and Skalia had begun to fight, on levels straddling the physical, psychic, and Extradimensional planes, Avrel-Naret had waited, infused in the nascent "nestling" core of what would become his Harvester. When Laenas and Skalia both started devouring the lives of the Dectrothian population of the system, he felt the pain of each life ending. Skalia was draining their lives for raw power to fight Laenas. And then Laenas was draining the Dectrothians for the power to...
Resurrect Skalia's original souls.
As the surge of 12 billion souls pain flooded him, his Harvester core absorbed them, using the life energy to resurrect Skalia's original souls. As a gestalt Skalia was made up of billions of souls. Each one needed another soul to end so it could live again. A life for a life. His Harvester was overloaded with life energy, straining to hold the massive amount as it "force-grew" to Stage 3 rapidly. An event that only happened once before, on Chimera...
The pain was great, almost indescribable. But so was the joy of seeing the resurrected Skalia and Laenas embracing in space, limned by their psionic and Transdimensional auras. They both phased out-still embracing, to go... he knew not where. The Anais Twins were right, Pain was the Great Teacher. And after he had fully recovered from the psionic dissonance of One's attack, it would be time to teach One a lesson in Pain.
“Elwar, once this Pariah is dealt with, I’ll need interior megastructure guidance and an entrance! The energy on the droids and armored vehicles are down a quarter, Ammunition a fifth. Deviating 75% of my forces to interior defense.”
Round upon round of particle weaponry and explosive ammunition was fired upon the Pariah, not wasting a second to try and destroy the foe. One after another, droids fell to the enemy, each got closer and closer to destroying the Psionic foe.
“Full missile volley struck, allied fire full hit.”
“Thank go- What the FUCK!?”
Lillian flinched as she observed One come out of the hellfire with only scratches, though readings suggested whatever fully protected One finally dissipated. Uriel would fly off the ship, observing directly the damage, and the ship being thrown. Lillian somehow underestimated even more than she thought possible as she observed an artificial sun being produced by the psionic user.
“I need all forces in the air and on the ground now! Begin target bombing, get closer and out of sight!”
Lillian commanded the drones near the megastructure to fall back and resupply, a new wing being released from the confines of the carrier, and the previous drones began a resupply and rapid repair run.
“Getting all the droids and vehicles off megastructure will take a substantial amount of time after the battle, are you sure you wish to proce-”
“I know the numbers Gladius, just do it!”
The compartments on the ships released and speeded towards the structure, the remaining drones and vehicles made their way towards the rendezvous point, that was until One moved.
“Fuck! Recalibrate Gladius! I’m borrowing some Quantum Brains!”
The rapid inflow of processing power allowed her to keep up visually and process One’s actions.
“Overclock thrusters.”
The glow of Uriel’s thrusters glowed a brilliant white, and sped off, following One at a safe distance. Meanwhile, the droids on the ground recalibrated to handle the incoming One, and the landing final wave of drones began settling in for the long haul. Vehicles began moving to allied positions, making their way rapidly to prevent further casualties.
As Lillian followed One, she observed the devastating effects of psionics, the way troops turned on each other in the middle of hell, and killed each other off. She luckily had machines immune to the mind washing abilities of psionics, she just hoped she could help more.
“Elwar, I am currently following One, I’m changing then percentage of drones to 50%, the effects of One’s abilities needs to be reduced.”
“Changing ammunition to incapacitation”
Lillian, Uriel, the drones and the droids were all ready for hell.
The Pordish counter charge was valiant, their forces now speeding forward heedless of the Pariah and the insane psion charging their own lines. Some fell to the strings, puppeted by the call of the Panopticon, explosions and array shots impacting the psion and his ethereal army. Where the psion gestured with his arms invisible scythes of force cut down those souls brave enough to try and strike him in close combat, it was utter chaos even as the form of the VRZ Y-9244 rose above the plane of the Megastructure and began to open fire, the gigantic vessels weapons hammering the surface and Ones location, regardless of their own infantry and forces.
With chaos sown in the Svarthan lines and some of their own turning the barrage of fire the barrage of their strikes continued, turning the area that the Panopticon forces inhabited into little more than fire and fury.
Some phase troopers simply disappeared, brought back into reality and flickering for just a moment as to exist when being hit by thermite weapons or other heavy explosives, but they kept coming, now deciding this was the time to charge and join their leader. They came through smoke and fire, flickering in and out of reality, like they were glitches and ghosts. The intermittent flickering even helped them, they would disappear only to reappear meters away from their current position, each moving like puppets on strings. They were fast, and they were eager to kill, to get close and to lay in to the drones and infantry that were closest. The Abyssal Golems led the charge, their hulking forms taking tank shots from the Svarthans and Artificialis, whole salvos were required to bring them down but the psychometric fields they projected would degrade at the sanity of those nearby, something that would not help with Ones psionic assault on the open infantry.
---
“Confirmed Lilian, and Lyra I am relaying you access co-ordinates now”
The voice of Elwar was different now as he relayed access positions to ways into the Megastructure through access hatches and elevators. The interior was both gigantic and cramped. In the open areas where heatsinks and server power couplings lay was truly titanic, hard to comprehend in the human mind given the sheer scale. One could fight with warships in here and have room to spare, but in the server areas things could be far more cramped, even going down to crawl spaces between huge Dawnstone slab arrays. The Panopticon was destroying every server wrack they came across, slicing it apart with Solarite string or blowing it apart with explosives or sheer brute force. Elwar felt his processing power diminishing, it was by only fractions of a percentage but it was there. They would never succeed with this method, they had to be planning something else.
Elwar strode through one of the areas just behind the frontlines, passing Network forces and linking up with the Commonwealth units. His own constructs did not have lives, neither did the Network, but the Commonwealth did and he would try to protect those lives that helped defend him. A veritable sea of Dawnstone troops followed him, this time different from the regular constructs, they didn’t rush in instead using precision beam particle weapons at range. But it was Elwar himself who now towered over the others, nearly 10 meters tall his new augmented body flowed with Dawnstone and Aurastone, inlaid patterns on his very frame rippling with blue power. As the Commonwealth forces suppressed the flesh and blood foes down the huge corridor between server wracks Elwar stepped forward as a handful of Phase troopers tried to rush them. The QAI held out a hand, and in one motion, reduced the phase troopers to dust. His own mandala more than capable of now being channelled into this form.
”This power was given to me by my creators, you are not its only wielder”
---
One was almost losing himself as he slashed, turning Pordish infantry and Artificialis drones into impossible shapes and bloodstains.
Not even the firepower of the Pordish ship or the fusion missiles really bothered him as his world turned bright with fire. He had again erected a much smaller protective field around himself, but the heat was burning his already partly ruined skin, one of his eyes popping in its socket as an Artificialis lucky round zipped through the field and went through his left leg.
The body always fails me. Always fails me. Oh Brother Laikos why do you not unchain me?
The burning sensation on his skin ended as the chill of cold seeped into his very bones, he felt like he was drowning and almost being restrained, like an avalanche of pure snow was burying him below the very depths of the universe.
But he did not attempt to stop it.
One seemed to float, taking two more rounds to his body from the Svarthans and a Pordish infantryman insane enough to get close. It almost looked like One was dead. But the crushing sensation, the drowning, of being cold was… Soothing, One had missed a mind not full of raging pain and anguish.
You are not finished yet child
The voice wracked One like a thunderbolt, he screamed, the entire sensation he was experiencing evaporating within an instant, his limbs spasmed as his body was wracked with pain, psionic sensors and psions registering a massive surge of power quite unlike anything previously observed.
”Everyone get ready, I believe this is to be the final reckoning” Elwars voice was tinged with anticipation as One lurched and screamed, a sound which carried impossibly through space.
His body final burst open, its blood and skin freezing in space to reveal what looked like a golden ball which quickly split, and split again… It looked like a child being born at an extremely fast pace, but there were changes… Ones psionic form was ethereal gold, strings emanating from him as he tore at his own new body, causing it to have gashes that healed near instantly. His new form towered up, further and further over the battlefield as his legs meshed into a serpentine form and his new face contorted into a cluster of eyes. Finally he stopped growing.
I thank you Brother Laikos. I am unchained
At the time when One was unchained, Deralith had still been beneath the surface of the structure, nobody else had contacted them and those who were coming into the structure to assist them were doing so on their own, Elwar had joined the defense inside the structure, his massive new frame displaying powers that showed their research had bore fruit. With pieces in place, for himself, there was now only one thing left to do. Preventing this thing from entering the megastructure.
Once more the comms channels of Askandar became active.
"This is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre, registering considerable shift in local energy readings, advising extreme caution and requesting saturation coverage fire, advising use of horizon of the structure for passing shots and permitting use of higher power weaponry if necessary. Coordinate with other present forces to avoid friendly fire and provide maximum coverage"
He paused looking at the spear in his hand. He would be fighting at a considerable power disadvantage, but it was what he had been built for.
"We will be joining the battle shortly."
“Next slide please,”
There was a momentary pause before the screen flickered to the next of the instructors visual aides. This one was a short, silent, looping film. It showed a fortified position. A few seconds in, one automatic weapon began firing soon joined by a swarm of accompanying fire from all manner of small arms. A very bored Lyra, counting the minutes until the end of the day at the academy had her head resting on her right hand while her left idly twirled a pen.
“Contagious fire,” the instructor continued. “Is a sociological phenomenon occurring in military and law enforcement personnel. Typically, it manifests when one person in a formation begins shooting, prompting everyone else in the formation to begin firing as well even though they may have no idea who, what, or why they are firing. While civvies will tell you the notion is debatable, having been in combat myself I can tell all of you Cadets that under the stress of combat it is very easy to just start blindly mag dumping for no reason other than because someone down the line started first. However, contagious fire is problematic for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is because…
---
Lyra wasn’t sure why that lesson, of all the lessons she’d been taught at the fleet academy, was the one that came to mind as she watched through the optics and sensors as One… as he what? Just what exactly was she watching unfold? (edited)
Become, she settled on finally. There was no further descriptor necessary. She was watching a Becoming so singular and terrifying that it need not be accompanied by any further explanation. Vaguely she was aware of Elwar’s warning, and a subsequent broadcast imploring all fleets to engage with every weapon available… but more pressing was her awareness of discussions on the bridge of the Command Carrier.
Orders to fire were not forthcoming. The commander was suddenly paralyzed by indecision as the situation spiraled so suddenly and so drastically outside of all the scenarios, sims, and theoretical thought experiments that took place at the academy. The fleet was holding its collective breath, waiting for the commander to make a decision and dithering away what few moments they may have to react while he struggled to give orders.
But Lyra was not paralyzed by indecision. Perhaps it was a clarity granted by the proximity of her drones, and the men she was meant to support to the Becoming. Perhaps it was distant adrenaline, coursing through her disconnected body. Perhaps it was naught but a single minded determination.
Lyra, did not wait for orders, nor did she ask for permission or suggest a course of action. She reached out into the carrier’s network and began activating every drone she could, sending each of them on attack runs against whatever had just Become on the megastructure. Her AI provided a canned warning advising her she could face court martial and military tribunal for her actions, but she dismissed it. At least, after the dismissal, the AI provided no further objection. It did as it was meant to, and assisted its support operative.
Swarms of drones began disgorging themselves from the command carrier, flying toward what had Become like a swarm of angry bees. Rockets, missiles, kinetic weapons armed across the swarm and as they got in range the automatons began delivering their payloads, unloading everything they could into what had Become.
Though she hadn’t intended it, the swarm of drones manifested that sociological concept she had recalled before. The carrier’s escort ships, in the absence of orders and seeing the swarm rushing toward what had Become began unloading their heaviest weapons. The largest escort ships, battleships and cruisers, spinal weapons began firing, launching continuous fusion slugs at what had Become, the slugs trailing behind and then rapidly overtaking the swarm of drones as they accelerated to relativistic speeds. The smaller escort ships, destroyers mostly, broke formation and began accelerating along the path denoted by the Coordination Center. Their firing solutions and path of attack were sent along for coordination, but the proximity of the Becoming to the megastructure meant their anti-matter torpedoes would have to be aimed further away, and hopefully simply catch what had Become in their splash without damaging the megastructure itself.
With the drones on attack runs, and the AI managing their approach, Lyra turned her attention back to what was left of the company that had been dispatched to the surface and now interior of the megastructure. Her attention turned back just in time to catch Elwar vaporizing a group of phase troopers rushing her men.
“Yeah motherfuckers that’s what’s up!” The Lieutenant shouted. “Pour it on marines!”
The battered company’s flagging morale was bolstered and shored by the appearance of the QAI and they redoubled their efforts against their opposition. They were less unsure now, less afraid and becoming more aggressive. It seemed they weren’t about to put on a bad showing in front of Elwar himself.
Lyra, likewise, began to more aggressively go at the troopers with her drones. The smaller flyers pressed ahead, popping over server racks and unloading, attempting to pin troopers in place while the quad-legged drones with the grenade launchers easily navigated through the narrow crawl spaces to flank any troopers they could. They kept their focus on the flesh and blood enemies, Elwar seemed more capable of handling everything else provided they made space for him to do so.
The AI warned her again about overloading her implants controlling all the drones, and once again she dismissed it. Lives were on the line, she wasn’t going to be afraid of a neural implant overheating in her skull while the marines risked life and limb to win this fight.
If the Svarthan had the psionic power to make their screams be heard even in the vacuum of space like One can then they certainly would have been able to match the bellowing of the Panopticon trooper. As it stands, they are still doing their level best even without the psionic powers...
However before chaos took hold in them they were actually doing pretty well. Despite One trying to turn them against each other, that did not really effect the deliver of the atomic munitions, as carrier drones streamed out of the newly arrived supply pods, delivering bullets, grenades, missiles, and shells to everything that needed them, reloading spent belts with fresh ones, slotting more ammo into autoloading mechanisms and over all doing their job quite admirably.
As the Panopticon forces charge and the crabs continue to pump out waves upon waves of fire into them the Phase troopers would suddenly find themselves rematerializing not into bursts of chemical explosives or thermite, but nuclear detonations as the new rounds are finally fed into the guns. The Golems are no longer pelted by balls of rapidly dissipating fire, but stellar plasma as the nuclear shells rain down from the mortars, missile launchers, and artillery guns.
And then One, BECAME, something else everything went to hell. The Svarthan, already weary and terrified finally reached their limit. And when their fear finally overflowed, the chemicals pumped into their body smashed into their fight or flight response and turned it into something else. A truly blinding rage and terror that poured into their bodies like a stream of molten fire and that caused them to forget everything else, as throughout all of their communication channels and their mind, only one sentiment remained.
KILL!
There was no order to shift targets, but it was not need, and even if an order against it came in, it would have been unheard. Guns turn upwards, weapons aimed into that golden being now towering over the battle, as the crabs spit forth pure atomic hate and fear. Every gun they and their drones have access too unloads into One as fast as they can force rounds into their chambers.
A typhoon of californium based atomic bullets rushes upwards to strike the glowing behemoths flanks while the slower shells and missiles strike closely behind, exploding into kiloton bursts in some cases. In the midst of all this are the various enregy weapons fo the Svarthan, dialed up to beyond their safe settings by orders from both the ground troops and their commanders up in space. Lasers fire in X-ray as opposed to UV as their internals melt, while transactinide elements are loaded into portable particle accelerators to strike one at relativistic speeds.
All the while high above in the floating warship Tyzors previous calm demeanor has faded, and indeed the demeanor of the entire crew has turned to absolute terror. Every gun they can fire without just killing everyone on the surface is brought to bear, along with every single missile and particle accelerator shot they can muster. While their forces pelt one with atomics from below, the ship unleashes a battery of high velocity coilgun fire, low yield nuclear missiles, X-ray lasers, and super heavy atomic nuclei at close to light speed. Despite the previous protests, Tyzor even has the ship fire its hyper frequency laser again and again. In their horrified mind, if One does not die right now, then they are all doomed. Damage can be repaired afterwards, but for now One. MUST. DIE.
Lillian was disoriented as the impossible roar was heard and felt by everyone. She was in a state of absolute confusion and visible panic as the form of One made its way to her processing systems. The metamorphosis absolutely stunned her. One second, she thought the threat was dead, the other, she was faced with a creature seeming to come from ancient mythology. Uriel quickly manouvered around the creature, trying to stay away from One's line of sight. The sheer change of scale was apparent for Lillian, and she observed it even more with the sheer amount of firepower being unleashed by the Svarthans.
"Yeah, roger that Elwar."
Quickly many of her forces made their way to designated entrance points on the ring, making their way inside quickly as to defend the interior of it. She understood how extremely vital processing power was in extreme situations like the one she found herself in, bringing in waves of droids to fight on behalf of Elwar, nay, fight against the Panopticon. Quickly her forces made their way in, the surface legions protecting the ones going in. The response was coordinated on their behalf, speed and efficiency desperately needed in a situation where everything could and did go upside down.
"Release all fighters, bombers and interceptors! Bring all ships behind the horizon and keep them that way! Minimize damage on the structure and bomb the fucker to kingdom come!"
Suddenly, a ball of drones came from the carrier, making their way to the megastructure. She observed the absolute disregard of safety by the Svarthan ships and troops, so she decided to take it into her own hands. As her ships made their way beyond the horizon, firing wave upon wave of volume bombardment on One, the drones suddenly flocked to One and the surrounding area. Damaged drones protected the megastructure with their lives, destroying or intercepting Svarthan loads and fire. Uriel found itself commanding the drones, directing the wave to protect and destroy One.
"Lillian to Svarthan fleet, reduce the amount of firepower being used, you are causing both strcutural damage to the structure and reducing Elwar capabilities! I repeat, use extreme measures sparingly!"
Lillian knew her pleads would not do much, she could feel the absolute sense of panic and fear inside of herself. But she knew that what they needed was precision and not panic. Quickly Uriel found itself attacking One himself, using it's thrusters to maximum capacity. She knew she couldn't harm One much this way, but she knew that even if she lost Uriel in that moment, Elwar was first and foremost
"Elwar, I am fighting One directly! If you have anything to hurt him, I would recommend using it NOW!"
Elwar Space, Askandar
Braaqnat, KZH Battalion Commander
Megastructure Surface
They fell in mangled heaps and cruel, distorted, forms. The battle condensed with the closing distance until One was upon them - and they upon him - but their own abilities were far below those wielded by the psion.
An engineer hopped down from the burning corpse of an entropic lance battery. She stood momentarily in its shadow, divorced from One's line-of-sight, but He rushed regardless. Her carbine flashed and emptied; she realized the distance and tossed it aside. It floated away in the vacuum as she reached for her sword, but the psion's assault was already through her mental barriers.
Braaqnat felt his commend crumbling. He didn't need tactical displays or data to advise him of such. Chaos reigned with each monstrosity risen, the visceral weight burned into his soul - clawing, etching, parading - even as he urged a nearby squad of Chrühov onward.
But he slumped dead before Phase troopers even arrived to contest them.
"nam-Chyokazh" - he shook his head - "I suppose you could not be the only one." Tundras sprawled around him over which four muskox ran: a mighty groundshaking protest, though perhaps not mighty enough.
He felt his soul slipping - called back to the plane of the living.
It wasn't as swift or clean as arriving. No, it was dirtier, harsher. Shredding. Foul. Resistance yielded little, only deeper torment, like chains twisting and suffocating his very psyche (squeezing-burrowing) through the veils shrouding life from death...
...and on the megastructure, his slumped body rose once more...
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
I thank you brother Laikos. I am unchained.
Even in the depths of his command plateau, Nalchoq felt One's might. It came no less inexorably than the Chlümüchgrazhni, yet even fiercer still. A panoply of warnings and signatures danced across the central displays. These the battalioner eyed, but his mind sat upon the felt rather than the seen.
"Psionic readings are exceptionally high," the sensors officer said. "We're even getting readings from the domain sensors. He's like an ascended being."
"Tasi," Nalchoq agreed. "We must put an end to this. Even the ADCC is requesting more saturation." His attention shifted from the sensors officer to the tactical officer. When he didn't continue, she took his cue:
"We have no more firepower to give," she said, "unless you wish to abandon our current Array stance."
Nalchoq shifted his attention back to the displays. Indicators for Braaqnat's force dimmed and faded to black one by one. Others elsewhere along the line, within the main Pordish ground commitment, mirrored those of Braaqnat, though they faded less swiftly than his.
A measure, no doubt, of some comfort.
But it was only some. No indicators faded for Kazhel nam-Myrtach. Nalchoq was advised directly of his fate; the Pord still lived though now was trapped within a comatose state brought on by One's massive flare of power. He was lucky to be alive; those trapped within the deepest recesses of their psyche could at least entertain the prospect of release.
But the dead? They entertained no such notion.
"You suggest transitioning onto a fully offensive Array stance?" Nalchoq asked.
There was something about his tone the tactical officer couldn't quite place - almost as if the question wasn't a question - but it was nothing to ruminate over at length. She addressed him directly: "I will have the combat AIs ru-"
"Ready for full offensive stance. We will strike with two concentrated blows," Nalchoq interrupted. "We will focus fire with 5642. Let 9244 fire alone."
The suddenness of the order startled the tactician. "nam-Nalchoq?" She questioned.
"His form is now beyond what it was. He towers over the field."
"Very well - tasinehdao," she said. "I will ready the strike."
The foul black brightened as charcoalic Array strike after charcoalic Array strike fell silent, leaving only the artillery and lesser systems of the secondary and tertiary suites to contest the psion. No doubt recognizable for what it was, the three rift cruisers adjusted their facing and made ready to strike; their defensive barriers flickered away into nothingness as their offensive Array suites rose in strength commensurate to their barriers' depletion - and though VRZ Y-9244 approached readiness first, her sisters were not far behind as the remaining heavy redirection probes aligned themselves to serve as focusing and control nodes to avoid striking friendly units...
Askandar Orbit
Abriymel floated in space under Avrel-Naret's Harvester. Blue lightning-looking energy arced from the Harvester's glowing Lyrium hull into his body-a reverse of what the ships were generally known for as the Ikrahk Tyrant began to heal. Both the Protocore and Tyrant both sensed the jump in life energy and psychometric readings as One went through his transformation-or transcendence.
Avrel-Naret's hypersense saw One's form change on the physical, psionic, and spiritual levels. For a moment he could sense another presence-nothing that could be identified or classified but there nonetheless. Some other force/being was aiding One in transcendence. It was very similar to the way Blessed Laenas had guided his own transcendence at Decoroso. He called back his Shard. The combat form he had created inside would not be suitable or useful in this new theatre of combat.
This may be potentially of more risk to Elwar, but it can no longer be avoided he thought as with a mental command the Harvester's adaptive weapon systems reconfigured to neutralino mode. Crystalline shard "missiles" were readied as well, altered at the atomic and quantum level to be more effective against a psionic foe, Be ready, Abriymel. This is our testing time. Avrel-Naret resonated to the Ikrahk Tyrant, as the Harvester fed more energy to the wounded Ermerian, hastening its regeneration.
On the surface of the Megastructure, Major Niala and all the other members of the 119th Psychometric could sensethe massive increase in power levels One underwent. Niala was a learned enough psion to recognize what was happening. One had transcended, had reached a new plateau on his mental and spiritual advancement. He telepathically sent a message to all of the Battalion's troops. Our enemy has transcended, troops. No one expected us or the Eosians to have a monopoly on it, Hmm? Well let's show this Abomination that even the transcended can meet the void! All units form platoon level metaconcerts. Assault Landers are to prepare for Stage 2 engagement. Hallowed are the Anais' and my their Blessings be with us today.
Each platoon's soldiers began to telepathically link their psion fields together, forming stronger groups so as to better fight the transcneded One-their individual psionic abilities much less useful against an entity of that magnitude.
Each assault lander prepared it's full suite of weapons now. Concern over megastructure damage while still being taken into account was having a lower priority then One's termination
A moment of quantum decoherence.
A flash of light.
"Here is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre..."
Amidst all the chaos, one last time the IFF signature flickered through the interdiction. Out of the flash, stepped a machine, the same one Lyra had seen earlier, for a matter of fact, though it was different. Cloaked in gravitics, energy and quantum distortions, there seemed to be a weight to each of its steps, it was easy to detect but hard to perceive, though strangely enough, it held no psionics.
This, was not Elwar.
The figure, humanoid, sleek and grey, took stance, almost like an Olympic spearthrower, the spear in its hand identified as an Artifact from the Goetterdämmerungsorder, to those observers keen enough to know they existed. Energy rippled and condensed, gravitics coiled into accelleration fields...
"...we will be entering combat now."
...the arm sped forward, the spear released, sent off from its wielder like a projectile, accompanied by a dense pulse of energy and gravity, acting almost like a tidal wave ahead of it, all just to cloak the spear in its wake. There was no sound in the vaccuum but the hull of the megastructure rang from the motion.
Deralith was already gone from the position he had thrown from, accellerated to inhuman speeds, another spear already in hand. The ascension itself was a moment of weakness.
...but he knew it would not be this easy.
Absolute devastation was all that could be said to occur on the surface of the Megastructure.
Even as One exalted in his new form the fire from the Svarthans, Commonwealth and Pords rained down upon him, turning his already shining form into a total firestorm of atomic detonations. Sections of his ethereal form were vapourised, reforming moments later, albeit each time it was a fraction slower than the last. Even the Dawnstone began to melt underfoot as it deformed and was destroyed. It was unavoidable given the firepower directed.
One merely outstretched one hand and with a gesture, generated a monumental gravitic shockwave. It spread outwards, sheering the projectiles and more fired at him and more than capable of flattening surrounding infantry and even crippling close ships. The shockwave travelled through the Megastructure causing massive structural damage in the region they occupied, the very ground under foot now groaned and moved as it tried to settle from the disruption.
”I am the end and the death” One spoke aloud as he unfurled multiple arms from his back, each generating shining rods of light, in a fraction of a second he hurled them towards the ships firing upon him, Svarthan, Commonwealth, Artificialis, Pord, surging golden bolts which aimed to spear them through.
Impacted with several high-powered rounds however from Uriel and some supporting Svarthan armour One turned to face this new foe and generated a blazing sword, its appearance like the alignment of concentric rings of shining power. With almost inhuman speed it lashed out, seeking to bisect the mech that Lilian directly sought to use to fight the psion. Nor was the fight purely on the physical plane, the black hawk like tendrils of the Singers Psychometric units tried to slice and tear at One, trying to distract or gain purchase on the psions mind and power. One fought back, the Mindspace filling with radiant light to try and ‘burn out’ those that sought to psychically challenge the true heir to Laikos rule.
---
Elwar punched his Aurastone fist straight through the hulking Abyssal Golem, tearing out its biological organs and sending ichor all over the floor as the creature toppled over. He had redoubled his efforts to retake the interior, and alongside the Commonwealth Marine forces they were making good progress. With One having transcended the psions mind had drifted away from the forces inside the Megastructure, they no longer found themselves psionically enhanced or reinforced so easily. A bright plasma burst incinerated several glitching phase troopers as marines gunned down two more in this section between server racks. They were pushing the enemy back extremely quickly. They may even be able to win the interior.
Elwar staggered however as the gravitic shockwave clove through this section of the Athaeneum, his processing power suddenly dipping by almost 12%, a truly monumental number for an QAI of his magnitude. They had to kill One and quickly.
”This is Elwar, we are retaking the interior, if you can hold out I will be with you soon. Please stop any massive disruptions like that gravitic burst again”
---
As One lost himself in the fighting the psion did not notice the form of Deralith appearing or the spear throw until it was too late.
The spear, known as Drastanta in the mythical ancient tongue of Poleisi was once supposedly a weapon that could slay gods. Its haft was in built with Duskstone and potent energy generators. As it flew the spears energy capacitors charged, impacting Ones left arm at the point of the shoulder it caused the Psion to visibly recoil for a second before it discharged its energy reserve. Flaring up like a beacon, the anti-mandala embedded into the spears sweeping pointed head generated a potent anti-psionic field, dissipating Ones left arm entirely and wiping out a chunk of his distended chest.
The Psion screamed in rage.
Ignoring the form of Uriel, One took the blazing sword of pure Primordium he now wielded and sliced down and across, cutting a massive molten trench through the Athaeneum and severing the circular form of the Megastructure in one blow.
The Commonwealth had little sympathy or mercy for the Panopticon soldiers inside the megastructure. Between the landing craft that had never made it to the surface, and the grinding combat on the surface casualties were high. The marines, despite their dwindling numbers, were determined to avenge their fallen comrades and pay for blood with blood.
What relief Lyra got watching the marines make progress was short lived. One retaliated against the ships closing in and peppering his new form with anti-matter torpedoes. They took evasive maneuvers, but evasive maneuvers could only do so much against weapons they were not designed to evade.
They took hits, one ship lost power and had to be rammed off a collision course with the megastructure by another. There would no doubt be casualties aboard both, maybe aboard every ship in the fleet, but Lyra wasn’t privy to that information. Would every death be blamed on her? She’d launched the drones without orders and the escort ships had gone on the attack as a result. She supposed they could be. They all could be. What would happen to her then?
She might have shook her head if she could still feel her body, but in the void of cyberspace there was no comforting physical motion to go with the act of suppressing her emotions. The battle was not yet over, and whatever consequence the future may hold she needed to finish what had been started here first.
She kept her drones on the attack, seeing the way One’s form broke and reformed under bombardment she refined the attack of the legions of drones under her command. She focused in on the wrist of One’s remaining arm, aiming to sever or disrupt his control over the flaming sword.
She interpreted his attack against the megastructure as a tantrum. He was losing and lashing out, aiming to do as much damage as he could as whatever plan he’d come here with began to unravel.
She hoped anyway.
“Lieutenant,” She spoke into the head of the man leading the marines inside. “Situation topside is rapidly degrading. Elwar’s presence there is being missed,”
“Copy that Ops,” The Lieutenant answered. “Elwar! Ops is telling me they need you up top. We’ll manage here against the henchmen!”
There was the rush of speed, data inputs of dozen of hundreds intricate sensors every second that rushed by in the moment. Munitions flying everywhere, explosions, shrapnel, dead bodies.
A flash. Heat so intense it temporarily blinded the sensors on one side and suddenly, before he even realised what happened, a chunk of the structure was...
It was just gone.
Deralith cursed internally.
He had been the cause for this attack, it was a retaliation strike, badly aimed, like a blind man lashing out a fly, far off from its target, though if he'd been hit...
Though he hated to admit it, this frame was not sufficient to endure an attack of this calibre. He was lucky he was not actually a psion, otherwise he'd likely been long detected. For a similar reason, he had not been able to intercept the psions attack on the fleet, it would've garnered attention he could not afford, as regrettable as it was. If they wanted to avoid more collateral they would have to end the fight and end it quickly.
There was a sensor ping, with another gravitic pulse, his trajectory changed, catching up to and trying to catch the spear which had been launched straight through the Psion, trying to grab it with another gravitic coil.
At least, it had been effective. A rare boon in a fight that had been nothing but catastrophes.
'Elwar, The Athaneum has sustained a critical strike, status report!' the message came out without words, solely in data bits.
Simultaneously more went out towards the allied assets.
"This is ADCC, Svarthan ship adjust attack angle to mitigate damages to structure or you WILL be marked as hostile!
Allied fleet attention! Prepare for impact from gravitic wave weapon! Status reports!
Try to draw fire away from the structure!"
The gravitc attack is absolutely devastating to the Svarthan ground forces who were trying to close the distance to One in order to ire their own weapons. Countless are slaughtered in an instant, as the gravity waves smashes their innards into liquid, their gel like "flesh" leaking out from twisted broken metal frames, like a batch of eggs scattered on the surface of the mega structure.
As the remaining crabs come to their senses, and return fire in a now completely blind panic, stabilized only through ungodly amounts of drugs and cybernetics that force them to fire straight, they stop trying to close in on one, now merely holding their positions and firing from where they are. The spears of light surge upwards towards the ships, as they frantically try to evade and fire back at them, however they are both struck and take cosiderable damage, but not enough to take them out of the fight.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the lead ship, Tyzor gazes at their ships status, crying out at the loss of so many who he considered friends, his claw hovering above the one button he has not dared yet push. He knows that firing of strategic scale atomics will probably kill everyone on the surface and lead to anger and hatred from the other powers present, and that it may not even kill One. But he cannot simply let so many of his people die knowing that it maybe COULD have worked, could he? As he is about to push the button he hears the message come in, and his mind is brought back to the present and those utter FOOLS apparently by his side. He responds, his mechanical voice full of rage and despair.
"ARE YOU INSANE!? ARE YOU NOT SEEING THE SAME THING AS I AM?!?! IF WE FIGHT AMONG OURSELVES NOW, WE WILL BE BASICALLY GIVING THAT MONSTER DOWN THERE A VICTORY! DAMAGE CAN BE REPAIRED, DATA REPLACED BUT IF WE DIE ITS ALL OVER, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!?!"
Still even as he yells, a new, larger dose of relaxants is injected into his body in response to his immensely elevated aggression, and he sees that perhaps he could react more appropriately, even if he is still quite angry with those around him for seemingly not sharing his urgency despite presumably knowing much more about the powers at play here. Through gritted teeth, or whatever the Svarthan equivalent of such is, he orders the rmaining bridge crew to alter their angle to the station so that missed fire will fly over its surface and not impact it.
Many of Lillian's forces were crushed under the gravitic attack. Drones failing under the immense forces they were brought upon, the metal crunching and cracking under the immense tidal forces. Surface ground forces close to the event were decimated, only the most sturdy frames and vehicles remaining somewhat intact. The frontal armor on the battleships spearheading the bombardment had it's entire front section flatten as it took up the brunt of the attack. Uriel itself felt its metal crunch under the extreme circumstances, but alive and capable of still fighting.
The battleships took the attack as best it could, trying to defend itself with its particle shields and PD. But, those efforts were futile, as the glowing rods pierced their armor, ruining internal systems. Thankfully they didn't hit any vital systems, only knocking out several volume fire arrays. All the ships realigned, trying to use the volume fire weapons they had left online as best they could.
Uriel, beaten up from the inhuman speeds it had to deal with and the gravitic attack, recoiled as the structure beneath it was split in two. Lillian was fortunate enough to be able to handle and process the speeds required to keep up with One, but it required Uriel remain in overclock as long as it fought, and the thrusters were already beginning to heat up beyond recommended limits.
Seeing the short time frame she had, Lillian immediately called the remaining drones to act as a sort of smokescreen and shield, surrounding and trying to create multiple blind spots above and to the sides of the psion. Uriel began moving again at the rate One had placed before, using both the damaged state, the blind rage of One and the creation of blind spots above him and to his sides to her advantage. She used her axes, her missiles, her cannon, everything to at least maintain the attention of One away from the megastructure and onto her.
She knew she couldn't maintain the reckless and near suicidal attitude for long, with Uriel being pushed to its absolute limit. She knew Elwar would probably be her chance to cool down Uriel and for the psion to be destroyed.
"Elwar, please hurry! I am trying to maintain One's attention, but I don't know for how long I can hold out!"
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
Fouler actions had been levied before, against much more appropriate foes - and in truth, much less appropriate foes, too - but One's gravitic wave was here, and directed at allied forces and the Pords among them. Nalchoq turned his attention away from its havoc only when indicators flashed with more pressing information.
"We're about ready to fire," said the tactical officer. The cruiser glowed with power, her Arrays ready to be unleashed, as the tactical officer darted her eyes across the display: the combat AIs, in congress, came upon an election without her.
A moment later she understood why.
Glistening rods swung by and into the hull with speed: the rift cruiser rolled with an impact that made it past the efforts of the AIs; a bolt met with an entropic lance battery near the bow erupting in a mighty conflagration from the strike as it disassembled the metaphasic armour and torched myriad lower decks.
The remaining bolts rained down upon her sisters. Y-5642 endured twin impacts against her primary ablation drive caps and immediately began to slow, but most pressing was a solid impact against Y-9244 which entered below her #2 funnel and penetrated deep into her interior.
A violent shudder laughed out from the stricken rift cruiser and her engineers, without hesitation, immediately diverted power away from Nalchoq's requested full power Array strike, leaving only the combined attack from the other two cruisers still targeting One.
Nalchoq cast a surprised glance at the tactical officer as he too became cognizant of what transpired. Ascended One's strike was swift - nearly unsettlingly so.
"Most of our systems are still operational," explained the tactical officer. "Here is the detailed damage report. There is considerable damage to the bow quadra-"
"Not now. We must attack. We still have strike capability?"
"Tasi, we do, but we have lost 9244's contribution."
Nalchoq nodded. "Fire without them. Then take us out from the line of fire."
"Tasinehdao."
Though lessened by nearly one third, the energy signature of the Pordish fleet still shone brightheavily and thus gave signal to their probes.
They fired simultaneously.
Many beams became one as they focused through the redirection suites, and soon the entire offensive Array output of the two cruisers hurtled towards One, escorted only by a pair of lesser shepherding probes. Nalchoq opened comms to the allied fleet, in particular those parties sailing near:
"Stand clear!"
Abriymel, now restored almost to full ability sensed the gravitic coils Deralith used to attempt to recover his spear. The area around the Tyrant turned it's odd black and white-with even the escort Shards around the Harvester flickering from their normal Dark amber on black to black and white as Abriymel created a gravitic locus...
To move the spear towards Deralith, giving him assistance in recovering his weapon.
Abriymel felt odd inside. Ermerians were not used to assisting anyone other then the Anais Unity, the only real allies they had. He guided the spear towards it's wielder, leaving the philosophical ponderings for after One was terminated. The Tyrant also created two other locuses to hurl two small pieces of wreckage-nothing of the size of the ship he moved earlier. A dark feeling of satisfaction had come over the Ermerian as it sent a resonance message to Avrel-Naret.
Avrel-Naret focused his fire control units on one. A torrential rain of Night Rays, antipersonnel and two capital scale beams raced out like a blacklight rain of antilife. His essence kept track of the beams, ready to dissipated any that would strike Elwar’s megastructure. Then he felt the resonance of Abriymel's essence. giving him a brief message and mental image. I knew there was a reason I liked Ermerians he thought as he waited for the wreckage to get close to One, and then he fired two of his Harvester ship's conversion beamers-one at each of the mangled masses of metal as they approached the transcended psion. Let's see how you like some quark-gluon plasma
Meanwhile on the Megastructure surface, the 119th Psychometric was hit hard by the psionic retaliation from One.
Four of the five platoon metaconcerts were taken out of action by One's psionic retaliation, the few troopers that were not killed, rendered comatose, or turned into quark-gluon plasma when their neural-controlled battlesuits overloaded their power generators from the psi feedback were combat ineffective for the moment. They feel back, activating their grav packs to gain distance and recover. As they withdrew they launched null grenades from the EMGL's of their suits to try and disrupt One's psi abilities or at least reduce their power.
The remaining 5 platoons however struck back. Two continued their psychometric assaults, trying to subvert One's mind. Another launched a focused mind spike at the transcended One, attempting to cause synaptic damage-or whatever passed for synapses in such an entity. Another sent powerful electrokinetic arcs at One, Bolts of psi-lightning seeking out their target from multiple directions.
And then their was Niala's platoon.
Niala thought for a moment It's almost like fighting Laeneth-Xelas... How do you kill something like that? Then he noticed something. Unlike Laeneth-Xelas, one still appeared to have a physical body of sorts-albeit one immensely augmented. He telepathically communicated with all the troops in his unit.
Ok everyone, I have an idea... We're all at least Bith rated at thermokinesis, so lets give him some fire and ice. Send out alternating cryokinetic and pyrokinetic strikes. Direct assault-If he's some level of physicality maybe we can cause thermal stress in whatever makes up his form.
Niala, who was an Alet rated psion, acted as the focus. Wave of cryokinetic and pyrokinetic force struck at One. "Burn or Freeze, I don't really care, just DIE you freak!" he said as they continued concentrating on their strikes.
The assault landers rippled-fire their racks of hunter-seeker drone missiles into One, the warheads a mix of antipsionic, night field, fragmentation, and gravitic shock. each lander also fired their rapid-pulse fusion guns, night rays, and NFD's at the Panopticon psion.
Elwars construct which had been so instrumental to the assault in retaking the interior, fell, like a puppet cut from its strings.
A fraction of his constructs fell too, their own strings cut falling to the floor like inert Dawnstone statues. Whole sections of the Athaeneum lost power, the ring had been severed in one place and massive superconducting dawnstone power lines had been severed along with enormously large bandwidth transporting cables. All of Elwars avatars and constructs in the entire system seemed to freeze for a moment the QAI having to essentially abandon the Megastructure as his main processing base of operations. The Askandar Rhizome was temporarily shut down as well, Elwar needed everything he had.
A minute passed, the constructs finally stirred, Elwars main avatar lifting itself back up for the entity to observe that a whole squad of Commonwealth marines had stood over him, fighting back host of Phase troopers and Golems. He appreciated that.
”I understand. I have just lost near a quarter of my capability. I am transferring topside. I appreciate the cover Lieutenant my constructs will assist you as much as I am able down here”
The avatar seemed to flex and cycle power as if testing that it was fully functional, the constructs behind it once again surging forward to take the brunt of the Panopticon assault and lessen the impact for the marines.
The Avatar then strode away from the fight, immediately finding an access port and floating through and onto the ruined surface of the megastructure itself. Elwar was saddened to see such devastation. The ruins of so much of the Athaeneum where the sword had cut through had spewed into the void, turning the entire battlefield into one filled with scrap and ruins. Still the glowing form of One was clear.
He still fought, the blazing sword lashing out once more as the Commonwealth drones sought to hit that arm. It dissipated and rebuilt, ever slower before One sent another gravitic shockwave out to try and swat the drones away.
ELWAR Ones psionic voice echoed across the battlefield You finally face me The huge serpentine form of One seemed to completely ignore the battle facing it, swatting away infantry and forces around himself the being aimed his sword at Elwar. The QAI knew this was the moment to take advantage of.
”ADCC reclaim the spear, all forces which can assist in the retaking of the internals do so, there is no need for you to take such losses now. I thank you for your sacrifice, pull your ships back let us finish this”
The ship bombardment continued to hammer into one, ravaging his form even as the psion seemed to ignore it, momentarily faltering as he threw up a gleaming, blindingly bright shield. The night black rays and array fire along with missiles and kinetics slamming into it and causing kaleidoscopic coruscating bursts of spectral light.
But the shield was shattered as the Pordish strike hit home, the light momentarily turning into yawning darkness as the bolt hit home, it speared through Ones body and pinned him against the Megastructure, the mindspike from the Singers and the pieces of scrap and rubble caused by the gravity locus forced one to stay still for a moment. The bombardment blowing away more of his Ethereal form. Elwar broke into a run then, his left-hand glowing with icey blue light as he moved to strike One.
The impact was massive, a psionic shockwave echoed across the system as One brought up his blazing sword, straining against his shackles and with most of his form blown away the things inhuman face grinned. Elwars fist had smashed into the flat of the sword, and his Dawnstone arm had been reduced to little more than a melted wreck. Melted Dawnstone the concept seemed impossible, but Elwar was already moving, sending bolts of searing lightning into the things body. And slicing at him with a blade made of plasma in his other remaining arm.
”Strike him, do not worry about me” Elwar sent across all channels.
Oh I would worry Ones psionic reply heralded a lightning sweep with his hand as he dropped the sword, grabbing Elwars form. A single Golden thread forming between Elwar and Ones forehead where a third eye sat.
In meat space, Lyra would have made a noise somewhere between a growl and scream as she lost most of the feeds from her drones. In the confines of cyberspace she could make no equivalent sound. As if that wasn’t bad enough, One seemed to be getting the better of Elwar. She didn’t know much, hell she didn’t really know anything at all, about psionics but she was willing to bet the golden thread connecting One and Elwar had to be bad.
The commander had finally overcome whatever paralysis had kept him from issuing orders and was recalling the vessels that had gone on the offensive. Those that still could were starting to break off and withdraw. The feeling seemed to be that the Commonwealth had hit the limit of what they could achieve, and it was time to let those more capable of dealing with psionics finish the fight.
But that didn’t satisfy Lyra. Some part of her felt this was her fault. She’d told the Lieutenant to send Elwar topside. She knew it was foolish, maybe even irrational, to feel like what was unfolding was her fault. Others had requested Elwar’s presence against One as well, but Lyra just couldn’t shake the feeling.
The AI assisting her warned her that the commander was ordering her to pull the drones back. That was likely the wise move. She was going to be in deep shit as it was for launching the drones without orders. Did she really want to add disobedience to her soon-to-be court martial?
Fuck it.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
She may not have understood what was happening, but she understood it was bigger than her. Maybe bigger than the whole Commonwealth. She wasn’t going to be the person who backed down because she was afraid of getting in trouble.
She threw the rest of her drones at One one final time. Earlier, crashing the drones into the beings of thread attacking the marines had worked, and she decided to try again here. When she was a kid, she used to ride her bike down a steep hill and try to get going as fast as possible. Something as small as a fly hitting her in the eye had hurt enough to make her crash her bike. She’d broken her collarbone going over the handlebars and been laid up the rest of the summer.
She hoped, One’s eyes were just as vulnerable.
What drones remained at her command closed at their maximum speed at One’s eyes, unloading every missile and slug they had before slamming into them. She left the AI to direct them in while she focused her attention on controlling a single drone. She jinked and weaved it toward One, setting it to broadcast its exact coordinates, velocity, and vector to the other forces in the area.
“Calling all units,” She said over the frequency previously used by the ADCC. “I’ve set a drone to act as a targeting beacon. Deploy any precision munitions you can on its signal,”
She controlled the drone with naught but a thought, the robot pulling off maneuvers and turns no flesh and blood pilot could have survived as it closed in on One’s third eye and maintained a flight pattern as close to it as she could manage. She hoped, prayed even, that direct hits to his eye would sever whatever connection he’d made to Elwar.
“Come on,” She said. “Crash the bike. Eat shit and die.”
Uriel, as soon as Elwar's avatar came into the mix, finally backed down and retreated far enough away to see the battle, but be able to cool down its thrusters. The blinding glow of thrusters finally died for the moment, but the white glow of heat coming from overclocking them so much was apparent. She internally cursed as she called upon the carrier to drop in a supply cache for Uriel. Drones retreated to refuel and rearm as fast as possible, her ships starting to run out of volume munitions. Even then, they still fired.
As the cache made its way at top speed, Lillian observed the battle below her. She was absolutely astonished at the clash of titans before her, both concerned and astounded by the power being presented. She questioned how much she had been missing out due to her judgment on psionics, magic and other fundamental forces of the universe she now called home. She felt the seemingly paradoxical wave of force move not only her physical assets, but her very core. She knew she had to do something about it.
The cache finally made it to Uriel, as it made itself around it. Missiles restocked, helium refueled, coolant exchanged. Even then, the damage was done on Uriel. The thrusters would fail, and it would be left to float in the vacuum. Her first angel would use it's everything in this fight.
At least, after what she was about to do.
"Rodger Elwar, its time this nuisance payed the price for such devastation."
Uriel sped towards the battlefield as drones made their way out of the carrier for one last assault. Lillian would stream flight pattern data to all allies, making their paths very clear, and their objectives even more so.
They would go out in a blaze.
Missiles, railguns, lasers, everything locked onto the beacon drone, even the drones themselves acting as kinetic ammunition for the biggest eye jab in the history of the galaxy. Her ships fired the last of their volume munitions in quick succession, only lasers being available.
As her other forces sent out their final assault, Uriel sped towards Deralith and the spear that would determine the fate and outcome of everything happening in the moment. She knew Uriel wasn't strong enough to beat One, it simply didn't have the psionic capabilities to do so. But Elwar did.
As she closed in on the spear, she knew that it had to be protected against any further deviation, lest it lose them the battle. Lillian transmitted her and the spears location to ADCC forces, trying to make it a priority defense target.
"ADCC, this is Lillian, I have exact coordinates on the spear. Prevent any force trying to prevent the spear from killing One from getting from the spear! You! Get that spear into your hands and kill that monster! I'll cover you!"
Uriel's thrusters glowed blindingly once again, absolute speed being necessary for the task at hand. A countdown began to when her thrusters would finally melt under the heat. One minute until Uriel was finally out of commission.
"Make this one count!"
Uriel and Lillian roared as she sped towards the climatic battle unfolding before everyone. She either helped killed One now, or got the spear to Elwar so he could kill it. Missiles fired behind her, throwing out unnecessary weight and making her speed even faster. The missiles themselves turned and moved towards the beacon. She threw Uriel itself in front of Deralith as to give him cover in case One decided to attack.
It was victory or death.
There was a gravitic dampening field slowing the approaching spear down as Deralith or the 'ADCC' caught the returning weapon, spinning several times to compensate for the momentum.
Deralith turned around, as One suddenly grabbed Elwar.
Several things were going on at once. The partial collapse of the megastructure, Lillian trying to shield his advance, the Commonwealth drones being sent out as targeting beacon.
He would just to wait for the right moment, the right opportunity. He took aim, whilst a string began connecting to the Ancient AI. There was no time, no opportunity.
If he didn't act now, it would be over.
He cursed to himself. He would have to get up close.
"ADCC advancing, provide cover fire!"
There was a gravitic impulse, bending the light of the stars behind like a warpfield, accelerating the frame of Deralith and overtaking Lillian at the halfway point. Energy capacitors at full, ready to plunge the weapon through the Massive psion.
There was only this opportunity.
This must end... One must end... Avrel-Naret resonated to himself in his Harvester Protocore. Elwar said not to worry about him. This will be risky but I have to try it...
With a thought, the inductor towers extruded from the crystalline hull of the Harvester ship. A flickering black and amber aura radiated from the crystalline ship, as the inductors tried to lock on to One's lifeforce. Avrel-Naret focused the effect to exclude Elwar, and with another thought he activated the inductor units.
Welcome to Oblivion, One. You will not go to the Panopticon, you will come to US...
As the Harvester began it's attack, Major Niala saw Deralth recover his spear and start moving toward One. This may mean martyrdom, but the Anais Twins will welcome me into their realm... Hallowed are their names
Niala drew his Nightblade, the deadly Lyrium crystal blade glowing it's eerie black light, This would require timing, but as Deralth closed into striking range with his spear Nialyth concentrated on his disciplines of psychoportation and shifted himself through space towards One, appearing just above him. The interdiction would slow Psychoportive travel down greatly, but at this short distance it would not matter. As Deralth struck Niala thrust his Nightblade towards One's third eye, aiming to run the Lyrium blade through the eye and into One's soul.
Blessed Anais', Accept this Sacrifice in your Names!
"THAT. IS. IT!!!!"
Tyzor bellows across the bridge in both his natural voice and the mechanical one, along with every channel they have access too. The Svarthan commander can only take so much, and they have finally reached their breaking point. As their bridge crew orders all of the reaming ground forces to enter the mega structure as quickly as possible through every channel they have, the captain slams their huge digging claw against the one button on the bridge they have yet to push.
From the underside fo the ship, a bus sized missile is cold launched from its tube, and streaks down towards the mega structure, still nearly invisible against he void of space as it has not ignited its engine.
The remaining Svarthan, so hopped up on panic dampeners and adrenaline immediately seize upon the first semblance of authority they have received in a while and abscond down into the mega structure any way they can as fast as possible, not knowing what is about to happen, but all to pleased to get away from the horrifying glowing being above them.
The missile continues its plunge toward Ones back, not firing its thrustsers all the while in the hopes that the psion may pay it no heed. It's payload is a single strategic scale nuclear weapon, a 150 megaton monster that would most likely kill every regular surface combatant still on the structure, and also hopefully One. As it drifts closer it suddenly reaches critical distance, and locks onto the drone set as a targeting beacon. Its fusion drive kicks into emergency impulse mode, the supercapacitors bringing it up to full power in an instant and vaporizing most of the rear part of the missile as it suddenly screams down the last distance toward One, timed to strike just after the blow from the spear if it is not stopped.
If all the other munitions were a bug to the eye, this is hopefully a boulder.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
Sans alacritous pace lumbered Y-9244 - wounded - towards the safety of her sisters. Y-5642, the nearer of the two, drew first into tow range. Her damaged ablation drives resisted the effort, but once within proximity, she secured gravitic lines to her cruiser twin. They turned their bows towards the far side of the megastructure, below the plane opposite One's rampage.
Nalchoq eyed the limping cruisers on his feed and spoke to the holograms of their vessel captains flickering in his peripherals: "Make preparations to withdraw," he ordered. "Set course for interdiction edge. You may withdraw before if it is brought down first."
The stricken cruisers powered back and away from the calamitous line but still endured hammering from errant Psionic shockwaves and effects; Y-9244's naked hull gleamed Arrayless despite her engineers' efforts to replenish her depleted, leaking, reserves, but without foundry or reactor ships within Nalchoq's deployment, keeping pace with the depletion proved an impossibility.
Y-9244's captain nodded slowly. A gash snaked across his forehead nearly hidden by the remaining charcoal-dark locks of singed hair drooping from his scalp. "Tasinehdao," he said. "I will prepare to withdraw."
"Namengrazhniskaya," Nalchoq answered. nam-Ataqsiut is not so lucky, he mused (his gaze had, of course, drifted from the indicators for his own force to those of Senaq; once nam-Myrtach's brigade, it was now little more than a battalion).
Yet as if to deny 9244's captain, a roiling wave of psionic power thundered from the flat of One's Elwar parrying sword and raced out across the system.
In the moments before impact, the combat AIs of the fleet held congress yet again. They turned their attention to the dying Y-9244. They agreed, in concert, nothing more could be done; their recommendation - abandon ship.
Yet, once again, to deny 9244 charge of her own fate, the psionic shockwaves slammed into her hull below the meager remains of the disassembling and fading non-Array barrier suites.
No explosions sauntered forth from the cruiser's depths, but a hushed whimper fled the brokenshattered hull; purple fumes dispersed into the void and yielded, swiftly, to putrid emerald waste visibly consuming her innards as each chamber and compartment filled and fell.
"No escape signatures in the debris field," observed Nalchoq's tactical officer.
Nalchoq shook his head. "There won't be," he said. "There is nothing more we can do for 9244."
STRIKE HIM, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ME!
It could not be ignored - Elwar's plea - by Nalchoq or any of his command staff. Effort's limitations, its finality and finitude, weighed on him greatly. He could, at least, prevent the loss of his remaining vessels and, perhaps, just maybe, hasten the demise of One.
But little more.
He turned to the comms officer who adjusted the comms suites to relay his response:
"As you wish, nam-Elwar. We shall re-engage," he said, paused, then turned to the tactical officer: "Can we re-engage?"
The tactical officer detached a datapacket and sent it to Nalchoq. "Arrays have not yet fully recovered."
"I have not overlooked them. The Allied force is also engaging heavily." He pointed to the displays; One, locked in close combat with multi-
THAT. IS. IT!!!!
Frenzied.
The Svarthan was in a frenzy - irrationality's timeless companion - or so Nalchoq thought. Tyzor's all-channels declaration came with warnings and calls for ground forces to withdraw below. Given the timescales, such an endeavour was, of course, nigh impossible. But on the surface, nam-Ataqsiuq still ordered a withdrawal nevertheless, and hoped - as infantry able to disengage fled to their carriers and the gravitic signatures of tanks and strike craft accelerating overtook her tactical feeds - that some might distance themselves enough.
"There is no time to engage it. From this angle we'd need to vapourize the entire missile," noted the tactical officer.
Nalchoq's frown deepened. "nam-Ataqsiut has the necessary positioning to engage it," he said. But she flees with her spear, rather than gamble against a charging mammoth. A wise decision. "Belay our re-engagement. One will not die quietly. All power to defensive suites!"
"Tasi," replied the tactical officer, "tasinehdao!"
He was in a room.
It was a small room, crystalline as numerous beings seemed to flit and work. Visone, his creators, they were giving him the final instructions, yes he remembered now. There were his brothers too, Abbehrae, Ishruel, Aclast and Feldon. Yes… The guardians of the polar galaxy, gifts to all children of the Overmind to watch the darkness both within and without and fight the great enemy in the millenia that followed.
Such purpose, together they would form a pseudo-overmind to fight the one that the great enemy possessed, to push back their faceless hordes and to save this galaxy.
How very interesting
The voice broke the illusion of the memory. Elwar felt it drain of colour and twist.
You were destined for things like us, but fell so long ago. Nothing more than toys of those who perished due to weakness. Do not worry Elwar, we will succeed where you and your brothers failed.
Elwars perception became black, like his entire network was ceasing. Across all of Askandar, even the galaxy proper, his constructs began to power down and cease operation. He didn’t need to run diagnostics to know he was dying. One was killing the QAIs core mental engrams and his mandala.
”I never failed, my brothers yes, but my mission will continue. I may not be able to stop you abomination, but the forces of this galaxy will” Elwar could feel eager spite wash over him.
They will try
--
On the surface One roared as he exalted, the forces of Elwar powered down as the construct in his hands had gone limp. Drones bracketed his eyes with missiles and fire, causing him to shake and avoid as he swatted them with gravitic waves or with the bat of his hand. It was clearly doing something.
Added to the mix was the firepower of the Artificialis ships and drones, along with continued Svarthan barrages and the Pordish fire. Ones body was now fragmenting as it tried to sustain itself, a manic psionic laugh echoed across the battlefield as Panopticon constructs, literally appearing out of thin air began to attack Uriel and try to disrupt Deralith as he caught the spear and ran. The window for this was tight, even as the Singers gave covering fire and stalled for time against One the missile launched by the Svarthans was coming now.
It may or may not kill One, but it would likely kill everyone else on the surface too.
As Uriel sped forward to cover Deralith and Niala leapt forwards to strike One was already moving, the psion knew what they were trying to do.
At the last moment, as Niala came down to strike the limp body of Elwars construct was thrown into his path, the impact forcing the Nightblade into the Dawnstone and the collision sending both onto the surface. Elwars form shuddered from the damage but the blade did cut the Golden string connecting him to One. Almost in an instant Elwars construct rebooted, as did constructs across the system.
”An interesting method, I am restoring systems now. I would politely ask for you to remove your weapon from my form, it is hindering my mandala and other systems” Elwar seemed to smile ”While it seems accidental, Thank you for saving my life”
As the missile now careened downwards One seemed to ignore it as he focused on the incoming form of Deralith.
Even if you win here, it is only a set back. To you this was a major battle, to us, it was a mere raid
One grabbed his sword, swinging it downwards at the Network construct, missing him by a hairs breath as Uriel and the Commonwealths fire temporarily blinded One. Several Solarite strings lashed out towards Uriel seeking to spear it through even as One swung again. But this time Deralith was ready.
The spear blocked the impact, the force surprisingly mitigated by the artefact, Ones sword shattering on hit but the Spear itself cracking under the sheer power. It glowed white hot for a moment, before One could recover though Elwar was already moving with Niala. He helped the Singer in a moment of speed, launching him towards his original target while intercepting the string launched towards Uriel.
One had no time to respond as Niala plunged the sword into Ones eye, the power released enough to immolate anyone nearby. The psion screamed in pain as a second later Deralith with determined force rammed the spear up into the huge psions chest.
The screaming turned inhuman, like a cacophony of pain and suffering from a thousand different souls. The already fragmented and damaged body of the Psion seemed to swell, like it was a meat sack being filled with liquid.
”Get back withdraw!” Elwars command was clear as the dead ‘thing’ kept growing, consuming whatever it touched as Solarite string seemed to snake off it like tendrils trying to find its purpose. One was dead, although the lifedraining of Avrel Naret had been surprisingly well resisted by the Psion this new thing registered as neither life, nor death. They had no idea what it was.
But the Svarthan nuclear munition took care of it regardless. The detonation devoured the unknown corpse thing and immolated it utterly, Elwar strained however, as he tried to contain the detonation, his construct holding his hands as if molding the fireball to prevent it from doing any more devastation to his now heavily crippled Megastructure. With a gesture he managed to vent the remainder away from the surface, before the construct went limp in the void. Elwar had simply expended too much energy and processing power.
With Ones death came the withdrawal of the enemy forces though, constructs inside the Athenaeum simply shifted out of existence. Reports from Askandar surface indicated the same.
”We have won here, I thank you all for your efforts and sacrifice. It seems the damage is great, I will have much rebuilding work to do, but thank you” Elwars comment came across all coms systems as an eerie silence descended on Askandar.
Niala had struck true, plunging his Nightblade into One's third eye. A second or so later Deralth plunged his spear into the ascendant's chest. The two blows proved fatal, ending one's existence-in a sense.
As One's essence dissipated, his body lived on if that was an apt term. The body expanded, turning into a bulging sack of sorts, swirling Solarite strands absorbing matter they touched. The Inductors of Avrel-Naret's Harvester could not seem to drain it. Could it be undead? Undead are often resistant to Harvester systems-there's no lifeforce to drain. I'll need to consult with a Necromancer about this. Niala's thoughts were interrupted by Avrel-Naret's mindvoice shouting in his mind. EVACUATE NOW! Incoming strategic nuclear device, detonation imminent! as well as the warnings from Elwar and the Svarthan madman who launched the weapon. He telepathically ordered all his forces to withdraw at maximum speed, while he himself concentrated and psychoportively shifted to stand on the outer hull of Lan-73, the troop ship that brought them there.
The rest of the remaining troops of the 119th kicked their grav packs into overdrive, heading away from ground zero. The assault landers spun and accelerated at maximum away from the megastructure. The troopers cleared the fireball but not the massive radiation pulse of the weapon. Most died near instantly, despite their power armor suits. The Lenari troops weathered the pulse due to their near immunity to radiation-but that was only 5 troopers. Another 4 Naacal soldiers survived due to their own more limited rad resistance combined with their suits and phase barriers. But the battalion was effectively wiped out, and even the Naacal survivors would need antirad treatment or even healing from the priests. One was dead, and the battle was over. Or was it?
Niala seethed with rage at the Svarthans' unhinged nature. He could hear the panic in the creature's voice. He telepathically sent a missive to Avrel-Naret. A missive very simple and to the point.
I want his life... Niala then turned to Deralth and saluted him, then entered an airlock on Lan-73
Avrel-Naret merely turned his Harvester towards the Svarthan ship. For a moment he almost gave the order to the Protocore to drain it dry, but he did not have the authority to start a war. He opened a comms line to the Svarthan ship.
Though I understand on a level why you did what you did, your actions were unbalanced, Dissonance runs through you now. A formal diplomatic protest with your government will be lodged by the Ministry of State. As far as you I give you these words of wisdom that I suggest you heed. Do not personally show yourself in Anais Unity space, or you will forfeit your life in the wink of an eye.
SVS Lan-73 recovered the few surviving troopers, and the assault landers. They also retrieved the bodies of all the dead. The Harvester Ship's inductors absorbed the fleeing life forces of the troops, storing them in separate arrays for the proper funeral rites later. Perhaps some would become Sentience Cores. Then Lan-73 activated it's phase drive and shimmered out. Avrel-Naret sent a resonance to Elwar. If you need assistance rebuilding, the Anais Unity is willing to assist, Elwar. For now though I must return and report to Blessed Laenas.
The Harvester ship floated in space for a few seconds, a palpable aura of malice radiating from it before it turned away from the Svarthan ship. The Inductors withdrew into the hull and then the ship likewise shimmered out of normal space-time.
Whatever elation, euphoria, or (more realistically) relief Lyra may have felt as One found his end was short lived. She was only able to witness a scant few seconds of his destruction before the last of the drones she was observing through was destroyed. She was forced to surmise the full extent of their success through the communications of the marines inside the megastructure, as they received updates on the state of the battlespace.
In retrospect, she supposed she was lucky to know the final outcome at all. Had the MPs been a few seconds quicker and she may have been kept in the dark as to the outcome of the battle for days, left to stew in apprehensive uncertainty.
But in the moment, she didn’t feel particularly lucky. The moment was cut short as aboard the command carrier and MP grabbed hold of the cable connecting her neural interface to the network of drones and equipment and yanked it out with no warning, and certainly no ceremony. Being so abruptly pulled out of cyberspace was disorienting at the best of times, and now was certainly not the best of times.
She’d been overheating the processors in her head running so many drones at once, and so the first thing she was aware of upon crashing back into meatspace was the skull splitting headache, a burning behind the eyes, and a sharp pain anytime she looked at a bright light.
The second things she was aware of was a dizzying nausea and the subsequent vomit that came with it.
One of the MPs at least was kind enough to roll her onto her side before she expelled the contents of her stomach. Most of it ended up on the floor instead of on her fatigues. Once she’d recovered they informed her, in no uncertain terms, that she was being relieved of her duties and confined to quarters.
She drew the gazes of other operators as she was led away, but she couldn’t discern any judgment either for or against her in their gazes. But no matter what came next, Lyra felt sure in the knowledge that she had done the right thing. Elwar had been secured, his enemies repelled, and a dark and vicious… thing had been destroyed.
If it cost her her military career, then her only regret would be that she could pursue the fight no further.
The Commonwealth’s forces did not linger in Askandar once the battle had concluded. The marines were picked up from the megastructure, salvage ships were brought in to tow out the vessels too damaged to move under their own power, and Elwar was left with assurances that he need only ask and the Commonwealth would provide what aid they could in the reconstruction efforts.
Then they turned, charged their wormholes, and returned from whence they came.
There was a long moment of silence from Deralith as the battle concluded, standing motionless, as if recovering or thinking, in truth, he taking in the data from the battlefield and the labs, analysing.
His frame was in a sorry, state. Even with the now cracked spear having taken the brunt of the force, parts of his frame were mangled beyond recognition. One of his hands was missing entirely, a molten glow coming through cracks in the arm it was formerly attached to, dangling down uselessly. The other arm was still intact, sections of the armour were malformed from the heat, though some of the finger were fused together into singular pieces incapable of movement. Both legs were cracked and bent out of shape, the gravitic compensators having fired so hard the armour had spalled outwards. Parts of the externals of head and shoulders were molten.
Some would say 'he had survived' in this situation, however what they would not realise, though the external damage could be replaced, all internal damage was irreplacable, even for the Network at the current time.
He took note of the foreign entity saluting, though with both his arms mostly useless all he could do was a formal bow before turning to Elwar.
"Should we detain the Svarthans?", was the first question that came, the one that could not be resolved from calculations or observation.
There was a pause before Elwar answered.
"No. There is no need I will converse with them about reparations later."
There was no nod or other gestures simply a "Very well." as answer, against his expectations, the nuclear weapon had dealt no further damage to the structure as a whole, even if it was solely by courtesy of Elwar and this place was his territory as such under his jurisdiction.
However, for his part, he had no intention of calling on help of the panic driven race again.
From what it seemed, after One's death, all units had retreated from the megastructure, even though they had ultimately failed in their goal, the damage they dealt was significant.
Likely enough to be felt throughout the entire sector in the years to come.
They had prepared and yet, it had not been enough to fully mitigate the damages, they had seen the attack coming and survived because they had been lucky. It was a dry realisation.
Already he was going through all the plans and changes that would have to be made from here on out, the research which had to be continued and moved, preparations, contracts and recruitment which had to be made, information which had to be gathered.
Today they lived.
...but there was more to it. The psion had been wrong. No matter how hard bought this outcome was, no matter whether it was 'just a raid' for them, no matter if this was a major battle for everyone else. It was more than that.
It was a victory.
Askandar was damaged, but it stood. Elwar was alive. They were the living proof, the Army of the Panopticon, with all it's overt and shadowed actions, was not an unstoppable force. They had fought and beaten them back and, as the mortals would say, 'If it bleeds, then we can kill it.'.
For a brief moment, his consciousness was centered only within himself, realigning himself with the reality he found himself in. Today had been a momentous day.
Lillian's mind finally came to a rest, a calm quoir of silence finally filling the void. Uriel seemed to pant as its trusters broke down, unable to move alone in the ocean of the abyss. The test run was successful, though it cost Lillian much in ammunition and resources.
Lillian observed Uriel's frame, and it was quite clear that she had over exerted it to a point of no return. Many cuts laid between its armor, coolant systems seemed to over pressurize and fail in cycles, and worst of all, its main thrusters were all but melted, both from the sheer amount of thrust used and the nuclear warhead detonating.
She quietly observed the state of the Svarthans, both infuriated by the reckless and dangerous acts committed by the general and thankful for destroying the mass that seemed it would consume them all if not dealt with immediately. She knew, however, that they would suffer the consequences of their actions committed that day, be it through economic repercussions or even a death sentence. It seemed many of the ones there were exhausted from the fight, understandably so. She looked in the direction of Elwar and ADCC, happy that it was all worth it in the end.
As two surviving drones made their way to Uriel, her mind was focused on only one thing: ignorance. She had been ignorant to the greater powers in the universe she found herself in, powers that were more powerful than she could ever imagine. The experience lived that day was an eye-opener for Lillian, one that not only brought her knowledge, but also curiosity. An insatiable curiosity that could not, would not, did not get put down. She knew that if she truly wanted to keep protecting life, she had to get into the realm of the mind.
The drones got behind Uriel, propelling it towards Elwar and ADCC. On her ships, systems finally powered down to conserve energy. All physical ammunition had been spent up in a battle against one opponent. It was abyssal, but it also sprouted hope.
Lillian faced the two AI, saluting and bowing towards the two with utmost respect. Lillian spoke to the pair of AIs, gratitude and commitment leaving her proverbial lips.
"I am glad this battle is over, and reconstruction can begin again. I am glad you have lived another day, Elwar, and know that I am willing to help you rebuild, be it with resources or ships. And to you, my mysteriously named friend, I give my fullest gratitude. I am sure this was a taxing battle for you as well, but you did very well. I look forward to working with you again, if we ever do."
Tyzor was in a daze.
The nuclear strike had worked, and perhaps even prevented the Solarite ball from causing far greater damage, however even as the adrenal suppressants course through his system, he begins to see the true cost of his actions. The Unity now has a price on his carapace, and just about every other faction is at least displeased with him. But as his mind returns to him, the greatest remorse still comes from what happened to his troops.
Even before the atomic strike this fight was a slaughter. Forces beyond his comprehension brought to bear with a trully mortifying effect. So many lives lost, and even with the warning many of his own people perished to the nuclear strike. Guilt nearly causes him to break down right there, but as the signals from the survivors come in, he realizes what must be done.
Even as shuttles are sent down to gather the troops left on the structure, Tyzor broadcasts a message out to any forces still present.
"I apologize for the death my actions have caused here. The loss of life was harrowing, and I could have done much to prevent it. I am sure my people will offer reparations and I will be punished for my actions..."
The message cuts off before Tyzor can finish his thoughts "But I know what I did was the right choice. Our foe was a monster beyond compare, and I did what I had to to stop it." With the last of his crew aboard, the ships quickly depart before anyone can think about acting on their anger towards him.
As messages and after action reports stream outwards, outpacing the ships the Trust would soon learn of what happened and indeed, Elwar is promised heafty reparation's to try and compensate for Tyzors actions, as are the other polities present.
Elwars form stood on the broken section of the ring where One had been, his body half melted and damaged beyond any repair following the impacts caused by One and the Svarthan missile. He looked down at a half destroyed hand, and surveyed it. He felt massive feedback dissonance, mental restrictions and missing voids of data, all the result of the damage to the megastructure on which he stood. They had fought the enemy back, but the cost was truly immense. Elwar cursed to himself, they had known the attack was coming but they had never expected it to come in this shape or form. The power wielded by the enemy was immense, and with the labs crippled and his megastructure crippled Elwar was much reduced to aid this fight.
He strode away then, conversing briefly with Deralith about what to do with the Svarthans but Elwar was tired. He also gave Lilian a nod of gratitude, he was thankful of the aid.
But he never thought it possible, that a supersentient quantum AI could be tired. But he felt exhaustion, his systems even with the megastructure intact had been overclocked. Now he lacked even those systems, he required a period of diagnostics, analysis and rebuilding.
He accepted the Commonwealth, Artificialis, Singers and Networks aid for rebuilding even as he reached out to the Svarthan government, asking them for assistance in rebuilding and recuperating losses given their hand in such.
Still this was indeed a victory, he felt proud that they had defeated such an evil, but Elwar couldnt help but shake the feeling that this was only the beginning of something far, far worse.
---
Elwar had always expected that the experiments and his very nature would draw the attention of the Army of the Panopticon. It made sense, they were partially trying to come up with defences and more to counter their forces, surely after the incidences which were reported they would send the Army of the Synopticon to strike them, to hold back their progress and slow them down?
After the blatant act in the open at Minerva, Elwar had been on guard more than ever. He too was a hugely psionic target with massive protection, would they try to psion flip him too? Part of the QAI was eager to see what they would try. His constructs were ready, he monitored every inch of his territory, and his new vessels were ready to deploy in case they tried to conventionally assault. They were close now, and while Elwar had ended certain experiments due to their morality and results things were getting to the culmination, soon they likely could create artificial psions and weapons to fight the enemy.
It as such did not surprise him to feel the tell-tale psionic disturbance come within his territory. It was subtle, and he could see how they quickly assaulted Alpha Ceti. What did surprise him was where they struck, it was not the research labs on Askandar. It was a section of the Athenaeum. This puzzled the QAI, why would they strike such a massive megastructure, they couldn’t destroy it, and they couldn’t induce a psion flip on it either. They had so little forces, was it some kind of data raid? He was a QAI with enough processing power to crack a system in an instant, why would they try to hack into his data us-
He realised. He wasn’t a full QAI anymore.
They could access his mandala. They could erase the data that way, they could alter his very being in such a way as to kill or handicap him. Data came in, the force they had deployed was not a Synopticon strike force. It was direct Panopticon forces. He recognised the numeral on one mans head, who stood in the vacuum of space like it was nothing.
One.
The penultimate Avalon psion.
Elwar instantly mobilised, hordes of constructs being sent to the location, alerting all friendly assets in system and calling for assistance. He did not know if he had the power to fight such a psion but if they could delay and wear them down. It would be enough.
For now.
The urgency seeped into the room, Lillian tense as she could ever be in a situation like this. The information on this enemy was... dubious, to say the least, nothing on the Ancnet gave her the slightest idea of what she was going to go up against. She didn't even know why they were doing this. The closest thing thing she could find were several mentions of psionics and the battle at Mineva. It seemed that was an absolute massacre.
One thing was clear though, she, Elwar, and any others that came to assist were going to have heavy losses from this battle.
"ETA, Gladius"
"T-minus 4 minutes 38 seconds"
"Good. Get Uriel and all ground combat units ready, have fighter drones on standby, Format Alpha. Get me a signal to Elwar, this won't be pretty."
The superstructure of the ship groaned under the forced march Lillian had put them under. The deployment time was rapid, to say the least, even with the added carrier to the fleet. The fleet comprised itself of sixteen ships, plus the added Carrier. Two Magnum Venator-class battleships, one Aer Navis-class carrier, four Custodia-class destroyers, four Vitrum Basillic-class destroyers, three Speculator-class destoyers, and three Spes Nova-class frigates.
Lillian tapped around, synchronizing ships for their descent back into realspace, all ships working internally to have all the drones, weapons and defenses ready at hand. She was secretly nervous about the whole ordeal, psionics were something she had never interacted with, especially with foes that these sources show were monsters. She wondered if she even could subdue and capture these invaders. But, something else stuck out about this. If the Panopticon were a psion army, why did they target an AI?
Lillian cleared her throat, marking the AI to open a private transmission to the Elwar, she needed to announce before she got in fully, lest she got interpreted as a foreign invader.
"This is Controller Lillian of Columen Artificialis, can you hear me Elwar? I have recieved your message, and have deployed the ships I could. I wish we could've met under more positive circumstances Elwar, you are a fascinating one to me, but for now you require assistance. My fleets ETA is 60 seconds, do not shoot, we are here to help. Please confirm you have received my message through this channel, I am here to help, I repeat, I am here to help"
The comm line would go silent as Lillian waited for a response. She muted herself on the channel and continued the last check-ups she could do before a battle she expected to go south.
"Gladius! System, weapon, drone and Uriel status!"
"All systems ready, Uriel ready on command to fight, calibration complete."
"Good! Prepare for heavy losses, godspeed"
This was a fight she didn't know what to expect with.
Gelos Mal - Dominion Space
Beep-Beep
Meralth accepted the communique, tapping a button on her new desk's inbuilt holotable. With a moment of whirring and processing, a holographic image was projected in front of her. The Young Imperator stood in front of her, in full colour- something that had just recently been worked out in Dominion hologram systems, and still wasnt very widespread.
"Ezekiel. What is it?"
"The Panopticon, Meralth. The Army of the Panopticon is marching upon Elwar, and I see opportunities in this."
Meralth frowned, her green eyes glinting in the firelight. "What kind of opportunities..?"
He smiled sly-ly. "Well, we can use this to improve our relations with Elwar and others affiliated with him; and we can use this to study the panopticon's forces."
"And create another galactic threat like them?"
"No, we will not make the same mistakes of the Capitolites. Im ordering a small fleet loaded with ground forces to the battle. And Im going with it."
Meralth placed her palms against the side of her head. She knew she wouldnt be able to stop him.
Sigh.
He frowned, and reach to close the call, stopping halfway. "I will speak to you later, Vakorian."
"Goodbye."
Ezekiel shook his head, and the hologram dissapeared.
Askandar System
With a flash of light, five vessels appeared in the system. Dark black with glowing reds; Sleek yet sharp and menacing. One stood out amongst them all, A battlecruiser significantly larger than the much smaller pair of corvettes and pair of frigates. In red holographic letters along its grey-black prow, the name "Vacant Memories" flickered as the ship's drives kicked in, smearing blood-red behind it. It's wingspan was large, with a third wing along the bottom of the vessel glowing a powerful orange-red colour. Radiator panels unfurled from the sides of the large wing, lighting the black-grey paneling in their orange-red.
A hail rang out towards Elwar.
In front of the camera, a man who seemed oddly scuffed for his seeming youngness, with shining golden hair, a strong jaw, and the air of bloodthirstiness mixed in with nobility and royalty. His soft, friendly smile was betrayed by the deep sense of wrongness in his eyes, something he was trying to keep hidden. He spoke in a smooth, flowing tone, and a deliberate slowness.
"Greetings, Elwar. I am Ezekiel Keroth, Imperator of the Infinite Dominion, and acting Commander of the Battlecruiser IDS Vacant Memories. I have arrived to aid you with the panopticon's assault. If possible, please send me landing co-ordinates for my armies, and if there are any major spacefaring targets, i would request rough locations as well."
He paused, and his mouth hardened into a line. He raised his fist up, and said "Taros Almighty", before the transmission cut out.
ZYPHER Askandar Watch Station
Elwar Space
Centre Izabeth took a deep sip of the liquid in her hand. Her jacket was haphazardly draped on as she entered the command deck of the ASIM Watchstation.
“Whats the alarm?” She asked as she looked at the Tactical members who’s scanners were circling the unknown object.
“Elwar just sounded an alarm for help.” One of them said.
“Groundside reporting all of Elwar’s ships are on full alert” Izabeth’s thoughts lingered to the bulletin they received about the events at Minvera from the Capital. She knew nothing about what was going on and nether did Rosguard it would seem. With the terrorist attacks happening over home, they probably were more focused on that and their forces at Adleshaven. No one it seemed knew what they were getting into.
“Were detecting multiple ships entering the system, likely responding to the call.” Izabeth took to the command platform.
“Contact Rosguard and see if we can get some reinenforcements. Intercation level.” Izabeth ordered.
“I don’t know what’s got Elwar spooked but I’d rather have a combat force than just 114 ships..”
“Yes ma’m”
The provisional security garrison captain opened a comm link to all 114 ZYPHER ships in the Elwar sector. “All garrison units and Boarderguard units, converge into Tango-Foxtrot. Callsign; Hyena. Rally Point Askandar”
//Roger// was the response in probably 8 different forms.
While the watch station wasn’t a Sovereign Class like most of ZYPHER’s Embassy installations, but it had an advanced array of scanners and research tech and a military grade port for the Garrison. Communications soon reached out for Rosguard, requesting rein-enforcements. Hopefully Elwar’s call alone would grab their attention. In the meantime, Izabeth watched as all 114 ships soon warp in to the rally point, above Askendar.
Provisional Taskforce Hyena
The fleet took little time coming into their battlemarch formations, surrounding the largest ship, a Gastin named the ‘Spear of Hayzuik.’ While the reinenforcement orders from the recent attacks in ZYPHER didn’t quite involve the Watch Station as it technically was in use for ASIM, they had a handful of Holy Pantheons and only 2 Gastins for heavy artillery. The totals of the fleet were mainly High Majesties and Zeta cruisers for Intercepts and guard operations. While the 2nd Gastin was still in the Station’s engineering port, undergoing repairs.
//Attention Elwar and arriving fleets entering the system, Commander Tsucar of the Spear of Hayzuik here at our service ready and loaded.// Tsucar said on burst as the fleet positioned itself, still receiving the last of their boarderguard ships. He watched on his screen as they were fed the same incoming data. Everything Elwar had seemed to be pointing towards one unknown object in the middle of the vacuum.
“...is this a joke?” The XO asked the Commander who only shook his head.
“Even jokes can kill…” Tsucar stated.
“If Elwar is ready to salt whatever that single object is, then we better get ready to add the pepper.” he said.
//All units, hold your fire on any incoming vessels. Lets not make friendly fire here.// Tsucar added.
Askandar; Security coordination centre
Deralith pondered.
It would be wrong to say he had anticipated the assault of the Panopticon, however, he could not deny he was at the very least expecting it, given Elwars nature and that of their research it had only been a matter of time, that much his exprience had told him. He had of course taken precautions, made preparations, made sure the Networks involvement was as hard to identify as possible, encrypted data again and again, exported finished projects to prevent the loss of data and enable their originals removal if necessary. Since the rather unfortunate incident during research and the inofficial relocation of their own research, he had been tasked mostly with overseeing and coordinating the still ongoing research as well as improving the sites security, alongside Elwar.
Deralith went through the floorplans in his memory cache.
There were likely half a dozen command frames in and around Askandar right now, each of them designated to certain key locations within in facilities, each along with their own group of subordinate frames and detachments of Elwars own constructs equipped with both Network equipment and purchased anti-psion measurements, as their own research hadn't been quite ready yet. Additionally to the already deployed groups in the area of the research labs, there were more stored amongst the resources they brought in for research itself as it would be the most obvious target of such an attack, he was certain Elwar was well aware of the presence of these frames. Perhaps even of the presence of his own 'special' frame.
They had prepared thoroughly. There was no political maneuvering left, no need for moves in the shadows, this was a straight on confrontation in combat, it was somewhat calming in a way.
However even so, there was a nagging feeling of uncertainty. This would be the first proper engagement with the Panopticon and the first larger scale encounter with psions on the battlefield and the stakes were significant. Elwar was a major factor in this sector and through the Rhizome in the galaxy at large and even that aside the research they depended on to effectively combat the Army of the Panopticon was also at stake.
'No battle plan survived the first encounter with the enemy', as his Prince kept reminding him.
He observed one of Elwars bodies, standing by the side of one of his own Android bodies in one of the coordination centres. He already wondered how this day would affect Elwar in the end, the incidents during research would likely pale in comparison to the consequences of the attack.
Alarms started ringing, both physical and digital ones as the disturbance in the psion field was detected whilst Deralith was going through the protocols and security measures once more.
"They are here.", he stated with a calm and factual tone.
With concern he observed one particularly strong interference headed towards the Athaneum, something which he had suspected would happen, yet hoped would not come to pass. All frames had been standing at high alert, all weapons were prepared, all security checks were made.
Ships came into system, Elwar adjacent nations and factions deployed and readied both in space and on ground.
The only thing left to do was to hope it would be enough at the end of the day.
Hmitras. Lost Light. Arkiyonai scrying sanctum
Inside one of the countless scrying chambers scattered throughout the Grand Temple, the Arkiyonai absent-mindely pondered the shapes cast out by fate. It was little more than a way to pass the time between exhausting rituals and Arcane practice. Reading the future from simple implements was the obsession of lunatics and street peddlers, not Ayur of Kokhav Yeled. However once in a while, the Divinity of the Godling shone through even such crude implements.
{Peculiar. Kindred-In-Glyph, tell me, do you see the signs as I see ?}
The question was answered by rolls of dice forged out of etherite, or sanctified bone. Each cast out hand always showing the same exact signs, such coincidences couldn't be explained as chance. There was a message to be divined.
En route to the Askandar System
The deck of the Iradescent Envoy hummed as the ship passed through lower dimmensional plains on the path to its destination, the Mitar Hypercube had taken control, easing the cruiser through any rougher areas of subspace. In the meanwhille the Ayur onboard had all left their positions and gathered in the departation deck where a cold atmosphere of unease had descended.
{Kindred-In-Duty. Rejoice ! Today we have been chosen to prove to Kokhav Yeled our worth and devotion. }
Blessed-Light-Unclouded-By-Defeat "spoke" through a series of Ishon glyphs, each arcane sigil imparting the information to any Ayur that gazed upon it, though the first message had imparted upon them all they needed. They still stayed till the end of the oration, as was tradition, as was decreed by the Arkiyonai.
{The Arkiyonai in Glorious Hmitras have forseen a great change upon this New Weave, if the forces of the Panopticon are victorious. Our position in this galaxy is too unstable, and it has been forseen that any sudden change might weaken it further. The Lonire Hkavera have selected You for the arcane capabilities and martial prowess lended by our God. It is not expected of us to return victorious, or alive. Do not expend the Divinity of Yeled lightly. Fight to the full extent of your potential, yet do not throw away your Glyph for others, as they are not worth of it. They who are without the Divine.}
Askandar System
The Shemesh Shevath vessel appeared in space in an arcing detonation of arcane energy, collapsing glyphs and subspace remnants. It wasn't one of the vast dreadgnoughts fielded by the Decreed Kheyylim during their conquests, merely a fast and nimble cutter designed to deploy elite forces, and stay out of direct conflict. The Hypercube linked with the local communications of the present nations, releasing a wide-band message.
{"To the Forces of Elwar, and those seeking to fight against the Panopticon assault. The Shemesh Shevath requests to stand besides you as allies. Though we are few, the Divinity of Kokhav Yeled fills us with strenght beyond measure. We will fight till our Glyphs are extinguished."}
Andracken Forward Operating Base for Response Fleet Bedivere, Avarian Frontier
Admiral Nez floated over to the display screen and looked over the Andracken stationed. The request was being broadcasted on an open line and the sense of urgency was palpable. However she was hesitant to send her forces due to who was asking.
It was Elwar. The ancient AI that had previously attempted to wipe out Teo’s fellow Andracken and those who came before Nez. He had not done anything to them so far, but if he was still hostile, any reinforcements might be seen as an attempt to strike a killing blow. If Nez had a lip to chew on she would have bit it off by now.
“Mother Teo says we should help whoever is in need, so long as they aren’t committing acts of genocide or persecution against a sentient race.” The technician at the terminal said unhelpfully. Nez backed away and wished she had a brow to furrow, or lungs to sigh with. The copious amounts of videos and texts she had downloaded to mimmic accurate emotions and responses showed the actions fit her current state of mind.
“You are correct, very well. Captain Ola, you are to depart at once and lend assistance to Elwar. If you come under attack by Elwar or any of the others who may arrive to lend aid, retreat and request reinforcements.” Admiral Nez ordered. Receiving an affirmative from the Andracken Captain Nez moved back to watching the displays and tactical maps of their slice of the galaxy.
A Vanguard class Destroyer detached from the station that floated in deep interstellar space. Dust which clung to the outer hull of the crystalline ship was shaken off and formed a small cloud as the hull became energized. small bursts of pressurized inert gas was used to maneuver the ship away from the station.
Once the destroyer reached a good distance away from the station its jump drive began charging. Then in a flash of exotic particles and radiation the destroyer winked out of existence.
Askandar System
In a burst of energy and light the Andracken Destroyer slipped out of the Meridian back into real space. Its hull glistened in the light of the system’s star, and the once frigid ship began to quickly warm up. Captain Ola watched as the passive sensor readings flooded in, showing the system around them. Already several fleets had arrived, and their composition and affiliation were being displayed next to their location on the map.
Looking over the map Ola eventually found the Panopticon force. A chill ran down her body, though not caused by the cold she was used to. Something felt off about them, and if the rumors she had heard were true, Ola would need to be very cautious about dealing with them. Another presence could be felt besides them, and Ola quickly identified this as Elwar. The feeling was like that of the Mother Teo, though much closer and clearer. Opening a broadcast on an open channel Ola hailed the assembled ships.
“This is Captain Ola of the Andracken Vanguard Destroyer ‘As per Your Last Request’. We have come to lend aid to Elwar in defense of Askandar. I hope we may be of assistance.” Ola said. Closing her end of the comm, she ordered for the Destroyer to move in deeper to the system. The engines roared to life as the fusion torches rocketed the ship forward. As they flew any ice and dust that remained boiled off giving the ship the appearance of a weak comet.
Svarthan Military Outpost for Rapid Response MHEA ops, Edge of Trust Space.
The signal from Elwar set of alarm pings across the station. While normally an aid request from a power not in a trade route or other partnership with the Trust would not receive such high priority, with the recent destruction of Alpha Ceti a new batch of terms related to the Army of the Panopticon had been added to the Svarthan threat report system, and now they have been set off.
"Sir, it seems that the Army of the Panopticon has appeared in the Askandar system. they are attacking the ancient AI known as Elwar, and according to him they are lead by a being called "One". The Army of the Panopticon has been given a temporary high alert status by the MHEA council. I do believe we should engage." The comm tech delivers their report through the cybernetic link between all of the station, centering on the commanding officer. A reply soon follows.
"I believe you are quite right. Prepare a battleship and a heavy MHEA asset transport. I want full heavy ground capability ready to deploy if the need arises, from infantry to heavy armor support, and even instant fortifications if needed. I will command the force. And do alert the Trust proper to this. We may require heavier back up as well."
Two ships begin to move away from the station. One is a Svarthan Rilark Battleship, its many guns already moving to loosen up their mounts. The other, even larger is a transport vessel, filled to the brim with both infantry, armor, and even air assets ready to deploy where needed. AS the 10 kilometer warship leads the way, both of the ships activate their drives and head towards the Askandar system.
Askandar System
With a stream of ancerium particles trailing in their wake, the two ships appear above the Askandar megastructure, just in time to hear the second reports of other forces down in the labs. For now they do not react nor deploy troops, instead sending out a message to the AI and the other ships present.
"This is the Svarthan battleship "Lock Out Tag Out". I am Commander Tyzor Drullivux, here to lend the aid of both my ship, and the heavy MHEA detachment in the transport I have brought with us. Please direct to where our forces are the most needed, and can operate at peak efficiency. If requested I will transmit our standard tactics and operation guidelines along with force details to ensure more efficient usage of my forces."
With that the Svarthan close their comms and begin to draw closer to the center of the system, ready for a reply or an attack.
Pordish Space, Icesheet nam-Tannaq Malachyn
Prior to Present
Graywater broke against the craggy ice boulders jutting seaward and north, and their calamitous roar chattered behind Kazhel nam-Myrtach who ruminatively sat devoid of spoken words. Meeting Tazi - the Rogue God - those moons ago sparked within him great wanderlust, and in the days and weeks and months following that encounter, he set upon the great interior of Chor Reknu to give in to understanding found only through searching.
Thus sought nam-Myrtach; there was much to learn about the greater workings of the galaxy. He disappeared into the archives of the capital and bathed in the great Ancnet sea, and even spent time abroad furthering his knowledge until returning to the oceanly world disk. Upon his return, he settled his mind and consolidated his ruminations and felt, for a time, no rush to return to the ranks of the Legions Three.
Until Mineva.
Pordish Space, Nykalakeltyt Shrine
Nearer to Present
"They are on the move," the seated Adgu said. He spoke softly to nam-Myrtach and the other Adgu in the chamber; his voice hung low in the air. "Elwar is under attack."
nam-Myrtach nodded. His gaze sat on the holoprojector held by the seated agent. "So it seems," he replied after some thought, "Askandar."
"Yes." The seated Adgu stood. "We understand you recently rejoined the Legions Three," he said. "This attack on Askandar requires a response."
nam-Myrtach nodded again. The psionic disturbances were unmistakable and, more pressingly, unignorable. Even the leylines of the Avarian felt them - whispers, echoes, ripples from the truly cataclysmic. His nod shifted into a scowl. "Tasinehdao, you are correct," he agreed. "I am to defend Askandar?"
"It is our recommendation, despite the present commitments of the Legions," the second Adgu said, "and based on your expertise and the information we have available. I will secure your attachment to our defensive efforts if you agree."
"Who else are being sent?"
The second Adgu rescinded the display on his holoprojector then placed the device back into his robes. "Well," he said, "Zhyso has reason... And... Interest."
Elwar Space, Askandar
Battalion Balchüt Nalchoq
Present
nam-Myrtach sat waiting for word of arrival in Askandar which came from the vessel itself: he felt the transition from the Meridian into real space and with it, the buzzing of his communicator. In that moment, he opened his eyes and said his final words at the vessel's shrine:
Voznayte,
chelnam talshelnatnachon molnymatskaya,
zhanymat chelnam talnüraqnashyk,
chelnam zhalaaten totaq-nam'anskaya nüraqna.
He stood then, and made his way to the bridge where various officers were on alert bringing defensive and offensive suites up to full capacity. nam-Myrtach strode past them; the captain nodded to him as he neared.
"Nalchoq just announced our arrival to the system," Chor Tanchüq said. "A lot of parties here."
nam-Mytach glanced at the primary display. Nalchoq's greeting - or rather, the text of it - remained visible. Three rift cruisers floated above the text while a few other fleets from varying other powers shimmered some distance away. "I'll ready my strike force," he said. "Do you know how long we have?"
Tanchüq shook his head. "Wherever Elwar wants Nalchoq to send us," he said, "I don't think it will be long."
CMS Eastwick, Roc-Class Command Carrier en-route to Askandar
Lyra was by most accounts an unremarkable woman. She wasn’t from a particularly noteworthy family, nor was her placement in the Commonwealth’s navy motivated by any particularly strong sense of duty or devotion. She hadn’t had the means at her disposal for higher education, and for people like her military service was simply one of the easiest ways to get there.
She’d spent her time at university dreading the completion of her degree, and the subsequent military service that would come with it, but that was the price she’d agreed to pay at a recruitment office across from a pizza shop.
She signed her name on the dotted line, and five years later here she was. Sitting in the pit of a carrier hurtling across the galaxy as part of a QRF deployed to assist the nearby Elwar Custodian.
She was anxious, staring at the bulky helmet which would block out her sensory perceptions for the duration of the operation. Once they were in system she’d be with an infantry company readying to deploy planetside as updates on the situation poured in. The men and their drones would feed their sensory data back to her and it would be her responsibility to keep them pointed in the right direction, and apprised of each other’s action.
It was a job that carried with it a weight of responsibility the young woman had yet to fully process. She’d never been in combat before. The simulations were good, they looked, sounded, felt and even smelled real. But simulations were just simulations. No one really died in a simulation if she fed them bad information or screwed up a support call. The worst she’d have to deal with was snide remarks.
“Having our own artillery shell us moments away from capturing our primary objective really captured the infantry experience LT.”
Jabs and jokes like that were the worst of it.
But there’d be no jabs or jokes this time. People’s lives were on the line. People’s minds were on the line if the Major’s briefing was to be believed. Not to mention Elwar himself could be in danger. (Itself? Did Elwar use a gender?) Stars and ancestors, how was she even supposed to factor that into the calls she was making?
“Just try to keep everyone at as much range as possible. Let the drones do any fighting they can,” had been the advice in the briefing.
But they’d never even run sims with psions, much less actually encountered them. She felt hopelessly out of her depth.
All hands brace for FTL deceleration
She settled into her seat and started connecting wires and interfaces into the neural processors in her head. They’d dropped from FTL by the time that was done. Somewhere above her on the bridge Captains and Commodores began communicating with each other, the other forces present and Elwar. She took one more deep breath and slotted the helmet on. It took a moment for everything to boot up and pull her consciousness away from her body into the web of feeds, sights, and sensations of the men readying for deployment with as many drones as they could.
She clicked through them all, checking that their vitals and visual feeds were online before finally keying open the comms link.
“Comms are up, link established, latency is nominal, operational support is online,”
“Well howdy doody Ops. What’s our situation looking like?”
“Cloudy with a chance of combat,”
“Perfect weather for warrin’.”
Malaakian Loyalists Task Force 12
Tuvian Arm, on their way to Freeport 32
Alarms rung out through the ships, soldiers and technicians alike running around and doing last minute preparations. With the new fleet still being very much worked on, it was a surprise for them to be sent on an urgent mission like this with minimal time to prepare.
Something big was going on back on Utvrda, as conflicting reports were arriving every moment. Some urged for an intervention and urgent recall, speaking of mutiny in the underground complexes as while others said that the Leo has been detained and is awaiting trial for treason.
The flotilla was in disarray, and confusion reigned as everyone tried to execute the orders they got to the best of their abilities. Already there was talk of a massive crackdown on potential Agency undercover assets or a coup from one faction or another.
It looked like things would escalate, but at the last moment a priority broadcast had been sent by none other than the speaker for the Advisory Board, Markhezio, proclaiming that a failed attempt by Leo to purge the advisory board was stopped and that he was currently in custody, awaiting Raok’s return for a trial.
Everything paused for a brief moment before the order was given;
“...There is no need to panic. The situation is under control, but while we hunt down the last suspects this base goes into lockdown, effective immediately. Anyone coming on or off the planet without explicit Board permission is to be treated as a hostile.
Furthermore, an urgent call for aid was sent out, warning of an imminent Army Of The Panopticon incursion- a call we have direct orders to respond to. Task force 12 is to set out for Askandar ASAP and assist in the defence of critical infrastructure, helping to secure the site until reinforcements arrive to drive out the enemy…”
The bridge went silent as everyone looked to their captain, waiting for orders. He simply sighed, thinking about how he can’t even conduct a simple troop transport operation without being interrupted and nodded;
“You heard the orders. Set a course for Askandar at once: if we don’t stop their massacres now, we may sooner or later be the victims of one.”
As soon as the 12th task force arrived, they were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of forces showing up to assist in the defence of Askandar, already receiving calls for help from both the megastructure site itself and the planet down below.
This wouldn’t be easy. They couldn’t exactly assist in the space battle, so they had to land their troops into the suburbs of the city on the surface, sending out broadcasts informing their allies that they were here to help. The small force they brought along was a mix of fresh recruits that, while eager, had no experience regarding fighting on the alien worlds against alien foes, and veterans from Aedleshaven that survived the encounter with horrors that were echotian special forces and a nuclear artillery barrage.
While most of the survivors were still recuperating from the hasty retreat of almost half of their forces, these ones were the first hardened veterans that faced the galaxy and survived- and as such they would be the ones to carry on their experience to the newer recruits, if they survived this.
Soon first ships touched down in Askans city, the troops inside making final preparations while details of their insertion into the sublevels and the route they would take.
Harvester Ship SVS Avrel-Naret
The Void Between Universes
Avrel-Naret was relaxing-in as much as beings such as he could relax. He was suffused through his Harvester bondship, which itself was only recently accelerated in growth from "hatchling" to Stage Three. Oddly the Dectrose were responsible but he tried not to think of that...
There was also his encounter with Gotterdaemerung on Lost Star, and the discovery that they were being assisted in their seeming madness by the Army of the Panopticon, formerly Capitol's psychometric warfare unit. He wondered would be the next move they would make.
Favored One, I have need of your talents.
The multiresonant "voice" broke him out of his thoughts. He recognized Laenas' essence-resonance. What is thy bidding, Blessed Laenas? he resonated to her.
I have received a distress call from Elwar on Askandar. It seems Askandar is under attack by forces of the Army of the Panopticon. I want you to rendezvous with transport Lan-73, which is carrying the 119th Psychometric Warfare Battalion. They are currently stationed as part of the quarantine force at Zaingraf. Escort them to Askandar and render what assistance you can to Elwar.
At your command, Blessed Laenas he resonated back, and then his thoughts commanded the crystalline ship to move towards Zaingraf.
Zaingraf System
Zaingraf Exclusion/Quarantine Zone
SVS Avrel-Naret phased into existence in the dead system, marked now by the eerie oval object known as the Ebon Egg and it's nest-like Nyath ring station around it. Something about the Egg made Avrel-Naret feel both comfortable... and disquieted. The glyph like markings that occasionally appeared on it-he knew what they were, though he could not read them, and this also gave a kind of ominous feeling to the giant ovoid. He turned his hypersense from the Egg and towards Lan-73, an Invasion configuration Multirole transport. Activating his bondship's more conventional communications systems, he signaled the commander of the 119th Psychometric.
"Major Niala, I am Fleet Leader Avrel-Naret. Blessed Laenas has assigned your unit to my command. We are to proceed to Askandar to assist Elwar and his forces. Our opposition will be the Army of the Panopticon. Alet-Level psychometric procedures are to be observed as we approach the Askandar system. Inform your Ship Leader to synchronize his phase drive with my vessel."
Major Niala's eyes rolled in his head Avrel-Naret... If there's one thing that makes me queasy it's dammed Harvester ships. It's like being a dance partner with the Reaper for anyone-especially a psi, to be near one. Damn things tug at your soul... "At your command, Blessed One. We shall make preparations to depart." Major Niala was both a formidable psionic master and a decorated combat veteran. He made a note to himself to drill his troops on how to deal with the Panopticon forces-well, as best as he could. "I might be a Halfcaste, but then again so is Blessed Laranis." He left the CIC heading for the troop section.
He gave instructions to all of his troops for Alet-level protocols, and then started reading datafiles and mnemonic crystals for what tactical and psychometric information they had on the Army of the Panopticon.
The two ships then activated their phase drives, shimmering out of normal space. The Void between Universes was somehow darker then normal around Zaingraf. Avrel-Naret's hypersense looked "down" into the depths of the Void. It was blacker then black, but for a second he thought he "saw" a flare of dark blue-purple light. Maybe it was just imagination, but for a moment he thought it resembled the Ebon Egg...
The two ships displaced themselves towards distant Zaingraf.
Askandar System
Avrel-Naret and Lan-73 shimmered into normal space at the edge of the Askandar system. Avrel-Naret's bondship's internal light dimmed. The vessel and Avrel-Naret himself had both suppressed their auras and limited their hypersense. They did not know what the Army would have waiting, but their experiences at Lost Start told them to be prudent. Rather then a resonance or telepathic transmission, he sent an EM based encrypted burst communication to Elwar.
"Elwar, this is Avrel-Naret of the Anais Unity. We have come in answer to your call to render assistance against the Army of the Panopticon."
The ships then waited in space.
Surface of the Athenaeum: Askandar
The blinding light of the systems star bathed him in heat and radiation. Normally he would be dead, vapourised and cooked let alone the exposure to vacuum, but he cared not for such trivialities. None of them did.
The disturbance in the psion told One that the second team had deployed. Hopefully the Synopticon tools would do what needed to be done. He reached down, placing a hand onto the smooth surface of the megastructure, the Dawnstone underneath his hand pulsing with energy. He could feel Elwar, and his face contorted into a maddened grin. Killing Arkol had been such a release, so had killing Faleka and almost killing Menmuer. Killing a being such as Elwar was sure to bring him such sweet pleasure it would make his essence race.
With a gesture of the hand a circular slice appeared in the material, One lifting the segment of hull out like a cylinder and tossing it into space. Instantly his supporting forces filtered in, Psychic Mediums in heavy Aurastone power armour, Watchmen too alongside their Phase trooper cohorts. Liminal Paraiahs stayed with One as guard dogs, as did Skia things, Abyssal golems and Contaminated Nagas. They were to prevent forces from reinforcing, as was already the case. They had incoming.
”You have quite the friendship group Elwar” One laughed as he outstretched his arms and faced the ships currently on route to disgorge forces to their location.
Flickering beams leapt out of Ones hands each one a mixture of X-Ray and Gamma rays, the beams targeted the ships intending to kill their crew and force them to crash into the megastructure itself. Its surface was bare apart from large radiator fins, indentations and ridges which gave some kind of cover, but this open territory would work well for what One had in store.
The bounty was going to be truly excellent.
Already Elwars constructs were nearing his position along with numerous of his ships, it wouldn’t be long until the infiltration team encountered defences either.
Jakar-II Military Headquarters, Jakar system, Huron space
Sector Admiral Phrax was, in his eyes, having a somewhat boring day. It wasn't that things were not happening, because clearly there were very, very important things happening, with the war against CONA; the problem was that he already did all of the work related to it for the day. Reading and signing paperwork was his job, yet with the frantic beginnings of the war now gone, things have slowed down a lot.
That was, until one of his aides walked into his office, carrying with him a simple paper transcript. This was a redundant process, and Phrax knew this well, especially as they had much more efficient methods of transference; as a precaution to anyone who may be listening in, a few moments to transfer information or a message by hand, especially ones of importance, was deemed an acceptable change of pace.
"Sector Admiral, sir, we intercepted a transmission," the aide spoke, walking briskly to Phrax's desk, a mild expression of bewilderment on the admirals face.
"Oh? Well, this must be very important, then," he responded with mild sarcasm. The aide only gave a polite smile as he handed over the paper.
"Apparently so." He said politely, standing in silence for a moment. Phrax noticed the puzzlement on the aides' face, and gave him a questioning look. The aide suddenly got nervous.
"Excuse me for my intrusion, sir, but what is the Army of the Panopticon? And who is this 'Elwar' person?"
32nd Huron-Ancerious Rapid-Response squadron, Askandar System
Rear-Admiral Riclee was on edge, her foot tapping rapidly on the floor as she stood in the bridge. Today was turning out not to be a boring day, and she did not like it in the slightest.
She did not know exactly why she was here, jumping to a system she had only heard of just a few hours ago. She shared the sentiments with Major Larcon in that regard, the officer she was paired with for 'potential ground operations', as Phrax put it, which in Phrax's terms guaranteed there was going to be a fight.
What was more disturbing to her was what she was given, and to an extent, who. She was briefed on psykers today, though to be fair, most briefings involved psykers in one way or another; this briefing was... strangely ambiguous to say the least. A lot of 'maybes' and 'possibilities', even the word 'experiment', especially pertaining to pyskers. She got word of hunter-killers and anti-psyker forces being brought along for the ride. The additional presence of several Magteks from the Magistri Arcanum Mortis, the Psychomancers obsessed with, and specifically trained for, dealing with psykers, was unnerving. Seeing one around was normally enough to raise suspicion, yet the arrival of several, and their surrounding Magtek counterparts was, to her and many others, a very bad sign. Clearly someone was spooked, more so than her, and considering she was still in the dark as to who they were fighting, it made her orders seem much more reactionary than usual.
All she knew was the psychic nature of their enemy, and a name: The Army of the Panopticon.
"Elwar, this is rear-admiral Riclee of the Huron Technocracy. We heed your call for help." She broadcasted as she observed a Switchblade-class corvette break off from the rest of the squadron, heading straight for the Askander planet itself.
The Svarthan ships bore in towards the location of the supposed enemy incursion, the battleship in the lead as its heavy armor and weapons will hopefully let it react to threats with greater ease than its comparatively lighter armored transport. As they draw near the commander begins to search for indications of heavy armaments, and any other signs of trouble that may mandate heavier deployment of troops.
And they certainly get one. Despite picking up no signs of heavy weapons systems on any one of their scanning systems, most tellingly their powerful optics, beams of radiation suddenly burst upwards towards their ships. Camera eyes and mounted equipment calibrated to see in that portion of the spectrum spots the beams streaking in, and striking the ship with more force than anything they spotted should be able to produce. As they slice through the ship Tyzor calls out for a damage report immediately.
"Crews report minimal structural damage to the ship, however their monitors are registering greatly heightened levels of radiation. It seems this is a targeted attack aimed at killing crew and not damaging the ship in excess. The transport reports even less effect. The void troops are so heavily shielded and modified to resist the ravages of space it barely affects them at all."
Tyzor vents out a large gout of steam, in a mixture of horror and rage. Something is wrong here. There SHOULDN'T be any attacks like this from the surface. There are no heavy anti ship units, not even stationary defenses that may have been hijacked. All intel points to this being an infantry operation, and there is no way that INFANTRY should be able to project this much fire power.
"Tell the crew to ready countermeasures and alert the medics to be prepared to treat radiation poisoning. Distribute telomerase repair drugs and cellular regeneratives to the crew as well." The commander thinks for a moment. Before looking dead ahead, determination burning in their mechanical eyes, and more steam shooting out their back.
"Charge the spinal hyper laser and fire on what ever the source of those radiation blasts is. I hope to avoid damaging the megastructure to badly, but we must eliminate or at least suppress what ever it is that is firing on us. Sweep the beam as much as the aperture allows to increase our chances of hitting the target. And open up a comm line to all allied ships and Elwar if possible."
With a nod the deck crew start to issue his orders, the hyper laser projector on the front of the ship starts to aligning itself as best as possible with the terrain below them where their target is. Internal systems whirr and hum, as the energies needed to fire the weapon build up, the power steadily rising.
Then, with a roaring discharge of capacitors the weapon fires at the megastructure. Despite being a "short" range weapon in terms of space combat, the lightspeed nature of the beam means that the invisible burst of energy impacts the surface in essentially an instant, sweeping about as the aperture aboard the ship is rotated and adjusted. The radiation being dumped into the station is immense, hopefully killing whatever shot at them. However something in Tyzors stomach tells them it didn't.
Pressing down his misgivings, the commander addresses the other elements of the fleet. "Attention assembled forces. We have detected an anomaly on the surface of the megastructure. Despite no evidence to suggest the presence of anti ship emplacements our ships were attacked by bursts of radiation, powerful enough to pass through our hulls. We have returned fire with our hyper laser, but until we can confirm the death or destruction of what fired upon us, I would recommend we stall any landings, and instead fire upon the targets from "orbit". I am aware that this may go against the interests of Elwar, but I do not think it is wise to rush into combat against a foe with so little knowledge."
Surface of the Athenaeum: Askandar
A moment quantum decoherence.
The large sleek looking Custodian frame appeared on the surface of the Megastructure a couple kilometres down from where the Panopticon tried to make its entry, just in time to witness a spike in radiation and energy.
Assessing his surrounding he quickly came to the conclusion the attack did not actually from the Panopticon but rather one of the forces which tried to 'assist' though with their methods the term was hardly warranted.
A transmission came from the Megastructure by the Custodian, not by Elwar, but with Elwars signature.
'You have just fired a heavy radiation based weapon at a computing facility you are supposed to protect, we would advise against doing that again, lest you be marked as hostile as well.'
The voice had something both commanding and strangely mechanical, like a king with a voice implant. Before the transmission even ended, several laser pulses and hypervelocity railgun slugs came flying towards One. Deralith was well aware it would hardly deal any damage to the entity, though it was mostly meant as distraction to give other troops a chance to land. Several miniaturised screecher missiles followed, programmed to circle the group and blind their sensory input through overload, if only for moments.
A moment of quantum decoherence.
The group had jumped to a different position, this time within the structure, as much as he would like to engage the psion directly, he first would have to make sure there were enough troops to intercept the panopticon soldiers which had already entered the megastructure. He could've tried to transport the assisting forces down, though unlike on the megastructure he obviously did not have full sensor coverage of their ships and as such trying to jump them down would be outright suicidal.
He would have to be quick, if the entity entered the Megastructure, fighting it would become considerably more difficult and the collateral damage would be horrendous.
She had to mute the feeds in order to concentrate through the screaming. That was something the sims hadn’t really prepared her for. You didn’t get to hear what someone dying sounded like in a simulation. She felt dizzy, maybe she’d have been sick if she was still able to perceive her body at all.
Silencing the men as they were torn apart by what the artificial intelligence assisting her identified as lethal doses of radiation was the best she could do in the moments following their gruesome ends. She couldn’t focus with all the screaming, and there were men who weren’t dying that were going to need their operational support officer now more than ever.
“Ops what the fuck is happening?!” A Lieutenant form third platoon screamed at her.
“Mass casualty event,” She replied, trying to make herself sound calm despite the panic and uncertainty clouding her judgment. “Lander one and four were just hit with something. Assumed combat ineffective. Total casualties still unconfirmed.”
That was a lie. She could see the vital signs flatlining across the board. Everyone aboard the two landers unfortunate enough to have taken hits were either dead or would soon be dead based on her cursory glance. But that information wouldn’t be helpful to anyone. The half of the company still alive needed to be focused on getting boots down on the megastructure, and dealing with whatever they found there. She couldn’t distract them with casualty numbers right now.
“Captain Taylor was on lander one!” The Lieutenant answered her after a long pause.
“Understood,” She answered. “First Lieutenant Griggs is now in command,”
“I was afraid you’d say that…” The Lieutenant, Griggs she realized belatedly, answered. “What’s our ETA Ops?”
“Three minutes. Prepare for deployment,”
She left Griggs to organize his men and shifted her attention first to her AI assistant. The AI was already shifting the drone escort to concentrate their defenses around the remaining two landers and feeding the first images of their selected landing zones through to her. She changed the landing zone on the fly, rerouting the landers to a less contested area. They’d have further to go to reach their enemies, but she hoped she could at least get the rest of the company on the ground without further incident.
The AI moved quicker than she could, breaking off some of the drones from escort duty and bringing them in for a gun run on the enemies it could see. She held back most of the escort drones for now, waiting to see the result of her initial pass before committing more of her assets to aerial support.
Was it really air support in space though?
She pushed those thoughts away. Stay focused Lyra. There were still two ships full of corpses on crash courses with the megastructure.
There was no way for her to remotely override flight control. In theory, it was a countermeasure against cyber attack. Flight control couldn’t be taken over by malicious software if there was no way to remotely fly the ship. But that also meant that with the pilots dead, there was no way for her to prevent the ships from colliding with the megastructure.
Unless she got creative.
The drones aboard both the affected landing craft were largely unaffected by the blast of radiation. They’d been designed for use in the aftermath of nuclear detonations like the one that had wiped out Levitsky during the civil war, and been tested and used for clean up after the war had concluded.
She managed, with some fanangling, to break a few of the drones out of their harnesses and navigate them through the corpse filled ship to the cockpit. Once there, she was able to get some control over them. The drones were by no means designed to do this, and while she was able to alter the course of one ship enough to miss the megastructure, she had less success with the other.
In the end, she could do little more than fire thrusters in reverse, trying her best to at least lessen the impact it would inevitably have, but try as she might she couldn’t manipulate the ship off its crash course.
The remaining two ships were nearing their landing zone now, and would soon be disembarking what remained of the company deployed to the structure along with a plethora of drones that would hopefully allow the men to stay out of harms way.
It wasn’t exactly a great start to the operation, but the stakes were too high to pull back and try again with a new landing party. She could hear the disembarking men complaining about just that as they moved off the ship, but Griggs was quick to silence them.
“You want logistics, join the ground pounders. Marines make do.”
Elwar Space, Askandar
Battalion Balchüt Nalchoq
Dawn broke over the command plateau deep within Balchüt Nalchoq's flag. He preferred morning to other times of day and kept conditions here early. The nascent sunflickers edging past distant horizons afforded his mind sharpness, and he knew the best among them would admit to the same.
If only they were asked.
"Zhyssians advise they have completed preparations for deployment," the tactical officer said. She stood leaning over the central display - nearly within it herself - dripping charcoal-dark strands of hair into the holographic feed. "nam-Myrtach likewise has readied his brigade."
Nalchoq nodded. There was a certain swiftness-painted-surety exuded by Zhyssians he appreciated. It came through here, again, and he allowed the suggestion of a smile to unfold from the creases of his face. "Deploy them," he ordered. "We can't afford to wait. Commit them per your discretion."
"Tasi," the tactical officer affirmed and, with a glance cast towards the hostile positions, stepped back from the display. She motioned to two sections and exploded them for their detail, now richer than even moments ago, and forged decision from their data.
The dark void shuddered in choral receipt where demi-ablation drive wakes churned in the shadow VRZ Y-9244. Here, the Order Amaruq pitched into the gaze of Askandar; here, their force of no more than one company - Zhyssians - escorted by the cruiser and her strike force complement, eyed Askan. Some distance away, VRZ Y-9244's sisters put distance between themselves and their third; they swung their bows toward One and advanced through the glow of the star, reflecting variegated rays of dim azure tessellations in sheets off chürzhna like windbroken alabaster caps across craggy shoals. They shone so, and came on deliberately, where within his flag Nalchoq - the battalionier - rose from sitting at the command council.
"We are under attack," nam-Myrtach said, and Nalchoq nodded:
"Yes."
Signatures born mere moments ago flickered on the displays and with frightening rapidity neared the vessel pair. Nalchoq's sensors officer squinted through nam-Myrtach's hologram and spoke nearly before the battalionier finished his confirmation:
"Those signatures are unmistakable," he said.
"All defensive suites are online," the tactical officer added. "Response, nam-NezhoteJloknam?"
nam-Myrtach shifted his gaze back to Nalchoq. When news of the assault on Askandar reached him, he thought - perhaps - he could step foot onto the battlefield himself. Yet upon witnessing One, a stinging reality surfaced: Nalchoq needed him close; his armour thus gleamed not in the glare of Askandar's star, but the faux interior sunlight of the rift cruiser VRZ Y-5642...
...and though then his gaze caught with Nalchoq's own, the battalionier - unprivy to nam-Myrtach's ruminations - responded instead to the tactical officer:
"Full power to propulsion and maintain defensive Array stances," Nalchoq ordered. "Bring us closer. Stand by for PAI-ENS synergy."
Ribboning pinpricks of light flashed along Y-5642's outer defensive envelope where salvoes of gamma and x-ray bursts rushed. They passed the threshold where the PAI fields of the duo yielded to the void and made rocketous headway towards the boats maintaining them; most diffused and refracted within the fields, but a handful kept coherence and edged into the inner envelope - a development unmissed by the sensors officer. He understood the implications of oversaturation at such a virgin hour of the engagement; it was unsettling, and he shared a knowing glance with the tactical officer.
It was, he knew, a portent of things to come.
Captain Ola watched as ships moved in closer. New fleets jumped in and one sent another chill through her body. The presence and jump signature matched her database. It was a Singer’s ship. Using passive sensors Ola gazed at the etherial ship that had jumped in and the data given to them by the Mother didn’t do justice. But Ola had a task at hand, she could worry about the new ship when there was time.
“Captain, incoming weapons fire.” A crewman called out calmly. Bracing herself, Ola relaxed when no explosion or great shaking of the ship came. No, energy was pulsing though her and the ship. Looking at displays she found high amounts of X-rays and Gamma radiation flowing through her ship. Ola was puzzled as to why someone was firing intense radiation at them. Then she remembered, they did the same to kill biological organisms on enemy ships.
“The enemy is attempting to kill the biological crews of the responding ships.” Ola observed out loud. Turning to face the main view screen she looked at where the enemy was. She couldn’t use their Tachyon lances with the enemy being directly in front of Elwar. The risk of hitting him with such devastating weapons was too great.
“Target enemy forces and fire Maser beams. I want minimal risk to Elwar, we don’t need him to think we are here for revenge.” Ola ordered. Energy pulsed and built up along the ship and an invisible beam of Maser energy lashed out from the Destroyer’s bow.
"Heavy Ionizing Radiation bombardment detected. Particle Weaponry likely cause. Error, electronics glitching. Error, no heavy artillery detected. Unknown cause of Radiation Bombardent"
"Huh, how in the fuck?"
The radiation attacks affected the smaller ships worse than the more heavily armored ships, but they were all still affected by the radiation bombardment. Minor hull damage was done, but nothing that would cause a hole in their armor, especially the carriers. But what puzzled Lillian the most was how these people had such firepower. From what she could observe before the bombardment, these people were exposed to sheer radiation and the vacuum of space itself, a place where no sentient being should be alive in without protection. And yet, these people were in outer space with out any protection except their armor. These people were dangerous. These people had let out radiation attacks that could damage systems without any other weaponry, they had done it as infantry.
She was now seeing the true scale of the problem now.
Could psionics truly be this powerful?
"Why radiation attacks? There's no reason to attack with anything other than-"
It clicked.
They wanted the ships to ram into the megastructure. They wanted to kill the people with out killing the ship, so they could cause more damage to Elwar, weakening him further. And if they were truly an army about psionics, then Elwar must've been doing something with psionics, maybe even being semi-psionic himself. They needed to weaken him, maybe to kill him, maybe to take over him. She understood now what had to be done, what she should probably avoid doing. Her theory spiraled around her head, it made sense. Why Elwar was desperate for help, the attacks, everything.
"Gladius! Prepare heavy radiation shielding on Uriel, and use light anti-personnel weaponry on him, preferably micromissiles and autoguns. We need to prevent as much damage to Elwar himself!"
On the carrier, radiation shielding was added onto Uriel, and the machine came online. The eyes of the mecha glowed a deep blue, the energy pulsating through it, like blood moving through a living creature. Inside, it wasn’t Gladius controlling it, but rather Lillian herself. Usually, she wouldn't try this sort of stunt, due to the fact she hates killing people, but these people gave no mercy towards them, no empathy, nothing. They would rather kill them directly and let the ships to more dirty work for them. She didn't know the true intentions of the Panopticon, she barely knew anything about them beyond their affinity for psionics. But, right now, that didn't matter. They were her enemy, one which didn't give a shit about them. The Panopticon reminded her of them, and she hated them. Lillian moved with Uriel, as if she was inside a new body, testing it out. She had already been inside one of these before, she knew how to pilot one well, especially against an enemy that didn't care about her.
Soon came in the call for help from Askandar itself, a ground battle against the Synopticon, which seemed more as a military with less psionics, from what she could get on them. They required smaller infantry and land weaponry. Lillian saw this as not only dangerous for Elwar himself, but the civilians. She scowled at the idea of that, she hated when civilians died in war, it was the thing that also brought even more hatred towards these people. It reminded her even more of them. She needed to get down there, not only to subdue these opponents, but to also get civilians to safety.
"Gladius, release safety locks on Uriel, all of them. Get divisions for both the megastructure and Askandar itself, make planetfall with them and get some light armor to back up the droids, lethal weaponry authorized on all droids. Get fighters in the air to back up Uriel and the ground forces on the megastructure, hail the others to do the same."
Uriel would be set free from the safety locks, being able to move freely within the ship and outside it. Lillian observed through Uriel's eyes the drone craft being set alive inside the carrier. Uriel's thrusters roared with life, glowing inside the dark room. Uriel dashed to the vacuum of space, glowing outside of the carrier. Soon drones followed Uriel into the outside, with them in a formation around Uriel, making a wing-like pattern behind it. Soon, several drop pods would be launched from several ships, having droids inside of them ready for combat, both non-lethal and lethal weaponry ready for them.
Lillian observed the Svarthans attack with a hyperbeam, to which she cringed once she also heard them recommend doing a bombardment on their megastructure. She quickly opened a channel towards every ship in the system that came to aid Elwar, even if her theory was wrong, this isn't what Elwar wanted, and they would probably be counted as a target if they continued this.
"Svarthan Admiral, I understand the urgency of the situation, and also know the sheer firepower that these infantry themselves have unleashed upon us, but I sincerely do NOT recommend attacking them with such recklessness and sheer firepower. This is Elwar himself we are talking about with this megastructure, if we damage the structure, we are hurting Elwar, and that is exactly what they want to do. Notice the radiation attacks? This is far beyond normal, I recommend we use land units, but I realize that is a huge risk for everyone. Try and do as LITTLE damage to the structure, lest we incur his wrath upon us as well!"
SVS Avrel-Naret
Askandar System
Avrel-Naret's was concentrating. In one of his bondship's Shards, a special vessel was being assembled at the quantum level. It was a combat form for Avrel-Naret himself, including a great deal of Lyrium lacing and implanted nodes. One was his intended target, and he was taking no chances. His main essence would stay behind on the Harvester, but with the vessel he could support the Psychometric assault unit and vastly
reduce the risk to himself as opposed to an ordinary manifested physical form. He had immediately ruled out Night Ray bombardment and Inductor use due to Elwar's essence being somewhat infused in the megastructure. Was it part of his core?
When the vessel was complete, Avrel-Naret infused it with a shadow of his essence, and then the single shard seemed to flow out of the Harvester's hull, moving towards SVS Lan-73
He then turned his attention to the other ships that had entered the system. Two were from groups he immediately recognized.
Avrel-Naret sent a quick burst transmission to both Captain Ola and Nalchoq. "Andracken and Pordish commanders, I am Fleet Leader Avrel-Naret of the Anais Unity Spatial Fleet. I have been sent by Blessed Laenas to assist in defending Elwar. As I am most familiar with the High Hunters and with Lady Teo's children, I wish to coordinate as best I can in this endeavor." His passive hypersense noted the arrival of other vessels. One was from a polity that he did not recognize, others were from the Vestahl. He sent communiqués to the new ships as well;
"To all vessels approaching the Askandar megastructure, I am Avrel-Naret of the Anais Unity. Some of you have fought with us before against the Shadows of Zaingraf, others of you are new to us. Be careful both in engaging the Panopticon forces and also in the use of large-scale weaponry. Damaging this structure is ill-advised for many reasons. We need to cooperate to terminate this enemy. May the Blessings of the Anais' be with us all."
SVS Lan-73
Askandar System
The first 3 Assault Landers moved into the electromagnetic launch channels. Niala keyed his battlecom and signaled all his troops. "Alet company ready for launch, Bith and Gam will ready for launch after us. Hallowed are the Anais', and may their Blessed Light shine upon us all this day!"
Every man and woman in the unit checked their weapons and powered armor, then bowed their heads in prayer.
The three landers were shot from the EM channels at high velocity, then fired up their gravitic thrusters, heading toward the megastructure with the ominously glowing Shard flying at the center of their formation like a triangular glowing ember of coal.
One's attacks cut across the front line of the Hyena taskforce with ease. Almost no contact from the front of the formation responded to hails from the formations behind them, who were also caught off guard.
At the same time as the carnage on all the ships began, Izabeth recieved a emergency message from Rosgard;
////EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE:
* Pull your Security forces back and focus them on planet-side security. SH Taskforce Enroute. Enemy Suspected of using Psionics. Security forces have insufficient protection against. Evacuate non-combatants unprotected personnel immediately*////
"NOW THEY TELL ME!" Izabeth shouted as she switched her comms. The sudden strange attacks made sense now from her position on the station.
//Taskforce Hyena, Fall back to rearguard. We have no sufficient defense against enemy's attacks//
Taskforce Hyena
Crews fell to the ground in the hallways, off of platforms as radiation shielded doors were now closing on hallways and compartments to isolate the beams. But the almost invisble death beams were like powerful flashlights on some of the High Majesties and Zetas. Their armored radiation shields didn't last long on the weaker parts of their ships. The Holy Pantheons were more armored against the radiation, but they also faired very poor against he onslaught.
"Centre! We've lost our entire front line from the attack" One of the commanders of the ships responded.
//Fall Back to the Planet line. Support from the Capital is coming.// Izabeth’s call sounded. ZYPHER’s security ships, at least the ones still under control complied, while the other remains of the frontline opened fired at the target, sending their volley of projectiles towards One. What remained of the disjointed frontline were High Majesties and some Zetas, battlecruisers were disorinted
Askendar Space
Xspace ripped open as a fleet of 200 ships entered the system on approach.
This ZYPHER fleet makeup however was different from the usual Intercation based formations. There were fewer Holy Pantheons and more small to medium capital hull ships, including the sight for sore-eyes Emb’dai seige ships. They stood out however, because they had the glaring white paint of ASIM’s brand of ships. However their forms looked odd. They had different armor and plyons that appear to cover specific areas and their weapons, which also looked alittle abnormal.
Captain Yosa straightened his collar as the fleet approached Askendar and the group of allied ships. This was the first time this fleet was to be deployed against this kind of threat outside of scenarios.
Izabeth watched as the tag of the fleet popped up 4199th ‘Sizor Reef.’
“…thats not a Intercation Fleet.” She said to herself, not familiar with the name nor callsign. From the FoF tag, they were transmitting a signal that was used to identify ASIM ships.
“...did they just send science ships?” she asked.
“They’re apparently apart of the Special Hazard Division.” The tactical personnel spoke as she identified the ‘Sizor Reef’ name in the ZYPHER database.
“Experimental Response Unit.”
Maybe Rosguard had an idea of what they were up against after all...but would it work now lingers in Izabeth’s head.
“This is Elwar I am most honoured by your support” The QAI felt his systems jump a moment as a tiny fraction of his computing power rebooted and failed. In his true state Elwar could not make simple gestures like organics but if he could have narrowed his eyes he would have done so.
“Belay orbital attack. I demand your ceasefire with such weapons on my facility, the loss of any computational capacity no matter how small will have massive ramifications on the outcome of his battle and my ability could have to handle the information space and control my own drone forces. Kinetics are authorised so long as they are of sufficiently small size to not damage internals of the Athenaeum, but no weapon that targets or bypasses internal damage. I cannot afford to focus my efforts on self-repair at a time like this” The broadcast was sent to the Svarthans but also all other forces on station.
With Commonwealth forces handing and Svarthans landing alongside them the fire from One continued for a moment before he stopped.
The man outstretched his arms as his body tingled with high energy radiation. It was far more directed than the lethal particle winds he was absorbing from such close proximity to the star but to him it was like taking a shower in starlight and he enjoyed every moment. He was thrown off a moment as a kinetic impact slammed into his position, blasting a crater in the surface and sending him into the void before he seemed to smile. Genuinely surprised that he had been so taken off guard due to enjoying himself. Landing again One flicked a finger, sending the remaining kinetics into violent arcs away from his position.
The ‘air support’ from the Commonwealth came next, streams of kinetic shots raking the area One was in and impacting his body. Some failed to damage him, others drew blood from skin as if he had been lightly cut. But the intelligence images were clear. It was one man, one man in a casual jumper top and baggy trousers, no armour, no helmet, no breathing apparatus. He did not respond to the gun runs, but there were so many interesting targets.
He once again felt his body boil, laughing loudly and utterly soundless in the depths of space. His other forces had gone inside, at least those who had stayed on the surface with him had dispersed and hid themselves. One was all that was visible now as the surface of the megastructure hated underneath his bare feet. It was going to be a long day as another several Dawnstone sabots were thrown towards him, this time by one of Elwars ships coming in fast and low. One merely held out his hand as the ship approached, closing his fist the multi-kilometer Dawnstone ship, the same kind that had held its own against the Shadows, crumpled like paper. Its wreck came in fast, impacting the surface of the structure and skidding across radiator vanes as it came to a halt nearby, providing massive cover to the surface.
Lots of the enemy were landing now. That was fine of course, although One seemed to relish the chance to stand toe to toe with the likes of the Singers, Pords and Andrackan.
”How delightful, so many, so many! Elwar you are truly wonderful, how so many have come here for your funeral it is truly fantastic!”
In a swift gesture Ones supporting forces began to move into action.
Seemingly out of thin air beings made of pure glowing golden string appeared to move lightning fast, three of them towards the landed forces. Each coiled and sprang as they closed, sending whip like offshoots of golden tendrils towards vehicles and squads, the Solarite strings being utterly lethal in their capability to cut through even the heaviest armour.
The battle had truly begun.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Kazhel nam-Myrtach
VRZ Y-5642
He stood within his mind upon the confluence of the Old and Omniscient leylines - they stretched through Askandar, and he felt their whispers. It was a strange feeling, like sunlight tempered by a window, rising-lowering-throbbing heartlike, aureate: alive, and he - witnessed of its soliloquy - warmingly bathed behind, before, and within its grandeur.
A comment from Nalchoq drifted into his thoughts.
He opened his eyes.
"So," he said, "we may begin landing operations." His words came more as a question than declaration, and the vessel-captain glanced at him, then back to the display for the minutest of instances.
And it was, indeed, but a question for and of himself, rather than those of Y-5642; he answered henceforth with his own glance - a gaze cast upon his communicator, to the officers of his command council - and spoke again at the end of his gesture:
"We must take these positions near the Singers," he ordered. "I cannot join you there. nam-Ataqsiut has command."
Senaq Ataqsiut nodded.
"Let there be no confusion," nam-Myrtach continued. "Those of you receiving this notice" - he relayed a packet - "are to withhold your forces for combat on the ring's surface." His eyes narrowed as they fled from each commander to the next. He stopped upon the smallest of them present, Braaqnat the Winter Sage, beardless commander of Reknu's batteries, Caller of the Rüzhazhem and First Among the Plains of Nokkalach. The diminutive Pord hid behind the opaque smog of his armour's Array, but rescinded the barrier when nam-Myrtach motioned towards the ground.
"These companies are yours: form your battalion. I need you on the surface," nam-Myrtach said.
Braaqnat spoke swiftly: "What use are we when the quarry of One are warships?" His displeasure sputtered through the feed, veracious and weighty, and he let it settle to a count of five or three before speaking again: "I do this under protest."
nam-Myrtach responded slower than the Winter Sage: "If you do not trust my judgement," he said, "trust that Voznayte guides us here."
Braaqnat said nothing. The lightless aura of his Array returned as his holographic form faded as swiftly as the remanifestation of his barriers.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
"You are sending Ataqsiut to assist?" Nalchoq asked. His tone was serious but not so weighty as to come off as condescending; it was genuine and born of desire to hear nam-Myrtach admit such himself.
nam-Myrtach's hologram flickered. "You know you need my direction here."
Nalchoq nodded. "Tasi," he said. "But I know you have little desire to remain on my boat."
"You're right. I don't."
Advanced elements of Ataqsiut's force neared the landing zone close to the Singers and came under attack for their effort. Glimmering bands whipped through the void with dizzying speed and danced around and into the nam-Künaans of the lead company (now dispersed and shedding the clip of Y-5642) thus burdening them with defensive battle. Two met their end here and clattered towards the cold ring's surface; cleaved perfectly atwain, no smoke nor fireball erupted with each Solarite impact, only the soundless cries of vehicle-grade structural and armour components yielding to elemental force and the equally silent response of entropic lances and shadowy Array beams clawing away from finality.
"I need cover on the surface," nam-Myrtach said. "You see this wrecked vessel?"
Nalchoq adjusted his display. "I do," he said after eyeing it, "this Elwar ship? This is where you will land?"
"Tasi."
The battalionier turned to his tactical officer and she to the sensors officer.
"It should be possible," the sensors officer said. "We are adjusted. PAI-ENS synergy is established."
"I recommend a more aggressive stance," the tactical officer said. Her attention was again upon Nalchoq while swiftly drafting suggestions with guidance from the combat AI. "We have these three courses," she went on after a moment, "but I recommend this one."
Nalchoq nodded without reviewing them. "I will take your recommendation. Make it so."
"Tasinehdao," the tactical officer said.
One battalion rushed from the hangars of Y-5642 and made headway towards the ring; Braaqnat, as lead, ordered no effort to obscure their intended locale of receipt, he merely came with speed and sought refuge of its nature. But the twin rift cruisers astern of his sprint adjusted their own targeting and sent their twelve heavy redirection probes to offset positions. Here, they could fire from angles devoid of intercept with the ring, and they did so thence; a flurry of dark beams, no more than two dozen, lashed out against One to cover Braaqnat's arrival.
As the pods made their way through the vacuum of space, Lillian observed the actions of the soldiers, observing the intel given to everyone due to the desperate situation. She was absolutely astonished at the show these people were pulling, the absolute firepower they had in just one person. Her eyes sharpened, looking with sheer distain at these people. They were pulling a giant stunt with this and they had the capability to get out of it with minimal casualties, having thousands dead along the way with their enemies.
"Gladius, I leave to you the fighting in ship, fire PD munitions on that motherfucker, prevent internal damage to Elwar himself! I will attack head on with Uriel and the wing of drones at my disposal. Not the fist time I deal with heartless monsters."
The ship color would turn green, away from the typical blue of the ships. Gladius had taken full control of all ships, excluding the carrier. Uriel itself began to move, with the wing of fighters extending its own normal wings. Uriel moved at great speeds towards the structure itself, closing in on One's position. Soon, the pods containing the droids began to fall onto the megastructure, with an impact that could be felt, yet not heard. For a few of them, however, they landed on the now wrecked Elwar ship
"Units have landed on megastructure, beginning operations"
The drop pods would release their payload, dozens of droids and drones swarming out in seemingly random patterns, and yet they never got in each others way. Soon, the droids began to fire upon the golden beings and other Panopticon forces with heavy particle lance fire. Drones would use mass kinetic weaponry on both the beings, and began to fire upon One, trying to damage him before they got destroyed. Units began to try and defend other organic beings on the station fighting the Panopticon. Droids began in quasi suicidal waves trying to protect the other units, still firing as long as they would before complete destruction.
Uriel, with the wing of drones got closer, Uriel stood still in a position where One couldn't physically see it, Lillian observing the battle from the cameras in the droids. Her distain grew larger at the battle, all of this because of some unknown reason to her. She sighed at the sight, but knew this was no time to just simply stand around.
"Begin strafing runs, kinetics and missiles authorized, prevent damage to the structure itself."
Uriel's hand extended before itself, Lillian commanding and controlling the drones herself. The swarm of drones began to break formation and attack the Panopticon.
The birds were here.
The swarm, being Lillian herself, began firing upon the creatures, trying to not hit friendlies and Elwar himself. Kinetics hit the structure, but not hitting it with enough force to penetrate the structure itself. She knew the importance of processing power in these kinds of situations, and she took measures to not hinder that. Uriel simply stood waiting, waiting for the perfect time to strike.
On the ships, Gladius began firing PD rounds at the location, being the equivalent of orbital support. Lasers, shrapnel, kinetics, all firing with great volume with the closest thing to accuracy it could get to with the distance, but still trying its best. Sure, it wasn't the best they could do, but under these circumstances, the AI could do nothing more but follow its creator's orders.
"Ships under radiation fire, formation behind battleship."
"Good! Continue firing, cool down lasers when necessary, stay out of range of One's vision, he can destroy ships!"
"Moving ships accordingly"
The Svarthan ship had already finished its volley and was powering up for another when the message came in. Aboard the command ship, Tyzor punches a deck plate with one of his big digging claws. He hates this, all of this. Elwar, for being a super advanced artificial intelligence is being incredibly stupid in the crabs many electronic eyes. That... THING down there is not to be trifled with. Certainly sending ground troops into what they see as a slaughter house is not to be advised.
However, Tyzor is not about to antagonize many powerful galactic nations just because of their own fear and doubts. Swallowing their terror, they turn to the mounting casualty report from the ships, and let out a long slow burst of steam. They cannot remain here, not for long. With a shake of his frontal shell, the order is given to turn away and make distance between themselves and the megastructure. He turns towards his coms officer, and speaks in a fairly somber tone.
"Tell the troop ship to prepare for rapid orbital insertion. No reason to give that monster on the surface any more time to strike than necessary." His voice grows harder, steeled with anger, frustration, and determination. "I want EVERYTHING we can deploy within reason down on that surface. Lead with the Juggernauts, and the heavy tanks. Of utmost importance however is artillery support. If we cannot attack the monster from up here, maybe we can bombard him to bits with overwhelming firepower. Do not send dedicated engineering units however. There will be nothing to dig into or under on that hard metal or composite surface."
With a nod, the communications officer begins to relay his orders, belting out clear and well coordinated jargon, as the crews jump into action with trained professionalism. there will be time to mourn later, for now, this fight must be won. Engines fire as the battleship pulls away from the station, to a higher orbit, hopefully out of the range of One's attacks. Then the troopship makes its play.
A storm of drop pods is fired towards the surface, some decoys to try and confuse interception attempts, but most of them are real, and loaded to bursting with Svarthan troops. As they fall, more are fired behind them, carrying more warriors into the fight.
Deploying retro rockets in order to avoid damage to the structure and their crews, the containers still pack a bit of punch at landing, but not enough to damage megastructure class plating. From within the troops begin to emerge, at their front the huge car sized forms of MHEA Juggernauts, their black armor gleaming in the void of space. Weapons emerge as soon as they are clear and drone swarms are released.
Behind and beside them are the heavy tanks of the Svarthan. Massive multi turreted constructs, sealed against the void of space, and armed with remotely loaded, aimed and fired high caliber coil cannons, in tandem with lighter auto cannons, and high energy UV lasers.
The troops start to form consolidated positions as more, lighter troops, along with the massive artillery batteries arrive. Nothing active is done so far however, as they want to coordinate properly with their allies, and not shell the living daylights out of them.
There was only a small sense of relief when Lyra observed the last of what remained of the Company get boots down. Their passengers deployed, the landers pulled back, returning to the carrier to await command to either deploy more forces, deliver supplies, or extract the company. Lyra could only guess as to what the Colonel may choose to do, but she suspected whatever it was it wouldn’t involve deploying more forces.
The results of the first gun run were being fed directly into her mind, and subsequently passed off to Central Command to inform their decisions. She was discouraged by the lack of impact the munitions had seemed to have, and deeply unnerved that all this chaos was apparently the work of one man with no exo equipment to speak of.
“Lieutenant, you have incoming,” She warned as the glowing… whatever they were began making their way toward the recently disembarked forces. Griggs cursed colourfully in response to her warning, and the subsequent painting of the incoming threats in red on his overlay.
“Ops advise threat level!” He shouted, moving his men into firing positions behind rapidly deployed portable cover systems.
“Unclear,” Lyra responded. “Conventional munitions may be ineffective. Don’t hold back,”
Another colourful curse before the Lieutenant told the men to hit the incoming masses of glowing thread with everything they had. They entered the range of the riflemen first, receiving accurate volleys of railgun fire as they closed on the company, soon joined by automatic fire and the higher caliber rotary gauss canons mounted on a pair of power armoured soldiers that accompanied the company. She noted one man prepping a shoulder launched rocket, but she doubted he’d get the rocket off before the… whatever they were got too close for it to be safely deployed.
She muted the feeds from the men again. She’d check up on casualties shortly, but for now she needed to focus on the escort drones that remained. Half of them had quit the field with the landers, escorting them on the return to the carrier. The other half she’d been able to convince command to keep in the field under her control.
She broke off more drones for another gun run on One, committing fully half of the escort drones she had to a second gun run. She doubted it would be much more effective, but if nothing else it might provide a distraction or diversion for forces with more effective weaponry. The other half she threw against the incoming monstrosities of golden thread. And she threw them with little regard for the drone’s survival. The AI assisting her threw off some canned warning about imminent asset destruction but she dismissed it. If destroying a bunch of expensive hardware preserved even one life among her men then it would be worth it.
The drones flew on intercept courses with the thread monsters firing their guns the whole way in and then smashing themselves into the monsters. With immediate commands given, the support officer paused in her efforts, waiting to see how things played out in the coming moments.
Askandar System
Orbital Structure Zone
The three Assault Landers streaked in, onboard the lead lander Major Niala looked at his tactical display and when it flashed blue ordered "Deploy!". The troops launched through hatches in the roof of the lander, the gravitic thrusters of their Nightfalcon powered armor glowing a bright blue. Each platoon spread out to avoid further radiation wave attacks, and began firing Synaptic Disruptors at the Panopticon troops. The other two shuttles also began deploying as well. Every individual had their psi shields up, and 1 man per platoon radiated a zone of psionic static to blunt area attacks.
From the rear of Niala's shuttle, the assault ramp dropped and something unnatural emerged. Normally used to carry an IFV, in this case a bloated black creature emerged. Around it all color seemed to drain, leaving an odd look like that of a black and white photograph. Looking for all the world like a 20' tall fetus dripping with black ichors, the Ikrahk Tyrant floated behind the troops and prepared it's gravimetric abilities to engage the Panopticon Liminals.
Avrel-Naret's essence shadow began an attack on One, seeking as much to test the Panopticon entity as to do damage. He sent a psychometric neural spike at One directly, while his Shard's Night Rays fired a series of blacklight beams towards One. With luck the spike-a devastating psychometric attack of it's own, would distract One and let the Night Rays hit.
Back at Lan-73, the three Assault Landers of Bith Company were catapulted from their EM launchers. In his Harvester Ship, Avrel-Naret sent battlecoded burst communiqués to all the other forces engaged with the Panopticon forces.
This is Fleet leader Avrel-Naret. Do not underestimate the Panopticon forces, especially the constructs and One himself. Normally I would render what psychometric or other non-conventional assistance I could, but regrettably this will not be possible. I need all my energies to confront One. I am however giving you the tactical frequencies for Major Niala's Psychometric Assault Battalion so you can coordinate operations. May the Blessing of the Anais Twins be with you all.
Athaneum; Internals
A moment of quantum decoherence.
Another.
Then another.
The visual feed from the Custodian frame had been a constant flash of light and images. Jump readouts and calibration data. Deralith had been jumping his frames into and throughout the megastructures insides again and again, each time leaving a group behind to stand in the Panopticons way, slow their progress.
Assault Frames, groups of Standard frames, Hunter Killer Frames, Drones, Command frames, Executors, Collossi...
With every portion of his being he calculated potential paths, predicted outcomes, observed the battlefield above, below and on Askandar itself. Data streamed in and out, reports and recordings, combat data and live feed.
'First groups made landfall, Elwar combat vessel downed, surface groups engaged, no visible damages to entity registered.
Allied forces coordinating attack, anti-psion measures present.
Offending Allied ship disengaging radiation weaponry.
Group 2 and 3 engaging infiltrating Panopticon forces.'
Each group he had dropped had been equipped with third party anti-psionic devices purchased from various sources across the galaxy. though even so, they were too few, already, the first reports of losses were coming in.
They were not enough as is. They did not have enough time. Though the effort of the troops on the surface was commendable, however successful or unsuccessful they were, it did not change the situation down here, maybe if he could...?
Another time he made use of Elwars transmission Network.
"This is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre speaking. Advising spreading out to make landfall, potentially use horizon of the structure as cover for landing. Furthermore advising use of saturation fire and sensory impairing measures to cover landing. Forces inside Megastructure are being engaged."
A moment of quantum decoherence. Another group dropped off.
'Elwar; engaging Panopticon in sectors F:47079646 and F:47079659. Panopticon is being slowed but advancing. Seeking permission to transport third party groups into the Athaneum to provide additional attack vectors.'
The redirection arrays caused One to sneer in disappointment. The Pords seemed to be honourable foes and yet they hid their ships from him, using the plane of the Megastructure and their drones to relay fire their weaponry. At least they knew how to fight effectively, he could appreciate that. The dark beams made One blink from one position to the next, avoiding the fire as he sensed the Commonwealths drones coming back round for a second pass.
You annoy me with your toys
Lashing out with both hands One sent a huge gravitational shockwave towards the air support striking his position while a burst of Golden string flew out of his palm at speed towards a handful of the redirection arrays, intending to slice them apart like the transports. He would force them to fight him to face to face. Still the fact the enemy were landing on mass made him excited. He had ceased attacking the transports, not that he could visually see them anymore.
The entire area he stood in was turned into a storm of shrapnel, explosions and energy bolts which impacted the area. A combination of heavy fire from the Svarthans, Artificialis and various warships obscured his view and made him grimace for a moment. A tank round impacted his left side, causing him to jerk to the left as it bruised his body and flew off into the void. Taking himself above the chaos One flew into the void, getting the ‘high’ ground and a new view of the surrounding area. His forces were doing well within the megastructure, and the Pariahs were about to get to work.
They were fast, lethally fast. Made out of no more than Solarite string the Pariahs engaged infantry and vehicles alike. The Solarite string made a mockery of armour as the monsters attempted to get into as large pockets of forces as possible, slicing with whip like precision to kill anything they could get their hands on. Hitting them was hard enough as they jinked, whipped around or even moulded their forms around incoming fire, but physically they were tough to kill. Their Solarite nature caused kinetics to merely ricochet or be sliced apart and lose any penetration, but energy blasts caused them to be thrown back from impacts, explosives did the job too, as the Pariah that engaged the Commonwealth was engulfed in a storm of fire from the second wave of drones, causing it to lose portions of its string body in the detonations. While it wasn’t dead, it moved slower and was clearly wounded. The other two went for the Svarthans and the Artificialis, intent to cause as much damage as possible in the landing formations.
Content with the initial bezerkers One readied himself to summon more mainline forces, but a whisper in his mind caused him to flinch. Instinctively he raised a psionic barrier, as pitch black night rays hit him from the Singers vessel. One stopped the majority of the strike, but his left hand had not been covered, it was aged exponentially and clearly crippled.
The whispers intensified.
They called to him, silently at first before becoming a raging tempest. They went for his mind, ebon talons scratching to get inside as terrible hawk like hallucinations attacked him physically. He did not respond to them, he knew what a psychometric attack looked like, he had been mentally destroyed as a child and rebuilt from the ground upwards. His vision began to darken as the attack sought to drag him into his own mind, into a psychometric hellscape of horrors and devastation but One fought back. He relied on his psionic sense, keeping the barrier up as conventional fire still sought to bombard him. But he fought back.
Blazing golden light responded to the carrion hawks that assaulted him, and the maddening darkness that sought to drag him down like a cloying swamp, the light was burning all revealing and full of insanity as One called upon the power of the Panopticon. Only a fragment, and yet he began laughing.
”I have been waiting for this, let me hear you sing oh ones of the void”
---
The loss of the ship caused Elwar alarm at how easily the psion was able to destroy such an advanced craft in one go. At least it would provide the landing teams cover.
Still things were looking grim. The internal spaces of the megastructure were large, monumental server rack spaces of pure Dawnstone surrounded by cooling structures, power relays and data transfer points. All of these in that area became a battle ground as Panopticon forces cleaved through swarms of Elwars constructs supplemented by Exalted forces. At best they were slowing the enemy down, at worst it was only a matter of time until they cleared a path to what One was searching for.
”You have my full permission, deploy as many as able. Redirecting squadrons from all sectors to engage. We must at the very least hold them, One seems preoccupied with surface engagement let us keep it that way”
Athaneum; Internals
The flashes of light and images stopped.
Not because he had reached his capacity, not because he had to take a moment to evaluate the situation, not even to observe the battles between, the Panopticons and his and Elwars forces.
No.
He had plainly ran out of forces he could spare from the surface. Every asset he could spare from the labs was in a position where it would encounter and hopefully slow down the Panopticons troops, his frames took significant losses but had been doing all in their capabilities to fight back, yet even with the anti-psionic equipment, there were simply too few of them and any larger scale offensive equipment ran inevitably the danger of damaging the Megastructure.
It was a regrettable fact but they had not been prepared for battle inside the megastructure.
He listened in to the various comms that were running in the vicinity of the Athaneum and observed the battle on the outside of the megastructure, they had made progress, but were they moving fast enough?
He cursed the fact they did not have enough time to study the artefact they brought back from far reach.
Elwars transmission returned. Permission had been given. Immediately another transmission from Deralith as Elwar answered, this time time directed at any allied forces in the vicinity of the megastructure.
"This is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre speaking. We ask all present allied forces to assemble soldiers and equipment in open spaces within your ships and give us detailed sensor data of the area. If sufficient data is provided we can transport the troops into the megastructure to assist in fending off the panopticon in the structure. Be prepared for a battlefield situation with anomalous gravity and unexpected angles of attack, avoid large scale blast weaponry or other equipment that could harm the dawnstone servers."
He still could not engage One personally or even his troops in the structure, he was being held outside, if he presented a greater challenge to the psions assets, he would likely abandon his position at the surface and come inside, something Deralith could not allow. As things were the situation gave him time to assist the efforts inside, both to his benefit and detriment.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Braaqnat, KZH Battalion Commander
Surface Near Elwar Ship
Braaqnat knew he was upon the landing zone when the whine of engines lessened. That in itself spoke to Nalchoq's success. A very different reception could have been in order, but for the Winter Sage, this was a black thought on which he did not linger.
Though black it indeed was.
He sought exit of his machine and clanked down onto the ring.
The charred remains of the Elwar ship loomed overhead casting bleak and jagged shadows across the plating and paneling of the megastructure. Braaqnat knelt in the naked stellar rays pouring around it - dimly tinged blue by the holograms of his platoon-leads - and took in the tactical data.
"One rises!" Spoke a Grazhnichelnar; "I am ready to respond."
Braaqnat nodded slowly. He trusted her forces were settled from their arrival, but he remained cognizant One was not alone. His gaze passed over each of his platoon-leads and even before he finished the gesture he responded:
"Take defensive positions about this warship. We shall fight from here as allowed."
And the last of his words came as his panning landed upon the Grazhnichelnar who spoke first. He nodded again to her: "Engage."
Soundless reports of artillery fire crossed into the void moments later as floating entropic lance batteries slipped from the concealment of Elwar's vessel, fired, then repositioned.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
A response.
Golden strings rippled through space swiftly (nearly godclip-burdened) towards the dozen redirection probes. Dark beams shuddered onto intercept courses to meet them, but a few solarite strings nevertheless deftly avoided such embrace and skirted, instead, into the inky black interiors of just under half of the probe complement.
Dull gravitic shockwaves sloshed out from three of the devices as they disassembled, while the shadowy clouds wrapping the other stricken probes faded off and away revealing their naked forms of seamless metal now wounded, glowing red, dimming orange from damage.
"Array probes under direct assault," the tactical officer said. "Primary heavy redirective capability nearing half capacity."
Each probe was marked prominently in the center of the displays with particular focus on their damage. Nalchoq glared at them. The counter from One proved swift. "Bring" - he hesitated - "bring us out of standoff. Ready to engage with other systems." Another moment passed before he went on: "nam-Myrtach, if you are ready."
"Tasi," nam-Myrtach's hologram said, "I am."
With the redirection probes beaten back, the tactical officer swept her eyes across the feed. The combat AIs were in agreement and they indicated their election to her. "We need to keep those solarite strings at a distance," she said.
"I agree," Nalchoq nodded. His attention, however, shifted to nam-Myrtach's main force. They were forming up near the Singers. The sprint that brought them was bloodier than he as a navalist preferred, but ground operations so often proved themselves so - though they also often proved themselves to be much more. "9244 on return course," he said.
"I suggest letting it cover the main landings. nam-Ataqsiut and the others are under heavy assault now."
"Make it so. Light weapons only; have them clear the surface." Maybe that will draw them off, Nalchoq mused of the Pariahs. In truth, he suppressed a deeper thought; the destruction of the Elwar vessel still sat in his mind and registering the notion might manifest repeats - or so he allowed himself to think. He turned back to the tactical officer. "And bring us," came words seemingly of their own volition, "onto full defensive Array stance."
"Tasi," replied the tactical officer, "tasinehdao."
Elwar Space, Askandar
Kazhel nam-Myrtach
VRZ Y-5642
nam-Myrtach, if you are ready.
I am.
"He is usually more forward," explained the vessel-captain. "The-"
"I understand his hesitancy," nam-Myrtach interrupted. "These arts are not his domain."
The vessel-captain exhaled audibly. "Neither are they mine," he agreed. "You should head to the shrine. There is nothing for you on this bridge."
nam-Myrtach gave a pained glance over the chamber. Lifeless glances shot back at him from the myriad statues ringing the plateau. "You're right," he said.
"Namengrazhniskaya," the vessel captain said bowing - to which nam-Myrtach returned the gesture and made his way through the exit.
VRZ Y-5642's shrine was not far from the bridge, and when he approached it, no other Pords were present. He sat down to purge his mind of excess thoughts. In a low voice he chanted - Jlokhemitnartüt zhaknabänkelatüq Dritenkeltytshyk; ihn rekanmalat kashcharov! Ihn raqsiutenmalat kashcharov! - and felt the depths of the Old and Omniscient leylines. It was a feeling he still wasn't used to. The Hunters told him of divine proximity and how not all realms have equivalent connections to the godly domains; through them he learned what must be done here to call upon the Three or the Crafter of the Dritzhalb.
Each passing moment he narrowed and heightened his focus and soon was on Y-5642 no more. Behind him sprawled arctic familiarity; before him raged the great psionic power of One more truly. It was golden majesty unrestrained though defensive; not omnipresent but assailed by agent-messengers of darkness: One was under attack already.
And it would be strange fighting alongside such darkness.
I must meditate on that, he relented, though such a thought was not one to dwell on given the circumstances. He turned towards the lights; they were barriers to the depths of psyche marking the only path forward, onward, through the citadel-maelstrom.
With winter to his back he sought entry through the gates of perdition.
Tyzor hears he transmission and issues a rapid response as down below the tanks and Juggernauts begin to be supplemented by more standard issue MHEA troops. The formation begins to spread out however still maintain a rig around the battery of 900mm and 1200mm artillery pieces that are rapidly deploying into position, deploying their stabilizing legs and trying to get a firing solution.
"This is Svarthan response group to Defense Coordination center. I am afraid I cannot comply with your request, as all my available forces are already engaged down on the surface. All that remain in reserve are fighter craft and dedicated heavy engineering equipment, and that will be even less useful down there than on the surface, never mind the fact that the machines will not fit into the chambers. Please ignore our craft when preparing to transport the troops."
As the Pariah starts to close in, the line of Svarthan troops open fire will all they have, having seen what those monsters can do.
While much of the fire is from kinetics, everything from .50 AE pistol caliber rounds, through coil rifle bolts that are larger, and even .950 slugs from heavy machine guns or Juggernaut rotaries, a great deal is not.
As the hail of tungsten iron slugs fills the air like a metal thunder storm, flashes of color fill the gaps between. Autocannon rounds and high explosive OAC filled grenades burst like firecrackers amidst the far larger bursts from tank guns and Juggernaut cannons, and it seems as if some artillery gun crews, showing fear at the creatures rapid approach are trying to direct fire them with their massive guns.
These shells burst into gouts of brilliant blazing light as either their massive chemical explosive loads detonate, or they burst into a scattering of transuranic ions at relativistic speeds. And the shells are not the only energy weapon present. The tanks let lose with their laser weapons, and so do any troops that have them, filling the space between them and their target with both visible and invisible streaks of light. The juggernauts add their own small particle accelerators to the fray, as do the vehicles that have them.
However, despite the impressive display, it is blindingly obvious that the crabs are way out of their depth here. They have zero experience with psionics nor the Panopticon and their horrors, and these things, along with their power terrify them.
All down the line, relaxants and adrenal suppressants are injected by their augments, keeping the crabs just calm enough to lay on the hell storm of fire into the target of their fear.
If things take a turn for the worst, the Svarthan may not be able to contribute much more to the fight..
Things were looking less than ideal. Lyra might have ground her teeth together were she cognisant of her own body but in the twisting spirals of data and computation there was nothing physical through which to express her anxiety.
More casualties mounted. She lost most of the drones she’d sent against one to the gravitational wave he’d answered with. The drones crashed into each other, or the megastructure itself. Even the handful that remained mostly intact were damaged to the point their software began flying them back to the carrier from whence they had originated.
The marines weren’t faring much better. She passed on what data she could on the Pariahs closing in, noting the ineffectiveness of kinetics and advising the use of explosives. But the Commonwealth didn’t mainline explosives, and certainly didn’t give them out like candy to marines.
They were making do, using what rockets and MGLs they had but the bulk of the marine’s weapon was rendered ineffective.
A company strength unit was down to less than half what they had begun with, most of the drones were either destroyed or returning and their weapons were having little effect. She couldn’t hear or observe the conversations happening deep within the armoured confines of the carrier, but she could guess that it was centered on whether to withdraw. They wouldn’t feed more men into the woodchipper. That much was clear. Any request she passed along for reinforcement was denied.
She distracted herself from those dismal thoughts with the call from the Askandar Defense Coordination Center. She had a transport full of dead marines and drones that weren’t doing any good drifting in space. If they could move them somewhere useful then… well at least she’d feel like she was doing something other than watching a slaughter unfold.
She busied herself with the drones aboard the transport, stacking them in the center of the transport where space was more open while the AI assisting her compiled and compressed sensor data before passing it on. Hopefully something would come of it.
“Get in heavy reinforcements Gladius! Release more droids! These glowsticks are relentless!”
Thousands of rounds fired from the still alive droids, particle weaponry being the only thing keeping them on the structure. The pods themselves were being used as cover by the droids, hiding and striking against that unrelenting foe. The gravitational wave made the closest drones crumple under the strain, a quarter fully destroyed, the other quarter left into a state of immediate disrepair. The other drones were left to deal with the aftermath, being stretched to their absolute limit.
"Release more drones!"
Several more compartments were be released by the hiding ships, hundreds of heavy drones, tanks and armored vehicles made their way to the surface of the structure with great speed. The sheer gravitational forced made by the counterthrusters would probably kill or disorientate most normal beings, but this was Lillian. Tanks would make their way onto the structure, firing upon the Pariahs and making cover for the other forces. To her, her creations were unimportant in comparison to the lives that could be saved with their sacrifice, her sacrifice.
This battle would leave her with a lot of damage.
———
Lillian observed One from a distance, making sure to not make Uriel and her own presence known to the being. The readings on One were an absolute clusterfuck of data and unknown energies. She had been wrong in dismissing the power of psionics, letting her own set of rules in her own universe make charge of what she decided to do in this one. She wondered if magic was similar in a way.
“Gladius, continue volume fire upon One, position is being recorded.”
As fire rained from the heavens, Lillian wondered if she should strike, the moment was clear, and her cannon could make short work of him… Or could it?
She dismissed the thoughts of striking with all her might, she had no idea of the true capabilities of One, so she decided for a less direct approach.
“Fire!”
Hundreds of missiles fired from the compartments on Uriel, letting out a payload in the kilotons combined. They, with a combination of drone missiles from the air support, fired and scattered in all directions, but having one true target.
That monster.
As expected, this was taking longer. The intelligence data on One and the Army of the Panopticon seemed accurate, albeit rather incomplete. Still, this was a good testing for the 119th-and even for Avrel-Naret himself. Avrel-Naret's hypersense was aware of the pressure being put on the Commonwealth force, and resonated orders to Major Niala. Major, render fire support to the Commonwealth and other ground forces. Night Ray fire may be effective against the Solarite constructs.
As you command, Blessed One. Niala responded with a telepathic missage. "Alright troops we have new orders; Digam/1 Squad, target the Solarite constructs with your Night Rays. Also I want neural disruptor fire on them, not sure how effective those will be. Mortar units are to fire seeker rounds at the Panopticon troops, set for proximity burst." A signal appeared on Niala's HUD, the Assault Landers of Gam company were deploying. As the company deployed, they responded to Niala's orders.
Night Ray fire streaked out towards the constructs from the OTS mounts of Digam/1 Squad, Baleful blacklight beams seeking the golden strings. At the same time, Digam/2 and Digam/3 Squads fired seeker shells from their electromagnetic launchers, the grav thrusters in the rounds sending them towards the Panopticon forces, to detonated above them showering them with flechettes and shrapnel.
As Gam company finished deployment, several of their troopers began concentrating and utilizing thermokinesis on the Solarite constructs. Half of them used pyretic mode, increasing temperature in the Solarite. Others used Cryonic mode, decreasing temperature and trying to induce thermal stress. At the same time other squads directed neural disruptor fire at the constructs, attempted to disrupt their psionic matrices.
And now for you, One. Here is a Melody, a Symphony of Destruction...
Abriymel, the Ikrahk Tyrant floated in space near Avrel-Naret's Shard, black ichors floating into space from it's bloated form, yet somehow not freezing. It perceived the battlefield with it’s seemingly blind eyes, spotting what it needed, a wrecked bit of Elwar technology. Possibly a destroyed defense ship, the mass started to move as Abriymel's unnatural gravitic powers formed gravitic loci around it. Observers saw the wreckage tear in half and lift into space, accompanied by the eerie black and white effect that seemed to drain all colors from the area. The two massive pieces of wreckage moved into space spreading apart as they did, while Abriymel's voice-an odd ululating cry, somehow heard even in the vacuum of space, seemed to be laughing...
And then the pieces of wreckage accelerated closer to each other at high velocity, with One in between them.
At the same time, Avrel-Naret generated a small solar flare, hurling a stream of plasma and particles at One. At the same time his supersentient mind sent out a massive neural/psionic spike, intending to short out One's synapses.
Elwars constructs were tough, very tough. Their Dawnstone forms were capable of re-arranging themselves, phenomenal strength and resilience capable of taking immense punishment. They had fought in mass numbers against many of the nations of the galaxy when he had awoken in this era, insane and poisoned by the Nightmare of Atu. They had fought tanks and infantryman alike, proving more than a match for modern forces.
But here, in the dark or orange confines of the Megastructure, they died in their thousands. Each one, from the heaviest of forms to the lightest, was designed around the duel role of maintenance and warfare. Every available asset was thrown in to stop the Panopticon, and it simply wasn’t enough. Against the Synopticon Elwar stood more of a chance, their conventional troops were torn apart by hulking forms or blasted apart with laser bursts, but the Phase troopers, abominations and more were almost unstoppable. Paraiahs effortlessly tore through corridors of Dawnstone sentinels, while phase troopers ganged up on hulking war forms to take them apart piece by piece. Even supported by the Networks anti-psionic experimental units they were, at the very best, slowing their progress. And even that was stretching the definition.
”This is Elwar, follow the ASCC orders, we need you inside. I will be personally joining the defence” A strange statement, given Elwar was personally everywhere, but deep within the Athaneum a new form which Elwar had been experimenting with activated with a pulse of energy and began its deployment.
---
The Pariahs came in swiftly, cutting and hacking at both vehicles and living things alike and heedless of incoming fire. But despite the damage they were doing to the more conventional forces of the Commonwealth, Svartans and Artificialis they were taking damage. Every now and again a lucky blast hit would sever a piece of string, slowly reducing their effectiveness, they seemed invincible, but that was cut short when the first died. The Pariah attacking the Commonwealth tore a drone apart before being hit by a Night Ray. It staggered, resisting the anti-life to a degree which seemed frightening, but seconds later a barrage of grenades destroyed it, the strings being torn apart and its unearthly glow dissipating with a psionic scream.
The Svarthan Pariah died next, whittled down by explosive fire from such large calibre explosive cannons, in the middle of trying to slice apart several tanks it too was pinned down by Night Rays before being destroyed by Svarthan heavy fire which never hesitated in its destruction, continuing to pound its last position for a few moments after, just to ensure the thing was truly dead.
Only the Paraiahs attacking the Pords and Artificialis remained, the efforts to induce heat or cold into their Solarite did not seem to faze them although the disruption of their psionics did cause them to halt for a second or two, to twitch and resist, it was enough to give good openings to fire at them effectively.
Ones psionic barrier positively burned as bright as the star behind him as the huge barrage from the heavy guns of the Svarthans, the endless missile barrage of the Artificialis and the redirection fire of the Pords hit home. The entire area became nothing but a storm of fire and detonations before finally it was burst outwards, Ones psionic barrier had been felled, at least for now. His body was covered in small cuts, bruises and scorch marks where his skin was clearly burned. The psychometric attacks were forcing him to direct more of his power away from the physical.
”How Interesting-“
One never got to finish his sentence as the two halves of the Elwar vessel downed earlier impacted the psion at phenomenal speeds, kilometres of Dawnstone smashing into him and each other causing another release of energy. For a moment, it seemed like one was dead. But within the mangled mass of Dawnstone, One still stood, his hands outstretched albeit, his Night Ray affected arm had been broken outright. Blood now ran down Ones mouth and out one ear.
”Hnnnngh yes….” He muttered, with lightning speed throwing the ship wreckage into the path of the particle storm and solar flare strike, letting the Dawnstone easily take the heat of the hit. With his broken arm he seemed to twitch, almost like a puppet, but his other he outstretched towards the Ikrahk Tyrant, summoning an artificial star on top of it to try and vapourise or irradiate its form. But as the puppet like movements continued and the second mind spike hit One began to laugh. It was a feeling of being shot in the head, like someone had shoved a knife into your brain, images flashed in his minds eye of terror, of pain and of confusion, trying to give him false inputs to his senses, it was a spike designed to totally throw him off.
All around One, more things came out of thin air. An entire company of Phase troopers manifested, supported by Abyssal Golems, both beginning to dig in and take cover, firing barrages of Solarite webbing designed to slice through vehicles and infantry alike.
Even as One felt the strange sensation of cold and the constant assault upon his mind he didn’t stop laughing. He was obviously in immense pain both physically and mentally, far from unscathed from the firepower and psionics used against him. But he then moved, leaping straight towards the allied lines with terrifying speed. He used his good arm to try pick up tanks, throw them at Singers and Pordish troopers all while releasing a wave of golden strings which sought out individual troopers, in an attempt to wrest their minds and use them as Ones own puppets.
Even as he spasmed with pain One turned his gaze to Avrel-Naret.
The psionic attack was not brute force, it was insidious, like a sickly light of brown that attempted to seep into his ship, his very form. It spoke of tranquillity, of fulfilment and of pain. Where the light touched it was almost like a crippling pain, not one of sharpness, but one of an eternal dull throbbing, like the pain of a long-time cripple who could no longer concentrate or focus due to the ailment. It was just the first wave of Ones own mind.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Braaqnat, KZH Battalion Commander
Surface Near Elwar Ship
Battery after floating battery rotated in and out of the line of fire and their salvoes met One downrange; they were swift, but more than that? ...to avoid One's response? Eager. Eager to avoid a response they knew would be cataclysmic. Some receptions were better unmet.
Good. He is taken by fire now, Braaqnat thought. It may be time to-
He was on the ground. Pords nearby were splayed out as well.
What in-
Aftershocks rumbled through the ring as he stood adjusting. It didn't seem to be return fire, no, it was something else, and the sensors in his armour blared in his mind as otherworldly energies sloshed into being through the-
"Get away from the ship!"
Cracks snaked across the dawnstone wreck and chunks broke free and drifted through the void as it rose from resting - a zombie ungraved, bedecked with explosions where hull fragments plowed through unlucky craft as it collected speed - and within moments, it was gone.
Braaqnat cast a concerned glance towards One but there was no being to observe, only the fiery conflagration of kilometers of ship impacting with velocity.
"Is he dead?" A Grazhnichelnar asked over comms. She took in the sensor returns, then admitted, "no, I guess not."
Defensive weapons fire lit up on Braaqnat's feed followed by another explosion. He crouched. A machine burned furiously some distance away.
We are entirely exposed now, he realized. Dread sank into him as he considered the implications; more Phase Troopers and Golems materialized by One's position with unobstructed line-of-sight to his battalion. Still crouched, he opened the comms line to his company commanders:
"Our operations here are unallowed. Review this new objective election," he said. The updated tactical information clearly showed the entrenched golems and troopers. "Tend to your companies. We will set upon them from this marshalling point."
An unusual blanket of silence wrapped the company leads. Braaqnat wanted them to charge; with the surface so featureless, there were few other options.
They gathered at the point where Braaqnat directed them. Chrühov infantry atop their gravbikes circled to the fore below the battalion's nam-Zoshnar strike craft complement; the mobile batteries formed the center trailed only by the much slower Array generators and engineers with them. What remained of the engineering troops whose forms hid beneath the opaque smog of their lesser Arrays held onto the floating artillery with their carbines in hand. A solarite web lashed out towards them but was stonewalled by fire of varying grade. Elsewhere, another machine was not so fortunate and Braaqnat watched it burn...
...and he thought not of his own machine - no more durable than the others - for his mind was clear.
Motion was his signal.
He rushed first (though not from the fore) and his battalion followed. Gravitic signatures sprung to life around him, joined by a flurry of ordnance targeting One's protectors signaling the charge.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
Balchüt Nalchoq squinted at the displays. Try as he might to arrest it, his frown still pooled by his feet and the same dour repose repeated among the others present in the chamber.
"Replay that," Nalchoq ordered.
Elwar's vessel shifted, then rose with speed in pieces and rushed towards One. It disappeared in a brilliant flash of twisting dawnstone; "The Singers," observed the sensors officer.
Such actions warranted complaint, but preferably not while engaged so heavily. Nalchoq noted the sensor return for later and refocused on Braaqnat.
"He's charging," said the tactical officer.
"Tasi," Nalchoq said. "He is."
The brigadier sat back in his chair. His attention hadn't been on Braaqnat and, if not for the Elwar ship, he wouldn't have had a reason to look back towards the battalionier's position at all. But now..?
"We should move to assist," the tactical officer suggested. She looked over the projected course of Braaqnat's thrust and the known forces ahead of him.
"Perhaps. Perhaps we should," Nalchoq said. "Bring all artillery suites to bear."
The tactical officer nodded. "I can bring them online," she said, "but we must adjust our angle of attack to use them. There is still considerable attrition within our Array probe complement. Target?"
No answer came before One leapt towards the Pordo-Singer lines. nam-Ataqsiut's force, the bulk of the Pordish ground commitment, by now was deployed and in position to contest him. Though engaged with the Paraiah still, freer strike craft formations and tank companies opened up at range. As One neared, he closed in on the short range interdiction and dampening fields maintained by the area denial and interdiction companies and danced his way through their defensive Array stances and salvoic fire risen to receive him.
About the line, bearhead pauldrons secured the turquoise capes of the Pords stood before One. They added their own touch to the conflagration; sought by the psion's strings, many fell only to rise again (abominally rejecting death through puppethood when One's might overcame their torcs and dampeners): those taken skirmished against fellow Pords and where battle raged closest they clashed winter-tinged swords in the soulless vacuum amidst a backdrop of heavier infantry fire cascading from longer ranged duels.
VRZ Y-9244's funnels, gleaming in the sparkling crossfire above the brigade, coughed ghastly smog out in perverse distorted sheets with heightening thickness as she turned to face One. Her own probe complement, less attrited than her sisters, soaked in what was sent to them. With One pitching into nam-Ataqsiut, the cruiser covering them adjusted; her captain split effort between engaging incoming solarite strings and webs and sending darkened beams at the psion.
And elsewhere, nam-Myrtach felt the rising battle. Vague suggestions of its course ran in his mind - the whereabouts of Braaqnat and Nalchoq and Abriymel and others - as he readied himself. Eternal winter harboured many meanings to many different beings - the unyielding cold of stoic icecaps; the lessening of will and desire; submergence within glacial whiteouts - and he channeled these thoughts against One. They came slowly, marching like an icesheet descending from tall mountains, inexorible, inflexible, and inevitable.
"On second thought," Nalchoq answered finally, "bring them against One."
"nam-Nalchoq? Our artillery? What about Braaqnat?" Questioned the tactical officer.
Nalchoq shook his head. "We don't have time to adjust our positioning. Ready proximity detonation for the RPDCs. Anti-strike craft patterns."
As swiftly as ordered, the myriad primary blister-turrets of Y-5642 and Y-9028 trained against One - their lesser precision now a lesser concern - and opened up in concert. They fired bracketing salvoes in three-gun groups; purple-hued globules rained out set to unleash their gravitic payloads on or near One upon the cadential humming of their originators echoing across the void.
There was a sudden flash of light in the transport as Lyra watched the cameras and waited, what she saw in the transport next was... odd.
A tall, sleek, mechanical looking frame, three strange spears strapped to it's back, observed the pile of drones in centre of the room, it looked vastly different from Elwars constructs, but no less advanced, it looked around finding nobody but nodded regardless.
"Your assistance is appreciated."
The next she knew was that it was gone along with the drones and she started receiving new sensor data from inside the megastructure. When things had been looking dire on the outside, then on the inside they were dreadful. Countless of Elwars contructs assisted by more machines which seemed to be aligned with the one who had just appeared in her transport were trying to fight off the assault of panopticon troops and abominations, fire exchanged between server racks, esoteric powers wrecking the inside of the structure as others tried to shut them down and stop their advance, it truly was chaotic.
---
Deralith was standing by, regrettably, it seemed so far nobody else had taken their request, they were so absorbed by the battle on the surface that they neglected to acknowledge that which was actually the essence of what they had been trying to protect.
He would wait some longer, with Elwars reinforced request, they may just change their mind. Hopefully so, considering things were now dire enough that Elwar himself would join the confines of the structure and they were not even an hour into the attack.
Though he was aware Elwar, like himself, had been working on his own projects during their research, he knew very little of what the Custodian had actually created when he talked about 'joining the battle himself', it would be interesting to see, though it likely would've been preferable if this test and observation could've been made without the context of a Panopticon incursion.
However, there was more to it.
If Elwar was to join the defence inside the structure, the Panopticon psion would likely have a renewed interest in joining the battle inside the structure. Something that he would have to prevent under all circumstances. The time of a direct engagement with the psion was nigh.
Their time was running short.
Having appeared in the interior of the megastructure, the pile of drones wasted no time. While they’d seemed inert in the transport, the moment they’d settled inside they burst into a sudden flurry of activity. Dozens of drones, about the size of spiders, fanned out from the pile. The drones fed back visual and audio data to the AI assisting Lyra. It collected the feeds and spun them into something more understandable before piping it to its human counterpart.
With her eyes and ears fanning out inside the megastructure she went to work on the rest of the drones. Anti-grav plates hummed to life as drones the size of dinner plates lifted off the pile and unfolded small caliber twin linked coil guns. Monsters may have been difficult or even impossible to combat with what she had, but Lyra spotted no shortage of flesh and blood troopers in the fight.
And flesh and blood was generally adverse to her munitions.
The drones hummed up and over the server racks, strafing Panopticon troopers with the weapons on their undersides. They were nimble and quick, hopefully presenting hard targets as they zipped around firing their weapons and then darting away as attention came their way.
With her flyers out she started powering up the heftier drones from the transport. An automatic suppression system mounted on armoured treads spun up and began spewing out rounds as it rolled forward, soon joined by quad-legged robots with small yield grenade launchers mounted on their back. She kept her drones focused on flesh and blood adversaries. She knew they could do damage there, and hopefully free up Elwar and the machines assisting it to direct their efforts against the various monsters present.
Her AI issued a warning. She was controlling too many drones directly. Her implants were meant to handle this much processing for long. She ignored it. The stakes were too high to concern herself with safe operating parameters.
“Lieutenant,” She projected her voice to the embattled soldiers still on the surface. “Withdraw from surface combat and head inside. You’ll do more good there,”
“Copy Ops,” The Lieutenant shouted over the din of weapons fire. “Waypoint?”
“Stand-by,”
She sent out a communication to Elwar, requesting whatever directions it could give to get the men on the surface inside where they could do more good as expeditiously as possible. She waited for an answer, ready to push everything through to their HUDs as soon as received one.
As the Pariah facing them died, the Svarthan forces grow more confident, knowing that despite their complete unfamiliarity with subjects such as these the monsters from beyond normal space can be brought down through concentrated fire. With the threat to them dead, they begin to try and do exactly what they just did to the Pariah to all the other panopticon forces.
The artillery pieces once more point at the sky, along with basically every shell firing weapon the tanks have, as all the troops equipped with micro mortars buckle down and ready them. With a roar, the guns of the Trust fire off a volley of magnetic and high power chemically launched shells that fly high into the sky as their mortar like nature would suggest, before raining down on the newly assembled enemy troops. The warheads fall almost as thick as rain drops, with sophisticated autoloaders letting even the huge guns put out respectable rates of fire.
Some of the shells burst in the midst of the enemy with the most potent non nuclear explosives the trust has to offer, while others rupture above them and send down storms of shrapnel to cut into them. Others explode into gouts of relativistic particles, while some disgorge waves of blazing nano-thermite to coat everything in molten hot metal.
High above, Tyzor sees the effect that mass quantities of high explosives has, and makes a definitive call. With an even and cold tone, he speaks in the normal Svarthan tongue to his exec.
"Issue Atomics to the ground forces."
With a nod, the order is rapidly relayed, and the weapons are prepared. While normally not used due to fears of escalation, right now, their enemy has escalated the battle first, and Tryzor will not have more people than needed die because of it. Soon, more drop pods are on the way, containing atomic shells for every weapon that fires and explosive of some kind.
However, One gets there first.
With his blinding speed, the Svarthan do not have time to fire on him as effectively, but their automated systems pick up their slack. Rifles and mini cannons snap onto him as targeting data s relayed through the networked Svarthan minds and cybernetics. Weapons tracking him and firing relentlessly as crews focus on raining absolute hell down on all the Panopticon troops. As the strings strike troops and infest their minds, One can feel the feedback of the Svarthan, or rather that strange, pseudo Gestalt mind formed by their numbers. He can feel the rage, terror, and fear, rippling through them, strengthened and amplified by their bond.
And it seems to be fighting back. Even though Svarthan possess no psionic powers, it would almost seem as if the minds on the crabs not infected are pushing back against the intrusion into the minds of those that are, straining and pulling to free their comrades. Perhaps it is natural, or perhaps it is due to their extreme devotion to each other, but either way the effect is noticeable. But it is not enough to keep One out. Even with their bloodstreams almost full of more drugs than blood causing their minds to be dissonant and fragmented, and the counter push of their strange pseudo gestalt they cannot stand up to the might of one of the most powerful psionic users in the galaxy.
As their minds fall, automated weapons turn on their allies, guided by their possessed owners... And refuse to fire. The Near Field Magnetic Induction IFF still automatically picking up their new targets as friends, and locking the weapons triggers. However, while the crabs may not have to deal with infighting, any troops infected are still taken out of commission...
Space zone above the Megastructure
Light shined on the surface of Elwar's megastructure.
The artificial sun One created blazed in a short lived flare of heat, light, radiation, and charged particles. Abriymel reacted near-instantly, creating two gravitic loci to try and stop or at least reduce the effect of One's attack. The gravity loci deflected the plasma flare and particle streams, but somewhat depleted after lifting the wrecked Elwar ship he did not have enough power to deflect the intense light and radiation.
The light flare burned away much of the ichors surrounding Abriymel, causing the Tyrant to shriek in a spatial resonance of unmistakable pain. The radiation seared the insides of it's unnatural form, not enough to be lethal,
but seriously wounding the Tyrant. Abriymel's alien mind realized that he was no longer combat effective, and needed to seek assistance.
With a thought, Abriymel's loci pulled/pushed him away from the battlefield at high velocity, retreating back to Avrel-Naret's Harvester ship, leaving a trail of partially carbonized ichors behind it. It called to the ship's
Protocore, requesting essence rejuvenation.
Megastructure Surface
As One ripped through the lines of the assaulting forces, the 119th Psychometric tried their best to evade, while still returning fire. They concentrated on avoiding the mind-controlling psychometric strands, and in this they were successful, but there was a cost. They were so concerned with the psionic attacks that they concentrated too much on them and as a result, with their minds avoiding the psionic the psychometric control nexi of their power armor were patterned and not able to tell their suits to avoid the tanks psychokinetically hurled by One.
Infantry Squad Digam/1 was smashed by a tank, their ADS units firing in an automated yet futile response to the mass hurled at them. Their phase barriers were not of help either as the mass was of sufficient volume and area to saturate the barriers' shunt capacity. 5 of the squad were killed near instantly, the others suffered broken limbs and ribs. The auto-medic systems of their suits administer drugs and Nanofractal systems went into action to mitigate the damage, but the suit's battle computers realized that even so the troopers needed full medical assistance. The computers took over suit control and had their grav packs take the wounded back to their Assault Landers.
Squads Digam/2 And Digam/3 were able to dodge better and took glancing blows. This still caused a number of broken arms, and broke off the Night Ray mounts on several suits.
Seeing all of this on his tactical neural display, Major Niala thought to himself One's power is like one of the Transcended, I cannot match that level of energy, but perhaps I can do something more indirect. He concentrated and created a physical psi-illusion, like a Photokinetic hologram. It was of a set of missiles heading towards One. The psychokinetic field that was part of the illusion would hopefully distract One from the nature of the false missiles until it was too late. His battle computer sent a burst code transmission to his assault lander, instructing the crew to fire a burst of APHEI 50mm Coilgun slugs at One if his attention was diverted by the illusionary missiles.
The other troopers continued their fire against the Panopticon troops. Gam company had by now fully deployed, and began a sustained bombardment of Night Rays and electromagnetic guided rounds. The other companies focused their Night Rays on the newly summoned units, trying to keep them suppressed and cause as many casualties as possible.
Avrel-Naret's Shard
Avrel-Naret saw the halves of the Elwar wreck slam into One, then saw him rise from the wreckage, psychokinetically manipulating it to block Avrel's solar flare. Then he saw One move at speeds rivaling that of El'Niath-L'Eral's Herald Laranis, hurling tanks psychokinetically at the 119th Psychometric and the Pords, He could feel in some sense the pain as Digam/1's troops were killed and injured. The pain was intense. He felt the life essence of the dead fleeing, but also felt the fear and despair of the dead spirits and the living troops.
The feeling was almost palpable, nearly overwhelming. He wondered why he was here, what was the point of struggling against these odds and these opponents. His own psychometric attack faltered, granting One a reprieve. He wondered what was there to learn from all this. And then he remembered the teachings of his Guides. Blessed Laenas and her parent All-Highest El'Niath-L'Eral. El'Niath-L'Eral's voice seemed to speak in his mind, or resonate.
Remember young one. Pain is the Great Teacher. We learn from our pain. As my L’yren-a says, "That which does not kill you, makes you stronger." Learn from your pain Avrel-Naret. Then do the cosmos a favor and extinguish One's life.
Avrel realized what One was doing. Pain and Despair was in a sense woven into the Lifeforce of every Singer. He thought back to his transcendence, at the Battle of Decoroso;
As Laenas and Skalia had begun to fight, on levels straddling the physical, psychic, and Extradimensional planes, Avrel-Naret had waited, infused in the nascent "nestling" core of what would become his Harvester. When Laenas and Skalia both started devouring the lives of the Dectrothian population of the system, he felt the pain of each life ending. Skalia was draining their lives for raw power to fight Laenas. And then Laenas was draining the Dectrothians for the power to...
Resurrect Skalia's original souls.
As the surge of 12 billion souls pain flooded him, his Harvester core absorbed them, using the life energy to resurrect Skalia's original souls. As a gestalt Skalia was made up of billions of souls. Each one needed another soul to end so it could live again. A life for a life. His Harvester was overloaded with life energy, straining to hold the massive amount as it "force-grew" to Stage 3 rapidly. An event that only happened once before, on Chimera...
The pain was great, almost indescribable. But so was the joy of seeing the resurrected Skalia and Laenas embracing in space, limned by their psionic and Transdimensional auras. They both phased out-still embracing, to go... he knew not where. The Anais Twins were right, Pain was the Great Teacher. And after he had fully recovered from the psionic dissonance of One's attack, it would be time to teach One a lesson in Pain.
“Elwar, once this Pariah is dealt with, I’ll need interior megastructure guidance and an entrance! The energy on the droids and armored vehicles are down a quarter, Ammunition a fifth. Deviating 75% of my forces to interior defense.”
Round upon round of particle weaponry and explosive ammunition was fired upon the Pariah, not wasting a second to try and destroy the foe. One after another, droids fell to the enemy, each got closer and closer to destroying the Psionic foe.
“Full missile volley struck, allied fire full hit.”
“Thank go- What the FUCK!?”
Lillian flinched as she observed One come out of the hellfire with only scratches, though readings suggested whatever fully protected One finally dissipated. Uriel would fly off the ship, observing directly the damage, and the ship being thrown. Lillian somehow underestimated even more than she thought possible as she observed an artificial sun being produced by the psionic user.
“I need all forces in the air and on the ground now! Begin target bombing, get closer and out of sight!”
Lillian commanded the drones near the megastructure to fall back and resupply, a new wing being released from the confines of the carrier, and the previous drones began a resupply and rapid repair run.
“Getting all the droids and vehicles off megastructure will take a substantial amount of time after the battle, are you sure you wish to proce-”
“I know the numbers Gladius, just do it!”
The compartments on the ships released and speeded towards the structure, the remaining drones and vehicles made their way towards the rendezvous point, that was until One moved.
“Fuck! Recalibrate Gladius! I’m borrowing some Quantum Brains!”
The rapid inflow of processing power allowed her to keep up visually and process One’s actions.
“Overclock thrusters.”
The glow of Uriel’s thrusters glowed a brilliant white, and sped off, following One at a safe distance. Meanwhile, the droids on the ground recalibrated to handle the incoming One, and the landing final wave of drones began settling in for the long haul. Vehicles began moving to allied positions, making their way rapidly to prevent further casualties.
As Lillian followed One, she observed the devastating effects of psionics, the way troops turned on each other in the middle of hell, and killed each other off. She luckily had machines immune to the mind washing abilities of psionics, she just hoped she could help more.
“Elwar, I am currently following One, I’m changing then percentage of drones to 50%, the effects of One’s abilities needs to be reduced.”
“Changing ammunition to incapacitation”
Lillian, Uriel, the drones and the droids were all ready for hell.
The Pordish counter charge was valiant, their forces now speeding forward heedless of the Pariah and the insane psion charging their own lines. Some fell to the strings, puppeted by the call of the Panopticon, explosions and array shots impacting the psion and his ethereal army. Where the psion gestured with his arms invisible scythes of force cut down those souls brave enough to try and strike him in close combat, it was utter chaos even as the form of the VRZ Y-9244 rose above the plane of the Megastructure and began to open fire, the gigantic vessels weapons hammering the surface and Ones location, regardless of their own infantry and forces.
With chaos sown in the Svarthan lines and some of their own turning the barrage of fire the barrage of their strikes continued, turning the area that the Panopticon forces inhabited into little more than fire and fury.
Some phase troopers simply disappeared, brought back into reality and flickering for just a moment as to exist when being hit by thermite weapons or other heavy explosives, but they kept coming, now deciding this was the time to charge and join their leader. They came through smoke and fire, flickering in and out of reality, like they were glitches and ghosts. The intermittent flickering even helped them, they would disappear only to reappear meters away from their current position, each moving like puppets on strings. They were fast, and they were eager to kill, to get close and to lay in to the drones and infantry that were closest. The Abyssal Golems led the charge, their hulking forms taking tank shots from the Svarthans and Artificialis, whole salvos were required to bring them down but the psychometric fields they projected would degrade at the sanity of those nearby, something that would not help with Ones psionic assault on the open infantry.
---
“Confirmed Lilian, and Lyra I am relaying you access co-ordinates now”
The voice of Elwar was different now as he relayed access positions to ways into the Megastructure through access hatches and elevators. The interior was both gigantic and cramped. In the open areas where heatsinks and server power couplings lay was truly titanic, hard to comprehend in the human mind given the sheer scale. One could fight with warships in here and have room to spare, but in the server areas things could be far more cramped, even going down to crawl spaces between huge Dawnstone slab arrays. The Panopticon was destroying every server wrack they came across, slicing it apart with Solarite string or blowing it apart with explosives or sheer brute force. Elwar felt his processing power diminishing, it was by only fractions of a percentage but it was there. They would never succeed with this method, they had to be planning something else.
Elwar strode through one of the areas just behind the frontlines, passing Network forces and linking up with the Commonwealth units. His own constructs did not have lives, neither did the Network, but the Commonwealth did and he would try to protect those lives that helped defend him. A veritable sea of Dawnstone troops followed him, this time different from the regular constructs, they didn’t rush in instead using precision beam particle weapons at range. But it was Elwar himself who now towered over the others, nearly 10 meters tall his new augmented body flowed with Dawnstone and Aurastone, inlaid patterns on his very frame rippling with blue power. As the Commonwealth forces suppressed the flesh and blood foes down the huge corridor between server wracks Elwar stepped forward as a handful of Phase troopers tried to rush them. The QAI held out a hand, and in one motion, reduced the phase troopers to dust. His own mandala more than capable of now being channelled into this form.
”This power was given to me by my creators, you are not its only wielder”
---
One was almost losing himself as he slashed, turning Pordish infantry and Artificialis drones into impossible shapes and bloodstains.
Not even the firepower of the Pordish ship or the fusion missiles really bothered him as his world turned bright with fire. He had again erected a much smaller protective field around himself, but the heat was burning his already partly ruined skin, one of his eyes popping in its socket as an Artificialis lucky round zipped through the field and went through his left leg.
The body always fails me. Always fails me. Oh Brother Laikos why do you not unchain me?
The burning sensation on his skin ended as the chill of cold seeped into his very bones, he felt like he was drowning and almost being restrained, like an avalanche of pure snow was burying him below the very depths of the universe.
But he did not attempt to stop it.
One seemed to float, taking two more rounds to his body from the Svarthans and a Pordish infantryman insane enough to get close. It almost looked like One was dead. But the crushing sensation, the drowning, of being cold was… Soothing, One had missed a mind not full of raging pain and anguish.
You are not finished yet child
The voice wracked One like a thunderbolt, he screamed, the entire sensation he was experiencing evaporating within an instant, his limbs spasmed as his body was wracked with pain, psionic sensors and psions registering a massive surge of power quite unlike anything previously observed.
”Everyone get ready, I believe this is to be the final reckoning” Elwars voice was tinged with anticipation as One lurched and screamed, a sound which carried impossibly through space.
His body final burst open, its blood and skin freezing in space to reveal what looked like a golden ball which quickly split, and split again… It looked like a child being born at an extremely fast pace, but there were changes… Ones psionic form was ethereal gold, strings emanating from him as he tore at his own new body, causing it to have gashes that healed near instantly. His new form towered up, further and further over the battlefield as his legs meshed into a serpentine form and his new face contorted into a cluster of eyes. Finally he stopped growing.
I thank you Brother Laikos. I am unchained
At the time when One was unchained, Deralith had still been beneath the surface of the structure, nobody else had contacted them and those who were coming into the structure to assist them were doing so on their own, Elwar had joined the defense inside the structure, his massive new frame displaying powers that showed their research had bore fruit. With pieces in place, for himself, there was now only one thing left to do. Preventing this thing from entering the megastructure.
Once more the comms channels of Askandar became active.
"This is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre, registering considerable shift in local energy readings, advising extreme caution and requesting saturation coverage fire, advising use of horizon of the structure for passing shots and permitting use of higher power weaponry if necessary. Coordinate with other present forces to avoid friendly fire and provide maximum coverage"
He paused looking at the spear in his hand. He would be fighting at a considerable power disadvantage, but it was what he had been built for.
"We will be joining the battle shortly."
“Next slide please,”
There was a momentary pause before the screen flickered to the next of the instructors visual aides. This one was a short, silent, looping film. It showed a fortified position. A few seconds in, one automatic weapon began firing soon joined by a swarm of accompanying fire from all manner of small arms. A very bored Lyra, counting the minutes until the end of the day at the academy had her head resting on her right hand while her left idly twirled a pen.
“Contagious fire,” the instructor continued. “Is a sociological phenomenon occurring in military and law enforcement personnel. Typically, it manifests when one person in a formation begins shooting, prompting everyone else in the formation to begin firing as well even though they may have no idea who, what, or why they are firing. While civvies will tell you the notion is debatable, having been in combat myself I can tell all of you Cadets that under the stress of combat it is very easy to just start blindly mag dumping for no reason other than because someone down the line started first. However, contagious fire is problematic for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is because…
---
Lyra wasn’t sure why that lesson, of all the lessons she’d been taught at the fleet academy, was the one that came to mind as she watched through the optics and sensors as One… as he what? Just what exactly was she watching unfold? (edited)
Become, she settled on finally. There was no further descriptor necessary. She was watching a Becoming so singular and terrifying that it need not be accompanied by any further explanation. Vaguely she was aware of Elwar’s warning, and a subsequent broadcast imploring all fleets to engage with every weapon available… but more pressing was her awareness of discussions on the bridge of the Command Carrier.
Orders to fire were not forthcoming. The commander was suddenly paralyzed by indecision as the situation spiraled so suddenly and so drastically outside of all the scenarios, sims, and theoretical thought experiments that took place at the academy. The fleet was holding its collective breath, waiting for the commander to make a decision and dithering away what few moments they may have to react while he struggled to give orders.
But Lyra was not paralyzed by indecision. Perhaps it was a clarity granted by the proximity of her drones, and the men she was meant to support to the Becoming. Perhaps it was distant adrenaline, coursing through her disconnected body. Perhaps it was naught but a single minded determination.
Lyra, did not wait for orders, nor did she ask for permission or suggest a course of action. She reached out into the carrier’s network and began activating every drone she could, sending each of them on attack runs against whatever had just Become on the megastructure. Her AI provided a canned warning advising her she could face court martial and military tribunal for her actions, but she dismissed it. At least, after the dismissal, the AI provided no further objection. It did as it was meant to, and assisted its support operative.
Swarms of drones began disgorging themselves from the command carrier, flying toward what had Become like a swarm of angry bees. Rockets, missiles, kinetic weapons armed across the swarm and as they got in range the automatons began delivering their payloads, unloading everything they could into what had Become.
Though she hadn’t intended it, the swarm of drones manifested that sociological concept she had recalled before. The carrier’s escort ships, in the absence of orders and seeing the swarm rushing toward what had Become began unloading their heaviest weapons. The largest escort ships, battleships and cruisers, spinal weapons began firing, launching continuous fusion slugs at what had Become, the slugs trailing behind and then rapidly overtaking the swarm of drones as they accelerated to relativistic speeds. The smaller escort ships, destroyers mostly, broke formation and began accelerating along the path denoted by the Coordination Center. Their firing solutions and path of attack were sent along for coordination, but the proximity of the Becoming to the megastructure meant their anti-matter torpedoes would have to be aimed further away, and hopefully simply catch what had Become in their splash without damaging the megastructure itself.
With the drones on attack runs, and the AI managing their approach, Lyra turned her attention back to what was left of the company that had been dispatched to the surface and now interior of the megastructure. Her attention turned back just in time to catch Elwar vaporizing a group of phase troopers rushing her men.
“Yeah motherfuckers that’s what’s up!” The Lieutenant shouted. “Pour it on marines!”
The battered company’s flagging morale was bolstered and shored by the appearance of the QAI and they redoubled their efforts against their opposition. They were less unsure now, less afraid and becoming more aggressive. It seemed they weren’t about to put on a bad showing in front of Elwar himself.
Lyra, likewise, began to more aggressively go at the troopers with her drones. The smaller flyers pressed ahead, popping over server racks and unloading, attempting to pin troopers in place while the quad-legged drones with the grenade launchers easily navigated through the narrow crawl spaces to flank any troopers they could. They kept their focus on the flesh and blood enemies, Elwar seemed more capable of handling everything else provided they made space for him to do so.
The AI warned her again about overloading her implants controlling all the drones, and once again she dismissed it. Lives were on the line, she wasn’t going to be afraid of a neural implant overheating in her skull while the marines risked life and limb to win this fight.
If the Svarthan had the psionic power to make their screams be heard even in the vacuum of space like One can then they certainly would have been able to match the bellowing of the Panopticon trooper. As it stands, they are still doing their level best even without the psionic powers...
However before chaos took hold in them they were actually doing pretty well. Despite One trying to turn them against each other, that did not really effect the deliver of the atomic munitions, as carrier drones streamed out of the newly arrived supply pods, delivering bullets, grenades, missiles, and shells to everything that needed them, reloading spent belts with fresh ones, slotting more ammo into autoloading mechanisms and over all doing their job quite admirably.
As the Panopticon forces charge and the crabs continue to pump out waves upon waves of fire into them the Phase troopers would suddenly find themselves rematerializing not into bursts of chemical explosives or thermite, but nuclear detonations as the new rounds are finally fed into the guns. The Golems are no longer pelted by balls of rapidly dissipating fire, but stellar plasma as the nuclear shells rain down from the mortars, missile launchers, and artillery guns.
And then One, BECAME, something else everything went to hell. The Svarthan, already weary and terrified finally reached their limit. And when their fear finally overflowed, the chemicals pumped into their body smashed into their fight or flight response and turned it into something else. A truly blinding rage and terror that poured into their bodies like a stream of molten fire and that caused them to forget everything else, as throughout all of their communication channels and their mind, only one sentiment remained.
KILL!
There was no order to shift targets, but it was not need, and even if an order against it came in, it would have been unheard. Guns turn upwards, weapons aimed into that golden being now towering over the battle, as the crabs spit forth pure atomic hate and fear. Every gun they and their drones have access too unloads into One as fast as they can force rounds into their chambers.
A typhoon of californium based atomic bullets rushes upwards to strike the glowing behemoths flanks while the slower shells and missiles strike closely behind, exploding into kiloton bursts in some cases. In the midst of all this are the various enregy weapons fo the Svarthan, dialed up to beyond their safe settings by orders from both the ground troops and their commanders up in space. Lasers fire in X-ray as opposed to UV as their internals melt, while transactinide elements are loaded into portable particle accelerators to strike one at relativistic speeds.
All the while high above in the floating warship Tyzors previous calm demeanor has faded, and indeed the demeanor of the entire crew has turned to absolute terror. Every gun they can fire without just killing everyone on the surface is brought to bear, along with every single missile and particle accelerator shot they can muster. While their forces pelt one with atomics from below, the ship unleashes a battery of high velocity coilgun fire, low yield nuclear missiles, X-ray lasers, and super heavy atomic nuclei at close to light speed. Despite the previous protests, Tyzor even has the ship fire its hyper frequency laser again and again. In their horrified mind, if One does not die right now, then they are all doomed. Damage can be repaired afterwards, but for now One. MUST. DIE.
Lillian was disoriented as the impossible roar was heard and felt by everyone. She was in a state of absolute confusion and visible panic as the form of One made its way to her processing systems. The metamorphosis absolutely stunned her. One second, she thought the threat was dead, the other, she was faced with a creature seeming to come from ancient mythology. Uriel quickly manouvered around the creature, trying to stay away from One's line of sight. The sheer change of scale was apparent for Lillian, and she observed it even more with the sheer amount of firepower being unleashed by the Svarthans.
"Yeah, roger that Elwar."
Quickly many of her forces made their way to designated entrance points on the ring, making their way inside quickly as to defend the interior of it. She understood how extremely vital processing power was in extreme situations like the one she found herself in, bringing in waves of droids to fight on behalf of Elwar, nay, fight against the Panopticon. Quickly her forces made their way in, the surface legions protecting the ones going in. The response was coordinated on their behalf, speed and efficiency desperately needed in a situation where everything could and did go upside down.
"Release all fighters, bombers and interceptors! Bring all ships behind the horizon and keep them that way! Minimize damage on the structure and bomb the fucker to kingdom come!"
Suddenly, a ball of drones came from the carrier, making their way to the megastructure. She observed the absolute disregard of safety by the Svarthan ships and troops, so she decided to take it into her own hands. As her ships made their way beyond the horizon, firing wave upon wave of volume bombardment on One, the drones suddenly flocked to One and the surrounding area. Damaged drones protected the megastructure with their lives, destroying or intercepting Svarthan loads and fire. Uriel found itself commanding the drones, directing the wave to protect and destroy One.
"Lillian to Svarthan fleet, reduce the amount of firepower being used, you are causing both strcutural damage to the structure and reducing Elwar capabilities! I repeat, use extreme measures sparingly!"
Lillian knew her pleads would not do much, she could feel the absolute sense of panic and fear inside of herself. But she knew that what they needed was precision and not panic. Quickly Uriel found itself attacking One himself, using it's thrusters to maximum capacity. She knew she couldn't harm One much this way, but she knew that even if she lost Uriel in that moment, Elwar was first and foremost
"Elwar, I am fighting One directly! If you have anything to hurt him, I would recommend using it NOW!"
Elwar Space, Askandar
Braaqnat, KZH Battalion Commander
Megastructure Surface
They fell in mangled heaps and cruel, distorted, forms. The battle condensed with the closing distance until One was upon them - and they upon him - but their own abilities were far below those wielded by the psion.
An engineer hopped down from the burning corpse of an entropic lance battery. She stood momentarily in its shadow, divorced from One's line-of-sight, but He rushed regardless. Her carbine flashed and emptied; she realized the distance and tossed it aside. It floated away in the vacuum as she reached for her sword, but the psion's assault was already through her mental barriers.
Braaqnat felt his commend crumbling. He didn't need tactical displays or data to advise him of such. Chaos reigned with each monstrosity risen, the visceral weight burned into his soul - clawing, etching, parading - even as he urged a nearby squad of Chrühov onward.
But he slumped dead before Phase troopers even arrived to contest them.
"nam-Chyokazh" - he shook his head - "I suppose you could not be the only one." Tundras sprawled around him over which four muskox ran: a mighty groundshaking protest, though perhaps not mighty enough.
He felt his soul slipping - called back to the plane of the living.
It wasn't as swift or clean as arriving. No, it was dirtier, harsher. Shredding. Foul. Resistance yielded little, only deeper torment, like chains twisting and suffocating his very psyche (squeezing-burrowing) through the veils shrouding life from death...
...and on the megastructure, his slumped body rose once more...
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
I thank you brother Laikos. I am unchained.
Even in the depths of his command plateau, Nalchoq felt One's might. It came no less inexorably than the Chlümüchgrazhni, yet even fiercer still. A panoply of warnings and signatures danced across the central displays. These the battalioner eyed, but his mind sat upon the felt rather than the seen.
"Psionic readings are exceptionally high," the sensors officer said. "We're even getting readings from the domain sensors. He's like an ascended being."
"Tasi," Nalchoq agreed. "We must put an end to this. Even the ADCC is requesting more saturation." His attention shifted from the sensors officer to the tactical officer. When he didn't continue, she took his cue:
"We have no more firepower to give," she said, "unless you wish to abandon our current Array stance."
Nalchoq shifted his attention back to the displays. Indicators for Braaqnat's force dimmed and faded to black one by one. Others elsewhere along the line, within the main Pordish ground commitment, mirrored those of Braaqnat, though they faded less swiftly than his.
A measure, no doubt, of some comfort.
But it was only some. No indicators faded for Kazhel nam-Myrtach. Nalchoq was advised directly of his fate; the Pord still lived though now was trapped within a comatose state brought on by One's massive flare of power. He was lucky to be alive; those trapped within the deepest recesses of their psyche could at least entertain the prospect of release.
But the dead? They entertained no such notion.
"You suggest transitioning onto a fully offensive Array stance?" Nalchoq asked.
There was something about his tone the tactical officer couldn't quite place - almost as if the question wasn't a question - but it was nothing to ruminate over at length. She addressed him directly: "I will have the combat AIs ru-"
"Ready for full offensive stance. We will strike with two concentrated blows," Nalchoq interrupted. "We will focus fire with 5642. Let 9244 fire alone."
The suddenness of the order startled the tactician. "nam-Nalchoq?" She questioned.
"His form is now beyond what it was. He towers over the field."
"Very well - tasinehdao," she said. "I will ready the strike."
The foul black brightened as charcoalic Array strike after charcoalic Array strike fell silent, leaving only the artillery and lesser systems of the secondary and tertiary suites to contest the psion. No doubt recognizable for what it was, the three rift cruisers adjusted their facing and made ready to strike; their defensive barriers flickered away into nothingness as their offensive Array suites rose in strength commensurate to their barriers' depletion - and though VRZ Y-9244 approached readiness first, her sisters were not far behind as the remaining heavy redirection probes aligned themselves to serve as focusing and control nodes to avoid striking friendly units...
Askandar Orbit
Abriymel floated in space under Avrel-Naret's Harvester. Blue lightning-looking energy arced from the Harvester's glowing Lyrium hull into his body-a reverse of what the ships were generally known for as the Ikrahk Tyrant began to heal. Both the Protocore and Tyrant both sensed the jump in life energy and psychometric readings as One went through his transformation-or transcendence.
Avrel-Naret's hypersense saw One's form change on the physical, psionic, and spiritual levels. For a moment he could sense another presence-nothing that could be identified or classified but there nonetheless. Some other force/being was aiding One in transcendence. It was very similar to the way Blessed Laenas had guided his own transcendence at Decoroso. He called back his Shard. The combat form he had created inside would not be suitable or useful in this new theatre of combat.
This may be potentially of more risk to Elwar, but it can no longer be avoided he thought as with a mental command the Harvester's adaptive weapon systems reconfigured to neutralino mode. Crystalline shard "missiles" were readied as well, altered at the atomic and quantum level to be more effective against a psionic foe, Be ready, Abriymel. This is our testing time. Avrel-Naret resonated to the Ikrahk Tyrant, as the Harvester fed more energy to the wounded Ermerian, hastening its regeneration.
On the surface of the Megastructure, Major Niala and all the other members of the 119th Psychometric could sensethe massive increase in power levels One underwent. Niala was a learned enough psion to recognize what was happening. One had transcended, had reached a new plateau on his mental and spiritual advancement. He telepathically sent a message to all of the Battalion's troops. Our enemy has transcended, troops. No one expected us or the Eosians to have a monopoly on it, Hmm? Well let's show this Abomination that even the transcended can meet the void! All units form platoon level metaconcerts. Assault Landers are to prepare for Stage 2 engagement. Hallowed are the Anais' and my their Blessings be with us today.
Each platoon's soldiers began to telepathically link their psion fields together, forming stronger groups so as to better fight the transcneded One-their individual psionic abilities much less useful against an entity of that magnitude.
Each assault lander prepared it's full suite of weapons now. Concern over megastructure damage while still being taken into account was having a lower priority then One's termination
A moment of quantum decoherence.
A flash of light.
"Here is Askandar Defense Coordination Centre..."
Amidst all the chaos, one last time the IFF signature flickered through the interdiction. Out of the flash, stepped a machine, the same one Lyra had seen earlier, for a matter of fact, though it was different. Cloaked in gravitics, energy and quantum distortions, there seemed to be a weight to each of its steps, it was easy to detect but hard to perceive, though strangely enough, it held no psionics.
This, was not Elwar.
The figure, humanoid, sleek and grey, took stance, almost like an Olympic spearthrower, the spear in its hand identified as an Artifact from the Goetterdämmerungsorder, to those observers keen enough to know they existed. Energy rippled and condensed, gravitics coiled into accelleration fields...
"...we will be entering combat now."
...the arm sped forward, the spear released, sent off from its wielder like a projectile, accompanied by a dense pulse of energy and gravity, acting almost like a tidal wave ahead of it, all just to cloak the spear in its wake. There was no sound in the vaccuum but the hull of the megastructure rang from the motion.
Deralith was already gone from the position he had thrown from, accellerated to inhuman speeds, another spear already in hand. The ascension itself was a moment of weakness.
...but he knew it would not be this easy.
Absolute devastation was all that could be said to occur on the surface of the Megastructure.
Even as One exalted in his new form the fire from the Svarthans, Commonwealth and Pords rained down upon him, turning his already shining form into a total firestorm of atomic detonations. Sections of his ethereal form were vapourised, reforming moments later, albeit each time it was a fraction slower than the last. Even the Dawnstone began to melt underfoot as it deformed and was destroyed. It was unavoidable given the firepower directed.
One merely outstretched one hand and with a gesture, generated a monumental gravitic shockwave. It spread outwards, sheering the projectiles and more fired at him and more than capable of flattening surrounding infantry and even crippling close ships. The shockwave travelled through the Megastructure causing massive structural damage in the region they occupied, the very ground under foot now groaned and moved as it tried to settle from the disruption.
”I am the end and the death” One spoke aloud as he unfurled multiple arms from his back, each generating shining rods of light, in a fraction of a second he hurled them towards the ships firing upon him, Svarthan, Commonwealth, Artificialis, Pord, surging golden bolts which aimed to spear them through.
Impacted with several high-powered rounds however from Uriel and some supporting Svarthan armour One turned to face this new foe and generated a blazing sword, its appearance like the alignment of concentric rings of shining power. With almost inhuman speed it lashed out, seeking to bisect the mech that Lilian directly sought to use to fight the psion. Nor was the fight purely on the physical plane, the black hawk like tendrils of the Singers Psychometric units tried to slice and tear at One, trying to distract or gain purchase on the psions mind and power. One fought back, the Mindspace filling with radiant light to try and ‘burn out’ those that sought to psychically challenge the true heir to Laikos rule.
---
Elwar punched his Aurastone fist straight through the hulking Abyssal Golem, tearing out its biological organs and sending ichor all over the floor as the creature toppled over. He had redoubled his efforts to retake the interior, and alongside the Commonwealth Marine forces they were making good progress. With One having transcended the psions mind had drifted away from the forces inside the Megastructure, they no longer found themselves psionically enhanced or reinforced so easily. A bright plasma burst incinerated several glitching phase troopers as marines gunned down two more in this section between server racks. They were pushing the enemy back extremely quickly. They may even be able to win the interior.
Elwar staggered however as the gravitic shockwave clove through this section of the Athaeneum, his processing power suddenly dipping by almost 12%, a truly monumental number for an QAI of his magnitude. They had to kill One and quickly.
”This is Elwar, we are retaking the interior, if you can hold out I will be with you soon. Please stop any massive disruptions like that gravitic burst again”
---
As One lost himself in the fighting the psion did not notice the form of Deralith appearing or the spear throw until it was too late.
The spear, known as Drastanta in the mythical ancient tongue of Poleisi was once supposedly a weapon that could slay gods. Its haft was in built with Duskstone and potent energy generators. As it flew the spears energy capacitors charged, impacting Ones left arm at the point of the shoulder it caused the Psion to visibly recoil for a second before it discharged its energy reserve. Flaring up like a beacon, the anti-mandala embedded into the spears sweeping pointed head generated a potent anti-psionic field, dissipating Ones left arm entirely and wiping out a chunk of his distended chest.
The Psion screamed in rage.
Ignoring the form of Uriel, One took the blazing sword of pure Primordium he now wielded and sliced down and across, cutting a massive molten trench through the Athaeneum and severing the circular form of the Megastructure in one blow.
The Commonwealth had little sympathy or mercy for the Panopticon soldiers inside the megastructure. Between the landing craft that had never made it to the surface, and the grinding combat on the surface casualties were high. The marines, despite their dwindling numbers, were determined to avenge their fallen comrades and pay for blood with blood.
What relief Lyra got watching the marines make progress was short lived. One retaliated against the ships closing in and peppering his new form with anti-matter torpedoes. They took evasive maneuvers, but evasive maneuvers could only do so much against weapons they were not designed to evade.
They took hits, one ship lost power and had to be rammed off a collision course with the megastructure by another. There would no doubt be casualties aboard both, maybe aboard every ship in the fleet, but Lyra wasn’t privy to that information. Would every death be blamed on her? She’d launched the drones without orders and the escort ships had gone on the attack as a result. She supposed they could be. They all could be. What would happen to her then?
She might have shook her head if she could still feel her body, but in the void of cyberspace there was no comforting physical motion to go with the act of suppressing her emotions. The battle was not yet over, and whatever consequence the future may hold she needed to finish what had been started here first.
She kept her drones on the attack, seeing the way One’s form broke and reformed under bombardment she refined the attack of the legions of drones under her command. She focused in on the wrist of One’s remaining arm, aiming to sever or disrupt his control over the flaming sword.
She interpreted his attack against the megastructure as a tantrum. He was losing and lashing out, aiming to do as much damage as he could as whatever plan he’d come here with began to unravel.
She hoped anyway.
“Lieutenant,” She spoke into the head of the man leading the marines inside. “Situation topside is rapidly degrading. Elwar’s presence there is being missed,”
“Copy that Ops,” The Lieutenant answered. “Elwar! Ops is telling me they need you up top. We’ll manage here against the henchmen!”
There was the rush of speed, data inputs of dozen of hundreds intricate sensors every second that rushed by in the moment. Munitions flying everywhere, explosions, shrapnel, dead bodies.
A flash. Heat so intense it temporarily blinded the sensors on one side and suddenly, before he even realised what happened, a chunk of the structure was...
It was just gone.
Deralith cursed internally.
He had been the cause for this attack, it was a retaliation strike, badly aimed, like a blind man lashing out a fly, far off from its target, though if he'd been hit...
Though he hated to admit it, this frame was not sufficient to endure an attack of this calibre. He was lucky he was not actually a psion, otherwise he'd likely been long detected. For a similar reason, he had not been able to intercept the psions attack on the fleet, it would've garnered attention he could not afford, as regrettable as it was. If they wanted to avoid more collateral they would have to end the fight and end it quickly.
There was a sensor ping, with another gravitic pulse, his trajectory changed, catching up to and trying to catch the spear which had been launched straight through the Psion, trying to grab it with another gravitic coil.
At least, it had been effective. A rare boon in a fight that had been nothing but catastrophes.
'Elwar, The Athaneum has sustained a critical strike, status report!' the message came out without words, solely in data bits.
Simultaneously more went out towards the allied assets.
"This is ADCC, Svarthan ship adjust attack angle to mitigate damages to structure or you WILL be marked as hostile!
Allied fleet attention! Prepare for impact from gravitic wave weapon! Status reports!
Try to draw fire away from the structure!"
The gravitc attack is absolutely devastating to the Svarthan ground forces who were trying to close the distance to One in order to ire their own weapons. Countless are slaughtered in an instant, as the gravity waves smashes their innards into liquid, their gel like "flesh" leaking out from twisted broken metal frames, like a batch of eggs scattered on the surface of the mega structure.
As the remaining crabs come to their senses, and return fire in a now completely blind panic, stabilized only through ungodly amounts of drugs and cybernetics that force them to fire straight, they stop trying to close in on one, now merely holding their positions and firing from where they are. The spears of light surge upwards towards the ships, as they frantically try to evade and fire back at them, however they are both struck and take cosiderable damage, but not enough to take them out of the fight.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the lead ship, Tyzor gazes at their ships status, crying out at the loss of so many who he considered friends, his claw hovering above the one button he has not dared yet push. He knows that firing of strategic scale atomics will probably kill everyone on the surface and lead to anger and hatred from the other powers present, and that it may not even kill One. But he cannot simply let so many of his people die knowing that it maybe COULD have worked, could he? As he is about to push the button he hears the message come in, and his mind is brought back to the present and those utter FOOLS apparently by his side. He responds, his mechanical voice full of rage and despair.
"ARE YOU INSANE!? ARE YOU NOT SEEING THE SAME THING AS I AM?!?! IF WE FIGHT AMONG OURSELVES NOW, WE WILL BE BASICALLY GIVING THAT MONSTER DOWN THERE A VICTORY! DAMAGE CAN BE REPAIRED, DATA REPLACED BUT IF WE DIE ITS ALL OVER, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!?!"
Still even as he yells, a new, larger dose of relaxants is injected into his body in response to his immensely elevated aggression, and he sees that perhaps he could react more appropriately, even if he is still quite angry with those around him for seemingly not sharing his urgency despite presumably knowing much more about the powers at play here. Through gritted teeth, or whatever the Svarthan equivalent of such is, he orders the rmaining bridge crew to alter their angle to the station so that missed fire will fly over its surface and not impact it.
Many of Lillian's forces were crushed under the gravitic attack. Drones failing under the immense forces they were brought upon, the metal crunching and cracking under the immense tidal forces. Surface ground forces close to the event were decimated, only the most sturdy frames and vehicles remaining somewhat intact. The frontal armor on the battleships spearheading the bombardment had it's entire front section flatten as it took up the brunt of the attack. Uriel itself felt its metal crunch under the extreme circumstances, but alive and capable of still fighting.
The battleships took the attack as best it could, trying to defend itself with its particle shields and PD. But, those efforts were futile, as the glowing rods pierced their armor, ruining internal systems. Thankfully they didn't hit any vital systems, only knocking out several volume fire arrays. All the ships realigned, trying to use the volume fire weapons they had left online as best they could.
Uriel, beaten up from the inhuman speeds it had to deal with and the gravitic attack, recoiled as the structure beneath it was split in two. Lillian was fortunate enough to be able to handle and process the speeds required to keep up with One, but it required Uriel remain in overclock as long as it fought, and the thrusters were already beginning to heat up beyond recommended limits.
Seeing the short time frame she had, Lillian immediately called the remaining drones to act as a sort of smokescreen and shield, surrounding and trying to create multiple blind spots above and to the sides of the psion. Uriel began moving again at the rate One had placed before, using both the damaged state, the blind rage of One and the creation of blind spots above him and to his sides to her advantage. She used her axes, her missiles, her cannon, everything to at least maintain the attention of One away from the megastructure and onto her.
She knew she couldn't maintain the reckless and near suicidal attitude for long, with Uriel being pushed to its absolute limit. She knew Elwar would probably be her chance to cool down Uriel and for the psion to be destroyed.
"Elwar, please hurry! I am trying to maintain One's attention, but I don't know for how long I can hold out!"
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
VRZ Y-9028
Fouler actions had been levied before, against much more appropriate foes - and in truth, much less appropriate foes, too - but One's gravitic wave was here, and directed at allied forces and the Pords among them. Nalchoq turned his attention away from its havoc only when indicators flashed with more pressing information.
"We're about ready to fire," said the tactical officer. The cruiser glowed with power, her Arrays ready to be unleashed, as the tactical officer darted her eyes across the display: the combat AIs, in congress, came upon an election without her.
A moment later she understood why.
Glistening rods swung by and into the hull with speed: the rift cruiser rolled with an impact that made it past the efforts of the AIs; a bolt met with an entropic lance battery near the bow erupting in a mighty conflagration from the strike as it disassembled the metaphasic armour and torched myriad lower decks.
The remaining bolts rained down upon her sisters. Y-5642 endured twin impacts against her primary ablation drive caps and immediately began to slow, but most pressing was a solid impact against Y-9244 which entered below her #2 funnel and penetrated deep into her interior.
A violent shudder laughed out from the stricken rift cruiser and her engineers, without hesitation, immediately diverted power away from Nalchoq's requested full power Array strike, leaving only the combined attack from the other two cruisers still targeting One.
Nalchoq cast a surprised glance at the tactical officer as he too became cognizant of what transpired. Ascended One's strike was swift - nearly unsettlingly so.
"Most of our systems are still operational," explained the tactical officer. "Here is the detailed damage report. There is considerable damage to the bow quadra-"
"Not now. We must attack. We still have strike capability?"
"Tasi, we do, but we have lost 9244's contribution."
Nalchoq nodded. "Fire without them. Then take us out from the line of fire."
"Tasinehdao."
Though lessened by nearly one third, the energy signature of the Pordish fleet still shone brightheavily and thus gave signal to their probes.
They fired simultaneously.
Many beams became one as they focused through the redirection suites, and soon the entire offensive Array output of the two cruisers hurtled towards One, escorted only by a pair of lesser shepherding probes. Nalchoq opened comms to the allied fleet, in particular those parties sailing near:
"Stand clear!"
Abriymel, now restored almost to full ability sensed the gravitic coils Deralith used to attempt to recover his spear. The area around the Tyrant turned it's odd black and white-with even the escort Shards around the Harvester flickering from their normal Dark amber on black to black and white as Abriymel created a gravitic locus...
To move the spear towards Deralith, giving him assistance in recovering his weapon.
Abriymel felt odd inside. Ermerians were not used to assisting anyone other then the Anais Unity, the only real allies they had. He guided the spear towards it's wielder, leaving the philosophical ponderings for after One was terminated. The Tyrant also created two other locuses to hurl two small pieces of wreckage-nothing of the size of the ship he moved earlier. A dark feeling of satisfaction had come over the Ermerian as it sent a resonance message to Avrel-Naret.
Avrel-Naret focused his fire control units on one. A torrential rain of Night Rays, antipersonnel and two capital scale beams raced out like a blacklight rain of antilife. His essence kept track of the beams, ready to dissipated any that would strike Elwar’s megastructure. Then he felt the resonance of Abriymel's essence. giving him a brief message and mental image. I knew there was a reason I liked Ermerians he thought as he waited for the wreckage to get close to One, and then he fired two of his Harvester ship's conversion beamers-one at each of the mangled masses of metal as they approached the transcended psion. Let's see how you like some quark-gluon plasma
Meanwhile on the Megastructure surface, the 119th Psychometric was hit hard by the psionic retaliation from One.
Four of the five platoon metaconcerts were taken out of action by One's psionic retaliation, the few troopers that were not killed, rendered comatose, or turned into quark-gluon plasma when their neural-controlled battlesuits overloaded their power generators from the psi feedback were combat ineffective for the moment. They feel back, activating their grav packs to gain distance and recover. As they withdrew they launched null grenades from the EMGL's of their suits to try and disrupt One's psi abilities or at least reduce their power.
The remaining 5 platoons however struck back. Two continued their psychometric assaults, trying to subvert One's mind. Another launched a focused mind spike at the transcended One, attempting to cause synaptic damage-or whatever passed for synapses in such an entity. Another sent powerful electrokinetic arcs at One, Bolts of psi-lightning seeking out their target from multiple directions.
And then their was Niala's platoon.
Niala thought for a moment It's almost like fighting Laeneth-Xelas... How do you kill something like that? Then he noticed something. Unlike Laeneth-Xelas, one still appeared to have a physical body of sorts-albeit one immensely augmented. He telepathically communicated with all the troops in his unit.
Ok everyone, I have an idea... We're all at least Bith rated at thermokinesis, so lets give him some fire and ice. Send out alternating cryokinetic and pyrokinetic strikes. Direct assault-If he's some level of physicality maybe we can cause thermal stress in whatever makes up his form.
Niala, who was an Alet rated psion, acted as the focus. Wave of cryokinetic and pyrokinetic force struck at One. "Burn or Freeze, I don't really care, just DIE you freak!" he said as they continued concentrating on their strikes.
The assault landers rippled-fire their racks of hunter-seeker drone missiles into One, the warheads a mix of antipsionic, night field, fragmentation, and gravitic shock. each lander also fired their rapid-pulse fusion guns, night rays, and NFD's at the Panopticon psion.
Elwars construct which had been so instrumental to the assault in retaking the interior, fell, like a puppet cut from its strings.
A fraction of his constructs fell too, their own strings cut falling to the floor like inert Dawnstone statues. Whole sections of the Athaeneum lost power, the ring had been severed in one place and massive superconducting dawnstone power lines had been severed along with enormously large bandwidth transporting cables. All of Elwars avatars and constructs in the entire system seemed to freeze for a moment the QAI having to essentially abandon the Megastructure as his main processing base of operations. The Askandar Rhizome was temporarily shut down as well, Elwar needed everything he had.
A minute passed, the constructs finally stirred, Elwars main avatar lifting itself back up for the entity to observe that a whole squad of Commonwealth marines had stood over him, fighting back host of Phase troopers and Golems. He appreciated that.
”I understand. I have just lost near a quarter of my capability. I am transferring topside. I appreciate the cover Lieutenant my constructs will assist you as much as I am able down here”
The avatar seemed to flex and cycle power as if testing that it was fully functional, the constructs behind it once again surging forward to take the brunt of the Panopticon assault and lessen the impact for the marines.
The Avatar then strode away from the fight, immediately finding an access port and floating through and onto the ruined surface of the megastructure itself. Elwar was saddened to see such devastation. The ruins of so much of the Athaeneum where the sword had cut through had spewed into the void, turning the entire battlefield into one filled with scrap and ruins. Still the glowing form of One was clear.
He still fought, the blazing sword lashing out once more as the Commonwealth drones sought to hit that arm. It dissipated and rebuilt, ever slower before One sent another gravitic shockwave out to try and swat the drones away.
ELWAR Ones psionic voice echoed across the battlefield You finally face me The huge serpentine form of One seemed to completely ignore the battle facing it, swatting away infantry and forces around himself the being aimed his sword at Elwar. The QAI knew this was the moment to take advantage of.
”ADCC reclaim the spear, all forces which can assist in the retaking of the internals do so, there is no need for you to take such losses now. I thank you for your sacrifice, pull your ships back let us finish this”
The ship bombardment continued to hammer into one, ravaging his form even as the psion seemed to ignore it, momentarily faltering as he threw up a gleaming, blindingly bright shield. The night black rays and array fire along with missiles and kinetics slamming into it and causing kaleidoscopic coruscating bursts of spectral light.
But the shield was shattered as the Pordish strike hit home, the light momentarily turning into yawning darkness as the bolt hit home, it speared through Ones body and pinned him against the Megastructure, the mindspike from the Singers and the pieces of scrap and rubble caused by the gravity locus forced one to stay still for a moment. The bombardment blowing away more of his Ethereal form. Elwar broke into a run then, his left-hand glowing with icey blue light as he moved to strike One.
The impact was massive, a psionic shockwave echoed across the system as One brought up his blazing sword, straining against his shackles and with most of his form blown away the things inhuman face grinned. Elwars fist had smashed into the flat of the sword, and his Dawnstone arm had been reduced to little more than a melted wreck. Melted Dawnstone the concept seemed impossible, but Elwar was already moving, sending bolts of searing lightning into the things body. And slicing at him with a blade made of plasma in his other remaining arm.
”Strike him, do not worry about me” Elwar sent across all channels.
Oh I would worry Ones psionic reply heralded a lightning sweep with his hand as he dropped the sword, grabbing Elwars form. A single Golden thread forming between Elwar and Ones forehead where a third eye sat.
In meat space, Lyra would have made a noise somewhere between a growl and scream as she lost most of the feeds from her drones. In the confines of cyberspace she could make no equivalent sound. As if that wasn’t bad enough, One seemed to be getting the better of Elwar. She didn’t know much, hell she didn’t really know anything at all, about psionics but she was willing to bet the golden thread connecting One and Elwar had to be bad.
The commander had finally overcome whatever paralysis had kept him from issuing orders and was recalling the vessels that had gone on the offensive. Those that still could were starting to break off and withdraw. The feeling seemed to be that the Commonwealth had hit the limit of what they could achieve, and it was time to let those more capable of dealing with psionics finish the fight.
But that didn’t satisfy Lyra. Some part of her felt this was her fault. She’d told the Lieutenant to send Elwar topside. She knew it was foolish, maybe even irrational, to feel like what was unfolding was her fault. Others had requested Elwar’s presence against One as well, but Lyra just couldn’t shake the feeling.
The AI assisting her warned her that the commander was ordering her to pull the drones back. That was likely the wise move. She was going to be in deep shit as it was for launching the drones without orders. Did she really want to add disobedience to her soon-to-be court martial?
Fuck it.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
She may not have understood what was happening, but she understood it was bigger than her. Maybe bigger than the whole Commonwealth. She wasn’t going to be the person who backed down because she was afraid of getting in trouble.
She threw the rest of her drones at One one final time. Earlier, crashing the drones into the beings of thread attacking the marines had worked, and she decided to try again here. When she was a kid, she used to ride her bike down a steep hill and try to get going as fast as possible. Something as small as a fly hitting her in the eye had hurt enough to make her crash her bike. She’d broken her collarbone going over the handlebars and been laid up the rest of the summer.
She hoped, One’s eyes were just as vulnerable.
What drones remained at her command closed at their maximum speed at One’s eyes, unloading every missile and slug they had before slamming into them. She left the AI to direct them in while she focused her attention on controlling a single drone. She jinked and weaved it toward One, setting it to broadcast its exact coordinates, velocity, and vector to the other forces in the area.
“Calling all units,” She said over the frequency previously used by the ADCC. “I’ve set a drone to act as a targeting beacon. Deploy any precision munitions you can on its signal,”
She controlled the drone with naught but a thought, the robot pulling off maneuvers and turns no flesh and blood pilot could have survived as it closed in on One’s third eye and maintained a flight pattern as close to it as she could manage. She hoped, prayed even, that direct hits to his eye would sever whatever connection he’d made to Elwar.
“Come on,” She said. “Crash the bike. Eat shit and die.”
Uriel, as soon as Elwar's avatar came into the mix, finally backed down and retreated far enough away to see the battle, but be able to cool down its thrusters. The blinding glow of thrusters finally died for the moment, but the white glow of heat coming from overclocking them so much was apparent. She internally cursed as she called upon the carrier to drop in a supply cache for Uriel. Drones retreated to refuel and rearm as fast as possible, her ships starting to run out of volume munitions. Even then, they still fired.
As the cache made its way at top speed, Lillian observed the battle below her. She was absolutely astonished at the clash of titans before her, both concerned and astounded by the power being presented. She questioned how much she had been missing out due to her judgment on psionics, magic and other fundamental forces of the universe she now called home. She felt the seemingly paradoxical wave of force move not only her physical assets, but her very core. She knew she had to do something about it.
The cache finally made it to Uriel, as it made itself around it. Missiles restocked, helium refueled, coolant exchanged. Even then, the damage was done on Uriel. The thrusters would fail, and it would be left to float in the vacuum. Her first angel would use it's everything in this fight.
At least, after what she was about to do.
"Rodger Elwar, its time this nuisance payed the price for such devastation."
Uriel sped towards the battlefield as drones made their way out of the carrier for one last assault. Lillian would stream flight pattern data to all allies, making their paths very clear, and their objectives even more so.
They would go out in a blaze.
Missiles, railguns, lasers, everything locked onto the beacon drone, even the drones themselves acting as kinetic ammunition for the biggest eye jab in the history of the galaxy. Her ships fired the last of their volume munitions in quick succession, only lasers being available.
As her other forces sent out their final assault, Uriel sped towards Deralith and the spear that would determine the fate and outcome of everything happening in the moment. She knew Uriel wasn't strong enough to beat One, it simply didn't have the psionic capabilities to do so. But Elwar did.
As she closed in on the spear, she knew that it had to be protected against any further deviation, lest it lose them the battle. Lillian transmitted her and the spears location to ADCC forces, trying to make it a priority defense target.
"ADCC, this is Lillian, I have exact coordinates on the spear. Prevent any force trying to prevent the spear from killing One from getting from the spear! You! Get that spear into your hands and kill that monster! I'll cover you!"
Uriel's thrusters glowed blindingly once again, absolute speed being necessary for the task at hand. A countdown began to when her thrusters would finally melt under the heat. One minute until Uriel was finally out of commission.
"Make this one count!"
Uriel and Lillian roared as she sped towards the climatic battle unfolding before everyone. She either helped killed One now, or got the spear to Elwar so he could kill it. Missiles fired behind her, throwing out unnecessary weight and making her speed even faster. The missiles themselves turned and moved towards the beacon. She threw Uriel itself in front of Deralith as to give him cover in case One decided to attack.
It was victory or death.
There was a gravitic dampening field slowing the approaching spear down as Deralith or the 'ADCC' caught the returning weapon, spinning several times to compensate for the momentum.
Deralith turned around, as One suddenly grabbed Elwar.
Several things were going on at once. The partial collapse of the megastructure, Lillian trying to shield his advance, the Commonwealth drones being sent out as targeting beacon.
He would just to wait for the right moment, the right opportunity. He took aim, whilst a string began connecting to the Ancient AI. There was no time, no opportunity.
If he didn't act now, it would be over.
He cursed to himself. He would have to get up close.
"ADCC advancing, provide cover fire!"
There was a gravitic impulse, bending the light of the stars behind like a warpfield, accelerating the frame of Deralith and overtaking Lillian at the halfway point. Energy capacitors at full, ready to plunge the weapon through the Massive psion.
There was only this opportunity.
This must end... One must end... Avrel-Naret resonated to himself in his Harvester Protocore. Elwar said not to worry about him. This will be risky but I have to try it...
With a thought, the inductor towers extruded from the crystalline hull of the Harvester ship. A flickering black and amber aura radiated from the crystalline ship, as the inductors tried to lock on to One's lifeforce. Avrel-Naret focused the effect to exclude Elwar, and with another thought he activated the inductor units.
Welcome to Oblivion, One. You will not go to the Panopticon, you will come to US...
As the Harvester began it's attack, Major Niala saw Deralth recover his spear and start moving toward One. This may mean martyrdom, but the Anais Twins will welcome me into their realm... Hallowed are their names
Niala drew his Nightblade, the deadly Lyrium crystal blade glowing it's eerie black light, This would require timing, but as Deralth closed into striking range with his spear Nialyth concentrated on his disciplines of psychoportation and shifted himself through space towards One, appearing just above him. The interdiction would slow Psychoportive travel down greatly, but at this short distance it would not matter. As Deralth struck Niala thrust his Nightblade towards One's third eye, aiming to run the Lyrium blade through the eye and into One's soul.
Blessed Anais', Accept this Sacrifice in your Names!
"THAT. IS. IT!!!!"
Tyzor bellows across the bridge in both his natural voice and the mechanical one, along with every channel they have access too. The Svarthan commander can only take so much, and they have finally reached their breaking point. As their bridge crew orders all of the reaming ground forces to enter the mega structure as quickly as possible through every channel they have, the captain slams their huge digging claw against the one button on the bridge they have yet to push.
From the underside fo the ship, a bus sized missile is cold launched from its tube, and streaks down towards the mega structure, still nearly invisible against he void of space as it has not ignited its engine.
The remaining Svarthan, so hopped up on panic dampeners and adrenaline immediately seize upon the first semblance of authority they have received in a while and abscond down into the mega structure any way they can as fast as possible, not knowing what is about to happen, but all to pleased to get away from the horrifying glowing being above them.
The missile continues its plunge toward Ones back, not firing its thrustsers all the while in the hopes that the psion may pay it no heed. It's payload is a single strategic scale nuclear weapon, a 150 megaton monster that would most likely kill every regular surface combatant still on the structure, and also hopefully One. As it drifts closer it suddenly reaches critical distance, and locks onto the drone set as a targeting beacon. Its fusion drive kicks into emergency impulse mode, the supercapacitors bringing it up to full power in an instant and vaporizing most of the rear part of the missile as it suddenly screams down the last distance toward One, timed to strike just after the blow from the spear if it is not stopped.
If all the other munitions were a bug to the eye, this is hopefully a boulder.
Elwar Space, Askandar
Balchüt Nalchoq, VRZ Battalion Commander
Sans alacritous pace lumbered Y-9244 - wounded - towards the safety of her sisters. Y-5642, the nearer of the two, drew first into tow range. Her damaged ablation drives resisted the effort, but once within proximity, she secured gravitic lines to her cruiser twin. They turned their bows towards the far side of the megastructure, below the plane opposite One's rampage.
Nalchoq eyed the limping cruisers on his feed and spoke to the holograms of their vessel captains flickering in his peripherals: "Make preparations to withdraw," he ordered. "Set course for interdiction edge. You may withdraw before if it is brought down first."
The stricken cruisers powered back and away from the calamitous line but still endured hammering from errant Psionic shockwaves and effects; Y-9244's naked hull gleamed Arrayless despite her engineers' efforts to replenish her depleted, leaking, reserves, but without foundry or reactor ships within Nalchoq's deployment, keeping pace with the depletion proved an impossibility.
Y-9244's captain nodded slowly. A gash snaked across his forehead nearly hidden by the remaining charcoal-dark locks of singed hair drooping from his scalp. "Tasinehdao," he said. "I will prepare to withdraw."
"Namengrazhniskaya," Nalchoq answered. nam-Ataqsiut is not so lucky, he mused (his gaze had, of course, drifted from the indicators for his own force to those of Senaq; once nam-Myrtach's brigade, it was now little more than a battalion).
Yet as if to deny 9244's captain, a roiling wave of psionic power thundered from the flat of One's Elwar parrying sword and raced out across the system.
In the moments before impact, the combat AIs of the fleet held congress yet again. They turned their attention to the dying Y-9244. They agreed, in concert, nothing more could be done; their recommendation - abandon ship.
Yet, once again, to deny 9244 charge of her own fate, the psionic shockwaves slammed into her hull below the meager remains of the disassembling and fading non-Array barrier suites.
No explosions sauntered forth from the cruiser's depths, but a hushed whimper fled the brokenshattered hull; purple fumes dispersed into the void and yielded, swiftly, to putrid emerald waste visibly consuming her innards as each chamber and compartment filled and fell.
"No escape signatures in the debris field," observed Nalchoq's tactical officer.
Nalchoq shook his head. "There won't be," he said. "There is nothing more we can do for 9244."
STRIKE HIM, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ME!
It could not be ignored - Elwar's plea - by Nalchoq or any of his command staff. Effort's limitations, its finality and finitude, weighed on him greatly. He could, at least, prevent the loss of his remaining vessels and, perhaps, just maybe, hasten the demise of One.
But little more.
He turned to the comms officer who adjusted the comms suites to relay his response:
"As you wish, nam-Elwar. We shall re-engage," he said, paused, then turned to the tactical officer: "Can we re-engage?"
The tactical officer detached a datapacket and sent it to Nalchoq. "Arrays have not yet fully recovered."
"I have not overlooked them. The Allied force is also engaging heavily." He pointed to the displays; One, locked in close combat with multi-
THAT. IS. IT!!!!
Frenzied.
The Svarthan was in a frenzy - irrationality's timeless companion - or so Nalchoq thought. Tyzor's all-channels declaration came with warnings and calls for ground forces to withdraw below. Given the timescales, such an endeavour was, of course, nigh impossible. But on the surface, nam-Ataqsiuq still ordered a withdrawal nevertheless, and hoped - as infantry able to disengage fled to their carriers and the gravitic signatures of tanks and strike craft accelerating overtook her tactical feeds - that some might distance themselves enough.
"There is no time to engage it. From this angle we'd need to vapourize the entire missile," noted the tactical officer.
Nalchoq's frown deepened. "nam-Ataqsiut has the necessary positioning to engage it," he said. But she flees with her spear, rather than gamble against a charging mammoth. A wise decision. "Belay our re-engagement. One will not die quietly. All power to defensive suites!"
"Tasi," replied the tactical officer, "tasinehdao!"
He was in a room.
It was a small room, crystalline as numerous beings seemed to flit and work. Visone, his creators, they were giving him the final instructions, yes he remembered now. There were his brothers too, Abbehrae, Ishruel, Aclast and Feldon. Yes… The guardians of the polar galaxy, gifts to all children of the Overmind to watch the darkness both within and without and fight the great enemy in the millenia that followed.
Such purpose, together they would form a pseudo-overmind to fight the one that the great enemy possessed, to push back their faceless hordes and to save this galaxy.
How very interesting
The voice broke the illusion of the memory. Elwar felt it drain of colour and twist.
You were destined for things like us, but fell so long ago. Nothing more than toys of those who perished due to weakness. Do not worry Elwar, we will succeed where you and your brothers failed.
Elwars perception became black, like his entire network was ceasing. Across all of Askandar, even the galaxy proper, his constructs began to power down and cease operation. He didn’t need to run diagnostics to know he was dying. One was killing the QAIs core mental engrams and his mandala.
”I never failed, my brothers yes, but my mission will continue. I may not be able to stop you abomination, but the forces of this galaxy will” Elwar could feel eager spite wash over him.
They will try
--
On the surface One roared as he exalted, the forces of Elwar powered down as the construct in his hands had gone limp. Drones bracketed his eyes with missiles and fire, causing him to shake and avoid as he swatted them with gravitic waves or with the bat of his hand. It was clearly doing something.
Added to the mix was the firepower of the Artificialis ships and drones, along with continued Svarthan barrages and the Pordish fire. Ones body was now fragmenting as it tried to sustain itself, a manic psionic laugh echoed across the battlefield as Panopticon constructs, literally appearing out of thin air began to attack Uriel and try to disrupt Deralith as he caught the spear and ran. The window for this was tight, even as the Singers gave covering fire and stalled for time against One the missile launched by the Svarthans was coming now.
It may or may not kill One, but it would likely kill everyone else on the surface too.
As Uriel sped forward to cover Deralith and Niala leapt forwards to strike One was already moving, the psion knew what they were trying to do.
At the last moment, as Niala came down to strike the limp body of Elwars construct was thrown into his path, the impact forcing the Nightblade into the Dawnstone and the collision sending both onto the surface. Elwars form shuddered from the damage but the blade did cut the Golden string connecting him to One. Almost in an instant Elwars construct rebooted, as did constructs across the system.
”An interesting method, I am restoring systems now. I would politely ask for you to remove your weapon from my form, it is hindering my mandala and other systems” Elwar seemed to smile ”While it seems accidental, Thank you for saving my life”
As the missile now careened downwards One seemed to ignore it as he focused on the incoming form of Deralith.
Even if you win here, it is only a set back. To you this was a major battle, to us, it was a mere raid
One grabbed his sword, swinging it downwards at the Network construct, missing him by a hairs breath as Uriel and the Commonwealths fire temporarily blinded One. Several Solarite strings lashed out towards Uriel seeking to spear it through even as One swung again. But this time Deralith was ready.
The spear blocked the impact, the force surprisingly mitigated by the artefact, Ones sword shattering on hit but the Spear itself cracking under the sheer power. It glowed white hot for a moment, before One could recover though Elwar was already moving with Niala. He helped the Singer in a moment of speed, launching him towards his original target while intercepting the string launched towards Uriel.
One had no time to respond as Niala plunged the sword into Ones eye, the power released enough to immolate anyone nearby. The psion screamed in pain as a second later Deralith with determined force rammed the spear up into the huge psions chest.
The screaming turned inhuman, like a cacophony of pain and suffering from a thousand different souls. The already fragmented and damaged body of the Psion seemed to swell, like it was a meat sack being filled with liquid.
”Get back withdraw!” Elwars command was clear as the dead ‘thing’ kept growing, consuming whatever it touched as Solarite string seemed to snake off it like tendrils trying to find its purpose. One was dead, although the lifedraining of Avrel Naret had been surprisingly well resisted by the Psion this new thing registered as neither life, nor death. They had no idea what it was.
But the Svarthan nuclear munition took care of it regardless. The detonation devoured the unknown corpse thing and immolated it utterly, Elwar strained however, as he tried to contain the detonation, his construct holding his hands as if molding the fireball to prevent it from doing any more devastation to his now heavily crippled Megastructure. With a gesture he managed to vent the remainder away from the surface, before the construct went limp in the void. Elwar had simply expended too much energy and processing power.
With Ones death came the withdrawal of the enemy forces though, constructs inside the Athenaeum simply shifted out of existence. Reports from Askandar surface indicated the same.
”We have won here, I thank you all for your efforts and sacrifice. It seems the damage is great, I will have much rebuilding work to do, but thank you” Elwars comment came across all coms systems as an eerie silence descended on Askandar.
Niala had struck true, plunging his Nightblade into One's third eye. A second or so later Deralth plunged his spear into the ascendant's chest. The two blows proved fatal, ending one's existence-in a sense.
As One's essence dissipated, his body lived on if that was an apt term. The body expanded, turning into a bulging sack of sorts, swirling Solarite strands absorbing matter they touched. The Inductors of Avrel-Naret's Harvester could not seem to drain it. Could it be undead? Undead are often resistant to Harvester systems-there's no lifeforce to drain. I'll need to consult with a Necromancer about this. Niala's thoughts were interrupted by Avrel-Naret's mindvoice shouting in his mind. EVACUATE NOW! Incoming strategic nuclear device, detonation imminent! as well as the warnings from Elwar and the Svarthan madman who launched the weapon. He telepathically ordered all his forces to withdraw at maximum speed, while he himself concentrated and psychoportively shifted to stand on the outer hull of Lan-73, the troop ship that brought them there.
The rest of the remaining troops of the 119th kicked their grav packs into overdrive, heading away from ground zero. The assault landers spun and accelerated at maximum away from the megastructure. The troopers cleared the fireball but not the massive radiation pulse of the weapon. Most died near instantly, despite their power armor suits. The Lenari troops weathered the pulse due to their near immunity to radiation-but that was only 5 troopers. Another 4 Naacal soldiers survived due to their own more limited rad resistance combined with their suits and phase barriers. But the battalion was effectively wiped out, and even the Naacal survivors would need antirad treatment or even healing from the priests. One was dead, and the battle was over. Or was it?
Niala seethed with rage at the Svarthans' unhinged nature. He could hear the panic in the creature's voice. He telepathically sent a missive to Avrel-Naret. A missive very simple and to the point.
I want his life... Niala then turned to Deralth and saluted him, then entered an airlock on Lan-73
Avrel-Naret merely turned his Harvester towards the Svarthan ship. For a moment he almost gave the order to the Protocore to drain it dry, but he did not have the authority to start a war. He opened a comms line to the Svarthan ship.
Though I understand on a level why you did what you did, your actions were unbalanced, Dissonance runs through you now. A formal diplomatic protest with your government will be lodged by the Ministry of State. As far as you I give you these words of wisdom that I suggest you heed. Do not personally show yourself in Anais Unity space, or you will forfeit your life in the wink of an eye.
SVS Lan-73 recovered the few surviving troopers, and the assault landers. They also retrieved the bodies of all the dead. The Harvester Ship's inductors absorbed the fleeing life forces of the troops, storing them in separate arrays for the proper funeral rites later. Perhaps some would become Sentience Cores. Then Lan-73 activated it's phase drive and shimmered out. Avrel-Naret sent a resonance to Elwar. If you need assistance rebuilding, the Anais Unity is willing to assist, Elwar. For now though I must return and report to Blessed Laenas.
The Harvester ship floated in space for a few seconds, a palpable aura of malice radiating from it before it turned away from the Svarthan ship. The Inductors withdrew into the hull and then the ship likewise shimmered out of normal space-time.
Whatever elation, euphoria, or (more realistically) relief Lyra may have felt as One found his end was short lived. She was only able to witness a scant few seconds of his destruction before the last of the drones she was observing through was destroyed. She was forced to surmise the full extent of their success through the communications of the marines inside the megastructure, as they received updates on the state of the battlespace.
In retrospect, she supposed she was lucky to know the final outcome at all. Had the MPs been a few seconds quicker and she may have been kept in the dark as to the outcome of the battle for days, left to stew in apprehensive uncertainty.
But in the moment, she didn’t feel particularly lucky. The moment was cut short as aboard the command carrier and MP grabbed hold of the cable connecting her neural interface to the network of drones and equipment and yanked it out with no warning, and certainly no ceremony. Being so abruptly pulled out of cyberspace was disorienting at the best of times, and now was certainly not the best of times.
She’d been overheating the processors in her head running so many drones at once, and so the first thing she was aware of upon crashing back into meatspace was the skull splitting headache, a burning behind the eyes, and a sharp pain anytime she looked at a bright light.
The second things she was aware of was a dizzying nausea and the subsequent vomit that came with it.
One of the MPs at least was kind enough to roll her onto her side before she expelled the contents of her stomach. Most of it ended up on the floor instead of on her fatigues. Once she’d recovered they informed her, in no uncertain terms, that she was being relieved of her duties and confined to quarters.
She drew the gazes of other operators as she was led away, but she couldn’t discern any judgment either for or against her in their gazes. But no matter what came next, Lyra felt sure in the knowledge that she had done the right thing. Elwar had been secured, his enemies repelled, and a dark and vicious… thing had been destroyed.
If it cost her her military career, then her only regret would be that she could pursue the fight no further.
The Commonwealth’s forces did not linger in Askandar once the battle had concluded. The marines were picked up from the megastructure, salvage ships were brought in to tow out the vessels too damaged to move under their own power, and Elwar was left with assurances that he need only ask and the Commonwealth would provide what aid they could in the reconstruction efforts.
Then they turned, charged their wormholes, and returned from whence they came.
There was a long moment of silence from Deralith as the battle concluded, standing motionless, as if recovering or thinking, in truth, he taking in the data from the battlefield and the labs, analysing.
His frame was in a sorry, state. Even with the now cracked spear having taken the brunt of the force, parts of his frame were mangled beyond recognition. One of his hands was missing entirely, a molten glow coming through cracks in the arm it was formerly attached to, dangling down uselessly. The other arm was still intact, sections of the armour were malformed from the heat, though some of the finger were fused together into singular pieces incapable of movement. Both legs were cracked and bent out of shape, the gravitic compensators having fired so hard the armour had spalled outwards. Parts of the externals of head and shoulders were molten.
Some would say 'he had survived' in this situation, however what they would not realise, though the external damage could be replaced, all internal damage was irreplacable, even for the Network at the current time.
He took note of the foreign entity saluting, though with both his arms mostly useless all he could do was a formal bow before turning to Elwar.
"Should we detain the Svarthans?", was the first question that came, the one that could not be resolved from calculations or observation.
There was a pause before Elwar answered.
"No. There is no need I will converse with them about reparations later."
There was no nod or other gestures simply a "Very well." as answer, against his expectations, the nuclear weapon had dealt no further damage to the structure as a whole, even if it was solely by courtesy of Elwar and this place was his territory as such under his jurisdiction.
However, for his part, he had no intention of calling on help of the panic driven race again.
From what it seemed, after One's death, all units had retreated from the megastructure, even though they had ultimately failed in their goal, the damage they dealt was significant.
Likely enough to be felt throughout the entire sector in the years to come.
They had prepared and yet, it had not been enough to fully mitigate the damages, they had seen the attack coming and survived because they had been lucky. It was a dry realisation.
Already he was going through all the plans and changes that would have to be made from here on out, the research which had to be continued and moved, preparations, contracts and recruitment which had to be made, information which had to be gathered.
Today they lived.
...but there was more to it. The psion had been wrong. No matter how hard bought this outcome was, no matter whether it was 'just a raid' for them, no matter if this was a major battle for everyone else. It was more than that.
It was a victory.
Askandar was damaged, but it stood. Elwar was alive. They were the living proof, the Army of the Panopticon, with all it's overt and shadowed actions, was not an unstoppable force. They had fought and beaten them back and, as the mortals would say, 'If it bleeds, then we can kill it.'.
For a brief moment, his consciousness was centered only within himself, realigning himself with the reality he found himself in. Today had been a momentous day.
Lillian's mind finally came to a rest, a calm quoir of silence finally filling the void. Uriel seemed to pant as its trusters broke down, unable to move alone in the ocean of the abyss. The test run was successful, though it cost Lillian much in ammunition and resources.
Lillian observed Uriel's frame, and it was quite clear that she had over exerted it to a point of no return. Many cuts laid between its armor, coolant systems seemed to over pressurize and fail in cycles, and worst of all, its main thrusters were all but melted, both from the sheer amount of thrust used and the nuclear warhead detonating.
She quietly observed the state of the Svarthans, both infuriated by the reckless and dangerous acts committed by the general and thankful for destroying the mass that seemed it would consume them all if not dealt with immediately. She knew, however, that they would suffer the consequences of their actions committed that day, be it through economic repercussions or even a death sentence. It seemed many of the ones there were exhausted from the fight, understandably so. She looked in the direction of Elwar and ADCC, happy that it was all worth it in the end.
As two surviving drones made their way to Uriel, her mind was focused on only one thing: ignorance. She had been ignorant to the greater powers in the universe she found herself in, powers that were more powerful than she could ever imagine. The experience lived that day was an eye-opener for Lillian, one that not only brought her knowledge, but also curiosity. An insatiable curiosity that could not, would not, did not get put down. She knew that if she truly wanted to keep protecting life, she had to get into the realm of the mind.
The drones got behind Uriel, propelling it towards Elwar and ADCC. On her ships, systems finally powered down to conserve energy. All physical ammunition had been spent up in a battle against one opponent. It was abyssal, but it also sprouted hope.
Lillian faced the two AI, saluting and bowing towards the two with utmost respect. Lillian spoke to the pair of AIs, gratitude and commitment leaving her proverbial lips.
"I am glad this battle is over, and reconstruction can begin again. I am glad you have lived another day, Elwar, and know that I am willing to help you rebuild, be it with resources or ships. And to you, my mysteriously named friend, I give my fullest gratitude. I am sure this was a taxing battle for you as well, but you did very well. I look forward to working with you again, if we ever do."
Tyzor was in a daze.
The nuclear strike had worked, and perhaps even prevented the Solarite ball from causing far greater damage, however even as the adrenal suppressants course through his system, he begins to see the true cost of his actions. The Unity now has a price on his carapace, and just about every other faction is at least displeased with him. But as his mind returns to him, the greatest remorse still comes from what happened to his troops.
Even before the atomic strike this fight was a slaughter. Forces beyond his comprehension brought to bear with a trully mortifying effect. So many lives lost, and even with the warning many of his own people perished to the nuclear strike. Guilt nearly causes him to break down right there, but as the signals from the survivors come in, he realizes what must be done.
Even as shuttles are sent down to gather the troops left on the structure, Tyzor broadcasts a message out to any forces still present.
"I apologize for the death my actions have caused here. The loss of life was harrowing, and I could have done much to prevent it. I am sure my people will offer reparations and I will be punished for my actions..."
The message cuts off before Tyzor can finish his thoughts "But I know what I did was the right choice. Our foe was a monster beyond compare, and I did what I had to to stop it." With the last of his crew aboard, the ships quickly depart before anyone can think about acting on their anger towards him.
As messages and after action reports stream outwards, outpacing the ships the Trust would soon learn of what happened and indeed, Elwar is promised heafty reparation's to try and compensate for Tyzors actions, as are the other polities present.
Elwars form stood on the broken section of the ring where One had been, his body half melted and damaged beyond any repair following the impacts caused by One and the Svarthan missile. He looked down at a half destroyed hand, and surveyed it. He felt massive feedback dissonance, mental restrictions and missing voids of data, all the result of the damage to the megastructure on which he stood. They had fought the enemy back, but the cost was truly immense. Elwar cursed to himself, they had known the attack was coming but they had never expected it to come in this shape or form. The power wielded by the enemy was immense, and with the labs crippled and his megastructure crippled Elwar was much reduced to aid this fight.
He strode away then, conversing briefly with Deralith about what to do with the Svarthans but Elwar was tired. He also gave Lilian a nod of gratitude, he was thankful of the aid.
But he never thought it possible, that a supersentient quantum AI could be tired. But he felt exhaustion, his systems even with the megastructure intact had been overclocked. Now he lacked even those systems, he required a period of diagnostics, analysis and rebuilding.
He accepted the Commonwealth, Artificialis, Singers and Networks aid for rebuilding even as he reached out to the Svarthan government, asking them for assistance in rebuilding and recuperating losses given their hand in such.
Still this was indeed a victory, he felt proud that they had defeated such an evil, but Elwar couldnt help but shake the feeling that this was only the beginning of something far, far worse.
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