Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 18:15:53 GMT
You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds
--Ariel, The Tempest, Act Three, Scene Three
--oOo—
EARLIER...
The map closed in on a binary star system, highlighting the orbits of several planets.
“I have been directed by the council to advise you of a further opportunity. We will shortly begin coming into similar spheres of influence with a foreboding force known as the Dark City Imperium. This is their core system in this galaxy, known to them as the Exceion system.” She hesitated here briefly, before continuing on. “The Dark City Imperium is of a peculiar nature in that their dead remain walking thanks to a crystalline bio-signature capture device. The implications of this for the Immortal Empire is that, over the next century, their population will explode at an increasingly exponential rate compared to that of the other powers. They will simply snuff out the competition due to their size, like water smothering a flame. For our own causes, we wish to effect a dramatic reduction in their strength here in Ancerious, and thus we propose to you a cooperative effort to facilitate their removal.” She looked directly into Carron’s eyes, and leaned forward toward him again; the holographic display of worlds spinning about those two suns played over her face as she did this.
“We are capable of making the necessary preliminary measures ourselves, but we need a force in position to take responsibility for the damage we intend to bestow upon them. Our vessels will disable their defenses, and we propose that the Immortal Empire will thus arrive and proceed to render the worlds in Exceion uninhabitable.”
Carron scratched the stubble on his chin as he studied the map. "So your people will soften their defenses and then we sweep through and slag everything. Hm... Tell me, could your people sneak in a... um..." At this he got up and grabbed a data slate from his desk. As he made his way back to Dalyth he punched in data. As he handed her the slate he said, "Here. So, think your people could sneak one of these into, whatever these people use as a command room?" Dalyth looked at the slate and saw an image of a Void Walker Assassin along with some cursory data. "If set loose right as they start to recover from our initial attack, I'm sure it would provide us with a distraction we can exploit further." He smiled savagely before adding, "And by 'distraction' I mean 'kill everything in the room, sending their command into chaos.'"
For an unremarkable moment, Dalyth hesitated. It is doubtful that Carron ever noticed it for what it was, but Dalyth was making a very remarkable decision in that moment. She was going to lie to someone. This was the result of a series of calculations on her part; the odds of detection, the well balanced pros and cons of the alternative of reporting her discovery.
“…for future reference, Lord Carron…” she said softly as she handed him back the data slate, “if I ever should be killed, it would be wise not to show this to my successor. The sole reason the Ascendancy is prosecuting this campaign against Tenebrae is their access to time travel technologies.” She looked away uneasily for an instant, but continued. “I can see what I can arrange though. I know a few with more flexible dispositions.”
--oOo--
(The following is a recording taken by the crash recorder aboard the tramp freighter Pax Stella in the minutes leading up to the Exceion Massacre. The recorder was manually triggered by an unknown member of the ship’s crew and ejected via distress beacon out into a decaying orbit around Venenom. It was not recovered for another twenty two years. Footage shows a vessel believed to be the Pax Stella making a jump to hyperspace in the opening minutes of the attack. She has not been spotted since then.)
PAX STELLA: Exceion Central Control, this is merchant vessel Pax Stella requesting landing trajectory, over.
EXCEION CENTRAL CONTROL: Pax Stella, we have acquired your identification beacon and are plotting a landing trajectory. Please confirm reentry frame.
PS: Control, we are aiming for a touchdown on the polar continent of HeRena VI, class B freighter zone preferred if possible as we are carry-FRAK, Rolf, 90 degrees down angle!
(sound of scuffle, emergency alarms for a period of roughly fifteen seconds)
ECC: Pax Stella, please repeat last transmission
(no response)
ECC: Pax Stella, do you copy?
PS: Control, we nearly got mowed down by a vessel just now; are you sure we have priority on this approach path?
ECC: Pax Stella, please repeat transmission.
PS: We just about got squished, control. Keep people out of our flight path if at all possible, please and thank you. (quieter, likely not directed at control) Rolf, how the hell did you miss that thing on sensors?
ECC: Pax Stella, we have no contacts in your immediate vicinity. Please confirm your coordinates, you may have drifted into another lane of traffic-
PS: Control, we’re right where we need to be here. Do you have an ID on the vessel which passed us at…(pause)…solar grid X144.5, Y255.3, Z356.4?
ECC: We have had no contacts in that grid outside yourself in the past twelve minutes. Pax Stella, can you verify the accuracy of your-(at this point the transmission from ECC ceases. It should be noted that this is a clean cut; the source is not being jammed)
PS: Say again, control?
(fifteen second silence)
PS: Exceion Central Control, do you read me, over?
--oOo—
Dorin was a warrior, and an old one at that. She had seen things she had never expected, not even with all of time to prepare. The Great Confrontation had shaken her to her core, and in the moments leading up to the end for so many, a ponderous weight sat upon her shoulders. She was thinking about the lives she was about to take; not out of guilt, but with a great degree of responsibility. The Ascendancy had not conducted an outright conventional attack in millions of years from their perspective, barring the Great Confrontation. She looked around the ship’s bridge in silent contemplation; from the perspective of a great number of the crew, the Great Confrontation remained legend. In the coming times, they would likely all be summoned back to it, and fight with the gods in the cold. There was a great deal of difference between erasing someone’s life and ending it; no wrong was possible to commit in erasure, as there would never have been a person to wrong there. Yet there would be innocents lost here; not all about to perish, nor all who would perish later, were of the nature that demanded their eradication. Yet Dorin rationalized this-
“Strike teams are reporting in Prime Admiral,” one of the many officers aboard the ship’s bridge announced, temporarily breaking Dorin’s train of thought. “We’ve disabled interstellar and substellar communications abilities within the system. Defensive platforms shall soon follow.”
“Prepare a backtime signal to Lord Carron’s fleet.” Prime Admiral Dorin responded softly; hers was not a booming voice as one would anticipate from such a bringer of destruction. “Have him arrive promptly following the deactivation of pertinent defenses in this system.”
The subordinate nodded, and Dorin resumed her thoughts.
…she rationalized the loss of innocence not as collateral damage, but as due sacrifice. The Ascendancy had quietly managed the existence of Ancerious, and of her indigenous peoples, since well before the dawn of time. It had managed to do so with great efficiency; being unseen to nearly all, they lived relatively peaceful and prosperous lives, oblivious to their state as vassals of an unseen dominion. Yet now with the increasing occupation of the galaxy by outsiders, their lives were destabilizing. Marauders, intent on claiming territories and resources that had never been theirs, would ultimately undo their lives if intervention was not executed. She saw herself with less of a degree of reverence than those around her; the Ascendancy saw itself, for the most part, as a minister of fate. She merely saw it as family. The deaths of innocents here today, and elsewhere in the coming futures, would protect those who she had silently watched grow from stone age societies up to space faring ones. She would defend her children.
“Communications, ready an additional backtime signal to the Unnatural Domain. Tell them to begin their approach on Vastra. Then activate Deixis’ package.”
Moments after that, another officer reported that the defensive installations in Exceion were thoroughly offline, and the few warships capable of doing any noteworthy complications unto the coming storm were all silently shadowed by the might of her fleet. In silent flashes, she watched as hyperspace toar open, and Lord Carron’s fleet began its attack.
--oOo--
Carron stood motionless. Before him was a strategic holomap of the Exceion system. This first colonized system of the Tenebraen Empire in the Ancerious galaxy. And he was going to slag it. Well, most of it anyway. He watched was the fleet depicted before him began its staggered hyperspace jump. There was no need for any of the ships to risk a void jump, the systems defenses would be down. Carron couldn’t suppress a laugh. He could send the ships in at warp speed and still take them by surprise. It took several minutes before the first wave arrived. From aboard the “Eternal Fury” Carron watched as his masterly crafted plan unfolded. It had taken months of observation, but Carron was confident his battle plan was a guaranteed success. Even if C.A.B.A.L. had judged the probability of success to be 97.875%, Carron knew success was 100%. But Carron had a much looser definition of success than that insufferable computer.
_______________________
Admiral Kaill braced himself as the enemy’s latest barrage impacted his ship’s shields. A quick and coordinated counter attack rendered the enemy ship dead in space. It took a great deal more punishment before the vessel was deemed destroyed. These ships sure take quite a beating before they go down he mused to himself. He watched as one of his own ships suddenly exploded. The enemy vessel that had destroyed the ship was quickly dispatched. With the immediate area clear, the admiral turned his focus from the battle to the planets.
“Sir, we are approaching Exceion-III, local designation Saltaious XVIII.”
“Right then, prepare to bombard only the areas that have been targeted by Lord Carron.” The admiral thought for a moment before saying, “C.A.B.A.L., let Lord Carron that we have begun planetary bombardment and that resistance is slightly tougher than expected.”
“RIGHT AWAY.”
Admiral Kaill returned his attention to space. As he did so he felt the slight vibrations from the deck that told him the proton cannons were firing. The defenders were mostly dealt with but there were still pockets of resistance, particularly around Exceion-V, local designation Venenum. But even this early in the battle he could tell that they would be destroyed. Something caught his eye. Several Tenebraen ships were destroyed, yet there were no Immortal Empire ships near them. Fasinating.
_______________________
With one moon of Venenum savaged Captain Verge and his assault force moved on to the next. When scans revealed that there was nothing there he began to order everyone to move to the next one, when the three I.R.K. cannons in his force suddenly opened fire on the moon below.
“Angelos, Rodriguez, Chaplain, what do you think you’re doing?”
Chaplain was the first to respond, “Orders sir. We’re supposed to carve up that moon for some reason.”
“What? Why would Lord Carron order that?”
“Don’t know sir.”
“All three of you send the targets you were given.”
As soon as all three ‘targets’ were displayed before him Captain Verge immediately understood. He gently rubbed his temples before muttering to himself, “I left region 11 to get away from Carron and his ‘humor.’” It took several minutes before the siege weapons finished. At which point the small force quickly left the moon behind. On the moon the energy weapons had carved out a giant face, laughing as if the battle that unfolded before it were nothing but a joke.
_______________________
Carron howled as images of the cosmic graffiti were sent back to him. He congratulated himself and showed anybody that was unfortunate enough to walk too close to him. The crew, used to their leaders behavior, continued working.
_______________________
Over the battle Admiral Kaill received many reports of odd craft that didn’t show up on sensors. Normally this would have concerned him greatly, but he currently had more pressing issues to deal with. Kaill braced himself as the barrage impacted his ship’s shielding.
“Shielding at 6% sir.”
Blast! Their defenses may be down but that didn’t prevent them from firing ‘blind.’
The space station was large and had plenty of guns covering it. That combined with how much damage it soaked up and the defense fleet around the thing meant that his assault force was having a tough time. To make matters worse, he was in the largest ship, which made him the largest target. Another barrage. “Shields at 2% sir!” Scratch that, it makes me the only target. He was about to order a temporary withdrawal when an incandescent beam tore through the station. Kaill looked down at his tactical display and saw that an I.R.K. cannon had broken from its assault group to help him.
“Someone note which ship that was. When we get out of here I want every person on that ship to get a medal. Now mister Lokke, we appear to have hit a calm patch, so get those shields back up.”
A quick glance told him that they where more than three quarters of the way done. Only a little more and they could leave.
_______________________
The slaughter continued for what seemed like hours to those unfortunate enough to be planet side. But has suddenly has they appeared the ships of the Immortal Empire suddenly left, as if bored with the killing. In their wake they left the Exceion system little more than a burnt out wreck of what it once was.
--oOo—
Major Yvon-Rubicon Rourke was not one to whom it took much time to put two and two together. That being said, once he’d done the math, he was one who would take the results fairly well. Thus, with the thirty seconds notice he received that a fleet of Immortal Empire warships had just jumped into the system, he quickly made the logical connection to that particular piece of Immortal Empire weaponry he had so recently procured from Hawfer.
Thus, at this juncture, he was running down the halls towards the research center, with perhaps half a dozen guards in tow. The research division was built into a network of bunkers, and as a bunker network was a military installation, and as a massive fleet of presumably hostile warships had just appeared and were at last check commencing attack runs…well suffice to say, they weren’t the only ones in the tunnels. Klaxons were wailing, and as men rapidly scrambled out of their bunks and into their uniforms, those who were faster at dressing than others were rushing towards their combat stations.
It would be several days until Rourke would begin to ascertain precisely what had happened in the moments leading up to this. Somehow, the Immortal Empire had managed to disable communications and defensive weaponry simultaneously all across the system. Every planet, every orbital station…anything of note wasn’t responding. He wondered why the hell they’d left the sensor systems online though-
Abruptly, a scream was uttered from around the corner, and as Major Rourke and his team burst through the doors to the research center, they came across a disturbingly unsightly mess. Rourke had spent many days down in the research division; here they peered into the workings of mechanisms and devices from all across this previously boring enough galaxy. This was one of the closer approximations to a home that he’d been in from his perspective; rows of computers and laboratory tables with beakers and microscopes trained on strange devices now littered the room. No longer were the tables in nice, neat rows; nor was the cryotank closed and secured. Whatever had been in it wasn’t there any longer.
“Tactical spread.” He murmured softly as he withdrew his Van Doran revolver and thumbed the safety off. “It’s loose.”
Over the intercom, command was reporting developments; eta to arrival of the fleet in weapons range was sixty seconds. Promptly afterwards, the ground shook, proving the inexact nature of said estimate. The lights in the laboratory flickered and dimmed, and the team began its sweep. Within moments, they were finding researchers and lab technicians; or more precisely, parts of them. Limbs and digits, mostly. Then the ground shook again, and the lights failed for a full three seconds before returning…and in those seconds there was another scream, and a burst of weapon fire from one of the men Rourke had brought with him. The gunfire sent shadows dancing across the wall, and as Rourke spun towards them revolver in hand, he watched one shadow disembowel another. The majority of the team-the survivors at this point-all turned their guns on the thing and fired, leading to a cascade of light tearing through the already perforated corpse of the first victim.
“STAY IN PAIRS!” The Major yelled, as the lights again returned to their regular brightness. It was a rather visceral scene; the soldier was now fairly evenly distributed across the far wall. “And for gods sake check you fire-“ Rourke added frantically, as he heard a sound behind him and spun.
It was there, and it had him. The Void Walker with great precision thrust its blade into Rourke’s chest as he raised the Van Doran revolver; he could feel the air escaping his lungs…
--oOo—
This is a Tenebrean Imperial News Report, being transmitted and brought live to you from Tenebrae City. We are broadcasting to you live news reports coming in from Exceion regarding a massive surprise attack upon the system. We are having difficulties verifying these reports, so we advise viewers to remain tuned for the duration of the day.
What we can confirm at this hour is that there has been, as the government put it, “an incident,” as they put it, in the Exceion system. We have been unable to raise any of our stations in that system, which is the galactic capitol of Tenebrean colonies in the Ancerious Galaxy, and the government is not commenting on reports that they have been unable to make contact with military installations or vessels in the entire sector; though we again remind our viewers that these reports are too unconfirmed. We do know that Grande General Robert A. Binder, who was notified by an aide and departed early from design conferences for the shielding mechanisms on the upcoming Transire class vessels, will be making a press conference within the hour. If this is any indication of the severity of this “incident,” it must be a grave one indeed.
As far as unconfirmed reports go, the situation sounds horrific. Vessels lucky enough to depart the system in the early stages of the attack said that vessels which they identified as types used by the Immortal Empire were beginning to glass the surfaces of the planets in the system; one report even indicated that Vastra, a minor moon in the system, had been utterly vaporized. The implications of these reports, combined with claims that the Tenebraen defensive systems proved utterly ineffective against these ships, leads to a terrifying conclusion for those with loved ones in the system. Conservative estimates are putting casualty counts in the bi…
…and now, we’re being told that in moments Grande General Binder will be holding a press conference regarding the events at Exceion. Please stand by…
Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds
--Ariel, The Tempest, Act Three, Scene Three
--oOo—
EARLIER...
The map closed in on a binary star system, highlighting the orbits of several planets.
“I have been directed by the council to advise you of a further opportunity. We will shortly begin coming into similar spheres of influence with a foreboding force known as the Dark City Imperium. This is their core system in this galaxy, known to them as the Exceion system.” She hesitated here briefly, before continuing on. “The Dark City Imperium is of a peculiar nature in that their dead remain walking thanks to a crystalline bio-signature capture device. The implications of this for the Immortal Empire is that, over the next century, their population will explode at an increasingly exponential rate compared to that of the other powers. They will simply snuff out the competition due to their size, like water smothering a flame. For our own causes, we wish to effect a dramatic reduction in their strength here in Ancerious, and thus we propose to you a cooperative effort to facilitate their removal.” She looked directly into Carron’s eyes, and leaned forward toward him again; the holographic display of worlds spinning about those two suns played over her face as she did this.
“We are capable of making the necessary preliminary measures ourselves, but we need a force in position to take responsibility for the damage we intend to bestow upon them. Our vessels will disable their defenses, and we propose that the Immortal Empire will thus arrive and proceed to render the worlds in Exceion uninhabitable.”
Carron scratched the stubble on his chin as he studied the map. "So your people will soften their defenses and then we sweep through and slag everything. Hm... Tell me, could your people sneak in a... um..." At this he got up and grabbed a data slate from his desk. As he made his way back to Dalyth he punched in data. As he handed her the slate he said, "Here. So, think your people could sneak one of these into, whatever these people use as a command room?" Dalyth looked at the slate and saw an image of a Void Walker Assassin along with some cursory data. "If set loose right as they start to recover from our initial attack, I'm sure it would provide us with a distraction we can exploit further." He smiled savagely before adding, "And by 'distraction' I mean 'kill everything in the room, sending their command into chaos.'"
For an unremarkable moment, Dalyth hesitated. It is doubtful that Carron ever noticed it for what it was, but Dalyth was making a very remarkable decision in that moment. She was going to lie to someone. This was the result of a series of calculations on her part; the odds of detection, the well balanced pros and cons of the alternative of reporting her discovery.
“…for future reference, Lord Carron…” she said softly as she handed him back the data slate, “if I ever should be killed, it would be wise not to show this to my successor. The sole reason the Ascendancy is prosecuting this campaign against Tenebrae is their access to time travel technologies.” She looked away uneasily for an instant, but continued. “I can see what I can arrange though. I know a few with more flexible dispositions.”
--oOo--
(The following is a recording taken by the crash recorder aboard the tramp freighter Pax Stella in the minutes leading up to the Exceion Massacre. The recorder was manually triggered by an unknown member of the ship’s crew and ejected via distress beacon out into a decaying orbit around Venenom. It was not recovered for another twenty two years. Footage shows a vessel believed to be the Pax Stella making a jump to hyperspace in the opening minutes of the attack. She has not been spotted since then.)
PAX STELLA: Exceion Central Control, this is merchant vessel Pax Stella requesting landing trajectory, over.
EXCEION CENTRAL CONTROL: Pax Stella, we have acquired your identification beacon and are plotting a landing trajectory. Please confirm reentry frame.
PS: Control, we are aiming for a touchdown on the polar continent of HeRena VI, class B freighter zone preferred if possible as we are carry-FRAK, Rolf, 90 degrees down angle!
(sound of scuffle, emergency alarms for a period of roughly fifteen seconds)
ECC: Pax Stella, please repeat last transmission
(no response)
ECC: Pax Stella, do you copy?
PS: Control, we nearly got mowed down by a vessel just now; are you sure we have priority on this approach path?
ECC: Pax Stella, please repeat transmission.
PS: We just about got squished, control. Keep people out of our flight path if at all possible, please and thank you. (quieter, likely not directed at control) Rolf, how the hell did you miss that thing on sensors?
ECC: Pax Stella, we have no contacts in your immediate vicinity. Please confirm your coordinates, you may have drifted into another lane of traffic-
PS: Control, we’re right where we need to be here. Do you have an ID on the vessel which passed us at…(pause)…solar grid X144.5, Y255.3, Z356.4?
ECC: We have had no contacts in that grid outside yourself in the past twelve minutes. Pax Stella, can you verify the accuracy of your-(at this point the transmission from ECC ceases. It should be noted that this is a clean cut; the source is not being jammed)
PS: Say again, control?
(fifteen second silence)
PS: Exceion Central Control, do you read me, over?
--oOo—
Dorin was a warrior, and an old one at that. She had seen things she had never expected, not even with all of time to prepare. The Great Confrontation had shaken her to her core, and in the moments leading up to the end for so many, a ponderous weight sat upon her shoulders. She was thinking about the lives she was about to take; not out of guilt, but with a great degree of responsibility. The Ascendancy had not conducted an outright conventional attack in millions of years from their perspective, barring the Great Confrontation. She looked around the ship’s bridge in silent contemplation; from the perspective of a great number of the crew, the Great Confrontation remained legend. In the coming times, they would likely all be summoned back to it, and fight with the gods in the cold. There was a great deal of difference between erasing someone’s life and ending it; no wrong was possible to commit in erasure, as there would never have been a person to wrong there. Yet there would be innocents lost here; not all about to perish, nor all who would perish later, were of the nature that demanded their eradication. Yet Dorin rationalized this-
“Strike teams are reporting in Prime Admiral,” one of the many officers aboard the ship’s bridge announced, temporarily breaking Dorin’s train of thought. “We’ve disabled interstellar and substellar communications abilities within the system. Defensive platforms shall soon follow.”
“Prepare a backtime signal to Lord Carron’s fleet.” Prime Admiral Dorin responded softly; hers was not a booming voice as one would anticipate from such a bringer of destruction. “Have him arrive promptly following the deactivation of pertinent defenses in this system.”
The subordinate nodded, and Dorin resumed her thoughts.
…she rationalized the loss of innocence not as collateral damage, but as due sacrifice. The Ascendancy had quietly managed the existence of Ancerious, and of her indigenous peoples, since well before the dawn of time. It had managed to do so with great efficiency; being unseen to nearly all, they lived relatively peaceful and prosperous lives, oblivious to their state as vassals of an unseen dominion. Yet now with the increasing occupation of the galaxy by outsiders, their lives were destabilizing. Marauders, intent on claiming territories and resources that had never been theirs, would ultimately undo their lives if intervention was not executed. She saw herself with less of a degree of reverence than those around her; the Ascendancy saw itself, for the most part, as a minister of fate. She merely saw it as family. The deaths of innocents here today, and elsewhere in the coming futures, would protect those who she had silently watched grow from stone age societies up to space faring ones. She would defend her children.
“Communications, ready an additional backtime signal to the Unnatural Domain. Tell them to begin their approach on Vastra. Then activate Deixis’ package.”
Moments after that, another officer reported that the defensive installations in Exceion were thoroughly offline, and the few warships capable of doing any noteworthy complications unto the coming storm were all silently shadowed by the might of her fleet. In silent flashes, she watched as hyperspace toar open, and Lord Carron’s fleet began its attack.
--oOo--
Carron stood motionless. Before him was a strategic holomap of the Exceion system. This first colonized system of the Tenebraen Empire in the Ancerious galaxy. And he was going to slag it. Well, most of it anyway. He watched was the fleet depicted before him began its staggered hyperspace jump. There was no need for any of the ships to risk a void jump, the systems defenses would be down. Carron couldn’t suppress a laugh. He could send the ships in at warp speed and still take them by surprise. It took several minutes before the first wave arrived. From aboard the “Eternal Fury” Carron watched as his masterly crafted plan unfolded. It had taken months of observation, but Carron was confident his battle plan was a guaranteed success. Even if C.A.B.A.L. had judged the probability of success to be 97.875%, Carron knew success was 100%. But Carron had a much looser definition of success than that insufferable computer.
_______________________
Admiral Kaill braced himself as the enemy’s latest barrage impacted his ship’s shields. A quick and coordinated counter attack rendered the enemy ship dead in space. It took a great deal more punishment before the vessel was deemed destroyed. These ships sure take quite a beating before they go down he mused to himself. He watched as one of his own ships suddenly exploded. The enemy vessel that had destroyed the ship was quickly dispatched. With the immediate area clear, the admiral turned his focus from the battle to the planets.
“Sir, we are approaching Exceion-III, local designation Saltaious XVIII.”
“Right then, prepare to bombard only the areas that have been targeted by Lord Carron.” The admiral thought for a moment before saying, “C.A.B.A.L., let Lord Carron that we have begun planetary bombardment and that resistance is slightly tougher than expected.”
“RIGHT AWAY.”
Admiral Kaill returned his attention to space. As he did so he felt the slight vibrations from the deck that told him the proton cannons were firing. The defenders were mostly dealt with but there were still pockets of resistance, particularly around Exceion-V, local designation Venenum. But even this early in the battle he could tell that they would be destroyed. Something caught his eye. Several Tenebraen ships were destroyed, yet there were no Immortal Empire ships near them. Fasinating.
_______________________
With one moon of Venenum savaged Captain Verge and his assault force moved on to the next. When scans revealed that there was nothing there he began to order everyone to move to the next one, when the three I.R.K. cannons in his force suddenly opened fire on the moon below.
“Angelos, Rodriguez, Chaplain, what do you think you’re doing?”
Chaplain was the first to respond, “Orders sir. We’re supposed to carve up that moon for some reason.”
“What? Why would Lord Carron order that?”
“Don’t know sir.”
“All three of you send the targets you were given.”
As soon as all three ‘targets’ were displayed before him Captain Verge immediately understood. He gently rubbed his temples before muttering to himself, “I left region 11 to get away from Carron and his ‘humor.’” It took several minutes before the siege weapons finished. At which point the small force quickly left the moon behind. On the moon the energy weapons had carved out a giant face, laughing as if the battle that unfolded before it were nothing but a joke.
_______________________
Carron howled as images of the cosmic graffiti were sent back to him. He congratulated himself and showed anybody that was unfortunate enough to walk too close to him. The crew, used to their leaders behavior, continued working.
_______________________
Over the battle Admiral Kaill received many reports of odd craft that didn’t show up on sensors. Normally this would have concerned him greatly, but he currently had more pressing issues to deal with. Kaill braced himself as the barrage impacted his ship’s shielding.
“Shielding at 6% sir.”
Blast! Their defenses may be down but that didn’t prevent them from firing ‘blind.’
The space station was large and had plenty of guns covering it. That combined with how much damage it soaked up and the defense fleet around the thing meant that his assault force was having a tough time. To make matters worse, he was in the largest ship, which made him the largest target. Another barrage. “Shields at 2% sir!” Scratch that, it makes me the only target. He was about to order a temporary withdrawal when an incandescent beam tore through the station. Kaill looked down at his tactical display and saw that an I.R.K. cannon had broken from its assault group to help him.
“Someone note which ship that was. When we get out of here I want every person on that ship to get a medal. Now mister Lokke, we appear to have hit a calm patch, so get those shields back up.”
A quick glance told him that they where more than three quarters of the way done. Only a little more and they could leave.
_______________________
The slaughter continued for what seemed like hours to those unfortunate enough to be planet side. But has suddenly has they appeared the ships of the Immortal Empire suddenly left, as if bored with the killing. In their wake they left the Exceion system little more than a burnt out wreck of what it once was.
--oOo—
Major Yvon-Rubicon Rourke was not one to whom it took much time to put two and two together. That being said, once he’d done the math, he was one who would take the results fairly well. Thus, with the thirty seconds notice he received that a fleet of Immortal Empire warships had just jumped into the system, he quickly made the logical connection to that particular piece of Immortal Empire weaponry he had so recently procured from Hawfer.
Thus, at this juncture, he was running down the halls towards the research center, with perhaps half a dozen guards in tow. The research division was built into a network of bunkers, and as a bunker network was a military installation, and as a massive fleet of presumably hostile warships had just appeared and were at last check commencing attack runs…well suffice to say, they weren’t the only ones in the tunnels. Klaxons were wailing, and as men rapidly scrambled out of their bunks and into their uniforms, those who were faster at dressing than others were rushing towards their combat stations.
It would be several days until Rourke would begin to ascertain precisely what had happened in the moments leading up to this. Somehow, the Immortal Empire had managed to disable communications and defensive weaponry simultaneously all across the system. Every planet, every orbital station…anything of note wasn’t responding. He wondered why the hell they’d left the sensor systems online though-
Abruptly, a scream was uttered from around the corner, and as Major Rourke and his team burst through the doors to the research center, they came across a disturbingly unsightly mess. Rourke had spent many days down in the research division; here they peered into the workings of mechanisms and devices from all across this previously boring enough galaxy. This was one of the closer approximations to a home that he’d been in from his perspective; rows of computers and laboratory tables with beakers and microscopes trained on strange devices now littered the room. No longer were the tables in nice, neat rows; nor was the cryotank closed and secured. Whatever had been in it wasn’t there any longer.
“Tactical spread.” He murmured softly as he withdrew his Van Doran revolver and thumbed the safety off. “It’s loose.”
Over the intercom, command was reporting developments; eta to arrival of the fleet in weapons range was sixty seconds. Promptly afterwards, the ground shook, proving the inexact nature of said estimate. The lights in the laboratory flickered and dimmed, and the team began its sweep. Within moments, they were finding researchers and lab technicians; or more precisely, parts of them. Limbs and digits, mostly. Then the ground shook again, and the lights failed for a full three seconds before returning…and in those seconds there was another scream, and a burst of weapon fire from one of the men Rourke had brought with him. The gunfire sent shadows dancing across the wall, and as Rourke spun towards them revolver in hand, he watched one shadow disembowel another. The majority of the team-the survivors at this point-all turned their guns on the thing and fired, leading to a cascade of light tearing through the already perforated corpse of the first victim.
“STAY IN PAIRS!” The Major yelled, as the lights again returned to their regular brightness. It was a rather visceral scene; the soldier was now fairly evenly distributed across the far wall. “And for gods sake check you fire-“ Rourke added frantically, as he heard a sound behind him and spun.
It was there, and it had him. The Void Walker with great precision thrust its blade into Rourke’s chest as he raised the Van Doran revolver; he could feel the air escaping his lungs…
--oOo—
This is a Tenebrean Imperial News Report, being transmitted and brought live to you from Tenebrae City. We are broadcasting to you live news reports coming in from Exceion regarding a massive surprise attack upon the system. We are having difficulties verifying these reports, so we advise viewers to remain tuned for the duration of the day.
What we can confirm at this hour is that there has been, as the government put it, “an incident,” as they put it, in the Exceion system. We have been unable to raise any of our stations in that system, which is the galactic capitol of Tenebrean colonies in the Ancerious Galaxy, and the government is not commenting on reports that they have been unable to make contact with military installations or vessels in the entire sector; though we again remind our viewers that these reports are too unconfirmed. We do know that Grande General Robert A. Binder, who was notified by an aide and departed early from design conferences for the shielding mechanisms on the upcoming Transire class vessels, will be making a press conference within the hour. If this is any indication of the severity of this “incident,” it must be a grave one indeed.
As far as unconfirmed reports go, the situation sounds horrific. Vessels lucky enough to depart the system in the early stages of the attack said that vessels which they identified as types used by the Immortal Empire were beginning to glass the surfaces of the planets in the system; one report even indicated that Vastra, a minor moon in the system, had been utterly vaporized. The implications of these reports, combined with claims that the Tenebraen defensive systems proved utterly ineffective against these ships, leads to a terrifying conclusion for those with loved ones in the system. Conservative estimates are putting casualty counts in the bi…
…and now, we’re being told that in moments Grande General Binder will be holding a press conference regarding the events at Exceion. Please stand by…