Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 18:38:21 GMT
A black sun cast on a blindingly bright sky was the backdrop for the Council of Thirteen. This sky of the pocket dimension that held Sabatonne was always calm, always peaceful, and always controlled. The council chamber however, was rarely any of these things.
Klester was furious. When dealing with Carron he was hardly anything else and his anger was rarely unjustified. While Klester had given the giggling fool permission to attack the Excion system he had not given Carron permission to use the forces already in the Ancerious galaxy. That and Carron had attacked before he could properly prepare the local defenses. That last part was particularly troublesome to Klester.
“You jeopardized our security in the entire galaxy! Why didn’t you use your own fleet for your attack?”
“Why? Because a large chunk of my fleet is still being repaired and or replaced. That and I have a conquered empire to police as well as guarding Region 11’s boarders. My fleet is stretched to its limit. But mostly I wanted to see the look on your face when you found out.” At this Carron held up his fingers in a box around Klester’s head before adding, “Priceless!”
“You think the deaths of a couple billion souls just to see something funny is a fair trade?”
“Hm. I hadn’t thought of it like that. Give me a sec.” After about a minute Carron answered, “Depends on how funny the funny thing is.”
Klester had known Carron for over 140 years. The fact that he could still surprise Klester was a testament to Carron’s unpredictability. Now, Klester was never a patient man, but before he could even attempt to separate Carron’s head from his body the Overlord intervened.
”Klester stand down. No killing other Council Members. And Carron stop antagonizing Klester, I don’t care how easy it is. This is not a playground and you are not school boys. We’ll deal with your squabble later. Right now we have more pressing issues to deal with.”
High Lord Griegor took this as his cue and rose from his seat to speak. “It would appear that our ‘unprovoked’ attack has stirred up a whole mess of trouble for us. Our systems in the galaxy will no doubt be attacked in retaliation.”
Jen leaned forward to ask, “How well defended are our colonies there?”
Klester tensed before speaking. “The worlds are well defended enough against raiders and pirates, but I doubt they would hold up to a full blown invasion. Actually, I was going to ask Drizz if he would be willing to travel to Ancerious to help’em shore up their defenses.”
Drizz, who looked to be mere moments away from a nap, yawned out a “Sure” before shifting to get more comfortable in his seat.
Amy rose to ask, “What of the fleet in Ancerious? If I’m not mistaken didn’t you send an exploratory fleet? That’s not exactly a lot of firepower.”
Klester’s body had stiffened as he suppressed his rage. He turned to answer her. “I’ve already dispatched several fleets under the command of Grand Admiral ‘Havoc.’ Not only this but I have also sent two fleets of Void assault ships to help bolster our defenses.”
“And how do you plan to deal with those ships that were ‘stolen’ from us?”
“Well first thing is figure out how we lost control of our ships so we can prevent it from happening again. Cabal is still in contact with the ships. However, something on the other end is preventing it from retaking control. It appears to be some sort of adaptive virus. Cabal can’t get past it. To say the least, Cabal is growing increasingly frustrated. But once we can determine how this virus got into the ship systems then we can prepare accordingly.”
”Klester, out of curiosity, how many systems have your forces claimed in the galaxy?”
Klester quickly waved his hand and brought up a large holomap of the Ancerious galaxy. Quickly, he zoomed in on the Immortal Empire’s territory.
“We have laid claim to roughly, 3,202 systems. Of those, only 1,528 contain habitable planets. Curiously though, the systems that contain habitable planets all contain a great number of these planets. Almost as if they had been placed there for us to find.” Klester couldn’t help but smile as he said that. “The rest of the systems are being harvested for materials or being used as military staging areas. With open conflict about to break out, our advance will be slowed now that we have to more heavily fortify our planets.”
”And with the addition of the Cerebian planets that Carron conquered?”
“2,051 systems, with 2,045 of those containing habitable planets. Although, a quarter of those ‘habitable’ planets can only support sulfur breathing life.”
Carron blurted out, “Aye! It makes it really difficult to police ‘em.”
“What of allies?” Mary stood and then continued. “Surely there are those in this galaxy that we can ally ourselves with. The Tenebreans have a great number of powerful allies. We can’t do this alone.”
Klester couldn’t help but smile. “Mary, you would be the one to ask that. With regards to allies, Wizengurd, the lord I sent to the galaxy, has had contact with a few powerful factions. I’ve instructed him to pursue political relations with them. However, I wouldn’t count on any of these factions helping us out in open conflict. Not enough time to develop a proper relationship with them.”
Henry spoke, “What are you talking about? Nothing says ‘can we be allies?’ quite like ‘hey we just attacked these people, wanna help kill’em all?’”
Richard rose to speak, “That does bring up an interesting point. Carron, why did you attack the Tenebraens? What reason could you have had for attacking them?”
Carron answered with his usual smile. “That’s a question I would have expected from Mary. But to answer your question, my reasons are quite simple really. These aliens do not actually die. From what our drones have been able to observe, they keep living even after their bodies die. They end up becoming walking skeleton thingies. I still have no idea how they keep moving after they lose their muscles, but this would have been a threat to our holdings in the galaxy. Their population would have continued to expand in a way we would barely be able to match. We need to keep their numbers down, if not outright exterminate them. Actually enslaving might not be a bad idea either. OH! Maybe we could kill them all and then… and then…”
Carron paused, the biggest grin plastering his face as an idea filled his head. “If we kill them they keep living, mostly. But they also become incapable of reproducing. Their population will stagnate. Every time one of them actually dies it will be a massive blow to them! They’ll be forced to live out the slow decay of their empire.”
Carron immediately turned to the Overlord and shouted, “Oh Great and Powerful Overlord! Oh he who is the most potent of Potentates, the most benevolent of Beneficiaries! Oh Wisest of the Wise, heed my request! Let us wage war upon these foolish aliens who so foolishly seek to foolishly oppose us. How foolish they must be. Such foolishness should be stricken from the universe. Not only should they be stricken down, they should be made to suffer. Oh Overlord over all, let us kill them so that they might live out an eternity of death and decay! Oh Cleaver of Creation, Daimyo of Destruction, Deliverer of Desolation, Partaker of Peril, Malevolent Misanthrope, Unworldly Undertaker, let me loose upon them! I wish to render their existence meaningless! LET! ME! DESTROY!”
”Carron.”
“Yes Marvelous Master of Mayhem?”
”You’re insane.”
“So, is that a yes?”
”…no.”
Carron looked crushed. Well, as crushed as he could look with a smile. “But the beautiful suffering. My greatest work, ruined with but a word. A word spoken by my cruel master. How he loves to torment me. Me, his most humble of servants and mightiest of champions. I feel as if…”
*THWACK!*
Amy yelled, “As if you’ve been hit in the head with a boot?”
Indeed, Carron had been it with a boot. Specifically Amy’s boot. With a mighty arm she had thrown her boot, leather clad in iron it was, across the way. She had thrown the boot hard and true, for it struck Carron in the back of the head. Carron however, simply rolled with it, in more ways than one.
“Ack. I am stricken! Turned on first by cruel master and now by crueler equals. What has this universe come to when those of equal standing are unable to speak freely. When…”
*THWACK*
This time it was Griegor that yelled, “When boots become the preferred weapon of choice? I agree! Shall we not pelt this poor man, the most humble of servants and strongest of champions? DEATH TO THE BLOWHARD! ATTACK!”
The Council of Thirteen did not broadcast its meetings to the public for many reasons. That this was not an uncommon occurrence was one of those reasons. Soon the Council of Thirteen became a battlefield. Boots flew back and forth. They flew so thick that many collided in mid air. Only three did not partake in the atrocities committed before them. Drizz, who was by now completely asleep, Mary, who didn’t want to take her footwear off, and the Overlord, who had no boots to throw anyway. Carron was a fierce warrior, but not even he could stand against nine council members pelting him. He was beaten back to his seat, where he promptly and rather dramatically fell over as if dead.
”Right, now that you have all killed Carron maybe we can get this over with. Klester! I want you to ensure that the Tenebrians find our guns waiting for them. Harley, assist your husband in this. I’ll instruct Drizz to do the same once he wakes up from his nap.”
Here Jen muttered something about Drizz and his eventual need for vast quantities of tapioca pudding.
Mary, I want you and Griegor to assist in any diplomatic meetings if you can. Carron, Jen, and Amy, you three are going to help each other in planning out this war. Henry, work on learning as much as you can about these aliens. Find weakness, habits, anything useful. The rest of you are going to continue to defend the Immortal Empire against outside threats. I’m going to work with Cabal and help figure out the mysterious missing ships. This meeting is over; don’t forget to pick up your boots on the way out. Carron. Carron get up you’re not dead!... Someone kick Carron before I have to.”
Klester was furious. When dealing with Carron he was hardly anything else and his anger was rarely unjustified. While Klester had given the giggling fool permission to attack the Excion system he had not given Carron permission to use the forces already in the Ancerious galaxy. That and Carron had attacked before he could properly prepare the local defenses. That last part was particularly troublesome to Klester.
“You jeopardized our security in the entire galaxy! Why didn’t you use your own fleet for your attack?”
“Why? Because a large chunk of my fleet is still being repaired and or replaced. That and I have a conquered empire to police as well as guarding Region 11’s boarders. My fleet is stretched to its limit. But mostly I wanted to see the look on your face when you found out.” At this Carron held up his fingers in a box around Klester’s head before adding, “Priceless!”
“You think the deaths of a couple billion souls just to see something funny is a fair trade?”
“Hm. I hadn’t thought of it like that. Give me a sec.” After about a minute Carron answered, “Depends on how funny the funny thing is.”
Klester had known Carron for over 140 years. The fact that he could still surprise Klester was a testament to Carron’s unpredictability. Now, Klester was never a patient man, but before he could even attempt to separate Carron’s head from his body the Overlord intervened.
”Klester stand down. No killing other Council Members. And Carron stop antagonizing Klester, I don’t care how easy it is. This is not a playground and you are not school boys. We’ll deal with your squabble later. Right now we have more pressing issues to deal with.”
High Lord Griegor took this as his cue and rose from his seat to speak. “It would appear that our ‘unprovoked’ attack has stirred up a whole mess of trouble for us. Our systems in the galaxy will no doubt be attacked in retaliation.”
Jen leaned forward to ask, “How well defended are our colonies there?”
Klester tensed before speaking. “The worlds are well defended enough against raiders and pirates, but I doubt they would hold up to a full blown invasion. Actually, I was going to ask Drizz if he would be willing to travel to Ancerious to help’em shore up their defenses.”
Drizz, who looked to be mere moments away from a nap, yawned out a “Sure” before shifting to get more comfortable in his seat.
Amy rose to ask, “What of the fleet in Ancerious? If I’m not mistaken didn’t you send an exploratory fleet? That’s not exactly a lot of firepower.”
Klester’s body had stiffened as he suppressed his rage. He turned to answer her. “I’ve already dispatched several fleets under the command of Grand Admiral ‘Havoc.’ Not only this but I have also sent two fleets of Void assault ships to help bolster our defenses.”
“And how do you plan to deal with those ships that were ‘stolen’ from us?”
“Well first thing is figure out how we lost control of our ships so we can prevent it from happening again. Cabal is still in contact with the ships. However, something on the other end is preventing it from retaking control. It appears to be some sort of adaptive virus. Cabal can’t get past it. To say the least, Cabal is growing increasingly frustrated. But once we can determine how this virus got into the ship systems then we can prepare accordingly.”
”Klester, out of curiosity, how many systems have your forces claimed in the galaxy?”
Klester quickly waved his hand and brought up a large holomap of the Ancerious galaxy. Quickly, he zoomed in on the Immortal Empire’s territory.
“We have laid claim to roughly, 3,202 systems. Of those, only 1,528 contain habitable planets. Curiously though, the systems that contain habitable planets all contain a great number of these planets. Almost as if they had been placed there for us to find.” Klester couldn’t help but smile as he said that. “The rest of the systems are being harvested for materials or being used as military staging areas. With open conflict about to break out, our advance will be slowed now that we have to more heavily fortify our planets.”
”And with the addition of the Cerebian planets that Carron conquered?”
“2,051 systems, with 2,045 of those containing habitable planets. Although, a quarter of those ‘habitable’ planets can only support sulfur breathing life.”
Carron blurted out, “Aye! It makes it really difficult to police ‘em.”
“What of allies?” Mary stood and then continued. “Surely there are those in this galaxy that we can ally ourselves with. The Tenebreans have a great number of powerful allies. We can’t do this alone.”
Klester couldn’t help but smile. “Mary, you would be the one to ask that. With regards to allies, Wizengurd, the lord I sent to the galaxy, has had contact with a few powerful factions. I’ve instructed him to pursue political relations with them. However, I wouldn’t count on any of these factions helping us out in open conflict. Not enough time to develop a proper relationship with them.”
Henry spoke, “What are you talking about? Nothing says ‘can we be allies?’ quite like ‘hey we just attacked these people, wanna help kill’em all?’”
Richard rose to speak, “That does bring up an interesting point. Carron, why did you attack the Tenebraens? What reason could you have had for attacking them?”
Carron answered with his usual smile. “That’s a question I would have expected from Mary. But to answer your question, my reasons are quite simple really. These aliens do not actually die. From what our drones have been able to observe, they keep living even after their bodies die. They end up becoming walking skeleton thingies. I still have no idea how they keep moving after they lose their muscles, but this would have been a threat to our holdings in the galaxy. Their population would have continued to expand in a way we would barely be able to match. We need to keep their numbers down, if not outright exterminate them. Actually enslaving might not be a bad idea either. OH! Maybe we could kill them all and then… and then…”
Carron paused, the biggest grin plastering his face as an idea filled his head. “If we kill them they keep living, mostly. But they also become incapable of reproducing. Their population will stagnate. Every time one of them actually dies it will be a massive blow to them! They’ll be forced to live out the slow decay of their empire.”
Carron immediately turned to the Overlord and shouted, “Oh Great and Powerful Overlord! Oh he who is the most potent of Potentates, the most benevolent of Beneficiaries! Oh Wisest of the Wise, heed my request! Let us wage war upon these foolish aliens who so foolishly seek to foolishly oppose us. How foolish they must be. Such foolishness should be stricken from the universe. Not only should they be stricken down, they should be made to suffer. Oh Overlord over all, let us kill them so that they might live out an eternity of death and decay! Oh Cleaver of Creation, Daimyo of Destruction, Deliverer of Desolation, Partaker of Peril, Malevolent Misanthrope, Unworldly Undertaker, let me loose upon them! I wish to render their existence meaningless! LET! ME! DESTROY!”
”Carron.”
“Yes Marvelous Master of Mayhem?”
”You’re insane.”
“So, is that a yes?”
”…no.”
Carron looked crushed. Well, as crushed as he could look with a smile. “But the beautiful suffering. My greatest work, ruined with but a word. A word spoken by my cruel master. How he loves to torment me. Me, his most humble of servants and mightiest of champions. I feel as if…”
*THWACK!*
Amy yelled, “As if you’ve been hit in the head with a boot?”
Indeed, Carron had been it with a boot. Specifically Amy’s boot. With a mighty arm she had thrown her boot, leather clad in iron it was, across the way. She had thrown the boot hard and true, for it struck Carron in the back of the head. Carron however, simply rolled with it, in more ways than one.
“Ack. I am stricken! Turned on first by cruel master and now by crueler equals. What has this universe come to when those of equal standing are unable to speak freely. When…”
*THWACK*
This time it was Griegor that yelled, “When boots become the preferred weapon of choice? I agree! Shall we not pelt this poor man, the most humble of servants and strongest of champions? DEATH TO THE BLOWHARD! ATTACK!”
The Council of Thirteen did not broadcast its meetings to the public for many reasons. That this was not an uncommon occurrence was one of those reasons. Soon the Council of Thirteen became a battlefield. Boots flew back and forth. They flew so thick that many collided in mid air. Only three did not partake in the atrocities committed before them. Drizz, who was by now completely asleep, Mary, who didn’t want to take her footwear off, and the Overlord, who had no boots to throw anyway. Carron was a fierce warrior, but not even he could stand against nine council members pelting him. He was beaten back to his seat, where he promptly and rather dramatically fell over as if dead.
”Right, now that you have all killed Carron maybe we can get this over with. Klester! I want you to ensure that the Tenebrians find our guns waiting for them. Harley, assist your husband in this. I’ll instruct Drizz to do the same once he wakes up from his nap.”
Here Jen muttered something about Drizz and his eventual need for vast quantities of tapioca pudding.
Mary, I want you and Griegor to assist in any diplomatic meetings if you can. Carron, Jen, and Amy, you three are going to help each other in planning out this war. Henry, work on learning as much as you can about these aliens. Find weakness, habits, anything useful. The rest of you are going to continue to defend the Immortal Empire against outside threats. I’m going to work with Cabal and help figure out the mysterious missing ships. This meeting is over; don’t forget to pick up your boots on the way out. Carron. Carron get up you’re not dead!... Someone kick Carron before I have to.”