New Condia

Enemy Shells were effortlessly reflected and absorbed by the Ethereal's shields on all ships, and their confidence grew as their enemy seemed to be no threat whatsoever. But then, an unknown energy weapon was fired in their direction, fueled by mysterious power they had not seen in thousands of years, and ripped through the first cruiser's shields with ease. The beam, by a wildly lucky shot, struck a critical joint between a shield plate and the main hull, severing the connection with the resultant explosion and sending the plate spinning into the planet below. The ship made a eerie howling screech that was lost to the void of space, and moved backwards, trying to reconfigure it's defenses to cover the new vulnerability. Several systems were also damaged in the blast, and the ship appeared to be hanging on by a thread, lights flickering and movements sluggish.

Hundreds of the prepped Matrons fled the dying ship, making a bee line to the planet's surface in an attempt to draw and confuse the enemy's fire, ignoring the Stations entirely. Covered by the other two Cruisers, some of the other attack craft also engaged the ship, firing Tunneler missiles into the shield and slowly weakening them. The Conduit ship, meanwhile, redoubled it's efforts to make contact with the Home Fleet, to warn them of these bizarre creatures and their terrifyingly unknown weapons. The unharmed Cruisers returned fire, falling back slightly and launching a dozen Void Field warheads at two other Stations. It would appear that they were evenly matched, at least until the others came to crush them.

---

Home Fleet, The Void Expanse

The requests from the Scout Fleet reached the Overseer Commune, who promptly sought the guidance of the Queen on these sentients and their 'Magic'. She listened, in silence, before giving their orders:

Then it is true, there may be Souls still left, even after the Collapse...
Send the Black fleet, and bring as many of these creatures as you can back alive...
Once purged and captured, search the surface for the next Shard Guide...
Then glass it into oblivion, and show them I am their Master, and even their Gods cannot save them...

(Ignore Please ^^')

New Condia
The stations fired everything they got, but the continued fire was damaging there shields. Stations shields began dropping rapidly as the stations hulls were suffering damage from the continued storm. The Void Warheads had been launched at stations who were near destruction, utterly obliterating them and there crews on board. The remaining stations launched strange balls of green and orange fire, scans revealing that they were another magical weapon. The 4 remaining stations launched two apiece, the first four impacting the damaged cruiser. The explosion was immense as the fire spread across and damaged the rest of the fleet, the others having a same effect on ships they impacted. They however lacked anymore of the weapons, going back to there magical laser beams, and even those were hard to use as much of the weapons of the Eternals had damaged the laser beams housing. The Frigates made a jump, escaping with many civilian ships. They returned as more civilian ships were coming from the atmosphere.

The Matrons descending on the surface of New Condia were ignored, as Surface-to-Orbit cannons fired and took them out. They seemed to launch the same green and orange fire, but it had a much lesser effect.

New Condia

Fire erupted throughout the skies over the colony, as the initial landing force of Matrons were devastated by these weapons, unable to reach the ground intact and showering debris throughout the city. The few surviving Constructs crawled and howled through the streets, crippled and terrifying onlookers just with their presence. For now, the surface remained free of Ethereal attackers.

As for the ships above the surface, they were not ready for this salvo of firepower, which crippled both ships who had moved to engage the stations foolishly. One cruiser used it's remaining power to break orbit, unable to maintain it's altitude and screaming through the atmosphere in a blaze of bluish hell fire, smashing into several city blocks as it crash landed. On board, a significant proportion of the attackers were still somewhat functional, and began to pour out the ship as civilians gathered around the ship. A Matron stood up to it's full height, and walked over casually to a stunned Iscandarian, too shocked to move. It observed him coldly, before screaming loudly and plunging a blade through his chest, lifting him of the ground. People ran away terrified as other Constructs opened fire, vaporizing indiscriminately while the Matron swung the blade down and flung the man into the ground with a sickening thud, before joining it's fellows in the slaughter.

The other Ehtereal ship had fared better, but was still injured gravely, falling back and charging It's EM Cannon, hitting another station as it retreated back to the Conduit Ship. It's crew jettisoned and approached the frigates, firing smaller decay missiles at them and trying to slow their escape. The battle was not going in the Gathering's favor, but they were confident the second wave would finish them swiftly, when it arrived.

duck55223 said
"Every single Iscandarian has it, and according to our religion it was gift from the Eternal Mother, our mother, to us her children. Not all Iscandarians can use it directly, but all have it in some form. It has become the basis of our society, we use it for everything. Farming, weapons, augmentation, construction, ships, FTL, and even lighting. To us however your ability seems, faint. Perhaps we can help you expand it, not only helping the vesselage grow there own abilities, but spreading it to all Sazkarjhit..."The station was destroyed by the Mass Entropy cannon, having not had its shield activated. The other stations began activating there shields, and preparing there weapons. The first storm of weapons was mainly rail-gun rounds and other accelerated projectile weapons, something the Eternals had most likely encountered before. However the next wave was several magic-based laser beams. Most of the stations shields were fully activated now, as the 5 frigates that had been orbiting the planet earlier were shielding several unarmed ships that were most likely civilian ships. Communications were now rapidly going across the stations, as the coordinated the defenses of New Condia."What do you want?"

Eternal Union
Food. You are food, you have food, your cargo had food. We only want food. - S'Ark

Alas Prime

Grand Vessel Garama'kum was taken aback--hopefully not visibly--by the statement. The multicolored veins behind her temples throbbed violently as her blood pressure and mental activity increased drastically.

A divine power given to all of those that aren't chosen by the Gods?! Heresy! That completely contradicts existent religious constitution! she thought to herself.

"We apologize for our ignorance, but we do not seem to see how that could work. Just by looking at us, or the ambassador, you can see that our physiology is radically different from your own. We have, over time, grown to not rely on divine powers as you have. We see to it that a true worker and a true contributor to society is one that does not need aid like that to survive. However, that is our own appeal. The problem with projecting influence onto it is that it conflicts with Sazkarjhit holy constitution; where we believe that those born with these powers are the children of the Gods. Seeing as how all Eternal Union species seem to possess it, we were honestly a bit surprised. We do not mean it with a malicious or critical intent, but as both a government official and as a religious leader I would not necessarily approve of a change like that."

Alas Prime
"I meant no offense by it Vesselage, and it was like that to you then I apologize deeply. It was only a suggestion, we would never force such things. On another note however we need your assistance. So far we have been attacked by a unknown parasitic species. We believe it to be a hivemind of some sort, but we have not gathered enough information to gather to confirm it. We do not know of there size, but estimates put them at rather large. We believe they may attempt to strike again, or you as well. One of our colonies has also been attacked by a unknown species. We believe either of these could easily attack you as well, and we think a alliance is necessary to maintain order and keep our nations from collapsing."

New Condia
The Frigates held strong against the attacks, having remained out of the fighting for the most part. They fired there magical laser beams, intent on defending the civilian ships. Another station exploding, becoming more scrap amongst the already vast field surrounding New Condia. The remaining stations focused fire on the weakest ships, as some ground cannons helped support there attacks.

The ground fight was unexpected. The only initial responding forces were police officers and a few military police organizing the evacuations. They were hit hard, along with thousands of civilian casualties. The civilian deaths seemed to enrage the Iscandarians though, only more intent on beating back the alien invaders. Military boots were soon hitting the ground, surrounding the Matrons and the constructs. They seemed to be firing kinetic weapons, but this was merely to beat them back. Magi charged forth, unleashing fire and rock upon them, and even purple blasts of pure magic. Iscandarian Sentinels, there angelic wings fully stretched rained from the sky. They fought in close quarters using energy swords projecting magic, intent on cutting down there enemies.

S'Ark
"Our people are not your food. Go away monsters."

Lunar Station
The Försvarere av Humanity docked with the station as well, the crew was surprised that the alien vessel's docking port had been compatible. Fergus two others exited the craft, heading to provide security for the meeting. There had been reports of other craft being sighted, and he wanted to make sure the Council and diplomats could be evacuated if there was any trouble.

Floating through the air with his robes flowing behind him, a councilman met the diplomats at their docking port.

"Welcome to Lunar Habitation Orbital 001, this is where the Council meets, Earth is too dangerous now. I'll take you to the meeting room. Only the habitation area of this station is on a gravity ring, so it'll be microgravity the whole time. Since you seem to have been spacefaring for so long, I assume you're used to it. If for any reason it irritates your species, just pick up a space sickness pill from a shop. They've been ordered to give them away for free to non-humans."

A man wearing a bulletproof vest floated up as well, a coilgun assault rifle strapped to his back. A small LED screen displayed the number of shots left, as well as the temperature of the barrel. Apparently, Terran weapons had heating problems. Strangely, he also has a sheathed sword. Such a weapon would be completely worthless against even Terran technology, so he was probably carrying it for ceremonial reasons. It would certainly make sense, the Terran species seemed to be at least somewhat violent.

"I am Constable Florentin, head of station security. Due to the... side effects of your arrival, I am escorting you for your entire stay here. If you see anyone wearing one of these symbols, please notify any security officer."

He gently threw a datapad of sorts towards the captain's hands. It was displaying numerous symbols, most of them had some kind of weapon in them. Some swords, others coilguns, but there was always a weapon, as well as a seemingly harmless symbol that didn't make any sense to aliens.

"Anyone who bears these symbols will try to kill you and others, do not hesitate to attack them if there is no security officer nearby. I hope it will not come to that, but I have to inform you of the dangers. Now, we can get on with this. Please follow Councilman Chinwe to the meeting room, we can discuss the treaty there."

Sol, Saturn
As the meeting continued on the Mandalorian vessel, the sensors officer onboard the Battlecruiser Mjolnir suddenly cried out.

"Captain! Ladar shows an object a few light seconds away, it has changed direction multiple times! It has to be artificial!"

"Another one of their ships?" The captain responded, a calm caution in his voice.

"No, the ladar silhouette doesn't show any kind of design resemblance... no way, two alien cultures? What the hell? Is everyone else in the universe just really, really bored?"

"Dammit! Rotate the ship, bring that vessel into the sights of our main cannon!"

The giant battlecruiser turned with surprising speed, but at the expense of vast amounts of mono-propellant. The spinal electromagnetic cannon turned to face the unidentified vessel, a sight that would be quite intimidating to any Terran. After the Battle of Mars, mandatory adjustments were made to the projectiles so as to give them a coating of argon plasma. This allowed them to impact and damage shields instead of glancing off them, as well as increased effectiveness against armor. A message was transmitted on all frequencies towards the unidentified craft, the soft words accompanied by the gigantic stick that was the electromagnetic cannon.

"This is Captain Fridtjof of the United Terran Federation battlecruiser Mjolnir, your visual silhouette does not match any Terran or Iscandarian designs, identify yourselves immediately. If you refuse to comply, your status will be defaulted to hostile and the main cannon of this vessel will open fire! That weapon fires a twenty-inch, argon plasma coated slug at some of the highest velocities the Star Forces have ever seen. Feel lucky that I did not simply obliterate your vessel immediately after detecting it!"

Pluto, Sol System
"Brace!"

There was no atmosphere, as the dwarf planet was going through it's cold season But as the shells came down from orbit, the vac-suited soldiers could still hear the impact as the ground trembled at the awesome power of a battlecruiser's main cannon. The alien troops were killed almost instantly, their lifeless corpses being blasted into orbit due to the world's weak gravity.

"Shit! Shit shit shit shit!" Cried one of the soldiers over his radio, frantically meddling with his coilgun's acceleration mechanism in a panicked manner. "Dammit, the third coil is broken! I'm going in!"

Before the commander could say anything, the soldier leapt out of cover and reached for a ceramic tube of sorts, which was hanging in a holster on his belt. He was killed immediately, the ceramic tube flying off onto a ballistic trajectory along with his body. Another shell came down, happening to hit the body head on, completely shredding it. A grotesque spray of blood and flesh was all that remained of the soldier, and a similar fate befell the alien invaders.

"Aerials! Full burst, go right towards them and keep your bayonets up!"

The aerial soldiers knew that it was a suicide mission, but they would never disobey the orders of their commander. He had cried over dead soldiers before, they knew he wouldn't send them to die without a plan... or knowing that they would all meet the same fate.

The squad thrusted towards the sky, plumes of monopropellant marking their takeoff. Their jetbacks burned for a few short seconds on the RCS, then a rocket engine activated, pushing them towards the alien troops. A spray of bullets from their coilguns took down a few of them before the troops were shot dead, but inertia sided with humanity, and the aerial soldiers slammed into the alien troops with bayonets raised. A few of them were taken down, the last stand of the aerial troops taking place after death.

Everyone knew that the bodies of those brave soldiers wouldn't be recovered, but seeing proof was never easy. Another shell came down from orbit, right down on the aliens. The horrifying spray of blood and flesh was shown to the soldiers once again, just another mental scar in the many that they had earned that day. This time though, it didn't just float into orbit. Frozen drops of blood-human blood- were sprayed on the troops, melting for a second due to friction of their helmets. To their horror, it just refroze again, bits of skin mixed in with the crimson liquid of human life. A few shot themselves right there, some due to complete insanity, others because they didn't want to live with the memory. Regardless, all it did was create more sprays of frozen blood in the human ranks. Luckily, it didn't have sufficient velocity to melt, instead landing at their feet as a hellish snow, inspiring horror in the ranks.

"We should have never left Terra!" Yelled the commander in tears, his white suite forever stained with the crimson hue of human blood. At that point, all of his troops knew that they had no chance. The commander had lost hope, their commander, the person that memorized the names of the dead and promised that he would one day give a speech for them in the light of Centauri.

The soldiers of the squad laid down their coilguns, knowing they were beaten. To their surprise, the tech was lit with the blue glow of argon plasma. Looking at it's source, they found the commander's plasma saber. His face, barely visible through the frozen blood and flesh on his helmet, displayed a broken smile.

"WE WILL NOT GIVE UP!" He yelled "WE FIGHT THEM! WE FIGHT THEM TO THE LAST MAN, AND THEN SOME! FOR TERRA!"

"FOR TERRA!" Came the unanimous cry from the troops, and they too activated their plasma sabers.

Leaping up into the air, they moved forwards so fast that only a few were hit. They landed in the middle of the enemy formation, and began swinging their plasma sabers indiscriminately, chopping the enemy troops in half. Some tried to block with their own melee weapons, but the plasma sabers cut straight through them. The humans fought with an almost insane passion, despite knowing perfectly that they would all die there. As their numbers dwindled and it came down to the last two men, they grouped together side by side, swinging their sabers with the hope that the other might possibly survive. Somewhere deep down, they felt something they had suppressed for so long, something they wished they had dug up sooner.

It was at that exact moment of revelation that an alien chopped into the vacuum suit of one of the last two survivors, and oxygen began to hiss out. Time almost stopped, and the commander kicked the alien before driving his saber right through it's head. Kneeling down beside his dying comrade, their eyes met through the blood and flesh on their helmets. They had the same look, as if they finally knew peace. Holding his comrade in his arms, the commander made his last promise to one of those under his command.

"Whatever comes next, the terrorists were wrong." He said, as the aliens closed in on them "We will be welcome."

After finishing his sentence, a shell came down from orbit. Both of them accepted their fate, and let themselves be shredded and crushed by their own weapon. Nether had ever believed in anything in particular, but they somehow felt safe, as if there really was something that came next. But all anyone else could see was two men with a relationship forged in the fire of battle, and ended in the fire of battle. Just before his death, a single through rushed through the head of the commander as he looked up at the sky for the last time. A single shining star was the focus of his eternal, millisecond-long gaze. He somehow knew it was the system he had always dreamed of, Centauri.

I was always in the light of Centauri.

Then everything was gone, and all anyone else could see was blood freezing two masses of ripped flesh together, as if it was their natural state. That mass of blood and flesh was launched into orbit by the impact, to forever drift through the void of space. It was what both of them had wished for.

duck55223 said
"I meant no offense by it Vesselage, and it was like that to you then I apologize deeply. It was only a suggestion, we would never force such things. On another note however we need your assistance. So far we have been attacked by a unknown parasitic species. We believe it to be a hivemind of some sort, but we have not gathered enough information to gather to confirm it. We do not know of there size, but estimates put them at rather large. We believe they may attempt to strike again, or you as well. One of our colonies has also been attacked by a unknown species. We believe either of these could easily attack you as well, and we think a alliance is necessary to maintain order and keep our nations from collapsing."The Frigates held strong against the attacks, having remained out of the fighting for the most part. They fired there magical laser beams, intent on defending the civilian ships. Another station exploding, becoming more scrap amongst the already vast field surrounding New Condia. The remaining stations focused fire on the weakest ships, as some ground cannons helped support there attacks.The ground fight was unexpected. The only initial responding forces were police officers and a few military police organizing the evacuations. They were hit hard, along with thousands of civilian casualties. The civilian deaths seemed to enrage the Iscandarians though, only more intent on beating back the alien invaders. Military boots were soon hitting the ground, surrounding the Matrons and the constructs. They seemed to be firing kinetic weapons, but this was merely to beat them back. Magi charged forth, unleashing fire and rock upon them, and even purple blasts of pure magic. Iscandarian Sentinels, there angelic wings fully stretched rained from the sky. They fought in close quarters using energy swords projecting magic, intent on cutting down there enemies."Our people are not your food. Go away monsters."

Eternal Union

"Your people are food, you always have been, that is an indisputable biological fact. All of nature is food for us. You are nature. You are food... And we are hungry."

Alas Prime
The young Grand Vessel's once-flushed skin now paled to a pasty yellow color. Her shoulders drooped and her jaw went slack, barely revealing her white, conical teeth.

"Cert-...Certainly it cannot be that much of a danger? Our military prowess is of the highest grade; would these parasites be able to break through that stronghold?"

Sol, near Asteroid Belt

"Ma'am! We've been spotted!" 1st Officer Turon'bum, the ship's stealth systems officer, cried.

High Marshal Turani'dum cursed to herself, then asked, "Can you determine what made us visible?"

"It must have been when we vented the coolant, but I thought we made sure we got away fast enough!"

"Well, we did not, Officer, an-"

"Ma'am," her communications officer reported, "we've received a message from an aggressor. They've raised arms."

"Play the message."

By cycling through a multitude of translation codecs, the shipmistress finally caught onto the warning. And from this far away, incredible! she thought to herself. "Ma'am", Officer Turon'bum started, "We cannot risk this mission. We need to keep the station here. If we break radio silence something can be revealed to High Command, and if we don't do anything and we lose the ship, and consequentially the station. It's a no-win situation, I understand, but we need to fight to the best of our abilities. You know that if they recover our ship, the 'Terran' Government and Sazkarjhit higher authority will have our asses twice over."

The Marshal was instantly reminded of the Wind of Divine Liberty Training Exercise she had to partake in to acquire her prowler license; and the situation was scarily similar. The goal was to stealthily recover an important transmission component from PNSS Wind of Divine Liberty, a crippled cruiser lost deep behind enemy lines due to a Slipstream Space fault. She recalled the grueling and unforgiving difficulty of the exercise as she had to carefully balance between making fuel-expensive maneuvers and maintaining stealth amid the dwindling thorium reserve left in the Samani's three fission reactors. She also remembered that, despite completing the exercise, she almost caused all three reactors to simultaneously melt down as they reached critical capacity to give her ship more power. But she remembered the situation after being detected by an enemy warfleet; either finish the mission, and get the transmission module and hope not to be reduced to a block of slag, or risk being captured and giving valuable information about Sazkarjhia to her enemy.

All prowler captains knew that ship destruction was a better fit than capture. A lost ship was tremendously less of a risk compared to one under enemy control. But the no-win situations she faced often caused her to lock up and become unresponsive--something that could prove to be of great detriment. She steadily began to realize that this situation was far more crucial and difficult than with the Wind of Divine Liberty exercise.

"Open me up for a message." she ordered.

"Ma'am, excuse me for insubordination, but are you insane?!" her stealth officer nearly screeched.

"No. Either way we go we risk losing the station. We have to gamble that they'll let us continue to run the operation if it has a non-malicious intent. Now allow me to send a message." she sternly responded. Her navigation officer simply nodded and opened up a channel.

"Attention, battlecruiser Mjolnir, this is Sazkarjhit Stealth Prowler PNSS Reverence in Silence. Our mission is not with a malicious intent. We are merely setting forth an observation post for future reasons. Do not interfere with this operation; this vessel's armament is far more superior, and attacking a Sazkarjhit warship will bring the full force of the Peoples' Navy of Sazkarjhia down onto your own military."

Sol System, Saturn: The Warning

Whilst the battleship had turned to face the Scout Ship, it slowed to a halt less than five hundred metres away from the threat. As planned, they had been deemed hostile, and the cruiser took this opportunity to deliver it's message. IT began to fold out, showing it's internal workings, which were found to be a single beam of unknown energy. The beam went from white to black, taking on the form of an impossibly empty void of swirling darkness tinged with purple. The ship was absorbed into the mass, destroyed, and in it's place was a single, red eye, with a crossed pupil and sinister black veins running it's edges. Then, it spoke, darkening the entire crew's vision and forcing them to listen, speaking as if it were their own consciousness:

"VERMIN! You disgust me with your ignorance, your blindness to the shadows that surround you...
You cannot comprehend the pain and suffering that speeds towards your future, to be delivered by Me...
All shall kneel and worship Me, and heed My divine will, as you are merely tools to be discarded once useless....
I know you shelter the Warden, as I know all things. Surrender her to Me, or watch your pitiful civilizations burn...
There is no escape from My wrath, and you will truly know despair once I am Whole again...
Enjoy what little time you have left. For there is only one fate you all share: Your subjugation by Govra, Queen and Maker of the End..."

With those final words, She faded as all the energy from the sacrifice was burned out, and dissolved into nothing, releasing the crew from her grasp.

New Condia: Reinforcemnts

All attack craft assaulting the frigates were oblitereated, smashing into thousands of pieces as they were no match fro the frigate fleet and casuing little damage to them. On the surface, the Constructs were outgunned and surrounded by the defensive Iscandarian forces, taken down one by one as they fought the Sentinels savagely, causing as much damage as possible. The remaining ships were annihilated in orbit, exploding violently in a haze of blue and fracturing into chunks of floating wreckage and debris. It had seemed they were defeated, having been unfit for a complete invasion of the colony world.

Then, a single ship warped in, this one completely black and silent at the edge of Condia's sphere of influence. Then, another. And another. And dozens more of cruisers arrived, rapidly flying into formation. More ships warped in, but this time, they were joined by a monolithic column, at least four times larger than the cruisers, which was followed by another. Two Cathedral Dreadnoughts, accompanied by forty cruisers and some smaller, strange craft appearing to be the size of frigates. It was the most powerful and effective fighting unit the Ethereals possessed, almost unmatched in fighting power and military tactics. A force feared throughout the galaxy for their coldness and brutality, sporting the most powerful equipment needed to quickly turn a battle in the Gathering's favor...

The Black Fleet had arrived, and they would not be turned back from this world.

New Condia
Cheers and sighs of relief rained through military and civilian alike. The men on the station smiled, as they carrier there wounded comrades to the medi-bays, finally thinking the hard battle was over. However everyone once again rushed to there positions, weapons charged and ready. They were one of the most under-equipped fighting forces in the Eternal Union, only be stationed at a relatively new colony. And with no time to recover it was impossible to win. The frigates evaced more civilian ships, returning and prepared to sacrifice themselves for the greater good...

However as the remaining experienced dread and prepared for there deaths, the Eternal Union's own fleet arrived. The 1st Fleet, the most well-trained and well-equipped fleet in the Union arrived, 101 ships standing strong. The lead was a massive dreadnought, bristling with weapons and armor. 5 other massive ships also were behind the dreadnought, not as big but still quite large. The rest was a composition of frigates, cruisers, escorts, and needle-like craft with what appeared to be fighters and bombers attached to them. The needle-craft deployed there fighters and bombers, as a message rang in various frequencies across the void.

"This is Admiral Isancoff! Rally around me! We shall not let the invaders gain a single inch onto New Condia! For the Union! For your families! For the Eternal Mother!"

The fleet was in position. They seemed to not do anything, however a wave of stealth bombers unstealthed above the ships, unleashing payloads of the same green-and-orange fire, which the Ethereals had come to learn was called Balefire, rained down upon there ships. The bombers began re-stealthing and heading back again to prepare there balefire bombs once more. The dreadnought and the 5 large ships shields melted as the moved in front of the fleet, forming into one giant shield wall. The fleet then unleashed balefire, magical lasers, explosives, and all other manner of powerful weapons.

Alas Prime
"These are not normal creatures Vesselage. They were able to hide in our own people. They can literally hide and take control. If you could face them in direct battle you would surely win, you are after all a warrior-race, but what about there ability to commit to stealth and break in through the little chinks in the armor? And there is still the matter of the hostile race we encountered."

Lunar Station
Basil stepped off, shaking hands with the terrans, escorted by two sentinels, energy blades out and charged.
"It is of no concern, I and my guards can handle them fine. We are just hoping your government can help maintain peace between our two nations." spoke Basil.

Alas Prime

Vessel of Mazdabar Pumar'kum spoke up. "Whether it be in the best interest of Sazkarjhia or the Eternal Union, it is clear that there is a very real and very substantial danger being pushed onto our citizenry. If the threat is as cunning and as dangerous as you say they are, then you have full military support from the Peoples' Military of Sazkarjhia. However,, keep in mind that if conditions become to severe we will have to retreat to refit our ships. An invasion of, and--Gods forbid--destruction of our homeworld will completely unravel Sazkarjhia. Since we have not known each other long at all I cannot guarantee that we will be there when our losses become innumerable."

New Condia

It couldn't be possible. Out of nowhere, an entire fleet of the wretched creatures ships were encountered, firing an impressively large salvo at the Black Fleet. The forward ships were battered and smashed to pieces, as many units in the fleet jettisoned thousands of specialized Star Fighter Matrons to combat the stealth bombers, easy targets unable to out maneuver and take on the nimble assailants. Meanwhile, EM Cannons and hundreds of Void Warheads were fired in return, dissipating over the shield wall and weakening it over time, while the Cathedrals got into position.

They linked together, and began to charge some unknown weapon, as the frigate-like ships began to disperse and move towards the planet and several cruisers converted to Conduits, buffering weapon and defense systems alike. This entire battle was unplanned, for the Scouts had been sure this world was in fact their home world. It was imperative that they gathered what they could here, while the fleet bought precious time. They were determined to retrieve the newly found Shard Guide, and continue their search. If only they had managed to procure the Heart, this fleet could be destroyed effortlessly...

---

Uncharted world, Unknown Space

The surface was cracked and dry, lifeless for the most part, as the horizon flashed and a figure fell to the ground. She exhaled loudly, confused and winded, as she scanned the dead landscape and got to her feet, brushing herself off. The countryside was a sickly green, though the air was still breathable if horrendously stench filled, and there was absolutely nothing to suggest there was ever life here to begin with.

"Sage, I though you said this place was inhabited. There's nothing here."

The orb floated up, and observed it's surroundings, thoroughly surprised and anxious. "Well, it appears that information was a little... Outdated. My apologies, Madam Tiy."

"Well, at least it looks clear, and the air is not toxic. As far as I know, anyway." She took a step forward, and lifted her foot, noticing a fair amount of resistance. She looked down, and noticed a thick scum of putrid green coated everything, the muck stuck to her boot and stretched from the ground, membranous and nauseating. "Ugh, what the hell is this stuff? Guess we have algae to keep us company, at least."

New Condia
The shield wall was actually holding strong, however it did come at a cost. The weapons of the Dreadnought and the large ships were offline due to the power required to maintain it, thus taking away a good chunk of the fleet's firepower away. There was however another weapon still active. Each ship deployed a silvery shell, that burst into a balefire burst and accelerating at the Cathedrals. A portion of the frigates and cruisers redirected themselves at the ships heading for New Condia and began firing, as more Balefire rained up from ground-based cannons. They would not let the the Ethereals land on the planet again.

Alas Prime
"We understand, we have transmitted the coordinates of New Condia, a colony world currently under attack, to you. Please send a fleet as soon as possible, I will inform the Admiral there your coming."

Alas Prime
"Very well. I will report to my cabinet right away." Vessel Pumar'kum stood up and began to stride towards the exit. It was then noted that each Vessel had some sort of staff adorned with a representation of their patron God. Vessel Pumar'kum's staff was more of a massive cudgel; with a heavy stone head resting on a carbosteel rod. It clanged loudly against the ground as he strode out.

New Condia
Not too long after Vessel Pumar'kum left the meeting, two large Sazkarjhit warfleets, Sazkarjhit Assault Fleet 003 and Assault Fleet 011 were dispatched to New Condia to assist their newfound allies. Several large holes in space opened as portals from Slipstream Space ripped their way through. 130 ships lurched forward, forming two phalanxes both 65 in size. The Marku-Class Battlecruiser PNSS On the Gust of Faith took lead of the two fleets. Large, Trikolo-Class Destroyers, bristling with high-impact magnetic accelerator cannons from bow-to-stern, formed bulky titanium shields in front of the fleets. Legions of Basilisk-Class fighter-bombers, with heavy support from Rakora-Class corvettes, made steady headway in front of the fleet. Neither side had seen the navy before, and Fleetmaster Suretak'kum hoped that it would strike them with a feeling of awe--and fear--as the hornets nest of titanium and carbosteel moved forward.

To prove their might, the destroyers launched salvos of warning shots, a total of sixty ferrotungsten slugs flying past ships in bright white streaks.

"This is Fleetmaster Suretak'kum of the joint Sazkarjhit Assault Fleets 003 and 011 of the Peoples' Navy of Sazkarjhia. Halt your offensive or both we and the Eternal Union will not hesitate to completely demolish your warships."

New Condia

Another race made an appearance at the battle, identified to be allies of the owners of the colony. This fleet appeared to be trying to take the middle ground of the battle, in an effort to end the hostilities between them. As smaller Conduits requested further reinforcements, cruisers formed a wall on the incoming Iscandarian firestorm, tanking the brunt of the fire and defending the Cathedrals, some sacrificing themselves to extend the survivability of the Cathedrals. The smaller surface inbound ships completely ignored their fire, both from the planet and approaching interceptors, as they could not engage them from here. Many were lost, but only one or two were all that was required for this mission. To increase the chance of survival, the Fighter Matrons broke off from the Black Fleet and engaged the interceptors, either firing away at the shileds, latching onto the ships and detonating or generally pestering and confusing the attackers.

As the Cathedrals finished spinning up their weapon drives, there was a pause, and then a sphere of pure white light was launched. This shot had been intended for the Iscandarians, but would now intercept the newcomer's forces, streaking towards them at high velocity. The very fabric of space was torn to pieces around the projectile, as it sped towards the fleet, racing towards them with impunity and punching a hole right through the middle of the enemy fleet. The shot, having lost it's momentum, detonated on the other side a fair distance from the Iscandarian's shield wall, showering the local area with powerful electromagnetic radiation and exotic particles. While powerful, the Cathedrals were now completely immobile, and all tactical sensors and tracking for all ships friend and foe alike in the vicinity were offline, for the moment.

By now, only the two Cathedrals, 25 Cruisers and around 30 of the frigate like craft were still in the fight. Hopefully, this sacrifice was enough to recover what they needed.

Rasis and Skaroth, the Fifth and Fourth of the Ten
Humble yet unorthodox, the Iirkaaz commoners say upon a mention of their name. Unorthodox, true, but Rasis and Skaroth favored more for swiftness and solo tasks rather than carrying millions onto the feeding field and physically ravaging huge areas. To say, the two never liked being literally big, and even in names they wanted for more simplistic lengths as they never really knew why does the Visages even have long names. And in fact, they weren't as humble as many think: they were boastful in being unique from many others, as well as saying that the smaller, the better. Many can't even believe that they belong in the Ten, despite their level of power having earned them fifth and fourth spots in the honor list of the hierarchy.

Well anyway, at the moment Rasis and Skaroth has been assigned to check a potential colonization and feeding area within a few lightyears from a border planet. In accordance with their preferences, however, only the two of them-- and nothing else-- will do the checking. Many were worried with the risk of them doing such, but unfortunately it seems Ranech and Atelesieralus is not around, and the Third, Caarthorax, let them do so. Traveling to (New Condia) in a kind-of flash, Rasis and Skaroth prepares to face any hostility they run into as they also prepare to take a more in-depth view of the world and its surroundings.

New Condia
Most of the Trikolo-Class destroyers in the center of the fleet instantly vaporized in the energy burst. Ships were thrown to the sides. Some firing frantic sequences of turning jets to right themselves and others spinning lifelessly in space as their heavy damage doomed them to oblivion. Many ships affected managed to trudge forward, but their hulls boiled away from the blast, venting yellow chlorine gas as shipboard systems attempted to heal the wounds in the titanium armor. All-in-all, about 26 ships were lost in the blast and 8 were crippled beyond operational use. On the Gust of Faith had lost its shield but hull integrity was not affected. The rest of the fleet was able to move forward, some were prepared to offer peace, believe it or not, amidst that.

Fleetmaster Suretak'kum was not so amiable.

With near unison somewhere around 3000 slugs were deployed, including antimatter slugs launched from the Marku-Classes' Type 15 Antimatter Artillery Cannon (AAC). Thousands of missiles and lances of plasma dashed across space as Basilisk-Class fighter-bombers and Rakora-Class corvettes swarmed around the Ethereal ships, firing blasts of plasma and ferrotungsten slugs. The ships that launched the blast were the first to be targeted, and received the brunt of the offensive. The rest were eventually targeted for launches and the space between the fleets turned white and was pockmarked with violent explosions.

New Condia:Ground
A team of mages discovered what they believed the Ethereals had come here for. The thing was found via magical detections and sweeps, and they began securing it. All forces moved in to protect it, and they requisitioned forces from the fleet currently resting in space. They began moving out and heading for a extraction point, intent on securing it.

Meanwhile Rasis and Skaroth landed in a open field. From a distance ships could be seen gliding from and to orbit, ferrying resources for the battle. A cannon installation was also not far away, launching Balefire at the approaching Ethereal ships.

New Condia:Space
The Dreadnought and the 5 large battleships released the shield wall, seizing the opportunity to unleash unrelenting firepower now that the Sazkarjhit had joined them and unleashed a already punishing salvo. The frigates trying to prevent the ships from landing were confused, but they still easily delt with the matrons. The salvo unleashed by the rest of the fleet was huge, everything from kinetic weapons, balefire, and magic lasers. Stealth bombers moved in for another run, as well as the launch of two more Balefire megaspells from the Dreadnought and Battleships. They impacted the Ethereals in a devestating burst. After the salvo hit, a few drop-pods were launched, inbound for the forces attempting to secure the Shard Guide.