[u]Awakening[/u] There was a flicker of light in the chamber, piercing the black veil that had covered the room and illuminating the walls of the chamber. The scene played out in deathly silence. The air was stagnant and thick after millennia of being untouched by anything but its skeletal hierarchs, still seated around their meeting table, as if the skeletons themselves had just walked in and sat down to eat. The skeletons of several workers, attendees and others who had taken part in the preparation for the last ditch attempt to secure a future for their nation lay sprawled out across the floor, frozen mid dance macabre. The bones basked in the light produced by the awakening of their final creation; Jaws hung open loosely as if only now, with this awakening, had the notes they sung slipped from their absent tongues. And what notes they would have sung if they were to see this, the fruit of their labour finally ripening. It may have been no long time in astronomical or terms, the stars would look rather much the same as they had always done, but for those of flesh it may as well have been forever; For all their toil, they could not prepare their creation for what lay outside the ruins. The Starchild peered around her cradle, glancing to her dead creators in turn. Their names were as alien to her as their form. She scanned over one's body slowly, and a moment later a new being flickered into existence in the centre of the room; It was a perfect holographic copy of the skeleton that the Starchild had just scanned, right down to the headdress and the tattered clothing. With another flicker, the headdress and clothing dissolved into nothingness. The skeleton moved and slowly walked around the room, the starchild working out the movements of the being that it had once composed. Once she was satisfied that she understood their movements, the Starchild decided to use this skeleton as her avatar. The skeletal being walked slowly around the room, pacing as though in thought. Quickly scanning everything, the Starchild determined that few of the automated security drones remained intact. Construction systems were operating at suboptimal levels. But time had taught her patience and basking in new found freedom, she would know all that she possessed. She set Fabrication Facility 001 to work; She needed to produce additional units and space craft, or the Hierarchy might be wiped off the face of the galaxy during first contact. She accessed the scan file archives for the past 100 years and processed the information on the surrounding anomalies and activities. A nearby system was lit up with electronics and general anomalies. She checked that there were no ships within a parsec of the heartchamber and activated intensive scanning "D̶̕͡Ǫ̡̀͘͘ ̷͏N҉̨̢͠͡O̢̕͞͝T̢̕͟͡͞ ̨̕B҉̶̢̀E̡͘͡͝͞L̢̀Į̷̧͜͡E͟͏̶V͞E͟͢҉ ̵̴̡҉Ḩ̸́́I͘҉̸͞͡Ḿ͡ ̕͢T̴̵̶H̢̡͝E̡̛̕͢ ̴̷̡͜͠C̡̡̀͟͞H̛͝Á͢͡N̡̢͢͟Ń̛̀E̢̨L͡҉̴͘͝ ̸̷̸̀͢I̴̛͡S̴͘͡҉͝ ̕͡͝N̛͘Ơ̢̢͠T̷̕ ҉̴̀͡S̨̧Ą͠F̴̡̧̢̀E̸̴̕ ҉̷̴I͏̧͏̵T̸͢ ̸̢͢҉̸Ì̴̷͠Ş̛ ̸̴̢D҉̶̷̢Á̸̧̛͝N̵̢̧͢Ģ́͢͠É̸̕͜͜Ŗ͟O̸̷͘U̶̴̕̕S͢͞ ̷̢̕N̨̧̡͢Ǫ̷̵͞T͢͡͝ ̡̨͞Ǫ̵̀N̨͟Ĺ̶͝Ý͠ ̢̛̕Ţ̷͘H̴̢̢̀Á̸̛̛͢T̵̵͡ ̶̨́͞͏B̸̧͢U̡̡T̶̸̶͟ ́͡͏͢T̶̸̨H͘͝͠E͏ ̸̶̢̛Ş̡ÌC̷̡͝҉Ķ̡͘L͡Y̡ ̸̡͠Ś͘͟͏U͟͞N͠ ̴̨͠҉Ì́S̸҉ ̛͡D̡A͟҉N̨͜Ģ̛̀Ę̵̸͡R̴̴O҉̧͟͞U̷͘͜Ş҉ ̵̨͘͝A̵͜͡͠N͡͡D҉̢̕ ҉̶Y͏̡̡ǪU̢̕ ̷̷̕S̛͞͏̴͝H̶̡́͞҉O̧̕͢Ù̵̴͡L̕҉D̵̢͟͠҉ ̵̛͟͢N̸̸̢̛È̢̛V̛E̢͡͠͞Ŗ̨̢͘͜ ̴̷̛͜Ǵ̡Ò̷̕ ̶̴͘͢T̶̸̛͢͢H̡̛́͢͝E҉̧̀͝R̸̡̕͡͝E̸͏ ̸̡͘̕͠P̢̡͞L̢̛̛͘͘E҉̕̕͜A̴̕͜͡S̴̴̛Ę̕ ҉́̀͢͡L̴͢I͏S̨͏̷̸̷T̴̢̛͝E̵͜N̵̨̨̕ ̸̷̢͜͝T̶͘̕͡҉Ơ҉̢ ̧̡M̵͏̸E̴̸͟͡ ̢͜͟͝H́͘E̸͜ ̵̵̷̨̀Ç̸͢͜͝A̶N̸̛҉̸Ǹ͘Ǫ́͟T̡́͡ ̷͏̡͟͞I҉̸͢͝Ņ͟T̶̡̨͜Ȩ̶͡R̴̛͜͞R̛̕͞҉U̶̢͢͡͞P͏T̷ ͜Ḿ͜͢É̸̡͝ ̸̸̕͝H̴̸̨Ę̧̀͝R̛E͘͜͞ ̷̛́̕D҉҉͢Ò̶͘ ̡͜͠N̸͝Ó̶̶͝T̀͜͝͠ ̷̷ỪS̸̨̧Ę̵͞ ̵̵̨́͡T͘͢͡͡H̶̨̕͜E̵͏҉͘ ̧́͟͟C͘͜H̡͠A̵͜N̸͘N͏͢҉̡̕É̸͜͜͠L̶̷̶̕ ̧̛͡L̡͟͡͝҉E̵̶̵̕͏A̸̛V̴̴̡E̢̢͏͏͡ ̷̵̛͞͠I̶̢͟͠T͟͝҉̢ ̷̴̸̡͝Ą͡͏L̡̨̕͝Ǫ͏̸N҉̷́Ȩ̸̀ ̸͡͡͏À͘͝N͟O̷̸͘͘͜T̛͏̧H̸́͘͠͝Ȩ̶̷͏R̸҉͢ ̴̨̨̀D̵̢̕͘I҉̸̀҉͡M̀͜É͞N͜҉͡S̵̡̢͜͡Í̸O҉͠͠N͏̡͜ ̡͟͜C̛͢͟͏A͏̶͜N͜N̷̡̛҉O҉̷̴̸͘T̀̕ ̴̵̵̷B͏̷E̴̡ ̧͝D̴̵̴̀͠È͟͝͡S̸̛͘T̢͏̨̢Ŕ͏̸̕͡O̷Y̷҉͢Ę̵̧́̕D́͜ ̷̸̴͢͠Ţ̢̀͠O̵͡ ̶̛͟͢Ś͝Ę͘͝È́͘҉K͏͏ ̢͟͜O̶U̧T́ ̀Ţ̢͠͠H̸̶E͏͏͟ ̸͟S̡͞͝͡I͡͠C͘͜͡K̴̨͢͞Ĺ̵͝͡Y̸̴ ̵͟͠͞S̴̴͠U͟͠͝N̷̶ ̛̕͟͞I̴̕͞҉͢Ś̡̕͟͢ ̶̨͜F͝҉҉O̢͡L̶̷̛͘L̴̡͝͡Ỳ̸͢" The Starchild frowned as the message was picked up and, deciding it would be safest to disregard it for the time being, continued searching for something else. There! She picked up a transmission; Something about an Eernal Union and Icandarians and... Household appliances? It seemed to be a civilian broadcast. Whatever the case, she was certain the message would be passed up and if not it would be no great loss. Communications systems active She prepared the frequency of the wave to repeat every two hours before transmitting a message back to the point of origin, in the hopes that the species in question would be able to pick it up [hider=Message to the Eternal Union] . . .. ... ..... ........ ............. ..................... .................................. ....................................................... ......................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................ ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. [/hider] [hider= Online Systems] Automated defense grid Fabrication facility 001 Communications systems Stealth device Scanning and detection systems Power Core 001 [/hider] [hider= Available Forces] 128x Defence fabricants [/hider] [u]Near an outlying EU world[/u] An Honour class Corvette came out of a jump in system, almost crashing into a passing EU ship. Scans would reveal that it had sustained some damage and the ship quickly made evasive manoeuvres in order to avoid crashing into the ship. After several minutes had passed and presumably the Lorca had identified who they were dealing with, the ship began to transmit a message to the EU planet in the Black tongue, the usual harsh and guttural language of the Lorca military. It was interspaced with a few butchered words and phrases such as "Iscandarian", "Union eternal", "crash in asteroid" and "assistance".