[center][h1]Asrian Ascendancy[/h1][/center]
Nautilian sat in his chair in the darkened room. He was watching a holographic image of his wife, holding his young son, who was barely 1 year old. [b]“-and little Arlius here used psionics for the first time.”[/b] The woman in the picture said as she looked with proud eyes at her son. [b]“He levitated some blocks. They were very light and small, but he did levitate them.”[/b] She said as she tickled him. The child let out a laugh that melted Nautilian but pierced his heart as well. [b]“Anyway, I’ve spoken with your brother-“[/b] That surprised Nautilian. [b]“-and he told me you will be relieved in six months. Sooner, if Olliana manages to close a deal with the Rolvians.”[/b] There was a sense of melancholy in her voice. [b]“He says he wants you on Manir then.”[/b] That explained why his older brother wanted him off Adgemnar. He still thought of Nautilian as only a scholar. Not an entirely unjust consideration but Nautilian did wish he would be known as something else. The woman, Nimueh, was quiet for a moment. As if she was gathering the strength to speak the next words. [b]“I want you home, Nautilian. Arlius needs you home. Adgemnar is not safe. Please, come home.”[/b] The hologram cut out, leaving Nautilian alone in the dark.

Was it selfish that he shared her desire to be home? Perhaps. He was a prince, he had a duty to his people. In his younger years, he would’ve done anything to go to Manir. The cursed and fabled planet. But when you’re young you’re allowed to be reckless and impulsive. Now he had a child and he had different duties as well. He got up and stood in the holographic circle. With a few tabs on his wrist-mounted controller, he bid the holographic recorders to link up with the audio system in his suit. For a second he closed his eyes, trying to conjure up Nimueh standing before him.

[b]“My love. I promise you that I will be safe. We are at a science outpost. We pose no threat to anyone from here. I know you want me back and I understand. Just wait for me. I will-“[/b] His recording got cut when the ground quacked beneath him. He could hear an explosion erupting. He ran outside to see what was happening but was greeted by pandemonium. His commanders were jumped. The perimeter was already getting tested. The artillery Thralls were lobbing superheated plasma through the sky in an attempt to destroy the enemy but there were too many. Great trails of flame painted the sky as the metal pods came down. Soon blue light of the Asrian anti-aerial guns streaked across the sky as well. A thunder cracked through the air as strange colored lightning shot upwards. Destroyed pods fell down from the heavens in a rain of fire, metal and burned flesh. Still, there were far more pods than the Asrians could handle.

[b]“Sir, we are under attack. What are our orders?”[/b] the High Commander asked, but Nautilian needed a minute to take the situation in.

After the third explosion rippled across the battlefield did he finally speak: [b]“Take the shuttles. Evacuate the scientists first. Then military personnel. Burn every bit of data you can't secure and request a purge on our location.”[/b] The High Commander nodded and moved on, barking orders and pushing pilots towards the shuttles. Nautilian himself ran towards a console and begin uploading the data they had gathered onto his suit.

Right then a hostile walker broke through the perimeter and shot an Artillery Thrall to pieces. It soon aimed its weapon at one of the crippled scientists, laying on the floor with his foot broken by rocks. He tried to push them off with telekinesis.  A slow process that was not aided by the panic of imminent destruction. Nautilian reached out with his hand. Invisible force clamped around the walker’s gun and pushed it away. The shots missed, the rock moved and the scientist was free. [b]“Get out of here. Head for the shuttle!”[/b] Nautilian yelled as he still held the walker’s weapon up. But the other arm turned around and took aim at Nautilian. Who was quick to psionically grab it as well. With as much force as he could muster, he pushed it back before he de-activated the seal of the runes on his arm. Though those took a moment to power up and a second walker joined the first. Nautilian pushed his gun turn towards the first walker right before it shot. Projectiles had no allegiance and the fire ripped through its brother. Before Nautilian grabbed the second’s chest and crushed it with both hands. The telekinetic forces squeezed the metal as hard as it could. The prince only stopped when he saw liquid pouring out of the carcass. The walker dropped down dead.

But the breach was there and infantry began pouring through the gap. Sadly for them, the Runic modules on Nautilian’s arm finally came to life with arches of lightning.

[center]~[/center]

The Asrian outpost was a wasteland. Fires raged and broken Thralls were everywhere. To Nautilian’s dismay, he could see the blood of his kin mixed in as well. The last few shuttles were taking off. So far almost all shuttles made it to safety in space. Where an Eternity-Class was rapidly approaching to pick them up and purge the location. Almost but not all. One shuttle was now smoldering wreckage on its landing pad. A painful memory of Nautilian who failed to protect it. Thirty Asrians onboard, mostly scientists, paid the price. 

For a moment it was calm, or calmer than it should be during a battle. The enemy was possibly grouping up for a second way. Nautilian then realized the recording of the suit was only paused. He activated it again. There would be no hologram. No images of his ashen face, broken left arm or the bloodmud clinging to his legs. But there was pain in his voice. [b]“Nimueh. I’m sorry. I made you a widow but please, make sure Arlius doesn’t suffer a bitter life. Tell him that I love him. That I will always love him. Tell him that the sky is beautiful and the grass is soft because it is meant to be that way. Tell him the stars glitter at night because they are supposed to. Please, make sure he is not angry at the galaxy. Make sure that his fire burns for peace, for knowledge or beauty. Not for carnage and slaughter.”[/b]

[b]“And to you my love. Forgive me for all the mistakes I have made. For the choices I made. I love you. I will always love you but what I will do now, I do not as a father or a husband but as a Prince of Asra.”[/b] He cut the recording as the second to last shuttle took off. Wordless he commanded his suit to transmit his recording onto the ship together with the last bit of data he still on his suit.

The last shuttle still needed the last drops of fuel to make it to space. A few more minutes it needed and Nautilian would give it that. A new row of bombs and shell landed around him. Dust and smoke billowed up. Through the ground he could feel the rythmic movement of the enemy walkers, joined with a chaotic chorus of smaller steps. They were coming.

A bloodied Nautilian pulled himself up with a pole. His left leg could no longer bear his weight. It was bloodied and broken but the Prince felt nothing. Nothing but power as he tapped into the last bit he had inside of him. Lightning surged around him and the pole. From the cloud of dust lightning once more sparked. Burning and killing whoever came too close. Thunder still ripped through the air. "Do not think I will go gently to my grave!" Nautilian yelled at his enemy as he flung three Acolytes through the dust and air. "I am a Prince of Asra!"

[center]~[/center]

From orbit captain Sumri of House Alroy watched as she saw lightning cracked across the screen. The main screen on the bridge showed a detailed image of the ground below from orbit. Right now it showed the warzone that was the former scientific outpost. Wrecks of walkers, blobs of flesh, ash, and mud mixed together in an almost artful painting. Hershina would remember how it looked later today when she could retire to her own chambers. Amid that swirling, almost tranquil beauty there was one thing standing in stark defiance of the destruction around him. Nautilian. His great arcs of lightning sundered the enemy, but he was weakening. The last of the shuttles were inbound now. Secretly Sumri wished the Prince would die before they got here. She would not kill her own prince. Not even if the order came from him directly. Finally, right before the last shuttle had arrived, did Nautilian’s arcs stop. A vile and monstrous creature step forward as the gunfire stopped. Streaks of blood could already be seen behind Nautilian from the top-down view. Sumri guessed he would be hit at least two times. But his upright position showed he was still standing. Not for long though. The thing pushed its clawed arm through him. A great stroke of blood appeared on the ground behind him. A moment later and Nautilian, Second Prince of Asra, fell down and died.

An audible gasp echoed through the bridge. Captain Sumri kept the console with the last shuttle in the corner of her eye. It was safe. [b]“Fire.”[/b] She said, softly but much to the surprise of her gun master. [b]“Captain… Prince Nautilian’s body. We must-“[/b]

[b]“Unobtainable. Fire the Deliverance beams. We must honor the prince’s last command.”[/b] She was icy, as always. She had to be. Though inside her stomach turned into a heavy knot.

The gun master was still shaken but passed the order through. A moment later four bright beams of blue light crashed down upon the land below. the first hit reduced everything to molten slag. A shockwave destroyed the last of the make-shift housing that was already ruined. A moment later and a firestorm rippled from the mountain observation post. Incinerating everything. Nautilian was reduced to ash. Anything useful was purged and destroyed in the following attacks. Then the Battleship left the orbit once more.