((Yeah uh… the asteroid is now travelling at a constant speed of around 10% the speed of light, so just under 30,000 KM a second.))
New Condria
The S'Luk ships jerked as they were attack by the Terran ships, one of them activating it's pulse to push the kinetic weapons away from the first group, before being damage by the plasma weaponry and drifting towards the plane, clearly no longer capable of movement (though apparently capable of firing, as it still kept firing one of it's aft weapons at the fleeing Terran fleet. The rest of the damage resulted in the destruction of one of the cruisers, and the failing of another cruisers shields. Two of the others, the group which had been moving to investigate the disturbances, suffered engine damage as the missile pods slammed into them, taking away the cruisers advantage of speed. As the fleet fled, a single message was transmitted back through electronic communications in an almost sad and mournful tone. It wasn't as omniprescent as the voice of the mind it's self, apparently sent by a battle form or thinker form rather than the Mind.
"Your deaths are all as inevitable as the deaths in this fight, but we shall suffer the progress of infinitude. We shall not follow you, but should our paths cross again we shall hasten your end."
The asteroid continued to travel across the system towards New Condria and it’s shimmering shield. (One post from both Duck and Alpha, and another post from myself (Obviously the impact post) until impact)
In the wake of the asteroid, however, arrived 50 new ships with varying sizes, with another new ship which appeared somewhat larger than the others and more up to date. These ships were overgrown by the same sickly coloured biomass as the one from Outpost 5A, and the way it fired a warning shot to drive away the two S’Luk investigating cruisers identified it was a separate hive. The two minds communicated with each other telepathically
”Did you think we would not come?”
”Why have you come? I offer no forgiveness…”
”They tell us of a change in the heavens, sense the closing of a chapter and a turn of the page. So naive, the poor child!”
”Then we must finish the feast here and move quickly… This is our feast…”
”We shall see”
The S’Ark ships moved forwards and began to engage the hostile fleets, twenty of them firing at the weakened fleet shield in an attempt to break through it and fight the newly arrived EU fleet. The rest of it engaged the Sazkarjhit fleets, while the S’Luk ships moved above and began to engage the two on their flanks, apparently eager to let S’Ark take the blows despite S’Arks higher position on the hierarchy. The transports under S’Luk control, tried to ram the Sazkarjhit ships in an attempt to break into them and board them.
The largest S'Ark ship, apparently the flagship, broke off and went to engage the Normandy, apparently angry that a single Terran ship had remained behind.It fired off severaral barrages of plasma towards the Normandy, and engaged a similar beam like weapon to the one the S'Luk battleships had been using before, attempting to destabalise the Normandy's shield systems.
S'Arks arrival heralded a new danger for the pilots of the bombers and fighters the Terrans were using. As they would discover when they first strayed too close, the ships were very much alive and very much against being bombed. Tentacles escaped from small protrusions and attempts to grab at the passing ships light hungry chicks being fed a worm, attempting to crush the human fighters and bombers before seeking out and taking the hapless individual from within and proceeding to pull them inside. The tentacles had a deceptively and surprisingly large reach, and any they could not reach were shot at by laser point defence weaponry. S'Luk attempted the same tactic it had tried earlier, attempting to spam any computers the human small craft were using.
The two forces of the hives spread forwards, and behind the S’Luk ships jumped in another set of S’Ark ships, 20 of them in total, who moved forwards to join the battle on the right flank of the Sazkarjhit ships.
The voice of S’Ark boomed out over the planet, followed by the quieter and more composed voice of S’Luk
"We have no pity within us, but in its place impatience –Other minds like yours have been consumed. Although once we were embraced willingly on the deathbed, the moment when sentient life discovers it will do anything to evade deaths iced embrace. We shall gift you eternal life!"
”Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Meanwhile, another ship appeared on the other end of the system. This time, it was but one ship and communicated with neither of the other ships. It was of the same size as the S’Luk cruisers, but didn’t seem to interact with them. It just hung in place for a few moments, before turning and leaving the system again.
More disturbances again cropped up around the system, in preparation for the “Feeding” or “Joining” of New Condria…
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shylarah