Ashia Nova's Story

"Uh... what'ssss going on?!" Abraxas cried. The girl ignored him, and kept driving forward despite the Starfighters following them in close pursuit. Farther back, the Militia Battle-Fighters were being massacred by their new friends - or were they foes? "Sssshouldn't we jusssst sssstop and do what they want ussss to do?!"

"No. We must get you to the Protectors, and quickly before -" The girl paused, quickly looking back towards the lead Militian ship. "Oh no..." Abraxas squinted, trying to see what she was seeing; a lone figure, standing on top of the roof of the lead Militian ship. They wore something that looked like a cross between a void survival suit and medieval knight armor. They wore large, silver gauntlets. "Not her... no, no, no, we have to move." The girl sped the ship up quickly.

The figure moved their palms apart from each other, and then clapped them together in a thunderous boom. Immediately, there was what seemed to be a sudden short-circuit; the engines, blasters, and shields of all the ships immediately turned off - including the ones on the space shuttle. "Dammit!" The girl cursed, as the figure turned towards them with hand extended, from which a bright light was coming.

The girl turned back towards him, speaking hurriedly. "Listen to me, Abraxas. I know you do not know me, but trust me. I am about to send you out a space pod. That laser Captain Ashia is about to blast will destroy this ship, and you if you don't get out. But whatever happens, you must promise that you will find the Protectors no matter what, do you understand?"

Abraxas slowly nodded. "Then, Godspeed to you, and don't die," She said, and he became enveloped in darkness.

He was shot out in a space pod. The Classis I Sector Langara could do nothing but watch as the figure fired their laser, blasting through the space shuttle in a massive explosion, while the space pod containing Abraxas spiraled away into darkness.

* * * *

A moment after, the ships rebooted, and became at full functionality.

The Roman Fell Fleet sped to power. The emperor hurried and got in to the main fleet ship smiling a holy smile. He entered the large star cruiser that was fully repaired. The large 10 kilometer fighter class ships were the first up, with a brilliant blue and red light, were up in the atmosphere within seconds. Large craters were left from were the ships had taken off. Rome sent a transmission to the Aschen Empire, knowing it would reach them, and that they couldn't ignore the giant capital ship trying to reach them.

"If this reaches you, I want to let you know, we are not the enemy. We were attacked by a large, unidentified, bandit capital city ship. If we have intruded in you're territory, we will leave" Rome said in his light, charming voice that he has always had. "OH! and please ignore our capital ship, along with the others, you see, we do not have a planet to call home, so we travel and live on ships. Our fighter ships are just a precaution in case wear are attacked without warning, but do not attack unless they are shot at." And with that, his transmission ended.

Once he was sure it was not recording anymore, he had a pained face. Was this the end of the newly formed Roman Fell Empire? The question haunted him, as he waited for a response.

Abraxas was cold. Being a reptile, he was cold-blooded and thus relied on his surroundings for heat. In this cramped egg-like escape pod - which was barely big enough for his seat, let alone him - there was not much heat, except for a heater unit that seemed to be on the fritz. Probably from that giant explosion, he thought.

His mind turned back to the attack. He was still confused. To him, he'd just gone to a low-key bar for a drink, met this strange girl, got attacked by the Militia, was saved by the newly-formed Roman Fell Empire's ruler but whisked away by said strange girl on a space shuttle, and then they got attacked by the Militia again! Some other people came to their rescue, but some random guy blasted it apart along with, presumably, the girl, but not before she'd saved his life by putting him in here.

She'd saved his life, and he didn't even know her name.

Abraxas looked at Firecracker, his yew bow which was covered in glowing green runes. He'd never known how the runes got there and what made them glow. Hell, he didn't even know if it's abilities to make his arrows more harmful was magic or high science. Could this be what the girl said her group, the Protectors, wanted? Or, perhaps, the Quiver of Infinity, a quiver which never ran out of arrows? Certainly, both would be quite useful; however, he'd learned that their separate powers were only possible if used in tandem with each other. That would be quite the liability, indeed, if they only wanted one or the other.

Suddenly, there was a large amount of bumping, and Abraxas could see clouds through the viewport in front of him. There was a great amount of turbulence, and he most certainly would've cracked his head on the ceiling if not for the heavy-duty straps keeping him in his seat.

I'm falling through the sky! He panicked and tried to keep himself calm, even as the pod fell at breakneck speed down into the planet below...

* * * *

Sara awoke upon an operating table. She did not know whether she was on the Militia's ship or their newfound allies' - likely the former, as the Militia would've just killed her. It drained her quite considerably to keep her body in a stasis for so long in the void of space, and she had blacked out eventually.

Abraxas of Blackrock, stay safe, wherever you are, she thought to herself, as the door to the room opened and people filed in. The interrogation was in session.

The Raptor Talons closed quickly on the Militia's fighters, technologically superior in every way to these local vessels, the Raptor Talons made short work of their foes, as small projectiles chewed through ship hulls and shields alike.

"This is Orthros leader, i've got... all fighters break!" The Squadron captain shouted into his comms as they picked up the energy surge from the impending psychic attack; an attack which washed over the fighter craft relatively harmlessly and without too much fanfare.

Aschen Technology was the culmination of years of research and understand, into both magical sciences, and of psychics, years of combat both tooth and nail against adversaries that were leagues ahead of even the mighty Militia; to the Aschen, this was a cancerous tumor that had been allowed to fester because of inaction, this was a mistake that Admiral Whitcomb intended to rectify.

She watched the readouts silently safely aboard the CIC of her ship, the three-dimensional holographic projections bobbing, and weaving about the battlefield.

She didn't say anything for a moment, a powerful surge of energy followed, and the small shuttle appeared to have been destroyed.

"Alpha team, capture any survivors and bring them aboard, have them prepped and readied for interrogation." Whitcomb ordered, before switching frequencies to address the Romans.

"Disengage your weapons, and your engines, and surrender." She ordered coldly. "You will remain where you are until we can ascertain the intent of your people; if you are truly vagrants, then you will have little to offer us, but resist our demands at your own peril." Whitcomb replied.

Her lips pursed into a thin frown, before turning to her tactical officer.

"Sitrep.."

The young officer checked his readouts, before nodding and offering his report.

"Sir, it appears from our intelligence sources, that our lack of influence in this sector has lead to the rise of several independent entities on this world. This 'Militia... is but one of many factions on Blackrock.. the Chairman will not be pleased at this development..."

Whitcomb nodded in agreement. "The one that we captured... prepare a psychic inhibitor, and antimana containment cell... the survivor from the shuttle... transfer them to Holding cell B-3... place them in the Aurora Chair..." She said, nodding to her XO.

"Colonel Ronson; you have the Conn."

With that, Whitcomb turned to leave.

---

Captain Ashia would find herself, once apprehended placed in a small room, a metal collar of some kind affixed to her neck, and her armor stripped from her, leaving only a simple red colored prison jumpsuit, the metal collar was a peculiar device, and she would likely find herself unable to access her psychic abilities, nor any magical abilities that she may posses.

The holding door chimed with an odd crystalline sound, before opening to reveal a pair of Aschen soldiers, clad in a powered Cuirasse exoskeleton and armed with rather sleek looking MC-1 assault carbines. Standing with the pair was a woman, slender in build and wearing all black.

She took a step into the room and the door snapped shut behind her, then she tossed a small stack of files to the Militia captain's feet.

Her only words were. "Who are you people?"

---

The young woman, Sara wouldn't awaken on an operating table, and though it would seem she was in some kind of lab, she was in fact seated in a device the Aschen came to know as the Aurora Chair; she would be strapped in, hands and ankles restrained to the chair as Admiral Whitcomb stood over her.

A technician moved slowly to affix electrodes to the girl's head, the Aurora Chair was designed to forcibly and painfully map the victim's psyche, forcibly extracting memories and displaying them on a screen.

---

A squadron of Raptor Talons quickly reoriented themselves to the arrival of the small alien craft, along with a Condor transport, they moved quickly to intercept.

"I already told you," Said Ashia in a smooth tone, "I am no psychic, and have never possessed any such abilities."
"If you weren't a psychic, then, how precisely were you able to manifest such abilities? Were they magical? Were they technological? It's clear this Militia has been allowed to fester without our presence here. Tell me more about them." The women demanded, glaring down to the Captain.

"I speak the truth that, when I used those powers, they were not of my own caliber. I possess no psionic, nor magical, powers whatsoever. As for the powers themselves, I'm afraid I cannot tell you of their nature without giving away top secret information to our cause. Surely you would understand."

The woman grinned, and then leaned forward. "You're not exactly in a position to decide what to tell us, and what not to tell us, Captain." The IIA Agent said calmly. "We have ways of extracting information from you; you can either profit from this... or we can consider the alternatives..."

At that moment, a door opened up behind them, and two marines stepped inside carrying a bright yellow briefcase of some kind, they pulled up a table, and placed the briefcase upon it.

The Interrogator, Erin Solis stood up from her seat, and moved towards the briefcase, where several torture implements were housed. She snapped it open, and looked down at the assortment of instruements.
She turned to regard Ashia for just a moment.

Ashia Nova was a tall woman in her mid-twenties. She had a regal bearing, and somehow managed to look haughty even as the prisoner of those who destroyed her fleet. She had an olive complexion, a youthful yet cold face, long black hair and brown eyes.
Despite the thoughts of her captors, she was telling the complete truth. She had never possessed psychic abilities, but her true secret was that those powers came from her silver gauntlets. Known as the Gauntlets of Doom, they had been created by four psions who wanted to see if they could pass their abilities on to others. The result was a set of gauntlets that allowed her to short circuit technological devices, generate extreme amounts of cold, move things from far away, and fire blasts of intensely hot plasma.

Her captors had unwittingly put her gauntlets with the rest of her armor. But she wasn't about to share her secret with these people. From the looks of it, they appeared to be from the Aschen Empire - Ashia found this strange, as they had been derelict for quite some time, it seemed. She intended to find this out; unfortunately, it would require much wordplay on her part.
Solis chose a small baton, and she picked it up, while the two Marines pulled the table away from Ashia.

"Now, I'll ask you again, who are you; and who do you work for?" Solis asked coldly.
Ashia managed to keep her fear under control. To give in was to be humiliated. She could give some ground, but not grovel like a dog. "My name is Ashia Nova, and I am Captain of the Militian Fleet of the Kreios Galaxy. I have offered my services to the Supreme Leader, Khorelan Gavax VII, and my loyalty cannot be swayed."

Solis offered a slight, malevolant chuckle, before she moved to bring the baton swiftly across Ashia's knees. Ashia took the blow, grunting but otherwise alright. "Hey, I did what you bastards asked."

"How did your Militia come to power on this world, especially without the Empire noticing?" Erin asked, squeezing the baton in her hand, and bringing it down on the table with a deafening snap. "What is your military strength? Where is your home world!?" Solis shouted. Her shrill voice and thick Aerilonian accent filled the room, drilling a brief moment of tension with the marine guards.
"Alright, calm down, I'll tell you. God, you guys are more insane than us." Ashia flashed a quick, sly smile, then continued. "We are on Blackrock, we're quite strong, and considering you guys were apparently semi-dormant for quite some time, it's really no surprise how we came to power."

Solis offered a slight nod, while her assistant took notations. "This world is the sovereign domain of the Aschen Empire, your Militia will not be able to rule this world for much longer."
"Well, you know what they say; finders, keepers."

Solis chuckled, and then moved to swiftly bring the Baton across Ashia's face. This time Ashia cried out, her nose crinkling with a sickening crunch. "Mind your tongue, Xenos!" She barked, and then she moved back to the bright yellow case. "As easily as you cracked... this world will be retaken easily." She said, nodding to her Marine.

"Take her back to her cell, no food rations, we'll implement the tantalus torment on her, and she will learn her place." Solis ordered, and the Marines nodded.

Her captors had unwittingly put her gauntlets with the rest of her armor. But she wasn't about to share her secret with these people. From the looks of it, they appeared to be from the Aschen Empire - Ashia found this strange, as they had been derelict for quite some time, it seemed. She intended to find this out; unfortunately, it would require much wordplay on her part.

* * * *

Sara grit her teeth against the pain as the Aurora Chair sifted through her memories like grains of sand. Currently, the Admiral was watching one of her sessions of meditation with her grandfather, from a long time ago. What right do these people think they have to look through my personal life like this?! She thought.

"Come now, my girl, make me happier with your mind, like I showed you." "Grandfather, I can't!" "Yes you can, when you put your mind to it." "Grandfather, I CAN'T!!!" "Trust me, my dear, please. You did it before, you can do it now. All you need to do is concentrate."

The woman stood in silence as she watched the display in front of her, glancing for a moment towards the Technician operating the Aurora chair, while sifting through the memories it was extracting.

"It will take some time to map this prisoner's neural pathways." The Technician said.
Whitcomb nodded. "The IIA Is interrogating the other prisoner..." She said, before she turned back to Sara.
"Go... to... hell... " Sara growled through the pain.
Whitcomb simply huffed, then she turned to the technician, and gestured with her hand. The Technician nodded, and turned up the machine.
The pain intensified, and Sara screamed.

* * * *

The escape pod smoked in the ground. It had burrowed about halfway down, and the door out was stuck. Abraxas couldn't get out.
"Help! HELP!" He screamed from within the pod. Suddenly, a figure appeared on the other side. It was a young girl with sandy hair and dark eyes. She wore an outfit consisting of a leather jacket, a loose shirt underneath and khaki pants with plastic kneepads. There was a forest green bandana tied around her head.

She took out some sort of club-like weapon. She bashed hard of the door. It started to crack. She kept going until the glass part shattered, with a hole big enough for Abraxas to squeeze throught the result.

Abraxas clambered out, in a daze. The girl stood before him, arms crossed, club on a sling around her shoulder.
"Could somebody explain what the hell all this fighting is about?" She asked him.

Sorry, there's a lot of it. Anyways, thanks for all your help!

Sara wept alone in her cell.

They knew all about the Protectors. They had taken this information from her by force; location, lore, everything. Hopefully, since they'd attacked the Militia, they would see the Protectors as friends rather than foes.

Sadly, deep in her heart, she felt that this may have been just wishful thinking. These were heartless people. They had searched through her memories without a care for her well-being. And thus, she wept.

The cell door opened, and a bright light shone into the cell room. Sara shielded her eyes. She was tired, hungry, depressed and her neck hurt from the iron collar that suppressed her powers.

"Surprise. You have a cellmate," Said the guard mockingly. He tossed somebody in, then closed the door. With a start, she recognized the figure as Captain Ashia.

"You survived," Noted Ashia as she saw Sara.

"So did you."

"Did they interrogate you, too?"

"It was less an 'interrogation' and more of a 'forced memory revelation'."

Ashia nodded, then sat next to her against the wall. Sara felt a bit confused. Here was the commander of the group which hated the Protectors for God knows how long, and yet she was not trying to kill and/or demean Sara.

"Why are you doing this?" She finally asked.

"Doing what?"

"Trying to befriend me. We both know that under normal circumstances, we'd be at each other's throats."

Ashia chuckled. "Hey, there's not really much else to do. Besides, we got sort of a mutual need."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you heard me right. We've got to work together if we're gonna get off of this ship."

Ashia leaned close. "Do you see a guard out there?" She whispered.

Sara moved to the door. She was surprised to see no guard posted near the door. "I see nobody."

"Good. Now, turn away for a moment, I need to slip out of this outfit and get something."

Sara, despite not knowing her intent, respectfully turned around as Ashia did whatever she had to. When she turned back, the Militian Commander was holding a large, partially feces-stained bag. She flinched back, disgusted.

"I've made a rule to seize every advantage I can manage. I'm just glad they didn't do a cavity search." She reached into the bag and pulled out some tools, including a screwdriver and pliers. "Now, let's get that collar off of you, shall we?"

Sara had to hand it to Ashia; she really was quite a resourceful woman. Her collar off, she could now perform her empathic abilities. She sat down on the floor cross-legged, in a trance while Ashia worked on her own collar. She tapped into her psychic pool, the part of her brain that gave her psionics. She used this to heighten the levels of boredom in everyone, making them less observant and more relaxed. That way, they could escape easier.

"Done," Called Ashia as Sara got up. Together they pulled the door off it's weakened hinges and propped it against the wall.

"We shouldn't have to worry about anyone watching us through those cameras. I made everyone less observant."

"Good job. We'd better hurry, though." They approached a door. They quietly opened it. Inside was a bored-looking guard with a gun and a box with Ashia's armor in it.

Sara made the guard go unconscious while Ashia put on her armor and gauntlets. "Alright, let's go."

They sneaked along the hallway, knocking out any guards who happened to be there. At last, they approached a small hangar with a couple space shuttles. Perfect.

As they moved towards the shuttles, they heard the movement of many feet. They turned to see a troop of Aschen soldiers with lethal weapons.

The troop opened fire on them. Ashia and Sara dove for cover. A bullet grazed Sara's ear. From behind a shuttle, Ashia clapped her hands together. Immediately, the lights went out, and the guards weapons stopped firing. There was shouting.

"Why did you do that?! Now we can't use the shuttles!" Sara whispered harshly.

"I'd never planned on using them." Ashia walked to a rack of parachutes and brought back two. "Put 'em on quickly, there's not much time."

No sooner then they had them on, the lights came back on. Ashia blasted a wave of cold that jammed the guns and froze them to the ground. She opened the bay doors, and together, they jumped out of the ship and through the sky.

* * * *

Lilith and Abraxas had been wondering why the ship had suddenly stopped when they saw two figures jump out and float safely to the ground via parachute. One figure he recognized.

"Abraxas! We must hurry!" The girl cried, running towards him. Abraxas looked behind her and saw the Admiral of the Militia behind her.

She noticed him looking. "Don't worry, I'm with you guys for now." Abraxas was still suspicious, however.

"There's not much time. We need to leave, and quickly."

Rome sat there, in his throne, watching in awe of what happened. He saw guns being shot within the ship. He laughed with glee! (One of his features is that he is crazy, but most don't know) "Now how did anyone get out in that big ship?" Rome laughed hysterically.

He was beginning to like watching a bit more (But would still help if asked or if it was needed) But in all honesty, he would not save whoever it is on that ship, at least, if it meant endangering his people.

Meanwhile, the others were running for cover. "Come, we must hurry!" called the girl. Abraxas hurried after, with the Commander close behind.

Suddenly, there was a shot, and Ashia cried out. Abraxas looked behind him to see that the Militian Commander had fallen to the earth, a bullet having pierced straight through her calf. "Go on!" She commanded. "I'll hold them off! Go!"

"But..." The girl started to say.

"Go, Sara!"

She hesitated, then ran off. Abraxas followed off, confused. He'd thought the Militia hated the Protectors, according to the girl, Sara. Funny, he'd known her for probably known her for maybe an hour, and he hadn't learned her name until now.

Ashia blasted away at the ship with her gauntlets, but they didn't seem to do much damage. Lilith just stayed where she was. Abraxas hoped she'd be alright, as he ran through the desolate deserts of Blackrock.

* * * *

Unfortunately for them, they did not know that while Commander Ashia blasted at the Laranga, she simultaneously contacted Supreme Leader Gavax to come in full force. Hopefully, with all their troops together - maybe 50 times the number of ships from the first encounter with the Aschen Empire - they could fend off this threat; while at the same time capturing the girl from the Protectors and the snake man. And possibly whoever that other woman was.

Ashia's lips turned upward into a cruel smile. Their mutual need had expired. Like she said, she seized every advantage she could.

Rome peered out of the ship deck at the self-attacking ship and decided to do something. "This is the emperor of the Roman Fell Empire, do you require any assistance from my fleet?" He sent the transmission to the large ship ahead of them.

* * * *

As C.O.R.e entered from light speed, it stopped in the center of the battlefield stunning and throwing everyone back, as well as the debris from the fallen ships. This particular Angel decender's color was Black and running down the ship was a lively color of green smoothly going blue and then back to green. Out of nowhere a loud roar, shacking everything and heard, even in the deadly silence of space. It came to everyone that it was scanning them. Out of nowhere it's lovely green/blue color disappeared and tuned to a deadly blood/rose red.

It's decision was to eliminate the organic filth who called themselves the "Militia" Threat level: Minimal

The belly opened and released about one hundred upon hundreds of Space charges equiped with the formal front laser and explosive detonator. A little later after about 26 Militia ships the chargers came back to the Angel decender feeling that it showed it's power, the ship now lay dormant, as if waiting to see what the Aschen Empire would do, and what the appropriate thing would be to respond to them would be.

The Militian Surface-cruisers crested over the badlands and sped through the landscape. This was not good.
"Damn, how's there so many of them!?" Cried Ara, the girl who had rescued Abraxas from the space pod.
Sara was muttering to herself as the three of them ran on. "This is insane, I mean we knew that they had tons of soldiers but why would they send all of their forces to get us? That seems like a lot for just us three, but I can't really affect them from inside of thei-"
She was cut off as the Surface-Cruisers sped by, followed by Battle-Fighters, War-Fighters and other fighter ships. The surface-cruisers were like scouts, figuring out the landscape so the warriors could charge on. They all flew up to the Aschen mothership and began to open fire. There were maybe five hundred of them, way more than there were in the Aschen fleet. What the Militia didn't have in power, they made up for in numbers.
"Ah..." Sara realized. Ashia was sending out all of the fleet in force, so that they could fight the enemy! She really was wise.
"Uh, guyssss?" Abraxas said, a tad bit of worry in his hissing voice. "Thosssse Ssssurface-Cruisssserssss are getting awfully closssse to ussss..."
Sara turned, and noticed that Abraxas was indeed right. A few of them were coming for them. The nosegunner began opening fire, and the group ran. "Of all of the sneakiest, worst betrayals!!!" Sara shouted, along with quite a few colorful words about Ashia's heritage.
She was right about Ashia being wise. With so many troops and Sara's mislead trust, she could take out both foes in one go. Sara began to feel annoyed at Ashia's cleverness.

* * *

As she knelt on the ground, a lone Surface-Cruiser picked her up. The team in it helped her on the ship and gave her some painkillers before taking off back to the Militia base.
To be truthfully honest, she felt a bit bad about betraying Sara. The girl really was okay, not stuffy or insufferable like the other members of the Protectors.
Ashia shook her head. No, this was right. Lord Gavax would want this done, and she was eternally faithful to him. Over everything else.

"All ships forward! We will not yield to these pigs!"
Ashia directed her soldiers back at the Militia, commanding them and trying her best to keep them from harm even as the surgeons worked on removing the bullet lodged in her leg. She grit her teeth through the pain as she spoke.
"T5 through 8, on your left! T6 barrel roll now!" These words would hopefully warn the Militian battle-fighters of incoming enemies or missiles.
A small part of her had already lost hope. It knew that the Aschen fleet had too many ships, with too advanced weaponry, and that it was unlikely that they would win. Her more faithful part shoved those thoughts down. Her men counted on her.
She could only hope they would live to see the rising sun.

* * *

"Quickly! Into that cave!" Shouted Sara. The group ran for a small cave opening, only big enough for them to squeeze through and not the surface-cruisers hot on their trail.
They slipped into the cave opening, and went behind a small ridge. Ara was breathing heavily. Abraxas looked a bit dazed; he'd been running for a while.
Suddenly, something clanked down and rolled over to them, and Sara could hear the surface-cruiser speeding away. They all stared at the object.
It was a grenade.
Quick as lightning, Abraxas snatched up the grenade and tossed back outside the cave, where it soon exploded. The ground shuddered, but fortunately there was no cave-in.
"Nice reflexes," Ara remarked.
"Thankssss. When you live on the sssstreet, you ssssoon learn that it'ssss kind of a necessssssssity."

Sara had been prepared to keep her stasis going for an hour, maybe two. She'd only needed it for under a minute.
The trio stared at the wreckage of robotic parts. They were speckled with so many bullet holes it had looked like the things had switched their paint job to "polka dots". Abraxas noticed something in the ground. He knelt down and picked it up. A bullet, the type that would come from a chain or machine gun. The plot thickens, he thought bemusedly.
The girl, Ara, started carefully cutting off the weakened parts of the robots and storing them in the large pack she wore on her back. When Abraxas inquired about what she was doing, she explained that her family collected scrap and made gear out of it. She would take this home and study it.
"Yeah, but how are we gonna get home!?" Abraxas fretted.
"My Sand-Trekker 90 is a little ways over west. We're not too far from it now." She paused as the others stared at her. "What? Where did you think we were running anyways?"
"Uhh, anywhere away from thosssse Militian mofos?"
"It doesn't matter," stated Sara matter-of-factly. She was a bit tired, but not much compared to how much she would have been if she'd kept the stasis going for an hour or more. "We're sitting ducks out here. Ara, if you've got a vehicle, then let's get the hell out of here in it."
A couple minutes of walking would take them there. It was a well-worn but sturdy Sand-Trekker, an all-terrain vehicle suited to the rough-and-tumble land of Blackrock. They hopped in and sped away from the battle.

* * *

"We're being attacked on two fronts, ma'am!" Squawked the lieutenant through the hologram. "By the Aschen, and by some strange and apparently life-form hating-"
The soldier was cut off as an explosion blasted through his battle-fighter, cutting off the transmission. Attacking the Aschen was hard enough; but now they faced an enemy on two fronts?!
Ashia pressed hard on the speaker button. "All war-fighters, form a defensive barricade between us and those newcomers. Everyone else, fire everything you've got!!!"

* * *

The C.O.R.e units would soon find themselves cut off from the Militia by a bastion of War-fighters. These mammoth ships were great in defense, and extremely hard to penetrate. They would wear away at and keep the robots distracted while the Battle-fighters whittle down the numbers of the Aschen Empire. The Aschen would soon find themselves hard-pressed.

The Engineer bots were to smart for these organics, they had 2 options, repair themselves and take the ship, or self-destruct, and take down the ship permanently. They waited for more to more come for that though.

Soldier bots were now arriving and even a smaller, but still very large Behemoth landed onto the ship, coming in and destroying the sensors with low-level EMP gernades that did not effect the C.O.R.e since they were on the same frequency, but would disable any thing electronic inside. The Behemoth crawled threw and instantly tore through any resistance at that breach, while constantly updating the other C.O.R.e on the dangers on the inside. Inside this certain Behemoth, at its core, it had a Thermo-Nuke, which could easily tear the ship from all the test done, drilling into it and finding what material it was, the new Engineers drilled into it easily with their equipment

****

For the Aschen Empire, C.O.R.e was hammering the ship with hundreds of Space charges and blowing holes into the ship

****

The C.O.R.e took pity on the Militia, weak organics probably didn't even know hat was coming, The Angel decender decided to give the Militia a chance to back out and leave this planet for the C.O.R.e

The Angel sent a transmission and its appearance was horrifying, it was a bleeding heart of a human, that every time it talked, was pulled apart and bled, with mechanical parts sticking in and out of it, it would at least make a few of the organics sick. "Hello Organics called the 'Militia', we give you a chance to leave, but will not stop slaughtering you'r people till you do leave. Decide quickly. And don't try to say "No we will not stop fighting for our glory" Or "we go down with the ship", we know you Organics only desire is to live no matter the cost. Decide or die." And with that the transmission ended.

Ashia - and everyone else in the room - stared in silence as the hologram message blinked out. Then it erupted in a storm of shouting.
"QUIET!!!" Bellowed Supreme Leader Gavax. "We cannot let these bastardized machines take our enemy for us! We will fight back! We will-"
"No."
Gavax turned in surprise to see Ashia standing up on her own two feet for the first time after getting rescued. A doctor rushed over to get her to sit back down, but she waved him off. Her arm was still connected to the IV.
"What," Gavax said slowly, "did you say?"
"You heard me right, Gavax. I say we back out of this before any of our troops get further destroyed."
Gavax's eyes bulged like deranged golf balls. "You- you-" He slammed his fist down on the countertop. "YOU COWARD!!! You would let those- those things defeat us and shame our honor?!"
"Yes, if it means our empire still gets to live!!!" Ashia snapped back, bringing forth a couple gasps from the crowd. "You think we are invincible, Gavax. You think we can take whatever comes at us! Well, you're wrong! Our soldiers- no, my soldiers are dying out there, and I won't sit around and let them!"
"HOW DARE YOU!!!" roared the Supreme Leader. "How dare you revolt against the one who took you in when you had no one e-"
"I AM TO BLAME?!" Cried Ashia. "I raised these soldiers by my own hand! You see nothing but troops and numbers, but I know people! Real, living people just like any of us! And you would send them to their deaths?!" She was actively crying now. She couldn't stop it, because she'd never felt so strongly about something. "If you will not call them back, then I will!!!"
The room was silent. Nobody dared to speak, or cough. Finally, Gavax snarled in disgust. "Fine! We'll call them back to lick are wounds!" He pointed a condescending finger at his captain. "I hope you are proud." With that, he turned and left.

* * *

The C.O.R.e. units would get a transmission back from a rather angry-faced man who called himself the leader of the Militia. He said they would back off. The Aschen would soon find their persecutors were backing away. Many of the War-Fighters had gaping holes in their sides, and many a soldier had died today. They would set off into the distance, back to their home.

Ashia tossed and turned in her bed. It was dark, and she was cold and depressed. Finally, she got up and walked to the bathroom, where she splashed her face with cool, clean water. She didn't know if she would even be allowed to keep her privileged position after the C.O.R.e took over.
Down below, she could hear Gavax shouting, probably demanding to get a privileged position to the robotic diplomats. From what she had heard, most people were getting turned to scrap hunters. Not particularly a bad job - it was adventurous and it gave you a sense of purpose. But since they were all accustomed to militarism and nobility, Gavax especially, it would take a lot of getting used to.
And what would become of her? She looked at her tear-streaked face, weathered from years of fighting, leading, and seeing her friends die. She'd most certainly lose her occupation as captain, as the Militia was getting disbanded as she thought.
She looked to the small holographic communicator on her bedside. She remembered how that man - he called himself the Emperor of the Roman Fell Empire - had offered assistance. Was his empire getting destroyed too?
She was still a moment, then picked it up and contacted him. When he picked up, she said quickly, "This is Captain Ashia of the Militia. I believe we would both benefit from banding together to fight these creatures...."

Rome sat there looking at the girl. "Maybe... If you have any knowledge of the Roman Fell Empire, you would know these are the creatures that took over us. We only won from having assistance from a greater force. It seems this time we are the greater force." Rome sat there in silence for a second or two. "We will help, but you will need to return a favor to me, which I will name later. You will be in debt too. I want the Roman Fell Empire and the Militia to fuse, but it will stay the Roman Fell Empire, you will stay a high rank, or be an even higher rank than before. Do you agree with this?" He looked at her still sitting in his throne, trying his best not to burst up and say rip these machines up and turn them into my next throne.

"Of course. However, I will not be taking our former leader, Gavax, with me, as he has proven to be a worse leader than I had originally thought. I will call my soldiers to you. I pledge my services to you in hopes you will lead the Militia through these dark times." She was silent for a moment. "Before I go, is there a specific place we should meet?"

"We cannot go onto the planet, we'll be shot down, but you are native to Blackrock, yes? Then you should be able to leave and come back if they have not changed the rules since they have ruled us. Come to our ship, it is not being attacked."

"Very well. We will meet you there." With that, Ashia ended the call and stood up. She dressed in her proper captain's gear - tight grey robes with white armor plates sewn in, with a white helmet that covered the face with a visor - and left to rouse her army.