Dark Rain's Story

Aaric's eyes continue to glow with a slight radiance. "I will make a statement and answer your questions as soon as the UDW mediator gets to the table. I will say now that my goal in coming aboard your ship is to promote peace."

---

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. - Terran Poet

Time is ever moving forward and yet each and every choice that is made cleaves the path in twain. Forks split the roots and the boughs of Yggdrasil. The multiverse expands unto infinity. The gift of precognition opens up endless possibilities. You can garner facts through observations not made and ask questions without asking them. You can hold entire conversations without speaking or even thinking, no one else the wiser.

In one possible future Aaric turned to look at Raphael. The instant Raphael peered forward he would discover that he was not alone. Raphael was not the only precog in the room. Observing what could come to pass can change what may come to pass just as easily as setting a different course. So the game set down as they all waited for the UDW to arrive at the table. Let us hope the cards did not stack too high or what was and what could be could get awfully confusing.

A short while later, Jester entered the room, offering a courteous bow to both Aschen and Ayen parties, choosing a point on the table between the represented states. His entourage simply took up positions behind him, coming to parade rest. Smiling faintly, his eyes slid from side to side, measuring the men and women within.

"Well then. Shall we begin?"

As the security forces went to get a hold of Tenna, his suit kicked into action. Actuators and circuitry laced throughout the suit began firing, causing a magnetic repulsion field to surround him, staving off the gripping hands coming towards him.

"I'll go, but I'm keeping all my stuff with me. And don't worry about Solitude. She's not gonna be going anywhere." He chuckled and relaxed a bit, confident that the tech within his suit was enough to keep him more or less safe from anything less than a high-end, fairly specialized rifle.

"So, how about we take a little tour," he said to the sergeant, "And once we find a nice place to sit down and chat like considerate professionals, or even people if I wanted to stretch things, we can wait for your CO to make his choice there. Plus, considering I own my own ship, I would technically outrank you." He chuckled softly, sighing.

"Plus, I'm under contract with the UDW. I've got the markers and everything splattered all across my comms and instrumentation, so if your precious admiral decides to keep me on board, he'll have hell to pay politically. I mean, holding a working member of your allies hostage when he was simply doing his job? Doesn't look too good on paper or screen, 'specially when that news hits from here to the near side of the next galaxy."

The Sergeant was starting to grow visibly frustrated with Tenna's rather Laissez-faire attitude, but he was keeping his composure.

When the two men were repulsed by the Magnetic field, patience had finally began to run out, the Sergeant made a face, and listened to Tenna's speech, before rebuking with his own.

"You're going to take a grand tour to the Brig, and we'll pry you out of that frakking suit with a can opener if we have too." He said flatly, gesturing to a pair of Marines, whom were reaching for their weapons, a few more hand signals followed.

"I don't care if you're the CEO of Tech Con, you boarded this ship illegally, and are being detained until the Admiral can dispense justice. I will not warn you again." The Sergeant said, taking two steps back, as they began preparing for something.

A few minutes of pensive silence went by, as the Sergeant's nonverbal order was carried out, a flash following in an adjacent room, as the doors to the Ring Room slid open, and a pair of Power Armor clad individuals began making their way towards Tenna. Each of them carrying LAERs, a specialized Aschen weapon designed to disable power armor with a combination of concentrated Electromagnetic blast, and 500 Million volts of electricity, which would likely disable electronics and servos in power armor, and severely incapacitate the individual inside.

"You can either comply, or deal with my friends over there." He said, gesturing to the men across from him.

"Your choice... but this isn't helping any arguement the UDW will use to secure your release." The Sergeant said. "You're under arrest for piracy, and your talk is wasting time. You will disarm now, or we will use force."

This was likely the last warning, as the pair of power armored men prepared their LAERs

----

Inside the Conference Room

As Hanley went over everything, she looked up to Jester, and she made a face. "Your new recruit is making an ass out of himself in our hangar bay." She said, shaking her head.

"Anyways.. now that everyone's here..."

She brought up a holographic transcript, bringing the last words spoken by her onto the record, for Jester to read.

"Let's see here... As I understand it this whole mess started when Austin Marshall, without the knowledge or request of the Terran National Government, approached your government to seek assistance in driving our forces from Terra during Great War One, as I understand it. Following pleas from our administration at the time to stay out of it, your government ultimately interceded, further inflaming an already unstable situation, by deploying after the war had concluded, and a peace accord signed with the Terran and UCON Governments... your Military attacked our vessel, resulting in minor damage on both sides, and tensions continue fortwith." Hanley said.

"If CONCORD Meddles in the affairs of other sovereign nations... outside it's own galaxy... I cannot foresee this peace lasting unless some concrete rules are negotiated... Admiral Aaric do you have the full faith and authority of your Government? Or should we make arrangements for future contact between higher ranking representatives of both our governments?"

Raphael continued to let his mind wander for just a moment, before snapping out of it and anchoring himself back into the present, he leaned back only slightly, guarding his own thoughts as he seemed to be plotting something. As the Precognitive branches expanded ever more, Raphael's own concentration would waver, and so he anchored himself back into the present, the here and now, yet watchful eyes still remained on Aaric.

Tenna lifted an eyebrow as the Sergeant stepped back, then nodded slightly as the door to his side opened. He suppressed a smile and a laugh at the fact that the men wielding the LAER systems were wearing the style of armor the weapons were built to disable. The sheer irony of that was nearly too much to bear. He managed, however, and kept his expression neutral, shifting his feet to be a bit more comfortable.

Well, that was what it was meant to appear as. The shift of his feet had actually redistributed not only his weight, but the strength of the magnetic field lines, concentrating them near the lower half of his legs. A preventative measure should his next words be disregarded, despite their importance. At least, he thought they'd be pretty important.

"Sergeant, before we go anywhere, I need to inform and remind you of certain things. First off, I'm not a pirate. Mercenary work is honest and we get paid for what we do, no stealing. Second, and infinitely more importantly, please tell me you know that electricity fired at this suit would simply strike the field lines and follow them to a ground point. That would be the deck beneath me, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not saying it's not gonna work, but don't expect the...what are those, LAER Mk. VI models? Doesn't matter. Don't expect them to function perfectly against me. Physics is, after all, physics." He shrugged.

"Regardless, none of that's really important, just reminders. What you do need to know is that I'm going to come with you, on my honor, no issues given. Do not attempt to remove my weapons, though. This is not me telling you so that I can pop shots at you later, it's for the safety of your men. Each weapon you can see me bearing is imprinted to me, and the technology used to do so hurts. Like a bitch. When they get stolen, they have a tendency to heat up rather quickly." He paused, looking at the two younger marines to either side of him.

"And by heat up, I'm talking in the neighborhood of a toasty 1700 or so degrees centigrade." He sighed, then shook his head a bit. "So, if it's alright with you, I'm going to go ahead and lock my weapons' discharge capabilities so they don't fire unless I re-arm them, and we'll head off, shall we?"

Just as Jester entered the room white fire engulfed them all. The kinetic shockwave killed everyone as jagged bolts of electricity and a dimensional shockwave tore them all apart at the subatomic level. This all happened just before Raphael anchored himself back in the present.

---

The following is bits of a video displayed in the scene. The actual video would run a number of pages so I cut it to portions commented on. If you are interested in the original post you just need to contact me. I will be glad to sent the full set of posts to anyone interested. A copy of the Dlíthe Cogaidh and CONCORD's Conditional Declaration of War can be provided upon request.

This is not your war, and if you interfere, we'll utilize every every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to our own eye teeth to defend ourselves from your incursion! You will have to kill every last one of us, because I promise you, future Generations will exact vengeance, no. This Galaxy will be under the veil of Law and Order, and those who resist will be swept aside. - Gina Inviere

What is and could be can get awfully confusing. Jester entered the room and so as he bowed to the Aschen party and to Aaric. Aaric nodded thoughtfully to him in return.

"I can speak for my government but let's get everyone caught up. EGO." A holographic video displayed and then shot the center of the conference table. A perfectly proportioned, albeit small, blue, female stood upon the table. The video of the council meeting was displayed for all to see.

During the video EGO occasionally interrupted and commented.

---

"The Terran representative is present, honorable councilman," Austin spoke up, his youthful voice carrying well across the magnificent corridors of CONCORD's chambers.

The video paused. The small female that stood upon the table spoke. "As of the time of this video's creation a large part of the Terran National Government had either been killed during the conflict, abducted, or were in hiding. As a member of a recognized organization created, supported, and funded by the Terran National Government the Terran Intelligence Bureau and its members are officers of the Terran National Government and can speak for the Terran National Government when no designated leaders are available."

---

Gina Inviere cleared her throat. "Terra has long harbored instability, sanctioned terrorists, and aided the enemies of the Empire in their every endeavor. Their inaction has jeopardized the lives, and stability of the Aschen people, and her colonies. Several instances I would like to elucidate upon... let's see." She said, checking through her papers. "Terra was originally under the Administration of Aschen Outer Territories Governor Veloram under the Tripartite Treaty with the Coalition and the Taiyou decades ago, However the Terrans fostered rebellion on their world, and sought to overthrow the stability of our Administration on the planet, they did overthrow our administration on the planet." Inviere explained, going over another set of paperwork.

"But it didn't stop there, Terra willingly, aided, and provided comfort to terrorists and insurrectionists, funding and allowing these terrorists to attack our home worlds, in an attack that destabilized the orbit of our home planet, and jeopardized our entire population. We demanded recourse but the Terrans refused." Inviere explained. "Instead, they send assassins to end the lives of several key government figures, including the Current Emperor." Inviere commented.

"And Lastly, the Terrans openly aided and collaborated in the smuggling of Aschen weapons technology capable of threatening the security of not just the Aschen, but the entire Galaxy, so the executive decision was made to curtail Terra's sovereignty, and end it's instability... permanently by bringing it entirely under our administration."

The video paused. The small female spoke again. "It is found that claims of an attack or attacks made by Terran separatists or terrorist may be true but this attack did not destabilized the orbit of Langara, chief homeworld of The Aschen Confederation of Planets. There is also no evidence that states that any sovereign nation, state, or city of Terra is directly responsible for the attack. There is no evidence that the Terrans, through their inaction allowed a criminal organizations to infiltrate and attack Langara.

It is determined that the orbit of Langara is stable two days after such claims were made. It is determined then that the Aschen representative knowingly falsified evidence brought before the inner circle or was given false information to deliver by a superior." The video began again.

---

"Anyway, EVERY SINGLE terrorist the Aschen wanted, WE wanted too." Austin bowed his head, a dark gloom covering his face. "...maybe they didn't understand that. Because no how much we assured them that we weren't against them... no matter how hard we tried to be their friends... the Aschen STILL spit on us and massacred our people like livestock.

"In perhaps the single most infamous in Terran history, the Aschen Confederation sent a fleet to our homeworld and glassed 70% of its surface. Millions of innocent lives were lost. It is a blow we never fully recovered from."

The video paused. "It was determined that the The Aschen Confederation of Planets military under orders assaulted the biosphere of the planet, Terra and damaged a large portion of the planet’s surface while killing a large number of civilians on the continent of Aslund. This was done through a process known as ‘glassing’. Though it must be stated that the total effected portion of Terra’s combined landmass was not seventy-percent as was stated by the Terran representative."

---

"I would have appeared myself, but I had other duties to attend."

Raphael McGregor cleared his throat. "May I speak, Your eminences?"

The video paused. "Through voice matching this man has been identified as Raphael McGregor who is currently sitting in this conference room." The video continued on.

---

"By the rules of Engagement, the CONCORD have no right to interfere with our conflict, and if they choose to do so, they will be met with the wrath of a people hardened by war, do not underestimate our Technology, I don't think you are willing to send your people to their deaths over a war you know little about. But out of my divine grace, I have come, rather than sweeping your sovereignty aside and removing you from this Galaxy like the cancer it truly is."

"I planned to provide for Terra, an endless bounty of gifts, but their government conspired against us, and even now, their Rebellion conspires.. I have learned much about Terra's secrets from Arianne Drulovic."

The video paused. "It has been determined that Arianne Drulovic was abducted by the Aschen. Raphael McGregor's statement supports the evidence." The video started again. The rest of it being shown to those present.

A copy of the Dlíthe Cogaidh and CONCORD's Conditional Declaration of War was provided to both the Aschen and the UDW. Aaric spoke then. "We can easily show the engagement you are referring to but instead we will just transfer a copy to those present. There was a state of war during that time. There is still is a state of war now. Nothing had changed. You still ignore Terran sovereign borders. You still abduct people from their planet. What are your terms Admiral?"

Hangar Bay...

"You might be a mercenary, but the fact remains that boarding a ship without permission is construed as piracy." Regardless of your intentions. He said, while he considered Tenna's plea, before he scoffed.

"So... let me get this straight... you want us to let you walk into the Brig, weapons and all... and if the Admiral decides to levy execution because you committed a violation of international Maritime law... you're going to let us levy your punishement, and not shoot your way out? Because you have Honor?" The Sergeant asked, while the AI Chimed into his earpiece.

"Sergeant, my sensors have finished a preliminary readout of the suit, it's magnetic shield based systems will overpower all but our heaviest weapons. I'm attempting to get a readout on the armor composition... Additionally, Prince has arrived via Bifrost from Isiria, to assist in the prisoner's capture and interrogation..."

As the AI Spoke, a voice rang from behind the pair of Soldiers, a man clad in a bluish violet robe, hands clasped in front of him as he bore a grin on his face. There was a lip piercing and short, spiky blonde hair, and all was adorned by piercing blue eyes.

"I'll take it from here, Sergeant." The figure said, as he waved his hand and let his mind concentrate, aiming to use his abilities to attempt to literally de-magnetize Tenna's suit, and with the flick of his hand, the gravity immediately around Tenna would then increase drastically, from 9.78 m/s², to a staggering 70m/s², which was twice the surface gravity of jupiter, and would result in a 150 pound man weighing 600 pounds, likely enough weight and pressure to cause the suit to fail, or take it's toll on the man within as it was like Tenna was standing on the surface of a small star.

Prince maintained this while his mind started searching for weak points in the suit, psychokinetic energy dancing and scintillating about, before his hand flicked again, and would let his mind first wrap around the weapons themselves.

"I'll have fun prying you out of your suit like a can of fish, and then I'm going to have a little fun with you. You should have taken the easy way, instead of making me take time to come here and pry you out of your suit" Prince said with a grin.

---

Inside the Conference Room.

Both Hanley and Raphael were silently wathing the video as it played, Hanley was quietly scribbling notes in Anquietas every time the small figure commented in the video. As she was scribbling notes she was considering her replies, calculating each one carefully while Raphael sat in silence.

"Terms.. I'll get to that in a moment.. the Quorum is digesting this video." She said, the video EGO was displaying to Jester and Hanley, was likewise being displayed to an Assembled Quorum, and an assembled Parliament back on Langara.

"I wanted to address a few discrepancies though... Trust needs to be built if this peace is to last." Hanley said, keying in a few notes to the Quorum.

"Clarify for me... CONCORD... Your Orgnization is dedicated to protecting the weak and promoting peace across all peoples, using it's power to defend those who face insurmountable odds? Correct me if I'm wrong, Admiral." She said, waving her hand across a holographic display.

"Your Organization interceded against the then Confederation because the Confederation presented an overwhelmingly superior military, an that the outcome of the war with Terra would be less desirable than if we had succeeded?" Hanley asked, shaking her head.

"Your group seems to have a fairly sizeable affinity for Terra... It's interesting because we didn't get the help terra did when the Taiyou were slaughtering our people in the streets." Hanley commented.

"Didn't see any evidence of CONCORD holding hearings or making demands when the Taiyou Empire's 300 Trillion Man army had it's eyes on our little corner of space. Did you decide to pick a fight with us because your Military analysts percieved us as weaker?" Hanley asked. "At least Aschen soldiers weren't pulling Terrans Civilians from their homes, gutting them, and leaving them to die in the streets, like our friends the Taiyou did to my people."

She made a face a moment, before she pulled up a log and footage from a different video, the engagement with the Fleet of Inner Knowledge.

The Video was highlighted by the voice of Warden Apis. “You are free to leave. Do not enter Sol system.”

Hanley made a face, but that face inevitably turned into a snarl.

"That Fleet had just escaped an ambush from a Taiyou armada, and was being sent to Sol to evacuate Aschen civilians from Terra to protect them from the Aschen Genocide you were turning a blind eye to. Millions of lives could have been saved, but CONCORD acted against it. The blood of those civilians is on Warden Apis' hands." Hanley added. "I lost my Family in that Genocide, only reason I'm still here is because that warrior's sword didn't strike a vital organ. I watched helpless while Imperial Warriors massacred our enclave, and left everyone to die in the streets." Hanley said the words firmly, and any empath could detect the spike in emotional and subconscious energy. Hanley was traumatized by the event, but she tried to mask it.

It was then she pulled up the text from the Declaration of war, briefly reading over it. "As I understand it... CONCORD was to terminate all military operations once the conditions of this declaration were satisfied... Which they were; though the Concordat with Terra, and the Aschen's admission into UCON. All hostilities against the TNG had effectively ended at that point.. it was six months later your forces attacked our ship. That kind of capriciousness is the reason I'm reluctant to trust anything you say. If you can't follow your own decrees, what makes you think you'd follow anything we set?"

Hanley swept her hand across another block of Anquietas text. "Indeed... there is a state of Defacto war, but we're also in a state of Armistice, Ceasefire, a state that I was under the impression, started when the war with Terra ended." Hanley added, listening to Aaric's statements further.


"The Empire recognizes the Terran Government, it recognizes Terran's Sovereignty. We cooperate fully with the Terran Government where applicable. What we don't recognize is arbitrary borders drawn far out beyond Terra's capability to colonize or grow, given it's Technological state, as for Abducting Terrans? You'll have to substantiate that claim because frankly I find it absurd." Hanley quipped, before she checked her notes.

"The first term is the termination of all hostilities, and the immediate repatriation of all prisoners of war to their respective nations, more a formality than anything since I don't believe either state has prisoners, and there hasn't been a Military engagement for some time."

Tenna nodded as the sergeant spoke. He hadn't intended on violence, not unless it had been absolutely needed, at least. He hated when people figured that he, being a mercenary, had no sense of decency and that he'd just as soon murder as he would be polite. Sure, his track record wasn't the greatest, but neither was any other merc's. Each and every last one of them was bound to have dirt on them somewhere.

"You'd be perfectly correct, Sergeant." He noticed the blue-clad man come closer. "It's unfortunate that you won't be allowed to see me prove my intentions." He sighed and looked Prince eye to eye, not lowering his gaze. As he was about to speak, those ice-blue orbs closed and the strain on his body became incredible. He squatted for just a moment, as if bearing the load of his own weight on his shoulders, keeping from smashing to the floor face first because the fibrous material of his suit hardened and contracted like muscle as he moved.

"Pleasure to meet you in person as well, Prince. I thought I warranted someone more important though. Guess I was wrong." He smirked and opened his eyes, having shut them when he crouched. As he dropped a knee tot he deck, bracing himself more soundly but feeling the pressure more painfully as it spread in different way, he noticed that there were particles of dust flying towards him through the air. His smirk grew as his mind did a double take.

"Sergeant, you may want your men to hold on to something. I don't think yo-" He stopped, wincing in pain. He felt his knee pop, and he let himself drop to the floor, accepting the new displacement of his weight. Although he could tell nothing was too terribly damaged, it was obvious to him that his knee had bent in a way it wasn't meant to and one of the tendons had torn partially. He grimaced and groaned slightly.

The thought of reaching for his weapons crossed his mind quickly, the desire to put as many high-velocity ferromagnetic pellets into Prince's pretty face as he could threatening to overwhelm him. But another thought, more a memory, flashed through his consciousness. His father telling him something when he was young.

"Don't let any man control you, Tenna. Your freedom is the most important thing you can have. That, and your word. A man must always keep his word, especially in these times where crooked men rule with iron fists."

The memory faded into the pain in his knee and he struggled to raise a hand, the suit aiding him for much of the motion.

"Give me a fuckin' chance, will ya? I'm not going to shoot anybody, and if I get chosen for execution, I refuse to respond with violence. On the honor of a man who knows well enough that his life is on the line." As his hand dropped once more, he took a deep breath and tensed his body, forcing himself to have the ability to breathe.

Even as he lay there, and the psychic energy caressed his weapons, they remained dormant and bonded without issue to his back and thigh. The Solitude however shifted in small increments, fully autonomous. A small antenna, no more than a few inches in length, emerged from the aft top of the craft's hull and began transmitting to any nearby vagabonds and wastrels of an enormous score: a derelict hulk of an Aschen trade freighter. It was calling for help.

Arlan remained calm during Hanley's outburst. "There existed at that time a state of war. Not only did the Fleet of Inner Knowledge lock and show aggressive intent to the single Redeemer class battleship, the Aschen were the first to fire their weapons." He could have easily added that the combined fleet of Inner Knowledge faired extremely poorly against the lone black operations battleship, something they had called a 'frigate' at the time. "When Warden Apis gave Admiral Nagala that ultimatum it was to her benefit and with some amount of mercy." He paused and the small blue figure spoke while displaying a navigational route. "The Fleet of Inner Knowledge returned to SOL in the following hours and re-engaged Taiyou Forces in the system." Arlan had already known that and he nodded.

"I detest wordplay. I detest deception but at every interaction with the Aschen we have encountered only deception. CONCORD's conditional declaration of war covers the whole of Terra and her sovereignty. Sovereignty we currently reside in now. It does not just cover a single Terran government. It covers all governments native to Terra, all people's native to Terra, and all groups who have adopted Terra as their permanent home to include those of Aschen and Taiyou decent identified as citizens of a Terran government. It includes all of Terran sovereignty. That sovereignty and those borders need to be honored just as you expect your borders and your sovereignty to be honored."

He turned then from Hanley to stare at Vanessa over the shoulder of Raphael. His eyes remained focused on the werewolf for a moment before turning back to Hanley. His left eyebrow perked.

"You say that your empire recognizes the Terran Government, that it recognizes Terran Sovereignty, that you fully cooperate with the Terran Government where applicable. Applicable? That sums it up perfectly." He shook his head and sighed. A short video displayed. It was a video of the Terran glassing both at ground level and in orbit.

He turned to Raphael McGregor and then back to Hanley. "The first term being that there is the termination of all hostilities, and the immediate repatriation of all prisoners of war to their respective nations is agreed to provided the rest of the terms are met."

The confessor grinned some more as he twitched his hand slightly, using his abilities to attempt to force Tenna on to the ground, and the Marines made their own move.

The Sergeant nodded, and his men quickly moved forward to try and handcuff Tenna. These were specialized mechanically locking handcuffs with a specialized locking mechanism. The cuffs themselves were crafted from reinforced and hardened trinnium, which made them roughly 100 times lighter and stronger than steel. Once the Binders were secure, the Marines would attempt to remove his weapons, while the Confessor stood there with a wicked grin.

"Secure him in the brig, I will perform the cleansing on him, and then he will be disposed of once the Admiral has made a decision."

The Marines nodded, and should Tenna be brought to his feet, he would be taken back to the tramway, with the Confessor in tow.

A long torture session was being planned for the lone mercenary.

----

While Aarlan was speaking, Raphael's expression seemed to not change, while Hanley was holding her head up with her right hand, making a face while taking notations.

"Are we discussing peace or are we pointing fingers? Admiral?" Hanley said, looking up to the video. "The Administration that gave that order was purged when the Empire came to power, they got their justice." Hanley said, looking up to Aarlan with a hint of frustration.

"The United Aschen Empire recognizes the sovereignty of the Terran National Government, and the sovereignty of the nations of the Greater Shintenchi Co Prosperity Sphere, nations and organizations we have been made aware exist." Hanley said, huffing in amusement.

"We can't recognize the legitimacy of a nation we don't know exists, let alone come into contact with, so my previous statement stands, we cooperate with the Terran National Government where applicable. You may twist those words however you see fit, the meaning I intended still stands." Hanley explained.

"We obviously wouldn't cooperate with neither the Terran national Government, or any entity for that matter if they called for things like disbanding our military or even our Empire, but in matters that don't contradict the interests of this Empire, We will cooperate fully."

"All this though..." She said, gesturing to the videos. "Water under the bridge, we're not getting anywhere; so I'm going to put this very simply." Hanley said, taking some more notations.

"Unless the Empire threatens the livelihood of the Terran National Government through Military means, CONCORD stays out of our affairs. Shintenchi can go without saying, not that CONCORD'd help them anyway, being Taiyou puppets and all.." Hanley added, before she nodded to the AI, in which the Reverence's AI brought up a star map, and offered a copy for EGO to download.

"These are the territories, jurisdictions, borders, and all claimed holdings of the United Aschen Empire, following the ratification of peace, CONCORD will be permitted to enter the territories and holdings of the Government of Tal'dor for the purpose of diplomacy only. Warships, weapons other than defensive weapons for security purposes, and all non-essential diplomatic personnel will be prohibited from entering the United Aschen Empire unless special circumstances arise. All diplomatic contact will be arranged in advance through remote communications with the Ministry of Defense, or the Quorum, or the Emperor." Hanley explained. As she explained, the map displayed, showing the core and outer territories of the original Empire, the Isirian puppet government, and claimed future holdings in sections of the Perseus arm, and finally, the Epsilon Eridani holdings.

"CONCORD is prohibited from traveling within one light year of the Epsilon Eridani system unless special arrangements have been made." Hanley added.

"CONCORD will be prohibited from interfering in all Imperial affairs that do not impact Terra, or CONCORD's interests. If the Empire declares an Exterminatus on a planet, we're going to exterminatus that damn planet as long as it's not Terra or a world claimed by CONCORD or it's respective nation-states."

"A Diplomatic meeting will be arranged every six months, alternating between Langara, and the CONCORD Capital, alternatively, a neutral Diplomatic outpost can be constructed in unclaimed territory, staffed by security personnel from both Organizations." Hanley explained after taking some more notations.

"And lastly, CONCORD Shall contact the Empire diplomatically and attempt to resolve any grievance peacefully and mutually before taking any hostile action. Likewise the Empire shall contact CONCORD in the same fashion I have described."

Hanley finally sat up straight, and took a few more notations.

"Does your government find these terms agreeable?"

Elsewhere in Isirian space...
"Councilor, you should take a look at this."
"Put it on my screens."

Long range superluminal scans appeared on the holo-panels around Dylan, and his grey eyes scanned over them quickly. Long years of experience enabled him to quickly see what the Scanner operators had uncovered, and his voice was quiet and professional as he answered. "Trigger a collapse approach with nearby fists. Instruct Zeus and her cohorts to remain on overwatch and holding, and get Devastator moving inbound on intercept."

Rising, the Councilor flicked a hand across his screens. Fading to black and winking out, the man left his chambers, tossing aside the comp-glasses as he headed for the Agency strike deck.

---

Within a few minutes, across Isirian space, UDW vessels vanished from their stations as they turned heading. As the latest developments of the engagement begun, tunnel signatures bloomed, nearly two dozen in total. Two prowler Fists, immediately moving from exit vectors and running dark, operating on standard procedures of executing a series of radical course changes, breaking their locations and becoming nothing more than darkness creeping within darkness. A trio of assault Fists formed around the central dominating vessel, the massive Bahamut-class carrier, the UDW Devastator. 28km long, bristling with Abysses, Hellbores, railcannons, and torpedo batteries, her own cohorts were a pair of heavy cruisers, Ravager and Ruin. 13km long blades, the cruisers held off from the carriers sides like arms, settled firmly into a capital level Fist.

Broadcasting through Aschen and Isirian widebands, Ryder spoke calmly. He himself was settled within the central Psycho-sphere within the Devastator's gullet, casually focusing his energies.

"This is callsign Archfiend in command of UDW Strike Group Imperial to Aschen and Isirian local forces. Request to coordinate efforts and extend a hand, over."

Discord squirmed atop his cloud and cooed wistfully.

"Ooohhh..." a manic grin spread across his muzzle. "That feels delicious. Such glorious chaos... Time to add my own ingredients to this stew pot."

The draconequus leaned back in the cloud as if in a hammock. He inhaled deeply, tasting the residual chaos that saturated the otherwise desolate and stagnant world. Discord lifted his bear hand, waited a moment for unrecognized dramatic tension, and snapped his fingers. A rolling chorus of booming thunder rumbled across the near cloudless sky. Dark purple, and oddly ominous, clouds materialized over the battlefield with the lazy rotation of Discord's finger. The massive cloud formation continued to spiral outwards while smaller blotches popped into existence beneath it. They wriggled and heaved before unleashing a downpour of yellow rain that reeked of sulfur. Straying aircraft that collided with the cloud layer would find themselves lodged in a taffy like substance that quickly hardened like concrete. Streaks of prismatic lightning raged within the maelstrom.

"Ahh..." Discord blew on his smoking finger and placed a pair of blue-and-red three dimensional glasses over his eyes like shades. "Let's see how they adapt to a change in the playing field..." he said as a bag of Oreo-flavored popcorn appeared in his hand.

Discord stroked his goatee as the typhoon of chaos magic surged through the atmosphere, likely scrambling sensors, communications, and perhaps even distorting the Aschen Planck field. Little was certain as the energies took on a will of their own.

as written by Tiko and Lobos

Isirian Cruiser, Arcadia
Fleet Admiral Witkowski

"Sir, they're readying their weapons and preparing to attack," an officer called out.

"We're receiving a hail from the UDW," another said.

"Put me through to them," Admiral Witkowski said before speaking into a comm device. "This is the Isirian Fleet Admiral Witkowski aboard the Arcadia. Request granted. I think we have everything under control out here, but we're getting some alarming reports from the ground. We need to get reinforcements down there."

“Understood, Admiral. Given the stand-off distances and the sensor reports of their weapons systems here in orbital positions, I’ll advance the core units into your formation for fire support. Prowler tasking will aid groundside.”

Dylan thought a moment, flicking through a sensor feed. “Given the location is isolated from major infrastructure, what is your position on collateral damage to the terrain in the localized area, Admiral Witkowski?”

"Not a concern," Admiral Witkowski replied. “Just watch our people down there.”

“Alright, Admiral. Joining the party. Ping if you need something specific, we’ll adapt to your approach.”

The hundred yard zone of destruction caused by the collapse of the vortex wasn't liable to be of any particular immediate threat to anyone given the moon's desolate nature, and the main battles taking place in space - or on the other side of the moon. For the Demiarch ships to even engage the Isirian ships, they would need to leave the moon and would be well beyond any potential interference left behind at the site of the collapsed vortex. The only damages caused by the explosions would be to the Demiarch's own ships that hadn't yet moved far enough away from the Vortex.

---

Isirian Fleet
Kreios System

Given the sheer size and scope of space engagements involving distances between fleets that spanned upwards into the hundreds of thousands of miles, and the sheer size of the ships on the field, many of the weapons that the Demiarch were utilizing would prove about as effective as firing paintballs when it came to the Isirian ships.

The rockets released by the fighter ships would prove particularly ineffective as the Demiarch didn't seem accustomed to combatting larger ships. With even the smallest of the Isirian corvettes on the field possessing 30 meters of armored hulls, the larger ships that the Demiarch where focusing fire on where going to require substantially more staying power than fifteen yard blast radiuses to put a dent in their hulls.

Even the ships that hadn't yet been upgraded with Aschen shielding technology would be capable of shrugging off the rocket impacts, and the radiation wouldn't be able to penetrate their hulls.

Most of the rockets wouldn't ever reach their targets though. The Isirian's Apollo fighters moved into action, intercepting as many of the rockets as they could while the ships at their back opened with a battery of railgun and light railcannon fire to destroy most of the rockets before they could get within blast range. The larger explosives would be met with similar results as they were torn apart trying to make it through the firing solution of the larger Isirian ships.

The plasma mortars and nuclear beams would prove marginally more effective as they wouldn't be cut to pieces by the rain of railcannon fire, but given that most of the Isirian ships weren't shielded with energy based shields the energy draining plasma mortars would be met with the same complication as the rockets before them. Dense hulls. The smaller Isirian ships would be most vulnerable to sustained fire from the mortars, but with the Demiarch focusing fire on the larger vessels damages where minimum.

---

The largest of the Demiarch's ships on the field remained dwarfed by the Isirian capital ships and the Reverences, and gun for gun it would seem that the Isirians had the advantage for the time being.

From the Isirian ships, heavy railcannons returned fire against the Demiarch's fleet with a battery of 25-50m slugs and nuclear warheads, while missiles were prepped to intercept smaller Demiarch ships that might try to approach the Isirian fleet. Further adding to the Demiarch's troubles was that they hadn't moved to engage the Isirian fleet sooner, and their clustering together had left them vulnerable to the singularity canons of the two Reverences.

as written by barney_fife

The pair of Reverence IIs, the Hymn of Purgation, and the Epitaph of the Martyr remained stationary in their position as they squared off against the clustered Demiarchal ships. Their respective Commanders steadfastly held the lines as the Demiarchal ships attempted to attack them.

However unlike the Isirian ships, the Aschen ships possessed considerably more defensive capabilities, as weapons fire surged towards the Reverence IIs, they would be met with a brilliant flash of white light as the Aschen’s shields flared against the impacts from Demiarchal rockets and plasma mortars.

However, despite the incoming fire from the Demiarchal fleet, the pair of Reverence IIs continued to build up energy.

---

AHSC Epitaph of the Martyr
Reverence II
Commander Lionel Pendergast

Pendergast stood in silence as the alarms in the CIC Blared around him. Though his ship was under sustained fire, the CIC was well shielded and thus hardly a sound registered through the ship’s superstructure. Pendergast remained calm however as he turned to his shipboard AI.

“Status.” He ordered, while the AI replied. “We’re under fire from enemy vessels, shields are holding. I’m detecting massive radiological alarms and nuclear weapons fire; they don’t seem to be very effective against our shields, though. Additionally, fire control reports the Singularity cannon is ready to fire.”

Pendergast offered a nod, before he brought up a large hologram of the Demiarchal fleet. “You may fire when ready, target the large center ship.”

The AI hologram offered a brisk nod, before she vanished.

The buildup of energy within the Epitaph of the Martyr culminated into a fever pitch, the entire vessel shuddered at the massive forces being exerted within. With targeting parameters locked, the Aschen would fire the first shot signalling their official entry into this skirmish.

The Epitaph shuddered once more, and in an instant, she loosed her weapon, hurling a hyperdense collapsed slug along her dorsal structure, rapidly gaining momentum and kinetic energy until it reached the muzzle. It first started as a jet of ionized gas, then the projectile itself which was held together by it’s own gravity. What was once a solid sphere of Neutronium the size of a basketball had been collapsed into a pea sized singularity, and then hurled at nearly 45% the speed of light. This meant that the object’s mass would increase, and the equation spun out of control from that point.

The Demiarchals would be met with this weapon likely before they even had time to react. The Singularity would sear towards the massive Demiarchal mothership, carrying enough kinetic energy to punish shields and armor alike, and punch clean through the mothership, and anything in front of or behind it, and still retain the kinetic energy it had when it left the muzzle of the cannon. It wasn’t the projectile itself that was the major threat however, rather the gravity field that would cause the ship’s superstructure to implode on itself, and pull the entire fleet into disarray as it was likely rend asunder by the sudden gravitic shock unleashed by the Singularity cannon.

“Singularity strike complete.” Inviere hailed, assessing the damage before her.

“All ships weapons free!” She called out into the comms. With the order relayed, the rest of the Aschen fleet sprang into action, the Hymn of Purgation disengaged her Singularity cannon, and chose to target the remaining fleet, aiming right towards the nearest HC-BC, and loosing a one-two punch from it’s MAC guns, hurling a 3,000 ton ferric-tungsten slug at 12,000km/s, imparting roughly 56.6 Gigatons of kinetic energy onto it’s target, a direct hit from one of these mammoth guns would doom any smaller ship, and break the backs of larger vessels.

Once the MAC ordinance and the singularity was away, the pair of Reverence IIs came about to expose their starboard side, with the remaining Aschen fleet opening up in a punishing salvo of Turbo-disruptor shots, which imparted 14.2 Megatons of energy per discharge, high-caliber railgun weaponry, and heavy Anti-ship missiles, with carried a fusion warhead that would deliver a 250 Megaton shaped explosion onto any unfortunate target, this was followed up by a formation of Athena Cruisers unleashing a salvo of their Pilum class missiles, each missile was an AI guided Quantum Plasmid warhead engineered from Coalition technology that imparted a staggering 1.2 Gigatons of yield, these warheads culminated as a brilliant dagger of light that split across the Demiarchal fleet, consuming any unsuspecting vessels in what amounted to a small supernova. Anyone that survived the initial Singularity cannon would likely be mopped up by the sheer overwhelming firepower of the Aschen Fleet.

Strike Group Imperial, Spaceborne Force

As the massive form of the capital UDW vessels approached, Devastator and her flanking cohorts, Ravager and Ruin spat fire from thousands of torpedo tubes, a full volley of Jericho-MNs. The weight of fire was monstrous from the three ships, a full 2460 guided, tracking, smart torpedoes boiling away and rapidly accelerating under their own grav-drives. Coming from behind the Aschen and Isirian forces arrayed, the cloud maneuvered to pass the friendly ships easily, vectoring in and evading the primitive rocket fire as they closed to Stage 2 dispersal range.

Still advancing and beginning tracking of the mammoth Abyss cannons over their heavily armored hulls, the bridge crews of the force called over the channels of the Stage 2 event, as over two thousand Jerichos shed the outer shells and deployed internal racks. And from these racks leapt 25 faster, more maneuverable missiles. Where once had been a far more manageable number of incoming threats, there now was a far greater flight of inbound weapons, a total of 61,500 missiles, each tipped with a 5 megaton nuclear warhead. Enough for hundreds to target each individual ship of the enemy, virtual overkill. Without intervention, the space forces that were being engaged were about to be drowned in a massive number of nuclear blasts.

Blackrock, groundside

Though many of the jets succumbed to the anti-air units and missiles, the pod it would seem proved far more difficult to intercept. Missile after missile detonated mid air before they could reach the pod that was plummeting ever closer to the ground towards the legions of fire elementals. The cause of the premature explosions was difficult to ascertain from the ground, but those sensitive to such things might pick up on the fluctuation of telekinetic energy signatures emitting from the pod.

---

Whisper's descent towards the ground was far from smooth as she braced herself against the turbulence that left the pod shaking violently. Her eyes were closed though and her brow furrowed as she turned her head ever so slightly at the onslaught of stimuli that she was picking up from the surface.

Her telekinetic web swept outward as she saw the scene unfolding within her mind's eye. Wreckages of jets and sulfur rained down around her while missiles homed in on her location. It was a simple matter... a slight push of her telekinetics to send them careening into one another, or to simply detonate them mid-air before they could reach her.

At her current path of trajectory, she would land just outside the city among the horde of elementals. They were ghosts on her spectrum of concern though. Merek though... that one drew her attention as she formed within her mind an image of him standing upon the wall of the city. She could see his lips moving...

Her eyes snapped open as he unleashed the demon's blast upon her pod and her pupils dilated as there was an abrupt influx of psionic energy from within the pod.

---

The blast of red hot energy all but exploded as it struck an invisible wall, much as the missiles had before it. The heat and energy were sprayed violently in all directions as the pod plummeted towards the ground unhindered. The impact with the ground left deep furrows plowed into the earth before it came to a stop and a large dust cloud rolled outward from where it had landed in the midst of the elementals.

Steam rose off from the hull of the pod, rippling the air around from the intense heat as it sat motionless. Had its passenger survived the impact?

As the pod fell open a moment later, a wraith of a woman stepped out, her pale eyes shifting to the left, and then to the right as she took in her position.

All around her the very rain that fell from the sky was igniting upon the elementals, resulting in gouts of arcing infernos that cast a fiery glow over the playing field.

As she stood there in the thick of the enemy, the faintest of smiles tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Time to dance."

3 miles away...

“Sir, are you seeing this?” a soldier asked from where he was standing behind a large rock formation and observing the city through a pair of binoculars.

“Yeah, I’m seeing it.”

Strange clouds had formed over the city and the rain that fell from them was igniting in angry bursts of fire as it came into contact with the fire elementals that had taken up position around the city. The open fissure in the ground was shooting up geysers of flame as well.

“What the fuck is that?” the soldier asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it,” the officer answered before his binoculars caught sight of the drop pod impact. He zoomed in on it with a frown. “Is that one of ours?” he asked.

“It doesn’t look like it... “

As the small white-haired woman stepped out of the pod, they were able to make out the insignia of the Aschen Special Projects Division on her combat suit.

“Well shit,” the officer muttered. “No one told us they were bringing in mutants.”

“What do we do?”

“Nothing. Our orders are to hold our position here.”

as written by barney_fife

It was the Litany of Fury’s time to shine as Commander Montrose watched the battle unfold above on DRADIS. She made a face for a moment before she nodded to the AI.

The AI offered an affirming nod, before the orders were relayed.

The City below, protected by the Hex-Shield would soon find itself coming under a hail of fire, all 750 Ventral Turbo-disruptor batteries loosed down upon the city below, thundering against the Hex-shield with each impact.

Turbo-Disruptors that imparted 14 megatons of energy, and had the capability to liquefy entire city blocks with each shot. But that wasn’t everything; The Reverence II also unleashed it’s Energy Projectors, which were seen as brilliant columns of blue light that surged forth and pounded against the shield with a blinding glare of white light. The Energy Projectors maintained this steady stream of energy for several seconds, stopping only to cool for a moment before unleashing again in tandem with the constant salvo of Turbodisruptor shots. Indeed this Reverence II was beating upon the Hex Shield like a drum, and imparting a punishing amount of firepower upon it. It was likely the shield would fail in minutes, hours at the best unless a drastic measure was taken, or the Reverence II ceased fire or was destroyed. At that time the city would be vulnerable to the same salvo the shield was now being subjected too.

Strike Group Imperial, Dispatched Terran Support

Transmissions had been routed through a network of bogey satellites, whisker beam lasers giving orders. The prowler Fists were only six in number, yet preparations were made, two Steel Wolf teams and four Iron Hound squads set to deploy as the Fists approached the enemy installation. Leading the support elements were the stealth frigates Smoke on the Water and Blindside.

Vectoring into low orbit, they slingshotted around the moon before dipping further into its atmosphere, rolling to present their broadsides to the surface nearly ten miles below. Concealment lost as their hulls trailed walls of fire and heat from the rough atmospheric braking, they called across the wide-band, for while the enemy would hear, they would not understand until it was far too late.

“Danger close, danger close, Broadside Strike, danger very fucking close!”

As they came into line of sight of the colony, Smoke lead the attack run as her three broadside Hellbores screamed with fire. Within the breach, a core of deuterium was struck with a high energy laser, triggering a fusion reaction that was, in essence, a nuclear eruption. Extremely powerful magnets lining the breach and bore contained this massive energy and hurled it downrange at 70% the speed of light, a direct fire weapon delivering 5 kilotons of power into a target area only a meter wide. Aiming from the far side of the colony, the volley of Hellbores tore through the atmosphere like streaks of incandescent light, aiming for the center of the installation. And then she fired again. And again. Each of three shots targeting the same point, maximizing damage on any shields in place.

Blindside’s run was identical, a trio of shots in the same place as her sister vessel had fired into. Each of the six shots was spaced exactly 2.6 seconds apart, the precise cycle time of the broadside Hellbores. As they passed by at high speed, anti-grav drives shifted their axis’ enough for a open-door launch of an internal Owl to be made each, before returning to orbit and following into another slingshot, braking harder to establish orbital support over the sight.

The corvettes of the group had followed the slingshots, but instead of engaging in broadside themselves, descended into the atmosphere in the wake of the frigates, their railcannon clusters ready to unleash storms of metal into anything that dared oppose them. The Owls fell into formation as they hurtled towards the surface, homing on the drop pod to deliver their surface forces for support.