Leia Nash's Story

Fire.

Aurora had no patience for diplomatic games; she would take what was rightfully hers. With one word, two of the outermost cruisers hurled a small burst of shielded neutron torpedoes, each ship's salvos arcing down and out before crossing paths and careening into the trajectory of the now-moving The Absolution.

These neutron torpedoes, contained by a shell of iridium plasma, each contained a small moon's worth of mass, nestled tightly into a bundle of nearly-pure neutronium which could tear through the hulls of a handful of ships before their kinetic energy dissipated. The ships mysteriously seemed to experience no recoil, despite the energies involved.

The first five torpedoes headed directly towards the point where The Absolution's superstructure would be, aiming for the center of mass with a short lead given the relative speed of the supercapital. However, the remaining three scattered to port, seemingly smattered across a subset of the smaller targets.

Transmit livelink data, priority alpha.

she closed, ensuring the cross-link between all Hegelian vessels in the system as her fleet held position, seemingly unthreatened by the armada of capital ships before them.

"Alien vessels have opened fire." Eve reported in a monotone voice. Nash grasped the console for a moment as she braced for impact, and the torpedoes careened on course but would be met with unexpected results.

The shields of the massive vessel flared brightly at the impact, stripping nearly all of the shell's kinetic energy from it as it transited from field to hull, which made it's final impact against a reinforced kanvium Hull that had been rated for kinetic energy far beyond that which the torpedoes could deliver.

Metal rippled, and turned to a liquid like state; dispersing the remaining kinetic energy on the subatomic level across the entire hull plate, and what remained of the projectile richoched harmlessly away from the hull of the vessel as it moved forward.

The jolt of the impact was felt deeply into the CIC of the Reverence, and Nash was quick to order they return fire.

The aschen counterattack came in two stages, the first was hundreds of thunderbolt missiles shot fourth from armored silos all along the dorsal superstructure.

These missiles cleared roughly a hundred and fifty kilometers from the Absolution before they disappeared, winking out in a similar manner that the ships appeared, and disappeared.

The second stage was the direct-fire stage, as the Reverence II banked slightly to Port, angling it's pitch downards, and exposing one thousand five hundred individual Turbodisruptor emplacements along it's armored hull. They began to open fire in a sequential salvo that delivered a withering hail of brilliant green streaks of energy careening towards the Hegelian formation, each packing enough of a punch to flatten entire cities. But given the ordinance that was just leveled against the Absolution, Nash figured the Turbodisruptor salvo would serve to be little more than a distraction.

A distraction from the hundreds of thunderbolt missiles that flickered into existence amidst the formation of Hegelian ships, detonating into hundreds of thousands of smaller, individual warheads that spread out in all directions.

The Thalaron warheads detonated in flashes of sickening green, delivering massive pulses of radiation that would destroy organic matter on the molecular level, excellent for use against organic targets, or clearing the crews from ships. Shielding and armor would prove useless against the Thalaron energy, as the flashes of green spread out in all directions.

Mixed among the predominately thalaron ordinance was tricobalt warheads, which tore gaping maws into subspace with each detonation, threatening to rend the very fabric of space asunder amidst the Hegelian fleet.

Through it all, EVE advised that primary shields were reduced to ninety five percent, and one of the torpedoes had critically damaged an escorting Triarii class cruiser.

Leaning forward, Nash gripped the console. The Reverence II did not stop firing. It's dazzling display of green concealed the three school bus sized ferric-tungsten slugs fired from the Athos, which were targeted to intersect the gun batteries of the Hyacinth.

In a glimmer of light, the slipstream collapsed directly off the port bow of The Absolution, dropping the secondary fleet a few hundred meters from the supercapital, which had begun a turn into their direction. Ten thousand drones proceeded ahead in a tidal wave of rippling particulate, the smaller and more personally-sized vehicles pouring past the Absolution's upper decks in a storm of unexpected hellfire.

Beams of charged plasma cut across The Absolution's shielded superstructure, hundreds landing in unison as the drones accelerated out and away, each beam cutting in for half a second or so before the drone passed by and moved on to the bevy of smaller ships which they could more appropriately engage. Lights scattered and spread as the beams danced between the vessels, with return fire already dropping a few dozen of the less-protected drones.

Following the drones came the 64 torpedoes released during slipstream, slamming into The Absolution in unison over the course of the 1.5 second spread that they'd been released on in the first place. Aleksander smiled, eager to see that the fleet had left the system only to return with more friends — giving him a target-rich environment in which to engage.

The elite secondary fleet of battlecruisers accelerated from slipstream exit into an immediate overtake maneuver, the capital-class ships easily turning faster than the flagrantly-displayed supercapital. Their dorsal batteries held their fire, reserving their target designation for the next phase of the attack run, but nearly every ship in the secondary fleet now released a torrential outpouring of hundreds of self-targeting antimatter warheads.

Mass compensators detected, madam. They've entered the third age!

gravitometrics reported.

Aurora had already processed the enemy fleet's response by that time, smiling as she outstretched her hand towards them. No additional vessels in the fleet opened fire, but the glowing tendrils surrounding them hummed in unison.

Utter silence accompanied the explosions, warheads cascading into the field as their concussive impacts shook the hulls of the Hegalian Fleet. The lack of sound was normal for space, but sensors showed minimal radiation being emitted from the explosions, mostly limited to the visible spectrum with a smattering of infrared. Around them, the pale glowing field seemingly vanished, but quickly closed back in to fill the vacuum left by the matter which had just been voided.

But behind the cloaking salvo of missiles came the excruciating pain of direct-fire disruptors, which cut through the mysterious field effortlessly to slam into the hulls of The Hyacinth and a number of the other nearby supercapitals. The screams of a dozen ships fueled Aurora's bloodlust as their ill-adapted crystalline structure absorbed the heat and began to crackle and furl along the surface. Long, jagged black scorch marks scarred the otherwise pristine silver sheen as the Hegalian Ships began to veer away from the onslaught.

But Aurora was just beginning. With a deadened stare, she closed her fist and the remaining two torpedoes arced back in towards the exposed underbelly of The Absolution. The tactical officer glanced back at her for a moment, but the next moves were clear.

Some would say to jump this close to an Aschen fleet formation was suicide, but to jump in and among it was even worse, as the Hegelian vessels were now within weapons range of the entire Aschen formation of ships.

EVE continued to calculate all possible positions in real time, as the second fleet jumped amidst the Aschen fleet formation. Ten thousand drones were met with a thick orange wall of flak. The flak suppression field spit fire in all directions, bathing the Absolution, and the nearby Aegis cruisers in a glow of bright orange, as the oncoming drones would be torn asunder by a thick soup of incoming fire before they got within a hundred meters of the Aschen Supercarrier.

Their incoming ordinance flared brightly, but negligibly against the Absolution's shields, which dissipated the charged plasma in a ripple outwards along the milky energy of the ship's shields. Which stood like a sentinel against the incoming drones, and the Reverence II's hull.

That wasn't all, as Aleksander's ship, the Harrfeldt was now close enough to be engaged by the trio of Aschen Iconoclast Class Battleships, thirty billion tons, and five point six kilometers in length. The Inomine Veritas, the Sanctis Legate, and the Solar Wyvern moved in a delta pattern formation, turning on their axis about ten kilometers above the Hegelian formation of battlecruisers.

Their eight, three-barreled super MAC batteries hurled ten-thousand ton ferric-tungsten slugs at near relativistic velocities, each slug careening towards the battlecruiser with enough kinetic energy to punch clean through their superstructure. With three battleships concentrating their fire, the Harrfeldt had to contend with a salvo of no less than seventy two of these slugs converged on what the Aschen identified as the lead battlecruiser that was overtaking the Reverence II. Turbodisruptor salvos from the Iconoclast withered away at the remaining battlecruiser formations in the form of dazzling green bolts that did not let up.

Turbodisruptor salvos didn't just come from the Battleships, but every other Aschen ship in the formation withered away with unrelenting turbodisruptor salvos, flashes of green streaked back and fourth at each of Aleksander's battlecruisers, in addition to Ajax missiles carrying thirty gigaton quantum plasmid warheads, which detonated in a brilliant flash of white, vaporizing anything within thousands of kilometers caught within their explosion.

The incoming Antimatter warheads sailed fourth, but only a handful would find it's target amid the soup of Flak from the Aegis cruisers, but also amidst the intense ECM Jamming, chaff, and electronic countermeasures that surged fourth from the formation of Aegis cruisers. Dummy-Targets, and high-energy drones would cause the antimatter warheads to veer wildly off course, detonating harmlessly in space.

One struck a Hastati cruiser, causing it's shields to boil away in a brilliant display of multicolored light, carving a deep gouge into it's superstructure. A second one veered into a Hera class fleet tender, engulfing it in an Antimatter explosion. Another one struck a cluster of drones, consuming them.

Several struck the Absolution, but it's shields flared defiantly against the onslaught, and absolutely refused to collapse.

Admiral Nash had nearly been thrown from her console in the last impact, but from what she could tell, the Aschen fleet was holding it's own.


The Bloodied Spirit, the second Reverence II Class Planetary Assault Carrier which seemingly, had largely been ignored during this engagement, her Commander, Commander Ronson clutched his own console, before he called an order to make a Danger-close jump in the formation of Hegelian Ships.

He relayed the orders to EVE, whom coordinated a small task force of Hastati cruisers, Punisher class Battleships, and a handful of Gemenon, and Sagittaron class Battlecruisers to jump with the Bloodied Spirit.

With FTL drives Synchronized, the Bloodied Spirit executed it's FTL jump, going directly for the throat of the enemy formation.

The Bloodied Spirit winked out of existence, along with a dozen Aschen vessels.

The remaining torpedoes closed in, but the Underbelly of the Reverence II was just as protected as the rest of the ship, the Torpedoes struck against the milky-white ribbon of light that protected the underside of the Aschen Carrier, stripping them of most of their kinetic energy, as they moved to strike against the Kanvium hull plating of the armored bay doors. The Kanvium, like the first Torpedo impacts rippled, and dispersed the remaining kinetic energy before returning to it's original state.

The Impact was felt all through the ship, and sparks showered the CIC as Admiral Nash pulled herself back to her feet.

"We can't keep this up! Admiral we're going to lose primary shields!" The Tactical officer called out. "Hull cladding will take most of the brunt, but not much, we need to get out of this soup!"

"Weapons capacitors at seventy five percent." EVE reported. "Signal confirmation, Langaran fleet will arrive in two Millicentons. Emperor is returning to Langara, Once departure from the Sirius system is confirmed, we can disengage, and retreat. I have almost completed analysis of Hegelian ships, but we still do not know total disposition."

"Primary shields are at twenty five percent." EVE Added.

"Activate hard light shields, divert additional power to weapons, and shield systems. Cycle primary shield recharge, and get us back into the fight." Nash ordered.

"Acknowledged." The XO Called out.


The Absolution suddenly ceased fire, but the other Aschen ships in the fleet kept up the pressure, it was at this moment the Absolution cocooned itself in a hexagonal series of interlocking plates of hard light, which shimmered into existence, and locked the entire ship in a cocoon of light. The ribbon of light that was originally protecting it vanished, leaving the Hard Light shield in place to provide supplementary protection.

---

The Bloodied Spirit winked into existence danger close to the port side of the Hyacinth, maybe a scant one hundred kilometers away, parallel to the Hegelian ship. The instant it appeared, it unleashed it's withering broadside against the smaller Hegelian ship. One thousand five hundred Turbodisruptor emplacements lit up, sending a sustained, sequential hail of Turbodisruptor bolts that would aim to slam into it's hull. The salvo didn't stop however, and the second Reverence II kept firing, concentrating it's weapons fire on a single point center-mass on the Hegelian cruiser.

The remaining weapon emplacements unleashed against the surrounding Hegelian ships with frightening precision. With one thousand five hundred Starboard turbodisruptor emplacements, Five hundred forward, seven hundred ventral, and five hundred on the ship's dorsal side. It unleashed a torrential barrage of Disruptor fire in all directions, with it's starboard side focused on a single ship.

The Aschen cruisers that jumped in with the Reverence kept a staggered Capital phalanx position, opening fire on the other Hegelian support ships in much the same manner, a non stop torrent of a mix of Turbodisruptor, missile ordinance containing both quantum plasmid, and nuclear fusion, and lastly solid kinetic projectiles. With the aim to wither down the Hegelian numbers with sheer overwhelming firepower.

Unlike the Absolution, the Bloodied Spirit came in fresh, shields and weapons fully charged.

There was also the three Frag cannon rounds to consider, which would likely slam into the Hyacinth with enough kinetic energy to punch clean through the ship's superstructure.

Aurora whirled her outstretched hand above her head and out to the left with a snap, her outstretched palm facing the Bloodied Spirit directly as she sneered into her power.

The entire humming glow surrounding the million-strong capital fleet arced into a brilliant web of charged plasma, phasing through the multi-layered plane of the manyverse as it cascaded through the anchorstones placed by generations prior. Swirling rivers of white-hot hellfire engulfed the space between the ships, snapping and jumping from vessel to vessel in an indiscriminate torrent of destruction for the thousands of kilometers across the fleets.

Just then, three 1.5 megaton tungsten shells slammed into the Hyacinth, embedding themselves within her hull as the crystalline superstructure shattered, but the non-Newtonian biomass therein absorbed the momentum of the blow and turned the slugs into glowing decorations. She listed to port as the energy dissipated, bringing her upper side to face the Bloodied Spirit.

Aurora's arm continued to track the enemy supercapital, rising slowly as her own ship rotated about its axis. In the seconds since, as her ship's armor continued to be scarred by the disruptors, a parabolic arc of white energy converged towards the Bloodied Spirit, separating the Hyacinth from its onslaught.

As the field absorbed the fire, it began to adopt a sour green hue — humming in increasing frequency as it amalgamated mass and energy. Aurora was now channeling the enemy fleet's fire into her own reserves.

---

Included with the explosive display of fireworks was Aleksander's auxillary fleet, which had up until now simply held their fire. Over the course of a second, three massive columns of energy bridged their own network of fields with Aurora's, charging the space between with the sizzling stench of vaporized metal and flesh.

Aleksander's maneuver had been successful, the drones receiving minimal losses as their gained momentum and close proximity kept them well beyond the tracking speed of the supercapital's weapons during their acceleration onto the rest of the fleet. They continued onwards, scattering about the fleet to carve into the hulls in an effort to inflict as widespread damage as possible, falling off as the storm of flak occasionally landed a square blow on their otherwise wildly-resilient sentient hulls.

In the hum of the tangled web, Aurora's fleet had already reacted to the dozen-vessel microwarp by releasing their own drones — ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 per vessel — which were rapidly converging on the now-isolated subgroup of Aschen rebels. Their numbers seemed endless, and they were fast little buggers, too.

Aleksander smiled as his ship coasted past the volley of hastily-fired shells, gripping the chair in his right hand to stabilize himself as a handful of shells slammed into the aft of the Harrfeldt despite his overtake speed. No matter that his ship was now tilting aft-over-end from the momentum, the rest of his hunter-killer group now had the Absolution surrounded.

Bubble up. Let's finish this.

he commanded, resulting in the radial acceleration of the iridescent sheen from his group of Dommfeldt-class battlecruisers outwards, racing towards the Absolution.

Black Templar’s Fleet: Crusade Fleet under Marshal Renalanus Phorixx.

Battle Barge: Crusader Of Truth
Battle Barge: The Emperors Halberd
Battle Barge: Righteous Fury

Weaponry: Dorsal-mounted bombardment cannons. Each cannon comprises a series of heavyweight batteries, huge turret-mounted linear accelerators that launch salvos of heavy magma bomb warheads. Also maintains a hefty compliment of Macro-cannons, Plasma projectors, Fusion Beamers, and missile launchers

Armor: Constructed with its unique role of low-orbit planetary assault in mind, the battle barges’ skeletons were forged from a an ultra-dense alloy. The rare base mineral can only be mined from the sites of recent volcanic eruptions, and is further hardened by ballast compression tanks situated on high-gravity moons. The pressurized environment hardens the alloy, ensuring the superstructure is reinforced. These inner frameworks were then girded in kilometres of hardened plasteel and adamantium, and edged with thick ferrocrete buttresses that surround the main hull like a reinforced rib-cage. Finally, a second and ablative layer of armour was added to each vessel’s prow. Each Battle Barge also contains layers of Void Shields

Strike Cruisers: 6
Equipped with two Macro cannons and one Bombardment Cannon.

Strike Cruisers: 7
Equipped with Two missile launchers and one Bombardment cannon

Vanguard Class Light Cruiser Mk. I: 6

Armed with Torpedo launchers, Macrocannons, and launch bays for Attack Craft.

Vanguard Class Light Cruiser Mk. II: 4

Armed with Lances, Macrocannons, and Attack Craft launch bays.

Vanguard Class Light Cruiser Mk III: 4

Armed with a single Bombardment Cannon, Macrocannons, and Attack Craft Launch Bays.


Escort Vessels:
Gladius Class Frigate: 14
Armed with Lance weaponry

Crew

1,000 Black Templar’s Space Marines

2,500 Chapter Serfs

3,000,000 Servitors



“Marshal, Warp space jump complete. Exiting into real space momentarily.” One of the Chapters Techmarines reported as a tear opened up in reality within the Norma Arm. There were reports that this area was a notorious hideout for pirates, as such the Black Templar’s of the Imperium’s mighty Space Marine chapters, the angels of death have come to this sector of the universe.

From the tear of reality, massive regal and ordained ships began to exit from the openings, 44 ships in total. Their mission in their mind was the extermination of the pirates here, believing them to be Eldar Corsairs or even Chaos Raiders hiding out in the asteroid belts. As sensors were trying to pick up activity, the first to pick up anything was radio chatter. Their Vox Communicae was picking up up a familiar frequency seen before during Terra. It was Aschen in origin however they were not clear what the message was due to them not receiving it.

The Imperium had few encounters with them, one requesting a trade of technology and the other was attacking the Guardsman on Terra after they would attempt a coup. However their Emperor was in a meeting with one of their own, as such they dared not do anything that would interfere with the Emperors plans you attacking them, however sensors began to pick up massive amounts of fire being exchanged nearby.

“Marshal Renalanus To Fleet. Prepare all weapons and ready shields, if it’s the Eldari or the hateful enemies of Chaos fire on sight at once. Massive amounts of weapon fire has been detected in the area. In the Emperors name we serve.” The Marshal ordered to fleet as the ships set course to where the weapons fire was was detected through the asteroid belt.

"Coordinates locked in, recommend tactical jump." Eve advised as the display highlighted the cruisers that were moving in to surround them.

Briefly, Nash looked over to damage reports, so far, the shields of both reverences withstood the onslaught of drones, but her own hard light shields were beginning to show their signs of stress. Slowly, they shifted from a brilliant blue, to a red hue with each weapon impact, but the hard light shields held fast no matter what the Hegelians threw at it.

Drone onslaughts were subject to the AI tracked weapons of the aegis cruisers, which had point defense, and flak weapons specifically engineered to track, and engage fast moving strike craft. Drones that got too close to these aegis cruisers were felled by the tens of thousands through a combination of flak, and stormbringer point defense laser systems.

Gritting her teeth, Nash was barely making a dent in the enemy formations. It didn't matter though, a plethora of data was obtained for the Eggheads over at the iia to study, the prowlers had completed their mission, taking some rather detailed footage of the Hegelian ships before returning safely back to the Absolution.

"We have signal confirmation, Continuum, Taiyou, and the First Langaran fleets are positioning to assist us, stand by for time estimate for reinforcements."

Nodding, Nash let her hands dance across the holographic display, she had to put some distance between her ships, and the enemy.

"Initiate tactical jump, anywhere in the system, get us out of this soup. Initiate Planck packs the moment we exit jump. I don't want them following us." Nash ordered.

Without so much as a hesitation, the Absolution winked away with a brilliant flash, leaving a void in it's wake.

Moments followed, and nearly a hundred aschen ships winked away with it, leaving the Command Carrier and about a thousand aschen capital ships to remain in the fight.

The Absolution and her escorts flickered into existence nearly a hundred AU away inside the star systems oort cloud, far beyond the range of the Hegelian ships.

"Fleet is synchronizing ftl drives for jump, all ships will be synchronized in two millicentons." Eve reported.

With a brief respite, the Absolution could recharge shields.

The bloodied spirit followed a similar path, as it became evidence that her weapons were no longer effective, the supercarrier vanished in a flash of white light and a brief release of spatial energies. The accompanying fleet immediately followed suit, winking away from Aurora's formation.


The thousands of Aschen ships followed suit, those with intact ftl and valid synchronization points winked away from the onslaught of drones and capital ships, joining the battered Absolution in the far end of the system. But with the arrival of the Imperium, things grew even more tense for the Aschen.

"Imperium ships detected." Eve reported in the silence following their brief retreat, and Nash grimaced.

Things seemed to only get worse.

Warp inhibiting Planck packs began to slowly charge, and come online.

"Let's recalibrate for an exit jump, Shaw protocol." Nash added.

It was at this time that several ships appeared, cloaked in a yellowish-green energy veil. They were visibly decelerating with haste as they retained a formation ready for battle. The yellow-green veils soon receded, replaced by a yellow-purple sphere around each ship that shimmered for several seconds before completely fading from sight. Their designs were vaguely insectoid/robotic, and they were colored in darker shades of grey, green, and red with purple, yellow, and orange glowing patterns across certain features. No doubt the designs were born of a combination of things thought to instill fear from the Continuum's point of view.

Indeed, the logo the ships bore identified them as Continuum, and their armor had the distinctive, subtly quivering sheen of something not truly inanimate and the reflective crystalline plating atop it along with a rubbery material that was smooth. Their weapons were visible and appeared to be of simpler designs, though it was likely just an aesthetic choice, as their lights showed something far more.

The fleet itself quickly grew in number up until there were almost 1000 ships aside from the overly large central one. A paling number compared to the involved fleets, but it was clear that they had to be sure of themselves if they brought a smaller number. The largest ship appeared to be almost the size of a small moon, and the fleet was carefully assembled and numbered in designs to provide a well-balanced challenge if anyone dared try.

Four smaller satellite fleets eventually entered the area, visibly slowing down. Each numbered nearly 500 ships beyond the central ship of each satellite fleet, though these fleets seemed more specialized than the main fleet. The satellite fleets took up specific positions around the main fleet in a defensive formation. No communication was made toward the others already present, sans the Aschen as the large central ship of the main fleet flashed a pattern of lights toward the Aschen fleet in a pattern long known to them; a sign of alliance and support that indicated the Continuum was about to provide the military assistance arranged for as per existing treaty application. Additionally, the Aschen would receive a video message if they had the resources available to respond.

A white-haired bold and smug-looking female humanoid with vulpine ears and tail was on the screen, standing firm and tall (or as tall as she could stand) as if at what others might call "attention". With a fist across her bountiful chest, that her uniform was able to keep in check even while buttoned properly, the female humanoid commanded a level of respect through her presence she imposed. A long blade was kept neatly at her side, appearing as a cross between a rapier and a katana, and it stood out for its unique design. It was kept opposite a large hand-cannon that was holstered, a hand-cannon that looked quite dangerous even when put away. She spoke clearly, using mostly well-practiced, if somewhat accented, Anquietas (bar some minor word order flubs). The whole proper greeting and addressing, as well as language grasp, was quite impressive for an apparent non-diplomat.

A~hahaha! Ad Vic'toriam, Ab'solution Ac'tual! Hel'lo! I am t'he C'T-6 for t'he Con'tinuum f'leet. T'he As'c'hen al'lies' reques'ted as'sis'tan'ce for'ces have ar'rived! Do w'hat you mus't; we wil'l p'rovide g'reat firepower bac'kin'g!

The fleet was quite immense...

Continuum Stay Armada, under CT-6 R'laet'te K'las'ga - 3000 Ships

Primary Fleet - x1000
Supercarrier - x1 (CRYSTON-SC♚)
Gooebomb - x1
Starbase - x2
Dreadnaught - x6
Battleship - x20
Heavy Carrier - x20
Battle Cruiser - x60
Cruiser - x70
Light Cruiser - x120
Destroyer - x200
Frigate - x200
Escort - x300

Satellite Fleet A - x500
Dreadnaught - x1 (CRYSTON-DN♜)
Starbase - x1
Battleship - x4
Heavy Carrier - x4
Battle Cruiser - x20
Cruiser - x70
Light Cruiser - x120
Destroyer - x80
Escort - x200

Satellite Fleet B - x500
Dreadnaught - x1 (CRYSTON-DN♜)
Starbase - x1
Battleship - x4
Heavy Carrier - x4
Battle Cruiser - x20
Cruiser - x70
Light Cruiser - x120
Destroyer - x80
Escort - x200

Satellite Fleet C - x500
Dreadnaught - x1 (CRYSTON-DN♜)
Starbase - x1
Battleship - x4
Heavy Carrier - x4
Battle Cruiser - x30
Cruiser - x70
Light Cruiser - x80
Destroyer - x120
Escort - x190

Satellite Fleet D - x500
Dreadnaught - x1 (CRYSTON-DN♜)
Starbase - x1
Battleship - x4
Heavy Carrier - x4
Battle Cruiser - x30
Cruiser - x70
Light Cruiser - x80
Destroyer - x120
Escort - x190

Adopting an aggressive formation, the Continuum ships prepared to engage Hegalian forces, making the short trip toward them, staying close to the large central ship that made the Dreadnaughts surrounding it look like mere Cruisers at best in comparison.

Admiral Nash grasped the console in silent consideration, as she watched the Hegelian formation on the holographic projection in front of her.

EVE's voice chimed into the CIC. "Priority one alert from the Scylla, and Director Angel!"

Nash looked up to the display. "Patch it through!" As she considered her next move.

"You've been instructed to retreat from this battle, and return your fleet to Imperial Space at once. This is a priority one directive."

EVE's serenity was abruptly cut by the chime of the DRADIS Systems. "Sir! We have two FTL Signatures on the far side of the system!" The Bridge officer called out. "Identifying.... they're Thunderbolt--"

The pair of Thunderbolt Missiles detonated roughly a hundred AU from the Aschen fleet, and while it seemed to be random, the path, and location of the Detonation was precisely calculated to create an intercept course for an approaching ship.

"Tricobalt explosion detected!" What the frak is going on!?" The Officer called out.

Nash was just as confused. Were they planning on saturating the system?

"As Soon as the FTL Drives are synchronized! Get us the frak out of here!"

The fringes of Aschen controlled space
'The Hethem Ice Fields'

The Hethem Ice Fields were an expansive, sparsely populated region of Aschen space that had always seen little attention in the recent years, with as thin as Imperial assets had been stretched in various campaigns, or actions across the Galaxy, it was a wonder no one had capitalized on the region of space at all. The Hethem Ice fields were nearly one hundred light years across, comprised predominately of small icy planetoids, and comets that drifted lazily through the void, it was empty, that much was certain save for a single Watchtower that had been tasked with overseeing the entire sector. This watchtower was positioned in a gravity anchor nearly half a light year away from where the fleet had begun it's entrance into space few dared to venture.

Aboard the Watchtower that the Aschen Empire Designated Beta-two-nine a single console technician was half asleep. He was seated in a somewhat uncomfortable chair, and had been seated in that same place for nearly four hours into his twelve hour shift. He was lazily flinging small pieces of paper across the console, trying to get them into a poorly constructed hoop fashioned out of a pencil, and paperclips. The young technician was failing at this prospect, as he rested his head in his hand, and only half-way stared at the three-dimensional holographic projection that displayed the entirety of the Hethem Ice Fields, and surrounding space.

The young technician was awakened suddenly by several audible beeps, which were audible enough to get his attention, each sequence of two rapid beeps signaled each ship's arrival into it's detection matrices, and with each sequence of audible chimes, the man began to awaken from his daydreaming state, and focus on the screen.

"What the..." He said to himself as he tried to shake the last vestiges of sleepiness from his eyes, and focused on the screen, each yellow icon was labeled as an anomaly, but extrapolated by the system as 'Possible enemy contact.' He watched carefully as the contacts seemed from where he was, to approach the demarcation line, which in of itself was blurry in such a desolate void of space.

The man had to act quickly, he shifted in his seat to pick up the telecommunications receiver, keying up the central command office of the Watchtower.

"Command, this is Early Warning, I have a group of unidentified contacts encroaching on Imperial space, moving three nine seven carom one two eight, formation indicates possible enemy warship activity." He called into the receiver, while the second officer next to him raised an eyebrow, and looked at the display.

"You're calling it in, Claudius?" The officer asked quizzically, cantering his head slightly. "It could be anything, it could be smugglers!" The officer iterated. Claudius simply shook his head, and focused on the console. "Smugglers aren't usually this bold." He replied, placing the receiver back into it's cradle. "They'll signal the fleet to investigate, given increased ALIRBAD activity, and the arrival of the Oberon in our home systems, we can't leave anything to chance."

Claudius heaved an audible sigh, and focused back on the seven yellow icons that dotted his display. It was in the fleet's hands now, of that he was certain.

---

Reverence II Class Planetary Assault Carrier Absolution
The Cosmora Archipelago
Admiral's Ready Room

It had been a normal day aboard the Reverence II Absolution. Admiral Nash was enjoying a fresh cup of coffee as she began to go over the logs from the previous day, filing them with the ship's new log keeping system, which would be collated, and sent to fleet HQ. Almost immediately as Nash brought the hot mug to her lips, the neutral, warm blue-green visage of the Aschen Empire's custodial AI EVE flickered into view upon a small pedestal just adjacent to the Admiral's console.

"Good morning Admiral, it is zero-seven thirty local ship time, I have received a priority alert from Watchtower Beta-two-nine, and have assigned your battle group to investigate. We have a possible border incursion into the fringes of the Colonial Frontier, unidentified warships, unidentified technology and disposition." EVE Reported, her voice devoid of emotion, and unsettlingly soothing as she spoke.

"I've linked your escorts, they will be synchronizing their FTL Drives so you will all arrive as one group, Three Iconoclast Battleships, two Punisher Battleships, five Hastati cruisers, two Athena carriers, and four Aegis cruisers." The AI reported, as the fleet loadout flickered into view in green ship icons alongside her display for Admiral Nash to view. Nash briefly cast her eyes over to the display, and then pushed herself from her desk, which was a sleek steel and glass ensemble with integrated three-dimensional holographic projector. The woman gritted her teeth for a moment, and frowned. It seemed she was not going to get any peace, but then again, no one ever did. Standing up she moved away from the desk, and out of her ready room. It was a brief walk from the ready room to the ship's CIC.

Nash turned to a holographic projection of EVE that was online just to the right of her command console, she nodded, and then turned to the FTL station.

"Spool up our FTL drives, and calculate a course for the Hethem Ice Fields." She glanced over towards EVE's projection. "Have our escorts calculate their jumps accordingly." Nash added, and EVE offered a nod in the affirmative as the shrill whine of the massive FTL Drive system of the Reverence II whirred to life. Torres grabbed the console railing, and tried to swallow the knot in her stomach. Despite her long career, FTL Travel always gave the Admiral intense nausea immediately prior to jumps.

---

Roughly fifty thousand kilometers away, facing in front of the UPC Fleet, several spatial distortions began to open up, brilliant flashes of white light scintillated across the void of space, signaling the arrival of the very first of the Aschen greeting party. A single Reverence II arrived first, and was a testament to both the power of the Aschen People, and their propensity to build to excess. It was the very symbol of the might of the Empire, and while somewhat older, and less favored over the newer Imperious class, the Reverence II was still very much remarked as the spaceship Bugatti of the Aschen Empire.

Even at these distances, the sheer size of the Aschen carrier made it almost easily observed by the naked eye, and scans would show an absolute gargantuan thirty kilometers of warship from prow, to engines. It's massive, bulbous silhouette gave it an intimidating appearance as the symbol of Aschen oppression across the galaxy. The second generation Reverence class served as the flagship, and central command for Aschen operations for much of the last five decades, since the beginnings of the Terran Conflict, and through the Garden Campaigns, the Reverence II served the Empire dutifully as the cutting edge of Aschen engineering, and construction. Aschen military thinkers touted the claim that a single Reverence II was capable of single handedly subjugating an entire planet with hundreds of individual squadrons of fighters, and bombers, and a complement of three million Imperial soldiers. Reverence II's served as the central supply point, and logistics point for almost any Imperial incursion into enemy territories.

Though this gargantuan warship did not appear to be bristling with weapons, as it's contingent of massive turbodisruptor batteries lay hidden behind thick retractable plates of armor, that the Aschen ship only revealed in the event that they were needed. Each turbodisruptor as the Aschen called them was a direct-energy weapon that fired supercharged particle bolts encased in superheated plasma, capable of flattening entire cities planet side at full charge, and vaporizing smaller ships in nearly one shot, they were the mainstay of this particular warship, and were well suited for ship-to-ship combat, specifically slugging it out with another vessel like two old ships of the line.

Admiral Nash watched the display closely, while EVE had yet to properly calculate their trajectory, the closer positioning of the Reverence II allowed them to at least get a better look at the ships. Nash focused her attention on the large projection in front of her.

"It's not much of an incursion." She remarked. "These are cruisers at best, hardly a threat to even the least fortified Imperial defenses." She said to herself, stroking her chin in confusion for a moment.

At that moment, the rest of the battle group winked into existence, three Iconoclast class battleships, each clocking in at roughly five-point-six kilometers in length. Despite their own sheer size, they had been dwarfed by the much larger Reverence II. Each Iconoclast was angular in appearance, rugged, and built for war. Each bristled with their armaments, specifically eight three-barreled emplacements of the Aschen Empire's super-magnetic-acceleration-cannons, which were designed to fire a twelve-thousand ton projectile at near relativistic velocities, an effective weapon against ships even larger than they. The smaller Punisher class battleships followed next, two to be precise, clocking in at a heavyweight three kilometers in length, but sporting slightly more armaments' than the Iconoclast, the Punisher class took it's design cues from the Iconoclast, and it appeared that the larger Reverence II were from different generations than the smaller ships that were winking in.

Five 1.5km long Hastati cruisers jumped in next, taking a trapezoidal formation around the Reverence II, followed immediately by two 2km long Athena class missile carriers, and four 800 meter long Aegis class cruisers took up defensive formation around the entire battlegroup. The Vessels moved in a tightly coordinated formation, slowly, but menacingly.

After a moment, a milky white curtain of light shimmered into existence around each of the Aschen warships, flitting about like a ribbon of light, and shimmering much like sunlight dances on water before disappearing entirely. This was a strong indication of energy shields.

"Admiral, all ships are in position, shields are active, and all decks report action ready." EVE reported, while Nash offered a slight nod. She watched the display closely.

"Transmit hostile challenge and ID, simple binary." Nash instructed, and EVE quickly complied, as a simple binary bitstream message was broadcast to the UPC Ships.

"Attention unidentified vessels, you are approaching space controlled by the Aschen Empire. Identify yourselves, and state your intentions, or we will be forced to take defensive measures."

"Message transmitted." EVE reported, while Nash nodded, and focused her attention on the display.

"Let's see what these xenos have to say for themselves." Nash added, clasping her hands behind her back, and narrowing her eyes in anticipation.

The Aschen fleet began appearing long before the Admiral had reached the bridge, the flashing distortions of space revealing each gargantuan vessel. The first seemed to spread unease among the crew. The sheer magnitude of the craft alone was enough to discourage any attempt of conflict. Fortunately for this fleet, conflict was preferred to be avoided. Admiral Stratcona would finally make his appearance as the rest of the Aschen fleet came out of FTL.
"My, thats a big one." chimed the veteran moments before taking a draw of coffee he'd procured along his travel to the bridge. Despite the daunting show of force the Aschens displayed, the tactful Admiral seemed unmoved by the overbearing mass of space ships layed out before him.
"Sir, the Aschen fleet has sent a binary based code message." this came from the communications officer.
"Relay." commanded the admiral as both he and the captain approached.
"Attention unidentified vessels, you are approaching space controlled by the Aschen Empire. Identify yourselves, and state your intentions, or we will be forced to take defensive measures."
The admiral's brow furrowed, perhaps exaggeratedly so.
"Well, we don't want that now, do we?" a coy smirk tugged at his mien, this he directed to his uneasy captain; clearly not sharing in the superior's optimism.
"Lieutenant, replicate binary communications pattern and relay the following..." the admiral paused as he strolled casually towards the command seat, "... Intentions, non-aggressive. None dare challenge the Aschen Armada, let alone attack on their homefield. We seek negotiations of an alliance, one aimed to mutually benefit the grand Aschen Empire, and the Unitem Planetary Corporatocracy."
"Looking to appeal to the Aschens' good nature?" mused the Captain Kalenskov, her arms crossed and her weight shift to one leg, accentuating her disbelief in such a tactic succeeding.
"The Aschen are a proud race, indeed. Scrupulous, cunning, when they need to be. They are a brutal and protective people, but they are not evil, Captain. They have their scars, much like we do. Empathy goes a long way, we just need common ground." The admiral was poised in his explanation, and yet not without his good natured demeanour.
"That all being said, having a few weapons capable of erasing matter from existence doesn't hurt to have just in case."
To this the captain shook her head and rolled her eyes, "That's if it even works against Aschen tech."
"Lets hope we don't have to find out."
The message as portrayed by the Admiral was sent verbatim to the Aschen lead vessel, from which first contact was established. The game of diplomacy had begun, though only on a fleet level, nonetheless important. From this point on would be militaristic negotiations until the true government of the Aschen Empire could be reached, which was a trust not easily earned with the Aschen.

Admiral Nash quietly watched the displays, seemingly studying the formations, the composition of the fleet, and even the sizes of the ships, which were being calculated by EVE by using a series of sophisticated sensor suites, and algorithms. The Admiral quietly clasped her hands behind her back and leaned over the console, which reflected a soft blue light off of her face.

"I have picked up a reply coming from the Alien fleet." EVE chirped in, her shimmering blue visage turning to face off with Admiral Nash. She translated their message to Anquietas, and displayed the text on a three-dimensional holographic projection in front of the Admiral.

"An Alliance." Nash said as she stroked her chin in slight confusion. She was slightly moved by the tone of the message, it was humble, not overbearing, it appealed to the arrogant nature of the Aschen, whoever these Xenos were, they knew their place. This brought a slight smirk to the woman's face, before she turned to EVE. "Have all ships stand down to condition two." She instructed, and EVE quickly complied, broadcasting the directive to the fleet, and outwardly, they seemed unmoving, but internally, one by one the ship's crews were slowly coming out of combat readiness, stepping down to the next level.

"Transmit video message." Nash instructed. EVE looked to the Admiral with a hint of confusion, but nodded in compliance. EVE keyed up the CIC's camera system, and began broadcasting on a radio bitstream transmission to the ships, if they were capable of receiving two way video transmissions. The broadcast was a high fidelity living video transmission that displayed Admiral Nash, a middle aged auburn haired woman of slender build, wearing a dark grey single breasted wool uniform that was adorned with dark blue over the pocket flaps, and lapels. The uniform itself was adorned with her rank insignia, which was pinned to the high collar of the uniform jacket. Two gold diamond shaped insignia that denoted the rank of Admiral.

Further adorning the uniform was a polished black leather sam browne style belt, which was fastened to a holster which carried a standard issue Aschen disruptor pistol, a sleek, and rather elegant weapon that contrasted with the imposing, fascistic style of her uniform. The CIC behind her was fairly large, and rather airy for a warship, with similarly dressed bridge officers working their stations, the holographic visage of a woman, EVE was in view besides Admiral Nash.

"Salve. Ego Praefectus Classis Leia Nash, de Imperii Aschen." EVE worked quickly to translate the spoken words to the simple binary, piggybacking the transmission to the alien ships. "Greetings, I am Admiral Leia Nash, of the Aschen Empire." She shifted her weight, as a bridge officer approached in the frame, and swiftly brought his fist across his chest, clicking his heels and standing at attention.

"Ad Victoriam." He said aloud, handing her a small stack of papers.

"Ad Victoriam." Nash replied, returning the salute, dismissing the younger officer, and turning to face the frame once more. Casting a brief glance to her right. "Iaci portum coordinatas."

The soft blue AI nodded, and began transmitting a set of coordinates to the Titan, docking coordinates with the much larger Reverence II. Perhaps a test. The Admiral turned back to the screen and made a face, pursing her lips slightly, the suspicion was evident in her sharp blue eyes. One noticeable feature was a lack of any implants, she issued her commands verbally as opposed to through some sort of neural link. The Aschen seemed old fashioned, or even backwards in this manner.

"Ego traducitur locus ad portum. Quid vultis procedere?" Nash replied. EVE once again piggybacking the translation. "I have transmitting docking coordinates. How will you proceed?" The message read, as the Admiral hardened her gaze, the CIC behind her quite calm, as the various men worked at their station, tapping their interfaces, and keying in commands into the system.

Though they waited patiently, the command staff aboard the Titan Class Assault Carrier would receive a response in rather short timing, truly a testament to the Aschens' punctuality. Admiral Stratcona ensured to take note that should all proceedings and meetings be accepted that they were carried out on time, if not prepared early.

The response came in the form of a video message, which was easily received a due to said message being transmitted via radio streaming. The entire UPC fleet received it as a matter of fact. However, the only ship to respond would remain to be the flagship, Assault Carrier class Sovereignty. The transmission was crisp, and clean, as was all things Aschen. Nothing short of perfection from a uniformly prestigious race of transcended Terran. The individual within, the one responsible for permitting the meet to carry on peacefully, addressed herself and position within the fleet.

As the woman spoke, the language in which she addressed the vessels was familiar, if not a little different from Earthen Latin. The true latin was thought long dead, lost millennia in the past as language developed throughout the ages, and the known world expanded. As more and more ancient artifacts came into the possession of archaeologists, the language was rediscovered, especially when old space travel technologies were found deep in the chasm of the now dried ocean depths.
"Is that... Latin, sir?" Inquired the captain, in common tongue, or English as was referred on Earth. The Admiral's response came with the raise of his hand, aiming to calmly discourage the officer from speaking.
"Bene occurrit, Praefectus. Ego deprecarentur lingua mea non patet, Mea Latin est Terra." Stratcona opened, ensuring to cover the basis that while the Aschen native tongue and ancient Latin seemed quite similar, there already appeared to be a differing dialect. 'Perhaps it is Aschen that speaks the true Latin' the admiral pondered.

"Nos autem humiliatus sum cum auditorio. Et libenter accipit tuam invitationem ad navale." Stratcona bowed his head as he concluded the acceptance in as gracious a manner he could, aiming to maintain a level of professionalism that hopefully lived up to the Aschens' expectations, if ever there were any.
Nobis procedere apud beneficium.

Admiral Nash's eyes briefly flitted to the officer that spoke common, if they were in view from beyond the screen. her ears seemed to grate at the strange dialect of Anquietas that was being spoken, so she paused a moment, and cleared her throat to speak.

"Perhaps, it is better if I speak in your words." She said in heavily accented common, the years of speaking her native language gave her speech of the common tongue a warbled effect, distorted syllables, and the odd grammatical error, but like most high ranking Imperial officers, she was required to learn the various languages of the Galaxy, and it's people. "To be fair, your Anquietas is terrible, but I appreciate the effort...?" She leaned forward slightly as if expecting the Admiral to introduce himself, the soft azure glow of the command console casting shadows across her face, she was quietly pondering her next words, before she cast a nod over towards EVE.

"I will stand our alert down." EVE replied in Anquietas, the formation of Aschen vessels loosened up, and weapon emplacements that were trained on the incoming UPC fleet had began to stand down one by one.

At that moment, the Admiral cast her gaze to a nearby bridge officer, someone standing just adjacent to her command station.

"Colonel Aurelius, prepare a conference room for our guests, first contact protocol." She ordered firmly, and the Colonel offered a crisp salute.

"Sir!" He called out, before turning to leave, while the Admiral redirected her attention back to the screen. "Our primary docking bay will be sufficient to accommodate your vessel. Maintain your present course, and disposition, I will arrange a reception so that we may formalize our first contact." Her accent made some of her words difficult to pronounce, but the gist of what she was trying to say stuck. Several CIC officers turned from their stations, and one of them offered a shrug. She watched quizzically at these humans, or so they appeared that way. They appeared to be some kind of splinter group from Terra? Or did they originate from somewhere else entirely? The Admiral pondered this for a moment as she studied the Admiral in the screen.

"You'll understand we cannot be too careful, we have many enemies, and the treachery of Xenos is without limit. I will ask that you deactivate your weapon platforms prior to docking, and you do not take any sudden actions. If you comply with this protocol during docking procedure, I assure you no one will be harmed. If you have transport craft, you are welcome to use that, but my vessel is capable of accommodating your entire ship."

"Admiral." EVE chirped. "Design parameters of Xenos vessels is not previously encountered in known space. Advise caution."

Nash wasn't going to call it in just yet, with much of the fleet spread thin, and the Emperor currently embroiled in a Quorum session back on Langara, it was up to Nash to decide if it was worth calling in. Yet something about these people seemed peculiar. They knew enough to speak Anquietas, but the dialect was off.

"His Dialect of Anquietas is pre-exodus." EVE commented, as she faced Nash once more. "Yes, I know." The Admiral replied in Anquietas once more, looking to Stratcona quizzically.

The hesitation in the Aschen Admiral amidst Stratcona's speech did not go unnoticed. The woman was curious, perhaps intrigued, though still not without caution. Douglas was studying the woman opposite of the projection, her mannerisms, the way she went about delegating her subordinates. The woman was direct, as most Aschen naval officer were. While this was a first encounter for Douglas, the stories certainly held their merit.
"My deepest apologies, Admiral Nash..." Stratcona continued now in his own native tongue, "... My dialect is less Aschen Anquietas and more Earth Latin."
The Admiral, as his presence was now visible to the Aschen officer, appeared to be a rather straight cut fellow. A veteran in life as the marks of age decorated his face. Additionally his combat veterancy also left its resume across his visage. The right eye was covered with a patch, hiding the disfigured socket beneath. A litter of scars varying in length lay scattered over his aging face, the most prominent cascading to under his ocular coverage. His mane consisted of deep brown hair, which surprisingly did not carry the silver discoloration that comes with age, likely some form or other of hygienic care that maintained the natural, youthful colour. This application also seemed to carry on to the facial hair that covered his mandible, and the swath beneath his nose. The uniform was more leather based, at least the most outer shell, with a composite mantle that circumvented the neck, minus the front most of the man's neck. This uniform accessory stretched over the shoulders, though did not inhibit the movement of the arms. At the back it connected with a two gold plated clasps. The shoulders displayed a series of four chevrons, which in the UCP was a display of Admiral. Oddly a reminiscence of old army rankings, if only holding an extra chevron. This the UCP used as a throwback to the old days of earth bound military.
The captain was also in view, a woman airing on the younger half of human life. She was in her thirties, long brunette hair tied into a tight and proper bun, as was the custom uniform appearance. Unlike her superior, Captain Kalenskov wore a wool uniform, traditional of the forces of old Earth, though it would likely be impossible to determine this through the likes of holographic projection. The woman herself bore the insignia of Captain, which were four straight bars on her epaulettes. They did not bare the star of old as such was abolished when Earth was united as a planet, not under the United States of America. The star was indicative of the United States Navy.
"With your permission, I would like for my flagship to remain in orbit with my fleet." Stratcona now addressed, eager to commence the negotiating, though not so much so as to risk his vessel. "I understand completely the procedures and precautions you wish to take, however I too must be cautious. While we seek peace, we have had our own encounters that have made us careful. Myself, my second in command, and a small security team would like to dock aboard a corvette class of our own making."

The Admiral raised her eyebrow and offered a slight huff. "Earth?" She said under her breath, but it was barely audible. "Isn't Earth a Myth?" She asked EVE in Anquietas once more.

The Holographic intelligence acknowledged the inquiry and then nodded. "The existence of a planet called Earth is unconfirmed based upon Imperial records, though records of the exodus were lost following the Great War of Magellan." The Intelligence explained, answering the Admiral's question for the moment as she focused her attention back on the screen.

"I've transmitted docking coordinates, I expect to see you soon."

With the abrupt conclusion of her sentence, she terminated the live broadcast, and turned back to EVE. "Prepare to receive our guests, notify security to stand by." She instructed, clasping her hands behind her back, and turning to leave the CIC.

With the Aschen fleet standing by, they awaited the arrival of their new guests, and it seemed, once they disembarked from their starship aboard the vessel of their choosing, the closer they came to the Aschen vessels, the larger, and more intimidating they became, the sheer size of each Imperial warship was only becoming more, and more obvious. A Docking signal was broadcast from the Reverence II, which now identified itself as the AHSC RII Absolution - Imperial Command Vessel on any IFF and tracking systems, and the names of each Aschen vessel was revealed, most noteably the three Iconoclast Battleships, the Legatus Stygies, the Inomine Veritas, and the Charon. Each Iconoclast Battleship was massive in it's own right, the light from a nearby star glinting off from it's gunmetal grey, and muted red hull while they passed them.

The closer they came, the larger the Reverence II seemed, massive armored bay doors would open up to accompany them should they proceed inward.

"Absolution LSO to Xenos vessel, proceed on designated final approach, checker's green, call the ball."

Upon docking with the Reverence II, the sheer size and scope of it's interior was made apparent, as docking clamps moved to interact with the smaller ship, and the armored doors sealed shut behind it, allowing the interior bay to pressurize, a mixture of nitrogen, and oxygen injected into the bay until it was brought up to the rough equivalent pressure of one atmosphere. They would find themselves suspended below a Hastati Class cruiser that was in the process of being retrofitted, several large armored plates missing from the ship, exposing it's frame, and internal components. Immediately to the right of the cruiser, a large unusual looking machine began firing off beams of light, printing a large hull plate from nothing, which was promptly carried through zero-gravity towards the cruiser.

On the far side of the docking jetway, Admiral Nash was waiting with a small group of Imperial Marines, each clad from head to toe in all black combat gear, clutching sleek, elegant looking disruptor rifles, immediately behind them, two towering behemoths in power armor could be seen, each clutching the equivalent of a 20mm cannon.

The Aschen were taking no chances, as they waited to see what would happen next.

The final exchange between the admirals came one sided, the Aschen clearly in what seemed a sense of denial at the mention of Earth. Douglas had managed to catch the exchange with the AI, but hadn't fully translated due to the difference in dialect. What he had managed was the translation of Earth and Myth, which left little to truly ponder. The communication had been cut off, with Nash's final proclamation of their imminent face to face.
"Admiral?" Aroia, aka the Captain, called forth. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" her question came with pause both for the inquirer and the inquiry.

"The Aschens do not seem much different than the Krauskarian regime we fought to be free of, and now we're licking the boot of a new one?" a certain angst laced the Captains tone.
"I understand your concerns, Captain..." the Admiral finally spoke, as he did so his single functioning ocular remained trained on the now non-existent holo-projection that once held the Aschen's visage, "... and I share in your concerns."
Though the Captain was relieved that she was not the only skeptic within the senior ranks, the strong sense of 'but' held within the air.
"You know why we need this alliance, why the UPC dared reach out beyond the Septem to contact the Aschens."
The Admiral's words seemed enough to quell the Captains further pursuit on of matter.
"Now, lets go meet this Admiral Nash."

A travel into the belly of the carrier was carried out via mag-lift tram, perhaps overkill in only 11km of starship, but it served to disperse the crew efficiently, a strive the UPC always aimed to maintain. This tram took them towards the bow of the great vessel, if stopping at the three quarter mark. This grand hangar served as a maintenance for the smaller, though still sizable, cruisers and the like. At one time, the carrier could house as many as five heavy cruiser class within, all of which could be retrofitted with varying menagerie of systems, weapons, and the more. A cruiser was not the aim for transportation, instead the duo had come to stand upon a mag clamped corvette. The craft was 291 meters in length, with a carapace of a darker teal colouration. The craft would be nimble, perhaps even surprisingly so considering the overall mass.
Aboard the craft the security team in which Stratcona had mentioned to the Aschen was assembled. Each stood at six foot and bore combat attire that appeared old Earth Marines. Nylon straps and what almost appeared to be a kevlar frame. However, beneath the old world rigging lay the true kit of the UPC. Each soldier was encased in what appeared to be a contorting number of synthetic muscle, the woven materials reminiscent of the human musculature system. This was mostly black, with the odd chrome linkage shining through. The helm each wore was an angular, boxy, triangle that fully enclosed the wearer's head. There were no signs that these suits even contained a human within, and yet when the Admiral approached one, in particular bearing a rather well garnished skull painting upon said helm it would speak.
"Sir, Legion Alfos is ready to step off under security measures." spoke the man behind the mask.
"Excellent, Lieutenant. Best we not keep our Aschen friends waiting."

The departure would be quick, overall taking only five minutes for the craft to leave out the ships primary bow point, the destination took roughly an hour with ample thrust.

As they corvette drew ever closer to the Aschen flagship the sheer weight of the vessel through appearance alone was crushing. Such a behemoth alone must have made for more than adequate deterrent. Since the weapons were mostly, if not all tucked away, the entourage aboard the minuscule corvette could only contemplate the sheer amount of firepower just waiting to be unleashed.

Within the colossus, the navigator and communications officer both coordinated with the Aschen flight director, bringing the 291 meter craft to dock at the desired location. Already Stratcona, the captain, as well as thirty of the aforementioned exo-suited marines, exited the craft at the mid-drift, whereupon their boots made contact with Aschen steel. They had officially stepped within Aschen territory. The Admiral took point with this company, showing that was willing to put trust in these xenophobics rather than remain surrounded by his guard; the captain in toe beside him.
"Ah, Admiral Nash!" beckoned the elder fellow, as he closed the gap between them. He did stop a fair twenty paces away, not wanting to provoke the cautious nature of his counterparts.
"It is truly an honour to meet you in person." this was said with his hand moving to his chest, whereupon Douglas' hand pressed to his breast, and he took an ever so subtle lean forward; a bow of sorts.

Inside the primary bay of the Absolution, the tension was palpable. Admiral Nash was situated just behind a stack of crates, which had been kicked over in anticipation of armed boarders. She was standing between two Imperial Marines, who were crouched behind the crates, though they didn't have their weapons pointed they were watching the thirty some marines closely, but they weren't the only ones. Dozens more positioned themselves along catwalks above, and below the jetway, training their weapons on the armed Marines, but holding fire.

The Aschen Marines didn't have an exosuit of any kind, rather they wore chest carriers with hardened plates made from an alien appearing material painted black, they had plates protecting their shoulders, calves, and thighs, worn over a dazzling fractal patterned camouflage of blacks, greys, and whites.

Nash took a single step forward, the sound of her boot muted against the plating of the jetway, which upon close observation seemed to subtly ripple with each footfall, it was barely noticeable, but a keen eye could pick up the faint, almost organic ripple of the alien material, which was comprised of elements not known to those outside of the Aschen Empire.

Nash took five steps forward before she stopped, far enough that she stood out, but not far enough that she was in any danger.

"I ask that your soldiers remain aboard your ship, and that you surrender your weapons. Xenos are not permitted to carry weapons aboard Imperial warships. You have my word that none of you will be harmed during this exchange. But these terms are non-negotiable." The Admiral stated, as she clasped her hands behind her back, and stood up straight, pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail under the peaked officer's cap, which glinted in the muted white light of the hangar bay.

She cast a brief glance at the other ship, and then bore her gaze back down to Stratcona, her visage hardened with resolve. The woman was devoid of any obvious implants, yet she appeared youthful, her face without blemishes, and like nearly every Aschen in sight, appeared perfectly healthy, without any sign of someone of her stature that should bear their share of scars.

Truly the Aschen were a vain people.