Sprinkles Thothess's Story

Roland waited in silence, secretly hoping the skull probe would not respond.

“Hello? This is the Children.” He said, giving the grotesque machine a little shake. A bright blue light sparked from its inner workings, giving Roland a static shock as the glowing red eye faded out.

“What?” Roland said. He shook it a couple more times before pushing it onto the floor in irritation. He’d have to get an engineer to repair it. Possibly that new rocketeer fellow, although he seems more interested in propulsion systems than anything else.

Roland headed out into the corridor, quickly locating Rei in a mostly unused workroom. He could see she was waiting for a response, and gave it a good moment before the communicator got way too hot to keep holding on to. “It’s alright.” He said, using his coat like an oven mitt to take it from her and place it into one of his many unreasonably deep pockets.

“Just as well the skull-machine is unresponsive too. That was my plan B all the way to Z…” Roland twirled a pen in between his fingers, looking intently through the doorway leading to a corridor. Just as one of the Childrens’ many thugs rushed past, Roland called out.

“You!” and the thug stopped in his tracks, attentive to Roland’s words. “Sorry. Daniel, I mean. Collect Thomas Lawson. Bring him here. Afterwards get our resident rocketeer to repair the skull probe in my office.” Daniel gave a nod.. “Then prepare a ship to take us off world. Enhanced procedures, more discretion than usual. Use a connection we haven’t used in a good while. Understood?”

“Uh, sure thing... Are we boned?” He said.

“Not if we stick to procedure. Get to it, now.”

Daniel left down the corridor. Roland turned back to Rei.

“We need your ship. Great Magellan war era, yes? The technology we could develop from its design would give us a much needed edge. I can track it, within reason, and also get a ship prepared to smuggle us outside of the blockade. Getting back in would be a problem, though I believe the Ghost Dance meets the technical specifications for such a task.”

“So Rei, what do you think? I’ll require every piece of information regarding its present location, to your knowledge.”

~~~

Daniel headed down the corridor, poking his head into the occasional barracks room or meeting area until he spotted Thomas looking through his things at his bunk. The kid had earnt himself a reputation as being one of the more quiet souls as part of the Children, and it was irksome to see him rummaging around weapons and grenades.

“Uh, Tom?” Said Daniel. “The boss wants you. Sounded important.”

If Thomas would follow, Daniel would lead him back to Roland before moving on to tasking the Rocketeer with repairing the skull probe.

Thomas looks up as he hears the voice of Daniel, and quickly nods, deciding to leave his crossbow behind as he gets up. He walks with Daniel, heading back to Roland.

Later, At an out-of-the-way workroom

The Rocketeer looks up at the door as someone knocks, rather loudly, he thinks, to come in. He walks over and opens the door, partially at first, then wider as he recognizes the face behind it. "Daniel! Are you here to pick up your beam rifle?" Daniel shrugs and says, "No, not exactly. The boss says he needs you to fix this." Daniel then holds up the skull probe.
The Rocketeer flips up his mask and walks up to it, taking it from Daniel, and then looking at it from all directions. "This Rolands?" he asks. Daniel says, "Yeah." The Rocketeer mutters to himself, "Seems fried, should probably replace a couple wires and the antenna. Main wiring seems to have frayed a bit. Probably should replace the lens as well, just to be sure about it."
He then sets it down on his workbench, hands Daniel his modified beam rifle, stating, "Thanks for this. The rifle should have a faster cooldown and more energy efficiency now. See you around, Dan."

As Daniel closes the door behind him, The Rocketeer sits down and gets to work.

Rei had spent the last however long drifting in and out of sleep waiting for a response. She had half suspected that all she would get was the static of communication across interstellar space, but she held out a small glimmer of hope that something might crackle across where she sat waiting.

Roland plucking the communicator out of her hands though did catch her by surprise, at which point she moved quickly and grabbed the offending party by wrist on their empty hand, twisting hard. "Roland?!" Rei exclaimed quickly releasing him from her vice like grip. "The fuck is wrong with you?! Don't sneak up on people like that! Especially not me!" She admonished the other, but it seemed he was too busy blabbering about the skull.

"Of course it's unresponsive.. it's a fucking dark age relic. They somehow pick and choose who they'll work with. Fuck if I know how... and what the fuck do you want with my ship?" She asked looking at him suspiciously. When she had gotten there, it had all been 'oh sorry about your ship.. but now that you're here..' nonsense. As always, Roland had been preoccupied by something that had piqued his interest, and never what Rei considered the issue at hand.

"So what if it is? There's probably more relics from that occupation out there, not just my ship." Rei was suspicious, and hoped that this wasn't some last ditch, suicidal effort. As much as she disliked the Aschen, she also tended to like not getting shot. "I told you, it was damaged out on the rim. I limped back here, and woke up in a Cenote. I don't know who has my ship or where it is."

To her it sounded like he wanted to gut it, use the technology aboard to do something she wouldn't like. "Even if we find it, what's to say it hasn't been scrapped already? Also running a blockade is... well... it's not easy."

Getting through the Aschen line would be hard, and undoubtedly they'd be on the lookout for the ship. Especially once someone spotting the hull numbers or radio signature. There would be so much that they would have to do to make everything seem legal and above board.

Rei's reluctance to his ideas brought Roland some irritation. He understood she was frustrated, and that since her arrival he had been particularly demanding. It had been his prerogative that any emotional discomforts were secondary to the cause, and had the compartmentalisation skills of a banking firm to make that a reality. He knew it was absurd to expect the same in others, yet it still irritated him.

Roland took a step back, carefully considering his choice of words.

"It might have scrapped, yes… That would be quite the gambit. But things are bad, Rei. We're losing support. It becomes harder and harder to spread the message let alone convince people to heed it. I've exhausted every conceivable lead on this planet. If you told me a year ago that I'd be cavorting with xenos I still wouldn't be able to foresee the current predicament. But the blockade is there for a reason. They know something, and they will make a move as soon as something cracks. I've got nothing else." He lowered his voice. "The mountain just keeps getting taller…"

Thomas entered the room shortly thereafter making himself known to the two.

"Ah, yes. Thomas Lawson, meet Rei Harkov. She was critical to our growth before your time with us." He said, with a cheery tone. "Rei, this here is one of our brightest minds on deck. The Aschen forces lack a certain level of… Creativity. Thomas does not. I can get us through that blockade, but it will require the both of you. Unless either of you have any ideas based upon knowledge I do not have."

Thomas says a "Hello." to Rei Harkov. He's kind of surprised that Roland views him as one of their 'brightest minds' but he goes along with it.
He looks at the transmitter in Rei's hand, and a vague idea clicks in the back of his head.
So he starts talking, probably the most words anybody has ever heard him say.

"Hear me out, real quick. There's a man named Scott a couple of rooms over from here. He runs a sort of radio show. He once bragged he could reach some of the more distant planets, using the occasional ship to pass on his message. Places like Xamayos, Terra, Space Station Z, even Asylian Space. If we broadcast a message calling on people who have felt our suffering, maybe, just maybe, we could get some help from a couple, ah, rogue starships, pirates, factions, maybe even a few superbeings as well. We just have to try. Maybe we can cause the arrival of enough ships, at least around Moleclay, to distract the Aschen fleet long enough to allow us to get out. I'm not suggesting violence, just a blockade surrounding the blockade, just to draw their attention away from us."
He looks down, a bit embarassed, but he hopes that's enough of a plan to start them off.

Aboard the Keeper of Abassid

"Sir!" A young Lieutenant called out as he interrupted Admiral Clegg's deep train of thought, as he kept his eyes focused on the console before him. "Astrometrics intercepted a series of transmissions from the planet." The Lieutenant said as he passed the Admiral several sheets of paper attached to a clipboard.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." The Admiral replied.

"Ad Victoriam!" The Lieutenant called out, bringing his closed fist across his chest. "Ad Victoriam." Clegg replied, turning to the paper, and looking back to the console.

"EVE, can you verify?"

Flickering into view, the soft blue visage of EVE appeared, and she offered the Admiral a reassuring smile. "I'll begin analyzing points of origin, as well as voice patterns to identify the individual in this transmission." The AI Chirped. "As well as monitoring all crew activity from the last twenty four centars, to present." The AI Added, before disappearing.

Briefly, the Admiral brought his thumb to his chin, and began to stroke his beard in thought.

"Colonel, reposition our robotics and aegis cruisers to a wide dispersal pattern, instruct them to begin jamming all communications on the planet's surface, and then assemble a marine strike team for deployment."

The Colonel nodded, and turned to leave his post as the Admiral focused his attention on the readout before him.

He tapped an icon on the display, and began to magnify it.

"EVE, reposition the Night Flight, and the Nox Obscurus to these positions here, and here." The Admiral instructed, moving the icons to two points around the planet. "Have them engage their stealth systems, and have them track, but not pursue anything that tries to leave the system."

"I'll be in my ready room, open a secure channel to Intelligence as soon as I arrive." Clegg added, turning to leave his spot at the console.

---

Dozens of Royarks class robotics cruisers, escorted by Aegis class cruisers began to move away from the main fleet formation, slowly they moved to take up high orbit positions around the planet, with the advanced Electronic warfare suites aboard both the Aegis, and Royarks class ships, jamming signals coming on, and off the planet would likely be a trivial matter.

Sky's Edge - High Orbit

A small ship, miniscule compared to the Aschen ships, arrives just outside of the blockade. It does not seem to be armed, and poses no visible threat, for it would be only one ship against the entire Aschen fleet. The ships name was The Silver Dawn. It made no attempt to contact the much larger ships all around it, and hardly anybody would notice its presence. It made no advancements to get past the blockade. It was just... There. For what reason, it was unknown. The crew need only consist of up to three people, but could carry up to ten more. If anybody were to scan for life on the ship, however, they would see only two beings on board. No more, no less. The ship was silent. Absolutely silent.
The rebel base below knew nothing of its presence. The Aschen fleet likely did, however. It didn't seem to matter to the little ship what they did.

On closer inspection of the ship, it would appear to have no activated shields, no armed weapons. Not even an armored hull. The little ship was clearly not designed for spacial warfare. The only real advantage, it seems, was its size and those heavy thrusters.

Onboard the ship, the two crew members sit anxiously at the controls, one, named Johnathan Roman, at the comms, and the other, Charles Lorain, at the flight mechanism. Neither of them say a word to each other, and Charles slowly moves the small ship so that is at an even distance with the blockade surrounding the planet.

They have one mission.
And I hope it doesn't fail.

The CIC of the Keeper of Abassid was a flurry of activity while the fleet re-positioned itself over the planet. Two cloaked reverence S stealth corvettes moved into position in geosynchronous orbit above the planet, slipping through the cover of blackness, and adjusting their phase shift drives so they would be undetectable to even the most sophisticated of countermeasures.

"Sir! Unknown contact bearing two nine seven carom one two eight, CBDR!" The tactical officer called out, as a red icon flickered into view inside the large three-dimensional holographic display in the center of the Command Carrier's CIC.

Admiral Clegg gritted his teeth, there was no IFF, and it was an unknown design. EVE had already began trajectory analysis while the tactical crew worked to bring the command carrier to bear. Quickly he made his way from his ready room back to CIC, while one of his officers passed him a data slate.

"EVE, coordinate targeting solution for that unknown ship!" Clegg called out. "Reposition the Escutcheon, and move a harbinger onto an intercept course."

"As soon as it's in range, destroy the ship." Clegg ordered.

Moments later, the Keeper of Abassid launched a single Aschen Harbinger class gunship under escort from a squadron of Raptor Talon starfighters. In addition to this, a single Aegis class cruiser, the Escutcheon broke from it's formation on an intercept course for the Silver Dawn. Given the vastness of the enagagement distance, and at current speed, the small group of Aschen strike craft would be within weapons range in about a minute.

Watching the green icons move to intercept the red icon, Admiral Clegg sent out a wide range broadcast.

"Attention unidentified vessel, this is the Keeper of Abassid, Imperial Aschen Navy, you are instructed to disengage your present course, depart this system, and return to a minimum safe distance of one light year." The Admiral ordered. "Failure to comply will result in your immediate destruction, this is your only warning."

The ship gave an almost immediate response.

"This is the, ah, The Silver Dawn, Nobodies Navy, and, uh, we don't want any trouble, but we were just, uh-"

The voice on the comms changes to that of Charles Lorain.

"This is the captain of The Silver Dawn speaking, I determine your request to be unfair. We are here to offer our services to the people of Epsilon Eridani, mainly in trade, and do not wish to present any harm to the Aschen Fleet. We will retreat approximately... Why is our retreat required? As far as I can see, we are on the other side of your blockade. We are not violating any laws, either of the international space travel act- oh, Johnathan here says you don't honor those. But hey, can't we just chill here? We mean no harm. We don't want any trouble. We'll leave."

Unbeknownst to the Aschen, the ship drops a single, metallic object, the size and shape of a plate. It is undetectible by any purposes, and almost invisible to the naked eye.

"In compliance with your demands, we will retreat one light year from this area. We don't want any trouble."

"So what makes you think my ship is your, our salvation here Cossack?" Rei asked indignantly and crossed her arms. "The only reason the god damn Aschen have us blockaded is we have a leak." She knew that much, given how easy it had been to find this current base. Everyone in town had seemed to know that there was something going on in the jungle, and while it didn't interest them much, it had certainly interested them enough to talk about it for a price.

"Things are bad everywhere, Roland. Not just here, the Aschen are tightening their grip as if they stand to loose everything." At least that was the impression she had gotten back on Langara, the desperate move to keep them there at all costs and the underhanded tactics involved. "The message exists and we're rumored to have friends in some pretty high places. This may just be a set back." She added.

There had to be a way to get off planet, and even if it rested with the possiblity of them finding her ship, it still had to be operational. Who knew what junkers had taken when they had gotten a hold of it? Rei just hoped that the AI had remembered contingency protocols, things that had long been put in place in case something like this happened.

"But cavorting with xenos? Seriously? Did you forget I'm one of those xenos?" Rei scoffed. Maybe she had been better off just going it on her own, and for a moment she was lost in her own thoughts considering doing just that. Until Roland's whinging and whining introduced a new name into the room.

"Both of us huh?" She mumbled looking Thomas over with curious glance. He was young, but they all had been at one time. Listening to the youth, she tried to recall what was in Epsilon system worth using, that the Aschen hadn't taken from them so slowly they hadn't noticed until it was too late.

"No Asylians. I don't think they'd support our efforts." Rei couldn't remember why it bothered her so much. But, there was a nagging sensation in the back of her mind warning her that that way led to certain doom, and it was too difficult to ignore. "However... I think you are onto something." She agreed. They couldn't give in, they had worked for too hard and too long to ceed victory to the Aschen.

"There's an old transmitter aray off Tangerine Dream, I think it was used for gas mining, and there's a few scattered throughout the habitat bands." She added turning to shove bits and pieces off the work bench to clear space. Picking up a small piece of chalk she sketched a rough diagram of the system, "So Sky's Edge is within the habitable band, not to hot, not to cold. But Tangerine Dream is just a hop, skip and jump outside of this zone. A bit of a no man's area, but nothing the Aschen really care about. We'll still need a ship to get off world, but if we use radio burn through among other things... and I can rig that for your guy easy... we might stand a chance." At least she hoped they did.

"We'll still need my ship though. Like Roland said, it has some technology on it that's pre-occupation."

Standing firm within the Keeper of Abassid's CIC, Admiral Clegg watched as the unidentified ship began it's retreat. The Admiral rested his hands on the console in front of him, and focused his attention on a readout of the planet below.

"Recall the strike, and log that ship's profile into the data registry, if it surfaces again, make sure it's seized and it's crew interrogated." The Admiral remarked, he was ready to move to the next phase of the order.

"The Intelligence Director will be here soon, we're to move into formation." The Admiral added, before he keyed up a wideband communication, with a hint of trepidation, he reached down to pick up the communications reciever.

The Command Carrier would broadcast a powerful transmission to every radio receiver on the planet.

"Attention Citizens of Sky's Edge, this is Admiral Clegg, commander of the fleet currently holding position above your planet. I have recieved word, of a rebellion festering within the bowels of your planet. It has thus hencefourth been decreed by the Emperor, that this rebellion, and all those who aid, and give comfort are named enemies of the Empire. The Consequences of your actions will be most severe. Therefore I implore you, if you are party to this rebellion to reveal yourselves and surrender. You have exactly one centar to comply."

Manipulating the holographic display, Clegg turned to his Executive officer.

"Start the clock."

A holographic clock flickered into view, and began counting down.

"Move the fleet into line formation, low orbit." The Admiral continued.

With an incredulous expression on his face, the XO turned to face the Admiral. "Sir? Are we about to do what I think we're about to do?"

With a heavy look of regret on his face, the Admiral nodded.

"We cannot spare the resources for a protracted conflict with rebels, therefore I've been instructed to glass the planet if the rebels do not surrender. Orders that only the Intelligence Director, the Emperor, and the Quorum can rescind."

The XO frowned, the Chain that binds was clear, and the man knew the stakes.

With a grim expression, the Admiral turned to his XO, and spoke.

"It is a sign of strength to cry out against fate, rather to bow one's head, and succumb. Inevitably many shall fault the hands upon the sword which felled sky's edge, this fleet. But this navy merely performs the duties of it's office. To further fear them is redundant, to hate them, heretical.

Those more sensible will place responsibility with those who forced the hands of the Emperor. With some fortune, they may foster this hatred into purpose, and further rule their own fate by coming into the Emperor's service."

Turning to face the screen, he stared outwards, and clasped his hands behind his back.

---

Slowly, the Aschen fleet began to move, it was moving from it's position in high orbit, to a lower orbit, cruisers moving into a long line that stretched thousands of miles, side by side, they were supported by escorting frigates, and the Keeper of Abassid which maintained a middle orbit, to those familiar with Aschen doctrine, the formation was easily recognizable.

The clock continued to tick.

Though at times he can be quite the empirical asshole, Roland still yielded to Rei’s offense at his mention of xenos.

“Right. Sorry. You know what I mean. You’re basically from Yellowstone, and not exactly as foreign as the Imperium.”

He sat back as both Thomas and Rei suggested a plan involving getting a radio relay out. It would certainly be a breakthrough in communications, and any help they could get at this point would be a godsend. He noted Thomas’s emphatic speech, and kept in mind the boy was still a child in all of this.

The man he named, Jack Scott, was yet another cause for concern to Roland for as long as he could recall. The idea of having wireless information sent from any of the Children’s bases wasn’t exactly comforting, but Scott’s means of bouncing signals had proved to elude EVE so far.

“Alright, Tangerine Dream. Sounds like a lead. Even if we just use it to find your ship, Rei. I don’t think people outside Aschen space have any idea what happens here, but anything to disrupt the monotony of things I suppose.”

As if on cue, Daniel rushed back into the room, somehow more panicked than before.

“The fleet… Moving down, preparing something…” Daniel said, clearly out of breath. He handed a communicator to Roland, which played out Admiral Clegg’s message for the three to hear.

At first, Roland was white in the face. He knew exactly what this sort of thing meant. A chill ran up his spine and froze all his thoughts, and all he had wanted to do was fall down and cry. “It’s happening again…” He said.

Almost immediately his head jerked back up and started issuing orders to Daniel. “It’s alright. This is what we’ve been waiting for, really. This world’s already on fire. They don’t realise how hot it is. Make sure the generator’s running. Get the Rocketeer on it. I need to visit our resident radio jockey.”

Daniel left, heading straight back to the Rocketeer to give him yet another job. Roland headed out behind him, rushing into the next room over to find Jack Scott in his usual place.

“Scott!” Roland shouted. “Can you backpack the signal they used so that our broadcast originates from their carrier?” He bared his teeth, holding back the tidal wave of emotions festering in that head of his. “They deserve a warning.”

Thomas takes a deep breath as he hears the message. How did they know? How did they figure it out? He's not sure what's happening, as everything happened in a rush. He looks at Rei for a second. "What's-" Then he realizes. It has to be Joseph. He turned. They must have caught and broke him. This must have been his own brother's fault. He puts a hand up to his face and drags it downward, shaking his head. "Oh God."

"Huh?" Scott says, looking up as Roland busts through his door. "Uh- Sure. Put a Backpack on the Aschen? Might take a bit, but I think I can do it." He puts on his radio headset and tosses a microphone to Cossack, then begins to mess around with his transmitter, flipping switches and then hitting the transmit button, looking expectantly at Cossack.

The Rocketeer is still fiddling with the Skull Probe when Daniel opens his door and quickly explains to him what Cossack needs him to do. He quickly nods and runs out the door, past all of the confused and slightly scared rebels, and flips up his mask to run down the hall to the generator room.

Rei huffed in irritation at Roland's half hearted apology, but there wasn't time to get into an argument, their own survival was now a high stake game of cat and mouse. "Of course they don't. They use a limited range of the jungle for their own training, and even then it's mostly slash and burn.. and I don't mean for agriculture either." The Aschen seemed to be genuinely threatened by the existence of a rebellion. In many ways it was satisfying to be able to give them a bit of a headache, and continue to be a thorn in their side, but in others ways it was concerning. "They won't survive long in the heat, not to mention I heard awhile back someone tried to import creatures from somewhere called Xamayos.. they got out."

Meanwhile others who were not the children had heard the broadcast.

"Oi! Looks like 'e gots ourselves a 'ittle war 'ere boys!" The captian of a ship in a lower orbit chuckled, his sentiments soon backed up by the whooping and shouting of the rest of his crew. It would be a lurcative pay day, especially with the threat of military force. They had come to sell weapons to the locals, on good authority that they would buy just about anything that would kill a man. It wasn't exactly an honest method of trade, but as far as they were concerned what the Aschen didn't know about wouldn't hurt them.

Similar reactions flew way across the war torn planet, shared by similar operators like Scott. Now groups that had been previously content to fight among themselves, and with their neighbors were suddenly given a new target to consider; the Aschen military.

"Aschen threaten planet for second time in occupation. What'll ya take, what'll ya take?! " Shouted a bookie on street corner of Neuva Valparisio. The message had now escaped the swampy jungles of Sky's Edge and had traveled at light speed around the planet.

"$2k bounty on any Aschen tech! Best rates this side of the belt! Best prices on ammo in Santigo!" Cried a street vendor just outside a derelict shop full of bits and bobs, parts and pieces of tech from the various military or otherwise occupations of the planet.

The message had now wound it's way back around the planet again, whipping the guerilla groups, militias, and others into a nightmarish frenzy.

It was one thing to fight among themselves, that was certainly agreed upon, and even tolerate the few military installations. But to escalate to glassing the planet was waving a red flag in front of a bull's face. The people of Sky's Edge did not like the Aschen, and would have much preferred other masters or them gone entirely. The only thing they normally wanted from them was their tech, and even then they'd have preferred other things.

To Sky's Edge, Aschen tech was a fickle thing, often requiring rate materials, special handling, and even then it would break soon as you looked at it wrong. It was hardly the thing they thought, that would stand up to the hostile environment on Sky's Edge.

* Rei huffed in irritation at Roland's half hearted apology, but there wasn't time to get into an argument, their own survival was now a high stake game of cat and mouse. "Of course they don't. They use a limited range of the jungle for their own training, and even then it's mostly slash and burn.. and I don't mean for agriculture either." The Aschen seemed to be genuinely threatened by the existence of a rebellion. In many ways it was satisfying to be able to give them a bit of a headache, and continue to be a thorn in their side, but in others ways it was concerning. "They won't survive long in the heat, not to mention I heard awhile back someone tried to import creatures from somewhere called Xamayos.. they got out."

Meanwhile others who were not the children had heard the broadcast.

"Oi! Looks like 'e gots ourselves a 'ittle war 'ere boys!" The captian of a ship in a lower orbit chuckled, his sentiments soon backed up by the whooping and shouting of the rest of his crew. It would be a lurcative pay day, especially with the threat of military force. They had come to sell weapons to the locals, on good authority that they would buy just about anything that would kill a man. It wasn't exactly an honest method of trade, but as far as they were concerned what the Aschen didn't know about wouldn't hurt them.

Similar reactions flew way across the war torn planet, shared by similar operators like Scott. Now groups that had been previously content to fight among themselves, and with their neighbors were suddenly given a new target to consider; the Aschen military.

"Aschen threaten planet for second time in occupation. What'll ya take, what'll ya take?! " Shouted a bookie on street corner of Neuva Valparisio. The message had now escaped the swampy jungles of Sky's Edge and had traveled at light speed around the planet.

"$2k bounty on any Aschen tech! Best rates this side of the belt! Best prices on ammo in Santigo!" Cried a street vendor just outside a derelict shop full of bits and bobs, parts and pieces of tech from the various military or otherwise occupations of the planet.

The message had now wound it's way back around the planet again, whipping the guerilla groups, militias, and others into a nightmarish frenzy.

It was one thing to fight among themselves, that was certainly agreed upon, and even tolerate the few military installations. But to escalate to glassing the planet was waving a red flag in front of a bull's face. The people of Sky's Edge did not like the Aschen, and would have much preferred other masters or them gone entirely. The only thing they normally wanted from them was their tech, and even then they'd have preferred other things.

To Sky's Edge, Aschen tech was a fickle thing, often requiring rare materials, special handling, and even then it would break soon as you looked at it wrong. It was hardly the thing they thought, that would stand up to the hostile environment on Sky's Edge.

The sounds of the swamp water bubbling masked the sound of movement. Something with scaly legs with with feathered coats were moving about in the jungle. These were new to the ecosystem, quite easily able to disrupt it and make it their own. Xamatoraptors as they were known on their home planet.

All this ruckus was stirring up not only the raptors but the other animals imported in to this strange new land to them. Things like spinosaurs, giant crocodilians, and other strange and dangerous creatures were loose in the jungles. Some were hungry for new meat fresh for the taking, while others were peaceful yet territorial.

They adapted beautifully to this swampy jungle, the herbivores could even tolerate the normally toxic plant-life!

As the Aschen fleet prepared for the operation, several dozen additional contacts began to filter in through the blackness of space. Roughly a dozen additional Aschen warships flickered into high orbit above Sky's Edge, the Reverence II 'Esteem' was among them. Once in position roughly one hundred and fifty thousand kilometers above Admiral Clegg's fleet, the Esteem began to initiate tactical maneuvers.

The arriving fleet showed up as shimmering green icons on the holographic display, and Admiral Clegg offered a scowl as EVE chirped to life.

"Admiral, I'm receiving revised objectives from the Esteem."

"Keeper of Abbasid, this is Esteem Actual, disregard all black file protocols disseminated by Intelligence, and revert to standard protocol, you've done your part, now let us do ours."

Admiral Hanley's voice echoed through the Keeper's CIC, and Admiral Clegg simply shook his head.

"Acknowledged, Esteem Actual, taking position now." The Admiral replied as he keyed the comms.

The Esteem, and her escort fleet took position, moving into an elongated delta formation as several hyperspace windows began to open up, and roughly a dozen starships that were uniquely not Aschen. Each of the new type of vessels were much smaller, more streamlined, and vaguely resembled bluewater ships, those who frequented the trade circles would recognize them as warships of the Taiyou Empire. Each one of the Taiyou ships bore a blue stripe along their hull, and their radio identifiers showed them as peacekeepers operating under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Defense Force.

With their movements coordinated, the Esteem, and the small floatilla of Taiyou ships began to move towards the planet below.

Hanley had already began the planning phase, they would first seize control of major population centers, as well as major infrastructure points, from there they would move out into the jungle. With strong beachheads established, the Admiral knew it would only be a matter of time before the rebels had been routed.

Slowly, Hanley grabbed the railing of the Command Console as the Esteem shook slightly, slipping into the transition point between vacuum, and atmosphere.

Amidst the chaos, Roland took a deep breath. He spoke clearly into the transmitter using a speech-to-text-to-speech conversion dictation device. The resulting voice was clear and monotoned although maintained the volume and emphasis with which he spoke. The signal appeared to originate from the Command Carrier’s transmitter, as well as every spaceport on Sky’s Edge.

“Hello, Admiral. I’m requesting that you cease this clumsy display of power. This is a planet of warlords. Like the land, they’ve grown into hostility long before your lot ever claimed dominion out here. They adapt to survive. So go ahead, burn this world. The people here will continue to rise from the ashes and their children will finally see who they should have been fighting all this time. End of transmission.”

Roland looked at Jack and smiled. The tension was as high as ever, but Roland could not help but feel a little pride in telling an Aschen authority what for. Behind the shallow gloating, he was genuinely unsure what was going to happen. He knew the planet was well armed, it was just up to those factions to set their sights on the common enemy.

~Elsewhere on Sky’s Edge~

In addition to their traditional armaments, the neverending arms race on Sky’s Edge had resulted in the procurement or development of many fascinating tools of destruction.

A large manned turret was embedded in a jungle settlement, with a 20ft lightning rod on top of a large open vacuum tube. A stray fighter was moving out to investigate the approaching Taiyou ships. The woman manning the turret followed it, aware of what it was doing. However this fighter was from an opposing faction.

She turned to her male superior with the telescopic-binoculars. He turned to her and nodded, smiling. Her eyes lit up, and a devilish smirk struck her hardened expression. She pulled a large lever to the left of the turret and a series of lights lit up all along the lightning-rod. In the turret’s line of sight, past the fighter it was aimed at, a series of dark cumulus clouds amassed together. A few moments later-
*CRACKOOM!!!*
A bolt of lightning came from the clouds and hit the fighter, frying its systems and blowing off of a wing sending it veering off course into the jungle canopy. The Cloud Cannon’s pilot cackled, swinging the gun around to the right and keeping its sights on the Taiyou ships as the distant clouds started to re-align themselves.

Her superior used a primitive comms unit to alert four other mortar crews to abandon camp and man their respective Cloud Cannons.


The fighter had emerged from underneath a lake in an underground hangar. Nine more shot out to locate the Cloud Cannon that took out their comrade, uncertain whether the Taiyou ships were worth worrying about. They were understanding, however, of the clouds amassing above them.

Each fighter was armed with what was known as a Colour Bomb, a remotely detonated smoke bomb that spreads an incredibly thick, bright multicolored smoke in a 10 mile radius. The smoke is thick enough to act as paint for anything that comes into contact with it. A technology appropriated from mass exterior painting tech, the Colour Bomb was used to blind spaces in atmosphere or on the ground, as well as paint its moving targets that otherwise would try to camouflage themselves in the jungle.

They were also equipped with simple Light Beams, essentially hyper powerful spotlights that fired a concentrated UV ray. They could burn through flesh, set standard foliage on fire, and a sustained beam could burn through steel. Ordinarily, the power on these would be toned down to act as standard spotlights.

As for their ballistic weapons, average 90mm cannons for tearing shit up.

One Colour Bomb was fired at the origin point of the thunderclouds (possibly in the path of the Taiyou ships), intended to blind the Cloud Cannon’s target whereas another fighter bombed the jungle in a rough estimation of where the pilot thought it was. They were not mathematical geniuses, and the Colour Bomb’s boundary was a couple miles off of the weather-manipulating artillery.


Chaos like this was consistent in most uninhabited spaces across Sky’s Edge. Civilisation and agriculture was frequently abandoned in these rapid skirmishes for land, only to be taken back when the enemy (or a new faction) showed up with armaments designed to counter what had resulted in their defeat. Bladder Mines for orbital bombardment, Weirdness Sludge for bio-confusion, and Evolution Rays to ruin degradable materials in inefficiently designed tech.

It was likely that EVE would know what the militias called their improvised and traded weaponry, and they only cared enough to hide themselves from whom they were fighting. The exact details of their latest tech, however, would have to be learnt through experience.

The commotion in the jungle canopy would not go unnoticed. As the fighter crashed into the trees and eventually into the lake, this attracted the attention of curious beings.

On its home planet it was known as Tarturoxamos, an evolved species of Allosaur easily 30 feet in length and was 3 tons of pure muscle. There was only one as they were solitary hunters, but they would not be left alone for long. In the underbrush were several Xamatoraptors, their reptilian gaze fixated on both the giant predator and the potential meal in the fighter.

The Allosaur came close, its snouting wrinkling as it sniffed out the new object. Its mouth was lined with razor sharp teeth and its arms were tipped with similarly sharp claws with dexterous hands.

Once the Esteem slipped into the atmosphere, the roar of it's gargantuan engines reverberated far below, amidst the rugged jungle, and amidst the swamps, and the rugged mountainous terrain. Hanley was watching the display from her command console, some kind of energy weapon, it appeared these natives had been amassing quite an arsenal while the Empire's eye was turned. But they had a job to do, and Hanley turned to face another woman, this one wearing a dark, olive green jacket, with an unusual insignia pinned to the collar.

"We won't win this from orbit, and glassing the planet would embolden other insurgent groups." The woman said, clasping her hands behind her as she surveyed the holographic table in front of them.

"Let me handle these gritidiim." The Cosmoran woman remarked, keeping her hands clasped behind her, as she kept her eyes on the jungle below, represented on the three-dimensional hologram. Nabaal knew the place of Admirals, and it wasn't on the ground, it was among the stars. Lord General, the last vestige of an old military branch, finding new and reinvigorated use among insurgent groups, and rebellions within the Empire. She was the Empire's attack dog, the Butcher of Ruston, Lord General Nabaal, with wispy brown hair, and a tanned visage from life in the unforgiving deserts of the Cosmora Archipelago.

"Admiral, that Plateau there, deploy the prefabs there, and the Fiiskire." She instructed. "If you could, and then it would be wise to pull your fleet into high orbit." Nabaal smirked. "Oh, and we can't have the Taiyou fight all of our battles either, I'd prefer it if they stayed aboard their ships, this is Aschen problems, and they require Aschen solutions." Nabaal remarked, while she placed a hand on Admiral Hanley's shoulder, patting it twice, before turning to walk around her, and out of the CIC.

Hanley simply grit her teeth, she was too proud to admit it, but the filthy colonial was right, this was her domain, not the Admiralty's. So the Admiral looked down to the display, and highlighted a landing location.

Above the Jungle, with shields flaring to life with energetic eddies, the seemingly unnoticed Reverence II slipped through the clouds, and began to project a brilliant violet beam of light onto a large plateau overlooking a marshy valley that was riddled with a river that snaked through it.

Massive doors opened up underneath the Reverence II, echoing through the jungle below as metal snarled, groaned, and barked it's protest, these massive doors retracted, moving aside armored plates, and opening up wide, exposing a maw that was roughly a kilometer long, and five hundred meters wide, one could look up into the gaping hangar bays of this massive supercarrier, and see a handful of Aschen cruisers, suspended from trusses embedded in the ceiling of the bay, while a large vehicle, one that could be described as an aircraft carrier on treads began to descend through the gravity beam.

This carrier clocked in at one hundred and twenty five thousand long tons, and five hundred and sixty eight meters in length, it was a slow, lumbering beast that would serve as a base of operations for the Aschen ground forces.

With the Fiiskire deployed, crushing everything underneath it with a deafening 'crunch!' that echoed through the entire valley, the Reverence II ignited it's gargantuan engines, while the bay began to slide shut, shields flaring back to life. Slowly, the thirty kilometer long Planetary Assault Carrier began to gain altitude, while the crew of the Fiiskire was identifying travel paths for it to take, Lord General Nabaal at home aboard it's bridge, surrounded by instruments, steadying herself as massive engines caused the Carrier to lurch forward.

"Let's deploy Construction vehicles, clear this foliage and get the beachhead established. Keep your eyes on the scanner." Nabaal ordered, wincing as the sunlight began to shine through the windows, illuminating the Bridge.

Behind the Fiiskire, a massive ramp opened up, revealing a small army of bulldozers, and lumber harvesting trucks, slowly, they moved down the ramp, and started to work clearing the trees, and the undergrowth by cutting them down.

---

The small group of Taiyou ships moved through the Multicolored clouds with little hindrance, their advanced sensors meant they did not need to rely on visual cues, unimpeded, they touched down in a body of water south of the continent, with no further orders, they remained in position, while the Esteem began to ascend back into the atmosphere, any attacks against it would be rendered largely ineffective against the Reverence II's Gargantuan shields.