The Zero-One Collective's Story

Galaxy: Onyx
Region: Cobalt Edge
System: Sector 0547 (Zero-One Designation)

Ten long minutes went without a reply as the alien object drifted through space. There was no reply to any hails, and nothing to indicate any engines or power source. The construct simply drifted without any aim.

Though what seemed to be going on the outside, was quite different than what was going on the inside.

Trillions of machines worked in complete harmony within the vessel, alongside millions of assimilated lifeforms from across the known universe. Many of them human, many of them were alien, but all of them worked in harmony with their Machine masters.

Precisely eleven minutes, fifteen seconds, and thirty microseconds the investigating ships finally received their hail.


"We are the Zero-One. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The voice of the hail was eerie to say the least. It was as if trillions of beings spoke those words in complete harmony. The monotone voice was firm and lacking of any emotions, and immediately following the hail, the System's inhibitor would suddenly and abruptly come under a massive cybernetic assault, as the collective artificial consciousness of the massive alien ship attempted to interface, and gain control of both the System's Gate and the inhibitor protecting it. The sheer massive amount of computing power being focused on such a small target would likely make short work of the system's Computer defenses, firewalls likely being torn asunder, and it would likely be a matter of seconds before the gate and the inhibitor was swiftly and firmly under Zero-One control.

The Inhibitor and the Gate wasn't the only thing to come under attack, the strange alien ship began attempting to interface with the computer systems of every ship in the immediate vicinity. This would likely be evidenced by sluggish systems, systems being taken offline, and attempts to gain control over the Avionics of the ships. The Droids aboard would likely not fare much better, with vast computational algorithms being beamed into the Droids AI Systems designed to uplink them to the central Hive mind, hijacking local controls as well.

Should this succeed, the crews of the ships would first find their computer systems malfunctioning, growing slowly and progressively worse as Droids began to turn on their Human masters, this was merely a diversionary tactic though, to cause Chaos in the opposing fleet. Of course, this wasn't the worst of it.

The inky glossy surface of the Diamond rippled and opened up to reveal a set of spiral doors which slowly opened up. What came fourth could only be described as a nightmare.




A massive swarm of machines began to ripple and billow fourth from these doors, spreading out in all directions. Hundreds quickly turned to thousands, thousands to millions, millions to Billions as they spread out towards the opposing ships.



The Swarm kept it's coherency, moving out towards the Harrower Class Dreadnoughts like massive tentacles out of the Alien ship. These machines aimed to latch en-masse onto the hull of the Dreadnought, and they systematically and methodically attempted to drill through the hull, tear off hull plating, get through Airlocks, tear weapons emplacements apart, and literally eviscerate the ship with sheer numbers. This coupled with computer interference, would likely make this a short battle.

It was fortunate that the great ship had not attempted to overpower the system inhibitor. The gate would have ramped up the inhibitor’s power output if it had detected an attempted breach. The power of the field would have increased exponentially ad infinitum. Black holes would have eventually propagated inside the great ship’s hull before it managed to form a beachhead. It would have literally destroyed itself in the attempt.

There were two easy solutions that could nullify the defensive advantage of the inhibitor. As the great ship was already in system before the inhibitor was activated it could attempt to destroy it or attempt to hack it. Hacking the structure would be much more easily done if a physical connection was established. The great ship could also try and destroy it at range just as the Maelstrom class battleships had done in Wicked Creek in the XEN7-0 system. The Cáidheach did this so they could jump in other assets as the Southern Coalition’s inhibitor had been thwarting their ability to do so.

The AI in charge of sovereignty and the gates outside of CONCORD controlled space was affectionately called Scotty by those that lived and operated in Cobalt Edge. As the hacking attempt started the older Ayen AI seemed like it could weather the assault and even pressed back against it. Firewalls that should have been shattered shredded incoming code. Seconds and then minutes came and went and still the gate and inhibitor did not fall. The inhibitor’s hydro magnetic shielding flared as its defensive systems spooled up. The gate prepared to defend itself as well.

Slowly and surely the older and less advanced Ayen AI would lose ground. Since the AI recognized the Crimson Legion as sovereign in this system it kept them updated on how long it could hold on in the face of the furious digital assault. It would take a full five minutes for the hack to finish from the start. Of course the option was given to deactivate the gate and inhibitor’s remote receivers but there would be a point of no return and after that point the AI would be powerless to stave off the eventual hacking of the inhibitor and the gate. That point of no return sat at slightly less than three minutes from the start.

Once the remote receivers went offline Scotty would no longer be able to receive incoming transmissions from anything or anyone in the local system. He would also be unable to receive transmissions from the paired J-QOKQ gate and thus nothing could jump into the system from the gate until he rebooted after a sovereignty change, or someone from the Crimson Legion physically connected with the gate or the inhibitor. This would not prevent jumping out of the system to J-QOKQ via the gate.

If the Scotty turned off the remote receivers the great ship would have to gain a physical connection or remotely connect to something else with a physical connection to the gate or the inhibitor. If the AI was hacked it would force a reboot and the system’s sovereignty would change hands.

A'ata and Aleron remained in the room, uneasy from what had just transpired and currently unaware of what was happening. "Something is wrong. There is fear. A great amount of fear.", said Aleron as he turned to his wife.

Rolak was still kneeling on the floor of the ship they response came. Though once the probing maneuvers started to ping into the ships AI's Rolak would act. Sensing the attack he would begin to sense and manipulate the Sith's forces cybernetic defense systems through a rare Sith ability known as Mechu-Deru being influenced by cybernetic parts of his own assisted Rolak in using this ability.

As the malicious code would not find it easy to break into the ships and the ships droids would disconnect from the mainframe for the time being. The AI code would push back being fueled by the rage induced ability would push the AI's to adapt and fight back against the invading code. Soon Rolaks vessels would be transmitting counter signals filled with a malicious code of it's own. Masked to look similar to the hive collective it would target the Zero-One's various systems probing for entrances and weak points to corrupt.

As Rolak did this the bridge crew was not idle as the swarm was launched the crisp voice of the Tactical commander would echo throughout the bridge.

"All Ion Batteries Fire at Maximum abilities, Launch a spread of our EMP missiles on the double, All engines Full reverse!" The officer would bark in a series of commands as the ships began to fire a spread of large EMP missiles toward the swarm followed by a seemingly endless volley of Ion Cannon rounds.

From behind the Gate Inhibitor was a fleet, unseen as it was cloaked, waiting for its time to strike. The massive Executer class star dreanaughts were hiding, waiting for their orders as the largest of the five massive emense craft observed everything. Standing at the viewport on the bridge of the Laksaen's Bane. A red garbed woman stood. Watching. Waiting.

Rolak moved too soon. She mused thoughtfully. She was waiting for her Master to make the next move before revealing herself, hidden, unseen by experimental technologies only the Sith could provide. the emense fleet, though few massive craft in number had swarms of Droid starfighters of all kind with AI systems set in such a way that should their connections fail, the secondary brain took over.

But she was waiting for her Master, Lord Mor, to make the next move. He was going to call upon all of his forces. Including her fleet. Nothing could withstand a planetcracker like on his ship, and her own. Her own craft was massive enough with the right power supplies to power a planet cracker weapon twice over. Emense in size, the Laksaen's Bane was roughly twice the size of an Eclipse class. Quite useful. Countless droids filled its cargo compartments, waiting to be sent to battle.

But for now they waited, They waited their masters command, Lord Vinh they called her. She mused on it for some time. Deciding at long last to ignore such trivial trappings. There was only one Lord and that was her own master, Emperor Mor. Her Lord, her Master. Her... savior.

So she waited. She waited because she was to be her Masters next move. With an unlimited supply of Droids, fighters; and otherwise, the swarm that were coming, were soon to be destroyed. She watched as Rolak's craft began to backtrack quickly while firing their weapons at the swarm. Typical dumb move. Attacking a Sith was normally the most suicidal move a person could make. Very dumb stupid move. Attacking a Sith of any kind, even in a 'fair fight' never resulted in good things. The Sith always lived. She thought through history. Korriban; the ancient birthplace of the Sith, fought over for decades, lost and won several times until finally, The Sith struck coruscant, taking it captive, forcing a stalemate. That was not going to happen here.

A human officer stepped to her, the captain of her ship, "Ma'am ? Do we strike ?" He asked her, nervous for his life. She shook her head.

"No, we hold our space until ordered to do so by Lord Mor. When the order comes, no matter what the order is, we will follow without hesitation, understood Captain Salux ?" Came the soft, gravely reply. The human officer blinked, then nodded before turning back to his wanderings among the bridge crew. Wondering why not strike while the time was good. Rolak was a good bait maker.

Victor began to smile as he ordered his own ships to move forward on the command of Darth Mor. The Frost Rifter and its forces began to back up Rolak as he made his retreat. The combined forces of those ships alone would provide enough fire power to hold off the initial assault of the swarming droids but the enemy did not count on the training of the manned fighter and bomber pilots as they rushed out from the Harrower class ships from each of their six hanger bay openings. It would be a slaughter on either side as they fighters began to shoot down as many of the drones as they could to limit their numbers while the massive blasts from the ion cannons tore huge numbers of them down.

"Men!" Victor shouted as their ship at first began to act sluggish due to the assault on their systems. "Force those bastards out and run our counter measures. I want full A.I. Control of our ships. Allow Tesla to take control once again as I am sure he is dying for a rematch against such odds!" Victor began to laugh like the devil himself as the sound of his ships helm was filled with the busy work of men and women alike who activated the old A.I. which quickly went to work in countering every single move that the other intelligence used against it. Tesla was back and with it so to would every other council scribe unit that was stored in the memory banks that Darth Mor kept during the fall of the Council.

"This is Admiral Victor Bespalov! I am requesting backup immediately from all worlds and soldiers who are loyal to Emperor Mor. We stand and fight gentlemen!" It was with that said that the Gate would be open allowing others to transport themselves through with great haste as the fighting would continue. Among some of the fighters and bombers that now joined the battle many began to make a move against the enemy vessel that was in the system already in an attempt to destroy it as quickly as possible or at least to buy the main fleet more time before they could regroup and revisit the attack once more.

Darth Mor on the other hand simply began to command his ship to return back to the core of the system as he watched through the eyes of several force adepts present in the battle. "Choi." Mor began to speak through his apprentices mind. "Advance your own troops and assist. Leave no forces alive and destroy that foul creation." Mor simply could not abide by anything less than that and there would be more troops to follow. Meanwhile he set out his own signal and began to call for aid from the others within his own system and with a rather hefty amount of good will attached to it.

"Consider it done master, I will rejoin your fleet shortly as planned." came the curt reply. Choi gave the order to retreat, but she also spoke saying. "Send forth the slipspace reactor. Give me the trigger codec. Keep it cloaked. Target this area." The captain nodded and did as ordered as the fleet; still undercloak, began to move out of the system. The fleet was leaving, and for good reason. A ping was sent to Rolak: "Get your fleet out of there! This system is about to burn" The fleet were soon safely away from the Inhibitor's reach before jumping to hyperspace.

As they left, a cloaked item shot towards its target and latch onto the hull of the construct that attacked the system. As the Laksaen's Bane jumped to hyperspace, the trigger was pulled. the slipspace drive reactor exploded with such force and purple black light that everything caught within its blast raidus was instantly transported into oblivion with no hope of return.

The explosion spread like ripples on the surace of water through the system. moving quickly as it did so. Anything it hit first lost any shields the craft possessed, then was vaporised in the explosion as the wave spread outwards before disappaiting.

The massive alien ship seemed to remain there in silence, looming over the opposing fleet as the Millions of Sentinels engaged their targets.

It seemed these well trained, and experienced pilots would find that the Sentinels were quickly adapting to their maneuvers and tactics in real time. It wasn't just one Sentinel adapting either they all seemed to simultaneously adapt. This meant that the pilots would not only find themselves outnumbered, for every Sentinel they managed to destroy, tens if not hundreds seemed to take their place, the onslaught seemed to never end.

As Rolak exerted his will upon the force, he would find a split second of a reprieve, as the squid like Machines that were bearing down on his ships had a momentary pause while the Computing systems of the Zero One assimilator worked and adapted the force energies, along with the Mechu-Deru that was being used against it.

Rolak moved too soon, as the Assimilator adapted, and a force-neutral bubble was projected outwards in all directions, aiming to encapsulate the fleet, their pilots, and the Sith aboard the ships. Within this force-neutral bubble, which was strikingly similar to that used by Ysalamiri, the Sith would be cut from their Force abilities.

Slowly and surely the battle was starting to turn into the favor of Zero-One, as Sentinels acted as literal ablative armor to the Ion Blast, and the surviving ones moved directly towards the Ion Banks of each Harrower class dreadnought. It was likely the crews of these ships would find their Ion banks taken offline one by one as the Sentinels swarmed, and moved to irreparably damage each Ion cannon.

The electronic assault continued against the Inhibitor, while thousands of Sentinels broke off from the main attack, in a long writhing tendril of machinery towards the Inhibitor, while the Assimilator began to move, shifting ever so slightly.

----

Aboard the Diamond, a single figure stood in silence within a large room, what seemed to be a Command Center. Locutus, formerly a Commander in the Imperial Navy before his Assimilation, a John Picardo, commander of the Aschen Imperial Navy's Reverence I 'Enterprising Spirit'

He watched the battle unfold, while a voice resonated in his mind, a distinct female voice.

"The makers of the makers fall before the child. Accessing defense system. Handshake, handshake. Second level clear."

"Their ships fail. Skittering like skipped stones. Meaningless in the absence of time. What never was is never again."

It was at this point one of the six Harrower Class Dreadnoughts would likely find itself losing power, nearly completely assimilated by a mass of Sentinels, and the Crew finding Sentinels coming through vents, airlocks, and hull that had been precisely cut.

"The obstinate toy soldier becomes pliant." The voice echoed again, while Locutus pulled up a large tactical display showing the retreating ships.

----

The Slipspace reactor detonated, though it was clearly not with the intended reaction. The Inhibitor prevented the larger destructive slipspace force of the weapon, there would be no slip space rupture, no transporting to Oblivion, though as the weapon exploded, the force of the explosion rippled along the inky black field that protected the alien ship, absorbing and dissipating the energy of the blast. The Diamond hardly even jarred from the explosive impact, though it's attention had now been directed towards Victor Bespalov's ship, the Frost Rifter, and Locutus waved his hand over a cybernetic interface.

The ship would find itself being scanned once more, but this time it's shields were being analyzed, it's hull integrity was being analyzed, engines, structural weak points, life support locations, locations of power systems. This scan manifested itself in what could be described as a green cone of light, which moved from bow to stern.

The Diamond then began to power a weapon, an energy surge so massive, it could be likened to the buildup of energy before the Death Star's superlaser destroyed Alderaan.

One would anticipate the energy buildup to stop, rather it increased before calculations, should the Crimson Legion make them, would determine that no matter shield strength, a single shot from whatever was to come would destroy the Frost Rifter in one single shot.

That did not come, not yet. A Hail was broadcast directly to Darth Mor's ship, it was a live video feed, the screen showed a middle aged man that was clearly man and machine, a shadow of his former self.

"I am Locutus, of Zero One. Are you the leader of the indigenous species of this system?"

Time: YC123
Region: Cobalt Edge
Constellation: 5ZAB-N
System: 9-7SRQ (NO INHIBITOR)
Security Level: -0.23
Sovereignty: Contested

The point of no return mentioned by Scotty had came and passed as did the AI's ability to fight the crushing weight of the hack. The inhibitor's arms folded inwards as sovereignty fell and the AI was forced to reboot. If only the inhibitor had gone off before the Slipspace reactor detonated. It has been a oversight caused by the Crimson Legion's lack of familiarity when dealing with Ayen technology but it would be Ayen technology that saved the Harrower Class Dreadnoughts as they attempted to retreat to the gate.

Ten Ayen battleships, larger than the harrower class dreadnoughts warped into the fray between the dreadnoughts and the great ship providing a screen. They had entered the field amongst the swarm and spit heat and light as they came onto the grid. Hydromagnetic shielding flared and sparked as the swarm pressed against ships' defenses. Nick Succorso had sent the ten ships to provide cover and the cover they provided was a firewall. Ultra high density micro energy streams lashed out and expanded violently in every direction. The Rokhs were fitted with smart bombs, an omnidirectional pulsing energy weapon capable of briefly liquefying space in their vicinity out to twenty kilometers.

A wall of brilliant explosions formed as the swarm was devoured where they pressed. The battleships shielded the retreat as they also aligned for the gate and started to burn. Spatial wave fronts formed at the bow of each battleship, multicolored wakes like the edges of wormholes distorted space-time. Eight sets of paired 425mm rail-guns turned backwards to aim at the great ship and open fired between pulses of the smart bombs on each of the remaining battleships.

The Javelin charges, massive cluster of Iridium fletchets with graviton pulse detonators shielded in diamondine would smash and push through the swarm on their trip to the great ship. Moving at 293,796,609 meters per second or 98% the speed of light, the super heated semi solid plasma charges would impact and disperse 103,150 megatons of force each. One hundred and sixty charges headed down range to a target much too large to miss.

The advanced sensor suites and ECCM of the battleships shielded them well enough to defend against the digital assault. They would not fall to the electronic attack and refused to be subverted. Despite the Ayen ships' resilience and their firepower the Cobalt Edge defense fleet commander had not dedicated his full force to combat the incursion yet. A transmission came through to the Crimson Legion fleet. Nick Succorso performed a short bow on the screen. "Alloway Emperor. Your forces are awaiting your orders. The sub-capital fleet is on the other side of the gate and your capital fleet is prepared to jump. What would you have us do?"

With the inhibitor down they could jump in the Ayen capitals and super capitals to try and deal with the incursion. If they failed to defeat the incursion it would be the total loss of the Ayen Cobalt Edge fleet. The Cobalt Edge fleet did not have a massive force like SOCO, NOCO, CAID, or some of the larger factions in Ayenee. They could not afford to loose even a few of their capital and super capitals. The loss of their only titan would be devistating should the fight go south. Not to mention that other Ayen forces unaligned with the Crimson Legion may notice the titan's movement and may respond and attempt to destroy it if they were so inclined. Without their help every man, woman, and child on the planet in system would face a fate worse than death. There was a dire choice to be made.

Rolaks ships moved briskly clearing the distance between themselves and the swarm with each passing second using the slight delay to their advantage.

The digital attack on the ships electronics would prove ineffective. Though the force was negated many of the changes had already taken place including the defensive AI's systems which would likely repel the attacks with only moderate difficulty these advances could last for a few more minutes and provide enough time to escape.

As for the series of codes sent towards the ship while they were no longer able to be corrupted by the force portion of the malicious attack the coded virus would still attempt to target critical systems and trick susceptible units into it's grasp.

The small six ship fleet would fall back through the gate just before the slip space reactor detonated.

"I want a full retreat now!" Victor shouted as the sounds of screaming could be heard just outside of the bulkhead doors of the Helm. The Council was prepared for many things in their lifetime and Emperor Mor knew full well how to use their own technology efficiently enough as the A.I. Tesla began to run a full systems scan of the Frost Rifter and began to remotly hack the intruders as they continued to rip into the ship.

"Sir we need to cut out Tesla and the other A.I. and make a retreat. Otherwise the drones will get into our life support systems in less than 20 minutes." A ships officer spoke up as Victor began to head for the door and into a elevator of sorts. The Soldier could only smile as there was a bit of armor and several troops aboard his vessel he knew full well that would aid in this purge. "I am getting my armor!" Victor shouted. The man simply could not sit by and do nothing while his ship was being destroyed. "Continue to give the order to retreat and allow the Cobalt Forces to know that this is not the day to die just yet." With that said the doors would shut and Victor would be shuttled down to the armory to get his things.

What Harrower Class ships could escape did not leave the Frost Rifter undefended as pilots in fighters and bombers continued to work tirelessly to remove what drones remained on the haul of the vessel. The heavy Ion Guns might have taken heavy damages but there was still the other turrets working tirelessly now at blasting the host of enemies from the vessel with heavy laser and plasma fire. Sense the Frost Rifter could most likely not escape on its own two other Harrower Class ships from the Crimson Legion would use their gravity wells to begin towing their ally while providing cover as well.

Meanwhile the Eclipse continued to make its escape away from the deadly assault as ship officers and technicians alike began relaying reports in on the Diamond and what it was capable of. Emperor Mor held his arms behind his back as he watched from his ship the devastation that the diamond did to his own forces. The impressive array of attack it had was also noteworthy to be sure and it was something that Mor wanted for himself more than anything in order to make his enemies know his wrath. "A pity that it has come down to this." The Sith spoke as he glanced over to a communications officer who had two incoming transmissions. Mor smiled and first opened the communications channel for the Cobalt Forces "Retreat for now. There is no sense in sacrificing what resources we have just yet. I will need to speak with all of Cobalt Edge once this is over with so that you can all understand my point." Mor shut down his communications only to be interrupted by yet another.

What the Sith saw was an abomination of flesh and machinery united in flawed symmetry and it disgusted Mor just by gazing at the creature. No words seemed to escape the Emperor's mouth and instead the Sith Lord began to approach the screen as if to get a better look upon being who made contact. "This day belongs to the victor though I suppose history will need to be revised as I played my hand poorly. Speak abomination or leave my system as I have no intention of allowing you to remain in my presence for much longer." Mor could only now stare at the image he was seeing just to wonder how and what made their technology work.

The Sentinels maintained their chase and their offensive towards Rolak's ships, though much to their suprise, systems that were thought to be compromised had already purged his virus, first removing it's force qualities and then purging the virus itself from their systems.

As the Diamond prepared to engage the Frost Rifter, ten battleships jumped between them and the retreating Crimson ships, this change caused the Sentinels to immediately break off engagement with the Crimson Legion vessels and move towards the Ayen ships, moving in massive, writhing formations, with Sentinels acting as a proverbial ablative armor, and each shot causing the Sentinels to shift and change their formations.

The powerful Javelin weapons seemed to careen towards their course, before engulfing the massive Diamond with the heat of a thousand suns, a massive fireball that engulfed everything within hundreds of thousands of Kilometers expanded outwards, and moments following the explosion, the writhing tentacle of Sentinels began to lose their coherency, before drifting aimlessly and apart, lifeless.

It was at this moment, with the transmission from Locutus, only moments before the detonation, Locutus would speak.

"Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward, you will service us--" The Transmission had suddenly cut out.

---

As the plasma cloud, dust and debris slowly began to clear, the Diamond could be seen, it's hull which lacked the inky substance flowing over it shimmered with green and various geometric patterns. Though much of the hull was mangled and wrecked, the superstructure remained relatively intact. Perhaps it was a testament to the sheer resilience of these vessels, and the resources of their masters.

The lifeless hulls of the Millions of Sentinels continued to drift about, either the Diamond had been neutralized, or this was a clever ruse.

It was then the Ayen ships would receive a hail, or rather the ship that Zero-One could identify as a Command ship. The Hail seemed to originate from the massive Diamond, but the Diamond itself was simply acting as a relay. Should they accept the hail, a life feed of a woman, her face and body marred with cybernetic implants, black and red hair fell at her shoulders, and her Red and yellow eyes stared eerily at the Commander.

"All consumption is death for the consumed. Yet all must eat, so we all bring damnation to one creature or another." The woman said, her tone in some kind of Iambic cadence.

The woman slowly stepped up from her throne, machine skulls, the skulls of assimilated humans, and various other machinery produced what could be described as an Iron Throne nestled in the center of some massive complex, or star ship.

The figure moved closer before she let her eyes gaze off into the distance.

"Progress reports arriving... Indigenous resistance extremely viable... mission failure imminent, recommend abort.."

She then chuckled, her face contorting into a wicked grin.

"You, and your people will be assimilated, and when I have finished. I will consume this Galaxy and turn your people into an unstoppable army of perfection. I am perfection... I am salvation... We exist together now, two corpses in one grave..."

---



While the transmission was underway, several more alien ships jumped into the fray, first there was one, and then two, and then three more jumped in, and a fourth, the numbers of these ships steadily increasing. Though they were not as large and robust as the Diamond. Each ship appeared to be a kilometer or so in length, appearing like two Y shaped sections put together.

"However... this is not your grave... but you are welcome... in it." The figure added, before cutting the transmission.

Moments passed, and the number of alien ships had numbered into exactly twenty, with two or three jumping in roughly every three minutes. They did not open fire nor did they release Sentinels, it was as if the strange figure wanted the Ayen ships to escape.

The Crimson Legion within the Frost Rifter fought back against the insurgents within and found a newfound strength and Victor in came into the fray with his heavy set of Titan Armor. What chaos was in his own ship was either dismantled now by the heavy firepower or literally ripped apart by Victor as he grabed each of the drones and smashed them into tiny peaces while lighting others up with heavy plasma fire.

"For the Empire!" Battles hardened shouts filled the vessel as the Harrower class ships continued to make for the gate. It was a surprise attack that the Emperor had not seen coming and acceptable losses had come and passed. Victor turned to one of his men as he placed his solid heavy foot down upon one of the destroyed drones only to nod and point back to the lift. "Men! I want you back in your assigned areas. We will transmit what has transpired here to our Emperor and ask for the main fleet to come in from the core." Victor began to chuckle as he crushed the husk of a drone under foot as he made his way for the lift as well.

As for Mor he simply glared out at the space that was before him. The Sith Emperor turned to his communications officer and gave the woman a simple nod only to retire from the helm of his own ship and towards his own personal quarters. "Be sure to let them all know I want everything in that system burned." Agitation permeated Mor more than anything and as he flexed his fingers small arcs of electricity flowed from betwixt fingertip to fingertip. With haste the orders where given and as the Frost Rifter and its own contengency of ships began to leave more would be coming to deal with the issue.

"Ohh... you're awake. Your vitals are stabilizing nicely. Consciousness came through fully intact... It's always disorientating the first time. Nothing you can't handle I'm sure. Right... Since your not going anywhere just yet. Let me show you a part of your new life.

At this level no quarter is given..."

Alric Rosenthal's First Death - Medical Technician to Alric Rosenthal, then captain of the Gage, Ardenian Dominix class battleship and now Sky Marshal - SOCO, Southern Coalition

To be one of these elite captains you must make the greatest sacrifice. You must die...

Space is engulfed in fire and as that fire fades... One. The void stretches forth and surrounds as the pilot captain of the Ajax pushes her virtual hand to spin her point of view. She is plugged into a capsule. This body, this form within the battle space simulator is not real. It is all in her head and in her head the time stretches on, dilates. A second seems like twelve seconds. Combat enhances the reactions and the capsule and network feed on emotion to push the envelope still further. Gods these men and women are. They roam the heavens in command of the most powerful creations ever made in their sector of space.

The battle space simulator is a representation of observations made by the ship's sensor suite and any other hardware connected to the ship's multiple artificial intelligences. Space is a vacuum but in here the sensors and AI interpret sound. The grid flows through her and stretches out in front of her. She is the ship and feels her pain. The shields, guns, bombs, hull, sensor suite, and other sub systems are her arms, her skin, her fists, her eyes, and her ears. They are one, her and the ship.

APDs, all purpose drones holding close to the ship's hull between the flowing iridescent shields and the cold hard armor plates turn in response to the twist of her left hand. She pulls her palms apart and the image magnifies as if she were shot at the great ship through the swarm of lifeless sentinels. There had been whispers but now all is quite. The AI reports that the ECCM and hardened sensor suites had been holding.

Vibrant glowing rings hovering before her right hand detail shield, armor, and hull integrity. The center of this ring defines the ship's power level. An alarm is sounding and the AI reports that the capacitor batteries are at half. The ship is running full tilt. Every system is pushing at maximum power. Nothing is being withheld and the battleship is expending more power than the reactors can generate. A quick gesture, the fanning of the fingers of her right hand silence the alarm.

Other sub-system readings and diagnostic reports flash in the space before her but are dismissed by the movement of her eyes. That same hand, her right hand slams down on the outer integrity ring. A capacitor charge slams down into the shield booster and the Ajax reinforces its defenses in response. The battleship's shields glow briefly like an aurora on Earth or a plane of liquid water lit from beneath and undulating in zero gravity.

She looks up to the image in front of her. She is standing at the ruined hull of the great ship. If this were real she could reach out and touch it. Geometric patterns of green flash lazy waves across the obliterated behemoth. To her the patterns closely resemble the work of hull or armor repair systems. She looks to her left at another floating display. The guns are red. They take ten seconds to cycle.

Two. This bulkhead reads, 'Ard Sé.' This is the sixth gun room and it is bathed in red light. A crew of five is scrambling to cycle this 425mm railgun. The bore seals itself as the crew races out from behind a blast shield and the hum that is very nearly shaking the room starts to diminish. The crew chief holds one of his crew back. "Sábháilteacht! An maighnéad fós ar. Sábháilteacht! Sábháilteacht!" Three. The red glow vanishes. "Sliocht! Sliocht!" One of the crew pushes his fingers deftly across a control panel and a large extracting arm latches onto the spent charge and pulls it back down the bore.

Four. The crew chief is calling the commands across a closed communication channel and also giving visual commands with his arms. "Dhíchur! Dhíchur!" A two ton charge casing is ejected into a shoot and vanishes into the darkness. Five. The crew member the chief had stopped pushes forward to the weapon assembly. She gazes up into the bore, turns back, and retreats before she calls out over the channel, "Dea-! Geal! Geal!" Six. A giant machine arm slides forward to the ammunitions magazine and then positions a fresh charge in the weapon system's breech. Seven.

The machine arm retracts and glides away from the weapon as the bore and extraction port seal. The light goes red and the room fills with a rumble as power is transmitted across the ship's energy grid and the electromagnet's spin up. The crew flees to their protective cover as the control console vanishes into the floor. Eight.

This bulkhead reads, 'Seomra Cianrialú.' Crew members sit within battle space circles with wired body suits and virtual headgear. This is a drone control room. Hoards of Zolarian AI integrated Wasp class heavy assault drones pour out of the battleship's drone bay and bank hard to stay inside of the ship's hydro-magnetic shielding. They swarm between the ship's hull and the shield, flying in clockwise bands around the width of the Ayen battleship. Nine.

In this dream reflecting reality the pilot captain is flung back to stand atop one of her own guns. The shielding sparks violently as the ship pushes through the cloud of sleeping drones. Lighting cracks even in the void. The iridescent defense coils with dense power that threatens to fold the thick dark fabric of space-time around the Zolarian vessel. The guns hum with power and drones twice the size of F/A-22s cause passing thrumms of vibration. The ship's image is displacing as the shield grows more dense. At the bow space is warping violently and bending light into a cone around the front of the battleship. It is the same on the other nine battleships.

The captain has been listening to the monologue. "Yet all must eat...", says the woman in a lambic cadence on the video feed. She knows this is far from over. Ten. She turns to look over his shoulder in the direction the ship is moving, an APD her eyes. The gate is just one hundred and twelve kilometer's away from the battleship. Flashes from the gate indicate the Frost Rifter is jumping out with escort and she turns back to the great ship and then to her left. The AI flashes a warning and the sensor suite overlays incoming ships and their predicted velocity, trajectory, and transversal, even before they come onto the grid.

She knows the gate will only initiate within a range of two and one half kilometers and that she is too close to initiate a proper warp. Her jaw clenches. The range is perfect and her guns are green. 'Dóiteáin!', the captain calls out in the battle space just as the first new ship lands on the grid. The guns fire with the same terrible force and power as before in an attempt to finish the great ship.

The Monologue continued, Aiyanna's taunting voice echoing across the endless void of space.

The Cobalt Force's Guns were hard at work to cycle as it seemed the ships tried to put distance from the great Assimilator, while Aiyanna's Monologue was going on, however, Locutus was routing various commands to the ship, Sentinels, Drones, and trillions of other machines were brought back to life aboard the Assimilator.

In the ten seconds it took for the guns to Cycle, the great ship began to power up, this time simultaneously targeting all of the Battleships in the field.

The Monologue was going ever so slowly, droning on as seconds turned into minutes in the minds of the Machines.

five seconds in, the first definitive movement of the massive Diamond presented itself, as a brilliant curtain of light began to shimmer and lazily drift about roughly 8,000 Kilometers from the great Diamond. The curtain of light dazzled with greens, brilliant reds, purples, and dazzling hues of orange, and seemed to resemble what some could describe as an Aurora Borealis.

The next wave of Javelin weapons, should they be discharged towards the ship would be racing towards what was essentially an insurmountable barrier of Hard Light. The Aurora like curtain would act as an ablative armor plate, and sacrifice itself with the full brunt of the Javelin charges, which would detonate harmlessly between the Diamond and the formation of ships with the force of yet another thousand suns.

Aiyanna's Monologue continued.

The massive Diamond began to writhe and shift about as the ship's systems began to repair the superstructure, this occured in tandem with the Inky black swirling mass that once again engulfed the massive Diamond.

Fifteen Seconds would pass at this point, and an Energy surge followed, with the Diamond aligning itself towards the Battleships, and a black prism of Calx Noctis slowly grew out of the Inky liquid and positioned itself a Kilometer from the Diamond.

The top and bottom of the Diamond, along with the tips oriented to the side began to glow and emit a distinct tetryon signature, which culminated to encased tetryon beams that ran lengthwise along the ridges of the Equatorial sides of the Diamond, collimating where the point met and jutted out towards the six Battleships.

Before another Ten Seconds had passed, a second Auroral field flitted into existence between the Battleships and the Diamond, with Basestars jumping in One by One. It was at this point the Sentinels had once again come to life, and began to move about in massive writhing formations of Machines, spreading out in all directions, but maintaining an ablative barrier around the Diamond, sacrificing themselves to prevent the Railguns from reaching the main ship.

The Diamond, though undergoing regeneration, was still in the fight, while the trillions of Machines brought about vast computational power to bring about precise targeting. The Diamond would begin to ramp up power, with enough power being diverted to the main weapon that would be capable of simultaneously destroying each targeting ship with what was essentially a One-hit KO.

This weapon would reach full power in 8.7 Seconds, at that point it would discharge through the prism, where it would be split into six precision beams, cross the void of space, and impact the vessels with the force precisely calculated to destroy them.

The Baseships themselves began to move into position, deploying hundreds of crescent shaped fighters, and tens of thousands of Additional Sentinels in massive writhing tentacles of Machinery, following up with salvos of missiles, with each Warhead containing a Baryonic Flux Warhead that was designed to cause a cascading reaction that would threaten to engulf vast swathes of space. These warheads would detonate if they were intercepted by Point Defense, or shields, releasing their payload.

With the retreating forces soon to be vastly Outnumbered, and once Aiyanna had finished her Monologue, it would be clear there was no time for talk, and so the objectives were disseminated. Once the system was secure, the Machines would reinforce their position, and assault the next system.

Durring the retreat two of Rolaks Harrowers would succumb to the onslaught of the sentinels. Once the tatical commander realized this he sent them a grave order both ships would be used as a screen. And as more sentinels swarmed the vessels bouth ships would overload their reactor cores, in an effort to take as many sentinels with them. As they exploded the other four ships would transit through the gate and out of the system.


As they made their exit Rolak would stand as if something was on his mind. This presence...It seems familiar too familiar. He thought to himself as he paced across the bridge. I know this from somewhere... then it hit him. He had felt this before but it was long ago in that blasted bar.

"A mechanical woman yes..." He muttered under his breath. "I remember now, she worked for those damned Aschen. But why would they send her here?" He mused.

"Commander Yari, You have command, ready my shuttle for immediate departure upon our completion of travel I have an urgent message that I need to personally deliver to the Emperor." He said "I will be in my quarters alert me when my shuttle is ready to depart."

Rolak said before walked off of the bridge not even waiting for a response from the commander.

Battleships are not known for their speed or their maneuverability. They are certainly faster and more agile than capital ships but clock a top speed of around one hundred meters a second when using their standard propulsion systems. Those wakes of bent space-time at the bow of each battleship were the continued operation of a module called a micro-jump drive. This was not a smaller version of the jump drive carried by most Ayen capital and super capital ships. The micro-jump drive allowed for an extremely short burst of warp speed that appeared to be instantaneous across the short distance that it was often deployed.

The navigation systems of most Ayen ships needed something to lock onto for those systems to engage. Warp drive over shot occurred at distances closer than one hundred and fifty kilometers. With the gate being just under one hundred kilometers distant the Ayen navigation systems could not lock onto the gate to warp to it.

In brilliant flashes of light the battleships vanished and appeared at the gate. Despite a change in sovereignty the gate would always transport any vessel that meet the mass requirements to go through regardless of who owned sovereignty. In range of the gate now the pilots of each battleships activated the gate and vanished from normal space. It was at that moment that the system flagged for the sovereignty change. The Zero-One Collective had won 9-7SRQ.



Time: YC123
Region: Cobalt Edge
Constellation: 5ZAB-N
System: J-QOKQ (INHIBITOR)
Security Level: -0.32
Sovereignty: The Crimson Legion

Multiple inhibitors had just been activated in J-QOKQ but the various fleets had been able to enter the system and arrive at the 9-7SRQ gate before this. These forces included those that had fled from the neighboring system and the Cobalt Edge capital and super capital fleet. A tower was being anchored at the gate and would come online shortly. Numerous industrial ships were moving to and from the gate in a steady stream, ferrying ammunition and anchorable modules. The gate was being reinforced. Soon point defense systems would go up. Frigates anchored multiple interdiction fields on the gate to prevent the escape of anything that came through.

The gate flashed ten times and the battleships that had just came in from 9-7SRQ threw off their gate cloaks before aligning into position with forty others that sat only one hundred kilometers off the gate. A communication came through. It was the captain off the Ajax. "We have lost the system", she said.

The two super carriers, five dreadnaughts, and six carriers of the Cobalt Edge Fleet were present at the gate but the Cobalt Edge titan was in orbit around the forth planet with a small battleship escort. This titan, Renewed Courage is captained and piloted by Nick Succorso, fleet commander of the Cobalt Edge Defense Fleet. Titans have two main purposes. The first purpose is to bridge sub-capital ships and the second is to obliterate other super capitals with their dooms day devices while providing capital size weapon fire. The Leviathan dooms days is aptly named Oblivion.

The Emperor's ship, the Eclipse, suddenly came into view as if his presence alone was enough to bolster his own men's defenses and cripple the very idea of fear itself if any had overcome the loyal crews of the Crimson Legion. The ships A.I. began to run several simulations and began to collaborate with one another, especially the A.I. on the Frost Rifter.

"My Emperor." A voice filled the communications link between Eclipse and the head of the Harrower Class Dreadnoughts. Victor grimaced slightly as there was no voice that deemed it necessary to speak. All remained silent for a time until finally Mor's Voice seemed to shatter the silence with both a mixture of anger and something else. "I want all ships from every sector to converge on this location. We will hold our ground for as long as we can until I can communicate with the other alliances." Mor's voice suddenly went quiet as Victor waited for more orders from his liege. Suddenly all communications channels would house the voice of the Emperor as he cleared his throat so that he could speak clearly with little to no misunderstandings.

"We will not sacrifice any more lives until I know that history can rectify the mistake of allowing such an enemy to exist within the abyss of space. Send my word far and bring me more to join this worthy cause so that I may personally clean the slate myself."

The surrounding space suddenly grew quiet as the Eclipse remained in place. The only thing that stirred from the dark ship was several thousand tiny diplomatic ships that escaped and began to search for allies among the stars.

As the eclipse entered the system a small shuttle would dock as Mor made his orders clear. Rolak would enter through a pair of sliding blastdoors moments after the transmission. He would walk across the room and bow deeply to Mor before he spoke.

"Master" He would say in greeting but only in a slight pause. "I bring you urgent news, something I feel that was not worth risking over a commlink. "In my encounter with the enemy, while I may be prematurely exposed the enemy to the force my efforts were not all in vain." He said.

"This enemy. This is not my first encounter, an Aschen Android in that blasted Gambits bar back on Terra. It's her sir I'm sure of it. I can sense it's presence. I feel this is deeply troubling if this is an Aschen attack but I find this highly unlikely. Why she is here I do not know but it sounds to me as if she's gone rogue." Rolak added quickly before waiting for the emperors response.

Roughly a million kilometers from the Innovation's result, and the alien ship, a single construct appeared out of nothingness, distorting the space around it, a massive diamond shaped ship, 800 kilometers across slowly moved into position.

Upon scanning the vessel, one would find that the scans were unable to penetrate the hull, and that there were no minds to corrupt, or rather, the few minds aboard this alien ship had already been enslaved.

Like writhing tentacles, millions of Sentinels moved about this massive diamond, but they did not make any motion of attacking.

"Seized by God, they cry for succour in the dark of the light. Mists of dreams dribble on the nascent echo and love no more."

Gibberish in the eyes of someone who didn't know, phrases beyond human comprehension as a pool of calx noctis rippled and buckled, crackling as the mind's essence took control, the form solidifying into a female framed by short hair, and vivid red eyes.

She looked to her hands for the briefest of moments, as crystalline plates interlocked over her naked form.

"Then shall the maidens rejoice at the dance."

She looked up, at nothingness, though in reality information was coursing through her mind, scans of the planet, artifacts, power sources, even the Necron vessel stirring to life.

She licked her lips, as more interlocking crystalline plates moved across her skin.

"It is here, and the Iron casket closes upon the light once more, the crystal is here, and I shall rise again..."

The lone figure, armoured in the same enigmatic unknowable black metal armour, touched down onto the ground with a gentle thump as feet alighted with the soil. There was the barest disturbance of dust as their metallic feet finally made landfall, only the tiniest of evidence of their presence before they stepped forwards, now kicking up more dust under their feet as the long undisturbed planet finally felt life once more.

They kept their weapon raised as their head slowly scanned from one direction to the next, their arm tracking the slow movements of their visor as it swept across the terrain. There was no glow or sign of readying discharge from the barrel of the strange weapon as it silently moved, though true there was also no clear way from the observer of how it even loaded, fired or was at all operated. The dim red glow of the alien visor acted as though it were a lighthouse in the void as it gently moved in one direction and then the next, seemingly taking in all of the open ground around them.

They sensed rather than heard the approaching aliens. Even before their sensors detected the change in atmospheric pressure they could feel their coming. There was a hint of untapped potential there, but it was muted, watered down and utterly redundant. Whatever these aliens were they were enough of interest to cause the outsider to halt and look upwards towards the sky. Highly tuned sensors swept the open air on countless spectrums and picked up the incoming vessels. Even from this extreme distance they could begin to analyse them in fine detail. These alien craft were small and shockingly primitive. They seemed to be expelling a great deal of heat and were giving off great signs of electricity, not to mention each of them carried a significant number of lifeforms of both biological and mechanical in nature. These aliens seemed to be either highly devolved or highly flawed in their technology, though to be certain would mean simply waiting for them to be present before them in order to conduct a proper scan of them.

So, they waited. There was nothing of any other interest in the immediate vicinity after all, so they lowered their weapon arm and waited. They thankfully did not have to wait long, for though these alien craft were primitive they were fast, certainly fast enough to make landfall and have their occupants approach in good speed. As they approached the outsider was given a better chance to scan them in person. It did not fill them with any great hope, these individuals seemed to be a mismatch of cybernetics and organic material, an amalgamation of flesh and machine that sadly did little to truly compliment each others function, rather it seemed that- judging by the fact some individuals had some internal organs removed whilst others did not judging by x-ray bursts- these individuals had decided to simply replace vital parts with primitive bio-mechanics. These seemed to serve no greater function that their already existing organic matter, judging by the fact that they did not act differently in accordance to their mechanical differences, which made the outsider wonder just what the point of such an operation was. If these creatures were willing to go to the difficulty of replacing their body parts with mechanical, why then would they not improve themselves instead of stunt their own growth needlessly?

The answer could wait however as it seemed one of these aliens were starting to approach them. They took a quick moment to scan across the other gathered aliens, noting the primitive weapons pointed at them not to mention the less than subtle alien landing craft hovering above. In response to their hostility a dim green sheen arced across the visitors armour, coating them in a deceptive light as they kept their own arm down. These aliens would no doubt make the first move, they were primitive creatures who seemed to move in primitive spheres, to act overtly in control of the situation would doubtless provoke them into rash action. Focusing their attention back onto the lone figure they couldn't help but note the obvious size difference between them. This alien was just shy of three feet shorter and near twice as thin as them and seemed entirely frail to behold, even with their bio-mechanical additions. It could be theorised then that such creatures simply needed to replace their organic matter with mechanical processes simply to survive as a race.

This alien seemed to also be making peculiar noises at them, there was a rhythm and a pattern to their noises that might well have meant they were trying to communicate to them, though in an entirely debased and unevolved way. This certainly did not fill them with any great confidence of the creatures, though they were numerous they seemed to have pitifully debased technology that was eons behind anything they had ever encountered and on top of that they seemed to communicate like base animals devoid of higher thought, though clearly they were at least capable of it. They watched silently, unmoving as the creature extended an arm towards them.

There was a heavy pause as they did not move closer to the creature nor react at all, they were too busy trying to figure out just what their purpose was. These aliens certainly did not seem in control of this planet nor were they local to it otherwise they would come the horizon and not the sky... Eventually curiosity beat out the desire to puzzle this out themselves and they stepped closer to the small alien, the weapon upon their arm retracting to allow their left hand freedom of movement. Their right hand reached out and enveloped the thin and frail forearm of the creature, such was the size difference that they were all but entirely enveloped with in the grasp. Their left hand however shot out and perhaps less gently than could be grasped ahold of the creatures head, fingers digging into the top of the aliens skull.

The red light of the visor changed a sudden, warping and wobbling green as there was a short flash of light and energy and then a form a psyonic probe jumped between the two figures. It was however something entirely alien and beyond that of normal psychics, something from a realm where such things were as simple and unnoticed as the beating of ones heart. This probing of mind and strength reached into the mind of the alien, forcing itself in like a parasite through the skin. What it found did not fill it with joy.

It noted as it passed that it was causing pain to the creature, though it was attempting to minimise such a thing, this creature was not able to not feel the pain. For some unknown reason this creature did not possess the higher mental functions to be able to project their will, though it seemed there was something in their genetic code that could have allowed such a formation of data to allow incredibly potential. Casting through this creatures thoughts and memories was a painfully simple process, he did not seem to think in advanced patterns and even those processes replaced by cybernetics were indeed primitive. Their language was one that seemed to have stagnated and devolved from something else, their thoughts were base and dull and lacked the spark of higher potential. These creatures... Humans... Were stunted, detached from something that could have been the next step in their evolution and not to mention there was an odd... Tie, a link to something primitive and vast and utterly beyond these beings that lurked into a realm that seemed all too familiar and yet foreign. They dug through this aliens memories, this 'Captain Sidalphios' and saw a vast realm that stretched from galactic edge to galactic edge. They saw a realm that was devolved and debased, a realm that had been corrupted, they saw this Sidalphios' memories and opinions of their realm, the twisted creatures devotion to the ideas of machine and metal and saw their burning hatred of all things not... Human. The thoughts and ideals of a nation of fools, these beings should not have survived if this was all they were. It seemed this Sidalphios must be something of an outsider, for surely all of Human kind could not be so ill attuned to the whims of the universe.

They retracted from the mind of the creature, though they still attempted to remain as gentle as possible they were aware that to a creature so unattuned to the projections of will and lacking in potential that it would feel as though they were drawing knives across their brain. They released the Captain suddenly, taking a step back as the probe returned to their body, the lights of their armour shifting from green back to a simple steady red.

"Your thoughts are simple and primitive, Captain Sidalphios." The voice came emanating out from somewhere within the armour, speaking now in the Low Gothic that they had taken an understanding of from the Humans brain. "You are unable to understand my name or the name of my kind, but in your language the closest approximation of my name would be Chaubrartedduxumnaehinaghyleolnua, "The one who watches from the void and see's all that passes."" The alien visitor raised their head from where they had been looking down at the Captain to gaze across their men. "I would advise commanding you... Skittari? To stand down. It would be less than desirable to be required to dismantle their offensive capabilities prior to being able to study your kind further."