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C
Perhaps one of our biggest blows we dealt with them, they sent hundreds of ships to us.

Hundreds of ships failed as their hulls collapsed from the fields of "space landmines"

Hundreds of ships died from our ship mounted weapons as they were uniquely focussed on destroying the stolen Godship.

It was a meat grinder, and by the end of it, our projections believe that over half of their exploration fleet is non-functional.

A. the attack quieted and using the burnt hulks of the enemy our economy blossomed with scrap yards around every world applicable.
B. We stood vigilant. they would come one day, and we would never be held to surprise again.
C. A fleet of live ships, desperate for aid had come to our border, barely surviving the hound ships of the enemy.

system$ "access random neurochip"
system$ neurochip > "interpret conscious monologue"

+1

During the first few skirmishes, it was a war of horrific attrition. Supply lines would be cut and the battle was thick with debris and blood. It took months of warfare, but their war machine had ground down to a monumental halt, when a break in the war finally happened and...

A. Through sheer bloody manpower, we took one of their godships.
B. Another Empire saw fit to intervene, their ships combined with our forces drove them out of the lands.
C. We sent a counter attack with a very, very powerful explosive and glassed one of their worlds as they had done with ours so long ago.
D. Something else?

Post 028: Demons in the Ring

We are the chosen ones
We sacrifice our blood
We kill for honor

We are the hallowed ones
Our armor stained with blood
We kill the dragon

In glory we return
Our destination set
We slay the dragon

No more living in fear
It's time to raise our king
We made it happen
We're the chosen ones!
The Chosen Ones - Dream Evil

---

Star 177-G,  Yaerian Outer colony Space
Uriegal Tu’Siegh
October 11th, 2128 AD, 25 GS.
Uriegal Tu’Siegh was a beautiful, well-developed planet. Its name roughly translates to “Uriegal’s Bargain”, after the captain of the expedition which surveyed it lost a bet in a gambling game he was fond of, approximately 538 BS. It lays on the very border of “empty” space, and it’s vast plains and moderately sized oceans were perfect for the Yaerian Physiology. Its atmosphere was so close to the yaerian standard that with minor Terraformation and atmospheric cleansing, a Yaerian needed no genetic treatment or augment to live on its surface.It was immediately classified as a class five planet upon its founding, and in the three hundred years of development, it became one of the few outer colonies that could be declared a “core world” of the Yaerian  Republic. In the defense against the Gravemind, it’s population was like every other, hit by the harassment fleets that plagued the entire republic, but as a whole was isolated from the war, and had a lower-than-average orbital, and planetary war preparations.

It was also notable for its vast and legendary build-up of orbital infrastructure which orbited around its equator that had formed over its operating time. Developed by Private industry Magnates and Private interests due to a nearby asteroid field which held vast mineral riches and three separate gas giants in the system that held perfect conditions for the extraction of Fusibles and Hydrogen. As time went by, the orbital processing plants slowly became areas of great cultural value and changed from industrial outpost to orbital acropolis that held hundred of thousands of people among the stars. Several redesigns and structural overhauls had resulted in an almost strange “edge” architecture which shows a Strata of the various historical methods of construction that the Yaerian Republic had used over its six centuries of use, ultimately culminating in an orbital ring around Tu’Siegh, with three massive “nodes” in equal circumference around the ring, which hold the most amount of citizens of the entire ring. The outermost layer of the ring is a bright, sparkling white color, unlike the ships of the Yaerian Navy. No, it glistens and shows with perfection, the plates perfectly molded to fit with another in a pattern that creates strength, even if it is twice as labor intensive than the Yaerian Standard Plate. The Ring has spires lifting off from its almost hill-ish surface, along with sensor booms and dockyards sprouting out from the surface, in a semi-random almost generated manner. The Ring is widely regarded as one of the many super engineering projects of the Yaerian republic and has been nominated several times as one of the legendary constructions of the century, but never actually received the award due to fierce competition.

The Planet itself is devoid of any massive mountains, and it holds little in deserts and forests. Instead, it has massive plane-like oceans, 84% of the planet is covered in Ocean. The surface of the ocean is flat and very stable, almost perfect for the construction of the Yaerians most preferred habitat: the Underwater Dome. Sprawling over the seabeds is a megacity onto itself, they hold almost as much people as the Orbital Acropolis’s. During the later stages of the Gravemind war, the entire city was supplied with specialized devices which would completely hide its presence from orbital scans, which are still present to this day, as one of the many “last hope” projects that had been built as the horrific war of attrition against the Gravemind dragged on.

Life in the dome is very romanticized in Yaerian culture, almost akin to a life harkening back to their ancient ancestors who lived exclusively in the oceans, before they were pushed by goliaths and predators to the surface, and to start the path of the ascension among the stars. On the Yaerians homeworld, these cities are most prevalent and hold almost as much people as they do on the surface of the planet. Those who live away from the sun and starlight have almost triple the lifespan as a surface dweller, with the equivalent of five centuries of life under the sun of Humanity to be the maximum one would expect those who dwell in the dome could live.

They were the closest world to where the Stardew Vast had met the Unitarian First Explorator Fleet.

This world was the third victory of the Unitarian Empire.

---

Yaerian Home system
Yaerian Homeworld
October 11th, 2128 AD, 25 GS.
It was one of the FTL Communications buoys, designed to furnish the massive and daunting infrastructure project known as Expanse, designed to connect every inner world colonies electronic infrastructure together for tactical and economic reasons, that had first received the Distress call. Not very many ships outputted a distress call these days, and even fewer ships had the equipment to send a message through the warp, and the Stardew Vast was one of those few vessels.  Tagged with one of the highest and severe comm tags, it was routed directly to the Central Military agency of the entire Yaerian Republic: The Militarum. A massive tactical station with hundreds of shield emplacements, Hanger Bays and mounted weaponry, it was built during the Gravemind war and was overhauled every decade on the dot without fail. It was the center of a vast and daunting web of orbital facilities that drove the entire Yaerian Republic's military edge. Automated factories, digital labs which contained hundreds upon hundreds of independent processing computers, and bio-augmentation zero gravity facilities. The great think tanks and the hammers of industry clattered within view of the Militarum.

A meeting was called, where the highest figures in the Yaerian Republic's military forces came adjourned together in just thirty minutes. Anyone who was off facility was connected through a high-security encrypted audio connection, despite the security risks Text would not cut it, the voice of the President must be heard in these types of meetings.

Six figures were in person the other four were present with a holographic screen simplifying stating the name of the official and the words “Input audio only.” The final figure around the round table was also a screen, displaying two letters in bold, large text. “AC”.

There was a very long, and very winded debate about naming what could be classified as the first “WarFrame”. Generally, a “Frame” was classified after it’s purpose. A farming intelligence is an AgriFrame, an Industrial machine is a  WorkFrame. A frame which fights a battle is called a BattleFrame. The WarFrame named “AC” was not a BattleFrame. Its brain was magnitudes of order more powerful, and was perhaps an engineering marvel of the entire Yaerian republic, as it is no small feet to stabilize a Positronic brain of its size.  At the height of the celebration and the decision process for naming, it was agreed upon that a simple name, that one of the attending junior personnel had come up of would be chosen, “Allied Computer”.


The second who sat was not onboard the Militarum and was the most important person in the room, the director of the Yaerian Republic, Quin-Quil Xit’Soogil

The third, fourth and fifth were the senior admirals/ Generals of the Fleet, planetary defense, and assault forces. The assault forces board member was represented by a screen.

The sixth was the head of the Intelligence Agency, he was represented by a screen.

The seventh member of the table was a thin Yaerian, the one who officially held control over the entirety of the Yaerians Navies Technological secrets.

The eighth and final member who was actually present at the meeting was short, and rather unassuming Yaerian who supposedly led the Ethics Division of the Yaerian Republic, or it could be a body double.

The ninth member of those who sat around the table was the Director of Industrial allocation, his will could grind the Governmental fabrication services to a halt.

The final member of the table was a Yaerian who was in charge of the entire augmenting process of the Yaerian Republic, whether it was for military, civilian, organic or synthetic in nature.

The Eleven members of the table sat quietly, each of them a representative of a core part of the Yaerian military as they listened to the broadcast which had been received just thirty minutes before for clarities sake.

“--et Protocol, the--Late-- Protocol, *BANG*”

There was a moment of quiet as everyone digested the broadcast once more, and six spoke first.

“Whose stars brightened idea was it to have the SummerSet Protocol and the Star-set Protocol be so similar?”

“That doesn't matter, the Summerset Protocol would devastate our entire economy if it was a false alarm.” replied Ten.

“So would losing a colony because we were unprepared.” Eleven thought.

“What do you think we should do? If we do not respond to the threat that just may be worth of a SummerSet- Protocol and leave our hands tied, there is a very real chance that our hands would be tied.” said the Director.

And the meeting's discussions began in earnest.

---

Impossible. Impossible is what the architects thought, as they wept.

As their monumental creations of glass and marble was crushed, and then burned.

As their children marched to their own graves.

As their machinations of creation were subverted for a purpose they had feared would be needed.

As their creations fought a murderous foe.

As their machines chanted and cheered for the death of an enemy they never wanted to fight.

---

Star 177-G,  Yaerian Outer colony Space
Uriegal Tu’Siegh
October 12th, 2128 AD, 25 GS.

Forty-eight ships had warped on the outer border of the system that held Uriegal Tu’Siegh.  They held no response to any attempts of communication. The combined ship tonnage of the fleet outweighed the military fleet stationed there, which was just four ships, the equivalent of three frigates and a single cruiser. Without orbital emplacements, If it was Yaerian ships fighting against Yaerian ships, the defenders of Uriegal Tu’Siegh would’ve been outmatched, if barely. In the center of the fleet stood four, rather large warships. These ships would be perhaps recklessly large if it were a Yaerian built a ship, but just under average for a Unitarian Dreadnaught. Sixty-seven minutes after it’s arrival, the ships moved, burning straight towards Tu’Siegh, and the frigates and cruisers were ejected from their dockyard state and moved to a defensive position around the planetary ring. A Planetary martial state had been declared, and a Warp Beacon was activated, signaling for help that would come too late.

The forces had stopped at a range too far for even the best of missiles to be used, and for a couple moments, both fleets watched each other. Sensor technicians reading off reports and avidly reporting on the enemies sensor profiles and captains wondering who would make the first move.

One drone, fired from the cruiser's hangar bays drifted towards the unknown fleet, it was broadcasting a request for the unknowns purpose.

At first, there was no response, but the alien ships began spreading out, particularly away from the Dreadnaught vessels, and their energy signatures began spiking heavily as if it was charging an energy weapon.

The Dreadnoughts shields turned off and Horrific EM fields were blasting off the dreadnaughts and it was obvious to any Unitarian Admiral that their siege cannons were going to fire, and the ships that had left its side had moved away to avoid catastrophic systems failure due to the carefully formed Electromagnetic storm forming around the ships.

The Yaerian ships began evasive maneuvers, but the Dreadnaughts have turned away from them and towards the planet. Firing all at once, each Dreadnaught outputted the dreaded Meteor round. Realizing too late, the Yaerian ships could only watch as wrecking balls of metal and engines flew faster and faster towards the ring.

Impossible, impossible is what they thought as the first volley slammed into the Ring.

It was a testament to Yaerian engineering when the rings shield emplacements withstood the first and second blow. The Third bolt had only cracked and smoldered the hull of the Ring, as a  thousand lives were extinguished from the thermal and kinetic energy that had collided with the Ring.

The Yaerian fleet disappeared, and in a split second, was on top of the Unitarian war fleet. Such was the way of the Hyperwarp, unphased by the dangers of gravity wells, a Yaerian ship was free in the stars as the ancient ships of oceans.

The Unitarian Exploration fleet was unprepared for this unexpected shift in the decisions of war, and for a split second, the Unitarian Fleet was in chaos. In the first thirty seconds of war, the Yaerian ships had finished shedding off the maelstrom of energy that was the power of Faster Than Light Travel and had obtained target locks on their chosen enemies.

The Unitarian Fleet had recovered from the abrupt change of hostile positions and had begun moving their ships into a position to fire.

Bolts of plasma slammed into one of the Dreadnaughts, their magnetic fields dispersing the plasmatic energies over their entire hull, desecrating sensors and delicate electronics with the energies equivalent to a sun's heat.

Laser cannons churned as their liquid focuses solidified just long enough for energy to course through them and a bright red bolt of light screamed out and with the space-equivalent accuracy of a shotgun, slammed into a frigate, burning and melting its metal hull

The Ring’s shield emitters that were in the afflicted area still functioned and had cycled through half the malevolent energies that it had been shunted to its batteries and harmlessly dispersed it into the void.

Inert ballistics-- Kinetic rounds accelerated by Chemical accelerants and sometimes Electromagnets slammed into the shields of the Yaerian defense force and was easily turned away. Had they been more primitive, Inert ballistics would have been extremely effective,  but only the high-explosive missiles and ballistics could ever hope to break a good, well built Yaerian Shield in a reasonable manner.

The Cruiser turned towards the damaged Unitarian Dreadnaught and its spinal weapon fired. A massive blast of particulate energy slammed into its magnetic field and the carefully aimed shot bored a hole through the front of the ship and through the barrel of the ships Siege Cannon.

The amount of fire being poured into the interlopers had caused one of the frigate's shields to break, and it’s comparatively weak Armor had begun to pit and scar. Two frigates of the enemy were rendered inert, and as the Cruiser began to fire it’s second bolt towards another Dreadnaught, a Meteor round, albeit in lower power, slammed into the Cruiser.

The ship was practically atomized and its debris was scattered in an instant, one would be hard-pressed to found it existed from the pieces.

Both frigates had their shields downed, and one was nearing seventy percent integrity.

All they could’ve done was done, with one Dreadnaught rendered inoperable for its purpose and another slightly damaged.

For just thirty minutes, the fleet just stood in its place. They were ruthlessly shutting between each other, obviously to recover their wounds, and to collect the debris.

The wrecks of the fallen frigates were pulled in tow, as the fleet made way to Uriegal Tu’Siegh.

The Ships stopped in the outermost reaches of the Orbit of the Uriegal, and the two dreadnaughts fired their siege cannons, again, and again.

No matter how well built the Ring was, for all it’s unnaturally strong superstructure, the Gravitic system that held it into place, the massive shield generators and their batteries, it fell apart. Shaken to pieces as it was hit with the astronomical equivalent of a sledgehammer over and over, and the ring shattered. The Acropolises were still whole, however, but any life they held was long gone, the kinetic and thermal shock mulching any inhabitants who did not evacuate in time.

After the ring had been broken, the fleet moved closer, and the second to last line of defense activated.

The tactical equivalent of landmines activated, as dormant fire bases roared to life with bolts of plasmatic energy and missiles to any unwary trespasser. Six frigates were destroyed by these landmines, and the entire fleet was worn down by these weapons of war.

The Dreadnaughts did not fire their weapons down at the surface, and instead used their immense engine power and a monofilament tow cable to bring down the Acropolis to the surface.

Six pieces of the broken Ring were crashed to the surface.

The fleet left the ravaged and tortured surface of the Uriegal Tu’Siegh behind, as it jetted towards the outer system boundaries and left the system through the Warp.

The entire incident had been coined as the “Burning of Tu’Siegh”, where it was recorded by several public and governmental satellites connected to a Hyperwave Transmitter was not destroyed by the shrapnel resulting from the destruction of the Ring.

Despite attempts to censor the information, the recordings of the entire encounter have been exposed to the majority of the Yaerian Republic's citizens.

---

When will the next attack occur?

Was SummerSet Protocol called in before, or after the burning of Tu'Siegh?



Editted for grammar correction of post & a second go around by Grammarly.

Post: 027: Holy War

“Dear Humanity... We regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret that the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!”
Avery Johnson - Halo 2

---

The programming was interesting. The firewall which protected the system was horrifically hard to crack, especially since it was his first contact with it, but he already knew how it worked. It changed, cycling with different “bases” every couple of minutes, fast enough to make a difference but slow enough not to make a burden on the system. It was smart, it reacted to gentle probings with a mallet and harsh jabs by flowing around it like water, and striking at his workstation, and he already had to switch out computational matrix’s twice after they had started smoking. It was no matter, He started from their communication systems, just as he ha since the beginning of his Aether Warfare.

He slammed right when it began its cycle, in the half-second when it was vulnerable. Sliding Basilisk Information probes through the immeasurable wall, and sliding the digital equivalent of a trapdoor right into the hole he had made before his digital manipulators were crushed by the Firewall slamming into place, but his job was done, and he waited. And waited. By the time the first ambassadorial groups had finished their preparations, he received the data he had wanted, and he had sabotaged what he needed to.

---

“Captain!”

“What is it?”

“The Ship Frame has just reported  Digital warfare being initiated by the contacts!”

“Stars be damned, try and counter it and if needed cut it off, they are likely too stupid to realize what they are doing.”

“I would have to shut the FTL communication systems if it comes to that, sir…”

“Understood, you have my approval, Communications, work with  the Counter-Measures team and send a message to Highcom.”

“Working on it, the Communications array appears to be the target of the hack but every system appears to be breached.”

---

The Data that was sent back was almost nothing, tactically. Sensor reports. Reactor Readings. Inane fiction on supposed “Navigators” using their damned minds to pilot the ship. It was all useless to him until the last packet of data had arrived. It contained two things that were of vital, extreme importance of the Unitarian Empire as a whole.

They found the enemy.

First, it contained a report, referring to an entity called a Ship-Frame.  It was a Malign Intelligence, made through synthetic means. That blasphemy against the Empress by itself would’ve called for a Suppression and if needed an Elimination war, but it also contained a single picture and the protocols to make it into reality. The Picture was of two Yaerians, one a dull blue, the other a bright cyan, both working in the guts of a maintenance panel or another. It was inspirational propaganda and they did not care for that. The entities, doubtless they were the species they were meeting was none other than the predestined enemy of the Empress.

Their massive, black eyes. Thin, excessively tall posture and a horrific uncanny “flat” faces, framed by two tentacle-like appendages which were so similar to the four Apha-Glees that a Guardian had were simply unnerving.  This species was almost word-for-word described by the Empress herself as the demons of ancient. The suppressors who would be the downfall of the Unitarian Empire. The decrees and standing conventions of any species who had matched the descriptions, even the damned paintings of ancient would require immediate, and swift action. They must be captured, then the information they hide of who they are must be revealed.

He sent the images and the report to the highest authority with an emergency tag, to the Fleet Lord.

---

Six of the Empress’s finest marines. Three Guardians, two Brigs, and a single Irrega’Gald sat in the airlock. Ever since they heard of the terrible, terrible news that these were the fated Suppressors, they knew that there was no mercy to be given. No pity, no gifts of peace. It was doubtless that the monsters who had brought the Empress to a deathly sleep was here to destroy us all. There vanguard would not return home, for they shall be laid to rest with him, his squad the six squadrons behind him. He checked his rifle one last time. The GyroJet rifle was prepared, it’s massive shells ready to decimate the Empress’s enemies, loaded in a convenient thirty round clip. The Magnetic accelerator zapped and cackled with electricity it loaded a round into the chamber and the gun made a low whine. It was ready, and so was he. With him in the airlock was his five squadmates, and a single “diplomat”. A Guardian, regal and tall, with fair purple skin, he heard rumors that she bore some of the blood of the Empress herself, and religiously followed her whims. She wished to give them a single chance to surrender, however unlikely it was. The airlock unsealed, and opened. All the marines rushed in through the breach, sweeping the area, noting all ten security staff, each with their strange guns, and three “civilians”.

Unarmed, but still dangerous due to their nature.

He and his five brothers and sisters made way for the Diplomat to enter the room. The Guardian walked, her flowing robes giving the impression that she glided across the floor and conveniently hid the pistol holstered under the clothing in the human equivalent of the armpit. Those rare few gifted with the blood of the Empress must be protected at all costs, he insisted. The thirteen aliens who held a congress in the room looked surprised judging from some of them holding their hands on their weapons. He was inwardly relieved, that they were not foolish enough to shoot the Empresses finest without doubt in their hearts.

The Guardian in the flowing robes spoke.

They listened, speaking in their alien language.

Her demands were repeated in there hauntingly similar language, and again they affirmed their choice.

The Guardian in the flowing robes walked quietly to the airlock, and back into their ship.

Just as she cleared the way, he fired his GyroJet. It slammed into one of the Demons on the right, and the remaining fuel in the cannister-like bullet exploded upon impact, shredding the damned into pieces.

His squad fired their weapons together, and each had picked out targets, the bolts slamming into each of them like a freight train and ending with a bang just like his own weapon.

An alarm began to sound, as one of the brugs charged at the sealed door, charging through it and collapsing the Hydraulic system that sealed the airlock utterly and entirely, allowing free access for the marines.

---

When the Stardew vast had been boarded by the nigh immortal boarders, the bridge was immediately sealed. The bridge was one of the first places to be attacked, before the quarantine shudders had even fully rolled down, they had literally run through the main airlock that separated the bridge and the rest of the ship, and the captain was the first to fall, a bolt slammed into his arm, blowing the limb off and flinging him at a wall, where a first-aid kit had broken his fall and his lower spine. They mercilessly shot or engaged in absolutely brutal CQC with the members of the bridge, in every case the Yaerians didn’t even have a chance to use their side-arms before they were put down like animals. When every single one of the original occupants of the Bridge had fallen, the enemies left a single one of their men to keep the bridge safe and left.

The Captain, in his brief state of consciousness, had managed to open the first aid kit, and planted  a frothy liquid onto his stump and his side, bit back a scream as the bio-sealant leached into his wounds and the synthetically engineered organisms swam through his wound and sealed it, before giving up the fight against the black and falling unconscious.

---

(2 hours, 22 minutes and 36 seconds later)

He was just a damned MAINTENANCE personnel! A lowly classed Maintenance personnel, he didn't even ASK for this job! Now here he was, in a stars-damned locker pissing himself while hidin--

Oh. Oh shit. Shit fuck stars-damned I'm dead-!!

The Personnel locker was very promptly and violently opened. A Guardian, in metallic steel gray plate armor, very promptly opened it. In one hand was a pistol, odd and distinctly ballistic in appearance, and the other the door from the locker that was literally ripped off from its hinges.

The Maintenance Personal screamed and threw a balled fist at the Guardian, landing straight between its eyes, and with a sharp crack, the Yaerians fist had three shattered bones, the visor slightly bending.

The Guardian dropped the locker door and reared up his fist. The Yaerian struggled, but he was held in place by a strong and incredibly firm fist holding a pistol. The fist that had reared up arced down almost so fast that to the naked eye it was simply a blur, and over fifty pounds of steel and finely tuned muscle colliding at an ungodly speed collided with flesh. The Semi-powered armor of the Empresses Boarding Force is nothing to be scoffed at. Unlike  their grounded and invasion divisions, the Boarding marines are a specialist forces, taken after  the ideals and traditions of the En-Sen-Pair Ship Mistresses, these forces were nearly unstoppable in close quarters combat with fragmentation GyroJet weapons, incredible strength and speed through their specialized and custom-built hard suits and their hellishly trained soldiers. Bone shards and bits of meat covered the entire arm of the Guardian's fist, the blue ichor splattered him almost entirely. He moved on, methodically clearing out the rest of the engineering sector and making sure that the reactor core would be safely ejected. The only power this vessel would be receiving was from it’s takers, not it’s own.

---

The Captain woke. Everything was on fire, it was an unbearable, unforgiving pain. He looked to his side, noticing the open medical kit he had left open, he picked up one needle after another, slamming them into his arm and carefully dropping the spent needle so as to be utterly silent until the kit was empty. He looked around the Yaerian equivalent of Adrenaline spiked through his body and he entered into a trance-like state.

Most Yaerians have a modified Fight-Flight reaction due to the light genetic augmentations they receive at birth. A side effect of the various enhancements to the mind and body they had received over the years has resulted in an another state of mind that a Yaerian involuntarily enters to when they are in grave danger.

Their mind goes into overdrive, the mental equivalent of fireworks firing through their head as they think at over three to four times their normal speed, while their body is frozen like a deer in the headlights. This state lasts around thirty seconds, where many Yaerians claim that this state of mind is where the ideas or thoughts that save their lives or grant them the ideas for inventions. In this particular “trance” the Captain only thought of one problem. His personal console was just a meter and a half away, and all he need to do was climb a chair and contact High command that war was coming.

He knew that judging from the static, numb feeling he felt from his legs that he could not move them. He knew that he would have to crawl for a full meter and a half, dragging himself across the bloodied floors without being noticed by the single stars-damned Slaughter Demon of a Soldier and then successfully input the communication protocols and the message itself without getting killed by said marine.

Stars above, if High Command does not get notice of this, they could potentially destroy everything before they were stopped.

He snapped out of the trance-like state and immediately moved to action. The… Drone? Person? No Sentient would be so utterly murderous then a BattleFrame, this is what that is. He crawled as carefully as possible not to move the broken bones in his ribs while holding back a scream as he climbed over a corpse, and to the chair, silently screaming as he barely made a clank each time he moved, but to his surprise, he never heard it. The pain reached a whole new level when he was fully seated, he could feel the bones in his spine moving and thanked the stars that he injected himself with all the medication from that medical kit. He typed the final commands in, and a simple holograph prompt opened up, and he spoke.

Naera Nahtilius did not tremble as he spoke. As he spoke he thought of home, what he left behind, a mother without a husband and a clutch to be taken care of only by one. He did not stutter, he spoke plainly and with a steel determination of a Yaerian with nothing left to lose and everything to save.

“ Engage the Summer Set Protocol, the Enemy is at the gates, Engage the Summer Set Protocol.”

He fell over limp on the console, a gaping hole in the back of his chest from a Gyrojet round.

Did the Message make it to High Command?

Post 026:

"Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument."
—Covenant transmission from the Prophet of Regret to the UNSC during the Battle of Harvest

---

Star 32-B,  Edge of Yaerian Republic Space
YEV “Stardew Vast”
October 4th, 2128 AD, 25 GS.

It had been almost a full week since the probe had arrived. It scanned and scanned, never actually sending communications towards the vessel. Sure, it had sent off what seemed to be communications, but it was alien, entirely unlike anything the Yaerians had seen, and the Xenologists onboard the ship was simply fascinated by the ship itself. Although it was obvious that the ship was inefficient, almost primitively stunted due to its mass fabricated nature,  It showed qualities that were decades or centuries ahead of Yaerian technology, while being simultaneously more basic than the simplest of Yaerian Engineered projects. It never responded to attempts of commune, it only repeated the same message every forty-seven minutes, on the dot.

By the time the Explorator fleet had arrived, the first manned mission to the probe had begun, a shuttle drifting through the realm of the stars to interact with the tiny probe. The mission was very promptly canceled, as no less than forty-seven vessels had entered the system, at the rate they were speeding towards the vessel, they would arrive in just a four days worth of time.

They responded to no signals, electromagnetic or Hyperwave, they were jetting towards them with the silence of a predator, their steel jaws encapsulating and covering the prey and like a fool, the Yaerians had let it happen.

This was the first victory of the Unitarian Empire.

---

Star 32-B, Edge of yaerian Republic Space
Unitarian Fleet Bastion “Commanding Presence” of the First Explorator Fleet
October 4th, 2128, 25 GS

“Linguistics Team, give me a status report.”

“Yes, Fleet Lord. The Ship Automaton has already cracked how their commune protocols function from the data report by the Probe, and in ten minutes we shall be able to project an approximate linguistic message.”

“That fast? Incredible work, this shall an easy campaign.”

The bridge of the Commanding Presence bustled with activity, technicians and Curators all worked on cataloging the exact readings and outputs of the sensor feeds pointed at the lone ship. It was large, it was obviously sophisticated by its delicate looking sensor fins, high energy output reactor and the utterly strange Warp readings it was giving off. The Fleet Lord guessed their subjugation would be harder than the other races, perhaps not as hard as the Brugs, but still hard. He idly noted the few Irrega’Gald  working in the posts they had been placed. For a species so recently joining the Unitarian Empire, they had the spirit and sentience to work greatly in the complex, civilized notions of the War in Space, Even if they were utterly hideous. He wondered what this species would look like, Perhaps they would be pleasing to the eye unlike any other species found, that would be his Empress given day.

---

Star 32-B,  Edge of Yaerian Republic Space
YEV “Stardew Vast”
October 8th, 2128 AD, 25 GS.

“They are now in weapons range…”

Captain Uriss Nahtilius was frankly at his wits end. They didn’t attempt to speak a lick of “first contact” communications, just to their stars-damned probe. Although he had to call backup to Fleet Command, they *denied* it on the basis of friendly negotiations. Friendly negotiations don’t happen when a fleet of forty-eight ships sped to them like meteors slamming at the moon, and he did not like the looks of their ships. Fabricated,  without the elegance of a true ship, and absolutely bristling with incredible energy signatures, far bigger than what would be needed for Magnetic or guided weapons, it was almost confusing, and theories had been abounding the entire ship when the sensor output was leaked to the ship as a whole. [He put his money on Yuur’Tilla, damn woman had no sense.]

He briefly wondered if firing a warning shot would cause them to communicate, when they had done just that, communicate.

A data signal, in Yaerian Sub-light Communication Protocols for Audio and video, had come to them.

“Isolate A terminal and broadcast the message to one of my screens, Frame.”

“As you wish, Captain.”

---

“Attention… “Yaerian”.

You have been discovered and founded. You are no longer alone in the stars, for by the Empresses guidance we have come and found you as brothers and sisters. We offer you time to prepare for arrival on your starboard docking port, and once you are ready we will send a ship to board yours, to allow for better diplomatic negotiations.

---

“By the stars above, their ships are huge, I thought that damn sensor technician was lying. Do you think they will be as peaceful as they claim?
 -- Quaestix’Pruskium-Kaluchian Marine aboard the Stardew Vast

“Lord, They are maneuvering to expose their starboard flank, sending boarding vessel now.

--Sensor Technician of the Commanding Presence

---

It was odd, damned aliens had thought of everything with the ship they sent. It was confusing that they requested a docking even though in all likelihood our docking cords would be completely different, yet it still worked anyways, he had no stars-damned clue how that worked. The amount of technology that came into that must've been astounding, he’d have bet his hat for that.

Here he stood, in the entrance room holding a rifle, and he’s gonna meet the first set of aliens that the Yaerians will have peace with. Probably.  He remembered the theories of all sentient life being hostile to the Yaerian way of life and shivered, just slightly. If that was true, what were they planning? He clutched his rifle, looking at it t noting all its features to calm him down.

It was a mark three Magna-Rifle, It’s magnetic accelerator would send down bolts of plasma at its designated target with the speed of a rock thrown at its fullest, and it was nothing to play around with. The containment cells for the gas, the heat sinks, and every other little part was particularly notable for having been replaced with high-grade spec-ops variants. It was a damn fine gun.

He hoped it would be enough if he needed it.

---

Three, loud knocks, and the Unitarian ship was docked. Already it’s internal systems adapting itself to the unknowns of alien architecture, and  Guardian Aether teams had begun their work in breaking into the internet-works of the Alien ship.

Did the Aether teams succeed?

Virulent, utterly destructive and utterly horrific in its capacity of wiping out the population of Colony. It didn't  kill with just toxicology and the physical aspects of the body, but it took three days to show symptoms, three days where it infected the lungs, driving deeper and deeper until the deepest parts were afflicted, and then it would begin to terminate. From start to finish, it was virulent, anyone who breathed the same air as the infected would be infected, and would spread the disease not an hour later.

Two colonial Habitats had to be destroyed, the machinery that kept the colony in the "safe" zone of the planet had been deemed not worth the risk of infection.

It was thankfully kept on the planet due to strict screening procedures, and none of the military crews were affected bar the Dreadnaught. It was kept in orbit, it's atmospherics system was used to pump a burning agent to clear the ship of the virulent from the vents. It took two months for it to be recovered, and both the admiral and the captain which had manned the vessel were lost.

A. It triggered a distress signal, and an automated force had arrived and aligned itself to the protection of Colony.
B. An exploratory ship had discovered a cloning installation, with the capacity to create thousands and thousands of soldiers or workers. It was of alien design, but it was adapted for Man millennia ago.
C. To survive the plague, genetic augmentation research was spurned. It became common place for genetic and synthetic augmentations to be held on every colonist, but it came with a terrible, terrible cost. Their immune systems had started to fail, and a stop-gap had resulted in every man, woman, and child to wear bio-suits to separate them from the environment around them. Augmentations of the military variety had resulted in super soldiers becoming a fast reality.
D. The virus had...  "activated" some individuals, resulting in some sort of latent "power" to become reality if they survived the infection.
E. An inactive Von Neumann Macro-Plague had been found in a Human research lab that was unearthed on the planet, it was stored and studied, while also replicated. The terrible weapon had no need for use, yet.
F. Something else? ((Be reasonable, please.)