Disruption (IC)

Kerr formally rose from his seat, "Very well," He began, "While multiple representatives were conducting diplomacy business on planet Silex, Jessic remained on the Majesty, and we trusted that we could allow him to roam the ship as he pleased, and that he would follow the simple set of rules we put in place." The Stagnumian cast a dark glance in Jessic's direction, the kind that could unnerve even the most powerful of warriors. "Jessic, you have been caught violating the privacy rights of others on this ship. I was making my rounds about the Majesty, and saw you leave Mott Gatiir's quarters. Mott has already proven that he did not give you any prior permission to enter his room without him being there." Kerr flicked his tail, and put one hand on the table, leaning on it, "Let me make this clear, if Mott chooses to press charges against you, you could spend up to five years in a prison on Frigius, which is a miserable place to be, and also, if I am correct, a very large chunk of the Markovan lifespan, considering that I went and researched your people in my own spare time." His talons tapped on the table, "Because, however, you do not fear punishment from an alien race, we have decided to let Tevri help us decide this, because we think it would be better suited for you if you are punished by the standards of the Markovan people."

During the meeting Svar chose to instead head to the forge and fix his helmet from damages done by Mott's efforts. He was slightly worried about the Vrentus Collective and their potential, but knew that the Confederacy had allies to stand by. After a couple of minutes of work, the repairs were done, and he reattached the helmet to his armor. Observing reports on the HUD, he strode through the halls of the Majesty, heading back to the meeting.

Jessic made no sign as Kerr laid out his accusation, but glanced at everyone through narrowed eyes. As Kerr finished, and Svar reentered the room, Jessi'c eyes finally came to rest on Tevri.

Tevri stood, swallowing nervously. This sort of thing was not generally in the duties of the position he was destined to fill, except in exceptional circumstances such as this.

"Jessic min Davris, what do you to say in response to this?"

Jessic leaned forward, resting his head on his clasped hands as he did so. "What have I got to say? The one thing I would say would be this: What proof can there be of my guilt except this Chimerosu's word? He claims to have seen me, but who else did? It is essentially his word against mine."

"Do you deny, then," said Tevri, "that you entered Mott Gatiir's room without permission as Kerr claims?"

"Perhaps," Jessic replied. "After all, what could be in his room that would interest me to the degree that I would be willing to trespass? Am I the sort of person who would do that? As the old saying goes, let my record speak for me."

Tevri was silent for a moment. "I checked your record when I heard Kerr's claim," said Tevri. The only response from Jessic at this was to arch his eyebrows a bit. "You have won a few medals for bravery," went on Tevri, "but I found more than a few unflattering things in there as well. Several people, including Admiral Lirriva din Asmacar, a respected officer of sterling record, mentioned that you have shown contempt for the Code of Honor and the lack of respect for other races on more than one occasion." At the mention of Admiral Lirr, Jessic's eyes narrowed even more, and a quiet hiss escaped from his mouth; there was obviously no love lost between him and Admiral Lirr.

There was a moment of silence, before Tevri spoke again. "I for my part believe Kerr's testimony. Although I have known him only a little while, he strikes me as being honest and forthright. However, if gthe records speaks for you, as you said, then I have good reason to believe that a breach in conduct is not beneath you. I have though long on how I was going to deal with this matter, and this is my decision. Since it has been placed on me to decide your case, I hereby strip you of your rank. From this moment on, you shall be a rankless soldier, and shall be treated as such, until we return to Markova, or I decide to restore your rank, should your future actions merit it."

”UFIAI has nothing more to inquire right now. We would like to have notice when you start your offensive though. Until then,” Master Carrefour said, as its ship turned around to head away from the gravity wells, before disappearing into flash caused by the warp-drive.

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After fairly long time a sizable fleet of UFIAI ships finally arrived to assist the Jiiran fleet. It was fairly homogenous fleet, at least for UFIAI, containing mainly fresh UFIAI light cruisers. Anima had had to gather the fleet far and wide across the UFIAI systems, thus the long wait. Most of the ships had been drafted right from the production line and rest were the ones that had been sent back for repairs. A large UFIAI battlecruiser acted as the command ship. It was generally shaped like a blade of a broadsword, with large missile silos running along its top and bottom. In addition to missiles it had two large, forward-facing ion cannons on top of each other in the prow.

Anima’s ships quickly arranged themselves to three large squads, each numbering two thousand ships, and each started to attack the Confederate forces from different angle. Anima opened communications to the Jiirian fleet: “This is Anima in behalf of the UFIAI. My apologies for the hold up, but our forces are stretched thin, as I mentioned.” Anima’s voice was appealing, soft and feminine. However, in contrast to the younger AI’s Anima had no face as a holographic avatar, but a white sphere with sixteen black dots in it.

"That's fine," replied Marr. "I'm ready to spring the trap."

As the fight continued, the current ships of the Despot that had been fighting before suddenly began to draw back a little. It was then that a large force of Despotic vessels arrived, double the previous number, completely surrounding the defensive force around Daryssan.

Marr sent a communication to the forces of the UFIAI: "To fully realize my plan, try to push them back until their bunched together."

Anima complied in silence, engaging the Confederate ships in full assault. The black and white ships of the UFIAI concentrated their firing at any ships that were standing out of the formation, trying to keep them packed together. Same time the commanding battelcruiser named Arrowhead fired continuously with its missile silos, laying suppressive fire towards the edges of the Confederate formations.

Kerr narrowed his eyes, and nodded slowly, "Ah, that is a very severe punishment, Tevri, but a very useful one, as well. You have made your decision well, and the punishment fitting." He slowly flicked his tail, "Then it is settled, and there is no more reason for this meeting to be conducted." He rose to get up, and then paused, placing one hand on the metal table, feeling vibrations through it. As he did so, Ravage shot up from her chair, her pupils contracting to thin slits, and her feathers ruffling, as a growl-like rumbling began in her throat. She warily scanned up at the ceiling, and her mane twitched, as though she were picking up sounds. The next to react was Blair, who slowly rose from his seat, and stood still, listening quietly. The room fell silent, so much that a small metal pin could have been heard dropping, and clinking to the floor. It was a tense, lingering silence, and it was not only in the room where the meeting was being held. All throughout the ship, Cavernians had stopped performing their tasks, and began to listen, and with this abrupt change, everyone stopped, sensing impending danger.

Suddenly, all throughout the Majesty, there was a single, metallic echo, the kind that suggested a jolt had come from outside. In the airless, supposedly lifeless void of space. Then, there was a scrabbling, the kind that made the mind immediately conjure up an image of legs. Six sharp, armored, insect-like limbs, coming from a creature that one could only imagine was very large. Moments after the first sound, several more came, more jolts as though the creatures were landing on the ship, more scrabbling, as they slowly walked along the hull. Seconds later, all the lights in the ship went out, and were replaced by slowly flashing, red-tinged ones. Then, there came a slow, deep, beeping noise, that echoed eerily through the silence, as no one spoke. Finally, the eerie silence on the ship was broken, as a voice came over on the com. system running through the Majesty.

"Attention! Strange insect-like life-forms have been detected landing on the exterior of the Majesty. Possible Arachnarche drones, a total swarm of fifteen, likely drones, led by a different variant. All upper-ranking officers are required to don space suits and go out to the surface of the ship. Proceed with caution."

As everyone rose from their seats, there was a grim expression on the face of many.

The Arachnarche had arrived.

The stagnant flow of space was suddenly disrupted as the Valence and its fleet disengaged warp. They silently glided forward, illuminated distant stars. The scene would have been rather peaceful if not for their intent. Within the system was a UFIAI Dyson Sphere. The Confederate forces under Unsilenced Retribution planned to use this world as their means to gain information.

The Wreae had no plans to actually attack the structure, but rather use its information processing systems, communications centers, and databanks to gather intel. The Valence activated its sensor jamming devices and went into action. Under the guise of a UFIAI ship, similar to what the Wrath had done, it connected to the data servers of the sphere. Almost immediately after the ship pumped a large amount of viruses and malware into the systems, overloading several of them in the process. The sphere was essentially sealed off from any communications aside from those with the AI that controlled it. The Valence then drew processed information, sending it into the ship's systems. When all was done, it broke away from the sphere's server and relocated with the rest of the fleet, which hid in orbit of a nearby gas giant, completely obstructed by the planet.

Unsilenced Retribution quickly reviewed the information gathered, mostly fleet formations and positioning. However, one piece of decoded intelligence stood out to the Wreae. It was the last part of the conversation with the Deceiver.

The Wreae turned to Xej. "I think we have a problem, Zealot." It said in a low tone, glancing around the room. It quickly explained what had happened - that the UFIAI and the Vrentus Collective had created an alliance.

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Svar stood, both a grim and slightly aggressive expression surfacing on his face. The Krathunian was prepared for what was to come, as soldiers in his culture wore armor much of their time due to their honor. He would be able to join the Chimerosu on the surface of the ship, as engineers such as himself were required to repair ships and stations at times. His helmet activated, unfolding and shielding his head. Retrofitted thrusters that had been attached after Vitis started to activate, going into preparation stages. He did not have a visible oxygen tank, as it was under the metal armoring on his back.

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After several long minutes of walking in darkness and dealing with Admiral Rakluth's encounter with Praedromus, the group was blinded as they came to an enormous dome-shaped chamber. In the center of the room was a gaping pit leading to seething magma. Several passageways branched out from here in hexagonal openings in the walls, with labels in a forgotten tongue.

"This seems to be a R'lek archival structure," Q'ren commented, observing his surroundings. "Or, that's what the Vrentus wanted us to think. They built this structure before all of you had come into existence, back when an abandoned and ruined Union world could fool us. We still need to be careful."

Rakluth pointed to one of the openings. "The R'lek tongue is still available in the military databanks. It says that leads to the storage area." He remarked, peering at the sign.

"Perfect, let's go."

Xej let the bottom of his beak rest on his right fist, while also holding up his right elbow with his left hand.

"Despite this... bad news, we are already successful. We need to keep a look out for any more information regarding the Vrentus especially.. I am glad to have this advantage. Tell me, Wreae, is there any data on the UFIAI fleet sent to attack Confederacy worlds with the Karthla virus?" Xej asked.

Therus took a small nutrient container out of his midsection armor, downed the contents, and continued to look over a hologram containing the recently acquired UFIAI data.
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Xerin immediately headed to the armory to find his armor. Upon arrival he quickly retrieved donned a synthetic suit made for spacework, and paired the armor parts with the outfit to form a sort of Exosuit. He picked up one of the guns made to fire projectiles, and added an oxygen container onto the back of his Exosuit. He found a pair of jet thrusters but saw that they were currently unusable. He knew he would be able to use the gun and the absence of gravity to his advantage, however, being trained in space maneuvering he himself had requested.

Soon afterwards, Xerin found Svar, nodded in an indication he was ready for whatever combat lay ahead, and awaited the signal to go out.

Everyone donned space suits, revealing Chimerosu space suits were meant to work with their armor, meaning that most of them already wore what they needed. They all entered a special airlock room near the top of the ship, where the small Arachnarche swarm had apparently landed, and were now scuttling on the roof of the ship. All the Chimerosu were wearing segmented grey space suits over their armor, the visors on their helmets, heavily tinted to prevent ultraviolet radiation from burning their skin, appearing so dark that nobody could identify who was who, aside from the names stitched to the outer layer of each suit. All the officers going out to face the swarm looked the same, wearing the thick suits, the masks over their faces reflecting things like black mirrors. The only Chimerosu officer who looked different was Ravage, due to the somewhat unique nature of her armor. Her space suit, like all her other choices of clothing, was black, the reflective visor hiding her face. The suit, having been made very specifically to her own form, was much less awkward and bulky in appearance, it seemed clear that she had more freedom of movement. The fingers and feet of her suit were also notable for fitting almost like a second skin, complete with glass talons that slid easily over her real ones. The only bulky features about her suit was the pack on her back where the oxygen tank was stored, as well as a container of compressed air. Jets coming from the back allowed her to propel herself.

Although it was a lot less than what was normally expected, everyone spent a bit of time waiting in the air lock, breathing different air than the rest of the ship to purge their blood of nitrogen. Chimerosu, being avian creatures capable of flying up to very high altitudes, though it wasn't normally something they did, didn't take as much time, so they didn't see the camp-out procedure as strange, although others might have. Thankfully, there should have been enough time for everyone's bodies to adjust to the change. Finally, the air lock slid open, leaving nothing to divide the party from the void of space. Everyone slowly exited, gripping grooves in the ship that would have been invisible at a distance, but were readily seen close up. It was almost like the surface of the Majesty was shark hide, seemingly smooth, but actually rough in texture, making it easier to grip, even though it seemed to reflect light like a mirror in its faceted appearance.

It didn't take long for the airlock to close behind them, although it was filled with hatches, allowing an easy escape, should anyone find danger. It didn't take long for people to discover the swarm, either. As the report had said, there were a total of fifteen of the creatures. Large, they all seemed to be an impressive size that would have rivaled an elephant or a similar animal. Six legs, three distinct parts forming the body, with the abdomen segmented to give flexibility. Their bodies were all a sleek, shiny pure black that blended very well with the blackness of space. They had heads similar to those of a rhinoceros beetle, with two horns sprouting from plated, armored foreheads, an a central one coming from their nose, all sweeping in a gentle curve upward. They had sharp, beak-like mouths, and to either side was a pair of large mandibles that resembled those of a stag beetle. They had sharp spikes coming from their legs, and from the middle of their thoraxes, just behind the first pair of legs, sprouted a single pair of wings, bright blue, and reflecting light almost like solar panels. They appeared to have six eyes, two central ones so small they appeared to be mere dots, not even visible unless one closely looked, and then four larger, more complex eyes, unblinking, but with large, staring round pupils that contracted and dilated according to the need for light. Overall, these seemed to be drones, for their thoraxes were small and weak, and their skulls were somewhat tiny, their abdomen being the largest part of them. Regardless of being identified as having a swarm mentality, their eyes were highly expressive for non-sentinent insects. They had a faint amount of coloration on the tips of their horns, around their irises, and on the tips of their legs, as well, matching their wings.

One of the Arachnarche swarm seemed different, however. It didn't stray far from the appearance of others, but it was clearly different. Slightly larger, with a more heavily-armored skull, larger horns, and more powerful mandibles, it looked more capable of cutting a man in two with one bite. Its thorax was bigger, more muscular, stronger, and more balanced with its abdomen, making it much more like a tank in appearance. Its wings and other parts meant to have color had an aqua green tint to them, different from the blue of the others, and most felt positive that this was a soldier, supervising the drones, trying to ensure their safety. While there was an almost child or baby-like innocence and blankness in the strange eyes of the drones, there was a glint of intelligence in the eyes of the soldier, the kind one felt when watched by a wild animal that could hurt them. It wasn't as great as an actual being, but it was still very alarming to see, especially when the Soldier turned to look at the Chimerosu and representatives as they came close. It slowly flared out its wings, and lowered its head, still watching them with gleaming, never-blinking eyes.

By this time, everyone was taking advantage of the radios in their space suits, allowing them to communicate with each other, "Man, these things are big!"" A voice came across the broadcast network, not anyone somebody knew, but an officer with a high enough rank to come up to deal with the potential threat. It sounded like a Frigian, judging by the accent. "Look at the pinchers on these guys, even the drones look dangerous."

Another voice came across, this time, easily recognized as Ravage, "Keep a close eye on that Soldier, she doesn't look very happy to see us, I wouldn't get any closer unless one of them decides to take a bite out of the ship."

Finally, Corey's voice broadcasted, "Well, it looks like for the moment, the drones are a bit confused. The ship is metal, but it's coated with different substances not found in nature. They might try to bite through it, but they look uneasy about trying to do that. We need to find a non-lethal way of chasing them off. If the soldier is that big, I'd hate to see what the other castes are." There was a pause, "Also, female, what makes you so sure?"

Ravage's sigh came over the radio static, "I can see a non-functioning oviduct on the tip of the abdomen on some of them. The Soldier is a female, there are a few males, but it looks like females make up this group. Don't forget the females are dominant among these things, that might extend to the roles of lesser members.

Then, as everyone watched, a drone wandered from the group, and after inspecting the ship for a few more moments, began to scratch at the surface with its front legs. Nobody could hear it, but the scraping was easily heard from inside the ship. White paint flakes began to drift up from where it was scratching. The reaction was urgent, "They're scraping away the paint to get at the metal, we need to run them off, fast!" With this, a person nobody knew charged out to go and shoo the drone away, but the soldier turned and opened its mandibles, clamping them shut once in a threatening manner, before it lowered its head, and proceeded to dash after the officer, ramming into him and sending him sprawling along the surface of the ship, though he thankfully caught himself on the ship, saving himself from drifting off into space.

"Are you alright!?" Travis' voice came over the radio, sounding a bit like a yell.

"I...think she broke one of...my ribs!" Came the choked reply.

Travis immediately started giving orders, "Okay, it looks like a peaceful approach isn't going to work. Someone get Captain Ralph into the airlock and down to the infirmary. Everyone else, we need to get them off the ship, use force, if needed, avoid using fatal blows, the aim is not to kill. Someone distract the Soldier, while the others dislodge the drones."

Aarin and Mott ha com up with everyone else. Although he had wanted to come, Isbar was not present; there was no suit on the ships designed for his exact shape. Encased in a suit he had brought with him from Vathoris, Aarin had watched the proceeding in silence until this moment couldn't but feel that the first attempt at trying to remove the drones had not been well-planned.

"Well, let's start the pest control operation," came Mott's voice over the Comm. He carried a gun designed to fire rubber bullets, as did Aarin; they were both also armed with long plastic staves.

Aarin waved to Mott and the others. "Mott and I will see what we can do to distract the soldier," he said.

The two Vathorins approached the soldier, and fired a few rubber bullets into the immense arthropod. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the creatures exoskeleton, but most likely caused it some pain. Mott and Aarin stood ready, prepared to jet off in opposite directions when the creature charged.

Due to the fact that there was no sound in space, it seemed that the Aracharche Soldier didn't react with some sort of roar or screech, although it did visibly flinch when the bullets struck, visible dents appearing in its exoskeleton where it had been hit. It turned in the direction of the two men, looking between them for a moment, its mouth opening and its mandibles snapping ominously. However, it wasn't something that was easily fooled, it was at least intelligent enough to figure out things in its head. It saw how they were positioned, and knew it wasn't going to get both of them at once. Soldiers weren't mindless, like their Drone siblings. It turned in the direction of Mott, lowered its head, and charged, moving with shocking speed, having nothing to provide friction to stop its movement, and capable of doing so without requiring a surface to gain traction. Space was this insect's domain, and as its wings flared out, glinting, everyone thought it was going to hit the Humdar scientist.

Something stopped the Soldier. Out of seemingly nowhere, a larger, more powerful mass charged out of the void of space, slamming into the bug before it could hit anyone, and sending it sprawling a long distance away, before it caught itself, suspended in space, floating, but not caught where it was unable to move. A painful-looking dent ran along the Soldier's side, and it looked more like a hurtling meteor had struck it, half-crushing it, though it wasn't dead yet. One of its wings were torn, and it moved slowly, landing back on the Majesty, before collapsing, and struggling to regain its footing, as though the blow had very badly injured it. One could not help, seeing the nature of the wound, feeling a twinge of sympathy, for it was clearly in excruciating agony. If it had the capability to do so, it might have cried, for such a look came into its eyes. In many ways, it was like a wild dog that had no idea that it was doing anything wrong. It merely attacked what it saw as a threat. The strange beings from within the oddly-coated metal object were the least of the Soldier's worries, now. It was more afraid of the thing that had attacked it.

Rising up tall on all six legs, the new arrival had a distinctly wrong look about it. The first thing that people noticed, was its great size and stature, it was almost twice the size of the Soldier, and by all accounts far more terrifying to look at. It had none of the sleek smoothness to its form as the others did, for while its body was reflective and black, gnarled lumps and bulges disfigured its exoskeleton. Ragged hooked spines came from each limb, even a line of jagged spikes that ran down the center of its abdomen. Two large, L-shaped armored plates of sorts sprouted from the shoulder-like area on its thorax above the first pair of legs, shielding the base of its wings. Unlike the Drones and the Soldier, this monstrous Arachnarche had two pairs of wings, like a dragonfly or some other similar creature, indicating how it had flown so fast that the eye had barely managed to track it. Its wings were warped and ragged, riddled with small holes, though they seemed not to hinder it at all. They had the same reflective quality, like solar panels, but had a hideous, yellow tint to them, the brown veins supporting the membranes making it look much more revolting, especially in the eyes of the creatures most like it. Instead of gently sloping tips, its front pair of legs ended in ragged, mantis-like claws, which snapped alarmingly.

Its face, though, was by far the most horrible thing about it. Its front horn ended in an extremely sharp point, but was twisted, knobby, and did not seem to have the same, gentle, swooping curves of the others. Its mandibles remained straight, retaining their function, but thorn-like spikes jutted in every direction on the inner part of them, spines that could impale whatever it snatched. Its pair of horns, jutting from its forehead, curved up like a bull's, L-shaped and wrong, more sharp angles where they didn't belong. Running along the armored exoskeleton that bordered its gleaming yellow eyes, ridges, like the sides of a helmet, created a small set of horns beneath the main pair. On the front of it's face, it had a strange marking, almost fork or crown-like, the edges of the 'fork curving out into a final, third set of smaller horns, and then the tips slashing along down the creature's face and skull. The tips of its horns and legs, along with all the ridges like spines on its body, were tinted yellow, and its beak-like mouth, filled around the edges with more thorny protrusions like jagged, needle-like teeth, gnashed below the warped swoop of its horn.

The reaction of the drones was instant, they turned and saw the strange Arachnarche, and flared out their wings, before slowly scuttling backwards, away from it, and seeming to shudder, as though cowering. Clear mist came from the segments of their front legs, visible, and then dissipating as it floated out into the void of space. It must have been pheromones, of some sort, and judging by the reaction of the Soldier, still trying to rise, and then the efforts growing more urgent upon apparently being hit by the mist, they signaled distress. The strange Arachnarche, its bright eyes gleaming with vile, malicious intelligence, also reacted to the mist, but in a different fashion. It turned, looked at the Drones, and it's beak widened in what others could only place as a wicked sneer, as though it enjoyed their terror. It's pupils contracted to pinpoints, as it turned to the still-struggling Soldier, and slowly proceeded forward over to it, heedless of the others around it, and as though it were an intelligent being, clearly intending to finish the poor, dying creature off.

As it moved, Ravage's voice came across the radio, "It's male, and I don't think he's natural. I would think he was from a stronger caste, but Arachnarche from what I can tell don't attack their own. Whatever he is, he's intelligent, and he doesn't have any problem killing others of his own kind." She said, warning everyone, "We can worry about the drones and the Soldier later, I think we should be more worried about whatever this thing is."

The Mutant, or whatever it was, was upon the soldier, and, having seemed to have detected the energy of the radio signal Ravage sent out, it looked over at her with a knowing gaze, as it raised one powerful front leg and, not even looking, drove its claw deep into the head of the Soldier, killing it instantly. It then pulled the leg free, and made a long, sweeping motion of it, the insect blood sliding seamlessly off into the void of space, as though it were a self-cleaning blade. It took a step away from the corpse of the fallen soldier, and turned to scan the faces of the drones, though all of them seemed to have a similar, terrified expression. It's beak opened again in an evil smile, and then it turned to look at the people that had come out of the ship, once again treating all of them to a threatening, knowing look.

Another Captain that someone didn't know sent his voice across the radio, "Guys, I don't know about you, but I agree with the Krylonian. I don't like the way he's looking at us..."

Svar stood with the others and watched as the new Aracharchne beast emerged from the void. He didn't dare to speak over the radio, knowing why the creature had glared directly at Ravage after she had sent her message. However, he allowed his plasma cannon to start to shift into the railgun, now able to do this automatically. He took on a defensive pose, waiting for this new arrival to do something.

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"Yes, Zealot, there is." Unsilenced Retribution stopped for a moment, analysing the data. "It's not much, but from this I can gather that the fleet is being controlled by an intelligence known as Hollow. It resides within the fleet itself, so it would not be possible to stop it within a coordinated attack on a single planet, as it was with Absolute. We would need to specifically target that fleet and pursue it within Confederacy territory."

"Sir, the Dyson Sphere's defenses have activated. Looks like they've noticed something is off." A Ryun technician exclaimed, staring at a display of the sphere they were close to.

Unsilenced Retribution thought for a moment. "There are a multitude of reasons why we can't activate the warp drive now. We'll stand our ground and stop anything they throw at us."

((Curius, maybe have the AI controlling the Dyson Sphere notice and start sending out ships))

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The Ryun-Wreae defense fleet was ready for a counteroffensive such as this, though did not expect it to be on such a massive scale. To them, Daryssan was a single planet, and with its infrastructure mostly destroyed it held no use to the Federation. The strategic advantage of this infrastructure collapse was enough. The fleet split into two groups, each led by one of the two Carriers, the Evolution and the Sovereign. Seeing as they were surrounded completely by UFIAI and Despotic vessels, they maintained a defensive position. Each part of the fleet was centered around the massive Carrier that lead it and the other, larger ships, while smaller vessels defended these as best as they could. The fleet led by the Evolution targeted Anima's ships, while the Sovereign and its fleet attacked Marr's. The Ryun-Wreae plasma cannons, particle beams, and disintegration missiles specifically targeted ship weaponry as to render them useless. Knowing that their enemies would be willing to simply ram into their ships after their conventional weaponry was destroyed, the commanding officers ordered for the broken Mondarian ships from the invasion and previous battle as well as any destroyed Federation ships to form a barricade around the defense fleet. They also began to launch more cybernetic attacks, particularly on Anima's fleet.

At the same time reinforcements started to stream in from the space surrounding them. One group of ships in particular stood out. Ringed by large cruisers, a rather unconventional Destroyer had exited warp, flanking Marr's fleet from behind. The automated Destroyer, titled Summit, was roughly the shape of a hexagonal prism that came to cone-like a point at the front. Taking a note from Krathunian vessels, its armor shifted rapidly to account for any fire upon it. Large engines occupied the sides and back to allow for mobility in combat. What was striking about the Summit was its weaponry. As it got closer to Marr's fleet, the front of it opened up to reveal that two enormous plasma cannons occupied the center, which was somewhat hollow. A large array of weaponry surrounded these, ranging in function and power. These were protected by a one way energy shield that temporarily deactivated when one of the cannons fired due to the sheer power one of them used up, though heavy armoring was present on each weapon and the defensive hull could shift to seal it off. It seemed as if the Federation Destroyer was mostly weaponry. The Summit started to batter the Despotic fleet with its range of armaments, the Cruisers aiding it in protection and fire.

Teglin looked nervously down at the magma. "Watch your step there, lad," said Zizo cheerfully.
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Aarin gazed carefully at the behemoth. "Ravage," he said quietly as he could over the comm., "I think this thing can here us talking to each other somehow."

Mott, meanwhile, was engaged. Taking two small missiles from his belt, he was putting them on his gun. They were meant to stick into the skin and electrocute their target. Most likely they would do little serious damage to this creature, but they were better than nothing. Mott took aim at the giant creatures face, waiting for an opportune moment to fire.
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Marr quickly had his own ship moved to safer location.

"What are we going to do about those other ships, Sir?" asked the helmsman.

"Never mind them. They're irrelevant. Just get the main attack ready. Those Confederates are in for a surprise."

From the opposite side of the battle from where the Summit was, a new Despotic vessel arrived. It was larger than the others, and had a strange apparatus making up the front. Some of the Confederates might recognize the prototype for the Entropy Accelerator as it got into position. Some other warships kept guard on its rear to protect it from attacks from that direction.

Marr laughed evilly. "Let's get this party started," he crowed. "Activate the weapon! Drain those ships to dried out, frozen husks!"

The prototype began its work. The closest Confederacy vessels began experience power loss, the temperature on board their ships dropping as the weapon drained molecular energy away. The UFIAI ships, if their sensors could possibly have recognized the energy powering the ship, the same Dark Energy technology they had obtained from Vathoris earlier.

Suddenly, without warning, one of the ships guarding the prototype exploded spectacularly. Unlooked for, a large fleet of ten thousand Markovan vessels had arrived; with them came a scattering of Vathorin ships. One of these had just fired the penetrator torpedo that had destroyed the Mondarian ship.

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The diplomat next to Yura spoke up, "Actually, there's... not much culture to see here. This is a military base, as are many space stations around here. If you want to see any culture, it'll be down on the planet."

He sighed before continuing, "But unfortunately, the people down there hate.... Outsiders. You can go if you want, but expect some hostility."

There was suddenly a radio transmission sent to everyone on the network, as the warped, malicious Arachnarche looked at those who had spoken across it. The transmission began as static, but then formed itself into chilling sounds that frightened everyone. It was a cold, raspy sound, abrupt and loud, and seemed to eerily resemble the sounds of laughter, cruel, as though flaunting the fact that it could even be heard in space, where there was no medium. Everyone knew it was this strange arrival that had done it, somehow hacking into their radio frequency, even though it wasn't even in possession of its own transmitter. Somehow, it was doing it organically, sending the message at just the right frequency to be picked up by the radios in their suits. Indeed, this could only be the creature's own confirmation to Aarin's words, that it could, in fact, hear them, and even understood what they were saying. This fact was somehow even more disturbing, because that meant it would hear any plans they devised.

It opened its hideous yellow wings, and it's beak creaked open again, the pupils contracting to pinpoints. Suddenly, it abruptly turned, and in a movement that was so fast it couldn't be tracked with the average eye, it charged and tackled Ravage, sending her flying a long distance away, a cry of pain sounding out on the radio frequency. She drifted up a distance from the ship, but before she could be lost, she used her jet pack and managed to get a grip on the top of the ship again, her reaction time flawless, clearly indicating that by whatever means, she hadn't suffered any severe injury. Perhaps she had suffered a damaged rib, but if so, it had healed too quickly to hinder her. Her voice came out on the frequency, "Alright, this thing's going down, whatever he is!" She sounded unusually harsh and rough, clearly, riled up by the creature's attack. The attacker's wings flared out a little, and its beak opened slightly, as though somewhat impressed that she hadn't been more badly injured.

If there could be sound in space, then there might have been a bang. Mott, taking advantage of the brief hesitation of the creature facing Ravage, had fired his missiles. On thudded into the side of Aracharche's face, the other right beneath the farthest back eye on the right side. Immediately, the missiles began to electrocute their target.

Aarin knew there was little he could do. He wasn't outfitted for lethal combat (neither in fact was Mott); but he did his best, firing rubber bullets into one of the creatures wings.
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Marr cursed and swore vehemently. "Where did those ships come from?!" he shrieked.\\

Twenty Markovan vessels quickly began taking on the vessels surrounding the prototype, firing missiles and cutting beams; meanwhile, the one Vathorin vessel, which seemed to be a command ship of some sort, struck the weapon from behind with shock torpedoes, knocking out a fair number of propulsion systems.

This is High Prince Vey Churim of Daro, of Vathoris, came a voice over comm. Admiral Hedric vin Finnitt informed us that they had picked up UFIAI ships headed in this direction, and invited us to come along. Can we be of assistance?

The section of the defense fleet surrounding the Sovereign was hit by the Entropy Accelerator, and the Mondarian weapon worked to a great effect. The smaller vessels in front of the Carrier were the ones effected, and became the frozen husks Admiral Marr had wished for. The Sovereign felt the effects of the weapon but its energy shields were the only part of the ship that had shut down due to the massive scale of the vessel. This did, however, leave it open to enemy fire. To compensate for the defensive loss the carrier used its gravitational systems to launch the other, frozen ships back at the Mondarian fleet. At the same time it went for an "all or nothing," approach to the combat situation, every weapon in its arsenal firing to suppress the enemy fleet.

With all this occurring, however, the majority of the fleet fought with more vigor with the arrival of the Markovans and the Vathorin fleet. The commanding officer of the slightly larger Evolution responded to Vey's transmission, very glad to see the reinforcements. "This is Admiral Tralrin of the Evolution class Carrier ship. Your aid is much appreciated, High Prince." He also opened up the COMM to the Markovans in addition to Vey. "What the strategy for the opposing force seems to be is grouping our defense fleet together so their superweapon can work to the greatest effect. Targeting the weapon, as you have done, is an excellent strategy. Try to use the flanking position you have assumed to your advantage and pierce through key points in their defense to drive them directly back."

In the meantime, the Summit's side engines propelled it into formation with the Markovan vessels, continuing to fire its armaments as it moved to the side as to cause damage in a large radius. When within a more defensive area in the allied fleet it continued its attempt to pummel the Mondarian fleet, particularly the larger cruisers with its enormous plasma cannons.
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Svar joined Mott in the offense. He knelt where he stood and charged the plasma railgun, several superheated spheres of plasma entering the space between the rails. Picking specific spots in the Aracharchne's exoskeleton where there seemed to be spaces in between the organic armoring, he fired two shots, one in an area close to the head and another in the midsection of the beast. Simultaneously his armor shifted forward so that the majority of it faced the new arrival should it attempt to ram Svar like it had Ravage, though if it tried from a different angle the armor would move its location to that spot, though it wouldn't be as secure. The thrusters on his armor started their activation stages should he need to move quickly away.

Xerin was silent for the entire confrontation thus far, though he twitched with annoyance after hearing the screech broadcasted to them by the strange Arachnarche. After seeing the offensive initiated by Aarin, Mott, and then Svar, he pulled out his weapon, a rifle, this one designed to fire with lethal force, cocked it, and took aim at the beast, slowly working his way to the other side of it.

Should it charge at him, he was prepared to jump out of the way and use his weapon to his advantage, to both dodge the attack and also prevent him from floating off into space.

After steadying his aim down the weapon's sights, a red dot system positioned atop the exterior of the gun's firing chamber, he steadily fired the weapon, trying to hit the creature's eyes. As he did this, he slowly moved forward as necessary to counter the recoil of the ballistic rifle, to more or less maintain his original position.
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"Hm. I will consider this... Ah... may we stay to decide this, and to report of our progress?" Resara hated to have to ask for permission from this Nolwikkan, but nonetheless did so, just to maintain a good environment for diplomacy.

Unbelievably, most of the weapons had almost no effect at all. The superheated plasma of Svar's railgun didn't do anything, and the electricity of Mott's missiles sparked, but it seemed as though the Arachnarche felt nothing more than the impact of the projectiles. It was as though energy weapons in general had no effect, although it seemed to flinch when projectiles began to punch holes in its wings. The Tyrant turned so that bullets began bouncing harmlessly off the thick exoskeleton on its face, versus ripping its wings, and it reached up with one claw and tore off the missile that had stuck to it, the object separating easily from the sleek exoskeleton. Ravage's voice came across on the radio, "Guys, don't forget, it feeds on energy! I don't think your weapons are even hurting it!" She shouted, urgently, as the energy from the attacks seemed to sink into the massive insect, as though they were being absorbed. Now, it was clear why they had been told these creatures were a major threat. Energy weapons, now the mainstay of modern combat, were nothing now, it would have been better had they possessed old-fashioned weapons, like guns that shot bullets of lead. Now, it made sense how the Arachnarche had been able to break into the radio systems. It fed on energy, so of course, it could sense it, and all this ammunition did was perhaps tear its wings, and leave shallow dents that wouldn't be noticed because of it's gnarled exoskeleton. It was more like they were feeding it, than hurting it.

In response to the transmission Ravage sent, the creature once again broke into the radio network, with another, horrible laugh, once again confirming that yes, it wasn't in the least hurt by anything they were doing. However, was was frightening, was what they heard next, "You fools.....the Queen dies....All the Hive will...A new era is coming...my children will destroy you all...." It was a frightening voice, so butchered when it pronounced anything that it was barely understandable. It was sentinent, and it hadn't spoken until now, solely for the purpose of toying with them. It was more amused by their attempts to fight it, than anything else. "How quickly....do you think....I can kill you?"

There was a collective gasp across the network, "Y-you....talk?!" Corey's voice came out, strangled and stunned.

There was another vile bout of laughter, "Of course....not that you'll live long enough for it to matter...."

The Arachnarche this time charged Corey, and a disaster happened. Moments before its horns would have torn apart the scientist, an officer, not identifiable in his uniform, charged out and got in the way, catching the insect by its horns and managing to stop it, clearly having incredible strength in his arms. He could only be a Cavernian, to do such a thing. "Now hold up, ye think ye can just waltz up to this ship and get away with threatening our men?" The voice was indisputably Blair's, the Brigadier had saved Corey from a death that would have been certain. "We won't stand for that, now." He said, managing, in the absence of gravity, to lift the massive insect, and toss it up into the air, though it rapidly caught itself, and turned to face him again.

The creature hissed, "The age of the Tyrant comes....for now...the Queen lives....but not for long...." It seemed that this Arachnarche referred to itself as the Tyrant, a fitting name. Its pupils contracted, "I shall demonstrate...with your precious friend...who knows so much...." It abruptly turned, and in a lightning flash, lunged for Ravage, who jumped clear, causing the Tyrant to catch itself, and turn to charge again. This time, Ravage didn't move, and when the creature was almost upon her, Ravage seemed to punch it, but there was a screaming sound throughout the radio, as though somehow she had wounded it. She seemed to pull back her arm, almost as though something at the tip of her fists had lodged into it, and then retracted. There was a glint of something reflective, but people couldn't see well enough to tell. People like Mott, Aarin, and Blair would know she had used her claws, her suit having been designed to allow it, without compromising safety. The others wouldn't know what they had seen, having not been told.

Mott quickly saw his missiles hadn't worked. Taking his stave, he cut it in two with a laser cutter, making sure to cut it so the points were sharp. Loading these into his gun, he set the fire power to max, and fired the two makeshift projectiles.

The Tyrant saw with one of his six eyes the approaching projectiles, and while he used one leg to knock Ravage away, he used the other to catch one of the projectiles, although the other one hit. It chipped off the tip of one of his back spines, and though the damage wasn't severe, it was still enough to cause a great deal of pain. The Tyrant screeched across the radio waves, and turned to glare at Mott. "You're next!" The snarl came across, menacing, clearly a threat the monster would carry out. "But first thing's first!" It seemed that the longer he spoke, the more properly voiced the Tyrant's sentences became. It turned to where Ravage had caught herself on the ship, closer to where others were, and charged at her. This time, however, he stopped short of her, and reared up, making many believe that he was planning on bringing both powerful claws down on the Lieutenant Colonel. That was when a disaster happened. Someone charged out of nowhere, and pushed Ravage out of the way, just as a torrent of clear fluid shot at him from the Tyrant's mouth. It hit him, right over the heart, and there was a horrible, horrible scream across the Radio waves.

"Blair! What are you doing!?" Ravage's cry was of strangled shock. By this time, the Tyrant was now being aimed at by several different officers, all armed with metal bullets. As Ravage ran over and wrapped her tail around the damaged area of Blair's suit, trying to keep it from losing all that separated the Cavernian Brigadier from the hostile void of space, and others came over, as everyone urgently tried to hurry him inside before he died from the lack of air, and protection from the wild, dangerous temperature changes that could go from deadly sub-zero temperatures to boiling hot. As they rushed Blair over to the hatch, opening it and then going in after, the Tyrant scanned the faces of everyone around it, "The odds are not in my favor, but let that be a lesson to you fools, of what my children will do to you once they have been born." The voice sounded across the radio, and the Drones, having been frozen with terror moments before, finally found the strength to move. The all took off, seeming intent on fleeing.

The Tyrant turned to look after them, "Oh, no you don't...." The voice came, more for the benefit of the soldiers, than for the Drones. The Tyrant took off, and within a matter of seconds, began slaughtering each Drone, one by one. They vanished into the distance, but everyone knew that the Drones wouldn't be able to get away. A radio broadcast came across, "Life forms are gone, get the injured inside, now!".

Everyone began filing into the airlock, and there were screams to hurry from multiple people. The acid was rapidly burning through Blair's suit, and now it was starting to touch flesh. They needed to get him to the infirmary, before it killed him.

The airlock was a scene of chaos. Isbar was there, obviously very high-strung. Aarin pulled his mask off. "Hurry, we have wounded!" He yelled.

Isbar saw Blair, and was over there in an instant. Clasping his arms around the Cavernian, he hefted him up on his back, and hurried off with him to the infirmary.

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Yura gave some sort of crude shrug, showing that she didn't really care. "Go crazy. There's a COM in the corner, if you want to talk Any of the guards could give you a tutorial if you're not familiar with the layout. If you don't mind, I have other business to attend to. If you need me again, just tell one of the guards. He or she will get me." Yura and the diplomats stood up from the seats. As Yura walked away, the diplomat lagged behind. He talked to Resara quietly, "I apologize for General Yura's behavior. She's... She's just like the rest of them."

After speaking, the diplomat walked faster and followed Yura out of the room. A few guards stiffened after their superiors left the room, but still, they weren't worried one bit.

The COM was actually not too different from the ones the Jorro'kil had aboard the Intent, but no Nolwikkan really knew this, and very little cared.

In the ICU of the infirmary, a cot was already set up for Blair, "Put him on here, quickly, quickly!" A doctor hurriedly instructed Isbar as he carried the wounded Cavernian in. Once he was on, medical professionals buzzed about, rapidly trying to get him hooked up to machines in order to monitor his vitals. "We need to get that armor off of him!" Someone said. "It's dripping with acid, how?!" Another said in response. It was truly chaotic, and finally, Ravage came in, and glancing around, produced a frustrated growl in her throat, before reaching down and grabbing the melted ends of a crack that had formed down the suit. With one good tug, the shell split apart, and she was able to tug it off of Blair, allowing everyone to see the damage that had been done. She then hurriedly dropped it on the floor, as the acid that was still left burned her hands. A more heavily-certified doctor came in to look, but then visibly winced.

"It's...oh my..." he said, sounding a bit faint. "This is...a very severe case...it's burned through most of his internal organs...his intestines are severely damaged...I don't know if we can do anything...."

Ravage glared at the man, "How can that not be fixed?!" She growled.

Corey came up, "Ravage! You may be capable of re-growing damaged organs, but others are not so fortunate!" He snapped. At this, Ravage turned to flash him a murderous look, making the scientist take a few steps back, "Ravage, it's severe, and it's fatal! How can he survive like this? What kind of life is he going to live like that, stuck in a hospital bed?" He tried to reason with her, though a milky film of her third eyelids had dropped over her eyes, very threatening. "Look, look! I came here for a very specific reason, there is still a way to help him, but I need you to cooperate and calm down!" he cried, throwing up his hands.

At this, Ravage's third eyelids opened, though she still looked on edge, "Alright then, what?" She said, a harsh note still in her voice.

Corey looked at Blair, possibly dying, and then sighed, before turning to her, "There is a chance we can extract from your blood what makes you capable of healing wounds so effectively, but I can't guarantee it, and I'll need Mott's help, and yours."