ARCHIVED: The Future: War, Trade, and Exploration

(OOC: Then there's me with magical floating cities and stuff)

Meanwhile in the Anderius Industrial Sector, Quadrant 16, the CEO of Cro Arms began to threaten a balding man, middle-aged man with a small Hydroli-Pistol. The weapon itself was quite small and was made of a metal-reinforced plastic that was a dark grey that gave the illusion of appearing black with the rectangular, white rough areas on either side of the grip, it's bullets were made of solidified water, almost a fully-transparent ice, that was filled with shards of metal that were placed in such a way that when the bullet shattered the metal would inject itself into the area nearby the bullet's impact area, it wasn't very practical but the CEO favored them for the short-term pain they inflicted upon the victim which allowed for him to use a quick attack with melee means if they ever had to do so.

"I'll pay you! Jus.. Just leave me, don't kill me." They balding man yelped as the CEO forcefully shoved the small weapon into his face like a mother failing to feed a baby as her began to, shakily, hand a large wad of Paper Aldits to the CEO but was unabled to finish passing it over as the CEO had already snatched it from his palm and knocked over a chair with forceful anger as he left the room, leaving the balding man terrified if he'd come back for more whilst he looked at his office a shambles.

Imperial Stormtroopers, marching across the Rhuvanland-Syrixia Megabridge, entered Rhuvanland. The tiny country was not much of a world power, and did not want to explore space and participate in the conflicts that would stem over extraplanetary land; which they had seen as inevitable. They had completely demilitarized around 20 years prior due to the Olive Branch Act, although they had kept their police and coast guard. Now, Imperial troops made them wish they kept their military. Sweeping through Leussen and conquering the rest of the country, Alzenstadt was burned to the ground by fhe Empire and Rhuvanland was defeated and occupied within one and a half days.

(OOC: *Economies would be further than trillions nowadays.)

"FATAL MALFUNCTION - DORAAN CITY, QUADRANT 12!" The alarms squealed in the second of the four Cro Arms cities, the Water Containment Center of the city had been damaged and the industrial sector was slowly filling with water, this was classed as a Fatal Malfunction as the city was entirely encased in a large, now-immobile, ship and could cause the deaths of thousands and damages that could rise up in the trillions - the economy of a small nation*. It was practically the end already.

General Harris Rose, a direct descendant from Martin Rose, was appointed the 'leader' of Doraan after it's construction and had kept the, rather small, industrial utopia in one piece until this point. He began to panic, his legs trembling and his head spinning in shock of what was happening whilst he observed hundreds of people rush around him, trying to organize the evacuation and save thousands of lives from the threat of drowning. He already knew it was too late.

Water crashed onto the large sheet of glass overlooking the industrial sector as all the reinforced doors in the city began to slam themselves shut to minimize leakage into the civilian sector.

"Sir, a few ships have broken through!"
"Tell them to deploy colony ships while they can! I want a major military presence in this one!"
Small pods were deployed from the starships. A small escort ship went with.

John looked at the map provided by the Syrixians with a slight cant to his head "Just look at this, they failed to draw in most of the colonial territory. And they even missed our 'big' island, they must have been in a hurry. Steward, send a message to the Syrixians notifying them of our colonial boundaries, and send them that chart showing that missing island. We don't want any intergalactic incidents."

The two looked to the Admiral. "Well, if garbage is on your ship, you must get it off," replied Hall, cryptically. "Now, we will pledge our support to the rebels to the Syrixian forces and we ask two favors in return," explained Hall. "The first is fairly simple. While this mobile platform is programmed to function without the mainframe, my full functionalities are unlocked via a connection to a ship's mainframe within your fleet. You may choose any ship in the fleet to connect me to and you may have an engineer restrict my access to more 'sensitive' data. This will help me send reports back to the Coalition's fleet and attempt to gain access to the Empire's system," said Alicia. "My favor is a little more complex. I would like to personally enlist in the fleet of Wolfsea on behalf of the Coalition. I would like the fleet command to expedite my enlistment due to crisis and have access to the fleet schematics to attach to Alicia's reports to send back to Admiral Tucker," he began. "One more thing...if you assign Alicia to a ship other the flagship. I would like to be assigned to the same one. I don't want her to get hurt and if the ship is attacked and she is destroyed. I could never forgive myself," he said, smiling at Alicia.

The ships landed safely on the other side of the planet from the Syrixian colony on a smaller island. Soldiers and scientists had been sent in the pods. The former began securing the area and setting up living quarters and other buildings, while the latter began setting up a lab area and began testing the water.
"Go look around," said the head geologist. "Bring back every rock you find and run a spectral analysis on it."

Garret sighed, the Peacekeeper council would once have gladly allowed this but comms to Lunar Command was silent, Doubtless preparing the 5th and 7th fleets to engage. She stared at them "Alright then, report to TR-7, Lt Forest will give you your first ZG close quarters drill, you'll be put through it three times a week. Peacekeeper life is harsh, don't expect anything to be easy." Then she turned her attention to Alicia "Get down to engineering, Major Barrie will get you sorted. After which you'll be shown to you quarters." The Admiral finished, it was clear she only entertained the idea due to having a little Guslant blood herself.

The Xentheridan Government is pleased to announce the successful attachment of the engines onto the HMS Disc Triumph. It is to depart tomorrow after rigorous checks and tests are performed. It is to travel out towards to asteroid belt, escorted by fighter craft, distribute all of the mining probes and wait for two months, assessing the progress of each mining probe. After two months, it will return to Xentherida bearing minerals collected from the mining probes, then restock and deliver the minerals.
In the mean time, we ask Ceretis if we could co-operate in the potential creation of a Mark Two Negative Mass Drive. We can donate Xentheridan scientists to help speed up its creation, on the basis that Ceretian scientists assist ours with the creation of a Dark Matter Drive. Once completed, these two engines are to be distributed freely between the two nations, for each nation to use.
In the mean time, we would like to form an alliance with Syrixia. Not only can a free trade agreement bolster our economies, so they can receive minerals, but, should Ceretis accept, it would be a strong, three-way alliance.

His Highness the Emperor accepts the request of Xentherida and its terms, and wishes to have the Empire contribute to the creation of these proposed drives.

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Meanwhile, TIE groups circled Eko, trying to find the Nebulan colony. One TIE found a Nebulan flag on one of the islands and traced it to the hidden colony, notifying the others of its find. However, it did not attack yet, going to get the others.

The TIE fighter had not gone unnoticed. Anti-air lasers and missiles were readied. Explosives carved out caverns and tunnels to hide in, and the Nebulan fleet was contacted.
"Head back to Eko," the admiral ordered. "We must protect our assets."

Meanwhile, one of the geologists had noticed something interesting. "I've found a rock that looks similar to granite. But I've done tests and..."
"And what?" asked the head geologist.
"And instead of potassium and aluminum as key components, it has lithium and gallium instead."
The head geologist nodded. "I've compared notes with the chemists. It matches up."

Our people are open to scientific collaboration with all interested nations and corporations and have placed the particular requests of Xentherida and Syrixia before the colonial council. We forward you their response:

Communique:

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COLONIAL DIRECTORATE of SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY
COLONIAL DIRECTORATE of COMMERCE
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The science directorate in conjunction with the commerce directorate is open to collaboration on the MK2 Casimir Negative Mass Drive and look forward to all assistance in this matter as this technology is key to future exploration and rapid economic development. The science directorate is currently researching the Mk2-CMD at its facilities on and above above Ao and Oa.

Our scientists have been studying Dark Matter potential and applications for some time and look forward to the opportunity to assist your people in your Dark Matter Drive project. It is our belief that each drive type will have similar but unique characteristics, and the potential collaboration between the projects will lead to greater engine efficiencies in both cases.

Congratulations to the Xentheridian government on the launch of its new vessel, the HMS Disc Triumph may she serve your people well.

Daystrom Institute looks forward to the arrival of representatives from Xentheridan government and the Empire of Syrixia. Your scientists may dock at Lagrangian station above Ao and Oa and will be transported by shuttle to the facility from the station.

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<<END COMMUNIQUE>>​

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We are interested in opening trade with all interested nations as this will benefit all our people.

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We would like to begin scientific collaboration with Ceretis.

In addition, we would be willing to sign a treat m treaty of mutual defense with Kannex.

As the experiment is occurring around the Oa-Ao bodies, the Kannexan Federation would like to actively participate in the MK2 Casimir Negative Mass Drive Project. Our scientific collaboration will be based on our Ao--New Kannex colony.

On a separate note, the Kannexan Federation would also like to sign a treaty of mutual defense with Nebula. Premier Ansgar Schenkopp will represent the Presidium of the Federation.

Regrettably the Peacekeeper council is unavailable due to the Shadow Initiative being in operation following the destruction of Gateway and the 1st Fleet.

We will send a delegation to a location of your choice; we would prefer to avoid having the signing take place on Eko due to the fear of impending Syrixian attack.

Nebula:

The TIE fighter had not gone unnoticed. Anti-air lasers and missiles were readied. Explosives carved out caverns and tunnels to hide in, and the Nebulan fleet was contacted.
"Head back to Eko," the admiral ordered. "We must protect our assets."

Meanwhile, one of the geologists had noticed something interesting. "I've found a rock that looks similar to granite. But I've done tests and..."
"And what?" asked the head geologist.
"And instead of potassium and aluminum as key components, it has lithium and gallium instead."
The head geologist nodded. "I've compared notes with the chemists. It matches up."

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*Try to imagine the Imperial March playing during this scene*

Eventually, the battle above Eko shifted from near the planet to right above the Nebulan colony. Star Destroyers entered the skies over the colony as legions of TIEs flew all around the area, dotting the skies like locusts. Some of them were taken down by Nebulan anti-aircraft but others caused damage to areas all over the colony, killing and frying many.

While Erik and Alicia made their way to the two soldiers, back at the Valeria, Admiral Tucker explained the Coalition's next plan. "The fleet is en route to Obscura. While I absolutely hate the Syrixian Empire, we have other issues to deal with. While everyone battles over Eko, we will take advantage of that and slingshot past Eko and colonize on Obscura. The councilor agreed to stay with us during this endeavor, much to my disapproval of diplomats, while you command this orbiting science thing-a-ma-gig, and we'll all be happy while I get my promotion," said Tucker to Alex. "You are messing up my station...," Alex replied. "I'm sorry, but I am in charge of the fleet and this station, I will be bringing this thing to the fleet in Obscura," commanded Tucker. "Ladies please," said Hilley to the two. "Fine. Move the station, do whatever...Admiral...," said Alex angrily.

Colonial transport fleet:
"Bridge to engineering, prepare for atmospheric entry. Reroute the central core, vent all plasma from the nacelles, bring inertial dampers to maximum and stand by to engage atmospheric thrusters." a voice replied over the bridge intercom "Aye, captain" the operations chief pushed a button on his console, a notification tone sounded throughout the ship "This is Lieutenant Aaron to all decks, prepare for atmospheric entry, report to condition blue stations." The lights throughout the ship dimmed allowing greater concentration on control consoles as the blue alert lights flashed.

The ships dipped into the atmosphere and headed toward Terok colony. Three of these ships were colonist transports, they proceeded to land at the central hub. The rest headed for the open waters just north of the new colony, they were different. They looked like a series of bubbles each with a ring on the bottom. Stopping over the water they released these bubbles from the central ship and slipped into the water. "Terok command, cores have been deployed. We're en-route to the hub for safety checks and a little R&R."

An older man dressed in a vest and tie watched the whole event from the command center "John's going to want to verify the cores deployed fully, get a few images and send them over to him ASAP. The sooner we get those cores online, the sooner those colonists can start extracting the deuterium we need."

Barrie sighed as he received the Admiral's instructions, anxiously eying the interface to the main computer, he could almost sense the disapproving look of Corona, the Peacekeeper A.I., he was curious to see a non-battle gynoid though, the Peacekeepers own androids were purely combative and, as such, lacked in physical appearance under their armour.

Meanwhile Forest had been preparing a stun baton and preparing the anti-grav training.

The scientists had fled to the tunnels. The soldiers stayed on top, firing at the fighters.
Meanwhile, Nebulan fighters were deployed from the fleet to launch an advance attack.

When Alicia got to the engineering room, she was glad to see another AI. "Hello, I'm Alicia," she remarked happily. She then turned to Barrie. "Hello sir, Alicia Burns, artificial intelligence for the Coalition of Guslantis and produced by Thomas Building Corporations. I presume you received the message from your admiral regarding my request. I would like to personally thank you for doing this," said Alicia with a smile.

Meanwhile, Erik made his way to Forest. Though one of his ancestors was the first Chairwoman of NPTO, Erik was born a fighter. "Let's get this training started...sir," he said, saluting the lieutenant.

Imperial fighters were in wait for the Nebulan fleet. The small "X-wing" fighters would be easy pickings for the Star Destroyers; and a waste of good firepower, so the TIE fighter legions were sent instead. Like locusts, they flew around the ships, creating convoluted clouds and messing up the coordination of the Nebulan fighters, as well as shooting down quite a few of them.

Forest nodded "Unlike the other fleets we make a point of training in zero gravity combat situations, it gives us an advantage over the enemy..." He explained, opening the room which was already at 0g, he stepped forward and gave himself enough momentum to reach the centre "first part, getting into the centre of the room..." His face betraying little emotion.

Meanwhile Barrie was quite jovial, he was an older man, a lifer, he smiled at Alicia "Well you seem a robust lass Alicia, I'm sure you'll be easy enough to hook up to Corona..." Prompting the Peacekeeper AI, in holograph form, to tilt her head as she sized up Alicia, her image was not what could be termed user-friendly, a severe gaze from eyes that seemed to register mild disapproval. Her face was beautiful but its stern expression rendered it unappealing, she had a slight redness to her image and her voice was cold, unsettlingly so to newcomers "I am ordered to allow you to interface with me, I will not intefere with your duties, I suggest you do likewise, this ships tactical systems are under my control at all times." She warned, considerably less friendly than the human, Barrie sighed "Pay no mind Alicia, Corona's somewhat territorial... She is a Combat A.I. After all..." He shrugged.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Imperial fleets were landing on Obscura and Irata. The planets had been chosen for their mineral richness, which would help benefit the alliance with Xentherida and possibly Ceretis. AT-AT walkers traversed the tough, cold terrain of Obscura as stormtroopers traversed the barren deserts of Irata, taming some of the desert beasts living there.

As the Valeria approached the fleet, Tucker scowled. "Damn Syrixians," she said, glaring at their iconic ships. "Get me to my flagship, I want teams down on the planet immediately," yelled Tucker. "Wait, where are you going?", asked Alex. "I'm going to show the Empire that they have messed with the wrong Guslant. I'm getting them off Obscura," she yelled, pressing the elevator button on the back of the bridge. "No you aren't. You are staying here and helping run this station," yelled Alex back. "With you?! Hell no," said Tucker as the door opened. "Alex, Samantha, please," said Grace. "I can't stay one more moment, I'm out," Tucker yelled again, getting into the elevator. "No, you're not," screamed Durand back, getting into the elevator. "Why does no one listen to me? I am the leader of Guslantis, people...," said Grace, getting into the elevator. The elevator door closed and the trio was transported down to the ring.

They exited the elevator and entered the ring. "Sorry, I forgot you were a coward," yelled Tucker. "Coward?! You're the one who's retreating", yelled Durand back. "Hey you, whoever is second-in-command, put them in charge, okay?", said Hilley to a crew member before the trio entered Grace's flagship. The doors closed and the ship took off toward the fleet. Alex was not aware, having served upon a ship almost her entire life. "Oh yeah, you want to leave? Try this for size," said Alex confidently as she opened up a panel and ripped out a bunch of cords. The ship started to fall into Obscura's atmosphere and Tucker looked at Alex with anger. "Are you crazy?!", she screamed. "What?", Alex looked innocently at Tucker. "Alex, the ship was heading toward the fleet. We are going to crash," said Grace rather calmly. The ship accelerated into the atmosphere and began its descent. "That's unfortunate," said Grace as the ship hit the ground with a lot of force. Grace hit her head on a panel as the other two fell to the floor.

Meanwhile, Alicia walked up to Corona. "I'm not afraid of you," she said taking off her glasses. "I may not be a fancy-pantsy combat A.I., but I'm not a useless bot. I will prove myself to you and I will be your bonding partner, and even if you don't like it, you will not say anything in spite. Got it?", she said, proving she wasn't just a happy-pappy bot.

In the training room, Erik looked at his trainer. "I trained in martial arts, I got this," he said. He did a one-handed cartwheel into the room. He got to the center of the room, but the momentum kept him going. "Ahhhh! Help me, sir!", he screamed as he rammed into his trainer. It sent the two flying toward a wall of the room. Erik closed his eyes, hoping something would save them.

The situation in Doraan continued to get worse and worse, the doors were unable to hold back the extreme force of the water that pushed on the doors, to the point where they began to bend. One near the eastern end of the ship snapped open, thousands of gallons of water began to gush into the first civilian sector. Harris Rose was still unable to move, he was paralyzed in shock, that his city was drowning whilst he sat at the top, watching, panicking, not doing anything whilst thousands had drowned already, their doll-like bodies floating up to the top of the Industrial Sector, pushing themselves onto the ship's window showing the galaxy that people were dying, drowning. His eyes began to tear up

This wasn't the only worry though, if the water pressure damaged the glass that overlooked the Industrial Sector then the ship would become unstable and possibly fall into the neighboring planet, they would all suffocate from the slow lack of air as the ship around them burned from the impact. Cracks began to form.

Barrie had been preparing the uplink, giving a smile to Alicia "Oh I wouldn't worry, Corona treats everyone like that, she's rather basic compared to you when it comes to personality. Great at keeping us alive but not a good conversationalist." he shrugged, it was clear he held both A.I.s in high esteem but could see flaws too "nothing is perfect." he smiled. Corona's face showed no emotion "I don't make threats, it is illogical to give you control of our tactical systems as I was designed to be their optimal controller. Major Barrie insists on humanizing me against fact, we will work together but do not confuse logical objection with emotional." waiting for Barrie to finish preparations.

Forest had gotten used to 0g maneuvers, tensing his muscles to slowly counteract the spin so his feet would touch the wall, he used his legs like a train buffer and stopped them "a little less panache next time, remember every movement is amplified so the more power you use the longer you need to stop." smiling slightly at this rookie mistake"everyone messes it up first time." too used to artificial G.

The main Nebulan fleet arrived and entered into a vicious space battle with the Syrixian fleet. At first, things were not going well, but the Nebulan admiral had a few tricks up his sleeve...
"Sir, they're drawing in closer!"
"Fire rams!"
The rams had been designed by a bored Nebulan weapons designer. An explosive charge would be used to propel the ram, a huge sphere of concrete filled with high explosives. A spotter aboard the deploying ship would then wait until the ram had crashed into the victim ship---hopefully smashing a hole--- before sending a signal to the ram to detonate.
As the Syrixian Star Destroyers drew in to point blank range, Nebulan warships began firing rams.
The result was mass chaos on the part of the Syrixians and temporary success for Nebula.

While many Star Destroyers' shields were near compromised, they still held. Tractor beams picked up the rams and suspended them outside the shields while scanners managed to pinpoint their composition; how they were made and what of. As Imperial scientists on the ships began reverse engineering their own rams, the Star Destroyers moved upwards and outwards to escape Nebulan range, while the TIEs kept flying all over, shooting down some Nebulan ships, and clouding others' view. Meanwhile on Eko, large squadrons of TIEs blocked out the Sun and rained blaster hell upon the Nebulan colony, burning forests and destroying Nebulan infrastructure.

Orbiting Eve, the T.D.S.S Philadelphia, the new capital of Trinster had been completed, it has full access to Trinsters EVA communication network, and anti ICBM defenses.
The T.D.S.S Philadelphia, in all her glory

General James Solomon, the new Minister of Warfare, walked into the command center. It's EVA explained the layout and the names of his two advisers and their roles. One was Michael McNeil, an expert in base construction and resource management. The other was Louise James, a logistics specialist, recently promoted from the engineer corps.

Continuing interests of science and collaboration, the requests of Nebula and Kannex have been placed before the council:

Communique:

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DAYSTROM INSTITUTE
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The Daystrom Institute approves the collaboration requests of Nebula and Kannex in the interests of science and commerce. The Daystrom Institute looks forward to collaboration with the people of Kannex and has begun efforts to establish encrypted communications with their research facility on Ao. The Daystron Institute looks forward to the arrival of Nebulan representatives, and due to the current conflict between Syrixia and Nebula, has taken through precautions to prevent incident or subterfuge protecting representatives from both peoples.

We at the Daystrom Institute believe that the advancement of science and knowledge should not be quelled by political disagreement. It is in the view and opinion of the Colonial government that the creation of the technologies being researched will assist in easing tensions between nations and corporations. The people of the Colonial government are letting it be known that the actions of the Daystrom Institute are hereby sanctioned and protected by the Colonial government and interference in these matters will lead to significant repercussions.

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<<END COMMUNIQUE>>​

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We are interested in opening trade with all interested nations as this will benefit all our people.

We would appreciate it if you could try to get Syrixia away from our colonies, then, as our scientific research programs there are important to our success in scientific advancement.
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Meanwhile, any ram that was caught in the tractor beam was detonated quickly by its spotter. Lasers tore across the hulls of the Star Destroyers, ripping through what remained of the shields.
"Deploy boarding ships!" ordered the admiral.
A hundred sleek craft with strange O-shaped fronts were deployed from the fleet. They clustered into groups of five and began attacking the nearest Star Destroyers, softening up the bridge with well-placed missiles and laser bursts. Then they rammed into the bridge areas of the victim ships, cracking the hull of the Star Destroyer.
Inside of the boarding ships, Nebulan soldiers with plasma cutters headed to the front, where a small portal opened onto the cracked area of hull. The O-front created a small space where the soldiers could cut through the enemy vessel without having to don spacesuits.
Massive sparks indicated the area where the Nebulan soldiers were cutting through. Then...
PONG!
The section of hull, completely cut out, was kicked into the Star Destroyer. Nebulan soldiers with laser rifles and ultra tasers fired through the hole at the stormtroopers that had gathered to fight them off. Grenades flew through the air. The bridge was in chaos.
And then the element of surprise wore off. Nebulan troops started to take losses. Reinforcements began to show up. The Nebulans fled back into the safety of their ship, which pulled away from the Star Destroyer, leaving a sizable hole in the bridge hull.

As the element of surpruse wore off and the battle began to tip back into Imperial favor, the newly reverse-engineered Rams rolled out of the Star Destroyers' mobile factories. After being distributed and hooked up to each Star Destroyer's network, the Nebulan fleet began being hit by a barrage of Rams, decimating many ships. Imperial mechanics began working on repairing the hole in one of the Imperial Star Destroyers, but there was no way it would be finished soon. Nevertheless, they worked; as the Imperial fleet began to advance once more.

Huge Guslant dreadnoughts shot into the battle and began to fire on the Star Destroyers. Aboard one of the ships, Admiral Cameron Self sat in his admiral seat and commanded the small portion of the fleet. "Maroon Squadron, move into attack position. Focus fire on the capital ships! All ships, move into combat," he ordered as the ships moved toward the Star Destroyers. The large cannons on the dreadnoughts fired strategically onto the Syrixian Empire ships and broke down the hulls of the ships. Meanwhile, the fighter ships reinforced the Nebulan ships and navigated through the moving capital ships. "Gold Squadron, attack the TIE forces," said a pilot, firing upon a squadron of TIE fighters. "The colonization stops here, Emperor," said Self angrily.

As the battle was fought at Eko, on Obscura, the shuttle's doors opened. Tucker walked out and looked at the barren landscape around the shuttle. "Admiral, I have an executive order," said Grace, blood running from her eyebrow as she stood up. "Search the area for food, gather any sources of heat, and...," she began before grabbing her thigh. "Agh!", she screamed in pain. "Councilor, you're injured," said Alex, supporting the councilor. "Nonsense, I can walk," said Grace, confidently. "No, you're not," argued Alex. "Look, a walker!", screamed Grace, pointing to a Syrixian walker. "That thing could kill us, we are not throwing ourselves into danger," said Tucker. "We could die out here in the cold if we aren't rescued," argued Grace. "Is that still an option?", asked Tucker. Alex and Grace began to wave at the walker hoping it would rescue them and not make them prisoners.

Meanwhile, Alicia was ready to uplink into the mainframe aboard the ship. "Are we ready?", asked Alicia to Barrie.

In the training room, Erik used Forest to push off of and make it to the center of the room. Erik began to float back to the entrance and he instinctively tensed his body to stop.

Nebulan ships began to retreat under the onslaught. Then a second wave of what appeared to be boarding ships came out of the hangars. As they drew closer, Syrixian officers began judging where they would break through, and began deploying stormtroopers accordingly. The boarders would not find it so easy this time.
Unlike last time, the Nebulan craft targeted other areas for attack besides the bridges of the Star Destroyers. Anywhere that contained something of importance on the Syrixian ships was rammed: bridges, engine areas, hangar doors. Alarms sounded and stormtroopers ran to the target areas, ready to repel the boarding parties.
Inside the boarding ships, robots adeptly wielded plasma cutters, breaking through the hulls.
PONG!
The hull sections were knocked out in Star Destroyers across the fleet.
Stormtroopers trained their weapons on the various holes.
And instead of Nebulan boarding teams firing out of each ship, a missile rack was extended. Terror swept through the stormtroopers, all of them, watching every hole, paralyzed in the knowledge that they were well and truly screwed.
The missiles fired into the ships--- into bridges, engines and fuel supply lines, and hangars.
The damage was huge.

The Xentheridan Government is proud to announce the successful launch of the HMS Disc Triumph. There were no faults; the take of went of much better than expected, especially with the additional UV from the sun during the recent heatwave. The two Ion Thrusters on the Discus worked more efficiently than predicted, carrying the tungsten plating far more easily than expected. The launch has also coincided with the launch of dozens of expeditionary craft. Most of these will be sent to the planets closer to the sun, to check for any potential minerals. Others will be sent to the slightly farther planets to check for liveability.

The travelling time for the Triumph to get to the outskirts of the first asteroid belt is approximately one hour, at 270,000 kilometres a second at just below the speed of light. However, the time taken for everything to be completely set up will be another day.

Another Discus craft - this time called the HMS Disc Victory - is almost complete. This spacecraft was originally as a replacement, should the HMS Disc Triumph fail, and would have been equipped with a Dark Matter Drive, once it had been constructed. However, since Triumph succeeded, Victory will be fitted with the Ion Thrusters.

The purpose of the HMS Disc Victory is to oversee the colonies that will be constructed on Ao, Oa, Eko, Obscura and potentially on Irata. It will also oversee mining efforts on Tek and Erythro. It will be equipped with colony building supplies, builders, settlers and mining probes, along with large supplies of food and water. The colony people and building supplies will be loaded on to a landing craft from the Victory, and will land as soon as it finds an unclaimed spot of land. For Eko, we hope to claim at least five islands, on which mining and scientific research will take place. For Ao and Oa, we would like to claim 700 square kilometres apiece; the other colony planets have yet to be decided.

Finally, we thank other nations for the assistance on the Dark Matter Drive and Negative Mass Drive; for the former, we predict will take ten times less time to develop, thanks to the contribution of nations. Any who assisted in its development will receive a few as a thank-you, from Xentherida.

With a light bump and a the sound of the docking collar engaging a light flashed green on the door controls. "We're secured, let's settle these colonists into their new homes." Lights in the cargo bays flickered to life as crews began to fill them with supplies. A tall young woman leaned against a rail near the outer dome that overlooked the light glow from the other cores nearby. Signing off on one report after another, workers kept bringing new reports and requests, they seemed an endless stream with no rest. "Leah, why don't you take a break? You're working too hard" came a voice from the balcony above. "Eric I can't, not until this place goes online in a few hours." She looked out at the other domes "They're all online and we're stuck here fixing that stupid main computer! We couldn't even use the main dock." Muttering under her breath "Command code failure my a..." with a cough she regains her composure "Do you know how hard it is to bring all these workers, colonists, and supplies in through the mining ring?" leaning on the rail next to her "Look, this is clearly not healthy for you to drive yourself ragged. Just come with me and get a quick bite to eat and something to drink. I'll even help you finish this work after; deal?" a slight smile barely visible on her lips "OK, but let's make it quick; and you're doing the final inspection on that core, I don't want to even look at it again today."

The morning fog had begin lifting off the lower jungle making it much easier to navigate. A herd of animals crashes through the jungle running as fast as they can, they're being chased. The light recon vehicles tore through the jungle in pursuit; Scott the lead field researcher raised his ICER rifle, aimed <Thwip> <Thwip> two silenced shots and two of the beasts collapsed. "They're not going to be out for long, tag them, scan them, take your samples, and get them ready for recovery. We have a lot of work if we're going to add this planet to the index. Make sure you get those extra samples kits filled, I"m sure it'll make those bio-techies just squee when we get back to the lab." Wiping his brow and turning to his driver "Well, I'm having a good time. Which makes me feel guilty too. How very English." The two of them snickered as they pulled out their map, plotting their course to the next objective.

The Imperial forces were now under attack by both the Nebulan fleet and the Guslant fleet. However, they were not done yet. Reinforcements had been called, and the Emperor himself authorized a special group of ships to come, as a sort of "test". The Empire's greatest successes were now ready for their first battles. Decades of construction, careful precision amd immense firepower ability had been put into this ship, and it was also accompanied by 6 of the Empire's Executor-class Star Destroyers. It was the Empire's greatest, most resilient, and most powerful dreadnought, and it was known, simply, as the ISS Bellator. The Bellator was equipped with some of the Empire's best technology and easily put it to use. While many of the damaged Star Destroyers got to safety, the good ones along with the Executor-class ships formed behind the Bellator in an arrow-esque line formation that would turn the tide of the battle. The ships began to advance, shooting at any vessel that wasn't an Imperial one. The Empire was in a tough spot, but thanks to the power of its newly arrived reinforcements and its lethal tactics, it was holding its ground and could possibly gain the upper hand if it destroyed enough ships and outlasted its enemies long enough. Both criteria seemed easily attainable. To make things even better just incase things didn't go smoothly, however, the Empire requested the aid of its allies. Meanwhile on Obscura, life signatures were detected by the AT-AT walkers. These signatures were of unknown nationality and origin, but they were signatures. Obscura was known to be devoid of life, so these must be colonists from another nation, as the Empire had no previous record of it colonizing Obscura prior to when the AT-AT walkers first arrived. However, these signatures eventually revealed themselves as two Guslants. Two important Guslants. This was good. The Empire could neutralize these people right there and then, and cripple Guslantis. The walkers poised to fire.