Second Dalviric House War

The year, in the Gregorian calendar equivalent, is 2857. It is an age of technological innovation, cultural revolutions, military renovation. The golden age spreads across the expansive empire of Dalvius, an early F.F.T. (Far future tech) nation well on it's way to mid-F.F.T. Lifespan doubles for homo ùvàra, cybernetic implants become far more advanced, cheaper, and widespread. Medical care is now the most efficient and effective in the universe. Clean sources of energy are found and produced in mass production. Military warfare is revolutionized with the invention of the neutron effusion bomb. Ecumenopolises become easier to build and maintain. Starships become larger, more powerful, and mass fielded.

This golden age, however, didn't last forever.


The Great Houses of Kèlmythràn, Akanvoro, Xonexun, Majaraksis, Vimicelnes, Avadrii, and Touggophes all compete for influence and power. Among this struggle two alliances within the bowels of Dalvius will rise. The Royalists, who seek to preserve Dalvius, and the Convocation, who seek to change Dalvius for what they commonly believe is better.


Dalvius will be ripped asunder as communities turn against others, and ultimately, each other. Families will be torn apart. People will be torn apart as they ponder who's cause is truly noble - the Royalists who wish to preserve Dalvius from the Convocation, or the Convocation which wishes to tear apart Dalvius and rebuild it in their own image, what they say is a safer place.

Dalvius, in its death throes, will reach out to other nations across the universe. Any nation, no matter being primitive tribes or advanced godpeople, are invited to support the Convocation or the Royalists,

Only one side will emerge the victor and determine the future of Dalvius.
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OOC: http://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/7571866/1/

Yep. With the technological innovations of recent pushing the Houses to their breaking point, something snaps.


If you are any tech tier of nation, fret not as you can still participate on either side.


The Royalists consists of:

House Kèlmythràn
House Akanvoro
House Xonexun

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The Convocation consists of:

House Avadrii
House Touggophes
House Vimicelnes


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While House Majaraksis is neutral to the conflict and just wants to keep to themselves.

Crap. A bug occurred on my side.

Apologies for the gigantic title.

(OOC: You should note in the title that this is future-tech.)


The great civilization of Neokannex, populated with giant sentient cybernetic rock pigeons, eyed the collapse of the great Dalvius empire with a mixture of glee and alarm. At last the homo ùvàra imperium was dying, shrinking, shriveling with its mortal shakes. But what would come next? Empires rose and fell in the cycle of existence -- who would be next, could it be reign of the giant cybernetic pigeons next?

Kannex:

(OOC: You should note in the title that this is future-tech.)


The great civilization of Neokannex, populated with giant sentient cybernetic rock pigeons, eyed the collapse of the great Dalvius empire with a mixture of glee and alarm. At last the homo ùvàra imperium was dying, shrinking, shriveling with its mortal shakes. But what would come next? Empires rose and fell in the cycle of existence -- who would be next, could it be reign of the giant cybernetic pigeons next?

Spoiler

Click to expand...

(I don't seem to be able to edit the title but I put it in the original post.)

(Also that was strangely amusing.)

[you should probably also set up an OOC thread in the Lounge subforum so we don't have to fill this thread up with unnecessary comments]

The ancient state of Nebula, almost two thousand years after its original conception in the monarchy and nearly eight hundred and fifty years after the First Great War, had changed greatly. The violence that often took the Nebulan political process by storm had come, in its most recent form (about two hundred years prior), in the form of a series of protests, some violent, that forced the human-run left-wing one-party state to leave power, replacing it with a anarcho-syndicalist body, consisting mostly of robots and AIs, that drastically reformed Nebula. Humans and robots were made equal (although robots were far more numerous), running highly mechanized industrial processes side by side in the nation's factories, while mass collective rallies determined the political course of action by direct democracy.

To protect Nebula from the outside world, and to help keep things within the country focused inward, a team of AI engineers designed and built a massive, thin plastic dome around the island of Nebula in its entirety. Galacta and Nebula's other territories had long since left to fend for themselves (Galacta had gone on to begin space colonization not long after leaving Nebula, and quickly established a massive trade empire that enriched its ruling humans immensely while exploiting crude robots and AIs. A common topic of political discussion in syndicalist Nebula was an attack on Galactan trade routes in interstellar space to serve as a warning against their cruel capitalism; most people decided against it on the grounds that sending valuable military resources beyond the Dome, where they could be destroyed or lost, was a waste, when they were probably better off being used, recycled, processed, and used again in an endless cycle that made Nebula self-sufficient).

For this reason, the news of civil war in Dalvius, sent out immediately to the population via built-in transmitters (or, in the case of the humans, cybernetic implants), was not taken as a big deal. At the weekly session of the Workers' Rally, the people quickly decided that non-intervention would be the wisest option unless an opportunity for liberation of the working class presented itself. Meanwhile, several production facilities producing non-vital goods would be temporarily switched over to producing automated weapon systems, just in case it became necessary to intervene or protect Nebula's shores.

[no Kannex, I do not want to hear about all the economic and political reasons that this would not work. If you can have cybernetic pigeons, I get working anarcho-syndicalism. Fair is fair.]

Avraek Kèlmythràn, the legendary Patriarch of the House named Kèlmythràn, sat upon a massive, red crystal tower. The tower, located on Dalisùs - the home planet of the homo ùvàra, was the center of operations for all of Dalvius. All operations occurred there, coronations celebrated there, and legislature passed there.

Today was special. Not because of some war (Even though tensions between the Houses was rising fast) but because of the coronation of a new Prefect. Avraek had resigned from the position as he believed and knew he held too much power by controlling both Kèlmythràn and Dalvius. So, on the day he became the Patriarch of Kèlmythràn, he resigned from Prefect. He gave the position to Telvan Akanvoro, further cementing the two's relations and unknowingly causing the formation of the Convocation, who believed this caused the Houses to lose influence, allowing the future Royalists to rule unopposed.

Avraek prepared the coronation. He had a feeling something would happen today.


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Telvan Akanvoro kneeled in front of Avraek. Telvan was massive, easily standing taller than Avraek (Due to the fact that Telvan was an older Draekar, and thus, didn't stop growing for several centuries), but he knew Avraek would beat him in a fight, and he showed respect for that. The two were good friends, sharing a mutual hatred for a man named Kelram, which nearly caused another House War.


The anthem of Dalvius played through synthesizers and futuristic, black trumpets. Avraek painted the marking of Prefect on Telvan's head, officially appointing him as Prefect. Telvan stood back up and respectfully bowed. He was clearly humbled and grateful for the honor that was bestowed on him.

However, when he turned, a shrill, extremely loud shriek pierced the air, causing noticeable pain in the people that were present. Suddenly, it stopped. The last thing seen by many of the residents was a massive fireball and a thunderous crack.

When the smoke cleared, they found Avraek and Telvan - alive but barely - as Avraek created a powerful Essence shield. The Ruby Tower was split in half, with shards and bricks everywhere. The surrounding area was bleak and lifeless, as buildings for miles were either vaporized, reduced to rubble, or extremely damaged, with the damage lessening the farther away the buildings were,


It sooned dawned on the survivors that they survived an antimatter charge.


The civil war has begun.

There was rumors of war, even on the Saphire Throne, war in far off Dalvius. Though the lords of the Esplandian Imperium held such rumors in little regards the emperor thought them worth his attention and thus the Eagle's were sent to ascertain the validity of such tales. What effect could such a far off war have on the Imperium? All agreed that Dalvius was of no concern, certainly no threat. But the Cadevate Emperor could see far off and hidden things, his gaze piercing the infinite dark, his ears hearing the whispers of the eternal. He knew something stirred where Sentients could not see.

Could this be it? The great and terrible conflict that haunted his dreams? He would await the return of the Eagles and hoped they'd allay his fears.

The Galactan space-lords heard of the assassination. Their capital, they knew, was safe from any backlash that might occur if the war spilled over, but their interstellar holdings could be in trouble if things got bad. They lacked the incredibly cohesive and close-knit society of Nebula, and if an ambitious admiral in a distant sector decided the time had come to become a warlord, there was nothing to do but reconquer the territory whenever they could.

"Is there anything that we can do but put the troops on alert and hope?" asked one Galactan leader.
"We could request aid from our neighbors across the strait," another muttered.
"As if they'd do a damn thing to come to our aid," grumbled a third.
"How desperate are we?" said a fourth.
"Not that desperate."
"Yet..."

Nebula's ever-present software bugs picked up on the undercurrent of nervousness coming into Galacta from the interstellar territories. The AIs notified the people.

Some of them started thinking, I wonder if the robot revolution is about to replay itself...

One of them thought, I wonder if we should do anything to facilitate it...

The giant pigeons called themselves the Guurwa, or literally those who coo -- the other lifeforms in the universe did not coo, but rather babbled, beeped, and some even screeched. In the universe there was a myriad different intelligent species with their myriad screeches and ear-killing noises, but there was only one master species that sung beautiful notes in their lovemaking -- that was the Guurwa. The males cooed a deep guttural song; the females a high-pitched one. Together they formed a melody of such grace and beauty that the other species lacked.

The Pigeonkind held over a hundred star systems under their grasp. A Guurwa individual was nothing without a Flock, led by a Flock Lord. Above the Flock Lord ruled higher lords, who controlled larger territories and provinces on the star-maps. At last, at the pinnacle of Pigeonkind civilization, there sat the High Council. All Pigeonkind -- at least in theory -- owed their loyalty to the High Council.


The High Council met in a gigantic ball-like amphitheater somewhere deep in Pigeonkind-controlled space. The councilors sat, perched on platforms along the inside of the sphere -- and there were at least several hundred. At the center of this spherical chamber, holograms flooded the sacred chambers in blue light, so that the Guurwa councilors could view the map of Neokannex, or observe any necessary footage. Right now, the blue lights manifested themselves into the footage of the incidents in Dalvius.

"The time is come!" cooed a councilor.

"The prophecy will come true!" shouted another.

"The thousand-year Reich will collapse, a young egg will lead his people to victory, and at the end of existence we will find..."

"THE GREAT BREAD" shouted all the councilors in unison.

THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD THE GREAT BREAD

came the deafening coos of the night.

As the opening moves of the civil war began, the Royalists gathered in the ruins of the Ruby Tower, now named ground zero. They were wearing advanced hazmat suits to protect themselves from the residual radiation left from the bomb.

"I told you making Telvan Prefect would cause something to break," said Kitravurson Xonexun, the leader of House Xonexun. "Yet you still decided to go through with it."

"Nevermind that, what information do we have about the antimatter bomb?" Said Avraek Kèlmythràn, the leader of House Kèlmythràn. He had a feeling about who it was but didn't want to believe it.

"Only House Avadrii has the resources and influence to plant an antimatter bomb of that payload and quality, and not have us know about it." Spoke Telvan Akanvoro, a Draekar and the Patriarch of House Akanvoro.

House Avadrii was easily the most secretive and paranoid house in Dalvius. Only a handful are believed to associate themselves with the House, and only one member of the House is known. Surok Avadrii, the spokesperson (At least what most believed) for whoever or whatever was the Patriarch or Matriarch. Surok's whereabouts, however, was unknown,

"...I don't believe Touggophes or Vimicelnes would have the gall or the men to do that either...And Avadrii is the closest thing that Kèlmythràn has as a rival." Xonexun explained.

"Yet we do not know anything about that house, do we?" Avraek countered.

"No, of course.p not. But-"

"Enough you two! The only person that Avadrii can hire that is skilled enough to do that is missing and believed to be KIA."

Avraek thought for a moment.

"Hm...my science division's analysts say that the bomb was rigged to explode when everyone left and civilians were no longer around. The casualties were an accident."

"How exactly did it fail?"

"Telvan, we don't know. We believe that something happened within the bomb itself that caused the antimatter to go out of stasis early."

"Obviously. Look, House Xonexun can find Surok and we can pry answers from him. I'll send my spies out."

Avraek prepared to phase back into his warship, the Reconcilation of Fire.

"Something big is going to go down soon."

He vanished. Telvan and Kitravurson prepared to leave as well.

The Galactan navy prepared to mobilize, fearing the possibility of uprising or a spillover conflict within their space. Warships patrolled the edges of Galactan space and admirals set up headquarters in regional capitals, ready for anything that might happen.

Back on Eve, the rulers fretted and fussed over if it was wise to support a side. Many considered the old order to be safer than the Convocation, which had unknown plans for Dalvius, but some believed that the Royalists would be a poor choice due to their older beliefs.

Popular opinion in Nebula, meanwhile, was that the Royalists were simple reactionaries and autocrats, while the Convocation were extremists who sought power for its own sake. The mobilization of the Galactan navy was also worrying to many.

"The status quo in Galacta is a danger to our society," said the robot AR-11S during the Workers' Rally. "The bourgeois government there was willing to make deals with the dictatorship that ruled over us, and the only reason that they have not conquered us is that they do not see us as a threat. Our intelligence suggests that they may be able to penetrate the Dome and observe us from afar, and should they see that we are assembling a military force they will no doubt threaten us."
"A full military invasion of Galacta would fail," said the next speaker, human Fu Kingabro (#1024). "Although the liberation of the aluminum peoples of Galacta is a goal worth our efforts, I fear that we may not be able to implement drastic change on our own."
The next speaker was another robot, MU-21Q. "As a bot programmed to ponder the nature of computer viruses, I have considered the possibility of inserting a virus into a Galactan robot. The robot will be induced into spreading the virus whenever possible. When the time is right, we will activate a hidden portion within the code that will induce the robots to rebel against their overlords. Nebula will then have the option of fighting the human remnants of Galacta that have not joined the rebellion, and Galacta may become a friend, an ally, and a partner."

The rally was not held in one place but was brought about by opening a mental communication channel with the entirety of the nation, to be organized by a simple piece of software. Because of this, a resounding round of applause was impossible, but a flood of approval came through. A motion to vote was made by AR-11S and was passed with no opposition, and a commission was drafted and released, calling on all people with experience in computer code to begin putting together such a virus communally.

A young pair of gray-feathered Guurwa circled each other in a ritualistic dance. The male was a tall, handsome bird. Blue-gray feathers adorned his plump body from head to toe, except for a splat of iridescent red-violent on his neck. The large cock strutted, bobbing his head forward with every step. The plumage on his puffed chest shook and shone in the sunlight as he circled and bowed around the doting female. While strutting the suitor sung a guttural song, an ancient deep gurrr guurr gurr melody that had passed down the generations since the days of the pigeon ancients. The female showed no emotion at first, no reciprocation, but she slowed as her partner danced around her. But then she bowed her head and he returned the gesture. With the dance completed, the male's beak met hers.

"Get a fucking nest, you two! We have young squabs around here!"

"What happened to the old days of modesty and humility? Now we have every proud, big-chested young cock jiggling his plumage around in public and making out with the lady-folk. And these songs! Back in my day, our coos were more elegant, simpler -- but it did the job. Nowadays you have these youngsters trying to become musical virtuosos or whatever..."

"And they say one of this generation is the Chosen Egg! Preposterous!"

In the skies above an unspecified Galacta world, the fleets of a Royalist and a Convocation force clashed together. The Royalist's starships, large, powerful, and golden, were strong, but not as durable as the Convocation's ships, large, armored, and an industrial red and black aesthetic look. It was only by chance that these two fleets would jump to the same locations.


The first ship to come across fire, a gigantic and extremely powerful Annihilator class battleship assigned to protect the scientists on board a much smaller scientific probe ship, came under fire. Three Legacy class destroyers quickly set upon it, firing their heavy railguns on their bows and eventually firing their heavy forward MAC cannons. The Annihilator had little time to react. Despite all of its armor, the rounds ripped through the ship's fusion reactor. The only thing the crew of that ship saw after that was a bright golden flash.


The battleship blew up in a rather large "semi-nuclear" explosion. The Royalists, with the biggest threat now little more than ashes and empty screams, turned towards the rest of the Convocation's fleet.

Alarms sounded at the Galactan base on the planet of Egaros as the Royalist and Convocation fleet battled. Fighters and interceptors were rapidly scrambled to protect the planet and its denizens from any combat that came too close to the atmosphere.
"Should we send out the cruisers, sir?" asked a junior commander.
"The last thing we want is to risk our vessels getting into a fight that is not ours," replied the base commander. "Send word to regional command and make sure that all cruisers are on full alert."
"Sir," said a lieutenant, coming up to the two officers, "I have just received word from Senior Captain Serge that his cruisers are ready at the lunar base if you give the order."
"Tell him to stay alert for now and be ready to move as soon as I say so," replied the base commander. "I will not waste lives stopping a conflict, but I will not risk our civilians."
"What of the Elevator?" asked an officer.
"Unless its men perceive an urgent and unceasing threat they are to avoid engaging. We cannot afford to lose the Elevator. Not now, not ever. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir!" said the officer, saluting smartly.

Once the battleship had been taken out, a Royalist Legacy targeted a Leviathan class cruiser. The Legacy fired its railguns at the Leviathan, which missed due to the speed and shape of the Leviathan. The Leviathan retaliated using an antimatter missile fired from one of the many silos on its deck. While the Legacy was fast, it couldn't dodge the missile which completely annihilated nearly half of the ship and sent it careening towards the planet.

The Leviathan prepared another silo to fire, but the other Legacy's fired a long and hard salvo of railgun shots, which ripped apart the side of the Leviathan. The Leviathan sputtered for a few moments, before the engines and the lights of the ships flashed and died. The Leviathan fell to the planet, on a similar path as the downed Legacy.

The scientific probes and the rest of the ships of the Convocation, without heavy support anymore, turned and began to flee the system. Most of the fleet was taken out before they gained the speed to jump to hyperspace.


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A massive fireball in the skies of the planet careened towards the distance, eventually emitting a thunderous boom once the fireball hit the ground. Minutes later, a second fireball soared across the sky as well, emitting a similar boom once it hit the ground. The two fireballs seemed to land a few miles from each other.

"Sir, the Convocation ships are in full retreat. The Royalists are picking them off on their way out of the system."
The base commander breathed a sigh of relief. "Anything else?"
"A Royalist vessel and a Convocation ship fell down to the planet. They landed out in the Jutlant Wastes, about three hours' flight from here."
"Prep Fighter Squad Blue and Transport Group Argent for immediate takeoff," ordered the commander. "Inform Lieutenant Elison that I require his commando unit for this one."
"What are you doing, sir?" asked the officer.
"I'm going out there to see what's up," said the base commander.

Despite the rather violent crash and the rather violent circumstances that caused the crash, much of the crew of both ships survived, although many were injured. One Seraphim, several thousand feet from the ship, was mortally wounded. He was missing an arm, a leg, and blood and gore was marking the trail he crawled from. He died only a few minutes later, finally giving up. (This is yours to have Nebula - perhaps the unit come across this Seraph?)


At the Royalist ship, the remainder of the ships combat robotics systems were deployed. No Tanks or Crushers survived the crash, but a single Grenadier however, did survive the crash, which was stationed outside of the ship. Hundreds upon hundreds of Dashers and Riflers were sent out to survey the location, being programmed to kill all potential Convocation on sight. Most the soldiers, normal soldiers and the special forces were stationed to guard the ship, while the others were sent to restore the ship to flying order as luckily the ships fuel and engines were mostly intact. First, however, they began repairing the railgun cannons.



At the Convocation ship, the ship's captain sent out all of their forces towards the Royalists. While greater in size, the captain of the Legacy starship was much smarter, and knew that the Convocation would be approaching, hence why he wanted the starships main cannons repaired to help defend the ship.

"We're thirty minutes out from landing, sir. The fighters have already made a pass and have determined a landing point."
"Excellent. What's the situation?"
"Looks like both sides are gearing up to continue the battle."
"We're not letting that happen," growled the commander. "The day that antimatter weapons are used under my jurisdiction is the day non-genetically modified pigs fly."
"The fighters are going in for another scouting pass," said the officer. "We have live footage."
Both men watched silently as their viewscreens showed the footage from the lead fighter. Although the fighter was several thousand feet above ground, its high-detail camera picked up a great deal of information about the situation.
Including the Convocation force that was carefully picking its way across the dunes to reach the Royalist ship.
"Shit," said the commander. "I'm not sure we have even twenty minutes. Tell all fighters to activate megaphones, quiet engines and prepare to go in low."
"What will you have them say?"
The commander flicked on his microphone.

The fighters swooped down to just a hundred feet off the ground. They were impossible to ignore- fifteen aluminum birds of prey, armed to the teeth, blaring the commander's recorded message on repeat at top volume:
"CEASE AND DESIST!"

The Convocation force looked up at the fighters. Seeing no choice but to desist, they stopped and began communicating through radios in their helmets about what to do. They decided on ignoring the fighters, and where about to start moving forward before a small army of Royalist robotics found and targeted the Convocation.

These two types, one a heavily armored, nimble, and melee based Dasher with two, long, electrified plasma blades as arms rushed forward, quickly being cut down yet cutting down Convocation quickly. The other type, a bipedal, also heavily armored robot visually geared for ranged combat, stayed behind. It fired golden beams of energy - a quark-gluon plasma mixture - at the Convocation, also slicing them down. The Convocation began dwindling and retreated back to their ship. The Royalist robots also went back, guarding the area.

"Land there- between the two ships," ordered the commander.
"What if we're fired upon?"
"We'll deal with that if it happens."
The transports slowed and hovered, slowly descending toward the landing site.
"Open the doors and prepare to deploy," ordered the commander. "Form a defensive line and keep the sides separated." The troops grabbed their weapons as the massive side doors opened.
The transport's belly touched the ground. "Go, go, go!"
The soldiers raced out.

The Royalists robots simply watched, prepared to fire upon them should they try anything funny.

The commandos raced to set up a defensive line around the transports. The base commander had decided to use non-lethal weapons only, but the fighters could devastate the Royalist cruiser, even with cannons online.

The base commander climbed up on top of the nearest transport. "Attention!" he yelled, and the loudspeakers broadcast his voice at maximum.

Confident that his voice would carry to the Convocation forces through the fighters, he continued.

"This planet is the territory of the sovereign state of Galacta. The Galactan Imperial Council has dictated that the wars of Dalvius shall not take place on our soil, nor in our space.

"That being said, anyone who harms a Galactan soldier on these grounds shall be tried to within the fullest extent of Galactan law. Anyone who kills an enemy soldier from this point on shall be, once captured, handed over to enemy forces, to be punished as the enemy sees fit. Do I make myself clear?"

Nebula:

The commandos raced to set up a defensive line around the transports. The base commander had decided to use non-lethal weapons only, but the fighters could devastate the Royalist cruiser, even with cannons online.

The base commander climbed up on top of the nearest transport. "Attention!" he yelled, and the loudspeakers broadcast his voice at maximum.

Confident that his voice would carry to the Convocation forces through the fighters, he continued.

"This planet is the territory of the sovereign state of Galacta. The Galactan Imperial Council has dictated that the wars of Dalvius shall not take place on our soil, nor in our space.

"That being said, anyone who harms a Galactan soldier on these grounds shall be tried to within the fullest extent of Galactan law. Anyone who kills an enemy soldier from this point on shall be, once captured, handed over to enemy forces, to be punished as the enemy sees fit. Do I make myself clear?"

Click to expand...

The robotics turned their heads towards the commander. Only one, a CARVR (Rifler) spoke. It was a heavy, spatial, and hard robotic voice devoid of any humanity at all.

"Level of command scanning....error. None detected. You have no command over Unit CARVR-SE-213S45k2, and any subsequent units of the Dalviric Royalists. If you have any concerns, please address them to Lieutenant Captain Delvairanim at the fallen Legacy-class destroyer in this quadrant."

The robotics continued to patrol.

"Take us to your leader," said the commander, breathing heavily.

Nebula:

"Take us to your leader," said the commander, breathing heavily.

Click to expand...

And so a team of three CARVRs took him to Delvairanim.

At the cruiser, it was massive. It was 2 kilometers long and about 1 kilometer wide at the widest point. A ginormous chunk of it was missing, and several parts were on fire. Electronics buzzed and crackled throughout the ship, and pieces of still-warm steel were laid throughout the area. Soldiers clad in pitch black armor with electronic outlines were everywhere patrolling the area, eying the commander with suspicion. At the entrance to the ship, a pair of large, physically imposing, incredibly cyber-modified, and heavily armored soldiers guarded the ship, looking as still as a statue and seeming like they were not paying attention to anything. They were the Seraphim, the elite black-ops cell of Dalvius, augmented to points where they were only barely human and going through training so rigorous and intense it would leave any man psychologically and physically broken beyond repair. These were Gen IV Seraphim, augmented to becoming nearly completely cybernetic, with nanotech skin.

They would stop him as soon as he approached.

"My orders are from the Galactan High Command itself," snapped the commander. "If I am not permitted to speak with your captain then I have orders to blow this cruiser to bits. Don't doubt that I have the firepower."

Nebula:

"My orders are from the Galactan High Command itself," snapped the commander. "If I am not permitted to speak with your captain then I have orders to blow this cruiser to bits. Don't doubt that I have the firepower."

Click to expand...

They didn't budge. One spoke, having a heavy metallic voice.

"And the Convocation has a set of antimatter missiles, that FUNCTION, with them. Go annoy them, because Delvairanim has better things to do right now."

Another large being, draconic in shape and being only a few inches taller than the Seraphim in front of him came out. He looked had a look of mere annoyance towards the commander.


"Daikuldani, kalimisnakulriamikalø?"

The other Seraphim turned.

"Sinàkuritzalka. Terastiakeloakaknrii."

The being turned.

"Yes, I have better things to do than to listen to you, but I will, as you're a guest on this ship. What do you want? And if you try anything to the men that serve me, I will personally toss you out the windows of the command center myself. Do I make myself clear?"

"As long as your men refrain from killing anyone we should have no problems whatsoever," said the base commander impatiently. "I want to make myself perfectly clear. Galacta is neutral in this war and does not seek to enter it. Any conflict fought in Galactan space becomes our problem. Any combat fought within my limited area of Galactan space becomes my problem and I will not allow any further death on my soil.
"Furthermore, you have nothing to bargain with. You may be convinced that your robot squad and your half-buried cruiser are a reasonable fighting force, and I'm sure you'd have little trouble wiping out my commando unit and downing a few drone fighters before the rest managed to flee. However, doing so would bring the hellfire of every single Galactan unit within an hour's travel of this planet down upon the heads of you and your troops. We're talking four star cruisers, ten drone squadrons, a thousand ground-based Crippler missiles, thirty long-range laser batteries operating from orbit, five thousand battlebots, a hundred commandos, and fifty main battle tanks. After they are done totally and utterly grinding you into the desert, the Galactan trade empire closes itself to the Royalists and opens itself to the Convocation, and every single Galactan starship receives orders to engage Royalist ships whenever possible. This includes private vessels, by the way. Trust me, these are the consequences of using antimatter weapons against my troops.
"It would generally just be easier from this point on for you to accept our sole term and condition: don't kill anyone else."

Nebula:

"As long as your men refrain from killing anyone we should have no problems whatsoever," said the base commander impatiently. "I want to make myself perfectly clear. Galacta is neutral in this war and does not seek to enter it. Any conflict fought in Galactan space becomes our problem. Any combat fought within my limited area of Galactan space becomes my problem and I will not allow any further death on my soil.
"Furthermore, you have nothing to bargain with. You may be convinced that your robot squad and your half-buried cruiser are a reasonable fighting force, and I'm sure you'd have little trouble wiping out my commando unit and downing a few drone fighters before the rest managed to flee. However, doing so would bring the hellfire of every single Galactan unit within an hour's travel of this planet down upon the heads of you and your troops. We're talking four star cruisers, ten drone squadrons, a thousand ground-based Crippler missiles, thirty long-range laser batteries operating from orbit, five thousand battlebots, a hundred commandos, and fifty main battle tanks. After they are done totally and utterly grinding you into the desert, the Galactan trade empire closes itself to the Royalists and opens itself to the Convocation, and every single Galactan starship receives orders to engage Royalist ships whenever possible. This includes private vessels, by the way. Trust me, these are the consequences of using antimatter weapons against my troops.
"It would generally just be easier from this point on for you to accept our sole term and condition: don't kill anyone else."

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"When I manage to disable the antimatter weapons under the Convocation, I will comply, because those missiles are a danger to everything on this planet, as my Seraphim report that they're using something far more dangerous than antimatter and combined it with the antimatter."

"Now, you can either help me get rid of those missiles or not, but I am going to."

"I urge you to refrain from taking military action against the Convocation at the moment," said the commander somewhat more politely. "I intend on going over to their ship as soon as possible and giving the same message I gave you."

Nebula:

"I urge you to refrain from taking military action against the Convocation at the moment," said the commander somewhat more politely. "I intend on going over to their ship as soon as possible and giving the same message I gave you."

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"We won't take military action. At least, not going in guns blazing."

"And they will not listen. They will send a show of force, I.E, those missiles, to show that the Convocation is the most powerful faction and that

"I intend to try anyway." said the commander grimly.

Nebula:

"I intend to try anyway." said the commander grimly.

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Daivarinim nodded. He turned.
"In case you fail...I suppose you should meet my two agents. Daisravakalim, kòro!"

Two Seraphim, both clad in black armor, walked forward. One was muscular and clad in heavy armor, another was clad in lighter yet still sizeable armor.

"Meet Agent Commander X-1 and Z-1. Code names are Xi and Zeta respectively. Agent Xi is the heavier one, Agent Zeta is the lighter one. They will undertake the mission to destroy the warheads."

"Before you deploy them, may I have assurance that you are taking measures to disable your own warheads?"

Nebula:

"Before you deploy them, may I have assurance that you are taking measures to disable your own warheads?"

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"The blast from their missile sent out an essence EMP pulse. It fried the electronics in the missile bays, so they are not active."

Externalization:

Nebula:

"Before you deploy them, may I have assurance that you are taking measures to disable your own warheads?"

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"The blast from their missile sent out an essence EMP pulse. It fried the electronics in the missile bays, so they are not active."

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"With your permission I would like to send three men down to your missile bay to verify this claim."

Nebula:

Externalization:

Nebula:

"Before you deploy them, may I have assurance that you are taking measures to disable your own warheads?"

Click to expand...

"The blast from their missile sent out an essence EMP pulse. It fried the electronics in the missile bays, so they are not active."

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"With your permission I would like to send three men down to your missile bay to verify this claim."

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Xi led him to the missile bays. Daivarnim's words were true, the electronics were fried deeply and seemed to be emanating a metaphysical energy.

"With that over with, I intend on heading over to the Convocation vessel. Do you mind if I leave a few troops here aboard your ship?"

Nebula:

"With that over with, I intend on heading over to the Convocation vessel. Do you mind if I leave a few troops here aboard your ship?"

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"Very well, if you so wish. Xi and Zeta will tail you to watch the conversations."

Externalization:

Nebula:

"With that over with, I intend on heading over to the Convocation vessel. Do you mind if I leave a few troops here aboard your ship?"

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"Very well, if you so wish. Xi and Zeta will tail you to watch the conversations."

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"Excellent," said the commander, heading for the exit along with the other six troops he had brought in. Three soldiers stayed aboard.

The seven men and women, clad in their desert camouflage armor, got into two hover speeders and zoomed off toward the Convocation vessel. A white flag of truce fluttered from one; from the other, the Galactan military insignia.