Future of Man

[RIPSaidCone]

CSN Central Systems Command
Iara Prime

Admiral Tanning nodded, a thoughtful expression clear across his features as he listened into what the Eclipsian President was saying with a keen interest. Knowing all of this additional information about the Rockians would undoubtedly be helpful for future encounters with them regardless of how small or mediocre the information on them was. Something was better than nothing the Admiral thought as his curiosity peaked at mention of the Rockian FTL drives and their weapons systems, the talk of how they modified their bodies drastically was not news to him as most people already knew that the Rockians weren't even human anymore. Though it would prove a great help to the troops on the ground to know what exactly they were going up against and how to best end their horrible, probably agonizing little lives. "I appreciate your willingess to assist us in learning more about them and we would be happy to send one of our own teams to investigate the remains of the facility." The datapad next to him buzzed in activity, the Admiral looking to it as the notification popped up that he had been sent a file. It was the Eclipsian report on their Rockian findings. "Thank you, Mr. President. I think this will be all?" He questioned.
Space_Kaiser

Arcadian Heavy Manafacturers Plant
Arcadia

The Chief of Naval Operations for the Cascadian Systems Navy arrived on the colony world of Arcadia today to announce the commissioning of the CSN Luussia, the latest dreadnought to enter service in the Navy. Named after the capital city of Arcadia, the Luussia like its predecessors will be a Blackburn-class dreadnought and will be the first vessel to enter service in the newly formed 14th Fleet in-order to reinforce Cascadian presence in patrolling their influenced regions of the Frontier. The CNO also declared the commissioning of the CSN Cascade, the CSN Tartea and the CSN Whitney, all cruisers who will join the Luussia in the 14th Fleet. A celeberation was held at the point of origin, the AHM primary shipbuilding point on Arcadia and the Secretary of Defense sent his thanks to the employees of the AHM Corporation for working closely with the Navy in their new expansion program.

Planet CX-57 IV, CX-57 System
Unchartered Space

The Cascadian convoy stopped with an abrupt halt as the two Forward marines rose their right arms in the air. That was the signal that they had found something potentially dangerous, a beeping noise emitted from the scanners of both marines as they crouched down and slowly moved their scanners across the rocky surface below. The beeping only increasing in volume and frequency as they found what was causing the reaction, Dillon speaking up. "What is it?" She asked curiously, one of the helmeted marines looking up at her as the other one initiated a more detailed scan of the surface and what was below it. Forward Marines were the Cascadian designation of the pair of marines that were assigned the duty of alerting the convoy of obstructions or possible dangers or ambushes ahead, usually what they found consisted of landmines and other boogey traps hidden by criminals and insurgents, but this had been an unknown planet up until now, the likelihood of anyone stumbling upon it was small. "We're not sure...it appears..biological though." The marine looking up at Dillon responded, "Will it cause a problem?" She questioned, to which the marine shrugged. "Again, we don't know. Our scans aren't telling us anything about it except that 90% of it is made from a material we have no records of." The Trailblazer raised an eyebrow from underneath her helmet visor. "And what's the other ten percent of it made of?" The marine looked back at this scanner. "The other ten percent is water." Suddenly the convoy shook as the ground beneath them moved and quaked rather lightly but enough to cause a disturbance.

Everything was still for a moment and the marines were about to formulate a response when the ground shook for a second time, far more violent than the first. Sending many of the marines to the ground as said ground cracked and twitched from side to side, Dillon holding onto the side of one of the Mira APC's as she recieved a call from one of the fighter pilots above. "This better be good." She spoke angrily, the pilot quickly responding. />"It is, ma'am. We just got a massive surface reading next to the pylon's location. Something appears to be moving there, it is not mechanical in nature." It was not long after that the marines and their aerial escorts saw what had caused the miniature quake and subsequent readings. An incredibly large, building sized worm of sorts bursted out from underneath the rocky surface of the planet, it too was colored in a similar shade to the planet around it, perhaps as a natural form of camouflage though Dillon had her suspicions that this was not a natural occurance on the planet, it had a single red eye and let out a deafening screech that could undoubtedly be heard for miles as its mandibles expanded and it apparently saw its first targets. Many more large tendrils appeared from underneath the ground, all of which seemed to be connected to the worm-like giant as it begun attacking whoever was at the pylon. Swinging its tendrils at them and cutting small mountains in half like butter as it continued to screech in search of more intruders.

/>"Trailblazer. Captain Burns here, permission to engage the unknown hostile?"</ The leader of the fighter craft wing that had been escorting them called in questioningly, Dillon wasting little time in giving her response, "Fucking rip that thing in half!" She yelled as it apparently saw herself and the other marines, one of its many large tendrils speeding towards them and just barely missing the front of the convoy as the Gunnery Sargeant from behind yelled. "Open fire!" And the two APC's in the convoy spun up their 155mm cannons, firing AP rounds at the creature and its many limbs to little effect, the marines firing their rifles and heavy weaponry to the same negative effect. The Cascadian fighter jets dove downwards to the creature, their missiles detaching from their wings and crashing into the worm, getting a pained howl in response as it only appeared to get even more angry when it was hurt. Dillon turned to the others. "Get to the EP now, I'll meet you there!" The Gunnery Sargeant spoke up in protest, "Ma'am, with all due respect, you must be insane!" He gestured to the giant creature that was currently attacking the unknown force at the pylon and had now spotted the Eclipsians who had arrived planetside as well. "Just do what I say, I'll retrieve what I can and return to the fleet. Make sure that extraction point is secure when I get there!" The Sargeant had been about to speak up again but had held back his comment, simply nodding as the Cascadian convoy begun to back up quickly, Dillon sprinting behind cover as she watched the ongoing fight, waiting for her opportunity to slip into the alien structure.
Fishman Lord Space_Kaiser

Spoiler: The Unknown Creature

​

 

[Space_Kaiser]

Eclipsim, Eclipsian Federation, Earth

"I'm afraid that is all we have to offer at this moment." Arthur said scrolling through his datapad. "Having a team of yours being sent to the facility is greatly appreciated. I hope this reconnected friendship of sorts results in something that can mend the divide our ancestors caused. I hope you have a good day admiral and it was a pleasure talking with you." Arthur said giving a genuine smile before disconnecting his datapad and properly closing the channel. He had no time to rest as a few minutes ago the Council authorized ACRA and had to make an official presidential statement. A few ours later he addressed the nation in a televised statement across the cluster.

"While in dialogue with another official i was informed of ACRA's activation. Well after reading the reports i understand the Council's decision and i support it. These people need to be brought to justice and we must show them that forsaking our planet is a move that should not be tolerated and one that dealt with. The way they have approached all of this is completely extreme and now we have the opportunity of defeating them. That is why i have now fully authorized a military operation against the Rockians named Terran Justice, where we hope to deal a blow towards them in some manner. I ask that our allies assist us in this operation in riding our cluster of these traitors, raiders, terrorists, and inhuman shells of their former selves." With that Arthur cut the quick broadcast and sat back in his chair.
RIPSaidCone

CX-57 System, Unknown Planet, The Signal

As Phoenix was moving closer to the signal source Young and the rest of the Section felt a rumbling in the ground. The Section Major ordered the convoy to push up further and suddenly the ground shook even greater knocking most of the troops down onto their knees. As they cleared the edge they saw there was a giant worm like creature protecting the pylon-like structure. As they approached Cascadian forces pounded the creature but seemed to do little as Phoenix approached closer. The creature then saw them and began to attack their fores. As it began to attack four Eclipsian tanks drove over the edge and using it's stabilizers landed near the OFT, albeit very roughly and shook the crew up. When the tanks readjusted themselves towards the creature it faced them and screeched out a deafening squeal before preparing to attack. When it's tendrils went towards the tanks Eclipsian fighters flew over and dropped numerous bombs onto the creature, jetting across the engagement in the blink of an eye.

The Major looked towards the tanks and radioed to them. "Change the cannon to AP rounds and fire at that thing!" He yelled as the tanks cannons pointed towards the temporarily stunned creature. Particles swirled around the cannon for a couple of seconds as the creture reared it's head and screeched once more. As it did the cannons changed to an AP stances and a second or two after they all fired in succession hitting the across the creatures body. "Phoenix now's our time! Rush towards the structure now!" Young was stunned for a moment before getting his mind together and started to rush past the creature and into the structure. As they were approaching the creatures body raised up and stopped them and it's head faced towards them. When it reared it's head four AP tank shells exploded into it's head causing it to be very disorientated for a few seconds so Young could get past. As he did it's body slammed down cutting him and another member of his Section from the rest of his team.

"Young, Watts! Get to the structure we'll hold it off with allied forces!" Young staggered up lifting his rifle as Watts approached him. "Understood Major, good luck!" Young said through the channel as he and Watts rushed towards the structure. Nearly at the structures entrance Young looked back and saw the immense firepower hitting the creature and it was barely giving in, "Young let's go!" Watts said passing him entering the structure. "Right." He said yanking himself from the sight and entering inside.

As the two members of Phoenix entered the structure Eclipsian forces began to encircle the structure and the surrounding area, securing the western and northern areas. Eclipsian ships began to search the system for the Rockian fleet and block the planet for any evacuation of any Rockian ground forces.
RIPSaidCone Fishman Lord Kent

Helios Communication Center

"I apologize for the rush of communication channels, but we wish to establish trade of goods and equipment with our Russian counterparts." The officer said facing the female voice on the other line.
Kazami42

Eparia

The Frigates were completed and the Dreadnought still underway. Corvettes were also ordered along with some Cruisers.

Spoiler: I Never Added What Young Looks Like, So Here It is

 

[Fishman Lord]

The Artifact
Sirius and the team suddenly felt a great rumbling beneath them. After that, the sudden screech of some creature and the sounds of battle erupted outside. "Finish collecting the data! Move fast, we're runnning out of time!" Sirius moved over to the terminal that was monitoring the outside. He could see a massive serpentine creature ripping through Cascadian and Eclipsian forces. One thing caught his eye, two Eclipsians rushing towards the structure. "EVERYONE! WE'RE ABOUT TO GET SOME COMPANY!" They all got behind cover or into a firing position and the team focused their guns on the entrance. After a few extremely tense seconds two soldiers, most likely the Eclipsians, burst in. They were received by the sound of guns opening fire and the sight of robots, genetically engineered humans, and a dog with robotic arms all aiming at them. The two were barraged with lasers and projectiles from assisted aiming guns, and already were taking hits. Communicating through the Neural Links so they couldn't be heard, the team began to plan with eachother.
"Do we have all the data?"
"All that could be accessed, Commander Sirius."
"Alright, fantastic. Data should finish being sent to the Fleet in a few seconds, then we focus on our secondary objective: staying alive. That worm is distracting the enemy, we'll have to use that to our advantage. Once these two jokers are gone we'll have to rush out, try and blend in in this chaos. Hopefully I'll be mistaken for some filthy baseline army canine, and the rest of you will be covered by your suits. If we get recognized, we'll still be able to get out thanks to that worm, but it'll be a challenge. We'll need to get a bit of distance between us and these fuckers, then a dropship can grab us and we're home free. If things go too bad... well, we've completed the mission. You can either choose to terminate yourself or get captured, it's up to you. If you die, you and anything you're carrying will be destroyed automatically so those fuckers can't get anything from us. If you get captured and choose not to terminate yourself, your link will deactivate and wipe itself so they can't get anything from it, and the same goes for any other computer on you. If we make it out alive and free, the dropship will bring us to the Fleet out beyond the Oort Cloud and we'll get the he'll out of dodge. LET'S GO!"
This entire exchange took less than a second thanks to the neural links. The team burst out from cover and finished filling one of the Eclipsians with bloody holes while forcing the other into a position that would allow the team to escape. Out of the way at least temporarily, they weren't an issue anymore. The team burst out of the building, using the chaos to their advantage. They ran at speeds impossible to any baseline thanks to their genetic and cybernetic modification, and hadn't even begun to run out of stamina. They continued to sprint towards freedom across the battlefield.
Space_Kaiser RIPSaidCone

Far Space Construction Facilities
The carrier and cruisers had finished construction, with the Dreadnoughts still being built. Also complete were the frigates and corvettes. Added to the list was 20 new frigates and 30 new corvettes, as well as a carrier, two cruisers, and another Dreadnought. These were added to the new fleet Alexis's Hatred, although due to fleet structure in the Stone Fleet this new group would more often than not operate as a part of other fleets or missing some of its members.

 

[Dominus Regum]

Rio, Gamall bjǫð, Vestania
Earth

Dayton nodded. "I appreciate your willingness to look forward rather than backward, a viewpoint that a certain enemy of ours refuses to consider. And Cascadia is always open to friendly relations with other nations, I would be pleased to begin repairing relations between our peoples as soon as possible."
Dominus Regum

Rio​

"Yes... The former state of the Rockies has been very active as of late... Although the Rockies do attempt contact with us from time to time, like they recently did in our colony in Whiterun, we try and keep our contact with them to a minimum.

"Either way, we wish to up the trade between our two powers, as both our nations has much to offer in terms of Goods and Commerce."

They reached the Suite's Inner Chambers, and sat down on two hovering, comfortable chairs, made from a material both couldn't quite put a finger on.

"I ask you, what do you wish for Asgardia's and Cascadia's future?"

Asgardian Planet, Kepper 1

(The view from outside the Planet. It used to be green, but has long since been turned to a "Rusty Planet")

(The Kepper-1 Construction facility)
​

Kepper 1 was one of the first planets colonized by any nation, and the original Scientific Union's statement to the world that the Union would be great. It was once a huge Forest planet, full of resources, before the Union basically drilled down to the Core, stealing all natural elements.. it has long since been used as a Scrap Heap by all major powers, and the decaying metal was put to good use. Millions of tons of Metal was being cleaned and re-forged, being made into new ships... 60 corvettes, 45 frigates, 4 cruisers, 3 carriers, and 3 dreadnoughts. It is expected to be finished within two years.

And in response to the repeated attacks by pirates, the Union has decided to take extra care protecting Trade routes...

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Rio, Gamall bjǫð, Vestania

Dayton nodded with a pleased smile. "I'm very glad to hear that, my electorate wouldn't approve of me building relations with your people if it turned out you were still in regular contact with the Rockians. For the sake of our relationship and my people's opinion on yours, I advise you keep contact to a strict minimum. The Rockians can be decieving, don't let them be." The pair continued to walk through the building before arriving in the chamber and sitting down, Dayton listening closely to what the other leader had to say. "I'm sure that we can come to a mutually beneficial trade agreement. Cascadia is always looking to expand its business interests." Dayton was stopped as one of his secret service agents stepped over to him and whispered into his ear. "Sir, the media has found out about the 12th Fleet's redeployment." The President nodded and signalled for the agent to step away.

"My most sincere apologies. There has been a public relations incident which I must attend to at once However rest assured that my government shall be in contact with yours over trade discussions. I hope to invite you to Portland sometime in the future, I thank you for having me." Dayton would then get up from his seat and shake hands with the Asgardian leader before leaving for his spacecraft. Many of his advisors now close by as the Cascadian group got on-board the spaceliner and took off rather hastily, en-route to Portland where he would undoubtedly need to either make a speech or coordinate with his Press Secretary to have one made on his behalf.
Dominus Regum

New York City, Inner Cascadia
Earth

"And in breaking news. CCNC has just recieved confirmation from multiple sources within the Department of Defense, the Department of Colonial Affairs and the Cascadian Systems Navy that the 12th Fleet of the CSN has been redeployed from its regular duties along the Frontier border regions. The reasons for this are still unknown however it appears so far that the 12th has responded to a ongoing situation somewhere in the Frontier or possibly even in Unchartered space. I am joined here today by our military analyst; Professor William Bersby from the University of Oxford. Thank you for joining me, Professor." The gray-haired newscaster spoke to the larger man sitting next to him. "Oh it's really no problem, I'm always happy to be here." The camera angle changed as the two begun their conversation. "So, Professor. For the viewers at home who are wondering why the redeployment of a single Navy fleet is so important, could you explain to them?" The newscaster started off with as the Professor nodded in response. "Of course, the CSN has always had a history of maintaining what they call a Sphere of Dense Operations. What that basically means is that they restrict the movements of their fleets to certain areas in the Cluster, this ensures that Cascadia has a very powerful presence in regions of space in which they want or need to have powerful presences, however that also means that it is incredibly rare for any fleet to be redeployed outside of its SDO."

"Essentially what this all means is that the Navy has felt a big enough reason to actually redeploy a fleet outside of its designated SDO. Which is very concerning as the Navy out of all the branches of the Systems Military is typically known for its levelheadedness." The Professor finished with, the newscaster nodding as he carried on with the segment. "CCNC is currently reaching out to our government and military sources for more information on the topic. President Dayton is reported to have just left Rio De Janeiro after a brief meeting with the Asgardian Union's Scientist Supreme, from what we have heard he is on route back to Portland and should be arriving at the Presidential Residence shortly. CCNC will continue updating this story as it progresses so make sure to stay for the latest developments."

Planet CX-57 IV, CX-57 System
Unchartered Space

The Cascadian force begun to fall back to its extraction point as Dillon had ordered them to, despite soon finding out that the Vice-Admiral was against it entirely, in this regard the Trailblazer's authority overrode the Vice-Admiral's and Dillon was quick to take advantage of that. Poking her head out from cover as she got a glimpse at what was going on, she saw Eclipsian forces moving towards the alien structures and Rockian forces firing at them. They were engaged in a firefight as Dillon decided to make her move, with the Worm distracted by the Eclipsians' main force and the Cascadian fighter craft above, she sprinted out towards the structures, tapping a thin line on the side of her thigh armor. Her sprinting sped up to a speed otherwise unachievable by any ordinary or even enhanced human being. The new advantage in speed had allowed her to get past the Worm and the battling forces without any difficulty, arriving at the main structure's entrance as she noticed the fleeing Rockians in the distance. "Captain, you've got a group of retreating Rockians trying to get out of here. I'm marking them for you now, put them down." She ordered as she recieved an affirmitive response from the fighter craft above. Tapping the side of her helmet as the retreating enemies were marked for the computers on-board the fighters to see. The fighter jets begun firing heavy ordinance at the retreating Rockians as another fighter sprung off of the wing, flying ahead of the Rockian's path to try and find where their means of transportation was.

Dillon on the otherhand powered down her armor perk as she entered the structure. The sound of gunfire and the Worm's roaring tuned out to a great extent, this building was very well sound-proofed. She could actually hear herself think now, the Trailblazer looking around the inside of the structure as she inspected the many terminals that were attached to the walls of the structures many large rooms. Statues of seemingly ancient and unknown aliens stood proudly in the centers of each room and it was clear that this facility had not been used in a very long time. Though there wasn't any hint of damage to the building itself, minus the effects of being neglected for so long, but even then this building had presumably held up a lot better than any human structure would have in this amount of time. Her AI; Teeza informing her that the structure had been inactive for around 1,029 years. Which got the woman thinking that if the Great War hadn't occured back on Earth then perhaps the old nations would have been able to make contact with these unknown aliens. Instead they'd wasted their chance, but that wasn't her concern right now. Interfacing with some of the alien terminals as she was greeted by what appeared to be an alien robot of sorts.

It quickly whizzed over to her and pulled a few tiny stands of her hair out, the Trailblazer reaching for her holster but holding off as the robot pulled away with no further hostile intent apparently. It made a strange noise, perhaps one of confirmation as it spoke to her for the first time. In English as well, English hadn't changed a great deal in the past millennia, Cascadian English at least and so she could understand it perfectly without the need of AI assistance. The alien terminals around her were soon written in English and she could understand all of what the structure had to offer. >"Civilization 22-A engaged in intersystems war with Civilization 23-A, 22-A is likely victor."< She read first, moving onto some of what appeared to be data logs. Reading the next update below it. >"Civilization 45-B colonizes first planet approximately 68 solar rotations after its first extraterrestrial landing."< She tapped on it, the hologram fading to reveal images of what appeared to be Mars. The first human colony, she'd read about it in history books before. Backing out of that log, she tapped on the one below it. >"Civilization 47-F succumbs to Civilization 2-A's territorial expansion."< And below that she saw an image of..Grenshu cruisers firing on a very alien city. Awe struck by just how much information these terminals contained, her AI immediately begun downloading everything the structure had to offer as she called into the Cleveland. />"Vice-Admiral, Colburn here. I'm sending you what I've retrieved from the signal's source."</ Before even waiting for a response, she hung up and let Teeza send the Fleet the files. Even given the speed of her AI, these was just so much information in this structure, it would take at least a minute or two, which by her standards was a damn long time. Though it gave her an excuse to continue going through the structure's inner workings, the Worm wasn't aware of her presence and unlike the Rockians she didn't need to scatter from the Eclipsian presence, she would have more freedom here. Meanwhile the Cascadian forces were picked up by their shuttles as they returned to the 12th, more fighter jets arrived in-atmosphere to support aerial operations against the Worm and to defend the convoy's extraction.
Space_Kaiser Fishman Lord
​

 

[Space_Kaiser]

CX-57 System, Unknown Planet, The Signal

The torrent of gunfire was enough to put Young into cover. As he put his back against the wall rifle in hand he saw the very quick running of Rockains leaving the structure. He fired a few shots at them landing a couple, but most had already exited by the time he fired his gun. "Major the Rockians are leaving the structure, have all troops engage them and keep the line tight. They have to have some kind of evacuation method, so keep the fighter pilots eyes open." He said relaying his suggestions. He looked over at Watts and saw her leaned against the wall injured covering her abdomen. He put his rifle on his back and walked over to her to administer aid. As he got to her another soldier came in and went towards the direction of the terminals, not noticing him. He shrugged it off and pulled out his nanofoam container and stuck the nozzle into her most wounded area and pressed the button, sending it nanites that would quickly null the pain and begin the repair and healing process long enough for medical personnel to get to her. He wanted to take her outside and get her to medical evacuation, but he could faintly hear the creature screeching and numerous gunfire hitting it. As he was about to make a mad dash towards the entrance with Watts's arm around his shoulder, Eclipsian Core soldiers rushed into the structure and met up with the two.

"You doing alright?" One of them asked. "I'm fine, but she needs medical treatment. I've already applied nanofoam to her injuries." One of the soldiers, seemingly the team leader, looked at the others and nodded before facing Young. "Alright we'll take her from here, but we want you to carry on our mission in return." The voice said behind the helmet. "What mission? I thought it was to find the Rockian fleet and commit casualties on them?" He asked confused. They laughed a little before the team leader looked at him. "Originally yeah, but after Cascadian and Rockian forces were seen to be interested in this structure Admiral Orion gave orders to Core troops to see what was special about this place. So we take her out of the battlefield and you complete the order." He said putting an object in his hand. "It's an information transfer device. This place could have measurable data, so Orion wants whatever is here." Young just looked down at the object in his hand before looking up seeing two of the three Core soldiers picking up Watts and beginning to head out. "Good luck OFT." The team leader said before walking out behind the rest of his team."

Young then clutched the device before putting it on his belt and jogged towards the terminal room. As he going down the hallways he saw statues and terminals that were from a civilization long forgotten and advanced. As he walked up to one of the terminals he saw the soldier he saw earlier. He walked up to the terminal before seeing a robot come out and quickly plucked a few of his exposed hairs through his helmet, somehow going through the helm before the nanites quickly regenerated the small hole i his helmet. He then looked at the terminal scanning the images and words on it. "Civilization 2-A has fully incorporated Civilization 1-C, form of union is created." Having information about interstellar space prior to the Battle of Earth is of immeasurable value. He put the device onto the terminal and it began to absorb data, with a screen appearing on his HUD stating data transfer will complete in three minutes. He looked at the other soldier slightly and made a small comment. "So take it to assume your Cascadian. Glad to have you guys on our side again." He said before looking back at the terminal reading all of the information once again. "Civilization 3-A restarts interstellar progression, outcome more optimistic."

In space scans and sonars found the Rockian Fleet; in the outer system of the star. Destiny Fleet couldn't get there in time to send a combat fleet, the operation would have been over. Instead they called for the nearest fleet, Innovation Fleet, to arrive at the set coordinates and to begin set operation. In the outer system a couple of minutes later Innovation Fleet jumped near the Rockian fleet. Following the order the three main ships fired their MAC rounds into the fleet and subsequently their higher powered missiles. After the initial volley was fired another weapon was fired that landed on the enemy Dreadnought without detection. Afterwards Innovation fleet, after half an hour of combat and losing a few corvettes, left the system.

On the ground heavy air and ground strikes hit the worm creature with everything they got. The Major, after hearing Young's message, saw the enemy and gave out an order. "Enemy sighted, begin firing at them and keep the worm at bay! All troops in encirclement position tighten positions and fired when non-Eclipsian or Cascadian forces approach your positions and fire everything you got. Turn up inhibitors, enemies are moving very fast. Aerial forces begin no-fly zone operations for non-allied fores and target any escape craft not belonging to Eclipsians or Cascadians. Encirclement troops report a breach as soon as they get past you and if you pin them down have others come to your position!" After the order an artillery barrage struck the worm and near where the Rockian forces were.
RIPSaidCone Fishman Lord

Tiberius and Eparia

On the colony of Tiberius a new orbital structure was being made, the Tiberius Orbital Shipyard, and construction materials were being flown in. The construction is estimated to take about a year. Meanwhile on Eparia the shipyard has commissioned the frigates and they are being reassigned. Corvettes are now being made and the Dreadnought is still underway.

 

[Fishman Lord]

CX-57
The Fleet team sprinted even faster as the Eclipsian and Cascadian forces began to fire upon them. SiXX and MikkOv2.0, two of the robotic members of the team, we're extremely efficient at killing, using their auto-aim and hypersensitive senses to take out many soldiers with millimeter precision. Unfortunately, several members had been hit, and all who couldn't keep moving had chosen to terminate themselves. The team continued to push onwards. They could mourn when they were safe.

As they reached the other side of a rocky hill, they found their two dropships. Half got into one while the other half entered the other. Liftoff began and soon the dropships were rocketing towards outer space. Sirius began to initiate neural contact with his teammates in the other ship, but only a moment after he tried agonizing pain ripped through his skull. After it had subsided after a second, he looked out the window to see that the other dropships had been blown to pieces by an Eclipsian missile. This made the continued ascent all the more tense as they pulled away from the ground. They eventually were far above the planet, and the dropships initiated FTL to reach the fleet beyond the Oort Cloud.

As the ship flew in, it was clear that the Eclipsians had arrived. Fortunately their fleet was much smaller than the Planlubbers and King Jakon's Avengers, but there was no reason to fight on. As the Eclipsians opened fire, the dropship docked at a carrier and the Stonan fleet disappeared into the aether of interstellar space. As was customary after battles, the fleets dispersed and stayed in small groups. They were all going far beyond the Frontier, to extremely deep space. Some would travel to deep space bases, far from any star, while others would travel to systems not even visited by the baseline empires yet, lost and mysterious to them. The mission was complete, with about 45% of the team dead and the fleet only sustaining minor damage from the volley fired by the Eclipsians.
Space_Kaiser RIPSaidCone

Ark-1, Radium
The Admiral was meeting with all the Ark Commanders except Sirius on the newly aqcuired treasure trove of info from the artifact. The simulation was of a great, grey, grassy plain, a simulation of old Patagonia. The Admiral spoke first. "My friends, this is a great day for the Stone Fleet. We have found information on a massive amount of civilizations in our galaxy, some great as Earthkind, some greater, some lesser. There is much to discuss." The commander of Ark-9, KOMMANDREN-671, moved forward to speak. It was a four-legged robot about the size of a horse, with a back-mounted turret and two frontal claw-arms for manipulation. It had been a soldier in the Stone Fleet robotic army until it had worked its way up to become a Fleet Commander until they had been awarded the honor of commanding Ark-9 when it was completed. It began to speak in a female voice. "We have located several civilizations that are especially interesting or promising, and we believe it may be time to initiate contact with them. The most promising is civilization '179-A', a civilization of sextipodal reptile analogues. At the time of their observation by the Hammerheads, the artifact builders, they were only in a classical era of civilization, but it's been over a thousand years since last update and so it is believed they will be in a roughly medieval-analogue era of development. They are in a system far beyond the Frontier and are unlikely to be focused on by any other Baseline empires due to more promising targets for them existing closer to their borders." The other Commanders all nodded or were clearly thinking. The Commander of Ark-2, Sacaña, the orange woman with ram horns, stepped forwards. "Perhaps we should take the society of these primitives over by force. They may resist but they would have absolutely no chance over even the weakest of Earthkind's civilizations, and being controlled by us will certainly be better for them in the long run." KOMMANDREN-671 quickly replied. "I agree that their civilization would vastly benefit from our control, but I do not believe invasion is necessary. The data indicates that they are much more non-spiritual and rational than Earthkind has been historically. Religion is much less prominent and what religions do exist are much like our own understanding of The Flow, not deifying their own species and being much less restricting and doctrinal. We believe contact would lead to some initial shock and tension, but that they would quickly accept all we retaught them of the natural world if they could verify it themselves. Integration would likely have issues and perhaps even rebellion, but invasion is not necessary." The Admiral listened, then commented. "I agree with the commander of 9, we shall not attempt invasion. Instead, Ark-9 will enter orbit of the planet in question and contact will be established. I trust you for this task, K-671. Do not let me down." With that the simulation was ended and Ark-9 and a small fleet began the journey to civilization 179-A.

 

[Kazami42]

REC ANASTASIA

The ship would continue through deep space. The captain in his quarters asleep, engineers space walking across the ship's hull to replace or re-bolt down plating, and even more engineers in the engine deck repairing it while it is disabled. Dimitri would have returned from repairing part of the engine, and would begin space walking to the communications array to repair it. "At least it is peaceful out here." Dimitri said to himself, taking a more upright stance since his suit was no longer weighing him down like it did in the ship. He was sent alone this time since the damage wasn't intensive, and thus he could be sent alone due to very few parts being affected. Upon walking across the "trench" leading between exterior/outside of the ship's bridge - communications array, he would stop and notice that one of the panels would be ripped open slightly. "That would explain the supposed hull breach." He would crouch down while carefully holding the panel and observe. After not seeing anything out of the ordinary, he would grab a large rifle-like object from his back and then place it on the panel and charge it. From the force of firing a massive longer-than-usual rivet, the panel eventually rested and more would be installed to seal it. However, it was far from perfect and would inform the engineering deck about it for later. Dimitri would then resume walking across the ship until eventually reaching the other side. The array itself and interior seemed fine with the interior still pressurized. There was however on the outside, another loosened panel that was easier to repair/seal.​

Meanwhile the Atrium bridge personnel would continue monitoring the ship, maintaining communications throughout the ship, and occasionally checking in with checkpoints. Since the ship was so massive, it required a sizable team to maintain at one time. Until one of the bored staff who controlled the ship's movement then noticed something. "What in the name of the goddess is that?" He asked himself before turning around. "Hey, Elena! you seeing this?" He asked her. "What?" She responded to him, confused. "There is something off to the distance there." He said while pointing. Afterwards, she would begin pressing the holographic screen in front her, looking for any sensors and/or cameras facing that direction. "It appears to be a planet... I am going to inform the captain." She then would try finding the communications tab in her jumbled mess of commands, and last time this happened she just got a high ranking officer to inform the captain directly for her. She however this time, would have cleared everything and would send a audio request to the captain's quarters. After waking the captain up and him accepting, he would rub his eyes and yawn. "Yes? what is it?" He would ask. "This is Atrium officer Elena, I am sorry to wake you but we have discovered an oddity." She would state. "An oddity? what do you mean?" He would wake up and walk to the restroom to brush his teeth. "We have discovered some form of rogue planet without a system or star, it appears frozen over but I cannot get anything else from that since some of the ship's functions have been temporarily disabled." She would conclude. "Alright, I will be there soon. Inform security that they may be required for exploration." ​

"Yes Captain." the officer replied before the audio feed would end.

Spoiler: Rogue Planet

[Would of had more detail, but I have to go.]

TITAN I

Construction would proceed. The mine shaft that had been collapsed earlier had been repaired, and mining operations would continue. Any family which continued a threat to sue would be dealt with in other ways, and finally offered money if all else failed. If the families persisted however, they would be hunted down and would "Disappear" within the week. Unlike that of the past, the REC learned from other corporation failures and wouldn't leave any evidence. Any living captured families would be sent off to work in the mines or remain in the colony's prison. Their existence would be slowly erased in the belief that people would forget, and this process would be over time so no suspicion is had. One of the miners who had survived would tell some of the other survivors, and thus would have to suffer the exact same fate.

ANDROMEDA PRIME

Research would commence, and more fuel for the laser systems would be gathered but kept at a safe distance away. The lasers would begin their testing at 50% power, the amount by this form of laser to begin cutting through lighter materials. Protective gear and suits would already be worn, along with protective eye-wear for those without helmets to help them. If this were to hit a normal human being, they would be..... Doomed. "Up the power...." To say the very least. It was then put up to 72% which could dig quickly into the patch of earth, but it would still take considerable time to actually get anywhere remotely deep. "Up the power again." it was then 100% which is 10% over the normal operational compacity. The laser already unstable. "One more time people!" The lead scientist would order again. It was put up to 105% before it became unstablized, and the mount malfunctioned. Turning it upwards and digging a hole through the wall into the sky, and leading up to a blackout. "Well.... Time to start again. Alright everyone, let's repair the test chamber and do this again."

UROSOVO

She sighed, but she would actually reply. Creating a forced cheerful tone. "Oh yes, yes! Why of course. I suppose we can agree on something... What do you propose?" Space_Kaiser
​

 

[Kent]

Empire of Viselia

The Construction of the cruisers, frigates and corvettes were finished. 2 carriers, 3 dreadnoughts, 10 frigates and 20 corvettes were additional added to the order. Estimated construction time for the ships are 2 years.

~Bezarius Fleet~

The entire fleet exited warp space and arrived near the planet. They were about to deploy their fighters and ground troops when the Emperor told them to stand down.
"Stand down." He ordered. "The eclipsians and cascadians already has control of the planet's ground, air and space."
"Sir, the rockians are escaping by a dropship. They are most likely to head to their fleet. Shall we pursue?" Said athena.
"No need. I wonder what they found below, I doubt that the rockians destroyed the source of Info. They are too.. hmm.. Let's say.. dumb, but I do commend their elusiveness. I hope the cascadians will share their newly acquired information. The fleet will return to base, this ship will make a stop at Lyria. Also ask the cascadians if they can share the information they got."
"As you wish, your majesty." Replied Athena.
RIPSaidCone

Lyrias
Wip


​

 

[Fishman Lord]

Neu Mowee
After a few weeks in FTL, Ark-9 and its small escort had arrived in the system containing civilization 179-A. It had been dubbed Neu Mowee. Most of the system was fairly standard, with three Gas Giants and two terrestrials, a Selena and a Titan farther out. 179-A was located on a moon of the innermost planet. It was approximately the size of Mars and was a fairly standard Terra. It had a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere similar to Earth's, with slightly higher oxygen and CO2 levels, making it slightly uncomfortable for a baseline but still survivable over a long period of time. Oceans covered approximately 65% of the surface, and there were three main continents. The largest stretched from the North to the South Pole and completely cut through the ocean. The second largest was a large island to the southwest, being mostly tundra and Antarctic terrain. The final continent was actually more akin to a massive island chain, like Indonesia but larger. It was located on the equator and was more diverse than the rest of the landmasses combined despite being smaller than the other continents. This world had the typically alien fauna and flora of natural type-1 worlds. Instead of the standard quadrupedal model found on Earth, the standard body plan her was sextipedal. Mammal analogues and bird analogies were absent, with reptile analogues and an entirely unique group of almost squid-like land and air creatures taking their place. One of these reptile analogies had become sufficiently advanced to form 179-A. This civilization had been born on the island continent, originally as fishermen and semi-nomadic sea plant harvesters. Eventually they had started to permanently settle down and farm their sea plants in coastal villages. City-states and then empires began to take shape and the species began to advance. Up until this point the species had been limited to the island-continent, but with the advent of civilization and better shipbuilding many began exploring the far-flung islands that belonged to no continent and set up colonies. These new island colonies would eventually grow into the Far Empires, who began to grow more powerful than the empires that founded them. Soon, the far-flung islands became more prominent than the homeland of the island continent and were the Romes and Chinas of this planet. The Far Empires colonized the other two continents and now the entire planet was covered in small nations of six-legged lizards. Eventually, a coalition of city-states and empires from the home islands declared war on the Far Empires and brought them back under de jure control of the home, although in reality the homeland wasn't able to govern these far-flung isles and their war had caused them to lose contact with the other two continents, bringing a dark age.

Ark-9 had arrived at the tail end of this dark age, when ships were making rare contacts with the other continents every decade or so and technology had begun to advance again. Because they were less spiritual than humanity, they already knew that they were not the center of the universe, that they orbited another world which in turn orbited the sun, that there were other planets, and while they weren't sure it was believed by most that the stars were in fact other suns, maybe even with their own planets. They had begun theorizing about the makeup of the universe, and they had developed a fantastical and largely inaccurate version of Atomic Theory. This would be a good time for contact, as the race had just begun to speculate about aliens, although their speculations were more fantasy than science.

Observations showed that the lizards had already detected the flying light in the sky that was Ark-9 and were speculating on it. It moved wrong to be a planet, and they understood that it was orbiting their world. Many saw it as an omen, but overall it was baffling the people of this world. Contact would be initiated soon.

Spoiler: The Aliens

R&D
An updated corvette design with an enhanced AI and better weaponry was being researched. Its AI would aid immensely in battle, doing much of the aiming and and maneuvering, and would be at about the same level of sentience as a baseline dog. The weapons would include an enhanced railgun and a laser more suited to cutting through larger hulls. Also in developement was the Al3xis robotic soldier, a quadraped much like the KOMMANDREN series with better manipulators that could hold another weapon and an enhanced back turret and aiming system.

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Espial, CX-57 System
Unchartered Space

After the cowardly Rockians had fled both the planet and the system, additional Cascadian reserve forces had arrived to support ground operations, the majority of these reinforcements were transport vessels guarded by a squadron of frigates. The newly arrived Cascadians were under orders from NAVCOM to set up a base of operations on the planet, which had now been oficially named by the Department of Colonial Affairs. Espial was the name of the planet and it was to be designated as a POI or planet of interest for the Federal Cascadian Republic, something which would make it a new target for expansion, despite it being a Class-2 the planet was seen as a potentially profitable source of mining given its rocky composition and with the new knowledge of ancient alien structures found on the planet, that made it even more of a luring target. However the Marine Corps would be deployed first in-order to ensure that the planet is safe for further development, the overall plan for Espial hadn't been figured out yet however a small research colony was to be set up, no advanced urbanization or colonial development would be invested however as the DCA had other planets and systems in mind. The 12th Fleet was to redeploy to other regions of Unchartered Space whilst the newly formed 14th Fleet, albeit still small was to orbit the planet and provide security whilst a Orbital Defense Grid was set up by the Navy's engineers.

The skies of Espial were soon filled with Cascadian spacecraft landing down towards the rocky surface below. Carrying the materials needed for prefab structures and utilities needed for the construction of bases and housing for the marines and scientists who would soon be arriving on the planet in large numbers. The Joint Commanders had agreed to set the number of troops allowed on Espial to 120,000 at any one time with room to increase, however those troops wouldn't arrive until much later. Heavy armor and air support were the first marine reinforcements to arrive on-world to take out the Worm guarding the ancient facility, which was now being known as the Pylon. It had taken around four hours of constant bombardment to take the Worm down, but it had eventually gone down, its large corpse now laying on the side of a mountain. Cascadian teams were already surrounding the Worm's body to begin immediate study of it and it was clear from the influx of manpower and resources that the FCR was very keen on taking control of the situation. They had already allowed the Rockians to get there first, they would make sure to get as much benefit from this planet as they could. The Trailblazer had mapped out the interior of the facility as best she could for the newly arrived marines and departed for the 12th Fleet again as it made its way out of the system, en-route to a classified location.

On the surface, marines busied to and from where they were working. Setting up barriers and automated defenses around both the Worm's corpse and the Pylon facility. A large number of Mira 88 vehicles and M3A7 Washington tanks had been deployed to guard the facilities. Meanwhile the first research teams landed on the planet to begin their work, the Department of Military Research and Innovation had been put in-charge of all research and development based around the aliens and their facilities and knowledge. And to better organize their work around the aliens, a new division was set up by the Director of the DMIAR. This new division was to be named the Pax Initiative, named after the Roman goddess of peace, it was to be led by one Dr. Richard Wao, one of Cascadia's most famous and decorated scientists, with PhD's in more subjects than one could count with both hands, he was an older man that came from a very long lasting family, tracing his roots back to an Asian-American family before the Great War even happened.

The 12th Fleet and more specifically the CSN Cleveland was to act as the base of operations for the Pax Initiative. With the Pax Initiative itself being filled with many great scientists of varying professions in the field alongside military officers and of course Trailblazer Dillon Colburn, her and Dr. Wao will be the two leading members of the Initiative, with Dillon running military and explorational affairs and Wao handling the research and development side. From the discussions within NAVCOM and the Joint-Commanders office, the Pax Initiative would be getting a large amount of funding due to the interest the President has expressed in learning more about these ancient aliens and their technology, along with what they know about the Milky Way which Humanity doesn't.

Kerr Shipbuilding Yards
Iara Prime

Meanwhile in the orbit of the bustling world of Iara Prime, the CSN Thorn Plateau along with its new companions, the CSN Tuseera, the CSN Turnbridge and the CSN Orange were all launched from the Kerr Shipbuilding Yards by Admiral Tanning of Central Systems Command that is also located on the planet. These ships will be accompanied by new arrivals of 10 Frigates and 15 Corvettes which will all become part of the 14th Fleet. A new fleet that is intended to fill the gaps where other fleets could not. Alongside this, there is still an additional two dreadnoughts and eight cruisers to be constructed, with the Department of Naval Warfare putting forward a request for funding from Congress to construct an additional three dreadnoughts, ten cruisers, twenty frigates and twenty five corvettes. Given the currently increasing tensions within the Cluster and increased Rockian activity.

Spoiler: Dr. Richard Wao

 

[Space_Kaiser]

CX-57 System, Planet: Espial

After it was said and done with the fight with the creature ended after Cascadian bombing runs and Eclipsians heavy tank rounds penetrated its defenses and fell to the sheer firepower. It was miraculous that nobody was killed during the fight, although a few were injured. Ground combat operations ended when Cascadian forces moved in to secure the area and their original fleet left system. This didn't matter to the Eclipsians as they had completed all of their objectives, making Operation Landfall a resounding success. Only three of the twenty OFT were injured and no Core soldiers were harmed at all. After the quick mop up of equipment and Eclipsian soldiers taking small samples of the worm back to the FENS Event Horizon. As the pilots and soldiers returned to the Stalwart and other ships Destiny Fleet returned back to patrolling stance. Admiral Orion however sent five soldiers back to Eclipsim, including Young, based on their actions in the fight.

While near Tiberius, looking at the immense construction project going on just above the planet, Young saw the FENS Artemis from the Sol Fleet jump into system. As he was gathering his things he felt a hard jolt slap across his back. He turned around and saw Watts giving a slight smirk at him. He sighed and picked up his helmet and stood up fully. "I heard what you did down there. Didn't think you had it in you." She said as they began to walk towards their shuttle in the hanger below them. "We're soldiers, when it comes to combat it should be expected of us to be serious. Plus i didn't do much at all, i mean i let the enemy commander get away and let my teammate get injured. Not exactly medal worthy." Young said lowering his eyelids, mostly out of lack of sleep with a yawn to couple. "Yeah but you brought something valuable and you followed injury protocol like a pro so that shouldn't bother you at all. Also get some sleep man, when we get the Artemis you need to get some sleep. It'll be a few hours before we get to Earth." Watts said slightly moving her eyes towards him. Young only mouthed off 'okay' as he was yawning when they got into the shuttle with the other three soldiers.
RIPSaidCone

Eparia

The Dreadnought was nearing completion as the Frigates were sent out and the Corvettes were easily being made. However the slow building of the dreadnought brought criticism from the military, stating that previous models have been completed well before this time. Elsewhere shipyards across the Eclipsian colonies were now making ships as well.

Helios Communications Center

"An all encompassing trade with the Russian Empire and the trade of minor military materials." The officer said to the other end.
Kazami42

 

[Kazami42]

REC ANASTASIA:
A group of 20 would have been gathered on a small shuttle to explore the unknown frozen planet. Some who were sent to the mission were the operatives besides Harper, Heather, And Dimitri. After taking the tram towards the flight deck, and then walking the majority of the way and utilizing elevators to get to the top, they would be given advanced suits for planetary survival which should last a few hours. The small shuttle would have enough room for 20 people, and there would be a balance of military personnel and science personnel. The shuttle would also have a single front mounted turret for removing asteroids too close to it. However there was not any around anymore, or at least visible that could be a threat. The built in communications system would be turned on, and the a system check would begin. "ADS system online... Oxygen at maximum... Hull integrity 100%... Sending out transponder code." Since everything had been prepared beforehand, not much else was necessary. The shuttle would begin a launching cycle, before exiting one of the many ship bays into space to the unknown planet.

UROSOVO:
"That sounds fine, was there anything else?" She asked.
Space_Kaiser ​

 

[Fishman Lord]

Neu Mowee
The time had finally come to contact the civilization. Research showed that the largest cultural group called their own species "Kax'lanan" and so the Stone Fleet had adopted this name as well. The Kax'lanan were becoming suspicious of the new light in the sky that was Ark-9, and so KOMMANDREN-671 had ordered contact procedure to begin. Over the course of two weeks teams consisting of humanoid tweaks and KOMMANDREN bots opened contact across all the great cities of the moon. Being a logical race, the Kax'lanan overwhelmingly accepted this change, although there was still widespread confusion and even chaos. The contact dropships quickly established a new government led by the scholars, with a particularly bright astronomer, K'noru, being named leader of the new Kax'lanan state. They were allowed access to only limited technology for the moment, mainly global communications tech and transportation, while order would be kept by the troops from the Stone Fleet. Recognizing that even among a logical race many would not want to be part of this new state, the southern continent would be established as a preserve where isolationists and traditionists coujld continue to allow their civilization to progress on its own. Once the global state was consolidated and loyalty was ensured, further plans of granting the Kax'lanan spaceflight would be put into action and a client state of the Stone Fleet would be created.

The Frontier
Raids continued as they always had along the Frontier. Cascadian cargo freighters and minor space stations were taken out, as were Eclipsian ones. The perfected hit and run techniques allowed the Stone Fleet to continue to strike fear into the Frontier. Loot was transported to distant systems to be used as building material, for research, or for consumer purposes. The Raiders of the Fleet brought glory to their Admiral once more.
RIPSaidCone Space_Kaiser

Ark-1, Radium
Sirius had finally returned from his journey and had quickly organized a meeting with The Admiral. This simulation was of the ancient Rock Palace, in the long-gone great city of Radium Hot Springs. The two sat at opposite ends of a table, reviewing data. The Admiral began to speak.
"You have done well, Sirius. I was correct in naming you my successor."
"I lost men and women."
"They knew the risks and they sacrificed themselves for the Fleet."
"Very well."
"This data is invaluable. Thousands of civilizations, though many already collapsed or out of our reach. This is the time for Earthkind to make its place in the galactic community. Our efforts with the Kax'lanan are already proving successful."
"Their species' state shall act as a good ally and subject to the Fleet."
"Indeed. However, we must be wary. The vast majority will not be as logical and accepting as them, and the other Empires will also see opportunity in the other civilizations. We must quickly work to gain friends and allies in the interstellar community, especially among the other spacefaring kinds. There are some indications in the data that many understand that clinging to a baseline is pointless and limits a civilization, and so much like us are filled with hundreds and thousands of diverse engineered and artificial species and races. These are the ones we should try to work with first when taking our place in the galactic community."
"The future is bright."
"I believe so too. We won't let baseline clingers drag down the destiny of Earthkind."

 

[Space_Kaiser]

Eclipsian Military High Command, Overly, Tiberius

With Rockian raids picking up all across the frontier, an order was given out to all stations and the sort across the Eclipsian frontier: All nonessential and civilian stations and trade routes are to abandon frontier operations and come closer to the inner systems within the military's full protection range that allows response within minutes and easier patrol stances for our fleets. All military stations are to remain on the frontier with bolstered guard and are now to be equipped with more advanced communication systems to allow rapid response for our fleets. All military fleets are to be put on Alert Two when approaching the frontier, Alert One when within the outer frontier. ~ High General Epsilon
Fishman Lord

Unknown Research Station, Vuter

After receiving the data from the alien pylon, it has been determined that at one point at least the entire galaxy was filled to the brim with intelligent species. While always speculated and commonly thought due to the Grenshu War, Drakes Equation has now been officially confirmed and proven being renamed the Drake Method. However researchers of the data do say that this information is over a thousand years old back when the old world fell so take this information in the present with a grain of salt. None the less military analysis believes there are some species still alive and present. However human space is surrounded by Za'ha'kya territory, and those with interest checks are within that territory. As such the military has narrowed down to two targets lying on the fringes of human space, well far out beyond the frontier but just within the territory set in the Treaty of Horrensus. As such Sol Fleet and Destiny Fleet are sent to the coordinates of the targeted system, with Sentinel and Onyx Fleets on standby if things go south. This will be the furthest out any civilized nation has gone out to, making a hallmark in human history.
Fishman Lord

Eclipsim, Eclipsian Federation, Earth

The repair of the Ark schematic was completed. It was astonishing, giant landscapes similar to those in Earth were inside and a surprising defense network to stall of enemies while in retreats. However what the military found most astonishing was that the schematic detailed where the Ark was made. While it is long gone, the construction facility had to be there still. With two edges against the Rockians the EFAF shared it's findings with their Casadian counterparts. Meanwhile President Arthur wishes to schedule a meeting with the leader of the Order Empire in Athens to discuss rebuilding of relations, reforming of alliance, and a trade deal across the cluster.
RIPSaidCone Clockwork_Magic

 

[Kazami42]

REC ANASTASIA

The shuttle would begin nearing the planet, the Anastasia having already scanned the rogue planet prior. The planet was frozen over, with what is suggested to be weaker atmosphere. It was essentially a frozen rock which contained mountains, Valleys, and Various forms of strange very deep chasms and sinkholes throughout the planet. All of it being frozen over. Despite the weaker atmosphere, the planet had its own form of snow. Which is primarily hail. There was also not enough oxygen for a human to breathe, if they so wished to try. However nothing has proven the use of suits being rendered useless. It was unexpected to find a planet here but since they were out to mine for resources, they would attempt to benefit from the planet if it were discovered to have any high quality minerals. If not, the discovery would be recorded and they would continue on. It wasn't given much thought, but some of the massive holes within the planet do not look natural. It would temporarily be marked off as some natural disaster, which may of happened over time.

The shuttle would then be landing on the surface of the planet, in a more "safe" location 5 miles away from one of the planet's holes. Even with the armor for the shuttle, it was having a slightly difficult time under the planet's conditions. Upon landing they wouldn't leave the ship yet, but instead would begin analyzing what they could from within. Primarily the temperature, gravity, what is in the atmosphere, and any possible issues which may require changes to gear or use of unmanned vehicle observation.​

 

[RIPSaidCone]

Prido, Eos
Dentari's Den

Prido, the pride and joy of the desert world known as Eos. A bustling Cascadian colony located in the Inner Systems, known for being a widely popular spring break spot for the youth of the Cluster due to its laws on recreational substances being more laid back and the age limits on certain things being lower than they would be on most other planets. Not to mention its reputation for being the Las Vegas of colony worlds. Prido itself was a large metropolis located near one of the planet's largest oasis' with many beautiful beaches, better known for its high density of nightclubs and its Kessa District, which was one of the largest entertainment districts in the Cluster. Dentari's Den was one of the many clubs within that district, located high up in one of the city's many tall skyscrapers it was an Open-Build which was Cascadian slang for any form of establishment that had no wall or windows seperating them from the outside, in simpler terms one half of the Club was essentially a balcony with a view out to the rest of the city. Skycars zooming past back and forth, as the booming electronic music blasted out throughout the club, the patrons all engaged in some form of drinking or conversation as erotic dancers provided a more visual form of entertainment. The Den's patrons were made up mostly of enthusiastic young tourists out on their first real holiday with friends, some locals were also around, usually consisting of dock workers and the crewmen of ships that were unloading goods or recieving repairs in Prido's well esteemed Shipyards.

However one of the patrons was rather out of place, an older looking man in an unbuttoned suit was laid back in his plushy sofa. Having reserved the area to himself as he recieved another drink from one of the staff, letting out a relieved sigh as he drank the purple liquid from the glass. A somewhat relaxed expression across his features as he went for another sip of his drink, stopping however as two more suited men approached him. They looked far more stern and professional than he did at the moment, "Sir, we've been sent to pick you up. The Chief of Staff requests your presence." One of the suited men said, the man sat down on the sofa being none other than Thomas Ranch, the Director of Explorational Affairs, one of the members of the Board of Discovery in the DMIAR and a cluster-renowned scholar on xenobiology. He was an Eos-native and this was supposed to have been a day off for him but apparently the Cluster had other plans. Thomas looking up at the two men as he replied, "Surely Douglas could have just called me, what's the need in this?" He asked, one of the men responding quickly. "The President wants to keep this under wraps for as long as possible, this cannot be on record until he feels comfortable with releasing this information to Congress and the public." That was a valid point, Cascadian governmental affairs were typically done via holographic calls to simulate actually being in one another's presences however those calls were put on official record in-case any of the Congressional committee's required them for investigations into possible corruption. So when things needed to be kept quiet, interactions were done the old-fashioned way.

"This must be important, very well." Director Ranch said, getting up from his sofa and buttoning up his suit jacket as the two other suited men escorted him from Dendari's Den, the formal looking group gaining a few curious looks from the attending patrons. Stepping onto one of the landing pads outside of the Den, Ranch was led into a fully black Aircar with tinted windows, the two men following him inside as the doors closed over and the vehicle lifted up into the air and shot off upwards towards the sky. Inside the vehicle was the Chief of Staff himself, Douglas Anke. "Evening, Thomas." He greeted, too casual for the presumed circumstances under which they were meeting. "To you as well, Douglas. Might I ask why I've been pulled from my day off?" He questioned with a raised brow, Doug nodding. "Trailblazer Colburn discovered something on Espial as you already know. We've recieved the full, detailed contents of her findings and they're..either concerning or exciting based on your point of view." He said, handing over actual paper documents to the Director who looked down at them in awe. "Paper? How serious is this, Doug?" He asked, opening the documents up. "Serious enough that the President is taking this much caution in who knows about this. He didn't want the spooks to find out until he told them, thus why we're using paper." Thomas nodded, reading over the documents as his eyes gradually widened.

"Other alien life? Real civilizations that aren't the ones we already know of?" He questioned, almost in disbelief to the other man sitting across from him. Douglas nodded simply in response, "A large number of them it appears, however some of them have collapsed or wipe each other out. There's still a large portion of them left from what we can tell, Trailblazer Colburn's AI was able to translate most of the language on-site however its so foreign to what we know that there's still some gaps in it. We have a joint AI-Human research team working on it right now from what we've found on Espial." The Director took on a smile as he handed the document back. "This is fantastic, the benefits we could reap from this discovery. Who else knows about this?" He asked, Doug replying. "You, myself, the President, the Joint Commanders, Richard Wao, Trailblazer Colburn, the Vice-Admiral of the 12th Fleet, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Science, the Director of the DMIAR and a handful of scientists from the Everest Institute of Xenostudies. A few high-ranking Eclipsians know about it as well, the Scavengers also found out about it but we're not sure how they're handling it." Director Ranch hummed in confirmation before responding, "And where am I being taken?" "The President has called for an advisory council to assemble in Portland until he declares the discovery to Congress and the Senate, then you'll be free to return to Eos and we'll contact you via hologram."

Unchartered Space
CSN Cleveland, 12th Fleet
Pax Initiative Mobile Command

"Ms. Colburn, thank goodness you've arrived." The well-mannered older gentleman greeted Dillon with as she stepped into the labratory belonging to before-mentioned man. Of course it was Dr. Wao, who was in his trademark labcoat as he obsessed over whatever was on his computer monitor, gesturing for Dillon to come over as she asked, "What'd you call me over for?" The Doctor usually didn't meet with people in person unless he deemed it important enough or exciting enough to warrant it, he prefered just sending people whatever he found so that he could carry on with his work. "Something that I think you'll find very, very exciting." He replied with a genuine note of giddiness in his tone. The Trailblazer stepped over next to the man and his equipment, looking to the screen as all she saw were a bunch of dots with one dot connecting to another dot, "What am I supposed to be looking at?" She questioned, the man tapping the smooth keyless keyboard as the 2D features on the screen zoomed out and into the real world in a 3D holographic form, and now Dillon could see what he meant. Those dots were planets, and the one connected to the other one appeared to be a planet she'd never seen before and Espial, the map was incredibly detailed, especially for something in unchartered space. "Your AI assisted me in transferring all the coordinates from the data you recovered on Espial into a coherent map, I combined that with the information we already have on these locations from our probes and here we are but that isn't even the best part, Ms. Colburn. I discovered a feedback loop in the Pylon facility when I was down on the planet, at first I merely thought it was the facility's systems glitching due to how old they were but then I looked into it a little more and found out that the source wasn't from Espial, it was from one of these planets. Which is why I brought you over, I need you and a team of your best marines to head to the planet as soon as we arrive. I've already told the Vice-Admiral about the importance of my theory and he has set a course for the planet."

"You told the Vice-Admiral before me? That's not in Initiative protocol, Doctor I'm sure you're aware of that?" The Doctor nodded, maintaining his happy expression. "Of course and I apologise for not letting you know sooner but I needed us on a course to that planet immediately. I cannot wait to see what we find there." Dillon sighed but shrugged. "Alright, I see your reasoning for it and I'll get a team gathered up and be ready to head down planetside the moment we get there, sound good?" She questioned, Wao nodding quickly. "Better than good, Trailblazer. I knew you were a good choice for this mission, I believe we're merely on the doorstep of something magnificent, and I for one cannot wait to discover what else these aliens have to offer us." Dillon could see his excitement and smiled herself, "Your positivity is infectious, Doctor. I'll leave you to your work, let me know if you find anything else." Wao nodded, immediately turning round to his desk again as he began messing with some holographic charts and various other things that Dillon couldn't be bothered explaining as she left the labratory. Heading back to her dorm elsewhere in the Cleveland, which was now the mobile command of the Pax Initiative.

Portland, Inner Cascadia
Earth

Back on Earth, the House Leader had called for a surprise holographic session of Congress. In what soon turned out to be a hearing on behalf of the Counter-Piracy Subcommittee to garner more funding towards anti-Rockian naval operations, in response to the sudden attacks from the pirates known as the Rockians the Conservative-Republicans had used their position as a majority in the Congressional Defense Committee to have a surprise hearing on behalf of the C-PS to not only secure more funding for anti-Rockian operations but to secure more funding for the military over all. President Dayton had been pushing for increased defense spending lately and now with the Rockians attacking out of the blue, his party was playing this to their advantage in-order to antagonise their counterparts on the other side as being too spineless to give a proper response to such terrorism and degeneracy. Which so far had been working, the polls were showing improvements on multiple colony worlds where they had once been falling behind and public consensus was growing increasingly in favor of a large spending increase towards defense in light of the new attacks.

The surprise hearing had recieved major backlash from the left, with critics of the Dayton Administration and his party overall claiming that they were taking advantage of the deaths of innocents, of course their response to was to deny all of this immediately and spit out some accusations in return. When it came to sessions of Congress, they were mostly done via Holographic Sessions, with a dedicated server to them recreating the Senate Building in Portland where these digital sessions would take place like they would in real life, except now congressmen and women could remain in their constituencies whilst interacting with the rest of the government, allowing for a greater range of political agility. The physical Senate building itself had been turned mostly into a museum and historical site for tourism. This Hearing in-particular had lasted for a good few hours and had ended with what most considered a victory on behalf of the military, the Democrats had agreed to a bipartisan effort to increase funding towards anti-piracy operations in the Frontier and a new bill was passed stating that all civilian business in the Frontier would only be allowed if the corporation engaging in the business hired private security to guard against piracy attacks. All other business would remain in the Inner Systems unless authorized otherwise.

At the Pentagon, the DMIAR had assigned one of it's research divisions to begin looking into the findings they were sent by the Eclipsians on the Rockian schematics with the plan being to recreate the design as best as possible, two AI's had been dispatched by the Department to assist on the digital side of it. Meanwhile the Navy has begun expanding the DSO's of its fleets in the Inner Systems, giving them a greater area of patrol in-order to best protect Cascadian shipping and space stations, the Gypsy Defense Act that was passed in Congress has given the Navy a relatively small grant of money to begin fitting in defense systems to many of the larger civilian space stations and shipping vessels so that they may protect themselves when necessary. President Dayton has also announced that he is looking into options of additional grant giving to civilian businesses for the purposes of better engines, to allow them better chances of escape in the event of attempted piracy. This has recieved positive feedback from the majority of the public, with the only reservations on it being proposed cost.​

 

[Fishman Lord]

Neu Mowee
The Kax'lanan government had now stabilized, and the moon was now fully unified. Even after only a couple of months, the Kax'lanan were beginning to experiment with the genetic engineering tech provided to them by the Rockians, and new forms were beginning to appear. They adored the fully immersive virtual reality that they were given, and new media began to spring up. They were beginning rapid urbanization, and currently the cities were a bizarre yet strangely beautiful combination of medieval stone huts and towering skyscrapers under construction. Overall, the new Kax'lanan directorate was thriving, and extremely pro-Rockian. They had been granted a huge amount of manufacturing and industrial tech, and had begun building the beginnings of a spacefleet. They had established colonies on the other moons of their gas giant as well. The Fleet was trying to keep a low presence, so that if any other empires reached the system they would reach a pro-Stone Fleet alien nation, willing to conduct diplomacy but still loyal to their uplifters.

The Frontier
With Eclipsians retreating most corporate and private ships from the Frontier, the Eclipsian Frontier worlds would soon enter an economic downturn. Economic downturn led to need, need led to desperation, desperation leads to desperate measures. During times of economic recession the Fleet would often get a large influx of immigrants from the Inner Empires, looking to share in the fortune that comes with piracy. Other pirate fleets existed, but none were even close to the strength and power of the Stone Fleet, and so most opted to join the Rockians. If the Eclipsians could be forced to keep private ships away from the Frontier long enough, people might start defecting, and if they let the ships go where they pleased, they would be giving the Fleet good targets. It was a classic strategy of the Fleet and almost always brought them something good.
Space_Kaiser

Outer Facilities
Far beyond the Frontier, Ark-11, Patagonia, had reached completion. The massive habitat ship launched outwards to explore uncharted systems and perhaps investigate more of the newly discovered civilizations of aliens species.