Imperium Galactica - Book One


St. Klarivov's Cathedral


Chapel of the Redeemed


Ferraria, Kefalonia Prime


 


"Forgotten man, of lowly birth


Holy scribe of untold worth


Going forth to spread the word


Of a god with no end to love


Praise the scribe who saved our souls!


Praise the god who saw us here


Angelic hosts above the mortal rift


We are saved, from death's cold grip!"


Heads bowed, low voices muttering unheard prayers as the choir sang its strain to the accompaniment of a large, organ-like wind instrument that sounded sort of like a lower pitched clarinet.


As the man in the long coat entered the chapel, nobody turned to look at him, not even the priest who stood on the forward platform beside the choir. He glanced habitually at the high-vaulted ceilings and large pillars of the chapel before sitting down in one of the thousand-year-old stone pews next to a man in a navy blue uniform with his head bowed. The music continued as the man in the long coat spoke.


"We've been tracking the Object." He grunted.


"The one I pointed out last week?"


"Yes," the man in the coat muttered, "Sasarov, the attack at Tharvalos was traced to it. There's definitely a connection there."


Captain Enklar Sasarov, coughing into the back of his hand, glanced over at the unknown government agent in the tan overcoat and scoffed. "I told those intelligence goons."


"Now is not the time for gloating." The agent said definitively. "Whatever that thing is, we believe it---"


The priest began to speak and cut the agent off. He bowed his own head alongside Sasarov as the priest delivered the Renouncements. It was a string of ritual pronouncements of abstention from sin.


"Do you renounce the evils of a godless universe?"


"I do renounce them." Said everyone in unison, including Sasarov and the agent.


"Do you renounce the ill treatment of your fleshly shells, which have been granted you by divine grace?"


"I do renounce them."


"Do you renounce the evils of violence and aggression?"


"I do renounce them."


"Do you renounce the demon of avarice?"


"I do renounce it."


The Renouncement fell back into a sermon, and they continued their conversation.


"We believe," said the agent, "the object posses an existential threat to the Kingdom. The Tellians are already amassing a fleet of warships."


"How large?"


"Large enough to ruin our navy, that's for sure."


"Will it do any good?"


The agent sighed. "We don't know. We don't know if a full-on frontal attack will work. We don't know anything, really."


"This is where I come in, right?"


"Precisely." The agent wiped a runny nose on his sleeve, then made a face and brushed it off. "Listen, we think it's in our best interest to let the Tellians attack the thing. At the very least, they'll lose enough vessels to make us the primary military power and that will be a very good thing."


"But?"


"But if they fail, if their whole fleet is destroyed, we must have a plan to combat the thing."


Sasarov cracked his knuckles. "I'm on it."
 

Laboratory No. 3


Gatekeeper's Residence


Sispo Landing Base


The Harmonious Convergence


 


In a protected structure that doubled as laboratory and housing, though the two often overlapped, Gatekeeper Heffi floated in a a pod. The pod, complete with whalebone housing and a gelatinous blob of water where he rested, tendons reaching out to the communication system created for colonies. He was checking the calibration on the Observer Four when he noticed an aberration. Swooshing across to the control panel, he opened up the starmap in greater detail.


On the screen, heading towards the center of the galaxy and a massive starfleet was a massive planet. He studied it's properties for a bit, suspecting a rogue planet at first, but he quickly changed his mind and sent a message.


The Brain


Cevlulay


The Harmonious Convergence


 


Deep under the surface of the planet, along the seabed, sat a massive blood-red orb. Pulsing constantly, it sent and recieved information creeping along millions of nerves across the entire planet. Above the orb, floating lazily were three Veselyas. Appearing innocuous at first, no more than colourful seaweed (albeit almost three meters across), they were the greatest minds in the Convergence - the Keepers. Glasa, the Keeper of Relations, groaned and sent twitches across his arms in annoyance, his eye blinking purposefully. 


"Is it my turn already?"


Bisu, the Keeper of Administration, glanced at him sidelong, but held his silence.


Swirling around, Phema, the Keeper of Military, piped up, "The Convergence thinks we should go investigate. I think it's a good opportunity for me to test the Aetherstrike out in a real situation."
 


Gleefully, Glasa settled back to crawling on the orb, various tentacles reaching out to start new connections. Bisu turned to Phema, "I think you should go too. This seems like a matter of the military."


"I'll be taking a few frigates with me. The dreadnoughts are still returning from the exercise in Sispo."


"Okay. Do us proud."


Phema turned around, his last attached tentacle shooting off a quick message to Heffi as he left.


How many ships?


He paused as a response came back, almost immediately.


It's not just the Tellans. The Kefalonians are mobilizing too.


"Glasa, get the necessary permissions." Phema floated off towards her residential complex.


Glasa grunted in acknowledgement, before turning back to the network. He started sending,


High Lord Ulick' Thar,


Heartfelt greetings from the Harmonious Convergence. One of our Gatekeepers recently happened to notice an aberration in the galaxy, specifically moving towards the core. The moment we noticed it, we were immediately curious as to the nature of the anomaly.


The anomaly falls within your territory, and we also notice there have been mobilizations of the starfleet. We request permission to send our Capital class vessel Aetherstrike, accompanied by four frigates - by any measure a light research party to the anomaly and study it. Of course, we will be glad to share our research with you.


Glasa,


Keeper of Relations


The Harmonious Convergence


@ArisenMoon
 

The Construct


 


Approaching the Border of the Hermes Corporate State


 


"Overseer..."


"Yes?" M did not turn from the monitor screen, the holographic rendering of the Milky Way in real time complete with fleets and trade networks of the various principalities therein.


"We approach the border of the 'Hermes Corporate State'. Their military is assembled to oppose us at several strategic positions. We only have 12,000 vessels at our command, Overseer, the metals our scouts brought back were only sufficient for a paltry dozen light craft."


"Noted, the Matrix will have to assist in this battle. Prime our engines to fire."


All along the Construction Matrix, small thrusters fired, changing coarse and direction... The main propulsion system, a gravity impulse drive, warmed up and fired off a stream of gravitons to propel the Matrix into a hyperspace corridor. It disappeared in a flash of red light...


Hermes Corporate Fleet Rallying Point


Somewhere in Hermes Corporate Space


 


The fleet was being assembled to defend against the Construct, the call to war tentatively sent out. The Hermes, like most governments around the galaxy, were priming to defend their territory from a yet unknown invader. The fleet was gathering, not poised to strike but on the alert.


The Construct had disappeared from scanners a few hours ago, and had thoroughly divided analysts around the galaxy. Some insisted the anomaly had been some sort of gravitational mirage. Others still thought perhaps the goliath machine had some sort of untraceable hyperdrive.


A blinding flash of light heralded the arrival of the Matrix, the monstrosity itself, that could throw a solar system into complete disarray due to its own mass. The border system was a simple one with only a few terrestrial planets, and the Matrix settled into a comfortable orbit around the home star roughly three AUs away from the amassing Hermes fleet, easily studied with telescopes as it used it's graviton distorters to settle into a stable orbit that would not jeapordize the stability of the system, presumably to avoid the Matrix being forcibly jettisoned by the much more massive star.


Easily studied with telescopes, the Matrix looked like a series of disjointed construction scaffolding. A long, central beam a few Earths wide ran the full length of the craft, with diagonal beams of a much smaller width crossing through and over the central beam, and beams crossing between them. Most of the Construct seemed to be empty space, in which an untold number of smaller vessels lurked. The surface of the craft was an unadorned grey, gunmetal color with small etchings that seemed to serve no artistic purpose, and the armor was pockmarked with dents from asteroid strikes and signs of plasma scoring and weapons damage. In the center of the central beam there rose a great web of crystalline spires protected by a glowing energy dome, and ringed by several large satellites. Below, in the main structure of the Construct, there appeared to be the vapor and excited particles of plasma blast furnaces and metalworks foundries, churning out who-knows-what in the beast's underbelly.


Thus far, no movement from the Matrix or its escort craft.


@Pat
 
Meanwhile on the Pheron capital ship Conquistadorn >


"Sir!"


"We have an interruption in our trans galactical comms!"


"Alright, "FIRE UP THE FTL DRIVE!!!" (via slip space)


*The Counquistadorn fires up it's massive energy less FTL drives and zooms off towards the signal...* 
 
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Captain! A pheron crewmember reported from spotting and defense, "scans show the signal is between the tellaris and the convergence borders!"


Rushing down the corridor that lead to the bridge of the conquistadorn, the captain burst through the holo-doors and went straight for the radar console...


"Current status of the signal?" he barked.


"Nothing out of the ordinary yet captain, I think we should continue To mon-"


the captain cut him off "We need shields and anti stealth capabilities online!! NOW!!!"


the crewman responded "Yes sir!!"


*Lights flash*


*Sirens honk and wail*


"Sir We arrive at the signal in 3... 2... 1......
 

Observation Post Cavalondanier, Orbit of AG-5071


United Systems Territory


 


A small station orbited the planet of 5071. The design of this station lacked any actual defence, relying mostly on automated drones to protect the construct and it's contents. A small crew assembled itself in the station's Command Centre. The Commanding Officer reviewed a holographic map detailing the entirety of the Milky Way. He scratched his chin with a level of concern as the map began flashing red with alert.


 


"Lieutenant Vax. Establish a telecommunications link with Central Command. Inform them we have detected an astronomical anomaly within Hermes territory."


 


"Affirmative, sir."


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 
 
Dropping out of slip the crew of the counquistadorn noticed that the signal was a tellaris electrical signature.


However, among closer inspection, the signal was actually a mix of 2 frequencies.


one being telliarin, the other a convergence.


"Jam their signal!!" The captain ordered.


The ship AI responded "Jamming in progress..."


"JAMMING COMPLETE..."
 

Heart of Coronis Space


The Core


The Council Spire


 


The Core and its surrounding systems were a constant stream of debate, arguments and


dead-end proposals on its best days. But on its worst it's a


 un-decipherable mess, this happened to be one of those days.


The Council had gathered in the top floor of their spire. And while two of them maintained a dutiful watch over the debate two of them had started a debate of their own.


"We have to tell them Lende!" Dispite the volume of Counciler Tosh's voice it retained its monotone. "It's our duty as the council."


"It may  be our duty to serve them but it's our job to act in their best interest." Lende off-handily gestured at the monitors around them. "If a simple signal from the other species could spark this, Among them how do you think they'll handle the latest price of news?"


Tosh held her silence for a moment, thinking. But she quickly spoke when she saw Lende start up again. "The Collective may not be...receptive to the news that fleets are amassing-" 


"Or the news of a object heading straight toward the galactic center Counciler Trey quietly added.


A burst of white-noise, the Coronis equivalent of a sigh, came from Councilor Tosh. "Thank you Trey." She practically mumbled. "But that aside the Collective will have our heads if they catch word of this." 


"I'm not saying we keep this from them forever, I'm simply suggesting we withhold the information until the other species have had their go at the...thing." Lende was quick to respond, he probably had practiced that in his stupid "Mirror" Tosh thought bitterly.


Before she could retort councilor Zid spoke up. "Vote." They always were quiet. "Good thinking Zid, let's resolve this democraticly. I say we withold the information until we can be sure it's even relevant to them. All opposed?"


The only one to raise their hand was Tosh. "Then it's settled." The smugness in Lende's voice was almost unbearable. But Tosh would stay quiet for now.


_____________________________


Edge of "Civilized" Coronis space


Millitary Starbase Vinra


 


Commanding Officer Seff was having a normal "day". He made his rounds of the Starbase, amd returned to his quarters to make models starships. That was about all there was to do in this sleepy outpost. 


He was stired out of his bread introspection by a small beep on his monitor. He tapped to translucent piece of machinery hilt into his desk and the face of a Coronis standing in the central hub appeared. "Commander there's a severely damaged civilian craft entering our system."


Before the Commander could say anything a loud message began playing on the other side. "This 456 the Coronis craft Tri2845. We are under 13"&)!?& require "&@$$ and immediate aid-" The message was garbled and static filled. It cut off with the sound of a loud crash.


Coronis scrambled in the background of the video and the subordinate who called in the first place seemed a mixture of shock and anger. "H-how'd they get that hail through without consent?!" Their call for answers went unnoticed in the hubbub.


"Get a shuttle and a team together  ." The commander's voice was quiet. 
 
Sprinting as fast as pheronly possible, the captain of the counquistadorn returned to the helm and continued to bark orders to the rest of the bridge crew, "Arm the Fusion cannons!!!" "Sound the alarm!!!" Suddenly, the lights on the bridge dimmed and turned bright orange, sirens wailed, lights flashed, and turrets began to traverse towards the sent coordinates...


The ship AI Sparked into life again, "ARRIVING AT MILITARY STATION SIGNAL COORDINATES IN 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."
 

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