Game Stories

[Suicide Junkie]

Note: read the entire story together and in order at Hyperion Base's Fan Fiction section!


2433.3: Patrols into Phong space by Alpha Wing (Guardian and StoneWall) show no indication of agressive military activity, but the Phong colonies all have significant orbital defences in place. Beta Wing (Protector and StormCloud) managed to intercept a Jreanar minesweeper before it could reach the perimeter defences, but the Ubernaughts expended over a third of their supplies to cut through the intense shielding of the sweeper. Three Jreanar ships have been detected on patrol in X19, and two more are clearly headed for the wormhole to HomeSystem. Beta Wing is currently on an intercept course, and should be able to strike and return to the safety of our borders before Jreanar command can respond. Repairs on the Matador have begun, and our engineers estimate nearly half a year's work just to replace the damaged shield grid and outer armor. The Avenger is coming along well, and will have her shields back Online by the end of the month. Her basic internal armor installation will push back reactivation until at least 2433.8. The Valiant's repairs are nearly completed, and she is scheduled to join the new Delta Wing battle group. Delta Wing is lead by the Stalwart, with the newly arrived Thor providing additional firepower in dreadnaught form. The legendary fleet lead by the science vessel Cochrane is currently undergoing a complete refit with our newest technology, and will be unavailable for several years.
Recently, a new idea has surfaced for a military defence. To supplement the minefields, a system of siege satellites could be placed as a permanent line of defence just outside the bLast area of our minefields. The key to the system is a large command sattelite which contains a talisman and a wide-field shield generator. Multiple slave sats will carry a Polaron Siege Cannon, as well as a more powerful, but short range Polaron Beam. With targetting coordinates downloaded directly from the command sat, accuracy will be high. Homeworld will begin producing the command satellites after completing the re-colonization ship for X100 I, and four of our colonies have begun production of Heavy Slave Sats. These heavy Version prototypes are built inside small asteroids, and can withstand 1500 ADU on average. Completion of the first heavy slaves is projected to be sometime in early 2434. The weakness, of course is the master command satellite, so a tender will be stationed in the area with backup masters.

Beta Wing has just intercepted the Jreanar forces, and both enemy DNs have fired missiles. PDCs swivel around and begin firing rapidly while the ubernaught's main polaron beams lock on and stab at the shields of the lead dreadnaught. Two fireballs light up the Protector's hull as PDCs destroy the nearest missiles, and the lead Jreanar ship turns aside with polaron fires trailing from it's shields. PDCs turn to track the second missile pair, but click on empty, and the missiles hammer waves of energy into the forward and starboard sections of the Protector. Her shields flicker dangerously, then buckle as the powerful pulse of energy overloads generators all over the ship. Lights dim momentarily as the ubernaught's regenerators quickly go from standby to maximum, and the purple arcs of polaron discharges fly freely through space, striking the Jreanar ships. A second wave of Jreanar missiles are deployed from the now-retreating Jreanar ships, and as the missiles turn to bear down on the Protector, PDCs hungrily bite off chunks from two of them. The PDCs again die from insufficient ammunition, and two more missiles slide in to strike the Protector. With her shields down to 25%, and unable to completely block either missile, the Protector's hull is ravaged by nuclear fire. 40% of the shield grid shatters into space and trails bright red plasma while the ubernaughts pace the dreadnaughts. Meanwhile, the Jreanar leader is suffering the effects of the sustained polaron bombardment, with its shields falling below 50%, then down to 10% before they can reload missiles.
With more time to regenerate than before, the Protector's shields are back to 35% before the Jreanar missiles launch. Once more the PDCs blaze away all their ammo and fall silent with two missiles still locked on the Protector. White spheres of radiation bloom on the port side of the ship, and her shields are breached. Explosions ripple across the hull as the shield grid surges and generators explode through armor plating. With the hull awash in plasma fires, and her wingman spraying wide beam polarons into the Jreanar leader, the Protector pierces the shields of the besieged DN multiple times, striking twice amidships to cut power relays to the shields, and twice on the forward hull to disable a missile launcher and cut deeply into the main decks of the dreadnaught. Now defenceless, the Jreanar ship is sliced by polaron beams and her hull begins to melt down.
The remaining dreadnaught launches missiles, and PDCs blaze fire. One missile detonates early due to a withering stream of fire from the StormCloud, but the second withstands the Protector's PDC long enough to clear the minimum safe distance mark, and the ubernaught reels in a single fireball. 25% shielding is insufficient, and all but one of her generators shut down permanently from the raging heat and radiation. Full power from the regenerators is diverted to the Last shield generator, and the Protector's shields max out at 10% in seconds. The Jreanar ship absorbs a concentrated pounding from polaron beams, but its shields hold at 70%, and the Protector goes into full retreat. With an uncharacteristically daring move, the Last Jreanar ship cuts infront of the StormCloud. Unable to risk a ramming from the larger ship, the StormCloud is forced to slow and turn away while the Jreanar dreadnaught accelerates in the other direction after the Protector and launches missiles. PDCs on the Protector fire from point blank range at the missiles, but they rapidly deplete their ammo, and another missile streaks in to slam the ubernaught from behind. Shields flare up, but only deflect a fraction of the damage before the nuclear bLast breaches them. Surprisingly, the Last shield generator remains scorched, but intact, as the Protector's stealth plating breaks down under the assault. Even the improved targetting lock and plasma-lit path of the wounded battlecruiser dosen't seem to help the dreadnaught, for a roll and a dive send antiprotons sailing through empty space. Polarons suddenly strike the Jreanar ship from behind, for the StormCloud has caught back up with the Jreanar ship. Hammered from both sides, the Jreanar shields collapse. Purple fire engulfs the entire dreadnaught, rapidly consuming the outer hull, but the Jreanar manages to launch its Last missiles before it loses power. The StormCloud's PDCs expend their entire store of shells, but only manage to disable one missile. Fortunately, it is enough, and the PDCs aboard the Protector finish the job just before the Jreanar's engine core goes critical and the dreadnaught turns itself into a small nova.

Beta Wing has retreated back to the safety of the Empire's minefields, but with her crew decimated by radiation effects, the Protector has been diverted to X100 III for decontamination and repair. Delta Wing is being broken up, and the Stalwart will proceed to support Beta Wing.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 25 May 2001).]

[Suicide Junkie]

New site: My "End of the Line" story reference page, with maps, ship designs and tech.

[sunzoner]

The leaders of the Neo-Terran Empire gather in the great hall of Zhunydu, waiting. The meeting is about to start…

“Announcing the arrival of the Arbitrator!”
“All stand to greet the Arbitrator!”

All the elected representatives of the people stand, awaiting the Arbitrator.
He arrives in his traditional Hover-jet, flanked by his elite Zhippu guards.

“Lets go on to today’s agenda.” Said the Arbitrator.

“The first speaker: Honourable Speaker of the House of Cluezni would present his plan- The expansion of Zhunydu.”

“Dear representatives, Our Final Arbitrator, The Day have come… We now stand at the cross road of our society. Do we advance, and seek our rightful place in the Galaxy? OR do we stand and awaits our destruction?”

“The technology is always there my friends. The ability to reach out and take what should be our rightfull place. Why should we stand and see the pretenders take our place? Why? Why should our children be denied their right to procreate and to multiply?”

“Many years have pasted. The end of Old Terra… It was a lovely place. Our ancestors had fled the destruction to come here. To Zhunydu. To prepare us! To prepare us for our destiny! To populate this world, this galaxy, this Universe!”

“It is ours to take! Here, in this passage! I have here, the undeniable prove of our right to rule the universe! There it read: ‘Go fore and multiply’. Is the message not clear? Do we dare to deny? To deny our destiny?”

“My friends, when you vote, remember… Remember your children… Remember yourself… Remember the Book! The calling you feel… Your right to multiply… Your right to a Space Empire!”

-----------------------------------------
Is this good or bad? Pls tell...

[Suicide Junkie]

(can't let this thread fall too far back)
"End of the Line" story reference

"End of the Line"
The Fires of Vengeance

2433.4: The Valiant and the Avenger have both completed repairs and are returning to the front lines. The Protector and the Matador have both entered long-term docking berths, and are now undergoing full scale reconstruction. It is fortunate that the damage to both ships failed to totally breach their armor, so this will be a fairly simple operation of cutting loose the remaining shreds of armor and installing new plates. While installation will take slightly longer, the Protector will be refitted with the newest replacement parts and extra-durability armor plate. Construction on the Galaxy, another BlackHole class dreadnaught, has proceeded well, and the first series of hardened bulkheads have been completed. The galaxy is being transferred from HomeWorld to our primary shipyards at X100 II, where level 2 Bulkheads will be installed.
The borders have been strangely quiet, while Section 31 has reported a great number of Phong infiltration attempts. A terrorist act has yet to slip past our counter-intel measures, but there was recently a close call involving the Protector. Phong saboteurs managed to infiltrate and capture the ship, only to find all the controls locked out, and the docking clamps resecured at the Last minute. Trapped on the ship, the Phong were taken prisoner and moved to the high security moon of Section 31. Small arms fire during the incident left only cosmetic damage to the interior, and will not hold back the repair schedule.
Scouting reports from Beta wing indicate a moderate fleet of Jreanar DNs in X19, with two on course for our space. Alpha Wing's patrols into Phong territory have revealed a Jreanar colony ship and DN passing through unmolested. Additionally, a Jreanar "Wyoming" class Carrier was spotted in orbit of X7 VI, using a Phong transponder flag. This is indeed disturbing news, for if these two galactic powers are joining forces, a major fraction of their military would be freed up to attack us. From our new political map info, it appears that the Phong and Jreanar are not the superpowers we had feared. Instead, they are but two of five equally large empires. This indicates that the forces we have seen so far are but a small fraction of the military might of the galaxy.

2433.5: Both good new and bad this year. Phong spies are being caught by the shipful, and the prison moon of Section 31 is being expanded to meet the demand. A minor communications glitch, possibly caused by one of the Phong spies, has resulted in the early departure of our newly-built colony ship. The ship left before the colonists were loaded, and it will now be another two months before the ship can reach its desitination of X100 I. With the amount of Phong spies being caught, we can only conclude that however the war started, it is not the Jreanar who are our true enemy now, but the Phong.
In other news, three Jreanar ships attempted to enter HomeSystem through the X19 wormhole, but were torn apart by the minefield. The small minefield in the Curyok warppoint was also triggered, and Phong wreckage was discovered as it dissipated from the area. We can no longer deny that the Phong have some sort of invisibility shield, and could have ships anywhere.
With the Phong ships in HomeSystem, the increased spy activity, and the destruction of our two gas giant colonies, we have decided to send a force to strike back at the enemy. Military rearrangements along the front lines mean that the Valiant is now the leader of Beta Wing, with no ships under her command. The Protector will join Beta Wing when repairs are completed two weeks from now. The StoneWall and StormCloud now comprise Alpha Wing, and are patrolling the Phong warppoint.
Our strike force consists of the remaining active ships, the Guardian, Stalwart, Avenger and Thor, who now form Delta Wing. The two Ubernaughts and BlackHoles will have to survive until reinforcements are constructed and arrive from Starfleet Academy. As of today, there are two refit Ubernaughts, two Healer 5's, four WaveRiders and the Science vessel Cochrane undergoing refits at Starfleet Academy.

2433.6: Finally, success! Plans and designs and reviews have all been completed, and we now have a working design for a machine capable of creating planets. Pieces of a prototype ship are under construction at HomeWorld, to be assembled in orbit, but the sheer size and complexity of the project means that the minimum time before completion is three years.
In X71, the solitary Phong defense DN has moved to shield the defenseless world of X7 V. Fortunately, we had no plans to attack there. Our true target is the hardened military base of X7 I, a huge chunk of rock with no discernable atmosphere, but a constellation of defense sats. As the Fleet approaches, a stream of crystalline shards erupt from the planet. A glancing blow gets a reaction from the Avenger's shields, but damage is minor, and her regenerators easily handle the impact. Polarons reach out to sweep across the sky, greeted by 8 flashes of light as satellites burn. The fleet splits up and slowly orbits the planet, PDCs firing at their maximum sustainable rate. Twelve-packs of shard cannon bursts soar upwards from the planet, but the shots are wild, slicing harmlessly through space. The gunners in the surface defense bases are clearly incompetent, and likely civilian miners, for they fail to place a second hit as the fleet slowly widens the hole in the satellite force. Seven cycles later, the Last sat's armor cracks, and it joins the hazy fog of rubble in orbit. The stalwart dives towards the surface, and buzzes one of the defense bases, rocking it with four polaron beams. The ancient HMSG I on the base is knocked out on the first hit, and the three other beams bLast bits of the rock bunker into long suborbital arcs. The Guardian follows closely behind, and pounds the rock, bLasting more rubble up and away. The third beam strikes one of the holes from the Stalwart's bombardment, and digs through to the base itself. Like a volcano, the hill in which the base was hidden erupts in polaron flames, and the shard cannons go silent.
Shard cannons blaze from the second base when the Stalward crests a hill, but none of the crystalline shards come close, and the Ubernaught strikes back hard. An even older design, this base is totally without shielding, and the first polaron beams bLast directly into the base. Shard cannons droop and the base goes dark, lit only by the flickering polaron fire that licks at the base of the cannons. The main guns of the Avenger charge up and release thick slabs of polarons down towards the spaceyard below. Three beams fall towards the planet to strike groundshaking blows, and a huge shockwave of purple fire races outwards from the point of impact.
The ships turn away to head for deeper Phong territory, leaving a dark cinder of a planet glowing with patches of purple where Phong once lived.


[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 02 June 2001).]

[Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz]

From the obituaries section of the Daily Telegraph:

CAPTAIN DOUGLAS BROMLEY, who has died aged 89, was awarded a DSC for his part in the Last destroyer action of the Second World War - the sinking by 26th Destroyer Flotilla of the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro in the Malacca Strait in the early hours of May 16 1945.

It was one of only two occasions during the whole of the war at sea when a flotilla of Royal Navy destroyers attacked and sank a superior enemy by torpedoes and guns at night, the classical fighting pattern for which destroyers were originally designed.

The Haguro was one of the largest cruisers ever built; she was also fast and extremely well-armed. With a full outfit of stores, oil fuel and ammunition, she displaced some 15,000 tons - more than twice as much as all five of the destroyers in the flotilla that would oppose her.

The 26th Destroyer Flotilla, composed of Verulam, Venus, Virago, Vigilant and Saumarez, was commanded from Saumarez by Captain Manley "Lofty" Power and sailed for the Far East in early 1945. Bromley, the junior commanding officer in the flotilla, had been in command of Verulam since 1944.

At about 11 pm on May 15, Haguro, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Hashimoto and heading for her base at Singapore, was picked up on Venus's radar. Saumarez had the contact on radar at about midnight, and within 45 minutes Verulam, Virago and Vigilant had all picked up the target.

Captain Power allocated attacking sectors, and at 12.39 signalled to the flotilla that he intended to strike at 1 am. By 12.50, Power felt that "the situation was entirely in accordance with plan. The net was spread and the quarry, with little encouragement, was walking straight into it".

The destroyers were to the south-west and south-east of Haguro, between her and Singapore. Three torpedoes fired from Verulam and Saumarez hit the Haguro at 1.15, causing tremendous explosions; by 1.51 the flotilla had fired 37 of its 40 torpedoes and Haguro was dead in the water. She had also been engaged by gunfire, and one 4.7 in shell had scored a direct hit on the bridge, killing Admiral Hashimoto and most of his officers.

Just after 2 am, Venus closed and fired her two remaining torpedoes. After a few tense moments, an eye-witness recalled: "One after the other, two huge grey shapes leapt into the air, looking for all the world like poplars, one hit on the stern and one on the bow." Within five minutes the Haguro had sunk.

[Suicide Junkie]

The Slippery Slope of War

I'm expanding nicely, and I've got DS, Propulsion 3, and some religious tech.
My homeworld has been repeat building colonies for 25 turns or so, and I've got a 5-system cross of habitable planets in a sea of asteroids and storms.
Every arm has a shipyard, and the homeworld has two.
All of a sudden, the CueCappa come into the left arm of my empire, take my gifts, and proceed to level a colony. Instantly, the home system switches from colonies to warships.

But, the best warships I can build are speed 7 (12 engines) DS's with 5 DUC 1s.
The first three arrive in the besieged system just as the CueCappa LCs wipe out thee more colonies, including the Shipyard.

I have a fleet of four, more advanced (DUC 3)models coming, but the CueCappa reduce the system to one colony (which my ships are sitting on).

As they move to retreat through the wormhole, the Last two LCs come close enough to reach in one turn, and so my fleet of three ships rushes in.

The enemy has dual (large mount) TK projector 3s, and a neural stunner thing.

My Destroyers zoom in, in a tight arrowhead formation, and spray fire wildly.
15 DUC rounds flash past the hulls of the lead LC, disabling 3 (of 12) engines.
The left wingman gets slammed hard, losing weapons control (reload time), two guns and some engines. He breaks off and runs for it.
The remaining two Destroyers close to point blank and spew nearly harmless DUC rounds. 20 damage at a time, the LCs slowly lose engine power while they pursue and bLast at the damaged DS.
My DS is crippled by two big hits, losing its C&C systems as well as many engines, but the damage from the other two DSs is taking its toll. One LC loses a TKP, and the other loses the bridge.
The crippled DS is bLasted again, and down to almost nothing, but the other ships have stopped one of the LCs, and my ship starts to get away.
The LCs finally go down after 17 rounds, leaving all three primitive DSs surviving

------------------------------------

Two turns later; the damaged DS has been restored to half hitpoints, 2 MP, and one DUC I. The five DS reinforcements are still en route, but the three old ships have taken up orbit around the newly established military base near the warp point.
And... 6 CueCappa LCs and an ES have arrived to avenge their bretheren.

By the time my DSs have circled the planet (slowed down by the cripple), the quick ES has arrived. My fleet exchanges fire with the ES at 1/3rd accuracy, but 11:1 in guns. The ES misses, and absorbs 3 hits, losing lifesupport and dropping to 2 speed.
The heavy firepower of the LCs streams out, but are too distant to score any hits.
My cripple turns back to lead the ES away from the planet, and the others surge forward to strike at the LC wing.
The left wing LC loses crew quarters and some engines to the strafing attack of my DSs, and drops to 1 speed.
TK projectors search through space, and the cripple is slammed, losing C&C functions as its neural core is crushed. The crippled LC smashes the neural core of one of the other DSs, which falls to 2 movement and loses a DUC.
Blazing fire impacts the damaged LC, and a number of hits are scored, but the LC suffers no loss in capability.
On the other side of the battle, the CueCappa fleet catches up with my disabled DS, and it is shredded by their TK powers.
My DSs fire back into the damaged LC, and the flurry of slugs manages to disable one of the TKPs.

With the loss of the DS, the CueCappa fleet swings around. As an afterthought, one of the LCs uses its TKP to punch a huge hole in the protective dome. Hydrogen gas pours through the facility, slaughtering millions while debris rains down. In minutes, the colony is desolate and lifeless.

With the colony lost, the surviving destroyers turn to escape, hoping to survive long enough for the reinforcements to arrive.
The entire CueCappa fleet seeks the damaged destroyer, but only one finds it. Two devastating explosions rock the ship, severing three more DUCs and sending the ship's neural tendrils into shock.
DUC shards clatter off of an LC, but it suffers no damage.
The crippled DS is spared, but the lead ship is hammered, and loses power.
Unable to keep ahead of the enemy fleet, the crippled DS is shredded, and drifts off, lifeless.
The Last ship spurts slugs towards the nearest LC, damaging its engines.
Before the DS can pull away from the fleet, two ships combine to smash it around, disabling most of the engines.
With no chance of escape, the DS turns to head straight for the LC and fires slugs. The LC shrugs off the impacts and hammers the ship with its TKPs. The poor DS is batted around the fleet before disintegrating into shards of metal and guts.

-----------------------------------

My four advanced DSs (DUC IIIs) arrive, and speed in to counter-counter-counter attack.

My fleet comes in using a wall formation, and shifts from side to side. The enemy fleet is thrown into disarray as the slower ships fail to follow the manouevers of their leader.
The CueCappa get the first shot due to their range advantage, but fail to hit. All four destroyers open fire, sending waves of slugs towards the nearest (and fastest) enemy ship.
Tiny flashes pepper the hull, marking each impact point, and the ship falls back with engine damage.
The CueCappa reach out with their telekinetics, and this time manage to snag a ship. One of the destroyers reels as an explosion rips out some of the organic guts of the ship. It quickly turns to limp away at half speed.
Chattering fire from the remaining cannons pierces the command & control systems of another LC, and it falls behind.
CueCappa weapons fail to stike, as the Destroyers fall back, covering their wounded wingman.
The constant stream of tiny slugs damages the engines of two more LCs as they try to charge forward, but not before a series of blows smashes another destroyer. Organic systems crushed, and its engines a mangled mess, the ruined (but salvagable) destroyer drifts off away from the battle.
Still covering the retreating ships, the remaining two destroyers blaze their cannons at any ship with movement remaining.
The CueCappa fleet burns, but continues to press forwards, thier Psy assaults failing to hit.
One by one, the LCs turn away and retreat as their weapons become unusable.

In the end, only one CueCappa ship is destroyed, but the rest of their ships have a thousand small holes, and the victor is clearly me.

------------------
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[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 16 July 2001).]

[Hotfoot]

The Path of Shadows

What has come before:

For years, the galaxy was at war. The Humans and the Eee, the Praetorians, the Krill, the Sagella, the Xi'Chung, the Sergetti, just to name a few. The Shaderni, through this whole time, were unwilling participants in wars of aggression begun by other races for purposes of greed, fear, or unthinking aggression. Never had they started hostilities, but as several races soon discovered, it was not for lacking the capability to do wage war. The first to discover this were the Ukra-Tal Collective, who engaged the Shaderni in a bloody, eight year war. No reason was given by the Ukra-Tal's Government at the time, but after the fall of the Collective, information was released that when the war was declared, politicians were using the Shaderni's proximity as a debate in election debates. When a pro-war, Ukra-Tal supremicist faction won senate majority, the general population was already incensed and ready for war. When the Shaderni scientists and full industrial capacity was turned towards war, the Ukra-Tal politicians learned of their mistake. By the ending of the Shaderni/Ukra-Tal War, Prince Mortova turned the Empire towards consolidating the new Ukra-Tal holdings, opening up contact with new races, and preparing against any further aggression by other races, such as the Xi'Chung. The insects seemed to enjoy conflict, and had oddly declared war whilst at war with the Praetorians, a close partner of the Shaderni, which was the same period as the war with the Urka-Tal.

Then came contact with the other races, the war with the Ukra-Tal having kept the focus of the Shaderni for so long. The dozen or more races which existed outside of Shaderni local space were most curious. Some had technological marvels and monstrosities which inspired a flurry of research from curious Shaderni scientists, while others had cunning and treachery which started a war of spymasters. The most powerful races, the Eee, the Praetorians, and the Humans, were all involved in several military conflicts. The Shaderni quietly expanded, colonizing planets with rich resources and favorable conditions. There was also much research put into the Genesis project, so as to make use of the large asteroid belts in the center of Shaderni territory.

The other races were hearing about the wars of the Shaderni, and how relentless their fleets were once comitted. The only race which stayed a steadfast ally to the Shaderni were the Praetorians, because of the bond of friendship forged when they first met. The Praetorians, so used to being judged by their disgusting appearance, were surprised by the quick acceptance of the Shaderni. It was not a one-sided acceptance, however. The Shaderni consider actions and the mind high and above physical appearance, and the Praetorians have no discernable sense of smell, and did not seem to mind the smell of Methane that always lingered around Shaderni encounter suits. This early friendship and following alliances quickly grew into a situation of mutual support. It is, perhaps, the most stable alliance in the galaxy to date.

As Shaderni colonies began to develop, it was clear that the Early Shaderni conquests had opened the door to much wealth, and with wealth comes greed. Shaderni war fleets had been in something of a decline since the end of the Last major conflict, and technology continued to advance. Suddenly, as if the whole galaxy had gone mad, wars broke out between several races and the Shaderni. Not willing to waste lives needlessly on futile wars, the Shaderni used the warlike natures other races against each other, sowing seeds of distrust among its enemies, pitting them one against the other, buying enough time to come up with a more permenant solution to the problem.

The Genesis Project was a resounding success, and was one of the reasons for Shaderni advancement. But scientists found more fascinating developments. Shortly after the ability to create and destroy planets was discovered, the key to controlling wormholes was unlocked. The spiral galaxy had several warp point choke points, which the Shaderni had used to their advantage in earlier conflicts with minelayers to defend the homeworlds. When Shaderni scientists reported their findings to Prince Mortova, the monarch locked himself in his study for weeks, reviewing starmaps, and occasionally calling in advisors and asking them cryptic questions before dismissing them. When he emerged, he order the capital homeworld's shipyards to begin construction on a ship following his exacting specifications. It would not be completed for more than three years.

For four years, chaos reigned. Treaties were made, broken, re-established, wars were declared, cease-fires agreed upon, and the insanity of the other races solidified the decision made by Prince Mortova years before. And shortly following a raid in Shaderni space by the Sergetti, with the precision of a surgeon, two warp points near the galactic core disappeared into the ether. The Terran civilization was cut off from dozen of its colonies, all of which happened to reside on the same side of space as the Shaderni, Praetorians, and Sagella.

The Galaxy was cleft in twain by the machinations of Prince Mortova and the Shaderni Empire, but not before one vessel was left behind in secret to watch over the other races and report back when the time was right, when the survivors had either destroyed themselves or given up the ways of senseless, random acts violence.

This record is short and incomplete in many places, but it's haste is required by the need to understand what has come before so as to understand what is to come.

The journey down the Path of Shadows has begun. Where it will lead, only time will tell.

+++Journal of Bova, Watcher and Listener of the Historian's Guild+++

-Hotfoot
"The tale begins"

[This message has been edited by Hotfoot (edited 19 July 2001).]