Fiction:Andromeda War/Ethereal

==Chapter One== ===The Ethereal Sword=== Captain Ichoran Baldar, proud and famed warrior of the Brood of War and a feared pilot of the Fleet of Ruin, sat patiently in the ship's dining room, filled with many Zazane and other Brood races that had all gathered to feast. A diverse range of meals were being served, mainly the Brood standard meat from the genetically created Grunnodar beasts that were recently released for commercial value to the other Andromedan races, mainly the Draconis of the Draconid Imperium, who seemed to have grown a fondness to this perfected form of cattle. Ichoran looked down at his bowl of Grunnodar meat, which had been mashed into a form of mince, which was favoured by the Zazane, or at least a majority. Ichoran was not a fan of Grunnodar meat, believing it was unworthy for his diet. However, Koda meat had not been stored on the ship, so Ichoran would have to make do with what was being served. There was not much he could really do, he may have had authority over most of the personnel on his ship, but he did not have control on what food was imported onto the ship.

Ichoran - Ugh, why would my proudand respectable race call this...low-quality, standard meat, "food"? Its taste is appauling, not fit for a proud Captain Commander such as myself. I much prefer the meat of the deadly Koda beasts!

As Ichoran reluctantly brought the mince to his jaws, he grunted in disgust as he tasted it upon his tongue. The Cyrodi crew squawked and snarled as they fought over several scraps of meat, granted to them by their Horde Master. Several Cyrodi hordes travelled on the Ethereal Sword, the largest one being Horde Gol'Hur'Dok, and the smallest being Horde Han'Bol'Ran. There is a reputation surrounding Han'Bol'Ran, according to the crew of the Ethereal Sword, interpreting that this Horde is particularly strong, despite being the smallest. Ichoran did not believe this, though, seeing as he had only some respect for the Cyrodi as a whole, let alone each individual horde, of which there are thousands. The squawks annoyed him, greatly.

Ichoran - Somebody silence those vermin! I want to eat this piece of Shyrak in quiet, if I am to eat this!

Several Zazane that were sitting next to the horrendously noisy Cyrodi turned to them and politely asked them to be quiet, via roaring at them so that the Cyrodi understand who is in charge. Ichoran looked away, to return to eating the mince in his bowl. Aggravated about the food and noise, he was also annoyed that he had to fly his proud and glorious battleship to a planet outside of AGC territory, though still within Andromeda. An outer world, which the Brood planned to claim in order to gain more resources and territory, Ichoran was charged with getting his crew to investigate the lonely planet, the most inhabitable out of four other worlds within the system. He didn't see the point, from what he gathered from a holographic image of the world, it was small and not large enough for even a small Creed base. However, orders were orders, and Ichoran would not disobey an order directly from the Lord Tyraz Breek himself if he cared for his life. The Hetii crew of the ship were rather silent, not joining in on the feast. Ichoran was somewhat concerned, they had been silent like this all the way through the journey, although admittedly, Hetii aren't the most social of creatures, especially not with other aliens. However, to Ichoran's eyes, they weren't even communicating with each other.

Something was indeed strange. The Cyrodi Hordes would not pipe down, they seemed excited, or scared. The Hetii were silent, deadly silent, like one could sneak up on you without you noticing before slicing off your limbs. This made some of the Zazane crew nervous, they liked knowing where everybody was just in case of emergencies. However, when they didn't, this left them open for an ambush, and when an ambush was able to occur, the Zazane would do everything in their power to try and correct it. But the unsocialness of the Hetii made this very difficult. They would follow orders, but they would not speak. At all. Ichoran kept an eye on the crew which were gathered in the dining hall, some were simply standing, others were walking about, sniffing the air, which was strange for Hetii seeing as they did not possess any physical nose, except for the antennae atop their heads. Ichoran looked over to his inferior officer, Gollik Kantis.

Ichoran - Gollik, get over here for a minute.

Gollik turned his head, and walked over to his superior, standing straight, sword and gun in his hands.

Gollik - What do you require, my lord? Ichoran - I require that you keep an eye out on the Hetii Swarm aboard this ship. They are acting stranger than usual, could be plotting an ambush. Gollik - I doubt it sir, they don't seem to be talking with each other. Ichoran - Just in case, Gollik. We only know one way how they communicate, how many other ways could they communicate without us knowing?

Gollik stood silent, and he nodded his head.

Gollik - Point made, sir. I will get some soldiers to make sure the Hetii are not plotting anything. If they are, I will report back to you immediatley. Ichoran - Thank you, Gollik. And please, refer to me by my name, not as "sir" or "lord". Its Ichoran. Gollik - Understood sir...I mean, Ichoran. Ichoran - I know that you are new to this ship, so I want to make sure you are more social than the Hetii. Gollik - I am grateful, but I have some family and friends aboard this ship, so I'm not completely lost. I chose to serve here due to my sister being one of the glorious pilots on this magnificent battleship. Ichoran - I trust that your sister is the one that is known as Holdra? Gollik - Yes, that is her. I am grateful that you allowed my sweet Holdra to serve as one of your pilots.

Ichoran simply smiled at Gollik and nodded. He lifted a piece of mince to his jaws and smirked.

Ichoran - Your sister is a fine pilot and navigator. Its an honour having her aboard. Gollik - She has always been better with the buttons rather than the sword. Warfare has not been her strongpoint. Ichoran - Well at least she has found her true calling. I did not expect her to be much of a warrior. Shame, a woman like her would strike fear into many enemies. Gollik - I remember that she had once wrestled with a whole horde of Cyrodi once, as a friendly battle. Ichoran - She shows affection for those...beasts? Gollik - She says that if you treat them with respect, they will fight more efficiently for you. Ichoran - I don't see how or why they would behave in such a manner towards Zazane or other aliens. They are feral beasts, nothing more.

Gollik was not prepared to argue with Ichoran on the matter, he had better things to do than discuss alien psychcology with his captain. Such behaviour would possibly reflect on his career on the ship, which he was not ready to lose because of an arguement on foreign species. Gollik simply nodded to Ichoran, and turned, walking away to check up on the strange-acting Hetii. Ichoran watched and grunted, he does not remember the last time somebody had answered back to him.

Zazane would not usually step out of line, it wasn't in their nature. But Gollik was different, he was not one to obey all the rules. Not much is known about his past except for the fact that he was not raised within the walls of a military school. Instead, he was raised within the ravaged ruins of what had been the once proud colony of Raast V, a self-supportive colony that was home to many Zazane families and communities. Hundreds of schools had been built there, and so many Zazane joined the surrounding Fire Spitters Creed. However, at the time Gollik was born, a rebellion had taken hold of the planet. The infamous leader, Nix, was in power at the time, and she had deliberately plunged the families into war with each other, forming lies just to see them fight. Gollik was part of the Kantis clan, a weak family within this planet-scale war. He had nobody but his older sister when he reached his young teens, and so had presumably learned to scavenge for food and weapons. Around his 15th birthday, near the end of the conflict, he was retrieved by a Fire Spitters attack force, who had finally had enough of the ongoing bloodshed on the planet, as they saw it as pointless and unneeded, many lives being lost for no reason. It was then that they presumed he had been trained within a military school upon seeing him try to resist them, though in truth they were taking him to a nearby colony.

The Ethereal Sword approached the small, dark planet. It was not much ofan impressive sight. Small, and presumed inhabitable. Presumed. If there was life on there, it would probably get its first glance of aliens soon, seeing as it looked as if the planet had not seen many extraterrestrial visitors. The mighty ship carried a crew of several hundred, who were ready to explore this new, but disappointing, world. This mighty ship had seen battle after battle, war after war. The ship was a devastating killer, a destroyer of many lives. A perfect ship for a man such as Ichoran, who wanted nothing but the most powerful weapon in his arsenal; his own battleship. Ichoran has commanded this for 15 years, and not once has he lost a conflict with it. He was a proud man, and enforced the crew of his ship and others to show high respect for the battleship, for if it was not for it, the Brood could have possibly lost several major colonies. The Etheral Sword is so called as it is known for its infamous reputation to cloak from radar and plain sight during battle, while its weapons are firing at enemy forces. A strong and invisible monster.

However, no matter how powerful something is, there is always weakness. And usually, the weakness is internal. Little would Ichoran or his crew know that today, the weakness of this mighty ship is found...