Fiction:Girdo Campaigns

The Girdo Campaigns were a short series of conflicts, not long after the March of the Apocalypse, involving the and its attempts to change the universe by its own power.

Background
During the March of the Apocalypse, the became cut off from the rest of the universe. In order to prepare for whatever situations could arise upon its return to reality, the began mass-producing warships and starfighters with the most advanced technology available to it, consuming entire asteroid belts to feed its growth. Deep in the heart of the galaxy, "Project Timeship" was underway as the Empire started a coordinated effort to analyse any technology of more advanced civilisations, from local superpowers to, that they could gain access to.

By the time the March ended and Taukappa was able to interact with the wider universe once more, 4300 Wartime Droner Swams - over two hundred million Droner-class starfighters in total - had been created. In addition, each of the Empire's 501 planets had its own Imperium-class ship to defend it. Finally, a disc-shaped worldship, the Apalos, at 44.5 kilometres in diameter, now existed as the largest vessel in the Imperial Space Force.

Meanwhile, the s were in the process of rebuilding their strength and reputation as "Project Upgrade". Clear signs of activity in the centre of the led the  to suspect that the Grox had plans for war. Desperate to recover from previous wars and to escape its current Dark Era, the Coalition's Council of War developed the DCP Flying Fortress to defend their territories.

Weeks One and Two: Borg Space Campaign
After a week of recovery after the March of the Apocalypse ended, the Girdo Empire had planned what to do with its new fleets. Firstly, they would lead large xenophobic "godspawn" civilisations into destruction, as these forces were a threat to "truly alien" life that the Empire was so intent on discovering and preserving. Secondly, they would cause some less hostile societies to merge into single federations that could be manipulated to the Empire's will.

Their first target was the cybernetic Borg Collective, chosen because Imperial tacticians had decided (based on records of previous wars against them fought by civilisations such as the DCP) that the Collective was possibly one of their greatest future threats.

First Battle of Borg Space


An Imperium-class ship led by Commander Mazipnos Tokzhalat was used as bait for a Borg Cube, by appearing on a planet near to one of the Collective's own. When the Cube arrived and announced its aim to assimilate the Girdo ship, the Imperium opened fire with ion blasts and disabled the Cube. An crew of four Imperial soldiers - Ensigns Alikas, Bekhra and Sarkhai, led by Lieutenant Niestor - were beamed into the ship. There, they managed to gain valuable tactical information, before they were beamed out and the Imperium destroyed the Cube. Next, the Girdo Empire launched a simultaneous attack on every Borg-inhabited planet with over a thousand Droner Swarms, theorising that the Borg would not have time to adapt fast enough. They were right, and the Droners reduced the Borg Collective's dominion from around 100,000 worlds to approximately 40, with the cost being that all of the Droner Swarms were destroyed in the battle.

The next civilisations along from the Borg were eight rival empires, which were descended from factions of that had settled on the other side of the galaxy to their old homeworld of  centuries earlier. Girdo ships each visited one of these empires and sent an "offer", asking them to join forces with the others to form a new and powerful federation. If they refused, they would have their defence ships and colonies destroyed until they surrendered. The peaceful races accepted the offer (especially after being told that their warlike enemies would end up being under their control), and were given advanced technology in return. The only thing they had to do in return was abide by restrictions on colonisation and terraforming, which left several systems open for "truly alien" life to evolve in. The empires who refused received their punishment, and soon reluctantly agreed to start negotiations with their more peaceful (and now more well-armed) neighbours.

Battle of Deltaeta
Four days later, the new Human Coalition was officially founded with its capital on the previously-neutral planet Deltaeta. The celebrations were cut short, however, by a Borg invasion. Hundreds of Borg Cubes, all of what remained of the Collective's forces (besides other ship classes such as Spheres and Diamonds) were en route to the planet in order to begin a mass assimilation of Human worlds. Fortunately for Deltaeta's defenders, a large fleet of starfighters had been modified with Girdo technology ("transphasic"-class missiles designed to pass through Borg shields, improved shields, and faster superluminal drives). These fighters were sent in three-ship squadrons to intercept the approaching armada before it reached Deltaeta.

Over the course of the battle, the Borg failed to adapt to the new torpedoes, but they developed a new plan instead. At the end of the battle, there were only three Cubes left, but the Human fighters had ran out of missiles so they no longer had any weapons that were effective against the Borg. The Borg disabled the few remaining starfighters by bombarding them with shield-disrupting weapons, then pulled them in with tractor beams for assimilation. The Cubes then left, before the Deltaetan defence forces could make use of any more superweapons.



Second Battle of Borg Space
Hoping to strike back before the Borg had managed to adapt the advanced technology into their own systems, the Coalition launched a counteroffensive against the Collective. Seventeen Borg colonies were destroyed by Planet Busters, but most of the Human ships were destroyed by Borg Spheres. Realising that several of their Spheres had also been destroyed in these attacks, the Collective launched their flagship, the Borg Diamond. Distress calls from Coalition ships quickly caused the battle to centre around the Diamond. In the chaos, the battle ended when the last Coalition cruiser fired a Planet Buster at the Borg flagship - even its shields couldn't withstand a missile designed to break apart septillions of tonnes of solid rock. The explosion also destroyed the remaining buildings in the Borg colony below, along with the Spheres that were the Diamond's escort craft, however, the entire remaining fleet of the Human Coalition was also caught in the blast.

Both the Borg Collective and the Human Coalition isolated themselves from the rest of the galaxy in the aftermath of the battle. The Borg, because they had been reduced to twenty-four planets, six Cubes and a few dozen other ships; the Humans, because their entire space force had been wiped out. It would take both sides several months to recover.

Deal with the Daleks
Meanwhile, Commodore Laimu was at New Skaro, capital of the New Dalek Empire. He proposed an deal with the Daleks, claiming that both empires shared what appeared to be similar aims: the Daleks wished for the extermination of all life in the universe except themselves, and the Girdo Empire believed that the eradication of most "godspawn" life in the universe was necessary. Although the Daleks initially chose not to accept the offer of alliance, they changed their mind when Laimu proved his abilities in battle by destroying a Dalek "negotiations" drone in single combat. Three new experimental warrior Daleks were then sent to work on Project Timeship in the Girdo Galaxy, while the rest of the Dalek Empire began to consider the possibility of using the Girdo Empire as laser fodder.

Ottzello Campaign


In the, the suddenly appeared and began its conquest of the galaxy. The Girdo Empire anonymously acted as a mediator between the Kralgons and the Daleks, offering vast Dalek fleets to help in the invasion, enlarged with millions of new saucer-shaped drones of Girdo design. These drones were altered by Girdo members of, led by Agent Atirieil, acting to ensure that the designs could not be traced back to Taukappa.

The Kralgon Emperor accepted, and gave his new allies strategic targets which the Daleks could take slaves from, which convinced the Daleks to dedicate hundreds of battleships to the conflict. With thousands of drones placed under Dalek command as escort ships to fight off enemy defence fleets, and with countless Dalek soldiers being used as ground forces to exterminate unwanted civilians and capture strategic locations, the combined Dalek and Girdo offensive quickly and efficiently cleansed their target worlds of native Ottzellan presence with minimal casualties.

The Telzoc were the first Ottzellan species to become extinct or enslaved, while the war then spread to the Gykar Empire and the DCP. The Dalek fleet was no longer operating under Kralgon orders, and instead just made their way across the galaxy exterminating and enslaving hundreds of worlds. Meanwhile, Girdo scientists continued their attempts to replicate Dalek technology. They concluded that "Dalekanium" was no improvement on the armour that they already had, but were still struggling to work out how to generate the Daleks' shields and "death ray" weapons.

Girdo Nature Reserve
Outside of its military campaigns, the Girdo Empire launched many missions to acquire specimens of "truly alien" organisms from across the universe and place them in designated wildlife sanctuaries in the Girdo Galaxy. The most notable of the sanctuaries was the 800 Parsec Sanctuary, which was intended to be a larger and better-protected version of the Lagross Rift in the Plazith Rim for the preservation of the biodiversity of spacebourne species. With help from the, the Girdo Empire took upon itself the duty of managing the new Girdo Nature Reserve, preventing hostile incursions into the galaxy by the construction of sixteen faster-than-light missile-firing Hyperluminal Defence Stations around the galaxy's rim, themselves heavily-armoured and defended by millions of static turrets and six Droner Swarms each.

Human Republic Campaign


Not long afterwards, the Girdo Empire began putting into action its plans to unify Humanity. First of all, it went to Earth's region of the galaxy, and tried the same trick on the empires of that region as they did to the near-Humans around Borg Space. This attempt went differently, with most empires surrendering after the destruction of a few of their colonies and a large portion of their fleet, and one demanding that Commodore Hlraka win an honourable duel against one of their own warriors before submitting. The Human empires were soon once again united into a single federation, although one that did not seem to be as stable as the Coalition on the other side of the galaxy.

As far as Taukappa was concerned, that was a matter for local international organisations to deal with, as they were more concerned with plans to make a deal with the Grox Meta-Empire and form an unofficial military alliance. When the Apalos arrived at the Grox Space, the Grox responded to their offer by beaming some upgraded Dronox onto the ship and testing them by attacking some of the ship's guards. The guards fell instantly, but the ship's internal security systems incinerated the Dronox before they could cause any more problems. Still, the Grox considered their project a success, and then reconsidered the Girdo proposal.

Weeks Eight and Nine
For two main reasons, nearly two and a half weeks passed between the Girdo-Grox deal, and a single shot being fired in the Girdo Campaigns outside Ottzello. Firstly, there was a great deal of technology sharing between the Grox and Girdo Empires, with the same Agency interference as took place in Ottzello. Secondly, the Grox were continuing their project to upgrade and update their entire military force to once again be a threat to the rest the universe. Eventually, their project had finished, and the new Grox Imperial Fleet was ready to take revenge against their enemies.

New Grox Wars
The first Grox attack in several years was against, of all civilisations, the Human Coalition. Since they were still recovering from their battles against the Borg, the Coalition fell quickly. This was probably the reason why the Grox chose them as a target: they were a highly advanced civilisation, yet would also be easy to destroy. After each battle, the Grox assimilated any useful technology, exterminated any survivors that they could find, and dropped Conqrix pods onto each planet in order to purge them of life and use all useful resources to make more troops and ships for the Grox war machine. Some Coalition ships survived the invasion, however, and fled to the Human Republic in hope of refuge amongst their relatives on the other side of the galaxy. The Republic, being a peaceful society, accepted the refugees. They also made use of the Coalition's technology in order to boost their own military defences, since they knew that the universe was becoming a dangerous place with groups such as the - and now the Grox - ready and able to destroy them at any time.



In the centre of the Plazith Rim Grox Space, several huge attack fleets were being built. The Grox knew that they were unlikely to survive in the Plazith Rim with so many enemies attacking them, so they decided to do whatever they could while they were still able and sent some of their attack fleets to attack several minor empires across the galaxy. The Daleks, although feeling less under threat, also began manipulating various civilisations into destroying themselves. Over the course of the next few days, several of these small nations collapsed and fell. Amidst the destruction, a few of the extragalactic civilisations with a presence in the Plazith Rim fled, abandoning their colonies.

One of the empires that was under attack was that of the Goa'uld, near the Human Republic. The Grox that were attacking them destroyed most of the "stargate" network, although Girdo forces managed to steal some of the technology to be studied, and sent it home for use in "Project Timeship". In the process, they also learnt of the, also known as the "First Ones". As the First Ones dwarfed even the DCP in technological advancement and scientific knowledge, the Girdo Empire became interested in them, both for purposes of discovery and also to judge whether they could be a dangerous foe or a powerful ally.

First One Campaign
Under the command of Commodore Bracheps, four Girdo fleets were dispatched to investigate the regions of space believed to have been Precursor territories.

Commander Miakelain was tasked with working with the Grox around the "stargate" network. It was discovered that the network involved the creation of small artificial wormholes, something that the Girdo Empire had only discovered how to do less than a decade previously, and only on a much larger scale. Sending probes through these wormholes, they further discovered information on the history of the gates, many of which led to the homeworlds of Humans and near-Humans, including. Whole stargate-dependent human societies, both primitive and advanced, were also found, and soon destroyed by the Grox. Even those that placed physical barriers to prevent egress from the wormholes were not safe; the Grox simply fired superlasers through the wormhole throats to gain access. While the Goa'uld attempted to infect Girdo troops with mind-controlling parasites, efficient screening foiled this plan as well. Finally, the Girdo Empire acquired information on long-vanquished threats, and samples of Precursor technology such as advaced materials and dimensional engineering. Despite their age, they were in perfect condition.

The other three fleets were sent to make first contact with extant Precursors. Commander Vorotoonash was given the target of meeting the Vorlon, which could not be done by entering their space as any ships trespassing in such a way would be destroyed. Instead, Vorotoonash's fleet gained the Vorlon's attention by approaching the borders of their space and generating a massive subspace signature with the energy equivalent of a Planet Buster. A Vorlon ship soon arrived and opened communications with Vorotoonash, but the Vorlon were uninterested with the affairs of the Girdo Empire and the discussion lasted for less than half a secton. However, the fleet still obtained valuable information from passive scans of the ship, the appearance of the Vorlon encounter suits, and the Vorlon language.

The other two fleets were sent to find the Shadows, a group of Precursors whose goal was to guide races down darker paths. Commander Iilfertu successfully made contact with them, although after most of the fleet was destroyed by a single battlecrab, his ship was only spared as it had brought a Dalek which was able to communicate with the Shadows, despite the inability of the Girdo translators' ability to make sense of their screeching language. A military alliance of sorts was forged, although the Shadows had more sinister plans of their own.

Commander Tieltarmae's fleet encountered a similar group of entities, calling itself "the Assembly". A swarm of Assembly vessels attempted to trap Tieltarmae's ship in a web of tractor beams, destroy it with particle beams, kill the crew by beaming in an insectoid Shadow-like being to hack into the environmental controls and raise the internal temperature to above the boiling point of water, and finally crush the ship with metric technology. However, the Assembly's technology was much less advanced than that of the Precursors, and each attempt in turn was foiled by Tieltarmae and his crew. Despite this, the Girdo Empire acquiesced to the entities' demands to leave the First Ones' old territories to the Assembly's protection.

Battle of Delpha


As the DCP and their allies were attacking the Grox, after taking down a few systems using star killers, one million ships had been reduced to a mere 300,000. The Grox had been terribly underestimated, based on figures from before they prepared for a return. The DCP fleet wanted to sacrifice itself, however, they received an emergency call from the nearest DCP sector. The sector was being attacked by large, mysterious, organic ships, literally fading in and out of hyperspace. Eventually, it was realised that they were being attacked by the Shadows. The DCP defence fleet was cut to shreds; stations and space habitats miles wide were being sliced in half. Strangely, the ships only carried one of two weapons. The DCP tried to disrupt the Shadow battle crabs from fading in and out of hyperspace using subspace weapons, but this failed to stop them. The onslaught took the DCP by surprise.

All of the nearest available ships were ordered to return to the sector, and since the campaign in Grox Space was not going well, the fleet returned to fight the strange ships. The fleet soon arrived, but too was lain to waste. The Grox decided to invade with their new allies, and then news from another sector reported an attack by the Daleks. The DCP ships poured in, and many Grox were destroyed, but Shadows and Daleks were barely affected. Within days the sectors had been eradicated, and the invaders were planning an invasion straight into the heart of the Delpha Sector. All the while, the Shadows fortified Grox Space with some of their ships, eradicating all smaller empires in their path.

Two days later, a Dalek, Shadow and Grox fleet was ready to attack the Delpha Sector. Over ten million strong, the ships would soon engage the DCP. The Shadows destroyed the DCP's barriers in hyperspace, and the Daleks foiled the DCP's high-tech defences such as cloaking fields, ghost phasing, holotech and nanoswarms, meaning that the battle would be another ship-to-ship struggle. They gathered on the coreward edge, first attacking the Minor Empire, one of the weaker members. This time, however, due to the sheer number of DCP warships, aided by their allies who had a fleet stationed near, even the Daleks were gaining casualties. The Shadows attacked the Chibby Empire, using a planet killer similar to the Staff of Death on some of their worlds, upsetting the ecologist Chibby greatly. The Grimbolsaurians were furious, their rage being so strong that they rammed several Dalek motherships, destroying them. However, the advance of the enemy reached as far as Puppidium, the Jarzo homeworld, but the DCP was able to push them back.

At ths point, new arrivals appeared on the scene: the rest of the First Ones. The DCP was unsure what was going on, until they targeted the Shadows and Daleks. Firing strange weapons of great power never seen before, even the Dalek fleet was wiped off the map, and the Shadows were forced into retreat. Meanwhile, the DCP took the chance and crippled the Grox invasion force. When the DCP asked the Vorlon why, they replied in their cryptic, riddled language that the Shadows were up to something big, and that the DCP must one day take over what the First Ones had been doing, once the Shadows' plan had been ruined. War had sparked between the Shadows and the Vorlon once more. Outside of the Delpha Sector, the battles continued. The opponents were evenly matched, but the Shadows’ master plan, only known to the First Ones, was defeated. Whatever it was, it had the power to eradicate the galaxy in some way or another. All of the First Ones joined forces and together they pushed the Shadows out of the galaxy. They had not been destroyed, but strangely, the other First Ones also left the galaxy, sending the DCP a transmission, announcing that they planned to either ascend or move beyond the rim. It was now the DCP's turn to look after the galaxy. The Vorlon proposed the idea of a "Civilised Galaxy" to be put into place.

Dalek Campaigns
Another strong empire, the Dominion, was a powerful -led organization that paralleled the Human Republic in the Sagittarius Arm. However, it wasn't long before they fell into dispute the Daleks, who manipulated the Dominion into a civil war. However, the fleet of Shadows which didn't join the Shadow Empire and stayed behind stuck with the loyalists. This was a bad decision, as now the Shadows were fighting on both sides of the conflict. With more Shadows on the loyalists’ side, the other Shadows swapped over, until the Daleks decided enough was enough, and proceeded to attack the small fleet, which was completely destroyed.



Although most of the conflict in the Plazith Rim was dying down - the Girdo Empire had left, the Grox would soon be destroyed, and most other hostile influences had been eradicated - two more militaristic empires, the Daleks and the Undine, were beginning another conflict. The two races were very similar, with advanced technology, a xenocidal attitude, and a belief in their own genetic superiority; for these reasons, the two had a strong dislike for each other from the moment they made contact. The Daleks were the ones who fired the first shot, after exploring the Undine's home of "fluidic space", although the Undine were vehemently opposed to intruders "polluting" their realm and so fired their own first shot a few microseconds afterwards. While the Daleks had access to superweapons such as the "Staff of Death" (from the Grox Meta-Empire, via Girdo), they did not believe that such a weapon would be effective against the whole of fluidic space, so the Dalek-Undine War quickly became a war of attrition, with ships on both sides constantly struggling to destroy their enemies.

As is typical in wars between such powers, both sides ignored any other empires that might have been affected. However, given that the only other civilisation nearby was the Borg Collective, this would turn out to be a bad idea; not just for them, but for the rest of the galaxy. Upon finding an inactive Dalek battlecruiser drifting through space, the Borg assimilated everything that they could find inside, including advanced Dalek technology and the Daleks themselves. With the Dalek technology, they managed to modify their nanoprobes to be able to assimilate the Undine.

Conclusion
In the end, both the Girdo Empire and the DCP got what they wanted. The DCP gathered many new members from dying empires, and quickly started expanding across systems lost by other empires. The Girdo Empire intended for the galaxy to be united in a single civilization, and the DCP planned something similar, called "the Civilization". It was neither an alliance nor an organization, but basically empires in the galaxy working together to achieve common goals, removing the need to wage war. Trade would become stronger, and while every empire remained independent from one another, together as a whole they became one civilisation. Over the next week, the DCP and its allies eradicated every Grox colony in the galaxy, and with the exception of a few hostile empires, the Plazith Rim was united. Several months later, Ottzello similarly reached a state of peace, and the was formed.

Meanwhile, the Borg were back on the path to recovery, and although it would still take a long time to reach their former glory, they were closer to their goal of perfection than ever before. After the Grox had been defeated, the Borg scavenged their space for remains; as well as assimilating a few worlds, the Grox's bodies easily turned to the Collective. Eventually, during the second phase of the New Grox Wars, the Borg merged with the Meta-Empire and later surrendered to the Civilisation, attaining their idealised "perfection" upon being incorporated within.