Fiction:Attero Dominatus

=Overview= This fiction covers the slave revolt of the Tyranny, which will bring it down to it's knees. It is open to all empires from tier 1-5, however you will have to ask GreatDestroyer12 about tier 0s.

=Prologue=

Drakodominatus Tyranny
The Drakodominatus Tyranny is the central faction in this war, and is a total totalitarian dictatorship that uses countless slaves. It is currently in the midst of a golden age; however, during this slave revolt, this will end as it is pushed to it's limits. The Tyranny is at a time like never before, with countless systems, slaves, ships and technologies, and only time will tell if this leads to even more expansion or an even more violent implosion.

=Prelude to War=

Tyranny Ascendant
It was a golden age for the Drakodominatus Tyranny. New worlds were being conquered every second, their domain was constantly being expanded, their technological omnipotence grew, their slave population ballooned, and more and more colossal ships were added to it's fleet at every instant. Abaddon Heimdall looked at the screens which reflected the massive growth of the Tyranny, and each graph showed utterly exponential growth, something that put other civilizations in the First Gigaquadrant to shame. In Andromeda, the Tyranny was a growing military power, capable of challenging the AGC, and Abaddon Heimdall thought, winning. In the Milky Way, they had "defeated" a Tier 0 AI with the DCP and were now ravaging the natives as part of a giant chess plan. In the Bunsen Galaxy, their massive fleets stood there, expanding relentlessly while poised to perform a battleplan to gain dominance over it. In Borealis, they expanded in each direction, conquering sector after sector in the name of the Tyranny and giving native powers a fright. In Cyrannus, they were equals in designing ship with the Galactic Empire of Cyrannus while expanding their own dominion in each direction. In the Quadrants, they expanded relentlessly, subjugating countless empires. And back home in the Mirus Galaxy, they made countless new weapons of war and expanded their burgeoning empire.

The Hundred Trillionth Slave
Tyrant Abaddon Heimdall looked at the screens that represented the amount of slaves he had, and he was truly astounded. Right on that day, the Tyranny had conquered another world, and that had finally brought it's slave population to exactly 100 trillion. This was monumental as that expanded the rate at which work could be done by an incredible amount, leading to the productive capacity of the Tyranny increasing by an exponential rate, seeing as even though they were transitioning to Stellar Foundries, Black Hole Forges, and Quantum Replicators, most of their industry was still rather primitive. These new slaves were churning out countless ships in unnatural amounts, made possible by their control chips, of manual labor, to use machinery to put these massive implements of war together.

This was accompanied with much success in the overseer program, and each branch of the overseers had been massively scaled up to be able to supervise and drive the slaves to levels of productivity never before though possible. The overseers would never revolt, being genetically loyal to their Dominatus overlords and though numerous, represented one of the most potent and elite land forces in the Gigaquadrant, being armed with some of the best equipment in the Gigaquadrant as well. The overseers also conquered new planets, spreading the Tyranny throughout voids of space in order to grow the massive empire. The Tyranny was at it's peak.

The Billionth Warship
The problem with the navy of the Tyranny had always been, since it's inception, the lack of ships that it could put out. This owed itself to the colossal size of each ship, meaning that more resources had to invested in them. This however, was ameliorated by a single, brutal method, having more worlds, and having a better production capacity. Helping greatly in the creation of these warships was the assault on the AGC station Deep Core, which gave the Tyranny a supermassive black hole's accretion disk as a resources base from which to build it's ships, as well as a template to copy for supermassive black hole's throughout the Tyranny, which helped in this construction.

Every second of every minute of every hour of every day, new ships were pumped out in the hellish foundries of the Tyranny, be it from the Geoengineering of day's past, the new stellar foundries which were being built, or even the new black hole forges and the massive amount of quantum replicators that were being used. Helping this ensemble of death was the utterly massive Cerberus Class Devourers, in use by both the Junction and the Tyranny in order to consume worlds and to produce fleets from the digested material of planets. This massive set was what created a billion ships for the Tyranny, a billion ships for subjugation. The Tyranny was at it's peak.

The Millionth System
Tyrant Abaddon Heimdall looked at the screen which showed the amount of systems the Tyranny had, and the massive number had just reached a million, across all the galaxies in the Gigaquadrant as well as quite a few systems in other universes, which was made possible through a daring prison raid on Forgeworld 13 in the ISF and getting the reward of incredible knowledge in the area of dimensions and interdimensional travel. The shadow of the Tyranny engulfed the First Gigaquadrant as more worlds were put under the banner of the red fist. The ruthless robotic expeditionary forces crushed all resistance and expanded at an incredible rate in all directions.

The orchestra of doom of the Tyranny, made solely to benefit their Dominauts masters at the expense of everyone else, the apparatus of destruction of the Tyranny, carried itself through countless different sectors in every galaxy in the Gigaqudrant and was able to take over any world that stood in it's path. The robots continued on with their protocols, conquering new worlds as reports of more subjugated peoples flooded the graph. The Tyranny was of a massive extent. The Tyranny was at it's peak.

The Thousandth Technology
The technology of the Tyranny advanced at an incredibly rapid rate, if almost on a curve, arguably much faster than any faction in the First Gigaquadrant. New deals being made and technology being made by the installations made it so that there was a constant influx of new technologies. The new paradigm shifts that led to megastructural engineering being possible were present in Installation 2, as new murderous instruments of destruction were created by the secretive place. Materials engineering was making breakthroughs every moment and had a new product called quantum armor (quantum crystalline armor). Power generation increased exponentially and interdimensional travel was made possible by dealings with the ISF.

Similarly, weapons technology increased as weapons of war that made use of Neuman Entropy, Joint Quantum Entropy, Cosmic String Loops, and even pure math being harnessed for destructive purposes were made. Each Installation pumped out incredible weapons of war, made to subjugate other empires, and their productive capacity only increased with the massive amount of factories of all kinds being built within the empire. On aggregate, the Tyranny bordered on the tier 1 line, it's different technologies jointly advancing at incredible rates. The Tyrannt was at it's peak.

The One Dominatus
However, Abaddon was even more overjoyed ,much more than by the science or extrauniversal conquest, by the fact that the birth of his only son was happening, and was in the theatre where he saw the egg start cracking. An entire systems worth of resources had been invested in this bioengineering project in order to improve the Dominatus even further. It first started with the selective breeding that Dominatus already had in their genes, which led Angrus Mortarius, the strongest Dominatus Alpha, and Medusa Heimdall, his daughter and the smartest Dominatus Omega, to breed together.

Scientists had been studying the baby and engineering the egg every day from the time it was conceived. In fact, right after procreation had been discovered to be successful, the egg was taken out and put in the Tyranny's top installation for biological engineering and given the resources of a super weapon as some of the brightest minds in the Tyranny worked on him. It was like this for the entire time that he was being created, and he developed on special algorithms and on special nutrients being given to him by the scientists while he was in the egg.creat Delguian both fired their strongest powers at the baby, arguably enough energy to raze entire cities. This however, was carefully engineered by the Tyranny so as to create a giant imbalance that would gift the baby with incredible essence, that is if it didn't kill him.

The baby hung in limbo, its first experience in life being death, as it's conciousness struggled with the most powerful essence and anti essence use ever made in the Tyranny. The scientists were not sure of the results, having predicted a 99.99999999% of this not working and killing the baby, however Medusa and Angrus pushed forwards with it, and it appeared that the baby was about to die. However, the baby's internal strength, of sprit and of body meant that he was able to gather the essence from the imbalance and the amount by which his essence increased was more than could ever have been predicted by the charts. Though he had almost died, it had succeeded beyond expectations. He was the first Dominatus Ultima, and he was named by his two loving parents Castigon Mortarius. The Tyranny was at it's peak.

The Eternal Empire
Tyrant Abaddon Heimdall went up the steps of the capital city and ascended to the Spire of Oratory, 1000 meters above the ground, where he stood perched over 100,000 or so Dominatus soldiers prepared for war. He ascended to the spire, flanked by his daughter, Medusa Heimdall, Administrator of the Andromedan Territories and Heir to the Throne, and by his son in law, Angrus Mortarius, Archon of the Guard and began a speech.

''We stand at a crossroads here today, which determines the fate upon which our race will embark for the entirety of our existence. We are at a position stronger than any part of our history. We stand at a place where our military combines the lights of science and technology in order to prove to the universe why the Dominatus are the greatest! We stand at a time, where out ships can blot out the son in order to cast our baleful glare on all those who seek to oppose us. We stand at a time, when the energies we call upon in order to wage war match the galaxy itself. We stand at a technological renaissance that has continued from our inception as our brightest minds harness the most elemental forces of the universe for our needs. We stand at a time when we are present in each galaxy in the Gigaquadrant and are present in 13 different universes!''

''We are truly a power like no other, we have tamed the most primal of elements of the universe, the energy of stars and black holes, the concept of mathematics itself in order to further our goals. We have the abilities of gods, as Dominatus do! Each day, more and more of our hatchlings are born, including my grandson Castgion Mortarius, who will inherit a Great Tyranny and work to make it Greater. The Dominatus scour each corner of the multiverse and each corner of the Gigaquadrant for the ability to bring it to it’s one true purpose, to serve us. We shall fight in Mirus, in Cyrannus, in the Quadrants, in Kraw, in Andromeda, in the Milky Way, in Bunsen, in Borealis, and across the multiverse for the Tyranny. We will not stop in our quest to harness the powers of the multiverse and subjugate it to the will of the Tyranny.''

''This is why we will declare war on the Andromeda Galalctic Commonwealth, the worms who sit upon a throne made out of their decaying ideals who through sheer force of universal stupidity have ascended to be the rulers of Andromeda. These people who espouse the ideals that the Drakodominauts stand staunchly against, those of stagnancy and stupidity must be taught a lesson in the ways of conquest and empire building. They have insulted our nation by attacking us when he held Deep Core, and they only pushed us back because we sent only a small force. One man alone, Angrus Mortarius killed many of their finest, and almost killed their leader before a bomb that we had placed accidentally knocked him out. They took him prisoner in this and we were forced to engage in a tribunal to get him out.'

'''Now he promises you the heads of all those who stood against him, of Uriel Ultanos the Worm King, Tyraz Breek, the Demon Child, and Jahric, the Great Rat himself. The battle in front of us will not be an easy one, but through the strength of our Dominatus, the fire in our hearts, the magic of our technology, and the fact that we are superior, we will prevail. We are at a point in our time when we have had more resources than ever before to do whatever we please, we are at a crossroads whether we decide whether the Tyranny sinks into the abyss of stagnancy or ascends to true greatness, and we have the power to change our fate.''

''It is because of this, that we will do what has to be done, as our fleets blot the skies, as our superweapons destroy systems, as the Dominatus take worlds for themselves, that we will win. We will win because we are the greatest, we will win because the Dominauts are the smartest, the strongest, and the most powerful of any race. We will fulfill our destiny, and the Tyranny will conquer. Now we build an eternal omnipotent and omnipresent civilization that will echo for time and space. Tyranny Eternal!''

The Ties That Bind
Installation 7 was amuck with Dominatus going everywhere as they looked at the outputs of the algorithms.

Dominatus 1 - That isn't possible, the outputs are asymptomatically approaching the threshold point, even though nothing happened to us in recent years in terms of events.

Dominatus 2 - ''It's not asymptomatically reaching it anymore, the rate of growth is actually increasing, a few more iterations and we will be at threshold point."

Dominatus 1 - That would imply a temporary failure of all our AI systems, which now comprises just about everything we have, a day long shut down at least.

Dominatus 2 - The quantum algorithms are designed to handle the threshold number though, all that could trigger spontaneous failure would have been a hyperspatial gamma ray burst at this point in the system some while ago, and that didn't happen.

Little did they know that exactly a few months before, the DCP had detonated a hyperspace star in their general sector and that even though the hyperspace star did not actually touch the installation, the hyperspatial gamma ray burst hit exactly one point out of countless ones in the system.

Dominatus 1 - No, the output reads differently than from the scenario that is needed to work, and we can't shut this down

Dominatus 2 - Holt Shit.

Both Dominatus looked at each other with an "Oh Shit" face and contemplated on the possibilities.

Dominatus 1 - There is nothing we can do, update the logs of the Tyrant to show the impending failure of all electronic systems

Dominatus 2 - ''Algorithm adjusted so it happens in waves, this means that the colonies closest to this installation will suffer the effects first, rather than others.

Dominatus 1 - I hope the Tyrant can save us

At that, the first blasts started traveling, towards the massive Tannhauser Gates to be spread to the outermost colonies, it was only a matter of time.

Abaddon's Fall
The news travelled rather quickly to Abaddon Heimdall, as his database was updated, although the electronic failure had not happened yet. Though still receiving much applause from the Dominatus, his complexion instantly turned pale as he received the grim news, and he merely stared at the ships in the sky and the distant worlds of the Tyranny. He looked for a split instant at his dominion, mere seconds passing as the entire history of building his empire flashed before his eyes. Some say that when one is about to die, their entire life flashes before their eyes, many decades compressed into a few seconds. Abaddon's life was his empire, and his empire's death meant his own.

The entire history of the Tyranny flashed before him, from when he was born during their Middle Ages to his prescence as the Tyrant during their planet bound state. The massive suffering in the Unification Wars as well as the sadness at the monstrous virus that the Kantus Family unleashed. He remembered the Tyranny becoming spacefaring and becoming a tier 5 nation with it's first few first contacts where they subjugated alien races. He remembered the first sectoral wars of conquest they had as a tier 4 nation along with the production of the mark 1s when they were tier 3. He remembered the first thousand systems they acquired, the first ten thousand, the first hundred thousand, and the first million. He remembered the ascent to tier 2, faster than any civilization before, and the expansion of his dominion. He remembered crossing the Tier 1 and Million System border, cementing the strength of the Tyranny. Most of all however, he remembered his grandson, Castigon, and his daughter, Medusa.

He heard a psychic cry that pervaded itself throughout the entirety planet, that came from his son Castigon, and then he pondered what would happen next, what he would do to preserve his empire and bring the Dominatus to greater heights. He pondered on these questions for what seemed to be countless eternities though they were only split seconds. It was the mind of a man who had conquered a million systems and brought a civilization to tier 1. However, in face of this, he could only do so much and first tried to motivate his people.

Even faced with any problem, the Tyranny will conquer, for we are Dominatus, and we are ...

At that, he suffered spontaneous organ failure, though he should not have died of old age at that point in time, but the stresses of what he had to deal with and the bad new eventually, subconsciously got hold of him, and he fell dead, from the kilometer tall tower, to the base of the plaza in plain sight. The Tyrant was dead, he had fallen.

Restoring Equilibrium
The crowd looked away, shocked at the sight of what had happened. All of them, though elite Dominatus frontline soldiers, who had civilized systems and killed millions by themselves were aghast at what had happened. However, as per procedure, pre made burial apparatus from him was shown, him having planned what to do with his body in event of death, and soon, Dominauts war steeds were hauling a massive palace chariot across the streets of Demogorgon Prime, where the body was wrapped in molten gold to be preserved forever. It was dragged, through the solemn crowds of Dominatus to the Eternal Palace of Tyrants, where he was put to rest.

Medusa stood alone in her room, not wanting to face the situation, and constantly losing her temper. She sat there contemplating if this was just a nightmare, as she was not ready to take an empire on by her own. All her diplomatic efforts had ended in failure, a trail of ashes, and the Tyranny would probably be the same, however as she paced, Angrus came into her room.

Angrus - I know it is hard, but we have problems, and we need you

Medusa - What can i do, everything i have done has turned to ash, i can't have this responsibility right now

Angrus - I have faith in you dear, and you must bear the burden, you will bring us to supremacy

Medusa - ''I guess ... you're right''

Medusa ascended the tower of orators and couldn't first speak, choking on her words.

Medusa *silently* - I can't do this

Angrus *silently* - You must, you are the Tyrant

However before Medusa began to speak, she was interrupted by the Dominatus on the ground who crescendoed and repeated the same lines over and over, as if in a chant.

Dominatus - Hail Tyrant Medusa, Long Life to The Tyrant

=The Storm Breaks Loose=

Across 13 Dimensions
Crispy noticed the Dominauts Hyperwave broadcast on the Universal Discussion Board that said the Tyranny was opening an exclusion zone around all of their colonies, and being the cunning man he was, deduced the causes of this to two things.

Crispy - The Tyranny would not open up an exclusion zone unless something truly terrible happened, this is very unnatural for even them.

Crispy was rather intrigued, and then tracked a Dominatus fleet moving to what seemed to be a massive structure.He entered a system, fully cloaked, and saw the Tyranny ships entering a massive portal projected by an even more massive strucutre, a Vestibule CLass Gateship.

Crispy - Impressive...it reminds me of the device my people used to get to this universe...the Tyranny are definitely putting no technology to waste.

He then lined up before the last ship and entered a portal. The other Insurrection forces stayed behind at his order. He would only require the Orochi for this. The Orochi entered the portal behind the Dominatus ships as it was engulfed in pure energy.

VestibuleAI - You have now entered Universe 2, proceed with other ships to Planet Telavom. VestbiuleAI - Slave Revolt started on Telavnom and all radius 10 planets in this universe. VestibuleAI - All ships proceed to suprees revolt before radius changes. Crispy - ''Slave revolt. As I suspected, disaster had struck.'' VestibuleAI - All ships proceed to planet now! Crispy - It makes me wonder why the Dominatus have not called for their allies...unless they either have none, they can't access communications, their leader has forgotten...or it is a matter of shame.

Crispy's ship proceeded to the planet and saw on the surface quite alot of fighting. It was a minor world. so Nocturnal Legion overseers were capable of putting down the revolt

Crispy - ''Zazane are here, hmm? Tyranny, what foul experiments have you performed upon my people...hmph.''

The Zazane were twice as tall as normal Zazane and advanced upon the slaves

VestibuleAI - All Ships, radius has changed, more colonies are revolting, change target! Crispy - ''A system-wide rebellion? Under the Tyranny? Something has definitely happened here, something very wrong. The slaves would have no chance of

VestibuleAI - 100 Systmes across Tyranny revolting and number growin, still containable VestibuleAI - Requesting immediate reinforcements VestibuleAI - Next wave to cause revolt in 1000 systems

Crispy narrowed his eyes and began to approach an uncontained world, one where Overseers had not arrived. He beamed down onto the planet to observe the fight between AI and millions of slaves.Myrmidons were deactivated due to the fact that Installation 7's algorithms were also intertwined with AI, while overseers, though causing massive damage were beginning to get overwhemlmed, being outnumbered tens of thousands to one. Crispy watched the slaves pick up their weapons and arms. But he began to approach the crowds.

VestibuleAI - 1000 systems are revolting now, 10000 on the next wave. VestibuleAI - Requistioning Dominatus support now. Crispy - They can't contain this...They are sending Dominatus to their deaths...

Dominautus soon began landing on some of the worlds, and supported by overseers began to turn the tides of battles in some cases. However on the majority of them, the Dominauts could only kill so many, and even if they destroyed an army by themselves they could do no more, and had to retreat

VestibuleAI - 10000 systems are revolting now, all forces employ all weapons, 100000, on next wave, in the First Gigaquadrant. VestibuleAI - Time difference will be greater, all non Mirus forces, to arms now!

Crispy watched the revolt consume the Dominatus. Insurrection forces would not fight the slaves, it was an unncessary loss of lives in their eyes. But Crispy couldn't stand this. The Dominatus forces were sent to retreat, though on some planets, Dominatus were surrounded by thousands of slaves who overwhelmed their massive armaments. Overseers were sent in for rearguard actions as the severely outnumbered Dominauts had to flee.

Crispy - Medusa...I need to speak to her...Now.

Crispy beamed back up to the Orochi, though he found himself at a loss. He went through the Vestibule Class Gateship, and to Invictus, where he entered a Tannhauser Class Hypergate that dwarfed the Vestibule Class Gateship to Demogorgon Prime, and all the while he saw fighting on every tyranny world he came across.

Crispy - This is terrible...Absolutely horrible... FleetAI - Myrmidons and vehicles still inactive as of now, the algorithm screwed them over, we are horribly outnumbered. FleetAI - ''Final wave to encompass all million planets ... Myrmidons and vehicles finally getting online!''

Crispy finally made his way to Demogorgon Prime, where he teleported down to a war planning room. Crispy looked around. He had mixed expressions on his face, but he remained calm.Seated around the table was the entirety of the Grand Admirality, led by Medusa Heimdall.

Crispy - Medusa, what is going on? Gravius - My liege, we have lost 30,000 worlds already and the final wave has not hit us Medusa - How did you get here?

Honor Guards then surround Crispy, towering over his relatively small form.

Crispy - Question is, where is Abaddon? Medusa - He died a few hours ago.

Crispy remained quiet. He took no notice of the Honour Guards and stepped forward.

Crispy - What is going on, Medusa? Medusa - You are an alien, you cannot know. Grand Admiral - My Liege, the Abaddon Class is ready to be used against the slaves, perhaps they will fear us when we demonstrate it.

Crispy raised an eyebrow.

Crispy - You're going to eviscerate them? Medusa - The Doctrine of fear works, Gravius, take the ship to destroy them

At that, a massive supership, the Abaddon Class Behemoth of 1331 kilometers in length entered view.

Gravius - I will show them fear my liege

Gravius took the superweapon to a slave world and destroyed it with a small blast.However this was bad, as AI reported that Slaves who had seen that were fighting with even more tenacity.

Medusa - How come they haven't surrendered? Crispy - ''Medusa, I demand you stop this! The lives being lost are unnecessary!'' Medusa - Stop what? FleetAI - Final wave about starting, all million worlds are in revolt! Medusa - Shit! Crispy - The slaves won't stop fighting because of fear! Crispy - You attack them, they're only going to fight harder! Medusa - What do you know, I am the Tyrant, and you are merely a rebel.

Crispy stepped back and quietly watched, his arms folded.

Grand Admiral - My liege, seventy thousand systems lost now, although we are fighting them to a standstill now the myrmidons are active.

At that a final pulse was sent out by Installation 7 that deactivated most of the myrmidons

Grand Admiral - Most myrmidons are failing, vehicles are inactive, overseers being overwhelmed as well. Grand Admiral - Dominatus troops are able to hold, but these people are no stopping. Grand Admiral - Nothing is able to cause them to surrender. Crispy - As I said...trying to inflict fear upon them is useless... Medusa - Do they have any spaceborn capability yet? Grand Admiral - No my liege. AI - 200,00 systems lost. Medusa - Did that just double? Grand Admiral - Without the myrmidons we are horribly outnumbered, overseers are outnumbered as well. Grand Admiral - In addition, slaves seem to be able to access armories. Medusa - Has the Yotta Omega Maximum call been sent out? Grand Admiral - Yes, during the first waves.

Crispy kept watching with his arms folded. He had an angered expression on his face.

Medusa - Get out of my sight Crispy! Grand Admiral - Our fleets however, are in interdiction over all the worlds, we control the spacelanes.

Crispy stayed in his spot however, watching and listening as the numbers increased.

Crispy - Pull your people out of there. Grand Admiral - Out of where, we have space dominance? Crispy - ''You have just lost over three hundred thousand worlds in a short matter of time. How long before that space dominance vanishes?''

Medusa - They have no spaceships Crispy! Medusa - Get out of here now!

Crispy remained quiet again. He heard the numbers go up once again. AI - The Myrmidons are now online, stabilized at 500,000 systems lost

Medusa - Did we just lose over half our systems? Grand Admiral - Line stabilized, Myrmidons active, all overseers and dominatus recalled to central command for counterattacks. Medusa - We will plot further action.

Crispy shook his head and looked down.

Medusa - So it's stopped'' Grand Admiral - Yes my liege, forces are being gathered for counter attacks. Crispy - I think a counter attack at this point is useless. Grand Admiral - Why so? [Crispy - ''Well think about it. Its only a matter of time until the Myrmidons deactivate again and the line destabilizes.'' Medusa - No it's not. Crispy - ''Medusa! You have just lost over 500 thousand systems! Until you know what in Shyrak's name you're talking about, I suggest you sit down and shut the hell up!'' Medusa - Enough, take him out of my sight. At that, the honor guards dragged Crispy away and teleported him to the Orochi.

Medusa - I know what to do, i am Medusa Heimdall!

A Mysterious Visit
The had seen the Tyranny rise to become a major intergalactic power, and had carefully watched them from afar for all this time. Now, the sudden disturbances caused by the slave uprising had piqued their interest into taking a closer look. The ships of were sent to investigate, and, having analysed the situation, sent a small probe to deliver a message to the Tyranny's leader. As the probe shot through hyperspace to Demogorgon Prime, the Tyranny's defence forces were quick to respond, and as they opened fire, it vanished in a blinding flash of light. Unbeknownst to them, avoiding their sensors, a sparse cloud of AI-built utility fog had been deployed, where it would appear to the Tyrant in the form of a Dominatus-sized.

Medusa was contemplating what to do alone in her room, going over the debacles of the day. Her husband, Angrus, was away fighting, while her son, Castigon, was in Installation 11 to complete the Dominatus Ultima program. She merely lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling, hoping for all of this to end, for the slaves to die and for the worlds to come back, and she closed her eyes. She rolled on her side where some light penetrated her eyelids and she opened them, seeing a creature she had never encountered, and startled, Medusa awoke.

Medusa - Who are you? Creature - ''I am the City of the Gods. Or the City of Reality. Or the City of Eternal Joy. It does not matter. You are Tyrant Medusa Heimdall?'' Medusa - Yes, I am. Creature - ''I bring you a message. A warning. Half of your worlds have already fallen to uprisings, and you have improved your defences on the rest to ensure that no more succumb to the effects of such events. However, the crisis is not yet over. It has only just begun.'' Medusa - As we speak, our fleet is launching a counterattack to claim them back; we will take back what is ours. Creature - ''Indeed. "Might makes right". That is the motto that your civilisation is built upon, is it not? Well, it is true - to a certain extent. Any interacting system comes down to such statistical laws as natural selection: those entities that show features that will best enable survival are those that are most likely to survive.'' Medusa - Which is why the Tyranny shall conquer. Creature - ''Most societies form, not because the best means of survival in their environment is by conquering those weaker than themselves, but because the best means of survival in their environment is by working together and merely using their strength to fend off aggressors. Tyrant Medusa, I am not telling you to change your civilisation to fit those ideals; that is not what this message is about, although I can understand if that is what you expect.'' Medusa - What is your point, strange one? Creature - ''What I am here for is to tell you two things. First of all, there are more civilisations out there that will side with your slaves than will side with you. Some of them are as ready now as you are. Do not, if you wish to conquer and succeed, assume that they are inferior because of their ideological differences. You should only assume military inferiority on the grounds of actual military inferiority, not on moral or ideal inferiority.'' Medusa - I understand this. Creature - ''Good. Make sure you never forget it; I have seen empires as strong as yours crumble to ashes as a result of making such mistakes. Now I have a second piece of information to give you. We are aware that, in the course of this war, many planets over which you will do battle will suffer orbital bombardment. The has requested that we preserve the biodiversity of these bodies.''

A hologram of a Eden ship appeared in front of the creature.

Creature - ''This is the style of ship that we will deploy to retrieve samples of various organisms and take them to safety. This is a warning to you, that we will also deliver to any other civilisation involved in this conflict: do not fire on these ships. They mean you no harm. Acts of aggression will not be tolerated.'' Medusa - That will be kept in mind; however, do not test my patience. Creature - ''I simply mean to let you know, lest you mistake these craft for designs of your enemies. So, remember my two warnings, and good night, Medusa Heimdall.''

The hologram and the creature vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. Medusa, though troubled by the visit, submitted to the ennui of tiredness and fell back to sleep.

A Game of Shadows
The BCN was making a visit to their Tyranny allies in the Muvogura sector to open up further talks. However, when they approached on the of the worlds, they noticed that they were not being contacted, something strange, as they had always been welcomed by Dominatus before.They decided to investigate this anomaly.Aboard Genrai's Wranploer Dreadnaught, Genrai spoke to the slave pilot.

Genrai Nal - Find the co-ordinates of that time anomaly and set a course. Pilot - A-as you wish s-sir...

Genrai nodded, and with a small fleet, decided to go and investigate the anomaly.

Unbeknownst to them, the world was no longer that of the Tyranny, but instead was inhabited by a bunch of pseudo crocodilian rabbits the Tyranny had enslaved. The Myrmidons in this sector hadn't activate successfully and the Tyranny had lost their grip on the world to the still planetbound slaves.They also knew from the relation databases of the BCN, and were prepared to fight to the death against anyone who might take away their newfound freedom.

Pilot - Sir, wasn't this charted as a world under Tyranny? Genrai Nal - ''It was. Can you put their leader on the line?''

The pilot nodded, and sent a transmission to the Tyranny.However, on the world, the transmission fell upon deaf ears, the slaves not knowing how to use the communications apparatus as they did not know how to configure translators. Much time passed, but the BCN saw that no reply was coming.

Genrai Nal - ''Hmph. What happens now?'' Pilot - I'm not sure...

Genrai thought to himself.

Genrai Nal - ''It looks like the Tyranny have a little problem. Perhaps we should help them.'' Pilot - As you wish sir...l-landing now...

The fleet of the BCN descended upon the world.However, on that world, the Caltrop Class Turrets had been rewired to see all of the allies of the Tyranny as enemies.

Genrai Nal - ''As predicted. Men, bombard the defences.''

They saw no fleet in orbit but were instantly hit by barrages of missiles and hyperlaser fire.The fleet sent EMP bombs down to try and disable the defenses.Luckily enough, it was an outpost world and therefore did not have many of the Caltrops. The EMP bombs eventually started working, however each deactivated Caltrop went into self destruct, damaging the BCN fleet.

The remaining ships landed on the planet's surface, with Genrai getting out, backed by several mercenary soldiers. They then saw slaves armed with rather primitive coilguns that the Tyranny had used on their slave conscripts before and started firing. Genrai Nal took action. His soldiers took cover and fired portable turbolasers, while he sliced through them.The slaves were cut down by the murderous fire of the BCN troops, however smaller land defneses of the world had been hardwired to attack the Tyranny allies, including the BCN.

Giant railguns popped out from under the ground while gatling plasma guns opened fire. However, although they were somewhat pinned, completely encircled, they still knew they had a fighting chance. Genrai Nal teleported to them and cut the power cables as well as some of their interiors, while the rest of the soldiers threw EMP grenades.The turrets were finished, however they saw a massive slave army in the distance. It was also then they noticed some ships exit hyperspace at the edge of the system, bearing the logo of the Tyranny. The ships started hovering above, blotting the sky, and landing the Scions of Crogki on the battle scene.

Genrai Nal - ''It appears we have some support. Keep holding the line.''

The enhanced inalton overseers started using chronoscopic powers as well as tyranny weapons to carve through the slaves, while a single Dominatus Honor Guard landed.

Genrai Nal - ''Chronoscopic powers? Impressive.''

The Honor Guard, smashed through the lines, using biomass, weaponry, his army, and technology to smash through the rather disorganized slave army. Genrai greeted the Honor Guard, and made a warrior's ritual of greetings. The honor guard however, knew that this was one of the worlds where the Tyranny was outnumbered the least.

Honor Guard - I believe we know each other, I am Wolframicht Stahl, and you are Genrai Nal. Genrai Nal - ''I believe we do. I am Genrai Nal, leader of the Guild of Shadows...from the Borealis Consortium Network.''

Genrai held out his hand to Stahl.

Genrai Nal - ''It is good to meet you. I have heard many things about you; I believe the same for me?''

Wolframicht Stahl extended his hand as a gesture of friendship.

Stahl - Yes, I have also heard a great many things about you as well, however we can exchange pleasantries as well, we must cleanse this world first.

At that, countless millions of Myrmidons which were now functioning started landing, killing all the slaves.

Stahl - The procedure is to kill, not take prisoners. Genrai Nal - ''I see. I too believe it is better to finish an opponent on sight than to leave him to survive another day.''

The two warriors fought side by side, almost as if they had a hivemind, and finished on a heap of broken corpses.Stahl noted that this was the easiest world he had subjugated in the counterattack so far, and wondered if the difficult would increase

Genrai Nal - May I ask what has occurred here? Stahl - ''Nothing happened here, just a ... minor incident''

Genrai Nal waited for Stahl to elaborate.

Stahl - All you are seeing is a minor slave revolt that has is an isolated incident. Genrai Nal - ''Hmm. I've seen many of these. Rumour has it that this isn't a 'minor' slave revolt. Have you experience and more of these?'' Stahl- ''There is nothing more to tell you, those rumors are lies, and it is minor. The very fact that you entered the exclusion zone could be considered an offense against the Tyranny''

Genrai Nal narrowed his eyes.

Genrai Nal - ''Many times I have heard rumours they have been proven correct. If you are hiding something from me, I'd recommend you didn't. I could quite easily help you fight your problem if needs be. And the Consortium are very good at keeping secrets...and preventing rumours from being spread.'' Stahl - There is no problem, this is simply a matter of the Tyranny, not of anybody else. Genrai Nal - ''It doesn't have to be. Whether you like it or not, this is a matter of the Consortium.'' Stahl - For a final time, this is a matter of the Tyranny, and the Tyranny only, the only reason we are not blasting you is because of our agreements. Stahl - I suggest that you go back to your ship, and forget this ever happened. Genrai Nal - The Consortium does not forget things so easily.

Genrai clearly remained adamant.

Stahl - If it is your quest to find out, you will not find your answers from our tongues. Genrai Nal - Are you implying the Consortium normally finds answers that way? Stahl - I am implying that there is nothing to be said about this.I do not wish to be enemies with you or the BCN, but until further notice this is only important to us. If that situation changes, you will be informed''

Genrai Nal thought for a moment, then decided he did not wish for conflict.

Genrai Nal - ''Very well. If you do not wish for the Consortium's help, then you shall not recieve it. As you said, if that situation changes, inform us.''

Genrai Nal and his crew returned to their ships and left the system.

The Plans of the Unity


=Trivia=
 * Attero Dominatus comes fron a song by the Power Metal band Sabaton, and means "To wear down absolute authority" in a literal sense, but in this context, "to Destroy Tyranny".
 * The amount of Dominauts dead in this war can be modeled by the equation D(Dominatus Dead) = 500000 + 100000x, where x is a rational number.