Fiction:Great Mirusian Conflicts/Year Two

"The Mirus Galaxy is riddled with hatred and conflict. We have made sure of it. Now, let this galaxy...let this universe long last drown in blood! FOR WAR ETERNAL!"

- Imperator Caligustus

"Enemies surround, seek to destroy, we move to defend. May glory and bloodshed guide our path, unto victory!"

- Barda Clett

"All sorts of scum have come crawling out of the void of these stars...its time for some slaughter."

- Empress Besta

"This is a time of unrest in our galactic community. Heroes falling to our enemies, invasions on a massive scale, and senseless bloodshed. While I was away, things have become chaotic. But perhaps I can help...restore order."

"We may have failed last year, but this time there will be no mercy to those idiots."

"At last, after a hundred thousand years, I am free. Free to wreak havoc on this galaxy as I see fit. Scavenger...has returned."

Campaign Briefing
It was the second year of the conflicts in Mirus. Hegemony forces had dealt the and many other enemies of the alliance a heavy blow the previous year. After the colossal battle at the end of year one, the separatists were on the run from the alliance, with Hegemony forces cleaning up any pockets of resistance they came across. With the war going so well, more forces were being sent into Mirus to speed up victory in the Galaxy.

However, even though the external conflicts are going well, internal friction between the Hegemony and some members of the alliance had begun to grow. While the Hegemony's Chapters and their Olympian and Vahallan counterparts in the Praetorian Congregations had grown extremely close as of late, this was not the acse for all of them. Indeed, the feud of the The Scions of Rage with The Rad Eaters had only worsened. This mistrust spread to the greater picture, as the Hegemony's relationship with the Vanara Empire began to worsen rapidly.

Fearing a violent schism in the Unified Alliance of Enlightenment, between them and the Vanara, Commander Marius staged an emergency meeting with Admiral Sophia Jamduar and General Otto Skorzeny. The goal of the meeting was two fold: The first goal being to establish a new plan of attack against the separatists (and to bring more reinforcements into the theater of war), and the second being gathering as much intelligence on the Hegemony's allies as possible (especially all the various special forces units employed by the alliance).

Meeting
The meeting commenced on the Altimus Class starbase Deliverance of Faith. It was a centrally located, heavily armed and armored strategic location, making it the perfect place for Marius to meet Admiral Jamduar and General Skorzeny in person. The objective of this meeting was to plan for the next big operations in the Mirusian theater.

Admrial Jamduar stood at attention, hands clasped behind her back, awaiting Marius's orders.


 * Marius - Admiral, allow to start by congratulating you one your performance in this war so far. Your skill at leading our forces into battle has allowed us to sweep aside our enemies with relative impunity. Your forces continue to pursue the shattered rebels with all haste, harrying their every step. You have done well out here.

Jamduar nodded her head in gratitude.


 * Jamduar - Thank you commander. My forces will continue to hunt the rebels. However, my forces have begun to complain about the monotony of the mission. The Admirals under my command say that progress is slowing. For every one splinter fleet they destroy, two other appear. The ring leaders of the various factions survive as well. We have been unable to apprehend them.

Marius raised his hand to stop Jamduar.


 * Marius - I have read the reports on the war efforts, and I have indeed noticed this slow down you have referenced. We are increasing the number of military units in Mirus effective immediately. A new fleet group is set to arrive in several days, headed by Admiral Corvus Tiberius.

Jamduar was briefly startled by the name. Admiral Tiberius was a great admiral, as well as a controversial figure in politics. He had gotten in trouble with high command numerous times for his ruthless tactics when it came to dealing with the enemy. He was too good an officer to be fired, so he was usually cycled out to remote postings, out of sight (for his actions created a lot of negative PR for the Hegemony). Last Jamduar had heard, he had been at some backwater posting in the Intergalactic Rifts.


 * Jamduar - Sir, is that entirely wise? Was he not posted away from any real actions due to Tiberius committing war crimes?


 * Marius - Admiral Tiberius has the aggression we need to speed up this campaign. If he has to torch every planet that the rebels are hiding in, he will do it. I am by no means replacing you Sophia. However, your orders have changed a bit. While you will still be fighting the rebels, you will be focusing on areas once controlled by the Dominatus. While we have some Dominatus industry and technology, it can never hurt to have more. Securing these zones are your priority now, leave the all out attack to Tiberius. Do you understand?


 * Jamduar - I understand sir. Is that all you require of me?
 * Marius - That is all. You are dismissed.

Jamduar saluted and walked out of the command room quickly, heading to the hangar so she could return to the fleet. General Skorzeny, who had been standing patiently, was then beckoned over by Marius to sit at the war table at the center of the room.


 * Marius - Skorzeny, I want your special forces group to begin investigation of the UAE's special forces units. We only know what they tell us. I want to know their full strengths, I want to know how they recruit, I want to know their specialties, I want to know their headquarters locations, etc. I especially want you to investigate the Vanara. They distrust us, we distrust them. I want you to figure out how their psychokinetics work and where they are trained.
 * Skorzeny - Sir, that is impossible. The Vanara themselves are unsure about psychokinetics, and they tell no one where they are trained.
 * Marius - Do your best then. I want effective counter measures against all special forces units, be they Koatria, Psychokinetics, Mecha's, or whatever other dangerous units the alliance has. I also want you to focus on identifying important individuals in the alliance and putting surveillance on them. Do we still have people keeping watch on Akanri?
 * Skorzeny - Yes, sir.
 * Marius - Increase the survelliance. Akanri has two children who are already in various special forces programs. Vanara grow up even faster then Zozer and Scizok, as unbelievable as that is. One is name Niyra, the other is named Ibari. Of the two children, place more surveillance on Niyra. Monitor everything. Her team even has a Scizok on it, his name is G-sker. I want you to find out how loyal he is to the Hegemony.
 * Skorzeny - His father died during the Battle for Demogorgon Prime, and his family has a long line running back in the military. I'd say he's safe. Nevertheless, I shall do as you ask.
 * Marius - Good. Don't ignore other important figures in the UAE either, keep tabs on them. I also need you to start surveying the Rad-Eaters more heavily. The feud between them and several Astartes chapters is starting to worsen.
 * Skorzeny - Understood, sir.
 * Marius - Now then, let us shift to foreign threats. The rebels leaders and top agents continue to act with impunity. Prdiar, Lorka, Kradnig etc continue to wreak havoc with abandon. You are going to stop that. I want you to use all the special forces we can muster against them. The Astartes, your commando groups, the LRRP, Havoc troopers, our newly formed assassin temples, psionic users, you are cleared to use everything against them. If you can, kill them. IF you cannot kill them, hound every step they make. They won't be able to conduct operations if they are constantly on the run. Make them afraid to stick their heads out.
 * Skorzeny - I understand, sir. They cannot hide from me. I will hunt them to oblivion.
 * Marius - Good. Now, if you have no questions, I will let you get to your mission.
 * Skorzeny - Thank you sir, I shall not fail.

Skorzeny stood up and strode out of the room, already calculating and plotting. He would have to balance surveillance on the UAE as well as hunting the threats that the alliance was at war with.

Marius went back to issuing orders from the command center, organizing the Hegemony forces into an even deadlier war machine. The days ahead may be rife with conflict, but the Hegemony will be ready for whatever the enemies of the Hegemony would throw at them.

Cosmic Horror
Thew crawled, through space and void, through nebula and star, through galaxy and planet. And where they crawled they consumed, and grew, and spread. They were many and their many was one. They could feel the universe, a yawning, unending chasm filled with pained existences of sentience. They must end it, the pain, it was like a virus, they must consume it to end it, to end they must consume everything. Once everything had been consumed then the pain would be gone and everything would be complete, nothing would exist except unending, blissful, painless nothingness. But they were running out of time, for they were pursued, by what they did not know, but as they fled it gave chase and the stars grew dark. They must complete for to not was to be the end.

A Race to be Reborn
Gridlock could hardly contain his excitement. For years, he had gathered the resources, sought out the best scientists, and had sacrificed time and energy to do so, but now, the thing he reached for, was almost in his grasp. He chuckled to himself, as he clenched his right fist in front of him. So much needed to be done, but he was closer then ever.


 * Gridlock - Soon, my race shall be reborn...

As he prepared to sit back in his throne, a Grux officer cleared his throat. Gridlock turned, his red eyes glinting like jewels in darkness.


 * Gridlock - Yes, captain?
 * Grux Officer - Sir, Lord Kradik re-unified his race and is prepraing for his war against the Galactic Empire of Cyrannus.
 * Gridlock - Excellent. Inform me when he does so, so that we may covertly send more ships and units to assist him.
 * Grux Officer - Is that safe, sir? Diverging resources from our home front?

Gridlock fixed him with a curious gaze. Most Zarbanian officers where trained not to question the orders of their superiors. If Gridlock chose to, he could simply stab the Captain's neck with his barbed tail, or cut through him with his claws. However, this Officer struck a bit of a cord with him.


 * Gridlock - We have allies here. The Imperium of War, The Shadow Hunters...They will form a bedrock against the Alliance, as we continue to grow our own forces. Besides, when Kradik is successful, we can divert more forces home.
 * Grux - Right, sir.
 * Gridlock - What is your name, Officer?
 * Grux - Fordic Rumstol, sir.
 * Gridlock - Excellent, I shall keep you as one of my personal Officers. You've impressed me with your thinking.

The Grux looked confused, then bowed slightly to Gridlock.


 * Fordic - Thank you sir, I shall not disappoint.
 * Gridlock - I am sure you will not. Carry on, Fordic.

Gridlock laced his fingers. Even with the loss of one supply base, it was going exactly as planned. The Alliance was playing right into his plan.

Unearthing Evil
A Circle of Sins frigate approached a planet called Alpha Rosetta III. The planet, a large world covered in ice, was surrounded by hundreds of derelict ships, which the frigate easily navigated around. Alpha's moon, Tau Theta, loomed in the distance. To any passers-by, the whole system appeared abandoned. Then, the ship was hailed on a secret frequency. This was a frequency used only by members of the Proditkar Movement. This system was not abandoned. The Movement's fleets were actually hiding behind the moon.

On board the ship, Maccasin, the second-in-command of the Circle of Sins, took the transmission. On his screen appeared a huge creature with pale skin and white hair. This was Glacier, a genetic creation and one of the Proditkar's skilled assassins.


 * Glacier - Identify yourselves.
 * Maccasin - This is Maccasin. I'm here to check up on the work you've been doing here.
 * Glacier - Alright. You're cleared to land on the primary pad.

Maccasin departed his ship in a shuttle and entered the atmosphere. The whole planet was nothing but glaciers, snow-covered mountains, ice plains, and snow everywhere. His destination was a research base Unitech and the Circle had set up on the planet. His shuttle touched down on a makeshift landing pad. Maccasin stepped out, followed by two Sharquoi guards. The first thing he noticed was Unitech excavation teams digging into the snow and ice, and synths carrying large boxes into the various buildings that were quick-dropped onto the surface of the planet. In another area, Circle troops and workers were assembling new ships, using leftover Grox tech to upgrade the designs. In the background, a bluish beam of light extended through the atmosphere. This was the gravity elevator going to Tau Theta.

Glacier went up to the landing pad, quite at home in the cold.


 * Glacier - Right this way.
 * Maccasin - What exactly am I going to look at?
 * Glacier - Our newest weapon.

They started walking toward the primary research center, the largest building in the complex.


 * Glacier - As you know, this planet was once run by both the Cyber Collective and Brotherhood of Darklings. When they turned on each other, they left most of their stuff behind.

They reached the main building and went inside. All around them, Unitech Psiteon scientists were conducting experiments on various grotesque insectoids. Some of their abominable Flesh-Crafts and Pain Engines stood guard. Several of the insectoids were contained in observation containers and even containment vases, quite alive. Some scratched at the glass, their shrieks and screeches unable to be heard through it. Others were docile, simply sitting in place and occasionally scraping some of their appendages together.


 * Maccasin - What are these things?
 * Glacier - We call them Nexus Heads. They were an unfinished project by the Theta Grox. We found them buried in the ice, still alive for the most part. They hold great potential, so we've been conducting lots of research on them.
 * Maccasin - They don't look very dangerous. What's so special about them?
 * Glacier - This way.

The two entered another room. It was an observation room, with several rooms with glass walls.


 * Glacier - We've been receiving shipments of captured prisoners. Not many, but enough to get the job done...somewhat.

One room had a captured Raptoranean inside. Glacier pressed a button, and a Nexus Head was released into the room. It screeched, as if it suddenly and unanticipatedly had found something valuable, running up to and leaping upon the screaming Raptoranean. It clamped onto his head using it's various appendages and began inserting it's tentacles and limbs inside his body. It gnawed through his head and inserted several feelers into his brain. He staggered around a bit, then stopped moving. A little while later, the air around the Nexus began to shimmer.


 * Maccasin - What's that?
 * Glacier - Once attached to the host, the Nexus releases a hallucinogenic gas that causes extremely violent hallucinations. This makes anyone around it more vulnerable to infection.
 * Maccasin - Incredible.
 * Glacier - We calculate complete takeover of the host in thirty seconds. Gas is released after one minute. The host is dead, nothing more than a vessel. The Nexus releases spores into the body to reproduce. More Nexus Heads will grow from this one. However, the process is slow.
 * Maccasin - But how useful are they if we cannot control them?
 * Glacier - The answer to that lies on the moon. Are you up for a trip?
 * Maccasin - Sure.

Glacier and Maccasin left the facility and headed for the gravity elevator. Putting oxygen helmets on, they stepped inside and were carried up to the moon.

On the moon was an old Cyber Collective base. While it had been shut down, Unitech was able to restart it. Outside, various Unitech Synths and Circle heretics were mining up the surface. Maccasin and Glacier arrived and started walking towards the base. Maccasin noticed the mining.


 * Maccasin - What's going on over there?
 * Glacier - The reason the Collective and Brotherhood set up on this planet was because of a metal they found. It's called Plaganium. It produces a nearly-impenetrable energy field around it. The servants of the Brotherhood couldn't figure out how to mine it because they couldn't get through the field. But we found that we could use electric shocks at the right frequency to deactivate and reactivate the field.
 * Maccasin - Can this be made into weapons and armor?
 * Glacier - Right now, no. We're still studying it yet, trying to find out it's strengths and weaknesses. We're on the right track, though. I'm almost certain we'll succeed rather soon. We haven't begun shipping it out yet, either. We can't risk anyone getting their hands on it or finding our base. Would you like to see a demonstration?
 * Maccasin - Of course.

The two entered the base. They passed a cargo hold full of tubes filled with purple clouds of what seemed to be gas.


 * Maccasin - What's all this?
 * Glacier - These are unprogrammed Grox nanobots.
 * Maccasin - Unprogrammed?
 * Glacier - They're empty. Wiped clean. Unprogrammed. We can insert our own instructions into them. But that's not our main concern right now.
 * Maccasin - There's hundreds of tubes here.
 * Glacier - Indeed. They might prove quite useful in the future.

They reached a firing range of sorts. Glacier placed a chunk of Plaganium on a podium. He stepped back, drew his pistol and shot it. The metal was undamaged but was flung off the podium. Glacier picked it up, put it back on, but then sent an electric shock up the podium. Electricity danced around the metal as it's energy field activated. Glacier shot again, but this time, the shot just dissipated against the shield. Glacier electrocuted the podium again and deactivated it.


 * Maccasin - Excellent! But I believe you have more to show me?
 * Glacier - Of course. The Nexus.

Glacier and Maccasin kept walking down the hallway. Along the way, they passed several cryo tubes full of disgusting, zombie-like creatures.


 * Maccasin - By the Messengers! Are these..?
 * Glacier - Correct. They are Bio-Morphlings. The Grox left them behind, as well as samples of their DNA and a Marker tuned to their biology. We've been conducting research on them, including ways to control them.
 * Maccasin - Why try to control them? They should just be destroyed!
 * Glacier - You reveal your shortsightedness. Why destroy something that could be useful? It is not logical.
 * Maccasin - Lorka's not going to like this.
 * Glacier - I don't care. Lorka's not my boss. Either way, we've been working to reroute the signal from the Marker to another receiver. We will likely be successful within the year.
 * Maccasin - Within the year?
 * Glacier - Great things take time, Maccasin. Besides, I don't care what stands in my way of success.
 * Maccasin - What do you care about?
 * Glacier - Victory, for one thing. I don't care about honor, or morals, or empathy. My only purpose in life is to destroy the enemy, including the fool Waptoria. I only live, to see them die!
 * Maccasin - You really hate them, don't you?
 * Glacier - You do not understand hatred as I do. Hate is the only thing keeping me alive. Why else would I endure this pain? Besides, don't you despise the Church of Spode?
 * Maccasin - As the enemy, yes. But I pity the fact that they cannot see the light of the true messengers.
 * Glacier - Pity. Irrelevant. The weak exist to serve us. If they do not, then their only purpose is to die.
 * Maccasin - Of course. Still, we should try to convert as many as possible to the one true way.
 * Glacier - Killing them takes less time. You can kill far more enemies in the same time it takes to convert them.
 * Maccasin - And this is why we were chosen first, not you.
 * Glacier - And yet, you didn't "see the light" until Pridar showed you. We existed long before you did.
 * Maccasin - And now you reveal your shortsightedness as well. You didn't join the cause until Pridar freed you from the grip of the Grox, while they handpicked us from the heretical scum of the Church! We served the messengers before you!
 * Glacier - Of course you served the "messengers" before me. I don't serve them at all.
 * Maccasin - And what results do you think these unholy beasts will produce?
 * Glacier - You are not a scientist, Maccasin. You are a soldier of faith. Though you are effective at what you do, you lack the imagination to see things from other perspectives.
 * Maccasin - I do my duty, Glacier.
 * Glacier - And that you do. I have fought alongside you, and you are a great warrior. Still, as I said, your blind faith prevents you from achieving your full potential. You...miss things.
 * Maccasin - Like what?
 * Glacier - For example, you miss the fear value the Morphlings possess. Nobody wants to fight the remains of their former friends.
 * Maccasin - Oh yeah? Tell me, what potential do these loathsome parasites hold?
 * Glacier - Look at them. They are perfect. They don't need to eat. Or breathe. They don't tire, they don't feel fear, or pity, or compassion. When you give them an order, they do it until they either achieve their objective, or die.
 * Maccasin - And what if you lose control of them? Do you have any idea of the damage these things could cause us?
 * Glacier - And that's the beauty of it! It can't happen! These creatures are connected to their marker, which in turn will soon be connected to our computers. If they get separated from that signal, they die! They simply can't rebel!
 * Maccasin - Then perhaps our leaders will remember you with pride when the time of our victory comes.

The two reached the end of the hall and entered an observation balcony. The glass was extremely thick, and the dark room before them was hundreds of meters high and across. Glacier banged on the glass. A terrible screeching roar echoed through the room, shaking the glass. Then a monstrous, crested head rose from the darkness. The creature was eye-to-eye with Glacier. The dim light of the room shone on a massive, segmented monster with huge limbs. It roared at the pair, it's yellow eyes glowing dimly.


 * Maccasin - What. Is that?
 * Glacier - It's a Nexus King. The first, to be exact. See, when we started studying the Nexus Heads, it was determined that they were too bestial to control. So we engineered a dominant strain to control them, which we in turn control. Remember when I mentioned that the Nexus' reproduction method was rather slow? Well, as soon as this King is mature, it will produce hundreds. And when we create more, our production rate will increase a hundred fold.
 * Maccasin - Then you have succeeded.
 * Glacier - Our only problem is that we don't have nearly enough bodies to host the Nexus. The Archons won't ship us more until we show them that it's worth the investment.
 * Maccasin - I will tell Proditkar command of your success. That should get you more support.
 * Glacier - Good, but that's not the only problem. Until this thing is mature, the Nexus Heads cannot be controlled. Even then, one King is not enough. We'll have to make more, a slow and tedious process.
 * Maccasin - Then stick to it, Glacier. Stick to it.
 * Glacier - Of course.
 * Maccasin - Well, I must be off. I will report your success to Lord Ghetsin.
 * Glacier - Good.

Maccasin walked off. Glacier continued to gaze into the King's eyes. He then departed as well.

Maccasin returned to his shuttle. He took off and returned to his ship, glad to be away from Glacier's butcher shop. Still, the more abominations the drugged-up Incubus produced, the more enemies would die in the name of the Proditkar.

Maccasin's frigate approached Circle of Sins territory. He returned to it's capital. The Circle had based themselves near the rest of the Proditkar, to be closer to their "lords". It served them well, providing an extra line of defense if attacked. He landed in his shuttle near a huge temple-like structure. All around him were high-ranking soldiers of the various races. Baxtar Shock Troops, Karagon Battlemasters, and others patrolled in endless loops. Maccasin entered the temple.

The first thing one would notice was the huge purple flags with the yellow evil eye symbol on them. The Circle's symbol. While many races considered the evil eye to be a sign of death and destruction, Spodists believed it was a good luck sign. The second thing one would notice was that, the farther Maccasin walked into the temple, the more devoid of life it was. While the outside was bustling with activity from workers, soldiers, the occasional Yan-Mee swarm darting to and fro, parts of the temple were completely empty. Then Maccasin entered the great hall.

While most of the city's building were similar to the Mirusian Church, mixed with some Multus Esse elements, the temple was similar is aesthetic design only. The great halls of the Mirusian Church would be packed with members of the high council and other important leaders. The Circle's hall had only one high-ranking presence: Ghetsin. Unlike the Church, which was led by multiple leaders, the Circle was led completely by Ghetsin. Anyone who disobeyed him could expect to lose their head.

The only other presence in the room were about a dozen Terniam Honor Guards lining the walls. They wore ornate ceremonial armor with glowing flanges on them, including crested helmets. They carried long, bladed pikes with crackling electricity at their tips. While these weapons could do extreme damage to an enemy, the Guards all had plasma weaponry on their hips. These weapons were superior to the Church's, having been upgraded with Proditkar tech and even the occasional piece of Grox technology. Not much Grox tech was present, however. Like almost everyone else, the Circle still considered the Grox to be inferior heretics. Unlike the Church, the Circle was not above using salvaged Groxic tech, just in small amounts. These Terniam looked different from the ones of the Church. While the ones loyal to the Prophets were clean shaven, other than for some stubble, and were also thin but muscular, the Terniam of the Circle were hairy, gluttonous and corpulent beasts. Discipline in the Circle was far worse than in the Church, and the soldiers of Sin showed it on their bodies. Their bellies, arms and legs scabbed from ripping their own hair out, as they had carved purple-glowing Spodist runes into their own flesh by special ceremonial daggers. The Circle believed that only they could sin without punishment, and it was their duty to absorb the sins of the world.

Ghetsin himself sat on his hoverthrone as usual, humming some nonsensical tune to himself. Maccasin walked up to him and bowed slightly before him.


 * Maccasin - Lord Ghetsin. I have returned from our base on Alpha Rosetta III.
 * Ghetsin - And it's status?
 * Maccasin - Our shipbuilding program is going quite well, it would seem. We should have fully functioning ships very soon. The Unitech forces on the planet are also making progress on their and our bioweapons projects too.
 * Ghetsin - The Nexus Heads. I read the reports. Are they getting results?
 * Maccasin - Lots, my lord. I saw their work myself. They...request more test subjects. I told Glacier I would inform you of his success.
 * Ghetsin - If he is advancing our cause, then give him the resources he has asked for.
 * Maccasin - My lord, he is experimenting on the Loathsome Parasite as well.
 * Ghetsin - Bio-Morphlings? What exactly is he doing with them?
 * Maccasin - He has reprogrammed a Marker to control the beasts. He is making more powerful versions of them, and doing other ghastly things. He is making his own private army of the things.
 * Ghetsin - Then he is advancing our objectives.
 * Maccasin - My lord? Is it not heresy?
 * Ghetsin - Unitech serves the Messengers, just not in the same way as us. While we may consider it blasphemy to raise the dead, they do not. If Glacier uses the Morphlings to continue to spread the will of the Messengers, then I have no quarrel with him. You will give him the support he has asked for.
 * Maccasin - Yes, my lord.
 * Ghetsin - With the setbacks of our failure last year, we will need all the support we need. Besides, I need the UAE to focus on something else other than us, so I may enact my plan.
 * Maccasin - Your plan, sir?
 * Ghetsin - While I cannot inform you of it's details just yet, trusted bodyguard. But trust that it will devastate the UAE and bring our heretical brethren under the control of the Messengers!

Ghetsin rose from his chair, towering over Maccasin. While the Terniam was more powerful physically than Ghetsin, he was intimidated just a little at this being who, with a flick of his wrist, could order the nearby Honor Guards to obliterate him in an instant. While most of his race, at least the ones of the Church, were frail beings who did nothing but sit on their thrones and preach the name of Spode all day, Ghetsin believed in superior combat prowess hidden in a ruse of deprecity. His regal appearance and mighty essence powers, combined with his intellect, made him a formidable being indeed. He rose his arm above his head in a traditional Enlightened One salute.


 * Ghetsin - We will destroy the heretics and sing victory...EVERLASTING!

All the Honor Guards raised their hands as well and roared in agreement. By the second chant, Maccasin joined in as well.

When the chanting was done, Ghetsin sat back down in his chair and activated it. He started to hover out.


 * Ghetsin - Come with me.

Maccasin, half hoping his lord would let him in on what was on his mind, walked along. The two went to one of the outlooking balconies of the temple, overlooking thousands of Circle members going about their daily work. Ghetsin activated a voice amplifier on his chair and spoke to the crowd.


 * Ghetsin - Soldiers of Sin, the time has come! We must prepare to destroy our enemies in the name of Spode!

The Circle members all stopped what they were doing to turn and look. They cheered.


 * Ghetsin - All our foes will burn! Then we shall take their place as lords of this galaxy! We are Spode's chosen and soon everyone will know it! It is time to take our place as the true warriors of Spode!

The crowd erupted in applause, chanting and roaring at the top of their lungs. They raised their arms in salute, some leaping in the air in a frenzy of excitement. Maccasin was overjoyed. His master had always been an eloquent speaker, and now it was time for those words to guide weapons. Maccasin could hardly wait. He could already feel the hammer in his hands, the blood on his skin and fur, the flesh in his teeth.

Ghetsin, followed by Maccasin, returned to the great hall. Ghetsin smiled to himself. All was going according to plan, and soon the UAE would bow before him...

Later, when things had calmed down a little, Ghetsin opened a comm channel with Glacier. The mutated genetic experiment looked angry as usual, yet his eyes were unusually alert.


 * Glacier - Ghetsin. What a surprise.
 * Ghetsin - Maccasin has informed me of your work, and how well it is progressing.
 * Glacier - Indeed. The fleet of ships you requested are nearing completion, and there is something else you might be interested in.
 * Ghetsin - And what might that be?
 * Glacier - Well, I didn't want to tell Maccasin. I don't want word of this getting out. On Tau Theta, we discovered schematics for a Grox-designed ship. It's massive, and shielded with Plaganium. The Grox never could mine enough to build the ship, so it was never built. We can build it.
 * Ghetsin - You shall not.
 * Glacier - Why not!? A weapon like that could absolutely destroy the UAE's fleets.
 * Ghetsin - Because Grox tech is heretical.
 * Glacier - We will not use any Grox technology. The design shall be purely our own.
 * Ghetsin - Fine. As a Proditkar Lord, I will allow you to build it. But on only one condition.
 * Glacier - What?
 * Ghetsin - That the ship is mine, and mine alone.
 * Glacier - Hmpf...Right. It will be done.
 * Ghetsin - And what of the Nexus Heads? How soon until they are ready?
 * Glacier - We estimate that they will be ready in time for our next big offensive against the UAE.
 * Ghetsin - Good. Send some to me when they are ready.
 * Glacier - I thought the Circle considered raising the dead blasphemous?
 * Ghetsin - The others may, but I do not. Anything that progresses the will of the Messengers.
 * Glacier - Glad to know someone who knows what they are doing is in charge.
 * Ghetsin - Maccasin told me that you are programming a Bio-Morphling marker.
 * Glacier - Indeed I am. They will likely be ready before the Nexus Heads are.
 * Ghetsin - And you are sure it is safe?
 * Glacier - I assume Maccasin did not tell you all of it? It is likely he could not quite comprehend it. I'm taking the signal the Marker gives off and rerouting it to a different receiver, meaning they will be absolutely loyal to us.
 * Ghetsin - While I think a marker modified by the Loathsome Parasite to suit their needs is blasphemus, if it serves the Messengers in the end then I will support you.
 * Glacier - Good.
 * Ghetsin - Besides, it is good that these Morphlings will not end up in service to the Grox or Brotherhood.
 * Glacier - Then may I have more shipments of specimens?
 * Ghetsin - Of course. May we reign supreme.

Glacier smiled. He would get his specimens and create a new army. He would finally have revenge on the filthy Waptoria for their transgressions against him, and then he would have so much more...

Glacier closed the transmission and went into a different room. There were several containers of Bio-Morphlings inside. He went up to one containing a Revenger and placed his hand on the glass. He looked up at the monstrous creature. What an amazing specimen, he thought to himself. Then he looked at his hand. He noticed his darklight omnitool. He gazed at it for a moment. The omnitool was used for a number of things, which included hacking any sorts of computers, mainframes, programs...and signals. Glacier's eyes widened. He slowly took his hand off the glass and looked at the palm of his glove. He made a fist, then released it, activating his omnitool. Glowing pitch black with a white outline, it made a low-pitched whining noise. Glacier smiled.

Glacier ran into the computer room overlooking the Morphling marker. One of the Circle Baxtar guards looked at him.


 * Guard - What is it? What's wrong?
 * Glacier - Nothing!

Glacier began frantically typing on various computer keyboards in the room, running back and forth like a madman. The Marker began to glow a dark maroon. Glacier looked at it.


 * Glacier - Eureka...

Glacier held up his Omnitool. It glowed it's usual color, then Glacier uplinked the signal and it began to glow a maroon color. He stormed out of the room, heading for the Morphling stasis pods. As he passed then, he thought he saw a crack in the wall, suggesting the presence of a door there. Then he blinked and it was gone. Glacier quickly dismissed it. When he rounded the corner, he saw a few Unitech and Circle guards casually chatting with each other. He pointed at them.


 * Glacier - You! Come with me!

They followed him without question. They reached the Morphling pods.


 * Glacier - Present arms, but do not fire unless I give the command.

His soldiers were confused, but complied. Glacier selected a tube containing a standard Drone and opened it. The Morphling stepped out, groggy from years of cryo sleep. Glacier raised his hand, his omnitool glowing maroon. The Morphling stared intently at it, instantly becoming still. Glacier looked at it with intent, then pointed his omnitool at another corner of the room. The Morphling marched over without hesitation. The Circle and Unitech troops stared in shock, lowering their weapons.


 * Cambion - Sir, you've...you've done it!

Glacier said nothing. Instead, he threw back his head and laughed. The Morphlings were his, and now he would have his revenge.

An Accidental Discovery
Tau Theta had changed a little since Glacier's breakthrough. Various Morphling forms now stood guard alongside the Circle and Unitech troops. The troops were nervous around the beasts, but had enough faith in their leader to know that he had complete control over them. Still, some were concerned. Glacier was wasting too many specimens in creating more of these things. Though the Nexus Head project was progressing nicely, some of the Unitech scientists thought the specimens were too valuable to simply convert into zombies. Glacier maintained that they were for a good purpose, and continued his experiments. The massive ship Unitech and Circle were working on, called the Icon of Sin, had been moved to the Unitech Citadel, as Glacier did not want all of his assets pooled in one area.

One day, everything was as normal. With no threats and no reason to be on high guard, the Unitech and Circle troops were screwing around as usual. A group of them were playing some kind of game involving scratching the floor with knives. Just as one of the Kabalites jumped up in excitement at winning, a Morphling was walking down the hallway. The Kabalite bumped right into it. He turned around to tell whoever he bumped into where to shove it, but froze when he saw it was a Morphling. The creature hissed at him, baring fangs made from finger bones. The Kabalite backed up in fear, then tripped over one of his companions' legs and fell back against the wall, cursing. When he stood up, he noticed that a part of the wall had come slightly open, as if it was a hidden door.


 * Kabalite - What is that?
 * Wyach - Looks like a door or something.
 * Cambion - Should we see what's inside?
 * Mohinah - No. This is a Grox base. There could be something dangerous in there.
 * Kabalite - Better tell Glacier.
 * Mohinah - Tell him yourself.

The Kabalite went into Glacier's command office, guarded by two Incubi. Glacier was reclining at his desk, spinning a hologram of a Nexus Head around. He noticed the Kabalite.


 * Glacier - What do you want?
 * Kabalite - Sir, we found a door or something in the hallway. It was hidden until we bumped it open.

Glacier sat up, intrigued. He himself had thought he saw a door there at one point.


 * Glacier - Did you go inside?
 * Kabalite - No. We thought it best to inform you first.
 * Glacier - Good, Cambion, Lead the way.
 * Kabalite - Sir, I'm just a Kabalite.
 * Glacier - Not anymore. You've impressed me.
 * Cambion - Thank you, sir.

Glacier reached the hidden door. He ran his fingers around the cracks, then backed up and kicked it open. It led into a dark hallway with a staircase. He stormed inside, followed by a group of Circle and Unitech soldiers. They ran down the stairs until they reached the bottom. There was a hallway in front of them, and a blue glow eminated from a distance. The group walked cautiously down the hall until they reached the source of the glow: a large cryo tube. Inside was a large creature with multiple arms, two of which extended over it's shoulders and ended in huge claws. It's cylindrical head ended in five glowing eyes.


 * Sharquoi - What is it? Some kind of Bio-Morphling?
 * Kabalite - It doesn't look like any kind of Bio-Morphling I've ever seen.
 * Baxtar - Could be a new type the Grox were developing.
 * Cambion - Hmm. Glacier, sir, what do we do?
 * Glacier - Open it.
 * Cambion - Sir, is that wise?
 * Glacier - Ready weapons. One of you, open it. The rest of you, open fire if it is hostile.

The troops complied. A Sharquoi went up to the tube and activated it. It opened with a hiss, and cryo gas billowed out. The creature slowly stepped out, flexing it's limbs. It cocked it's head at the Proditkar troops, it's eyes glowing with an intelligence unlike that of Bio-Morphlings. Glacier raised his omnitool cautiously, unsure what the creature's reaction would be. It glowed. The creature looked at him for a moment, then lunged forward and grabbed him by the throat with one of it's smaller arms. The thing lifted him right off the ground, staring intently at Glacier. Though the mutated Raptoranean towered over everyone else in the room, this creature was taller than even him, and much stronger. The troops immediately aimed their weapons at it. The thing didn't even flinch, it just kept looking at Glacier.


 * ??? - You...are different. You reek of pheremones, of flesh untainted by metal. You are not Grox.
 * Glacier - Indeed I am not. I despise them.

The creature lowered him to the ground and released him. Glacier's troops lowered their weapons, but still remained cautious.


 * ??? - That makes two of us.
 * Glacier - What are you, creature?
 * ??? - I am Scavenger. I was in that tube for a hundred thousand years, staring at the same view. Thank you for releasing me.
 * Glacier - You were conscious while in stasis? For a hundred thousand years?!
 * Scavenger - Indeed. Stasis doesn't work on me due to my physiology. My body was frozen, but my mind was still active.
 * Glacier - What do you mean, your physiology?
 * Scavenger - Every one of my cells is an individual. He imprisoned me here, thinking it would keep me from interfering with his plans. He was wrong.
 * Glacier - "He"?
 * Scavenger - ...Mortox.

Glacier's eyes narrowed. He hated Mortox. And if this creature did as well, he sensed a potential ally in it.


 * Glacier - Mortox is a sworn enemy of the organization I am part of.
 * Scavenger - Good. *Looks up at the ceiling* I can smell you, Mortox! I can see you! You'd better start running! I SAID! RUN!

Glacier realized that this creature was likely insane after a hundred thousand years of imprisonment.


 * Glacier - And what do you seek now, Scavenger?
 * Scavenger - *Turns back to Glacier* Vengeance! I will destroy the Grox! Everything they built, I will tear apart!
 * Glacier - Good. Perhaps we can make a deal.
 * Scavenger - Who are you, and who do you serve?
 * Glacier - My name is Glacier, and I serve no one. I am a member of an organization called the Proditkar Movement.
 * Scavenger - Proditkar? That sounds familiar...
 * Glacier - Perhaps. They were around for quite some time.
 * Scavenger - Well, I will join you. Tell me about current events.
 * Glacier - Come with me.

The group started walking back up the stairs. Glacier and Scavenger went to Glacier's office.


 * Scavenger - Bio-Morphlings? You've taken control of them?
 * Glacier - Yes. These belong to me.
 * Scavenger - Good.

Glacier pressed some buttons on his hologram table. He brought up a map of Mirus.


 * Glacier - The most powerful player in the Galaxy is an empire known as the United Lanat Empire. However, the largest part is under jurisdiction of an organisation calling itself the Unified Alliance of Enlightenment by a small margin. They are foolish beings who believe they can keep the peace by using peace. They are powerful, but weakened by the concept of good, not being able to do everything necessary to win. You know the other two primary factions present in this galaxy. The Brotherhood and their servants...and the Cyber Collective. Our objective is to destroy all four of these empires and bring galaxy under our control.
 * Scavenger - An interesting, if not ambitious, goal.
 * Glacier - You don't believe we can succeed?
 * Scavenger - I know next to nothing about your organization.
 * Glacier - Indeed you don't. We are powerful, trust me.
 * Scavenger - Some of your warriors are Raptoraneans, are they not?
 * Glacier - Yes...How did you know?
 * Scavenger - I met someone like them, a long time ago. Well, it doesn't matter. Besides, I think he's probably dead now anyway.
 * Glacier - Hmm...What do you want for your end of the deal?
 * Scavenger - I want to destroy the Grox and Brotherhood. That's all I want.
 * Glacier - And what are your skills?
 * Scavenger - Would you like a demonstration?
 * Glacier - Humor me.
 * Scavenger - If you're doing all this biological testing, you have test subjects, right?
 * Glacier - Yeah, what about it?
 * Scavenger - Give me a test subject.

Glacier brought Scavenger into a glass containment pen, then threw in a captive Cotari Drac. As soon as he noticed Scavenger, he started roaring in fear and throwing himself against the glass. Scavenger walked up to him, drew back it's arms, and impaled him through the back. Scavenger lifted him off the ground, kicking and squirming, then it's head ripped itself in half. A tongue shot out of the new, fanged maw, wrapped around the Cotari's neck, and pulled his head into the snapping jaws. A mixture of the Cotari's blood and a viscous, yellow fluid dripped onto the floor. Glacier realized that Scavenger was assimilating the Cotari Drac. Scavenger threw the Cotari against the glass, splattering it with blood and slime. The Cotari Drac began grunting and slowly moving his limbs. Eventually, it stood up, it's wounds already healing.


 * Glacier - Impressive.
 * Scavenger-Cotari - Give me another. Armed.

Scavenger's original body left the room, and a Gardeili armed with a blade was thrown in. He saw the Cotari Drac dripping with slime, and instinctively raised the blade in a defensive position. Scavenger smiled and flexed it's fingers. Then, one of it's arms split off, grew insectoid legs, and skittered right at the Gardeili. As it leaped at him, the Gardeili screamed and slashed at it, cutting it in half at the joint. The two halves skittered across the floor, then reattached to each other and resumed the attack. The Gardeili kept beating the arm back and defending himself. Growing bored, Scavenger rolled his eyes and fired a tentacle from the palm of his other arm, impaling the Gardeili through the shoulder. A purple neurotoxin dripped from the wound. The Gardeili soon became paralysed and fell to the ground. The centipede-arm attached itself to his face and began assimilating him. Soon enough, the arm returned to it's owner and the newly-Scavengerified Gardeili stood up, twirling it's blade.

Glacier clapped his hands and released the lock on the containment chamber. Scavenger's two new bodies walked out.


 * Glacier - Very, very good. I am impressed.
 * Scavenger - Great. So do I get the job?
 * Glacier - Of course. Right now, we're just preparing for another attack against our enemies. With that imitating ability, we'll definitely have a use for you.
 * Scavenger - Glad to be of assistance, but I will need more bodies to make more imitations. I'm not really any good with just three forms.
 * Glacier - Tell you what. You can have the rest of this shipment of specimens. There's about forty bodies left. Will that be enough?
 * Scavenger - That's plenty for now.
 * Glacier - Good. Let me show you to your new quarters.

Scavenger was about to say something when all of his bodies suddenly held their heads in pain.


 * Glacier - What's wrong?
 * Scavenger - There's this noise. A noise I've heard ever since I was put in stasis. Some kind of incessant buzzing or ringing noise. Every waking hour. I thought it would stop once I was released from cryo, but it hasn't.
 * Glacier - Perhaps our scientists could have a look at it.
 * Scavenger - No, it's not just in the heads of my bodies. Every single cell of me hears it. The more cells I absorb, the louder it gets. Can't you hear it? Can't anyone hear it but me?!
 * Glacier - I'm sorry.
 * Scavenger - Well, it's not your fault.

They reached Scavenger's new room. It was suited to the everyday needs of an assimilant being.


 * Glacier - I'll call you if something comes up. Let me know if you need anything.
 * Scavenger - Right.

Glacier left, closing the door behind him. He leaned against the door, thinking about this new discovery. He decided to contact Solid about it.

Glacier went to his office and contacted Solid.


 * Solid - Ah. Glacier. What do your require?
 * Glacier - There's...been a development at Tau Theta.
 * Solid - What's wrong?
 * Glacier - Nothing's wrong, but...we've found something. A creature, locked inside a cryo tube. We let it out. It calls itself Scavenger. It's some kind of assimilant. It says it's an enemy of the Grox and Brotherhood. I told it we might work out a deal. It showed us it's assimilation abilities. It's...incredible to say the least. I have never seen something so effective. It assimilated a Gardeili and a Cotari Drac in just a few minutes. Every cell of this thing is an individual animal.
 * Solid - And you say it's friendly to the cause?
 * Glacier - It wants to help.
 * Solid - Then by all means let it join us. Something like this could help us rip the UAE apart from the inside. So make it comfortable, Glacier. It could be one of our most effective assets.
 * Glacier - Very good.

Glacier ended the transmission and walked away.


 * Glacier - Very good indeed.

By mid-afternoon of the next day, Glacier stood in front of forty perfect copies of the test subjects. Each one stared intently ahead with the same glint of intelligence. Glacier smiled to himself. In front of him was an army that could gear every cell towards the cause, an army that could reproduce from the dead bodies left in their wake, an army incapable of desertion, of fear, of pity or compassion. When the call came to mobilize, Tau Theta would be ready. And come it would.

Later, Glacier came to Scavenger.


 * Glacier - Got a little something for you.
 * Scavenger - What?
 * Glacier - A while ago, we got samples from creatures called Sucroids. Attempts to make our own led to failure, but we've discovered that the failed subjects have evolved into creatures that rot anything they touch. We call them Corpse Eaters. Would you like command over them?
 * Scavenger - Certainly. Show them to me.

Glacier and Scavenger walked to a window to one of the hangars of Tau Theta. They saw Unitech troops in prtective suits unloading grotesque, red creatures that snapped and squealed at them.


 * Glacier - Impressive, aren't they?
 * Scavenger - Quite. I'll take them.
 * Glacier - Then you must gain their loyalty.
 * Scavenger - Of course.
 * Glacier - Our men found them on a planet we dumped the test subjects on. Now go, take control of them.

Scavenger went down to the hangar to inspect his new creatures. Glacier knew that they would prove effective, especially against their foes the Waptoria.

The Rise Of The Wasterling Emirate
Glacier's second-in-command, Morg, the Kabalite promoted to Cambion, led his small fleet into orbit above a huge desert planet. The planet, located behind Proditkar territory, had been discovered by the Cult of Relgathia. Dark Hunter had told Glacier of creatures found there. A race of creatures that had established a huge empire spanning the whole world, reptilians that did not tire, did not need food or water, who rode massive war beasts into battle and were immune to element-based attacks. Morg had been sent by Glacier and Koschey the Deathless to find these creatures and gain their alliance.

Morg grumbled to himself on his flagship's bridge. He was unsure whether he could ally with desert savages who probably cared only for their next meal. Still, orders were orders, he trusted Dark Hunter's intel, and he could just bomb the planet into molten slag if the negotiations didn't go as planned. So he brought his fleet into orbit above the planet and turned to his sensor operator.


 * Morg - Scan?
 * Sensor Operator - Lots of life forms, lots of metal. Mainly tungsten. Somebody's home.
 * Morg - Good. Prep the shuttles.

Morg took a force of synths and Dark Raptoraneans to the shuttles and took off. He broke the atmosphere into a planet that was pure sand; no other features could be made out. Morg's shuttles landed, kicking up large plumes of dust. His troops exited and formed a perimeter. Morg turned to two Cambion.


 * Morg - You two. Keep some synths here. Guard the shuttles.
 * Cambion - Yes sir!

Morg and his remaining troops set off into the desert. They walked for some distance.


 * Kabalite - Where are these things we're supposed to find?
 * Mohinah - Didn't the scanners detect life?
 * Kabalite - Yeah. Lots of it.
 * Mohinah - Then where-

Suddenly, several creatures burst from the sand, launching themselves several meters into the air before landing and surrounding the group. They aimed bows, swords, spears, and crossbows at the group. They were large reptilian creatures with yellowish scales. They were wrapped in black outfits that also covered all of their face that wasn't already covered by metal masks. They also wore metal plate armor on their torsos, arms, and legs. These were the Wasterlings Morg had been sent here to find. One exceptionally large one who didn't have his spear pointed at the visitors walked up to them. He spoke in a deep, heavily raspy voice.


 * Wasterling - Trespassers. Why have you come?
 * Morg - We seek an audience with your leaders. We are representatives of the Proditkar Movement.
 * Wasterling - Our Emirs have not the time to deal with abominations such as yourselves. Now begone, before you find yourselves dead or worse.
 * Morg - We come in peace, and with an offering for your leaders.
 * Wasterling - An offering?
 * Morg - Of something your leaders will like very much.
 * Wasterling - Hmm. Very well. This way.

The Wasterling walked off, motioning for the group to follow him. The other Wasterlings walked alongside them with their weapons pointed at them. They were led to a huge settlement made of pure metal. The Wasterling city. Even the advanced Proditkar troops were in awe at these desert beings' craftmanship.

The Wasterling led them up to the biggest building in the city. Morg noticed several citizens milling about. All were armed. Large hyenadont-like creatures also wandered around, obviously domesticated. Some were ridden by Wasterlings. When they reached the main building, they saw it's guards; horrible creatures that had been flayed alive. Their exposed skin was red and leathery. Though f various, some familiar, species, all had a permanent expression of agony on their faces.


 * Morg - What are these things?
 * Wasterling - They are the Marked Ones. Unwelcome visitors torn apart by the sandstorms of this world and converted to our servitude.
 * Morg - Hmm. Not so different from many of our troops.
 * Wasterling - Then we have something in common. Perhaps our Emirs will not see you with disdain.

They entered the main building. Apart from several guards, there were about a dozen larger Wasterlings sitting about. They weren't much different, except their cloaks had red stripes and designs on them. The Emirs. Morg and his troops stood before them.


 * Emir - What are these creatures you have brought before us?
 * Wasterling - They laded on our planet in numbers, my lords. They say they are here with a proposition for you.
 * Emir - Very well. Let us hear it.
 * Morg - We belong to an organization called the Proditkar Movement. We would like your help in our war against another group called the UAE. More precisely, I want you to combat a certain member of theirs that is on the move against us, known as the Hegemony. In exchange, we will give you technology, including the capability for space travel to spread from this world.
 * Emir - Expand to more planets?
 * Emir - Spread ourselves across the galaxy. Yes, that's good. That's very good.
 * Morg - Then you accept?
 * Emir - ...Is deal. We shall fight for you. But we expect that technology.
 * Morg - And you shall have it.
 * Emir - Good. We will be ready for battle when necessary.
 * Morg - Trade will begin immediately after we return to our superiors.
 * Emir - Then off with you.

Morg and his troops got on their shuttles and left, happy to be away from that planet of sand and death. They would later report their success to their superiors and trade began, with weapons, supplies, and technology arriving at the desert world. Soon, the Emirate had whole fleets of space travel-ready ships. They began loading up their armies. The Wasterling Emirate was preparing for conquest...

Catching Anthrax
Glacier was in his office, examining a hologram of a Nexus Head, as well as schematics for the Icon of Sin. The Nexus King was mature and producing, and the Icon's construction was progressing very well, especially with Scavenger's genius. Glacier's comlink began beeping. He answered it. A hologram of the Untitech Citadel Archon called Koschey the Deathless appeared before him.


 * Glacier - Master Koschey. What do you require?
 * Koschey - We've received a transmission from a remote T3 planet. The signal was from a Vanara, asking to join us.
 * Glacier - Probably a trap.
 * Koschey - Perhaps, but doubtful. This Vanara sounded pretty resentful towards Besta.
 * Glacier - Then he's probably one of those Singularity bastards. Want me to go take him out?
 * Koschey - No. Go meet with him. See if he can be of use. I'm sending you the coordinates. Bring your new friend Scavenger if you want.
 * Glacier - Yes sir. I'm leaving immediately.

Koschey cut the transmission. Glacier got up and walked out of the room, heading for his ship.

The Meeting
Glacier's small fleet approached the planet where the signal had originated from. Glacier's massive flagship, the Snowstorm, was in the lead of several smaller Proditkar-Zarbanian ships. They broke atmosphere onto a world covered in green grass. Glacier beamed down with a few Unitech soldiers, Scavenger, and some Marauder tribesmen.

The small group looked around, seeing no sign of activity. One of the Marauders waved it's axe around in a menacing manner, while the other just twirled it's spear. Scavenger, using his original form, turned to Glacier, arms flexing in boredom.


 * Scavenger - Think this guy's gonna show up?
 * Glacier - If he does, it had better be soon.

Suddenly, a Skreener-class Vanara ship decloaked and entered the atmosphere. A landing beam emitted from the ship. Several savage squirrel-like creatures beamed down, along with one ten-foot tall Vanara. He was a slightly mutated Keizer Vanara, missing a few spines and having a larger head, as well as extra fingers and longer limbs. He approached Glacier's group, the squirrel-things following him.


 * Glacier - You must be the Vanara who contacted us.
 * ??? - Remarkably perceptive, aren't you? My name is Phanstil Thikar Zangrealthi. The agonizing venomous ghost who kills angels.
 * Glacier - Quite the name.
 * ??? - My birthname. You can call me Anthrax.
 * Glacier - Well, then, Anthrax. I am Glacier. This fellow here is Scavenger. What do you want?
 * Anthrax - I want to join you. I want revenge on that bitch Besta for what she did to me.
 * Glacier - What might that be?
 * Anthrax - She made me lose everything. My wealth, my property, everything I own. So I will return the favor, and destroy what she holds dear.
 * Glacier - Sounds harsh. I too know loss. I was created in a lab, with other genetic mutants as my only friends. We escaped, but they scattered.
 * Anthrax - So do we have a deal?
 * Scavenger- What can you contribute to our cause? By the way, what are those ugly-looking brutes you brought with you?

Glacier and Scavenger looked behind Anthrax at the squirrel-like creatures. They were grunting and scratching themselves in a bored fashion.


 * Anthrax - They're Snagarthi. I ran into a gorepack of them that escaped detection by the Singularity. So they serve me now. I also managed to get schematics for various pieces of Vanara technology, including their Phantons, as well as some DNA samples of their military warbeasts.
 * Glacier - You couldn't have snagged me a Daikaiju or two?
 * Anthrax - Sorry. It's almost impossible to access them without the proper clearance. So what is your answer?
 * Glacier - We allied ourselves with rebel Vanara before. The Singularity and the Moderator, and they did not help us.
 * Anthrax - I despise them both. Give me the chance to kill them, and I will end their interference in a heartbeat.
 * Glacier - Very well. I must discuss this with my superiors. You stay here. I will be back.
 * Anthrax - I will be here.

Glacier and his troops walked back over to their ships, which dropped abduction beams to pick them up. Glacier spoke into his comlink as he went to his flagship, speaking to Morg. He had not had time to talk to Morg about the Wasterlings yet.


 * Glacier - Morg, keep a couple ships here to guard our friend until I get back.
 * Morg - Yes sir.

Glacier beamed up, and all the ships left, except for Morg's two, which surrounded Anthrax's ship as he and his Snagarthi beamed up as well.

Glacier discussed the matter with Scavenger on the way back to Tau Theta.


 * Glacier - Well, what do you think?
 * Scavenger - I've seen his type before. I'd say he's trustable. Besides, we can just kill him if he tries anything.
 * Glacier - True, but he could cause us some damage if he does.
 * Scavenger - Not necessarily. If he's a rebel Vanara, anyone he tries to rat us out to will likely believe it to be a trap. But like I said, we can probably trust him.
 * Glacier - Alright, Scavenger. I'll take your advice.

Reception
The ships returned to Tau Theta, and Glacier and Scavenger entered Glacier's office. Glacier contacted Koschey. His hologram appeared on the pad. He looked grumpy as usual.


 * Koschey - Well, Glacier? What of the Vanara?
 * Glacier - He seems legitimate. He wants revenge on Empress Besta, and has a hatred of the Moderator and Singularity as well.
 * Scavenger - His name's Anthrax, and he managed to snag quite a few interesting items when he blew his worldship. Mainly schematics of Vanara tech, as well as DNA samples of warbeasts and a pack of ugly creatures called Snagarthi.
 * Koschey - Hmm. Schematics of Vanara tech, you say? Where is he now?
 * Glacier - He's still at the meeting place. My second-in-command, Morg, is guarding him until I return.
 * Koschey - Go to him. Tell him his deal is acceptable.
 * Glacier - Yes sir.

Glacier nodded, and was just about to cut the comlink when the pad started to shimmer and crackle. Suddenly a hologram of a very large, muscular Volver in red armor appeared on the pad. Iyoka Quista, former Blood Knight and current leader of the Proditkar-loyal Crimson Splinter.


 * Glacier - Lord Iyoka! What an honor.
 * Koschey - Iyoka. I see you survived last year's battle unscathed.
 * Iyoka - Those fools could not hope to stop me.
 * Glacier - What do you want?
 * Iyoka - I have received word of your rebel Vanara. When you bring him here, I want to speak with him. I may have some uses for a Vanara.
 * Glacier - Of course. I am off to fetch him now.
 * Iyoka - Good.

Glacier turned and left, followed by Scavenger. He left the comlink on, as Iyoka and Koschey began discussing other matters. Glacier, Scavenger, and their troops boarded their ships and went back to the planet.

They beamed down, seeing Morg's and Anthrax's ships still there.

Anthrax beamed down as well and went up to the group, his Snagarthi absent.


 * Anthrax - Well, what is your answer?
 * Glacier - We accept your deal. You may throw in with us, and we will help each other with our goals. Beware, if you try to betray us or sell us out, you will not live to see another day.
 * Anthrax - Of course, though I will say the same back to you.
 * Glacier - We do not betray those who are useful.
 * Anthrax - And I don't go back on a deal.

Anthrax extended his hand.


 * Glacier - Aren't you Vanara supposed to be radioactive?
 * Anthrax - Yes but I have much more control over mine. I am not emitting any at the moment.

Glacier nodded and shook Anthrax's hand. They each boarded their ships and returned to Tau Theta.

Glacier, Scavenger, Anthrax, and Morg went into Glacier's office, where Koschey and Iyoka were still talking. They fell silent when the group walked in.


 * Koschey - You must be "Anthrax".
 * Anthrax - I am.
 * Glacier - Let me introduce you to some of your new allies. This charming individual is Koschey the Deathless. He's an Archon of the Unitech Citadel of Sentients.
 * Anthrax - According to the Vanara Empire, you're quite the war criminal. Just the kind of ally I need.
 * Glacier - And this is Iyoka Quista, leader of a Volver rebel faction. The most amoral one yet, since you seem to find that a good quality.
 * Anthrax - Indeed I do. I like those who are willing to do whatever it takes to win.
 * Glacier - And I believe he has something to discuss with you.
 * Anthrax - By all means.
 * Iyoka - I will be arriving at Alpha Rosetta with my remaining forces soon. We shall discuss it then.
 * Anthrax - Suspense. Of course.
 * Koschey - Know this, Vanara. I don't care how much vengeance resides in your heart. We don't pull others' weight. You will contribute something, or we will abandon you.
 * Anthrax - Of course. I have blueprints for Vanara technology. While you can't replicate it completely, you can definitely improve it with your own additional designs.
 * Koschey - Good. Our facilities on this moon and it's planet are well equipped to build your designs.

Anthrax smiled a toothy, sly grin. Everything was going to plan. He had found powerful allies who could back him. Vengeance would soon be his, and then he would have so much more.


 * Anthrax - I look forward to a successful partnership.
 * Koschey - Then begin your work.

Koschey cut the transmission, and Glacier, Morg, and Scavenger left the room. Anthrax turned to see Iyoka's hologram still up.


 * Iyoka - You are just what I have been looking for.
 * Anthrax - What do you mean?
 * Iyoka - It's not something I felt should be discussed openly. After last year's battle, we were left divided. Though I have reorganized my Splinter, we are still relatively behind. As an attempt to create more soldiers, I would like to cross Volver and Vanara.
 * Anthrax - Cross Volver and Vanara? That would be a powerful hybrid. But I thought you Volver were specist and wanted to stay pure?
 * Iyoka - Not I, and not my troops. We are much more...open minded than the Blood Knights. Besides, they are just for shock troops, not actual members. Unfortunately, capturing Vanara to combine DNA with Volver is...difficult. Then you come along. Very convenient, is it not?
 * Anthrax - You will not experiment on me, but I will offer you my DNA to clone copies. Keep in mind, Vanara are very difficult to clone, with the groupmind and all.
 * Iyoka - That is irrelevant. I only need them to combine their DNA with Volver to make a perfect weapon. They will have perfect adaptions like Volver, but also the abilities and radioactivity of Vanara. As such, the group mind will not be a problem.
 * Anthrax - Brilliant. I like it. I'll help you.
 * Iyoka - Good.
 * Anthrax - You can make as many clones of me as you want. I'll even help with the splicing, since I know a lot about Vanara biology and such science in general.
 * Iyoka - Anthrax, I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

Iyoka's hologram vanished. Anthrax turned and left the room, smiling again. This was even better than he had hoped. The shock troops Iyoka's experiments would create could devastate Besta's little regime. And with the rest of this Proditkar fighting the UAE, Anthrax was fairly confident that he would finally have his revenge.

The Hive Expands
(More coming soon.)

Killer Queen
The shuttle left the Queen's Children Flagship, the Queen's Flame, rocketing out into space. Onboard were the Ahrat of the Queen's Children, Elegand'r, and the Archon of the attached Peacebringers, Konrad Wilson. Also aboard where the Honor Guard of the Queen's Children, the Phoenixian Guard, and the Peacebringer's Honor Guard, the Cataphract Titans.


 * Elegand'r - *Smiles* You're still feeling a bit upside dow, aren't you?
 * Konrad - You Raptoraneans have weird ways of saying I'm in awe, Elegy.
 * Elegand'r - And you still don't believe me?
 * Konrad - Seeing is believing! I''ve get got to see it.
 * Elegand'r - You will right away.

With this, a titanic shipyard came into vieuw from behind the asteroid belt. It ws round and unremarkably Drakodominats in design. Though the redesigns were completely appearant as well, having been stripped off the many spikes and sharp adges, and clad in gold, silver and green, the colors of the Unified Alliance of Enlightenment. Inside it, lied a titanic Glorinia-class Flagship, an Garganuan in size.


 * Konrad - Is that...
 * Elegand'r - Yes. I am pleased to say the Peacebringers will get their own flagship. Concider it a gift from your father and UAE command. at least, from those of UAE command that don't oppose your every move. So, how are you going to name it?
 * Konrad - I'm gonna name it...Killer Queen.
 * Elegand'r - I like the way that sounds. Possibly because of how my Creed sounds.
 * Korad - In honor of our unity of Oath-Brothers! And in honor of your Queen! And most of all, in honor of Queen!
 * Elegand'r - *Smiles* Well, aren't you a dramatic one at times?
 * Konrad - Duh. You too, Elegy.
 * Elegand'r - *smiles again* Well, I guess that is correct. Let us take a closer look, won't we?
 * Konrad - Looks kinda bleak. I mean, not much color.
 * Elegand'r - Yeah. This is only the basic hull. I thought yo would like to paint and decorate it yourself.
 * Konrad - Sure thing.

The shuttle entered an small opening in the space docks, soon touching down. Even the interior had been thoroughly changed from the original Drakodominatus layering. Elegand'r gracefully stepped out, as his guard followed in perfect synchronisation. Konrad ran out too, esctatic with joy, as his guard juped out one by one, sometimes even over each other. Making no haste, the goup of enhanced warriors made their way to the inner side of the shipyard. Once there, they were greeted by a diminuitive Spikron, who bowed heavily.


 * Spikron Egineer - Ah, Ahrats. It is a pleasure to meet you.
 * Elegand'r - *Smiles gently* The pleasure is all mine.
 * Konrad - Uhmmm...Peacebringer Gene-Seed derives from my father, Phase-Hunter. He's the Ahrat. I'm mainly the stand-in...Archon I belive the term is called. Just sayin'.
 * Spikron Egineer - Ah. Uhm. Pardon me, Archon. I'm not familliar with the terms.
 * Konrad - Bah. that doesn't matter. All that matters is...I'M GONNA GET A FLAGSHIP!
 * Elegand'r - *Grins* Yes. Yes, you are.
 * Konrad - Hehehe...Thanks, Elegy.
 * Elegand'r - Chief egineer, could you lower the bridges? So we could get inside and Konrad can start toget planning the interior design...


 * Konrad - ...Well, we had to put the stables somewhere. The armory seemes the best place.
 * Elegand'r - Agreed. But converting part of it into a storage room for hay?
 * Korad - Those cuties need something to chew on close by. And we can use it to clean the threats of our verhicles if they get muddy.
 * Elegand'r - It's gonna be a nice mess if you do that.
 * Konrad - Indeed. It's gonna be a nice mess.
 * Elegand'r - Glad you agree with me.
 * Konrad - Yeah, you too.
 * Elegand'r - And this is the command bridge.
 * Konrad - The club house!
 * Elegand'r - Pardon me?
 * Konrad - Can't you see thus huge room taking shape, Elegy? That elevated platform there at the far end of this room is gonna be my seat, with a bed of all thse fat-bottomed womed I'll invite and all that.
 * Elegand'r - Granted, it was already meant to be your seat of command.
 * Konrad - Even better! We'll convert this whole floor into a titanic dance floor! There will be gigantic moving, multi-colored spotlights everywhere in the roof! Then we put this gigantic disco globe from the roof in the middle of this room. Underneath it we put this nice antique orrey to plot our course. Near the side walls we also put two strips of elevated space, though not as high as mine, and nice leather benches to relax upon! Behind the fat braids of cables, circuits, tubes and all that, plugging into control consoles that project holographic images. We'll have these hese extending fans of tubework made in such a way that the consoles will resemble giant pipe organs, complete with triple sets of keybords inscribed with flashy control sigils. It'll look really cool! And most importantly, we'll some really big boom-boxes in the corners! In front of that, a huge row of glided long tables to indugle ourselves into foods and drinks!..I bet you can miss some, Elegy?
 * Elegand'r - ...Yes. I defenitely can.
 * Konrad - Good! Then I'll make this ship full of noise and light and ponies and manlyness and Queen and awesome!
 * Elegand'r - You're really exited, aren't you?
 * Konrad - I'M GONNA GET MY OWN FLAGSHIP! WHOOHOOW!

Meeting the Wrym Riders
If Konrad was in awe of getting his own personal flagship, then awe didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling now. The ship was massive, so huge that he couldn't see the other end of the it's front. Massive red eyes glared at them from a head encased in brilliant golden scales, with a mouth full of wicked looking teeth. The ship was easily bigger than the flagships of the Queen's Children and Peacebringers combined twice over. Elegand'r chuckled and turned to the viewing screen.


 * Elegand'r - Impressive isn't it? Though, to be honest we were lucky to find it.
 * Konrad - What!? How could something this big hide!?
 * Elegand'r - Well, for one its mobile. For two, it uses a drive system completely alien to any of us, one we can't even track it. Behemoth here is something of giant golden needle in a galactic hay stack. But *Grins*...If you think the outside is impressive, then wait untill you see the inside.
 * Konrad - Sooo...How do we get in there?
 * Elegand'r - It eats us.
 * Konrad - WHAT!?

Suddenly, a low rumble sounded from the ship, growing into a growl, before Behemoth opened in enormous maw in a roar and lunged forward, swallowing the smaller ships before it. To the occupants of the smaller ships it seemed as if they were in the middle of a hurricane, sending them tumbling out of control down the ships massive gullet, eventually coming to a jarring stop as something grabbed them from the ceiling. Konrad looked to see what appeared to be a bio-mechanical claw holding them fast, a membrane opened up and the ships were moved into the open. Konrad's breath caught in his throat and Elegand'r chuckled again. Below them was a massive, sprawling, bio-mechanical metropolis rose from a golden dessert into the dull orange air of a world lock in a perpetual state of twilight. The building were massive skyscrapers of a strange combination of Gothic and Industrial styles merged giving off an eerie yet practical feel with blood red liquid ammonia cascading from some and glowing a ghostly electric blue. At the center, suspended at the ceiling of the worldship, was what appeared to be a space station that stretched all the way down to the ground which the claws holding them were heading towards. Konrad swallowed and turned toward Elegand'r.


 * Konrad - how exactly did you know?
 * Elegand'r - Waptoria ships eat you too. They share simmilar fast regeneration, and the same type of cloaks, but better ones. They aren't radioactive though, so they not as hazardous to enemies. In you don't take the enemy-hostile symbiotes inside into account, that is.
 * Konrad - So what exactly are we here for?

Elegand'r sighed and rubbed his forehead. He didn't really why they always called on his Creed to do this. There were other Olympian Creeds who the ones they were here to see respected more. Like the Brave Burners, most of all. Or even the Plague Guardians. But duty was duty.


 * Elegand'r - Were here to see a particular Olympian Creed who have been called into question more than a few times. As you know, every Olympian is required to send in a small portion of their gene-seed to evaluate it's traits, however these Olympians are...resistant due to how much other question them.
 * Konrad - What for?
 * Elegand'r - Their past and series of rather rampant mutations they experience. The only ones who experience simmilar ones at times are the Brave Burners, but only rarely. These ones hwoever, nearly always grow them.
 * Konrad - Personally I wonder why they are so hesistant towards it. I mean, Elegy, Peacebringer Gene-seed constantly has mutations run rampant in it, and Olympians aren't put into question based on a mutated Gene-Seed or something. We're all thought to be loyal to the UAE no matter what, so why would we ever fall to Darkling Corruption? Our resistance towards it and that of the Vahallans is legendary. We only can join willingly, but why the heck would anyone of us want that? No, it is their rites on wich a Creed is judged. And that's damn right at that.
 * Elegand'r - Hmmmm. It's best to be just cautious.

stood on a launch pad at the edge of Behemoths Prime City over looking the dessert beyond. She was sharpening her Varish steel-coated arm blades when she spotted two figures walking over to her. Both were tall, but one was a rather stunning Raptoranean and another a twisted human. Drain stood and marched over, her Hyper Gravity Gun swinging at her side. The Raptoranean saw her and made an typically Olypian/vahallan motion of greeting, to which Drain returned, before pointing her out to the human. Elegand'r walked over to Drain, who looked up and muttered.


 * Drain - Hello, Elegand'r. Who is your friend over there?
 * Konrad - Hey, little girl! I'm Konrad, Archon for the Peacebringer Olympians.
 * Drain - And I'm Drain, Wrym Rider Olympians 8th Vector Commander.

Konrad was taken aback, this little girl was and Olympian and a commander at that? Also, he had never heard of the Wrym Riders and this girl looked almost human, except that she had blue hair with glowing red ends, blue skin, glowing red eyes with slit pupils as well as fangs, cat-like ears, clawed hands and feet, horns, arm blades, bat-like wings, and a spade-shaped tail. Konrad shook his head.


 * Konrad - Oh, I'm sorry. I though all Olympians were male-only. And vahallans female-only. That's the way it normally works, see?
 * Elegand'r - These are a special case.
 * Konrad - Also, I'm not familiar with a Creed called the Wrym Riders.
 * Elegand'r - Their official name is the Rad-Eaters. But the name they call themselves inspired some tech-cultists to mix their Gene-Seed with Brave Burner Gene-Seed. The result were two Gene-Seeds they called "Dragon Rider" and "Black Drake". Before they were confiscated.
 * Konrad - Wait...Wait...Wait...You mean they are those Olympians!?

Drain hissed at hearing her Creed's official name and stalked away towards the Ornithopter that would take them into the dessert.


 * Konrad - Did I say something wrong?
 * Elegand'r - The Rad-Eaters have had a dark past, now the have reformed and they are trying to obliterate it, however...some aren't willing to let them do that...

Konrad continued to stare as the desert beneath them rushed past, the Ornithopter's powerful wings buffering the air as it carried them high above the sand.


 * Konrad - This is impressive, but couldn't we have ridden mounts out here instead? I'm a bit more comfortable on a horse.
 * Drain - Sue we could have, if we wanted to be eaten.
 * Konrad - Huh?
 * Drain - Worldship Behemoth's wilderness is a very dangerous place, lots of predatory things that live beneath the sand and are attracted to vibration. Horses would draw unwanted attention. As would sonic weaponry. i read the reports of the favorite battle formations of you two. All I can say is that yiu're both high on sonics.
 * Konrad - Ah. Heh. Right.
 * Elegand'r - That is, if I am not mistaken, exactly the reason UAE Command chose to attach the Peacebringers of the Hunter to us instead of to the Grey Hunters on the very last moment. Though I personally believe that would've played out just as well.

The Ornithopter flew over a large, but shallow salt lake. Aroud it stood and lied the calcified remains of various large, four-legged creatures, with two or even three heads. They looked vaguely wolf-like, but were as big as a giany bear, and had their hairs sransformed into razor-shaped spikes.


 * Konrad - And that are thevremains of what exactly? I think I know I know what they are...It's on the tip of our tongue.
 * Drain - They were our trial by blood.
 * Konrad - What?
 * Drain - They are the remains of Doombringers of Fenris. Tyranny Overseers.
 * Konrad - Oh.
 * Drain - It was not just this, but a true thri-fold attack. The only time in our history all three of our worldships were attacked at once. The Doombringers of Fenris attacked Worldship Behemoth. The Hounds of Kuzushimasu attacked Worldship Ziz. The Leviathans of Scyllraken attacked, you guess it, Worldship Leviathan. All were backed up by quite a lot of Combat Harvesters and other nasty things. These battles were short, but extremely bloody. All in all though, we beat them out.
 * Elegand'r - Reminds me of the clashes of our Creed with the Sons of Hedon...
 * Konrad - *Suddenly grim-looking* And those of my father with the Horsemen of Destiny. Ripping apart their surviving praetors felt...statisfying. That was our trial by blood. That was how we were accepted.

They continued onward until a massive craggy scar appeared on the landscape eventually reveling itself to be a massive crevasse. Drain took the Ornithopter into a dive, accelerating down into the depths of the canyon before pulling to a dead stop as they landed. Drain jumped out of the pilot seat and ran over to a trunk pulling out a pair of goggles and throwing them toward Konrad.


 * Drain - Konrad. Put these on, the only light down here is ultraviolet, they will allow you to see.
 * Elegand'r - Good thing Raptoraneans can see much more frequencies of light than other spcies can. Heck, all up to microwaves and X-waves. I guess that is what causes my species to wear such colorful clothes all the time.

Konrad shrugged and put them on as they stepped out into the canyon. The first thing they noticed was that it was much cooler than the dessert surface. Looking around Konrad saw what appeared to be the Creeds main base with their symbol and motto positioned over it. As the go closer Konrad could begin to make out the Varish lettering which he had been trained to read.


 * Konrad - "War is hell, we must end it." War is hell, we must end it?

He frowned, from what he had heard of the Rad-Eaters this motto had always seemed out of place, but then again he had heard that they were good friends with the Brave Burners, leading him to suspect that there was more to this Creed then what he had been told. As they approached a low growling voice rumbled from the shadows.


 * ??? - Who goes there? Do not take a step closer or you will taste chem cannon.
 * Drain - Relax, Carnage. It's just me and Elegand'r here to get a sample of our gene-seed...Again. Oh...And we have a newcomer with us.
 * Carnage - A newcomer, you say? Well, then better go say hi.

A massive blood red Vanaris atlas stepped from the darkness a stood before them. The Devourer surveyed the three and gave Elegand'r a nod, before turning towards Konrad.


 * Carnage - And you are?
 * Konrad - Konrad, Archon of the Peacebringers.
 * Carnage - *Chuckles* Ah so your the one in charge of that new Olympian Creed. Well, may I extend my welcome, new battle brothers?
 * Elegand'r - With pleasure so. May I extend my gratefulness back to you?
 * Carnage - Heh. Certianly
 * Konrad - Eerr...Elegy...What..? Weird habits.
 * Carnage - *Laughs* Stay here. I will get Vice Jaw for you.

And with that Carnage vanished deep into the fortress along with Drain. Konrad and Elegand'r waited somewhat nervously, Konrad because he had heard more than a few scary things about the Rad-Eaters Archon, Elegand'r because he knew Vice-Jaw had a temper. An Ultraknight Captain who had been sent to do this job instead of him had pushed things too far and Vice Jaw had almost bitten him in half. After awhile, the ground began to shake, as a massive, heavily armored, silver, four-legged, saurian Contemptor emerged from the fortress with Drain riding atop his head. The Rad-Eaters Archon's eyes narrowed and rumbling rather mechanical sounding voice ushered forth as his jaws shaped open and shut.


 * Vice Jaw - Welcome Elegand'r and Konrad, I take it you are here for the gene-seed.
 * Elegand'r - *opening up his ams wide in an seemingly friendly gesture* Indeed we are.
 * Vice jaw - Fine, I will have Carrie procure some for you.

Vice Jaw turned to the purple and blue armored Mourner that had come to stand next to him. Carrie nodded and looked at the others balefully before, scampering off. Drain leaned down to whisper something Vice Jaws audio receptor to which Vice Jaw nodded and Drain leapt down from his head and proceeded to scale the sides of the canyon. Vice Jaw turned towards the others.


 * Vice Jaw - I believe Drain wants to put on a show for you, would you like to come and watch?
 * Elegand'r - Indeed, it would be an honor.
 * Konrad - But do we have time...I mean...What if someone here wants to get out real quick...
 * Elegand'r - Trust me. You do not want to miss this.

Drain stood on the open sands as many from her Creed and the others gathered on the rocks to watch, slowly and then with increasing speed she began to dance in a rhythmic fashion. Beginning to twirl and twist she did not seem to notice as lighting began to crackle in the air above her and a massive bulge began to appear in the sand and head towards her with ever increasing speed.


 * Konrad - Shouldn't we get her out of their!?
 * Vice Jaw - Do not worry she will be fine.

Drain's eyes narrowed as she saw the underground predator barreling towards her.


 * Drain - It's a big one...

Suddenly the sand erupted in front of Drain as a massive, coiling shape began to emerge. It was a massive black scaled, serpent around 150 meters, with a terrible, eyeless horned head. Opening it's mouth filled with massive razor teeth the creature roared to the sky, as flames bleached forward, and it's 24 tongues thrashed about. Drain simply continued to dance and the creature began to move and twist. After a while Konrad, much to his astonishment realized the creature was dancing with her, arcing in and out of the sand fallowing Drain's fluid movements.


 * Konrad - What is that? How is she doing that?
 * Vice Jaw - That is a Boronic Wrym, creatures we Vanara unleash on planets to convert the ecosystems biochemistry to one more fitting to our's. Drain, we know not how, can control them.
 * Konrad - Amazing...

Drain continued to dance until both her and the Wrym began to tire, dropping her arms to her sides Drain came came to a stand still and Wrym turned, dived back under the sand, and tunneled back into the dessert.

Crimson Sky
A few days after Anthrax's recruitment, a fleet of Crimson Volver ships broke the atmosphere of Alpha Rosetta III. The smaller ones landed, while the ones too large to do so without dedicated hangars hovered above the ground and beamed their cargo down. Iyoka Quista himself beamed down to the landing pad, followed by some of his Crimson Guard and a company of Bloodblades. He looked around at the tundra and the Unitech/Circle encampment. The various synths, Dark Raptoranean troops, and Circle heretics all stopped what they were doing to look at the Crimson Splinter arriving. They immediately went back to work when Iyoka's gaze met theirs.


 * Iyoka - Hmm...Don't unload our supplies yet! We'll need a different area for our base.
 * ??? - Perhaps the flat polar desert to the north would serve your purpose, Lord Iyoka.

Iyoka turned to see Glacier walking over to the landing pad. He nodded to Iyoka, who returned the gesture.


 * Glacier - I trust your journey was safe?
 * Iyoka - Safe, but challenging. We really pissed the UAE off last year. They're hunting us hard. We had to shoot down more than a few scouts and spies.
 * Glacier - Did any discover your destination?
 * Iyoka - We made constant changes in direction, made it look like we were heading for the core one minute, then going to the end of the galactic arm the next. We were not followed.
 * Glacier - Good. Our work here is top secret, and of the utmost importance. Not even Lorka and Maccasin know the true extent of what goes on here.
 * Iyoka - Secrecy is best. We'll need secret if we are to gear up enough to defend ourselves. I fear the Brotherhood may catch on to us soon. We can never be sure if their spies have infiltrated us, or corrupted one of our members.
 * Glacier - Indeed. We must keep our guard up at all times, now more than ever.
 * Iyoka - I must begin my work. We will have much to do to prepare. Last year's battle took a toll on our resources.
 * Glacier - I will send some of my workers with you if you'd like. Their work down here is mostly complete.
 * Iyoka - That would be good. Now, where is this fool Anthrax? We must get to work.

A moment later, Anthrax, Scavenger, and Morg came out to greet Iyoka.


 * Anthrax - Lord Iyoka. A pleasure to finally meet you in person.
 * Iyoka - Likewise. *Looks at Scavenger* And you...must be Scavenger.
 * Scavenger - Indeed I am. Ready to serve.
 * Iyoka - *Respectfully* Hmmm... *Looks at Morg* And this fellow?
 * Morg - Morg, sir. Rank of Cambion, thanks to Lord Glacier.
 * Iyoka - Lord? Well...Anthrax, are you ready?
 * Anthrax - Yes. Let us depart to the tundra.
 * Iyoka - Good. Let the work of true perfection...begin.

Three Days Later
Glacier stood on, rather appropriately, a glacier, and watched his troops rally for battle. There were hundreds of them, thousands if you counted the Nexus Heads and Morphlings. Near the main encampment, some Circle heretics were attempting to corral a Nexus King. They had ropes tied to some of it's appendages. The monstrous thing hissed at them, and continued to pull against them. Marauder tribesman marched with spears, pikes, and axes, their weapons held high above their heads as they chanted some kind of battle cry. Bio-Morphlings with Glacier's frozen skull emblem tattooed to their rotten skin swarmed in a remarkably orderly fashion.

Over in another part of the giant encampment, Unitech synths stood as they were programmed by Unitech technicians. Various Raptoranean soldiers fought battle drills with each other. The abominable Flesh-Crafts, Pain-Engines, and other horrendous creations milled about as if in a stupor, though they would spring into action the moment the call came. Circle heretics marched in steady lines, the flag of the evil eye held high above their heads. Nexus Heads scuttled about, now tame and docile towards the Proditkar due to the conditioning of the Kings. Scavenger's imitations stood still as statues, almost as if they were nonliving.

Glacier smiled to himself. This army, while not powerful enough to conquer such places as Matrukoris or Raptoranea, could defend the planet quite easily from any invasion force the UAE could throw at them. He saw Morg come up the side of the glacier, stopping when he reached him. Morg walked up to Glacier's side.


 * Glacier - Impressive, is it not? When the time comes, you shall lead them into battle.
 * Morg - I would be honored, sir. They are quite effective warriors for desert folk.
 * Glacier - They have to be. The UAE will know their fury.
 * Morg - Of course, sir. Their skin is thick, and they are unaffected by any elemental attacks.
 * Glacier - The UAE's Ultra Commandos will be no match for them, and anything powerful enough to counter them will fall to their Behemoths.
 * Morg - What of the Nexus Heads?
 * Glacier - We have a shipment ready to be sent to the Circle of Sins. The rest will remain here for now.
 * Morg - Then we are ready?
 * Glacier - Ready to defend, not attack. The UAE and their allies are powerful. Besides, the threat of both the Brotherhood and Cyber Collective looms in the distance. We'll need more soldiers and weapons.
 * Morg - Do you know where we can get such resources?
 * Glacier - Not yet. but I feel that the answer will come in time, and soon.
 * Morg - How far along is the Icon?
 * Glacier - It's not quite complete, but it's too dangerous here. If this base were to fall, we'd not only lose the Icon, but it would fall into the UAE's hands. That is something we cannot allow.
 * Morg - Then what will you do?
 * Glacier - I'm going to send it the Circle's capital. If Ghetsin wants the ship to be his, then so be it. We've done enough work on it that his technicians can finish it.
 * Morg - But isn't that risky? Sending that ship? What if the UAE detects it?
 * Glacier - They won't. As it turns out, part of the designs were for an advanced hyperdrive installed. Not only can the ship move faster than most other ships, it also has access to a level of hyperspace inaccessible to anyone else who doesn't have this type of drive. And no problems with running into something, either. The level of hyperspace is empty. This ship can tunnel through space undetected from point A to B in a straight line.
 * Morg - Amazing. We can launch surprise attacks on the UAE's fleets and bases!
 * Glacier - Not yet. The ship is not yet finished, remember?
 * Morg - Ah, yes. But when it is, we shall show the UAE the meaning of true power.
 * Glacier - Indeed. This is the meaning of progress, Morg. The Proditkar, not the UAE, not the Brotherhood, not the Cyber Collective, shall be the masters of creation.
 * Morg - Speaking of creation, I wonder how Iyoka and Anthrax's project is coming along...

The two looked off into the distance, by the tundra. Plumes of green smoke billowed into the atmosphere. The Crimson Splinter was very busy...

The Army of the Crimson Claw
The polar desert was flat, white, and devoid of everything but snow. There were more ice plains to the noth. To the south was the Proditkar encampment, to the west mountains and to the east a frozen steppe. If one were to walk the polar desert, they would find entirely peace. However, if one were to travel to the southeast, one would come across huge plumes of smoke. For this was the site of the Crimson Splinter and their fortress of madness.

A huge circular hole was in the polar desert. It went so deep down that Alpha Rosetta's original ground was exposed. Metal frames and supports lined both the interior of the chasm and the surface, where huge towers, mills, and barracks were scattered about. Red, spiny creatures called Soul Splitters patrolled like attack dogs. These creatures could suck the essence right out of someone and use it to make another Splitter. The Splinter troops themselves were few in number, mostly Volver but with a few Ugandalorians and the occasional Gigapedus, though especially well-armed. This fitted the doctrine of the Crimson Splinter; extremely small, but extremely elite, and preferring sleeper cells above all other methods. The troops patrolled the grounds, ever vigilant. Living Blood slithered through the snow, melting it whenever they touched it. However, unlike the Living Blood of the Blood Knights, The Living Blood Sucroids of the Splinter were theoretically leaderless, for it were the Blood Knights that possessed the Red King. However, Anthrax had found a way to make more. Since Living Blood reproduce when they bleed, he had set up two "torture towers". They were large, watertower-like structures filled with Living Blood. They were filled with sharp spines that constantly stuck the Blood inside. Tubes fed biomass to nourish the Blood inside. The blood caused by the spikes dripped down the tower's supports, pooling on the ground and forming into more Living Blood.

Gigantic Crimson Juggernauts lumbered across the encampment, doing basic menial tasks. The thirty-foot tall creatures were selectively bred by Iyoka's forces. Iyoka, ever interested in selective breeding, had crossed together Volver who were naturally large, his cloning and maturity accelerating technology allowing him to breed them up to size relatively quickly. However, due to a very small selection of unnaturally large Volver, they were inbred. This did not affect their physical strength, but it did make them very dim-witted, bordering on nonsentience. They could not speak, and could only understand simple commands. They were also slightly deformed, with twisted features and disproportional limbs. This was irrelevant to Iyoka; they were to be used as shock troops and living weapons only, being considered little more than animals. Still, as walking fortresses, catapaults, battering rams, and and antitank weapons, they excelled.

Deep inside, the members of the Splinter toiled away endlessly. There were huge pools of radioactive sludge in pits everywhere. Despite the freezing temperatures aboveground, the chasm was sweltering. Using metals mined from underground, Splinter members and brainwashed slaves alike toiled away endlessly, forging weapons and armor using the radiation pools. The metal crafts glowed a bright, luminescent green. Being Volver, the Splinter members, and some of the slaves, were immune to the radiation, but some slaves of other species were keeling over and dying every now and then. When they did, their bodies were simply thrown into some of the pools.

The pools where the bodies were thrown in were close to the walls, where the heat was highest. Volver slaves were digging at one pool. Iyoka and Anthrax stood by and watched.


 * Iyoka - This is the moment we see if our work has paid off.
 * Anthrax - Indeed. This shall be our moment of glory! All this work will pave the way for a new dawn. The age of the UAE is ending. The age of the Proditkar, where the weak die and the strong reign supreme, is coming!

Anthrax raised his arms above his head in some kind of praise or victory gesture. The mutated Vanara became silent, and simply gazed up at the open sky before returning to looking at the radiation pit.

The slaves had reached what they were digging for. They pulled a huge amniotic sack from the bottom of the thick sludge. The radiation pits near the walls were incubators.

The Volver slaves began using their sharp claws to rip open the sack. One of the Volver tore it open. As he did so, a thick, muscular arm shot out and grabbed the Volver by the throat. It then used it's other arm to rip open the sack and stand up, knee-deep in the sludge. The nine-foot monster then snapped the Volver's neck with a flick of it's wrist. Then it looked up at the the others and slowly stepped out of the pool, radiation and amniotic slime dripping from it's body.

The other Volver slaves, having been brainwashed, showed no emotion to the death of their companion nor to the monster now staring them down. But the thing just stood there. It was taller than a Volver, but was stockier than a Vanara. It's long tail ended in a Volver's poison bulb. Vanara-like, skeletal legs ended in Volver feet. It's arms and hands were those of Volver. Since both Volver and Keizer Vanara have leathery, batlike wings, so did the Volverakai. Massive Volver antlers jutted from it's Vanara-like head. Tentacle-like dreadlocks hung from the back of it's head and a series of long spines lined it's upper back. It had two Vanara eyes on the sides of it's head, but a Volver one in the center of it's forehead. All three gazed around the room, it's Vanara eyes flicking around and looking at everything, while it's Volver eye looked around slowly. It never moved it's head. Then, it spread it's arms out, lifted up it's head, and ROARED, the bellowing noise echoing all the way out of the chasm. Splinter troops on the surface looked down the chasm in wonder.

The creature then returned it's gaze to Anthrax and Iyoka. Anthrax walked up to the thing, standing at least a foot taller. He smiled, his fangs showing and glinting in the glow of the radiation.


 * Anthrax - Perfect. I shall call you...Eokar, new agony. Because that's what you are. New agony for our enemies. Eokar, the first of my Volverakai.

The monster just stood and growled in nobody's general direction.

A few hours later

The Volver troops were running around frantically, making piles of swords and armor. Others were pulling more Volverakai from their amniotic sacks or preparing more. Iyoka stood next to Anthrax and Eokar.


 * Iyoka - Do you know how the Volver and Vanara came to be?

Eokar growled in a saying no fashion and shook his head.


 * Iyoka - The Volver were made by a foolish being who wanted to rule the universe. He made them to destroy another one of his pawns. But we rebelled, grew independent...then became a weak empire based on forming allies. You are going to help us reclaim our warrior past.

Eokar growled and smiled, his purplish, warty tongue licking his huge, crooked yellow fangs.


 * Anthrax - The Vanara were made by a god as well, among other species. We destroyed those other species, and anyone else inferior to our kind. Then, like the Volver, we became weak and diplomatic. A new Empress took over and made us ally inferiors. Many of us lost everything. Now it's time to get it back.

Eokar's reaction was the same.

Later, Volver slaves were strapping armor onto Eokar and other Volverakai. One dipped it's hand in red paint and pressed it's hand against Eokar's face, making the Crimson Claw symbol of the Crimson Splinter. They did the same with other Volverakai, as well as marking their chestplates or helmets. Eokar did not wear a helmet.

Iyoka stood before Eokar and a large group of armored and armed Volverakai. Many hefted swords, axes, and other bladed melee weapons. Behind them, even more Volverakai were being pulled from their sacks and outfitted. Despite Iyoka being slightly shorter than Eokar, he was still able to look him right in his Volver eye.


 * Iyoka - Who do you serve?
 * Eokar - The Proditkar!
 * Iyoka - Who is your master?
 * Eokar - Iyoka!
 * Iyoka - Who is the enemy?
 * Eokar - The UAE!
 * Iyoka - And what do you do with the enemy?
 * Eokar - CRUSH!

When he roared the last word, the other Volverakai roared as well and hefted their weapons. Iyoka and Anthrax looked at their new army and the others that were still being produced. Would it be enough to take over the empire? They did not know. But both knew that their personal goals were now in reach.

Glacier's Backup Plan
Glacier had left the mountain. He walked down through his camp, watching his troops march. Each and every one capable of such action, even the Bio-Morphlings, had their fists raised high above their heads in a mock Enlightened One salute. The ones who were not marching, such as the synths, were busy doing menial tasks like assembling weapons, armor, and even ships and fighters. The Proditkar was gearing up for war. But Glacier wasn't interested in this at the moment. He walked past them all and boarded the gravity elevator.

Glacier traveled up to the base on Tau Theta and entered. He walked deep into the base, passing Morphling, Circle, and Unitech patrols. Even this little base was on high alert. Every single being on the moon knew a storm was coming. They could feel it in the very atmosphere of the base. Glacier went into an underground laboratory.

Anyone with even an ounce of empathy, pity, or just a sensitive stomach would've vomited the moment they opened the door. But not Glacier. He smiled at what he saw inside. Various Unitech Haemonculi were doing horrible things to screaming prisoners. Though the Haemonculi were perfectly capable of defending themselves, there were various lab guards up and about. These were disgusting creatures; living, severed heads attached to robotic, doglike bodies. They snorted, snuffled, and moaned as they sniffed the air, smelling for anything they could tear apart with their razor-sharp claws, crooked, rotten teeth, and long, robotic, serrated tongues flicking in and out of their bloody mouths. Glacier walked up to one of the Haemonculi, who was bent over a prisoner in the process of becoming a Wrack.


 * Haemonculus - Tell me. What hurts the most? *Notices Glacier* Lord Glacier! Why have you come before us?
 * Glacier - Checking progress. We're gearing up for war, and I want this base operating at 110%.
 * Haemonculus - Come. I have something to show you.

Glacier followed the tall, lanky, desiccated husk of a creature into another section of the lab, a storage bay of sorts. One of several linked to the main room. Inside were cryo tubes full of disgusting, mutilated creatures. All sorts of horrible Haemonculus experiments they had created from mutilated victims. Others still were Unitech troops who had either died or submitted to upgrades. Glacier noticed a few Raptoraneans with elongated heads, scales, bony spikes, and scarred torsos.

A particular group stood out. They were Raptoranean volunteers, their heads turned into sharp bills and covered in feathers. Their stomach area had been hollowed out and their other organs stuffed up into their chest. Huge, feathery wings were attached to their back, with artificial stimulator organs attached to their backs. These were Raptors, the Raptoranean Scourge, flying warriors that impaled their victims.

Others were the subjects not lucky enough to have been given a choice. These creatures slightly resembled some of the monsters patrolling outside and on Alpha Rosetta. Some were multiple bodies sewn together; others were creature who were missing some body parts and in possession of others'. Glacier nodded, impressed.


 * Glacier - This is good. What is your production rate?
 * Haemonculus - We make a few every day.
 * Glacier - A few? That is unacceptable. I want you to have every room filled at least once a week. We have extra subjects now that we're done with the Nexus Heads.
 * Haemonculus - Sir, it is a very complicated process. Just a few little mistakes and-
 * Glacier - I don't give a damn if you kill them. You can use dead bodies for things. And if you can't, give them to the Morphlings for biomass. We can't waste anything.
 * Haemonculus - Very well, sir. We'll up our production rates of everything.
 * Glacier - Make no mistake. The UAE is hunting us. We must be not only ready to defend, but also to counterattack.
 * Haemonculus - Yes sir.
 * Glacier - *Looks into the Haemonculus' eyes* Build me an army worthy of the Citadel.

When Hunters Become The Hunted
Deep beneath the blue ammonia seas of Leviathan, down in the darkness, lay a trench. A massive scar across the landscape of the shadowy abyss, only lit by the slight glow the volcanos that had emerged in it's depths. Nothing lived down there, nothing wanted to, and no one ever went anywhere close for fear of what had emerged from that terrible rift. Even now the energy of Ada's domain, the Abyss, still seemed to pollute the sea that surrounded it. But for years, the breach had been silent, nothing moved in it's shadows...until now. Slowly, a dull dark cyan glow began to appear inside the rift. It quickly grew brighter and to absolutely massive proportions. The ammonia around began to boil and churn, as hisses, screeches, and roars sounded from below. The color of the eerie light changed from dark cyan to dark blue, and then to a bright electric blue, as an explosion ripped through the ocean, hurling glowing, malignant crystals across the Worldship.

Manifest Destruction
Deep in the archives of Maturkoris in a long abandoned section the archives a group of archivists and miners were digging deep through some collapsed rumble. Stopping for a short lunch break one of the archivists raised his voice in complaint.


 * Archivist - How long is this going to take? We've been down here for 12 hours and all we've found in rubble and more rubble!
 * Miner - It would help if you bothered to help!
 * Archivist - That's your job! Our's is to catalogue and make sure you handle anything we find down here properly.
 * Miner - Yeah well fuck you!

There was a tense silence after that, before the Versasian in charge of the miners, stood on a pile of rumble and shouted down.


 * Head Miner - Hey now! We've all been given a job to do and were not going to get it done arguing like this. Now we're all tired and want to get home, so lets stop squabbling and get digging. Including the archivists.

One Salmarian archivist raised his voice in protest, but quickly quieted after the Verasian shot him a glare. After finishing, the miners and archivists got back to work clearing out the remaining rubble. After another three hours, they managed to break through into an open chamber. Looking aroun,d they could see the entire chamber was filled with large eggs. The archivists knew what to do: A quick spread-out to study this new find. The head miner walked up to the Salmarian archivist.


 * Head Miner - So want do we have here?
 * Archivist - Eggs.
 * Head Miner - *shorts* I can see that, what kind of eggs?
 * Archivist - No idea. Must study these eggs first.
 * Head Miner - In that case, tell me when you do.

The Verasian began to walk away when suddenly he heard a scream. Turning he saw the head of a bird-like reptile snapping up the archivist and swore.


 * Head Miner - These are Manifested eggs...We must alert..!

But he was to late as the other eggs had already begun to hatch, the young lunging forward to snapped up the miners before taking wing and swarming up to the surface. Above two Veteran Warrior Hunters watched as the black cloud of monstrous bodies spread to other sectors. They were the Ugandal Kando Dorum and Ustmen Ragnar Ingavar stood watching horror unfolding in front of them.


 * Kando - Damn! A Mainfested attack and at a time like this! There just aren't enough pilots here at this moment to fend off such a threat!
 * Ragnar - Not exactly true. There are the rookies.
 * Kando - Do you think they could handle this?
 * Ragnar - You have a better suggestion, because I would love to hear it.

Kando grunted, he new his old friend was right, they really were out of options.


 * Kando - Alright they've already completely infested sector Onu ands have already begun to infest sectors Po and Ci.
 * Ragnar - We should deploy in pairs. Four Hunters per Sector at most!
 * Kando - As the two most experienced, we should take Onu. That is where the heaviest infestation is.
 * Ragnar - And send the rookies to take care of the infestation of the adjacent sectors.
 * Kando - Right.
 * Ragnar - Then let's go alert the others. No point in wasting time!
 * Kando - No, rather multiple, very hungry points...Not to waste time...Not at all.

Ragnar allowed himself a small chuckle before the two ran back into the Thunder Barracks.

Ragnar connected himself to Eiszeit as the barracks where a mess of pilots and maintaince crews rushing to prepare the tools of their trade. Ragnar himself was at peace. Not because he was naturally peaceful at this time, no, quite the opposite, as was common amongst his species. It was mostly because 4020 Eiszeit did not like his thoughts to be cluttered when they where calibrated together. Finally, 4020's cool voice echoed in his mind.


 * 4020 - All is ready, Ragnar. You may clutter our thoughts with your trivial passings of the mind.
 * Ragnar - Good to hear you too.
 * 4020 - Can we please hurry? If we do not work quickly, the Manifested will soon leave this already damaged tool of my creators beyond any hope of repair.
 * Ragnar - Once Kando is ready, we will leave.
 * 4020 - You and the Mendel can be so bothersome with your rituals and battle-traditions.
 * Kando - *On comm* We are ready to move. Let's get going and finish these things.
 * Barrack Princeps - The neural hand-shake is complete, your Jagers are ready to fight.

The Jagers shot out of the Thunder Barracks, quickly landing in Sector Onu, where the blackish cloud of Manifested slowly approached, explosions ripping through both city and Manifested swarm.


 * Kando - I suggest we withdraw the Federation Clone forces. They have done enough, and will merely get in our way.
 * Ragnar - Agreed. They've done enough damage.
 * Kando - To the swarm or city?
 * Ragnar - Both.

Kando snorted as the 2 mechs raced towards the flock. He was used to Ragnar's often sardonic humor, he himself had a brand of it. Though he didn't enjoy the thought of anyone dying to Manifested. Neither did, really. Of all the Beasts of Zarbania, why did it have to be these mindless killers?


 * Kando - How did these things get into Matrukoris?
 * 2203 - There is no information. A group of miners simply found the eggs, and where quickly consumed.
 * Ragnar - I do not care where they come from, as long as they go to hell.
 * Kando - *Laughs* Indeed, brother.

Jet Blazer's right arm folded into an arm canon, as they two ran forward, each firing various missile and plasma weapons into the flock of manifested, causing hundreds of them to fall to the street in flaming mounds. However, they did not seem to take notice, even as the 2 fired again and again, instead intent on swarming elsewhere across the city.

However, as the 2 separated to try and steer the swarms elsewhere, towards the center of the sector, a buzz went through the air. It was difficult to describe, almost like something vibrating against their brain.


 * Ragnar - Grr, In the Scorner's name, what is that damned...whatever.
 * Kando - I don't know, but be ready.
 * 2203 - It is in the center mass of the swarm. Something my creators banished long ago...

Just as suddenly, it stopped, as the whole horde turned towards them, shrieking and flying at them, beams flying from their maws at times to try and cut them down. Thankfully, Manifested where notoriously bad with their cutting beams, preferring to move in and swarm a foe with talons and teeth. As such, the 2 stood their ground, firing round after round.

Finally, Jet Blazer's Arm folded back into a fist, as a sword leapt out from it's wrist. Eiszeit extended both blades, as energy flooded through them.


 * 4020 - Shall we begin cleanup?

Both pilots grunted in response, moving quickly to slice through the Manifested. Cyro shots and Plasma burned and screeched through the air, as Manifested swarmed around them, trying to claw at them, most of the time, ending up in small packs and attacking each other, leaving some weight off the Warrior hunters. Still, it was a lot of work, as the manifested would return from fighting one another to attacking the Warrior-Hunters once more.

A Manifested snapped down on Jet Blazer's sword arm, grinding it's knife-like teeth down on the metal, growling as it did. Jet Blazer slammed his fist down on it's head, once, twice, then a crush, as it's body went limp, and Jet tossed it aside, and into 2 more Manifested. Another came from behind, to be meet with a spinning back fast from Blazer, snapping it's neck, as Jet fired several missiles at other Manifested nearby.

Ragnar, meanwhile, was immobilizing several Manifested at once with his cryo canons, not even bothering to hit them after, simply going after other targets during the battle, and smashing the frozen manifested to small crystals, as he danced and weaved all around, cutting down Manifested after manifested.

Finally, the manifested seeming stopped for a second, turning their head slightly, as the 2 hunters took the time to attack them. Then, without another word, the creatures fled, swarming off with what few numbers where left.

Whatever where left where too injured to move off, some crawling away, others trapped on their backs, shrieking at their nest-mates to return, or at the hunters themselves.


 * 2203 - Kando, our power levels are below 9%, and the left is badly damaged.
 * 4020 - I have similar injury. Our power generators are leaking.
 * Ragnar - Is it serious damage?
 * 4020 - Not for an organic like yourself.
 * Kando - Is it safe to check around with the other units deployed?
 * 2203 - Based off data. Yeah, we could.
 * Kando - Then let's check up on our cormades for a bit.

Gartol Gatal gripped heavily on the controls of his Warrior-Hunter, as he locked on to the Magnetic catapult that would take him to the surface. He was an Aeoneonatrix refugee that had joined the UAE. They had protec§ted him and he would protect them in turn. That was why he had become a warrior-Hunter. And now he heard the news. Manifested where in Matrukoris. Why? How? Did someone let them in? Was there a secret coup d'etat going on, executed by the Zarbania Powers? It did not matter. They were Manifested. The were filth. They had to be cleansed.


 * 1311 Taint Cleanser - ...By fire.
 * Gartol - Ah! The mental Hand-Shake is complete, it seems.
 * 1311 Taint Cleanser - Of course it is. Otherwise I would not be able to talk with you.
 * Gartol - Yet you always inspire me, shard of the Cleanser that fills this mighty vessel.
 * 1311 Taint Cleanser - If you say so, then so I am. Regardless, there are Manifested in the city. The worst of all scum.

At this moment, a snorting voice came trough Gartol's communications channel, as te face on an Cathonian-Goorkien hybrid popped up on an hardlight screen.


 * Brenzo - Good to see you pumped. You ready?
 * Gartol - Certainly.

And yet another voice came trough, old yet spirited. Gartol froze when he saw the face of his fellow refugee pop up. An Garghator. And not just an Ghargathor. That dark green skin...That pointy beard...that stern face...and those eyes, almost glowing with zealous faith...


 * Gartol - Kaldolom Spodeblessed.
 * Kardolom - Indeed it is so.
 * Gartol - *Trembling with hate* Why did they send you here, of all Hunter Pilots?
 * Kaldolom - I volunteerd.
 * Brenzo - His Warrior-Hunter makes a good match with mine. That is the main reason.
 * Gartol - Blast it! Keep a distance, Kaldarom!
 * Kaldolom - Quiet, youngling. We must focus on the task at hand. May Spode bless you with a rich hunt.
 * Gartol - Curse your god! I don't want his blessings!
 * Kaldolom - You dare speak heresy!?
 * Gartol - I serve the Cleanser! His spirit is in any of his followers! He is much more visible than the unphantomable deity you follow!
 * Kaldolom - Is he? I believe the Spirituals are quite real. And where was your "Cleanser" when your race was whiped from their homes?
 * Gartol - You...ack...Damn you!

A deep, rumbling voice then echoed trough the Entry Plugs of Gartol and kaldarom that connected them to their Hunters. It was the Observer of Brenzo's Hunter, 8152 Bronzenhide.


 * 8152 Bronzenhide - Shut up. Both of you.
 * Kaldolom - Hmpf.
 * Gartol - No.
 * 8152 Bronzenhide - Yes.
 * Gartol - All right, all right! Besides, we need to stop squabbelling. We have Manifested to kill!
 * Kaldolom - ...Errr...
 * 1311 Taint Cleanser - Good. Now, to slaughter?
 * 8152 Bronzenhide - To slaughter!
 * Gartol - Yeeeah!

Gartol swiped aside the hardlight Comm-Screens of Kaldolom and Brenzo aside, as as the three large hardlight screens on wich they were placed vanished in a green light, clearing up to give the Aeoneonatrix a ckear vieuw of the outside world. Pushing a buttom, his magnetic catapult rose to the surface, as an hatch in the ground openened, and he was launched out.


 * Gartol - Gartol Gatal, 1311 Taint Cleanser taking off!
 * Brenzo - Brenzo co Shan, 8152 Bronzenhide taking off!
 * Kaldolom - Kaldolom Spodeblessed, 1J Holy Retribution taking off!

Taint Cleanser slam-landed down heavily, whiping up a cloud of dust as his feet hit the desert ground of Sector Po. Behind him, he saw 8153 Bronzenhide and Kaldolom's Warrior-Hunter, 1J Holy Retribution, rise out of the ground as well.


 * Kaldolom - Try to take off with less force next time.
 * Gartol - Fat chance!

Bronzenhide rotated his head slightly, looking arpound for something to kill.


 * 8152 Bronzenhide - Brenzo. At the horizon. There. I sp-
 * 1311 Taint Cleanser - Manifested! Over there! At the horizon! Purge them with cleansing fire!

Taint Cleanser already ran formward, as the muzzle of it's weaponry started to glow a bright orange. He fired a beam of heat at the Manifested from his left arm, scorching the from of the swarm, before jumping right into the middle, and unleashing a wide stream of fire from his right that incarcated most of them in one fell swipe.


 * Kaldolom - Be careful not to scorch the buildings...or, Spode forgive me, the false idols they build here.
 * Gartol - YES! PURGE EVERYTHING! WITH CLEANSING FIRE!

Taint Cleanser rushed forwards towards another swarm of Manifested, bring more and more to crisps as he left a blazing trail behind.


 * 8152 Bronzenhide - If the Aeoneonatrix continues burning Manifested like that, we'll likely break a new killing record.
 * Brenzo - We'll also likely break a new record for colletoral damage.
 * Kaldalom - I'll stop him.

Holy Retribution extended his arms towards Taint Cleanser with the insntention of wrapping them around it and pulling the Warrior-Hunter back. However, manifested jumped upon the stratched arms, biting and tearing away. With a rythmic howl, Taint Cleanser was forced to full back. Some Manifested still to the arms, as Holy Retribution raised it's Thiunder hammer and start bludeoming them off. Bronzenhide joined in, picking up manifested with it's hands and tossing them apart on the canyon walls of the sector.


 * Brenzo - Quick! We have to get to-
 * Gartol - Not needed.

The hybrid looked up to see Taint Cleanser walk towards their position, burned manifested hanging all around his body, slumping lifeless to the ground as the Hunter walked forwards. Behind him, a huge dust cloud had risen up into the air, as the fighting had caused a part of a cliff wall to break down on rows of statutes. Gartol has used them as clubs and bowling balls, judging on how Taint Cleanser held the half of a scorched stature by it's head. And a lot of black smoke revealed more than a couple of tents had been burned down to ashes as wel...

Ibari grinned as she sat in the cockpit of her bright red Core Splendor Access Jet. As she sat there, several voices came through the com.


 * Kryuun - You ready, Ibari?
 * Ibari - Hah! Don't you know it!?
 * Armus - Speak for yourself. I'm not sure I can handle this!
 * Ibari - If I were in your entry plug right now, I would slap you for being so self-depreciating. You're inside a giant, four-armed, cyborg-angel type thing. Have some confidence for Jura's sake.
 * Serenity - In his entry plug, oooh!
 * Ibari - Oh, shut up!
 * Armus - *groans* Can we just get a move on? We've got Mainfested swarming the city and you three are engaging in idle mockery.
 * Serenity - Oh, posh! We're just alleviating stress!
 * Ibari - He's got a point, though. If we don't get up there soon who knows how many people will get hurt.
 * Serenity - I thought you weren't the biggest fan of the Alliance, Ibari?
 * Ibari - *growls* I'm not, but compared to every other faction, is there any better option? The Alpha Cyber Collective and their allies would just turn us to drones, the Zarbania Powers aren't as bad as most make them out to be except they're under the influence of the Dark One, and the Imperium of War are just A-grade insane.
 * Kryuun - Good point.

Just then the voice of the Thunder Barracks Princeps cut through their conversation.


 * Barrack Princeps - We are readying you for launch. Breach yourselves.
 * All - Aye, sir!

Their Hunters moved forward towards the magnetic catapults that would take them to Sector Ci.


 * Serenity - Serenity launched!
 * Armus - Armus Canix, 6613 Oni launched!
 * Kryuun - Kryuun Sterra Lain, 11K Guardian CSAJ launched!
 * Ibari - Ibari Asukra Ayana, 2C Nuy CSAJ launched!

Ibari slammed her hand on the controls, sending her CSAJ accelerating up the magnetic catapult and into the open air. Below her, she saw her hunter 2C Nuy rising up out of the ground. The Hunter's back armor open and several tractor beams emerged, connecting to various points on the jet, and guiding into down on to the Chaser's back before the armor locked it in place.


 * Ibari - Core Splendor Access Jet locked. Inserting connection proboscis.

Kryuun's voice crackled through announcing the same, as Ibari inserted the proboscis and the plug flared with murky, green light before clearing to show the outside world around her and the voice of 2C Nuy filled her thoughts.


 * Nuy - It's been a while, my pilot.
 * Ibari - Aye.
 * Nuy - It appears as though we have a problem.
 * Ibari - Several, as a matter of fact.
 * Nuy - Regardless, I care not as long as get to feel their blood through my teeth!
 * Ibari - *Laughs* As psychotic as ever. That's good.

Right then, the Warrior-Hunters started losing speed, before they fell down trough the deep, gem-riddled chasms of Sector Ci until they found themselves in the lower, fully crystalline levels. Manifested swarmed around everywhere. Nuy and Ibari snarled before charging out towards the swarm of Manifested. Looking around, she could seee Guardian right on her tail, Serenity flying up above, and Oni lumbering behind.


 * Ibari - Kryuun, we'll fire my Punisher and your VOPAC at maximum output.
 * Kryuun - Then you charge in and use the roar fallowed by the rest of us.
 * Serenity - We read you loud and clear.
 * Armus - Sounds like a plan, I guess.
 * Ibari - Don't guess! Just act!

Nuy leveled the Punisher and Guardian engaged the VOPAC before firing at full out put, a green beam of light and a red beam of positrons lanced out striking at the same point in a massive blast of positrons and photons that annihilated several Manifested and scattered the rest. Unfortunately, a good chuck of roof collapsed as well, destroying several of the sector's crystal buildings. Nuy used the hole to climb out the crystal mines to gain higher ground while Ibari cursed the destruction of a chunck of the city. Unfortunately, the Manifested followed suit, as fighting now took them to the inhabitated, upper levels of Sector Ci.

Racing into the center of the Manifested, Ibari roared in a sonic scream that paralyzed several of the vicious little monsters, which she quickly snapped up, leaving a bloodied mess between her metallic teeth. Kryunn quickly charged and fired off Guardian's bladed grappling cables, slicing through several Manifested. Serenity, meanwhile, dove in and out, weaving her way through the swarm of tiny little monsters, slashing them when ever she could. At the same time, Armus smashed his way through several, while using Oni's plasma blaster to clear out the scum. Guardian engaged his maser swords and quickly used the flat of the blades to smash several Manifested against the side of a building.


 * Ibari - Try to avoid damaging the city now!
 * Kryuun - Yeah, well...These little beasts are so small they absorb the force of my attacks!
 * Ibari - Point taken.
 * Kryuun - Ibari! Look out!

Ibari glanced to see the swarm was grouping back together, swirling in a maelstrom of bodies.


 * Serenity - What the..?

The swarm suddenly jetted forward, coalescing into a spinning spear of Manifestend slamming into Nuy and pushing her through the sector in a straight path. After being rammed trough several buildings, more collapsed down on top of her, burrying her under the crystalline rubble. Struggling free, Ibari looked to see the swarm grouping together again for another strike. Spiraling downward, Ibari fired the Punisher at full output, just as Kryuun fired the VOPAC at similar output. The two beams met in the middle of the black cloud in an explosion that lit most of the swarm ablaze, but the shockwave it generated took out many, more spattering their innards all overs the structures that where sent crumbling to the ground from the blast. After that, it was simply a matter of hunting down the stragglers, but there were many, they were fast, and they were ferocious. By the time they had managed to clear them all, at least 20% of the sector was reduced to crystal splinters. Ibari growled as she looked over the destruction that had been caused.


 * Kryuun - This is gonna cause some serious shit.
 * Ibari - Tell me about it.

Freelancing
Seerkar moved through the streets of Hammerfall swiftly and silently, ducking through alleyways and streets that were shadowed by the looming buildings. Eventually he came to the door of the repair shop he ran for a living here, a living that would soon be behind him. Creeping up towards the door he found a symbol had been written on the door, an eye with an arrow pointing downward. Seerkar growled before opening up the door and heading into the living room. Walking in he found his friends Dorgua and Jarorcht sitting in the on the couch taking to Akanri.


 * Seerkar - Sop. What's the occasion?
 * Jarorcht - We are almost ready to get underway, we just need that one piece.
 * Seerkar - I got it, Barakia was very helpful about the whole thing.
 * Dorgua - In exchange for what?
 * Seerkar - You'd rather not know.
 * Dorgua - Right, you know your being watched, right?
 * Akanri - *snorts* Of course we do, this is Hammerfall, we know about anyone who walks in here. There are eyes everywhere.
 * Jarorcht - Aye and not all of them friendly.
 * Seerkar - No, but all quiet cunning.

Just then the lights went out and everyone looked up.


 * Akanri - Electromagnetic storm...You got insulation repaired, right Seerkar-Koon?
 * Seerkar - Yeah, wouldn't want an oscillating field to form and kill us all.
 * Dorgua - Aye, that would be unfortunate.
 * Jarorcht - Speaking of the condition of this place, do you believe this plan of yours will work. What if the UAE leaders make a move before you?
 * Seerkar - The inhabitants will never except their lives being improved from them, this is the best chance of improving things for Hammerfall.
 * Dorgua - If you say so.

Just then their was a knocking at the door stiffening the four friend nodded to each other before grabbing their weapons and taking up positions around the door.


 * Akanri - Who's there? Answer or we'll blow your head clean off.
 * ??? - Now is that anyway to talk to an old friend!?
 * Akanri and Seerkar - Zuki!?
 * Zuki - Yes...Now let me in before this field fully forms.
 * Akanri - Right, right.

Akanri opened the door and let in the future heir to the Vanara Imperial Throne.


 * Zuki - Nice place you got here, you know it's being watched...
 * Dorgua and Jarorcht - They know!
 * Zuki - Right, well...I'm here about that little mission you've got planned.
 * Seerkar - Yes what about it?
 * Zuki - Your Empress approves, she has even got some presents for you to help carry it out.
 * Akanri - And they are?
 * Zuki - In the morning after this storm ends, I'm assuming I can crash here for the night?
 * Akanri - Aye, just don't try to cook anything.

Zuki grinned morosely before replying.


 * Zuki - I'll try not to poison any of you.

Everyone laughed, Zuki's cooking was well known for being comparable to toxic waste, nothing fit for anything's consumption.


 * Seerkar - Well in that case I have Kraa'vee I got from a Mendel Trader not to long ago.
 * Jarorcht - You actually like that stuff!?
 * Akanri - Are you kidding? It's awesome! Almost as good as Vanarine Rum!
 * Jarorcht - Ugh! That's even worst it'll rot your guts out.
 * Zuki - Well then break out the glasses I'm do for drinking something completely unhealthy.
 * Akanri - Aye, I'll drink to that!

The next day, Zuki took Akanri and Seerkar aboard the Veris-class Juggernaut The Night Watcher. Walking down the biomechanical hallway Akanri popped the question the pair wanted to ask.


 * Akanri - So Zuki-Vi? Where is this surprise you have for us?
 * Zuki - It's coming, in fact it's in here.

Zuki put her palm on a membrane and the thing peeled open. As the three stepped inside both Akanri and Seerkar gasped and Zuki grinned. Highlighted by the lights in the room were two massive grey Infinate Mobility Suits.


 * Zuki - Akanri, Seerkar meet your new IM Suits, the Catalyst and the Finality.

Both simply stood their gapping before Seerkar shook his head and responded.


 * Seerkar - Zuki-Vir why are we being given these?
 * Zuki - Because what you are doing is important, getting Dr.Que back from the Singularity is important. Also the Hegemony's recent actions have led us to be suspicious, we know they are watching us and ban has been placed on Hegemony military personnel, civilians, merchants, etc. meaning they cannot enter our colonies or worldships.
 * Seerkar - Even if they managed to sneak in the likely hood of dying of exposer is high.
 * Akanri - And the underground would not tolerate it, their patience already grows thin.
 * Zuki - Aye, Empress Besta has even...

Zuki lowered her voice to sub sonic whisper that only Akanri and Seerkar could possibly have heard, both their eyes widened and they glanced at each other before returning their attention to Zuki. Zuki signed before continuing in a more light hearted tone.


 * Zuki - In any case I have another surprise for you.
 * Akanri - Oh and what may this one be?
 * Zuki - An old friend of yours.

They continued past the suits which Akanri and Seerkar couldn't help but steal another glance at before continuing into another room dominated by a liquid ammonia filled pit. A low rumbling filled the room as a massive toothy head with only one eye burst from the pool showering everyone their.


 * Akanri - Scar Eye!

Seerkar and Akanri stepped forward to scratch the DaiKaiju's scaly snout the beast giving out a rumble of pleasure at the contact.


 * Seerkar - Hey buddy how ya been.
 * Zuki - *Laughs* I would say he missed you two.
 * Seerkar - I'm assuming you gave him us for the mission.
 * Zuki - Oh no, much more, he is your for as long as that Freelancer Company of yours still exists.
 * Akanri - *Grins* Fantastic!

Seerkar smiled before his Closed Space communicator lite up, looking at the message he typed out a reply before turning towards the others.


 * Seerkar - That was Berenet, we're ready to be underway.
 * Zuki - Go I will have the goods delivered to you presently.
 * Akanri - Right.
 * Zuki - Ava accel u eee.
 * Akanri and Seerkar - And to you.

Corvus's Campaign
Admiral Corvus Tiberius's arrival to Mirus was barely noticed by either side of the conflict. The UAE new that the Hegemony had brought in a new admiral to speed up the conflict, but they did not know anything specific about the officer in question. Enemy intelligence networks also picked up on Corvus's arrival, but were unsure what to make of him. It wasn't until Corvus launched his counter attack that the foes of the UAE new the gravity of the situation.

Corvus's fleet fell upon the separatists like an avalanche. Instead of chasing individual fleets around like the Hegemony fleet had been doing for months now, Corvus would instead encircle whole areas of space before working his way in, destroying everything that put up even a shred of resistance. The sheer speed and ferocity of his advance allowed Corvus to drive a wedge in enemy territory, cutting off several key separatist systems from each other. Completely cut off, these systems would surrender after several bloody sieges.

Corvus was already fairly ruthless towards these enemies of the UAE, but after the battle of Andaleus system, he became enraged and completely merciless towards the separatists. The battle itself started out fairly normal, a planet belonging Unitech Citadel of Sentients was discovered by naval scouts, and since the system was along the path that the fleet was taking into separatist core systems, this planet was marked for immediate assault.

The battle over Andaleus One was swift and brutal. Multiple Rapturous Class Stealth Cruisers flanked the Unitech defensive fleet and whittled them down while the largest vessels pummeled the center. Corvus's flagship, the Battle Barge Thundering Warsong devastated the smaller enemy vessels. At the height of the battle, a well placed Jovian cannon shot split the enemy flagship in half, dragging the wreckage into hyperspace with its vortex warhead. The rest of the fleet was mopped up by other combat vessels and massive wings of strike craft.

After the defensive fleet was destroyed and the static defenses guarding the planet were also obliterated, the invasion of the planet began. While the Hegemony had fought Unitech forces before and had invaded outposts guarded by them, they had never invaded a fully colonized world before. Thus, the invading forces were completely in the dark to the horrors that they would find below.

Hakanian Warhawk drop troopers entered the planets sole city first, dropping onto the outskirts of the area and destroying multiple defensive zones, allowing for the rest of the Hegemony's ground forces to enter. While the regular army worked its way in from the city outskirts, a company of Doom Eagle Astartes orbitally dropped into the center of the city to clear out enemy resistance. In the middle of heated close quarters combat in the cities slum zone, the Astartes found a pack of ragged prisoners from the Hegemony and other empires that had been captured last year. The story they told was horrifying.

They had been captured by Unitech forces and had been experimented on, tortured, and abused. They had decided to escape, but most of their fellow escapees had been hunted and killed by deranged citizens looking to get a cheap thrill. Still, better to be free and on the run than to be mutated beyond recognition.

The Astartes were horrified by this account, and after the prisoners had been safety evacuated, decided to confirm this. After a fierce battle to enter a nearby lab complex, the Astartes had their worst fears confirmed. Twisted flesh experiments and POWS broken down into raw DNA greeted them at every turn. In a rage, the super soldiers butchered every member of the lab staff, regardless to any pleas for mercy or attempts at surrendering.

After the battle was done and prisoners had been taken, Corvus himself took a tour of the lab complexes. He exited in a frothing rage, "Such vile sadists must be punished, they do not deserve to exist. Destroy every last one of them and burn this planet to ash!" he declared. The prisoners that had been taken were executed and Hegemony ground forces returned to orbit as the navy ignited the surface of the planet with orbital bombardment.

Further battles against separatist factions only served to increase Corvus's rage. These evil, vile factions had been allowed to live for too long. He would go all out and wipe them from the face of the Gigaquadrant. Every last soldier, every last citizen would perish.

After several weeks of consolidating his forces, Corvus launched Operation Pyre, an event that would later be know infamously as the Great Scouring. He would devastate this region so thoroughly and destroy the UAE's enemies so utterly that it would be as if they had never existed at all. Only ruins would be left.

A Strike of Vengeance
(Glacier uses his army to try and take Matrukoris on his own with Iyoka and Maccasin. Without the rest of the Proditkar, most opf Glacier's army is destroyed, and the 3 are quickly routed, retreating back to Alpha Rosetta. However, the Exploration Guild follows their tracks.)

Glacier, Scavenger, Morg, Iyoka, and Anthrax stood in Glacier's communications room with holograms of Maccasin and Koschey in front of them. This was a meeting of war.


 * Glacier - Lord Koschey, our forces are ready for deployment. Every soldier is prepared.
 * Koschey - Good. I leave the next course of action to your decision.
 * Iyoka - Perhaps we should strike directly at Matrukoris. Get a little payback for last year.
 * Koschey - As much as that sounds like a desire for revenge more than a productive decision, I must agree.
 * Maccasin - Then we shall teach the heretics a lesson. Glacier, the Icon has been received and is prepped.
 * Glacier - Then this shall be a perfect test of it's powers.
 * Maccasin - I must ask lord Ghetsin for permission.
 * Glacier - Then do it. Anthrax, status of the Volverakai?
 * Anthrax - Two hundred. All ready for battle.
 * Glacier - Good. How about the Wasterlings, Morg?
 * Morg - Like I said, they await the call for battle.
 * Glacier - Then go to them. Get them ready to hit Matrukoris.
 * Morg - With pleasure.
 * Glacier - Scavenger, are you ready for a battle.
 * Scavenger - Yesyesyesyesyes! I've been waiting for this for a hundred thousand years!
 * Iyoka - My forces are ready for this mission. We will strike the UAE a blow they will not recover from.
 * Glacier - Heheh. Very well. My forces will mobilize.
 * Koschey - One thing, Glacier. If you're attacking the capital of our enemies, their most important station, I will support you on one condition.
 * Glacier - And what's that?
 * Koschey - I'm coming with you.
 * Glacier - Of course.
 * Koschey - Anthrax, is that new fleet of yours ready?
 * Anthrax - All of my Angels are prepared. We'll cut the UAE down as they try to escape the flames.
 * Glacier - Good. All of my Nexus Heads and Bio-Morphlings are ready when I give the word.
 * Maccasin - Then we call our allies. The Ruin's Hand and Cult of Relgathia. Tell Lorka and Dark Hunter of our plans.
 * Glacier - And contact Shiver. She'll never forgive me if I leave her out of this.
 * Koschey - Then this meeting is dismissed. Everyone get your shit together. We go in tomorrow.

Koschey and Maccasin's holograms closed, and the group filed out. Morg went off to rally the Wasterlings, Iyoka and Anthrax went back to their base on Alpha Rosetta, and Glacier and Scavenger stayed on Tau Theta. Glacier opened his communications to Shiver. A hologram of her appeared on his transmission pad.


 * Shiver - Well, hello there.
 * Glacier - We're attacking Matrukoris. I thought you'd like to come along.
 * Shiver - Hah! You know it! I'll be at Theta ASAP.
 * Glacier - Good. And I'll have your squad prepped before you get here.
 * Shiver - Alright. Be there soon.

Glacier nodded and cut the transmission. Glacier was surprisingly calm. Then again, he always was. He wondered about his chance of success, but he knew he could not let that affect him in the least. They would win, and they would deal the UAE a blow they could not sustain at this point in time. Then he could worry about family matters, territory disputes, having his friends over for coffee. Now was the time to marshal his army for a conquest that would change the galaxy forever.

Glacier left his office and went to look out a viewport into a massive hangar. What he saw brought a shudder of ecstasy through his system.

Thousands of soldiers marched through the hangar, loading up their transports. Unitech and Circle troops were pushing cages of Nexus Heads into bomber shuttles. Others were packed to the brim with Bio-Morphlings. Being dead, the Morphlings could care less how tightly they were packed. A few corvette-sized ships had Nexus Kings loaded into them. The monstrous beings roared into the sky as Circle Heretics forced them into the cargo bays. All sorts of horrendous Unitech Haemonculus creations stood at attention as the evil scientists inspected their grisly creatures. Then, without a word, they filed into their ships as well. Scavenger's imitations went into their ships, followed by huge packs of Marauder tribesmen and swarms of Corpse Eaters.

Glacier's doubts about the mission vanished. How could the UAE stop this?, he thought to himself. Tomorrow, everything ends.

The scenario on Alpha Rosetta III was about the same. Unitech and Circle troops loading up for battle. The fleet constructed from leftover tech began prepping for launch. There were huge crates of Nexus Heads here as well.

At the Crimson Splinter base, things were a bit different. Juggernauts lifted massive boxes and machinery and loaded them onto the Splinter ships as the soldiers themselves boarded their dropships. Others led Soul Splitters and Juggernauts not performing menial tasks on bigger ships like carriers. One especially large carrier was being loaded with Living Blood. The ship could be packed absolutely full as the evil Blood fused together into a gelatinous mass that grew steadily bigger with the addition of more Blood. Iyoka and Anthrax's flagship was also being loaded with the two hundred Volverakai and Anthrax's Angels.

Iyoka and Anthrax watched as their armies prepared for war. Iyoka just wanted to take over the Volver Empire, but Anthrax hoped that he could kill Besta. He smiled at the very though of seeing her broken, bloody form on the ground. He could almost imagine it...

The next day...

Glacier was on Alpha Rosetta as a large fleet amassed in the atmosphere. Unitech, Proditkar-Zarbanian, Ruin's Hand, Cult of Relgathia, Circle of Sins, and Crimson Splinter ships all gathered up to attack Matrukoris. He watched as two new fleets entered the atmosphere. Koschey's Unitech fleet and Maccasin's Circle fleet. Koschey's fleet was huge; he had rounded up most of the warriors under his command. Maccasin's was large as well, mostly frigates. One Unitech shuttle in particular zoomed down to the landing pad. Two beings stepped out. One was Koschey, and the other was Shiver.


 * Koschey - Our forces are prepared, then?
 * Glacier - Yes, they are all ready.
 * Koschey - Then, everyone launch!
 * Scavenger - Yes!!!!!!!!

Everyone boarded their ships, with Shiver and Scavenger getting aboard Glacier's huge flagship. One by one, the fleets jumped through hyperspace.

The Proditkar ships emerged from hyperspace, ready to zoom into the nebula, towards Matrukoris. However, the UAE had fortified their region of space, and before Glacier's fleet had even exited the star system they were in, they were surrounded by an UAE fleet. Surprised, most of the Proditkar fleet zoomed down to the nearest planet. It was, in pact, the same planet on which the Proditkar had opened a portal to the Abyss at the closing of the previous year. Iyoka cursed at the sight of the destroyed tower. The portal could not be reopened. Anthil was long gone.


 * Iyoka - Damn it!
 * Glacier - Land!
 * Koschey - No! This assault is already flawed from the beginning! Retreat.
 * Glacier - I. Said. Land.
 * Shiver - Yes. Do what Glacier says. You bollocks didn't plan this assault, did you?
 * Koschey - I regret I didn't.

At this point, the guttural voice of Maccasin boomed through the communication channel, stopping the bickering Archons in their squabbling.


 * Maccasin - Stop. We will land and purge the heretics. But woe befall you if this fails, Glacier. If so, I will make sure I personally drag you before the mighty messenger Pridar for judgement.

Following the orders of their high commanders, the various Proditkar ships zoomed off, each one's forces landing in different areas. The UAE followed them down, deploying their troops as well.

State of Ruin
Scavenger's shuttles landed down in a large field. The doors popped open and a swarm of Corpse Eaters came out, their breath already rotting away the grass. Hundreds of Corpse Eaters, if not more, covered the landscape, turning the landscape into a barren wasteland. Then, Scavenger's imitations exited as well, most already mutating into combat forms.


 * Scavenger - Destroy it all, Corpse Eaters! DESTROY IT ALL!

The Corpse Eaters dispersed in all directions, spreading their plague and rot everywhere they went. The mutated Scavenger forms followed in their wake, hungry for bloodshed.

Hegemony Commandos on the surface of the planet saw the shuttles landing and immediately raced back to friendly lines at top speed. There was no great concentration of Hegemony forces on this planet, only a token force of Death Head Astartes and a few platoons of Steel Death Korp infantry were posted here. The Commandos that had been deployed to keep track of Vanara psychokinetics operating nearby now found themselves running for their lives towards the small force of infantry that would have to defend against the massive wave of enemies bearing down on them.

When the Commandos told the Death Head leader about the incoming waves, the Astartes immediately set to work. The established a defensive position atop a set of low hills in the middle of the plains, giving them a high ground advantage. The infantry set about creating a circular trench network around the hill, lining the perimeter of the trench with razor wire an mines. Fighting holes were dug for men and for the armored vehicles they had. The Commandos shifted their weapons to sniper mode and took up positions on the hill while the Death Heads prepared their bolters. At the very top of the hill they set the banner of the Death Heads. As long as the soldiers had a fighting breath, that banner would stay up there.

The defenses were completed just as the first of the Corpse Eaters were spotted in the distance. The Soldiers held their fire until the optimal number of enemies entered the kill zone. The trench lines and the hill suddenly lit up as they unleashed a withering amount of firepower upon the corpse eaters approach. Bolter shells tore corpse eaters apart, laser blasts incinerated them, and the corpse eaters were drowned with flaming plasma napalm. But for every one killed, it seemed as if many more took their place.

As the corpse eaters moved forward toward the trench line, they were met with a new threat. The Commandos unleashed potent psychic powers upon the advancing enemies, obliterating many. Soon enough, however, the beasts had reached the trench line and began to spread death and decay among the troops. Lesser men would have died from the fury of the assault.

But these were men of the Death Korp. They were made of sterner stuff than the average infantry and were used to fighting in toxic environments. They fought hand to hand with the corpse eaters in the trenches, slashing with bayonets, shooting corpse eaters at point blank, and ripping into the abominations with chainswords.

The Astartes fell upong the corpse eaters like a hurricane. They were everywhere, bolters flashing and power weapons dismembering the creatures. There sheer might began to drive the first wave corpse eaters out of the trenches. With the Commandos help, it appeared the Hegemony forces would be able to repel the assault.

More enemy forces were approaching the defensive lines, however. The defenders looked on as more and more corpse eaters began to come closer and closer. The second wave of the abominations hit the line as hard as the first, and though the defenses bulged and buckled slightly. They never broke. The defenders would not succumb to whatever these monstroites were.

Many are the stories recounted of this defense. There was Lieutenant Pardo who took down seven corpse eaters with nothing but the bayonet on his rifle as he rushed to reconnect with his men. There was Commando Aristoch who destroyed a squad of powerful corpse eater Abominations with his psi powers alone. And there was the tale of Astartes Captain Eridanus who grappled a monstrous Corpse Eater Alpha and stove its head in with blows from his armored fist.

As the second line was driven back, the Hegemony defenders tended to their wounded briefly and reloaded. This fight was far from over.

Kirji growled as his forced moved into position, things did not look good, the enemy force was out in an open field so setting up an ambush would be pretty much impossible. A trembling sound came as the massive Feiuruz named Iron Claw stepped up next to him.


 * Iron Claw - It does not look good does it?
 * Kirji - Na it does not, what do you recon those things are?
 * Iron Claw - I know what the red things that rot everything are, their Sucroids like me, but those other things... I have no idea.
 * Kirji - Then lets wait until those scouts we sent out get back.
 * Iron Claw - Fine enough.

The two sat back to wait before the three scouts they had returned with the appropriate news.


 * Scout - Admiral, along with these new Sucroids we have discovered that the other freakish creatures seem to be some sort of infectious life form, they appear to be vulnerable to heat though since they avoid it.
 * Kirji - Right, Iron Claw I shall sent you and your Bitzuruz in on the first charge, we'll make a move to surround them and close in as best we can.
 * Iron Claw - Agreed, if they are vulnerable to heat then our power, your chemical infused weaponry, and the Boyk slag weapons should do just fine, laying down thermobaric mines if we must retreat would be sound.
 * Kirji - Indeed, lets get moving.

Iron Claw nodded and began to gather his Bitzuruz before charging head long into the fray. His own flames and the massive discharges of electricity generate by the Bitzuruz blasted through the Scavenger Combat Forms and Corpse Eaters fairly well as Kirji led his soldiers and warbeasts to surround the enemy before closing in. The battle was vicious. The Vanara burning, chemically infused projectiles, Boyk slag and thermal weaponry did a number to the Scavenger forms and Corpse Eaters, but they did a number back. From above the entire battle field seemed to be swelling as the Vanara forces pushed inward and the Scavenger forces pushed back outward. Blasts and screams filled the air as the battle raged on.


 * Kirji - We're not getting anywhere with this, call a false retreat and lay down the mines.

The Vanara forces began to pull back and the Scavenger Forces fallowed, but as the Scavenger Forces got close massive fiery explosions erupted from under their feet consuming many of the en mass. Shrieking they quickly retreated. Kirji stopped to consider this for a moment.


 * Kirji - Rather powerful survival instinct they got their, seems more flight than fight, could be advantages.
 * Iron Claw - What do we do now?
 * Kirji - We cut them off.
 * Iron Claw - With what?
 * Kirji - The big guys bored, lets let him have some fun.
 * Iron Claw - Rather excessive.
 * Kirji - True, but it will be quicker than chasing them, in any case we have wounded to tend to and dead to burn.
 * Iron Claw - Right

The Vanara Forces began to pull out as a bright light filled the sky as what appeared to be meteor fell from the sky and crashed to the ground generating a massive shock wave and from the dust rose the massive, wolf-like DaiKaiju simply named Fang. Unleashing a massive sonic howl he blasted the Scavenger forces back, the internal organs of the Corpse Eaters getting liquefied by the force of the concussive sound wave splattering them all over the ground. Crouching down Fang leaped into the center of the remaining Scavenger forces and began to slash, stomp, and bite at the beasts beneath it's feet, the radiation it produces burning and withering the Scavenger cells. Even after all it's foes were dead the 80 meter beast still kept ripping up the terrain before finally settling down and sitting there panting, radioactive drool dripping from it's jaw burning the already scorched earth. Kirji looked around the devastation impressed before looking back at his own force and grimaced, they had taken a good number of losses. Unlike others the Vanara would sing no songs of glory about this day or any day they marched to war, war was hell plain and simple. Kirji heard is communicator go off, looked at it, swore, and answered.


 * Kirji - Hello... this is... yeah... WHAT!... just who the hell do you think I am... ya know what fuck you!

Kirji hit the off button venomously and let out a growling hiss, his body posture stiff, and his scales standing up slightly.


 * Iron Claw - Trouble.
 * Kirji - That was the Hegemony, they accused of stealing the glory of defeating the enemy.
 * Iron Claw - Glory? I see no glory, only necessity. Good men lost their lives, I find no glory in death.
 * Kirji - Try telling that to some people. Anyway, I imagine we'll meet them face to face soon.
 * Iron Claw - Wonderful.


 * Captain Eridanus - You bastards tell who ever is in charge of those stupid over sized over expensive kaiju you use to rein them the fuck in. Those blasts almost hit us you mongrels. You Vanara always have to jump in and steal the glory at last minute with one of those damm special snowflake projects you have. Fuck you too you stupid cat eared piece of shit, you almost killed us.

Eridanus signed of with Vanara commander and turned to his Astartes. The Vanara had saved them, but the Daikajiu's blasts had almost hit them and the whole battlefield was a radioactive nightmare now. Though the Astartes's armor completely negated radiation and Death Krop infantry had great resistance to toxic environments, the radiation would still play hell on the wounded. The defenders set off to the landing zone where they would be picked up.


 * Captain Eridanus - I swear to god, the Vanara always cause more problems than they solve. That dammaed radiation that follows them every where doesn't help.
 * Battle Brother Kommien - Look on the bright side Eridanus, we were saved by normal Vanara infantry. We could have been saved by the Rad Eaters.

Eridanus winced at the name.


 * Captain Eridanus - God dammit, you made me think of those mutated freaks again. Their gene-seed is so mutated that they have women in their ranks. What's next, men in their Vahallan Coven? Also, they're pricks with chips on their shoulders the size of a Battle Barge.
 * Battle Brother Kommien - But remember captian, they only want to end war, despite the fact that they have repeatedly attacked the Scions of Rage, breaking their titans. Don't forget that they have innocence in their genetic code.

The Apothecary marching with them hissed in anger.


 * Apothecary Drusuin - Innocence is a concept, not a genetic constant for gods sake!

The Astartes and the other Hegemony forces continued to march and passed by the DaiKaiju handlers as they headed to the landing zone.


 * Captain Eridanus - Hey Asshat, watch where your shooting next time, you bastard.

Unfortunately for Eridanus's temper, the landing zone was where the Vanara commanders were as well, meaning he would have to talk to them about the battle.

Kirji looked up from reloading his Fragmentation Rifle when he heard a shout.


 * Captain Eridanus - Hey you, watch where you deploy your giant fucking monster next time.

Iron Claw lifted his head and snarled flames licking at his mouths and Kirji swore.


 * Kirji - Ava dath yyy Thanatos(Ava damn them to hell). Give your complaints to someone who cares next time, I got rid of the enemy in a way that kept any more of my troops from being killed or injured then there already were.
 * Captain Eridanus - You could have left it to us! We could've handled it alone!

At this point Iron Claw decided he had enough. The Chaos Head Sucroid sprung to his feet as white hot flames blasted from his three heads, lighting the ground between the Hegemony and Vanara forces ablaze. Kirji glowered at the Hegemony commander through the flames, looking downright menacing as he spoke in a low but powerful voice.


 * Kirji - Their is no glory in war, only death, tears, and regret. If you think that there is any triumph to be earned in this hell then you are a child who should crawl back to mommy so she can hear you whine. I fight because it is necessary and I did what I did hear to protect my own soldiers. Had they been allies I respected and respected us back, the Waptoria, the Mendel, the Federation, and others, I would have done the same for them. You, however, have done nothing but treat us as monsters from day one, viewed as creatures to be scourged, feared, and controlled. It sickens me. All any of us ever wanted was to judged on our own terms, but you just won't let us...
 * ??? - Enough!

Both looked and Kirji dropped to one knee as the aged figure of Empress Besta walk towards them. Even as old as she was she still gave off an aura of authority and control that even Eridanus fell silent. Besta quickly appraised the situation before speaking.


 * Besta - Kirji speaks the truth as we see it, a truth you no doubt see far differently. However, I would like to remind you both that you should now your enemy as you should know your own children.

Besta waited for her words to sink in and Kirji nodded slightly, Besta then continued.


 * Besta - However, I cannot allow your people to treat mine in such away, give my message to Marius: I know that he has been trying keep my subjects under surveillance...
 * Captain Eridanus - What!? How?

Besta glared at the interruption before clearing her throat and continuing.


 * Besta - I have more eyes then just the ones in my skull. As I was saying, I know he is attempting to keep tabs on us. I know it and will not stand for it. As of nown all Hegemony forcesn military or otherwise, are banned from Vanara space and if you think you can simply run through our territory as you please, just remember the hyperspacial rift that borders a large portion of our territory and the sentient anomalies. The environment is even more against you then we are.

Besta began to walk away with Kirji and his force accompanying her before Eridanus shouted at her.


 * Captain Eridanus - You can't do that! You have no right to ban us for such an insignificant reason!

Besta merely looked back coldly and slightly amused.


 * Besta - I'm the mother fucking Empress of my mother fucking Empire, I can do whatever I want with our territory. The council has already approved it and their is nothing you can do about that fact.

And with that, she simply walked away.

Scavenger's original form, the only one left, cursed loudly as it looked at the remains of both it's Corpse Eaters and it's own bodies.


 * Scavenger - Son of a bitch! Gonna have to get Anthrax to find a counter for that radiation shit.

Scavenger looked at his remaining Corpse Eaters and waved them back.


 * Scavenger - Retreat! No point in losing what I don't have to.

Scavenger and it's Corpse Eaters wandered off the battlefield before the Vanara or Hegemony noticed them. Scavenger silently swore to itself that it would have it's revenge.

The Nexus Horde
Glacier and Shiver's dropship touched down and opened it's bay doors. The first troops out were Glacier's Bio-Morphlings. The wretched creatures jumped out of the ship and spread out, forming a perimeter around her. Then, Glacier stepped out of the shuttle, already looking for hostiles. Shiver followed, somersaulting out and taking her place at Glacier's side. She readied her Shadow Spear.


 * Shiver - What's the plan?
 * Glacier - Hmm. Kill everything that isn't ours?
 * Shiver - This is why you should leave the thinkin' to me!
 * Glacier - Yeah, yeah.

Glacier raised his omnitool and contacted his flagship.


 * Glacier - Land, you idiots! And bring the cargo with you.

Proditkar-Zarbanian ships began dropping into the atmosphere and dispersing their troops. Most congregated around Glacier. Then, Glacier's flagship slowly entered the atmosphere and released a cargo beam. Marauders were beamed down, their tribal-age weapons waving in the air. Shiver walked over to both.


 * Shiver - Here's a plan, buddies. You take your ugly boots out after those Raptoranean and Mendel ships landing over there.
 * Glacier - What will you do?

Shver grinned. raising her omnitool into the air, she summoned half of Glacier's Bio-Morphlings to her side.


 * Shiver - Gonna cause a little chaos on my own.
 * Glacier - Would you like a Proditkar-Zarbanian escort?
 * Shiver - My dear Archon, right now, there is nothing you have that I could want.

Shiver flicked her omnitool, and the Morphlings took off in another direction, with her in the middle of the repugnant horde. Glacier just shook his head and grumbled.


 * Glacier - Damn you, Koschey! Why didn't we plan this mission?

Glacier motioned his forces to follow him and trudged off towards the Waptoria forces.

Oji'b let out a cold grimace. He had spotted Unitech in the distance, and they were, of course, coming to him. After the end of Year One, he had been stationed with his men to clean up the mess. However, most of his Bio-Soldiers were now fighting Unitech forces elsewere on the planet over the longest of all fronts, leaving him with only a couple of Raptoranean veterans, Karagon volunteers, and Orgaat auxiliaries. The women that seemedto lead them has seemingly spotted their numerical disadvantage, and ordered her forced forwards.

With gluttening roars, the Bio-Morphlings fell upon Oji'b teams. As he spotted what they were, the jaw of the Raptoranean commander dropped in shock. He cursed.


 * Oji'b - Bio-Morphlings? Bio-Morphlings serving the Proditkar!? By Xa'hal, what the serious..?

He drew his pistols, shooting at the nearest Bio-Morphling. At this signal, the teams startedto move. Karagon charged into the fray, blasting morphling to pieces left and right with their spike shotguns. Orgaat came behind them, hacking apart any Morphling that tried to put itself back together with their polarms. Finally, Oji'b Raptoraneans jumped into the fray, unleasing their wrist-mounted flamethrowers upon the foe. Whole hordes of Morphlinngs were caught into the fire, burning to ash. A Raptoranean shaman inhaled deeply, them unleased a torrent of solar fire from her mouth., destroyng yet another horde. Then, the shaman raised her hands to the skies, as the painted green curly patterns upon her body started to glow in a golden light. Absorbing the moonlight, she unleashed a mighty beam of radiant light from ber hands, breaking trough the Morphlings with ease and returning the foul creatures to nothingless.

Oji'b twirled his pistols around, choosing his foe. Within a second, two shots echoed trough the night, as two Morphlings were shredded apart by the impact of the shapely slugs of pink crystal. the crystal bullets ricocheted off a steel cane, hitting yet another two morphlings, before pinning themselves down into teh body of another two, and splinteted apart in their bodies.


 * Oji'b - Six down in two shots! Oooh yeah!

The exited Raptoranean made a victorious gesture into the air, before unloading his pistols, cheering if he made another lucky or extremely accurate shot.


 * Oji'b - I'm the best marksmen on this planet, bitches! Yeah! Take that!

He scored yet a couple more rounds, as his shaman drove off the Morphlings with ligt and fire. Eventually, they found themselves standing in a wasteland, small flames furning on the ground.


 * Oji'b - Ad we did it! Good work, pals! That's it for the Proditkar's Morphlings! They're done for, in whatever they they seized control of them!

A sream of frustration was heard as a vaguely Raptoranean-like creature lunged herself towarards Oji'b, throwing her on the ground. Oji'b grasped as his revolvers were slammed out os his hands, and the ice-cold woman started to slab him in a rather inco*ordinated manner, tears of frustration streaming down her face.


 * Shiver - My beautiful Morphlings! You...You..!

Oji'b looked upon Shiver's face, and suddenly realized how beautiful she was. She was not a full Raptoranean - clearly an Unitech experiment, the tought flashed trough Oji'bs mind - but she had the beauty of one of the famales of his race. Besides, Oji'b always has had a weak spot for beautifuk women. He gaped at her, oblivious to the fact she had raised her omnitool al formed a blade of darklight, ready to stab him in the gut.

At that momennt, Shiver was engulged in a veil of essence, as she was kinetically lifted into the air. Then, a strong concussive blast send her flying out of sight. Oji'b looked over to the shaman, who was engulfed in a cloud of dissipateing essence. The eldery woman smiled towards the young, yet age-old preserved Raptoranean. Het vine-like tatoos of paint glowed a gentl green as fresh leaves of paint seemed to sprout from them, and Oji'b's wounds were healed within seconds.


 * Oji'b - Hey, thanks. Old stuff always works.

He brushed the dust off his sparse armor, noticing it's trong shielding was also loading itself back to full. It was about to be needed, as another Raptoranean-like creature had climbed upon a high rock. This one Oji'b knew. He was his nemesis of some sort.


 * Oji'b - Glacier.
 * Glacier - Oji'b.

Glacier waved his arms around in a rather exegarrating manner, as his sorldiers marched towards Oji'bs troops. The Raptoranean commander grabbed his moleculars, looking at whatever Glacier would threw in hos wat now. It it were another wave of Morphlings. Luckily, it was not. Oji'b almost burted into uncontrollable laughter as he saw Glacier's rag-tag army advance.


 * Oji'b - Fellow tribal warriors? Does he seriously think they even stand the slightest of changes?

He holstered his pistols and drew his soulspear from his back. The upgraded tribal weapon was engulfed in a gentle pink energy field. However, Oji'b would not murder his fellow tribal warriors. During the Enlightenment War, before the Proditkar had gotten their claws on the Ruin's hand and Unitech, they had brainwashed several tribes of creatures to serve as theuir cannon fodder. Thye Waptoria had quite quickly convinced all these tribes to betray the Proditkar and lay down arms, and then switch to the UAE's side, for whom they fought still. However, a small group must've stayed in isolation with the Proditkar, obviously, who had seeminly breeded hem like pigs. These were the only Proditkar-loyal ones left, Oji'b knew, and not for long. Oji'b gestured as Waptoria ships flew overhead, dropping globes of oxidizing aerosol. The copper-colored greenish-brown gasses drifted over the tribesmen, rusting their armor and weapons to dust. Then, with a buzz, the next payload was unleased, and the skies were filled with hundreds of Seeker Swarms. The damselfly-like creatures landed on the tribesmen, who tried to swat them off in vain, only to be stinged and completely paralized.


 * Oji'b - Haul them in. That problem's solved. I wonder whatever jokes Glacier trows in now.

He got the answer soon enough.


 * Oji'b - Zarbanians!? First freacking Bio-Morphlings, then helpless tribesmen, and now they have Zarbanians!?

They had. And Oji'b's forces were being overwheled by them.

Zilla: They are reinforced by the Mendel Pact led by K'eag who is only to happy to eat a couple of Nexus Heads, allowing Oji'b to reinforce and drive off Koschey. Oji'b and the K'eag probably have some dialogue about holding a victory feast afterwards.

The Daemon of Flesh
Koschey's shuttles started touching down. However, Koschey's command shuttle took a shot to one of it's landing wings. It slammed into the ground, kicking up dirt and dust. Grumbling in anger, Koschey kicked the door right off it's hinges. He exited, followed by Unitech Flesh-Crafts, as Nexus Heads spilled out of their container pods. Koschey, easily pissed as always, slung his flail over his shoulder and sheathed his broadsword. Then, two gigantic Nexus Kings were beamed down as well, roaring as they came. They hit the ground, generating small shockwaves. A Wrack lumbered lumbered over to Koshey.


 * Wrack - ...Orders, Sir?
 * Koschey - We go kill the Waptoria. How's that? I'm gonna have to kick Glacier right off his throne for this clusterfuck.
 * Wrack - No...That would go against regulations...

Koshey roared, and then chapped the flesh-craft's head off. He walked over to the Nexus King, and jumped up on one of it's back. The King instantly stopped moving, just grumbling a little and awaiting it's command. Sure, he was angry now, but a little bloodshed and he'd be all cheered up again. Koshey stabbed it a little with his spear, as the Nexus King began to move towards the Waptoria Bio-Soldiers.

Lux'Karashi stood ready with his packs. They had dug in, having changed the blasted evirinment into a criss-crossing webs of covered trenches. The advancing Nexus Heads would fall into them as they tried to reach Lux'Karashi and his troops, and subdued by sleeping gass. Anthing thay would make it across would be quickly gunned down. Or at least, that was the plan. Lux'Karashi knew things often didn't go as planned.

Perfect Species
The Crimson Splinter Chariots broke atmosphere and started dropping troops. Iyoka and Iloburaas touched down in a shuttle. Splinter Knights and Commandos landed, followed by massive Juggernauts and the Soul Splitters. The lead Chariot's cargo bay opened, and a huge, red, gelatinous mass fell from it. It hit the ground and exploded, each little chunk forming into a Living Blood.


 * Iyoka - Boy, did we FUBAR that.
 * Iloburaas - It's that Glacier's fault. We should have just retreated.
 * Iyoka - No, it's Koschey's fault. He didn't plan this damn mission, and now look where we are.
 * Iloburaas - Either way, we're a bit screwed now. We're gonna get hammered.
 * Iyoka - That remains to be seen.
 * Iloburaas - I'll tell you this right now. I will not be held responsible for this. When we fail-
 * ??? - We won't fail.

The two turned to see Anthrax standing behind them, his Snagarthi gorepack behind him. A shuttle was behind him, it's doors open. Angels flew overhead, their yellow eyes glinting with rage. Anthrax snapped his fingers. Two hundred Volverakai, all armed and armored, charged from the shuttle. They were led by the Volverakai leader, Eokar.


 * Anthrax - We're not going to lose. The UFG's landing their troops over there. They've never fought Volverakai before. The Volverakai will cut them down as they run to escape the Angels' flames. Now let's go kill some Volver.

The forces charged forward, followed by Iyoka, Iloburaas, and Anthrax. Crimson Bloodblades were in the lead at first, toting their massive weapons and serving as living shields due to their heavy armor. However, they were quickly outrun by Crimson Stormknights, Splinter Volver trained to release massive amounts of adrenaline in battle. The Angels flew overhead, scorching the ground with their lasers. And the Volverakai charged at the head of the pack, roaring at the top of their lungs as they drew their weapons and warmed up their radiation.

Glynn: The Volver-led Federation hold them off, but cannot win ground

Gorzill: Multiple Phanton swarms arrive to help the Fedeartion Clone Marines, nearly blocking out the skies. This causes Anthrax's Angels to attack. Zuki is hidden in the Phanton Shadow, and seeks out the Volverakai Leader. All Volverakai are destroyed, and their leader is killed by Zuki.

The Storm Disperses
The remaining Proditkar troops gathered together, fighting back against the UAE at all angles. Glacier was in the lead. He fired a blast of electricity, blowing several Bio-Troopers away. He was joined by Shiver.


 * Shiver - Have you learned your lesson?
 * Glacier - Hmph. Let's concentrate on killing our enemies, not chewing me out.
 * Shiver - We're going to have to leave. We can't hold out against these guys.
 * Glacier - I think you're right.
 * Shiver - I'm always right.

The UAE forces pressed the attack, fighting Glacier's Marauders and Unitech forces. Crimson Splinter Harrowers covered the Unitech forces from the air, as the Proditkar-Zarbanians charged at the advancing enemies.


 * Oji'b - Press the attack! We're winning! Again! As always!

The UAE fought harder, believing victory to be in reach. Then, the ground began to shake. The smile disappeared from Oji'b's facee as he turned to see what had arrived.

Huge waves of dust were kicked up by a new advancing army. In the clouds, the UAE troops could make out huge, four-legged monsters about a hundred feet high at the shoulder. Other creatures were on foot, or riding giant doglike creatures. The Wasterling Emirate had arrived. Those riding the Laughers rode their mounts forward and overwhelmed the first wave of UAE forces that went to fight them. The Laughers tore their foes limb-from-limb while their riders used bows, guns, and swords to kill those who fled.

The Behemoths reached the UAE forces soon after, using their tusks and proboscises to sweep dozens of enemy troops away at a time. Some used their proboscises to suck up the soldiers and devour them. Others simply crushed their enemies underfoot. Their riders, in pillboxes and carriages set up on the monsters' backs, fired their weapons down on those too far for their mounts to reach. It was a bloodbath. Even the Ultra Commandos could not halt their advance. Their elemental attacks bounced right off the Wasterlings.


 * Glacier - Yeah! Ladies and gentlemen, our reprieve is here!

Glaciers hopes for a reprieve were about to be dashed. The Hegemony had drawn up a massive armored division to swat the Wasterlings advance. Multiple super heavy tanks of all makes backed up by heavy air cover and with heavy infantry advancing in the shadow of the armored force. Immediately, artillery from Hegemony missile launchers and guns began to fall upon the Wasterlings's advance, bringing the advancing Behemoths and infantry to a standstill as they attempted to avoid the heavy ordnance coming in.

This gave the armored division the time they needed. Hellbane and Fellbane super tanks drove right into the middle of the host supported by smaller tanks, their heavy guns blasting apart the enemy, military marches blaring from their radios. The Shadowswords locked their treads dwon and unleashed the full might of their turbo laser cannons, shearing off behemoths legs or blowing their heads apart. Stormlord super heavies shredded infantry and light armor apart and cleaned the skies of any enemy air units, allowing Hegemony bombers and close air support to trash ground units.

The Wasterlings attempted to fall back, but were met by a flanking force of Glaive tanks and Valcador tank hunters. The Wasterlings may have been immune to essence based attacks, but they were not immune to the powerful thermal ray weaponry the Glaive tanks mounted. Many of the wasterlings fell screaming as they crumbled to ash and ignited their fellow soldiers. Even the mighty Behemoths could not resist the heat and began to panic as their very flesh boiled way and ignited. The tank hunter opened up with their Neutron laser projectors, supported by Terminus assault tanks that had Two Neutron laser projectors mounted to the hull. The lasers ruptured the targets armor by tearing apart their very component molecules, causing the Behemoths to explode like rotten fruit when they were hit.

Strategic bombers blasted wholes in the Wasterlings lines while gunships and close air support vehicles strafed the enemy lines repeatedly. Without any air cover or effective AA, the Hegemony air units reaped a massive toll from the enemy lines. As the armor obliterated the Wasterlings and air units hit them from the sky, the heavy infantry advancing from behind the cover of the tanks arrived, laying down withering fire upon the Wasterlings.

With most of the Behemoths and other warbeasts dead, the Wasterling commander called an all out retreat. If they stayed in contact with the Hegemony forces any longer, they would die to a man. As they were overrun and began to fall back, Hegemony armor broke across their lines and began to attack the rest of the Proditkar forces that had been steadily retreating. The Hegemony inflicted grievous causalities upon any Wasterling forces that were attempting to escape.

Glacier's flagship entered the battlefield, dropping down a transport beam that pulled up the rest of the Proditkar, including Morg, the Nexus King, and the last of the Wasterlings. It flew over to Scavenger's battlefield and collected the remaining Corpse Eaters and Scavenger's original form. It then beamed up the Splinter and the Living Blood. With all of the Volverakai and Bio-Morphlings dead, and the Marauders being dragged off into UAE ships, there was nobody left to pick up. The ship simply left the atmosphere and took off.

Retreat
On board Glacier's flagship, a full-blown argument commenced.


 * Glacier - *To Koschey* YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, NOT PLANNING THIS ASSAULT!?
 * Koschey - My fault!? You're the one who ordered our troops to land! I said to retreat and regroup!
 * Glacier - If you had planned this attack, we would not be retreating right now!
 * Koschey - And if the Wasterlings hadn't shown up, we'd be dead right now!
 * Iloburaas - And Morg, where were you!? You showed up at the end of the battle!
 * Morg - If I hadn't showed up when I did, you'd have all been killed or captured.
 * Glacier - Leave him out of this.
 * Iyoka - Oh, trust me. All the blame is on you.
 * Glacier - ME?! Are you braindead? You lost every single Volverakai!
 * Shiver - Not to speak about my Bio-Morphlings! The only ones I have left are those in cold storage!
 * Iloburaas - And those tribesmen have betrayed us too. Not that I care.
 * Iyoka - Technically they didn't. Those bastard Waptoria idiots captured them. Glacier, you're going to have to upgrade your little playthings if you want us to keep having to feed them.
 * Koschey - Indeed! All that work was for nothing!
 * Anthrax - No, it wasn't. With the battle data, I can make even better ones. Those Angels will be a pain in the ass to replace, though.
 * Maccasin - Not to speak about the Nexus Heads. We lost most of them. Replacing them will be difficult.
 * Glacier - We've still got three Kings. We only lost one in the battle. The Marker, now it does not need to corruut corpses into Bio-Morphlinsg all the time, can be used as an extra, extremely potent power scource. With it's energy, we can recover.
 * Maccasin - If you use the relic of the messengers to it's true purpose, then no doubt we can. But for all we know, this retreat could lead the UAE right into our bases.
 * Glacier - And what do you know of the Nexus Heads, brute!? I did all the work on them! All you did was give me a bunch of sacrilegious bullshit about the heresy of reanimating the dead!
 * Maccasin - Do not dare to call me a brute! I am much more!
 * Shiver - ENOUGH!!!

The rest of the Archons finally fell silent. Shiver walked onto the bridge, bopping Glacier over the head with one of her antenna as she passed him. She then sat down in Glacier's command chair, swiveling it to face the other Archons.


 * Shiver - We don't have time for you to kill each other, as fun as that would be to watch. We blew the system as soon as we could, but, like Maccasin pointed out so touchingly, the UAE could have easily followed us. All they have to do is pick up the radiation readings on Alpha from Anthrax's experiments, and they'll know our base is there. And that gravity elevator is a dead giveaway about Tau Theta. We need to get back to base and fortify the hell out of it. Anthrax, churn out more Volverakai.
 * Anthrax - That's gonna take time.
 * Shiver - Do it. I don't care how many slaves you kill in the process. And make more Living Blood! Get those torture towers producing faster. Glacier, make more Nexus Heads. Get all those Kings working at peak efficiency. And we need more Morphlings. Also, Scavenger, we'll need you, so try to get some more imitations.
 * Scavenger - Yes, ma'am.
 * Shiver - If we hurry, we can build up enough defenses to hold off the UAE long enough to relocate our resources. Still, we need to rally the Hive of Mirus, and the fleet of Ruin to blockade the planet. And we need the Dark Hunter's jockeys on-planet.
 * Koschey - We're pulling out of the system?
 * Shiver - If we pull out for a while, they won't realize that our base is there. We can return later.
 * Morg - Alright.
 * Shiver - You keep the Wasterlings in their territory for now. We don't want to pool our resources in too many places. Still, that can wait. We'll need you on Alpha.
 * Iyoka - I guess you have a point. We'll set to work right away.
 * Glacier - Rally the Hive? I don't know. I'm not sure we can trust them with one of our most important bases.
 * Maccasin - He's got a point. I don't trust them in the least.
 * Shiver - You don't trust anyone. If the Hive tries anything, we'll destroy them. Good enough?
 * Glacier - We may not have the time to wait for their reinforcement. We may have to make do with what we have.
 * Shiver - Not to worry. Dark Hunter's fleet is pretty strong. Him, the Ruin's Hand, and the Splinter can hold off the UAE's fleet.
 * Glacier - Hmm. I guess you're right.
 * Shiver - How many times I gotta tell ya, Glacier? I'm always right.

Everyone dispersed off the bridge, except for Glacier and Anthrax. Shiver just swiveled around and looked out the window.


 * Anthrax - *Whispering* She's clever.
 * Glacier - Indeed. And now, she's in charge of this ship.
 * Shiver - Glacier. There is something we need to discuss.
 * Glacier - What's that, then?
 * Shiver - The Marauder tribesmen. They proved utterly ineffective against the UAE armies. They are running out of worth.
 * Glacier - They did not fail us during the Enlightenment War, and they shall not fail us now.
 * Shiver - No so sure about that. The Proditkar ditched nearly all of them when they recruited us...Unitech. The UAE would always easily counter them, and we must pay the cost of feeding them. They've lost all their effectiveness. Look how easily the seeker swarms captured them. Look at how that always has been the case.
 * Glacier - Hmm... Do you recall that Unitech project to make shielding resistant to Seeker Swarms?
 * Shiver - What of it?
 * Glacier - We can create some of that and give it to the Marauders.
 * Shiver - And waste that valuable technology on simple tribesmen?
 * Anthrax - ...Plaganium.
 * Shiver - What'd ya say?
 * Anthrax - Give them plaganium shielding. That will prevent the Seekers getting them, and make them living shields for us.
 * Shiver - Brilliant. Do it. And breed some more of the mutant little bastards while you're at it.
 * Anthrax - Yes, ma'am.
 * Shiver - Good, Anthrax. I like your work ethic. And Glacier, make me more Morphlings.
 * Glacier - Hmm. We need the Marker's energy for other purposes.
 * Shiver - Just imbue more corpses with it's energy! Restore my beautiful creatures to my side!
 * Glacier - *Sighs* Yes yes, of course. I'll make you more little pets.
 * Shiver - Good. Otherwise, no more extracurricular activities for you. After all, work must be done.
 * Glacier - All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
 * Shiver - You're a dull boy no matter what. Now get to work on my Morphlings and your little Marauder buddies.

A while later, the Proditkar arrived back at Alpha Rosetta III. Each member went down and began their work.

The Battle for Alpha Rosetta
(Medidand'r and her Exploration discover unusual readings from Alpha Rosetta from their stealth ship, discovering Glacier's base. They call in the UAE fleet which attacks).

Alpha Rosetta Beseiged
(Space battle over Alpha Rosetta III. The UAE fail to break trough. Glacier has a hidden Crimson Splinter fleet behind Tau Theta. He uses Bio-Morphlings, Flesh-Craft, and later Living Blood to attack the UAE ships.)

Breaking the Seige
(The UAE slips a few landing craft by the blockade and attacks Alpha Rosetta. They successfully battle the Circle/Unitech camp, but reinforcements from Iyoka's base arrive and there is a huge battle. Once the UAE gets past them, the Mendel Pact/Federation splitt off to attack Iyoka's base. It is completely destroyed. All of their buildings are blown up, sending everything down underground where it is destroyed. Anthrax is knocked into the pit as well and is presumed dead, but survives. Hegemony Zone Troopers then quickly take the Gravity Elevator.)

Taking Tau Theta
(The UAE finds themselves on Tau Theta, where they are attacked by Splinter troops in vacuum suits. They get through them and into the base, but Shiver turns off the power and lights and releases Bio-Morphlings into the base. Meanwhile, the Splinter leaves. The UAE is just able to clear the base of enemies, but Glacier deactivates the elevator, pulling Tau Theta to impact Alpha Rosetta and destroy all resources so the UAE cannot use it. Glacier's flagship comes down, picks up the Living Blood King, Anthrax, Shiver, and all the Nexus Heads he can, and barely escapes as the moon slams into the planet. The UAE see the moon head diown and evacuate in time.)

The Price of Arrogance
(Glacier is brought before Pridar and blamed by Iyoka for losing Alpha, but Glacier tells how Iyoka and his forces abandoned the battle. Iyoka is held just as responsible. Pridar demands that he execute his plan to resurrect Crimson and succeed his command to him. Glacier is reprimanded as well, but before anything is done about him, Solid arrives to tell he will take matters in his own hands. Solid then secretely takes Glacier away and and says that he, with Scavenger's help, can theoretically take over Raptoranea. He must do so in utter, secret, however, as all every Unitech commander aspires to do so, and should it come out, they would kill him because they want to have that most important victory. Solid also says that, should Glacier fail, he will most likely be executed, or at least stripped of rank completely, a thing not ever Solid would be able to stop. Scavenger agrees to help him and goes off to prepare his Corpse Eaters and make more imitations.)

The Scouring
(Admiral Corvus continues his invasion of separatist space, destroying all opposition in his path. The savagery and destruction unleashed by this campaign are refereed to as the scouring in the future. Separatists are dealt a heavy blow.)(Note From Gorzill: The Vanara Singularity will not be involved in this I need them for something else)

= Super vague things that will probably happen =

Defilers of Completion
Terra Prime crawled through the passages of the Scelus Juggernaut Strain. His massive jaws and mandibles clattered together furiously and he hissed in frustration Burner Strain Scelus crawled to close and he shaped it up without a second thought.


 * Terra - Inferior brutes, only real thing their good for is a quick snack.

He and his forces had been scouting this new galaxy they had come across for a better part of a year and from the inhabitants of a few planets they had consumed he had discovered what it's inhabitants called it-Mirus. Terra snorted, as if it matter what it's inhabitants called it, they would fall to completion anyhow. Terra's slavering jaws let lose a hiss, he wasn't exactly pleased about this fact, but he had no choice but to continue down this path. As of now he and his Strain had been called for a meeting with the other Strains, which explained all the other Scelus Strains crawling around, which he had been making snacks of. Crawling out onto the surface of the new Hive Planet they were settling he spotted the other Prime Sceli and crawled on over.


 * Pyro - You're laten brother.
 * Terra - Do not refer to me as such, less I rip your head from your shoulders!
 * Pyro - As if you could.
 * Cryo - Brothers focus here.
 * Terra - I said...
 * Cryo - Yes, yes don't call me brother, fine if you insist.

Just then the voice of Astro Prime was broadcasted down from orbit.


 * Astro - Be quiet all of you our queen is about to speak.
 * Terra - Oh what a joy.

Cryo looked at his brother severely before the voice of the Scelus Queen was broadcast.


 * Queen - My children the time has come, our greatest enemy has been discovered.
 * Pyro - The demon children of Ava!
 * Queen - Yes now is the time to strike and remove our greatest barrier toward Completion and species that could never join us, a species infested with pain. They must be destroyed.

Pyro and Astro growled, Cyro said nothing, and Terra made an interested humming sound.


 * Queen - However there is a problem.
 * Terra - Oh truly? Is there never?
 * Queen - Silence Terra! Speak when you are asked to! The problem is that they are on the other side of enemy territory an alliance of nature.
 * Pyro - *snickers* So what's the plan?
 * Queen - We will break through them with our full force. Since their planets are mostly terrain Terra will lead the assault along with Astro, Pyro will assist with Cryo as back up.
 * All Prime Sceli - Right.

The prime Sceli dispersed with Terra heading back to his Strain Fleet humming a tune.


 * Cyro - What are you up to Terra?
 * Terra - Me why only what our Queen commands of us.
 * Cyro - You never do only that, be warned I will be watching you.

Terra watched Cyro walking away before muttering to himself.


 * Terra - Indeed, but can you watch everyone of us.

Waps Clash with Scelus Terra and Cyro
(Terra only shows up with half his force forcing them to pull more of Cryo's forces into the conflict)

Final Scelus battle happens
(From here on, the Proditkar don't do anything anymore up until the IoW/Darkling invasion of the rest of Mirus in Yaer 3)

Briefing
Scavenger walked down the halls of the Unitech Citadel, admiring the designs of the insane Raptoraneans. It had been called to a meeting by Solid. Solid. That creature who was so familiar, yet so alien. Scavenger shrugged the thought away. Solid was it's ally, and now was not the time to be doubting allies. After the incident on Alpha Rosetta, things were rather tense. Scavenger hoped an answer to the problem lay in the meeting.

Scavenger walked through a door into a large conference room. Solid was there, looking over some documents. Shiver sat in a recliner, legs up on the table. Glacier had just entered the room.


 * Glacier - Coffee?
 * Shiver - Scavenger. good, you're here. Now we can get this show on the road.
 * Solid - Yes. After Glacier's...incident...
 * Glacier - It wasn't my fault! that damn Iyoka-
 * Solid - Calm down. we're not here to discuss that. Rather, I have a way for you to regain your status.
 * Glacier - How's that, then?
 * Solid - I assume you know of the UAE's Olympians and Vahallans?
 * Glacier - *Angrily* Of course...
 * Solid - They are grown from a solution of gene-seed. Well, we've found the facility where it is stored.
 * Shiver - So what? No way we'll be able to break in there. Thing'll be sealed up tighter than a Dragowar's poop-chute.
 * Scavenger - Thought you were the master thief, Shiver?

Shiver gave Scavenger a rude gesture.


 * Solid - Anyways, Shiver is right. We can't break in. We've tried to plan for such a thing before and it didn't work.
 * Glacier - So what's so different about this time?
 * Solid - The difference, my friend, is now...we have Scavenger. That facility is heavily guarded and only authorized personnel can get in. No, we can't break in. But, what if we could just walk in?
 * Shiver - Whatcha gettin' at?
 * Solid - Simple. Scavenger assimilates someone who has access to the facility, then gets inside and snags the gene-seed for us.
 * Glacier - Gonna be hard to get Scavenger to someone that important.
 * Scavenger - Hmm. I got an idea about that.

Scavenger told them of it's plan.


 * Glacier - Good, good. That's so crazy it just might work.
 * Solid - Alright, Scavenger. The mission is in your hands.
 * Shiver - Or claws, or feelers, or tentacles, or whatever grasping appendage seems best for you.

Scavenger and Glacier walked out.


 * Scavenger - Is she always like that?
 * Glacier - ...Yeah.

The two went off to continue planning their mission. They went to a hangar bay, where various stolen UAE ships were kept. Glacier and Scavenger walked through them. Glacier selected a UFG shuttle. He inspected it closely.


 * Glacier - Hmm. Good, good. This'll do.

Glacier opened various maintenance ports on the ship and began working on it. Scavenger stood nearby, using it's various limbs to hand Glacier tools when he needed it.


 * Scavenger - So... Solid. What's his story?

Glacier grunted as he lifted a large engine part to one of the exhaust hatches.


 * Glacier - He's a clone of W'tze, the leader of the Waptoria Alliance of Species. Why?
 * Scavenger - W'tze... Oh, nothing. Just curious is all. What about you? How'd you come into service to this lovely organization.
 * Glacier - I was a genetic experiment in a lab. I never found out who the lead scientist was. Whoever the bastard was, he screwed up my molecules something terrible. I led a rebellion and slaughtered the staff. All the experiments were freed, but Shiver was the only one who stayed with me. I'd really like to find the others one day.
 * Scavenger - Fear not, brother. I will help you do so when this is all over.
 * Glacier - How about your story?
 * Scavenger - I was also a genetic experiment, though I was much different. Some people took me when I was a child and turned me into this. So naturally I conquered the planet. The rest you know.
 * Glacier - There's gotta be more than that.
 * Scavenger - Perhaps.

Glacier grumbled and threw a large engine part into the shuttle, then wiped his hands off.


 * Glacier - All set. Ready to do this?
 * Scavenger - Yep.
 * Glacier - Then let's hit it.

The two jumped into the shuttle and took off out of the hangar bay. They were heading for UAE territory... And this time, Glacier would not screw up.

The Setup
The shuttle zoomed into the atmosphere of Matrukoris, somewhere nearby the gene-seed facility. Glacier brought the shuttle down in a slum and landed it.


 * Glacier - Hmm. It worked. The UAE didn't detect us.
 * Scavenger - And they will not detect me. This is where I get out.
 * Glacier - Good luck to you. Bring vengeance down on these fools for crossing us.
 * Scavenger - Will do. I'll make them feel every cell of their bodies become me.

Scavenger hopped out of the shuttle. Glacier took off and disappeared. Scavenger flexed it's bladed limbs and looked around. In the far distance, it spotted some guards. Crawling on all fours, it crept up to their location. Creeping up behind the nearest guard, it made a whistling noise. The guard, an Ugandalorian, followed the noise behind a building. Looking around, he saw nothing. Then, Scavenger dangled down behind him. Before the guard noticed it, Scavenger covered his mouth with one of it's hands before running a spike right through him. Another mouth opened in Scavenger's chest and sprayed infectious fluids on him. The assimilation was complete in seconds. Scavenger's original form crept a way while the assimilated guard went out to rejoin the others.


 * Guard - What's wrong with you?
 * Scavenger-Guard - Hrm? Nothing. Nothing.
 * Guard - Why's your uniform ripped?
 * Scavenger-Guard - Uhmm...I got caught on a piece of debris.
 * Guard - Wait, there's blood on your uniform!
 * Scavenger-Guard - I said I got cut!
 * Guard - That's way too much blood. And what's...that purple fluid on you...
 * Scavenger-Guard - Don't...don't...make me angry!

The Scavenger-Guard's mouth burst open into a head full of fangs and lunged forward. The first guard couldn't even raise his gun before Scavenger's teeth sunk right through the top of his skull. He fired a harmless burst of gunfire into the ground. Before Scavenger could really start assimilating him, the second and third guards opened fire. Their bursts of gunfire were not so harmless. They tore right through Scavenger's body. Blood and purple fluid sprayed everywhere. Still, Scavenger did not fall. Instead, it started shambling towards the guards.


 * Guard - Why won't you die!?
 * Scavenger - I...am...eternal. Break my bones, cut my flesh, bleed me dry, and I will still kill you. Every one of my cells is a threat!

Scavenger's eyes rolled back into his mutilated head as it's mouth gaped open. It's tongue, long and covered in purple warts, detached and slithered out of it's mouth. The tongue, making squeaking noises of it's own, coiled up and lunged at one of the guards. It wrapped around the arm he held his gun with. It began to tighten.


 * Guard - It's tightening! It's tightening! Ahh! It's breaking my arm! AHHH!!

His arm broke with a loud, wet snap. It twitched and discharged the weapon into the ground. The tongue slithered up the guards arm and lunged at his face. It wrapped around his neck and strangled him, then forced it's way down his mouth. The creature disappeared down the guard's throat, who fell to the ground.

The last guard launched a barrage of gunfire at the Scavenger-guard's legs. It jerked back, then fell to the ground as it's legs detached from it's torso. The legs became centipedes that scurried at the guard, while the torso grew new legs from intestines, nerves, and muscle. The centipedes grabbed the guard's arms and pulled them out, holding the guard in a crucified pose. The main Scavenger body then went up to him, raised a tentacled fist, and plunged it into his chest. It then lifted him right off the ground and bit into him. Blood and purple slime poured from Scavenger's mouth as it violently began assimilating the guard.


 * ??? - PUT HIM DOWN!

Scavenger turned to face this new threat. Another group of guards, armed with flamethrowers and a rocket launcher. The one with the launcher fired a rocket at Scavenger, blowing it and the assimilated guard to pieces. Next were the centipedes, who scurried at the group. The first was incinerated in mid-air, landing just a foot away from one of the guards. The second attempted to flee, only to be burned up.


 * Guard 1 - That thing really did a number on our guys.
 * Guard 2 - That was Scavenger.
 * Guard 1 - Scavenger!? That thing from Alpha Rosetta?
 * Guard 2 - Yeah.

They heard a grunting, gurgling noise. They turned and saw the guard Scavenger bit sitting up, blood dripping down his body.


 * Guard 1 - He's alive!
 * Guard 2 - NO! Scavenger assimilated him! He's coming back!

The guard loosed a blast of flame at the guard, incinerating it. It rolled on the ground, grunting in anger and pain, until it lay still, the grass near it covered in flames.


 * Guard 1 - What about the last one? Should we burn him too?

The two guards kneeled down by the last dead guard, the one who Scavenger killed with it's tongue.


 * Guard 2 - Well, he doesn't look like he was assimilated...

Suddenly, the guard's mouth popped open and the tongue flew out with the speed of a bullet, piercing the first guard's chest and killing him instantly. The tongue tried to escape, but one of the guards incinerated it before it got far. Then they burned both dead guards' corpses.


 * Guard - We'll have to burn all the grass here.
 * Guard 2 - Wait...!

The guards run into the building, weapons drawn. Inside, they heard screaming from the bedroom. Kicking in the door, they found  laying on his bed, with Scavenger looming over him. As soon as the guards entered, Scavenger turned and screeched at them, then lunged. Before it could attack, one of the guards burned it up with his flamethrower. One of the guards got  on his feet while another called for help on his comm.


 * Guard 1 - Command, we've been attacked by Scavenger. That's right, sir. The creature that serves the Proditkar.
 * Guard 2 - Sir, are you well? Did the beast injure you?
 *  - No. It did not.
 * Guard 1 - Did it get any fluids on you at all? Did it touch you?
 *  - No. You killed it just before it could. You saved my ass back there. Thanks.
 * Guard 1 - Don't mention it.

 smiled to himself. Everything was going to plan. These fools actually believed that Scavenger had not been able to assimilate this Raptoranean idiot with clearance for what it wanted. Scavenger knew his emotions, how he thought. It knew everything about him now. ''Such a coward. Such arrogance for someone who could not fight for his own survival.'', Scavenger thought to itself. Now, all it had to do was put on a nice suit and go to work in the morning.

Infiltration
The next day, Scavenger went to work at the gene-seed facility. It stopped in front of the blast doors where several guards were. One of them held up his hand.


 * Guard - I.D.?
 * Scavenger - Yep. Right here.

Scavenger held up his I.D. The guard nodded and Scavenger walked up to the blast door. It pressed it's hand against a panel for a DNA check. The door hummed an accepting tune and slid open. Scavenger smiled and went inside. It walked down the hallways, with the occasional worker nodding or waving at it. It returned the gesture. Then, it smelled something it liked.


 * Scavenger - Coffee?

Scavenger deviated towards the smell and entered the lunchroom. A few other workers were in there as well and greeted Scavenger. Scavenger practically lunged for the coffee machine and filled it's cup to the brim. It finished it in seconds.


 * Worker - Damn! You've got a real energy craving there.
 * Scavenger - Long night.
 * Worker - Yeah, I heard about that little incident. I'm glad you're okay.
 * Scavenger - So am I. Well, I suppose I'd better get to work.
 * Worker - You're on operations today.

Scavenger thought to itself, shit! Operations meant boring stuff like calculating how much supplies were left and categorizing items. It wouldn't be able to access the gene-seed today. Unless...unless it assimilated somebody else. It sniffed the air, smelling for someone by themselves. There was that beautiful aroma of coffee again, but Scavenger couldn't think about that now. It continued to smell. There it was. The smell of someone on their own. Scavenger followed the scent.

There was a worker alone in a supply closet, digging for something.


 * Worker - Come on, where is it? I don't find that thing...I need to get this over with and get to the seed. Gotta finish the categorization before the boss has my head.

Scavenger grinned so wide it looked like it's throat had been slit. ''Someone with gene-seed access! Today!'' It crept up on the ignorant worker. Scavenger could feel the rumbling of it's cells as they shifted, preparing to burst forth in a wide array of shapes. Scavenger changed the shapes several times before revealing itself. It was happy today, and wanted to make this a special occasion...

Scavenger's new body walked to the gene-seed room and started typing on the control panel. It bleeped.


 * Computer - Error. Unscheduled access. Please recheck your work schedule.
 * Scavenger - Fuck.

It searched it's new victim's memories. There was it's answer. This idiot worker had misread the schedule. Because of that, Scavenger's cover was possibly about to be blown. It's worries were confirmed when it heard a voice behind it.


 * Worker - What are you doing here? I'm on duty today, not you.

Scavenger answered without turning around, the anger already welling up in it's body.


 * Scavenger - I misread the schedule.
 * Worker - Like I said, my duty today. Split.

Scavenger clenched it's fist together. It's cells were already vibrating in anger, preparing to attack this fool who dared argue with it.


 * Worker - Hey buddy. You hear what I said?

He stopped when he heard the bubbling. Scavenger spun around, it's face bubbling and shifting. Purple slime oozed from it's face. Scavenger roared at the worker and swung it's arm at him. It's arm shifted into a tentacle and wrapped around the worker's waist, drawing him toward it. Before he could scream, Scavenger fired a long proboscis from it's mutilated mouth. The proboscis penetrated the worker's forehead with the force of a gun and began assimilating him by pumping fluid into his mass of mutilated brains.

When the assimilation was complete, the new Scavenger entered the room without trouble. It walked up to the huge containers of gene-seed and punched in some commands on a console. A vial began filling with liquid. One compartment filled green with Vahallan DNA. The other half filled with blue Olyimpian DNA. The vial slid from the console. Scavenger grabbed and pocketed it, smiling. It turned and left the room.

Scavenger went to leave the facility. Just before it got to the blast doors, it noticed something. A worker went to exit the facility and the guards stopped him. They began patting him down. Scavenger turned and left, realizing that it would not escape with the seed. It had other ideas. It went to an office when no one was there. It opened a communications channel and punched in a secret code. The image of Glacier appeared on screen.


 * Glacier - Ah, Scavenger. How's your mission going?
 * Scavenger - Everything's going to plan, except there's a problem.
 * Glacier - Which is?
 * Scavenger - I have the gene-seed of both Vahallans and Olympians, but I can't get out with it. The guards search everyone who leaves. I could use one of my imitations to distract them, but then my other imitation would be hunted while I tried to escape and I might loose the seed. I need you to come here and provide a distraction, then get me out of here.
 * Glacier - With pleasure. I will attack tonight.
 * Scavenger - Good.

Scavenger cut the transmission and went back to assume it's daily job positions.

Glacier turned from his computer and looked out the window of his new base. After Alpha Rosetta, he had set up all his assets on an asteroid. It was a crude but effective base. Proditkar-Zarbanian ships surrounded it, along with his huge flagship. Glacier went into another room deeper in the base, laughing to himself.


 * Glacier - Scavenger wants a diversion, huh? I'll give him a diversion.

In the other room were several tubes full of the Grox nanobots Glacier got from Tau Theta. They had since been reprogrammed. He tapped the glass of one container. The swarm buzzed, forming into a giant insectoid shape. Then, it changed shape, assuming a humanoid shape. Finally, it compacted itself, taking a rough shape of Glacier himself. It imitated his every move.


 * Glacier - Huh. Would make a good mirror.

He turned and looked at all the other tubes of nanobots. Each one of them had formed into a copy of him. He smiled.


 * Glacier - Oh yes. I will provide a distraction indeed.

Releasing Corruption
That night, Scavenger's imitations signed up for the night shift so they didn't have to leave and be searched on the way out. Scavenger had managed to blend in completely and keep a hold of the gene-seed at the same time, so it was in the clear.

A security guard sat with his feet up at his desk, not really paying attention. He didn't notice the massive ship signature that popped up on the screen until it started blaring a warning siren. He jumped up, startled. He looked at the readings. About two dozen Proditkar-Zarbanian ships and one huge capital ship as big as the two dozen ships combined.

The guard jumped up and hit the intercom.


 * Guard - Attention all staff! We have an incoming threat! Two dozen Zarbanian ships modified with some kind of Multusse tech, and one gigantic flagship that doesn't match any known readings! We must evacuate immediately!

Scavenger smiled. Perfect! They would be taken outside without even being searched. When the workers started heading out, Scavenger just filed in line with them.

The Proditkar-Zarbanian ships were the first to enter the atmosphere, their air-to-ground weapons wiping out any guards in the immediate facility. Then Glacier's ship dropped in. From a hatch on the fore section of the ship, a huge cloud of nanobots swarmed out. The cloud was so huge that it blocked out the moonlight for those below it. They descended on anyone nearby, leaving stripped, twitching skeletons in their wake.

Glacier's flagship dropped down a beam from every cargo bay it had, beaming down thousands of mutilated, diseased creatures down, followed by one exceptionally beautiful one. Shiver and her "pets" had landed. The first guards exited the facility in a futile attempt to hold them off. Shiver shot at them with her rapid fire blaster, but mostly crippled them, leaving them for her Morphlings to devour them. And devour them they did. The Morphlings ate them alive in such a frenzy that guts were thrown dozens of feet in the air.


 * Shiver - KILL THEM ALL!!!

The shrieking creatures swarmed over the facility, searching for a way in. By then, the facility's defenses had been activated. The blast doors slammed shut and a laser grid appeared over the door. One Morphling who had lept at the door could not change it's course in time and was sliced to bits. Shiver growled in anger and fired a wave pulse from her omnitool. It detonated against the door and blew up, shutting down the field. Two Proditkar-Zarcosians carried a gigantic bomb over to the door and set it down. When it went off, the doors were blown open with such force that they took a chunk of the wall twice their size with them. The Morphlings entered the facility, crawling on the walls and ceilings. Shiver smiled to herself and entered after them.

Will finish later

All According to Plan
The terrified workers watched out the windows as Morphlings crawled across the windows, scratching at the glass. They were running through the halls, trying to reach an exit. The problem was that Morphlings had cut off access to lots of exits. The group rounded a corner- and saw Shiver standing in a pack of Morphlings. Screaming, they turned and ran. The Morphlings followed, cutting some down and dragging them off to be assimilated. Shiver then raised her omnitool.


 * Shiver - Fall back!

The Morphlings immediately followed her orders. Some of the workers in the rear of the pack were confused, but then ran even faster around the corner as Shiver aimed her omnitool at them and fired a wave pulse at them. Most workers were able to round the corner just as the projectile hit the wall. The explosion killed one of the workers and threw another against the wall, knocking him out.


 * Worker 1 - He's still alive!
 * Worker 2 - Pick him up! We've got to get out of here!

One of the workers crouched down by the unconscious one to pick him up. Just as he reached for his arm, he heard a rumbling, bubbling noise. He drew back, but then a purple mass exploded from the worker's chest. The mutant pile of guts screamed at him and attacked. It threw itself upon him. The creature began spilling acid all over him, melting his flesh down to the bone. The thing leaped at another worker, but this one kicked it away with his foot. Bad idea. His foot began to melt away, and he fell down in agony. The pile of guts lunged forth again, but one of the last surviving guards launched a blast of flame from a flamethrower at it as he rounded a different corner. The creature screamed and died.

Still, the threat was not over. A tentacle erupted from Scavenger's open chest and began thrashing around. The workers ran for cover as the guard raised his flamethrower. The tentacle darted right for him, impaling him through the chest and flinging him against the wall. It then ripped out his heart. He fell, dead. Scavenger then turned it's attention to the worker with the melted foot. When he noticed Scavenger looking at him, he tried to crawl away. Scavenger then grabbed his head with it's tentacle and tore his head off.

The rest of the workers started to run away. Scavenger's tentacle thrashed one against the wall, then tripped up another. Scavenger drove it's tentacle into the tripped worker's stomach and pulverized his liver. Scavenger's body began bubbling again as two huge legs grew from the side of it's body. It lifted itself off the ground as it's arms became legs and it's original legs shifted back to support it's hind end. It walked over to the crippled worker. The others had long since fled. It extended it's head down to the worker's and began fusing the side of it's head with his. Tendrils wrapped around his body and lifted it up, fusing the rest of him to it's hulking form.

Then Scavenger noticed the worker it had thrown against the wall. He had worked the flamethrower out of the dead guard's hands and aimed it at Scavenger. It quickly ran around the corner, still dragging the worker behind it. The worker attempted to follow it, but a swarm of Bio-Morphlings rounded the corner and he ran away. Shiver came around the corner, her pistol raised.


 * Shiver - Scavenger had better hope it finishes these guys off. I wonder where the seed is...

Shiver kept going through the facility. Her objective was to find Scavenger and extract it and the gene-seed. But since the idiot had blown his cover, Shiver had no idea where to find it or the seed. She grumbled to herself.


 * Shiver - Why couldn't they have gotten Anthrax to do this?

She shrugged and moved on.

The remaining workers flung a door open and entered a laboratory room. They looked around for any Morphlings in the area. None. Then they noticed something else. The room was a dead end.


 * Worker 1 - We can't stay here. There's nowhere to run.
 * Worker 2 - What do you suggest we do? We can't go back out there!
 * Worker 1 - We're sitting ducks out here!
 * Worker 2 - We're just as screwed in here!
 * Worker 3 - Quiet!
 * Worker 2 - What is it?

Everyone listened. Then they heard it. A snuffling, sniffing noise. Scavenger was sniffing the air. Then, the door to the laboratory creaked open. Scavenger stalked in. It had fully assimilated the worker. his face had been fused to the point where both sets of eyes faced forward near the top of their skulls. The worker's arms had become clawed, weapons to shred prey with.

Scavenger growled. Then it charged at the group. They screamed incoherently and ran around. Scavenger barreled straight for one of them. He tried to put a table between them, but Scavenger rammed into it, shattering it and throwing the worker to the ground. It ripped into him with it's claws, gutting him and ripping his body apart. Scavenger then turned to the others. It's tentacle swung over the front of it's body and impaled a worker right through the back. It lifted his corpse off the ground and flung it at the rest of the workers. It then followed them out the door.

Scavenger pulled down yet another worker and dispatched him with haste. The rest of them ran down the corridor, but Shiver and her Morphlings came down the other direction. Shiver fired her blaster at them, cutting most of them down. The Morphlings tore into the wounded, infecting or devouring them. Scavenger lumbered up behind the last one. Then, the worker with the flamethrower came down the other hallway and loosed a blast of flame that ignited Scavenger. It shrieked and ran forward, lighting several Morphlings on fire. Shiver roared in rage and shot at it.


 * Shiver - YOU IDIOT!

One of her shots severed Scavenger's tentacle. The worker lit up the rest of the Morphlings, then finished Scavenger off with a concentrated blast. Then Shiver shot him right in the side. He howled in pain and tried to blast her, but he was out of flame. He dropped the flamethrower and limped down the hall as fast as he could. Shiver went to chase him, but an arm grabbed her's. She turned to see another worker, a Raptoranean.


 * ??? - That wasn't very nice, you know. I was rather enjoying ripping those fools apart.
 * Shiver - You lit my Morphlings on fire!
 * Scavenger - Not on purpose.
 * Shiver - Do you have the gene-seed?

Scavenger held up the vial.


 * Shiver - Then let's split before I loose the rest of my pets.

The two took off running down the hall, intending to escape before UAE reinforcements arrived.


 * Scavenger - You know, I think I know why you like those Morphlings so much.
 * Shiver - Why's that?
 * Scavenger - They're incapable of telling you "no."
 * Shiver - Fuck you, Scavenger!

The last worker limped over to the armory door. He opened it and grabbed an assault rifle and two clips. He limped back out. Just as he started to put a clip in, he looked up. In the shadows, he thought he saw the shape of a Raptoranean woman. He lowered the rifle and called out to her.


 * Worker - Are you OK, ma'am?

The woman slowly turned around, still concealed in the shadows.


 * Worker - Ma'am?

As the woman came into view, she slowly shifted shape. Her form became that of a man, and once she was close enough to the worker, he realized the thing in front of him looked just like him. Then it became a swarm in the loose shape of a giant wasp or insect. The nanobots descended upon him. He screamed in pain as they devoured his flesh. When they were done, they flew away out a vent. All taht was elft of him was a bloody skeleton.

A Plan Successful
Scavenger and Shiver exited the facility and came upon a huge battlefield. Bio-Morphlings, Proditkar-Zarbanians, and Nanoswarms were in a full-fledged battle with UAE reinforcements. The Proditkar was winning this round. Mutilated bodies were strewn everywhere.


 * Shiver - Looks like we missed one hell of a battle.
 * Scavenger - Worry not, my dear. There will be more to come.
 * Shiver - I'm counting on it.

Glacier's flagship dropped a beam down, and Glacier landed. Shiver and Scavenger ran up to him. They had to shout because of all the gunfire and explosions.


 * Glacier - You get the seed!?
 * Scavenger - Yeah! Let's get out of here!

Shiver and Scavenger rode the beam up. Glacier raised his omnitool.


 * Glacier - Back on your ships! We're leaving!

The Proditkar-Zarbanians scattered back to their ships, which beamed them up. Glacier waved his omnitool and stepped into the beam. All remaining Morphlings swarmed into the beam and were returned to the cargo bays. The nanobots cloud also reentered the containment pods at the front of the ship. Glacier's fleet left the atmosphere and jumped into hyperspace, disappearing without a trace.

On board the ship, Glacier went up to the bridge. He sat down in his command chair and turned to face Scavenger and Shiver. He extended his hand.


 * Glacier - Give it here.

Scavenger handed Glacier the vial. He looked it over, then nodded his head before tucking it away.


 * Glacier - Perfect. You've done well today, Scavenger. Our success will not be forgotten.
 * Shiver - ...Are you sure we should give the highlords the seed?
 * Glacier - What!? That was our mission! Failing is one this, but deliberately sabotaging it...
 * Shiver - If the highlords get the seed and make their own Olympians and Vahallans, then they have that much more of a reason to not need us. None of us matter to them. You know I'm right. Pridar threatened to kill you when you lost Alpha Rosetta.
 * Glacier - I'd like to see him try.
 * Scavenger - She's got a point, Glacier. Perhaps we should kill them first.
 * Glacier - Maybe just Pridar. The others aren't that bad.
 * Shiver - Hmm... I don't know. We could pull it off, definitely, but who would follow us if we did so? Maccasin would turn on us in an instant.
 * Glacier - That brute doesn't know the first thing about loyalty. But you're right. We can wait. Pridar will get himself killed, or the opportunity for us to do him in will present itself.
 * Shiver - What of the seed?
 * Glacier - We'll give it to Solid. He's on our side, he'll see our point of view. Hell, it was his idea in the first place to reorganize the Proditkar after those idiot highlords got themselves captured. I wish we'd never rescued them.
 * Shiver - Sounds good, I guess.
 * Glacier - Don't worry, Shiver. Our time will come.

The ships returned to the Unitech Citadel and docked. The three went to see Solid in the same meeting room they started in.


 * Solid - Welcome back. Was your mission a success?
 * Scavenger - Yes it was.

Glacier set the vial down on the table. Solid picked it up, looking it over. He smiled, then looked up at the group.


 * Solid - Perfect! Wonderful job, everyone. I am sure your rewards will be well worth it.

Scavenger nodded and started to leave.


 * Scavenger - Well, I guess I'll go find me some coffee...
 * Shiver - Oh no you don't. You're coming with me down to the prisoner cells. We're going to pick out some nice, fit specimens to turn into Bio-Morphlings. You owe me, remember?
 * Scavenger - *Sighs* Yes yes...of course. Let's go, then.

(Eco, finish this if you want)

Conclusion
(Solid presents the new Olympians and Vahallans to the other Archons. Meanwhile, the UAE leaders discuss the attack, realizing that the Proditkar now have some of the UAE's most powerful weapons, wich might cause then to get back to full force.)