Far away from the Plazith Rim, the turf of the the Delpha Coalition of Planets where the Delphans enjoy a home advantage against the Empire, a different story plays out for her colonies in the Cyrandia cluster, one of loss and futility. Once a prosperous source of colonial pride for the coalition, few colonies now remain in the Cyrannus galaxy. Cut off, outflanked, outnumbered and outgunned by the dual genius of Admiral Rh'vaurek and the Butcher of Hosniaal, all the colonists can do is fight to the death for every bit of space. But in this darkest of hours there are whispers of a legend. A Luminary. A being sporting wings of flame. One who leads not a path to victory, but to release...
Credit: Val.
Final push
As the Absolution jumped safely out of hyperspace above the planet Yotera, Irenwen knew that she was orchestrating the campaign of her life. After the Maelstrom mysteriously collapsed, hyperdrive travel was unhindered in the foreign sector. Rh'vaurek warned her of suspected trickery, but nothing came of it. Expunging the DCP from Cyrannus had been costly as expected, that's why she - the Butcher of Hosniaal (she liked the epithet) - was deemed suitable for the job. The brutality of the Delphans must be met in kind. Now only a dozen inner systems remained a few fortress worlds and habitats.
The Yotera colonists would pay for the pain suffered on her fleet through hyperspace by Breaching Antimetric Missiles (BAMs) and hyperspace mines. The intersystem defences had been easier to deal with, turbolaser fire at long-range made short work of assorted mines, ranging from torpedo spheres with replicated salvos, and neutron effusion weapons. Irenwen used the Absolution's tractor beams to throw a few remaining mines at the planetary shield of Yotera. Irenwen, cold as steel, watched as the surface was blasted with gamma rays from the decaying neutrons.
"Admiral, the shield has fallen. Permission to bombard populated infrastructure?", asked First Officer Nekten.
"Granted."
Irenwen noticed Nekten pause as he considered the augmented visual in disbelief. "What is wrong? Need your hearing checked?" asked Irenwen in sarcastic tone.
"The population just vanished before my eyes. Look!" exclaimed Nekten. Images transferred to Irenwen's sensorium displayed a recording of the colonists walk out of their shelters and stare at the sky as the atmosphere was irradiated with the brilliance of a thousand suns.
"Looks like the Delphans killed themselves before the might of the Basileus.", said Irenwen.
"But admiral, where are the remains?".
Suspecting holographic trickery, Irenwen called for a search of the planet's major settlements.
Effigies
Nekten stepped out of his shuttle on the surface of Yotera. The air was rank with ozone formed from the aftermath of ionising radiation. The once shapeshifting city was already crumbling to dust as he approached, as if destroying itself before his very presence. But none of this mattered for him as the colony had nothing of material value. His stormtroopers had to work quickly to find clues. This was indeed a rare sight Nekten thought, for few had bested the DCP in their own territory and lived to walk amongst the ruins. This assured him that the Basileus would one day be the true heirs to order, under Tyrómairon's guidance of course. Nekten ordered his stormtroopers to proceed to the central plaza, where the residents had gathered. Most of the buildings were collapsing, smartblocks losing cohesion and turning to dust, leaving a flat marbled surface covered in tall piles. The stormtroopers conducted a thorough search of hyperspatial transit technology, or cloaking devices. Kicking some dust around the base of what once a large tower, Nekten wondered if the colonists were simply projections of this smart building material. Whatever the case he thought, it is not typical of the DCP to flee.
He received a message from stormtroopers around the corner, Nekten quickly followed. There was a cluster of large effigies in the shape of a Grimbolsaurian, which stood out as it had been made from local materials in a rush. Fabrics and wood mainly, by appearance. The Grimbolsaurian had large wings painted in violet. One had writing, in Klekkian cuneiform.
"Get your translator on that", Nekten ordered.
"It simply just says 'Luminary, bear us the Light'. Sir, some kind of deity?"
Back on-board the Absolution, Nekten presented his findings to Admiral Irenwen. "The DCP are secular, this behaviour has never been recorded in imperial files."
"Looks like my campaign scared them into prayer." joked Irenwen wryly.
We cannot rule out that the Delphans abandoned the system and what we observed was a projection of smartdust. We should leave ASAP encase they have a plan to encircle us."
Deep down both knew this explanation was unsatisfactory, but the mission had to go on.