Touchdown

[Javen]

The Calipean superheavy theatre control vessel the Adifaxus lay in the depths of space, a stalwart guardian as large as a moon.
"Sir, picking up energy signatures containing particulates in an organization similar to engine waste." one of the hundreds of technicians sitting on the lower bridge said. Others turned.
"How many signatures?" Bridge Commander Talriak asked.
"Five, medium-sized vessels. Small frigates, likely."
"When they're on radar, report. Prepare fighter bays in chance of attack."
"Yes sir."

The fighter screen was dispatched against whatever was moving in towards them. The ships emitted energy but did not show up visually.
"ֆկ-515, see anything?" one of the fighter leaders asked.
"No, դա-514." another fighter leader said, staring out into blackness.

"This is ֆկ-515, reporting to Adifaxus fighter bay. No sign of hostiles, but they should be right here."
A shadow brushed across the screen. The transponder for one of the fighters crackled and a female voice asked"Where the hell is it?"
On the other side all the fighters were visible.
դա-514 made a decision. "All fighters authorized to fire. Aim away from one another but at the middle point. This thing is cloaked."

A crisscross of lasers pulsed out into the area between the fighter groups. Suddenly, in the nothingness, they hit something. It was if the light had been given solidarity. Whatever was there abandoned stealth for a second and they saw a ray-shaped ship for the the two seconds before the weapons systems, with pinpoint accuracy, took out all the fighters in a spiderweb of laser fire.

"Sir, fighter screen...vanished. The video feed didn't even pick up any movement. It is as if the weapons managed to take out the whole screen in less than a second. The only way that would be possible is if the machines could calibrate to every fighter before uncloaking."
"Be on alert. Track heavy weapon systems on area directly in front of energy signature."
"Yes sir."
"Fire when ready."

The cannons on the side of the huge Calipean hulk began moving and followed the area near the energy signature. Suddenly the power bands on the machine activated and a beam of energy smacked into the nonexistence that was the form of the vessels. The cloaking field apparently failed, because the thing became solid. It was a blue-black thing that looked like an eel, many tentacles floating out as it's sinuous form drifted from the damage.

"What the hell is that thing?" the bridge commander asked.
"The tentacles must refract light." one of the technicians thought aloud.
"It looks...organic, sir."
"Negative. That's metal."
"It could may be a biological metallic compound. The body is formed of such solids, lord."

More cannons opened up, destroying the vessel, and then another salvo hit the next apparent area.
They were discussing it when something hit the bridge, disintegrating the entire structure in a fraction of a second.


Out of the nothingness, a fleet of the alien craft, composed of many types of organic ships materialized.
"གའནདའདིཏའནདཉ्ोल्ोدابن, அஉரஅனிஉ'' reverberated through each craft from the command hulk, which had the appearance of a giant whale or shark-like creature, with many holes from which the fish-like fighters began to emerge, ready to finish off the headless body of the great command vessel.
"ஏகூனைஏனரூஇனுலடதடலெஊஐ.'' the ultimatum of a race alien even to this galaxy reverberated through the ship. The hunters had found a new animal to hunt: Ternix.

[TheCreator]

The Xie'an Battleship Ancestor shot out of null-space and into the dark void known as the universe. Just as the sublight engines were activating, eleven more ruptures formed, dispelling the rest of Ancestor's task force. The elegant ships, each looking as if they were the solid form of falling water, glowed along lines which ran from bow to stern. The space between the ships was filled with nothing, yet point-to-point instantaneous communication was occurring nearly constantly.

The ships all formed up around Ancestor and her sister ship, Serenity, creating a stretched oval with the lighter ships on the outside to protect the larger ones from gunboats and suicide ships. Fighters were launched from the single light carrier of the fleet before swarming out to envelope the entire force in a thin fighter shield.

"Sir, Long-Range scanners have detected an energy surge at point 122-31-23. Sir, it looks to be the ending part of a battle, but none of our ships are in the area." Nav stated uneasily, looking to the Rear Admiral for reassurance.

"It would seem another species has at last been found. Bring us about, but keep it slow." The Rear Admiral replied, his voice steadier than his mind.

"Aye Aye sir, engines to .4c"

"Engines confirm .4c"

"The Task Force acknowledges, Task Force structure intact."

"Raise shields." The Captain of the ship commanded. "Sir, perhaps you should consider relocating to a safer place,” he suggested to the Rear Admiral, who responded to the negative, accurately stating that the command bridge was the safest place on the ship.

The Task Force made its way to the dying engagement, fifty-eight hours between them and their new company.

[Javen]

From inside the ship itself, a relay came across the command screen.
ணனொமனலெ றண அஒஏனவனேள அண்ணைடோனரஏஊதள ஐமலுஇஅஉலஉஓஅ அஉலஉல அஉ.
In reply, the rest of the system responded:
டைஉஊஅஐலஇ அஐஊ ஏட ஒதூஅல னே றணஅத்த றலனேஇ, ரடவூ ஏடீஅஐஉஇ லூஈ அஒஏனவனேள. க்ஷூஐரனலஏஊ

The entire bulk of ships moved away from the now almost non-existant remains of the Ternix ship towards the new source of movement. The massive armada's powerful engines pushed them towards the next target, the smaller ships kept in line by the powerful herding fields of the large ones, which almost pulled them along where the engines could not. Within the course of a few hours the first mighty ship appeared, though not in the visible spectrum, flanked by dozens of smaller ones which hung in a suspension field.

The scanners on the ships ran across the other force.
௵டலஃனைரூஉ தனெஊ. [ஐஉஊஐஇ؟
The ship's command structure, rigid and unchangeable, offered the obvious order.
க்ஷூஐரனலஏஊ.

Weapon systems activated, the armada began to appear in mass, the huge ships hidden in their cloaking field. However, the massive energy signature gave them away and realizing the futility the armada became visible again. The crew, a motley assortment of bluish blobs, analyzed the other group. Weapon systems quietly locked on to deliver the maximum damage. The mechanical process was done without a single movement from the ships. It was like a massive staredown within the first few seconds.

Then, of course, the machines made the first move. Loses were meaningless. They served only to cleanse the universe.

A million pinpricks of light hit the shields at every angle imaginable before the others could blink. The ruthless order of the action had the Xie'an at a disadvantage at the beginning as what looked like slim leeches launched off of some ships, while others moved themselves, their predatorial shape indicating some sort of direct attack vessel.

Then the Ancestor and it's battlegroup had a chance to retaliate. In the space of seconds a massive threat had interposed itself. Their reaction time had to be pretty good. Inside the ships another salvo was already being prepared while vessels deemed unnecessary were sent back to their original placement to finish the purging of the area. Nothing was wasted amongst the Torii. These would not pose enough of a threat to need all the ships. All that was left as the rest broke off were a dozen or so large craft, including several of the nasty tentacle-limbed obliterators and the twin bulks of craft that looked like great armored fish, alongside the largest of them all, a fighter carrier with the shape of a mighty lionfish, which spewed nasty dart-shaped fighters at the Xie'an.

Luckily, though, the Torii weren't ones for ingenuity.

[TheCreator]

"Sir, our shields have taken a beating, and total ship power has diminished to forty percent! Lateral Lines one and three are overheating and three of our fusion plants are fried, primary coolant to all generators is reaching dangerous temperatures." The shout was instantaneous, and while it was only one among many, it was the only one that mattered. Total ship power did not diminish to forty percent on first volleys. The enemy outgunned the Xie'an by quite a fair margin to do so much damage so quickly. The heaviest Xie'an ship was scarcely a quarter the mass of the enemy carrier.

"Vent primary coolant and flood the plants with secondary, 110% generation for all remaining plants. Old one," The captain paused while the ship's AI appeared. A blue holograph of a withered old Xie'an appeared in the center of the room without the aid of a holotank. "Get particle beams on their forward ships, fire at will-"

"Hold that order," The Admiral ordered. "Have all ships fire warp arrays at the enemy carrier. Fighter ships are to intercept enemy craft until they arrive in the anti-fighter envelope. Prod their ECM and analyze their shield for weakness, and increase our own shield mitigation if you can. Fire particle beams on their smallest ships."

The Xie'an ships returned fire, their lateral lines pulsating blue as particle beams washed against the closest enemy ships. The Xie'an ships did not give off any color or brightness as the warp arrays locked onto their targets, but soon the arrays found their victims, and the tell tale temporary disappearance of sections of the enemy shielding due to the momentary loss of all light from target areas became apparent.

The shields of the frigate Continuity were bright blue under the enemy fire, the ship's computers doing their best to match the shields resonance with the inverse of the enemy weapons'. It seemed a micro sun had birthed between the hull and space, but those shields finally vanished and the hull was left naked to enemy fire. The entire ship vanished into a cloud of molten metal and vented atmosphere, only an eighth of the crew had managed to teleport to other ships.

[Javen]

டலூ ஊலூரள இகனண உஊஇஏஐடளூஉ. தடொமனலெ தஇஊஐஇ டல லூஓஏ ணைனடைனேள ஏஅஐஎஊஏ
The command vessel's AI turned the focus to the next ship and the Torii inside readied weapon systems.

ஏஅஐஎஊஏ இகனூது உனிஐறணேனடல இஊஒஏனடலி ரஐமூஉ டல இஒஐஊஊல.
Red cursors hovered over the ship's shield distruptor weapons. The Torii gunners released a volley and the shield glowed brightly, almost dying, from the power. The leech-like projectiles smashed into the sides of ships, expelling boarding parties, and more Torii ships disappeared as the computer accessed scenarios, judging victory was imminent. The huge carrier's fighter squadrons, composed of rays and darts, peppered the distruptors with lasers and clouds of metal-consuming specialized Children.

The first of the boarding parties was inside the ship. Fifteen blobs of blue-purple, large and brutish, armed with fleshborer Children cannons, moved down the Xie'an vessel, butchering crew members. Bullets and lasers seemed to just move right through them. It appeared they were almost unstoppable until the first spark of electricity lit one of them up like christmas lights, dissintigrating it in an instant. The others rapidly skirted away.

Meanwhile, in the depths of space, an elegant vessel not of Calipes, Torii, or Xie'an design moved through the void, hailing all frequencies. "This is the Allia.
This is Sangrian space and this conflict is a direct violation of galactic law. Please remove yourself from our system and return to the neighboring neutral space."

"Sir?" one of the crew reported. "Detecting unknown fuel composition and radio frequencies from both combatants. The Ternix ship seems to have been destroyed."
"Arm all weapons. Prepare to fire upon any threat."

The Allia rematerialized five hundred meters from a Torii vessel, smashing the thing to bits along its elegant prow. "Prepare to fire against ships with similar radio frequency. This is an armada in our space."
"Those Ternix holding that human planet were bad enough...let's hope the other frequency is friendly."

The Sangrian System Defender ultraheavy Dreadnought entered the battle, dwarfing all but the largest of the Torii vessels. The most powerful ship in the Sangrian fleet, it would take a lot to destroy it. "This is the Dreadnought Allia, under Sangrian Territory Defense. Identify yourselves." the crew directed to the struggling Xie'an.

Then the cannons began tearing apart the nearest few Torii ships. Each blast nearly vaporized a ship. Within a minute half the fleet was gone.

றலனுஊலேனஃனூஉ கடைஇனேதூ அண்ணைடஒகனலெ. ஹூஅஒஒஊஇஇனலெ லறரூஐஇ. ஹூஆறனைஊ அனு. ஹூஏறைல.

The Torii needed a lot more firepower than they had guessed.

[TheCreator]

Half of the displays within the command center aboard the Ancestor were either non-functional, or displaying images which were clearly inaccurate. No massive power conduits ran nearby the bridge, so sparks were at a minimum.

"Sir, we're being hailed. Dialect unknown, we need to get closer before our translators can reach their minds." Said the com officer.

"I detect multiple forced entries on decks A-2 through C-7. However, it seems the enemy is vulnerable to electricity, and due to the damage their own ships inflicted upon us, I have been able to destroy most of them using uncovered power conduits. Battle effectiveness has dwindled to thirty five percent." Old One, the AI, reported a mere fraction of a second after the last enemy ship had been destroyed.

"Very well. I do not believe our task force is prepared to handle a First Encounter. Have all ships prepare to enter warp-"

"Only two ships have working warp drives." Old One interjected, gesturing to the engineering station where two dots were blinking green, and neither of them represented the Ancestor.

"Very well, have the smaller of the two return to Xie'an space and request immediate reinforcements. A city-ship would not be considered out of place, and make sure they understand that!" The Admiral ordered, his voice level and serious. The com officer froze, and only when his station began beeping for attention did he turn to slowly relay orders to the designated frigate. Three times he had to assure the person on the other end he was serious and again stated the need for something the size of a city-ship.

"Take us towards the unidentified vessel, power down the external lines but keep the warp arrays online, and tell the rest of the fleet to do the same. Also, change ECM to scramble-mode. There is no need for this unknown species to be probing our ship without our permission. Have all non-essential crew go to the life pods and await further orders."

[Javen]

The Torii's fighters began moving towards the new threat, but they were totally outgunned. The fighters of the Calipes, unmanned hawk-like drones and sleek, bullet-shaped computer-controlled bombs, rushed across the side of the carrier, peppering it with fire. Entire arms of the spiny fighter bays broke off under the assault and the Torii ship began to moved backwards to attempt to regroup. Then the lightspeed engines flared and it disappeared, too valuable a ship to lose.

Wiping his brow, the commander of the Allia stared out into space. The aggressors were gone.

The badly damaged ship they had saved was moving up. Diagonistics read about a 40% remaining mechanical capability as the computers scanned the damaged ship, which was tiny compared to the huge dreadnought.
"Sir, detecting energy fluxuations...it looks like they've deactivated most functions to increase power to the warp drive."
"Detecting outside transmission codecs being transmitted. Crude but effective."

"It's as if they want us to blow them apart."
"Detecting massive energy fluxuations...a ship just entered warp."
"Activate gravitational stabilizers and interdictional fields."
"Activated. Gravity anomaly stabilized."
"Open communication. Notify system command that we require backup near the human planet HU-661993. Consider reorganization to be UN-661993. Suggest scan for profitable ventures and possible reorganization request to CO-661993"
"Anything we can do about the codecs?"
"Negative."
"Activate hypergravitational drive. Reinforce shields and prepare a signal blocker while in range."

Millions of miles away, near HU-661993, a fleet of Sangrian vessels smashed into what was left of the Torii fleet.
The gravity well of the monstrous Sangrian dreadnought pulled the Xie'an ship into it's own gravitational field. No one would be escaping without a talk.

[TheCreator]

"The unknown vessel has activated an artificial gravity well. However, the Vigil has successfully entered warp and is now en route to the Xie'an sector HN-3H93FB1, and will arrive at its destination in one hour and thirty seven minutes." Old One stated calmly, his hologram momentarily flickering as the holo projectors experienced a surge of power and adapted to compensate.

"The enemy vessel has reinforced shields and is drawing us in." Navigations stated, though two-thirds of the sensors were fried, so anything they said had to be taken with a grain of salt.

"Our generators are down to thirty percent output." Engineering reported.

"See if you can't hail them. They obviously want to talk to us, or they wouldn't go through the trouble of trapping us, especially after one of our ships managed to warp away." The Admiral said. He had taken on the role of captain, for he wished to convey his orders quicker than he could through the usual captain proxy most Admirals acted through in such situations. The former captain was currently organizing the defense force and repair crews on board the ship.

"We are now in range for our translators to communicate. Should they proceed?" Asked communications.

"Immediately," responded the Admiral, who gazed over the officer sitting in front of the communications computers in anticipation.

"This is the Xie'an vessel Allegiance, who has recently acted in defense against the late unknown fleet of hostile origins. Please state your intentions, be they hostile or peaceful. Our own intentions are the advancement of peaceful communications with all sentient lifeforms, and creation of peace between said lifeforms.

[Javen]

Something akin to a burst of sound reached the ship. The whole crew froze in their places. Communications crewmen pulled off their headphones in amazement. The sound was coming from everywhere...it was resounding in their heads.

It were perfectly understandable words from the other ship. They weren't even words...but well-formed ideas, like the product of word comprehension. The Sangrians listened raptly before one of the comms officers spoke.

"Should we respond?"
"It seems that these aliens can transmit words without any sort of speaking. In that case our transmission blocker is useless. Turn it off and let me speak."
"Yessir."

The hum of the blocker died and the captain cleared his throat. "Allegiance, this is the Sangrian Dreadnought Allia, in defense of this region of Sangrian space. We came to defend this region from what appeared to be an attack. The official stance of the Sangrian Empire is one of peacekeeping and economic growth. If you would identify your species and planet of origin, we would be glad to release your ship from the gravity well and aid in the repair or otherwise return of you to your fellows, and possible further trade between our empires. We have an gravity field capable of pulling you at warp speed to a destination of your choice, or you may dock and allow us to assist in repairs."

[TheCreator]

"A gravity field used for towing at warp velocities? That is awfully convenient." Said the Admiral after having the reply relayed to him. "Why don't we have any of those?" He asked nonchalantly, the relief in hearing the unknown races non-hostile intentions not evident on his voice, but heard nonetheless.

"Well Sir, we usually just dock at a city-ship and they warp us to anywhere we need to go, or repair us on the spot if they have the materials." Technical stated, "And all of our battle groups have at least one city-ship around to repair their damaged hulls anyways."

"I almost forgot," The Admiral said, "reply to their message. We don't require any more assistance, but warn them an approaching Xie'an craft is arriving, and is prepared to further diplomacy between our people. They should hesitate to fire on all craft warping into the area. Tell them the ship will be a great deal larger than they might expect, especially seeing as how they've only had contact with our battleships.

[Javen]

The same disorientating disembodied voice, in perfect clarity, echoed into their heads.
"Ship coming soon. Hesitate to fire on warping ships. Very large.

After liberally shaking their heads to purge the disturbing feeling, the Sangrians replied.
"We will avoid firing until given the word by you no other ships will be coming. The Ternix may come back, or those other aliens."

Within a few minutes the Xie'an city ship arrived and removed any feelings of superiority from the Sangrian vessel. It looked like five or six Dreadnoughts could fit in one and it was the size of a planet.
"This is the Sangrian Dreadnought Allia, contacting commander of...whatever the hell you are..." the comms officer said, trying to fathom how something so large could exist.

[TheCreator]

"This is the Sangrian Dreadnought Allia, contacting commander of...whatever the hell you are..."

The voice echoed out across the vast control bridge of the city-ship Ven'ar. Hundreds of Xie'an were busy directing the running's of the vast vessel, both civilian and military. All the civilians were currently located in the heavily shielded center for safety. It was assumed that even during combat that area was still the safest place one could reach.

"Sangrian Dreadnaught Allia, this is the Xie'an city-ship Ven'ar. We have received intel from the following vessels: Allegiance, Vigil, and have been ordered to assist against the enemy ships spotted here not long ago. As it seems you were capable of defending our brethren from the threat, we thank you." This voice sounded different than a normal Xie'an voice, for it originated from the powerful AI which controlled most of the more complicated tasks on board the city.

"Currently, our orders are to achieve peaceful diplomacy with your own race and to gather military intel on the other race. This ship, and her remaining battle group, is prepared to do either, and requires only aid from yourself to achieve them. We can go to any location you wish, be it a planet or a station, and should you be willing to send a sample of your programming language to us, we would gladly be willing to send general information on Xie'an history and physiology immediately."

[Javen]

"Sir, chemical analysis shows no trace of the enemy vessels."
"That's impossible."
"It would appear they destructed themselves." In the confusion they had forgotten to grab one of the destroyed ships.

"Unfortunately they seem to have some sort of self-destruct mechanism to avoid capture. We have no ability to retrieve a specimen of them or their ship. Perhaps the Allegiance could provide intel? They were breached by something."
"As for the code, we will transmit it now." a comms officer flicked a switch and the entire programming language began transmitting to the city ship. "We would hope it would be in a sortable format, your transmission." the captain said, hinting at a data transfer.

[TheCreator]

The Xie'an AI aboard the city-ship reformatted the physiological information in an infinitesimally small amount of time. Due to the nature of Xie'an computer systems, which used solid light as circuits, which could be made as small as one wanted, the processing power of even the smallest computers was still formidable, and the computer systems on board the city-ship were anything but small.

"Data packet sent." Said the AI, his voice monotone.

"Search for enemy ships underway. Short range scanners are clean." Navigations stated.

"Keep me posted." Said the City Master, who was sitting within a cocoon of computer monitors and holograms.

[Javen]

A wealth of information was transmitted over, but they only cared about the physical picture.
The thing they saw was somewhat humanoid, but blue. It had a face that seemed to be missing something...a mouth. it was like if someone made a crude figure out of blue clay...everything seemed a little...off.

"Sir, we're picking up more trails...these ones are Ternix."
"Ready weapons."

The huge ship turned and activated weapons. He keyed his comm link "We've detected alien hostile vessels."

Three larger Ternix frigates materialized. One tried to break and smashed harmlessly into the side of the Allia. The others turned rapidly and dodged massive amounts of fire. Behind them, more ships, the strange organic ones, appeared, overshooting a bit. A few hit the massive Xie'an ship behind them.

[TheCreator]

It wasn't necessarily Vertihen's job to get annoyed when things started hitting the shield, but as a city-ship's AI, he could do a lot of things he wasn't supposed to, getting annoyed being the least of them.

The City Master gave Vertihen the order to open up with particle beams. Gladly thought the powerful AI. While he had thought of the ships hitting the shield as something only to be annoyed with, Vertihen also knew the shields were not invincible, and he did not want to test them any longer than necessary no matter the situation.

The great particle slicers fired upon enemy craft, their massive generators humming steadily. Vertihen had half a mind to request fighters, but decided against it. Impatiently, Vertihen waited for the City Master to give him the green light to go loud with the warp cannons and energy weapons.

As if on cue, the City Master obliged him and Vertihen opened up, only a half second before the City Master had finished speaking. He was improving, his previous record was three seconds.

Four of the mysterious race's dreadnoughts warped in very close to the Ven'ar. One of them crashed into the Ven'ar's shields, its own shields flickering for a moment before dying out. The hull crumpled against the city-ship's shields and finally exploded, sending out shock waves and bits of super heated metal.

The Ven'ar was veering away, Vertihen had had enough. Particle beams and energy weapons continued to fire upon the enemy, but at a lower rate. Most of the energy was being devoted to the shields, which were noticeably weaker looking than they had been before the crash. The vessel's survival was a testimony to its size and shielding, for being hit by a dreadnought and then being caught in its suicidal explosion was always extremely bad.

[Javen]

The cannons of the Allia opened up without need for directive. It was a warship first and foremost. The first of the projectiles to hit was the mass-driver cannon's payload. The solid missile impacted into one of the Torii ships, the velocity tearing apart the vehicle. Other payload, from the laser turrets, broke a large warship into several pieces.

Drone fighters and bombers ran across the smaller ships, cutting them apart. The Sangrian ships, in turn, received a volley of solid rounds filled with more of the metal-eating Children. The nasty little things ate into the thick metal covering the ship a foot or two before the massive g-force tug of the ship's acceleration pulled them off.

The sharp prow of the ships chasis moved forward, engines flaring up as it pushed forward. Missile tubes rushed out seeking projectiles, flying towards the smallest ships. It was going for the biggest one of the pack, a capital ship. The sharp-edged, razor-blade shaped tip of the Allia smashed into the Torii construct, the velocity propelling it through the relatively large warship's seperating frame. Torii were voided into the nether, displacing into clouds of millions of their components, like a cloud of misty vapor.

"Ven'ar, primary threat eliminated." one of the communications ensigns reported. "Any further threats seen?"

The Torii might have been out of the picture, but the loss of a super heavy warship was not to be unreported amongst the Ternix. They had immediately mobilized after the attack, and many hours later, were moving closer.