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Valiant had been basically untouched, the navy taking a strategy of monitoring the stations and stopping ships from moving between them while they support operations on the surface of the Colonies. As such his station hasn't been searched, and periodic scans by the navy are fooled by his preparations, the Navy is actually about to lift the quarantine as the drakul outbreak is pretty well under control at this point.
We have pushed the Hivemind back slightly and established fortified positions, where we are amassing forces for a concentrated push. On some worlds, our forces have discovered heavily irradiated Redlight corpses, to the extent that their corpses could not simply be absorbed beck into Redlight. We are trying to figure out the cause of this.
The Wrack has been fortified by the various factions there, and evacuation procedures have been drawn up should they have to leave.
Oceara and Sterkistan
Alex has ordered Forge, Sokolov, Koenig, and our foreign allies who will be assisting in our attempt at taking down Green, to the colony world of Collux (in the future, this will become the capital of the Collux Ascendacy, Thrax’s own nation MODUS alluded to) to try to ambush Elizabeth after he invites her to meet him.
Oceara and Sterkistan
Alejandro's section of the fleet has been transferred to Klein, he will head to Collux to assist the ambush.
The Sterkians have sent a fleet to participate in the ambush.
The Republic will be sending a fleet of its own to aid the Cybusians and other nations partaking in this ambush.
Elizabeth teleported into the planet, sensing many Others. With every step, viral vines sprouted from the earth, spreading, and with every breath, microscopic spores of Redlight were dispersed. Then she knew it. Alexander was there. She turned and saw him, stunned. She stood there, frozen as he approached. He looked almost the same. His armor had changed, and ...his eyes were different. But otherwise he looked the same as he has many millions of years before. She had also barely changed.
“It’s been a long time since I saw you Elizabeth. You look well.”
She remained silent, lips moving, but no words coming out, until she found words again.
“Alexander. You are still here! Killed, but reborn! Oh how I’ve missed you.” She staggered towards him, then slumped against him, embracing him. Alex looked alarmed; but hugged her back.
“Elizabeth. You have to stop this. You are spreading your virus everywhere, including to my people.”
“Your children are quite remarkable, Alexander. But they have a problem.”
Alex grew slightly annoyed, irked by the fact that there was a flaw in his Evolved.
“And what is that?”
“They can think for themselves. I know in your heart of hearts, you still crave power, strength, worship.”
“How does that relate to thinking for themselves?”
“Oh Alex...those things you made must have done something to do. You know what I mean. I even told you this when you first created them. Individuality is not a good thing. They can choose false gods. But you...are a jealous god, darling Alex. I know you cannot abide other gods...or even me. You killed me so long ago, but I have...forgiven you. I still love you just as I did then. And my Children are begging for a king to rule alongside their queen, clamoring for a god to worship. Every mind united, every one worshipping you, unceasingly. The minority of those who trued to cling to their old lives have been taught your glory. Listen.”
Alex almost recoiled as she grabbed his hand, viral vines growing from her arm and traveling to her hand, her red tendrils interlocking with Alex’s own biomass, black tendrils weaving an intricate connection.
He stiffened and was virtually paralyzed as he connected to the hivemind.
He felt like he was floating in a sea of noise, hard to decipher at first, but then it became understandable. Trillions upon trillions of minds were all chanting his praises in whatever language they used to use. It was amazing, trillions of minds all linked as one, trillions of mouths praising him. He almost wanted to stay and indulge in this, but he knew what he had to do.
He whispered
“Thank you Elizabeth. I can’t.” He paused a moment, fully removing himself from the Hive Mind.
“I’m sorry.”
Alex’s biomass shifted into a blade and stabbed forward, stabbing Elizabeth’s avatar in the stomach. She gagged, retching up red biomass, green eyes wide with surprise.
“...Alex?”
The wound tried to repair itself, but his blade-arm was firmly lodged in her stomach. She leaned as far as she could and kissed him, then proceeded to, with a noise that sounded like a scream of a thousand voices, wrench herself off the arm that was impaling her, her wound instantly repairing itself. At this signal, the other participants would begin their own attacks, as Alex stood there, baffled by the fact that her response to being stabbed was to kiss him. The sound of weapons fire drew him back to reality, as he saw Elizabeth using elaborate acrobatics and inhuman speed to dodge Koenig and Forges’ Hardlight bolts and Bloodtox-coated 12.7mm bullets, respectively, both of them in power armor and firing from an extreme distance with sniper rifles. Sokolov wasn’t there yet, but he would be there soon. Alex shook his head rapidly to clear his mind, and prepared to charge into battle, signaling for the various foreigners to start doing whatever they were planning on doing.
Alejandro would begin casting spells to solidify natural magic nearby Elizabeth trying to trap her or at least slow her down enough to be easier to hit.
The Sterkian battlegroup opened up, the Electromasters utilizing their 'Railgun' ability to launch projectiles at extreme speed toward Elizabeth.
The rest of the forces waited for extra orders, they needed to know how Elizabeth would respond to the initial attack.
Elizabeth would slow briefly, allowing Koenig to score a few hits. Forge and the Electromancers would have their projectiles abruptly fall to the ground. Sokolov appeared in a burst of lightning, chanting in Latin, strange bursts of magic racing toward Elizabeth. She glared at him, tendrils bursting from the ground to seize him. A shield formed around him, electricity frying the tendrils.
Elizabeth seemed to concentrate, and then, hundreds of tendrils were shooting out toward everyone, to try to infect or impale and kill them. Alex formed a shield around her to try to intercept them, but it quickly shattered.
Alejandro would be reinforced by the teleportation of both Klein and Mobius, as the three would all cast Soul Arrows to fire fragments of their own souls at the tendrils which upon getting close enough would allow the three Soul mages to cast a spell to convert the tendrils to light before recalling their soul arrows back to their bodies.
As the fighting commenced, a group of Jedi sent by the Republic would maintain some distance from Elizabeth in order to prepare themselves for Battle Meditation. They hoped that by raising the mental and physical efficiency of their allies, as well as possibly demoralizing Elizabeth, they could gain an advantage over Alexander's former lover. If Elizabeth is too powerful for the demoralizing effects of Battle Meditation, then the Jedi would have to resort to slowing her down to the best of their abilities.
Oceara, The Orson Empire, and Cybus1
Prime Minister Barrachina has introduced a new bill into the Chamber of Deputies, aimed at dramatically boosting the Wagain space industry. The multi-billion dollar Horizons Act (2019) has several major components:
1. Private companies who devote a high percentage of their budget to advanced research in space exploration, and operate either manufacturing or research facilities within Wagondia, will be eligible for a substantial corporate tax abatement. In an effort to nurture its domestic industry, the government will reserve a portion of its launch and construction contracts for businesses headquartered in Wagondia.
2. Funds will be provided for the expansion and refurbishment of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, currently our most significant spaceport. The Alcântara Launch Center, just outside of Săo Luís, will be significantly upgraded to handle heavy rockets and human spaceflight operations, becoming a secondary site for major spaceflight initiatives.
3. Funds will be set aside for the provision of public research grants at 25 leading Wagain universities, to be joined by another 25 within two years. These grants will cover post-doctoral research in a diverse range of space-related fields, including astrophysics, astronomy, biology, medicine, meteorology, materials science, and engineering. Universities will also be incentivized to create undergraduate and graduate departments in space science, and market these programs to Wagain youth.
4. The budget of the Imperial Wagain Space Agency (IWSA) will be nearly doubled, with specific directives to increase public awareness of space exploration, facilitate multi-national research and design projects, and increase the scale and complexity of Wagain space infrastructure (such as satellites, rovers, and space stations).
The Horizons Act, should it become law, will help to remedy the longstanding imbalance between Wagondia's great power status on Earth and relatively small presence in space. While it will be an expensive undertaking, supporters believe such a dedicated push for scientific advancement will benefit all facets of society, raising Wagondia's national profile and allowing us to become a global leader in the next generation of scientific exploration and discovery.
Elizabeth, in response, would stop attacking an concentrate. All around her, biomass began to spread exponentially, large pustules growing. Six pustules formed, and six large organisms, quadrupeds with large muscles protected under plates of hardened biomass armor, emerged, sharp claws at the end of their limbs, tendrils emerging from their shoulders to seize targets and infect them. Hunters. The Hunters began charging the Soul Mages, arrows intercepted by a shimmering green shield of psionic energy Elizabeth had set up.
Elizabeth was confused. Her head was spinning, full of visions of Alex dead, or spurning her for someone else. The shields protecting the Hunters flickered and failed as she tried to clear her head, trying to locate the source of this unwelcome intrusion.
As she focused on the Jedi’s interference, Sokolov began preparing a highly forbidden ritual from the Necronomicon, painting patterns of blood on the ground and lighting candles. Alex looked at him in bewilderment.
“What are you doing? A ritual in combat?”
“Summoning Nyarlathotep!”
“ARE YOU INSANE?”
“I believe you already know the answer to that! And it will help, it doesn’t want its entertainment threatened by the hivemind!”
Koenig kept firing from a distance, a series of Assaultrons teleporting in, lasers charging to blast the distracted Elizabeth as Forge fired round after round into her.
Interesting Fact:
The Ocearan Standard Issue rifle of the Great African War became the Symbol of Militias & Revolutionaries in the Ocearan Sphere of Influence. This was due to the fact that tens of million of them were built, were easy to operate, fast to produce, and had immense ammo capacity (instead of a traditional detachable box magazine, the ammo was inside the sling which attached to the top of the rifle and had hundreds of rounds feeding into the rifle by gravity.) -- all combined with the sheer volumes of the rifles that were sent to the Federalists in their struggles against the Monarchists and the Independent Warlords.
These rifles, despite their status as "moderately-effective" cheap mass-produced weapons for mass mobilization forces, continued to find use for an incredibly long time after they were discarded by any of the world's militaries among Revolutionaries and Militias sympathetic to the Ocearans. It is the AK-47 of the Ocearan World.
Interesting!
I’m thinking about Thrax and his history. I’m thinking he might be one of the oldest Ancients known to exist, far older than the Eichhorsts, perhaps even being turned or created (directly by Elizabeth) before the Rebellion.
Thoughts, if any?
From Sokolov’s bloody ritual painting, after quite a bit of chanting from him, a figure made of shadows materialized, wearing a suit, with red eyes but few other features.
Nyarlathotep looked around, locking eyes with Elizabeth.
“Elizabeth Green.”
“Nyarlathotep. Did you come here to die?”
Alex raised an eyebrow. They knew each other? That was somewhat surprising.
Forge peppered Nyarlathotep with bullets, only for him to casually direct them back in his direction with a wave.
“I’m not here to kill you, at least not now. I’m here for her.”
He drew a dagger covered in runes from thin air, and outstretched his free hand toward Elizabeth, purple lightning racing toward her.
Alex took this opportunity to ram his hand into the ground. A series of large biomass spikes burst from the ground and impaled Elizabeth, suspending her, briefly open to attack. A few more Hunters grew from the ground and headed over to Alex, only for him to use his free hand to shoot bundles of tendrils at them, temporarily snaring them so others could kill them. He needed to concentrate to keep Elizabeth from just destroying the spikes and freeing herself. Elizabeth was still seemingly focusing on her inner conflict rather than the world around her, though more pustules grew from the ground, spawning three former physics, their bodies augmented with Redlight. One of them was the Orsonian psychic who had been infected, his uniform in tatters, but powers undiminished. Elizabeth’s voice directed him.
“Kill or infect them all, but spare Alexander. He will be mine again in time, but the others are disposable if they cannot join us.”
One of them, a former Banshee, began battling the Soul Mages, hurling telekinetic projectiles and sending bouts of magical flame shooting toward them. The other sent lightning toward Nyarlathotep, as well as intercepting the lightning sent from him, biomass writhing as he was hit. The Orsonian was given more freedom, Elizabeth trusting his judgement, giving it something approaching free will, still devoted to Redlight and Elizabeth but with the ability to operate mostly independently.
Having been given his task by the Mother, the Orsonian psychic immediately used his enhanced abilities to his advantage. He turned towards the Jedi, who were some distance away from Elizabeth and utilizing Battle Mediation to weaken Elizabeth and her forces, while strengthening the allies. However, while they were so focused on using the Force, they left themselves open to attack. The Orsonian formed a blade around his right arm made out of pure psionic energies, and prepared to strike. The Orsonian would use his powers to teleport rapidly across the battlefield, with the goal of striking all of the Jedi down before they could even react.
Interesting Fact: House Jackson, the ruling dynasty of Orson since 1806, actually came very close to losing power over Orson during Thorseus's reign.
Thorseus himself was never expected to rule. He was the third child of Emperor Kalan, his predecessor who reigned from 1950-1964 before dying of the Scourge Syndrome. Kalan's first child had been trained and prepared for the task of ruling Orson, but sadly died due to an aggressive form of the Scourge Syndrome at just 1t years old. The second child had enlisted in the Imperial Navy during World War Two, and perished at sea when his ship was struck by a Japanese kamikaze attack. House Jackson itself had already been dwindling in size for over a century due to a variety of factors (especially an aggressive variant of the Scourge Syndrome the family suffered from), and the lost of Kalan's first two children was truly devastating. Thorseus never wanted or desired the throne, and ultimately proved to be a mediocre Emperor who preferred partying to actually ruling. Thorseus tolerated extraordinary levels of corruption throughout the government, and proved easily manipulable by his closest advisors, often bribing the Emperor with drugs, money, or prostitutes to get what they wanted. Thorseus never married, but nevertheless sired a number of illegitimate children, who would never be able to claim the throne in the eyes of the Senate.
This caused major problems for the future of House Jackson, which caused the Senate to look for alternatives- they would find one in the Aran family, close relatives to House Jackson. Garm Aran, a direct cousin of Thorseus, plead his case before the Senate in a series of "Great Debates" throughout the late 1970's, where the Senate seriously considered elevating the Aran family to that of a royal house, and legally making them the successors to House Jackson upon Thorseus's death. Garm Aran also enjoyed the support of the Orsonian people, as he was a popular politician at the time period, and seemed to have a genuine interest in ruling and halting the ongoing decline of the Empire.
Unfortunately, this never happened. Thorseus did not have a good relationship with the Aran family and never trusted them, fearing they were nothing but opportunists that looked to steal his power and the throne for themselves; Thorseus also had a very cold relationship with the Senate. As a direct counter to this perceived threat, Thorseus chose to adopt Turner as his heir, with Turner taking on the Jackson family name and becoming a legitimate member of the family. Turner actually had a close relationship with Thorseus for decades, mainly because of his father (who was good friends with the Emperor); Thorseus was almost like an uncle to Turner. Additionally, Turner was extremely skilled at psychological manipulation, and over several years managed to convince Thorseus that he was the best possible option to ensure the survival of the Empire in the face of numerous separatist movements and his many political enemies. Of course, it is known that this decision turned out horribly for Orson, ultimately leading to Turner's totalitarian rule over Orson.
The Aran family attempted to oppose Turner's adoption as heir numerous times, but Turner ultimately ensured the family's destruction during the 2nd Orson Civil War and his early years as Emperor; Garm Aran and his immediate family were assassinated by "separatists", likely being paid off by Turner, in 1996, and the rest of the Aran family members were secretly hunted down and killed by the Inquisition in the following years.
The Sterkians had their response. The ground squads saw that their position would be quickly overrun by these 'hunters' if they didn't act. Even Alex couldn't divert his attention to them for any length of time.
The ground commander yelled out to his soldiers.
"We make our stand here! There's no surrender, there's no retreat!"
The ground squads spread out with a cry, firing on the encroaching hunters with a mix of Sterkian and Cybusian weaponry. They had to hold off the grunts so the more powerful units could really put their backs into it.
The ground commander keyed his radio again,
"We need Mobile Suit support here now!"
The Electromasters turned their attention onto the infected Banshee and the redlight tentacles springing up around their allies. They sent out cracks of lightning to incinerate the redlight around them, also targeting the Banshee who was attacking them. A grizzled Telekinetic stood next to Alex, placing his hands on the ground. Causing spikes of rock to emerge to impale Elizabeth alongside Alex's backlight tendrils.
The Gieri could 'smell' psionic energy, this battlefield reeked of it. But there was something else, something stronger. He pinged the Montello Angel on overwatch. She did a scan of the battlefield, revealing a unit teleporting at exponential speeds toward the unsuspecting Jedi.
The Montello and Gieri charges toward the Orsonian psychic. The Montello forming a blade of her right arm, and the Gieri going berserk. They did not need to survive, but They needed to stop the Jedi from being massacred.
Post self-deleted by Felucian Planetary Republic.
After seeing the battle unfold to this point, the Republic Carrier that brought the Jedi to the planet began to deploy shuttles carrying Elite Troops down to the battlefield. Leading these troops were various Clone Destroyers, some of the most elite soldiers used by the Republic. Although they were mostly reduced to ceremonial duties at this point in time, they were still capable soldiers and not to be taken lightly...Once in the air, they knew to not be surprised if they were attacked from below, so the troops readied their weapons and held on to whatever they could for balance as they approached the battlefield.
OOC: I was originally going to respond to Orson's post, but then I saw Sterk's post, so I deleted the old post and changed up what I initially had...though I could have probably just edited it...Anyways, I would add more to my response, but I don't know if that would work out well; Therefore, I'm going at it one bit at a time.
Oceara, Cybus1, and Sterkistan
The energy weapons of the Sterkians and Cybusians seared the Hunters biomass, some shots bouncing off their protective armor. Forge teleported closer, discarding his sniper rifle for a suped-up Hardlight Auto-Repeater, a secondary barrel under the trigger. He sprayed the trapped Hunters with Hardlight bolts, adding to the hail of fire from the Sterkians. He pulled the secondary trigger and a small rocket shot from under the barrel, aimed directly at the head of one of the Hunters, a liquidized plasma load airbursting and, like napalm, sticking to the biomass and incinerating it. The Hunters shrieked in pain as they tried to free themselves from Alex’s biomass tendrils pinning them down, and the energy weapons slowly ate away at them.
Assaultrons fired their head lasers in unison, one of them hitting the psychic engaging Nyarlathotep dead-on, the other four beams hitting Elizabeth as she was struggling to try to free herself from the spikes of biomass and rock.
The tendrils were fried by the lightning, and the Banshee screamed in pain, picking up nearby debris telekinetically and hurling them at the Sterkians, but focusing on the Soul Mages, sending more flames toward them, growing and directing themselves toward them unlike any natural fire.
Oceara and Sterkistan
Koenig sent out a message to the approaching Republic forces.
“Focus fire on Elizabeth Green and any creatures she spawns. Avoid Redlight biomass whenever possible, it is incredibly infectious.”
Koenig himself was firing a Hardlight sniper rifle at Green, though he knew it was unlikely to be effective against her.
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