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Jezabelstien wrote:

By the time they suspected, it was already too late...
Dark metal stained with dark blue blood, the fetid stench of death hung across the corridors, frantic shouting across communication channels was met with silence as the bridge and the new king remained cut off, the doors barred and watched by his most trusted.
It didn't hold, the walls eroded inwards with a smoldering haze and gave way in four locations, the chunks of metal crashing to the ground in a calamitous screech, crushing an unfortunate soul.
Brilliant beams erupted and slashed across the ingress points, the violet spray of destructive light barely illuminating the distorted frames of the assailants, the king shouted defiantly in his alien tongue but was silenced as one unseen rammed a spike through the back of his skull, ripping his mind away as his body burned to nothing upon the misbegotten throne.
The whole breach only took a minute, leaving the faceless soldiers in control of the Orfeara, they quickly set to work, driving large metal spikes into every control panel they found, holographic displays flickering and distorting before the systems were completely subsumed by the playful face of the strange girl...
She manifested fully upon the bridge, taking a moment to bow to the corpses before turning her gaze upon the now empty bridge; "Now what can we do with you?" she mused maliciously, digital tendrils worming through every part of the ship's systems, looking for a vulnerability to rip asunder...
"All this alien code is making my core ache..." she playfully posed, clasping her hands together with a vibrant smile, "Safety protocols?... oh, oh my we have ourselves quite the little gap here don't we?" before throwing her arms out wide, making a twirling show before snapping both of her projected fingers, dispatching a signal directly to all of the invading vessels and vehicles.

---

It struck all at once, the power dying on all the mother-ships as their cores started a lengthy restart, weapons falling silent and shields vanishing, the effect cascading across all the invaders throughout the system.

The change registered instantly, EM fields vanishing in a moment, lights across the hulls of the grand motherships flickering and dying, coinciding with a high-density data burst from... somewhere.

CSV Paragon, Command Deck
Commander Samara Evenstar let out a short curse as her foot caught on a panel splayed out across the floor. Rushed out of the staryards months ahead of schedule, the Paragon was undergoing final construction even in flight, making even just moving about a hazard if you didn't keep your eyes down. Fortunately, she managed to stabilise herself before falling over, her elfin agility saving her from an ignoble fall.
"Status." Samara demanded, as she assumed her place at the command table.
["We're reading minimal EMF on all enemy spaceships,"] the ship's AGI, Hera, reported over a speaker. ["I don't know what happened to trigger it, but it looks like every ship suffered a spontaneous reactor restart. At the same time."]
"Doesn't feel right, does it..."
["No, ma'am."]
"I suppose it doesn't matter though, does it? Hera, pull us into weapons range of the nearest mothership. Co-ordinate with CSF Command for the most efficient disable of all enemy vessels."
"With pleasure."
The gentle thrum of the engines, formerly burning at a leisurely 0.3g, intensified to a rumble as they powered up to 1g, moving out from behind orbit of Mah to face the attackers above Utopia. Simultaneously, a multitude of weapons platforms both in orbit and on the surface of Mah opened up, releasing a flurry of missiles aimed at the enemy ships. Detonations flashed across the exotic skin, disabling weapons, engines, everything except critical systems. Within 10 minutes, every last enemy ship was dead in the vacuum.
["All enemy vessels orbiting Utopia have been disabled,"] Hera proudly reported. ["And... oh look, we're issuing a demand for surrender! Putting it up on speaker now."]
["Attention, alien vessels. This is Director-in-Chief Anahita Kirmani, leader of the Meridian Commonwealth."] Anahita's voice issued out across the CIC. ["Your starships have been disabled, and are now at our mercy. If you surrender, we will not harm you further. We will accept you, or help you to return home, or whatever you wish. We are not monsters. On the other hand, if you elect to ignore this surrender request, we will destroy you quickly and efficiently. Please, do the right thing."]