Cry of the Stars- Book 1

this is something i knocked together in 10 minutes, just to see if i could make an ogame story work. let me know what you think, good, bad, or terrible?

The Cry of the Stars.

Prologue
in an age of darkness, mankind has turned against itself and fights a bitter war. starting on earth almost a thousand years ago, the war continued to the stars, and has divided humanity to the core. the species split into two major factions, the chimerean empire, and the archangel alliance, and their bloody war has echoed across the universe since time immemorial...

Chapter 1
The Battlecruiser Avenger glided through the inky vacuum of space, pushed forward by the powerful blue thrusters on its stern. as the gleaming white mile long ship cruised through the void, captain James Hartigan quietly studied the blackness with an air of apprehension. this was well established territory, and it wasnt theirs. they had risked much to get to this part of the universe, and the one thing keeping them from turning tail right that moment and running was the absolutely vital nature of the mission; their mission; their only mission. they had no choice but to continue. the war that had been fought for almost a thousand years had to be ended, by any means possible, including going to this system, and carrying out the orders they had been given. there was no other alternative. it was a horrifying, unthinkable act to perform, but it was the only way to turn the stalement that had become this war in their favour.

'captain?',came a quiet yet firm voice, 'we're about to make our final approach.' the helmsman turned back to his station, the worry in his voice the same as the worry in james' mind, the worry crawling through all of the 800 crewmembers on board the Avenger, and the worry echoing across the entire universe.

hartigan cleared his throat, straightened his jacket, and sat up a little straighter in his captain's chair: typical behaviour of a captain uncomfortable with the situation. he gave the order to slow to half speed instinctively, unaware that his hand was gripping the armrest of his chair until the knuckles strained against the skin. they were so close, almost cruelly so, and the reality of what they were about to do suddenly rushed upon him, and manifested itself in a bead of sweat that trickled down his forehead. so close...

the absolute silence on the bridge was suddenly rent in two by the peircing scream of the early warning alarm. the bridge was blazed in scarlet light, and battle shutters automatically slammed over the observational windows. the massive main viewscreen flickered into life, a far safer view of the outside than metaglass windows could provide.

'report!', barked hartigan, a crashing mix of fear and disappointment washing over him as he stood arrow straight off of his chair.
'destroyer class starship coming out of hyperspace, sir! its not ours! theyre flying enemy colours!', cried the helmsman.
on the viescreen, hartigan gasped as an enormous starship burst from a hyperspace vortex, a brilliant shade of red. on the hull of the destroyer, 120 weapon placements of various types and power activated and targeted the avenger, and immediately began firing. as the deadly hail of destruction roared towards the avenger, hartigan screamed the order to raise sheilds and return fire.

the barrage hit with all the intensity and violence expected by hartigan, sending huge shockwaves rippling through the vessel. the battlecruiser took every ballistic and energy wepon head on, causing massive damage to the sheilds immediately. the protective energy barriers were completely overwhelmed in some places, allowing tonnes of explosives to smash into the hull, twisting metal and melting through thick armor plating.

'sheilds at 39%, sir!' cried the tactical officer, as his fingers danced over the controls like a man possessed. 'i'm reading massive hull breaches all over the ship! weapons are at 54% functionality!'. more and more information about the huge damage to the ship came from the officers mouth, tinged with a sense of duty, yet also hopelessness. the avenger shook once again as a second barrage swept into it, causing yet more damage.
'fire all anti-air cannons at that ship!', roared hartigan.
'sir, those cannons are designed to handle fighers and and other fast ships, not destroyers!', came the panicky reply.
'just do it! some of it is bound to hit the damn thing!'
the tactical officer obliged, and the remaining anti-air cannons locked on and fired at the huge ship. most of the missiles went wayward as they were designed as short range interception weapons, but almost half smashed against the destroyers shields.
'enemy status!', barked hartigan.
'theyve taken damage too, sir, but nowhere near as much as us. that anti air attack took them by surprise but we're out of tricks now. theyre shields are gonna last longer than ours.'
in a split second, hartigan made a tough decision. he sat back down in his chair and cleared his throat.
'get ready for ramming speed', he announced in as clear a voice as he could manage.
despite the shockwaves, the bridge fell deathly quiet. every face turned to hartigan, all betraying the same amount of fear and crashing sense of realisation as each other: they were going to die, every one of them.
'y-yes sir,' said the helmsman shakily. but just as his fingers moved to fly the battlecruiser at the destroyer, the relentless barrage petered out and stopped. the ship stopped firing, hanging silently in space like a massive sea predator.
'ceasefire!' called hartigan. 'but keep shields raised, whats left of them.'
hartigan's brow furrowed as he watched the great leviathan hovering 2 miles ahead of them. Phoenix Fighters had never ceased fire once they gained the upper hand. they would always finish the job with cold efficiency and terrifying firepower. why had they broken off the attack now?
'captain, perhaps we should open a com-' the helmsman was broken off by another early-warning alarm, and whipped round to his station.
'another ship coming out of hyperspace, sir! its-its MASSIVE! almost a thousand kilometres across!'
hartigan's eyes bulged as an absolutely collossal structure erupted from another hyperspace vortex, as red as the destroyers, but far, far bigger. its structure was not solid, but rather a massive bulk of pylons and rigging, with a small solid central section set inside. on its dorsal side sat an enormous cannon of some kind, bathed in an eerie, pulsing blue light.
'r-report!', cried hartigan hoarsely, spellbound by the sheer size of the craft.
'the ship is 978 kilometres across sir. im reading massive power sources, and it seems to have several hundred redundant back-up generators. the hull is a mix of deuterium and some kind of unidentified metal alloy. theres an an absolutely huge graviton influx coming from the ship, centred on that...cannon on the underside. this things got enough firepower to rip a moon apart.'
hartigan said nothing, and simply tried to take in the mind blowing scale of craft facing him. his trance was interrupted by the communication alert. whoever was piloting this behemoth, wanted to talk.

Damn bloody cliff hanger chimera finish the story that's an order then I will shower u with resources of some kind or ridiculously big favour

wow chimera you are a talented writer ,maybe when its finished you should consider posting it in the fanfic section on the boards.

Yes, that was brilliant! You should definitely add more to this story

wow thanks guys
i wrote this a few months back, penny might remember me telling him about it. i MIGHT continue it, and believe me i have one stormer of a plot brewing in my mind, but im also writing a peice of fanfic for another game i play lol. but we shall see...

This is amazing! Pure talent I want more!

New chapter arriving today or tomorrow! fresh off the press

IM sure we all look forward to it as a possible idea , maybe someone could write the story from the other sides point of view could work , or be an abomination

Midway through writing chapter 2, i thought it would be fun to tell the story of how the UEA came to be. Have fun spotting some familiar names, people

Chapter 2
Fallout.
Emperor Chimera sat opposite his generals, one hand gripping the griffin-embossed armrest of his chair, the other caressing his head as he prepared to listen to the information about to come at him. His generals sat along the table in the war room, not one of them daring to deliver the bad news that the Emperor already mostly knew. For several minutes, the silence hung in the air like fog.

Finally, General Firehawk cleared his throat and started to speak, calling up a holo image of a massive ship.
‘The vessel known as the DeathStar appears to have very few weaknesses. It has the most powerful shield generators I have ever seen, and is equipped with millions of weapon placements, ranging from rocket launchers to plasma turrets. In addition, its hull is thought to be composed of-‘
Chimera cut him off with a raised, gloved hand. Firehawk fell silent immediately, knowing not to test the Emperor when he was in this state of emotion.
‘Spare me the stats on the ship, General, and tell me what the thing is doing to my empire’, he growled in a voice laden with frustration. For two weeks the massive vessel known as the DeathStar had wreaked death and havoc across the Chimerean Empire, and the entire imperial fleet had been thrown into disarray as a result. The citizens were starting to accuse Chimera of weakness, of being slow to respond, even of not caring for his people. It had to stop now, or the entire empire would buckle under pressure from the Archangel Alliance and internal revolutions.

General Samire stood up, and started; ‘The DeathStar is so far responsible for the destruction of 1,800 ships, it has severely damaged 21 of our constituent planets, and it has utterly destroyed 34 moons. In total, we estimate no fewer than 83.6 billion casualties, and a further half trillion mildly or seriously wounded.’ Samire finished with the air of a holy man giving a dying person the last rites.

Chimera’s head spun at the numbers. Those damned Archangels, and their war dogs, the Phoenix fighters. For ten centuries they had been at a stalemate with the Chimerean Empire. One side would capture and subjugate a star system, only for one of their own to fall to their knees at the hands of the enemy. It was in equal measures frustrating, exhilarating and boring. The two sides had roughly equal fleet numbers, reaching into the millions, and they had generals and tacticians of equal intelligence and cunning. Stalemate.

Only now things had changed. The new superweapon the Archangels had devised had changed the rules of this game beyond return, meaning the Chimereans would have to either adapt, or fall.

‘So, what are our options?’ asked Chimera in a voice almost devoid of hope.
Your Highness,’ said General Firehawk, standing up once again, ‘before we have been taken surprise by the DeathStar’s arrival into our systems, and too stunned to make an effective defense. That seems to be the favoured tactic being used by the Archangel Alliance at the moment, and it is proving…extremely effective. However, were we to turn this on its head… ?’
‘You mean assaulting the DeathStar directly?’ said Chimera quietly. It made sense; make the enemy fight on your terms, rather than theirs. And right now, it seemed to be the only sensible course of action they had in their arsenal.
‘Yes your Highness. I am quite ready to pull Cruiser wing 15 out of normal duty to perform this operation’.
Chimera scoffed at this. Firehawk was a brave and clever General, but he was often the fist to suggest aggrasive action, and he had the unfortunate habit of overestimating his side’s strength.
‘200 cruisers? Against a battlestation the size of a moon? You need to give me something better than that, Firehawk,’ he said in a voice brimming with annoyance. Firehawk sat back down quietly, to allow someone else to talk.
General Skyfire cleared his throat.
‘I believe’ – he stopped for a moment to do some calculations- ‘ I believe Destroyer wing 4, Cruiser wing 15, Fighter wing 6, Battlecruiser wing 2 and The Third Chimerean Fleet are in range of where we suspect the DeathStar is stationed, the Acristik System. It may be sufficient to at least inflict damage upon the DeathStar.’

Chimera nodded slowly. The combined attack fleet would be comprised of 1850 ships, surely enough to destroy the DeathStar if attacking as one. It would eradicate the advantage the Archangels were enjoying, and destroy their military morale. Chimera smiled, sure of victory.
He turned to his Generals, confident, even a little arrogant.
‘Begin’, he said.

Oh i like alot 10/10 you could capture the alliance so well with this form Fh lust for debris to your iron grip on protecting the alliance . I do appreciate not being the candidate who volunteered for the kamikaze run


this is shaping up really nicely you have a great imagination i hope we hear mention on pens DS at some point hidden away inside a planet awaiting its final launch perhaps a blockade surrounding it

Skyfire wrote:

Oh i like alot 10/10 you could capture the alliance so well with this form Fh lust for debris to your iron grip on protecting the alliance . I do appreciate not being the candidate who volunteered for the kamikaze run


this is shaping up really nicely you have a great imagination i hope we hear mention on pens DS at some point hidden away inside a planet awaiting its final launch perhaps a blockade surrounding it

i may as well tell you now...me and pendragon are not on the same side in the story. the deathstar in the story...is his deathstar in the game that should giuve you a clue as to how its going to unfold...

ah , uh oh XD then maybe we can look forward to fh's DS and is this your method of starting an alliance coup d etat

Skyfire wrote:

ah , uh oh XD then maybe we can look forward to fh's DS and is this your method of starting an alliance coup d etat

well, this is the story of how the alliance came to be. all im saying from now on is...banding together to defeat a bigger threat to both empires...

Can't wait to see Pendragon written in black and white XD

Im only a peaceful miner though I've never been overly aggressive, or suicidal before.

Anyways, that was awesome! I cant wait to here more Also Im preparing to put my own RIP under construction soon!

Nice one fire! im going to build my own soon, after a little infrastructure building lol.
chapter 3 is coming tomorrow, and it will introduce pendragon, as well as having a cool battle in it
also, skyfire, what ship is that in your sig? looks vaguely familiar...

enjoy. im particularly pleased with this chapter.

Chapter 3
Ambush.

Orbital Archangel Alliance Headquarters, Haven System.

President Arexel Pendragon stood quietly at his observation window, reflecting on the events of the past few weeks. It had been an interesting month, to say the least. He still remembered giving the order to begin construction of the awesomely powerful DeathStar, not quite sure how events would unfold, unsure if the decision was a wise one. As it was turning out, it seemed to be the best decision he had ever made in this war, and in his 12 years as President of the Archangel Alliance, game-changing choices had been few and far between.

Pendragon sighed as he looked down at the beautiful wintry planet of Haven, the capital world of the Alliance. Haven prided itself on having a nigh-impenetrable defence, composed of thousands of anti-ship defences and Anti-Ballistic Missiles. Eight months ago, a large fleet from the Chimerean Empire had attempted to storm the planet, with the intent to bring it to its knees. It quickly became clear to the Captains of the ships that it was a bloody big mistake to go anywhere near Haven.

Pendragon chuckled slightly thinking of the ease with which the fleet had been dealt with, but it was tinged with regret and remorse at the thousands of lives pointlessly flung into oblivion. Despite being the leader of a massive military force that controlled half the galaxy, Pendragon was still a firm believer that no resource was more precious than human life.

Unfortunately, few of his generals and admirals shared this view. Vice Admiral Mourwen, for example, was a bloodthirsty and aggressive fleet commander, but her credentials as a tactician were unquestionable. General Zebon, on the other hand, seem to treat his soldiers as little more than means to an end, preferring that they sacrifice themselves in battle rather than admit defeat. Pendragon shook his head. He had first ascended to the position of President with the intention to gradually make peace with the Chimereans, but it did not take long to realise there was almost zero hope of such an event. Both sides had been fighting for millennia, and war was bred into almost every human in the galaxy.

Then there was the industry surrounding it. The Phoenix Fighters, the military arm of the Archangel Alliance, was a semi-incorporated entity, and made billions every month from manufacturing and selling ships to the Alliance. If the war ended, literally trillions of citizens would be out of a job, and the economy of both factions would be vaporised. So they fought a war that could never be won, because it was the best and most stable thing to do. Pendragon shook his head at the insanity of it all, then dimmed the observation window, and returned to his desk. He knew about the coming attack on the DeathStar by the Chimereans, and he had to make sure everything was prepared for their arrival.

He had a lot of paperwork to do.

*****
Urisnia System, Chimerean attack Fleet.
The fleet in the void of space poised for action. The plan had been thrashed out in the Imperial headquarters; hyperjump to the Acristik System, launch an all out barrage on the DeathStar doing as much damage as possible, then whatever ships are left, got the hell out of there.

It was a suicide run, every Captain, ensign and cadet on board these ships knew that. There was little hope of surviving the coming melee, but each and every soul in the fleet was willing to lay down their lives for the Empire. Now was not the time for weakness or cowardice; now was the time to strike back at the heart of the enemy who had cost them and their brothers so much.

The harsh, passionate voice of Admiral Mitrisk boomed through the comm system of every starship in the fleet.
‘Noble Chimerean warriors, this is our chance to deliver a devastating blow against the enemy! We will exact revenge for the 100 billion lives lost in this latest bloody campaign by the honourless Archangels! Now forward, my brothers! Forward, in the name…of VENGEANCE!’

*****
The fleet tore into the Acristik system like a pack of dogs baying for blood. Ahead of them, orbiting the planet Acri, was the behemoth form of the DeathStar, half its hull shaded in darkness. The Chimerean fleet spread out into attack formation, targeting computers finding their way to the massive battlestation ahead.

Then, with one fell swoop, they accelerated forwards as one. Hundreds of ships surged towards the DeathStar, weapons arming themselves as they prepared to unleash hell upon the Archangels. The brilliant blue thrusters intensified as they flew, fast and faster, towards their fate.

Leading the phalanx of the fleet was the Destroyer class starship Corithia, the atmosphere on its bridge echoing that of every other ship in the fleet. The tactical officer nervously checked his displays, feeding information to the Captain every few seconds.

‘2 minutes to contact, Captain’, he said, with just a hint of unsteadiness in his voice.
The Captain leant forwards in his chair.
‘Raise shields. Lock weapons. Prepare to engage the DeathStar.’ He was less nervous than his crew, but still…there was this little spark of uneasiness. There had been no resistance on their charge at the Deathstar; they had encountered no enemy ships. Could it be that President Pendragon had placed too much confidence in his superweapon? The DeathStar loomed in the Corithia’s viewscreen. So close…

Then all of a sudden, everything fell to pieces. The early warning system screamed to life, and every member of the bridge crew gasped at what they saw on the screen.

Destroyers. And not just a few, not just a small escort fleet. There were 400 of them, coming from out of the shadowed side of the DeathStar, pulling free of their docking ports and forming into a wall to meet the Chimerean fleet.

There was no time to break off the attack. Every single ship from both fleets were now totally, utterly committed. Then, with the force of thousands of giants crossing arms and butting heads, they met, just 5 kilometres away from their target, the DeathStar. A million energy bolts blasted out between the two fleets, and casualties started appearing on both sides. A stricken cruiser, flames blazing blue on its hull, smashed into an Alliance Destroyer. Both ships exploded in a fireball that ripped across the battlefield.

An Alliance ship was brought to its knees by an overwhelming attack from 100 fighters, and broke into pieces. The furious battle moved ever closer towards the DeathStar, and Admiral Mourwen observed it with smug satisfaction from the battlestation’s bridge. Those Chimerean fools, she thought. They were so blind, and so naïve, to think they would have accidentally let their most precious weapon become vulnerable to enemy attack.
It was starting to turn into a bloodbath, in the Alliance’s favour. The 400 destroyers were quite easily overwhelming the Chimerean fleet, which was comprised mostly of fighters and cruisers. They had taken losses, but they were light compared to the invaders.

Mourwen turned away from the slaughter, and spoke just three words over the comm system.
‘Lock on targets.’
A hundred thousand weapon batteries on the DeathStar roared to life, along with one much, much larger weapon in particular. Mourwen gave the order for the destroyer fleet to retreat, and dock once again with the DeathStar. The massive ships pulled back in earnest, giving the DeathStar room to unleash every kind of hell on the doomed Chimereans.

‘Sir!’ cried the tactical officer, his voice awash with relief. ‘The fleet is pulling back! Now is our chance to attack the DeathStar!’ The bridge was a smoking ruin, along with the rest of the vessel, but the mighty warship still had a few weapons functioning. The Captain was confused for a moment, and then the urge to hurt the enemy overwhelmed his suspicions. He gave the order for the remains of the fleet to make a final charge at the massive spacecraft, to inflict any damage they could on it.

As one, the broken and battered phalanx cruised towards the superweapon, firing every weapon they had all the way. Every plasma shell, every laser beam, every Gauss projectile, bounced or was absorbed harmlessly into the shields. It was an utterly futile attack, and it had left them more vulnerable than they thought possible. Because now they were in range of the mightiest weapon in the universe.

The captains thoughts were interrupted by yet another warning alarm. He turned, exasperated, to the tactical officer.
‘What now?’ he half sighed.
‘The DeathStar is preparing to fire, sir!’ cried the officer.
The captain turned back to the viewscreen, and was unable to comprehend what was happening. The DeathStar was rotating, and seemed to be pointing the massive cannon on its belly at the fleet. The enormous weapon was glowing neon blue, and was getting brighter with every passing second. Whatever was about to happen, the captain was sure it wasn’t good.

‘Graviton emissions are spiking, sir! That thing is about to fire at us!’ screamed the officer.
‘evasive manoeuvres!’ roared the captain.

On the bridge of the DeathStar, Admiral Mourwen chuckled to herself. Doomed fools.
‘Fire’, she said, in a voice that was as deadly as the DeathStar itself.
In a single, fleeting instant, a trillion graviton particles gathered inside the firing chamber of the DeathStar. For a millionth of a millionth of a second, they hung there, floating inside the chamber. Then, a simply colossal antigraviton discharge came from deep within the DeathStar, forcing the graviton out of the cannon at the speed of light. The gravitons latched themselves to anything with a gravitational pull, in this case the Chimerean warships.
Unhindered by mere matter, they sunk through the hulls and walls of every vessel, from fighter to destroyer, and gathered in a cluster in the centre. The massive imploding pressure caused every last ship in the fleet to fold in on themselves, becoming crushed to the size of a proton. No one on board a ship had time to even scream.
Save for one ship. One tiny little fighter pilot had had the good sense to move out of the way as soon as the DeathStar started to rotate, and it was now the only ship left, out of 1850 that had been there mere moments before.

Admiral Mourwen opened a channel to the pilot, and spoke in a voice utterly devoid of pity.
‘Pilot, what is your name?’ she demanded of him.
‘Captain Jasta,’ the pilot replied shakily. Were they going to kill him? Imprison and torture him? A hundred gruesome thoughts rushed through his head at that moment. The woman was speaking again.
‘Return to you homeworld, Jasta. Tell your people, and your Emperor what happened here today. Tell them of the ease with which we dealt with your pathetic fleet. Tell them of how they floundered, and buckled before our awesome might. And tell Emperor Chimera himself, to be afraid of us. To surrender to us, or continue to watch as his sovereignty crumbles like so many of your ships did today.’

The connection cut off. The pilot tried to hold in the emotion, but soon his body trembled, and he broke down into great, heaving, desperate sobs at what he had witnessed today. After a few minutes, he managed to pull himself together enough to program his hyperdrive for the homeworld, the nerve centre of the Chimerean Empire, Planet Arc. The small ship flashed out of the Acristik system, followed by the derisive laughter of a million Archangel officers. Something had to be done about this, thought Jast.

Or we will all die.

Thats definitely my favourite chapter yet You have me hooked on this story! I cant wait for the fourth chapter.

the plot thickens my children


Chapter 4
Discovery.

Chimerean Empire Capital planet Arc.
The rage of Emperor Chimera was unparalleled in the galaxy at the moment he was informed of the utter failure of the attack on the DeathStar.
‘400 destroyers?!, he spat, impotent anger welling up inside him. ‘How the hell did the bastards know we were coming?’
General Firehawk tried his best to calm the furious emperor, but after a maser blast fired by Chimera narrowly missed his head, he decided to give him some room for a while. The attack had indeed bee little more than a complete disaster. Just one fighter had survived, its pilot driven half insane by the events that had happened to him. He had been gibbering about the main weapon on the battlestation, and how it had wiped out the entire remnant of the fleet, some 300 ships, in an instant.
After a few hours, Firehawk walked back into the Emperors throne room and office. Just two generations ago, he would have to never make eye contact with the Emperor, never speak until the Emperor had, and NEVER simply walk in unannounced. However, Chimera had gotten rid of most of the old, outdated policies, as he preferred to be treated as a human being, rather than some kind of preposterous demigod. Though he was still prone to the occasional tantrum, he tried his best to be an effective leader, and that was the reason why most of the population of the Empire put up with him.
‘What is it now, General?’ growled Chimera, head in hands and a large bottle of vintage Syphiryx whiskey next to him.
Firehawk was white faced, having just learnt something both terrifying and incredible. The Emperor looked up at him, confused.
Firehawk? What is it?’ Chimera looked worried.
Firehawk started to speak. ‘Your highness…earlier today we sent an expeditionary force to the Andromeda galaxy, as you know.’

Chimera nodded slowly. The Andromeda Quest was a new project dreamt up by the top imperial scientists, to map and explore the neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy. The empire advertised it as a mere exploration and scientific project, but Chimera and the top Generals all knew it was to search for any habitable planets they could settle on. So far, the results had been promising, but it would take several years before the entire galaxy was mapped.

‘What of it?’ said Chimera. ‘Did they find something interesting?’
‘Oh, they found something, your highness. I think you need to take a look at what we got from them. It could be vital to the survival of the human race.’

*****

Bridge of the DeathStar, Acristik system.
The harvester fleet had just returned with the debris from the wrecked Chimerean Fleet, and Vice Admiral Mourwen was in high spirits. It had been so easy to fool the Chimereans into aggressive action, and lately there had been plenty of reason for them to take such action against the Archangel Alliance. It was all due to that hot-headed fool, Firehawk, thought Mourwen.

She was just about to give the order for the immense ships to turn around and head back to the Haven system, when the sensors registered something on the screen. It was tiny, insignificant, but it was definitely a ship of some kind. Mouwen’s brow furrowed. It wasn’t registering as either Chimerean or Archangel, and it was far too small to be manned. She ordered a helmsman to manoeuvre over to the dot to investigate it.

Then something strange started to happen. The closer the DeathStar got to the dot, the larger it became on the sensors. Mourwen was suddenly gripped with realisation of what was happening. It was a cloaking device, something that was thought to be only theoretically possible, even by the best Alliance scientists. As the DeathStar moved closer to the dot, it was becoming easier to pick up by the sensors, and had grown from the size of an espionage probe, to larger than a destroyer.The real thing decloaked, revealing its terrifying true form. It had four times the mass of a destroyer, and it was coloured in emerald green. Its hull appeared to be absolutely covered in gun turrets and shield generators.

‘We- we are receiving a transmission from the new ship, Admiral,’ said the helmsman.
A hideous face appeared on the viewscreen. It was as green as the ship, scaly and scarred. It spoke in a language completely unknown to the crew of the DeathStar, unknown to any human. The DeathStars quantum computer analysed the structure and vocabulary of the language, and worked out an accurate translation that could be understood by humans.

‘Unknown species, your kind has desecrated our holy land. Explain yourselves or we will obliterate your craft.
Mourwen snorted. As large as this new ship was, it was still utterly dwarfed by the DeathStar. The ships did seem to be rather better armed than the average ship of its size. And we have no idea how powerful their weapons are, thought Mourwen. But we might be about to find out.

‘This is Vice Admiral Mourwen of the DeathStar, Soul Ripper. YOU are currently incurring on our territory. Please withdraw immediately, or face our wrath. Withdraw your warship at once.
This time, it was the new creature that snorted with derision.
‘it is no longer your territory. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with our traditions, but once a force invades our land, and desecrates our territory, we take theirs. Any way we can. That has been our most time- honoured way of life, for an immeasurable amount of time.’
‘And just who do you represent?’ asked Mourwen, bristling with indignity.
The creature grinned through several rows of razor sharp teeth.
‘I represent…the Korvath Empire. And now, so do you.’

*****
‘You found another species?’ asked Chimera, stunned. Apart from simple bacteria, and a few tribe-like civilisations, no other sentient, space faring species had ever been found in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Andromeda Quest had turned up some disturbing results, it seemed.
‘Not just another species’, came the reply. ‘It’s an entire empire, and it’s extremely powerful. They appear to control the entire Andromeda galaxy, and they are VERY aggressive to outsiders setting foot on their territory.’

‘They will attempt to destroy any invaders, whether they are deliberately, or accidentally setting foot there. We believe it’s some kind of religious thing, or maybe it drives their economy. All we know is…’ Firehawk hesitated.
‘What?’ pressed Chimera.
‘All we know is, they are preparing to invade this galaxy. And they will try to destroy each and every one of us.’

Very good writing Chim you have the characters written in very well ,look forward to part 5

As to your earlier question the ship is the Destiny from Stargate Universe.

Thanks, Skyfire, I tried to give as much dimension to the characters as possible, rather than simply having 'henchman A', 'general A' in the story.

I'm really looking forward to writing the closing chapters, as the Korvath Empire tightens its grip on our galaxy...

heres hoping that in this timeline My lords fleet stays in one piece

here is the 5th serving, and if i do say so myself, i think its the best chapter so far


Chapter 5.
Oncoming Storm

Chimerean Empire Capital planet Arc.

The enormous Korvath imperial fleet arrived with no warning in the Arc system. 30,000 ships were suddenly there, instantly, and firing on the 10,000 strong Arc defence fleet with all the deadly precision of a species bred for war. In just 5 minutes, the entire defence force had been brought to its knees, and all that stood between the Korvath and the subjugating of the nerve centre of the Chimerean Empire, was the planets colossal planetary defence network on the surface.

In the primary defence facility, Commander Macey screamed the order for the lasers to start the first wave of attack, then watched grimly as thousands of scarlet beams lanced up into the upper echelons of the atmosphere, towards the looming shapes of the warships above. Most hit their targets, and hundreds of small fighter craft met their end. But the lasers had next to no effect on the Korvath heavy cruisers, the shields of which were easily capable of absorbing the energy released by each beam.

‘Start launching Gauss cannons!’ cried Macey, eager to find out how well the relatively new weapons performed. Gauss cannons were the largest projectile weapons ever constructed, and were highly effective against Archangel cruisers and battleships.

Macey covered his ears, but the explosive booms created by the gauss cannons still hurt, bespite being more than half a mile away. Gauss cannons could cause instant death for a person standing less than 100 metres away, so the operators usually had to fire them from deep underground.
Macey was amazed at the effectiveness of the gauss projectiles. The Korvath ships seemed to be geared towards defence from energy weapons, rather than solid projectiles, and the gauss cannons were easily overwhelming them. Ship after ship fell, and the civilians and soldiers on the surface whooped and clapped with relief and joy.

Macey sighed deeply, but there were still thousands of ships left. Korvath ships that appeared to be bombers of some kind swooped down, and dropped plasma shells on the defence cell. A report crackled in saying 15% of all the defences were gone, then 20%, then 30%. A bead of sweat rolled down Macey’s forehead despite the almost freezing temperatures of Arc, as the destruction of the Korvath ships slowed. The bombing runs being performed were proving very effective, and before long over half of Arc’s defence was gone.

Macey's face tightened into a scowl. There was now only one course of action left to defend the mother planet of the Chimerean Empire. It was messy, expensive, and crude, but it was damn effective.
‘Fire Ballistic missiles’, he growled into his comm device. At his command, massive missiles roared out of their underground and undersea launchers, and homed in on the rest of the Korvath fleet. The fleet took devastating losses from the onslaught, and it finally seemed as if the attack had ground to a halt.

But the Korvath Empire was not finished yet. At the order of the Admiral in charge of the attack, every stricken and doomed ship was to plough as fast as possible into the defence cell, and they did this to terrifying effect. By the time the dust settled, over 80% of the structures in the largest defence facility on the planet Arc lay in smoking ruins, and the Korvath fleet was gone. Macey had witnessed the entire thing, and after feeling a haunting sense of remorse for the loss of thousands of his soldiers lives, he pulled himself together and filed a report to be sent to the Emperor. There would be time for emotion after this nightmare was finished, he thought to himself.

*****

Chimerean Empire second planet, Paraxis Prime. Imperial office.
Chimera’s fist smashed onto the table, causing the MetaGlass top to crack a little under force. He had just been told of the devastating losses to the Arc defence force, and he was the angriest General Skyfire had ever seen him.
‘Why did we not spot them coming?!’ he roared, confusion and anger brewing to create a perfect storm of frustration. The fleet had suddenly been on top of Arc without warning, giving the defence force little time to respond. It had been a miracle they only lost what they had.
‘It’s their cloaking technology, your Highness. We simply don’t have a way to detect cloaked ships until they’re very close nearby. We believe the Korvath warship encountered by the DeathStar had witnessed the entire battle, and recognised the two sides as distinct from each other. After the battle, it was able to track the trajectory made by Captain Jasta, and send the coordinates of Arc to the Korvath high command.’

The Emperor listened to the information with disbelief and distaste. In their very first major engagement with Korvath, they taken more losses than the largest ever battle with the Archangel Alliance, in which the two sides had clashed over the planet Veridian. The Alliance had won, but narrowly, and it took several weeks for both forces to recover their losses.

‘Please tell me you have some good news, General, because right now I need some!’ And an aspirin, thought Chimera irritably.
‘Actually sir, I do. During the attack, it seemed the most effective weapon to use against Korvath was the Gauss cannon. Korvath ships seem to have advanced beyond projectile weaponry, so their shields are only designed to absorb heat energy, not kinetic energy.’

‘Spare me the science, Skyfire. What are you saying, in laymen terms?’ Sighed Chimera. The Syphiryx whiskey was burning through his system, and had set his head on fire. The last thing he needed was technobabble.
‘Basically, your Highness’, said Skyfire, ‘the Gauss cannon is our best bet in defending against Korvath. I strongly recommend building them on all Chimerean constituent planets, and refitting all imperial warships with them. Fighters and cruisers are too small to have them onboard, so they’ll have to make do with ordinary missile launchers.’

‘Fine. Make it so. Just... win me this war, General.’ Chimera started to sit back down on his chair. He could really do with a lie down right now…
‘Also sir, I recommend temporarily halting all military activity with the Archangel Alliance, and focus our efforts solely on Korvath.’ Skyfire braced himself for the impact about to come.

‘WHAT?!’ roared Chimera, standing up again and sending a bolt of pain tearing through his skull. Despite the discomfort, he carried on.
‘The Archangels are our ancient enemy, General! You expect me to just…stop fighting them?! And allow them to seep through our defences and subjugate us?!’ Chimera carried on ranting about the ancient enemy and their evil plans for several minutes, until Skyfire had had enough. An Emperor this man might be, but everyone has their moments of idiocy that needed to be stopped.

‘We cannot fight two fucking wars!’ Skyfire screamed. ‘The Archangels are getting hit as badly as we are, and if YOU had been paying attention recently, you might have realised aggressive action from them towards us has almost completely stopped! Korvath doesn’t care what side we are! To them, we are humans, and we all deserve to be punished for invading their holy land! I suggest you pull your head out of your arse, YOUR HIGHNESS, because people are dying in their MILLIONS, while you sit here and continue to plot against the supposed ‘ancient enemy!’ Skyfire stopped, breathing heavily, to allow the words to sink in. Nobody had ever, ever, dared to speak to the Emperor in that way before, and the punishment was almost a lifetime in prison.

Chimera stood there, white as a sheet, unseen machinations grinding away in his head. The anger he had felt at being spoken to in such a manner was being rapidly eclipsed by realisation of what a fool he was being. The old paranoia his father used to have about the Archangel Alliance was almost nonexistent in him, but every so often it flared up. But now Skyfire had just hit a very raw nerve for him, and it had been the best wake up call of his life.

Sitting back down again, he looked at General Skyfire straight in the eyes.
‘Thank you, Skyfire. Cease all military activity with the Archangels. Begin redeploying our ships to our core worlds, and refit all ships and defences with gauss cannons. Share that information with the Alliance as well, they need it as much as we do.’

Skyfire cracked a smile. The Emperor’s change of heart relieved him, now they could begin to really hit back at Korvath, rather than waste time and resources continuing the campaign against the Archangels. He bowed to Chimera, then turned around and started to walk out of his office.
‘Oh, and General?’ called the Emperor. Skyfire turned back round.
‘Get me some bloody aspirin.’

mwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh need more story to read to survive mwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i think i'll need a bloody asprin

Another awesome chapter there I couldnt stop laughing at the bit about sky screaming and cursing at you I can totally imagine him doing just that!