2230-2245
2230-2245
Veiled Nanites
Veiled Nanites
Colonization of the Veil was proceeding nicely, with colonists, plants and animals adapting flawlessly to the planet who was made for life. Only its shrouded state prevented life from having taken root there extensively before – or so the imperial leadership thought.
There was something there. A fungus. Must have been robust to survive regular dimension-hopping, but that's not even all: one of the group who had found the mycellium was a veteran of the Survival War, and he swore by all the saints that he had seen the exact same fungus on Evari Prime. What might have been called a hallucination due to PTSD turned out to be not so far-fetched when it became apparent that the thing sent out some kind of signal into space.
It was a fungal spy. Its creators were likely the same who had attempted to terraform the Veil, a species that seemed to have observed the early Evarites as well. At least the fungus was unknown to be on Earth, but it was still distressing. Were these people still around, and if yes, what did they think of the failed invasion during the Survival War? The answer could let everyone breathe easily, for the creators were long gone, as nobody received the fungus' signals. The organism could probably be put to humanity's use now...
Just as another ancient construction. It seemed all the more likely that the nanite-builder species had been very active in this part of the galaxy, as the Ejok system held two ruins: an ancient medical complex responsible for the planet it was located on to turn into a gas giant and a clearly military structure of immense size. Larger than at least a dozen starbases, the construction was torn apart, but still was a testament to its builders' skill and technological advance.
The medical facility was able to replicate matter (likely from the Shroud). The leading theory on the spatial structure was that it was a Strategic Coordination Centre – with what looked like a more advanced version of Kelant's instant communication tech, the data from the spy fungi, and much more available, the leader of the builders' forces could organize galactic campaigns with ease, assisted by a huge staff.
The medical facility was sadly far too deep in the gas giant to dream of accessing (in the near future, anyway) – but the Coordination Centre might be restored one day, and help to project humanity's power over the galaxy.
And with all that, the question marks surrounding the fate of the nanite-builders grew ever greater. How did they disappear with that kind of mastery over space?
Ceasefire's End – The Establishing War
The 4th December 2233, the Figyari Hegemony attacked the Evarites. Weakened by their defeat in the Survival War, if their first contact with the Figyari was as aggressive as with humanity, it had just been a matter of time anyway.
It was the same day the new design for the hyperdrives was completed, theoretically enabling the construction of greater ships. Humanity's first destroyers, the Infernal, Phantom and Vivacious, were soon ready for combat.
With the ceasefire coming to an end, everything was set for the Empire to end their first galactic enemy. A fleet with more firepower. Troops specifically trained for ten years. To push things even more into the Humans' favour, the Figyari attack on the enemy's southern border ('south' serving as a term to denote the direction towards the galactic core, departing from Earth).
With the end of the ceasefire, Audaric, still commanding from the Sword, moved against Evari and overcame the system's defences with ease the 18th October 2235. The Survival War had truly ended – now began what would later be known as the Establishing War. The name came from those few Evari refugees who escaped the Empire's clutches and spread their tales about Humans – how they had turned from easy prey to brutal conquerors. Survival and Establishing War together would mark the first impression of any alien realm, some of which the Empire wouldn't come into contact with until far later.
The Vailons and the Figyari were the only ones not to hear from the Empire before word had already spread. The Vailons were in many ways similar to the Human Empire – a high value of their military, a clear distrust towards the alien. Human hackers had not managed to crack the Vailons' code, and there were more than a few who would have loved to see how Chertans would have fared against their encryption. The hacking attempt could at least not sour relations much more than it already did. For not only did both galactic nations fear the alien, the Vailons were proudly republican – united in their differences, both could thus hardly be more filled with animosity towards each other.
Not willing to repeat the mistakes from the Survival War, Audaric's fleet, now numbering five destroyers and twenty corvettes, bombarded Evari Prime for nearly two years before the logistical effort to move the greatest army Earth had ever seen could be finalized. Fifty million soldiers under the command of Kyriakos Ferac were to conquer a planet at least seven billion Evarites called home.
They had learned, and had a few advantages on their side. The orbital superiority, enabling the invasion in the first place, was paired with air superiority – the lithoids had never developed air flight. Minimally deployed in the Survival War due to plenty of doubts about Evari Prime's atmosphere and the logistical effort, now the air force would play a key role. Together with adapted tactics and weaponry and a complete disregard for any possible collateral civilian damage, the fifty million soldiers were more than enough.
Within three months, all major centres of the Manufacturers on Evari Prime were under Imperial control, with Human losses lower than during the Survival War's invasion. Only precious few vessels managed to escape the planet's blockade, vessels that would spread humanity's reputation as a ruthless conqueror in the years to come.
With their homeworld lost, the writing was on the wall for the Evarite Manufacturers. The Imperial Fleet took over one system after the other. The Evarite fleet made their apparent last stand in the Nixahel system the 20th September 2242, retreating to their last colony of Zoicel.It was a matter of time until the Evarite Manufacturers full capitulation would come. Something High Emperor Kyrillos X, the Decadent – later known as the Hungover –, would no longer witness, dying from the consequences of his long history of drug use the 6th October 2243 after 45 years of reign.
It would be Liuva III (*12th February, 2180) who would declare the end of the Establishing War with the annexation of the Evarite Manufacturers around one year later, the 27th October 2244.
Discoveries of the Establishing War
With the Establishing War taking very little toll on the general populace, save for the military, life within the Empire went its usual way. Until the Evarite threat wasn't vanquished, the science ships kept their focus to 'the east' (that is, towards the thicker part of the galactic spiral arm, starting from Earth).
The Philippos Makrelogos kept dominating the headlines. The 7th November 2235, the vessel left our dimension without engaging its hyperdrive. The only explanation that might attempt to make sense is that the ship was caught in a residual anomaly left by ancient spacefarers, one that could have persisted forever if the Makrelogos didn't, fully by coincidence, end up at that exact spot. It found itself briefly in a dimension that wasn't the Shroud either... perhaps some place inbetween.
Half the crew was missing when the ship resurfaced in our dimension. Only for a ghastly apparition to make itself known a month later, eerily resembling the Makrelogos – with half the crew on board! The dimensional anomaly somehow 'cloned' the ship – why it didn't also 'clone' the crew, but instead placed half the original one on that new vessel will likely remain a mystery.
Some suggested calling this new ship, after placing it into imperial service, by an anagram of the original one, such as Skramogoel, or a simple reversal (Sogolerkam), especially as options like these weren't too difficult on the tongue. In the end, the ship's abductee crew gave it its name – they described the space they found themselves in as beyond space-time, beyond even the hyperlanes – thus the new vessel was named the From Beyond, and placed under the command of Nonna Thorismindi, a scientist who had extensively studied the Veil and the planet's stabilization and whose dimensional knowledge was deemed useful in dealing with the extra-dimensional ship.
Thorismondi's first discovery was that of an asteroid which may very well fit a thought experiment – the presence of electric charges within the asteroid suggested that it could be thinking. Her first instinct was to recall that one of the famous thought experiment's versions saw it as a very ephemeral phenomenon. Her first real thought was directed at the war effort against undoubtedly sentient rocks. So she didn't hesitate, and had the asteroid's core excavated, upon which the signals promptly ceased. Did she 'kill' the asteroid? Either way, the excavation proved to be very insightful.
The From Beyond's crew was under close scrutiny by the media due to their origin, and Thorismondi became the quite popular face of the ship, fitting quite nicely into a few 'mad scientist' stereotypes. When faced with a steadily accelerating object without any kind of apparent propulsion method, others might have tried to study the thing, tried to make sense of it from a distance. She devised a mad plan to halt it instead, put it into action the 22nd January 2240 – and it even worked.
It was just some kind of box – though one with a hellishly complicated lock. No indication as to how it gained its immense speed. Perhaps this thing had somehow resonated with the extra-dimensional properties of the From Beyond, the ship's passage releasing it from whatever dimensional anomaly kept a hold of it. In any case, after extensive study, the lock could be picked, the outer layers of the box gave way to access its contents.
Gene-mods. Tailored to strengthen a certain aspect of one's DNA, though which one remained a mystery. Whoever made this box must have checked the whole mad scientist list for removing one of the three differently-coloured liquids would destroy the others. The whole project concerning the alien box was so insane that the science division issued clear guidelines whose sole aim was to prevent such a situation from arising.
In any case, in a sudden influx of patriotism, the team responsible for the box picked the liquid which resonated in the proud red of the imperial uniforms. After researching its effects – increasing a person's spatial awareness and acceptance of close quarters – it was mass-synthesized and distributed across the entire Empire. Future humans would need less space for themselves, more efficient in its use and be better at judging distances. A shame the other liquids were destroyed, for their benefits would surely have been worth all the hassle to access the box as well.
Kyrillos X raised acceptance of the gene-mod by proudly boasting that now he could drink three more glasses of his favourite cocktail before he started picking the non-existent of the two things he wanted to do something with, be it taking a seat, another glass or talking to someone.Thorismondi on the other hand refused vehemently to take the gene-mod. Sure, she had found it, but how could such a thing even exist? And be beneficial to humans? All that, studied from a cloned Shroud ship? She grew increasingly paranoid, something which would later on cause her to be put off-duty in science ships more than once.
Nanite's Gift
Shortly before the end of the Establishing War, the atomic clock's countdown reached its end. And a cloud of nanites descended upon Alpha Centauri Via, turning it into a lush world not that different from the Veil – with indigenous lifeforms included. Days ago, the moon was barren.
Now it was full of life. Kyrillos X's last official act was to send off the first colony ship to Nanite's Gift... it truly showed how much more technological progress lay ahead. The nanite builders had created something which could both devour a planet and restore it, life included.
It is as they say: sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
And while the first humans set off to Nanite's Gift, a new hope for life, the end of the Establishing War left billions of Evarites as new subjects of Cherson's palace. A challenging situation.
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