Ah, just a harmless new method of transportation. Nothing to see hereOh yes, things are starting to happen. Thankfully, at this point, nothing else could possibly go wrong.
Right?
-
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Annnd I'm in a big enough furball to have killed the game's ability to autosave and then crash it. I'll try again, but hopefully this isn't a wrap
Still, pretty!
Still, pretty!
Contingency, plural.
And at the darkest hour lie the shadows...
* *
From the memory pool of Elder Kalinda Poojary
The first Ganlarev attack was followed by a quarter of a century of respite. After the second Ganlarev attack and our narrow avoidance of the disaster that would have been losing Earth, we only had a handful of years. We didn't know at the time, but the era of quiet growth and expansion we had known was already over for good when the Precursors laid down their demands. Not that many understood the signs. After a period of many thousands of years of stability, the galaxy's devolution into chaos began in the most unremarkable of manners, with a very faint tachyon signal echoing through space which puzzled a few curious scientists but preoccupied very few people. The immediate concern for the galaxy was the stirring of another giant...
The awakening of the Azalthyn put the entire galactic north on notice. More younger empires flocked to us for protection, and among them the machine intelligence ruling the PDS12 nexus. In exchange for access to our databanks, the sector-wide AI imparted upon us an explanation about what the "ghost signal" was actually doing. Although we do have the knowledge to create synthetic sapients, the effective ban on the construction of any thinking machines in the United Worlds meant no samples to demonstrate how the "ghost signal" was altering synthetic behavior.
Before this crisis began, very few people had paid attention to the discoveries once made by Courtney Fleming, which had, at the time, motivated what were regarded as extravagant military expenditures from dear Josephine. Now, all of a sudden, everyone in the United Worlds wanted to know about the Cybrex intelligence which had devastated the galaxy six hundred thousand years ago, as it appeared that the "ghost signal" really was a contingency measure devised by them for another attempt at eradicating any and all forms of organic life. Four sterilization hubs went online in the galactic north, spewing fleets no younger empire could possibly hope to match.
It had not escaped the "astute observer" that aside from one of the hubs, situated between us and the Ganlarev and therefore of interest to us both, we and our protectorates were relatively sheltered from that oncoming storm. We did not count ourselves fortunate, however, as the other aspect of the Cybrex contingency measures manifested in the corruption of all the protocols of the custodial machine intelligence that had once protected and helped us, and now found itself with a very different idea of what to do...
The total list of "Cleanse Planet" demands is 12-planet-long (out of 22), and includes every single specialized shipyard world and every single megastructure-holding system.
A massive ship construction effort had been undertaken after the last Ganlarev humiliation. We were far from done with that program, however, when the malfunctioning Lodoid struck at New Mexico. Still, we had little choice but to go and fight with them there...
By the time our fleets entered the system, the Lodoid had already cleaned up all military stations in the Asounna system and begun a preliminary bombardment. Elder-Admiral Sauer ordered our fleets to take their formations, and the as-yet largest battle in the history of mankind began, pitting two massive armadas against one another, while all twenty-two United Worlds churned out series of battleships to reinforce the frontline...
The battle for the survival of humanity was about to begin.
* *
The battle of New Mexico.
We've come to it, the great battle of our time...
The United Worlds fleets enter the Asounna system.
As she watched her fleets array into attack formation, Elder-Admiral Christel Sauer noticed that she was feeling a lot more tension than she had prior to any other battles she had engaged in, including the hopeless First Battle of Sol. The strength at her disposal failed to reassure her, even though it was numerically twice superior to what it had been only four years ago - and this time, her fleets were combined, not spread far apart.
'All groups are clear to go, Admiral' one of her operators reported. The man, like the rest of the bridge, was a veteran of many battles. It didn't seem to help any of them with the almost palpable tension.
'Begin the advance. Maintain formation, and launch all strike craft' Christel ordered. 'All particle lances to fire at will as soon as they have distance.'
'Transferring, madam.'
Slowly, the well-oiled war machine set into motion. The armada of the United Worlds, a hundred-and-fifty strong, were pitted against two hundred and seventy-nine Lodoid ships - and, more importantly, the accompanying transport fleet.
'Gamma, Delta and Eta wings are to form up on Mu and Tau wings' the Admiral ordered. 'Tell Mu and Tau that they have about six hundred incoming, and that their job is to get past the furball and within shooting distance of the troop transports. Should the tide swing against us, they will at least not be able to invade.'
Then there was a flash of bright, white light through the front viewport.
'Madam, Temerity has just gone silent' one of the controllers said hoarsely. Silence fell upon the bridge.
'How many enemy craft are of the same class as its killer?' Christel forced herself to ask, although she already knew the answer.
'Nine, Admiral.'
'Another hundred seconds until the first lances are in range' another operator supplied.
'We're committed' the Amiral muttered.
'Gamma wing are reporting contact. Four hundred bogeys headed their way, a half are bombers.'
'That's what we kept wing Alpha for. Send them at the bombers.'
Another three blinding white rays lanced through space, marking the passing of three more Valiances.
'Tell all ships to accelerate to maximum speed' the Admiral ordered. 'Our only chance is getting in close quarters.'
'Transmitting. Holistic has opened fire on the nearest enemy Leviathan. Results are... less than spectacular...'
Christel winced. 'Any readouts on those shields?'
'Over three hundred thousand mags, Madam...'
'Dragon has opened fire. Took out all shields and did serious hull damage to one of their escorts.'
'At least we know how to win this: field more space wyrms...'
'Contact made with enemy strike craft. Point defenses are returning fire.'
'Casualty report?'
'We've lost twenty-three Valiances and two Demolishers. Enemy losses are three escorts and seven transports. The rest of their transports are trying to bail out.'
'If anything, we've won time...'
'Madam' a Mussid operator called, 'we should retreat. We're only going to get slaughtered if we stay here.'
The Admiral looked over the bridge, taking in the view of all the brave men, women, Mussids and Ludivellans, and even the Ganlarev serving there. All equal before death the woman mused sombrely.
'We are not retreating' the Admiral finally said. 'Every ship we take down, every moment of delay we gain is as much time as the United Worlds get to rebuild our fleets and improve our designs. Every shred of intelligence on how to fight the Lodoid is another chance for those who will follow us. Ladies and gentlemen, we are fighting to the bitter end.'
A chill passed through the bridge. Then Christel Sauer smiled thinly as she saw her crew steel themselves with resolve.
That didn't take long, only one month of fighting to get it for free.
The battle raged on - or rather, the slaughter.
'Concentrate all firepower on the nearest Leviathan' Christel ordered. 'I'd like to take at least one of those beasts down with us.'
'It's probably the best we can hope for' a man mumbled.
'If there are any of you who wish to evacuate, you should do it now. The volume of fire is about to get even worse.'
Endurance was suddenly and brutally rattled. 'We have been targeted by the enemy lances' a Ganlarev announced. 'Loss of a third of integrity to our shields-'
Another four beams hit the Endurance, shaking it to its core. An explosion rang from one of the engine fins.
'We've lost our maneuverability. We're sitting ducks, Madam.'
Admiral Sauer breathed deeply. 'Well, this is it, ladies and gentlemen' she said. 'It has been an honor serving with you all.'
She saluted her bridge crew, and all of them stood and saluted back.
Christel Sauer took off her cap, removed her rank insignia from her collar and lay the ensemble on her chair. Then she went to the forward viewport, soon joined by a number of silent and resolute subordinates. Hands and claws linked, as they all awaited the inevitable.
'Can any one of you tell me how many seconds there are in eternity?' one woman asked.
Christel couldn't help a smile. 'The Brothers Grimm. How appropriate.'
A beam of pure diamond hit the bridge. And for Christel Sauer, the first second of eternity began...
The United Worlds fleets enter the Asounna system.
* *
The bridge of EDS Endurance, December 26th 2365
As she watched her fleets array into attack formation, Elder-Admiral Christel Sauer noticed that she was feeling a lot more tension than she had prior to any other battles she had engaged in, including the hopeless First Battle of Sol. The strength at her disposal failed to reassure her, even though it was numerically twice superior to what it had been only four years ago - and this time, her fleets were combined, not spread far apart.
'All groups are clear to go, Admiral' one of her operators reported. The man, like the rest of the bridge, was a veteran of many battles. It didn't seem to help any of them with the almost palpable tension.
'Begin the advance. Maintain formation, and launch all strike craft' Christel ordered. 'All particle lances to fire at will as soon as they have distance.'
'Transferring, madam.'
Slowly, the well-oiled war machine set into motion. The armada of the United Worlds, a hundred-and-fifty strong, were pitted against two hundred and seventy-nine Lodoid ships - and, more importantly, the accompanying transport fleet.
'Gamma, Delta and Eta wings are to form up on Mu and Tau wings' the Admiral ordered. 'Tell Mu and Tau that they have about six hundred incoming, and that their job is to get past the furball and within shooting distance of the troop transports. Should the tide swing against us, they will at least not be able to invade.'
Then there was a flash of bright, white light through the front viewport.
'Madam, Temerity has just gone silent' one of the controllers said hoarsely. Silence fell upon the bridge.
'How many enemy craft are of the same class as its killer?' Christel forced herself to ask, although she already knew the answer.
'Nine, Admiral.'
'Another hundred seconds until the first lances are in range' another operator supplied.
'We're committed' the Amiral muttered.
'Gamma wing are reporting contact. Four hundred bogeys headed their way, a half are bombers.'
'That's what we kept wing Alpha for. Send them at the bombers.'
Another three blinding white rays lanced through space, marking the passing of three more Valiances.
'Tell all ships to accelerate to maximum speed' the Admiral ordered. 'Our only chance is getting in close quarters.'
'Transmitting. Holistic has opened fire on the nearest enemy Leviathan. Results are... less than spectacular...'
Christel winced. 'Any readouts on those shields?'
'Over three hundred thousand mags, Madam...'
'Dragon has opened fire. Took out all shields and did serious hull damage to one of their escorts.'
'At least we know how to win this: field more space wyrms...'
'Contact made with enemy strike craft. Point defenses are returning fire.'
'Casualty report?'
'We've lost twenty-three Valiances and two Demolishers. Enemy losses are three escorts and seven transports. The rest of their transports are trying to bail out.'
'If anything, we've won time...'
'Madam' a Mussid operator called, 'we should retreat. We're only going to get slaughtered if we stay here.'
The Admiral looked over the bridge, taking in the view of all the brave men, women, Mussids and Ludivellans, and even the Ganlarev serving there. All equal before death the woman mused sombrely.
'We are not retreating' the Admiral finally said. 'Every ship we take down, every moment of delay we gain is as much time as the United Worlds get to rebuild our fleets and improve our designs. Every shred of intelligence on how to fight the Lodoid is another chance for those who will follow us. Ladies and gentlemen, we are fighting to the bitter end.'
A chill passed through the bridge. Then Christel Sauer smiled thinly as she saw her crew steel themselves with resolve.
That didn't take long, only one month of fighting to get it for free.
The battle raged on - or rather, the slaughter.
'Concentrate all firepower on the nearest Leviathan' Christel ordered. 'I'd like to take at least one of those beasts down with us.'
'It's probably the best we can hope for' a man mumbled.
'If there are any of you who wish to evacuate, you should do it now. The volume of fire is about to get even worse.'
Endurance was suddenly and brutally rattled. 'We have been targeted by the enemy lances' a Ganlarev announced. 'Loss of a third of integrity to our shields-'
Another four beams hit the Endurance, shaking it to its core. An explosion rang from one of the engine fins.
'We've lost our maneuverability. We're sitting ducks, Madam.'
Admiral Sauer breathed deeply. 'Well, this is it, ladies and gentlemen' she said. 'It has been an honor serving with you all.'
She saluted her bridge crew, and all of them stood and saluted back.
Christel Sauer took off her cap, removed her rank insignia from her collar and lay the ensemble on her chair. Then she went to the forward viewport, soon joined by a number of silent and resolute subordinates. Hands and claws linked, as they all awaited the inevitable.
'Can any one of you tell me how many seconds there are in eternity?' one woman asked.
Christel couldn't help a smile. 'The Brothers Grimm. How appropriate.'
A beam of pure diamond hit the bridge. And for Christel Sauer, the first second of eternity began...
* *
What would they have done?
stnylan, very ouch indeed! Most thorough thrashing I took since testing x5 crisis strength...
Werbecks, I threw into that battle two fleets of 9 dreadnoughts / 9 carriers / 18 battleships / 27 battlecruisers each, what existed of the Federation fleet (6 dreadnoughts, 6 carriers and 6 battlecruisers), the first ships of the Fourth fleet (3 dreadnoughts), the voidwyrm, and an additional 21 battleships which trickled in during the battle post construction. I lost every single one of those.
The battle ended after another round of 21 battleships were on their way, but there really was no point in sacrificing those to ivory lance sniping, so I kept them "safe"...
Ever since she'd taken up the mantle of Chief Precentor, Yuan Zhang had gotten us used to her giving a State of the Union address on the 3rd of January, a rite she'd brought up from archives about the ancient Union of States of America. The rite was a bit mocked at first - it had come from one of the foolishly irresponsible nuclear powers that had led Earth to ruin - but eventually, it became accepted as one of the regular events in a year, and it did serve a purpose in informing our people of the United Worlds' progress and of the challenges we would have to face.
There was no such address in 2366. The shattering news of Admiral Sauer's defeat and the loss of all our fleets were just a week old on the given date for the Chief Precentor's speech, and really, I couldn't see what she could have said that could have begun to compensate the crushing blow to our morale. And there were very few others among the Assembly of Elders who believed there was anything that could be done to stop our wholesale slaughter by the malfunctioning Lodoid custodians. And that was how the Council compound, which would have normally been packed to the brim on this particular day, was feeling like a ghost town instead.
I was also normally part of the day's rituals, as they had grown over the years, in that they included a homage to our two great departed heads of state. Nobody had challenged the Chief Precentor's decision that I should be the one to lead the homages; it was rather well known Chief Precentor Poojary had been my father, and of course, nowadays, there were very few among the Elders who had known Revered Elder Dufresne personally. My part in the official celebrations of the day had also been cancelled, but that wasn't going to stop me from coming and paying my respects to my late father and friend. And thinking about how they would have reacted to the disaster which had befallen us sort-of felt easier in their presence...
I honestly don't know that my father would have done much on his own. He was an excellent reformer, organizer and administrator, but he never really was much of a leader, and he had owed the first win of his seat on the Assembly of Elders to his patron at the time. Even as Chief Precentor, my father had largely followed policies and doctrines set down by others; his really strong point had always been organization, not invention. With someone like Josephine to drive him, however...
I was wrenched from my musings by the sensation of someone else approaching. And when I turned to look at the man, I saw he was the very last person I'd have expected to come and pay respects on his own. He was also one of the last people I wanted to see at such a time.
'Onobanjo...'
The man seemed unusually placid, considering the state of our relations. To be fair to him, things had gone a long way since our first meeting, back when he had tried to get me arrested. He wasn't even technically an Elder any longer, having been voted out of his seat more than two decades earlier. Still, I was surprised by his affable manner.
'Don't let me disturb your meditations, Elder Poojary' he said after a polite nod.
'Why are you here?' I asked him - I needed to know. The response caught me by surprise.
'To talk about what Madam Dufresne would have done had she been in charge.'
I just stood still, utterly baffled, while the man walked past me and stopped in front of the suspension capsules, his gaze avoiding my father's form and coming to rest on his own predecessor. I ended up turning again, looking at the pods as well, a vain effort to avoid thinking about the rather unwelcome visitor. And for a while, we just stood there in silence - pensive silence for him, uncomfortable silence for me.
Onobanjo was the one who spoke first, and once again, he surprised me. 'There are very few of us who can remember what struggling for survival was like, you know' he stated simply. 'Our population has grown so much over the past couple of centuries, and there aren't too many among us who began their lives on the fringes to begin with.' I felt the man's gaze come to rest on me. 'It's made us hard, you know. But nowadays, we've grown so much, and enjoyed peace and prosperity for so long that not one human in ten thousand remembers what it was like to come directly under attack and have to wonder "Is this really it? Is this the day the village dies?"'
The realization hit me that the man standing next to me was well over two hundred years old, and had been born before the fractured nations of Earth had sufficiently reorganized to be once more capable of space flight. And I understood a little better what he was doing here.
'So you've come to pay a visit to one of the old border guards, haven't you?' I managed to say, my tone icy. 'Too bad you killed her, isn't it?'
Onobanjo took that accusation with unexpected aplomb. 'Like I said, there are very few who remember what it was like, living in a world where you had to be ready to do anything to survive.'
'Killing Josephine had very little to do with true survival, it was only a matter of political survival to you' I lashed out, earning a dry chuckle.
'Clearly, you did not know Madam Dufresne as well as I did' the man replied. 'She's mostly remembered for her visionary message, but in reality my predecessor was a ruthless pragmatist, and she'd have been more than willing to arrange an accident for me if she'd deemed I was too dangerous a threat to mankind. She very nearly did; her last words were "I've gotten rusty; I never would have thought you would be faster."'
This time, I did turn to look at the man, having gone speechless because I could feel Onobanjo had just been completely sincere. 'She?' I croaked.
Onobanjo smirked. 'I have to reiterate that point: very few remember what it was like to face a deadly threat. Humankind have grown very soft in the absence of struggle. I can't guess exactly what my predecessor would have done had she been leading the United Worlds nowadays, but I can tell you she wouldn't have wasted a week wallowing and doing nothing like you have.'
'And what would you have done?' I shot back venomously.
'I don't know' Onobanjo said genuinely. 'I'm not privy to intelligence about the Lodoid, and I don't quite know our shipyards' capacities or the state of our research in armaments, although I do know that what you're working with far exceeds anything Madam Dufresne or I would have ever dreamed we might have worked with. You, on the other hand, are a privy councilor, with ready access to all that information, and your life as an outlaw in pirate-threatened systems was not even one century ago. But it seems the pressure you lived under wasn't quite as harsh as the one we've known, after all.'
As infuriating as it was to admit it, the man did have a point. I had grown soft. And I knew there would be opportunities to exploit, what with the Lodoid territory being surrounded by hostiles, and the heavy blow dealt to their invasion forces, forcing them to retreat and all but ruining their ability to invade and hold more than one of our planets. Plus, the man was right about our production capabilities. And with all the increases in efficiency we'd known, as well as the humongous amount of resources we were bringing in, if given a few years' respite we probably could rebuild a new and much stronger fleet than the one we had just lost.
And time we had, in ample supply. The planetary fortifications of New Mexico were strong enough to withstand nine full months of siege, at the rate the Lodoid could bombard them; and the rest of our worlds were just as heavily fortified, and sometimes considerably more. Time was on our side.
All we needed to do was stop wallowing.
I swept away without a backward glance, leaving Onobanjo behind. I needed to talk with the Chief Precentor. It was only much later on that I realized the irony of what my old enemy had done. It had taken the ultimate pacifist pointing out just how vast our military capabilities had to be for us to start seriously exploiting them for the first time since we had been declared as peers to the Ganlarev. The renewed buildup would lead, after a first serious blow was dealt to the Contingency in our quadrant, to another pivotal battle for the existence of mankind, in the skies of Bengal...
Most thorough thrashing I took since testing x5 crisis strength... Werbecks, I threw into that battle two fleets of 9 dreadnoughts / 9 carriers / 18 battleships / 27 battlecruisers each, what existed of the Federation fleet (6 dreadnoughts, 6 carriers and 6 battlecruisers), the first ships of the Fourth fleet (3 dreadnoughts), the voidwyrm, and an additional 21 battleships which trickled in during the battle post construction. I lost every single one of those.
The battle ended after another round of 21 battleships were on their way, but there really was no point in sacrificing those to ivory lance sniping, so I kept them "safe"...
* *
From the memory pool of Kalinda PoojaryEver since she'd taken up the mantle of Chief Precentor, Yuan Zhang had gotten us used to her giving a State of the Union address on the 3rd of January, a rite she'd brought up from archives about the ancient Union of States of America. The rite was a bit mocked at first - it had come from one of the foolishly irresponsible nuclear powers that had led Earth to ruin - but eventually, it became accepted as one of the regular events in a year, and it did serve a purpose in informing our people of the United Worlds' progress and of the challenges we would have to face.
There was no such address in 2366. The shattering news of Admiral Sauer's defeat and the loss of all our fleets were just a week old on the given date for the Chief Precentor's speech, and really, I couldn't see what she could have said that could have begun to compensate the crushing blow to our morale. And there were very few others among the Assembly of Elders who believed there was anything that could be done to stop our wholesale slaughter by the malfunctioning Lodoid custodians. And that was how the Council compound, which would have normally been packed to the brim on this particular day, was feeling like a ghost town instead.
I was also normally part of the day's rituals, as they had grown over the years, in that they included a homage to our two great departed heads of state. Nobody had challenged the Chief Precentor's decision that I should be the one to lead the homages; it was rather well known Chief Precentor Poojary had been my father, and of course, nowadays, there were very few among the Elders who had known Revered Elder Dufresne personally. My part in the official celebrations of the day had also been cancelled, but that wasn't going to stop me from coming and paying my respects to my late father and friend. And thinking about how they would have reacted to the disaster which had befallen us sort-of felt easier in their presence...
I honestly don't know that my father would have done much on his own. He was an excellent reformer, organizer and administrator, but he never really was much of a leader, and he had owed the first win of his seat on the Assembly of Elders to his patron at the time. Even as Chief Precentor, my father had largely followed policies and doctrines set down by others; his really strong point had always been organization, not invention. With someone like Josephine to drive him, however...
I was wrenched from my musings by the sensation of someone else approaching. And when I turned to look at the man, I saw he was the very last person I'd have expected to come and pay respects on his own. He was also one of the last people I wanted to see at such a time.
'Onobanjo...'
The man seemed unusually placid, considering the state of our relations. To be fair to him, things had gone a long way since our first meeting, back when he had tried to get me arrested. He wasn't even technically an Elder any longer, having been voted out of his seat more than two decades earlier. Still, I was surprised by his affable manner.
'Don't let me disturb your meditations, Elder Poojary' he said after a polite nod.
'Why are you here?' I asked him - I needed to know. The response caught me by surprise.
'To talk about what Madam Dufresne would have done had she been in charge.'
I just stood still, utterly baffled, while the man walked past me and stopped in front of the suspension capsules, his gaze avoiding my father's form and coming to rest on his own predecessor. I ended up turning again, looking at the pods as well, a vain effort to avoid thinking about the rather unwelcome visitor. And for a while, we just stood there in silence - pensive silence for him, uncomfortable silence for me.
Onobanjo was the one who spoke first, and once again, he surprised me. 'There are very few of us who can remember what struggling for survival was like, you know' he stated simply. 'Our population has grown so much over the past couple of centuries, and there aren't too many among us who began their lives on the fringes to begin with.' I felt the man's gaze come to rest on me. 'It's made us hard, you know. But nowadays, we've grown so much, and enjoyed peace and prosperity for so long that not one human in ten thousand remembers what it was like to come directly under attack and have to wonder "Is this really it? Is this the day the village dies?"'
The realization hit me that the man standing next to me was well over two hundred years old, and had been born before the fractured nations of Earth had sufficiently reorganized to be once more capable of space flight. And I understood a little better what he was doing here.
'So you've come to pay a visit to one of the old border guards, haven't you?' I managed to say, my tone icy. 'Too bad you killed her, isn't it?'
Onobanjo took that accusation with unexpected aplomb. 'Like I said, there are very few who remember what it was like, living in a world where you had to be ready to do anything to survive.'
'Killing Josephine had very little to do with true survival, it was only a matter of political survival to you' I lashed out, earning a dry chuckle.
'Clearly, you did not know Madam Dufresne as well as I did' the man replied. 'She's mostly remembered for her visionary message, but in reality my predecessor was a ruthless pragmatist, and she'd have been more than willing to arrange an accident for me if she'd deemed I was too dangerous a threat to mankind. She very nearly did; her last words were "I've gotten rusty; I never would have thought you would be faster."'
This time, I did turn to look at the man, having gone speechless because I could feel Onobanjo had just been completely sincere. 'She?' I croaked.
Onobanjo smirked. 'I have to reiterate that point: very few remember what it was like to face a deadly threat. Humankind have grown very soft in the absence of struggle. I can't guess exactly what my predecessor would have done had she been leading the United Worlds nowadays, but I can tell you she wouldn't have wasted a week wallowing and doing nothing like you have.'
'And what would you have done?' I shot back venomously.
'I don't know' Onobanjo said genuinely. 'I'm not privy to intelligence about the Lodoid, and I don't quite know our shipyards' capacities or the state of our research in armaments, although I do know that what you're working with far exceeds anything Madam Dufresne or I would have ever dreamed we might have worked with. You, on the other hand, are a privy councilor, with ready access to all that information, and your life as an outlaw in pirate-threatened systems was not even one century ago. But it seems the pressure you lived under wasn't quite as harsh as the one we've known, after all.'
As infuriating as it was to admit it, the man did have a point. I had grown soft. And I knew there would be opportunities to exploit, what with the Lodoid territory being surrounded by hostiles, and the heavy blow dealt to their invasion forces, forcing them to retreat and all but ruining their ability to invade and hold more than one of our planets. Plus, the man was right about our production capabilities. And with all the increases in efficiency we'd known, as well as the humongous amount of resources we were bringing in, if given a few years' respite we probably could rebuild a new and much stronger fleet than the one we had just lost.
And time we had, in ample supply. The planetary fortifications of New Mexico were strong enough to withstand nine full months of siege, at the rate the Lodoid could bombard them; and the rest of our worlds were just as heavily fortified, and sometimes considerably more. Time was on our side.
All we needed to do was stop wallowing.
I swept away without a backward glance, leaving Onobanjo behind. I needed to talk with the Chief Precentor. It was only much later on that I realized the irony of what my old enemy had done. It had taken the ultimate pacifist pointing out just how vast our military capabilities had to be for us to start seriously exploiting them for the first time since we had been declared as peers to the Ganlarev. The renewed buildup would lead, after a first serious blow was dealt to the Contingency in our quadrant, to another pivotal battle for the existence of mankind, in the skies of Bengal...
* *
I think Photobucket just died on me, it's doing errors 502...
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Pretty much, yes. I'll admit I was rather disheartened by how badly I was crushed (with +65% damage to awakened empires in total, I hadn't expected to take such a horrible loss). Let the game run a bit longer because I wanted to see how fast I would get mauled... and it turned out it wasn't that bad after all, and I was still sitting on a humongous +3.3K minerals/months, -75% ship costs at the main shipyards, and a 45K mineral stockpile...
I'm going to have to call it a game for a different reason, and it is a vanilla bug of all things that killed it: in the Unbidden crisis, the Dimensional portal changes owners to a different "country" as soon as the first dimensional anchor is built. And the instant I destroyed the anchor it should have reverted, except the trigger is improperly scripted and checks for the existence of dimensional anchors to make the reversion happen. Meanwhile, the event checking for anchors being built still works as designed, leaving a stupidly gamey window between the destruction of an anchor that is not the last and the construction of the next anchor as your opportunity to attack the portal...
Problem: that quasi-invincible Unbidden faction now exists on my borders, and the improper switch vanished my main fleet for half a year because the "portal empire" closed its border the second I destroyed the anchor next to it. Leaving me with seven fleets poised to eat my worlds and not a damn thing I can do about defending at least four of them, by simple virtue of battle length and travel times. And the Unbidden aren't even trying to build another couple of anchors, meaning it's going to be impossible to kill the crisis for quite a while, while I have to play firebrigade against their constant respawns and keep losing worlds by simple virtue of not being able to be everywhere at once against a very beatable foe I just can't stop from spawning because of a bug (I have more than enough firepower, I was just busy on the exactly opposite side of the galaxy destroying a Contingency hub when the Unbidden spawned).
Epilogue is incoming as soon as I can write it..
I'm going to have to call it a game for a different reason, and it is a vanilla bug of all things that killed it: in the Unbidden crisis, the Dimensional portal changes owners to a different "country" as soon as the first dimensional anchor is built. And the instant I destroyed the anchor it should have reverted, except the trigger is improperly scripted and checks for the existence of dimensional anchors to make the reversion happen. Meanwhile, the event checking for anchors being built still works as designed, leaving a stupidly gamey window between the destruction of an anchor that is not the last and the construction of the next anchor as your opportunity to attack the portal...
Problem: that quasi-invincible Unbidden faction now exists on my borders, and the improper switch vanished my main fleet for half a year because the "portal empire" closed its border the second I destroyed the anchor next to it. Leaving me with seven fleets poised to eat my worlds and not a damn thing I can do about defending at least four of them, by simple virtue of battle length and travel times. And the Unbidden aren't even trying to build another couple of anchors, meaning it's going to be impossible to kill the crisis for quite a while, while I have to play firebrigade against their constant respawns and keep losing worlds by simple virtue of not being able to be everywhere at once against a very beatable foe I just can't stop from spawning because of a bug (I have more than enough firepower, I was just busy on the exactly opposite side of the galaxy destroying a Contingency hub when the Unbidden spawned).
Epilogue is incoming as soon as I can write it..
What we became
The new shape of the galaxy after the Unbidden and the Contingency were repelled. The Guardian Union, in blue, and the Bastion of Ganlarev, in light pink, are the dominant powers, with the Azalthyn Hive an ever-present threat.
* *
From the memory pool of Elder Nathan O'Malley
The investiture of a new Chief Precentor is always quite the event, if only by virtue of its rarity. In the 185 years since the United Remnants first took to space, there have only been five heads of state, including our new Chief Precentor. And her appointment is rather fitting, as her life is pretty much a summation of what was left of us and of what we became, a story I am among the rare few who had the privilege of witnessing since its beginning and to its current point.
Kalinda Poojary was one of the first results of the shattering and ruining of our physical forms. One of the first children of the incubators, a mode of reproduction which has entirely replaced the disgusting affair that stems from our natural proclivities and is far more reliable, the Chief Precentor was also one of those very first children who exhibited psionic potential. She was, at first, like all such youth, sentenced to what seemed to be a perpetual childhood, a condition which mirrored our early beginnings, when it seemed we would never actually manage to expand beyond our initial reach. Eventually both issues found a resolution. The psionically gifted among us were unshackled, and we finally managed to settle on new worlds.
At the time we were growing, building up our knowledge and economy, and forging a network of alliances, Kalinda Poojary was growing personally, amassing knowledge and contacts in the fringes, and quietly reaching out to potential new allies. And when it became evident we had grown too complacent, she found herself playing an instrumental role in shaking off our self-imposed shackles. Following that, as we grew in strength and importance, so did she in our institutions, until, at the darkest hour she'd foreseen before all others, we found ourselves fearing extinction and Kalinda was the one who restored the then-head of state's hopes. It is only fitting that Chief Precentor Yuan Zhang bowed out and suggested we vote to appoint as our next head of state this woman whose destiny had mirrored our own, once all was consummated and we reached the highest position among galactic powers. For we have grown mighty indeed...
The Battle of Bengal was the turning point in the Lodoid war, and also marked the turning of the tide against the Contingency.
In the four years following the disaster at New Mexico (which was briefly occupied, then swiftly retaken in a daring commando action), we rebuilt and considerably upgraded our fleets, while the Lodoid wasted their strength laying siege to one of our most heavily fortified worlds, Bengal. The rebuilt second and third fleets devastated the malfunctioning caretakers' fleets, depriving the Contingency of their most formidable strength. And as we lay siege to and captured the Lodoid ringworld, the rampaging droids' Sterilization Hubs began to fall, one after another, to the combined might of the Ancients and our allies.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a 40K and a 50K stack from my two federation partners had joined the Trosloid Mediators (the awakened Guardians of the Galaxy) to destroy the second hub.
After hard fought battles on the ring worlds of the Lodoid, necessitating long bombardments and many successive attacks, we joined with the Ancients and our allies in the Galactic North, and attacked the third of four Sterilization hubs. It was another hard-fought action, which cost us serious casualties, but we managed to prevail. Unfortunately, there was another dangerous threat which materialized right next to our and the Kaexiinite borders...
Did I seriously ask what could possibly go wrong with researching Psi Jump Drives?
The combined Second and Third fleets had to finish destroying the third sterilization hub before they could cross the galaxy back - the world-eating Unbidden had materialized through a portal which was in the exact opposite position from our fleets. By the time we had made our way back, the Unbidden had all but purified our neighboring Fanatic Purifiers and were beginning to turn their efforts against our own worlds, starting with the aptly-named Paradise.
This also gives a fair idea of what is built on my worlds and their technology level.
The second and third fleet met the threat of the invaders as they attempted to attack one of our richest worlds. The battle turned out to be swift and decisive, even when we fielded a force that had just been seriously depleted and was in the process of replenishing.
That's a 400K stack. It got torn to pieces. Another was also annihilated by the 400K federation fleet, which lost 120K in the process.
Our combined armadas then swept to the dimensional portal's system, punching straight at the anchor protecting the portal. The First Fleet soon joined with the Second and Third, massing an armada with a combined firepower that had never been seen in that galaxy since the heyday of the Ancients, and which none could match. The battle was all but a foregone conclusion...
It should have been the Unbidden's last stand. I had brought in 1.7M fleet power, the enemy could only come to reinforce piecemeal, and a wave of building ships and the dragon were also on their way... Unfortunately, the anchor blew up and I was kicked out into no-space by the bug the following day.
Thus we stand today. One final sterilization hub of the Contingency's remains in the galactic east, which cannot hope to hold against the combination of the Ancients' might and ours. But our ability to rebuild and expand is vastly superior to theirs, and I hold no doubts Chief Precentor Poojary will be able to make our peers and the other, younger races see that the best way is to walk our way. A new peace is about to be forged, with only one challenge remaining, that of the very distant subspace echoes detected by our sensor arrays. But by the time that contact is made, we will have rebuilt and expanded, stronger than ever before.
How far we have come, since our next extinction! There are those who say our science is so far advanced that we could even restore our past appearances, if we really set our minds in that direction. I hold those true. We are a mighty species, who have built no less than three gigantic science nexuses on top of the one we had restored, control and can expand four ringworlds, have built a dyson sphere, a galaxy-wide sensor array, an asteroid extractor and a neutron stellar forge, in addition to several more minor production and research megastructures. Mankind is ascendant, and our new frontier is the next galaxy.
Maybe I will live to see that frontier conquered...
* *
Fin.
Fin.
This is sad, I expected this thing to go on for much longer, maybe into a cured humanity, which inevitably leads to a new age of aggression where humans attempt to aggressively conquer the whole the galaxy under their "peaceful" ideology, which would eventually lead to the near downfall of the human empire and it turning into an isolationist stagnant empire (I wasn't expecting a very happy ending lol), but eh, c'est la vie.
Anyways, what's next for you man, any stories ?
Anyways, what's next for you man, any stories ?
I would have actually gone and "enforced peace" had I not hit that very annoying crisis bug... And as alluded, restoring their appearances and curing themselves was on the menu for my humans.
There will likely be another Stellaris AAR if I find a motivating idea, and after I've built my modded version. For now, unwinding Inwards Perfection playthrough is on the menu. It may very well not go anywhere, I'm playing as tall as it gets (one colonized system only) on hard/crisis x3
There will likely be another Stellaris AAR if I find a motivating idea, and after I've built my modded version. For now, unwinding Inwards Perfection playthrough is on the menu. It may very well not go anywhere, I'm playing as tall as it gets (one colonized system only) on hard/crisis x3
That is an annoying bug, but c'est la vie.
I look forward to another AAR from your good self.
I look forward to another AAR from your good self.
Thanks a lot!
Don't know about another AAR, or at least not if it should be called that, but I may or may not have committed a thing...
Don't know about another AAR, or at least not if it should be called that, but I may or may not have committed a thing...
That was a thoroughly entertaining read.
And Onobanjo's attitude at the end managed to be a surprise.
And Onobanjo's attitude at the end managed to be a surprise.
Direbrew, thanks to you for taking the time to comment! And yeah, that bug...
Nuada Airgetlam (sorry, can't do the accent on this keyboard :x ), thanks as well! As to Onobanjo, I'd intended to show at some point that he wasn't just "the villain". This has been a rather short story, but since he'd been one of the major characters and in charge for most of the playthrough (apparently due to a bug in election processes, as it turns out!), I wanted to show he came from somewhere and could adjust to having been proved wrong by events.
And yeah, that bug... Nuada Airgetlam (sorry, can't do the accent on this keyboard :x ), thanks as well! As to Onobanjo, I'd intended to show at some point that he wasn't just "the villain". This has been a rather short story, but since he'd been one of the major characters and in charge for most of the playthrough (apparently due to a bug in election processes, as it turns out!), I wanted to show he came from somewhere and could adjust to having been proved wrong by events.
Muchas gracias!
I'm trying to think of something else to do in Stellaris that hasn't been beaten to death
I'm trying to think of something else to do in Stellaris that hasn't been beaten to death