A Shadowy Return and a Dark Message

[Metallinauts]

Space was the busy hustle and bustle of the norm outside the massive ESUS Space Complex. The massive multi-kilometer station was o obviously built by various races as you could see by miscellaneous structures on the station itself. It was a true testament that even genocidal Fachuggerians can exist in copious harmony with the elf race of Under Water Assylum.

This daily buzz of activity was upset when a sleek bullet pierced into realspace through a warp gate. The vessel had a silvery blue hue to it. The slender vessel had fins protruding from the sides of its hull along the aft section. Despite its simple elegance, this was no cruise liner; the ship was a full fledged battleship. The vessel was smallish, coming in at barely over 900 meters in length. The ship was heavily armed. It had multiple broadside plasma and anti-matter cannons as well as a multitude of missile and torpedo tubes. The ship halted at the edge of the complex.

Mean while inside the security tower of that side of the station was a beehive of activity. The place was lit on fire by the appearance of the foreign vessel. They decided to call all air traffic inside incase this was a hostile vessel. They also blared at it in the millions of known languages in the ESUS database.

After several uneasy minutes, the vessel replied. .though the language was not registered in the ESUS database. It seemed to be an evolved version of the ancient and now missing Metallinauti race.

The advanced computer aboard the station quickly dissected and analyzed it. There was no doubt; the major root of the language was of Metallinauti origin.

"This is Warmaster Zacharius of the Imperium of Metallinauts. I am here to bring a message to the people of the ESUS." a steep voice said.

The security room stood in awed silence. The Metallinati people had a violent past; there were 3 major civil wars in a period of a centaury. It was assumed they had simply wiped themselves off the map. There had been few exploration parties to their system and the entire systems were gone, not even a trace of anything could be found that they ever existed. Yet here they are asking to give a message to the people of the ESUS.

"You may come aboard" the tower said.

From the ship a screeching craft hurtled towards the station's shuttle bay. It was dwarfed by the immense multi-mega meter station. The fleck docked in Shuttle bay 1,405. The vessel elegantly breezed in to the dock. It set down with feather touch and let out a hiss. From the lowering hatch a robed figure could be seen. His figure was bulky and tall. Upon closer examination one could see a variety of scars. The man had led a battle torn life.

With out a word the man and his darkly clad envoy walked like ghosts through the halls of the ESUS. They stopped to pay respects to the fallen Cap Trooper who died in the opening battle of the ESUS Civil with the Jordaxian in the halls. They also prayed for the Jordaxian assassin and envoy that had perished in the incident. The men in black chanted for several minutes.

After this display of reverence they were confronted with a problem. It would take several hours to rouse the ESUS Senate to make their address. Zacharius took this minor set back in stride. The gray haired war hero knew that the Metallinauti chambers were in shambles from a century of neglect. They would have to stay in a guest complex to make a base of operations.

The local receptionist guided to a suitably large series of rooms, it was obviously an empty embassy. The Warmaster went to quick work. He sent out invitations to those he knew would be sensitive to his cause. He had his four envoys summon representatives from Arizona Nova, Central Facehuggeria, Torontonias and Neo-Mekanta. The Warmaster on the other hand sat in a chair, preparing to embark on the path set before him by the Emperor.

[Torontonias]

Sub-Ambassador Clarissa Jutenburg scoffed at the message that had popped up on her display. It was apparently a forwarded copy of a solicitation from some prankster, but nether-the-less, the higher-ups in the embassy weren’t willing to risk flat out ignorance over the issue, and simply passed down the assignment to a more junior member of the staff.

The Torontonian ESUS Embassy was far from a thrilling job, nowadays even the Torontonian Embassy on Earth saw more activities from the recent surge in solitiations for the Nation to sacrifice all the prestige they had gained in the Extra-Solar Union of Systems to join some upstart alliance or consortium that needed older nations to put an image of stability upon them. Ever since the Civil War ended and its implications had tied up, the embassy had grown pretty quiet. There was the odd message and meeting, but for the most part, diplomatic activity had dried up on the station.

Now, a reasonable authentic message claiming to be from the long-dead Metallinautian Nation, which had mysteriously vanished in the midst of the Civil War, almost immediately after there was a coup in the leadership and a relic of Metallinauti Military history, Admiral Maxwell, or at least a clone of the late Admiral, had seized power and switched sides, claiming to support the Torontonians, but then withdrew and was never heard from again. That was almost a century ago.

Her Grandfather was an Admiral who served in the Civil Wars, while never seeing real conflict in a ship, he commanded the Homeguard Fleets when the Capital System was invaded by the Centralist coalition, that was before the whole operation fell apart with the meddling of the Neutralists. He never said much about the Metallinautians, when she had first learned about them in school, she was very intrigued and asked around her family about them, she quickly discovered that it was very much a taboo subject, at least in her family.

After going to the Library, which she had a membership at, she researched all she could about the long-forgotten nation. While she knew some nations and interstellar Empires had the technology to actually “transportâ€

[Arizona Nova]

"What the hell what the hell what the hell..."

Sulo Turlough muttered under his breath as he went through the barrage of warnings and notices piled up in his inbox. Central had been going crazy the past few days - paranoid, even. Nations which had been categorized "dead" were suddenly showing up on charts again. First Indra Prime, then The Mindset, now Metallinauts - who, it seemed, wanted to talk. Everybody had their opinion on how to treat all these situations. The situations with Metallinauts was the most tenuous, however. In backrooms diplomacy, the Civil War factions had been on the cusp of an alliance against the Neutralists, then everything had gone to hell. Negotiations with Central Facehuggeria soured, Metallinauts disappeared, and on the other side, the Balroggans went insane, and it had all ushered in a century of withdrawal and uncertainty in the Empire. Things were not getting better now, now that the Empress suddenly announced she was some sort of invincible human-digisent hybrid. And now he, Sulo, was at the storm's front. He put on his ring and proceeded to the meeting place dictated by the Metallinaut.

[Central Facehuggeria]

Code: Select all

-+-TO: Diplomatic Corps, B. Strauss. -+-
From: Palace of the Immortal Emperor, Nova Facehuggeria City, Terra.

Greetings, Ambassador Strauss. How are your Vitastim treatments going? There is a situation that requires your immediate attention. The nation of Metallinauts, yes, THE Metallinauts, has returned and contacted our ESUS offices. Given your key placement as Facehuggerian attaché to the ESUS, you are being tapped to speak with their representative. I understand you have interacted with their representatives, personally before? Regardless, you are to make contact and find out what they want, and where they've been. Updated intelligence on our allies is crucial, given the present crisis situation. I’m sure you understand.

I expect a full and detailed report, Strauss. The Emperor would also like me to remind you that sending him data of your ‘encounters’ with your secretary, accidental or not, will result in your castration. It may be good that you can get it up at your age, but the rest of the government has no desire to see you naked.

-S.G. Septimus.

Bernard Strauss sighed. He'd been Imperial emissary to the ESUS for more than a century, and was still going strong due to nothing more than his indomitable will, with aid from a rigid regimen of Vitastim anti-aging treatments. He was the only Facehuggerian diplomat to have actually participated in the ESUS Civil War, and it was for that reason that he had kept his position stable. Though, it’s not like there was a particular demand for diplomats anyway, given that the Facehuggerians tended to conduct diplomacy with a dee-gun…

And now, he was being sent to meet with a Metallinauts delegate, a person from a race that hadn’t been seen neither hair nor hide for a century. Sometimes, he hated his job. The Metallinautsians had been honorable, if not somewhat rash once, but then, a lot can change in a hundred years. Governments can fall, people can become corrupted. And here he was one graying diplomat, being sent to find out what the hell was going on. Still, he was the most equipped to deal with this situation, given his prior experiences.

Some days, he really wished he never got out of bed, never put on his black and azure uniform. At least things weren’t all bad, at least he wasn’t an inquisitor or soldier.

Yet, he had a job to do. So, clutching his jewel-encrusted cane, he walked to the designated meeting place.

***

The Metallinauts embassy was in a horrid state of despair, looking worse than his College dorm room. That was quite a feat indeed. But then, he couldn’t really fault them for the lack of amenities, when the money for maintenance had run out, the embassy became derelict practically overnight. Hell, they were lucky, Strauss knew, that there were few permanent residents on the massive station. Otherwise it could have become a ganger stronghold, as slums often do.

Up ahead, two people were sitting down calmly. One was a Torontonian by her uniform, and was quite fetching in her own way. The other was clearly the Metallinauts delegate he’d been sent to meet.

“Greetings. I am Ambassador Bernard Strauss of the Human Empire of Central Facehuggeria.” Strauss said, extending his hand to shake his mysterious summoner. “I wish I could welcome your race back to the interstellar scene without worries, son, but I see in your eyes that you’ve got something important to say. And, in my experience, important is bad...”

[Metallinauts]

Zacharius shook the hands of the delegates. Now only Neo-Mekanta was missing, but they show on their own time table. So there was no point in waiting around for them.

"I am Warmaster Zarachius." he looked around the room. These people had some sort of idea what they were dealing with, but had no idea of the situation, and how dire it was.

"Temporal Proliferation" the old war hero said. He looked around the room and saw the horror on the faces of those in the room at the mere mention of the phrase.

The man's wisened and haggard face was deathly serious. "The Metallinauts plunged into another civil war. The Suchae that destroyed the once proud indrans, destroyed the Metallinauti civilization. Admiral Maxwell, o ur beloved Emperor's father knew about their plan. The Suchae are a deadly race. They have knowledge comparable to Metallinuati and Indran knowledge of the STC and it's innerworkings. Maxwell the Great discovered that a Suchae had infiltrated the Temporal Federation's ranks and gained power as the Commander-in-Chief. That one was summarily executed. Yet, the Admiral did not know that there was another.

That one had been lying in wait to userp the first one. This Suchae rallied more than half the Temporal Fleet and roughly 35 percent of the standard fleet. Sufice to say the war was horrific. Fortunaetly, the good admiral knew that it would turn into a temporal war. From his place on the Equinox he disabled all of the Temporal Technology in the Multiverse that was lower than level 21 by activating a massive temporal inhibitor. Unfortunately the regular fleet was battling as this transpired.

The power required for the charge was so much that only life support could remain functioning. That means for one minute the ship was defensless. The bastard Suchae seeing that his feeble attempt to dominate this universal plane was done attempted to erradicate our plane of existence.

He came on board the ship and took over the Tesseraction Array. He set it to evelop the entire universe and destroy it. The reprecussions off this would be enourmous. The Multiverse as we know it would literally cease to exist", the oldman said. The room was obiously upset by this tale.

Zacharius continued, "The Admiral knew that he had to stop this. He went into the Tesseraction Array and manually overrode the Array. He set it so only the Metallinauts would pay the forefeit of this ungodly creation. Meanwhile the Suchae stabbed him from behind with an energy blade. With the last ounce of his strength and out of pure spite he conjured up a psychic blast powerful enough to shatter the Suchae's soul." the man paused and crossed himself in reverence.

"The folowing blast from the Tesseraction was horrific. It transplanted all our planets, stations, and vessels were transported to an alternate and obscure dimension. We were the only ones in this expanse. So far we have charted over nine trillion cubic parsecs of space and not come across any planets, asteroids, stars or life. Hence it is known to us as the forsaken dimension. The only light is the 8 stars of our eight systems" the oldman took a glass of water.

"When the shock wore off we noticed one thing was missing, the Equinox. It is located somewhere in the infinite blackness of the forsaken dimension. We are desperately searching for it.

Not only that, but we have lost all knowledge of temporal technology. All the temporal ships' databanks have been wiped, and all the leading temporal scientists were aboard the Equinox. The worst part is that we don't know if the Equinox still has the capabilty to shift between dimensions. So it could literally be anywhere at anytime. Even worse, we don't know if it's automated defense systems are still operational. In short, we need to find it." he took a breath. "'Why?' You might ask. The reason is it is a jealously coveted secret. In the wrong hands it could be disaterous." the obvious implications of this scenario were dawning on those in the room. He waited for the flood of questions.

[Torontonias]

“Ah yes, the infernal Temporal Technology, that forbidden power was always theorized by Torontonian Scientists to be the reason behind your disappearance and ultimately your peoples down fall. Although I do have to ask to be forgiven if I don’t seem to find your story very plausible.â€

[Arizona Nova]

The Arizonan delegate just sat in shocked silence. To think that he had been living his life so, and had come within a hair's breadth of not only death, but non-existence gave him pause. He was filled with fear, but most of all, anger - anger that people were so foolish to play with time like it was a damn toy, like it was as normal a power source as fusion or something. Maybe the People for the Crusade weren't just screaming fanatics after all. He decided that whatever happened, he would only - could only, really - relay this information to the Empress, and the Empress alone. Anyone else, or anyone lesser, and people would go insane. The destruction of Yonder had sparked the worst riots ever in the history of the nation; who knows what common knowledge that a Temporal Apocalypse had come that close to happening would provoke? He shivered at the thought. After listening to the Torontonian make her skeptical speech, he spoke up:

"Whether or not his story is true, the very possibility that a chronomancer vessel of that size and power is loose is disturbing. Whether it remains in Metallinautian or Suchae hands, it should be destroyed - as soon as possible."

[Metallinauts]

ok, I am going to go play some DoW:WA and then I will delete these few posts.