In orbit of Planet Volkar, 23000 LY from Sol

10410 B.C.

Orkulus Battlestation Sura

Shipmaster Rota stood overlooking the holo-display of the planet. Red triangles pulsed on the ghostly surface, representing major cities. Volkar was a factory world on the edge of Vasari Space, churning out nanotechnology each day for the Dark Armada. The local population, a hexapodal race of insectoids, had been pressed into slave labor years ago, after the Volkari Resistance. When the advance forces of the Expansionary Fleet had arrived, the Volkari maintained only a fledgling space program, but boasted an extensive ground and airborne military. When the Vasari began bombarding their cities from orbit, there was nothing the Volkari could do to stop them aside from conceding total surrender. Factories were constructed planet-wide, and the Vasari installed orbital command centers to oversee the planet with minimal interaction. This segregated rulership was the standard in the Vasari Empire. When a planet harbored an intelligent species, they were defeated, enslaved, and commanded from orbit.

Rota tapped one of the red triangles on the hologram. The view rushed in, showing the layout of the city. Towering cylindrical spires formed the core of the metropolis, with thousands of smaller structure surrounding them. At the center of the spires, a massive hexagonal structure formed the base of the space elevator that ferried supplies, personnel, and equipment to and from the surface. The elevator shaft was a twenty-meter-thick shaft ringed with cables, on which nearly fifty ferry platforms busily climbed to space and returned. On the outskirts of the city, long rectangular factories were arranged on a grid, producing materials and products. Volkar possessed large quantities of raw materials integral to producing Vasari technology.

Nanites formed the backbone of Vasari technology. Billions of tiny, self-replicating robots with advanced computer "brains" were used for everything from genetic augmentation to weaponry, manufacturing to agriculture. Nanites allowed the Vasari to control matter at the molecular level. Vasari colonists used nanites to change their own bodies to better suit environments on their planets. Factories used them to assemble molecules into patterns to form materials to build nearly everything that could be desired, including consumer products, weaponry, armor, construction materials, high-tech circuitry and computers. Even foods could be altered to be healthier, removing impurities or adding supplements. In battle, nanites could swarm the enemy, disabling or tearing apart ships or even bodies.

On the hologram, symbols surrounded the image of the city, displaying population, quotas, news, and ongoing communication with ground-based managers. A message appeared from the space elevator crew indicating dispatch of another shipment of refined metals by a cargo barge from the orbital station that was the "top" of the elevator. The cargo barge was now en-route to the Sura.

The Sura was an Orkulus battlestation, an enormous orbital construct resembling an inverted jellyfish. A spherical lower section, fifty kilometers in diameter, housed tens of thousands of personnel, both military and civilian, and performed administrative duties over the planet. Hanger bays were scattered across the surface and housed dozens of single-crewed strike craft. A circular opening in the middle of the section housed docking areas for trade, refinery, and cargo ships. The sphere was connected to the upper section by a huge magnetic tether, forming a cone on the top of the lower section. Green lights arced from the cone to the upper section. The upper section of the Orkulus was the military half, and gave the appearance of tentacles, with six "arms" radiating outward from a central core. The two main arms jutted out perpendicular to the "front" of the station, tapering to points upon which disintegrator arrays were mounted. Four smaller arms radiated from the core at 30 degree angles to the main arms, housing hundreds of pulse beam and pulse cannon turrets. The core was covered in dozens of phase missile launchers. Phase missiles, alongside weaponized nanites, were the deadliest tool in the Vasari arsenal. Fired at long range, the missiles were pinpoint accurate against anything larger than strike craft, and could partially bypass shields, causing damage directly to the hulls of enemy warships. Vasari ships and bases possessed shields, but phase missile technology directed the focus on stronger hulls and advanced armors over powerful shielding. Orkulus battlestations were massively armored and heavily shielded. The devastating array of weapons and numerous strike craft gave them the firepower of an entire fleet. They possessed all the capabilities of a city with the versatility and deadliness of a warship, and were the orbital control centers over conquered worlds for the Vasari Empire.

Rota was a shipmaster, in command of a single Ravastra light frigate. As part of a small security fleet, he traveled between planets along the expansionary front. For the last month, he had been at Volkar, while tensions over production quotas had been especially high. It was police work, and he considered it below him and his crew. The fleet was composed of five ships; his own Ravastra frigate, three smaller Tosurak corvettes, and a Serevun Command Cruiser, all of which were docked with the Sura. Fleetmaster Kor commanded the group of ships. Rota thought highly of Kor, as did all under his command. Kor never acted superior than those under his command, and gained their unwavering loyalty. In the last six years, Kor had led them through a dozen skirmishes with insurrectionists from as many worlds, and never had a ship been lost due equally to his prowess as to their technological superiority.

Rota was in his quarters, looking over information about Volkar, when his communicator chirped. The small screen on his wrist flickered to life, showing the image of Fleetmaster Kor.

"Yes, Fleetmaster?" Rota asked. Kor had a flustered look on his face.

"Sector Command has just informed me the planet Raka has gone quiet, including the Battlestation Vostrul. We have been ordered to investigate. SecCom suspects another insurrection, but details are unknown. The Vostrul should have readily handled it, but we are going in as security and to report on the situation. Give your crew notice. We leave in six hours."

"Yes, Fleetmaster. I will let my crew know." Rota answered.

"And Rota, be sure they are ready for a fight. Fleetmaster out." Kor cautioned. The screen went dark, and Rota was already throwing on his uniform, a draping, maroon cloak adorned with awards. He tapped a symbol on the wristpad, and dragged a finger over the 120 names of his crewmembers. He recorded a quick message ordering a return to the ship. The ship was docked in the lower section, in the maw of the station which served as housing for larger ships. His frigate was three hundred meters long and a hundred wide, and was vaguely reminiscent of a finless fish. The bridge sat at the top of the ship, and the armored prow sloped downward from the viewports. An engine module sat behind the main hull, and could propel the ship rapidly forward, while numerous maneuvering thrusters gave it great agility. A single, forward-facing heavy pulse gun allowed the Ravastra to engage priority targets, while onboard computers could interfere with enemy power regulation. Shield emitters protected from enemy fire, backed up by thicker armor on the frontal sections. The smoothly sloping front prow ended at the bottom in a sharp, armored lip overhanging the forward gun, protecting it from flanking attacks. Four small point defense beam turrets were mounted along the lower edge of the armored hull to protect against strike craft and missiles. It had been Rota's home for five years, and had never let him down in a fight.

Rota hurried down the corridor to an elevator and tapped the command pad to bring him to the docking level, thirty floors below. The walls of the elevator were transparent, and as it sped downward, he could see along the sides of the enormous lower section of the Orkulus. Small ships moved quietly along the periphery, carrying crew both military and civilian. The Orkulus truly was a city in space.

On the dock level, long, windowed corridors ran along the perimeter of the docking bays. Shuttles ferried personnel from terminals to their ships, moored by magnetic tethers in the bay. Rota strode from the elevator and past a window overlooking the ship. Lights flickered along its length, as various systems were activated and tested before departure. Ahead, some crew were already boarding a shuttle to the frigate. As Rota approached, most of them stiffened and rendered salutes, which he waved off casually. Formalities slowed them down, and there was much to do before the fleet could leave. Stepping into the shuttle's cabin, an air of excitement buzzed through the crew, as before every mission. Rota would not take part in such murmurings. Although he did not let it show, he always worried before he relocated. Something felt different this time. As the shuttle lurched free from the terminal, drifting quietly toward the frigate, Rota felt as if he were drifting toward something he wasn't ready for.

3 days later

In Phase Space, En-Route to Raka, 280 LY from Volkar

"Thirty seconds to disengage." reported the navigations officer. Kor nodded.

"Set all scanners to maximum range. Preheat pulse guns. Put the disengage timer up and hail all ships. Synchronize their phase drives to ours." he ordered rapidly. His bridge crew scrambled to their tasks as the main screen flashed to a countdown. Kor looked around the room. Forty of his best officers manned the dozens of stations set about the circular room. The bridge of his Serevun command cruiser was the largest of anything short of a capital ship, with a circumference of thirty meters, occupying three decks. Four columns rose from the lower to the upper level, covered in screens and displays. A dozen stations and command interfaces were on each level controlling everything from weapons and navigation to fleet cohesion and power distribution, with Kor standing on a catwalk spanning the second level overlooking the bridge. A dim red light cast through the room gave his crew an eerie and threatening look as they tapped commands into their consoles.

"All ships standing by. Five seconds…. Four…. Three…. Two…. One…. Mark!" The ship shuddered and hummed as the phase drive powered down. The main screen changed to an enhanced optical view. The orange, rippling auroras of phase space flashed bright, twisting and curling about the ship, then faded. The cold black of regular space appeared ahead. The cruiser emerged from phase space with a jolt. Reports from his officers came rapidly.

"Drive disengaged…. All ships in formation…. Shields at full power…. Pulse gun armed…. Engines coming online now."

On the screen, the planet Raka was visible in the distance, a speck of orange and red. The fleet had cautiously emerged from phase space far from the planet. Raka was a small, desert planet on the extreme edge of the Vasari Empire nearly devoid of atmosphere, with no life, and possessing almost no valuable minerals. When the Expansionary fleet discovered it sixty years ago, it became one of many worlds dedicated to research and experimentation. A dozen orbital laboratories had been built, each dedicated to different fields. There were labs dedicated to nanites, agriculture, phase experiments, weaponry, and more. Just a year ago, a breakthrough had been made in a nanomedicine lab, in which for the first time growth acceleration had been perfected. Previous trials had all resulted in crippling and devastating defects among the test subjects.

"Nothing out of place on scanners."

"The Vostrul?" Kor asked. After a brief pause, the scanner officer answered.

"On the far side of the planet. It's phase beacon is active but there are no communications anywhere in the system."

Kor looked fiercely at the screen. They were too far from the planet to see any ships or structures in low orbit. He weighed his options.

"Nav, engines ahead at one third. Have the fleet disperse to ten kilometers around us and match our course. Bring us close enough to see the Vostrul. Scanners, report anything out of the ordinary immediately. Comms, continue to hail the Vostrul and tell the fleet to keep weapons ready until further notice." He ordered.

"Fleetmaster, there appears to be a phase wake on the far side of the planet, near the Vostrul's position." The scanner officer explained. Rota muttered quietly. Phase wakes are signatures left after a ship enters phase space, but from this distance they should not have been detectable. A wake detectable from this distance would have to be extremely large. Only the most titanic of ships or even an Orkulus would leave such a signature from a phase jump.

"Hold course."

Soon, more details of the planet's surface were visible. The side closest to them was barren and desolate, devoid of outposts and installations. Large craters and valleys marred the surface. One the far side, a large complex had been built at the equator to perform ground-based research and testing. The Vostrul was located in synchronous orbit over the installation. Black scars littered the red-orange surface, remnants of years of weapons testing. Silvery streaks crisscrossed a small section, a test of the latest planetary assault weapon system; a powerful sustained particle beam strong enough to turn miles of ground to glass, and leaving snaking paths of once molten rock. Raka was, in places, a testament to the devastating power of the Vasari.

The fleet began to swing around the planet, growing closer and closer to the Vostrul. The scanners were still devoid of contact, and communications station reported no traffic. The phase wake puzzled Kor. Normally they decay within an hour; had it occurred when the system stopped communicating, it had persisted for over four days. The navigations officer gave another report.

"Vostrul will be visible in ten seconds." He chimed. Rota's eyes were fixed on the main screen. The system's star was roughly behind them, the planet was lit below them, and the outer limits of the ground installation were just coming over the horizon. Something looked strange about them.

"Magnify the view." Rota said, glancing at the Nav officer, who tapped his console. The screen zoomed in, showing small buildings on the surface. As more of the installation appeared, Rota's heart began to beat faster. Fiery swaths enveloped the ground. The very crust appeared to be fractured, and magma bled to the surface. The installation had been annihilated by something powerful enough to fracture the ground itself.

"Vostrul coming on screen now."

The battlestation hung silently against the black of space. The spherical lower half was floating free, massive gouges and tears along its surface. The upper half had been destroyed, its arms slowly drifting away. The core had become a tangle of debris and twisted fragments. The bridge on the Serevun buzzed with nervous chatter. Rota's skeletal fingers gripped the catwalk rails and his knuckles whitened. A pulsing alarm blared from the scanner terminal.

"Single contact, bearing 3-4-0 by 3-5-1, maximum sensor range!" shouted the officer.

"Break contact! Open channel message! Pull back now!" Kor hissed. The main screen flashed to a screen showing the scanner display; a black field with a pulsing blue icon at the edge of the screen showing the relative positions of the fleet, planet, and contact. The communications officer ordered the retreat. The ship lurched as the maneuvering thrusters fired, swinging the nose to face away from the contact. The blue icon slowly moved away from the edge of the screen, toward the image of the fleet.

"Contact now bearing 1-6-0 by 1-7-1, range: thirty thousand kilometers! Signature resembles a missile!" came the report. Kor looked downwards, at the weapons stations.

"Activate ECM and have point defense track it."

"Fleetmaster, all ships matching new speed and heading."

More sirens blasted from the speakers another blue icon appeared on the screen, coming from far in front of them.

"New contact, bearing 3-5-5 by 0-0-2, range: thirty-five thousand kilometers!" shouted the scanner officer, a nervous flutter now creeping into his voice. The fleet was caught between the contacts. Kor swore quietly. He had led his ships into a killzone.

"Activate the phase drive, emergency jump." He ordered.

"We're too close to the planet, Fleetmaster. The gravitational force is too high." Said the navigations officer.

"How long until we can jump at this heading?" there was a brief pause before the officer answered.

"Two minutes until we are clear of the planet's gravity."

"Fleetmaster, contacts closing fast. Ranges: twenty-two thousand behind and twenty-eight thousand kilometers ahead. ETA to intercept is one minute."

"Nav, if we go full burn, can we clear the gravity before then?" Kor asked. The navigations officer hesitated.

"Yes, fleetmaster, but we would have to divert power from either the weapons or the shields."

"Divert from weapons! We make it and we won't need them!" Kor shouted.

"ECM showing no noticeable effect on the contacts. Still on an intercept course with the fleet. Weapons coming offline now." Reported one of the weapons officers. The navigations officer tapped a series of commands on his console.

"Engines now at two hundred percent output!" he shouted. The hull groaned and shuddered as the extra power hurled the ship forward. The other ships in the fleet increased power to match the new speed. At full burn, the Serevun was as fast as the Ravastra frigate at full speed, but the corvettes could push much harder. They easily kept pace with the command cruiser.

"Time to jump range: twenty seconds." Reported the navigations officer.

"Intercept in forty seconds!"

"Prepare the fleet to jump! As soon as we are clear, engage the phase drive!" Kor hollered. The blue icons were still closing on their position. Kor's heart hammered in his chest. If they could make the jump before they were intercepted, they could alert Sector Command that the planet had been attacked by something far worse than insurrectionists.

"Ten seconds to jump range!"

"Fleetmaster, additional contacts at maximum range! Twenty…. Make that thirty! They're surrounding the system at the edge of our sensor range! These are larger than the first two!" the scanner officer shouted. Kor's eyes widened at the screen. The system was encircled by blue icons, forming a loose sphere.

"All ships engaging phase drives!" the hull hummed as the drive spun up. There was a jolt, and sirens blared.

"Fleetmaster, the phase drive is losing power…. Failing… I don't know what's happening!" The navigations officer shrieked. Kor looked over in disbelief. From his catwalk he could see the navigation screen. Dozens of error messages flashed on the terminal. "The drive is down! There must be some kind of interference! We can't jump to phase space!"

"Power to weapons! Point defense, hit those missiles! Put them on screen!" Kor ordered. The navigations officer diverted power to the weapons systems. The weapons officers franticly entered commands on their consoles.

"Point defense online!" one shouted. The main screen split into optical feeds to the front and rear of the ship. Thin orange beams of energy flickered all around the ship. The rest of the fleet was already engaging the contact to the front, which had closed to six hundred kilometers. Their own point defense beams pulsed, converging on a tiny point in the distance. A sliver of blueish white raced toward them, growing more discernable as it neared. Beams impacted its surface, and a wispy glow flared over the surface.

"It's shielded!" someone shouted. The other half of the screen showed the missile approaching from behind. Pulse beams slashed through space, impacting the flickering shield.

"Intercept in five… four… three… two," on both half of the screen, the slivers flashed brilliant white, and the view automatically dimmed in response. Kor's grip tightened on the handrail as he braced himself. The power went out.

Every screen in the room went black, and the room lights winked off. The room became eerily quiet as the low thrumming of the engines ceased. The ship's artificial gravity deactivated. Kor's voice cut through the darkness first.

"Is anyone injured?" he asked. There were several seconds of silence. "Status report." He ordered. One by one, the officers sounded off.

"Power failure. Auxiliaries must be gone too. Personal devices are down." One of the systems officers said. Kor tapped his wristpad, groping for some form of light. It remained dark.

"EMP?" Kor asked.

"Most likely." The officer replied. In the silence, every tiny shuffle was audible.

"Stand by. Everyone remain at your stations. If we get power back, we have to be ready to react." Every second was agonizing. Standing in the darkness not knowing whether they were about to be destroyed. Thirty seconds….one minute….

Several small tubular lights flickered on the ceiling. Artificial gravity came online and everyone settled to the deck. The room was dimly illuminated, and Kor could see the outlines of his crew at their stations. Several consoles lit up.

"Emergency lights are up…. Life support minimal. Power management showing antimatter containment field is critical. We have to seal off the reactor section." Said an officer. Kor winced. Three hundred crew members would be sealed inside with the reactor. Sealing the section would condemn them to death as the reactor core leaked deadly radiation.

"Do it. Do we have comms?" Kor questioned.

"Yes, fleetmaster. Sending status inquiries…." The communications officer said. Several seconds passed before he spoke again, "No replies from any other ships."

"Can we get a visual confirmation?" another officer asked.

"I can put optical on the main screen as long as the cameras are functioning."

"Do it now. I want to see what's out there." Kor ordered. Static washed over the main screen for a second, and the image from a forward camera appeared. The inky blackness of space filled the screen. The ship was drifting lazily to starboard, rolling gently. The distant planet was just coming into view, meaning the ship was facing roughly 180 degrees from its initial heading. The orange surface hung silently, ominously. As the nose swung back away from the planet, the faint shape of the Ravastra could be seen. The hull had fractured, and atmosphere vented into space. Fiery jets blasted from a dozen places. Debris haphazardly tumbled away from the stricken ship. Something moved across the hull. Kor furrowed his brow.

"Magnify the ship. There's something there." He said. The view zoomed in drastically, and the Ravastra's image filled the entire screen. There were hundreds of tiny figures swarming over the ship.

"Strike craft?" one officer asked.

"Too small. More likely some kind of drones." Another answered. They darted around the ship, emitting small blue beams which struck points all along the hull. Where each beam hit, the hull melted away, venting more and more atmosphere with every hit. The beams sliced into the frigate with surgical precision, cutting through the armor effortlessly. Suddenly, the Ravastra's hull twisted violently. The drones darted away from the ship as it was engulfed in an enormous gout of energy. The reactors had gone critical and the Ravastra's antimatter stores erupted. The light flared, flashing and shimmering brilliantly before fading. Where the ship had been, only tiny fragments remained, spinning awkwardly. The Ravastra had been vaporized along with her crew. Kor grimaced. Never had he lost a ship in battle, and he feared today he would lose them all. The cloud of drones began to drift toward the Serevun.