Chapter 3

The United Nations of Terra went months without hearing a word from the Elithion Protectors. They almost allowed themselves to believe the Elithion had been massacred somewhere far, far away and would never return. Then, on a sunny day in 2452, a large Elithion fleet docked at Sol star base on the far side of Sol. The fleet was so large it nearly shaded half the planet. Elithion Admirals and Generals were led grimly to the War Chambers and terror struck every Terran in the heart. What foes would the Terrans face this time? And how powerful could this unknown empire be? After several days of deliberation, the Elithion military leaders departed Sol and their fleets were soon exiting the Sol star base. Shortly following, an announcement was made to the entire Terran Empire. They would be going to war at dawn. All Terrans fleets were to set coordinates to the far sides of the galaxy. Towards a collection of empires called The Galactic Federation of Plethorax. These small but robust empires formed a greater federation and, according to the Elithion, were fanatically xenophobic. Each empire consisted of the same species, yet each one followed a differed method of government. Some were democratic, some oligarchic, and even more were dictatorial. But they had all united under one common goal, eradicate all non Plethorax in the galaxy. Now why would the Elithion Protectors be so concerned about such an insignificant federation that obviously lacked the power to fight them head on? Because on the far side of the territories that made up the federation, the longtime sworn enemies of the Elithion lurked. It was they who funded this federation in an attempt to once again lay claim to the entire galaxy. The Mect Pact, a once proud and distinguished empire, now a collection of cyborg monstrosities. They had been overrun by their own technology eons ago in what the Elithion called The First War in Heaven. This First War in Heaven was the largest galactic war ever recorded in xeno history. Over 100 xeno empires participated on both sides of the war. This war began and ended long before the Earth had even developed its first sentient life.

It was astounding to the Terrans that not one xeno empire had ever ventured into the Milky Way and discovered the haven that was once Earth. Sadly enough, only a handful of empires came out of the First War in Heaven intact and out of those who survived only the Mect Pact and the Elithion Protectors still existed. According to Elithion historians, this war ended close to a millennia before the even the Terrans name "The Big Bang." The event that began life on the planet Earth. The Elithion Protectors rose from The First War in Heaven victorious, but at great cost to both economy and population. Soon after the war, they absorbed any empires still loyal to them while destroying those who refused and downsized their territory to a handful of systems fortified on all sides. Thus, turning them into the stagnant ascendancy they were when the Terrans took to the stars. The Mect Pact financially and spiritually destroyed, gave in to crime and corruption eventually falling to the robotic servants who used to provide such comfort to their immense empire. After hundreds of years of internal wars, the Mect Pact gave to the robotic assailants, giving birth to the cyborg-rock people that existed now. For millennia they had planned their revenge, slowly awakening their people and preparing for a great war. All the while infiltrating and corrupting the smaller feudal empires with the end goal being a glorified meat shield to act as a barrier between the Elithion and those it may have recruited to its defense.

The Terran Empire began its first round of engagements with the Plethorax on the far side of the systems that once belonged to the Galactic Machine Assembly. The small, water-born creatures fought fiercely, giving no ground to the Terrans. At first, attempts were made to contact the Plethorax with the aim to negotiate a truce and turn upon their cyborg overlords. But the Plethorax were not interested in peace. Corrupted by the Mect Pact into thinking that all other empires existed to destroy them, the Plethorax employed horrific tactics to achieve their goals. The Terrans suffered greatly at the hands of the Plethorax in the first few battles. The Plethorax did not possess larger ships, but rather relied on enormous fleets of various corvette designs. The smaller, lighter corvettes were used to engage the carrier cruisers and battleships the Terrans were fond of. There was also an assortment of corvettes outfitted with artillery mounts and large portions of armor mean for long range attacks and planet bombardment, and a heavily shielded corvette completely outfitted with gamma ray lasers specifically meant for shield penetration. The Terrans were taken by surprise and their arrogance over the number of battles they had one was the ultimate deciding factor in the opening years of the war. They adapted quickly however retreating to friendlier systems to retrofit the vast majority of their battleships and cruisers to a new type of strike craft to be launched as well as fully upgraded bombardment destroyers and a very similar designed corvette for shield penetration. In 2458 the Terran fleets once again set out on the war path. Much of the territory they had claimed from the GMA was lost to the Plethorax when the Terran fleets retreated to be retrofitted.

It was months before the Terran fleets set eyes on the Plethorax once again but this time things felt slightly different. The fear that once gripped every crew member in every fleet was gone, Replaced by a hard determination. Though they were still aware that they fought for the Elithion, the Terrans had now made this more personal. Fathers, sons, daughters and mothers had been lost in the first battles against the Plethorax and it was high time for revenge. The newly retrofitted fleets made quick work of the first few Plethorax Armadas. Within two weeks they were pushing into Plethorax territory, taking it system by system. A month later, the Terran Gold Fleet had taken the star base orbiting the planet of Khah Morahn. The first Plethorax planet to be seen by Terran eyes. the Terrans quickly assembled their invasion forces and within hours of the fall of the star base, Terran troops had boots on the ground.

At first the resistance was stiff. Plethorax armies formed garrisons inside the major city's walls. The countryside remained mostly unprotected and Terran troops made quick work of any civilian resistance. At this point in time the Terran High Command made clear that there was to be no extermination of civilian population and every Plethorax was to be arrested and placed on transports to the penal colony they had been prepping for an occasion such as this. Within the first day, the Terrans had captured over a thousand civilian and military troops, some who surrendered and some who were defeated. The Plethorax death toll had reached nearly ten thousand and only two major cities remained garrisoned. The Terran fleets began orbital bombardments on these cities and it was projected that within the week, the entire planet of Khah Morahn would be captured. However, a few days before the projected fall of the planet, two Plethorax fleets entered the space above the planet and a new battle began in the stars. While Terran High Command was busy ensuring that the star base would not be lost, two fully manned troop transports snuck onto the planet below, reinforcing the remaining Plethorax holdouts. Within hours the cities were near impenetrable and the Terrans were forced to retreat and regroup. All available Terran troops gathered in a small town outside the main city to await further orders from High Command.

Far above the chaos on the planet, the Terrans fleets remained engaged in vicious combat. Plethorax corvettes still wreaked havoc on the Terran cruisers and battleships the causing the Terrans to have to rely on their own corvettes for defense. Luckily, a small Terran strike group had been formed and was only a day away from reinforcing the three Terran Fleets. This fleet had been designed specifically for the Plethorax corvettes and consisted entirely of light corvette fighters. When the strike group finally joined the fray, it was all the Plethorax could do to not surrender to these relentless, angry xenos.

Once the Plethorax fleets were dispatched, the Terran Fleets resumed their bombardment of the planet below in hopes that the planet would be theirs soon. The small strike group retreated to the next system over where the Terrans made use of a captured Plethorax shipyard to repair and resupply in case of another attack. With the bombardments resumed, Terran invasion once again began anew and the Plethorax were running low on both food and ammunition. On June 15th, 2460, the planet Khah Morahn officially surrendered to the Terrans and quickly a puppet government was set up to ensure the peace of the planet. At this time roughly 5,000 Plethorax had been relocated to the penal colony far inside Terran territory leaving about 10,000 remaining on Khah Morahn. Just a day after the Plethorax surrendered the planet, the Terrans restarted the industrial infrastructure on the planet manned entirely by Plethorax prisoners of war. This was the first time in UNT history that another species was forced into labor. The Terran government saw this as a necessary evil to ensure victory but also recognized it couldn't be a permanent solution. A plan was created to guarantee the citizenship of every Plethorax civilian upon the end of the war so long as they renounced their citizenship with the Galactic Plethorax Federation.

After a week spent ensuring the smooth transition of Khah Morahn, the Terran fleets departed the system and pushed even further into Plethorax territory. Within a month they had conquered and claimed over ninety percent of the Galactic Plethorax Federation territory. The last remaining four systems were heavily fortified with fully outfitted defense systems on every star base and several smaller Plethorax strike fleets patrolling the area. The Mect Pact was largely absent from the war up to this point and this fact began to trouble the Terran High Command. They requested the Elithion send their own more powerful fleets to prepare for a counterattack from the Mect Pact. Their request was met with vague promises of support and reinforcements when the time was right. Terran High Command refused to take another system until the Elithion had at least one fleet in the system as a guarantee that the Terran fleets would not be overwhelmed by the superior fleets of the Mect Pact. Finally, after many exhausting arguments, the Elithion sent two of their three fleets to support the Terran's in their efforts to take the remaining systems from the Plethorax. When the fleets arrived in the system adjacent to where the Terrans were docked, plans were drawn up to conclude the conquer of the Plethorax. Two systems remained belonging to the Plethorax. Both were heavily defended and supremely garrisoned. With two planets in each system, the Terrans proposed that the Elithion take the system containing the two most heavily defended planets and begin orbital bombardments in preparation for the landing transports that the Terrans would provide. Simultaneously, the Terrans would take the less heavily defended system and take those planets before joining the Elithion in the last system.

Less than a day later, the Terrans claimed victory over their system. What they had thought was two well garrisoned planets turned out to be two planets guarded by nothing more than farmers and miners armed with the bare minimum in armor and weapons. The Terrans overtook both planets with barely a shot fired and no casualties to their troops. Once again, they moved their own bureaucratic experts to set up puppet governments that would rule in the best interest of the United Nations of Terra. They then set sail to the next system over in hopes that the Elithion were awaiting ground forces to take the final planets. What greeted them was the most shocking thing they had experienced in their entire history. There were no Elithion fleets awaiting ground troops. And there were no planets to land on either. Where the two planets once orbited, only large debris remained. Portions of each planet drifted silently through the space and an eerie feeling surrounded the system. The Terrans, confused and horrified by this turn of events immediately reached out to their Elithion diplomats for answers. The answer was short and simple. The Elithion felt that they did not have the time nor the inclination to fight ground wars on an exceedingly weak opponent and therefore elected to use what they called a Colossus to completely annihilate the planets before moving on. When questioned about the loss of life and the potential for an increase in production from the former citizens of the Galactic Plethorax Federation, they simply shrugged their shoulders and stated that they had no need for new citizens. By now the Terran High Command discovered that the Elithion had destroyed the two planets long before the ground assault one system over was completed and that their fleets had now officially pushed into Mect Pact territory to wipe out their former nemesis. The Terrans, feeling utterly empty from the events in that lost system, pulled their fleets back to friendly territory and began ship repairs and troop replenishment. The day that the Plethorax were annihilated came to be known as The First Judgement Day and would be celebrated every year on the day that it happened. Memorials would be held, and all non-essential businesses would close to observe the memory of those who were lost.