"Federation forces have attacked Cylosis, this is a Turqoise Alert." - Cylosis automated warning system
Cylosis
Sigmund lay on his stomach, hands on his cheeks and feet in the air as he watched two mechanical toys engage in a mock sword fight, the mechanoids jumping, thrusting, cutting, parrying and dodging in their attempt to gain victory over the other while Sylan kept a close watch on him. "When can I get to fight? I wanna be a brave knight!" Sigmund said with a grin to Sylan, the mechanoid turning down to look at him and pausing for a few moments.
"Certainly not while you are still three." The machine lightly chastised, making him frown the frown of a deeply disappointed three year old.
"You're no fun." Sigmund said as his face twisted into a pout and his tone turned sour.
"That is hardly a respectful tone to be using." She said in response.
"Can we get ice cream?" He said, looking up at her with hopeful red eyes that the mechanoid found difficult to resist. She paused for a bit, weighing her options before suddenly coming forth with an answer, her voice starting up
"If you apologize and promise not to use that tone, then yes." She said, giving him a nod as he pushed himself up and bobbed his head up and down with enthusastic nods, almost bouncing on his feet as he telegraphed his excitement for all to see.
"Yesyesyes I promise!" He said as Sylan offered a hand, Sigmund gleefully gripping it tightly, small fingers grabbing onto the offered limb while his other hand placed his fingers in his mouth to chew on them; containing his excitement as best he could, almost giggling with glee.
Interior of the GFRAITS Vigilante
"Is this the place?" Adder said as he viewed the hologram. The earth sized planet certainly didn't look like all that much from his view screen, and he had seen enough stars to have not even registered the Blue Supergiant kept fed by an appropriate diet of hydrogen as an interesting sight.
"Doesn't look like much does it?" Razorblade said with a huff as he shook his head.
"Probably weren't even expecting company. Look at that guard fleet; pitiful." He continued while Cyrux examined the details offered by the logs.
"Now, don't be so hasty to dismiss them, nobody's ever just quietly succumbed to a planetary sterilization operation, I say we'll enjoy ourselves yet." Cyrux said with a mean looking grin as he combed his mustache.
"Must they all really die? It seems so...cruel to kill so many and purge such a rich culture." Xirgan said, his digitized voice laced with trepidation as he looked at the hologram and grimaced at the population figure of seven billion.
Dagger looked sympathetically at Xirgan, and at the corner of her eyes, she could see Magistera shuffling her feet as she ran the idea through her head. However, Veil snarled to cut through the sudden silence, a blast like noise coming from the throat of the reptilian sniper before he let out an emphatic cough.
"You will all do your duty without hesitation; is that understood?" Veil said, his slitted pupils scanning around the room while he occasionally snapped his jaws. For someone who was far from the largest person on the team; he commanded a great deal of menace, and that was enough to prevent Dagger from voicing her concerns.
Defense station Ysunotran; mid-solar system.
"That doesn't make any sense." Yrusork said, the compound eyed alien tapping her manipulator arms and tentacles onto the screen as she tried to make sense of the data, shifting about on her six greater limbs while her multi-part jaw clicked idly, irritated chirps coming from her as the systems continued to report the anomalous data.
"What doesn't?" Huroson said; the winged male of the Tronosonak species that founded the Imperium and remained its most dominant species to this day said, looking at his kin, turning towards the screen after making a few bounding movements towards it. The wings of the male pressed tightly against his body as his compound eye strips tried to make sense of the information, tail swishing back and forth idly.
"This data says that there's something projecting a mass shadow, but I don't see it on any of the scanners." She said as she tapped the screen to try and bring up a visualization of the detected disturbance. Still nothing...and then something caught her purple eyes, making her trill as she tried to get a better look.
"Maybe it's a cloaked ship?" One of the human ensigns, Yergtrude Mandawicz said, the dark skinned off-worlder taking a closer look after giving the needed respects to the Tronosonaks, a small nod of her head as the two carapaced aliens turned their attentions towards her.
"Perhaps...but it would need to be a whole fleet to project this kind of shadow, one with numerous capital ships. A massive expenditure of resources even if someone wanted to...attack us..." Huroson said before the gears in his head clicked together and he turned towards the hologram again and opened up all the parts of his jaw to let out his tongues and make an ululating shrieking sound of alarm, the bioluminiscence in his eyestrips strobing back and forth rapidly.
Making the same realization, Yrusork let loose her own sound to communicate to her kin first, then turned to Yergtrude. "Sound the alerts, invaders are in the system and are making their way to Cylosis!" She said, double checking the hologram just to be sure of her estimated trajectory before turning back to the human, who gave her a stiff salute before hitting her comm links.
Within moments of the alarm being sounded; Imperial weapon systems including the defence fleet and military space stations all came to life to pour fire that could burn while continents into ash or pulverize worlds into uninhabitability; lances of energy, enormous bolts of fiery plasma, blisteringly fast slugs and missiles and torpedoes and more all soon speared into the estimated area of the cloaked fleet.
However, the primary provider of the cloaking field soon dropped the illusion and revealed itself to the defenders. Not pirate ships as they had expected, but ships bearing the winged all seeing eye symbol of the RAIT fleet, and one ship that seemed to stand out among all the others. A ship that seemed to be constructed of tan stone with black and red circuits beneath and between the stone plating, shaped like some malevolent arrowhead that had a great opening at the tip that lead to about a third of the length of the ship, forming some great alien maw with a circular platform in the middle of it from which eight towers rose.
Unfamiliar to the defenders, the ship drew forth and blithely ignored a staggering amount of weapons fire of all kinds. Charged particles slammed uselessly against impenetrable hexagon patterned shielding, directed energy weapons failed to make any impression, torpedoes and missiles detonated harmlesly, slugs shattered to not effect and before more exotic weaponry could be used, the unfamiliar ship suddenly shunted out of firing range, disappearing in a blink.
"Where did it g-" Yrusok said, but never managed to finish before a black hole was formed in the midst of the Cylosian guard fleet, causing gravitational havoc before the black hole was spectacularly detonated by means unknown to current physics; unravelling into a spectacular cascade of energy and distortions in space time that left the defenders reeling, damaged, crippled, or outright destroyed; the unknown ship being the first to slip through the defenses the Cylosians put up while the RAIT vessels did their best to follow.
Outskirts of the City
It began as lights brighter than any that Sigmund had ever seen in the sky. He and countless others stared blankly at the sight unfolding before them in the sky itself. "What's that?" He asked of Sylan, whose optics magnified the sights as the robot tried to answer just that. What she saw, or more correctly the after-image of what she saw due to light's finite speed, immediately brought her to contact Gertrude and Siegfried.
"+Federation ships are approaching fast, what do you want me to do with Sigmund?+" She said as Siegfried took a few seconds to turn around to the camera she was using to get a visual on him and work his jaw before Gertrude said what he needed to say for him; the last parts of her armor snapping on.
"+Get him to the Alimbic ship, there's nowhere safer on the planet, I'll meet you there as soon as I can and for the blue heaven's sake...please keep him safe.+" Gertrude said before she shouted commands at a group of soldiers, cutting off the feed while Sylan prepared to cut off the feed to Siegfried before he snapped to attention, and reached his hand towards the camera and shouted.
"+Sylan wait! I'll send Spire over to reinforce you and the Ducal guard. I'm giving you the authority to do whatever you need to keep him safe.+" Siegfried said, his maroon eyes having managed to throw off the confused haze that had settled over them; replaced by a newfound fire.
"+What about you sir?+" Sylan asked.
"+I'll try to make my way over, the facility doubles as an emergency bunker and command center. But please, don't wait for me, get him out of the line of fire.+" He said as he was urged to get out of his office by his guards, prompting him to stand up as he was rushed off the screen; ending the feed.
Sylan then looked at the crowd of people she was within on her way back home from Sigmund's favourite ice cream store and quickly picked him up and put him on her shoudlers as she made started off at a quick sprint. And just on cue, the PSA systems crackled to life "Attention! This is the Imperial Military Cylosian Garrison! We are under attack by federation forces! Evacuate to your nearest orbital bombardment shelters immediately; this is not a drill! I repeat, Federation forces have attacked Cylosis, this is a Turqoise Alert!" The planet wide emergency warning systems declared, and immediately the police authorities sprung to action to try and get people out of the line of danger.
"What's happening?" Sigmund asked, fear making itself known in his voice as uncertainty settled in, people starting to scream loudly enough to make him place his hands over his ears as panic enacted its spell upon the crowds of people.
"Bad people are coming Sigmund, and your mom and dad want me to take you somewhere safe." She said as she made sure that he was firmly attached to her shoulders before jumping onto an elevated surface, having already called in a transport. She waited for a tense few seconds before a transport bearing the family coat of arms; a large but nimble vessel of somewhat greater size than an aerotruck that opened up its doors for the pair, allowing her to quickly jump in.
"You arrived here quite promptly." She said, the pilot of the transport turning his armet clad head around to give her a nod while Spire laid his orb hand on the walls of the transport.
"The kid's dad can move heaven and earth if he wants to. Never heard a more firmly given order in my life myself." Spire said with surprisingly good humor for the situation.
"Not piloting your gunship?" Sylan said while Sigmund reached out to touch Spire's rocky arm, recoiling when he felt how hot it was and shaking his hand, blinking back tears. Spire took a moment to cast the boy a sympathetic look before turning back to Sylan.
"I've got her on autopilot following the transport, don't worry." He said as he nodded at the pilot, who punched a few commands into the ship's consoles to have the craft lurch into its designated flight path to make a beeline to the Alimbic dig site.
"Why are we heading to the dig site when it's the most likely reason for the attack in the first place?" Spire said, turning his head to Sylan who regarded the Diamont for a few moments before speaking.
"There are no points on the planet that are better defended and if I had to guess; I believe the Alimbics themselves may be willing to shelter some of the population. Even a concerted effort by the federation would be hard pressed to deal with an Alimbic exploratory ship I'd wager" She said in response, Sigmund clinging tightly to the mechanoid's head.
"Are you sure they'd take him in?" Spire said, his glowing orange eyes narrowing at the Mechanoid.
"I am reasonably certain that they would shelter him and his family yes." She said quickly, though without doubt in her voice.
"Ma'am, we've got incoming on our sensor screens." The pilot said, turning his head from his viewing screen briefly.
"What is it?" Sylan asked.
"Cestus class fighters maám, I'm having some of the escorts peel off to deal with them."
"How many?" Spire asked, the pilot inspecting the figures on his helmet's HUD for a brief moment before speaking to the Diamont, needing to make sure.
"Thirty sir."
"Open the door then." Spire said as he approached the door, the guards inside the craft, Sylan, the pilot and co-pilot all turning their heads around to look at Spire as if he had just lost his mind. And it was crazy, why would you jump out of a perfectly functional ship?! Nevertheless, the bounty hunter seemed absolutely serious, and his wish was soon granted.
"Hey, let the kid have a look." He said, the Pilot nodding and starting up the holographic views of the outside of the ship as Spire jumped out of the ship, an impatient Cestus class fighter directly below him as he rolled into his dialanche form, smashing into its shields while he spun up his attack; alerting the Cestus to something being on top of it while he rolled off; unmorphed and charged up a missile that he soon released right into the engines of the Cestus class, rocking the fighter while his own gunship raced up to catch him.
Sigmund clapped excitedly as the doors of the transport closed, Spire landing on top of his gunship while waiting Ystrazan class escort fighters wheeled around to gut the Federation fighter; the craft's RAIT paint scheme peeling away from the impact of ion bolts that punctured its shielding and hull before exploding. Spire's gunship, a charcoal grey and orange craft; then hit its retrothrusters to fall behind the pack of escorts while the rest of the Cestus' friends spiraled downwards, heavy ECM from the ship forcing the Federation fighters into attempting to shoot them down at close range rather than simply lock on and let their missiles free.
Spire's Gunship; the Orgrok
"Alright, let's see what we've got." Spire said as he analyzed the incoming formation of Federation fighters. Against the four Ystrazan class fighters and the Urnokian class VIP transport; thirty Cestus class fighters...twenty nine anyway, would ordinarily prove to be a tremendous risk. But the pilots of the five Imperial vessels and Spire were all tremendously skilled with their craft, and by eliminating the Federation's ability to engage at extreme range, they forced them to fight on their terms.
Two of the enemy fighters tried to dive down on the Transport, only for a powerful thermal lance to spear out of Spire's ship, striking the first fighter hard enough to shove it to the side, while a pair of smart missiles streaked out of turreted rocket pods at the bottom of his craft, moving in patterns meant to cut off the Cestus' avenue of escape before a one two punch knocked out its shields and then blasted it into scrap. "Two down, who's next?" Spire said while one of the escorts peeled off to cause some havoc in the rest of the Federation's wing.
Deciding that he couldn't let them have all the fun, Spire hit his engines into overdrive, the inertial compensators of his ship flaring into action as he pulled a turn in the double digit Gs, air compressing into bow waves that released cacaphonous sonic booms while he looked for a way into the enemy formation that would let him take out as many federation fighters as he could. A few moments of analysis then gave him his answer, and he gave the closest approximation that his face could give to a smile as he launched his gunship right into the thick of it.
Pile driving its way through their formation, the Federation fighters found it difficult to acquire a lock on the craft interrupting their formation without risking their comrades, something further compounded when Spire threw his own ship into the confused melee of strike craft attempting to gain some sort of lock on their target while the Escort fighter's side turrets started firing away into the mass of Federation fighters; sowing even more disarray into the RAIT pilots, who proved to be sitting ducks for Spire's gunship piercing its way into a furball of a dozen Cestus class fighters and opening up with every one of its turrets.
Energy and projectiles streamed every which way out of his gunship while another two Ystrazan class fighters joined in the melee, breaking apart and driving away the large numbers of enemy fighters. Panicked calls were sent out from the Federation fighter formation as they tried to rally against Spire's craft, but he made sure that they never got that chance; always focusing his efforts on any craft his ship's computers identified as having the best chances of rallying their formations. Fireballs blossomed and shockwaves thundered all aroung him as Spire swerved his gunship to ensure that none of the targets he had acquired escaped his wraith, with the last of them fleeing a swarm of rapid pulse blast shots only to take a thermal lance directly to the cockpit; vaporizing much of the fighter as it was struck with a weapon meant to pierce through capital ship hulls, the screeching orange ray's burning glow fading as he cut power to the weapon.
Within moments, what had once been a devastating kill squadron had been reduced to a handful of demoralized and scattered fighters who were easily targeted and acquired by the scrambling Cylosian interceptors. "Well, seems like that problem resolved itself" Spire said to himself as he brought up his commlink to the Transport.
"+You all doing okay in there?+" Spire asked, bringing up a holographic image of the interior of the transport.
"+DOITAGAINDOITAGAINDOITAGAIN!+" Sigmund cheered, his voice high with excitement while Sylan could only manage a nod.
"+I'll keep in touch.+" Spire said warmly.
Private Chancellery evacuation point
Siegfried racked the thought of how he could be so damn stupid around his head; trying to figure out where he went wrong and where he opened the door for the Federation to step into and threaten everything he worked for. He was so caught up in his thoughts he scarcely noticed when one of his guards dropped dead after their heads ruptured.
"Shit! What was that!?" He shouted as he backed away from the slain guard; the others guarding his approach to his transport immediately assuming combat stances while another Guard briefly saw something coming towards her quickly; firing away at the incoming shape before being snatched and dragged away.
"Chancellor at risk, chancellor at risk! Who dropped the ball!?" One of his chancellery guards demanded to know as a heavy thud made itself known; the area immediately being sprayed with heavy weapons fire while the guards did their best to return what insults they could; ion bolts and heavier weapons streaking across the air to get at their mysterious assailants. A barrage of missiles flew out and then slammed into the top of his transport, giving way to a large; heavy and well armoured figure to slam onto its top feet first after being dropped from a swooping cloaked transport, smashing down some form of hammer onto the top before jumping off so that the spray of weapons fire could tear the craft apart.
"There's no escape for you now Sanders." Said a reptilian voice that hissed through some form of speaker, Siegfried's troops looking around in every direction and waving their weapons to and fro as a humanoid woman in light armour, a shapeshifter who had taken the shape of one of the Chancellery guard and only then resumed her normal purple hued form, a lanky four armed cyborg, a massive mechanoid heavy combatant, and a series of RAIT troopers emerged or jumped out of aerotransports; firing retrothrusters to slow down their descent before hitting the ground and pointing their weapons at the Chancellery guard.
"Surrender the codes to access your digsite and we'll let you live." Firebug said, slamming the fists of his body together and chuckling as he did so, almost giddy with anticipation for a fight.
"What about my family, what about this planet you perfidious scum?" Siegfried snarled, stepping to the front and urging his troops aside as he looked up at the colossal mechanoid without flinching. For a moment he was afraid, but anger had a way of blocking such feelings as he could feel little else but loathing forming in his mind. To a third party, the fresh faced, clean shaven and silver haired man must have looked like a dwarf next to the combat mechanoid, and yet his voice did not waver.
Magistera stopped briefly at the mention of what would happen to the rest of the Sanders family, unsure herself of what would happen. She looked back and forth, trying to gauge the other members of the head hand's response. Yuran didn't seem to flinch, but she was in such heavy and all concealing armour that it was hard to tell; and she never could read Veil, Mercy, or Firebug. Xirgan however, seemed to shuffle uncomfortably at the thought just as she did.
"What about your planet? You are right about one thing; this isn't an honorable act by any means. Neither was your government hiding such a big cache of alimbic science; but that's neither here nor there. We're going to have to keep the number of witnesses down to a minimum; so yeah, do you value your life more than your planet? Maybe I shouldn't ask you this, since it was your decision to keep this a secret that started this; so clearly your priorities aren't well set." Veil said tauntingly, the reptilian alien's tone getting mocking with many contemptuous hisses that sounded like boiling kettles, following by raucous, hoarse laughter.
"As for your family? I'm sure we can find some hushed little corner of the universe to stick them in. Always room in the brothels for someone like your wife and some desk job for your sniveling little hatchling. Though maybe if the bosses upstairs are nice enough you might get to retire on some cozy planet and live out a life of irrelevant decadence" Veil said, which brought confusion to not just the Cylosian troopers who were baffled by Veil's negotiation tactics, but also to the Federation soldiers who briefly looked at one another; not sure what game Veil was playing.
"Even if you sugar coated that deal properly I wouldn't change my answer. I would rather die then sell out you jumped up space pirate." Siegfried said, letting Veil know exactly what he thought of him; with the Alien letting out an annoyed cough as he looked down at the human; stepping out of the shadows.
"Feh, doesn't really matter to me. I was hoping to kill you anyway." Veil said, his seratted teeth on full display as his slitted pupils stared directly into the eyes of the Human below him.
"Do what you want, I'll die standing, just like everyone here will. And some day, you'll find that justice is a harsh mistress." Siegfried said defiantly, puffing out his chest and daring Veil to shoot him, the Alien taken somewhat aback by his defiance; having figured him for nothing more than another sniveling politician and spoonfed aristocrat.
"One of you head back, get the word out." Siegfried said to one of his guards, patting the six limbed alien on it's upper right shoulder as it gave him a nod.
"Fine by me. Kill them all." Veil snarled as he set his sights on Siegfried, who closed his eyes and accepted his end while the Chancellery guard made a final, suicidal rush in all directions; prepared to die to the last. One shot was all it took to reduce Siegfried's body to a fountaining ruin of blood and gore, his unarmoured, unshielded body seeming to implode before it bursted in all directions, and Veil took out a cigar and lit up up, taking a long drag before exhaling.
Alimbic Dig Site
Sylan and Spire set down at the entrance to the digsite's inner sanctum; flying through numerous check points and blast doors to settle down in a safe hangar; having managed to arrive at their destination even as the sky was crowded with the vehicles of the Federation and the ground crawling with more and more RAIT troopers; the ash and smoke of so many fires rising to smother the light of Cylosis' sun. Sigmund whimpered quietly as he clung to Sylan, but upon seeing his mother he brightened his expression.
However, one look at Gertrude's face soured his mood as he saw a face with eyes puffed with recently released tears and an expression that spoke of great pain. "Mommy, what's wrong?" He asked as he reached out for her, her armoured arms wrapping around him and clinging tight.
"Papa won't be here." She said, her voice lowered by sorrow as she kissed his head.
"Where did he go?"
"They killed him Sigmund." She said as the words at first seemed to bounce off of Sigmund, only to start sinking in little by little as he recalled his lessons about mortality. Then he took a moment to comprehend it, to try and put the end of life in perspective, and then he connected that to himself...and all at once he realized he was never going to see his dad again, and then he started to sniffle.
"Why?" He asked, voice trembling as Spire's expression soured, the Diamont feeling something sinking in his chest as he watched.
"Because some people are cruel." Spire said quietly as his musings were interrupted by one of the Guards calling their attention elsewhere.
"Federation forces are assaulting the facility my lady, we need to get you and the boy to safety." He said, the Tronosonak's wings remaining close to its side as he checked the Status of his fellow troopers over the battle network, clicking his jaws with worry.
"Of course...sorry, I'll get him there as fast as I can." Gertrude said, shaking her head and nodding at the Guardsman.
"Why haven't the Alimbics helped yet?" Sylan asked.
"I don't know, but I'm sure I'm going to be mad when I find out." Spire growled as he leveled his weapon arm into a combat position and followed the group as they headed down into the labyrinthian passage ways.
Alimbic vessel, Bridge
"~You promised them aid you two faced wretch and now you just want to watch them die!~" Velgora said with outrage, her telepathic voice cacaphonic with fury as Aliborak remained glued to the monitor, looking closely at the recording of one ship in particular; the one that so casually blew a hole open in the defenses of the Cylosians.
"~Do you not see that ship? If we make an overt move we are all dead~!~" Aliborak snapped back, not even bothering to look at her as he thought about how a ship like that could possibly be present here and now.
"~If you spoke of this to the others they would help put an end to that vessel and all it contained! And yet you remain here! Where is your bravery Aliborak!?~" Velgora said, swiveling Aliborak around with a deft usage of her Telekinetic, the other Alimbic staring at her with burning intent.
"~And what if you're wrong and they can't handle it!? Would you have them all die for this planet? We will wait until the storm has passed and emerge from the ashes to find new hosts and restore our past glories from there. Then we will be able to stop the coming darkness with ease!~" Aliborak said with the conviction of someone who was convinced that they had all the answers.
"~You promised to the natives and to the Chozo to save at least some of them! Surely you should have the honour to hold to that! Regardless if a Xik'kri'vik hunter ship is out there, you have an obligation to help you spineless coward!~" Velgora said accusingly, pointing right at her commander who seemed taken aback by the accusations, the other alimbics speaking among themselves as Aliborak hovered back away from her.
"~You...dare?~" He said, but before Velgora could form her response, the first set of doors into the Cylosian facility were torn wide open; and there stood that menacing figure; his faceplate hiding his alien expression while his earthy armour contained and augmented his formidable bulk; the Hunter analyzing the area while the Federation's soldiers poured in behind it.
"~Do you not see! It is too late for us and them! They already know we are here! We must prepare to depart! Get the engines fully restored so that we may survive another day!~" Aliborak commanded, his psychic tone sharp and loud, almost painful in its obvious imperative to preserve the Alimbic species.
Alimbic Digsite
"Sylan, take him and carry him; I need both hands free." Gertrude said, hadning her child back to the mechanoid.
"But ma-" The mechanoid said before being cut off.
"Just do it, I'll be better at protecting us without needing to hold him." She said, turning to spire and sharing a nod with him as her helmet folded over her head; locking into place and hissing as it pressurized her oxygen supply; Sigmund looking at her with big, awe struck eye as he tried to reach out for her one last time.
"Everything will be alright, I promise." She said as she took hold of his hand and nodded at him one last time before Sylan activated a defensive bubble barrier around herself and the boy.
"Mom...will you...be alright?" Sigmund echoed back.
"I'll try." She said as the first RAIT troopers emerged; blowing open part of the ceiling to drop down only for a hellstorm of fire to cut them down almost as quickly as they dropped; with their one extra-armoured heavy shield trooper being taken out with a pin point ion-sniper shot into his eyepiece from Gertrude's modular arm-gun, another trooper dashing forward with backmounted Jets only for Spire to slam him into the ground with a fist and then stomp his head into paste.
"Get moving everyone! We need to get as far as we can as soon as we can!" Gertrude shouted while turrets dropped from the ceiling and emerged from the walls and continued firing into the RAIT troopers who tried to follow their comrades, emerging defensive mechanoids leaping out and grabbing onto the bodies of the Federation's finest and ripping them apart with prejudice while the guard retreated, Sigmund shrieking and covering his ears to shut out the noise.
Micro-missiles and more exotic weapons were let loose by the pursuing federation forces as they finally managed to get through the fusilade of automated defense systems, intercepted by an energy shield that quickly cut off the Imperials from the Federation's forces as they sought to head deeper and deeper; some RAITs even trying short distance teleporters to get at the Cyranar, only for her to leap at one of the blink pack troopers; grab his neck and twist it with such force that it snapped instantly, turn around to slam an ionized fist into another's shielding to splinter it, then follow up with a second punch that cored right through his chest to tear out his heart; a third getting shot down by a rapid fire set of missiles while the others were cut down by Magmaul and Ion fusilade fire, Gertrude urging them to head down deeper into the facility.
More and more such attempted ambushes were met and foiled; with Dig site guards joining with the Duchal guard, Cyaranarial guard, parts of the Chancellery guard attached to the Chancellor's wife and child; and regular military forces and police who had fled into the facility earlier to make a stand or as part of doubling of security protocols. The RAIT troopers advanced yes; but it was an advance made on a ramp of corpses as they suffered terribly to the desperate defenders who; even as their world burned around them, refused to even countenance surrender or unauthorized retreat. This was a fight to the death; and they all knew it.
Even the arrival of dead hand forces was not enough to break their spirits, or enough to stop Gertrude and her group from arriving in the final chamber that lead to the primary entrance of the Alimbic ship itself. A mass of Federation troopers attempted to form a barricade after cutting ahead of the group; but Spire rushed at them; curled into his dialanche form, and slammed into them with freight train like force; swirling masses of sillicon materials going outwards and carving them apart before he unfurled to slam a combat mechanoid with enough force for it to shatter into pieces beneath his hammer fist blow; his arm cannon being set into a flamethrower mode that caught countless more soldiers in the grip of superheated magma that refused to stop burning until they cooled down.
Other soldiers tried to bring up their assault launchers, only for sudden spearing blasts of charged particles to leap out of the palms of Sylan, slamming them into the walls and punching through their armour; others met with a quick barrage of hypervelocity darts that screeched through the air with speeds that would have made sound seem almost immobile in comparison; punching through shielding and cutting into flesh and vital components like. An assault trooper who tried to approach the mechanoid found that the well built servant mech could just grab her head and tear it off with almost contemptuous ease, launching the removed head at another trooper that Sylan simply slammed her fists into the chest of and blew the six armed being apart in a shower of gore.
With so many troopers dead, the last obstacle in his way was a quarter of tanks; the first of which he dealt with by a trio of charged missiles that lodged themselves in the vulnerable side armor after the first one dealt with shielding weakened by ion rifle fire from the other guard; the second breaching the armour and the third destroying the interior. The second he jumped on top of, letting the other vehicle try to shake him off with canister shot and anti-personnel fire as the huffed, puffed, and tore the turret out with the shriek of tearing metal to throw at the other vehicle, slamming it and knocking it off target while a single magmaul dealt with the crew of the tank and cooked off its ammo. The third he sprayed liberally with charged magmaul fire until its hull twisted, warped and bubbled into slag and vapour, and the fourth he once again slammed into, grabbing it by its tracks and flipping the vehicle over so that he could get on it's underbelly in dialanche form and carve his way into the interior and deal with the crew before popping out.
Taking a look around as Sylan made a wide ion barrier before sweeping it forward to knock over countless federation troops like bowling balls and send their weapons fire right back at them, he gave a nod to the Mechanoid who gave him an idle wave as she made sure her charge was kept safe in his projected bubble shield put a ways behind her as she slammed her fists into the ground to release an ionic wave that ripped through another advancing formation of federation troopers, finally removing everything between them and the other Cyrenean forces.
"Way's clear for you guys" Spire said as he analyzed their new positions; the wide open space having been built with many defensible positions in mind and the fortifications manned by a large number of troops either stationed there or having fallen back there. With such strong defenses, it was a simple matter for the group to advance most of the way to their destination while the Federation was quite easily held back. And even as Adder, Cyrux, and Windrazor themselves arrived; they found themselves met by a well organized legion of defenders who were prepared to sell their lives if it meant that someone could find safety in the Alimbic vessel.
And dashing towards the vessel was Gertrude, who looked in disbelief as she found that the door inside was firmly locked. "Aliborak you scum!" She shouted as she slammed her fist into the door, shaking her head as one of the guards spoke up after taking some time to shoot at flying RAIT units.
"They've had the facility sealed ever since the Federation attacked ma'am, nobody's been able to get in and nobody's come out." She said as she went back to firing away at the enemy, the snarling fury of Adder being audible even over the carnage as he tried to make some holes in the defensive lines of the Cylosians.
"Sylan, you try to get that door open any way you can. The rest of us it seems; will need to fight until they open it." She said as she looked on at the oncoming mass of Federation soldiers and vehicles; many of which dropped dead or erupted into flames almost as soon as they arrived; felled by a hellstorm of disciplined fire.
However, the Federation's forces changed when Xar'Quk'Xon, their erstwhile ally; arrived to the fray; seemingly unhurried by the weight of fire thrown at him as he started his display of force by reversing gravity for many of the Cylosian soldiers and cutting through others with a powerful beam of raw radioactive plasma; sweeping it across the battlefield while other foes were targeted with magnetic imploders that crushed them alive in their battlements or armour.
"Such a waste of bravery." The tall Xik'kri'vik said as he advanced closer, idly coring a defensively placed Cylosian tank with a single shot from his shoulder mounted weapon and stamping his foot on the ground to create a shockwave to send more Cylosian soldiers flying, the Dead Hand seemingly reinvigorated by the sudden shift in the tides to leap at the Cylosian defenders with renewed vigor; their troops following them in on this massive assault.
"Damn it." Gertrude said, shaking her head as she steeled her resolve and looked for some way of dealing with the incoming Xik'kri'vik as he released a pair of snare beams to grap two large turrets and tear them out of their mountings like toys, disabling their weapons fire while he casually teleported out of the way of more dangerous weapons.
"I've got my ship coming in, that should slow him down." Spire assured her as she gave him a nod.
"It won't slow him down enough." Gertrude said as the hunter tore the arms out of a heavy melee combat mechanoid with ease; Adder slamming onto a tank and incinerating a platoon of Cylosian defenders while Cyrux vaulted over him to strike at one of the bunkers to attack the Cyrenean defenders; letting Executor Alpha move in to lay waste to a pair of light turret nests with a withering barrage of missiles and battlehammer fire so that Razorblade could charge in and cut down the shield troopers getting in the way of Dagger's attack on a sniper's nest, which in turn let Mender fly overhead to suppress anti-tank troopers targeting adder with pulse cannon blasts.
"That's why I also contacted our pilot and his escorts" Sylan said while Gertrude rushed towards one of the heavy turrets she saw as being unmanned.
"Good work, but I need to take some matters into my own hands." She said as she vaulted at a flying trooper, stabbing a power blade into his chest and cutting down to quickly kill him before maneuvering his body towards the turret, holding on briefly before dropping off and firing at a Federation aeromechanoid; the spidery thruster propelled drone struck by a pair of missiles and a charged ion bolt that send its smouldering form in heaps downwards while she landed on the turret, slamming her boot into the face of a RAIT trooper attempting to climb into it with enough force to bend her neck completely out of position, snapping it and killing her as Gertrude got into the turret.
With Xar'Quk'Xon approaching quickly, Gertrude wasted no time in getting the weapon trained on the alien. "If anyone is in any shape to follow this order; fire at the stone armoured one with everything you've got. We need him taken out of the game as soon as possible." She said as she looked at the turret and surmised that the Gurandor class turret would need a bit more punch than usual to do what she intended to do. Punching some commands into the turret, she set the thing to dump as much power as it could into a single continuous beam, even if it meant destroying the turret and forced the machine to lock onto the Alien as it lifted four tanks into the air with hard-light constructs and then slammed them into the ground to smash more defending troopers into paste.
Leaping out of the turret just as she pressed fire, she closed her eyes while Sigmund screamed as a bright; dark blue beam of charged particles slammed into Xar'Quk'Xon, interrupting him as he attempted to get a bead on some more defending guardsmen and driving him backwards. Attempting to get his bearings again as he took a shot meant to deal with starship grade hulls, he was buffetted by the sudden arrival of the munitions of six aerocraft; Spire's gunship, four fighters, and an armed transport unloading into him while they all made their suicide runs; the remaining Imperial troopers who could afford to do so all taking aim at the Alien and unloading everything they had, making him stumble and screech with anger.
At this point, Spire came rumbling down the slope in Dialanche form, slamming into the leg of the Xik'kri'vik with as much force as he could muster before firing away with his detached rocky hide to carve furrows into the shielding of the alien before he rolled away, the alien trying to get a bead on him; only for spire to agilely dodge his fire; distracted as the Alien was; roll up another incline with surprising speed; and then find the nearest ramp he could make use of to roll overhead, drop down onto the Aliens'head and slam into it, the weapons of the others firing upon the Xik'kri'vik making sure to keep well away from spire as he pumped magmaul shot after magmaul shot into the Xik'kri'vik. And even as the Alien tried to swat him away, Spire rolled out of the way and regained a higher vantage point; ripping out a fusion repeater cannon out of it's tripod mount to give the creature a dose of nuclear fusion byproduct.
Though one of the fighters was torn out of the sky by Adder; a second brought low by dagger, and a third taken out by Cyrux and Executor with the fourth shot down by ground fire; the Pilot of the transport remained dead set on harassing the alien, who managed to clip it and cripple it with a lance of radiant energy. But the alien had not anticipated the final act of defiance of the stricken craft's pilot, who had his transport make one final run that slammed it right into the alien with facility shaking force that blew a hole in the lines of federation troopers moving around it.
Though the thing was not dead; sputtering and garbling angrily, he had quite enough of being the target even as the turret firing upon him finally overheated and exploded violently. "Unacceptable...I am retreating for the time being" He announced as the beleagured Alien teleported out of the fray. But the damage had already been done; what had once been an organized and well planned defense was now in shambles, and the Federation heavily outnumbered the remaining Cyreneans of Cylosis.
Alimbic ship interior, Bridge
"~Do you not see, they can be beaten, even by the natives! Please! I beg you to save at least some of them!~" Velgora demanded, the other Alimbics looking at Aliborak expectantly.
As they spoke the number of remaining defenders rapidly began to dwindle before renewed and reinforced Federation forces; it wouldn't be long before they were all overwhelmed.
"We still need to get the engines readied for departure, tell them we need them to hold off for five minutes.~" He said, thinking this a worthy compromise.
"~They do not have the luxury of five minutes! Let us go out there and aid them!~" She said, determined to get as many as she could off this world before Aliborak's caution killed them all.
"~No! I cannot risk you dying! I will send out mechanoids and deploy turrets but you are not to sally forth!~" Aliborak said, his voice almost like psychic thunder as he made his intentions clear.
"~Gertrude...we are allowing you to enter now, but we require a little less than five minutes to make good on our departure; we are sending you what aid we can.~" He said, sending the telepathic message over to the woman.
Battlefield; outside the Alimbic ship.
"~Five minutes? Alright.~" She said as she noted the deployment of Psychobits, Guardians, turrets, and other means of Alimbic defense without committing actual alimbics to the fray.
Looking at Spire, Sylan and Sigmund, she gave a nod as spire easily cracked open the head of a RAIT heavy trooper and set many more on fire with a charged magmaul blast; following up his application of superheated magma with a fusion beam shot meant to melt its way through a melee attack mechanoid. "You go into the ship. You're the last of your kind Spire, I won't have you dying here. And Sylan, make sure he's well taken care of." She said, retracting her helmet to kiss Sigmund's head and receive a sloppy kiss to her cheek in return while Spire nodded at her, firing a few more magmaul shots just to be sure that the Federation couldn't follow him through.
"Will you be joining us madam?" Sylan said.
"If the fates are willing." She responded, giving a nod to them both as the doors opened behind them; letting the three of them slip inside while she turned to her enemy, faceplate forming once again.
"Come on then you gutless backstabbing cowards. Come see why I was named Cyaranar." She said as the troops advancing up towards her suddenly stopped and paused as she showed a complete lack of fear despite their efforts to scatter the remainder of the guard and keep the sudden rush of alimbic mechanoids corralled away from her. Even the dead hand; reinforced by the operatives who killed Siegfried; paused. They knew who she was. They all knew who she was. And more than that, they knew what she was protecting and how little she had left to lose.
"A woman like you could get far with us. Just give up the ship and you and your son won't be hurt. You'll be feared and respected; using your talents on a daily basis rather than lounging around a palace." Mercy said, extending a hand out towards the silver haired woman as she regarded her enemies.
"You've killed my husband, you've laid waste to my homeworld, you've killed billions of my people on flimsy pretexts, and you've put most of the best friends I've ever had in shallow graves and you expect me to join you? Being Cyaranar is more than just being a great warrior, it means having integrity. Something I'm sure none of you have." She spat back, a scowl forming behind her helmet as she took a step forward and most of the gathered troops took a step back.
"Let bygones be bygones. Come on, I'm sure that you'll live long enough to find plenty of other people to love. Maybe the next one would actually give you a challenge in a sparring contest?" Mercy said, earning her a "what the hell" look from Dagger, Magistera, Xirgan, and even many of the more ruthless members of the organization; with even Cyrus and Razorblade looking at her dumbstruck.
"There is no forgetting or forgiving this. And you should all be scared." She said, taking count of every second that passed while the unengaged federation troops seemed to hesitate briefly, many looking at one another.
"Because you have left me a widow, because you have taken away so many friends, because you have set fires on the planet that can be seen from space, because you have committed mass murder of innocents under my watch, because you have insulted my nation and spat on my honour. You should be afraid because you've backed the best fighter in the Imperium into a corner with nothing left to lose and put her son on the line. And most of all." She said; turning to Sigmund and seeing him whimpering, some tears running down his cheeks; then she clenched her fist and looked back at the gathered troopers.
"You made my son cry." She said before rushing at speeds that made even Magistera blink to properly register them as Gertrude found herself on the shoulders of a heavy bipedal RAIT Enceladus class mechanoid; high temperature fusion beam shots going down from her weapon and melting and vaporizing its way through the head of the Mech that she kicked down to crush RAIT troopers with, firing missiles and lobbing kinetic grenades in every direction to break up the formation of the Federation's troopers as he pounced on Razorblade.
Razorblade made a quick cutting motion, but after the rippling fireballs and thundrous shockwaves that exploded around the federation mob, his technique was sloppy and easily turned aside by Gertrude's personal power blade; a hard-light bayonet coming out of her arm-gun as she forced open Razorblade's guard and headbutted him with a force tht rocked Razorblade's whole world; a snare beam coming out and grabbing the Dead hander in its green embrace to use as a makeshift morning star and bat away dozens of RAITs.
Casually dodging the missile barrages of Yuran with a well timed duck and her suit's forewarning sensor suite; she grabbed a RAIT heavy trooper and threw him over her shoulder as if he hardly weighed anything at all; the trooper hitting Yuran in the face and stopping her in her tracks long enough for Gertrude to vault over her; plant sticky bombs onto her shields, then shoulder check her forward while she turned to meet another trooper; this one having weapons designed for close assault that proved useless as she struck her in the face with an ion bolt, then followed up with a machine gun like series of punches that cracked open her armor and pulverized the reptilian alien's flesh into pulp.
A quick series of fusion beam shots followed; short ranged but extremely high temperature bursts of ultrahot gas; the products of powerful nuclear fusion reactions in her gun; letting out energy like that of a star into another mass of federation troopers, carving open a way for her to melt her way right through a tank; smiling as its ammunition cooked off and she; anticipating Dagger's approach; moved to grab her arm just as she teleported into reach; twist it, then throw her to the side; following up with a volley of electrolob orbs that dazed the assassin while she slammed a shield trooper over her head to intercept an anticipated sniper strike from veil.
"Grah, can't you idiots hit anything!" Firebug said as he started up his heavy weapons; a barrage of pulse shots being released at the woman who moved through the ranks of RAITs so that Firebug would hit his own troops; cutting them down by the Dozens. However, Mender managed to clip the woman with a series of missiles; the sudden impact of streams of fire and the heavy "THOOM!"of the shockwaves knocking her to the side and into the reach of Executor Alpha who made sure that she got the full attention of his radplas guns; knocking her to the side while the keening weapons kept up their barrage. Refusing to give in, she grabbed another RAIT, broke her arm to force her weapon to point at Executor alpha and forced her to fire a rapid volley of minimissiles that forced the machine to take cover.
Breathing rapidly; she intercepted a downward blow from Cyrux and kneed him in the gut, the clang of shielded metal striking against shielded metal resounding while she lruched forward and grunted from the impact of a fireball from adder, only to steel her resolve and make a quick hammer toss with Cyrux as the projectile, sending him slamming into the winged demon who protested in outrage while Gertrude shot off a very rapid series of semi-charged ion bolts at Xirgan; forcing the cyborg into a defensive stance while she lobbed liquid-helium and supercooled water freeze grenades in front of the anticipated path of Magiestera; sending her slipping and falling on her face.
The sudden feeling of a vise around her alerted her to Mercy attempting to telekinetically crush her while RAIT troopers fired up at her, but even as her shielding ticked down, she fired up her thrusters to launch her upwards; firing off a snare beam to grab Mercy for a ride as she slammed into Mender, knocking both women out of the sky and Gertrude into the path of a tank whose shell impacted her in the side, making her yell in pain as she rolled for about eight meters before stopping and retaliating against the offending vehicle with a missile barrage; the enemy tank erupting as it exploded. .Hurling more of her freeze grenades at Firebug to immobilize his legs, she let out a shout as she liberally lathered Veil's hiding spot with electrolob fire; making the reptile panic before she turned her blade on the RAIT troopers trying to bring her down.
Counting on the Alimbic mechanoids to buy her time and drawing on the ferocious willpower of a cornered animal fighting to defend the last thing in the universe with any meaning to it, she fought like a Demon against enemies that should have been able to bring her down far more easily than they were managing. The masses of chaff deployed by the dead hand were only managing to get in their way as she kept on fighting; and with thirty seconds left on the clock, she tried to beat a retreat back to the ship; the other members of the Dead Hand up to their necks in mechanoids to deal with. However, Adder swatted aside the guardians in his way and brute forced a path through the assorted machines laying down hell upon him.
"I've had enough of this!" He snarled as he sought to get at the woman, casting his arms forward to bombard her area with high temperature energy, making her lurch forwards as she turned around and opened fire on the demon; the roar of weaponry drowning out all other noise as the Demonesque creature slammed into the ground; a shockwave emerging from him as he looked at the ship and let out a monstrous roar; catching the eyes of Sigmund as he forced his way out of Sylan's grasp; spire nowhere in sight after being called by the Alimbics to follow them closer into the ship.
"Mommy!" Sigmund shouted as Adder stepped forward, slamming his fist to squash guardians needling him with imperialist fire and letting out streams of plasma from his mouth to burn pscyhobits that refused to leave him alone with their rapid battlehammer fire; his shockwave incinerating annoying elctro-voldrums while his other arm grabbed around Gertrude to crush the life from her.
"Give up yet!?" He shouted before turning towards Sigmund and snarling.
"Ah, you...Let's see how inclined your mom is to resist when you're dead." He said as he tried to step through the energy screen. But he did not anticipate Gertrude finding a new reserve of strength.
"No!" She shouted as she stuck as many grenades as she could onto his hands, making him throw her to the side to let her go so that he could tear away the explodes, Gertrude rolling away as the last of her shielding faltered from the attack. Grunting as a stray minimissile clipped her back and took out a chunk of her suit, she tried to rush to Sigmund with all the energy she could muster.
"Mom!" He shouted, reaching out to her to try and grab her hand. But the wet sound of something penetrating through flesh shattered that hope as she felt something go through her. Looking down, she saw Adder's barbed tail poking out of her gut and lifting her into the air, Sigmund's eyes full of shock and horror as his mouth gaped open; blood coming from her as she let out a choking noise before being dropped to the ground.
"Mommy! Please! Please don't go like daddy! Mommy!" Sigmund said as he rushed to his mom, grabbing her head and shouting with increasingly less coherency while Adder loomed over him.
"Siggy...Sigmund...run...please..." She said quietly as her suit struggled to stabilize her, the disabling nanites sprinkled into the warhead that had taken out the chunk from her armor's back continually thwarting its attempts at saving her life.
"Mommy! Please don't go...Mommy...please..." He said as he hugged her head close to his chest. "I need you mommy..." He said while Adder chuckled and prepared to squash him with his fist.
"You'll be together soon." He laughed, only for a rapid series of strikes to slam into him; everything from shock coils to imperialists to volt drivers rained upon his hide as he stumbled backwards; roaring in agony before multiple missiles fired in quick succession followed by a continuous Ion beam sent him flailing backwards; Sylan grabbing onto Sigmund.
"I've got you!" She said, but before she could grab onto Gertrude; Adder's tail whipped around her legs as he stumbled, dragging her away from Velgora, Spire, Sylan, and Mendiar. Sigmund letting out a final wail of "Nooooo!"
But Gertrude would not go quietly, seeing that the doors needed some time to close and still having one last trick up her sleeves; she set her suit to self destruct and all remaining munitions to explode, laughing quietly even as it caused her pain. She gave her son one last look and smiled; her helmet's faceplate sliding away as she said with her dying breath "I love you...my little knight..." into her comm-link with a device in his pocket before a sudden explosion tore through the ranks of the Federation; a brilliant multihued blast that let out a most unearthly noise that drowned out even Adder's roar of pain. It was at that moment that the blast doors finally sealed shut, and Sigmund was left with no more sights of his mom.
Sigmund didn't even have time to be set down somewhere before all he could do was cry, sob, and wail. Even the take off of the vessel and its eruption from the mountains that once housed it failed to register in his mind; for only despair had any place left in his mind. Even the concerned words traded between Sylan, Spire, and the Alimbics blurred into so much noise as he cried. He didn't stop crying until he finally, mercifully fell into a nightmare ridden sleep as the Alimbic ship left a world being pounded from orbit with precision munitions aimed at any bunkers too stubborn for the ground troops; racing past the Xik'Kri'Vik ship and escaping where it could not follow; not even paying heed to the attempts by the Federation warships to slow it down with weapons fire.
Alimbic vessel, Stellar Observation chamber.
"~Is he the only one left then?~" Velgora said, the gunmetal and green coloured alimbic looking at the light blue and green mechanoid and the brown, grey, and orange Diamont.
"Nobody else from the planet managed to escape as far as the records I had show. And anyone who survived would have been killed by the bombardment of known shelters or the sweep." Sylan said; her voice affected by the heavy weight of failure and grief that hung over the mechanoid's processors. She failed the family, the planet, the Imperium, and every time she looked at Alimbic superluminal scans of Cylosis; now swept clean of the evidence of civilization it once had and undergoing a mass extinction event; with the only reason she could figure why they'd let the planet off so lightly is that it'd be a lot harder to bullshit away the complete sterilization or annihilation of a world.
"If it's of any consolation Spire...the Sanders account is still available to me...You're still getting paid." She said to Spire who looked at her with a glare that struck her with every ounce of the loneliness he felt, and the pity he felt for someone else who would now be in his own way; alone in all the universe.
"At this point, the money doesn't mean a thing to me." He said, returning his gaze towards the ground and letting out a long sigh.
"What are you going to do with the kid?" Spire said, his voice heavy with misery.
"~We will take him into our fold.~" Said a familiar telepathic voice as Aliborak hovered into the stellar observation chamber, where Sigmund had wrapped a blanket around himself to try and have something resembling a good night's rest however fitful his dreams were.
"~We will raise him in our ways as one of our own. It is the least we can do to repay our debt to those who have awoken us.~" Aliborak said, easily being able to sense the troubled thoughts of the child as he slept.
"~Perhaps even raise him to one day attain vengeance against those who have harmed him so.~" Aliborak finished, turning back to Spire and Sylan.
"As one of your own? But this is a human child, he needs to learn how to deal with issues particular to human physiology. He needs to learn how to reconnect with the universe." Sylan said, focusing on nothing else but Aliborak as she walked towards him.
"A universe that has brought him no end of pain." Aliborak thought before Velgora spoke up.
"~We will take care of him, and if you wish to reconnect him, you are welcome to stay here.~" She said, offering her a vertical head rotation as an affirmation.
"I would have stayed even if you did not welcome me." Sylan said, turning her head towards the other Alimbic.
"~And what of you, Spire, will you stay?~" Mendiar said; the Steel grey and amethyst coloured Alimbic turning the room's attention to the last of the diamonts.
"Stay here? No. I still need answers you can't provide, but I'll be sure to visit regularly...see how the little guy's doing. Thanks for keeping my ship safe anyway." Spire said, shaking his head in response to the question; a gesture he learned from humans.
"~You will always be welcome aboard our vessel.~" Mendiar said with a hand perpendicular to her chest gesture and a small bow.
"~I suggest that you all retire for the night. The Neophyte will need to adjust to his new conditions.~" Aliborak said.
Imperial Intelligence Network Logfile
Logbook Files: Titles: Cyrenean: Military: Honorary: Non-Heredity: Cyaranar: The title accorded to the individual considered most worthy of being the Martial champion of the Cyrenean Imperium, the Cyaranar is considered the best fighter in the whole of the Imperium and is almost always a figure of legendary repute and ability. Those in the position of Cyaranar are expected to avoid scandal or be the object of controversy regarding their personal behavior or their integrity, and are thus also considered ethical leaders. The Cyaranar is equipped with the finest suit of power armour that can be afforded to them and if they consent, undergo extensive augmentations. Selected from any species in the Imperium; the Cylosian Human known as Gertrude von Sanders was the Cyaranar before the attack on Cylosis up until her death. Preceding her was the Ustronozigri Uvraskart of Ishkarman, and following her was the Tronosonak Huskarant kol Usinarza.
Logbook Files: Individuals: Cyrenean: Isharanti Galaxy: Kularantsch Arm: Luftland Star Cluster: Cylosis: Military: Cyaranar: Deceased: Human: Female: Noble: Duchess: Married: With Children: Gertrude von Sanders: Born as Gertrude von Trostoff before marrying Siegfried von Sanders, Gertrude was a military woman from the beginning, rising to the equivalent rank of Colonel at a young age and proving herself to be both an adept commander and an extremely skilled personal combatant. With equivalent equipment; she proved capable of taking on and besting just about anyone else she met, and even with an equipment or physical disadvantage she pulled through far more often than not. This eventually lead to her attaining the title of Cyaranar after personally defeating a space pirate kill team that attempted to assassinate the current Imperatrice; Yushon kol Muskarant. She served her position with distinction and was even promoted to the equivalent of marshal later. Well regarded for her kind demeanor as well as her fearsome prowess and her distinctive appearance, her death was met with Imperium wide mourning and numerous posthumous "sightings" by those refusing to believe she was dead. Some insist that the figure reported dead was one of her many body doubles, and that the woman herself is still at large.
Logbook Files: Individuals: Cyrenean: Isharanti Galaxy: Kularantsch Arm: Luftland Star Cluster: Cylosis: Political: Chancellor: Deceased: Human: Male: Noble: Duke: Married: With Children: Siegfried von Sanders: Born into an aristocratic family, Siegfried was regarded as a child with great personal ambitions but rather wanting appetite for physical endeavors. After a distinguished academic career, he went into the political sphere under the banner of a left wing party that sought to improve the Imperium at home and keep it safe from those abroad. Eventually, he was appointed Chancellor of the Imperium and lead a difficult career in a tumultuous time. Acting to the best of his ability, he helped the Imperium improve its standing and sought a precarious balance with other great powers. It was during his chancellorship that he met, fell in love with, and married Gertrude von Sanders; who bore him a son; Sigmund von Sanders However, his political skills were not enough to prevent the Cylosis incident, which ended his life and that of his wife. Regarded as a martyr by the Imperium and a backstabbing weasel by the Federation, Siegfried's legacy is considerably more mixed than his wife's.
Logbook Files: Individuals: Cyrenean: Isharanti Galaxy: Kularantsch Arm: Luftland Star Cluster: Cylosis: Civilian: Minor: Deceased: Human: Male: Noble: Duke: Single: Under five: Born to Siegfried and Gertrude Sanders, Sigmund was planned to be the first of five children until the untimely Cylosis incident. Known for being precocious and inquisitive, Sigmund was expected to achieve great things and was genetically designed in utero to be the best he could be. Unlike his mother and father, there are no confirmed reports of his death, though given the totality of the loss of life on Cylosis it can be reasonably assumed that he perished. The official Federation Account says that his mother callously poisoned him to death so that he would not have to live with his father's mistakes, while the Imperial account insists that it is more likely that he died with his mother. However, as he remains one of the few personages of note whose death was not confirmed, many strongly doubt that he is dead.
News: Federal News Broadcaster: Tragedy at Cylosis and K-2L: In a tragic series of events, rogue Federation forces have devastated the long standing Imperial world of Cylosis on the same day that a Space Pirate fleet under the command of the dreaded Space Pirate Enforcer Ridley assaulted K-2L to seize aflorite resources. Admiral Ysdane Leskolian; known for her hatred of the Imperium and her declaration of secession from the Federation, is believed to be the culprit of the Cylosis attack; which has cost the lives of over seven billion sapient beings. Reports say that she had uncovered evidence of a Cyrenean superweapon under construction at Cylosis and put it upon herself to stop it and "save the federation from that two faced scum Sanders". However, in her zeal to deal with the superweapon, it seems that she wiped out the population of the planet and killed the Chancellor and his bloodline, claiming that Siegfried "Died like a peasant", that Gertrude "died as all terrorists do, in an irrational last stand" and claims that Gertrude poisoned her son when it was clear the day was lost. The Imperium of course; claims that this account of events is slanderous lies and demands that Ysdane be brought to justice.
On K-2L; which happened at roughly the same time not too far away from Cylosis, the Space Pirates snuck a fleet past Federation fringe patrols and Imperial anti-piracy units with the aid of what are believed to be advanced stealth systems so that the notorious war criminal Ridley could lead his forces on a devastating and unprovoked raid that killed the entirety of the mining colony's population of a hundred million; destroying all of the planet's far flung settlements and ruining its biosphere. While the Confederacy of Thebez; better known as the Space Pirates, are infamously opaque, we have determined that Ridley's flag ship was confirmed destroyed with all hands on deck lost when Rodney Aran; the Planetary Governor, detonated the stolen Aflorite in his ship at the cost of his own life. However, a second fleet managed to arrive and evacuate all remaining space pirates before the Federation's patrols could arrive, and so far there seems to be no sign of survivors. Rodney Aran is to be posthumously awarded with the Golden Quasar, and his wife Virginia; whose burnt remains were also identified; is to be awarded the Silver Quasar.
As a response to the tragedy, cosmic governments are declaring a harsher stance against piracy and renegade actions, and further sanctions have been voted into place against the Confederacy with many pushing for a state of war against it to punish it for its refusal to abide by international law and and policy of raiding other states and non governmental organizations and the Federation has promised to the Imperium to bring the perpetrators of the devastating attack on Cylosis to justice. Polls are already showing increased preferences for an intensification of Federation military actions across the cosmos to better safeguard its territory and engage in joint operations with allies to make the universe a safer place for everyone.
Author's note: This is probably the largest chapter I've ever written, and it's also one of the chapters I've gotten finished in the shortest amount of time on a per word basis too!
I'm thinking of trying out a first person style later...but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea or if it should be reserved for a spin off.
Anyway, I did think about having Gertrude survive for a time, but ultimately decided against it, since I thought that having that strong of a connection to his past still around would probably take the story in a very different direction.
Similarly; while the Dead Hand made a pretty poor showing here; don't expect this to be the last you see of them, and do expect them to not be such pushovers later on. The same goes for Xar'Quk'Xon.
Also, I'm finally getting into the funner stuff to write! Yay! Though I'm sure I'll be writing things that will depress me soon. And yes, logbook entries can be biased or wrong, since they're in universe sources of information (Sigmund is very much alive; sorry "he was dead the whole time theorists).
Also, a big thank you goes out to Mental Omega for helping me with writing! Check out the dude's stuff, he's pretty brilliant.