Lucifer’s heart thundered madly in hir chest as ze fell down an eternal darkness. It seemed ze had been falling for centuries, and yet it took no time at all until ze hit something. Hard. It felt as though ze had literally fallen back-first onto a slab of titacrete.
Pain spread across hir body, but only for a moment. The feeling dissipated over the next few seconds, at which point ze tried to pick hirself up.
But found that hir arms and legs were bound to some kind of old table.
No, an old, dirty bed. Hir wrists were tied by some kind of rope that was affixed to an old wooden headboard. Hir ankles were also tied by that same kind of rope, but to the baseboard.
Panic filled hir the moment ze recognized where ze was, and when this happened to hir. This was where ze u
Rhylen Terra, Vencal System, Major House FelrahnThe largest megacity on the planet of Rhylen Terra stretched out for nearly a thousand kilometers in every direction. Its center was also its densest, and boasted terrifying towers that stretched up ten kilometers into the sky.But only a few were that extreme - the rest of the building’s heights tapered down sharply and remained low until the very edges of the city itself. Even then, low meant the ‘humble’ height of one kilometer.At the very heart of the entire city was the tallest and widest of them all. Of course, it was the center of power for House Felrahn. And somewhere in the middle of it, nestled safely behind heavily armored walls and patrolled by heavily armored troops, was Felrahn Warroom Alpha.The roo
The Imperial battleships both took on incredible amounts of damage - with one taking far more than the other. The two Felrahn reinforcement fleets absolutely hammered the battleship that faced off against them, and shattered its armor with every moment that passed.Their rail cannon slugs also struck any broadside turrets that were exposed, and smashed the chitin protecting them as well.A number of their stinger-like weapons were blown apart and thrown out into open space.Not that the Drogar battleship stopped firing back. They shot their own particle-charged slugs at the Hegemony ships, even as their own frigates and fighters advanced down the far right flank.Worse, the topside chitin armor slid open and released the massive hovering particle beam turrets inside. All
“I need an update on FGIC Two,” said Lady Felrahn.The holoprojection on the central tacmap was illuminating, but only to a certain degree. Everyone around the table certainly could see when their ships took damage, and their general numbers. But numbers were only one part of a battle.“All capital ships moderately damaged, ma’am” reported an analyst off to the side. “Support vessels have suffered nearly 10% casualties, while skirmish vessels have suffered little over 17%.”“And the Imperials?” asked the High Admiral.“Sensor scans indicate that they have suffered half our casualties at most. However, we still hold the numerical advantage.”“The tac
The attacking Imperial fleet leveled themselves off a few kilometers above the megacity, turned their broadsides towards the streets, then circled the entire thing like they were vultures. Though their bow chitin had been shattered to pieces, almost down to their exoframes, the majority of the damage was merely superficial.And to the Drogar, it was necessary. If they didn’t suffer it, they would never have been able to move into position above the megacity itself.Chitin armor panels along their exposed broadside opened up and revealed the stinger-like broadside cannons to the city. Each one charged up with dark orange energy, then shot energy-encased slugs down to the Felrahn military facilities.They punched through the titanium carbide plating with absurd ease, and tore their way deep into the gun mechanis
Unregistered Orbital Station, Unnamed Planet, Unlisted System, Great House de JardinThe Fleet of the Corvus Republic was docked at a massive Omega-Tau designated orbital station high above a stormy and chaotic gas planet below. The planet itself swirled violently as bright red arcs of lightning flashed deep inside.Despite the planet’s destructive nature, the fleet and the station were far enough away that they suffered no damage at all.Though it was still rather nerve-wracking to work that close to a violent gas giant.Outside, countless drones flew between the ships of the Republic and repaired everything possible. Some of the ships had their powerful armor plating lifted off, and their structure was fixed or reinforced directly.Other d
Foundation, The People’s System, Hegemony of Free PeoplesThe Hegemony’s Foundation planet was absolutely stunning, beautiful, and lush. It was home to verdant forests, barren deserts, towering mountains, and bottomless oceans. There was also a wild variety of bountiful fauna and colorful flora in nearly every biome on it.Far more than Earth ever did.Foundation was in perfect equilibrium with itself, with every ecosystem checking and balancing each other in seemingly perfect harmony. The naturalistic, chaotic beauty of it all.Except, of course, for the fact that it was a bit of a lie. Or, perhaps, a trick.In fact, it was redesigned and resculpted to be the perfect representation of humanity’s origin planet, hundre
“That’s absolutely preposterous!” the Star Dragon yelled out. “Didn’t you hear the part where all of our fleets are already engaged? We have ships out there that are in dire need of repair, and yet are still on the front lines. And you want to thin them out even further?!”“While I have you in mind, Dregha,” said Lady Felrahn. “Didn’t we just hear from the parliamentarian that we’re losing on all fronts? That our territory is slowly getting whittled down, House by House? But it isn’t exactly true, is it?“No, the truth is that Parliamentary Records show that there are dozens and dozens of fleets in the Hegemony that aren't losing. The 5th Fleet included.”The Lady Felrahn turned to one of her aides, and gestured at him with a frail h
Rhylen Terra, Vencal System, Major House FelrahnThe space above Rhylen Terra was akin to a graveyard. Littered all around the wrecked orbital station were the carcasses of numerous warfare vessels, from carriers on down. Everything was torn or blasted or ripped apart, and hung in the dead of space.It almost seemed like a vast asteroid field, if those asteroids were made of jagged titanium plating and structure.Floating amidst the detritus were warped sheets of shredded armor plating, destroyed modules, and frozen corpses. Some spun in place slowly, as though they were in an eternal last dance, frozen in the moment of their untimely destruction.Hidden among the wrecks, tucked neatly behind the vast shell of what used to be a Felrahn cruiser, was Maetel’s Lament.