The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

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sonofccn
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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by sonofccn » Fri Feb 01, 2013 1:45 pm

Senator Garm Bel Iblis? This war just got real.

And the Founders...sweet Jesus...nice atmospheric, lovecraftian piece which I hope we'll get to see the "end" of. Come on Colonel Cronus! For the Empire!

Admiral Breetai
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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Thu Mar 14, 2013 6:51 am

well, sorry writers block kicked my ass again, that and real life again mostly in the form of half my family invading my home from the old country..and then staying

i'll be hurling myself into the tidesverse soon, following a new terror and Preo's masterpiece I've been left way behind and need to pay you guys back for your dedication.

I've got about five chapters to work on so far, the conclusion of which will be Rainbird and yoda meeting and Tarses and Iblis forming an alliance

also..how many of you guys want to see Vader and Im'pec throw down? I've been thinking about doing it for awhile..

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Praeothmin
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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Praeothmin » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:44 am

Admiral Breetai wrote:also..how many of you guys want to see Vader and Im'pec throw down? I've been thinking about doing it for awhile..
WE WANT! WE WANT!


:)

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Enterprise E » Thu Mar 14, 2013 1:41 pm

Praeothmin wrote:
Admiral Breetai wrote:also..how many of you guys want to see Vader and Im'pec throw down? I've been thinking about doing it for awhile..
WE WANT! WE WANT!


:)
I'll second that.

sonofccn
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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by sonofccn » Thu Mar 14, 2013 3:23 pm

Admiral Breetai wrote:also..how many of you guys want to see Vader and Im'pec throw down? I've been thinking about doing it for awhile..
Verily good sir, I do believe that would be the most sensational and exclamatory of endeavors. To which, I hesitate not to add, it would be a most merry and wondrous jape and grand addition to our festivities of speculative writings. I most appreciatively await such spectacle.

Admiral Breetai
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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Thu May 09, 2013 2:41 am

Praeothmin wrote:
Admiral Breetai wrote:also..how many of you guys want to see Vader and Im'pec throw down? I've been thinking about doing it for awhile..
WE WANT! WE WANT!


:)
Enterprise E wrote:
I'll second that.
sonofccn wrote:
Admiral Breetai wrote:also..how many of you guys want to see Vader and Im'pec throw down? I've been thinking about doing it for awhile..
Verily good sir, I do believe that would be the most sensational and exclamatory of endeavors. To which, I hesitate not to add, it would be a most merry and wondrous jape and grand addition to our festivities of speculative writings. I most appreciatively await such spectacle.
ask and ye gentlemen shall receive

also I'm back!

Admiral Breetai
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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Thu May 09, 2013 3:40 am

Alright then I've been gone long enough and everyone has been producing amazing stories a long the way so I think its time I start contributing again

this ones kind of a talkie mostly because I haven't done a lot of plotting and highlighting things

Seksil starts sowing the seeds of doubt in the Dominion rebel alliance to undermine Vi'retess

Garm Bel Iblis gets a legion!

Section 31' tries to play politics and gets its shit checked, Dartanis confesses to blowing up a planet full of tribbles...and how the UFP has changed to much they are going to colonize another galaxy just to keep the other powers in check in this cosmic cold war

and then things get horrible

"at first I didn't recognize him, he looked completely different and I almost shot him, some fool dressed as our Lord the emperors fist but then we realized it was him and he had returned to us in full and our purpose was renewed!"- Unknown Storm Trooper

Thory Sector- same time

Im’pec woke to a yawn and looked around, the entire mess hall was a wreck of drunken sleeping soldiers and officers and pilots. Im’pec smiled it was rare to find a human who could party like a true Klingon and much to his joy he had found an entire army full of them! He reached down with his silver hand gripping a goblet full of cool water and downing it slaking his thirst brought on by an indulgence of overeating and drinking Im’pec suppressed a chuckle, like it or not he was getting old. His shoulder ached and his leg burned especially ate the late hours of the knight, his mighty beard had more and more gray in it and he found himself taking naps at times or telling stories in a manner that greatly reminded him of time he had spent with Kang long ago in his youth. Im’pec smiled at the thought and shook his massive head fury beard and hair flying to and fro before, sliding on a large fur robe he made his way down the hallways of the imperial flag ship the Ram’s fist as he had begun to call it. Captain Toq had left with a division of imperial troopers and resources some four hours prior and likely would be arriving to reinforce Commodore Hertz soon, divisions supplied by Zsinj would also make their way covertly to reinforce the losses sustained by the two imperial officers during their war. Things were heating up and no doubt his master Alexander planned to only increase the pressure on this galaxy as he tried to play section thirty one, the empire and Vi’retess against each other (while sec31 and Vi’retess did the exact same thing to him) in a dangerous cosmic chess game for the dominion of all the known stars. The Klingon Agenda had begun moving very late in a game that was to his knowledge a hundred years (at least) in the making a game which involved three players manipulating everything from the time of the tomed incident onward – The Romulans he knew for sure were the ones that started the Cardassian wars, and it was Romulan agents that encouraged nonaligned merchants to sell to the Maquis – it was likely the dominion (likely Vi’retess or Seksil) that started the earth Romulan wars ages ago and fanned the flames of hostility between the Klingons and the UFP while section thirty one agents inflamed Reman and lesser subjects of the empires passions until they finally destroyed the imperial capital. It was then that Alexander ensured the Klingon Empire took the raptors place as the third force. This age old game of subversion was always balanced delicately. For much of the last thirty years section thirty one was winning, now it seemed Vi’retess led the dominion forward only time would tell who would become the final victor.

One thing was certain though this war favored the Klingons more than it did anybody else and it gave Im’pec the chance to move from all the back door manipulation out into the open to wage war as he loved so much. His focus shifted away from his thoughts when he witnessed Farm girl sitting in a corner looking over the stars, still in her sleeping clothing. Her eyes were red and Im’pec smiled even for a Klingon of her years, to be barely older than a child still new to ones teen years to be so far from home was no easy task. He moved silently forward and she turned and shook her head and moved to stand “Lord Im’pec I didn’t” Im’pec raised a hand and smiled “no child it’s alright”

She nodded sitting back down “can’t sleep sir?” she asked. He chuckled taking a seat beside her “not among the snoring of your senior officers’ he said and the two shared a laugh before he slowly reached up rubbing an old shoulder wound. “Tell me child” he asked “are your parents still alive?” She looked up at him and smiled “yeah they are” she said “my home world is way out of the way, it’s unlikely the Dominion would ever occupy it, the Empire barely has a presence there” she said Im’pec nodded “yet you are here fighting, he must have been a great one that one” he said smiling. At first she gazed up at him surprised a look of shock in her eyes “how did you?” Im’pec laughed “ah child I am not as dim witted as I look” he said and they two shared a laugh “tell me about him” she nodded gathering her thoughts “they killed him in the opening shots of the war” she said in a voice below a whisper “mom and dad they wanted me to stay, look after my younger siblings but I couldn’t” her voice cracking “I’m not a farmer though, anything I touch that grows tends to come out all wrong” she laughed and Im’pec laughed as well his laughter echoing down the room. He wrapped an enormous arm around her and leaned back into the seat “I grew up on planet controlled by the Klingon empire, a colony close to the frontier or what was at the time, my father was a fixer of teeth” he said smiling ‘his father was before him stretching back in my blood line almost a thousand years. My mother a healer and my brothers were all scribes. There is nothing wrong with these professions, we were among the countless billions of faces of no name small time Klingon families that make up the empire, away from politics my nephews and nieces all are proud to be scribes and fixers of teeth and yes even farmers” he shrugged as he tried to remember what noble house his family was loyal too but he realized it was one so minor it hardly mattered. “but I was like you I was only useful as a fighter a warrior I used to lie awake at night dreaming about battle and when I was younger than you I finally snuck off” he smiled

“I bet you won a great victory right off the bat and never missed home” she whispered. Im’pec could only smile “a great victory? I suppose wrestling a drunken Gorn off your commanders daughter and almost losing your head in the process can be called that” he said laughing ‘the truth is, I was terrified and I missed home, missed my mother’s cooking and the battle songs our father would sing, missed my scrawny brothers, even missed our father’s lectures on proper tooth care “he said the truth was sometimes he found himself looking out a window gazing at the stars and he realized he still did “and when the war if it could be called that was over I returned home”

She sat listening it was hard to imagine Im’pec being afraid of anything at any age much less being home sick but he was, and his description of his first battle brought a smile to her face “did they welcome you home?” she asked almost hopeful. Im’pec nodded “but first my mother beat me senseless’ he said laughing Farm girl nodded smiling her eyes somewhat wet. “You think it will be the same for me?” she asked. He smiled “I know that you will never know if you can truly go home should you fall in battle” he said his voice now somewhat serious, she was the age of his youngest son and he knew soon the boy would be going through what she went through now as he did at her age and as countless others all over this war torn galaxy now were enduring. She nodded “oh don’t worry sir I’m having too much fun being a pest control agent to let myself get up and killed” she said with a smile. Im’pec nodded and let out a laugh “good, good” he said before rising “my people have a motto “die well” of course the humans where I come from scoff at that, they said “to live on is a true test of ones honor” she grinned “no offense my lord but I find that one more appealing” Im’pec threw his head back and laughed “as it should be for the young, as it should be” he said lifting her up she laughed and landed on his right shoulder “come child let us feast on something sweet together and then we will sleep and dream of what glory and insanity Rich boy, Toq and the Resolute are currently performing!” he said with a deep jovial voice before moving off.

Maniac leaned against the wall watching the two walk off and he smiled, the galaxy wasn’t perfect, the empire had many flaws but if it could inspire men like Im’pec to fight with it as a friend and people as brave as Farmgirl and the jokers then perhaps, maybe just maybe there was hope for the new order.

…………

Unknown regions same time


The skies at first were deep black then bright blue and purple as a warp in space appeared, several vessels of a make not seen in the Galaxy ever before exited slip stream their nacelles glowing bright colors as the massive amounts of energies needed to shift and manipulate subspace through the ships at speeds unfathomable just a few decades prior. Mankind had been scattered manipulated and been gifted with many forms and many cultures , scattered across vast galaxies distant cousins left to live or die on their own by the will of ancient gods long dead or departed from humanities understanding of creation. Vessels made of a shiny bright silver saucers with legs swimming through space, like shiny new toys headed towards a debris field of considerable size near a gas giant and its rings, curious explorers sent on a mission from a literal god to save their distant cousins from a race of fallen gods mad tyrants who sought order at all costs.

Humanities first tribe had finally come

Aboard The Sarmiento Captain Dartanis gazed out at the wreckage, what looked like ruined Dominion ships and a fleet of hundreds of vessels of far inferior technology yet built so sturdy and so massive that they tore into their more advanced foes until mutually they all fell into deaths embrace together.
The Sarmiento was going to this system to harvest resources to make preparations for what was to come. To call to an assembly all of those officers and commanders whose voices and ambitions now made up the chorus that was to decide the fate of two galaxies and everything between them, two deep blue colored ambassador class star ships and several Defiant class vessels exited, slip space at the same time linking up with the massive Sarmiento, the older vessels were close to an hour out, having needed to stop earlier than the newer vessels.

The Messy haired Captain sat down in his waiting room, which was full of replications of items he had picked up in a life span that had lasted slightly over a thousand years. Dartanis had been young when he left his home world; Al Aurians tended to stay home until they were close to a century or so, usually after their first child hit physical maturity. Dartanis was fourteen when he snuck aboard a freighter heading to another quadrant, he remember his uncles glaring look when caught and his grandfather’s laughter and idly wondered if either men survived the Borg invasion as his own daughter and several nephews had. Thinking about it perhaps he was too young but Dartanis was always trying to be different. Al Aurians were a very old race they lived an incredibly long time and their minds have been gifted with awareness that when heightened like in the case of his friend Guinen (if friend could be applied to someone like her) could become something, so much more. But they had become a stagnant race, change came slowly and growth was all but nonexistent, it took the calamity of near extinction to force most of the survivors of his race to begin to grow. A people who always listened, recorded the greatest lore masters of the universe, respected and sought out for advice even from the cosmic entities what wandered the stars, but the race of listeners never participated and Dartanis never wanted to be a story teller, he wanted to be a story maker. He left his uncles vessel the first chance he could, fourteen and alone his journey started on Bajor an incredibly ancient race that rivaled his own in terms of spiritual awareness and age one that had been traveling the stars since the dark ages after the fall of the T’kon empire, then something happened someone met the things that lived in that worm hole. Dartanis perceived them, he was of an old aware race (the Bajorans turned their awareness inward the Al Aurians outward) these creatures he could distantly feel were somehow tethered to this world yet not so, they changed, something changed, the history of his race changed and they stopped growing, or more accurately their growth paused as if it was waiting for something. Dartanis did not like this and he left, boarded one of their ships and with a curious explorer soon found himself in the gamma quadrant his antics there lead him to listening to many a wondrous tale and many a horror story and in making a few of his own before he ran into the Dominion. That experience had prepared him and though he spent the next eight hundred years wandering Dartanis eventually returned to the Alpha Quadrant where he joined a fledgling power, Dartanis had been a soldier before all across the galaxy and commanded ships and even fleets but never for a race such as this. There was something about these creatures that looked so much like him, something special and it was in humanity that he had put his faith. Though ruthless he served well and when their first major interstellar war ended he found himself being approached by a shadow group, their desire and goals seemed to match his own (the desire to protect mankind and see it flourish and to protect its new federation and all the races within) the fire of man burns bright even in the shadows and Dartanis began to work for the section. The one thing everyone forgot about his race, was that they lived so long and in a lifetime of horrors and wonders that measured in the lifetime of some civilizations one gained the ability to be frightfully ruthless when needed. Mercy was a trait for the young, and he was personally glad that he had three voices to oppose his own and the strongest of those voices turned out to be the young raptor Simon Tarses, who now entered the room flanked by Wildstar appeared via hologram as his excelsior brigade was still an hour out and Rainbird, Restiv and his porcine features entered next to Tarses, they all moved to sit down. “How are the Yamamoto and Typhon faring?” Dartanis asked

Rainbird handed him a datapad “fine but our chief engineers want to designed retractable moorings to allow the Defiant class vessels to “lock” onto our ships much like the ones assigned to Sarmiento do, they can barely match the excelsior groups staying power and it gets tricky trying to tractor them while in slip stream” “plus it would give our crews more time to stretch their legs” Restiv added Dartanis nodded “your men have five days to do it” he said Tarses and Rainbird nodded though they figured they could get it done in one “so we’re not moving out into the galaxy and contacting any one directly?” Rainbird asked with the Klingons here that should have been the first thing they did. Dartanis shook his head “too many factions warring, too many being ignored by the major powers, we need to find one that is the least oppressive and more democratic, further more we still know very little about this region of the universe go fourth frolic and make friends” he said with a teasing laugh, before standing up and walking to the window gazing out of the transparent aluminum “The Sarmiento is going to be scouting locations for a Starbase an off the beaten path system where a few colonies can be set up, and maybe even future construction of a wormhole gate” he said

“What?!” Wildstar asked, they were serious about a permanent presence in this galaxy alright and he knew they would have to begin moving but to bench their most powerful vessel so soon? “That’s bullshit; you’ve seen even the wreckage down there”

“and we can cut their vessels to ribbons hell we could do it to the Dominion and the Klinks” Restiv said “the problem is numbers and those big bastards are built to take insane poundings” he bit his lip before asking “sir I request permission to have regenerative shielding installed on all Defiant and excelsior vessels, the Ambassadors are mammoths and they’re armed to the teeth”

“And the defiant isn’t? You are flying a miniature fleet killer piggy” Wildstar said shaking his head “our armor can hold and we have the specs if we feel the need we can upgrade our shields on our own and without compromising our power generation too badly” he said “what I don’t like is being cut off my our big guns and our damn factory”

Dartanis nodded “agreed and in preparation and to compensate for that I am going to have the Sarmiento scour the asteroid field mine the gas giant for material we can all use and I want your cargo bays and stores packed with raw materials” he said and then handed them all datapads or rather sheets of plastic that were more or less miniature computers, calling these slips Datapads was a lie, the tech had progressed so much in the last fifty years, the era of clunky plastoid tablets was over. “We shouldn’t be gone too long, that gives you a list of destinations we got from the wreckage we found two weeks ago, given it’s only a few years and not much changed between the records of the “lucre hulk” ruins star charts and the recent ones” he said although he knew war had a funny way of changing things he figured given these planets lay too far off hyperlanes they would be okay. “we’ll be there and I promise you as soon as we’re done we are coming to your aid” he said sternly, Dartanis was many things a thief, a killer, a man who had blown up two planets (tribbles and biogeneic weaponry in either case and if he had to admit the damn fur balls were the more dangerous of the two) but he had been a soldier and a commander too and he didn’t like the idea of leaving his men alone and dispersed any more than they did. The mission came first and the mission directives changed almost constantly which enraged him more than he cared to admit. “One more thing, between one and two years’ time a fleet led by a Sovereign will be coming here; it will contain four Ambassadors and a Nebula” that caught their interest everyone stirred. “They’re going to be led by Ben Maxwell” that caused even more murmurs “What? He’s still alive?” Restiv asked, Tarses nodded “makes sense, during the Dominion war there were rumblings of restoring his command history had vindicated the man and he was a truly amazing Captain” he said “before the incident with the court” he cleared his throat “Picard used to speak about him with a mix of awe and respect in his voice, I think they both fought together during the Cardassian wars or something”

“Only once” Rainbird said “Legate Parvek and most of his legion was destroyed in that battle, but I know Ben he was tired of war he’d of refused any command given to him, why has this changed?”

“maybe redemption who knows” Dartanis said “the man may have been right about the Cardassians but how he handled it was not the smartest and in doing so he slighted a lot of comrades people who had fought with him or in the same wars and after made peace with the same foes he did, to think that they were not trustworthy was a slap in the face for many” he said “and I know Picard spoke a word in his favor during the court martial it was Edward Jellico of all people who condemned him the harshest” hearing that left a bitter taste in the younger officers mouth, Picard, Desoto, Ross all the commanders who had become legends during the wars had spoken either as character witnesses in his defense or as a neutral voice arguing that while his actions were wrong and he should be punished clemency was to be given. Of all those comrades the one he was closest too was Edward Jellico and an odd friendship that was for the two men were so drastically different. Yet to condemn him so harshly seemed like a violation of the loyalty part of being a Federation officer, explorer or otherwise your crew was your family, you never let them down and you never betrayed them. “Due to the surge in recruitment, our exploration efforts and our ongoing activities in the delta and Gama quadrants they’ve reactivated the rank of Commodore” he said grinning

“Congratulations on the promotion Commodore Dartanis” Tarses said “actually no that’d be john Rainbird you’ll be congratulating me on the battlefield promotion to Admiral and you and Wildstar to the captain’s rank you’ve both always wanted” he said smiling they all gazed at him. Tarses leaned back he had honestly thought it was a position get yet now he had it “when Maxwell arrives he’ll be a Commodore as well, I’ll be overseeing the main mission and doing all the nasty paper work and looking at the big picture both Rainbird and Maxwell will command the fleet and Tarses you will be handling all diplomatic and political functions” his voice was congenial but Rainbird knew he was probably seething, the section made a power play and paid for it pretty hard it seemed. While yes they got their admiral it would be him and Ben and Simon making all the tough decisions in the field and direct control and manipulation of this galaxy by thirty one was going to be impossible as long they were here. “Isn’t this a little premature”

“four excelsior class ships, seven defiant class vessels and two Ambassadors with the crazy horse dropping personnel off this time next year” he shook his head “our fleets growing besides you all deserve this, you all deserved this thirty years ago and Wildstar, you are profane, you are insane and you cursed out and mutinied against Admiral Janeway only one of those qualities makes you Captain material” he said with a terse scolding tone that concealed the respect he had for the young soldier for doing what everyone in the fleet had wanted to do since they read her mission logs “consider yourself lucky and let history judge your actions from now on”

Wildstar nodded ‘aye sir”

“Anything else?”
“only that when Wildstar arrives I would like to begin exploring the mid rim territories, my understanding is most of it is a no man’s land and we may find a group suitable to our cause there, and those people need help sir” Tarses said Dartanis nodded. “Take Wildstar with you, as well as four defiant classes”

“Aye sir”

Rainbird remained silent though the visions his ancestors and the coyote were giving him told him to move towards a part of the outer rim territories seldom traveled and lightly settled something about the worlds out there called to his spirit. “Still planning on heading to swamp worlds and backwaters Commodore Rainbird?” Dartanis asked sitting on the table now and grinning. “call it a gut instinct and mere curiosity, we need to know more about how the sentient beings in this galaxy have been affected by tapping into that energy source and how it has affected them, our probes show an unusual amount of activity in that sector maybe we can begin to understand what went wrong”

Dartanis nodded, in truth this “force” as the data bases in the ruins called it bothered him, it bothered him a lot, it was an energy wave that existed all over the universe and it was one the Al-Aurians of old had supposedly touched and decided against its use, it was said another ancient race had tapped into it become like drug addicts and then destroyed themselves, bringing pain and misery to the Beta Quadrant (and being the reason behind why so much of it was barren of life beyond the borders of the major empires in that region) Al-Aurians were a once stagnant race but they weren’t ignorant if they had felt that strongly against a thing it was for good reason and finding out concrete fact as opposed to ancient conjecture and childhood fairy tales would be great. “Be careful, how the telepathic races in our crews have reacted to it I find troubling”

Simon Tarses shrugged he could barely just barely hear it sometimes at night, soft almost singing voices, singing with wisdom and memory long gone and long faded. “It doesn’t sound so bad it sounds beautiful, like singing”

“Is that what you hear?” he asked Tarses and smiled “sounds nice”

“Still to be sure” Rainbird said “I will go and since our only other commanders are Vulcan and Romulan I will not order them, they can volunteer”

“Fair enough, alright then in five days we move out! Dismissed”
Wildstar vanished Tarses and Restiv exited the room it was Rainbird who remained “What do you hear?” he asked not buying Dartanis’s deaf act for a second, he had known Guinen through Jean Luc and Elias Vaughn had warned him about Dartanis not long before the mission began. His species could hear and see things even the Vulcanoids could not. Dartanis stood up walking towards a small table and served himself some whiskey taking a sip he looked back at Rainbird “Screams” he said “cries of futile rage as a great tide shifts, anger and lamentation and above all else, endless screams”

Rainbird paused and looked at him, there was an unusual tint to the Al Aurians shadow rather he was beginning to look more like the shadows.

……..

Mid rim territories hyperspace en route to an old rebel stronghold


Garm Bel Iblis slowly sat down in his chair, a brandy in his hand as Denn Wessex the Grand Moff of Imperial over sector 9, de-facto commander remnants of Morlins Chomel fleet and Sularus Brenn a legendary fighter ace weaved their tale to him. Iblis knew Essex he knew him from before the era of the empire, the man was a dedicated commander and soldier, he was loyal to the new order but among the other Moffs he was one of the more “humane” and Iblis believed that had to do with his own outlook on the universe. Wessex believed a strong hand was needed iron men ruled and justice was harsh but it was fair, the emperor on the other hand was a mockery of everything Wessex stood for and it was likely that with this news the man finally realized this. “They’re sterilizing entire planets Senator, both sides” Wessex said his voice cold and full of fury “worlds that are critical but neither side can control! They’re butchering billions and those Rebels! They’re with the Dominion that whore Mothma has to know”

Iblis doubted she did, while he disliked her and mistrusted her he respected her and he knew her conviction in the ideals of the republic would make such actions unconscionable “if she knew she’d be right here with both of us telling her own sad tale” he said ‘and I would say the same thing I am saying to you now, when the clone wars ended and the dark lord of the Sith wrapped his throat around liberty, and justice and equality some of us found the bravery to throw down the gauntlet and challenge him, some of us did so in peace others did so openly, some of us took longer than others but you, for your conviction you chose to oppose freedom to oppose justice and for that you are no better than either side”

Wessex glared at him “be careful Iblis my forces” “are barely flying junk heaps the civilian transports you helped saved could probably fight you, meanwhile my forces are fresh outnumbered but functioning so don’t waste my time with threats” he walked passed him and glared at the fighter pilot who had killed a dozen of his best “The exterminators are one upping you son” Denn Wessex sat seething in his chair, the old man was right though he was a coward and a hypocrite and it had taken him too long to realize it and then looked into Wessex’s eyes staring deeply his own eyes full of a fiery intensity “you think these are the first worlds the empire is killing? Virus bombing? Please your crisis of conscience is too late too convenient’ he said “maybe it is” Denn began ‘maybe I’ve known for a long time we’ve become rotten to the core, maybe it’s fighting an enemy just as bad as us that’s finally made me come face to face with what I’ve become, or maybe I’m just afraid but I have a full imperial legion, two hundred ships and almost a million civilians crammed aboard broken hulls and freighters and damaged warships overtaxed on their resources and life support systems- these people deserve to live and my men will fight for you if you keep what’s left of the mid rims safe” he said ‘but they won’t for you if you execute me as a war criminal”

“Evidently the man who believed in justice so hard he faced impossible odds in a separatist ambush surrounded himself with bigoted fanatics who see neither justice nor are the real soldiers” he said looking down coldly at him. Wessex had enough he stood up and glared at Iblis getting close enough the other man could feel his breath “I have done enough in my life to warrant your scorn but you will not speak ill of my boys you pretentious high born Corellian clown” Iblis stood there his features narrow and cold “your boys are killers of women and children who ran when the an ugly reflection of who they are was shoved in their face”

Wessex brought his right hand forwards back handing the Senator and knocking him back blasters immediately trained on him. Wessex stood glaring “my boys, fought and died defending the civilians on the planets we controlled, many of them were recruited from those worlds grew up there, did they agree with many imperial policies? No nor did I but we held our little piece of the universe together and held it fairly, just because I chose not to waste my men’s lives in some burning sacrifice that looks good in propaganda pieces doesn’t make them cowards, it doesn’t make them thugs and the two hundred and eighty thousand kids we have in that refugee fleet will gladly testify that none of my kids ever hurt a child and if you ever, I mean ever call them that again we’ll go to the next world together Iblis I deserve it all your scorn, all your accusations and I’ll stand trial for whatever you see fit to condemn me for but you will not blaspheme my boys!” he snapped “next time we exit hyperspace we’re leaving” the told the silent ace “they can take as many of the civis as they can the rest we’ll carry as long as we can”


“No you won’t” Iblis said rising with a big smile on his face “I knew you were in there somewhere Wessex, I just had to be sure you knew” he said extending his hand Wessex blinked and slowly, the rage fell from his face and he gripped the Senators hand “on behalf of all those who fight for liberty from the tyranny of demented wizards and mad gods, I Garm Bel Iblis welcome you to the rebel alliance, not to be confused with Mon Mothmas cult of sycophants” he said smiling.

Allied Starbase Red Dawn

Admiral Akbar, Lando Calrissian, and Crix Nadine stared gazing at the hologram projecting the galaxy as it existed currently, the bright red showed rebel controlled assets, the purple controlled Dominion held territory and the blue imperial, the purple and blue were the largest spots on the map, the purple had been much larger months ago but several sectors had agreed to join the new republic. Now they stood about a quarter of the size of both major powers. The ease with which the Dominion let go of those sectors had caused its popularity to soar, as they said they only wanted representation in the senate and trading rights, they had no colonial ambitions yet many worlds desired to be a part of the dominion due to the replicator technology starving and broken they ran to them and the Dominion had agreed to admit many while only acting as a “facilitator” for many others until such time as they were ready to join alliance held worlds and fight for the war, they would give up so much territory, it was generous too pure, something was very wrong here, very wrong. As he gazed at the map Akbar watched the battle lines of Thanagars daring raid and began to realize something terrible. “damn he’s good, both of them are” Lando said, it was amazing he thought, Lando was a smuggler and a gambler but he learned remarkably fast and made for an excellent commander, his grasp of strategy was growing and it seemed to be based out of a well-traveled sense of experience. “Ah, you see it too?” Akbar asked impressed “it’s like handing a little free credit to a compulsive Gambler, I can see why the Grand Admirals didn’t rebel the moment Sidious went off the grid” he remarked Akbar looked at him and smirked “a hustling metaphor?” he asked “well it’s true you give him a little and he ends up biting off way more than he can chew and before you know it you own everything he has including the shirt off his back” he said it was exactly what the empire had done as angry as it must have made the admiralty and as hard as it must have been. Nadine began to understand what they saw and frowned, it was a smart but bloody tactic ‘win every battle but lose the war, the Dominion broke the imperial presence in the mid rim and pushed as far as the expansion region but had to fall back to behind Ord Mantel and Malastare, they don’t have the resources to control more than have of the territory they have taken from the empire, they need to stop and begin administrating that terrain?” he asked

Akbar nodded “however, Vi’retess is no fool the final battles were designed to exhaust the imperial army and navy in the region which they succeeded at and then some” Akbar said, Enzo was able to crush the Dominion advance into the expansion region but it required assets from the core worlds, the regions defenses had been gutted to fight in the mid rim and now the Dominion knew it. “The forces in the outer rim territories on the farther side of the galaxy have not moved” Nadine said “a huge portion of them have been concentrated at Endor and the others have been on standby in their regions so what is it?” he asked Lando nodded “I think it has to do with the suns that have gone nova mysteriously in certain sectors it’s caused a lot of damage to hyperspace with some weird “subspace shockwave” and a gravity based mess that’s made hyperspace jumping in long ranges all but impossible from the outer rim to the mid rim in that area, luck on the old priests side” Lando said “unless you believe the rumors that they somehow obliterated the entire Byss system”

“maybe they did” Akbar said his tone nervous, maybe these weapons they were rumored to possesses were rare but being used in another way “show me the pattern of destroyed systems” gazing at it his breath caught, it could be natural disaster, but the pattern was just too convenient, it was across too many important hyperlanes. Between this and the already heavily defended worlds that made jumping in impossible Akbar realized it. Vi’retess knew they were overextended and that the Empire could have managed a counter attack by now, he was planning on it, but he channeled that into a region of space Dominion run but not critical, allowing him to free up resources to make a second push. While Thanagar would begin to do a great deal of damage the deeper he moved in the more difficult it would be to safely gain reinforcements through that hyperspace chaos until it was impossible. They each had trapped the other. With the new weapons theory he began to realize how correct his suspicions were. “We have a problem” he said

“yes” the smooth voice and whimpering hum that came after the three men turn to gaze at the regal looking smug Vorta, Seksil was one of the older servants of the founders, one of the senior war leaders but his soft woman like voice and creepy movements caused a lot of people to be incredibly weary of him, the way he moved now towards them with unnatural bounce to his steps caused Nadine to unintentionally take a step back. “Yes, you do” looking at the map he frowned Vi’retess had not yet made public his counter to the Klingon appearance which made much of their actions to stop an advance by cutting off hyperspace itself now irrelevant “oh warned them both I did that underestimate your intelligence they did both no one listens to Seksil’ he whispered before looking up at them “you mean the Ancient one and Vi’retess planned on telling the rebel leaders they had the power to level entire solar systems!’ Akbar asked firmly. Seksil smiled “no, I mean Month Mothma and Jan Dodona” he said Lando narrowed his eyes, he didn’t like what the slime ball was implying “are you saying they knew?” he asked “Vi’retess and I briefed them ourselves, in fact it was their idea, as long as the planets were uninhabited the system could be annihilated “Lando slowly stood up as did Nadine “they knew?” “I do understand why the Skywalker child and Senator Organa were not told mmmm, poor thing lost her home to such terrible weaponry and a Jedi would no doubt find the idea revolting and heretical, but you, now why did they not tell you?”

Akbar was seething a mix of betrayal and indignation but it had to be confirmed by confronting Mothma this could have been a lie to separate them “I am sure they had their reasons of course” he said turning to leave ”it cannot be that you are distrusted by your own leadership yes? Hmm?” with that he left

……
Last edited by Admiral Breetai on Thu May 09, 2013 3:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Thu May 09, 2013 3:42 am

"facing those demented gods was the worse part of battle, knowing what they could do, a lot of the big wigs kept saying they weren't gods, we believed they were, gods of darkness gods of death, gods of pain"- Grand General Astor 'memories of the war"
.....

Battle brought all kinds of smells out, some oddly sweet most atrocious and noxious, the stench of burning flesh, the horrid smell of burning plastoids and chemicals when a ship took an especially nasty hit, the wreak of human waste as people shat or wet themselves in terror, the much on the floor that was made up of one part dirt, one part filth and one part the fluids of sentient beings slaughtered in battle. But Cronus would never forget the horrible stench of the dead who rose up filthy and rotten controlled by some hideous monster within to fire on their own brothers. Cronus kicked one of the zombie troops back firing on him his head exploded off its shoulders and the body kept coming, it wasn’t until Hodor this enormous brute of a Xeno brought his massive fists down and shattered the creature that it finally stopped. The Lumbering behemoth was one of the outcasts, the deformed half breeds; he was a gigantic gentle monster that Cronus had often seen interacting with numerous small animals gentle and sweet and passive, he was also a creature of pure power and that began evident when that power was brought to bear against anything against anything that had hurt his little friends. The trooper he just turned into putty was one of the first regular storm troopers to sit and talk with the Xenos, the brute had and he had become friends and when he went down Hodors the gentle became Hodor the titan, whose wrath was beyond even a seasoned imperial officer’s capacity to comprehend.

The rage of a child’s mind when something precious is taken by someone mean and all you want to do is make them stop, many troopers mocked and said mean things about him now they were fighting beside him in a frantic attempt to fight off countless legions of the dead. Hodor looked at him “colonel not hurt?” he asked “no big one am fine fight on friend!” Cronus was not the biggest fan of non-humans growing up he had seen too many of them fight on the side of the separatists but today he had found new respect in the form of his giant and his brave comrades. Cronus rounded behind a pillar and tossed a thermal detonated the explosion tore through the roof of the temple bringing debris and flaming support beams down onto the army of corpses and then moved to stand with Hodor and Mouse a young Storm trooper that fired frantically at the enemy the living soldiers now were outnumbered by the dead and their fallen brethren lunged at poor Hodor stabbing him and punching him, the giant tossed them off angrily and threw one into a wall hard enough it shattered, revealing something within that was writhing and twisting. Hodor grew scared and backed off, Cronus steadied the men, then suddenly it exploded outward roaring in a rage a mass of twisted tendrils and

One trooper threw up pulling his helmet off, it was a mass of changeling one that had been injured in the battle and had needed to heal itself, inside its features he could see hundreds of screaming faces, belonging to bodies still being digested, bodies of women and children of Wookie slaves and imperial soldiers all united in a grotesque chorus of misery and despair as the monster slowly absorbed them converting their matter into its sickening amber ichor to replenish itself. One a girl of seven looked at one of the troopers her face contorted in despair but eyes focused dead on him and the trooper in a frantic despair ridden panic tore off his helmet and ran towards the mass desperately shooting and then struggling and before Cronus could stop it he too was gripped and pulled in howling in agony alongside the person he would later learn was his daughter. Cronus cold fury was matched only by the giants who stood roaring “MURDER CHILDREN! YOU NOT GOD!’ he roared and it was a sentiment all in the room felt and everyone instantly opened fire on the demon who twisted and roared launching tendrils forward impaling officers and ripping them to shreds pulling in soldiers or murdering them, Hodor fell to a stab in the chest, but he refused to yield rising again he moved forward he roared in agony he could feel the creature trying to absorb him

Cronus couldn’t allow this one to die that way, pulling out his blaster he aimed for Hodors head only to hear the screaming stop only to be silenced by a sickening explosion which hurled the creature back. Then he herd or rather saw a shape giving his simple friends and several troopers injections

Looking now he saw a group of figures standing grim and tall, the one in the center wearing blood red shining armor, some ancient and arcane coat of arms adorning his shoulders and chest, masked he was joined by seven silver clad warriors and to their side

The Joker Squad

The creature roared and the lead figure roared back “No you sick freak, you have feasted on the souls of brave and noble warriors long enough!” the words came from Hardcase who glared with his ice like eyes rage and indignation filling his features as he aimed his gun at the beast. The leader in crimson looked back “Soldiers of the empire human and non-human alike, Hodor the Brave stand now for Captain Toq of the house of Lorgh and Hardcase of the Jokers now stands to aid you” he turned and fired one of his pistol at the beast who recoiled and roared in anger “Who will join me in slaying this false god?!” he roared

Cronus stood, weary and frightened others rose up, bloody and weak Hodor the simple as he had been mockingly called now named Hodor the brave rose as well “smash child killer!’ Hodor yelled

The sound of blaster fire and disruptor pistols the sound of Poloron radiation and photonic grenades and the anguished fright of the founder echoing throughout the city was became the universal gesture for agreement that day.

Coruscant imperial capital- an hour later

The blackness that had taken him earlier would have been a sweeter mercy than what followed; images assaulted his mind, the faded images of a fateful sunset on a porch on a beautiful verdant world, a deep embrace that brought relief from the memories of terrible battles. Jokes with friends and colleagues in the Jedi order, the teasing remarks of a confident red head, he remembered her fighting her she died so valiantly gave herself over to the force so completely that he had almost envied her. He remembered the deep rumbling voice calling out to him, remembered the humble confidence of a man who gave him the courage to win his freedom and the heart ache that he felt when his mother left him to be one with the force, the solace and comfort he found in the arms of the woman he had loved and the deep unyielding rage that he had felt when he learned that it was his rage that had killed her, he felt the fires burning and the rage as his friend and brother castigated him for the last time, he remembered the resentment he felt seeing that man who he had called brother stand over him looking down at him and the rage that had kept him alive through all the years, and then he remembered the battle when god fought emperor and he felt himself reaching out with the force to protect others, felt the heat and the rage and the darkness from both creatures and his mind had wandered

Ever since Bespin Darth Vader Lord of the Sith had felt his anger leave him and the bitter taste in his mouth and he had begun to slowly reminisce on the past and those thoughts always took him down a path that he would have loved to forget. But never could trapped as he was forever a slave of the man who made him turn on his friends and on his family, he hated Sidious, he hated the Jedi he even hated Padme but what he hated more than any of was himself, slowly the hate was falling away the bitter strong but conflicting with regret. His mind at times as they healed his ravaged body would wander into the future, he felt haggard and ragged but he felt good, why did he feel good? He could not see his opponent only a great black sword and a laugh that could shatter mountains, he dismissed the visions hallucinations from the drugs and chemical that coursed through his body.

“Anakin”
“Qui Gon?”

“Anakin! You must let go!”

Stupid old hypocrite holding on after death yet lecturing him on letting go! How dare he? Where was he when he needed him? Off in paradise refusing to speak to him and watching the galaxy burn “now you speak to me”

“I have always been here”

Slowly his eyes opened, and he looked out at the bacta tank and his eyes shot wide open brown orbs stared back at him, he could see where once had been pasty white skin healthy fresh flesh stared back at him, he saw floating in the tank a thick main of messy hair graying now floating and rage filled his heart as he used the force to shatter the mirror to drive away the illusion of the man he could have been, alarms raged and he fell to the floor. Of course they would rage he couldn’t breathe without his suit and some fool had decided to remove that, Vader wheezed and lurched forward he felt something push out of his lungs and looked down at the artificial breeding apparatus and the weird string like things attached to them, Vader gasped and then stumbled and his eyes shot wide in utter disbelief, he had taken a breath without artificial lungs, he had taken a breath and when he realized he was touching cold wet floor with hands he looked down in shock, he could feel the artificial below the flesh the false bones and the synthetic flesh but he also felt genuine tissue, had his limbs been cloned? Was he still a cyborg only one less overtly? No using the force he reached out and could sense it these were his limbs partially synthetic, partially cloned partially regenerated no doubt using the mad technology of the enemy itself! Darth Vader stood staggering and looked deeply into the mirror and he felt a well of emotions rise up in him shock and grief and relief and joy to be looking at his face, unmarred and unburned shaggy graying hair (he decided he didn’t like the gray at all) and muscles stared back at him, he took in a breath and then anger filled him. This wasn’t him, this was some mongrel creation spawned by idiot fools who dared to remind Lord Vader of the weak thing he had been once. It was then the doors flung open and nurses exited running towards him.

Lord Vader called on the force, not realizing he had regained much muscle and tissue full of the microorganisms that made the connection the force even greater, the dark lord felt and heard the room shatter, glass tore at his cheek and the nurses screamed and droids failed. They were tossed out of the room just as Grand Admiral Seras entered

The scientist! Of course it was her doing, “Lord Vader you have to’ he voice stopped she gasped and was lifted into the air Vader gestured pulling her forward ‘you, did this to me!” he roared his voice was not the voice he was long used to hearing and he shivered and seethed with hatred this wasn’t his voice! “Yes, we had a chance to fully restore you, re-restore your power” she gasped “Who gave you the right, you presumptuous woman!” “Just trying to h-help, Guylos said”

He let her go the mention of a comrade from the clone wars evoked images of the past, and as he choked her he had realized he had been down that road before. Turning he leaned onto a medical med, he sighed mastering himself letting his rage subside it would do no one any good, and he fully realized the enemy they faced was just too dangerous. They needed his power and he needed to save his rage. “I knew him”

Seras slowly struggled to her feet, she was seeing spots she let out a deep gasp trying to catch her breath and stumbled only to be caught by a strong hand. She looked up at Vader “I’m sorry my lord, I just we thought” she put her thoughts in order “the technology of the time was not sufficient to make you strong again, to restore your vitality and power without the aid of a life support system, but now with the stolen technology, I mean it was all experimental” she leaned against the metal, the Sith lord looked over the conversation was boring he didn’t to know nor did he care about the technical aspects of some freak procedure, ship schematics he could enjoy but this mad scientist was torturing him. Seras stops mid rant typical absent minded scientist Vader thought and then she gazed at him “Knew Grand Admiral Guylos?’ “And Teshik and Grant and Batch, Thanagar as well yes” he explained “Guylos was the closest to my age, he was a commodore then the youngest promoted during the clone wars’ he said, she quirked an eyebrow at him. And Vader shook his head that was true this one and a few of the others would not know who he was. “Another time” he said looking down “how goes the war? Does the Emperor Live?”

“Bad” she said “The war goes badly, both sides are at a stalemate both sides have lost billions of imperial citizens are dead” she said softly “The emperor is, in a coma in a bacta tank at Endor, his condition is, the creature ravaged his body before the final attack it will take months to repair the damage and he may not”

The destruction of Byss had weakened his master more than he thought then or perhaps these gods were more powerful than he had realized. The state of the galaxy enraged him, while some of the Grand Admirals were invalid he knew four of them personally and the mad Chiss if he still lived were decidedly not and if they were struggling. “The Ram is taking the fight to the Dominion personally” she said Vader nodded of course Thanagar was doing that, he lived for fighting and he was a complete lunatic “We also have gained allies from a power that is an enemy of the Dominion in their home Galaxy” that part made him raise his eyebrow a gesture he did and when he looked at himself in the mirror he realized he should stop, he hadn’t had eyebrows to raise for decades and it was clear he no longer remembered how to do it properly, looking down he nodded “I need clothing apparently” he said she nodded “we’re forging a suit of armor for you as well”

“you have, served me well Grand Admiral Seras’ he said “I am leaving the details of the war effort in the hands of your council, I will not at present take command, did Sate Pestage survive?” he asked “yes” she said, of course he did Vader thought the worm crawled off “I am ordering his execution and the execution of all sycophants the emperor put in power since Yavin” he said coldly “they will not cripple the war effort, also I want you to liberate all non-human slaves create some army offer them freedom and limited enfranchisement for service”

“already done my lord” she said smirking now she understood why the common soldier adored Vader, he was a warrior “that is the extent of which I am willing to waste time on politics you may get me a shuttle with the coordinates of Grand Admiral Thanagars fleet” he said she nodded “anything else my lord”

Vader turned and looked in the mirror, he would have to get used to it, but he wasn’t ready yet to look upon or hear it “Yes, give me back my voice” he turned and gazed at her his eyes burning with determination “and my face”

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Khas
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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Khas » Thu May 09, 2013 3:47 am

Nice to see an update! :)

BTW, did you check out the new stuff for FPE?

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Thu May 09, 2013 7:08 am

Khas wrote:Nice to see an update! :)

BTW, did you check out the new stuff for FPE?
the road to Endor will be a grim one but one full of awesome if i have anything to say about it.

I'm actually in the process of reading it, Gendos epic, The Breen are awesome and it looks like you'll be out doing my founders pretty soon

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Praeothmin » Thu May 09, 2013 6:42 pm

Hhhm, now I have all my Fanfics again, as it should be... :)


Very nice, thanks for the update!
Hope RL will stop kicking your a** so you may continue with the updates... :)

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Thu May 09, 2013 7:09 pm

Praeothmin wrote:Hhhm, now I have all my Fanfics again, as it should be... :)


Very nice, thanks for the update!
Hope RL will stop kicking your a** so you may continue with the updates... :)

it will not slow my down any longer I should hope, Khas and Sonofccn outdid me in the field of Eldrich horrors they made my founders seem watered down...I must not allow this trend to continue

by the way Vader..I tried really hard to get his more tortured ROTJ era characterization down if failed horribly..please forgive me

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Praeothmin » Thu May 09, 2013 11:57 pm

Oh, hell no, I liked him, as he was definitely a tortured soul, and not the whiney Emo-Bitch we were shown in the movies... :)

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Fri May 10, 2013 2:19 am

Praeothmin wrote:Oh, hell no, I liked him, as he was definitely a tortured soul, and not the whiney Emo-Bitch we were shown in the movies... :)
..I'm trying to imagine Emo-Kin in the tidesverse or the terrorverse and I just can't

I mean Im'pec is going to fight regular Vader just because "you're asleep in a haze is dishonor"

he'd skewer crybaby so would Aphorious (god I hope I'm spelling that right)

and Krevin and Tyler would eat him alive

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Re: The Tides of History (an St/Sw cross over)

Post by Admiral Breetai » Tue May 14, 2013 8:21 am

just to show you guys I'm seriously back and not running off and to hopefully peek Enterprise E and Sonof's interest since they seemed to have grown silent

also you too preao you all wanted Im'pec verses Vader? Well that road is starting right now

also a little bit of back story explaining the History of the Voth and reminding you guys the founders are lovecraftian monsters

up next, Luke Lando, Leia, Han and Akbar discuss the possibility that the Dominion is evil...

and Iblis does something awesome

also..you guys wanna see Rainbird and Yoda meet?

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the Solo clan, when the darkness came they above all else did everything they could to hold back the tide, beautiful and strong and remarkable leaders- if we make it out of this it will be largely because of them" - memories of the long night published 3045 by Jingash "the scribe" of the house of Im'pec

…….

Delta quadrant – two days later


Darkness, if one word could be used to describe the core sectors of Borg space it would be darkness, over a hundred trillion mindless slaves laboring silently, pale border line necrotic flesh, grafted onto bones no longer made of organic matter but synthetic rods, a circulatory system that no longer pumped blood but fluids that regulate temperature and body chemistry and countless Nano machines that swam through the once living drones and kept what was left of their organic bodies from rejecting wholesale the horrific metal and circuitry. Hundreds of worlds that had once been vibrant and green teaming with life and poetry, teaming with cultures that looked up into the stars at night with excitement and anticipation, eagerness and joy to meet others and to bring knowledge and music to one another to touch the face of their distant neighbors and know that like them they were alive and full of potential and eagerness. Hundreds of worlds full of races who would have perhaps taken the form of a vibrant federation of worlds, a dream not seen in the galaxy since the dawn of recorded cosmic history. Dreams and hopes faded and now distant memories, for the did meet their distant neighbors, neighbors who had come from a world utterly despoiled and turned machine, millions of drones in single or two seated vessels burst forth from the edge of their territory like some demonic swarm, the dreamers and artists, speakers and poets. Fought bravely, fought hard and fought for dear life they showed their worthiness and their ingenuity that fought back against the darkness. Such stories were told, such light burned that the Borg came very close to extinction. These poets being the first races to experience the heart ache unique only to the Borg of having to put down shells that were once your comrades your sons, your fathers, your wives and sisters and mothers responded with outrage and fury. They fought back, they fought with all of their heart and soul and they had begun to push back into the home system of these demented technological zombies, then something happened. One of the races had developed regenerative shielding and Nano machine based regenerative armor for their vessels. The horde was quick to take this technology, the tide had begun to turn and soon vessels shaped in geometric designed began to cull their worlds and soon these great dreamers were snuffed out all that remained of their legacy was the core of Borg space, a vast and densely populated miasma of industry and power, all that made up the collective the resources to house the vast mind, to power their enormous trans warp conduits all of that, their heart was built over the ruined tomb worlds that had once been a place of hopes and dreams all that now just a memory forgotten by all who lived.

The Voth remembered though, The Voth, frightened refugees made up of several different species that had hurled themselves from their home world to avoid the extinction their primitive relatives had faced. Fleeing as they did, in primitive generational ships held together only by a conviction a belief, that they would endure, they would survive and grow they met the darkness over a hundred million years before the first T’kon philosopher looked up at the stars, twenty million years before Sargons people began to seed Vulcan like life across the galaxy and when the preservers were still giants who roamed the galaxies. But not all Voth agreed on what to do, a society that had spent thousands of years feuding over religion and dogma uniting only in the face of utter extinction soon found that it was fracturing. Some (mainly those descendant from plant eaters) looked upon their exodus with shame, others saw it as the ultimate gesture of their supremacy, others believed it was fate tempted and it was time to return to a world and settle while many others wished to spread out. The groups split apart the plant eaters creating their Dogma to rein in their society, while others clung to a divine manifesto of growth. Some colonized worlds abandoning their technology to test themselves in the harsh wilds of their new worlds, their ancestors would give rise to the Gorn confederacy the others respected each other’s decisions but hid from one another, each race aged slowly, advanced slowly but only a few clung to isolation embracing their dogma. The rest took their shining city ships and walked the galaxy like giants, meeting the preservers and encountering Q and becoming the first victims of his less than amusing sense of humor (though ever respecting his intentions) these nomadic colonists began to settle the Gama and Alpha quadrants, among their friends was a race of powerful Cetacean like creatures, incomprehensibly large behemoths even by the standards of the largest of the Voth but noble and gentle souls, they met a race of lore masters and story tellers who looked at the universe with eyes that saw deeper and senses that pierced hidden veils and with them exchanged knowledge and told their stories. The Voth had begun to expand, their mighty city ships touched the Andromeda Galaxy, and sat in fond silence smiling with bitter sweet joy as they realized their home world had been taken over by the small rodent like creatures and that they had flourished as the Voth once had and some prayed to their gods and hoped that fortune would one day grant them a younger sibling that they might one day walk together across the stars. It was a golden age for their people, the preservers began to slowly leave the galaxy working their vast plan for survival into the cosmos, a new race called the T’kon began to rise, young and ambitious and incredibly powerful they had begun to carve large sections out of their part of the galaxy even settling part of the Andromeda Galaxy, The Voth had established a home there and the two races had begun to explore it. They began to push into the Gama quadrant as well, a region of space that had once been the claimed capital of preserver space, or at least nearly as much as they could figure it had been since they had kept it very closely guarded.

All periods of peace and harmony however inevitably give way to great conflicts, such was this time. The T’kon and Voth had stumbled onto a race of ferocious warriors an empire that dwarfed their own colonies and was run by the mighty Kelvin, the allies possessed far more advanced technology but the enemy possessed numbers and industry and more than that, they possessed an unwillingness to yield and they threw themselves into war. A war that several Voth sects refused to participate in, others were destroyed, blood was shed loved ones was lost but slowly, and surely the T’kon and the Voth began to push back the aggressive Kelvin. Fleets and worlds burned countless lives had been lost but victory seemed within their grasp finally.

Of course, this was the perfect time for things to go so horribly wrong, from deep within the Gama quadrant a pair of Voth scientists working with a T’kon corporation studying ancient preserver ruins discovered a black ooze, something that was a miasma of organic matter and silicon a life form that seemed to be going through evolution in a fascinating new direction and a life form that had long since been in a deep sleep, preserver energy fields deep within the planet had kept it dormant and in their haste, in their arrogance the scientists awoke a vast ocean of aggression. The miasmic fluid ruptured from the ground, tearing itself from the oceans and continents a sick poisonous life hating plague that had been kept at bay by the ancient and noble light bringers. This fluid could take many forms and mimic the lives it had stolen to grow, a horror from the blackness of time immemorial, the preservers knew not what it was nor where it came from only that, in the early stages of their existence the war between them and this anti life leveled their home galaxy and required the aid of a much older race to subdue, they kept what was left quarantined perhaps due to their benevolent nature or perhaps because they could not slay it either way the sleeping void awoke and the Voth and their allies soon found themselves battling to the death against two implacable foes, in one galaxy this formless stealer of souls in the other a horde of barbarians. Many believed the end time had come, other believed it was a test of their spirit either way the decision was made, and it was time to fight harder than they ever had. It wasn’t before long that their whale like friends found themselves locked in this horrific battle as well and it was then that they erected the Galactic barrier, in the hopes that it would prevent this formless shape changing devil mass from escaping the galaxy should they fail. The T’kon’s response to the Kelvin was ruthless and lethal, detonating several massive singularities at certain points in their galaxy it caused a radiation wave that decimated their species, in their dying fury the Kelvin hurled moons at faster than light speeds towards the bases of their enemies. The devastation was massive and the Voth abandoned their holdings in that galaxy to focus on the cosmic devil that now fought them. The mass had begun to breach their territories and it was the Cetaceans that managed to finally destroy it, the cost of the battle was horrendous though and they had to abandon their worlds fleeing to the Magellanic Clouds. The Listeners watched on horror silently recording the terrible battle and mourning their fallen friends, the ancient Organians came out of their seclusion with the Dowd and began to help fix the damage and slowly peace seemed to be returning to the galaxy.

However the cost had been incredibly high, a portion of the dark miasma had fallen wounded and exhausted onto a world in its ancient home, their it slowly grew, taking on different voices and personalities, new life grew from anti life, life that would one day look up from their ancient home on a chaotic galaxy and decide to bring it to heel. The Voth made friends in the singers and poets and the T’kon began to rebuild their empire, then the Borg came and the poets were destroyed, exhausted from war and still savaged in will and spirit the Voth, though disgusted wanted to do nothing, their friends the T’kon cursed them for cowards and responded with their typical energy and zeal and the damage they did the Borg would take a quarter of a million years for that horrid race to recover from.

One thing became clear, the Voth were now old, they were tired and they had lost the will to continue to move, to continue to look at the dawn with a smile in their heart and slowly, they turned their shame inward and began to fade away cloaking their city ships and refusing to interact with this dark new world that began to don on them. Slowly history passed them by until all of their friends had gone and died, all of maps changed and new powers rose and fell and their younger brothers began to take the spot they had once occupied and with a brave and bright zeal to them a passion the Voth had long lost or perhaps never had. The ancient Voth watched them (those that remembered and did not suppress the truth any way) and realized they had much potential, they grew and their enemies grew and the Borg those horrible creatures fell to the vision of mankind and where once was a threat of assimilation now stood a new age of empires, growing out of the ocean of history, growing strong and bringing themselves close to war.

The Voth had decided they had rested long enough, though they cared for their younger brothers and ever were on their side, they galaxies needed peace, they needed to heal and recover- these species new that could not abide by stagnation however brief chafed and the Voth had begun to force an uneasy peace between the three great powers, the Klingon, the Federation and the Dominion. A peace that for the last eleven years had resulted in a cold war that kept all three sides at an impasse (with the dominion still struggling to catch up and tired of war)

Exiting slip space Solabar watched as the young pilots guided their massive city ship between debris and ruins that made up what was once the heart of Borg space. Solabar was a massive crimson skinned giant standing about nineteen feet tall, broad chested and powerfully built a body lined with scars he was a warrior, born in the wrong era the leader of this city ship had often found himself getting along with the rowdy Klingon warriors that at time conducted trade with his people, descended from the greatest predator to ever walk the earth Solabar burned with pride, dignity and a strong sense of justice. Though he enjoyed a good fight, he believed firmly in the peace that had been kept even if it was more a cold war than a true peace, it had allowed for some healing and it kept the chaos of the ancient times long silent and a thing of sad stories. Today however, he was not there to threaten either side to force the peace to be kept, the Q had told his race to stay out of it and all agreed but his race, which had decided to get involved though not in the way one expected. Sitting here now, looking out into the ruins of once gentle and kind races claimed by evil, the decision had been made.

Never again

“we’re detecting a slip stream event Solabar” one of the young trainees who often manned the sensor consoles had clicked out in a call, slipstream was something that the Voth used for extremely long travel as they had found it did relatively small damage to some layers of subspace and helped repair others, trans warp had been used for short range travel for tens of thousands of years because it had a far more positive effect on subspace, or rather the repair effect was far more immediate – it also consumed less power and computer memory, but these humans they could never do anything half measure. Everything was embraced and they committed to their experiments all of their nature and it showed, failure and success each one was fascinating to them and merely meant a new chapter in an ever growing saga. He suppressed a smile this new chapter yielded some pretty impressive new toys.

A fleet of ships exited slipstream including one shiny new one, deep blue it flew along, the design was old but the entire hull was new, this was a re-launch of the Excelsior class, from what he understood the original models were designed to be trans warp capable long range explorers but sabotage frustrated that, the design was made specifically to last a hundred and fifty years, easily upgraded and refitted there was a practicality in reviving the line, for slip based exploration tough ships able to adapt fast and customizable needed to make up a good portion of your fleet, and supposedly the USS excelsior with an Admiral Paris had fallen in battle with the Klingons protecting the Devore and the fall was so spectacular the first new age excelsior was given its name. He gestured and one of the younger ones scanned it “I’m reading ablative armor, regenerative and trans-phasic shielding, seven of their newest phasers and weaponry, heh and an impressive sensor system” the young one said smiling.

Solabar grinned, his massive jaws bearing fangs so his little brothers and sisters wanted to show off huh? “Decloack the city ship” he ordered ‘let’s show him our tools” he said with a laugh

Newly appointed to the rank of Commodore and coasting happily in his ship Nog sipped his afternoon snail juice as he watched Admiral Ruiz enter along with Captain Molly O’Brian, she had been assigned to third fleet some six years ago and the two of them had been on some pretty wild adventures together. She was as fierce as her mother, as determined and brilliant as her father and she possessed the same fierceness Nog remembered seeing in Worf and in Kira, and she had inherited Odo’s strong sense of justice. It made her a respected diplomat and a ferocious enemy, the Klingons called her something that loosely translated into “pretty lion” although the tone was on the word “pretty” was more lecherous it was said with more respect than anything, and with good reason, Captain O’Brian had cut her teeth in a fleet battle against Im’pec himself and when she had challenged the massive Klingon to personal combat, the laughter and respect that followed was enough to allow her and her outnumbered ship to escape. Nog was given command four divisions within the third fleet; he commanded a Starbase and some six hundred and fifty vessels, the patrol and exploration fleet was in charge of watching the no man’s land that had become the former Borg sphere of influence and other unexplored regions of the Delta Quadrant, in this eerie cosmic grave yard pirates and grave robbers, spies and smugglers made the place a dangerous region to travel and what shipping and commerce (in the form of mines and research teams examining Borg technology and other archeology sites) were in constant danger, patrol duty was hazardous and on top of that was the creepiness he was very glad that Molly was here by his side, his friend was an excellent lance and it always made him feel better to know the chiefs kid had his back.

“Admiral on deck” everyone stood and Ruiz gestured for them to return to their affairs, Nog didn’t like Ruiz, oh sure they had worked together at the tail end of the Dominion war and Ruiz was a competent enough engineer and even fighter but he was ambitious, and he always had a way of moving his way into positions that were bound to give him as much political power as they were career fulfillment, The Ferengi respected his ambition of course but as a Starfleet officer it bothered him, Ruiz was fully capable of earning his way and he did, he was brimming with talent and had a knack for leadership, all this he used for his own end and not the betterment of others it was contrary to what Nog had been taught. Ruiz was one of the most important people in Starfleet now, and he rarely left his space station in the sol system unless it was urgent. Here he was waiting for the Voth, all because of some stupid underhanded mission with those no good thugs in thirty one. The Ferengi heard things and it disgusted him, he wasn’t happy, he knew Molly wasn’t happy, he also knew that once reality donned on Ruiz he had begun to make moves to check the power play, and thus they were here. Though why neither the Admiral nor Commodore knew

“Where are they?” Ruiz asked “they’re late”

Nog smirked and had to suppress a laugh when Ruiz suddenly took a step back “first time seeing a Voth city ship sir?” he asked with a sarcastic grin. Ruiz nodded at the massive form that appeared rather suddenly out of nowhere, then suddenly a holographic image, or what he thought was a holographic image beamed directly through their shields, the gigantic regally dressed Cardinal looking monster lizard priest had Ruiz almost fall, only to have Molly catch with a laugh “I-I thought Voth were ““oh there are a couple different species sir, the friendly happen to be these big guys”

Nog stood up and walked forward “just what the hell do you think you’re doing you over grown pet!” he barked “transporting through my brand new shields and ruining my brand new carpet with your scaly filth!’ he roared, the tiny Captain standing fiercely in front of the gigantic Voth who glared. Ruiz paled what the hell was the lunatic Ferengi trying to do? Get them all killed? “You pathetic bug eating wretch this is the thanks you give me for trying to help you!” he roared back his voice booming like thunder “I should feast on you right here” he roared and Nog stood even closer now “you and what army!”

Silence and then laughter as Solabar picked the little Captain up in his hand “it has been awhile you demented little thing! How I have missed you!” “indeed” Nog said “there is a trade delegation from the Andromeda Galaxy next month some of the minor powers have sent envoys to the Federation to see about a technology exchange and trade’ “I know, I was going to send my son and his city ship but I shall go, I would like to see Earth walk where my ancestors walked” he said before setting Nog down and eying Ruiz “but I have not come for that my friend I have come to talk to him about his mission”

“Yes, we are planning to send a team led by a Commodore Maxwell and Captain O’Brian here to a distant galaxy to prevent the Klingons and the Dominion from overrunning it”

“No, not them I mean the team you already have there” Solabar said “and don’t lie to me from this point forward or you will get no help from my people”

“So the Q contacted you too?” Ruiz asked “oh we knew about it before they did, we were going to intervene but the Q told us not too and we won’t do what we were planning and all three of you crazy kids can thank us for that” he said Ruiz nodded “then what are you planning?” he asked coolly “we explored that galaxy long ago, we left it because of the Sith lords have you heard about them” “vaguely, something about two religion factions warring for control”

“one of them a few decades ago ignited a clone war that erupted across the galaxy, he won and we left” he said “we have no interest in a realm full of mad tyrants, even when the Dominion began to expand into it we did not care, two insane fanatical sects fighting each other to the death so be it, but then the relics” he began “the extent of the help I’m willing to give you are names of potential allies if any of them still live, star charts’ he paused and grinned “and we will transport your fleet even give it some of our older technology I and my son will do this and that will be the extent of our involvement in your fate for the time being”

Ruiz was astonished, that would likely shave months off the eventual trip and even outdated Voth tech would be perhaps enough of a boon to overcome the massive odds facing his people there “thank you” he said “in exchange for what?” he asked curiously

“Vi’retess, Alexander and section 31, none of them must be allowed to succeed, stop them at all costs oppose them at all costs, do not let the darkness prevail”

The giant and his ship were gone, leaving Ruiz to contemplate his meaning, and a feeling of dread swept over him, just what was S31 planning?

Orbit over the Imperial capital

The executor loomed over the imperial fleet, the first Super star destroyer docking now at one of the few orbital space stations massive enough to accommodate it, beside the station loomed one of three new SSD’s and the personal flag ship of Grand Admiral Octavian Grant. Normally the traffic to these giants was slow and random, as new technology was unloaded and installed, as new personnel entered or moved along finishing work on the weapons systems or transported food and water and troops to and from the gigantic vessels. Today however, over a thousand troop transports had come and gone, dozens of freighters began unloading hundreds of spare parts, and weapons and medical equipment the new machine shop with its resequencing technology and new refining technologies had to be installed piece by piece much of the old industrial parts of Vader’s super star destroyer had to be ripped out as the new ones were installed a feat that normally would have taken weeks was nearly completed inside of five days as the ship itself began to be packed full of soldiers, Xeno corpsmen and storm trooper, replacements and auxiliaries for the ram and his fleet

And above all else, these jaded few veterans once the largest and proudest legion in the galaxy reduced now to a small elite band of forty thousand brothers (the number was steadily growing as they began to accept the newer recruits who proved themselves) who had survived the burning of the first death star, the hardship of war and the agony of doing the unthinkable, these elite troops perhaps the greatest ever produced in the galaxy now stood all of them on board the leviathan, proudly awaiting the storm and eagerly preparing for the task ahead. For too long the Emperor had kept them cooped up at Endor, guarding the old sith king and his dusty army of sycophants that sat around placating his every whim. Sitting about as they worked their wilds on him and he himself slowly grew insane. Their frustration as the galaxy burned around them mirrored in the quite stoic nature of their lord and leader.

And what frustration it was! The greatest war in the history of the galaxy had erupted around them, legions of cloned soldiers genetically engineered monsters and gigantic fanatic warriors with teeth as sharp as light sabers marched with their depraved gods and had been carving a swath of death and destruction across the galaxy, bathing in the blood of the imperial armies finest troops and burning out of the skies idiot and capable Admirals alike in a seemingly unstoppable advance. News came of great battles as entire sectors had fallen, sectors that they had bled for and fought for against automatons and mercenary generals of considerable brutality and ruthlessness, dark Jedi and Sith lord alike they had fought and long did they pray to whatever gods may exist in the cosmos that they would face the dark gods and their endless hordes, that they would have a clean fight best verses best where the title of greatest troops would be laid on the line for all to see. The time when history would vindicate them

Then the Battles of the Ord Mantel and Malastare happened, and it had been heart wrenching and disgraceful that they hid in a distant fortress station while the others laid their lives down.

Then the Ram had called for battle and their lord answered.

Their lord, who was now reformed, regenerated and healed who walked forward, in new sleek black armor, a mask that breathed as it always did but with a filtration system and not gasping Iron lungs. Their lord who moved now with fluid grace and incredibly power, their lord who now looked his age but seemed to possess renewed vigor walked onto the command bridge. A gloved hand rested on a railing as the last of the ships departed

Their leader said only one word “jump” and the mighty vessel departed its moorings and made the jump to hyperspace

Every one of them smiled

The 501st would finally show the Dominion what real soldiers were made of.

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