December 10, 2106 (military calendar)Iv'Lux(transted) 101, 79(Tukyarid calendar)SperoThe remaining fleet was a little surprised when the 104th jumped out of the system entirely by themselves with no warning.

  I made sure the onager had plenty of news recordings onboard and plenty of other shows. It will be interesting to see what happens next with them.

  The ramp to the dropship opens revealing a barren desert. I walk down the ramp escorted by Sif, Berk, Bear, Hawke and Fermi. Ace is in the system lurking.

  Not one sentinel has their real kit as Hawke isn’t allowed a mech yet as there aren’t really any invented. Bear is close but heavy armor with a big gun is still heavy armor with a big gun.

  About a dozen or so Tukyarid are waiting for us by a hole in the ground. If I’m correct it’s the same entrance to the secret tunnels that General Tanya found.

  A few Tukyarid go down followed by Berk. He gives the all clear and the rest of us follow. I know they have been working with our forces since we nded on the pnet initially but you can never be too careful.

  We are led through miles of tunnels to the hives queens. Now that the pnet has been liberated they have either been released or come out of hiding and have all congregated at this main chamber.

  The queens are massive, not having had any contact prior so no scale was ever made. They have antennae the entire length of their spine all twitching.

  I’m certain the sentinels are all watching them to see if there is a pattern between the queen's antenna movement and the drone's antenna movement.

  What looks to be the main queen at least on the pnet moves to the front. It speaks slowly anticipating transtion software. Tanya had lots of time to refine and speed it up so it’s not necessary.

  “Greetings leader of the humans” it bows low “all the hives here wish to express our thanks for liberation” The rest go even lower.

  I frown in my helmet not being fond of others kneeling like this. I reply “I'm certain we would have liberated you sooner or ter, the Misnai would have bumped into us at some point starting this war eventually”

  The leading hive queen stands straight. “Regardless thanks must be given… though there are some who believe one oppressor was changed for another”

  I smirk a little and answer “I won’t try to promise we aren’t oppressors instead those who believe we might be can watch and see what happens letting our actions speak for us”

  All the queens nod some perhaps begrudgingly. I take the reins on the conversation “From what I hear this pnet is only designed as habitable candidate six in your system. It’s just a jumble of letters and numbers in ours. I believe a new name is required”

  Again the queens nod “I believe embassy would be fitting. Both a designation and a promise for the future. There will be others besides the Misnai and some may be like the Tukyarid people, having a pce to show both our hospitality and strength will be needed”

  One queen from the back asks “Our” I nod and continue “Indeed, we are allies after all” alien murmurs start up. I wait patiently for them to die down.

  The lead queen speaks over the remaining murmur “Our people are still inexperienced in the manner of war… your people are not. What would you suggest we do to assist you”

  Now we are at the meat here. “An army cannot fight if it cannot eat nor can it fight if it can not find the enemy” I let them digest it before I expin.

  “If you could provide us with the location of pnets both yours and the Misnai’s and help provide supplies that are harder to produce in the field such as vehicles armor it would dramatically improve our logistics”

  The queen nods “that is agreeable with some conditions. Unarmed human advisors only in the foundry’s. Additionally we would like help creating a fighting force like yours. The human in charge of the fighting made a crude one to let some of the hive liberate the capital”

  A hive queen further back asks “Where is that human they are most deserving of our thanks” Not wanting us in their factories is understandable but it seems a fighting spirit has awakened or at least the knowledge that one is necessary at least.

  “After we helped you set up the factories and foundries we didn’t pn on leaving any humans here except a small office for communication. As for training a military we can try and see if our training will be compatible”

  “As for General Rex, she and the 104th have already left the system for the next one” The tukyarid equivalent of a gasp is heard.

  “They are already gone” they ask. I nod “Indeed. They have several reasons, duty the love of war but also the Misnai have taken one of their own and are experimenting on him. You’ve likely seen the transmission”

  “No force in the gaxy will stop them now from reducing the Misnai empire to less than ash”

  A few more topics are covered before we go back to the surface. Berk suddenly excims “haha yes, pay up bear” Bear sighs so I have to ask “What was the bet”

  Fermi fills me in “the 104th members in R’lyeh all are in the pvp arena plus some others who joined them. They started building a wall to bisect the area and the bet was whether they could defend from two of the biggest groups”

  Berk adds “If they finish the wall they will control who can get from one side to the other. It has no point being made other than they can. I like them”

  Sif adds “They certainly are of Caldean blood” I nod “Perhaps scattering some tech is in order to spice things up”

  The sentinels look at me and I know why. Sentinel tech is forbidden effectively from being handed over. Caldean tech is slightly less so but there is still a line.

  Having them stumble upon a ‘artifact’ would be the only way to hand it over. “What should they stumble upon first” Sif asks already going over the logistics.

  Hmmm “they are going to be in the void for years with no home maybe gravity but you know the basic one” Sif nods likely looking at the schematics of the artificial gravity generator I’m suggesting.

  The first design we ever came up with used an enormous amount of energy making ship-wide gravity prohibitive but could give a ship section real gravity. A good captain would shut it off in combat to make better use of their reactor.

  Most gravity generators work by making and then directing gravitons by one means or another. Sentinel ships use more advanced systems to propel the entire ship which gives them complete omnidirectional thrust and staggering acceleration.

  I’m fairly certain that the 104th will find a unique use for it beyond the obvious. “You can have some wreckage emit a signal for them to find or just have silver tell you a good time to drop in a derelict ship”

  Sif nods coordinating everything. “Now on to legitimate business, how’s the progress on the space elevator” Sif takes a moment to peek through to Earth.

  “The base is completed and the orbital station has locked into a geosynchronous orbit and making good progress. The st hurdle is the support structure and the tether”

  I nod “Excellent progress that will help our logistics immensely. Any other updates” after a pause Sif answers “There is a measurable improvement in the atmosphere, around five percent however the dust storms are getting worse… it’s at the point it’s not worth painting anything on the surface it’ll just get sandbsted in a week or more likely a day”

  That was unexpected but not a wall just a speed bump. “As for this pnet, the base the expeditionary forces made is being dismantled and moved to the spaceport they initially captured. While they could handle the radiation levels in the area it isn’t sustainable for less gene-cracked individuals”

  From all the reports that location is the only reason they survived because the Misnai wouldn’t go near it. Why they didn’t surround it is beyond me… beyond Bliss even for any tactical reason but none of us will compin about how we get a victory. Something I’m sure the 104th will test.

  Sif stops me and then quietly states “There was one other thing… the tukyarid have traces of intelligent design eerily simir to pilr-made creatures”

  She lets the implication hang then I shrug “I get your meaning but it’s too te to do anything about it. What we can do is get a complete list of what she made”

  Admiral / Archduke Cole Slipspace transitOnce we transitioned to slip Tanya called for a meeting in the secondary bridge as it wasn’t in use at the moment.

  Myself, Tanya of course and Parks are the only ones there at the moment. Tanya frowns a little then states “We’ll probably have another few once Horace wakes up and once we get Griffin back”

  She pauses and I catch a brief glimpse behind her eye of an endless sea of wrath. “Anyway the big stuff we do actually have permission from Spero for my pn and he was actually going to suggest it anyway so congratutions on becoming nobles”

  “Second we are going to go a little slower, taking more time to pn I don’t want to be stuck on a pnet for a year again if we can avoid it. That means sitting in the void running dark and just watching if need be”

  “This goes without saying but reinforcements were never guaranteed and that still holds true. While we can eventually rebuild all our ground assets flesh and blood once spent is lost for good”

  Me and Parks nod and she lowers her voice “That said… and this doesn’t leave here, tukyarid reinforcements seem to be guaranteed so whenever possible…” She lets it hang in the air unsaid.

  It doesn’t need to be and she knows we feel the same. Will we feel some guilt? Maybe but everyone in the fleet would gdly let a dozen tukyarid die before their brothers and sisters.

  “That’s a st resort though so everyone gets more training. To a man I want everyone to be up to specter team training like Archangel and Zombie Bate we won’t have the numbers so quality it is”

  A majority of the men are close to that standard just from service time but those two squads who Tanya dubbed Specter teams years ago are just that good.

  “Parks it would be fantastic if everyone under you could do a brain surgery while in a firefight but that’s your field. Cole I’d imagine better engagement range and finding the enemy faster would be good points of improvement”

  I shrug “Deeper familiarity with their equipment and cross-training would be my priority, that would allow further engagement yes but also if someone got injured another can take their station”

  She nods “Good I want to hit and cripple fleets before they even know we are there” Parks then adds “I’ve been trying to get all my guys to field surgeon status but it’s been slow as I’m also requiring them to all get marksman status”

  Tanya leaves off Griffin and Horace’s sections for now. “Next thing now that I’m king and beholden to no mortal… well just watch this”

  Tanya pys a video on the screen and from some of the information tags it’s old. And familiar. It pys and I pce it, it’s the first battle of the shipyard in Sol, Tanya did give me a video after that but I never did watch it.

  It depicts her leading her squad through corridors on a station jumping from cover to cover and utilizing the null gee as best she can. Orsnteen and Smo are there with her pushing up.

  From the looks of it, it’s going great until a warning is called out seconds before the outer wall is punctured and they try to hold on but are all ripped out the ragged hole.

  Smo is ripped in half while Orsnteen has shrapnel go through his visor. From Tanya’s perspective, she’s not doing much better. She catches the wall on the way out… with her neck.

  Blood sprays out and congeals in the void. She fys and tries to hold her throat but quickly her movement slows and stops. Obviously, because she bleed out in space, all five liters were sucked out in seconds.

  Impossible as she’s standing right here. But the video isn’t over a few seconds ter she starts moving again and coughs then calls over the radio as she uses her thrusters to orient and then head for the closest station.

  She pauses it there. She seems to be waiting for us. She certainly died there there is no world that is survivable. Both me and Parks know that. We've gone through and made the training and We’ve both seen too many people get that same treatment.

  In light of anything else I ask “How” Parks also asks “Moscow? Again on the pnet?” I furrow my brows. What does Moscow have to do with this…

  Tanya slowly begins to answer “My gods are real… in Moscow, we made an agreement I can’t die but that also means I can’t pass through the gate of eternity and get to R'lyeh”

  Parks shouts “I fucking knew that sniper got you in Moscow” Tanya shrugs. Nothing else she can do really.

  But “so Moscow the shipyard and the pnet… you’ve died three times then” Tanya shakes her head “More actually Griffin got me a few times on accident while sparring. The championship was one instance”

  Silence hangs in the air for a few moments. “So that expins why you downsized your command squad but wouldn’t that put Casper at risk still even if you can’t die”

  She looks me in the eyes “he’s the pilr of death I think he’ll be fine” I blink “Huh… I’m not sure how I feel about literally death being in my fleet” I say.

  Is a lot of this overwhelming? Kinda. yes. Is some of it honestly to be expected? Also yes. Tanya has always been weird and downright eccentric with her religion. Something a majority of the fleet shares but it doesn’t cause problems so.

  I even find myself occasionally asking war for guidance from time to time. I wouldn’t say I was devout but I’m not going to say it’s full of shit either.

  Now we are an independent kingdom ruled by someone who can literally not die at least in part literally blessed by the gods.

  When you put it that way what is there to fear? Even that aside despite some of her fws Tanya is a beacon of loyalty, yes even breaking off from the republic doesn’t change this. She hasn't expined her reason yet but I know it's not out of malice. It is more likely in a py to help the republic in some way.

  The meeting dispersed shortly after that as Horace wasn’t there so it’s not worth going into details without him.

  I walk the Onager and listen to some idle conversation as I pass groups. A lot is bragging as one might expect but some of the tidbits I pay much more attention to than before.

  Things like “you were right that prayer seemed to help that explosion” and another about telling death to fuck off coming from a medic.

  For decades these have been going on, slowly at first but now it’s nearly more common than not.

  All is brought to a new light. And with it, I change course and head for the galley which also serves as a chapel to get a certain book. Its high time I educate myself.

  I feel like me and war are long overdue to being formally acquainted. Of course, my presence grabs the room’s attention.

  I ignore it and go to the table with the books, tomes as some have called them. I inspect them and notice one is a general book while the rest are specific for each pilr.

  I grab the one on war and pause. The hair on my neck stands up when I gnce over Helios. I grab it too and heck why not the overview book. That done I head for the bridge to check on it.

  Halfway there the ship shuddered and arms started to scream. I grab the closest handle and unch myself forward effortlessly navigating around everyone as I speed for the bridge.

  After what feels like an eternity I make it and get in my chair and strap in. “Status report” navigation responds “reports still coming in, no damage so far but we are no longer in the slip”

  I check the external cameras and sure enough we are in the void. “Why are we not in the slip” I ask and engineering responds “unknown but best guess is collision avoidance the rest of the fleet got it too so it dropped out together”

  I frown “Sensors what’s out there” the reply is immediate “unknown at this time still performing a sweep… hold one… what the fuck”

  I order it on the main screen. It’s a ship. Probably. It just doesn’t seem right. It’s drifting through the void and as it rotates it seems to disappear.

  I get Tanya on a channel in my earpiece “Get a feed of the prow camera” then I address the bridge again "Weapons spin up and lock but don’t fire" We watch some more and some sections seem to reappear while different ones appear in new areas.

  It almost feels like an M.C Escher painting as it moves. Eventually, Tanya states “I’m going to take a look keep it locked up and by no means is there to be anyone allowed near it until I say so understand”

  One of the hangers open up and a single dropship leaves. I send a ping requesting a live feed from her helmet camera and put it on one of my private dispys to watch.

  The dropship stops at a five minute space walk distance. She’s clearly not taking any chances. Eventually, her mag boots make contact.

  The strange ship almost seems to solidify as she makes contact. I pull up the sensor reading and incomprehensible is the only way to describe it.

  “How are we detecting anything in slip if we are in real space” I ask. What’s even more strange is the sight house that we are picking up matches up to the ship in front of us.

  I look back at the helmet feed. Her feet seem to have slipped out meaning the hull is non-ferrous. She’s currently crawling across it looking for a hole or hatch.

  I noticed something else from the feed, there is some distortion or interference. Just barely enough to be noticed but it shouldn’t be there.

  “Found a hole” she says and then seems to slip through the solid hull. The inside of the ship makes less sense than the outside and the heavy interference doesn’t help.

  My ears twitch and I hear a faint pounding like feet running on metal. The bridge opens up and Silver shouts “don’t enter the wreck”

  I gnce at her then to the feed as it dissolves into static with a single sensible frame every one in a while.

  “Close bst windows and censer all incoming data” I command. Something is clearly up with this thing and if a sentinel as id back as silver is this worked up I’m not taking any chances.

  One frame catches my eye and I rewind the helmet cam to find it again then freeze it. Indescribable. It’s beyond words but I’ll try to describe it.

  It is at least twice as tall as Tanya most likely more closing in at twelve feet easily, the thing's arms reached its feet both of which I've never seen structuring like this posest.

  the feet looked to be digitigrade and its body seems to be covered in a translucent or perhaps shiny carapace. The head has no eyes from what I can see in the feed.

  The one I'm studying is clearly dead but its edges are blurred like it's not fully there jsut like the ship however unlike the ship it seems to be coalesing in the clip taking on a more solid appearance. Hopefully, we can get a few specimens to study ter.