Order of war: The IC

Seramantak Black Hole, Rulkaan Galaxy

"My leader, this war turns against us. Already we are all but pressed back to our original borders, we will require a miracle." A Zudjari underseer in a dimly lit and bleakly metallic room filled with all sorts of computer interfaces and a vast number of guards and orderlies who mingled with other workers who operated this facility, said to a tremendously high quality hologram of an immensely tall figure in impeccable robes; head covered by an immense silvery helmet that breathed it's authority over a number of soldiers and citizens so vast that it could only be expressed in scientific notation. The Zudjari's mouth peeled back every time it spoke, it's hard eyes not having pupils that could be seen by human eyes.

"The course of the war is of no consequence Underseer. Our foes cannot hope to present enough force to stop us from acquiring access to the Nexus. Then we can annihilate all of our foes in one fell swoop. But tell me Adjutant, how goes your search for this...relic?" Mu's psychic voice had no need of any sort of amplification to reach the Adjutant's mind from across the gulf of a hundred billion billion light years, a hateful, oppressive voice that made the Zudjari instinctively dip it's head. It knew better than to question the high priest of the Hierarchy's religion of hate.

"Of course Grand Overseer. Breaching the event horizon of the black hole was a simple matter, the Transduction barrier however, has proven more difficult to pierce. It would appear that it would only open for a humanoid." Vulkoros reported, hoping to whatever higher powers were listening that the Grand Overseer was not in one of his fouler moods at the moment. But instead of removing Vulkoros from existence with a single furious thought, the Overseer grew very quiet indeed before his psychic voice boomed once again like the roar of a thousand bombs ringing inside of Vulkoros' skull.

"Then acquire one's co-operation!" He said furiously, his psychic voice sending pangs of terror into Vulkoros who briefly bemoaned it's chances of ever seeing the next day as objects in the room were seized by the Overseer's mind and crushed into tiny black holes through sheer telekinetic crushing force before suddenly, and unexpectedly, the Overseer calmed itself down. The threat to it's life seemingly over, the Zudjari finally dared to look back at it's master, rising to it's feet when it sensed that Mu had something very important to inform it of.

"That relic will be of great use in recreating the universe when we have purged it of the undesireables." It informed the Zudjari, who nodded with a quick "yes, Grand overseer" as it finally deigned to look at the hologram of it's dictatorial master in the face, not blinking once as it added "You will have this reliquary, and all will fall beneath us." The Underseer said, confident in their ultimate victory now that it had the blessing of the last surviving grand overseer.

"Remember, we are the Hierarchy, all shall fall beneath our order...Glory, to Genocide!" The Hologram of Mu said raising one of his four arms to signal to the Zudjari and all of the figures in the room to burst into the two handed open palmed salute and chanting of "Glory to Genocide!" The voices of countless, hate filled fanatics filled the black hole orbiting station, all reciting their mantra of loathing towards all that did not fit their image of perfection.

Somewhere within a hundred light years of the station

"Do you think we'll arrive in time to crash this boorish party of genocidal philistines?" Jane said, resting on a rock on a barren asteroid as Dirk utilized his suit's superluminal scanners to get a better view past all the background radiation from the densely packed stars, looking upon the station despite it's astronomical distance and forming the slightest of frowns. He wasn't quite fond of what he saw, the amassing of more and more ships and the construction of more stations at dizzying rates as the Black Hole was poked and prodded to get at the impermeable transduction barrier.

"No, but I'd say that we are running short on time if our objective is to prevent the Hierarchy from playing with things they shouldn't." Dirk said with a nod as he zoomed back to more normal ranges of vision and turned back to his companion, who nodded with her own frown beneath her helmet. "Well Dirky you old gun I think we ought to go in and show these vile rubes what for, eh?" She said, as perky as her linguistics were behind the times.

"Then get your rear off that rock, we've wasted enough time here already." Dirk said, voice devoid of humor or really...any emotional intonations at all. "For a hero of heart you certainly seem to be lacking in it sometimes! Hmpf!" Jane said in mock indignation as Dirk plotted his course, and with a precise cut through reality with his sword, had formed a gateway right on the doorstep of the Hierarchy's sinister operations, where a fateful duel for a great power would be fought by three sides.

The Hierarchy was undoutbly losing their war to purge the universe after a series of hard felt setbacks that ravaged their now rapidly diminishing empire. But they weren't prepared to go into the night without kicking and screaming all the way through. The hierarchy had drawn a line in the sand and declared that it would fight to the last breath. With the secession of the Zolkri and Rik'Tal from the Hierarchy, much damage had been done, but the Mutons and Jiralhanae who replaced them remained as fanatical as ever. Perhaps even more fanatical, now that their leader had announced his great plan to enact the Hierarchy's goal of universal genocide of all humanoid species.

But, there was word of a crack in their defenses. a ripple in space and time that had eluded their ability to seal, too dangerous for them to cross due to the ancient Masari relics that lay there; still awaiting a humanoid to take command of them, those species that the Masari saw as fit to inherit their legacy after their demise in the cataclysmic war with the thoughtsin. From there, it would be a straight shot to their sinister facilities over the black hole, and what were a menagerie of rabble to the dark titan after all?

Seated upon his throne, clad in his finest suit of armor, the Emperor of Nero gazes into the infinite layer of space that lay before him. The celestial bodies called planets, appeared as no more than shimmering pearls gleaming in a pool of pitch black water. Pearls of all shapes, all sizes. A wide verity of color schemes, some with rings around them, some without. Some were made of solid matter, some liquid, some gaseous. Many with moons, and many without. The wonders of the Universe, how anyone could gaze upon the infinity of celestial brilliance and not get the sense that something greater than anything they could ever imagine must have designed it. At least, this was Dark Hammers mindset on the subject, and as he questioned such theologies he gazed onward hoping he would find the answers to his questions somewhere amongst the stars.

"You're supper has been prepared my Lord." Says Ennorrak, one of Dark Hammers many followers. The young Nero bows to his Emperor, before escorting him to the dinning hall. Ennorrak is sure to open all doors and clear any possible obstructions along the way. Before entering the dinning hall, Ennorrak inspects the Emperors seat for any possible dangers, before pulling the seat out for his Lord. All of Dark Hammers immediate family is already in attendance, they wait patiently for their Emperor. Seated beside him on one side were all seven of his wives. Seated on the other side of him were the oldest of his sons and daughters. The rest of the hall was filled with the youngest of his many, many children. All eyes are on Dark Hammer as he takes his seat, and greets his family. " My beautiful wives... My beloved children... I am sorry to have kept you all waiting... My duty to our people has kept me very busy... However... I always cherish the moments I get to spend with you all... Let the feast begin."

The all too silent room than bursts out into a loud clamor, as loved ones have precious conversations over delectable cuisine.

A crack of in their defenses was the perfect opportunity that the Dark Titan needed to claim the cosmic language. If he could get to this ripple fast enough, perhaps he wouldn't be denied his power by the Hierarchy. He had enough planning, the time was now to act.

"Prepare a small ship for our departure, Sorkag. I now have the perfect opportunity to claim the true speech. If we move fast enough, we may not encounter any hostiles before we enter the ripple. And... should you fail, I will rip you apart, painfully. Yet my power will keep you alive, long enough for you to feel such agony...." The Overlord threatened, his voice dangerously low. He looked rather calm, yet his deep red eyes held nothing more than cold fury.

"Understood, my lord..." The alien replied. Trembling violently, he sank into a bow. He was afraid, terrified. His master was very close to killing him, especially after the failure of the last mission. Still trembling as walked away, he set out to prepare Triutus' ship.

@dark_hammer: There was of course, word of the ongoing war with the genocidal Hierarchy, tales of it's continuing defeat and the loss of more and more of it's conquered territory as the once seemingly inevitable realization of the dream of the purge of undesireable species now became a nightmare of unavertable and catastrophic defeat. But like many powers losing the conventional war, the coalition of embittered species started looking for super-weapons with any sort of credibility behind them in desperate hopes of turning the tide. The most famous search was their desire to press to a planet called "Earth" and seize the gateway to the Nexus where they could fire every MARATHON installation at once and initiate a great purge.

What may have reached Nero's ears however, would be tales of their search for reality warping devices. Cosmic cubes, strange energies, gems of power, magical devices, anything, and of course, their search for the Stellar Cipher. An ancient Masari recording of True Speech, a Cosmic language for the ancients that could bend reality to one's words in this most primal of tongues. As True speech was a truly fiendishly complex language to pronounce and properly write so as to be utterable and writable by any possible method of speech or literature, what made Masari Stellar Cipher's special was their power to download all the specifics into the reader's head, an instant education in cosmic power.

To allow such to fall into the hands of the mass murdering Overseers of the Hierarchy would be to allow reality altering power on a catastrophic and easily reproducible scale to them, quite possibly turning the war back into their favor overnight as their overseers would surely tear apart the very fabric of reality itself and remake it in their image to enact their final solution to the humanoid question. Such a future was obviously, disastrous for any such species that they deemed to resemble the Masari too closely. But luckily, the Galaxy in which they conducted the search for the Stellar Cipher was nearby, one of the fringe galaxies of the Hierarchy, and the most credible whispers of this operation placed it's heart squarely at the supermassive black hole at it's center.

With the Hierarchy so occupied trying to stave off it's own defeat, it would be possible to launch an attack at this facility and ensure the Cipher never falls into their bloodstained hands.

@dreadpool10:

Like all things involving the Hierarchy, their base was a militarized camp. Goose stepping mutons patrolled through the corridors of the station, rad-plasma rifles in hand as they marched in perfect lockstep with one another. Military drones buzzed about, always on the search for potential sabotuers. Propaganda was literally everywhere, constantly preaching hatred of humanoid species and of the glory of the Hierarchy's destiny to enact universal genocide of all such species deemed inferior. It was almost a caricature in how cheerful it was about committing acts others would deem heinous. Though perhaps the true terror was just how enthusiastic they were about mass murder of others through a fault of birth.

But a way into the base was seen, to get in without triggering any of that external security or fighting with the innermost layer of fleets and turret based defenses. A patrol, limping back from severe damage from conflict with unspecified entities crossed before the titan, preparing to report for shift transfer at the station itself. "+There were just two of them, how did you lose 95% of your patrol fleet to just two infantry sized combatants?+" The signal from the station berated the crew of the patrol fleet's flagship as it passed by tantalizingly close.

At seven kilometers long, a Hierarchy patrol cruiser should have ordinarily been a much more imposing sight, whole worlds were known to fall to a single cruiser, but the vehicle sported terrible battle scars and flickering shielding, deep gouges in it's armour exist, indicative of battle with a gravely superior opponent that had either deliberately let it go, or had not managed to finish it off as it fled into meta-space. But most relevant would likely be the hangar, a quick entry point that would allow Triutus to get inside the cruiser and use it to sneak aboard and use it's auto-pilot course back to the base to get inside without ever once encountering any external defense.

@lady_crockett:

The Nero

The Nero's ship which was labeled as a Superior-Class Dreadnought, measures in at an unprecedented size for what the Nero were used to seeing manufactured on the planet of their birth. 20.5 Kilometers in total length from the tail end of the largest engines, to the very tip of the Super-laser cannon perched at the very front of the ship.

The Hull of the ship was fabricated from the highest standard of durable alloy available from their home-world. Aside from the planet busting Super-laser cannon, the ship has plenty of other armaments including but not limited to: 800 heavy laser-cannons. 900 Turbo-lasers. 20 gravity well projectors. 500 Tractor beams. 250 Ion-Cannons. And 750 Rail-Guns.

There is also a fleet that inhabites this celestial Titian. Which was made up of: 60 Fighter Style squadrons. 10 Bomber Style squadrons. 500 All Terrain armored transports. 10 prefabricated garrison bases. 2 Royal Guard Legions. 1 Comp-Force Assault Battalion. 5 Imperial Protectors. And Dark Hammer himself. The Crew is made up of: 800'645; 5'000 gunners. Passengers: 300'000 Troops. Cargo Capacity: 1'000'000 Tons. And is completely self-sufficient.

The Emperor

Rumors of the ongoing war had indeed reached the ears of Dark Hammer, whom was more interest in helping to cease hostilities than he was in collecting the artifacts that were at the root of all the conflict. In total truth the Emperor did have an interest in learning more about this Steller Cipher, a recording that enabled the listener with a gift of true creationism based on simple speech alone. The very idea of it was entirely way to fascinating not to at least investigate. It could answer many of Dark Hammers questions about the theology of the Universe itself.

@dark_hammer: The Hierarchy was known as the Evil Empire for good reason. Under Grand Overseers Alpha, Mu, and Omega, the Hierarchy had gone on a path of slaughter throughout the cosmos that claimed the lives of more than most chroniclers dared to count. But it seemed that so long as Mu lived, he would direct his legions on his made crusade for vengeance on pretexts already exposed as lies, but it seemed that those who stayed with Mu were too far gone into the depths of fanaticism to lay down their arms even as the universe pressed them back to their core regions.

Evidence of this was shown by the Hierarchy's heavy defenses over their station, numerous fleets and battlestations all meant to protect their find and their infamous extermination camps for the remaining humanoid population of this occupied galaxy. For millenia had the Rulkaan galaxy languished under oppression, and now but a scant few of it's natives remained. Striking now would earn the Emperor not only the Cipher, but also the reputation as a galactic liberator. And of course, getting the entirety of the Rulkaan galaxy as part of the deal wouldn't be a bad thing.

With the Hierarchy's forces pressed between their need to defend and in Mu's final offensive, the Rulkaan galaxy was relatively lightly defended, it wouldn't be beyond Nero's abilities to liberate the galaxy with his own nations' resources despite the vastness of the Hierarchy. Underseer Vulkoros was infamous as a bloody butcher and a deadly manager of death camps in any case, giving him a bloody nose would be seen as worthwhile to many in of itself.