Nova Wars

The system was abandoned by the galaxy at large. It had a single yellow star early in its life cycle. It had five planetary bodies that were rock, three with atmosphere. It had six gas giants, four of them with a multitude of satellites, the other two with only a handful of icy satellites and out at a cold distance from the sun. The fourth planet was covered with an atmosphere and 65% of its surface was water. The continents were covered with vegetation.

There had once been cities on the planet when it had teemed with intelligent life that had settled on the planet.

Now there was just scattered ruins, barely existing, nature having reclaimed the planet.

The planet was abandoned as was the system.

There were beacons scattered around the system, all of them broadcasting the same message.

The system, and the planets, especially the fourth, were off limits. That the abandoned system would be defended against any who attempted to claim it. There were armed platforms, fully stealthed, scattered through the systems. Deep in the gas giants were mass collectors and distribution systems.

But the system was abandoned as far as the galaxy at large was concerned.

Even though it had once been the sight of a battle that the fate of the universe had depended upon.

Now, it was silent.

A few species located it. At first those who located and arrived in the system heard the warnings from the beacons and buoys and fled.

The Mad Lemurs of Terra had declared the system off limits.

So it was off limits.

As time went by, other species were more belligerent. They had no knowledge of the Mad Lemurs of Terra.

The weapon platforms educated them, leaving behind only debris and a single ship that was allowed to run while it was wounded.

More time went by. Explorers located the system and invaded it.

Some heard the warnings and messages of the beacons and buoys and fled.

They feared The Terror.

Others ignored the warnings.

One ship was allowed to flee.

But time, and entropy, sipped at everything. Mass collector and distribution facilities ceased operations due to lack of maintenance. Beacons went silent. Buoys stopped broadcasting. Weapons platforms ran out of mass and ammunition and went dark.

Every few centuries, someone would find the system and seek to claim it.

Most never returned.

The system was abandoned by the galaxy at large.

But it was still guarded.

The Narsktellic Algocracy had located the system, just a few dozen light years beyond their borders. It was a perfect system. Plenty of gas giants for mining, planetary bodies full of resources that could be exploited, an active and energetic star that could be used for solar collection.

The first few scouting missions found nothing. No hint there was any life beyond unevolved animals and insects, plant life and ocean life teaming on the single planet.

But no higher life forms.

Nobody that the Narsktellic would have to exterminate to lay their claim.

The Narsktellic sent a small flotilla of a half dozen ships, including three transports, to establish a base on the habitable planet, choosing the largest of the continents. There was excellent magnetic flux at one point, which was an obvious place to set down.

The initial force was startled to find an ancient ship at that location, overgrown with plant life. They recorded it and sent back footage of it to the flotilla in orbit above.

Then they ceased transmitting.

Another force was sent down.

They too ceased transmitting.

That's when the ships in orbit started taking groundfire. Source unknown, but obviously from the surface of the planet. The strikes were terrible in their power, kinetic kill shots that blew clear through even the Vast Dominion of Mathematical Inevitability and left it tumbling wreckage.

A frigate managed to escape after taking only two hits. One to drop the shields, the second to hit amidships, blowing a hole clear through the ship but leaving it operational enough to flee for the resonance zone and then into jumpspace.

The Narsktellic Algocracy's bureaucracy ran their computations.

Something was defending the planet.

Which meant there was something worth defending there.

They examined what little footage they had. Footage and telemetry of the ships being destroyed by powerful ground fire even though no planetary defense battery could be found. The fact it used kinetic rounds, a perverse reverse kinetic kill, was strange but obviously effective.

They moved onto the other footage.

The strange ship.

It was massive. Estimations put it in the terratons. It bristled with silent weapons. It had twelve engines. It was covered by vines, and in some places dirt so thick that trees had grown up on it. It was settled into the soil, thirteen meters into the soil.

Scientists estimated that it had not moved in over approximately twenty thousand years, maybe longer, depending on how the weather on that planet had been over the intervening time.

Visual examination of the metal had brought no results. It was capable of acting as both a superconductor and a super-resistor. It gave back no signal across most passive and active sensors, only visible light wavelengths. The metal was black, somehow appearing both glossy and matte. It had no transponder, no power readings, and did not react to examination.

If nothing else in that system, the black ship made it worth seizing control of the system.

Some scientists wondered if the black ship had been the one to provide ground fire, but shipboard telemetry showed no power sources activating aboard the derelict.

They sent a larger force.

A single ship, badly damaged, was all that made it back.

Again, nothing had happened until it had happened.

The ground fire was devastatingly powerful and terrible in its accuracy.

Whatever had happened to the ground troops, all four thousand of them, was a mystery. Between one checkin and the next all communication was lost with the ground troops and the groundfire began.

The Narsktellic sent survey ships to go over the system.

It found a beacon. The took it aboard and fled back to the Narsktellic systems.

The scientists rejoiced. The beacon was a wealth of technological marvels. It was even made of the black metal. While the Narsktellic could not cut into it, the beacon had plenty of access panels that had resisted vacuum welding. The scientists were careful in their examination, carefully recording everything. The solar panels were covered with space dust and the crew that had captured it had covered the obvious solar panels with opaque textiles. The scientists realized that it had a magnetic 'scoop' designed to pull in elements to fuel the reactor.

There was discussion on whether or not the scientists should attempt to awaken the beacon.

They decided that it would be best if the beacon was placed back where it had been found. The crew replacing it would remove the textile coverings and clean the solar panels, then back off to a minimum distance of fifteen thousand kilometers.

The beacon went live. The ship listened, recording until the message repeated, before fleeing back to the Narsktellic Algocracy.

The message was easily decoded, as it included a lexicon and rosetta.

The message was also easy to understand.

Stay. Away.

It was no known language, the tech was strange but highly advanced.

The Narsktellic Algocracy determined that whatever species had left behind the beacon was extinct, or had fallen and withdrawn, leaving the planetary system outside of its borders.

Another flotilla was sent. This one with strict orders to avoid the starship. There were other points of excellent magnetic flux that would guide ships down.

This one had nearly fifty thousand ground troops, armored vehicles, aerospace strikers, armed dropships. The ground troops were a mix of power armor, robot combat armor, and augmented infantry. They were supported by four ships capable of orbital bombardment as well as three others capable of defending the flotilla against any threat discovered.

The flotilla launched and, after nearly a hundred days of travel, arrived in the system, streaking in outside the resonance zone once the ships had staged downward through the jumpspace bands to bleed off their speed.

The ships were still reconfiguring their sensors when the beacon appeared, broadcasting its warning.

Stay. Away.

The Narsktellic ignored it. It was an unarmed beacon from a vanished species.

While some of the algorithms had projected that building bases upon the lifeless planetary bodies would give the Narsktellic a good starting point for acquiring the green and blue jewel of the fourth planet, those algorithms had been overriden by the cost-value analysis algorithms that stated seizing the fourth planet was the optimum choice.

It would eliminate whatever was striking at the Narsktellic forces as well as provide a logistical advantage for taking over the rest of the sytems.

Scans revealed another excellent magnetic profile. Ships detached from the starships to glide through the atmosphere and land at the chosen point. It was a large space, forested, with a river that ran through the middle of the area. The ships disembarked their contents, who quickly went to work. Temporary buildings went up quickly, with artillery, aerospace, and heavy power armor and robot combat armor support. The Narsktellic dug in, preparing to face anything.

Scientists landed and went to work, analyzing everything with an eye toward discovering what had destroyed the other attempts.

Ground penetration scanning discovered ruins beneath the lush loam. Foundations of large buildings, hyperalloy girders that had twisted and been buried. Ferrocrete piles hidden beneath meters of rich thick earth. There were large areas of the bedrock that had been removed, often full of twisted and ruined hyperalloys and possessing thick ferrocrete walls at the edges of the spaces.

The scientists discussed among each other, used message torpedoes to discuss with their colleagues back home, and came to a consensus.

An advanced species had once lived on the planet.

The leader of the landing force just nodded. He had known that, but having scientific confirmation was good, it provided data for the algorithms that ruled that Narsktellic's lives.

Overflights found nothing but forest and lesser creatures.

Months dragged by. The military forces began feeling as if they were wasting their time.

There was nothing on the planet but that derelict starship that had to have been the source of the groundfire despite never showing any energy readings.

A patrol found the building that had somehow been missed by the overflights, the satellites, the ships orbiting the planet and scanning it.

It was made up of entirely black rock, with colored glass windows arranged in a mosaic. The most common pattern was a pair of linked circles, one next to the other, the circles decorated with ovals and singular lines over and over.

The patrol leader ordered his men to follow and entered the vast building.

It was lit by torches made up of carved wooden stakes with one end wrapped with cloth that had been soaked in pitch. There were strange items upon plinths of glossy black glass. A metal blade, chipped and covered with what looked like rust. A mask with two eye holes that was raked and battered. Empty shell casings. A tiny rifle. A crude bolt action chemical propellent ballistic weapon with a ground-glass optical scope. A helmet that obviously belonged on power armor.

None of that had the patrol's attention.

In front of a massive set of interlocked circles, both engraved with vertical lines and ovals, knelt a massive figure. It was wearing a crude heavy brown cloak, a hood pulled up over their head. Their shoulders were as wide as a Narsktellic was tall. It was down on one knee, one hand balled into a fist and pressed against the ground, the other lifted to hold onto one of the crossbars of a massive sword.

The patrol moved up, the leader switching to the language from the beacon's rosetta and lexicon.

"Do not move," the leader said.

"You accent is unpleasant. Let us use your native tongue," the figure stated in flawless Upper Narsktellic Speech, it's accent that of a Level 1 Algorithm Supervisor.

"Who are you?" the leader barked.

"My name has no meaning, but names have power. I respectfully refuse you knowledge of my name," the figure stated, its voice a bass rumble.

"Get up. You are our prisoner. We will take you back to our base," the leader said. "Leave the sword."

"I will not," the figure stated, slowly standing up.

It dwarfed the 1.6 meter tall Narsktellic, coming to a full height of over three meters. It put both hands on the pommel of the sword.

The sword dissolved like liquid, flowing upwards toward the pommel, to vanish against the figures palms.

Several of the Narsktellic power armor troops gasped.

The figure slowly turned, facing the patrol.

It face was strange. It had hair around its mouth and extending down from its jaw, a golden red. Its skin was light brown and its ice blue eyes were close together, above a single nose with two nostrils.

The patrol leader stumbled back, his power armor whining quietly.

"I will not have this place profaned with violence," the figure stated. "Take me where you wish."

The patrol leader nodded. "You will follow or be punished."

The figure just nodded in return.

The troops were concerned. The figure was massive and moved with a slow, deliberate grace that reminded them of long time power armor users. It moved almost silently, its footing sure and deliberate.

The patrol leader knew that the data that would be gathered from the primitive member of a fallen species could increase his own algorithms.

It took less than four hours to reach the baseline.

The figure looked around.

"Fitting it should be here," the figure rumbled.

"What does that mean?" the patrol leader squealed out, rounding on the tall creature.

"It does not matter. It is ancient history, from a time when your people still gazed at the stars in ignorant curiosity," the figure rumbled.

The leader snorted. "You will stay here," it ordered.

The figure knelt back down on one knee, pushing one fist into the soil, bowing its head.

Satisfied, the leader rushed off, into the main base.

The other eight members of the patrol spread out, making sure to keep the strange creature within their fields of fire. The strange creature did not move, seemingly carved from stone.

One of the patrol noted the heavy boots the figure wore. It had variable tread, not something a primitive would possess. The robe did not cover the creature's lower leg. The patrol member noted it only had a single knee and single ankle, no hock and mid-hock.

The leg was also almost as wide as his chest.

Two vehicles exited the base, parking on either side of the creature. The base leader and several scientists got out. The scientists were obviously excited, their wide black eyes flashing with curiosity. The four tentacles that swept over their bullet-shaped heads were pulsing with excitement, their greenish skin dark with blood from excitement.

The leader moved up to the creature.

"Get up," it ordered.

The figure slowly stood, the robe hiding it again.

The base leader stared up at the massive creature.

It was one thing to be told it was huge.

It was another to stare up at a face atop a wall of living flesh.

"Identify yourself," the base leader ordered.

"Names have power and I do not consent to granting you that power over me," the figure rumbled.

One of the scientists moved forward. "What species are you?"

"That is of no matter," the figure said. It looked around slowly. "You..."

everyone leaned forward slightly.

"Are trespassing," the figure said.

The Narsktellic barked their laughter.

"Twice you have been warned," the figure continued, ignoring the laughter. "This is your last warning at my direct hand."

The base leader sneered, exposing the two layers of teeth on the top and bottom of its jaws. "We take no orders from primitives."

"This is a holy place," the figure intoned.

"Bah, primitive superstition," one of the scientists laughed. It moved forward, boldly reaching out and opening the robe.

Beneath the robe was a crude homespun shirt and pants, the pants of dark blue and the shirt of brown, like the robe. The belt was of animal leather with an exquisitely carved metal buckle of two interlinked circles stamped with the vertical lines and ovals.

"This is a place much accustomed to violence," the figure said. It looked up. "It was here my imprisonment was released and here I found redemption."

"What happened to your people?" one scientist asked.

The figure ignored them. "Leave this place. I will give you two of your hours."

"Or what?" the base leader asked. He had spent months on edge and now some bipedal primitive was threatening him.

"Instead of destroying an abandoned base I will kill everyone inside of it during my destruction of it," the figure rumbled.

The base commander opened his mouth to reply when the breeze suddenly grew cold. The sun seemed to dim and the shadows deepened, widened, and stretched.

The figure slowly looked around.

The base commander and everyone else looked around wildly as faint screams of agony and terror could be heard.

The sun dimmed further and the air chilled. Even those in power armor shivered as their suits reported that the temperature had dropped by nearly fifteen degrees and the humidity had dwindled.

The figure shook its head. "You should have fled."

Shadows stretched and deepened into a patch of darkness.

"She comes," the figure stated.

The shadows tore and tattered, revealing another like the massive figure. This one was small, roughly the height of a Narsktellic, and obviously female. It was clad in a dark blue dress with a double breasted top. It had midnight black hair and gunmetal gray eyes. It held a tube in its mouth, one end burning, and was exhaling smoke from its two nostrils.

"There you are, you big idiot," the female stated.

The figure went down on one knee again.

"Matron," the figure rumbled.

"HEY!" the base commander yelled.

The female turned and looked at him.

"By Patton's dragging knuckles, these are the stupidest looking things I've seen since that multiplying idiot Legion was lurking around," the female said. The scorn in her voice cut across racial lines and made the surrounding Narsktellic stiffen in anger.

She turned back to the other one. "Get up, you big slab of beef. I've got a job for you..."

"HEY!" the base commander stepped forward, getting between the female and other one, which was rising to its feet. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he demanded.

The female curled a lip and stared at the other one, speaking even while the base commander demanded answers. "Friends of yours?"

"They are trespassers," the larger one stated as the commander finished speaking. It looked at the base commander. "I consign your soul to the Digital Omnimessiah for what is about to occur."

The base commander put his hand on his pistol. "This is not how the algorithms state a first contact should go. I am willing to restart the..."

Whatever he was willing to restart nobody would ever know as he suddenly popped into meat confetti that splattered everyone around him.

"Shut up," the female said. She turned to the others. "Leave us. Now."

On the ship at the edge of the system, concealed by the Oort Cloud, a Level 14 Algorithm Analyst stared at the footage as the patrol all leveled their weapons. The large one grabbed a power armor helmet clad head, turned, and slammed the head against the armor of the APC.

The head exploded and the headless body fell to the ground.

The lights aboard the starship where the Algorithm Analyst was watching what had played out flashed twice, but the engineers reported that the minor power fluctuation was nothing to be alarmed at.

The guns began shrieking as they fired particle beams at the two figures. The robe shredded and the larger one somehow increased in size and mass.

When the flare compensation brought the picture back into focus the Algorithm Analyst stared.

The large figure was clad in heavy, bulky armor made of jet black metal that was glossy and matte at once.

The female just stood there, staring, reaching up to remove the tube from her mouth, tap ash from the burning end, then put it back in her mouth as she watched the larger figure brush aside particle beams and tear the patrol, and then the reinforcements, apart with bare hands.

Several helmet cams were still broadcasting and the computers fused the feeds together and put them in the correct alignment.

"Stop playing with your food, you big slab of beef," the female sneered.

"They are trespassing upon..." the big one stated, its voice heavily synthesized.

"Where you received redemption," the female said. "I was there, remember?"

"You were dead," the male said as the female moved up.

"Evil never dies," the female said. She touched his arm. "We need to get moving."

"But this place..." the male protested.

"I've already sent people to the Cathedral to protect it. They'll kill all of these idiots. Come, Kalki, Menhit, and the others await," the female said.

The male just nodded, blood and gore dripping from his fingers.

The female inhaled, the coal at the end of the stick glowing brightly. She exhaled a cloud of smoke.

When it cleared, they were both gone.

The Analyst frowned.

His frown turned to shock as black robots, skeletal in appearance, with red eyes and white ivory teeth, charged out from the woods and sprinted at the base.

He watched as the robots methodically killed everything in the base, then set to destroying everything.

He watched the icons of the ships in orbit begin to wink out.

He knew there was nothing he could do. What he was watching had occurred hours prior.

He ordered another message torpedo to be launched.

When the last of the ship icons vanished and the last feed from the planet ceased, he turned off the holotank.

Right as he turned away, the holotank flickered back on.

The female stood in the hologram. She turned to stare at the Algorithm Analyst.

"You are trespassing," she stated coldly in High Narsktellic Speech. "No longer is it guarded by a silent watcher and a sole defender."

She smiled, exposing a single set of meat tearing teeth.

"It is now under the protection of the Matron of the Damned, the Mother of Lost Souls, the Lady Lord of Hell," she said. She exhaled smoke from between her teeth. "I know where you are from. I know everything now."

She stepped out of the holotank and the Analyst and everyone in the algorithmic intelligence analysis center stared in shock as she turned from hologram to flesh and blood as she exited the hologram field.

She stepped up to the Analyst, eye to eye with him.

"If you come back, I will burn your homeworld to cinders," she said softly, her gunmetal eyes hot and angry.

"Stay. Away."

She suddenly dissolved into red dust that swirled and vanished, sucked into the environmental system.

The Analyst just stared for a moment.

He then messaged the Captain.

They were last remaining ship.

Their orders were clear.

Return.

The ship left the abandoned system.

Abandoning it to whatever fate the universe had in store for it.

[The Universe Liked That]