In the pristine silence of space, the heavy-warcruiser 'Surtur' of the Centauri expedition fleet blossomed in the darkness, like a beautiful but deadly flower.
" To all Aie ships. You are ordered by the Centauri empire to surrender and prepare to be brought into our cargo bays. Resistance shall be met with force." A radio transmission spoke
> No response. The captain motioned his second officer to power up the weapons.
> "Fire."
> The primus ignited it's pulse cannons, destroying a dozen enemy ships. They were small, about three meters long, and shaped like a tear drop. The rest broke formation and like a swarm of bees, began the battle.
> "Launch all sentri fighters. Call in the secondary fleet. I want warbirds 1,3 and 4 to guard our flank."
> "Yes sir" was the response.
> The seed ship dodged enemy fire and when within range, fired it's own weapon. Their only advantage was their sheer number, and small size.
> Turning right, it fired a direct shot on the gigantic warbird. Although the armor was thick, a few more shots would make the damage adequate.
> Enemy fighter 30 degrees to west. Enemy fighter 31.7 degrees to west. Enemy cruiser dead ahead. Initiate kamikaze procedure the posatronic matrix of the little ship echoed to it's many parts.
> It swirled past a comrade seed ship, which was hit by a sentri. The energy matrix inside siphoned the energy blast to it's main replication module, and it began to split. In a few seconds the mitosis was over. These two would cover the first one.
> Only a few hundred meters remained before it would reach it's target. A pulse cannon blast barely missed the fighter. Range to target: 50 meters. Initiating kamikaze procedure. Anti-matter storage at 97% ..... KaBoom! The ship incinerated itself, and dealt great damage to the enemy vessel.
> Suddenly, a brilliant light shone in the distance. A jump point. Little bursts of light came from the wormhole, as nearly a dozen shapes exited. It was the secondary fleet of the exploration force. Now three more primus warcruisers came to join their lone sister ship, with a complimentary fleet of warbirds.
> But the Aie kept coming, from all directions.
> Warbird 3 ignited in hot plasma as it's bridge shattered. It spiraled out of control and hit another. The wreckage scattered across the nearby area, causing even more problems for the fighters. At last, an enemy capital ship was destroyed. 2 to be exact.
> -Primus cruiser bridge-
> Captain: Status report?
> Another centauri vessel staggered beside them, it's engines gone, and hull critically damaged
> Officer: *hitting a few buttons on his access pad* The 'hell hound' is badly damaged. Most of our fighters are gone. The Aie can replicate in number, which is a disadvantage on our side. *scans the access pad for relevant information* Our warbirds have successfully destroyed nearly all enemy ships within a radius of 25 000 kilometers. The rest of them will be within weapons range in 1 minute, 24 seconds.
> Captain: Good. Call the Warbirds to a halt. Instruct the powering of the mass-drivers. When all are operational, await my mark.
> The young officer stared in disbelief. "But captain, the emperor told us only to fire them when we reach the orbit of Andromeda."
> Captain: You will do as I ordered, or would you like me to have a Keeper put on you?
> A keeper... he shuddered. Even the thought of it could send creeps up his spine. A keeper was a "gift" from the god-like race that had awoken on Z'Ha'Dum a few weeks back. Once put on a being, it took control of it's nervous system, thus having complete control over it. It could be instructed by telepathy, and it's unique cloaking field made it nearly impossible to detect. Even if you got it off, it still had control over you. If you killed it, which was unlikely, you would die instantly. "Gift"? More like a curse.
> Officer: *gulp* ye-yes sir.
> Outside, the Aie armada approached. At least a few thousand ships were left.
> The massive bays of the mass drivers opened aboard all three cruisers, as the fourth primus had severe damage to it's mass driver targeting system. Gravity amplifiers inside hummed with energy, to create astronomical acceleration within a small time period.
> Officer: Mass driver system ready aboard all primus cruisers.
> Captain: Good. Launch.
> In less than an hour the battle would be over.
> A final spark on energy set the gigantic space rocks speeding into space...
> � * *
>
> -Aie-
> =..the "centauri", as they call themselves, completely surprised our ships, destroying them with medium injuries to themselves. Another 13 swarms have been sent to search for their homeworld =
> The electronic voice spoke. A figure in the shadows muttered: "Display all known information on enemy ships."
> The nearest computer screen blinked on line and showed three shapes separated by three rectangles.
> "Display enemy ships from smallest to largest in size."
> =Acknowledged. Hologram functions on =
> A medium sized console exited, creating a 360 degree view of the first ship.
> 
> = We believe this ship is called the Sentri, evidence found in enemy transmissions. Display? =
> "No."
> = Length: 20 meters. Mass: Estimated at 30 tones. Medium short range fighter. Composition: Primitive weapon deflecting armor. Weapons: Twin heavy laser--- =
> With more annoyance, Leach replied. "Display next ship"
> = Ship name: Centauri warbird. Classification: Medium sized capital ship =
> The hologram flickered, showing the elegant craftness of the Vorchan-class warcruiser.
> 
> = Length: 360 meters, Beam: 475 meters Draught: 305 meters. Fighter capacity: Unable to display. No information regarding subject. Mass: Estimated at 122 000 tons. Weapons: Advanced pulse cannons, missile launcher. Do you wish more information about tactics and formations used during battle? =
> Leach: No. I want all known information on the last one.
> He knew that the next one would be the gigantic capital ship that had pulverized his swarm squadron.
> =Displaying all information =
> What an impressive design, Leach thought. And what impressive firepower. Infact, after he subdues this race, he might introduce this design and create the Aie heavy-warcruiser line of ships.
>
> 
> = Length: 1586m Beam: 1023m Draught: 455m. Weapons: 8 heavy twin pulse cannons. A 'mass driver' system, which uses artificial gravity to launch asteroids from inside the cargo bay at astronomical speeds at target. Most likely for planetary bombings. Fighter capacity: 14 Sentri fighters. Display information on Sentri fighter? =
> A drone robot scuttled across the nearby hallway
> "Fuck, stop asking me if I want ship pictures displayed. Just continue. Grrrr" he growled.
> = Mass: Unknown. Estimated at 200 000 -270 000 tons. Attack formations: So far, only wedged and triangular formations have been observed---=
> "Enough. Keep all transmission lines open in case any swarm squadrons find any information regarding this little skirmish. Increase vessel production by 300%. I feel we have a war on our hands."
> Glancing at a nearby tactical display of his forces, Leach frowned and slowly frowned.
> Leach: *quietly* But how did they know we were the Aie?
> Computer: = Unkown.=
> "....Only a few races know of our existence, and they have been told not to give any information regarding us. Prepare a shuttle.. I'm going to have a little chat with the ambassadors of the other worlds.
> Computer: =Acknowledged. Shuttle ready. Do you wish escorts?=
> Leach: Yes. Half a swarm squadron.
> Sending 1500 escort ships with him was a little too much, but it would be intimidating.
> The computer made an electronic nod, as Leach exited the room. "It could get worse" he sighed.
> --------What just happened:
> The Aie, a race that has had space flight for...umm..a looong time, has been attacked by the centauri, paving the way for a war. Fenrir hasn't yet appeared (he might never appear) The centauri have awaken the shadows. Only a matter of time before they rise up and keel you all! MUAHAHAHAHAHA
> Blah Blah Blah.
> -Fenrir
> "Now THIS is a great war story. Maybe garr's story could have worked if he had escaped whatever he tried to escape, and then tried to kill all of us. And we all became paranoid, ran way, made alliances with gangs/etc... and then fought...hmmm.."
(GW) The Aie Opens (GW)
This message was posted by Leach, posted on November 19, 1999 coming from 205.188.200Now, just to set the record straight, Fenrir took our conversations and used them as a base for his story. Pretty close, all things considered. I'll just set the record straight here.
The Aie Opens
By Leach
-----------------------
The Aie considered the latest developments. Somehow its existance had been discovered. After countless eons, it had thought all traces of its existance removed from the various species' histories. Only racial memory should have remained, and that was inherantly weak in the material beings. There should have been no way for these "Centauri" to know about it.
Yet somehow they had.
The Aie spent several hundred milliseconds considering this. Its existance could not be covered up any more. But perhaps steps could be taken to minimize the threat. The Aie began its preparations. It had not seen war for many eons. The Aie never forgot, though. Never.