Moon emerges from shadow of its planet, gifting light of the sun to the surface. Deep within edge nebula, world of Akabat welcomes new day after many days long slumber imposed by gas giant Nebet. World owned by The Order has always been busy place since first ships made landfall, carrying survivors of Toledo. This particular day was not a daily routine, should anything be repetitive in Omicrons other than bloodshed. The Osiris - the ship that other Order capital ships derive from - stood guard over the moon. Visitors were expected and those of which who were privileged enough to fly their own ships through restricted system of The Order’s protectorate could even have a chance to see Osiris from up close, revealing scarred and old hull. Foolish would be assumption that this is a weakness born out of neglect, as priorities of maintaining highly effective war machine were well beyond even the simplest tasks even akin applying new paint.
On the surface, troops gathered to vanguard the space port. Terrain was rocky, featuring local life equivalent to savannah. There were no big water sources as far anyone could see, distributing life precious liquid through plentiful small rivers and occasional lakes. Visitors would actually been warned to drink none of it until purified, explaining that all water is rich in metallic content. Settlement was rather generic and flat - most locals still sleeping besides serving operatives on duty. Spaceport notably composed of unusual runways leading to hangars and elevators, pointing out that base was heavily dug underground. Many fighters were lined up on one of the airstrips, most if not all of them ready to be used in moment’s notice.
All VIP’s were assigned temporary quarters should they require it, as other delegations could have been late. Inside the military base designated as meeting point, everyone was busy in the hour conference was scheduled. Military patrols were at each door and hall, ensuring peace and security. What could surprise the newcomers was the fact that medics present were carrying out tests on every and each of them. Mandatory it also included taking blood sample from everyone. “For security” they explained, procedure may have been familiar to those who visited Order installations at early opportunities. There was considerable tension at each case among medical staff and marines, as even the medics wore full body armor and helmet and had lethal weapons to use just in case.
The actual meeting hall was free of the rush outside once doors closed. Big, half-circle room with more than enough seats to house all representatives and their important advisors. Security measures are tight even here with a marine holding each important spot around the room. At the center, in front of the big projectors and screens was The Order’s own representation. Among them, most known face would be Grand Admiral Golanski, discussing privately with a scientist on the side. When everyone would be ready, it was him to stand up and begin.
“To all gathered, from all corners of the Sirius…” He addressed everyone, signaling to cease all chatter. “Twenty one years, The Order defeated Nomads the first time, ending the bloodshed that overtook entire Sirius. Yet many more sacrifices were done to bring Sirius to - even if temporary - peace.” His sight then moved over to GMG representatives. “The Guild here present sunk many Rheinland capital ships, at that time manned by infectees in Sigma 13.” He nods towards them, pointing at Bundschuh now. “Bundschuh were crucial in dismantling Nomad warmachine within Rheinland from inside out. Their sacrifice was great as they had lost their leader and many elite fighters in the process. The Order respects what Botzler has done for all of us.” Third party would be the Blood Dragons. “And here we are, Dragons of Kusari. Their moment of glory slain the hydra’s head in Tohoku, governor Tekagi.”
“There were many more… unnamed, forgotten in history. The Order for sure was not remembered within the houses as their saviours for too long, neither we actually expected that.” Admiral moves on now to the main point. “The time has come that we have to counter alien menace again. Ever since Toledo fell, personally I believed that we entered conflict that will be remembered as Second Nomad War.”
First overview begun at Liberty, de facto center of Sirius sector. Map shown jumpgate connections between each particular world, as well less developed known systems beyond the network with charted jumpholes. Surprisingly to some, map featured a couple of restricted areas far beyond common knowledge of Sirian humans. Yet the most prominently exposed location was far from those stars. Focus moved onto hidden portal within wilds of Kansas system, at the very edge of Liberty. Some would recognize the pattern - wreckage marked as “Knossos 8” was damaged alien jumpgate. Still, unnamed space beyond is what concerned The Order more than this derelict. Only single base existed beyond that portal, labelled as “Shrine”.
“Liberty posed significant threat during course of Nomad War. Its entire armed forces were commanded by Nomads in later stages of conflict, providing massive challenge to The Order of that time. Despite our efforts - eliminating each infectee one by one among military and political echelons of Liberty - we still could not root out the center of Nomad influence in this house. Highly elusive, this particular branch of ‘The Wild’ restrains itself heavily in attempt to mask its presence from our operatives. Agent Avery will carry on.”
One of Admiral’s own men stood up, ready to present his own piece of information. Guests just received copies labelled as LNS Tundra, revealing grotesque abomination of Nomad organics and metal. What once was a Liberty siege cruiser, now was twisted by parasite grown outwards from within its hull. Avery cleared his throat and elaborated upon the raw data.
“This, ladies and gentlemen, is a former Naval cruiser lost with all hands aboard in edge worlds. Or so Liberty command was made to believe as this ship was captured by the Nomads during course of its mission. An example to never underestimate Nomad threat, this cruiser now assists bigger Nomad fleets during engagements. Carelessness of Navy caused captain and entire crew to become infested thralls of Nomads, manning this cursed ship to this day. Consider this a warning that not only humans themselves can become a target of incubi. While Nomads clearly shown awkwardness when directly interfacing with non-organic hardware, they are - as a species - more than capable to absorb any technology they come across.”
As he was done, Admiral retook his place.
“Thank you Avery… now back to assessment of Nomad threat within Liberty. Shrine is major point for Nomad cult, attracting seemingly random assortment of individuals seeking so called… enlightenment from this station’s alien overlords. Local elements of our fleet are preparing to neutralize members of this cult. Does anyone have any questions so far?”
The Bundschuh representatives were still somewhat overwhelmed by all the security and the scale of the meeting. Some of them hadn't been on the a planet's surface for years, others only a few very short times during smuggling runs. Despite having arrived with Order transportation, the small delegation still had to go through all the security protocols.
Of the eight Bundschuh-members that had come only four entered the room. Admiral Golanski would have received their names and position beforehand. First of all, Freya Eistochter, the Parteivorsitzende of the Bundschuh, she's the party's political leader. Next, Alexander Fuchs, the Oberst of the VWA, the military leader. Apart from these two leaders there were also Freya's personal assistant Shadiya Özdamar and VWA-Mechanic Sarah McFarlen, an expert on ship technology.
While the other four, apparently armed guards, waited outside, the representatives sat down at the seats reserved for the Bundschuh. After the opening speech the copies with the LNS Tundra were handed out. While the thing looked disgusting the Bundschuh representatives didn't appear to be really shocked by the image or the information provided. When the admiral asked if there were any questions, Freya raised her voice.
"Admiral, while we've never seen a Libertonian ship like that, the Nomad's ability to sort of fuse together with human technology is nothing new is it? Die Wilde has a small fleet of ships that combine nomad and human technology and they are, just like this cruiser, operated by infested humans.
I do not think it is this ability that we should suddenly be concerned of. More concerning would be: Is this is an isolated case or is infection spread more widely, like is the case in our own Rheinland. How clean is the Liberty Navy as a whole?"
Sarah McFarlen had never kept rats. She had; however, shared a junior school desk on Manhattan with a scab-kneed boy with a perpetually blocked nose named Robby Carlos who kept among his menagerie a pair of cloud-white rodents. He had dragged their enclosure into the class with the help of an aide, a four-tiered maze mounted on a trolley and clad in glass, each level of the enclosure subdivided into a labyrinth of dead end passages and twisting corridors that had made the infantile Sarah, standing on a chair to see over a press of tiny bodies, feel awfully dizzy.
She had come back to watch the rats during break, a pair of white bodies scurrying from one colour-coded level to the next stopping, sniffing the air - more out of habit than anything, she had suspected - before darting away, running ever deeper into the maze. Fifteen minutes she had sat there atop a desk, plastic top digging into the back of her knees, watching them until the bell had dragged her away. By the time Robby and the aide wheeled the cage away that afternoon Sarah had learned her eight times tables. The rats were just as trapped as they had been when Robby wheeled them in.
No, Sarah McFarlen had never kept rodents, but perched on a stool at the heart of a fortified military base, back aching from the trip down the gravity well, Sparks felt a sudden kinship with Robby's rats. She picked idly at the spray-on covering the Order's medics had applied after their blood tests and tried not to make eye contact with any of the armed men and women dotting the room. Too many uniforms and too many guns for a pirate, even a reformed one, to be entirely comfortable. She was spending almost as much time watching the crowd as the presentation - a shame, considering the content, but picking up some of Dangen's less lethal habits had saved her life more than once. She flicked her eyes back across the crowd and made a mental note to ask Alex to get her a full copy of the presentation later.
The gaze of a uniformed woman manning a terminal across the semi-circular room settled on Sparks for a long moment - was that a hint of recognition? - and then slid across to the woman seated to Spark's her right. Sparks released a breath she had only half-realised she was holding as Freya raised her voice over the low rumble that greeted the admiral's offer.
Sparks took the chance to sneak a glance at the presentation's latest image, glowing softly on her datapad. The tapering silhouette of a siege cruiser, viewed from the rear - Catapult-class, perhaps. Possibly an Archer. It was difficult to tell externally, even for her. Republic engineers liked to keep their design revisions internal, hated to mess with the silhouette of the thing. For the corporations that funded Liberty it was as much about how a warship looked as how it performed in combat. Looking intimidating was often more important than being able to follow up on it. Certainly nothing she hadn't seen before - from both sides of the plasma array. She panned the image -
- and let out a low whistle. That... That surely wasn't right.
"This is really sort of a personal project of mine."
- James Arland, on single-handedly engaging an enemy regiment.
Admiral Golanski listened to Eistochter, acknowledging her concerns about importance of hybrid tech over bigger threat out there. He nodded hearing inquiry about infestation within ranks of Liberty government forces, having had prepared material that they would find acceptable.
“Good question, miss Eistochter. You are right in assuming that fusing human and nomad technology is nothing new. Hybrid hardware was committed originally by Nomads themselves, adapting more potent technology for their infested thralls. While design became almost seamless over the years, it is nothing more than a tool. Adapted equipment is avenue tried and developed by The Order with good dose of success. The Tundra on other hand... is an autonomous being grown into the ship itself. Whether it is actual Nomad entity or… artificial construct, we have yet to discover. This topic will be expanded upon later on, when we will treat about Omicron cluster itself. Now, one of our operatives present in this very room can testimony for purity among ranks of Liberty armed forces branches. Agent Stone, present your findings.”
A girl with a black uniform stood to answer the Bundschuh officer. Her uniform looked as it has seen better days but was still in acceptable shape. She took a small electronic storage device, handing it to Golanski so he could put them into the system for everyone else to see. There were three images in total, all sporting Liberty ships with D9 identification: First showed two Guardian fighters benefitting from fire support provided by Nomad ships. Another unveiled Liberty gunboat class warship near a Nomad cruiser. Finally, Nomad battleship - assisted by its own escort and couple of D9 vessels - laying waste to Liberty Naval Overlord-class dreadnought in the Cortez system.
“Liberty is far from clean, from my recent operations within outer rim of Liberty such as Coronado and Cortez. I‘ve seen several ships flying under an… well, broken IFF’s. Liberty is a hotbed of activity; as a matter of fact I ran into various incidents including Division 9 of Liberty Security Force. From what we gathered so far, it is not farfetched that this particular group became Nomad’s most notorious asset within Liberty itself. They are often frequented by infectees of other houses, so far noted Kusarian and Maltese branches - such as former Contari Lance pilot decloaking right into my wing during patrol in Baffin system. Division does not limit itself to Liberty and independent worlds either as they dared to follow us all the way to our Omicron strongholds.”
She puts an image out of a D9 guardian fighter near Order installation within unspecified location. Pattern was the same: usual ship under pretense of Liberty Security Force operative.
“This pilot, branding callsign of Wild Fox told me he could give me physical proof that the LSF high command is infected; while I never received evidence, disturbing fact is that this vessel came to us just a several hours after the LSF primary fleet itself communicated with us on the same topic of infectees infiltrating branches of Liberty government agencies.”
Drawing close, Admiral thanked her for co-operation. Hoping it answered Freya’s question, he was ready to continue on with next house he wanted to cover within scope of this council.
Kusari
Interactive map of Sirius moved on to galactic northernmost of the colonies, the House of Kusari. Highlighted was star system of Tohoku, neighbouring homes of all Kusari individuals gathered in the room. Hokkaido, Chugoku and Okinawa were all within single jump range, first in line against Nomad forces concentrated around local Nomad fortress. Heaven’s Arch, called also Tekagi’s Arch dominated the exploited part of Tohoku. Additional data flew to guest terminals, branding it as base of operations for both Nomads and infected forces in whole of Kusari. Stormed multiple times over the years, most notable raid was performed by Blood Dragons during course of Nomad War. During 817-818, three campaigns were set in motion by The Order to overthrow threat from Arch prior to fall of Toledo. The closest to victory became the final campaign, succeeding in sending combined Order-Dragon troops deep inside the station itself.
“Kusari is a troubled region for our operations as we kept encountering near impossible odds that set us back significantly. If it were not for Aoi Iseijin - a term coined by Kusarians on what we know as Kusari infected branch - we were engaged by KNF. From all militaries, this one proved to be most aggressive to our cause and are known by us to be heavily proliferated by Nomads. Let it speak for that Aoi itself is composed of several actual KNF battlegroups worth of personnel infested since Nomad War. Officially an unit within Kusari fleet named Hanta Isejin, this particular branch was designated to stop Nomad threat within their own borders for almost full eighteen years. I believe I do not have to stress out how incompetent their fleet is, and that we cannot trust them.”
Admiral paused, seemingly frustrated by Kusari state of affairs. Information provided displayed various cases of infectees operating under false flag of Hanta Iseijin, incorporating captured elements of different Kusarian factions later on. Familiar ships of GMG, GC, Hogosha, Dragons... Everyone could become a victim. He then re-affirmed himself looking at his Kusari guests, continuing his speech.
“If there is someone within Kusari itself capable of fighting this menace, it is you.”
The catalyst behind Nomad War itself was house of Rheinland. War orchestrated by alien infiltrators, planning for biggest devastation brought onto humanity since Sol war itself. Struggling nation in midst of revolution caused by continuous decades of unrest among both intellectual and working classes. From a map, Rheinland looked nothing alike. Access to resource rich Omegas fueled not only molochs of houses own industry but also entirety of Sirius itself. Highlighted systems of interest were Frankfurt and two worlds deep within Walker nebula: Omega 55 and 58. While Frankfurt was point of interest only solely for Rheinland’s main site in Nomad’s research. According to Order intel, it was the first location to succumb to infestation prior to Nomad War due that all material gathered from edge worlds was shipped to the site. Bundschuh, basing on information provided by The Order operatives destroyed original Shatten - at the time ‘nursery’ to six Nomad battleships. Entire strike turned out to be the last to entire flight - including Bundschuh leader at the time, Claus Botzler.
Omega’s were newer development. At the time uncharted to human factions, 55 and 58 also lacked any prospect for either long term colonization or minerals worth extracting. Fall back point to remainder of infested fleet from 800 A.S. war, giving Wilde a safe spot out of The Order’s reach at the time to slowly regain their numbers. Before The Order realized scope of the threat, Wilde homeworlds were way too fortified to assault and cleanse. There were two separate entries for “Omega 58”, both showing completely different worlds. First recon flights known revealed monstrous gravitational anomaly, attracting dust and interstellar material towards center of the system. It was known that Wilde attempted to build a jump gate of Nomad design, incidentally also being source of anomaly itself. Second set showed irradiated wasteland orbiting neutron star, images captured from RHA-Order-VWA combined operation.
“Rheinland is by far, the most prepared house when it comes to countering Nomad influence among their own ranks. Learning upon mistakes of the past, they have developed contingencies second only to our own. While it does not mean immunity, as more and more pilots of the Militar succumb to Wilde, there is little to clean up among their ranks by our own hand. Unfortunately, they are inherently hostile and vary to our activities. Amid our... legal status within house, peacekeeping agencies often resorted to bend their own laws in favour of placing sometimes near impossible obstacles. The so called unlawfuls are not oblivious to the threat, Widerstandsarmee always standing by our side when it comes to tracking and neutralizing of alien threat in Rheinland."
Bretonia
Fourth house, realm of Bretonia ruled by monarch Carina. Remarkably least volatile prior to Tau war, Kingdom now faces direct threat to its existence, according to data provided. Combined with neighbouring worlds not necessarily under Queen’s jurisdiction, map provided many more points of interest than any other presentation so far. Drake (Known also under designation Tau 117), Coronado, Chester and Newcastle are all under most imminent danger by extraterrestrial source. Citing provided intel one by one: Drake is newly established Das Wilde stronghold, holding direct jumpgate connection to Coronado - Colonial’s current home. Even more threatening was full blown Nomad colony in Chester operating under cover of dark matter cloud, interfering with ships electronic devices. As for the Newcastle…
“This photo reveals Bretonian research station, taken up close by one of our undercover operatives. Sunderland as it is named is utmost highly secured sector of Bretonian space. While we never been able to bypass draconian security measures yet, we know this - alike Schatten for Rheinland - installation is not only main site for xenoarcheology for the realm but… also directly connected into massive piece of Daam K’Vosh architecture. Behind sealed doors of lower decks, Bretonian high ups believe to find a weapon that will defeat crown’s enemies. Unlike some more supportive elements within structures of other nations, Bretonia - if believing BIS own words and actions - treats The Order as a threat second only to Gallia. So far, both overt and covert agents of mine are always step or two ahead in the game. BIS itself never mounted any operation aimed against our own ‘shop’ here in Omicrons.”
Admiral Golanski prepared to deliver the final note to signify why he is sharing this with everyone else. Seeing he’s got everyone’s attention, he continued to deliver the punchline behind The Order's concern in this corner of Sirius.
“Nomad activity in Newcastle increased tenfold previous year only. They have the key and knowledge to turn this artifact against Sunderland itself as Bretonian internal instruments remain either deaf or too arrogant to listen to reason. Are there any questions, before we will move on to the easternmost fringes of Sirius sector?”
Lord Hashirama lay attentive throughout the summit, observing facts and data aswell as those present in the room. A certain air of wisdom dawning the elder Dragon's visage as his attention was drawn to the subject just as the Admiral inquired of unclarities.
Senju rose one hand before adressing the man, the plates on his armor clinking lightly.
"There is one matter I wish to ask of. So far, we have been presented with all discussed house 'black sheep' as it were. The demons seem to have a labeled grip on each of us: The Wild ones, Aoi Iseijin, even Liberty's Division 9. But I believe I speak in the name of all those here, yet uninformed regarding this, when I ask: What is Bretonia's branch of infectees in this matter ? We have heard nothing of this so far. Is there even such a group ? If so, what can we be told of them ?"
The man presented his case and lowered his hand with a calm gesture, signaling the end of his inquiry and inviting the Order to offer a well-deserved answer.
![[Image: U6EtqgU.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/U6EtqgU.png?1)
![[Image: E9d8RnV.jpg?1]](http://i.imgur.com/E9d8RnV.jpg?1)
![[Image: oB88B9q.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/oB88B9q.png?1)
![[Image: yXeeIiN.png]](https://i.imgur.com/yXeeIiN.png)
![[Image: Tohoku_Planetary_Arch.png]](http://discoverygc.com/wiki/images/a/a8/Tohoku_Planetary_Arch.png)
![[Image: 94y1MPq.jpg?1]](http://i.imgur.com/94y1MPq.jpg?1)
![[Image: 2Kl3jGT.jpg?1]](http://i.imgur.com/2Kl3jGT.jpg?1)
![[Image: qfsQ5ZI.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/qfsQ5ZI.png?1)
