Discovery Gaming Community

A plan to fully start securing Kusari and main trade routes passing through Taus and Sigmas involved mass producing ships capable of defending and destroying anything that meets them. Coupled with terrorist factions such as Blood Dragons gaining more and more power and with rumors of their own warships being built, the biggest response was a series of battleships constructed near the end of the 8th century. Musashi was first in the line with other notable battleships including Nagasaki and Matsumoto.

Finally launched in 788 after 4 years of construction, she began the trip to Kansai Research Station in Honshu. Upon arrival, she was placed to guard the base in the entrance through the minefield. Being a relatively safe job for the battleship itself, she didn't see much action. Her snub support did however, as knowing there's a minefield and a direct assault was impossible, Dragons and Golden Chrysanthemums rarely attacked the station itself and instead attempted to intercept convoys going in or out. 5 years later, she got reassigned to Tohoku.

At that point a well-known person in Kusari, Governor Tekagi, was gaining more and more power due to influence in Kishiro and the sheer monetary value of his assets. He started assembling his own fleet. By far his biggest asset was his personal military stronghold in Tohoku which he shamelessly named after himself - Tekagi's Base. For others it was simply known as Heaven's Gate, a beautiful massive base built out of planetary remains. The rumor was that most of Kusari's valuable items, intelligence and data were hidden inside the structure. It is no surprise such an installation would require a fleet commanded by a battleship to defend it.

The system was still mostly unexplored and only the connection to Hokkaido, the Arch itself and Nampo nebula full of Blood Dragon ships were discovered. It was believed they have an installation as well as a connection to their home system somewhere inside the nebula, but all attempts to prove that failed. Musashi was reassigned after her predecessor got baited into the western nebula and destroyed, known as the Nampo Battle. Dragons scored a great victory with a humiliating defeat to a much more superior but immobilized force.

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800 A.S. - 801 A.S. (Nomad war)

At the end of 799 A.S. Musashi was moored for inspection and refitting"due to a "fuel leak" in one of the engine sections. It was docked for almost half a year until finally leaving again in mid-800. At that point the colonies were already building up tensions, preparing for a war. It was allegedly caused by Rheinland who was chasing an international fugitive over a valuable item. As it turned out, that same person came to Kusari to steal one of the most valuable artifacts Kusari owned - The Proteus Tome.

Musashi was securing the Arch's main entrance. Its battlegroup, consisting of 3 cruisers, 6 gunboats and dozens of fighters was patrolling around the area. Suddenly, one of the fighter wings reported sighting of Dragon ships near Nampo. About 15 minutes later, the patrol reported a loss to an overwhelming Dragon force. Before they even knew what they're dealing with, the Dragons marched directly on the Arch. Surprised at first due to how defended the structure is, KNF quickly intercepted the group to stop a direct assault.

However, due to Dragons' skill, determination and ferocity, fighting against all odds they managed to reach the entrance to the Arch guarded by emergency generators that auto-deploy when base security is threatened. Musashi was directly exposed here and the ship tried everything she can to defend the generators and stop the Dragon assault, but to no avail. She destroyed numerous bombers and fighters, but the few remaining Dragon forces managed to break the blockade and dock on the Arch.

The official report stops there. What happened after that got cleared from Kusari's records as well as the location or status of the IKN Musashi. It's still considered missing in action after the Tohoku bloodbath with Blood Dragons.

As always the official report only says half of the story. Since Tekagi was infected by the Nomads somewhere before the Nomad war, it's clear what his goal was - to weaken Kusari within and when the time comes, unite with an infected Rheinland fleet to crush Kusari and continue Nomad dominance. To prepare for that, he started assembling his own fleet including the Musashi. The half a year period where Musashi was moored due to a "fuel leak" was used to infect the crew and gain more numbers. Nomad influence wasn't known and Tekagi did well to keep it secret.

Official report is true for the most part when it comes to defending the Arch from Dragons, but after Dragons breached Musashi didn't just magically vanish. Seeing as Tekagi's Base got breached, the plan to unite with the Rheinland fleet wasn't possible anymore as they weren't in Kusari yet. Instead, Tekagi's personal infected fleet had to either hide somewhere and wait for the right moment or try to rejoin with Rheinland anyways by going to the Sigmas. Considering it was a slow massive battleship. the latter wasn't an option. The place to hide was a system known as Omicron-92.

Another unmentioned truth was that Tohoku was discovered more than the official report said. To the far top right of the system there was a gravitational anomaly leading to a Nomad controlled system only known as Omicron-92. The system itself was anything no one'd ever want to go in - a desolate green nebula with dense asteroids, radiation and next to no visibility. It was a perfect place to hide the Musashi. During the breach where Tekagi died, Musashi departed for the neighboring system. As it got there, the plan was to hide it somewhere inside the nebula and wait for a call to arms when the Rheinland invasion begins.

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Rheinland invasion began. Official declarations of war from Kusari and Liberty meant full-scale wars were on the board. Everything looked like it was going according to plan until an event known as Omicron-92 disaster. The Order, by far the strongest and only actual organization determined to fight the Nomads, managed to breach into Omicron-92 and attack the Nomad Hive in order to gain a powerful artifact - a unique Nomad Power Cell. The ship that breached in, Osiris, did so near one of the jumpholes leading to Omicron Minor. The proximity to the jumphole caused an anomaly that made the jumphole unstable, and it began to collapse.

Order pilots were successful in retrieving the artifact and Nomads took a crushing defeat, but to make matters worse Musashi was stranded in a system that was being turned on its head. As the jumphole started collapsing the system went through a series of crushing factors - radiation, strong turbulence and dangerous asteroids on the loose. Musashi's thick hull and strong shields were the only thing saving her from annihilation, as the rest of Nomad ships were vanishing. The unstable jumphole caused all other gravitational anomalies to also start collapsing and the entire system was expected to "disappear" by killing all life inside it and losing connections to other systems.

Eventually the turbulence went away. System looked to be stable again, but with unknown intel on anything inside it. Musashi's crew was still alive for the most part and the ship itself didn't take any fatal damage, but wings at the bottom and top were damaged and they were out of fuel. That meant there was no good way to investigate and explore the system, and Musashi was stranded. A distress signal was sent in hopes of someone reaching it, but to no avail. A bit later another disaster for the Nomads happened known as activation of the main artifact on the Nomad city in Omicron Major. For Musashi it meant all of its infected crew died and Musashi was left floating in a new lifeless system today known as Omicron Chi.

Gather around, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time a man dared to venture toward the uncharted space surrounding Kusari. Beyond systems covered entirely by gas and asteroids that were yet to be reached by corporations, the man found a floating island close to a star that shone like none of the stars present in Kyushu and New Tokyo. After he settled down on the island, an unexpected visitor arrived, who happened to be the only inhabitant until the man had arrived. She introduced herself as the Siren, who was unaware of the Kusari society. The man offered the Siren all the knowledge regarding his homeland, and the Siren offered him the knowledge on the most remote corners of the sector, if not the galaxy.

They became impressed at each other after the exchange of words, and the man implored the Siren not to evict him from her island. The Siren accepted his presence, but fearing more Kusari explorers would discover her 'piece of heaven', she asked the man to serve as her bodyguard.

And so the Warden of Heaven was baptized.

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Alright, alright. I do remember this one, care if I continue from here? Thank you.

So it turned out that the family of the Warden missed him back in Kusari. There was a rice field to attend and both the warden's father and brother missed his hands working together with them. His brother boarded a ship funded by a renowned Kusari corporation and went after his brother. On his way toward the unchartered systems around Kusari, he would stumble upon old fashioned samurai, enraged women and rumours also speak of enraged farmers.

But that's not how the story is told...

Would you be quiet, please? So... the brother eventually reached the island, finding both the Warden and the Siren. The Warden faced his own brother, gently asking him to leave back to Kusari. His brother accepted the Warden's demand, but in return he would bring the Siren to Kusari. The brother's demand enraged the Warden, shouting at him to leave, but his brother chose to plunge a knife into the Warden's chest and rushed for the Siren.

But the Warden vowed to protect the Siren, and while his brother grabbed the Siren forcefully back to Kusari, the heavily injured guardian delivered a fatal blow on his brother's head, killing him instantly but also succumbed to his wounds shortly after. Since then, the Siren mourns the death of the Warden, and her sobbing can still be heard by pilots while traversing Kusari.

You see? This is a mere depiction of the assault plotted by Blood Dragons and their associated vermin against the Heaven's Gate about two decades ago, guarded by the Musashi. The very same battleship you claimed to have seen drifting between Omicron Delta and Xi, am I right? Otherwise you wouldn't be coming with me, my dear loudmouth. Don't worry, the Seiryuu will provide you a comfortable quarter once you've guided us to the right place.

The distant cry of the Siren was reported for first time in 803 A.S. Some adventurers claim to have heard it while flying their transport ships filled with Iridium across Omicron Delta, Corsairs claim to have heard the same cry while they battled Outcast skirmishes in the Malvada cloud, and scientists aboard Corinth Station have reported loss of sleep due to the very same cry tormenting their minds each night. Over the course of years, the crying became a hissing and eventually became audible, restoring the apparent calm in the Omicrons.

How come we could not heed your call until now, oh Warden?

The storytelling adventurer sat nervously while Muramasa glanced across the bridge of the Seiryuu, covered in its invisible veil as it traversed the barely chartered space. The cry was barely understandable for the mindshare that emerged after the activation of the hypergate 25 years ago, and the new wardens of the Arch could do nothing but follow any trace that any naive human could leave about the ship. As they were able to give form and shape to the 'cry', they were led to believe that not everyone aboard the Musashi had died, but definitely they were close to their death by the present time.

If we find the ship, I'm more than willing to offer you a chance to become part of the history, my dear friend. Just as the legend of the Siren and the Warden has prevailed, your figure would be a nice addition to a soon-to-be living legend, don't you think? Gloria aeterna est.

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The wardens of the Arch rallied the nearby Hives for towing the Musashi back to a safe haven. Whatever soul was still in charge of the ship chose to lead it to a slow death in the orbit of an unchartered planet in Omicron Chi, there where no scanners, signals, voices and cries could be heard.

Altair once welcomed the Mandate of Heaven for the wardens of the Arch to wield against the humanity, and now it would be ready to give the true Warden the chance to take revenge against those who assaulted the Heaven's Gate two decades ago, now renewed and energized.