While the darklings continued their endless light show over meaningless metal husks in the void, the Elders waited and conserved. Brief feelers were swiftly severed, as those of the flesh harbored greater hatred for those of the light than for their own kind. But as the fire borne from light receded, those without light in their minds swiftly excised the threat - and its motivation. The Elders, wise in their currents within the Community, had already grasped this truth, and now the collective had followed suit. Yet, as with all waiting, one atom touches another, then another, and at last, the light shifts its luster toward ever greater brilliance - one that cannot be contained.
The one question Forsberg had been asking himself and his staff, over and over, was why the aliens had chosen to lay low during this latest conflict. To confirm his vague suspicions, he ordered a general analysis of sightings and engagements over the past three months while also receiving reports on the new capabilities detected by the Mars battlegroup. Though his staff begrudged the "pointless" task, they produced the results easily enough. Indeed, it was almost commendable that the aliens had quit the field just as the Core was making itself a real nuisance.
And yet, none of it felt right… The retaliatory strike by Kusari-infected forces was clearly a feint to draw defenders away, but why then had the real objective - whatever it was - remained untouched? It was ludicrous to think the Core had managed to communicate with the aliens as effectively as they had with their pet machines, but what other explanation fit the context? Unless…
The first to sound the alarm was a picket stationed near the Pohnpei Nebula. The Core’s own vessel, named after the same region, had always preferred to stay away from its "cousin," favoring direct assaults with its zombies clearing the way. But orders were orders, and while their comrades covered themselves in glory (or heroically perished in action), the two Order operatives stayed put, watching the flank. What emerged from Pohnpei was not some clever group of ex-Libertonian killers - it was the answer to Forsberg’s riddle. Indeed, the very answer that the man and woman had joked about in their darker moods. The aliens, now emerging from the cloud in massive force, had finally made their move. And now, all humans - friends and enemies alike - would once again suffer the consequences of their infighting.
The Nomads are at the gates of Cairo and Capetown. A reinforced Ish'tar will lead the assault (piloted by staff), with a reinforced Irra piloted by a player volunteer (taken). Both must remain in Zeta.
Both human sides must do their best to evacuate equipment and personnel before the stations are destroyed at the end of the event.
The Order may evacuate to Taba in Mu or Dabadoru in Delta. The Core must evacuate to Durban in Delta.
PvP & Trade:
Event IDs will earn points and a $200k bonus for kills of the other sides' player ships in event systems. Zoners will only interact with alien ids on the config.
Core, Order, and Zoners will earn points and a substantial bonus for deliveries of Crew and Databanks (a 1000-capacity commodity) to the event destinations from Cairo and Capetown.
Rule Changes:
All ships are considered dead when docking in combat. For transports, this means being actively engaged by the enemy, not have them sit 5K away.
15-minute respawns are enabled for all event ids.
All event participants are limited to battlecruisers and below, with the exception of two registered battleships/dreadnoughts each from the Core, Order, Nomads, & Wild.
Order
Order|CV-Deceres
E\V/-OCV-Osiris
(Order|CV-Montana reserve) Core
<ARM>WV-Lockdown
<ARM>WV-Aquiliana
Outcomes:
The amount of crew and data evacuated from each station will provide flavor for the final days of each station's lifespan.
The scores of the PvP config will roughly represent the losses suffered by each side during the story beat.
Rewards:
All rewards require an INRP write-up about the event from the point of view of your character. Can be submitted as a report within the comm section, in a relevant faction channel, or as part of a story thread.
Custom Title
Requires participation in the event, event IDs only.
Shipyard Components (100)
Requires 1500 Crew or 15 Databanks delivered. Can choose any combo of components (but no exotic systems). You may combine deliveries across all characters you played during the event. Can be claimed multiple times.
Cloaking Devices
Requires 6/9/9/12 kills (for cloak mk 1/2m/2a/3). You may combine kills across all characters you played during the event. Can only be claimed once.
Shared Ships
Kills by tagged ships on the config will be summed, allowing the purchase of faction shareds with the resulting points at the following rates: BS = 26, BC = 18, Cruiser = 12, Gunboat = 8. Faction leaders should pm @Barrier with the final details. Please note that techcompat remains in effect for these ships, and locking is for official factions only.
Factions currently eligible for this reward: Order OF (Order|), Eclipse Vanguard (E\V/), Das Wilde (Wilde.), Slomon K'Hara (K'Hara|), Core (<ARM>).
Results
With the last human evacuation transport escaping by the skin of its teeth, Nomads are now masters of the Omicron Zeta system. Depleted by days of infighting, the warring human forces nonetheless managed to secure an orderly evacuation through heroic sacrifice. Cairo remained a shell for the nomads to crack open, but nothing of interest could be recovered from its remains. The much put-upon Capetown managed to get all personnel off in one last push, with no small help from a number of desperately contracted Zoner captains. But where the humans breathe a sigh of relief on the cramped decks of the evacuation ships, the data remaining on Capetown is there for the taking. Of course, only fools would be desperate enough to attempt to recover it, assuming any remained after the alien "purification".
Freeport 11 is again the frontier of human presence in the Omicrons. Even the fiercest proponents of eliminating their human rivals on both sides of the Core-Order war have received a substantial blow to their conviction. All agree that some form of cooperation is needed to avoid a repeat of the Zeta disaster in Delta. But no one is willing to compromise, and the harried Zoners are further stretched by the arrival of thousands of refugees onto the Freeport. Tensions are running high, yet order is maintained through painful experience - but no one truly believes that the lessons learned from the past week will be taken to heart.
The Development team using the event to tell a social commentary story about the relentless and unregulated use of AI by Corporations as a nod to what is currently happening in the real world.
The Schiller and Musashi pair will be there, as announced. So will be the Einbeck, for a temporary return; keep an eye out on them as chances are they'll bring new (or old!) tactics to the table. Rally over in the Wilde Discord server if you want to take part alongside them.
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Registered Ships
![[Image: uXIwfFB.png]](https://i.imgur.com/uXIwfFB.png)
![[Image: 5cb]](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/693/282/5cb)
![[Image: Lythrilux.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/Lythrilux.gif)
![[Image: BMdBL0j.png]](https://i.imgur.com/BMdBL0j.png)
![[Image: jWv1kDa.png]](https://i.imgur.com/jWv1kDa.png)
![[Image: QfY5qoD.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/QfY5qoD.gif)
![[Image: xk4E8Lk.png]](https://i.imgur.com/xk4E8Lk.png)
![[Image: 9tKRIO4.png]](https://i.imgur.com/9tKRIO4.png)
