Stellaris Ch 19

Chapter 19 - 2475 to 2500:

A combined armada of 3rd and 4th Fleets and a large Garganan fleet jump into Maghama, attempting to clear a path to Garbex. They engage the Unbidden in the system. One destroyer is lost, but the other fleet is blasted apart by the combined power of the armada.

The armada moves on to Starmagg, where they find an empty system, other than what looks like a giant, glowing anchor. What it is does not matter, and the fleets destroy it. An enemy fleet arrives trying to defend it, but they too are eliminated.

The Garganan fleet splits off the armada, and 3rd and 4th Fleet jump to Pentarum. They are too late. Garbex is a barren world full of craters, with no biological life in sight. All three of the habitats have been reduced to space dust. The Screk Bonded Union is no more.

"Pull them back," President HistoryDude says. He and his officers are standing around a console table, looking at a map of Hithram and the surrounding systems. The spread of the Unbidden inside the Cartel is becoming worrisome. "Pull them back to Maghama. If the Unbidden get back there, they could reach the rest of the Cartel in months, and then the Federation."

The President is now 168 and showing no signs of age. 500 years ago, he would look to be around 52, but now, age really is just a number. The life expectancy on a well-developed planet of the Federation is around 170 years, and, with his access to medicine and technology, he could easily live to the mid 200's.

"Sir," the new Def Sec Volk says, "with Erad Station destroyed, we need to construct another fleet."

"1st or 2nd Fleet could be redeployed to Beta Caeli." Admiral Barney Zen, the Federation Space Combat Commander, points out.

"The Unbidden are right on the border of the TOZ. 1st and 2nd are needed there or we could lose those systems. I'd suggest a 5th Fleet. Then we can work on retaking Hithram again."

"I approve construction of 5th and 6th Fleets." The Def Sec looks surprised. He was not expecting two new fleets. "And what about an update on Saqqis?" he asks.

"We've been having some problems with alloy shortages. We're stuck before the final phase," he answers.

"Dammit!"

3rd and 4th Fleet move back to Maghama, and a large Cartel fleet joins them there to hold off the Unbidden. Enemy fleets come at a steady rate, but they are defeated.

The Lilarobius capital of Veola falls in 2481, and the Triad is finished. Another empire demolished by the Unbidden. Immediately, the Jibru and the Mandasurans move in to fill the void.

For the first time, an Unbidden fleet enters Ridathi. Luckily, Kathleen Forster's 2nd Fleet is present, and the attack is repelled.

As more and more Unbidden make their way into Ridathi, 1st Fleet is recalled and sent to help with the defense. In addition, new defensive platforms are under construction around Ridathi station.

The President's aid rushes through the hallways of the station. He was hired just a week ago, after his predecessor was fired. No one would tell him why the Sirgogg aid before him was let go. This first week was hell, with the President giving him all sorts of commands, the most humiliating being to fetch him coffee; years of work to earn this position, a masters in intergalactic politics and interspecies studies, and he is a glorified coffee boy.

He gets to the station's lounge and presses a button on the console. "Coffee," he says. As it is being prepped, Martin Fondic walks in. Fondic is an adviser, responsible mainly for guiding the President's domestic policy.

"Hello, Hardrag." Fondic says, when he sees him, and he takes out his console and sits on one of the comfy couches. "Make me a cup, too, if you would."

Hardrag orders another cup. He goes and sits next to Fondic. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question," he says.

"Ask away," Fondic replies. He puts down his console and looks up.

"I'm by the President a lot, and I hear a lot." Hardrag hesitates as the coffee machine beeps with the first cup ready. "Why is it that the President is so unwilling to... to go on the offensive?"

"It's not really your place to question---"

"I didn't mean to," the aid cuts in. "Just curiosity. The Def Sec has been having a hard time trying to, well, advise the President. It gets pretty heated any time I've been in his office while they meet."

Fondic thinks about what he wants to say before speaking again. While he thinks, the coffee machine beeps again. "The President is hesitant because he... he doesn't like risking Federation ships. Especially when other states have been less than willing to work with the Federation to stop the Invasion."

"Less than willing?"

"The Kalaxenan-Star Entente war, for one, solidified the President's isolationist stand. And the desolation of Garbex lost Earth the last ally it had."

Hardrag's face shows doubt, like he knows the other man is dancing around the question.

"Look," Fondic says. "There isn't anything anyone, especially you, the aid, can do about it. Just try and get on with your work." He looks back at his console. "And grab that coffee for me before you leave, please."

15 years go by and Earth continues its defensive policy. Every month, another Unbidden fleet arrives in Ridathi or Maghama, and a constant stream of reinforcement ships move to the battered fleets defending the systems. Slowly, the Unbidden expand their borders, but very few populated systems are reached. In fact, many planets are mostly evacuated prior to the swarm's arrival.

Then, a second power surge, like that which preceded the Unbidden, is detected in Altair in 2498. It is the Aberrant.

This second rip in reality spills out powerful, glowing-gold ships. A large Cartel fleet was in the process of retaking the system when the Aberrant appeared. Now, they are taken by surprise and quickly overwhelmed.

The strange thing is, the new Aberrant appear to clash with the Unbidden. Neither extradimensional empire is friendly with the other, and the going theory is that the Unbidden fled their dimension to escape the Aberrant.

The main Federation sentry array, Auribus Station, tracks the movements of the Unbidden and Aberrant, and apparently a great space battle has broken out in Altair. The Unbidden seem very eager to stop the Aberrant Invasion, while the Aberrant seem to only want to make a beachhead from which to launch more fleets.

Yet another rip opens in 2500, this time spilling forth the Vehement. Now three extradimensional empires are vying for power in the galaxy, all hostile to each other and the native life of the universe.