Rifts, an interdimensional time war

[shadowspirrit]

((Well i`m in the asteroidbelt that surrounds the same solar system as you Zman.))

From the darkness of the Matriarchs deepest bowels 2 bright blue lights gazed over the small band of raiders below. They had just came back from a scavange raid of an unknown vessel. The belt was a absolute graveyard of the things. All manner of shapes, sizes and orgines could be found there. But the legio could not be less interested in them. The only usefull things were the materials they were made off or could be converted to. Large eggsacklike canisters were being cut out of the ships by a group of what were often nicked brutes. Mutants of the Legio that were more like a gorrila in shape and strenght. Good for heavy lifting and manual labor, but absolute rubbish in a fight. A suprising ammount of biomatter was harvested this time. That would indicate that there had been loads of creatures or plants on the vessel. But that was undefinable at this point. Once the Raiders cot their tentacles on it it was soon reverted into a goo-ish soup. The labrats could make fuell and food from it, something that was always scarce. The young man was lost in thought for a moment when a siren was sounded. Glee came into the pupilless eyes, a trader caravan had been located.

[Mark12]

The kel'xi were testing out one of their new combat strategies on a low population planet called by the creatures inhabiting it "salandria". Three kel'xi ships were flying slowly toward the planet, so as not to be picked up by the sensors. Each ship held 200 kel'xi(the attacking kind) and one queen. Each ship curved off to land on a different point on the planet, one that was not occupied by the creatures inhabiting it. One ship was detected, and several enemy ships flew up to meet it. It put up a fight, but it was no contest against 5 enemy ships. The other two ships landed, and the kel'xi quickly started burrowing a nest for their queen.

[Bloogle]

((Looks like this is going somewhere, I'll hitch a ride.))

Faction leader Bio ((To be added))

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Physical description:
Equipment preferred:


Faction Sheet

Faction Name: Ela Vion Carcellat ((The Vion Encapsulate))
Faction Behaviors: Cautious, Isolationist, Slow to trust
Strengths: Advanced stealth technology, able to cloak entire solar systems. Doubled with stationary electronic shutdown stations allowing for living in a complete bubble.
Weaknesses: Slow to leave their protective bubble empire, leading to slow exploration and slower expansion.
Army size: 13,000 Capital ships, 2,000 Bubble craft (able to project large stealth fields), The Silver Hand: Leading flagship of the Vion.
History: The Vion took their first steps into space 480 years ag

(brb)

[REDSHEILD]

((Second part of intro done, now working on the third.))

It had been fortunate that Ket was there in the access room to make her memories come back; if she hadn't recognized her own server complex, it was unlikely that she would have realized who she was. Also fortunate was the nearby transmat pad, walking to her secondary array or even taking a high speed transit system would be tedious and possibly hazardous, and she didn't want to take a chance with a second clone, not until she'd had a look at the core. The very instance of psychosis in a fragment clone was worrying, since unlike most clones, whose memories were flash implanted shortly before "birth", fragment clones had their memories "grown" in while they developed. It wasn't unusual for a clone to be disoriented for its first few moments of life, but for one to fear for its life was unheard of. This was most disturbing, it could be a problem with the clone itself, or worse, a problem with her.
She archived the thought, it would be useful later, but not now. Now she had to activate the transmat pad, a task easy for a machine, but rather difficult for an organic. The first step, the actual on switch, was the easiest. It was seven feet above the floor, and her clone was 6'5", so she could reach it without effort. Programing the destination coordinates would prove more difficult. This transmat was of older design, and it required manual input of coordinates. After trying and failing several times to input the coordinates -the older ports didn't quite like the newer jacks she had been implanted with- she decided it was time to upgrade. The underside of her right forearm split open, a miniature laser cutter coming from the bloodless wound. It made short work of the interface panel, which she promptly tore off by hand, tossing the entire assembly -panel, board, and machine- onto the floor outside the pad. She plunged her left arm into the open socket, wires sprouting from her hand and forearm, attaching to the sockets once occupied by the broken interface.
In mere seconds she had broken the once state-of-the-art security software and the pad hummed to life. Before ending the interface, she took the liberty to alert a few automated maintenance chassis that this pad had a broken interface needing replacement.
Stepping onto the pad, she felt the air become charged with static as the transmat machine shot the area of space time her clone existed in at the speed of light towards its set destination.

Within moments of the completion of the transmat, Adrianna was drenched in sweat. She knew the core would be warm without its cooling system on, but it had been so long since she had felt heat like this that it practically knocked the wind out of her. She giggled a little bit to herself at the rather grim realization that if she hadn't enhanced her clone, she would be cooked by now, as she had deactivated the cooling systems in the compromised sectors to prevent her from freezing solid upon arrival. With that thought she set off into the twisting tunnels of her own self.
For hours she examined machine after machine, checking as thoroughly as possible every single component on every single board in every single piece of equipment.
After scanning on particular processor cluster, she realized something was amiss. Her readings showed an organic contaminant, one that the sensors in the array were not able to detect. At first she thought it was a simple curiosity, so she extracted a sample from the board. Only after further study of the board did she grow worried. The lifeform, a sort of bacteria colony, was not just growing on the board, it was interfacing with it. After further scans she realized with horror that it was capable of infecting organic life, and a scan of her clone revealed that it had entered her bloodstream, having broken out of the sample container. Disregarding proper server maintenance protocol, she immediately interfaced with the nearest uncorrupted terminal, extracting her mind fragment as she felt the thing ravage the body of her clone from the inside out. The instant her fragment had been retrieved, she flooded the complex with coolant, freezing the infected clone solid before it had the chance to react. She had the complex swarming with maintenance robots in seconds, sealing it off from the rest of the area and extracting the dead clone, transferring it to a stasis chamber for examination. The robots not assigned to those tasks began to scan the entire complex for the lifeform.
After seeing the results of the scans, she knew what had to be done.

[Mark12]

((is there an amount of time it takes for anything?))
The kel'xi force was ready to assault the creatures that lived on the planet. Their queens had produced a very large force, and both queens were located on different points on the planet, so that the assault would be very hard to defend. The huge forces started the assault, taking the first couple cities within a matter of days. Several more ships dropped into the atmosphere to deliver more queens to the large colony of kel'xi. The queens were dropped off, and the army production went even faster. The creatures that lived on the planet put up a brave defense, but it was impossible to defend against such an unexpected attack, especially because there were huge numbers of kel'xi attacking. Any defense they put up was torn down before it could be established firmly. Most people retreated towards the main capital on each of the continents, where there was defense being prepared. As for the kel'xi army, they were quickly taking the cities on a march towards the main cities.

[BonzaiBannana]

(( @Mark you can do things as quickly or slowly as you want; it's better to pace things out and go into significant detail with them, to really develop your characters and who your race is (e.g. REDSHEILD's posts so far) ))
(( In other news, do you mind if I jump into your plot? ))

[REDSHEILD]

((Third and final part of intro post. I'm not too happy about it, but I couldn't find any other way to write what I wanted to write in it.))

Ket had been waiting for twelve hours, eight minutes, and thirteen seconds for Adrianna to return when the door opened. It wasn't that he had nothing to do, no, the mixed reality network was quite enjoyable. But old friends were interesting to talk to, and he craved the quality time.
"Adrianna, you have returned. I noticed you punched the door again, I do hope you're not insane again." He laughed
"No, Ket, the door didn't listen to the first prompt. I guess it just needed some convincing."
He took note of Adrianna's tone, and that she didn't seem very well. "You're taller this time. You were only 77 inches last time we spoke; now you are 84 inches in height."
"I killed myself. This is a new clone, and I'm taller so I can fit a transceiver in here. In retrospect I should have done the same with the previous clone as well. It would have streamlined things."
"You killed yourself? Why?" Ket said with concern.
"To prevent contamination of the planet. There is a malicious biological contagion in my secondary memory complex, and I believe it is responsible for the faults in my memory. While I was studying what it was doing to one of my processors, it began to infect my clone, so I flooded the area with coolant."
"What do you plan to do?"
"I'll get to that. But first, why are you even here?"
"This room has the best mixed reality network reception in all of Vathar, thanks to an overlap of several dozen broadcast points. I purchased a place of residence near a direct access shaft to this room over a month ago."
"Well then Ket, I suggest that you find somewhere else to indulge your habit."
"Why? This room is fine."
"I am leaving Vathar. The access points you have been using will cease to exist when my complex is removed."
"You are leaving? In your entirety?"
"Yes, and if I can do such a thing you can kick your habit."
"Enough about my addiction. Has an Old Mind ever left the homeworld? Even the nomadic communities of minds have installations on the surface. What you are doing is unprecedented, and over a bacteria slime no less!"
"The lifeform I encountered is capable of bringing flesh and machine into its own form with little effort. If it manages to escape my complex it could destroy our civilization."
"Then destroy it before it gets out of control!"
"I thought I could. But scans of the memory core indicate it has spread to eighty percent of it. Only a ten thousandth of the complex is corrupted, and I have eradicated the corruption, or at least slowed it. At this stage, though, destruction is impossible. I have, fortunately, found a solution. At the edges of our galaxy space-time rifts have been observed, and one has been found that is stable. I am going to leave our universe."
"And what if this thing originated from one of these rifts?"
"Then I will inform the Council to take the necessary steps to permanently seal the rifts once I have left"
“Is that really needed? Surely you’re not considering leaving our universe forever.”
“This lifeform needs to be contained. I am the only infected individual. That’s the bottom line.”
“You won’t even take anyone with you?”
“No.” Adrianna started walking away, but with agility that would be unexpected of Ket’s body, he grabbed her arm, firmly but without crushing it.
“I’m coming with you, and so are others. We do not abandon our creators, Adrianna.”
She opened her mouth to protest, then sighed realizing it would be futile to argue.
“Fine then; as you have probably guessed, I have been studying the contagion. I have developed an organic immunity, and I have found that certain newer chassis designs are so far entirely immune to it, at least until it mutates. If you can find those willing to leave in the next week, and get yourself a new chassis, I will let you come with me.”


*High Orbit, Vathar*

It had taken a week to move her to orbit, but finally Adrianna was aboard her ship. All of her was here and connected, even her clone was connected via an implanted transmat-comlink, which allowed instantaneous communication between her clone’s brain and her main processor core, allowing her to seat her primary consciousness in the clone, should she have to abandon ship. It was unlikely that the contagion would spread, though, for her damaged core was aboard a barge that had no engines and did not physically connect to the rest of her ship-body at all, it being held in place by energy barriers.
At the front of the ship she now lived in there was the ship’s only window, and behind it the only chair on board. As she sat on it, the metal surface of the chair molded to her body, raising her into the air in a position of ideal comfort. Then hundreds of cables and wires sprouted from underneath the chair, finding their proper ports on her body, allowing her to fully interface with the ship. From that point, she became the ship.
She felt the heat of solar radiation against her hull plates, the force of her star drive matching the pull of Vathar’s gravity. It was truly wondrous, she thought, the things her civilization had achieved. Thousands of years ago they had developed the first neural interfaces, now they were fully merged with machines, in body and mind. At the same time, the very ship that was at the moment her own body was a wonder in itself. They had built it around her complex, once she had been taken into orbit, using an old battleship design. The inside was, of course, quite different from what the design specified, but the exterior of the ship had its every detail paid full attention to by the dockworkers.
Scanning the space around her, she found that she was one of the largest ships in orbit –not a surprising fact; her complex was easily the size of the old cities of Earth– accessing her own statistics, she found that she would be the most graceful ship in orbit as well. Vathari warships were the pinnacle of their technology, and as such the height of their achievement as a civilization. Her ship-body, while it would at first appear to the average observed to be large and clumsy, was in fact the opposite. It had been designed to glide through the vacuum of space, both at conventional speeds and those speeds that put light itself to shame.

Finally, as she scanned the orbits again, she noticed the fleet Ket had assembled approaching from the far side of the planet. The fleet itself was impressive, there were easily thousands of ships, mostly civilian vessels, but there was also a large military presence. Most prominent among the fleet were ships of other Old Minds, who due to their impressive quality and size stood out among the rest. She guessed, though, that they were only sending a core or two and a sizeable fragment, rather than an entire complex. Maneuvering with her drives, she came into formation with the fleet, her ship-body easily dominating the group, which gave way to her as she went to the center of their formation.
After she had settled in with the rest, a voice entered her mind.
Well, you look ready to go. Were you expecting as many as are here?
It was Ket, communicating through direct maser bursts.
No she said I didn’t think you’d have enough time to convince anyone.
Ket laughed Getting some of the Old Minds to send fragments was pretty tough, but I managed to get a few of your friends.
Thank you, Ket. Now, let’s get moving, the rift isn’t going to be this stable for long

In moments the massive fleet was cruising through space at greater-than-c speeds. Soon they would reach the rift, and use it to cross over to another universe.
They emerged from warp an AU away from the rift, a giant, twisting crack in the surface of space-time. As they neared the monstrous anomaly, Adrianna felt space begin to twist around her and the others, the distortions getting more powerful as they neared the rift. As she began the enter the rift, having insisted she go first, she felt the very fabric of space-time shatter as she was pulled from one existence to another.

One hour after the fleet had left, a Council war fleet dropped from warp around the rift, and using the most powerful and terrible weapons known to the Vathari and their sibling race, the Enari, the war fleet sealed the rift in its entirety.

[Mark12]

((Thanks for that info))

(( In other news, do you mind if I jump into your plot? ))

((What do you mean by that? Like being in my story or what?))

[zman111]

((somewhere in Coalition space))

Rebecca stood higher with pride as the Orlecon began its final shakedown phase. Its enormous fusion core reactors began to clank and whir as batteries feed primer-power into the reactors matter was drawn in via intake valves creaking open for the first time in their existence. "this would be magnificent" Rebecca told her aide as the ship's AI powered up and began initiating reactor safeties. As the slow churn of reactors speed into a peaceful unforgettable whine Rebecca calmed. Running lights then began to flicker on throughout the ship as power filled ancient power conduits almost forgotten by time. the AI chirped "running sheilding program" "sheilding online" "main engines on standby" "life support is functioning at 100%" "weapons control online" "primary weapon checks out with standard operating procedure" "spinning up FTL drives" "syncing jump vectors with the fleet" "shall we continue admiral?" Rebecca coolly replied "you have the green Mirabel start the main FTL sequence"

"Admiral FTL drive malfuntion! stable window collapsing into class 3 dimensional anomaly. Its pulling us in! Attempting to compensate for pull!" "Mirabel take us into it bring the fleet. The anomaly has a stable exit point and we can re-jump home from their hopefully"


((sorry for the silence I was very busy yesterday))

[Mark12]

The kel'xi had completely taken over the planet. The huge armies had arrived at the capitals. It had been a long and bloody battle, but in the end, the huge numbers of the kel'xi began to tell. They had lost several thousand more people than the creatures, but there seemed to be no end to the numbers coming against the crude barricades build in defense against them. It took several days, and several million kel'xi, but in the end they took over all the capitals. After that, several large ships moved in to the planet carrying workers and several more queens. The planet started getting populated by workers who were harvesting all the resources from the planet. As soon as those were gone, it would become another population planet, housing very large numbers of kel'xi.