Part 82: 2150-2154 - The Great War begins.

With the Erutkah Refugees expanding so quickly, we decide it is a good idea to sell them that gas mining station they claim. For 900,000 credits and an end to their trade sanctions.



We use this money to commission our first capital ships – the King Cobra class puts out 410 firepower and its well shielded and fast.



One of our Dongu class cruisers, the Crimson Fury, captures a mining station off some pirates.



Now we have money, all the pirates want to sell us advanced technology. The leadership say no, we do not want to fund the menace any more than necessary.



News then comes in that the Erutkah have completed a great wonder at one of their colonies.



This apparently causes the Naxxilian Sovereignty to declare war on them.



This is how space looks now.



We add a new world to the Empire.








The Dread Authority launch a major attack on Mailstrum 1.



We hit the Deadly Mercenaries base ourselves, but it is heavily defended.



We lose several ships, and are forced to flee. The Refugees complete another wonder.







The Ancient Guardians contact us for the second time.



They reveal great things.



The Refugees are the Shakturi! The thing we care more about is the offer of a powerful fleet! We have already annoyed the Shakturi to much to side with them, our only hope is to join the Guardians in the Utopian alliance.
They give us 36 ships with nearly 10,000 firepower.



We send them against the true threat – the pirates! Starting with the Sol Marauders!



The Guardians send their forces against the Shakturi.



We now have allies as well – the races in blue.



Shakturi ships immediately attack our worlds in the southern region of space.



These worlds are surrounded by an ancient evil, I fear they may already be lost.



We then contact our allies and organise a mass trade of technologies – our ship designs will jump ahead decades.



The Sol Marauders have been a thorn in our side for over fifty years, now they die. The strange patterns are warp jump inhibitors. None shall escape.







The Shaktur contact us. They have dropped their cover now.



They claim to have forces incoming from another galaxy! It seems that this war is one that will once again shatter the galaxy.



This seems like bluster to us, as the Guardians strike hard at their carrier and carry the day.



They do colonise a world in the same system as New Mecca however.







The true face of the enemy is soon seen, as a shadow falls across Abu-Bakr. A huge ship - classified by the files give to us by the Guardians as a planet destroyer – takes up orbit around the planet. Its name is apparently only The Death Of Worlds.



There are 161 million people on the planet. Many try and flee on the Wry Passenger, the tiny passenger ship in orbit.



They do not make it, the explosion that takes the planet takes them with it. We do see a Guardian fleet jump in moments to late to save the lives of millions.



They hammer the thing, and it tries to escape, but its engine fails, and our own fleet arrives to take revenge. It is not enough to repay the loss of a world, but it is something good to report back home.



The guardians are liberating worlds and engaging the enemy in other places as well.



A large battle occurs over Byblus 3 – a Shaktur world taken by the Guardians.



During this battle we are able to capture a couple of Shaktur ships.







A Shaktur fleet lands troops on Igginoxe and the 68 million people are are captured. One of our fleets is on hand however.



The situation in the warzone is chaotic, we are taking and losing worlds almost one for one, and it is impossible to tell who is winning.



The only way to gauge it may be through our spies.



Igginoxe is recaptured by the Guardians, but not before every last Ghanan is killed.



We then detect another planet destroyer, this one is heading right for the Guardian homeworld of Utopia! This one is named Revenge of Shaktur.



The Guardians manage to interdict it just inside the system and force it to flee.







The Urantu send their fleets into the warzone. This might be enough to tip the war.



We launch our own attack with the Guardian fleet, targeting the world of Broanee 1.



Our own troops are ineffective against the hordes of Shaktur, but the Guardians land troops and take the world. We shall target their fleets instead.



We think things are going well, then the Revenge of Shaktur appears over New Mecca.



650 million souls perish in light.



The Revenge of Shaktur then jumps to Bybius in the same system, but our fleet and a massed Guardians one arrives to destroy it.



Gamma Draconis also comes under attack, as millions die to orbital bombardment before a Guardian fleet arrives to save the planet.



Afrani also comes under attack by what seems to be the main Shaktur fleet.



While they cannot destroy the planet, they lay waste to it from orbit.



Our sensors then detect fleets penetrating deep into Ghanan space – one such fleet is heading for Sol!







Ogoonu Prime, our first colony, comes under attack, the enemy begins to bombard the 1.6 billion people on the planet.



All ships in the area are thrown in, and we do manage to break up the enemy formation, but half a billion people have died so far.



The Shaktur are losing worlds and military power.



But will there be a Ghana left to see a victory? We have lost six worlds and nearly two billion citizens.



Things could be going better.