You think you've seen it all, don't you? You think that your thousands of years of warfare against those around you to make them your servants or your food means that you have seen, experienced, and done it all, don't you?
You have no idea what Hell you have unleashed. You have no idea just what is now lunging up out of its grave at you. A grave forty-thousand years old, in a graveyard that was long ago turned into a parking lot where the bodies weren't moved because the development company embezzled the money and was crooked in ways your species can't understand.
A red eyed skull visaged thing that has crawled from a forgotten grave in a forgotten graveyard will grasp your by your hearing organs, pull you close and whisper one thing to you in the dark.
"There is room in this grave for you." - Falls Into Darkness, Mantid Diplomat addressing the Noocracy in a formal declaration.
It's easy for all of us. The Lanaktallan/Confederacy War was so long ago that the light from the stars that was emitted during that time has passed beyond the Orion Spur, past the Galactic Core, and past the opposing galactic arms. Wreckage is found infrequently now, starships drifting in space have largely been recovered, and even on worlds where nobody dwells any more, weather and time have erased the scars of that war.
But that is for us. Those who dwelt in the outside universe.
Inside The Bag, was the universe's most aggressive intelligent primate, wounded, threatened, and uncertain of what the future, when The Bag opened, would hold.
Would it be fire and blood or a universe where they were not at war.
They hoped for the latter and frantically prepared for the first.
We had them mostly at ease. The Mar-gite are not something personal. It was not a personal attack upon TerraSol, upon humanity. Make no mistake, these are not Terrans, not even Earthlings. These are humans. A bag of fluids and organs that all hate each other but just hate you more.
We had them willing to pause, willing to hold back the vast war machine they had built in the intervening five decades of monomaniacal military buildup.
The Hellspace Fence, the Mar-gite, they were troubles that had no visible origins and did not threaten TerraSol itself.
After all, the humans were down to one stellar system.
And humans understand that the only way to survive is to be multi-stellar, multiplanetary.
So, with their backs against the wall already, we had almost convinced them to set down the trigger of the planet cracker they were cradling to their chest.
And you had to hit TerraSol. In an amusing to the malevolent universe coincidence, you hit BrightFlash City. The same city the Mantid hit. The same city another race whose name we have forgotten struck at as an opening gambit to their desired interstellar war.
Then you attacked diplomats.
That act says you aren't interested in talking. Not now. Not in the future. That is a profound statement.
It says: We are in this to the end.
We Mantid tried to reach out, tried to use diplomacy in regards to the planets you have taken, in regards to the belligerent pose you have taken, in regards to your insatiable appetite for the flesh and psychic emantations of sapient beings.
But some men, you just can't reach.
Well, that's the way you want it.
So that's how it's going to happen.
You attacked Hivehome. You attacked Smokey Cone. You tried to attack Rigel-7. You tried to attack Pubvia.
That was enough. While your scientific and engineering advancements put you on a rough parity, militarily and industrially, with the Confederacy, meaning that the Confederacy would be facing a near peer conflict, you made the Prime Miscalculation.
You attacked TerraSol.
You attacked the fleet you requested assist you with a military incursion.
Do not bother to reach out to us, to ask us to try to reign in the humans.
The Confederacy was not built to protect them in those lost past days.
It was built to protect us.
Thou hast sowed the breeze.
Now reap the whirlwind.
For I have come with a righteous and terrible wrath.
Guns.
You may fire when ready.- Admiral of the Warsteel (Upper Decks) Ky'le'rmo'o, to the Ornislarp Noocracy.
"...the fact that the war is against three different opponents, widely spaced, with differing capabilities may put undue strain upon the Solarian Iron Dominion's military forces," the representative from the United Governments of Terra was saying to the assembled members of the Hamburger Kingdom Congress.
He was standing on the podium in front of the Speaker of the House, a fearsome individual known only as "The Annoyed", dressed in his fearsome crimson suit, who often giggled at inappropriate times.
"The Solarian Iron Dominion must stand down and not engage in operations across three fronts. It must allow the UGT to take over military operations to..." the UGT rep stuttered to a stop when a loud voice erupted from the visitors gallery.
"COWARD!" the voice roared out. "CRAVEN AND PUSILLANIMOUS COWARDLY WORM!"
The speaker trotted down the steps of the visitor's gallery, resplendent in his Senatorial Sash, flank covering, and vest. He had holographic eagles on his back that screeched at the end of his words. He was wearing a long white wig with curly hair beneath a tri-cornered hat.
"HOW DARE YOU COME HERE TO UTTER YOUR DISGUSTING WEAK AND WHINING DIATRABE?" the speaker roared out.
There were chuckles from the gathered four thousand Representatives.
"How dare you insult me in such..." the UGT Rep spluttered.
"I challenge you, sir, to a duel!" the Lanaktallan said, stopping at the edge of the balcony. The eagles on his back flapped their wings and screeched. "I will not abide such a craven and cowardly creature, below even the journalistic worms that infest our sacred halls, to bleat like a frightened sheep inside this hallowed building!"
The tri-vid cameras swooped in to get good angles of the crowd, the Representatives, the UGT Rep, and, of course, the Lanaktallan whose flank covering was now displaying a slowly scrolling image of the Articles of Hamburger Confederation.
"I... I..." the UGT Rep said.
"Now. Upon the steps of this very building, for the entire world to see!" the Lanaktallan shouted. "I challenge, sir! I demand satisfaction!"
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The railing flashed to signify a hoverpad was enroute to allow the Lanaktallan to step onto it and be taken down to the floor the House of Representatives.
The UGT rep stood straight. "You are Lanaktallan. Your reflexes and muscle speeds are five times lower than mine."
"True," the Lanaktallan folded all four arms over his chest. "Yet, I challenge you to a duel upon these steps. With guns."
The platform came to a stop and the Lanaktallan stepped onto it.
"Biologically, you cannot hope to win," the UGT Rep tried to sneer.
"Yet, I have not heard your sheeplike voice bleat out your acceptance to my demand of satisfaction," the Lanaktallan said. He kept his arms crossed as the platform hummed and slowly floated down toward the floor. "Unlike you, I have faced my opponents over the sights of guns, missiles, and even grenade launchers. I demand satisfaction, for my constituents cannot stomach seeing something as cowardly and craven as you upon the floor," the Lanaktallan smirked. "Why, I bet your sister is a thespian."
"How dare you, sir!" the UGT member snapped.
"And your wife undoubtablely provides aid and comfort to enemy diplomats late at night!" the Lanaktallan answered. "I dare because your parents, obvious mental and physical defectives, dared to engage in sexual congress without protection and then dared to raise you instead of knocking you in the head and selling milk!"
The UGT member spluttered.
"Either agree to give me satisfaction or flee these halls, vile worm," the Lanaktallan said. He lowered his lower two hands to rest them on the engraved and inlaid pistols in hand tooled leather holsters on the Genuine Red Plains Warriors Leather belt and Moo Moo Tender brass belt buckle.
The UGT member looked at the pistols, then at the Lanaktallan, who had a cold smile on his face and a glint in his eyes.
The UGT Rep remembered that the Senator had been an intelligent agency assassin and direct action operative.
"Pull your smoke wagon, sirrah, and give me satisfaction!" the Lanaktallan shouted.
The UGT Representative suddenly bolted off the stage.
The holographic eagles screeched in victory.
The Lanaktallan turned and trotted away.
He had a military appropratioms bill to vote on, and he wanted to get there in time to slice off a nice chunk of graft and grift so he could hand out jobs to his constituents.
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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
We've already had bladearm duels between matrons here.
A full Hatching had less than 38% support, a Great Hatching, even with Captain Decken's support, only had 22% support.
Now, there's been violence over an unwillingness to 'Do Your Part" and the like.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
The Mantid of "We Live Here Now in This Wonderful Place and These Wonderful Star Systems" are upset and slightly frightened. Their Omniqueen is only a few thousand years old and she fears that the anger and rage might contaminate all of her people, Mantid and others.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
PUBVIAN DOMINION
And the non-WLHN Mantid?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Can you say: Death to the Ornislarp? I knew you could.
It's not as bad as when we encountered the Lanaktallan, but it's pretty bad.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLDOM
It's going to get worse.
When are we voting?
Do we have a mandate?
We need to give peace a chance!
Watch the politicians start a war!
It's always going to get worse.
///////
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
What makes you say that?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLDOM
We've got the troops, the ships, the firepower to fight on all three fronts, providing Captain Decken's operation can find out the real threat behind the Hellspace Fence.
The Mar-gite are the bigger threat.
The Hell-Fence is the bigger threat.
Who cares about the spicy fence? The Mar-gite eat people!
Won't someone think of the children?
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
The problem is, apparently some individuals, some... entities, so to speak... took great offense to TerraSol being attacked.
///////
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
Like the Immortals? I thought that either they were all dead or a myth and never existed.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HESSTLA CYBERBURROW
You mean like Legion?
The Legion currently out with Operation Lonely Peach?
Those Immortals?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TUKNA'RN DOCTRINAL
There is that.
How many Immortals were on TerraSol when The Bag kicked in? How many Immortals still walk among us, eternal, never aging, watching as we carry on with our lives?
Apologies, it is mandatory art and creativity day. It makes us speak differently.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
You're good.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
PUBVIAN DOMINION
No, not like the Immortals.
We know the Nosferatu Initiative and the Nazgul Protocol are still out there. We've still got that Florida Man on ice.
No, this thing is old. Older than we'd like to think.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLD
Like what?
What kind of thing do we need to worry about?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HESSTLA CYBERBURROW
There's some strange things out there, and now that Terra is out of The Bag many things that were dormant are active.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
Again, like what?
I mean, what do we have to worry about.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
PUBVIAN DOMINION
It's hard to explain.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
I've been around for 40K years too.
What could be to worry about beyond their standard war fighting ability?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
me
PUBVIAN DOMINION
Look, there's a lot of things we never figured out how they work that weren't detailed in the Avenge-Us-Doc drop.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
Most of those have been dismissed as rumors.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Tell that to Legion.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
We just got done with a war about those old myths and legends.
I am not going to start hiding under the bed.
I'm not saying Terra isn't tough. Extremely tough for a single stellar system.
But we've had 40K years to advance beyond them.
And we have.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Man, you've been feeling muscular since the end of your civil war.
All right, fine. We've advanced.
Ship me a nutriforge you built from the ground up.
Ship me a creation engine. Just one.
You can't, can you?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
They don't work, and you know it.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Yet, from the Lanaktallan Empire to Smokey Cone creation engines, nutriforges, ammoforges, and even warsteel nanite creation matrixes have fired back up.
All the old Terran tech is turning back on.
Their scream of rage reignited that warsteel volcano of yours.
Pubvia is right to be worried.
We're all right to be worried.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
you are
PUBVIAN DOMINION
I just hope that whatever is coming can discriminate between innocent and guilty, military/government and civilians, legitimate targets versus banned targets.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT
I am nervous about what Terra might do.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
Well, I just hope whatever Terra brings to the table will offset the fact a near-peer conflict just exploded into violence.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLDOM
Oh, well, the way you have been talking, I'd assumed you'd like us to have some hot cocoa and go to bed in our footie pajamas while the big boys take care of everything.
You can't just threaten politicians.
Why not? They're vermin.
I was waiting for an offer to tuck me in and kiss my cheek after singing me a lullaby.
Because its illegal!
Maybe it shouldn't be! Maybe they need to be reminded who they work for!
They work for all of humanity, not just your side!
So?
Either act right or we'll petition to have your GalNet connection taken away.
You've damn near stated you don't need me anyway.
///////
PUBVIAN DOMINION
Nobody is saying that.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLDOM
Too bad.
I'm willing to go my own way.
No, we haven't voted!
If that's what the Malevolent Universe has in store, that we have to go it alone, then fine.
That's what we'll do.
You're talking about xenocide.
You're goddamn right I am, you bead wearing disco dancing tie-dye wearing hippy! GET A JOB!
That's verbal assault!
I'll assault your asshole with my fist!
I'll even be generous and leave everyone else a planet to stand on when I'm done.
///////
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
Nobody is saying you have to go out on your own.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
But you don't need to go off half-cocked either.
We need to work together.
You need to reign in your temper.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLDOM
Who the fuck are you?
Telkan is right. We should strive to calm down, let cooler heads prevail.
No, who the fuck are you?
What makes you think you can even THINK that you can tell me what to do?
WE NEED TO VOTE ON THIS!
Seriously. Whose furry is this?
Someone come get your furry, their mouth writing checks they might not be able to cash.
///////
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
Telkan misspoke, that's all.
We get it, they hit Earth, but they hit us too.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLDOM
So are you going to nut up or let the Ornislarp do you in the face on the first date?
We don't have to take this shit off these Jelly Roll Lately Punks.
///////
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
What's your plan?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
SOLDOM
I don't know. I'm thinking about just standing there. After all, what can I bring to the table?
No. I'm going to hit them hard. Hit them so hard that they'll have a screaming breakdown at weird shaped clouds.
We're going to work with you guys.
IT'S NOVA SPARK MONDAY, BABY! AND I'M ALL OUT OF FUCKS TO GIVE!
We'll be...
Hang on.
> ->SOLDOM has logged off
TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
He's getting pretty fractured.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
If his people can't come to a consensus, then can we count on them?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
HAT WEARING AUNTIE
You'd be amazed.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
PUBVIAN DOMINION
I'm telling you, I've got a bad feeling.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
something wicked their way comes