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System Lord News: Summit for 'Opening Thread' concluded... Personal story development time
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Taste Test
Topic Started: Dec 13 2010, 08:39 AM (597 Views)
Ares
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-the night sky of Arctura was peacefull. Stars glittered in a nearly cloudless sky, the occational glint of the stations in orbit was visible but other than that, if one found the right point in the wilderness, it was as if the universe was open to them. The planet hapened to be passing close to the central point of the universe during this time, a celestial event marked by the priests of Atum by study of the star dencity that none dare breached toward the central cluster of the cosmos-

-it was one of these priests, eye to a telescope, that first noted the 'rogue star' phenomenon. The super dence gravity had on occation litterally expelled one of the great balls of fire from the cluster of stars it had been born into, sending it out of the main collective to form a small cluster of it's own or be absorbed into another further out.-

-this night was no different, as the priest was making progress notes on one particular 'rogue star' he happened to enjoy watching. Like the runt of the family of pigs, this star was pushed out of not one, but three distinct clusters only to try and worm it's way back into the center. Extremely erratic behavior for a celestial body, he was planning on giving his notes to Atumn at one point to see if he could make a full study of it-

-however, as the priest was lining up his scope, and then taking a view, he noticed something even odder. This 'rogue star' wasn't rejoining one of the clusters any more, but moving away from the collective. And not just at normal speed like it had been, but fast enough to leave a con trail behind it. Plotting quick trajectory, the priest nearly swallowed his heart as he then plotted the orbital pattern of Arctura; his heart stuck in his throat as the two lines intersected in less than a month's time from now.-

-the priest scrambled, gathering his notes from the last years, specificly about this one roge star, the dencity he estimated, was five times the one their planet orbited. If it truely exited the central nexus of the universe it wouldn't slow down, it would accelerate, to near light speeds, and anything cought in it's path would be utterly devistated-

-the priest wasted no time contacting his susperiors, divulging his information, and pleading to be allowed to speak to Atumn-
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Lord Atum
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The combined fleet of Atum and Selene dropped out of hyperspace, the massive complement of Ha'tak settling into orbit above the capital world of Arctura. Docking the fleet with the famed shipyards of Arctura, the Razgriz transmitted a signal summoning any non-essential ships in defence of planets to rendezvous here. It was shortly after arriving, however, that Atum's communications were jammed with confused and panicked transmissions from the priesthood.

He had very little time for the unimportant astrological goings-on that his priesthood so heavily relied on. It was roughly this time of the Arcturian calendar that bore witness to the fluctuations of the central cluster of super-heavy stars. Atum himself had never seen this as more than a flamboyant light show and, despite the remarkable nature of the Universe, after over ten thousand years certain novelties begin to wear off. Naturally, though, to those who were not so blessed with a proper life-span, this was an event to be observed, chronicled, celebrated and even understood. The latter was more for the scientifically inclined rather than the religious, who would no doubt be monitoring the event for some kind of message.

As Atum entered the temple, he was immediately greeted by a contingent of priests flocking towards him like a swarm of eels that had just seen something that eels really like. But in a more panicky fashion.

"Ya'ol'wa? What's going on?" Atum questioned, not directing it at anyone, hoping someone would offer some useful information. The priests withdrew slightly as the one who had observed the phenomena stepped forward. Thutmose was his name, thus named as it was believed he was a descendant of Thoth... His initiation into the priesthood as a scribe was, therefore, not a major surprise.

"My Lord, when observing the super heavy star clusters in motion, I could not help but notice a... stray star."

"A stray star?" Atum repeated, raising an eyebrow incredulously.

"Yes my Lord. I monitored this phenomena for some time, as the star moved between clusters, being drawn and expelled by the fluctuating gravity wells. After a lengthy period, the star changed it's course." Thutmose paused momentarily, gathering his nerves. The other priests in the immediate area held their breath. The news had come as a shock to all of them. "The star will collide with this system within a few months. There will be nothing left in it's wake."

Atum was silent. His mind was racing with too many thoughts. How could he, with the relatively simple tech at hand, deflect an inbound super heavy star?! The sentence itself seemed ludicrous, let alone the fact it was on a direct course for the system. Something seemed amiss...

"You say that this star is on course with Arcturus?" Atum finally spoke, "Is it not possible that the star's motion is in fact designed by a foe? The Titan Empire, for example, would not surprise me if they had access to such technology."

Thutmose could only offer a regrettable shrug to his master as response. "I am uncertain my Lord, but whatever the case that super heavy star is fast approaching, and there is nothing we can do to stop it."
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-that night, the same scribe sat transfixed in the observatory staring up at the sky, replaying the words he'd uttered with a slump of resignation. He muttered them over again, his hollow voice echoing in the empty chamber- "...And there is nothing we can do to stop it...brilliant deduction you moron.. "

-he smacked his shoulder and got up, moving again for what felt like the hundredth time to the eyepiece of the telescope, and paused. What was that speck moving away from the star? A con trail? A piece of debris cought in the outer corona?.-

-he went to another console, bringing the incoming images to a larger viewer, and electronicly enhancing grids until he was looking so close he could almost feel the heat of the blinding white sphere of gas. And there, just outside the curvature of the ball of flame, was a dark shape. But it wasn't moving with the rogue star, it was moving ahead of it-

-whipping back around to the galactic map he did some quick drawing lines, and muttered calculations, then picked up his data pad and hightailed it to a ship bay- "Get me to these coordinates within the hour or don't bother starting up..." -he snapped, getting into the tel'tak with the bewildered jaffa pilot-

-the shuttle zoomed over the planet surface, out into a section of land not too far from one of the mine shafts, and settled. Thutmose didn't have to wait long, and looking up, he could see the errant particle, like a shooting star, pierce the horizon like an arrow from the gods, soar overhead with a sound like someone throwing a candle down a long hallway, and then impacting less than fifty meters from where the shuttle had touched down-

"Absolutely astonishing..." -Thutmose muttered, walking out of the tel'tak like he was in a daze and approaching the smoldering crater. The Jaffa called the meteor impact in with a bored tone, and reported that he would be escorting the scientist himself, no need for alarm. Little did he know what was in store-

-the two approached the rim of the crater just as the meteor uncurled. Thutmose grabbed the jaffa by the collar and yanked him down below the ridge as the blackened shape, still sizzling and steaming, stood up on two digigrade legs. It's body was covered in a black, ichorish slag, but it was easy to see it stood over 3 meters tall, and was generally humanoid; two legs, two arms, a main body and 'head', although there the resemblence stopped-

-the creature gave a low huff, and shook like a dog getting out of the pool. The slag fell off like so much dead skin, revealing a dark grey leathery looking layer underneath. Parts of the body around the torso, hips, and legs seemed dencer, and darker, and almost looked like a jerkin and chaps, but were made from the being's body. It's head swivled and rose to sniff, a squared jaw jutting forward and predatory eyes scanning the crater.-

-as Thutmose watched, he could even feel the weight of the beast as it made it's way up and out of the crater, and almost unerringly toward the mines. Hissing an order to be silent to the jaffa, Thutmose set off in persuit. The beast moved without haste, and dispite the apparent unassited entry of the planet, the landing and the exposure of space, seemed unhindered. It's long legs carried it quickly, and Thutmose was nearly jogging to keep up.-

-they reached a waypoint near the mines and hid behind a guard tower's edge, calling up to the watch- "Start visual recording but do not fire by any means!" -the watch jaffa were confused, and visibly startled by the sight of the beast approaching the edge of the mine ravine, but did as instructed. The thing could either not hear Thutmose yelling, or chose to ignore it entirely, and instead was fiddling with it's forearms-

-as they watched, the beast extended it's arms to either side, and Thutmose could see slits like vents in the muscle of it's forearms, that started to emit a fine, grey mist. The mist didn't act like vapor, instead it jerked, and shifted and actaully moved down the hill, and the muffled sounds of slaves were heard as they encountered it. The muffled sounds became screams as some of the slaves seeme to go into convulsions, floping on the ground as the beast watched keenly-

-after a moment, and more jaffa arrived, the flopping slaves and even one or two jaffa, stopped moving. Then slowly, one by one, they stood back up, but their movement was erratic, as jerky as the mist had been, like puppets with strings that werent all attached. The slaves and jaffa let out unholy screaches and surged for the newly arrived jaffa and what slaves were there that hadn't run. They didn't use weapons, they didn't seem to notice the staff blasts that removed limbs and tore through their bodies. All they seemed concerned with was getting their teeth sunk in to whatever they could reach-

-as the posessed feeding frenzy took place, the creature huffed again, and started moving down the ravine wall, over to a set of trollies that had just deposited their load of raw ore to the refinery and were waiting to be taken back down the shaft. Thutmose couldn't see from where he was, so he took a deep breath, straightened his hood, and marched accross the field-

-Thutmose could hear the sickening crunch of bone and ripping of flesh from the posessed, their gutteral sounds like a pack of demonic pigs, rooting around in the guts and chest cavities of the fallen jaffa. He neared the end of the trolly line and drew up short as the beast turned it's head and looked right at him. It's expression was hard to read; thick eye ridges and deep sockets made it's visiage skeletal, and two vertical slits served as it's nose set squarely in the center-

-it stared at him a moment, then simply blinked, horrizontally, and then turned back to fishing around the bottom of the cart it was at. It came up with a four fingered and wickedly taloned hand, sniffing at the ore powder left from the previous load, then a thick, black, forked tongue emerged from it's maw, and licked the powder, uttering a low, bone vibrating churr and repeating the process-

"Naquida... "-Thutmose breathed, growing braver by the moment, and approaching cart by cart. He could hear the hiss and warning from the jaffa high on the ridge but ignored them as he came almost close enough to touch the monster- "you are after naquida.. aren't you?"

-the thing stopped and turned it's head, placing both arms on the cart edge and leaning over it to where it's massive head was mere inches from Thutmose. Its lips twitched as vertical slit eyes dialated, and then to his utter astonishment, the lips parted- "Na.. qui..da... "

-it's voice was like the greating of two great bolders from the very depths of the abyss, but the word it had just uttered was unmistakable; the thing could speak. Thutmose quickly overcame his wonderment and held up a small hand, reaching into the cart and swiping the dust against his palm. Showing it to the beast, he pointed, and sounded the word out again- "Na-qui-da... "

-the beast's maw split, and showed three rows of teeth fit for one of the ore grinders- "Na..quida.. " -then straightened and huffed, snorting off to one side and turning around. Thutmose was at first confused, but then he heard them, the chittering, grunting sounds of the posessed mob rushing their way-

-he couldn't help himself, he ran. Panic overcame his scientific reason and he backpedaled. In the face of such brutal, base carnage, he lost his composure and fled back up the ravine. The chittering mob hooped and jumped like a pack of demented monkies around the large creature, and one by one he picked them up, like play things, examining them closely before biting one in half. It idly chewed, the grating of bone echoing up the ravine as the posessed throng wailed in what seemed excitement, all of them clamouring to be the next one examined-

-one by one, the beast repeated the process, picking them up, looking them over, then devouring half of it, as if 'tasting'. One he bit into, and made that low churring sound again; one of the jaffa, it's armor not hindering the chewing motion, and shortly the second half of the jaffa followed the first. It gave a short, piercing sound, as if speaking down to the remaining few posessed, and their bodies erupted in gyesers of flesh and blood as the mist rushed from their bodies and evaporated-

-As Thutmose watched, the beast coiled its legs, reached down, and lept straight up. Carts and body parts in the area were thrown as if by an impulse engine blast, only to hang in mid air. Thutmose watched the thing as it went up, and up, and the flicker of light as it broke atmosphere. He exhailed a shudder and almost fell to his knees, before catching himself on the guard tower railing-

"Hail Atum... I have more to report.." -his voice was barely audible, and matched his awestruck expression -
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The incident had come as a surprise to all those involved. It appeared to be a completely new type of life form, capable of interstellar travel and flight without the aid of a transport, and apparently consumed raw Naquida. The holo-recording played back the events, images danced on the faces of Atum and Selene as they watched the curious creature intently.

"Na...qui...da." The deep gravelly voice growled, rumbling like thunder.

"Na-qui-da." Spoke the voice of Thutmose, indicating the material in the cart as the beast glared out from it's intimidating face. He was seemingly teaching the creature his understanding of the material it was consuming, but despite seeming perfectly capable of speech it was unwilling to get too indepth in conversation.

Na...quida..." The creature re-iterated Thutmose's word.

"Fascinating... Utterly fascinating." Atum mused out-loud. He had been completely distracted from the impending solar collision by this new revelation, and was much more intrigued with this creature. The display showed it readily consuming the poor souls that had been possessed upon it's arrival. The Naquida in the Jaffa armour seemed to confirm it's need to consume the material as it wantonly devoured the prey. The remaining slaves erupted in a meat fountain, and the creature took it's leave, hurtling into the sky.

Selene was transfixed with the images, and much like Atum was intrigued with the beast. "What is it?" She questioned, rather futilely as no-one was any the wiser. Thutmose could only offer his assessment of the situation, which was somewhat self-explanatory.

"Well, it's capable of communication, so it's highly evolved enough to have some form of language. Whether it comprehends ours is unknown, but it could imitate my words. Obviously, in a similar vein as Goa'uld physiology, it consumes Naquida and incorporates it into it's system. This probably helps shield it from the solar winds and vacuum of space whilst in flight, which leads me to the most interesting element. It can fly! Through space. It's remarkable!"

"And what of the 'mist'?" Atum asked whilst rewatching the footage. "It appears almost intelligent, like a life-form of it's own."

"That was my conclusion. The mist is probably an extension of it's physiology. It bears very little resemblance to anything we know, it might be possible that these creatures are capable of dispersing elements of themselves in this manner? I can't be sure."

"Very well, I appreciate your analysis Thutmose. Keep me apprised of any further developments." Atum spoke almost dismissively, not intentionally but purely because he was still transfixed with the imagery. Thutmose bowed and went to make his way out of the chamber, but Selene stood. She had one pressing issue on her mind.

"What of the rogue star? Could this thing be related to it in some way?"
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-Thutmose heard the lady speaking as he was exiting, and he wondered the same things. He went straight away to the observatory to replay the digital footage of the telescope he'd left running the night before. After watching several hours of what appeared to be a loop of the same screen, he made an exclimation of success, and grid zoomed to a speck on the image-

-it was the same as the image from the previous night, only this time, the small speck was moving into the corona layer of the rogue star. He watched it closely for a few more hours, side by side with real time footage as close as he could zoom, but nothing further came of it. Whatever the encounter, it was not to be repeated soon apparently-

-leaving the telescope to auto track and record, Thutmose left for the impact site. The whole area was now cordoned off, and several teams of tech-priests were gathered around both the crater, and the site where the creature had stood. Several scanning devices, gathering equipment, nearly all the genetic research lab was in attendance, but Thutmose didn't bother with any of them-

-he moved down the ravine wall of the mine to where the cart trolly hung in mid air as if suspended in time. A palm held data scanner was brought out and he made a few adjustments, then stepped up under the trolly. He could immidiately feel the difference of his own body; he felt impossibly light, and actaully had to push himself back down onto the ground with the cart.-

-testing a theory, he scooped up a handfull of rocks, and moved carefuly to the center of the disturbance, where the creature's imbedded footprints were still visible. Setting his data pad to record, he tossed a rock upward. Nodding as if he'd answered a question, he watched the rock soar like it was shot out of a gun, tracking it on the data pad until it too could no longer find the stone-

"Gravitation manipulation... fascinating... This must all be backwash... "-he looked around himself, visually gaging at least ten feet in either direction the effects of distorted gravity. He recognized the light feeling then; he'd done basic EVA training once before, this was just like being in a zero gravity chamber. He moved carefully back the way he came, and felt the weight increase bit by bit until he was outsize the 'zone' created by the disturbance-

-he made quick recordings and then called a jaffa and ordered a glider and tel'tak detachment. The ships were dispached, as instructed, the glider, faster of the two, was to hover nearby and follow, while the Tel'tak would be waiting at over 500 feet above the zone coordinates. Getting the jaffa to stand where the massive foot prints were, Thutmose then ordered the jaffa to jump as hard as he could. He was not surprised at the result.-

-the jaffa shot straight up as if propelled from a cannon, his data pad read speeds actaully increasing the higher he got, until suddenly and without slowing down, the jaffa splattered on the bottom of the tel'tak hard enough to make the ship nearly fall out of the sky.-

"They can maniuplate gravity... how utterly fascinating.. " -Thutmose spoke to himself, as he walked over to the crater where a whole genetics lab was going over the black ichor the creature had shed upon landing.- "What do we have?"

-one of the lower tech priests turned, eyes wide- "Surface analysis of the material shows high consentration of silicon, and carbon... First glance DNA shows over 500 memogroups... We couldn't replicate it even if we had a live sample... "

-snatching the data console pad Thutmose went over the scans himself, watching the computer make a visual display of the tightly bundled helix of code and rubed his face in bewilderment. Whatever the cast off was, it was both alive, and innert. Human hair and fingernails were cast off dead cells that continued to 'grow' regardless of their lifeless nature. Perhaps this was something similar, and protected the creature while exposed to the vaccume. If that was the case, it would be theoretically probable, that the corona of the super dence rogue star wouldnt bother the beast any more than atmospheric entry had-

"Fantastic ..." -Thutmose repeated, copying the data, and headed back to the palace to report-
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Atum listened intently to Thutmose's reports again, carefully observing the evidence his lead scientific priest was presenting him. This creature really was unlike anything else they had ever encountered.

"Gravitation manipulation." Atum repeated, somewhat incredulously but also with fascination. "You are saying that this being is capable of manipulating the gravitational field surrounding it?" Thutmose nodded in confirmation. "It can fly, manipulate gravity, and live in a star's corona all without the aid of technology?!" Again, Thutmose nodded. Atum stroked his chin thoughtfully as he contemplated the revelations this being presented. Surely, if it could somehow protect itself and it's internal organs through such conditions, a Goa'uld could possibly take one as host? He dismissed the thought. There was no way of knowing whether the physiology would be compatible with the Goa'uld, let alone if it's mind would be weak enough to allow the blending. It may seem like a primitive creature, but it had understood Thutmose, and was capable of synthesising words...

It was then that Thutmose produced the ichor from the outlandish entity, and he proceeded to reveal his findings from the substance. Again, the molecular composite of the ichor was like nothing they had seen before, and was hypothesised to be the cause of the creatures resilient nature to the harsh conditions of space without some kind of protective technology.

"Thank you, Thutmose, your work is as invaluable to me as ever." Atum bowed his head to the favoured priest, Selene did the same in a similar gesture of respect. "I do suppose now we have our answer as to the rogue star's nature," Atum pondered aloud, "If enough of these creatures were manipulating the star's gravity, they would have their own portable sun! But why come here..."
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-A month had passed, and Atum was kept up to date on the progress of the rogue star. Most of the day to day reports from Thutmose were droll, much the same from one day to the next; no change of the star's progress except to slow down the further away from super dense gravity it got, no change of the star's trajectory which meant it would miss them now that it had slowed, no further sightings of the fantastic creature that had come to the surface and left just as suddenly-

-Atum was about to just order a scientific endeavor to cause the sun to implode on itself before it reached any dangerous distances out of spite, when Thutmose practically fell into his chamber near hyperventilation- "My Lord! My Lord you must see!" -The Priest was in such a state that he couldn't get enough air to even tell him what he needed to see-

-In a flurry of robes and a growing entourage down to the observation sector, Atum followed the stammering and near spitting scientist to the central telescope and was shown footage of the approaching sun. While Atum watched, it looked much like the footage a hundred times before while Thutmose stood beside him wide eyed and panting-

"What is so " -Atum began and then his words froze, as the image of the sun seemed to dissolve, like the mists on the field in the mornings as the sun rose over the horizon, like the petals of a flower opening to receive the rays of light, the super dense corona broke around a massive object that continued to move. Passing through space like a mythic beast it continued on it's course as the remnants of the super sun faded and seemed to be drawn into the forward sections of the ship like alge to a whale.-

-the structure was immense, judging by magnification and telemetry probes that had been sent out to record data in what was previously the suns' path. It was longer than it was wide or tall, but both width and girth were equal to nearly the whole of the planet he was currently on. The length of the structure was easily four or five worlds, stacked end to end, and as he watched, from it's surface, millions, no, trillions of shapes swam about in the space around it like dust particles.-

-Atum's breathing started to mirror that of the scientist, as he quickly keyed several probe images to reroute to the larger viewer and moved over to it. The image showed the same as the smaller screen, but zoomed several dozen times. As he had guessed, the 'dust motes' were creatures, much like the one seen landing on his planet in apparent search of Naquida.-

"Atok save us.. " -Atum whispered to himself-

-Thutmose busstled over to a side console and muttered- "That is not all My Lord.. using current telemetry and previous recordings made for my previous dissertation, I reprofiled the movement of the star itself and found this.. "

-the main screen split to show a section of the center of the universe. The star that was now a ship was indicated with a blue dot, it's erratic path for the months before it's emergence from the center clusters outlined in a blue dotted line. It had been circling, seemingly at random through the center of the most dense section of the universe for years, and suddenly broken course and started headed out. The only reason Atum's world had seen it, was because this particular section was the closest populated civilization to the center.-

"It's changed course, My Lord… " -the mousy scientist murmured, looking up into his god's stricken face.- "they're coming here ... it will be a month... maybe two at their velocity, but there's no telling if the creatures themselves will come like the first in advance or not.... we have searched the entire database as far back as we can ... everywhere... there is nothing about these beings anywhere in any civilization. But we don't have access to the Asgard data the tau'ri now posess. Besides the Ancients, they are the only race that may posess knowledge of these beings..."

-Atum smiled in cynical mirth- "And we blasted them and their cousins into oblivion ... how ironic."
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It had just been one of those months. Atum was starting to feel the pressure as the unknown entity maintained it's course en route to Arcturus, and his solutions were running thin. Obviously, yes, the Asgard or the Ancients may have had knowledge on whatever these things were, but he couldn't rely on that. Ancient databases were sparse in this Galaxy, or rather those that did exist had been requisitioned by the Tau'ri, and the Asgards were all but wiped out... Again, Tau'ri.

Perhaps his deep hatred for humanity wasn't that well founded after all.

No. They'd been a bane to the Goa'uld for far too long. Jumped-up bunch of apes. But still, they may have some information...

Still, the irony that he played a part in the complete annihilation of possibly the only race that may have been able to help him with this threat was strangely delicious!

"End playback." Atum waved his hand at the holo-screen, removing the image of the inbound bulk from the display. The screen returned to it's default image of a rotating Shen. Placing his hands behind his head and interlocking the fingers, Atum sighed. Standard weaponry had been ineffective against the creature those who had witnessed it were referring to as the 'visitor', so what hope did a fleet of Ha'tak have against something that ate planets for breakfast?!

That is, if whatever it was ate breakfast...

Thankfully, whatever it was was still a way off, but it was definitely closing in. Fast. Perhaps it was for the best that he swallow his pride and contact the other prominent Goa'uld of the Galaxy...
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-The massive multi-planet sized ship and it's swarming host of occupants approached the first of the probes sent when the ship was concealed within the corona of the super-heavy dwarf. Images were relayed to the monitoring stations showing it wasn't using any form of energy signature that they could track or scan. How it moved or how the creatures moved was not something their scanners could pick up-

-the visual motion detector was nearly overheated trying to keep track of how many swarming figures were around the forward most section of the massive ship, if indeed it was a ship and not just another creature these beings lived off of like remora and sharks on earth. When the sensor got close enough, the last image was of one of the massive maws of the creatures opening around the probe's camera lens and biting down-

-the next probe in line, half a light year away, recorded the swarm of creatures as they found the first probe, setting upon it like piranha when they scented blood, swimming through space at slow sluggish motions at first until they had their prey in sight, then they seemed to move as fast as death gliders could. They latched on to the probe and chewed and ate until nothing remained, and then they returned to the vessel as if sharing what they ate-

-Thutmose hailed Atum from the Observatory and fed him another probe's live feed. Five of the swarm had pulled off from the rest, and were shooting forward like rockets away from the rest, an advance group that would reach the planet in less than a day at their current speed. Three were as large as the first that had arrived, one even slightly larger, while two were slender, faster, darting through space like arrows from a crossbow-
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Resting his head in the palms of his hands, Atum let out a long and deep sigh. With the vocal augmentation, it felt as if the entire room was slowly exhaling. It was bad enough that these things were so rapidly approaching like a determined behemoth trampling all that was in it's way. And, on top of this, he had heard word that Geb had been involved in a discussion with a minor Goa'uld who had been requesting the loan of a few ships. Good ships, none the less! Atum had problems of his own to deal with, without needing to worry about the internal and external affairs of Goa'uld politics.

But, the idea dawned on him, supporting another Goa'uld in this brief skirmish may prove beneficial. I may be able to forge a military agreement. I shall inform Geb of my decision at once. But, as the creatures were fast approaching, Atum knew one simple ally would not be substantial enough to hold the enemy at bay...

"Dispatch a message to Geb. Tell him that out new ally will have the use of ten Meritaten and three Akhetaten so long as this skirmish does not breech one of my pre-existing contracts." The courier, who lead a very interesting life just sat around waiting to be given messages to deliver, nodded patiently. "Also, dispatch a message to all Goa'uld to meet at Heliopolis. We have things to discuss." The courier once more bowed his head and scurried out of the chamber.

Again he watched the replay of the thing Thutmose was referring to as the Leviathan on it's course to Arcturus, and the five entities which were now hurtling towards him quicker than he'd dared to imagine. He did not wish to hesitate any longer, he would have to hold a summit to gather what allies he could and hope that his domain had not been chewed by these creatures by the time he got back.

As he made his way out of the chamber, he turned to one of the guards. "Dispatch a portion of the fleet to a position just ahead of the targets. If they continue on course to Arcturus, destroy them."

"Yes my Lord."
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Balaur
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Unidentified Alien Threat
[ *  *  * ]
-The interception fleet maneuvered into position under the direction of the science committee that had formed under Thutmose specifically for this new race. Their in bound trajectory was calculated, and the ships sat like a partial wall of shields and hulls in the direct path of the oncoming figures-

-Thutmose watched the screen in anticipation, a direct link and feed from the lead Interdictory force, as they were quickly titled by their crews. Technically, this was not first contact, but officially, it was. All the jaffa were in full dress armor, all the captains were under strict order to be in their finest attires, and on their utmost best political behavior. These changes to the interception were issued by Thutmose himself, as he had deducted that the incoming figures were like an entourage', and the presence of two that could be a female of the species indicated that perhaps after their initial scout, these creatures were now sending delegation for talks. -

-At least, that's what he hoped and prayed this was.-

-the largest, four armed figure leading the group hit the shields of the central like a bullet and rebounded, swirling back and coming up, hands outstretched on either side. Like a ballet, the other four figures drew up and slowly stopped, like they were actually swimming in space, more than flying like ships. Thutmose analyzed the sensor readings while trying to keep his eyes on the feed, then blanched as one of the figures emitted a spike in energy. The four armed burliest of the figures came forward again, placing all four hands against the shielding making it flare and glow upon contact-

-the figure seemed to crawl along the outside of the shield, using it as a point of purchase to move and examine the width and breath of the coverage, while the other four hung back silent and unmoving aside from slight repositioning movements to account for solar drift, again, like swimmers more than flying beings-

-finally the spike dropped and the four armed one returned to the other four, and one of the female, at least he assumed female, came forward in his place. Like the one that had landed on the planet she was immense in height, easily 3 meters or more but slighter of frame, with definition of mammary curvature and slender waist and wider hips. Instead of the leathery clothing grown of it's own body, this one was actually 'clothed' in what looked like a dress or robes. There was a crest of back sweeping ridges that ended in spikes out the back of her head that he realized was bone, like horns, and her triangular face was almost human, though the wide almond shaped eyes were pupil less and pure white, and there was no nose to speak of-

-the female reached out a four fingered hand ended in talon like bone protrusions and touched a single claw point to the shield and held there, unmoving, and staring at the ship behind the shield. After a moment she took the fingertip away, waited a few seconds, and repeated the light touch.-

-He was right, they were trying to communicate. The female figure was 'knocking' on their lead ship shield. He quickly, and with a lighter heart than the impending doom sensation he'd had for the last two months, send a communiqué directly to Atum on the channel he'd set aside for the committee and relayed this news-
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It was indeed a strange revelation for Atum, especially as he had ordered the destruction of any of these creatures that attempted to break past the blockade, but it put his mind at a greater sense of ease. He elected to hold off calling the other Goa'uld for an emergency summit to see where negotiations with these creatures went. He trusted Thutmose's judgement, and had somewhat grown 'fond' of the scientist. And this would be Thutmose's defining moment.

First Contact. Brilliant!

---

Thutmose stood observing the image of the entities in a sense of wonder. His initially encounter with one of these beings had indicated that there was an intelligent brain behind the almost bestial exterior, and this was no exception. They were bright. Probably vastly superior in intelligence to the Goa'uld.

The message was received. Atum's orders to be as accommodating as possible had been a concern to the Jaffa who had lost their comrades in the initial encounter, but they had their duties to perform. There was a strong sense of anticipation as the future of their relations with these beings pivoted on this singular moment.

Thutmose issued the order that would change the course of history.
"Lower the shields. Let them in."
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Balaur
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Unidentified Alien Threat
[ *  *  * ]
-the shield on the great ship lowered, dissipating under the tapping claw like appendage with a swirl of golden and orange hues. The female figure hovered a moment, reached out to tap again, and when nothing was struck she swept back to cluster with the others while the four armed one lurched forward to take her place, once again going over the whole of the front of the ship as if sensing for other barriers before proceeding forward-

-the other four held back still, as the four armed one reached the hull, landing with an audible clang against outer bulk head. The solid sound of his tread could be followed from within the ship as he painstakingly made a manual once over of the entire outside of the ship. The others waited as if they had no sense of time, or no sense of urgency, as their companion made his meandering, seemingly aimless route around the whole of the exterior-

-the ship captain sat ridged on his command chair, looking out the view port at the clustered aliens, while listening to hushed, whispered reports of progress the beast outside his ship made. As if finally satisfied, the four armed one leapt off the hull and swam around gracefully to the ventral docking bay as if he knew where it was, and the other four, without any indication of communication, started forward as well to join him-

"Of course," -Thutmose whispered to himself, hearing the reports- "He was making a map of the ship from the outside… fantastic… Captain be so good as to meet our guests as they enter, and portray the welcome of your God with the utmost sincerity." -the acknowledgement was audibly disgruntled but the captain would do as he was instructed. Thutmose waited in tensed anticipation watching any view angle he could find on the situation-

-the docking bay doors opened, their thin layer of porous shielding to hold atmosphere breaking like the surface of water as first one, then another, and then another arm came through, the four armed monstrosity pulling itself up halfway, triangular elongated head swiveling about almost owl like, as if his vertebrae had no limitation on turn radius, limited only by the width and strength of the neck, which was as big around as a large jaffa's chest. Thutmose was reminded of the slightly smaller one that had arrived and ate several people, including a jaffa, and shuddered as the reset of the beast came slowly into the hangar-

-it, like the first to come to Arctura, had a layer of thicker outer skin that served as a kind of clothing, but this seemed denser, and had elaborate almost filigree trim around the neckline, joints of the elbows and knees, as if it was more like a gothic suit of armor, decorated with spines, whirls of design and even slightly different color. The beast's own skin was a pale bluish grey, smooth but visibly coarse, while the armor layer was nearly black, with trims of silver and almost reflective chrome hues. It stood on massive, digigrade legs, tri-toed taloned feet, with a curved due claw on the inside of each disjointed ankle that would put any short sword to shame. The beast's body was so chorded with visible muscle it was almost impossible to imagine this thing moving without tearing a seam somewhere-

-it grunted and sniffed at the jaffa present, shaking the bulkhead with a solid step forward, all four hands working independently, some flexing, some relaxing, some remaining still, but all four arms moving quite fluidly. The twin holes in it's face that seemed to serve as nostrils visibly worked, the great head swiveling about to take in the whole of the hanger, then turned to face the dock entrance and fell to one knee, all four fists knuckle down against the floor and lowering it's head-

-one by one the other four figures emerged like mermaids pulling out of the water, the female that had knocked first, her blue grey skin covered not by a layer of skin as Thutmose had thought, but actual fabric clothing, an elaborate dress of blues and golds and silvers, with a wide sash of what looked like metal hung with various bobs and medallions, both wrists bedecked with silver and gold alternating rings nearly up to her elbow, long interwoven strands of blue and gold around her neck in multiple layers of necklace-

-the male behind her was as large and tall as the first one that had come to Arctura, and Thutmose was hard pressed to determine if it was the same one. Their facial features and body structure seemed to be the same, though the way this one moved was upright, straight shouldered, a twin horned head nearly brushing the catwalks above. He wore a floor length robe of blue and silver fabric, shoulders heavy with highly elaborate epaulets, forearms under the flowing sleeves bearing bracelets similar to the first figure's necklaces. Dark black eyes swept the scene, giving a low grunt and moving aside to let the next figure through-

-the next figure was lithe, supple, and moved with a languid grace that was almost painful to watch. It was female, but no less in height than the previous two delegates, though they seemed to differ to her, the first male offering a hand to help her to her feet, the first female inclining her head. This new figure was swathed in a series of white almost linen wraps that interwove to become a gown of intricate complexity. Trails of the ends of the wrap dangled artistically from hips, wrists, and shoulders, which were bare up to the neck, and low on a petite chest in comparison to the first female. The end of each dangling segment was pierced with quietly jingling gold rings, and each of her four fingers and tri toes were encircled with what looked like shaped crystal rings, deeply engraved to the point of no surface area untouched.-

-Thutmose attempted to get a closer look at these engravings but couldn't get the view appropriate, and made note to review the images later. If these thing had a written language, it would be prudent to learn it swiftly. Thutmose also noted, this was the first one of them to boast hair, a long silken mane of it cascading down her back nearly to the floor in a ice blue cascade that caught the light like it was metal.-

-All close examination was put aside as the final figure emerged with a flourish. Massive clawed hands reached out of the docking force field and gripped the edges of the hull with visible indentations, and instead of pulling himself in, this one yanked himself upright, half leaping half gliding into the air to land heavy enough to shake the bulkhead and unsettle the jaffa present. As this figure came to a full three and a half meters tall, Thutmose let out a slow breath and tensed.-

-This one was as muscled as the first four armed one, but with only two arms, and taller. He also wore obvious and ornate armor; spiked and flaring epaulets, intricate and highly ornate grieves over blue leggings and bracers that covered from wrist to elbow leaving the intricate golden straps on inner forearm exposed. A wide flowing girdle of metal that trailed chains of silver and gold around his hips, and two tails of blue cloth edged with silver embroidery flowing behind him. A sleeveless coat of the same material was under the shoulder armor and open down the front bearing a chest and stomach even the Titan Atlas would be proud to boast, a single silver chain connecting the wide lapels across the barrel expanse, a medallion suspended in the center.

-the last figure's face and top of his head was covered in a mask and helm, black eyes reflecting the lights of the hangar as the horned expanse shifted looking about, then turned and looked at the one in the linen woven gown, extending one of those ornate bracer covered forearms. The female rose a graceful ringed hand and rested it lightly atop the bracer, like an escort of old, while the other two figures moved to flank the pair. The woman in the blue and gold dress took up a position on the female's side, while the robed male took up position opposite the armored man-
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Thutmose and Captain Astennu watched in a mixed sense of wonder and horror as the gargantuan creatures made their arrival. Astennu had been briefed on the events of the rather unofficial first contact with this species, and despite the excitement of greeting a new race he couldn't help but feel apprehension. Given how these creatures had introduced themselves several months previously, he was not willing to trust them. Thutmose, on the other hand, was much more optimistic.

The Jaffa escorts stood ready, not wanting to seem overtly aggressive but not unprepared to defend themselves. Quite why they thought their weapons would be effective against these monstrous entities was not important, more the fact that they weren't prepared to die without a fight. Bowing their heads respectfully, the Jaffa attempted to vaguely welcome their visitors.

Moving forward tentatively, Thutmose maintained eye contact with the female who had initially tapped on the shields. Step by step, he brought himself forward from the main group towards the guests. He bowed his head, and then looked at each one of the bizarre aliens individually.

Pressing his hand to his chest, he spoke hesitantly, "Thutmose." He then extended his hand to the creatures, indicating for them to introduce themselves too...
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Balaur
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Unidentified Alien Threat
[ *  *  * ]
-the large armored male figure with the female in the linen weave stood still and silent, looking at him with blank alien faces, unblinking. The four armed demonic shape stood from it's kneeling posture into a loose crouch, to receive a pet by the female in the dark dress like robe, her four fingered hand ending in claws that were twice again as long as her fingers. As her arm moved to pet the large beast, the bracers and bangles on her arm jingled like evil chimes-

-there was an anxious stillness, most of the jaffa wondering if this would be the day their lives were called upon in service of their lord, or if death rode with these space faring creatures. As the four armed beast received it's tactile reward, the twin horned male that had come second stepped away from the others and up to Thutmose. Dwarfing the little scientist by twice his own height, the aliens' face angled down at the man's extended hand then at his own-

-there was a strange, rumbling sound from the armored male, his throat and lips visibly moving, but what came from him was not words. It was akin to listening to boulders rumbling and settling on the ocean floor, a muted deep series of intelligible sound. The one near Thutmose inclined his head to the armored male as if in difference, then turned back to Thutmose and reached for his own forearm-

-the bracelets were metallic, but they also had an organic quality, like minerals, or some other gemstone. As he twisted this one or that one, like changing the dial on a multiple variable combination lock, there was a high pitched whine that grew ever stronger. Some of the jaffa dropped their staves and reached for their heads, some falling to their knees with blood running from the crevices of their helmets. Thutmose felt like his head was being inflated within his skull, and still the sound grew ever more intense-

-from between the male's bracelets shot a gaseous vapor, that darted here and there like streamers. As the high pitched sound suddenly stopped, the gasses shot toward the kneeling and bleeding jaffa, and their muffled screams echoed down the hallways. The jaffa that hadn't succumbed to the sound rushed forward to pull Thutmose back, and formed a double line of open staff heads with the resounding snap of power charging heard over the screams of their brethren-

-the robed male looked at the rows of warriors, one thick brow ridge raising as he looked directly down the barrel of one, making that stone on stone under water sound. The screaming of the jaffa stopped, and they slumped over like someone had taken the batteries out. Then, eerily, like marionettes with their strings tangled, one by one they got to their feet, standing on bowed legs like their bodies weren't used to standing upright at all. Strange, wet snapping sounds came from within the armor as one reached up and ripped the helmet off his head, and Thutmose had to swallow down an instant rise of bile at the sight-

-the man's jaw was hanging wide and his eyes were bloodshot. One pulsed from the socket in time to a too fast beating heart, and he made an inhuman chitering sound as his head moved as if forced, looking around then up at the robed male. The robed one extended a hand, beckoning with a hooked talon. The jaffa's face contorted in a rictus expression of maniacal glee, and charged forward like a monkey, using knuckles and feet in a fulcrum swinging gait that had him clamoring across the bulkhead. He stopped at the robed male's feet, and actually sat on his heels like a dog come calling to it's master, head tilted up and tongue lolling out the side of his too wide mouth. Thutmose stared in fascinated horror as the robed male bent over, and palmed the possessed jaffa's head. There was an audible, slow grinding crunch as the jaffa's head collapsed under the increasing pressure of the creature's grip, until suddenly there was a snap, and the body slumped to one side, neck stump jutting blood in slowly ebbing strength-

-the robed male paused, eyes closing and he stood upright, both hands going to his head, as if it ached, and he wavered a moment as if in a trance. Then he paused, lowering his hands and straightened. In a voice slightly accented, but otherwise perfectly enunciated, the alien beast spoke-

"Forgive the misunderstanding. Our scout did not bring back any knowledge based samples. Your language is simple, if redundant, but you may speak freely now and I will translate for the Lady and Lord." -as they stood there gaping at the alien, the other possessed jaffa began howling and lurching about like they'd gone completely insane, and the robed male made a fist sudden and sharp. The whooping stopped, and the possessed jaffa began milling about in a small cluster, like crazed monkeys jabbering and chattering at each other-

-the robed male looked back at Thutmose- "I understand you have a need for names, very well.. I am High Prefect Jin'taru, of the noble linage and House of Asharu. I represent the esteemed Suphlatus, the Duchess of Dust, and head of our House. This," -he gestured to the female in the dark dress- "is the Second Niece of Her Ladyship, Arch Duchess Miland, and her house Daemon. There,"-he gestured to the armored male- "would be the Overlord Zan'tes, Slayer of Halaku Overlord Tar, and his Lady, the High Priestess Siona, formerly of the House of Halaku."
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Balaur
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Unidentified Alien Threat
[ *  *  * ]
-For days, Thutmose attempted to talk to these alien entities, attempting to glean some kind of background or history from them to determine how best to proceed politically, but found that their own version of politics was more geared toward the Royal court system, and as such, knowledge was the coin of the realms. In attempting to get them to open up about their own history, he'd inadvertently laid out nearly the whole of his own to them, and learned nearly nothing except that they'd been here once before very long ago-

"So the Asguard, you knew of them?" -Thutmose attempted yet again to get them to reveal even the slightest hint of their history, but once again the large armored Zan'tes pursed his near lip less mouth and shook his head-

"We don't discuss our affiliations with outsiders. Were you and your lord... Atum you said? to pledge fealty and loyalty to the seat of our household, perhaps we could dispense with the need for such secrets."

-mentally cursing, Thutmose forced a smile and stood- "If you'll excuse me .. I have to " -he paused mid sentence and frowned looking past the large seated overlord, to the four armed 'House Daeva' they'd called him, who was crouched near the back wall, gnawing on a support pillar base like a dog worrying a bone.-"Um.. could you... have him... stop .. " -Thutmose was uncertain if this was a touchy subject or not, he'd learned so little about their structure besides the courtly manner that he was unsure he should ask them to stop it, or if it was rude to point it out-

-He watched the female, Arch Duchess Miland, make a disgusted sound and rise to her feet, which he noted were digigrade but poised straight like a dancer on the tips of her toes. She gathered up a portion of her skirts, stomped over to the crouched figure and whaped him on the head like you would a misbehaving dog, and that strange, gutteral sound rolled from her lips as she bared teeth at the hulking monster. To his surprise, the beast that looked capable of tearing everything within a league to small pieces of kindling, shied away from her and made protestation gestures and sounds, but would not raise his head to meet her gaze-

"you must forgive him, Priest Thutmose" -Prefect Jin'taru interrupted his staring at the site, and drew his attention to the priestly member of the deligation- "The Daeva senses the .. what did you call it? Naquida?.. the mineral within the hull of your ship ... as you can see... it is something of a delicacy ..."

"Yes.. yes of course.. no need to apologize... I'm sure My Lord Atum will be most eager to establish trade with your House... Our system is rich with the mineral in question, and we've refineries all through the sector." -he knew he'd said something wrong the moment he said refinery, and all of them stiffened ever so slightly. Taking a reflexive step back, was also, apparently, the wrong thing to do. The Daeva, crouched at his mistress' feet, suddenly launched across the room and tackled the little priest, folding him backward over the couch he had been sitting on-

"Refineries?"-the Prefect said, a shake to his voice- "you ... ruin it's purity by diluting it? How barbarous!" -with a nod to the Arch Duchess, the other three rose and turned to leave the room, and Thutmose struggled faintly to get a breath to ask them to stop. Before he could however the Arch Duchess made one of those gutteral sounds, and a motion with her hand, and the Daeva that had him pinned opened his maw wide, and took the top third of Thutmose's body off in a single crunching bite-

-Jaffa guardsmen scrambled, some turned staves on the retreating figures, only to have the Arch Duchess come up the nearest and lay her tri fingered hand atop his unhemed head. The jaffa paused, going rigid, and his eyes fluttered making horrible choaking sounds. The jaffa near him turned his weapon from the backs of the retreating trio to the Duchess, who pushed the first jaffa into the second with a casual gesture. When they collided, the first jaffa's flesh seemed to leap out of the armor, reaching for the second in a macabre display, enveloping them together in a grotesque cocoon of screaming flesh-

-the sight broke what little nerve the remaining guardsmen had, and staves opened fire. The Duchess took three full blasts to the chest in mid air as she flew back, and the House Daeva roared loud enough to rattle deck plates. Later review of recordings Thutmose had set up to automatically broadcast to his lab's storage would reveal a full scale slaughter as the four armed beast raged through the ship, maiming, devouring everything it came across. The Arch Duchess herself, after a moment of stillness, bowed her back and rose to her feet, the holes in her dress showing the flesh re-knitting itself in real time-

-Miland joined the other three at the bay door shield, where they exited and swam out into space as the House Daeva did his work within the ship. As the now quartet of aliens made their way back toward the hulking world sized ship still on approach, the cloud of other aliens that had been floating about the Dredgion began moving with purpose. Hundreds upon thousands of them descended to meet the quartet, and return to the ship. Like locusts, they descended upon the unshielded ship, even as the others in line with it opened fire on what was now obviously a threat-

-the swarm of incoming shifted, engulfing the other ships of the defense line. Shields held for a few moments, and the cannons fired to the point of making their ports gleam white hot with plasma, but eventually the press of sheer numbers overwhelmed the shield power output, and they too fell. The Balaur devoured the components of the ships, the hulls, the foundations, leaving clouds of scrap metal and regurgitated pieces of jaffa behind as they returned to the Dredgion, which continued on it's unstoppable path for the rich homeworld-
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Balaur
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Unidentified Alien Threat
[ *  *  * ]
-it was shortly after the great battle of the Tartarus Gate that the world ship of the House of Asharu reached Arctura proper. What had been a cloud of debris around the vessel was clearly now a whole host of various shapes and sizes of the alien that had come to land months before, and had visited the defense line in it's failed attempt at diplomacy. Without their Lord Atum's directions, Thutmose gone, and the defense line broken like rocks against a reef, the only plan anyone had left was to flee while they could-

-Troops entrenched themselves in the defense platforms, manned the ships in orbit, and formed a grid around which the beasts would have to come before they could reach the planet. Garrisons of Jaffa were lining up the work force and civilians, gating them off world to other territories of the Assassin King, hoping to save as many as they could while the defense line held for as long as possible-

-when the massive ship actually came to a stop, the cloud of it's surrounding alien host moved like a pack of remora on a shark, shifting about in the cosmic eddies of it's wake. There was a subspace sound like that of a great bronze horn, echoing in different tones and different times, but when it's echo subsided it was clear what that sound had been; the charge-

-the swarm of bodies lurched forward with frightening speed compared to what their lethargic approach had been, fleshy missiles streaking toward the planet like a hail storm. The defense line opened fire, not bothering to try and acquire targets, just rifling into the mass with reckless abandon. Bodies went flying by the hundreds with each blast, only to be passed by waves of more descending from the ship's ventral banks-

-one commander tried to rally the line, targeting the vents, but something else happened on the top portion. Bays opened, large as the ha'tak that were attacking it, and three monstrous forms emerged looking like demonic fusions of nightmares gone horribly wrong. They descended upon the ships like whales among the minnows of their brethren, and when they collided with the shields it only staggered it for a moment. -

-like the defense fleet before, sheer numbers overwhelmed the shield's ability to stay active and shortly after, the ships were being torn apart from within as their halls were breached by two and four armed hostiles wielding claw, and fang, and even organic looking swords and axes. Jaffa and soldiers died by the thousands as the beasts stalked the ships from base to peak and then began tearing the hulls to pieces and gathering pieces to return to the Dregion-

-when the swarm reached the atmosphere, it was a meteor shower unlike anything the inhabitants or it's defenders had ever seen. Later recordings would tally upward of thirty million bright burning points entering the upper atmosphere to descend like a rain of demonic fury on the populated segments of the continent and it's oceans. Buildings crumbled under the onslaught and from the rubble the black ichor covered forms would rise, holding out their arms like chanting cultists to emit clouds of white and grey smoke.-

-the smoke would weave and move, speeding away from it's source to find the nearest fleshy body, conscious or not, and seep into it through eyes, mouth, nose and ears. While the unconscious or dead bodies were spared the horror of being taken over, the victims that were till awake choked on the screams they tried to make only to eventually fall over and spasm like the effects of cyanide. After a moment of stillness, dead, unconscious and wakeful alike rose like marionette dolls with incomplete strings-

-for every one of the Daeva that impacted the surface and rose, a dozen or more victims around them succumbed to the vapor and became the Skinwalkers, who in turn rounded on their own like ravenous, insane monsters themselves, slaughtering hundreds before they fell to either deadly wounds or just so overtaxed the body that it's neural fibers burst into flame and they fell in smoldering twitching heaps-

-An entrenched team of Jaffa on a high apex of a guard tower kept recording even when hell had descended upon them, and for a while broadcast it into space. There was a voice narrating off screen of one of the jaffa- "To any who are seeing this... this is happening across the whole of the planet...Our ships had no effect, only barely slowed them down. Two thirds of our planetary defense fell within minutes of engaging ... the rest only a matter of hours on foot, either when the demons found our bunkers, or the smoke did.. and they turned on each other like they were possessed.."

-the view of the camera turned and angled toward the smoke of the former refinery, now a heap of broken debris crawling with figures like an angry ant hill- "This is what they came for... we haven't opened fire and they ignored us like we didn't matter... had our ships not fired perhaps they too would be intact, but they're taking things back to their ship now... the planet is in .. whats that?!"

-the recording became jumbled as the person holding it apparently decided to run out of the bunker and spin around, and over the panting breath and footsteps, the sound like an incoming mortar was heard and the jaffa's yells at his compatriots to get out of the bunker. Then more jarred motion as the jaffa was running, but glimpses behind him showed one of those massive beast from the defense line plummeting to the ground like an asteroid, it's impact rocking the ground and sending the recording flying-

-the broadcast went on for hours, visually only staring at a blood stained wall and a half curled hand, but the sounds were enough to curl the toes and curdle the blood: screams and wails of such inhuman horror, chittering and howling like the pits of hell itself made manifest, and over it all, a low, rumbling sound like stone against stone under water every now and again-
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Balaur
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Unidentified Alien Threat
[ *  *  * ]
-Thirty million demonic souls had come to Arctura in that first wave of arrival as the Dredgion lay still, a slumbering monstrosity for the whole sector to see. To and from the planet a constant string of Daeva and Chimera came and went. From the planet, further below the crust than the original mines had gone, the Daeva and their Skinwalker host of possessed jaffa, workers and civilians, had shucked the planet like an orange, casting debris and rock into eddies of displaced gravity that carried it away and out into the dead of space-

-when a Skinwalker's energy depleted itself, the body would fall and be taken away, stockpiled for later consumption along with the others who had died during the initial siege. Two weeks after that fateful day, the raw skin of the planet was exposed, and it's veins were plundered for the unrefined ore the demons had come for. From a distance, the planet looked like it was breaking apart a continent at a time, seething with forms moving in vast groups seeking and unearthing the precious minerals. And then all had gone eerily and deathly still-

-A full week and a handful of days had passed since that dreadful stillness, and then, like a blooming flower releasing it's seeds, the surface of the planet was once again teeming with activity. Clouds of figures, so numerous they blocked out the sun for miles, rose from crevices, cracks and fissures along the decimated planet, swimming through the eddies of displaced gravity out into space. Like schools of fish, glittering swarms of shapes moved toward the Dredgion, who in turn began to move itself. The world ship shifted, it's slumber now over, and once again it began to move at a slow steady pace, it's nose angled toward the next nearest planet body-

-When it had arrived, the Dredgion had been surrounded in a light cloud, appearing as particles like dust coming off a comet, now, it was teeming with life. Where once barely more than fifty million bodies took up space, now over three billion inhabited, and the Games of Court had begun anew as they headed toward their next zone-
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