In what I am told is typical Meklar fashion, CB-715 leads the known galaxy in fleet strength, production, technology, and total power in spite of its people having the lowest population, and only four worlds to its name. It agrees to a small trade package while I go to work on two more ship designs: Sniff 2.0s will replace the slower versions across the galaxy, and a Scent 2.0, with fuel tanks and a scanner, will try to find out exactly what the Silicoids are using for a fleet.
2370-1: Aha! Hyper-V Rockets are finally ready to deploy, which means our bases-to-be will have something resembling teeth. Since the next rocket upgrade isn't much better than what we just finished, and bombs would have horrifying effects on the historical relics of any planet where they're used, I select an Ion Cannon design as our next research project. And ... grrrrrrrrrrrump. The Meklar have a colony ship bound for Incedius. It proves to be armed (to no one's surprise) and swift-moving, so though I do not want the machines to have that world, there's nothing I can do to prevent it.
2373: I finally get around to colonizing Spica, just 3 parsecs from home. Urrrrrum ... I guess there've just always been other priorities.
2374: Hrrrar!!! And Speaking of those priorities!
We can now build Inferno colony bases! Though an antidote is available in case some alien race is so unthinkably careless of the galaxy's biohistorical record as to bring death spores into battle, I order work to begin on Soil Enrichment instead. Hrrrrmph. Perhaps I'm too trusting, considering what I've seen from the Silicoids already, but sporing a planet really is unthinkable, and our soil enrichment nanites will double as biotrace and artifact seekers. Plus, a planet with the high, fast-growing population that enriched soil could provide would be a great base for an invasion force, like the one on its way to reclaim Ryoun! I'm getting ahead of myself though. For now, our old Sniff 1.0s hit the scrap heap to make way for Fire Den 2s.
2375: Hrmmmmm... more rich radiated worlds at Draconis, just north of Meklar space, and Iranha, just south of the kitties. Kronos, an Inferno, is also just south of the cats. I'll have to ... grrrarrrr? What is it now? Yalara calling, I see. Why is she closing and opening one eye at me again? Is this supposed to be some kind of code? She asks if I've been waiting in suspense. Urmmmmmm ... waiting for ... what is she on about now? She purrs something about ... oh: The council elections, where all the emperors get together. She asks if I'd like to accompany her again. Urrrm, doesn't everyone else just show up separately though? Bah, it doesn't matter; I may as well go with her. I suppose she wants me to vote for her again this time, since the ... wait ... what's this? Why isn't Yalara nominated? Or Sauron for that matter? Yalara, what's going on? ... Igneus?! You say faithless, murderous, vandalous Igneus is my opponent? ... ... Wait, wait, mine?!
Igneus has five votes of his own, but isn't buddies with the lizards anymore - entities like him rarely keep their friends - so the Sakkra abstain with 4 ... and so does everybody else. Yalara's 4, CB-715's 3, Nameless Darlok Wonder's 4 ... is there something wrong with voting for someone? Are the voting buttons poisoned? Grrrrrrr, these political meetings make no sense. I abstain so as not to stand out. Somebody would have needed 16 votes to win this thing, and all Igneus got was five. Will someone please tell me why we even bother with these again? Maybe Yalara can explain why she keeps asking me to go to them.
OOC Note: Why didn't I vote for Igneus and get the easy diplo points? Wellll ... I guess I could have, but the fact is, we were beyond diplomacy. I did not take the loss of Ryoun lightly, and had an invasion force due to arrive the following year!
I call my feline neighbor, and she looks very relaxed for some reason, with her eyes half shut, curled up on some cushions. I guess cats are crazy for soft places. We bears prefer nice, solid stone - preferably the bodies of evil Silicoids we've slain. She purrs something to do with sleeping that I don't understand, and asks me what she makes me think of. What is she talking about? I scratch my head, and admit she looks like she's ready for a nap. Believe it or not, that gets her to sit up and open her eyes. What did I say now? She seems delighted, but I'm not sure if that's a good sign. One good thing though: She's not purring incomprehensibly anymore or lounging about or any of that. In fact, I'm pretty sure she thinks I proposed a Non-Aggression Pact. Hrrrrrum ... well, okay, if you'll agree to one, Yalara, I guess that's okay too, but really I just called to ask why we bother with the council meetings.
Hrrrrm, for once she completely agrees with me, going on and on about the horrible nomination process. She apparently can't understand why she wasn't up for election again, which sort of puts us in the same camp, since I can't understand anything about the council meetings at all. I suggest that we increase our trade agreement as well, and she likes that idea too, so maybe she's not as crazy as I thought. She doesn't even do that closing-one-eye thing this time, which is definitely a relief. I don't risk asking about it though, in case she says something crazy.
2376: We finally, finally figure out how to make better energy deflectors, and go right to work on a Personal Deflector Shield, a very important project for invasions like the one at Ryoun - especially as we discover there that the Silicoids have learned to build them already! Fortunately, General Grrropo is able to compensate! This is just like the the battle of Morgrrr's Gulch in 1163, when the ill-equipped Grrrougri militia routed the Borgruk Regent's armored knights!
Most of our troopers survive our conquest of the world, and are immediately dispatched to emergency clean-up and restoration tasks to salvage what we can of the planet's endangered historical material. Hopefully, it was protected to some extent by the thick covering layers of desert sands. Igneus responds by declaring war on us, exactly as if we weren't at war already. Then, after scouting Darlok Obaca, north of Meklar space, I'm right in the middle of managing my empire when I ... urrrmmmmm ... accidentally go into hibernation.
OOC Note: Yeah, I managed to mis-click Next Turn while deploying a fleet. It happens.
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Next: Overreaching?
