2379: Well, I was right about the Meklar attacking Dolz ... but I underestimated their capacity for sheer, unfettered mayhem!
They bomb the planet from orbit, murdering nine million innocents in their homes, and destroying our few factories as well as unknowable quantities of the planet's cultural artifacts - potentially huge portions of the galaxy's permanent historical record - apparently out of sheer hatred for everything but their own cybernetic bodies! Fortunately, we were able to take some emergency measures to shield and protect the most important historical sites over the past two years. I don't know if we'll ever be able to examine those sites in depth though; how can we ever handle those fleets? GNN's report this year that the Meklar are first in fleet strength, and that we're last, should surprise nobody. Grrrrrowl. That our colony at Dolz was a bit of overreaching, I can accept. That they responded by direct bombardment however is horrifying!
2381: Ursa's scientific community develops a new battle computer, opening the way to ... ECM Jammer Mark II ... and nothing else ... so ... grrrrrrrrummmble. Also, CB-715's despicable machine-fleets kill 12 million more helpless bears at Dolz, and millions more who had been crossing interstellar space in slow transports, just as they hoped to finally make landfall. I won't even discuss what their continued bombardment must be doing to the planet's historical features. Things aren't going much better on the Silicoid front, as our first wave of troopers is defeated at Rha. We could have overcome the enemy's personal shields and portable lasers, but a poorly-constructed Silicoid skyscraper in the city of Crysglow crumbled and fell when it was hit by a misfired barrage of Silicoid gunship rockets in the course of a heated battle - much like the salvos that on other occasions had accidentally taken out entire residential neighborhoods - and in its collapse, the structure fell across a strategically important Bulrathi position, briefly throwing our conquering forces into chaos in the city. By the time the dust had settled, the Silicoids' forces, who were lucky enough to be completely outside the path of the building's collapse, had the upper hand in the lynchpin city and went on to kill all our troops, though not without massive losses.
All will yet be well though: A second wave will reach Rha soon enough! Our brave civillians at Dolz meanwhile stave off attack from 17 million invading Meklar, but we lose more of our own than we should have because of a grim last stand at the Agrrraar dig site, protecting its precious ancient sculptures even after a tactical retreat was clearly called for. If only we could be sure CB-715 would still preserve these when it inevitably conquers that world! There is also the danger of losing contact with the Meklar and our opportunity of studying their strange cybernetic culture - we needed reserve tanks to reach Dolz in the first place, and I don't expect the cyborgs to talk to us when they're out of basic range - so, after one of my Fire Dens colonizes Xengara...
2382: Another takes Berel, a fiery world close to Meklar space that shouldn't tempt CB-715 since his people can't survive on its surface. Our second wave of troopers hits Rha as well, and in spite of the Silicoids' new Duralloy armor, our superior tactics win the day, and we liberate the world and the relics of its history! The news from Dolz is worse of course, as the Meklar assault troops outnumber us there by more than three to one, and we lose the world. We won't know if the Agrrraar sculptures have been preserved until the Meklar grant us the right to send research expeditions in ... or until we reclaim the planet again in war! Hrrrrrumph. I have little hope of the first, considering the horrors their starfleets perpetrated ... and then, considering the massive Meklar battle fleets, I'm in no hurry to test the second either! Still, someday....
Between Rha and Berel, in spite of losing Dolz, we're still making gains after a fashion, and so the GNN droid informs the galaxy that we're the first to twelve star systems! Hrummm. Not bad. Through Berel, we're also in touch with the Darloks and Narzina, their Xenophobic Technologist queen.
She's got five planets to her name, and is uneasy with me as soon as we meet, but agrees to a small trade agreement anyway. I have to take her word for it that she's a female, by the way, but I have to take her word for it that she's corporeal! All I can tell for sure is that she wears a cloak and her eyes are red. Now, if she had lived ten thousand years ago, and we were examining her skeleton or her mummified remains, why then we'd have something!
2384: My scientists decide to accomplish something for a change, and complete work on factory miniaturization. Rather than more of the same, I have them look into an Automated Repair System, though it won't be of much use unless we can someday come up with some armor.
2385: We see a Sakkra fleet for the first time! Their alliance-aided Valkyrie cruiser chases our Sniff away from Uxmai for a moment, while our brave soldiers repel a Silicoid invasion at Rha. Hrrrrumph! That world is ours now, and the rocks and their horrifying bombardment policies won't be getting it back while I'm on watch!
2388-92: Three Silicoid Mako cruisers come after Ryoun. I've been rushing a missile base there in case of something just like this, but it still won't be ready quite in time, so I order Rana to send a mobile defense fleet. After I ... urrrrm ... accidentally go into hibernation again - there's something about ordering fleets around that always seems to do that to me; the command console is too close to the air conditioning or something - and fortunately missing a show of absolute incompetence by our pilots and another unspeakable bombing run by the rock-heads in 2390, I make sure that it's not repeated, and we destroy the last of the Makos, and slaughter the would-be conquering forces. In the meantime, we manage to colonize fiery Tao south of Ursa, and get ready to start the preliminary land surveys that will confirm where we can construct factories without harming the world's vital archaeological record!
2393: We manage to miniaturize our deflector shields for use by our troopers! Believe it or not, this is the first technological advance we've ever made that actually enhances our ground forces. The only option to proceed is Class IV Deflector Shields, which should protect our bases and - critically - our dig sites from the current Meklar NPG designs, but leave us vulnerable to the Silicoids and future ships the Meklar are likely to create. As Uxmai becomes our 14th world, we confirm that more Makos are almost certainly headed for Celtsi, and send our fleet to intervene. I also call up Yalara on the holophone; she seems calm for once, and is willing to let her scientists teach me to use a Deep Space Scanner in exchange for my Nuclear Engines.
This might speed up her new lines of ships, but at least it won't hurt me if she trades them away; all my enemies seem to be using Sublights. There's also a huge side-benefit: The Mrrshan scientists don't do any inexplicable things with their eyelashes or their lips, and they actually seem to talk sense! I might actually get along with these cat people! After giving the matter some thought, I also make a similar deal with Narzina for ECM Jammer Mark I, just so my spies will be a little more competitive in Silicoid space.
2394: Ho-ho! Our tech trading pays off immediately! My new spy network finds a Silicoid technology center, and supposing that the other wings would just hold obsolete terraforming and factory construction techs, I order our agents to the weapons research section ... and they bring back Hand Lasers for me! This should give our generals even more tactical flexibility!
2395: Four Makos arrive at Celtsi, but I have five bases up, and the fleet is in position.
Our ... errrm ... inaptly named Rock 2.0 cruisers are missile boats, which close as rapidly as possible to ensure the enemy can't dodge any part of their payload of 35 Hyper-V rockets apiece (in seven 5-racks). Lacking Ion Cannons, and knowing the Silicoid ships carried bombs and shields, our military leaders wanted to maximize the damage these mobile defense ships could do before the enemy could close with the planet we were defending, even at the cost of total damage potential in the course of a drawn-out fight. It works this time, as this fight is over quickly, and though most of our fighters are destroyed, we lose nothing else - and that fighter design is about to hit the scrap heap anyway: We're not lacking Ion Cannons any more! Though Mass Drivers and Neutron Blasters would have their uses as well, our next project will be Scatter Pack V Rockets, to give our bases some extra - in fact, five times as many - teeth! In the meantime, with the immediate threat disposed of, we prepare to launch another attack!
2399: Hrrrrrooooooooar!!! A victory! My fleet destroys a Mako over Firma, and now controls the planet's orbit, with General Grrropo's archaeological site liberation forces on the way! Of course Igneus responds by begging for peace. He knows very well that it is impossible for me to countermand the order to attack with my transports already in hyperspace, and so he hopes to play on my mercy to make me seem like an oath-breaker! The fool is dismissed immediately. He is pointlessly destructive, dishonorable, treacherous, and a horrible polluter, with no sense of history, and we offer no terms to the likes of him!
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Next: End of an Era
