Hand Lasers, good defensive terrain, and sheer luck all contribute as the Mrrshans manage to hold Kulthos by the skin of their teeth.
The following year, while the military smashed another Psilon fleet at Stalaz, Mrrshan spies came through again, stealing an ECM Jammer from the Sakkra, as scientists completed their work in Battle Suit technology! Then, tragically, while Raiju was trying to decide between Zortium Armor and another improvement to industrial technology, while Rrref Steelclaw was capturing the scene with a trimensional imager for posterity, a freak time-space anomaly occurred, distorting reality, and sending the empire back in time to the end of 2408! After that, nothing progressed in quite the same way: The spies that should have stolen useful technology were caught by Sakkra agents instead, and Mrrshan scientists continued to be mystified by construction technology. Investigation revealed that an aged personal computer experiencing a Continuity & Temporality Disruption (CTD) had caused a massive chain reaction, resulting in the anomaly. Fortunately, Rrref's habit of activating a temporal recovery beacon (a procedure technically known as Stabilization and Actuation of Virtual Integrity for Natural Galaxies) at the close of every year had prevented the loss of even more time. Asked if the anomaly could be reproduced in an attempt to recover some of the positive occurences that were lost as a result, Rref answered, "Impossible. It could potentially shatterr the rrules by which the galaxy exists, and suck us all into a giant shadow-singularrity. Besides, and morre imporrtantly, doing that sort of thing is just totally lame."
2409 continued with the colonization of Celtsi and ultra-rich Beta Ceti, with the northern fleet still watching over the former to keep the Meklar away, and with no ships apparently approaching, Raiju took the opportunity to call upon CB-715.
The great peace accord of 2409, in which the two most populous empires in the galaxy signed a Non-Aggrression Pact that would remain in place for decades.
The long-term peace she established with the Meklar would be a grreat relief to the Mrrshans of the north, but there remained three powerful races at war with the Mrrshan people, including mad Kelvan, the undisputed technological leader of the galaxy.
The following year saw the development of Battle Suit technology, which was to be followed up by Zortium Armor. This time, no CTD anomaly occurred, and the people of Kulthos were equipped with their new armor just in time to receive the next Psilon invasion. There was no hope of holding the world, but millions of Psilons died in conquering it and its four surviving factories.
Ten million Psilons survive the conquest of Kulthos - a conquest with far-reaching consequences.
A fleet of Scratch 3.0s larger than any fleet ever built before by the Mrrshan people was due to arrive in 2411, just one year too late to save the colony. Since Kulthos not only had been the only planet providing contact with the Sakkra, but was just out of range of ships lacking reserve fuel tanks, Rrref advised a hit-and-run attack on the Psilon fleet there, retreating after softening it up as much as possible for the second monster fleet, timed with fleets of Mrrshan transports, all already en route to reclaim the world in 2412. By making use of the "Combat Slingshot" effect, the retreating fighters would have just enough fuel to make it back to a Mrrshan supply base. The plan was perrfectly sound, except for one minor detail: Seeing the incoming clouds of Mrrshan fighters, the Psilon fleet elected to leave before their arrival, deprriving the first fleet of any opportunity for a Combat Slingshot, and leaving them all to perish for lack of fuel.
The second fleet of fighters never attempted to use the Slingshot, simply wiping out a small fleet of Psilon reinforcements, in the expectation of refueling at Kulthos when their accompanying transports reclaimed the colony.
A logistical miscalculation in the third battle of Kulthos is not nearly enough to prrevent the Mrrshans from reclaiming the planet, but costs the empire dozens of combat ships.
The assumption was incorrect. By the time a refueling base could be assembled on the surface by victorious Mrrshan marines, the second fighter force's orbit had decayed irreversibly. They crrashed to the planet's icy surface, with no survivors. All told, more fighters were lost to refueling mishaps in the course of these two years than would perish in battle through all of Raiju's reign.
2412 also brought the invention of Ion Cannons, which were immediately fitted for new Static 3.0 fighters. Scatter Pack V Rockets represented the only path forward in the field, and Raiju gladly took it, but only 25 new Statics could reach Kulthos to meet the next Psilon assault fleet, and even with a missile base just finished in time to support them, they could not overcome the entire Psilon fleet. Moreover, the completion of Soil Enrichment research in 2414 (to be followed by Advanced Eco Restoration in lieu of Cloning) meant that by Raiju's laws, no further ships could be built at our rich terran world - the nearest Mrrshan colony to Kulthos - until its infrastructure was again complete.
Another crritical Mrrshan colony is formed, as Static fighters close on Kulthos from Beta Ceti and (the Tao that maxes out its factories again faster than you can count them is) Not the Tao.
Nevertheless, the tide had turned. Though the Psilon fleet could not be destroyed in 2416, it was crrippled, and its orbital bombardment had very little effect. The latest battle computer, finished the same year, led the way toward ECM Jammer Mark III, and ultra-rich Escalon, colonized the following year, led GNN to announce that the Mrrshans were an 18-system runaway superr-power. When a new Mrrshan fleet showed up at Kulthos in 2418, both the Psilons and Sakkra in orbit simply fled, and the few transports that survived the gauntlet of Mrrshan Static fighters were quickly cleaned up by warriors on the planet's surface. Kelvan immediately sued for peace, and three years later, when his Sakkra allies' transports arrived, none made it through the gauntlet at all. Already growing long enough in the tooth to be mistaken for a prrehistoric tiger, Raiju had held on just to make sure that little Kulthos was transformed from a reach colony to a strronghold at the galaxy's core. Finally satisfied, she was content, and died (for the fourth time) that verrry year, never noticing the dreadnought about to arrive at Escalon.
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Next: Sneak Attack!
