2384: A year after Dr. Iguanaius selected the easiest projects available - ECM Jammer Mark I in lieu of a battle computer upgrade, plus Class II Deflector Shields, and Hand Lasers ahead of the valuable weapons technologies made possible by the Psilon rockets - in hopes of quickly making up time, the Sakkra invasion forces reached their destinations simultaneously. The western fleet, led by Admiral Vipersian aboard a Tristar, suffered enormous casualties, but managed to destroy the entire Human fleet at Proteus, taking a battle cruiser, a colony ship, 4 destroyers, and 57 fighters, at the cost of a dozen of the Tristars and all 33 of the old Denial fighters that joined in the fight. The ultra-poor planet had no defensive bases, an important reason for its selection as a target in the first place, and so all 107 Sakkra transports reached the colony.
Beta Ceti was retaken from the rebels even more easily, and Obsessivus chortled over the good fortune of finding human technological secrets among just 16 Proteus factories. The discovery the soldiers actually made finished a research project that Dr. Iguanaius had already begun, but in which nothing had as yet been invested, leading the way to an Automated Repair System, considered more valuable under the circumstances than the small improvements to be had in either industrial tech or waste reduction. A partial transcript of the Sakkra emperor's response to the news is still available from the Galactic Archive:
Not bad, not bad! These soldiers sure work quickly! Now I'll ... wait, that was IIT 8? [redacted] Improved Industrial Tech 8?! Are you [redacted] kidding me?! Who recovered that [redacted] tech?! I want him shot for treason, immediately!The reason no investment had yet been made was because it was known that another round of OCD expansion would begin as soon as research into either the new IIT, Toxic colony bases, or Dotomite crystals was completed, so researching more than one of the three at once would mean wasting much of the investment on all but the first to come in. The unhappy tech steal meant that after getting just two years to breathe, the Sakkra would be able to build long-range colony ships and therefore return to OCD. There was only one consolation for RBO XVIII.
Though the pacifistic Psilons were drifting back up into neutral diplomatic territory, and the Bulrathi, in spite of "tense relations" - caused by several years of orbital bombardment at Incedius by the eastern fleet, as well as an act of sabotage at Draconis - still refused to acknowledge the war, Lasitus, finally, had become the first alien ruler to take the Sakkra declarations seriously. If only the Sakkra empire had been given time to build more than its 80 new "Intercept 2" fighters in between periods of OCD, it might even have had some hope of taking the battle to one of its enemies.
Primary Sources: The Far Edge of Expansion
2385: When contact was established with the Alkari empire, with long-range laser Gunscout 2 fighters and Longdead 2 colony ships in production all over the empre, Southern Theater Commander Asssp submitted his official report on the avian people:
The Alkari are pitifully weak. You have only to grant me the necessary ships and troops, and we can overrun their empire completely!Obsessivus declared war per Asssp's suggestion immediately, and responded to the request for actual war resources with his now-famous Memorandum on Resource Allocation to the Alkari Front:
Yeah, I could use them too. Take a number and wait.2386: As the eastern fleet continued to bombard Incedius, the Bulrathi emperor finally responded to the deaths of over 25 million of his people there with the following message:
Relations would reach the point of open blood feud, but still no one in the Bulrathi government would acknowledge RBO-18's long-standing declaration of war.
2389: Though the Human bid to retake Proteus had failed when the Intercepts and Gunscouts of the western fleet burned down their transports, Lasitus continued to take advantage of the Sakkra OCD condition, briefly taking the orbit of Klystron in the far northwest. Sakkra Gunscouts soon reclaimed the world's skies, leading to the following battle report from General Ro deKil:
They're everywhere! They're everywhere! For every four the Gunscouts shoot down, five more are getting through! They're everywhere! Swinging like monkeys from ther airlock hatches, shouting like apes - they're everywhere, I tell you! We're outnumbered five to three, but it feels like ten to one! They use the same equipment we do, but it's hopeless! The planet is lost! I repeat - the pla...[...static...]
2393: From the official record of a top level Sakkra strategy meeting:
RBO-18: Tell me again why we can't retroactively fire Ro deKil and cut off his family's war pension. Last year's under-supplied counter-invasion managed a better kill ratio than he did. He doesn't even have a proper pseudo-roman imperial name!The war with the humans was not going well; in fact, just two years before, Obsessivus had been forced to ask the aid of M5-35, the one race more powerful than his Sakkra in the galaxy, to help fend off the human threat. It was a dark time on Sssla.
Secretary of Defense: For the seven hundred and nineteenth time, his entire family was slaughtered by the Humans at Klystron. We aren't giving his pension money to anybody.
RBO-18: But just as a symbolic gesture, don't you think...
Secretary of Sycophancy: Hey, this should cheer you up: We've just colonized Moro and Gienah!
RBO-18: [groan] Terrific. Now we can explore even more worlds, and find out we need colony ships for them, too!
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Next: Before the Dawn
