Imperium 18 - Conclusion

Primary Sources: The Rise of Vipersian

2477: Military confusion continued to grow worse, as following the loss of Centauri's orbit to a Meklar fleet when no one remembered to send any ships there the year before, the repulsor ship sent to take back the planet's orbit wasn't accompanied by a single fighter, allowing the Meklon invasion force to take the world. Chaos reigned, and the Sakkra Imperium threatened to splinter, but this was also the year in which Admiral Vipersian left his personal Caiman in favor of the '74 vintage Salt Croc 5 megabolt dreadnought that had finally arrived at the war front that very year. It would never fire a single bolt, as every alien fleet it encountered fled immediately, but its communications systems finally allowed the admiral to take command of the entire southeast front. His commands were succinct as always, but no one dared gainsay him, and by year's end, the entire Sakkra military was under his control. The galaxy's only radiated worlds were colonized, and the - now seven! - unneeded Finality colony ships scrapped for parts. The official roll for the fleet Vipersian then commanded is the pride of the Meklon Historical Archive:



A map from the same time period should be sufficient indication of the fleet's invincibility once it came under Vipersian's efficient and coordinated command:



The end had come for the last of the other races in the galaxy.

2478: Centauri and Mobas were the only remaining Meklar worlds.



And then there were none.

A single haiku composed by Colonialus Poetate upon hearing the thrilling news of Vipersian's success crystalized Poetate's whole career, revealing the great undercurrent of all Sakkra thought and emotion for the next millenium:

Every star is ours,
No worlds left to conquer.
Oh, what have we wrought?!

The exception of course was the victorious admiral of the fleet, who returned to Sssla in triumph, where the squabbling of would-be heirs ended in the only way it could have: By the coronation of Emperor Vipersian the Great, first of his name and of his line.



His stirring coronation speech is here recorded in its entirety, just as it appears in the Galactic Archive on Sssla:

Imperial objectives achieved.

Indeed! What eloquence! What ... um, what economy of language! What ... what ... what is it I'm trying to say here again?



Ah, yes. That's it exactly.

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Back to the Front Page

Imperium 18 - The Fall of RBO XVIII

Primary Sources: Doom of the Lizard King

2470: Ten Nexus fusion gunboats arrived at the immature world of Keeta, with megabolt cruiser escorts, before it could finish a third missile base, and with little in the way of a defensive fleet in orbit. The Meklar took the planet's orbit easily. At the same time, a single megabolt dreadnought and six megabolt cruisers reached Phantos, which was defended only by a Caiman cruiser. Thanks to its repulsor beam, the Caiman 5.0 should have repelled the enemy easily, but its pilot managed to maneuver himself into a position where the beam couldn't function properly, and was destroyed along with his ship and, as at Keeta, the entire colony.



The death fleet at Keeta would crash on the planet's surface for lack of fuel, but Obsessivus didn't care about the enemy fleet. The emperor's official speech to the Sakkra people following the news is transcribed as follows:

You will not build worthless, idiotic, empty-headed, filthy, grimy, inexpressibly putrid colony ships! You won't! I won't have it! Not again! You ... I'm talking to you idiots! Get away from those colony hangars and factories!!! Listen to me!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!! I told you idiots!!! I told you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!!!!!

Obsessivus nearly destroyed the capital's holotransmitter when, moments later, Emperor Bullux of the Bulrathi called to beg for peace.

2473: Lacking enough combat ships to deal with the Meklar colony ship's escort, Obsessivus simply allowed the machines to recolonize Phantos in 2472, the same year that a Sakkra colony ship reclaimed Keeta, prompting the empire to return to whatever it tries to call normal, not without massive losses of time and investments. Two years of refusal to grow population while transports were being sent against the Bulrathi was especially crippling, especially with yet more transports needed to deal with the Meklar point worlds.



While Phantos was being retaken by Sakkra forces, claiming Advanced Space Scanner, Uridium Fuel Cells, and Gatling Laser technologies, leading Dr. Iguanaius to choose Hyperspace Communications as the next computer project to not bother researching in RBO-18's reign, Admiral Vipersian recorded his report on the battle for Dolz, speaking fondly - by his standards at least - of the new (Gila) Monster 5.0 destroyers, with their twin Omega-Vs and single fusion bomb apiece:

No enemy fleet detected. Monsters closing.

...

Target's defenses destroyed. Transports on descent.

...

Conquest complete.

2475: More than 650 transports landed at Bulrathi worlds simultaneously, and Obsessivus gloated over the bears' extermination with the conquest of Ursa, Draconis and Incedius...



...prematurely.

People of Sssla! Two and a half decades ago, after the last galactic council, I swore a great oath that it would never meet again. Today, you shall see that oath fulfilled, for with all three Bulrathi worlds falling in the same year, there shall be no quorum for the meeting! Observe the aftermath of the battles, as ...
...
...
You scum!!! You utterly vile, worthless filth of the galaxy! This is your doing! If you'd been growing population as I ordered you to do, instead of slobbering all over your colony ship designs and new factories, we would have had troops and to spare at Incedius, just like at Ursa and Draconis!!! Don't you try to blame our incompetent soldiers! Yes, I know they outnumbered the ursines more than two and a half to one with a clear technological edge! Yes, they should still have won in spite of the bears' legendary fighting ability! But it shouldn't have been close enough for the accursed bears to get lucky!!! If not for you worthless, blithering, traitorous slime, we would have had millions more on hand to slaughter the last few Bulrathi! You die now! You hear me? I'll kill you all!!!

The transcript of the speech ends here, but eyewitness reports suggest that the emperor tore a laser rifle away from a personal bodyguard and opened fire on the population below, shouting obscenities. Manufactor Serpentus was killed, standing nearby, as were dozens of RBO-18's other supporters, before the laser rifle's energy charge was exhausted and Obsessivus reportedly threw the rifle itself at the nearest supporter in the chaotic, fleeing crowd below while shouting, "I'll kill you with my bare claws!!!" It was then that Rex Bipolar Obsessivus XVIII leapt from the high balcony, arms spread and claws extended, with crazed and blood-shot eyes. Impact with the pavement far below the balcony was instantly fatal. So the reign of Obsessivus ended.



In spite of Sakkra control of more than two thirds of the galaxy, the election of 2475 was inconclusive, as the emperor's heirs squabbled for power, and the Sakkra leader nominated by the council had died just before it began. Admiral Vipersian saw to it that the Ion Rifle designs lifted from Draconis along with Controlled Tundra Environment were distributed to all Sakkra soldiers preparing to re-invade Incedius, and Dr. Iguanaius made a command decision to select Atmospheric Terraforming (rather than more ecology) and High Energy Focus as the empire's new technologies with the completion of radiated bases earlier the same year. Special Agent Hissius Chamaeleon even made it off of Draconis with the plans for a Battle Computer Mark II just ahead of the invasion. Nonetheless, the Sakkra empire had been thrown into disarray, a state rendered all the more hopeless as every planet in the empire turned its efforts to building radiated colony ships or colony-builder factories.


Primary Sources: The Reign of Chaos

2476: Miscommunication and internal strife were rampant throughout the Sakkra empire, with five Finality colony ships produced in the same year to compete for just two radiated worlds in the galaxy. The military commanders were uncoordinated, sloppy, and self-impaired ... with one exception.


From the log of the Caiman 5.0 leading the east-sweeping western fleet, shortly before news of the simultaneous Incedius invasion the admiral had ordered and the resulting extermination of the Bulrathi was transmitted across the galaxy:

Enemy in sight. Deploying Monsters and advancing.

...

Bases destroyed. Engaging the enemy fleet.

...

We own the skies. Transports descending.

...

Meklon is ours.

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Next: Conclusion

Imperium 18 - The Fate of the Galaxy

Primary Sources: The Five-Front War

2455: Xengara held thanks to the fighter defenses sent from all over the empire, and Paranar's bases managed to destroy their incoming bomber-sporer dreadnought just as it was about to reach bombardment range, but the empire's defenses were about to be decimated, for reasons revealed in this official transcript of a meeting between Dr. Iguanaius and RBO-18:

Iguanaius: We finally figured out the cause of those unfortunate side-effects our Impulse Engines had on life support systems...
Obsessivus: You're sure? No more lizards turning into giant mushrooms?
Iguanaius: Very rarely. And we can isolate the effects so they no longer threaten ranking personnel.
Obsessivus: Good enough! Let's get these babies installed on all our new ships!
Iguanaius: So, with no other options except pointless range, I figured Intergalactic Star Gates...
Obsessivus: ALL our new ships! All our ships altogether!!! HAhahahahahahahaha! No more watching warp two junkers scuttle around for me!
Iguaniaus: Um ... RBO...?
Obsessivus: We do it now! Scrap our fleet! All of it! Immediately! Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

2459: Three years after fusion bombs were ready to deploy, with Stinger Missiles selected as the next thing to never be researched in RBO XIV's reign, the Impulse era officially began, as dozens of Calcium ion fighters fought off yet another attack on Xengara, and Admiral Vipersian's new western fleet reached the Human colony of Laan. Doc 5.0s scrambled to intercept Human fighters as Midgard bombers roared toward the planet and its heavily shielded bases. If Viperius could take the planet, Sakkra transports would be going in outnumbered three to two, but armed with laser rifles and zortium armor with deflector generator packs against Humans firing kinetic weapons and wearing clunky titanium plates. His report on the battle follows in its entirety:

Enemy sighted.

...

Bases destroyed. Their decimated fleet is retreating. Transports are now in position.

...

The planet is ours.

The troopers on the ground would discover plans for an Inertial Stabilizer, Anti-Missile Rockets, a Graviton Beam, Class V Deflector Shields, and Fusion Drives plus the final secrets of Repulsor Beam development that Dr. Iguanaius had been developing himself. Proceeding with his research, the doctor judged Personal Absorption Shield a more valuable option than double-power planetary shields for the next tech to never ever research under RBO-18's rule.

2461: A year after Viperius and the western fleet took Obaca's orbit, the eastern fleet met the entire Psilon armada in Uxmai's skies. A Monitor cruiser and 37 Doc destroyers faced off against the Nova dreadnought, a Coraona cruiser, four colony ships, 63 Star Streak missile destroyers with lasers for point defense, and 357 high-speed Comet laser fighters. The Monitor, with auto repair, and better targeting and maneuvering capabilities than any of the Psilon ships, proved more than a match for the enemy, and the rolling up of Quark's empire commenced. At the same time, transports hit Obaca, claiming Class IV Deflector Shields and Enhanced Eco Restoration as well as increased peace of mind for Obsessivus: This unretouched holo-image is the very one from which RBO-18 first learned the Sakkra could use an Improved Space Scanner:



2462: The Human empire built a new state-of-the-art dreadnought, and the Meklar arrived at Xengara with eight dreads of their own - mostly bomber/sporer/missile Annihilators, but with a Nexus fusion gunship as well, sporting mostly heavy fusion beams, and no less than 30 Ajax cruisers, stuffed to the gills with megabolt cannons. A time of reckoning had come, but Obsessivus was distracted, as revealed in this top-secret exchange with Admiral Vipersian, believed by many to have been the first foreshadowing of the fate of the galaxy:

Obsessivus: I can't take it any more. Not only did Quark beg for peace last year now that I clearly have the upper hand in their region of space, but that idiot Lasitus called up to compliment me, of all things, for taking it to the Psilon patsies! None of my other advisors can come up with anything - isn't there any way to make these emperors shut up?!
Vipersian: ... Yes.

2468: The middle years of the 2460s saw Sakkra ground troops claim numerous technological secrets for the empire: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Hard Beam, Improved Industrial Tech 7, Merculite Missiles, Battle Computer Mark III, and Sub-Light Drives from Quayal in '63; Irridium Fuel Cells from Alkari Gion and Reduced Industrial Waste 60%, Controlled Barren Environment, and much-needed Improved Terraforming +20 from Altair itself, all in '66; and Omega-V Bomb, Fusion Beam, Improved Robotic Controls V, Soil Enrichment, Improved Robotic Controls IV, and Megabolt Cannon from Meklar Phantos in 2467. Phantos itself was extremely important strategically as well, as the Meklar refueling station that gave their ships access to the Sakkra core. Far more important than all this to Obsessivus however was the execution of the Admiral's plan to make Quark and Lasitus stop making their annoying holo-calls. The fruition of this plan was described by GNN in understated fashion unintentionally appropriate to Vipersian:



2469: The Alkari followed the Humans and Psilons into oblivion, and the galaxy seemed within RBO-18's grasp, with only the deadly Meklar and also-ran Bulrathi remaining to stand against the Sakkra people. The first transports were launched for Draconis, timed to arrive in six years as Obsessivus planned to eliminate the Bulrathi and so prevent any further galactic elections from taking place. All seemed ready for the tyrant's ultimate triumph, as this map from that time period suggests with its sea of green:


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Next: The Fall of RBO XVIII

Imperium 18 - Can't Win 'Em All

Primary Sources: Inroads by the Enemy

2440: Admiral Vipersian may have had the western front under control, but there was no such leadership in the east. Though the OCD period following the construction of Toxic bases had lasted only four years, that was enough time to delay planetary shield construction at a critical moment, leaving Uxmai all but defenseless against the incoming Psilon dreadnought. Even the Nova's rockets could rip through the planet's class 3 shields, to say nothing of the few fighters - mostly just Ion Scouts - that could reach the planet in time, and its 15 Hard Beam cannons punched through them like paper. Reinforcements were only a happy dream, with the entire imperial star fleet still moving at Warp 2, and with Quayal just one year away at Psilon transport speeds, the loss of the planet was inevitable.



With help from the imperial reserves, Uxmai would finish its planetary shield and another missile base the following year, as well as a few more Lithium fighters, but it was wasted effort. The first Psilon wave fell short as expected, but the planet's forces were depleted, and even if the second wave failed, there would be no way to stop the third. One year late, Obsessivus acknowledged Uxmai's defeat:

They are to raise and arm as many warriors as they can by next year, and spend all remaining effort on research projects. More Psilon ships are incoming, and the planet is lost. Tell our forces to fight well when the four-arms invade; we will reclaim their homes someday. Oh: One thing more. I am arranging for your safe transport back to Selia, governor, and for an X Lander armed colony ship to be dispatched to Uxmai with all haste. That lander had better be scrapped on its way. To lose the planet by conquest is one thing, but if they decide to bomb that world, and you haven't grown enough forces to prevent its destruction, you will find every instrument of torture the Sakkra have ever devised waiting on Selia for you. I will not have an uninhabited world in my people's reach!

2441: The Psilons did not bomb Uxmai, and needed a little luck to overcome the Sakkra troops massed there.



They got that luck in spades, claiming not only the planet itself but three technologies likely to make them even harder targets going forward. RBO-18's response, recorded and transcribed when he received the news, was one word long:

Good.

2442: In a desperate effort to continue their war against the Sakkra, the Psilons of Quayal increased mining operations on their planet's second moon on unprecedented scales. The unintended result, first made known to Obsessivus in a GNN report, was reported to Quayal's governor much earlier, by the planet's mineral resources supervisor:

Sir, there has ... there was ... I ... an accident, sir! Our new blasting tools to reach the deep neutronium cores ... they ... we ... I mean to say, it's gone, sir. Some kind of chain reaction with power crystals beneath the surface. The entire mineral deposition zone has been blasted into space, in pieces too small to recover. We're ... our most important source of minerals in the system has been depleted, sir. We rushed too much in trying to get at them too quickly. We ... ... please don't kill me...

Obsessivus regarded this as terrible news, considering Quayal - in spite of the setback at Uxmai - a virtual possession of the Sakkra people already.

2444: One year after Lasitus's latest (and equally fruitless) plea for peace, the miserable barren world of Tao continued to never, ever, ever catch a break.



Fortunately, the Meklar Nemesis dreadnoughts just arriving - with almost 150 racks of fusion bombs between them, plus death spores and gats - were slow enough both strategically and tactically to allow the Sakkra to deploy an adequate defense. The battle was intense, but Planetary Governor Laotzuius was able to issue a calm report after the fact:

The Nemesis ships are no more. Work continues on additional bases. All is well.

2448: The Psilon front had remained quiet since the loss of Uxmai, while Humans beat their heads against the fortress world of Dunatis, but Quark's request for a peace treaty was rejected out of hand. The greatest threat remained the one race which still refused to acknowledge its war with the Sakkra, in spite of prosecuting that war energetically. An emergency report reached Obsessivus in 2448 from Xengara, the empire's original extra-Sssslestial colony:

We are reading a Meklar death fleet! Nine battle cruisers, four colony ships, and no less than nine dreadnoughts, all of unknown designs! They appear to be approaching us at warp 4, and likely to arrive next year! We didn't believe our planet would come under attack, and have built only a few bases behind our defensive shield thus far - we need all possible assistance, desperately!

2449: Xengara's fears were soon realized.



Every combat ship in the Meklar fleet was built around fusion bombs, death spores, or both. In addition to gatling lasers and the Colony Ships' rockets, the doom fleet carried 231 fusion bomb racks, 167 death spore pods, and 91 five-racks of Merculite missiles. Xengara's hastily-assembled bases and defense fleet managed to take out all the cruisers and a third of the dreadnoughts before the remaining dreads ran out of bombs and retreated, but by then, it was far too late for the colony. As shown in the following transcript of a meeting with the secretary of defense, Obsessivus was roused to incredible fury:

RBO-18: I hate them! I hate them! I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!
Sec Def: In time; but the Meklar are too strong to be killed off just yet, and...
RBO-18: The Meklar?! Are you crazy?! I'm talking about the Sakkra!!! One of our core worlds was just wiped out by an alien race, and what is my people's response? To drop all preparations of warships, defenses, and military research completely, and turn all their energy, all our partially-completed giant battle hulls, and everything else in the empire, to building infinitely redundant colony ships and scouts, together with a few factories! It will take me three years to colonize Xengara again, and there's no telling how much we'll lose in the meantime! I'm going to kill them! And when I'm done, I'm going to kill them again!!!

2452: One year before the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Xengara colony's formation...



...the Sakkra people founded the Xengara colony. Two years before, the galactic council had met, and gone more or less the way it had 25 years before. And the year after that, both Lasitus of the Humans (for the nine hundredth time, it seemed) and Highsoar of the Alkari came begging for peace. According to an imperial memo written after Xengara was founded and the Sakkra ended their period of OCD, all this was enough to remind Obsessivus of the real enemy:

My people being unspeakably worthless idiots is only a problem because of all the despicable weakling races in the galaxy. I'm sick of peace requests, and if it's in my power to prevent it, we'll never hold a galactic council again!

Two years later, OCD-delayed Zortium would open the path to Improved Industrial Tech 5, whose research Obsessivus would never bother to fund in his lifetime. It was one year too late to aid the design of the hundreds of Lithium ion fighters that took to the skies the same year to try and fend off yet more dreadnoughts sent in by the Meklar.

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Next: The Fate of the Galaxy

Imperium 18 - Open War

Primary Sources: Spreading the Word of War

2425: Captain Whipsnake's report just prior to the battle of Uxmai:

The planet remains undefended. We have encountered no resistance since our bombers took out the missile base last year. I can see the Psilons activating their personal deflector shields now, and their duralloy combat armor will hold up against our forces' laser blasters every bit as well as our titanium can sustain their assault rifle fire. We've burned all their armor units and fortified defenses from orbit, but our transports can't carry armor units of our own, and their troops will have the advantage in house-to-house fighting in familiar terrain. We can't fire on the troops themselves without taking out the planet's valuable factories. It's a good thing we outnumber them by more than two to one.

The Sakkra would be rewarded for preserving the planet's infrastructure, snaring Duralloy Armor, Battle Computer Mark V, Battle Computer Mark IV, Death Spores, and Class III Deflector Shields from just 100 factories. Eagerly, Dr. Iguanaius prepared to pursue an Advanced Space Scanner with his computer project complete. More pleasing still to Obsessivus though were the results of this activity:

25 years ago, you idiots and cowards tried to save your skins by voting me the ruler of the galaxy! I turned you down, and now you seem to finally realize that I'm the enemy. Every one of you voted for M5-35, I see - without exception! That's more like it, I'd say. Too bad for you that I control more than a third of the population of the galaxy! Now, now that it's only a statement of loathing for the Meklar, I will gladly vote for me!

The Psilons proceded to declare war, promising that Obsessivus could not escape their wrath, more than a little belatedly.

With Human transports due everywhere, and a large stack of Alkari transports approaching Dunatis as well, Obsessivus gave the planet the following orders:

Build as much of a base as you can in secret without finishing it, and assemble as many factories as possible this year. Vipersian is needed at Kakata to deal with the transports there, and if the Human death fleet stays in your orbit, it should handle the Alkari for us; if it leaves, that's a good thing, and our losses on the surface should be sustainable. The key will be to assemble as many missile bases as possible next year, with a Doc or two as support if possible; you will be receiving all the reserves I can give you. Good luck!

"Doc" was of course the nickname of the empire's first MD destroyer, with a pair of Mass Drivers and the best battle computer available in the galaxy - the original plans are still on file at the military museum on Dunatis itself:



2426: Transcript of transmission from the Human fleet in orbit over Dunatis to the incoming Alkari transports:

This is your final warning: You are entering space claimed by the Grand Navy of Lasitus the Great! Human transports are already en route to conquer this world, which is rightfully ours. Interlopers will not be tolerated! Reverse course or face destruction!

Since transports are by nature incapable of reversing course however, the warning was a formality. Barely more than a fifth of the Alkari transports made it through the Human blockade to be slaughtered By Sakkra forces on the ground.

2427: The emperor's plan came to fruition, with four bases completed at Dunatis simultaneously with the help of reserves from the scrap of the old Tristar destroyers. A Doc arrived just in time as well, and the defenses - just - held out.



Only a single missile base survived, but Vipersian's western fleet, divided for the purpose, was in position to destroy all the Human transports not only at Kakata but at Dunatis as well soon thereafter. Welcome news came also from Dr. Inguanaius:

I doubt you'll find any use for the new energy pulsar, but it's opened the way to Impulse Drives! At last, an engine upgrade that can affect our transports! I advise building bases everywhere before long, as we'll want to scrap our whole sluggish fleet when these come in!

2428: A Bulrathi fleet, including a Warbear dreadnought, arrived at Gienah, lured by the scrapping of the Tristars, which composed most of the eastern fleet. Being ultra-rich, the planet had a dozen Hyper-X bases and seven Doc destroyers in orbit however, and made short work of the enemy. The good news - by RBO-18's standards - just kept rolling in, as the Alkari finally transmitted their acknowledgement of the war:



2431: Tao, right on the border between Meklar and Psilon space, simply couldn't catch a break, with four more factories sabotaged while Vipersian eradicated more transports up at Proteus on the other side of the galaxy and Lasitus was told yet again that there would be no peace with his people in 2430. The following year however, Dr. Iguanaius had good news to report on the research situation:

Ion Cannons are now ready to deploy on our fighters. I advise building them while we can. Planetology research has been slowed severely to ensure that our shield research is finished before my budget ceases to exist and all our work on them is lost, but it still won't be long before we're expanding again. Fusion Bomb will be our next weapons project, since Mass Driver miniaturization should make it worthwhile, but we don't plan to actually start research until we get out from under our new toxic bases.

2432: Shield research completed soon after the latest research report, opening the way to a Repulsor Beam, and every planet near any front was soon working on Lithium 2.0 ion fighters, planetary shields, or hulls for future toxic colony ships. It was in this context that the "aggressive" Bulrathi - who had been attacking and attacked by the Sakkra for decades anyway - finally got around to this formality:




Primary Sources: The Toxic Blitz

2434: Having planned well in advance for the change, Obsessivus had nothing bad to say about his people when toxic landings became possible, in spite of the cost in lost propulsion research it would incur. The choice of Controlled Radiated Environment was even approved in spite of stronger choices like an antidote to death spores and much-needed terraforming, simply because it would please the Sakkra people. Perhaps the emperor's animus against the empire itself was only in abeyance however, with a far more irritating threat at hand, as expressed in this official request broadcast to all government agencies:

Can someone figure out a way to make Lasitus shut up!? The unspeakable idiot keeps asking me for peace!

2438: Thanks to the modular hulls already constructed at five different worlds in 2434 (two at ultra-rich Gienah, within 6 parsecs of two different toxic worlds) only awaiting the necessary systems to actually construct toxin- and inferno-resistant colonies, the period of toxic-based expansion insanity was kept as short as it could possibly be without superior engines or control of the Altair system.



One year after GNN declared them the dominant power in the galaxy, even as they destroyed the last Human transports bound for Klystron, the Sakkra were ready to begin research and combat ship building again - nothing but Ion Scout 2s had been completed since the Rattler 2.0 colony ships left the space docks, but this was not enough for the Sakkra leaders, perhaps because of messages like this one from Governor Racerius of the eastern fleet:

That dreadnought's the latest thing off the Mentar shipyards; it's got to be using their most advanced technology - way beyond ours, I know - and the thing's gigantic! Oh, and it's heading this way - at about Warp 4!

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Next: Can't Win 'Em All

Imperium 18 - Ninja Expansion

Primary Sources: Emperors Wising Up

2411: Admiral Vipersian's emergency report from the main western battle fleet, in which, for the first time, the great Admiral appeared to show emotion:

Target now in range. Dunatis is protected by nine missile bases and a large fraction of the Human fleet.

We've destroyed everything that didn't flee except for those three Cruisers, but we can't cut through their shields! Superior weapons are needed. Repeat: Superior weapons are needed! I'm calling a full retreat! There's nothing we can do to save the transports!

2412: Vipersian was correct of course, and the Sakkra troopers' new personal shields could do nothing to protect them from the enemy ships' rockets and mass drivers. There was some hope for the empire's own planets however as Iguanaius began work on a Class V Planetary Shield, and the very next year brought a message from Special Agent Hissius Chamaeleon, deep in Psilon space:

These Hyper-X Rockets should double our bases' damage output against the Human Cruisers!

Deployment of the new defenses would have to wait however, as the same year saw the development of Dotomite crystals, which Dr. Iguanaius intended to develop for use in an Energy Pulsar since Uridium would not have provided access to any new worlds. The Sakkra were back to compulsive - and in this case, entirely pointless, as we shall see - colony ship and scout construction in spite of the ongoing wars, but RBO-18 had learned to deal with this, and was much more sanguine than on past occasions:

Let them flail about purposelessly. We completed a Longdead 2 more than a decade ago and sent it southwest for just this purpose. It's standing on and off at a Human colony within four parsecs of that corner star already. Send it down, and colonize the planet if possible immediately. If it proves too hostile, we can always scrap the ship.

2414: Human battle fleets continued to strike into Sakkra space, even briefly and barely achieving orbital superiority at Kakata again while the bulk of Vipersian's fleet was helping to defend Ryoun.



Curiously, Lasitus then immediately offered peace, with 1025 BC as an incentive, which Obsessivus spurned, as always. Fortunately for the lizards, their leaders had calculated correctly, and barren Rigel was colonized just two years after they acquired the necessary fuel technology, leading Dr. Iguanaius to say:

We've got it! Research is back online! Let's finally get started on those toxic bases!

2418: Forced over the past few years to repel a Bulrathi attack on Gienah, send Vipersian's fleet to wipe out Human transports over Kakata, and deal with countless other Human attacks, Obsessivus was perhaps most furious of all with Quark's offer of a 225 BC trade agreement.

RBO-18: We're at WAR! At WAR, I tell you! What part of that don't you understand?!
Quark: Hmmph. I can't understand a word you're saying when you're all riled up like that. Calm down and let me know what you think of my trade deal when you can speak calmly and peacefully.
RBO-18: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!!!!!

2423: As usual, it was up to Admiral Vipersian to bring some good news:



Obsessivus was in a foul mood thanks to the presence of an invincible Cruiser at ultra-poor Kakata, and another at ultra-poor Proteus, but the conquest of Dunatis made the whole war effort worthwhile, bringing the Sakkra empire to 18 star systems - GNN reported that, unless contained, they would soon control the galaxy - and lifting vital technology from the ruins: ECM Jammer Mark II, Improved Robotic Controls III, and an Automated Repair System. The robotic controls were so welcome, they almost made Obsessivus forget that Dr. Iguanaius was nearly finished researching the other two for himself anyway:

RBO-18: Bluescales! What are you doing here?
Dr. Iguanaius: Just reporting our new research projects: The only ways to move forward. Battle Computer Mark IV and Zortium Armor.
RBO-18: No improved scanner, then.
Dr. Iguanaius: Still, not bad at all under the circumstances....

2424: Thanks to their Cruisers, to which the Sakkra had as yet built no mobile response (missile boats would have sufficed, but none were yet in construction) the Humans retained orbital superiority at both ultra-poor worlds and even regained it at Dunatis, but the Sakkra were about to end the vulnerability of Proteus and Kakata once and for all.



With the capture of Mass Driver technology, the Sakkra could build a beam ship capable of standing up to the Cruisers, but more importantly, with the capture of Klystron, while holding Dunatis, neither Klystron itself nor either of the ultra-poor worlds remained within human combat range. A wealthy merchant's donation of 1200 billion credits to the Bulrathi passed almost unnoticed, but a Meklar threat in response to Sakkra expansion did not. RBO XVIII's speech on the occassion follows:

The Meklar say they will not allow us to take over the galaxy! I say, who are they to allow, or to permit? With the addition of Klystron to our empire once more, we are more powerful even than they, and we will no longer allow them to have their way in the galaxy! All trade with the Meklar shall cease at once! From now on, they are our enemies! And as for those who refused to believe our war declarations before, they will pay attention now, I assure you! - I, and over 100 million troopers due to arrive at Uxmai next year! The Psilons refuse to understand words - let us see how they understand conquest!

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Next: Open War

Imperium 18 - Finally, Finally Free

Primary Sources: Making Up for Lost Time

2398: Two years after a saboteur serving one of RBO's innumerable enemies blew up six of hapless Tao's few factories, a Sakkra colony ship reached Jinga, the last world that such ships could reach. Colonialus Poetate expressed the collective sentiments of the populace with a deeply sorrowful haiku:

Is this the Jinga
I sought with ardent passion?
Just a barren rock!

2399: The people's expansion hangover contrasted sharply with the wild celebrations in the capital on Sssla, - celebration partly of the fact that the blue star in the far southwest corner of the galaxy was still out of range as expected. Every other star in the galaxy was toxic, radiated, Orion, an inferno, or someone's colony.



Expansion efforts were still underway, with numerous transports en route to enemy stars, but for the first time in ages, it was joined to research efforts, with massive spending in every field but planetology. Dr. Bluescales Iguanaius explained his reasoning in a press conference:

Look, we know very well that the moment we can build Toxic bases or Dotomite Crystals, all our work on the other project - and everything else - will cease immediately. My plan is, get as much other critical tech in as we can while we work on the Dotomite Crystals, and then get started on the toxic labs once we've explored the whole galaxy.

2400: Transports sent to Incedius years before, when it was believed that the eastern fleet could bomb the world down to the point where the incoming soldiers could take it even from Bulrathi were mostly shot down in space by the large fleet that had just moved into orbt and the missile base the poor planet had somehow managed to build in spite of the bombardment of its population and destruction of all its factories. The bears on the surface killed off the remaining Sakkra invaders easily. This left Obsessivus in a sour mood as the Galactic Council began, and it was only going to get worse.



Here follows RBO XVIII's official speech before the Galactic Council on learning that the Sakkra had just enough votes to elect themselves rulers of the galaxy:

This is a travesty! You expect me to vote for myself when you filth - Alkari and Bulrathi alike - have voted for me? When the miserable Psilons abstained from voting against me? With the vile apes opposing me and the mighty Meklar people in my camp, I knew perfectly well that this whole exercise was pointless, but to try saving your worthless hides by handing victory to me? You disgust me! You aren't worth the spit it takes to curse you. I refuse to vote; I refuse to participate in these worthless elections! Begone, and beware my fleets!

2401: Admiral Vipersian's typically succinct report on the Battle of Kakata:

Orbital superiority uncontested. Invasion failed. Ten million Human survivors.

2402: The first GNN Report of the latest development on the Human front, this time at the most important Sakkra point world in the region:



2405: Dr. Iguanaius on the research situation:

By now, you have all seen the GNN report on Ryoun, less than 700 research points from a solar rejuvenator with six years before the star is due to go nova. With new shields and jammers for our bases and laser rifles for our troops all completed in the past two years, we have every intenton of pressing forward in the same vein, with a Personal Deflector Shield to protect our ground forces and ECM Jammer Mark II to make our defenses even stronger - the more so as it will help us hurry faster toward actually useful technology. Additional deflector shields and improved battle computer technology may look attractive, but we don't have the time to spare for any projects of those kinds. At the same time, research will proceed as rapidly as possible on Ion Cannon technology, desperately needed for our fighters as Human shield technology increases. Fusion Bombs will be needed someday, and advanced rockets have their uses, but right now, with two ultra-poor worlds on the front, Obsessivus has declared defense fleets a priority. The acquisition of a Deep Space Scanner from one of those worlds, thanks to the winning second wave of our Kakata invasion, will only make fleet-based defense easier to arrange.

2406: The ultra-rich world of Gienah completed its 60th factory.



Standing right in the middle of Bulrathi space, it went right to work on defenses even though it was already protected by the entire eastern fleet. Meanwhile, once the main western defense fleet shot down the human reinforcement transports just arriving at Kakata a day late and a credit short (well, two years late and a space superiority fleet short actually) Lasitus came along and asked for peace, and RBO's official response was recorded for posterity:

ARE YOU KIDDDING ME?!?!?! You think I'd make peace with a weakling like you just for begging me?! You're the only one of my enemies who'll even acknowledge we're at war, and now you think I'm just going to throw that away?! PEACE?!?! Only when you're ready to rest in it, Lassy!

2408: We end this section with GNN's official report on Ryoun's private technological creation:



Of course, it would still have to deal with enormous numbers of incoming Human fleets.

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Next: Ruthlessness at Large

Imperium 18 - Not Over Yet

Primary Sources: The Phantom of Sanity

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!
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!

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.

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Next: Before the Dawn

Imperium 18 - War in a Time of OCD

Primary Sources: Rise of the Galactic Council

2368: With Quark refusing to acknowledge the war, there was little RBO-18 could do to promote it, since the Sakkra refused just as adamantly to do anything but build scouts, colony ships, and factories. Spies and scout ships tried to harass Quark into admitting there was a war on, but could make no meaningful headway. All that could be done was to keep scouting and colonizing, until Agent Nefarius Serpensus suggested a policy of "aggressive scouting" with a new scout design:

A dessstroyer-classs ssscout could bring the war to the enemy! Obssserve the Tristar 2.0! Yesss, it hasss ressserve tanksss to make our people happy, but it can do itsss ssscouting even againssst armed fleetsss, with a battle computer and three lassser turretsss!

2369: The colonization of Tao and Trax opened new diplomatic vistas as the leaders of the galaxy convened in a great Galactic Council, a forum in which all the peoples of the galaxy could air their grievances with one another and bicker about who should rule the galaxy. The first indecisive election was such a cathartic experience, it was decided that another would be held in just six years. Of course, Trax also brought contact with the Bulrathi empire, of which the first Sakkra intelligence reports have been preserved in the Galactic Archive:



The title of "Aggressive Technologist" was the one claimed by the bear-people themselves. As far as RBO-18 was concerned, their true title was Weak Target. Saboteurs were immediately hired to scout Bulrathi worlds for future expansion, but the ursine emperor's response to an actual war declaration was decidedly unsatisfactory:

Ho ho! A funny lizard-joke I see! Hohohohoho! Funny, funny! Well, good lizard-joking, but I'm very busy now; have a good day!

2374: Tristars finally allowed the Sakkra to make something resembling war, exemplified by Captain Whipsnake's report from the short-lived siege of Uxmai:

The target world is now in range. Planetary missiles and Comet fighters detected and incoming. Now closing with enemy fighters under asteroid cover.

Comet fighters destroyed.

The Captain would then immediately retreat however, knowing the planetary base would be immune to his fleet's laser fire. The war - such as it was - was hardly satisfactory for the Sakkra, but as Captain Whipsnake himself reported:

It's nice to at least get to blow something up for a change.

2376: Quark continued to pretend the war didn't exist, abstaining again from the council vote of 2375 - as did the Bulrathi and almost everyone else. With election results almost identical to those of the first Council, it was reluctantly decided that further gatherings of that type would come only every quarter-century.



Obsessivus must have felt this was just as well, as it gave the Sakkra more time to work out their colony-building compulsions and their unacknowledged multi-front war - a war which only grew as RBO-18 sent the following message of condolence to the Human emperor:

My good friend Lasitus, I notice with sorrow that your total power in the galaxy has suffered a precipitous decline since just last year. We Sakkra know this must be a difficult time for you, so I have ordered all our merchants to cease bothering you with their wares, and it is with the utmost sympathy that I am now preparing to wipe your pitiful species from the face of the universe, and so put you out of your misery.

2377: The moment spying reports came in, Obsessivus decided to force Lasitus to believe in the war declaration. The Sakkra were tired of being ignored, as the only emperor who seemed to want to attack them was their powerful friend M5-35.



The official transcript of the brief strategy meeting following the destruction of Tao has unfortunately been partially censored, so the exact words are no longer known; the surviving transcript follows:

RBO-18: There was no way to protect that barren nothing of a world. If the Meklar want it so badly as to send seven cruisers and almost 70 destroyers with their colony ship, let them take it. I'm not worried.
Secretary of Defense: Mightn't it be possible to reclaim the world though? Some say it's possible the Meklar will leave the planet's orbit without forming a colony.
RBO-18: You're saying they might ... oh, [redacted]! Fine. Fine! Send another [redacted] colony ship over. And send half our homeworld's population to Proteus while you're at it. They want to [redacted] expand? Let them [redacted] expand! Let's see how they [redacted] like making themselves [redacted] useful!

2381: Ryoun would contribute half its population to the invasion as well, while the empire's western fleet prepared to provide cover for the assault. The Sakkra government's undisguised disgust with its people was not without consequences however, as this contemporary GNN report suggests:



Transports were launched immediately from Xengara, ready to expand at the expense of "the enemy within" who revealed themselves in their rebellion.

2382: Three years after the Klystron colony was formed in the far northwest corner of the galaxy, the restoration of Tao finally brought the Sakkra empire to the end of its expansion orgy. GNN took notice, reporting that the empire controlled 12 star systems - mistaking "the empire" for "members of the race" in the case of Beta Ceti - and the production of actual fighters fleets, defensive bases, and research finally resumed. Dr. Bluescales Iguanaius was finally permitted to open the fields of study for which he'd been agitating for decades. His only official word, on his way to the lab at top speed, was recorded for posterity:

Let's just hope it's not too little, too late!

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Next: No Rest for the Loony

Imperium 18 - To the Brink of War

Primary Sources: The Colonial Explosion



2361: When Controlled Dead research finally finished in 2360, with Controlled Toxic Environment selected in lieu of enhanced ecology, Bloviator was of course proven right. Still, Rex Bipolar Obsessivus XVIII knew very well what was about to happen to his empire, and had prepared to at least minimize the amount of time lost, by building hulls for colony-ships-to-be at both Sssla and Xengara, the empire's only fully-developed stars. From the launch ceremony for one of the twin ships built at Sssla:

Envy not the Sakkra leaving aboard the Deathtake 2 and her sister ship today. As these hardy lizards take dead and barren worlds, they will toil not for themselves alone, but to open the way through space toward more distant, vibrant worlds, like those which Xengara's Grasp 2.0 colony ships in time will take in their grips. With another Deathtake already in production, expected to finish next year, and more ready to be queued at both worlds in our core, we shall stretch our scaly claws to the far reaches of the galaxy!

2364: Colonization of Paranar brought contact with the Meklar machine-people.



The map of their massively powerful empire displayed above, provided by Xenophobic Industrialist Emperor M5-35, was delivered with a covering letter:

Not-So-Dear Alien Emperor:
Enclosed, please find a data-file containing the locations of all Meklar worlds. Mark them down as places to never visit for the rest of time. Please continue to check for updates so that you will know what other worlds we claim, to which you should also make sure to never send any star ship or representative, ever. Frankly, we would prefer that you not visit any planets at all in our direction. Don't bother us. Good bye.
Not yours, sincerely or otherwise, so don't even think about it,
M5-35

They did agree to a 45 BC trade agreement, but only when RBO-18 conceded that all transactions would occur in deep orbit around Paranar, with Meklar traders flying in for the purpose when decontamination chambers were prepared. The Humans, of course, continued to be far more friendly, though they too remained far more powerful than the Sakkra: Improved Industrial Tech 9, obtained from Lasitus for Nuclear Engines, would help the obsessive-compulsive Sakkra civilization build the factories they so craved, make their colony ships a little easier to build, and prevent not a single lizard in the empire from continuing with the all-out expansion effort constantly.

2365: From a distant third in total colonies, the Sakkra leapt directly to first, doubling their total number of planets in just two years.



It was in this year that Colonialus Poetate wrote:

Aurora, with your riches, tempt me not;
Nor lure me, dark Endoria, to your vastness.
O, Beta Ceti whose bright ice sheets dazzle
The eyes and thoughts of all who look on you -
Shine not for me; my eyes and every thought
Are set forever over your horizons.
The stars my home, the unknown ever calling
Carries me on - no love but for the new.

2367: With Selia's factories complete and Ryoun's ready to finish the following year, the Sakkra were in a stronger position than ever, and though still the least powerful known race in the galaxy, they were nipping at the Psilons' heels as soon as they achieved first contact in 2365.



Emperor Quark, a Pacifistic Industrialist, was happy to trade Hyper-V Rockets for Deuterium Fuel Cells even as ruthless RBO-18 prepared to backstab him as soon as he could achieve more total power. No records survive of whether a trade agreement was formed, only to be broken two years later, or whether Obsessivus skipped that process entirely, but by 2367, when he passed Quark on the power chart, all deals had been broken, and Emperor Obsessivus issued a war declaration. This led to Quark's galaxy-famous pacifistic response, as transcribed here from the Mentar Historical Archive:

La-la-la! I can't heeeeeeeeeeeear you! La-la-la la-la la-la la-la!

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Next: Not the Best Time for a War