"We have just heard from Captain Mustardseed, reporting from hyperspace, en route back to Collassa from Orion. His message in full runs thus:
I would like to resign my commission. Admiral Dipweed will not have an opportunity of doing so on his own behalf, because the piloting error that caused our fleet to brush up against the Guardian's final Scatter Pack X volley resulted in his instantaneous death - together with those of many hundreds of others aboard our lost ships. We are limping back now to lick our wounds - if you ever send anyone back to Orion, try to make sure they're good enough to avoid making such a horrible mess of things.Can it be mere coincidence that our failed attack on the Guardian came just months before the latest GNN news event - the most troubling in the history of our species?"
"Of course other things have been happening - like one of our agents with time on his hands grabbing a personal absorption shield from the Klackons at Morrig without even bothering to frame anybody - but there must be some connection between the Guardian and this "crystal life form" that just showed up at the edge of the galaxy nearest Human space. Could it be that it's no lifeform at all, but - like the Guardian - an artifact of the galaxy's ancient history? What deadly weapons might it bring to bear if it can't be stopped? And how can it be stopped if there are many like it and they rival the Guardian itself in deadly power, least of all if they are capable of destroying entire planets in the fashion of the ancients? If there can be any answer, it must be on the surface of Orion itself; it is now more urgent than ever that we reach it - in spite of the Guardian!"
2534
"Production of Artemis fighters is in full swing, relocating through star gates and from worlds nearby. I'm told that another bored spy out in Sakkra space pulled a Graviton Beam out of some dark place without bothering with the easy frame job as well. Oh, and I think another Bulrathi fleet showed up someplace - attacking snowball Vox or something - with 11 dreadnoughts and 36 cruisers or the like. More of the same, I guess; our bases blew them into very little pieces until the survivors realized they had to retreat. Look, they're hopeless. The true danger to the galaxy arises not from the other races, but from the specters of the past. Let's get to Orion and learn what we can and must do to overcome them, while time remains!"
2536
"Admiral Myers reporting from the Orion system. The Guardian has been sighted."
"Our End Run colony ship - maximum initiative with a standard colbase on a destroyer hull - has already set warp coils to retreat. I expect to take heavy casualties, but I won't make the same mistake as my predecessor anyway! Evade those scatters! Helm, hard to starboard! Cut around that second volley; we can outrun it if we have to; just don't let up on your engines! I know perfectly well we're taking hits from those Stellar Converters and Plasma Torps; there's nothing I can do about that - just evade! We're down hundreds of ships, but those are the last of the scatters in your six; get us past them - and open fire!!! The Guardian is hit! We're going to have to keep this up for ages if we're going to crack its shell - our Mass Drivers don't exactly cut through those shields like butter - but one way or the other, that thing is going down ... or sending all of us down to the surface in fiery pieces!"
[Thundering Explosion]
"It's done! At last, it's done! The End Run is landing! Look at all the stuff they've got intact down there! Death Rays, High Energy Focus, Gauss Autocannons, Plasma Cannons - it looks like our guys back home can start work on sub-space teleporters then - and ... man ... will you look at those transmitter arrays?"
Surface of Orion
"Our hopes and our fears have together been confirmed. The terms of the Orion Compact are fulfilled: When a new people rises in the galaxy with the power to challenge the Guardian itself, that race will have one chance to establish its peaceful rule across the galaxy - and one only. The Council of Orion must be held at once, and should a ruling body be chosen by two thirds of the living people of the galaxy, then the Peace of the Compact shall be established under that body for the lifetime of the galaxy - and if it cannot be done, the Ancients shall return to resume their wars against the new peoples of the galaxy, to purge it anew, that future races may grow up to live and prove themselves in peace. And so we come to our first and last opportunity - a simple vote among the sentients of the galaxy, for Bullux or for RBO-28."
"The choice is made. Pretty obvious, don't you think? The Psilons, being non-idiots, decided that getting exterminated by the Ancients would be less fun than serving under humanity. The other non-human races, being idiots, voted for the loony. Fortunately, the RBO-28 needed only two more votes than they commanded on their own, and the brainy guys had three. (Note: Klackons not shown because they're annoying and crazy.) Long live the RBO-28! Long live the New Republic! Long live the High Master! Long live the fulfillment of the Orion Compact in peace!"
"...although trying to take on those Ancients would have been pretty exciting...."
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Closing Notes
