Human-Trigal Conflict
| Human-Trigal Conflict | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 309 CE - 310 CE | ||
| Location | Local Bubble | ||
| Outcome | Human De Facto Victory | ||
| Major Battles | |||
| Combatants | |||
| Commanders | |||
After receiving warnings of an extrasolar threat at the end of the Miranda Investigation, the CSIS began preparing for all-out-war by preparing anti-cloak countermeasures which functioned via advanced computers detecting warped visual light and engine emissions while significant numbers of new ships were produced.
'First Contact' with the OOM.
The CSIS maintained mass surveillance of Willie Hammet and Eda Lamb following their exposure as Order of the Metal Mind operatives, allowing them to notice some behavioural changes with Willie no longer updating his blog, instead regularly 'patrolling' the ship within areas covered by security cameras while boasting a more formal and confident look, while Eda seemed to mainly be focused on working on an ordinary laptop to erase traces to the Order online, with her time not spent on said laptop seemingly being used up by spending time on her 'watch' which she was hiding from surveillance. One day, the two made their way towards one of the onboard storage bays despite such actions being prohibited to those unauthorised, prompting security to come to investigate which revealed a package that was registered for the use of 'Order Communicators' which arrived during the latest supply run, prompting security to intervene.
"How the hell did you get a package on board this ship?"
"It was sent to us. It contains everything we need for our new role as well as I think some information regarding the coming enemy."
"May we access it?"
"Open it."
They proceed into the cargo bay and move directly towards the box in question. It seems to be an ordinary cargo box locked with a RFID lock. Eda puts her watch over the lock. An unlocking symbol is shown on the display and the lock opens.
Inside the box on the right side are two smaller caskets stacked on top of each other. Each one has one of their names carved into its top left corner. On the left side of the box there are a few carefully packaged data drives and a small black cube with dark green linings on the edges.
"The things on the right are for us, the ones on the left for you and your ship."
The captain comes down and takes the data drives to inspect them.
"They seem compatible with our ship."
"What's in them?"
"I mainly requested translation data on the intruding species, plus as much additional data on them as we know ourselves."
"Intruding?"
"Please clarify, were those your ships during the Acolyte incident and Z-62 recovery?"
"In some way, yes. Though more the former than the latter."
"And the ship in the outer belt isn't yours?"
The captain hands the data packs to an engineer.
"We are working together now?"
"Yes."
"Well that explains a lot."
"And that incident outside the solar system."
"Was that, the Acolytians?"
"I think it'll be more clearer after the arranged meeting."
"I think you already know its location."
A report comes in that there is activity at one of the "emergency contact points", specifically the one on Theia.
"Now, If you'll excuse us, we need to change into proper attire. Would you mind if we borrowed one of your transport boards to get these into our cabins"
She point at the caskets.
"Go."
"Thanks very much. Oh, that black cube is an auxiliary computer which as a bonus also provides limited coordination with our ships and designates the ship or station it is connected to as a Communicator vessel, a VIP of sorts. So you might want to consider which ship or station you want us both stationed on."
"Oh, yeah, don't try to open it."
They load the caskets onto a flatbed and transport them to their quarters. Each one takes their own one into their cabin. The placed surveillance equipment in both quarters goes offline.
No attempt is made to bring them back online.
The CSS Jupiter promptly charted a course to Theia while the cube was hooked up to its computers, prompting a UI to pop up which requested approval to 'Initiate Order Assistance System Installation', which once accepted opened a list of new control configurations and installed a new system to the ship's communications named 'OA Com', which while visually similar to their other communications systems only appeared to connect to a single frequency that written messages to be sent to. The captain tested this system by typing in "This is Captain Bergenson of the CSS Jupiter, communications test.", which prompted a response; "Test Successful. Greetings Captain Bergenson. CSS Jupiter registered as Communicator Vessel." The data discs provided in the package were opened next, installing new information to the ship's translation software and opened up tactical and some cultural information on the so called "Trigals";
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Alarmed by the news, the CSIS quickly organized a response-fleet of 100 ships to counter the Trigals after a couple initial engagements, though before any moves could be made a message came over OA Comm which directed them to head to the ECP on Theia to have their first official meeting.
Eda and Willie enter the bridge. They are wearing elegant full body suits with an almost mesmerizingly dark black colour dark green linings and decorations, though despite their clearly 'formal' designs the suits appeared to more-so resemble fancy spacesuits that featured some embedded components that resembled miniaturized oxygen-tanks and GUI display in a hood-like visor, while a humming noise originating from said suits suggested that somekind of powered exoskeleton function was also present alongside various pouches and holsters for carrying equipment.
Willie speaks up while Eda starts looking around the room.
"So, you might want to get briefed as to that meeting with our lovely organisation, there are certain rules which you need to follow."
"First, you are only allowed to bring three people, at maximum 2 are allowed to have military training."
"Second, one of us needs to come with you while the other stays here on the ship, you can choose who you take with you."
"Third, you are to use the clothing we provide you with, any gear or equipment has to be left inside your dropship. For communication purposes with your higher ups you are provided one radio which you can make use of during certain periods of the meeting."
"Fourth, once you enter our facility you are not allowed to speak until we tell you to."
"Fifth, don't try to outsmart our scanners, we will know if you try to smuggle something in which you shouldn't."
"So, that's everything relevant. The body of Burt Daniels is waiting at location. While in our confines you are perfectly safe."
The Admiral Steps forward. "I shall go. The Chancellor of the CSIS will be on his way, the briefing will be sent to him. Major General of the CSIS Army will be attending, he is onboard."
"We will change into the provided uniforms. And we will follow your rules"
"Very well, the clothing will be provided once we have landed. Who of us both should escort you?"
"Eda."
"Alright."
"I should make you aware of something though."
"I have an implant in my left eye."
Eda steps forward while Willie takes position in the back of the bridge.
"Hm, what are its functions?"
Without leaning in or stepping closer she turns her eyes to look closely at his left eye.
"Allows me to see. Depending on the mode I can also see IR."
"Does it have recording capabilities?"
"I have a photographic memory because of it, but it cannot record to anything other than my brain."
"Hm... should not be an issue then."
"From our end we are ready to go."
The admiral, general and Eda make their way to the hangar bay on CSS Jupiter.
They see a bright white dropship with gold accent lines fly in and land.
"I see his excellence has arrived."
The front door drops, and along with a large contingent in suited guards, steps off with the Chancellor of the CSIS, Jan Sobieski.
"Good day mister Sobieski."
"Hello."
They all load up onto one dropship, and take off and make way to the ground.
As they come into range of the entered coordinates a small UI pops up on the flight controls which requested remote control, which the Admiral accepted.
"Better not run us into the ground."
The controls on the ship stop responding. Communications and GPS shut of. It alters its course and flies a bit away from the entered coordinates. Under them a vast forest stretches out. As they come over a clearing the dropship extremely gently slows down. It slowly descends and almost unnoticeably touches down in the middle of the clearing.
A message appears on the controls notifying that they had arrived at their destination.
The front door opens.
The four of them step off.
Near them on the ground lies a small metal box.
Eda steps over towards it and takes out three sets of silver shirts, trousers and 3 sets of black boots as well as a radio.
The three men step over to her.
She hands them the clothes and the radio.
"Your clothes. I'll be waiting here for you."
"Alright." Says the admiral.
They head back into the ship, and come out wearing their new clothes.
"Alright, lets go."
Eda leads them to the edge of the forest where she goes towards a tree.
She puts her left hand in a small hole in the tree and a few seconds later a small click is heard.
A large boulder in the forest a boulder turns with a grumbling noise and lifts itself up in the air, revealing an elevator-like chamber. The floor is made of a seal brown wood and the walls are painted in a relaxing pattern of trees and bushes.
They step inside the elevator and the doors close behind them.
"Just as a warning, the elevator will during the ride change speeds to mask the true depth of our facility. The facility has also been entirely refitted and specialised for the cooperation between our order and the CSIS so you will find not much use in raiding it."
The elevator starts descending, sometimes changing speed while in descend.
In total the trip takes an estimated 7 minutes.
As the doors open they see a corridor leading to a door. The corridor is regularly split by small wall extrusions. Mounted on the ceiling on both sides there are two small turrets about halfway though to the door. They walk down the corridor as one of the turrets start tracking them while the other keeps pointing at the elevator door.
"Automatic defence system. And those extrusions house a variety of scanners."
"You should also be informed that these clothes contain small electronics which for the one part track your movement inside our facility but on the other hand give you automatic access to the areas you are allowed to visit."
As they approach the door it opens automatically.
"Like that."
They enter a small room which seems to work as a hub and junction of several other corridors. People are walking around, passing through from one corridor to another. They are dressed in similar outfits to what Eda is wearing just that they seem less like military gear and have red markings instead of dark green. That is until they look both sides to the doorway from which they entered, standing there are two men dressed in an outfit which you can't describe anything else than military gear, yet it still seems unnaturally elegant. Their uniforms have no other colour to them other than the dark mesmerizing black and their entire face is covered by a helmet in similar style. In the middle of the room is a desk with a person sitting behind it, wearing the apparently standard black suit with red markings. He briefly looks up as they enter, nods to Eda, and looks back down on his desk, presumably continuing his work.
Out of a sliding door in the right wall two more people in full black suits step out. Eda leads them into the right corridor, The two black suits following them. Including the admiral and general, the order members have now built a diamond formation around the chancellor. Here and there the walls of the corridor are broken by an interface, a door or tinted windows.
As they walk along they pass a person dressed in a full white suit with a white face mask. His suit seems to be even less militarized than the ones worn be the people with red markings. They also pass by a person with yellow markings whose face is covered by the black hood and mask of his suit.
No one seems to pay much attention to them.
They finally stop at a door.
Eda enters a code on a keypad to the right side of the door. It slides slightly back and to the side.
They go inside. The guards stay on the outside of the room. With a soft hum and click the door closes behind them.
The interior of the room is best described as dark but not depressing. The walls are divided into night-black flat panels making it difficult to tell which ones are stationary and which ones could also be doors. The floor is seems to be made of one singular charcoal-black flat smooth surface but it is not slippery.
In the middle of the room is an elegant dark wooden table with three free chairs.
Across from them sit three people. The one in the middle and left in ordinary, normal-live suits with Crimson-Red (the same colour as all the red markings) shirts and golden ties, and on the right a person in the same normal suit but with a dark-green shirt and a silver tie.
They all look up, except the most left person, from a sort of small, presumably laptop before them.
"You are now free to speak." says Eda as she steps to the right side of the table facing the admiral, general and chancellor.
"Please, take a seat." says the man in the middle.
The Chancellor steps forward and sits down. The other two follow.
The person in green speaks up. "Please, you must have a lot of questions."
"What is the purpose of the OMM?" says the Admiral
The person in the middle answers. "We are an instrument to the metal mind. Our specific organisation monitors, strategically inspires and protects humanity. There are others like us out there, instituted by the mind, which do the same for their own species."
"So why the secrecy? And how did you slip up after so long?" asks the Chancellor.
The person in the middle continues "Like our benefactor, we follow a very non-interventionist agenda. The more we contribute, the more the results are diverged from their possible normal state."
The person in green follows up. "Our slip up was bound to happen. We take all precautions to delay its eventuality but the rule is that with proceeding technological progress, hiding an organisation like our own becomes harder to retain."
The person in the middle adds to that. "We can only work with what our own species can produce, be it elevated with outside knowledge. We do not posses the same capabilities as our benefactor."
The chancellor promises "We will keep your existence out of the public eye was best as we can."
"And lastly. How do we defeat the Trigals?"
"We have already lost several fleets to them."
The person in the middle speaks. "I'm afraid regarding the Trigals we know barely any more than you do. I'd be relieved to say that its an enemy you can deal with. But the truth is, they even outclassed our own defences, hence why they are now at your doorstep. We can not guarantee that you will defeat them but will offer the feasibly best support we can give to you."
The person in green continues. "Their culture, their politics, their everything is geared and centred around war. We do not know why they have decided to go after us but we expect they will make their intentions known very soon."
The person in the middle speaks again. "We will also transfer command of our 3. Defence Group to you for use of surgical strikes as well as providing details from our own surveillance network regarding Trigal movement. All required information will be received by your communicator vessel."
The Chancellor speaks "Alright. Then we will fight back."
"We have a large fleet assembled. We will engage them."
"Do you know where their homeworld is?"
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The guy in green speaks. "We do not currently but we are looking into our contacts. Unsurprisingly their own species does not have an organisation instituted by our benefactor so we do not have that much access to their systems."
The one in the middle continues. "We also advise you to be careful. From what we have uncovered they have developed a sort of "smokescreen" which can mask their activities over long distances. That's how they were able to make that ambush on your reinforcements sent to the retribution."
"Luckily it requires a set up and only works in a certain direction, more like a shield than a bubble. So we should be able to tell you when a location is safe using our hidden sensor network, assuming they have not disabled key stations for the required region."
The Chancellor speaks "So if we come at them from behind..."
"...We can ambush them"
The one in the middle responds "In theory yes, the more difficult part is getting behind them unnoticed, not to speak of their possible reinforcements."
The Chancellor suggests "We have fleets out on patrol that we are still in contact with."
The person in green speaks up. "Question is, how long will you still have contact to those? If they are the size of the group you sent to retributions aid they are likely targeted already"
The person in red continues. "Additionally we suspect they are definitely using more than just one of their masking screens. In theory one could also build up a completely masked area using multiple of them, giving them a sort of bubble to work in in secrecy."
The Chancellor speaks "Hmmm. We are still in contact. However they are singular ships plus escorts."
"The person in red responds Well, we won't mandate you how to conduct your operations. Our teams will focus on diverting or dealing with the major threats as best as we can but I suspect you will still face a high number of their ships."
The Chancellor asks "What was the trent incident about?"
The person in green continues. "The trent incident was not conducted by us, it was an operation coming directly from the metal mind itself."
The Chancellor concludes "I see. We will continue to have an open communications with the OMM."
"In the meantime, we will begin to mobilize our forces. And we will bring the Trigals to their Knees."
Trigal Invasion
After sending recon ships to gather intelligence on the incoming threat, the CSIS' scouts reported that 40 Trigal ships were approaching past Pluto of both known and unknown designs, prompting the CSIS to prepare its nuclear arsenal as 75 Human-coordinated CSIS ships of varying models moved to intercept the invaders, only for reports to come in during transit that something 'immense' (approx 5 kilometers diameter) just exited Voidspace, forcing its recon ships to deactivate to avoid detection from 'pursuers'. The people of Yata and Theia looked up with telescopes at the uncoming threat, with both The Stargazer's Church and Galactic Observation Society paying attention to the crisis. The CSIS fleet arrived at the Trigal positions and the new 'vessel' which had arrived, while the CSS Jupiter's computers seemingly automatically patched through a 'fleet link' which displayed internal Trigal communications once accessed (displayed on the right-side of this section unless externally-directed) while engagements against the Trigals began as Piercer-Class ships targeted smaller vessels while fighters and a barrage of missiles bombarded the fleet as a whole. The CSIS unleashed its entire nuclear arsenal on the enemy which did manage to tear some holes into the hulls of enemy ships, though the CSIS's battleships of course also began taking significant damage by the Piercers while the rest of their fleet was being ripped apart by fighters and missiles from the devastator. CSS Jupiter was tasked with scanning the enemy ships in order to find bridges or other similar command-centres to target while stealth-ships launched ambush attacks on Trigal ships with their torpedoes, managing to take out a devastator and swarmkeeper. More Trigal reinforcements appeared to be en route while CSS Jupiter became a major target for the Trigals to attack due to scanning them. Ships on both sides gradually began succumbing to the pressure and being destroyed, with a ratio of roughly 1 Trigal ship destroyed for every 21 CSIS ships destroyed.
An additional fleet of 60 Trigal consisting of both known ships and 2 unknown designs(Ship 4&5) while the swarmkeepers began unleashing an unknown fighter model (Fighter 2) which effectively intercepted CSIS missiles and attacked where they had been coming from. CSIS demanded the enemy submit, which the Trigals found amusing as it was 'their line', so they asked what term the CSIS referred to itself by, which was ignored. CSIS launched another nuclear barrage, though it no longer was very effective as most missiles were shot down by point-defence before they could arrive, while the Trigals managed to knock out of the 5 remaining CSIS battleships. CSIS ships organized one final attack, managing to take out several Piercers, a Swarmkeeper, and a Devastator which brought the Trigal fleet down to 3/5 of its initial size before reinforcements arrived, though on the otherhand 2 of the other remaining Battleships were taken out by the Trigals' beam-attacks with only 1 managing to power back on and escape with critical damages, with only 30% of the CSIS' forces in the battle managing to escape, while many remaining ships assembled around a 'Ship 4' design. As the CSS Jupiter warped away into the inner solar system it saw the single craft of unknown design changing shape to resemble a upside-down triangle with a gap in the middle. CSIS released one final weapon as it retreated, ejecting a large anti-matter bomb that caused significant damage to the Trigal fleet and Pluto itself. The CSIS did its best to recuperate from the battle as the light emitted from around Pluto faded down, with ships being retrofitted with new armour, weapons, and honeycomb-plating internal structures while more parts were sourced from its allies in the TDP, especially Nova Polska and the Karina Dynasty.
After some time, a transmission came in from Pluto stating '"We noticed you left us a present, so we wanted to return the favour. We really would love to see this turn into a long lasting relationship but we get the impression you actually want to hurt us. And if you continue with that I'm afraid we might need to repopulate this hunting area with more suitable prey. So choose wisely." In order to show they meant business, 3 antimatter bombs were blown up by the Trigals in the asteroid belt which destroyed 3 major ore processing space-stations, disrupting ore trade and extraction significantly which was only really supplemented by Aeternus Shipyards producing 'Honeybadger-S Class' mining vessels equipped with stealth capabilities for high-risk high-reward operations (without any sign of where the plans for said ships came from), while a plant-disease known as 'Demeter Maledicto' which had been ravaging Yata's food supplies since 309 after a outbreak in Europe had spread world-wide had somehow made its way onto Theia, proving to be enough of a threat for many poorer countries to begin experiencing famines. The OMM discovered a extremely long particle-trail leading out of the System, suggesting that this was the route they had come from which their ships would go to investigate while the CSIS and the bulk of OMM's forces were busy defending. The CSIS managed to convince the Theian Republic to support the war-effort. CSIS demanded that the Trigals leave their system, which they refused as they saw no reason to due to how 'thrilling' the battle was, prompting CSIS to declare that the Trigals would die, which they found pleasing to hear. With the Kuiper Belt effectively turned into a Trigal hunting ground for what little settlements existed out there, which CSIS could only really solve with minefields and long-distance bombardments as the Trigals kept ignoring calls to leave and direct engagements clearly weren't in their favour, so they opted towards attrition warfare as CSIS ships fled engagements and left nuclear-explosive tripwires in their paths. The Trigals seemed displeased by this as despite occasionally firing back all they tried to do was close distance, sending communications such as "O come on, where's your fighting spirit? I know you're good at throwing sticks but this is just boring." and "Must I remind you of our terms? Either live in battle or die in carnage. If you don't provide worthy opponents we might need to seek for those that do." Occasional close engagements still happened though, with the OMM managing to take out 12 ships whose parts were sent over to the CSIS to dissect which revealed a new extremely durable material found in the ships hulls, leading to immediate work on replicating the material.
Trigal forces slowly expanded patrol range inwards, attacking in Saturn and Jupiter (with Titan being a major hold out) which lead to occasional skirmishes with the Order of Ganymede as it attacked any vessel that went too close to its territory while otherwise ignoring them, which the Trigals only seemed to take as a special challenge. CSIS eventually managed to develop a new armour known as 'Ablative' based off of the captured Trigal armour which made its ships very durable when present alongside pre-existing CIS defence designs, though due to how expensive and difficult manufacturing the armour was it was only really implemented in critical spots except for the CSS Jupiter, which was equipped with full Ablative armour and experimental technology from the OMM (under a strict contract) designed to make it harder to detect. CSIS sent a ship equipped with its best FTL drives along the particle-trail which the OMM helped crew, though the search for anything had already been taking weeks and moving too close to the trail itself always led to damage due to impacts with Trigal ships in FTL.
Trigal ships gradually closed in on the Asteroid belt, attempting to lure their enemies into fighting via more transmissions that stated "Come on, where are your fight-flight instincts? Your space is getting smaller, surely you need to strike again. We can't express how we await that grand fight." The OMM expedition thru the particle-stream seemed to be returning results as one craft managed to 'find something' before suddenly losing contact, prompting the others to drop out of FTL and enter stealth. Several Yata/Theia-based groups such as the Galactic Observation Society (who deployed an ineffective experimental fleet to help fight back) and The Stargazer's Church began observing the chaos, seeing desperate battles concluding in Trigal victories as they let out their red-glowing radiator-sails. Much to the Trigals' enjoyment, the CSIS finally began launching proper attacks again alongside the Theian Republic's lighter ships as they were keeping their larger ones within the inner system to defend. The system-wide economy began to suffer under the strain while the Demeter Maledicto disease began causing famines across both Yata and Theia, especially as every time a cure was developed a new strain immune to said cure would immediately appear without much cause (with the only way this could be solved being sealed orbital food production sites). With the Trigals still having the upper hand and putting pressure, the CSIS warped its entire fleet of 460 ships against the Trigal fleets, leading to a fierce battle where neither side had the upper hand.
The CSIS finally gained some hope in fighting back the enemy, only for the OMM to report that it had gained a clear picture of Pluto which revealed an incoming force of 2 thousand Trigal ships of known designs but with better armour, weapons, everything, while now 10 of their massive 'installations' were also in Pluto's orbits. Trigal ships swarmed out into the system towards Mars while CSIS defended saturn, with the Trigals proclaiming "First to their core gets the medal." The OMM forced its ships looking for the Trigal planet to continue their journey while its contingency defences moved to slow down the advance as much as it could. The Stargazer's Church began evacuating its devout and those who would listen into rifts leading to a 'sanctuary'. Just as all hope appeared to be lost with Trigal ships bombing Mars into the ground (wiping out all life on the planet for a second time) as the Theian Republic and CSIS fired every ordinance they had left, a message appeared on the CSS Jupiter's systems; "Major outside threat acknowledged. Core on task. Do not interfere." Black oval-shaped crafts began to appear in the system which the Trigals tried to engage as 6 moved to Mars' orbit while 4 were around Yata and Theia, 3 orbited the Sun, and the rest moved towards Pluto. A high-energy transmission was broadcast from one of the ships around mars; "Addressing: Trigal forces. Order: Disengage immediately. Only warning." The Trigals moved to engage this new enemy as the 'black ovals' began releasing swarms of crafts against them, though the second Piercer ammo would strike these crafts a plasma field on their surfaces disintegrated all incoming fire, pushing the Trigals away from Mars to Pluto as they proclaimed "Hah a new opponent. Let us introdu-", only for this entity to cut off their communications as ships above Alpha Sol began to open up.
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The war ended as the Trigals were destroyed, leaving Humanity unstable and battered as the OMM began distributing 3 'post-apocalypse stashes' to be used in reconstruction efforts, with Mars now having to be recolonised for the second time in the past half-century. Aeternus Materials launched the largest salvage mission in history while the OMM disappeared back into secrecy, with the CSIS thanking them for their help with a pallet of Vodka that was picked up by the 'Apollo Logistics' interstellar postal service which took the package to the 'Midas Refuge' trade-station.
- ↑ CSIS asked OMM what this meant, but OMM didn't know.
