Titania

[Myroria]

_{Titania in deep space.}

WARNING: NUCLEAR DRIVE. WASTE HARMFUL TO HUMAN BEINGS. STARFIGHTER TAILGATING DANGEROUS.

The warning was being faded by the repeated blasts of the rockets, both the main ones and the ones to change the direction of the craft.

This was the Pelagian Deep Space Craft Titania, and it was heading toward an unnamed nebula, just one of millions in the Milky Way. The strobe light atop the AE35 unit was blinking on and off; it was extremely unlikely anyone would see it, but for some reason it was illegal not to.




Wolfgang Martin lifted his eye from the telescope and flipped himself around. Swimming, if it could be called that, toward the slowly rotating ladder nearby, he entered the centrifuge in the "Capricorn to Cancer" section of the command sphere.

Glancing at the vital signs of the 7 men in hibernation, and with each one fine, he moved on. It took 9 months for the smallest stubble to form in this low-metabolism state - these men had thick beards.

Martin was one of two - well, three, members of the awake crew. There was himself, his collegue Frank Hildebert, and the latest in the Heuristically Programmed Humanesque Artificial Intelligence, or HPHAI, computer. HPHAI, or "Hip-hay" as he was called by the crew, handled most of the trajectory and monitoring work work, through it and its 3 medical droids. The men were left to do as they pleased for the long years they'd be on this journey, with the occasional request from HPHAI to do something for it. Only three systems were connected by wormholes: The Pelagian System, the Centauri System, and the Solar/Sunican System. This spacecraft was sent to this nebula to open a new one. But it didn't know what it would encounter.

[Aquatoria]

Lord Protector Cerabus stood on what could be considered the bridge of the Arachnid destroyer. Cerabus could feel the great space-whale's breathing through his feet. He was a Prince. A high-ranking Prince. His feathered antenaee flowed in many colors. Unlike the dull color of the average Princes, the Lord Protector was a brillant red with a golden carapace. He squeezd his rock-staff, the weapon of the princes. The destroyer was moving slowly through the edges of the Ugatau Nebula, the home of the Arachnid Colony. The destroyer really didn't need the Lord Protector or any of the other princes to guide it. The destroyer could see with it's echolocation. Cerabus looked out at the nebula. My home.

The destroyer let off a groan that alerted the princes. Cerabus patted the destroyer. <You found something?> The space-whale groan in approval. One of the prince's turned to the Lord Protector and talked to him in a series of clicks and screeches.  The Lord Protector nodded in return. <Launch the hoppers and prepare the plasma bugs to open fire. If that ship thinks it can walk into Arachnid territory and not get burned, then it is a fool.>

The hangers opened up and the hoppers jumped into space and made their way towards the unknown vessel. The plasma bugs turned their abdomens to face the ship. In one burst, the plasma bugs launched a wave their blue plasma at the incoming ship. The hoppers followed the plasma. 

[Myroria]

"Wolfgang! Frank!" the computer spoke in an excited, yet, well, computer-like manner.

"What's the problem, HPHAI?"

"I've detected streams of plasma. They have microscopic organic materials through them, and seem to be aimed at us."

"What?" Wolfgang put down his coffee.

"Are they all level?"

"For the most part."

"Pitch down 60 degrees. Engage full throttle."

"Yes, Wolfgang."

Holding onto his chair, Wolfgang swayed backward a bit as the ship pushed forward from 359,750,949 kilometers per hour to nearly 500 million.

"HPHAI, any damage?"

"Some plasma burned parts of the boosters. Nothing else to report."

"Level horizon 0 degrees. Disengage throttle."

"Yes, Wolfgang."

"Once you're done, please eject our nuclear waste into space, and deploy weaponry."

"Yes, Wolfgang."

A door opened on the drive at the back of the ship, hundreds of golf-ball sized pellets were ejected into space, and the little weaponry onboard was deployed.

[Aquatoria]

The plasma missed the ship, but it had caused burns on the ship. The hoppers landed on the hull of the ship and used their mandibles to tear holes into the ship. Some hoppers were killed by the ship's weapons. The hoppers still flying fired toxic acid at the ship's weaponry. The weapons hit melted. Though the weapons stopped some of the hoppers, others were able to tear large enough holes in the hull so that they could enter. The hoppers outside distracted the weapons while the ones on the ship crawled into the ship. One hopper found a human. The 10-foot tall insect pulled the human from it's compartment and ripped it to shreds with it's mandibles. After killing the human it moved on.

Lord Protector Cerabus could see the attack go on through the eyes of one of the hoppers. From there he could direct the mindless insects to their next objective. <Kill the aliens. Leave none alive.>

[Myroria]

HPHAI computed and computed. The only reasonable solution hit him.

The one door to the central core had three enormous steel rods to lock it. The door shut and locked. Then, he made the decision that was the toughest of his computing life. He cut the life support systems of the astronauts in hibernation. Best to go to sleep and never wake up then to be torn to shreds. He then made adjustments in the ships trajectory, and engaged full throttle. The final thing this explorer was going to do was ram the ship just appearing in the telescope. Wolfgang was the last one alive, and he pushed away the droids that attempted to give him cyanide pills. He ran to the door next to the central core door: The armory. Picking up a shotgun, he stood in the doorway and waited. The ship was rocketing closer and closer to it's final demise.

[Aquatoria]

The Lord Protector could see the ship make it's way towards his destroyer. He knew it was going to ram him, not before he felt the sensation of killing the aliens. There was still one left. It had locked itslef behind a door. The hoppers were already waiting for the Lord Protector's orders. <Kill>

The hoppers tore at the door. The first hopper was killed by gun shots. But where one fell, another took it's place. The door finally gave way. Again more gun shots killed another hopper. One human was left. The hoppers charged him. All that the Lord Protector could hear was the alien's screams in his mind. Satisfaction Now he turned to the princes. <Wait for the ship to come closer so that we don't miss with the plasma.> The ship inched closer to the destroyer. The destroyer groaned it's impatience. Lord Protector waited...waited. <Now, fire.>

The plasma bugs fired wave after wave of plasma. They finally hit the ship in three places. The ship blew up close to the destroyer. The space-whale moaned in pain. Lord Protector Cerabus looked at the princes. <Turn us around. Take us to Borealia. Tell the Princesses that we stopped another invasion.>

[Myroria]

Relay 45 had two large, spinning panels. Through technology not fully developed, or understood, these two panels acted as a rotating net of sort, catching radio transmissions years before they would reach Pelagis. This particular one was several beeps in Morse code. The HPHAI unit onboard translated it as "Titania under attack. Alien invaders. All men killed. HPHAI to ram enemy ship. End transmission."

It was rocketed by Cherenkov radiation, faster than the speed of light, to a similar device aboard the nearest SSCS, which carried 6 MSCSs as escorts, each one with countless Raptors, along with the huge numbers aboard the SSCS itself. It recieved the translated transmission. The admiral onboard ordered the MSCSs to get into their ports on the top of the ship, because it was going through a temporary wormhole.

A beam of light shot from the front of the SSCS, twirling space around until a wormhole appeared, with the same nebula that the Titania saw through it. This was dangerous, and it's HPHAI (As you can see, various models permeate Pelagian society) detected a 58% chance of success. The admiral breathed out, then ordered the helmsman to go ahead into it.

Things were going fine until about halfway through. The back end of it, that they entered, was closing, causing the wormhole to cave in behind it. It speeded up, as the hole at the other end became smaller and smaller. Being stuck in a wormhole would give you slow death by starvation, that is, unless it crushed you first.

However, it emergerged from the other side safely. The wormhole collapsed behind it. Now, straight ahead, was a new alien threat. And it was clear it paid no attention to "explorer's immunity".

Doors creaked open. MSCSs emerged. Here were 6 four kilometer long monsters, accompannied by a 20 kilometer long supermonster. Weapons deployed. Communications were open in case diplomacy came. And the operators prepared for battle.

[Aquatoria]

Lord Protector Cerabus had to turn from his return to Borelia because word had come that the aliens had let out a communication. Now a war fleet was nearing the nebula. Twelve more destroyers found and followed the Lord Protector's destroyer. Hoppers jumped out into the empty space. Cerabus couldn't understand. Why are they so persistant when it comes to our nebula. Well, time to teach them about Arachnid power <Order the plasma bugs to open fire. Hoppers are to go after fighters. Send out a message. I want more destroyers here.> He could see that the destroyers were close in size to the smaller capital ships. <I want that large ship to be first priorty. I want that thing destroyed. And where are those other destroyers?> A prince replied. Cerabus turned towards the enemy fleet. <Tell them to hurry.>

The plasma bugs fired their plasma at the ships. Cerabus's destroyer found an enemy ship. It was one of the smaller ones. <Prepare for attack> The destroyer and alien craft battled it out broadside. Plasma and lasers flew back and forth. Cerabus could hear the space-whale groan. He knew it wasn't in that much of pain. The space-whale's armor was thick. The plasma bugs fired their plasma into the ship. Cerabus sensed into a plasma bug's mind and controled it. He turned it's abdomen towards the ship's bridge and fired. The plasma hit the bridge and ripped it apart. The ship slowly began to fail. The hoppers landed in the ship's gun  bays and fought the saliors and marines in the ship. Cerabus ordered his ship and some others to target the larger ship. It was already trying to fight off Arachnid destroyers. Cerabus clicked. The ships fired wave after wave of plasma at the larger ship.

[Myroria]

Raptors swarmed from the ships. One gun on each wing and two torpedoes on the bottom of the central pod were going off everywhere. Plasma bugs were the first priority. The tactics of a Raptor was "swarm a single craft with you and all your buddies, kill, move on." And if a Raptor was blown up, the Reich didn't care. They costed little, and to a point even the pilots themselves considered themselves expendable.

There were some Suicide Raptors scattered throughout the pack; loaded with explosives and controlled by a primitive computer (Not a HPHAI, not only were those expensive, they were humanesque and sending one to it's death almost seemed like murder), they would slam into the larger ships at full speed.

Flying out of port holes on every major ship were space troopers. Packed with enough weaponry to take down a Raptor mid-flight, they were known to disable SSCSs in war games in a couple of hours.

At the same time, HPHAI would translate diplomatic offers in every language onboard. From whale calls on Pelagis' resort moon to the clicks of the tiniest ant on the top of a building, it sent out:

"This is the Galactic Reich of Pelagis. We have more systems than you have planets. Surrender, and we will leave you. Continue to attack lightly armed exploration vessels, and we will avenge them."

This was every "diplomatic offer" the Reich ever gave. It consisted of "We're big, you're not. It is not too late for our mercy.". For some reason it only worked 50% of the time.

The ships had some defense against plasma weapons, but unlike the artificial, utilitarian plasma used by the Reich's enemies, the plasma these things were firing were organic, almost natural. The defenses still worked slightly, but the different composition caused them to weaken slightly. But the SSCS was so massive, so thick, that they earned the name of "Old Adamantsides", from the fictional, superhard metal. Projectile weapons cratered or bounced off, energy weapons were absorbed. Unlike most energy weapons, however, these were leaving small burn marks. However, the battle was far from over.

[Aquatoria]

Lord Protector Cerabus saw what looked like soldiers out in space. He clicked happily. <Tell the hoppers to attack the space soldiers.> The hoppers charged the space soldiers and fought with them. They fired back and killed some of hoppers, but the hoppers kept coming. Soon it was melee fights in space, but melee fights are where the hoppers excelled. They used mandibles, claws, and stinger to fight with the space soldiers. No matter, how powerful the space soldiers were, they didn't have the power to kill a predator. In this battle it seemed to be a stalemate.

Lord Protector Cerabus felt the whale talk to him. <Give me the message> The whale relayed the message and Cerabus read it. He may be an Arachnid, but he knew when they had lost. They might be able to stop the aliens here, but they had more. Much more. <Send a message back. Tell them that I will meet them to discuss the terms of peace. This is not a surrender, this is a proposal.> The plasma bugs ceased firing and soon even the great alien warships stopped firing. The hoppers returned to the destroyers. The Nebula War was over.

[Myroria]

"They stopped firing, sir. A HPHAI console in my barracks translated a peace proposal." said a stormtrooper to the admiral.

"Good, good."

"HPHAI!"

"Yes, Admiral?"

"Please engage your Pelagian-to-alien translator. Choose category 'insect', sound type 'clicks'."

"Yes, Admiral."

"Thank you, HPHAI."

The admiral picked up a microphone laying on the control panel and adjusted the volume knob. He clicked various buttons, screens changing from "Predicted fault: AE35" and "Hull Burn Confirmed" into frequency changers and pitch changers.

<You wanted to come to an agreement?>

[Aquatoria]

<This is Lord Protector Cerabus of the Arachnid Colony. We wish to understand why you continue to try to invade our territory. We are a highly territorial race, and this agreement rarely is even considered by our race. We want you to explain yourselves.>

[Myroria]

<23 Pelagian years ago, the exploration ship Titania was sent to the nearest nebula to our planet to open a permanent wormhole, to go with the three we already had. It is known that from a nebula, many stars may form, and one of these stars may hold habitable planets for our people to use as a colony. The Titania reached the nebula, got into a battle with some alien life - yours, I presume, and was destroyed, along with the Heuristically Programmed Humanesque Artificial Intelligence, or HPHAI on board, and all crew. My squadron recieved the transmission that the HPHAI sent moments before it was destroyed, and I ordered a temporary wormhole to be made so we could avenge it's demise. The Titania was sent without any knowledge that you existed, and we never intended to go into your territory.>

[Aquatoria]

<Well, we aren't an understanding people when it comes to our territory. I, however, am a prince, a member of the leadership caste. I will understand. Your right, there are two stars in our nebula each with seven habitable worlds. My people have colonized five, but we claim all fourteen. We wish for you to leave Arachnid territory and never return. But since that wish might not happen due to the fact if you stop coming then someone else will. We will allow you to open the wormhole in our nebula, but it is under Arachnid control. Also, any Pelagian ship that comes into our nebula will always power down weapons and will be escorted through the nebula by Arachnid destroyers.>

[Myroria]

<Thank you for your generosity. A ship with permanent wormhole construction tools will soon be coming through a temporary one created by my ship. Once that happens, we will leave through it.>