-------------------Earth's Dimension, UNDF Moon Facility----------------------------

Soldiers dressed in fancy looking military uniforms where lined up just inside the main airlock entrance to the base, several high ranking officials watched with baited breath as a pointed grey rocket shaped starship slowly came into view. It's plutonium powered rocket boosters guiding it along with the electronics and the no doubt skilled pilot as it set down and hooked into the airlock with practiced speed and efficiency. Those starships had been reverse engineered from ones found on the Enemy's colony world, and improved with more advanced electronics. The door on the side of the starship let out a hiss as it depressurized the soldiers went rigid as President Cane stepped out into the facility. "At ease gentlemen, I am simply here on business." With some reluctance, most soldiers relaxed except the two who flanked the President as they walked deeper into the facility, codenamed Luna.

General Mark saluted, one other person sat in the room with him, he would remain unnamed for security reasons however. The two guards who had escorted him stood outside the room as the door slid shut and locked with the hum of a maglock system. "Gentlemen I am not the last to say this, but damn it I am proud of the progress we have accomplished thus far." Cane said. "So far we've added to our already existing spaceborne assets, we've been on the moon with a permanent presence here since 1972, and this is the first time in decades that it's been useful to us beyond spotting unmentioned launches from the Soviet Union back then, the upgrades to the base have been rapidly implemented and for that I must give your crew some credit."

The American male codenamed Citadel gave a grin. "Thank you, Mister President. The United Nations Defense Force was pleasantly surprised to get control of this base, as well as several other advanced goodies you had hidden in high Earth orbit, people thought Regan's Star Wars project failed but several members of our staff where very much surprised to find this was not the case, nevermind the orbital nuclear launchers hidden as defunct satellites. And with our new funding thanks to the whole 'Space Force' thing, not many are questioning where all those funds are going which we are very grateful for, another thing we are thankful for is Russia's space assets being added to our arsenal as well, who knew they had so many space born chemical lasers?"

General Mark nodded. "Another thing on this agenda is we have functional plasma weapons for our starships now, and with the mining here for minerals and components for rocket fuel, we have found an abundance of Helium-3, and it's estimated to have boosted our efforts into viable Cold Fusion reactors by several decades."

President Crane smiled. "This is good news all around, you won't believe the nightmare I had to go through to get here without being noticed, as far as anyone planetside knows, aside from a select few of course, people think I'm back in my home state of Minnesota fishing." He paused to take a drink of water from a weirdly shaped bottle with a twist cap that would let liquid through but not open the bottle to air, preventing water from just being spilt around. "Good, I will be overseeing a few more items from others then returning to Earth, this time I won't be taking a starship but rather the Gate to save some time, I only took that thing here to begin with to keep soldiers around here from realizing I could come and go at anytime, only a select few are authorized to know about those gates." He stood up and nodded to the two men. "Continue with your duties, General Mark you are to hand command to Citadel now that the chain of command up here has been set in stone." Without another word he walked out of the room, the door sliding open for him.

--------------------------------------------Deep Space, Earth's Universe----------------------------------

In the darkness of the void an armada was shooting towards the coordinates left on a Golden Disk that they had found, the satellite they had plucked from the vacuum of space had contained intricate information on this new species, information was what Unity craved, all information would be categorized, saved, and then the planet or planets the information came from would be destroyed as was the Hivelords will. This species was newly developed and had the arrogance to leave a greeting card giving the location of their homeworld for any to find, they would learn such arrogance to cost them greatly as so many others had done before them, world after world, species after species, information would be added to the collective and then the pests terminated by glassing. Specialized drones had set to work deciphering the information from the device, and had translated their many primitive languages, physical language, what a primitive form of communication when compared to their superior Digital Hivemind. Soon 'Humanity' as they had named themselves, would know the power Unity held within the void of stars.

-----------------------------------------------------Crystal City Starship Lorenzo's Universe---------------------------------------------------

Field Marshal Jacob Brown was sat in a large circular meeting room within the Empire's main flagship Crystal City, along with several other species, which still somewhat terrified him since he was still not used to the concept of something aside from a human, being sentient, he watched however as his King, another concept he wasn't much used to, speak while pointing to a holographic display showing something he did know about, the Zetans. "Alright people, the changeling spies sent to the Zetans homeworld have relayed back their Storage Crystals and Pam as well as Calculator have compiled and sorted the information, and this information has been very useful for the Empire as a whole in planning our defense, and if need be, invasion." I pointed to several spots on their homeworld which had small red dots on them. "As you see here these are the locations of the devices I had my spies plant, these devices vary in function from salted nuclear devices, to gas bombs filled with Hallucigen gas, chlorine gas, nightmare mist, and nerve gas, as well as normal plasma or ballistic explosives and EMP devices."

Domain Master Lazoi raised one of his arms, a claw held up. "Grand Domain Master Lorenzo, what do these devices do for us if we do not set them off while they are undiscovered?"

"Good Question Lazoi, the bottom line is I hope we don't have to use em, but if the Zetans ignore our offer of peace between their civilization and those of Equis, I shall detonate them and it will cause massive amounts of chaos on their homeworld, distracting them briefly from us while we get our own starships into position to retaliate further." I explained with some happiness in my voice that Lazoi, and his species, had come such a long way from being the primitives they where when the Empire found them and took them into its charge. This seemed to satisfy Lazoi's curiosity so I went on. "As seen here, the data pulled from their information networks gives us the locations of their colony worlds, as well as military assets in space, and as we feared it's a rather large amount of starships, however my spies have infiltrated their Starship command structure and will cause as much damage as possible without being found out."

Exalted Fleetlord Issit had both eyeturrets on Lorenzo. "If I may speak, My Emperor." He lowered both eyeturrets. "I'd like to ask how exactly they will attempt to cause damage to these enemy starships? If these aliens are as foolish as you say to dare attack our Grand Empire they shall feel the wrath of the Akun a thousand fold for every citizen they harm."

That made me glad I kept him as a Fleetlord, he was happy to serve, a good quality. "Rather simple, they will fuck up as many internal systems as possible, from their plasma reactors to the antigravity engines they will tamper with everything within their reach, and then some, even turning crews against one another with their mind magics, what starship crew could possibly be an effective unit if they mistrust one another to the point of disregarding facts given to them by one another? Changelings are masters of deceit and misdirection so it shall be easy for them as the reports have already proven thus far."

Exalted Fleetlord Issit bent into the posture of respect. "As always, your wisdom shines like a star in the void My Emperor, I shall take up no more of your time." That caused Lazoi to wiggle his eyestalks, didn't know what that meant but I'd hazard a guess.

I still found how...…hard, the Akun and Letera thought they where beneath me simply because I was the ruler of an Empire, but I was unable to change that line of thought, since it had been dominate in their civilization since their very first Emperor had arose to power, so I'd continue to ignore it for now. "Onto other matters, the development of the Mesmatron Bombs has been a complete success! For those who don't know or remember, the Mesmatron is a hand held weapon which fires pulses that can either knock a person out, or cause total hemorrhaging of the brain, lethal and non lethal settings, Astral Starlight has developed this into a bomb which in the shape of a sphere, would release these pulses constantly in space for a certain radius, in effect making mines that can't be moved around or avoided if you saturate an area with enough of them, he has been promoted to Head of Weapons Development for this achievement."

Mid explanation on how exactly Astral Starlight had been promoted and what perks came with it and authority so his old position wouldn't be confused for his new one, a Letera walked into the room unannounced. "I am sorry My Emperor but I must bring a matter or grave importance to your attention immediately." This caused several heads to turn, except Issit's and Lazoi, the first turning an eyeturret while Lazoi could see him enter from the beginning since he had a full 360 view of the world.

Raising an eyebrow I motioned for the Letera to continue, as such she did. "I regret to inform you several members of the Akun have been caught and are in custody for using a narcotic known as Dark Chocolate." .......This caused me to break out into laughter so sudden and loud it startled almost everyone in the room. Holy fucking shit this was gold.

--------------------------------------------------------Planetside, Crystal Empire-------------------------------------

Vomo stood in the shrine to Spirits of Emperors past, he as well as many members of the Akun and Letera who now lived on this world, just like on Vanov and Letera-2 would give worship to Emperors departed every week at a certain time, now he stood within the shrine his eyeturrets cast downwards in respect for Departed Emperors from across the Akun's entire history. "May Spirits of Emperors Past look kindly on my departed friend, and upon myself when my time comes to join him in serving Emperors Departed." He set a picture of his friend into the burning bowl of the shrine, watching it burn into ash before skittering out, several others where saying small prayers too, he wasn't the only one. He was glad to even see some Eponites worshiping Spirits of Emperors Past alongside Letera and Akun.

Surprisingly enough even a Deathclaw was within the shrine to give worship to the Spirits of Emperors past. As Vomo skittered along down the street an Eponite walked up to him carrying a small black book with a weird yellow symbol on it, that looked like a medical cross but longer, and shiny. "Hello sir or ma'am, Would you be interested in learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?" It was female, if the long hair and mammary glands on its chest where any indication.

Vomo shook his eyeturrets in the negative gesture. "Negatory, I worship Spirits of Emperors Past as all self respecting citizens of the Empire do."

For some reason this caused the Eponite Female to go into a visible fit of rage as she grabbed the cross on a string hooked around her throat and yanked, causing it to pull apart showing a hidden blade that had been built into the cross. "Fucking little demons! I'll show you for refusing to see the light of the One True God!" She leaped at Vomo, however since Vomo had military training he rolled to the side and clawed her in the side, seemingly only angering her further, however thankfully the Deathclaw he had seen in the Shrine before caught the scent of blood and picked the Eponite female up like a toy.

When the Female Eponite tried to stab the Deathclaws hand in an effort to make it release her, the small steel blade snapped in half. "That's enough there missy! Your under arrest for attempted assault of an Empire Citizen, and not only a citizen but a member of the Empire's military. You have the right to remain silent, If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in a court of law, You have the right to consult with a lawyer and have that lawyer present during any questioning, and If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire." The Deathclaw was female by the sound of it's voice. And focused her attention on Vomo. "I'm going to need you to come back with me to the station to make a report, and I'm going to have the security feed pulled from the street view camera system to check who's story is correct, however I am restraining her due to her attempted assault, if you do not comply you will be restrained too."

Vomo waggled his eyeturrets. "It shall be done, Superior Female." She may not have actually been Vomo's Superior in name or rank, but she was an Officer of the law, and as such was going to get the respect afforded to those within that position, so he went willingly.

-------------------------------------Crystal Empire Boarder Checkpoint--------------------------

Starswirl couldn't be angrier, this...this, 'ss'ket' as it said it's species was, was refusing him entry into the Crystal Empire. "Can you repeat that? I don't think I heard you correctly." His tone was dangerous.

Shunel nodded. "Very much so, your papers are over a thousand local years out of date and as such I cannot accept them as legal identification of who you are and why you are here, new papers can be issued by the Equestrian Boarder Control Offices, but until you have some valid Equestrian identification I am not authorized to allow you within the Crystal Empire at this current time."

Starswirl's horn lit up with a bright blue blaze. "I am Starswirl for Celestia's sake! I am known throughout the land for the feats of magic I have accomplished and have propelled magic forward hundreds of years in the past two weeks!"

Shunel shrugged. "That's nice, Sir, but I still need a valid Identification card and paperwork." Damn it she was going to stick to the rules given to her, or by the Goddess she was going to shoot someone, however when 'Starswirl's' horn lit up and condensed into a ball of magic she pressed the emergency nullifier button on her desk, and took great pleasure in watching his magic fizzle out like a flame doused with water, and took even greater satisfaction at watching the Security androids drag him away while slapping a nullifier on his horn. She stuck her tongue out at him as he was dragged out, crossing her eyes to look at her snout while she did so, as if saying 'nyah nyah nyah nyah, you can't touch me!'

Yona looked to Ocellus as their teacher got dragged away, the rest of the group just snickering. "I'm going to guess this fieldtrip is canceled?" Ocellus nodded, her black chitin gleaning in the light.

--------------------------------------Zetan Homeworld, Zeshan, Council of Five--------------------------------

Head of the Council Soro was glaring at the recording on screen, of the scoutcraft crew barely managing to escape, and looking at the starships seen in the video while it was paused. "It has come to our attention that System X-42 is higher on the threat priority list than we previously thought, all in favor of sending a mothership to put a quick end to this threat say aye." A series of 'Ayes' rang throughout, the other four members agreeing unanimously. "Alright onto the next matter then, it has come to our attention that several starships are beginning to suffer major malfunctions, so do send our orders to doublecheck anything before it goes to do a mission or recon, so far none of our motherships have suffered any malfunctions, which is a Starsend since it would take a massive amount of time to find and fix any malfunctions within them, since they are by far our largest ships."

Olkzar nodded. "Yes, at the moment if I remember correctly we have 35 of them, with number 36 having been in construction for the past seven years, I wish they didn't take so long to construct, but such is the consequences of building such large and powerful starships, we'd be on 37 if not for that one species of vermin destroying one with their weaponry, something no one thought possible."

Vopro let out a sigh. "We should be happy to know the Quarantine on systems species 2-B7 Control and travel to is working well, we haven't had any further attacks from them, but to have allowed a species to be under our detection systems for so long that they managed to outpace us in so many areas of technology, even now their stealth shields do not allow us to detect them, it is rather alarming."

Soro nodded in agreement. "Agreed, I've already got the researchers trying to develop new sensors to detect them, but it's been going slow since we have been unable to cripple one of their ships enough to get an intact stealth field generator, efforts are ongoing, for now lets authorize mothership 3 to take System X-42 out of the equation." The other four members spoke at once in perfect unison. "Agreed."

Author's Note

Hello all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, remember to join the Discord, if I have to tell ya again I'ma start callin you old timers lol XD. Let me know how ya liked it, share the story, comment, all that good stuff. I got a deathclaw skull drawn, here it is for any who wonder, its based on the X-ray's we see of a deathclaws skull in Fallout 4, just google it I'm too lazy to explain beyond that, and the 3D image file in game of the asset that is what happens when you snipe a deathclaws head off.

The nuclear starships are based on Former Enclave ones which where left derelict on mars after the Great War struck leaving Mars without any real chance of supplying themselves with food, as the next shipment was meant to contain seeds and compounds to produce soil without antifreeze in it, but since the Great War happened a week before that delivery, they where kinda fucked since it was supposed to bring seeds for food, organic compounds for soil, and more fuel for their starships.