Entari: A race of Humanoids, slightly taller than Humans and considerably more advanced. The Entari have an almost white skin pigmintation, and their skin is both softer to the touch and more durable than Human skin. In most ways superrior to Humans, physically (though their muscular builds don't make them appear all that much larger in muscle bulk than the average human), in longevity (they are effectively imortal), speed, agility, visual accuity, their art, their music, their rich (if little known about) culture, technologically, and the subtle power they posess, they lack the level of curiosity and inginuity humans have. They posess valor, but are considerably more cautious about showing it, they take more time to decide and act on things (possible because of the fact that their lives are so much longer, they can most often afford to take their time when a Human could not), they are somewhat aloff and tend to look down on Humans as wreakless, emotional, and suceptible to corruption and greed, but also as children that need guidance and protection, and occasionally, as strong allies. They are powerful allies, but again, aloof and distant from many conflicts and things that, while perhaps quite major, they consider unimportant, although it should be noted, some of what causes them to be so aloof is their wisdom and planing, when they consider something unimportant, in the long trun it USUALLY is. As one of the eldest of races, their tech is of the hightest level. Entari means "Ancient Ones". Taskari: A race of etherial shadows. They are considerably larger than Humans, and surrounded by a field of dark energy, occasionally coursed with electric-light energy (think Dark Archon, but the field being more black and dark rather than red). They have massive physical power, though it is another power humans have dubbed "Psi" that really makes them dangerous. The name is really simplified though, and an anacronym. They have an inate grasp of this dark power and can use it in devistating ways.In fact, a lot of their technology is mixed with Psi power. Psi might be considered a mix between the mystical and the magical. In reality, it is a connection between then and the ambient energy in the area around them. It is believed this is somehow produced by the energy field (which becomes more agrivated as they do, in general it follows with their emotional state). This allows them to maniplate what energy is in an area. For example, they can incite potential energy into kenetic energy (telikinesis). However, there is another form of this power that is totally unexplained, that of "Psi blasts", concentrated, visible pulses of energy that cause considerable physical damage to anything they hit. What's more, they seem to adversly affect living things that survive. Men that have been hit by them and lived seem to go insane as their bodies physically recover. A few have not, but they have had other things happen and are currently undergoing study. The Taskari technology is amazingly devoid of macnenery, instead using living matter fused with Psi. Their ships, for the most part, are controled by Psi, both their propultion and their weapons. Somehow, they have mechanisms wich allow the Psi of the pilots to be focused into forward motion and Psi blasts (which oddly don't seem to affect the ship's inirtia.) Entari shielding seems to be the only known thing that can absorb the impact of the Psi blasts reasonably, although Human starship hulls tend to fare better than most other races' bare hulls. Much of Taskari culture and technology is unknown, as are their motives. The name Taskari is Entari for "Dark Ones" Human (Terran/Numenari): Humanity is taking the first steps into the greater expanses of space. They have already encountered several races and made contact with the enigmatic Entari first, who watched over their first interaction with the neighboring races. Dubbed Numenari by the Entari, Humanity is still one of the new kids on the block. The Human alliance consists of a mere three major planets, five smaller colonies, three ship production facilities, and a handful of outposts and stations, supported by a small but quicly growing fleet. Though Humans don't totally understand it, there seems to be a change occuring in Humans as a whole, though perhaps it was there all along, it seems to be a fairly new occurance. Early Human interaction with other races has been fairly smooth, but the first exploratory fleet to encounter the Taskari was totally oblitarated, so relations with them are much less than amniable. Humanity's strength is its ability to grow, change, and adapt at a rate unheard of in other races. Humans also tend to be fairly stout to most things, are able to recover quickly from many attacks and troubles, of which they've had more than their fair share. Human ships are solidely built and at the cutting edge of technology, even though Humans are new to the space scene. Nagrimari: A race of master shipbuilders, ancient, but not like the Entari. Nagrimari are a bit stout and shorter than average humans, but with their hands they are masters of building and crafting. Humans are better at inventing, but Nagrimari can build better than anyone. They have many many shipyards across their worlds and space. Their ships tend to be medium sized and solidly built, capable of delivering a great deal of power, similar to the Nagrimari themselves. The ships tend to have strong hulls, and although not that strong against Taskari Psi Blasts, Nagrimari weapons are devistating against the Taskari hulls...and anyone elses, for that matter. Their ships are also very resistant to Entari energy weapons as well as Human projectile weapons. They are generally slower and less agile, but able to take a punch and give back the same. Their more reciently built ships have hulls that are quite resistant to even Taskari weapondry, although the pilots are still affected by the psi blasts. It should also be noted that Nagrimari have a type of battle helmet with mask, and even without it, are the most resistent of all races to the effects of the Psi Blasts on the mind. Historical data (Please note, some of this has not yet happened at the begining of the story): The golden age of humanity came crashing around them as new advances in technology opened up a dark world. While most of humanity was at peace, the discovery of the technology that would allow humans to travel the stars spured expanse and growth. As it always has been, Humanity was divided. The several nations with the highest technology levels, some more open than others about both their trials and their real motives, began a campaign of expansion. Of course, most called it research rather than expansion. While things remained calm on Earth, and most people blissfully unaware, of what was brewing in space. At first it started innocently enough, the four leading nations setting up small colonies. The United American Nation was the first to set up an extraterran colony, the pole of earth's moon where was found a large pocket of water-ice. The race was on. While the UAN and the UASA, the United Asian Socialist Republic, more true to Marxism than the USSR had been, fought over control of Mars, the Australan/Japanese Nation sent a farther reaching mission to Europa, one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, and unique as its surface is covered entirely by frozen water ice and a thin, oxygen rich atmosphere. The European-African Alliance sent out missions as well, one to Venus which built a very small colony which was abandoned after a short time, one to Mars which created two small bases on the planet's two moons, Phobos and Demos, and one all the way to Saturn which created a colony on the moon Titan. Indeed, the planet Earth remained peaceful, but Mars was anything but, and where the majority of the battles of the unofficial war were held. In time, each of the four major empires of earth had main bases offworld. The UAN had the moon and a subsidiary base on Mars. The EAA managed to wrestle Demos away from the AJN, although it was really a hollow victory as the small moon was more or less barren anyway. The EAA has held firm grip over Phobos, though like it's brother, it is also nearly deviod of value. On the surface of Mars, all four have bases, though the UASA has the largest one located at the northern pole. The EAA and AJN bases farther out were the most valuable, however, for it was there the first signs of life beyond our Solar System came. As both the EAA and AJN brought this data to the attention of their rivals, the four nations, while decidely remaining seperate, decided to band together to investigate. This is how the Jupitarian shipyard came to be built. Having the moon Europa for abundant water and oxygen, the volcanic moon Io for abundent and somewhat dangerous heat, and the 20 other moons and thin rings of Jupiter for mineral harvesting, there was all that was needed to construct ships. The planet Jupiter was also far enough from Sol, the sun, to detect the dim signs that couldn't be detected closer to the stellar body due to the solar radiation (also known as solar wind). This occured around 37 ET (Extra-Terra). Within four years, four large capital ships had been produced, one for each of the major powers. The UAN Freedom, EAA Valliant, the UASA Anvil, and the AJN _____. The four sisterships were nearly identical. All of them were equiped with roughtly equal complements of projectile weapons. The UAN, UASA, and AJN each increased the complement of their cruiser over the design specifications, but since all three did this, it really evened out in the end. The EAA did as well, though not imediately. They had built into the Valliant an opening for a weapon they had been developing on Titan, the cruiser's first stop. During those years, many probes had been sent out using the latest in experimental drive technology, refining it for the larger cruisers to come. The later ones, which were now farther away, had pointed the direction to several solar systems they had discovered. Though no contact had been made with any other races yet, they were still believed to exist. As said, the Valliant stopped by Titan on the way out and was outfitted with a primative energy type weapon based off of ion lazer beam technology the EAA had been advancing. Each of the four cruisers set out to a different destination while the total resources of the Jupitarian shipyard were put into a massive construct. The UAN Freedom was the first to arrive at its destination, the Alpha Centauri star system. There they found one planet, somewhat Earth like, habitable at least, and one closer to the largest of the three, Centauri A, stars much like Murcury about which the other planet revolved. The second largest of the stars, Centauri B, held a small planet as well, but it was an even smaller, hotter hunk of rock. But it was the Valliant that first encountered a force of life. Indeed, it was a twist of fate and one that prooved more than most anyone would ever have considered of Humanity. 45 ET found the Valliant stumble across an armada under heavy assult. Although it was only one ship, and as the first of Human cruisers, a weak one at that, the Valliant and its fighter squadron, after being attacked by one side, returned fire. The Human projectile and concussive weapons prooved to be more effective against the enemy ships than could have been imagined, and in surprise more than anything else, they withdrew. This was the first Numenari/Entari meeting and the begining of their alliance. The Entari had been plagued by an enemy they didn't share many details on but which were called by the Entari "Taskari", this meaning "Dark Ones." Although the Taskari had began to become resistant to Entari technology, Human technology was devistating to their biological ships to the point that after that single battle, the Taskari were unheard of for a great many years. During this time, Humans eagerly learned from the Entari, though the Entari were always cautions and hid much from the Terrans, of course, the Humans didn't know this. The Entari eventually introduced Humanity to the Nagrimari, a race of shipbuilders that were actually much more similar to Humans than Entari. It was from the Nagrimari that Humans learned much of propultion systems and hull designs, and with the Nagrimari that a Jumpgate was built near Jupiter. But while the Nagrimari were masters of their craft, Humans were ultimately more innovative, with the Nagrimari making refinements and adjustments, Human scientists and engineers developed new technologies based off of Nagrimari designs. It is now 175 ET, few Humans still live that remember its begining (human medical technology advanced as well, though by no means are the members of Humanity immortal.) Space is a dark and cold place, yet a facinating and exciting one as well for the many groups that exist. Ships of trade, cargo, exploration, transport, recreation, military, and even some piracy filled the stars. Humanity had risen to the challenge of the new world and had trived and expanded. Although the four nations of Earth had their own seperate holdings, Jupiter and Earth were considered neutral ground. But in addition, other small nations were forming, though they were mostly small complexes or colonies on unimportant moons or planets and were quite limited in their fleets and capabilities to modified trade ships, freighters, and archaic fighters. Since most were only interested in their own little place and otherwise conducting trade and peaceful relations, they weren't really bothered. However, all is not as peaceful or mundane as it seems. For the past fifteen years, the Entari have been tracing traces of the Taskari which pulled back completly following the 45 ET battle, not so much even being seen by Entari patrols. Around 171 ET, the Entari found the first signs of Taskari activity, thought it was vague. The Nagrimari, being further in the Milky Way and further from the fringe, hadn't detected any activity. In the end, it was Humanity that had the first contact with the shadows. A mining corporation's newest expansion was the target, and Taskari weapons were surprisingly efficient, although in all fairness, there wasn't really any offensive capability at the mine. Although the defenses were weak, they were also totally ineffective against the Taskari. A few craft managed to escape and the reports of those survivors was brought to immediate attention. Not long after, a deep space Entari starmapping fleet was attacked and all but three cruisers were destroyed. Not only had the Taskari returned, but they were substantially more powerful. The Entari finally decided to begin sharing technology with the Humans and Nagrimari on an expanded scale in hopes that the "Numenari" could do with Entari technology what they had with Nagrimari tech. Meanwhile, Human and Entari expansion and exploration has been pulled back to buy more time before any the true war errupts, though the Entari seem to believe that the Taskari may not be the only force at work in the ever more iminent conflict. And in their time of need, they look to the Nagrimari and, oddly, to Humanity for reasons they have not yet decided to share, and even now, Humanity is still ununited, as are the Entari bands and Nagrimari kingdoms...but, that will soon change, and evermore new races have been sought out by the Entari to renew "The Last Alliance" which many Entari claim cannot be done as many of their ancient allies are believed to no longer exist... "Entari legend speaks of a time where darkness will spread over all that is. In this time, many new allies will emerge to help the Entari, but it will not be the Entaris' fight. This legend speaks of five 'Keys'. These 'Keys' are said to be the way to stop the spread of the darkness. The legend also says that there will appear clues to what the 'Keys' do, and where to use them. " Gems with holy runes...part of a puzzle, although I need to decide the shapes of the runes, guess I need to build another alphabet in addition to the Entari one...and while I'm at it, some language elements...and not a rudamentry vocabulary this time, a usable language, and not a halfbaked one. These stones will have some powers though, at the command of whoever has the stones. The question is, are they really holy, or rather, posessing of the spirits of evil themselves...Indeed, I hope the main characters that get control of one don't get too used to relying on their borrowed powers...that could be fun... : ) One of the hero's best friends taken over by darkness via prophecy. Cool villian, Sephy style. A scene like in LotR:TT when Gandalf is walking toward the posessed king and they are attacked, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas fighting them while Gandalf walks forward. Except, it'll be the villian walking and talking to the protagonist, who is busy fighting all the many shadow minions. The villian (former best friend) talking like Garland to Zidane from FF9 in that one part in Pandemonium, kind of a mix between all of that. Maybe I could try somehthing...unique. Hmm...I have a thought...which might work. The dark spirit is driven out, taking it's own form, and the former villian fights with the heroes to drive it into retreat in its temporarily weakened form. Now that guy is a strong ally, cool converted villian, and one of the "keys" to the door. "How did we get here? What did we ever do to cause this course to come into being? Was it fate, forecast long ago? Or was it choice, something we could have avoided? If if was fate, could we do anything more than delay the inevitable? In any case, here we are, and we don't really have any choice. Now we must move forward, now we must embrace what is henceforth inevitable. As Humanity, as brothers, we will change the face of this universe, for together, we cannot be defeated. The hearts of good men have always been unstopable when rallied to a good cause, and this is no different. Now we fight together, and together, we cannot fail...we cannot afford to." The fluttering wings of birds gently broke the silence. The warm heat came down upon those laying on the grass as the gentle wind blew. In the grass, just out from under the shade of a majestic tree, a young man lay in the grass. He had his eyes closed and his hands cradling his head in the soft grass. "Hey, Matt, thought we'd find you here. Done acting like a little kid yet?" Still having his eyes closed, the young man laying down spoke up. "Aww, I was having such a nice dream too." "Leave him alone, he's just bein' wierd. He's like that." "Whatever you two say," he opened his eyes, "at least I won't die of stress. Besides, you gotta stop and smell the roses from time to time...or take a nap. And besides that, we are still kids, silly." From the tree above him several doves sprung into flight, their wings flapping and the leaves of the tree fluttering as the birds left their roost. "Say what you want, Matt. I'm not the one that's going ot be late." "Huh...?" Matt brought his left wrist around so he could look at his watch. "Great...I was having such a nice dream..." He rolled forward and sat up, bending his knees and wraping his arms around them. "All right then, let's go." "Don't worry about it, we're always here to keep you from being late." "Hmph, you really shouldn't be so easy on him, Ben. That absentmindedness of his is going to get us into trouble someday." Matt and Ben looked at each other and smiled. "Maybe..." Ben said. "...but we're still faster runners than you are, Jack," Matt added with a grin. "Bah. Let's go, we're gonna be late," Jack said, extending his hand and pulling Matt to his feet. "And besides that, the girls are waiting." The three started walking in the warm sun toward a distant cluster of white buildings that sprung from the sea of green that lay before them. ************************ "You're flying through subspace with your eyes closed!!" "...." "Are you nuts!?" "Heh, don't you know? When subspace gets really chaotic, that's the only way to do it." "...?" "Yeah. You never wondered why my kind are sought out for navigators and pilots? We were almost wiped out, extinct...almost. Some people even want to catch us to 'breed' us and keep us from going extinct. Only we can navigate in the most dangerous parts of subspace and at higher speeds. It's cause we can 'feel' space around us, not just subspace. Remember before when I said I could feel danger? It's like that. I can feel the edges of the two dimensions we're flying between. I can feel the peaks and valleys. I know when to turn, to rotate, and when we're coming on a wall and have to leave subspace. Heh, one of the most dangerous subspace evasion maneuvers is to fly at a wall and drop out of subspace just before hitting it, never tried it, but it gives whoever's trying to catch you hell." "Uhm, what happens if a ship his a wall?" "...well, that's the thing, no one knows. No ship that's done it has ever returned. Some people think they're destroyed, I think they travel to the next dimension." "If that's the case, why don't they come back?" "Dunno, maybe they do. Strange stuff happens out here, but strange stuff also happens back there. In any case, that's why people are always after me when they find out who I am, but I won't change my name, even if it does give my heratige. After all, it is MINE, I won't change it for other people I could just as soon...hmm...interesting..." "What?" "...I'm...not sure..." ************************ The station rocked as it was hit. "Engage all countermeasures! Weapons control, fire at will!" The T shaped space station lashed out with its thick plasma beams, mealting through the large alien capital ships. As several beams concentrated on one capital ship (note, looked like Battlecruisers from StarCraft), it erupted into a firey explosion as it was ripped in twain. The green beams from the alien ships struck the space station's hull, but the red beams of the station hit back hard, damaging several other alien capital ships and destroying a second, then a third as a spurt of bright red projectiles filled the space between the station and the cruiser. The station's weapons were damaging other ships of the alien armada when a large green blast shot at the station. It hit the raised portion on the crux of the T, and a blast of smoky green engulfed half the station. The battle was over as the station's weapons fell from life, but the alien ships did not finish it off, they continued flying past it. In fact, all they had done up until now as shoot at it as they flew by, none stoping to engage it. The darkened bridge was lit only by the dull glow of the power allocation panels and the occasional sparking jet from a damaged panel or set of wires which were dangling from the cealing. A lone man slowly pushed himself onto his elbows, a thick stream of red blood coming down the left side of his face from a large gash in his forehead which was open revealing the thick, dark red, murky plasma. The gash was angled from over his left eye down at a slight angle until it ended just to the left of his eyebrow (his left). He was there on his elbows for several minutes until he heard a loud chime and the main monitor flashed red: "Warning, life support failure in five minutes. Critical system failure." The message was given out over the audio by the computer voice and then repeated once as the words continued flashing. Another warning tone echoed from the weapons console: "Incoming hostile ship, targeting station." The man carefully stood to his feet, a little shaky due to his bloodloss and the gravity on the station being unusually low due, no doubt, to the damage to the graviton generator. His eyes looked at all the consoles. Life support in yellow read at 11%, main power in blue at 38%, weapon control was damaged at at 17% on the red console. Weapon power and shielding on the green console, however, was at 98%. The shield grid was down to 15%, though. In orange, the sensor panel read as at 78% power, and finally in purple, the com system red as down at 1%. There wasn't enough power left in the core to do everything, and he couldn't take power from the weapons and shelds or they'd be destroyed by the hostile ship. "Warning, life support failure in four minutes. Critical system failure." The message was not repeated, but in a box in the upper left of the main display, the counter was ticking down. He knew once life support was gone, it was all over. He glanced around the room seeing all the other officers down on the ground, many with their chairs down as well, and all of them with cuts and gashes much like himself. He walked to the main console and brought up the emergancy schematics and evacuation plans. It registered the best path to take and the objectives listing on the right hand side read: Restore Weapon Control Destroy Hostile Ship Restore Life Support Rally Surviving Crew Evacuate Using Fighters/Shuttles in Shuttle Bay "Warning, life support failure in three minutes. Critical system failure." "Incoming hostile ship locking weapons." He walked to the weapon control panel. The targeting systems and sensors seemed to still be in tact, but the panel itself was destroyed. He made his way to the emergancy overrides and started making the connections to revitalize the panel. "Incoming hostile fire." The station shook as the ship was hit several times. "Warning, life support failure in two minutes. Critical system failure." He made the last few connections and the panel sprang to life, but the power meter red as a low 14%. He quickly went to the main power panel and lowered it by 25%, then back to the weapon control panel to enfuse it with the freed power. This brought it up to 100% (the seperate systems don't each use 100% of main power, otherwise they couldn't all be active at once.) He target the one remaining straggler of the alien fleet and fired everything the station had left. Five red beams struck out from the battered station, cutting into the alien ship that had come back to finish them off. The beams were held by a sphere of shielding the ship had, but it soon fell to the combined fire and was cut into and apart in an explosion scattering debris into the surrounding space. Back on the bridge, the man let out a sigh of relief. He rested his palms on the panel below the imput buttons and lowered his head, several large drops of red falling to the floor at his feet. "Warning, life support failure in one minute. Crytical system failure." Two objectives done, he had to get power funeled into life support or all his efforts would be useless. Without life support, the air would stagnate as the oxygen was breathed up, but before that, anyone alive, himself included, would freeze to death by the cold of space, especially and most quickly those on the outer decks, which he was on (the bridge was on the raised portion at the crux of the T structure of the station.) "Warning, life support failure in thirty seconds. Crytical system failure." He glanced at the timer in the upper left hand corner of the main display, ominously ticking down to their doom. He could feel his breath coming harder now with the reduced oxygen in the air, he could feel the cold of space filtering in through the ships air ducts and hull plating, he could feel himself slowing down as this was happening and as the blood loss from the gash his his forehead was draining the very life from him. He stagered toward the weapon and shield power control, fighting unconsciousness and the pain he now felt from his ribcage. He pushed the sideways chair out of the way as be ticked down the power all the way, watching the main power core reading tick back up by the freed up power. After all, weapons were useless now, and what good would the shields be if they were dead and with no one to run them? "Warning, life support failure in fifteen seconds. Fourteen, thirteen, twelve..." He stagered across the room. "...eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven..." Up the set of three steps to the raised platform where the weapon control, communication, and life support systems were located. "...six, five..." ...passed the weapon control panel, stepping over the downed chair... "...four, three..." ...passed the com panel, kicking the chair out of the way of the life support panel... "...two..." ...his hands glided across the life support panel, increasing the power and damage repair systems to the most critical and needed commodity now. "...one...life support power restored. Initiating emergancy repairs and power redistribution." He colapsed onto the ground, the arch of his lower back over the step down to the non-raised part of the circular bridge (remember the steps to the raised landing?) His lungs filled with the warmer, more oxygen rich air he could hear now rushing out of the air ducts. He finally gave into the blackness of unconsciousness so his body's own emergancy repair systems could kick in. At least for now, the he and the station were safe. ************************