Vendetta Online

The Chronicles of Exile

AD3827

The capture of the Itani research vessel sends shockwaves through Serco High Command. While a few ancient Serco records did mention the possibility that some Itani might have escaped the massacre of 2661, this theory had long since been given up as folly. Indeed, the captured Itani had a hard time convincing their Serco inquisitors that they were speaking the truth. The Triumvirate called a war council to discuss the matter. Three major possibilities were put forth. The first, that their enemy of old had indeed escaped to some distant world and were now beginning their return. The strange configuration of the Itani ship, with no visible controls or connection to the pilot, lent credence to this theory. The second possibility was that this was some strange plot of the Neutrals, perhaps to take revenge for being driven from their homes. The Neutrals were not perceived as a threat, but their many advances in space technology had not escaped Serco notice. Thirdly, that perhaps this was an encounter of a wholly separate nature, a completely new race or species. Perhaps this species sought to lull the Serco into merely viewing this as a minor infraction by a vanquished enemy.

The Itani prisoners, in the meantime, did their best to convince the Serco of the good intentions of the Itani people. Viewed largely with suspicion by the Serco, they made little headway. At best they were seen as the spies of an unknown power, at worst, the van of an approaching armada. Either way, the new potential threat worried the Serco military commanders, prompting them to generate short-term plans for the possibility of interstellar war. A massive propaganda campaign was launched in the Serco cities, painting frightening visions of alien invaders from the skies, and calling for all Serco peoples to help ready their world for battle. A call was put out for volunteers for the newly revitalized SkyCommand and Pilot programs. Work began on modifying the venerable Nighthawk fighters for much longer range, so that a heavily armed reconnaissance group might investigate the closest of the purportedly Itani planets. A watch was set on the further wormhole area and the Itani explorers continued to be detained and closely monitored. For their message of peace to be best understood, the Itani remained docile and made no attempt to escape, hoping that diplomacy might win through after further contact between the governments.

Noting the disappearance of their exploration team, the Itani became concerned. Further missions to monitor the Serco system were suspended, pending the return of the missing team. Within the monastic hierarchy, the next course of action was widely debated. Should a rescue team be sent to discover what happened? If the Serco had indeed captured the explorers, how would they be perceived? Although information on the Serco was incomplete, a picture had begun to emerge of an arrogant, warlike nation, with few interests outside of its own cultural pursuits. If the explorers were perceived as a threat, an additional rescue team might only compound that flawed perspective. If the Serco were alerted and suspicious, it would be impossible to make the wormhole jump into their system unnoticed. Thus it was decided, with some misgivings and concern for their missing comrades, that no rescue team would be sent. A watch would be placed on the near side of the wormhole area, the Itani prepared to wait and hope for the best.

After a week of frantic work, thirty Nighthawk fighters, newly adapted for long range and loaded out to full combat capacity, went into operational readiness. The Itani prisoners gave detailed information on how to reach Eo, the nearest Itani planet. The explorers were hopeful that they might be escorted home by this small Serco fleet, but were rebuffed and placed back under lock and key. As the sun set over the ancient remnants of the Itani home on Terra II, the Nighthawks launched from their bays and sped towards the second wormhole area.

The Serco fighters flocked through the wormholes, their multitude of jump signatures noted from a distance by the alert Itani recon ship. The Itani waited for them to do their post-jump regroup, to get a thorough count and inspection of the approaching force, then fled before them towards Eo. Easily outdistancing the antiquated Nighthawks, the recon vessel reported the news to the Itani networks several hours before the Serco would arrive. The monastic order wrestled with the problem. There were too many ships approaching for a simple diplomatic contact, but too few for a serious planetary attack. Scans of the ships had not noted any high-yield or organic warheads. By their antiquated reactor design, it was unlikely that the ships even had enough fuel for more than a brief trip to Eo and back, with no excess for the burns required of space combat. Thus, they concluded, this was probably just an investigative and diplomatic mission with considerable defensive capabilities. Despite this conclusion, many worried over the lack of an Itani defensive network. There were a number of monks who trained in the energy-based flight system, but the Itani had no warships and few weapons of any kind. During the last thousand years of peace, there had been little need for such things. Eventually Eilon, the Abbot of the temple on Eo, put forth his thoughts. "I will go", he said, "and meet the Serco in my own transport, that we might confer and deliver our message of peace, without bringing them too close to our planet". Much dissent sprang up against this proposal, no Itani wished to risk such a beloved and well-respected leader in an endeavor with so questionable an outcome. The old monk would not be gainsaid, however, and the Abbot of Itan remained silent. They knew that their representative must be sufficient to honor and hopefully placate the fast-approaching Serco, and few could match Eilon in matters of negotiation or diplomacy. The abbot boarded his transport, accompanied by a small crew, and lifted off, destined for the wormhole region from which the Serco would soon emerge.

The Serco fighters made the final jump into the Eo system, and found the Abbot waiting for them. At over three hundred meters long, the Abbot's personal transport vessel was not a small ship. Sculpted with a flowing natural design and decorated with the black and gold patterns native to Eo, it visually projected the power and authority of the planet's leader. Maintaining position only a few hundred meters from the Serco's wormhole exit points, the Nighthawks were quite startled to be met by the large ship. The Serco had never encountered a ship of that scale, even the largest Neutral transports were still relatively small. As the flustered Serco broke formation and eventually regrouped around the Abbot's ship, the Abbot transmitted his welcome message to his "long lost brethren".

The communications systems of both the Serco and Itani had advanced in different directions over the past millennium. Both had elected to resort to an ancient analog radio method, that they might be sure of reaching the other side. This also allowed the people of the planet Eo to tune in to the discussions, albeit somewhat delayed by the distance to the wormhole area. The language of both sides had also changed, although not so dramatically that communication was difficult. The Itani had adopted a terse, clipped, precise mode of speech, with a large number of new words that referred to concepts specific to their studious and martial culture. Usually moderate in tone, they enjoyed discussion, but preferred to reach a conclusion (or agreement to disagree) swiftly and succinctly. Negotiation ability was highly prized, and measured by the speed with which one might cut through peripheral matters to reach the core issue that effected both parties. The competitive nature of the Serco showed in their aggressive mode of speech. Filled with confidence, their overriding interest in bending the conversation to their will. Every discussion among the Serco was a battle, with face and caste won or lost depending on the perceived outcome.

And so the discussions began. Eilon welcomed the Serco as guests and ancient family. "Too long has it been since our societies have met, I greet you on behalf of the Itani people", he said. "We are a peaceful folk, and desire only to communicate and share with other cultures to the benefit of all". It was some minutes before a response was forthcoming from the Serco, their matte black ships silently holding position around the transport vessel. Eventually a voice responded, "You have invaded the sovereign dominion of the Serco. Your spies have been captured and your invasion plot exposed. Now you sue for peace? Be thankful we permit you to speak at all". This first exchange set the tone for the rest of the discussion. The Abbot tried time and again to convince the Serco of the Itani's peaceful intentions. The Serco interpreted the lack of aggressive negotiating technique as cowardice, and became even more belligerent and openly contemptuous of the Itani diplomat. After several hours of fruitless argument, the exasperated Abbot informed the Serco that, if they wished it, no further attempts at contact or exploration would be made by the Itani. However, they would appreciate the return of the pilots from the captured exploratory mission. The Serco representative then made a haughty retort, stating that not only would the Itani never see their pilots again ("Enemy spies"), but that they had "begun an event that the Serco would surely finish". At this veiled threat the Abbot simply sighed, thanked the Serco for their time, and disclosed that he would be unable to continue negotiation, but that he hoped they might resume discussion at some point in the future. The transport ship turned about and began its trip back to Eo. Many now believe that this was a calculated attempt by Eilon to shake up the Serco and alleviate the deadlock in negotiations. Others simply believe that the Abbot's impatience and irritation with the belligerent Serco got the better of him. Either way, the outcome was likely not what he desired. The Serco became infuriated by his attempt to leave, calling it an insult that he should attempt to leave the company of his betters without asking permission. When he failed to respond, the Serco perused, firing warning shots across the bow of the transport vessel. It is unclear whether a few of the shots were too close, or if the Serco deliberately fired upon the Abbot's ship, but within a few moments the transport had sustained heavy damage and was calling Eo for help.

The population of Eo listened in stunned silence to the first shots striking the hull of their leader's spacecraft. Even as the echoes of the transport's mayday call faded in the temple, several monks were boarding recreational craft, determined to aid their embattled brother. The light ships were only intended for space-acrobatics demonstrations, and had no offensive weapons of any kind, but the monks hoped they might at least draw off some of the attackers, perhaps even driving off the Serco by physically ramming them. The news of the monks' launch was added to the news broadcast, prompting many of Eo's citizens and spacecraft owners to decide that they too should help their much-beloved leader. Within a few minutes, hundreds of craft were lifting off of pads around Eo and following the monks into space.

The Abbot himself had not been idle. He, like many academics, possessed an energy focus, largely as a teaching aid for rendering geometric concepts. Now, however, he employed it as a shield for his transport. The Serco noticed this unusual field surrounding the ship when one of their fighters collided with it, destroying the Nighthawk and killing the pilot. The angry Serco leader then ordered his squadron to destroy the transport as an example to those who would attack the Serco nation. Concentrating all fire on the large ship, the Serco were baffled by their inability to injure the ship or penetrate its surrounding field. For several minutes this went on, the fighters bombarding the transport with the full extent of their arsenal, to no avail. However, this defense did come at a cost. Very few Itani monks could have even formed a field large enough to encompass the entire transport ship, let alone hold it up under constant attack. The Abbot of Eo, first of his order, and still sprightly at age three hundred and eighty seven, was no mere monk. Even the Abbot of Itan might have been hard pressed to match Eilon's mastery of internal power. Despite his strength, maintaining the field was an incredible drain, and one that could last but a short time. Although his crew and entourage begged him to board one of the small escape pods, he refused. He knew that the Serco might be likely to fire upon any jettisoning pods, and he was unable to break connection with the energy focus without risking their destruction. So it was that with a series of terse commands he ordered everyone to the transport's forward cargo hold, one of the strongest areas of the ship, where they would close all the emergency pressure hatches and hope for rescue. He himself maintained contact with the Focus on the bridge, straining under the load of the shield, now beginning to buckle, giving hope to the Serco that perhaps their quarry was not so indestructible.

Even at top speed the monks couldn't hope to reach the transport in less than fifteen minutes. When the final transmission was received from Eilon's ship, detailing how he was single-handedly holding off twenty nine Serco warships with his energy focus, a great cheer went up from the makeshift rescue fleet. Spacecraft of all shapes and sizes had joined in, from pleasure craft to hundred-year-old battered mining vessels. All converged on the distant transport at maximum speed, still unnoticed by the Serco.

The Serco were intent on their perceived enemy. Volley after volley of pulse weaponry slammed into the faint, translucent field. After five minutes the shield had begun to oscillate and distort, sometimes uncovering areas of the transport. Within ten minutes of the initial attack, it was evident that the field would not last much longer. At eleven minutes, thirty-seven seconds, the Abbot of Eo expired, his last effort an explosion of energy that briefly expanded the shield to twice its size, damaging and destroying several of the harrying Nighthawks. With the final defense now fallen, the Serco wasted little time in eviscerating the remains of the noble vessel, leaving a cloud of burning debris expanding from the few intact sections of the ship. Congratulating themselves on a battle well fought, the Serco began to take stock of their situation, picking up their casualties and preparing to salvage parts of the transport for further study. It was then that they noticed the approaching armada.

During this period, due to the relatively stagnated Serco space program and antiquated ship design, it is believed that the Nighthawks had little in the way of long-range scanning devices. The Serco had never explored, nor had they given a great deal of thought to space combat beyond defense of their own atmosphere. During the first Serco-Itani war, the Nighthawks were guided by land-based scanning arrays, relieving the ships from the necessary complexities of onboard long-range scanners. Thus, it is believed that the Serco first became aware of the makeshift Itani armada when it was close enough to be visible to the naked eye. The monks were the closest, in their small, light aerobatic ships. But it was the inimitable mass of ships behind the monks that would truly have drawn the eye. Finally numbering over four thousand individual spacecraft, the vast cloud would truly have made an impressive sight. Among them, a pair of Divinian heavy transports, each over six thousand meters in length, which had left their positions orbiting Eo's moon to join the rescue effort. Together, their mass alone likely blotted out the sun, a pair of menacing goliaths of a scale never imagined by the Serco, surrounded by a cloud of ships so numerous that they filled half the sky. This vision proved too much for the Serco, who turned and fled for the wormhole.

The Itani did not pursue. They knew how fortunate they were that the Serco had retreated before their toothless wolfpack. The bow section of the Abbot's transport was recovered largely intact, with all members of the Abbot's crew still alive. Eilon's body was also recovered and brought back to Eo for memorial. The Abbot of Itan, deeply shaken by the turn of events, declared a day of mourning and remembrance. A rumble of anger was brewing in the Order. The Itani would never be the same.

The Serco returned home, informing their commanders of the strange altercation with the Itani. The Triumvirate was understanding of their representative's actions. Some in the high command were not pleased to discover they had gained a new and unknown enemy. The Triumvirate, however, maintained the hard line of "Itani Spies" and "Invasion", and considered their actions justified. Serco Prime buzzed with activity. Rumor of war brought great excitement to the militarily-driven culture. The reports of the Itani spacecraft were disquieting to the high command, however, and they had their engineers embark on the design of a fully modern interstellar armada. After the strange battle near the Itani planet, they expected some sort of retaliation, and began to defensively arrange what forces they had.

The communications networks crackled between Itan, Eo, and Divinia. The monks of Eo were distraught over the loss of Eilon and the aggression of the Serco. Within the monastic order on all three planets there began a loud clamor for vengeance. This highly vocal minority was sudden in its appearance and distressing to the monastic leaders. The Abbot of Itan reminded the monks of the pacifistic teachings of their founder, asking that they recall the horrible folly of war that their ancestors had brought upon themselves, leading to the exodus from Terra II. At this gentle chiding, however, the clamor only became louder. Suddenly there was a scattered lot of respected monks, all over the Itani nation, calling for a fleet to be outfitted with weaponry, that the Itani might rescue forcibly their imprisoned pilots. This suggestion was not abhorrent to many, but it went against the wishes of the monastic elders, who at all costs clung to their peaceful beliefs. After a week of unusually heated argument within the Order, several hundred monks abruptly announced their secession from the Monastic Order of Eo. Such an event was unheard of, and shook the Order to its core. In a thousand years of peaceful study, no monk had ever abandoned the Order. Now, suddenly, over three hundred did exactly that and vanished from all knowledge.

Days of turmoil followed for the Itani. The Abbots of Divinia and Itan, along with the newly accepted Abbot of Eo, met together to discuss the upheaval. There was no question that the secession had been well organized and executed. Upon further study of the profiles of the monks who had left, a pattern slowly began to emerge. The monks had all known one another, had often worked closely together, and came from families who usually lived in the same communities. Brothers and sisters were sent out to question these families, but they returned only with word of abandoned villages. The secessionists and their families, perhaps over a thousand individuals, had disappeared without a trace. The scale of this mysterious conspiracy amazed the Itani. But where had they all gone? And why?

Twenty days after the Serco had destroyed Eilon's cruiser, shipping traffic began to report sightings of unusual craft making jumps from the direction of Divinia. Flat black and free of insignia or planetary color scheme, the ships were clearly Itani, but outfitted strangely and heading at high speed through the systems towards Eo. As they passed Itan they were scanned and shown to be carrying pulse and warhead-based weaponry. This news stunned the Itani leaders, but by the time vessels were scrambled to follow the unusual ships, they had left the sector and proved difficult to locate. In the thousand-year history since the settling of Itan, no serious outbreaks of violence or civic disruption had ever occurred. The Monastic leaders did not seriously believe they might attack an Itani world, but made nervous by recent events, several ships were launched from Eo to watch the wormhole area that led to Itan.

Seventeen matte black ships jumped into the Eo system. Clearly a group of small freighters and performance-built pleasure craft, all retrofitted from combat, the group quickly blew past the waiting sentries and headed for the other wormhole area at maximum speed. As they passed Eo, they broadcast this message: "We are the Order of Akan, descendents of those who remember that evil twisting of technology and nature that yielded the abomination who are the Serco. Mellowed by our years of peace, we have been recently reminded of the cost of our freedom. We will not stand by and allow the arrogant demons of mechanization to destroy that which we hold dear. We will return your pilots to you, though it may cost us our lives". Without a word more, the ships vanished from the sector, speeding to their inevitable collision with the Serco.

The obsidian fleet flashed into the Sol II system, only to find a pair of Nighthawk sentries lying in wait. The retrofitted Itani fighters made short work of the beleaguered, outclassed Serco, a thousand years of ship development proving its worth in a few minutes. While the Itani had ceased all weapon development after the first Serco-Itani war, the Order of Akan had apparently at least maintained some database of information on weapons design and manufacturing. Overall, the weaponry of the Serco was more advanced, but their ships were slow and far less maneuverable than the state-of-the-art Itani craft. Additionally, the Itani fighters contained two people, one responsible for piloting the ships, while another worked an Energy Focus to defend them. Although the abilities of the focus depended entirely on the abilities of the monk, the spacecraft were small and the shield made a big difference in the unlikely event of a Serco successfully hitting them.

After several short skirmishes, the Order of Akan closed on Serco Prime, heading for the orbiting Serco station, the extraterrestrial wing of Serco SkyCommand. As they approached, they scanned the station and noted three life forms who did not possess any of the standard Serco implants. The defending Serco threw their worst, launching all their remaining space craft and bringing a pair of newly constructed turrets to bear on their enemy. A battle blazed in the skies of Serco Prime for the next two hours, the first large interstellar conflict in the known history of mankind. Both sides took considerable casualties, but the Serco fared the worst by far. Finally, their weapons depleted and their pilots dead, they prepared for the inevitable boarding by the seven remaining Itani vessels. Aware of the location of their pilots, the Itani brought their freighter alongside the station, choosing to burn directly through the hull of the prison section. With the trio of bewildered but thankful pilots safely on the freighter, the Itani retreated to an orbit a few hundred miles higher than the station, and launched two final parting gifts. A brace of small, 20-kiloton nuclear weapons raced to meet the Serco. The first struck the station, disintegrating the light orbital platform and the four hundred people onboard. The second penetrated the atmosphere and detonated a few hundred meters above SkyCommand, reducing it to shattered rubble and making a radioactive wasteland of the immediate area. Approximately ten thousand people were employed by SkyCommand at that time.

Without a word of transmission, the tiny armada vanished into the space from whence they came.

The three Itani pilots returned home to Eo with burdensome tidings. Arriving in a small shuttle given them by the Order of Akan, they had little to tell of their rescuers, but much to report on their captors. The midnight fleet had vanished immediately after launching their shuttle, and had not returned through the wormholes to Divinia (which were now closely monitored). News of Itani victory over the Serco was met with both horror and jubilation. Everyone was delighted with the return of the pilots. Many were happy to have decidedly defeated the Serco in an interstellar battle, and in some measure believed that justice had been served for the murder of Eilon. Most were aghast at the use of nuclear weaponry and the estimated casualties from the SkyCommand attack. Few, however, grimly recognized the ultimate truth of the attack. The most arrogant of peoples had received a bloody nose and a bruised ego. A nation so militaristically centered, even if technologically stagnant, would never forgive such a transgression. They would be coming. War with the Serco had begun.

For the moment, however, the attention of the Monastic Order of Eo was focused inward. Studies of the mysterious "Order of Akan" had begun to bear fruit. Among the more incredible aspects of the Order's appearance was it's sudden and impressive use of weaponry. No weapons of those types had been manufactured in a millennium, there were few records of their construction even known to exist. It was doubtful that the splinter group had created all their weapons, including at least two thermonuclear devices, in only a week's time. Not impossible, but still improbable. The footage of the black fleet revealed considerable thought put into their design and modification; this had been no one-week retrofit. If the ships had been in development for longer, what did this imply? Perhaps the Order of Akan had been preparing for war for some time? War with whom? They had shown no signs of aggression towards the Itani

Then another subtle fact appeared. Of the initial groundswell of support for exploration of the Sol II sector and subsequent possible contact with the Serco, ninety percent of the supportive messages had come from now-defected members of the splinter group. Even their selection of the name "The Order of Akan" was itself unusual. Why name yourselves after a character so vilified in modern Itani history that his very name is spoken with distaste? Eventually a theory emerged. A small core of people onboard the original Ark had sworn vengeance against the Serco, even as they prepared to abandon their planet. Perhaps a few among them were former henchmen of the fallen Akan, and wished that his legacy continue. After the settling of Itan, this group lived on in secret, teaching separate histories and building exclusive communities. Hundreds of years of peace no doubt calmed their desire for vengeance, and for a time their oaths slept. Until, a catalyzing event occurred that spurred the group to suddenly reassert itself and push for new Itani-Serco contact. The nature of this event, as well as many aspects of this theory, were pure conjecture. Still, enough of the conjecture rang true to cause widespread discussion. What motivated the strange Order of Akan, where had they gone, and when would they return?

After the news of the nuclear attack on Serco SkyCommand, a small number of respected Itani monks began recommending the development of defensive weaponry. This did not sit well with many officials of the Order of Eo, calling it an abandonment of the pacifistic teachings for which they stand. "Would you have us become destructive monsters, like the so-called Order of Akan?" they asked. After a heated discussion that followed, it was eventually decided that time would be put into the necessary research, but that no such weaponry would be constructed until "the need is demonstrated." A few muttered that the need would not be fully demonstrated until the Serco rained death upon their heads, and cast worried looks at the sky.