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【Vision of an Alternate Future】

Arc 1: Ascendance

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【VAF】Chapter║: 2 ─ Chronology

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By 11-10-2028 there had been more than 3 years of peace between the HOD and Crystalorb, and the peace was holding. Crystalans and Hodians were working together to maintain the peace, and there was new hope that the two most powerful factions of super-powered humans would no longer destabilize the world with their conflicts. The term Hybrid Human was use to refer to all super-powered humans, but Crystalans and Hodians didn't consider themselves Hybrids.

The end of the war between Crystalans and Hodians allowed Hybrids the freedom to determine their own destiny, and they would no longer have to walk a tight rope between the two powers. For the first time Hybrids could freely associate with Crystalans or Hodians without fear of a violent retribution from the other. However the Hybrids still faced financial or economic consequences for their association with Crystalans or Hodians.

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Even as the peace between the Hodians and Crystalans began to take root the forces of Chaos were already planting the seeds of conflict. The absence of the Spirit Stone had left a vacuum in the spiritual orientation of Crystalans, and some Crystalans had embraced the violent tendencies more readily than others. In fact there were those who loved the fighting, those who enjoyed the killing, welcomed the chaos.

By embracing the violent tendencies they unwittingly opened their hearts to Negative Psionic Energy, and this created a thirst for power, which inevitably creates more chaos. This small group of Crystalans did not want to stop the war with the HOD, and when Crystalorb and the HOD reached a ceasefire 9 Vangleads, 13 Vanguards and their 28 Children secretly left Crystalorb to pursue what they were convinced was their rightful vengeance on the HOD.

Once the 11 couples and their 28 Children left Crystalorb they called themselves The Circle, with individuals being called Circleans, and because the Circle freed themselves from the obligations of the Crystalorb Charter they were now like the HOD free to do as they pleased. The 9 Vangleads formed the Inner Circle, the next level would consist of 18 members, the next level would consist of 36 members, and the next level would consist of twice the members of the previous level.

Each level would vote on which of their members advanced to the next level. The highest authority of the Circle would be the Inner Circle. Members of the Inner Circle are called Eldons, and the next level of Circlean Authority are the Centinels. The Circlean Centinels are the opposite of Crystalorb's Crystal Guardians, and they are the most powerful warriors of The Circle. The Centurions form the next levels of Circleans, and they take their instructions from Circlean Centinels; the Centinels take their instructions from Eldons.

The Circle did not have any set of rules from the start, but they hoped to develop their rules in due course. The Circle was born out of an intense hatred for the HOD, but as is always the case with negativity the hatred would eventually extends to the rest of the human race.

It started with a strong dislike for normal humans who worked for the HOD, but soon the Circle began to see themselves as more than human, and therefore justified in their dislike for what they call primitive humans. The Circleans saw themselves as post-humans, equalled only by other Crystalans, and even though they had left Crystalorb they maintained their Crystalan identity.

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On 22-12-2029 a second outbreak of the deadly influenza virus occurred, but this time the outbreak was isolated to ADA countries. It was this outbreak of influenza that sparked what would later be referred to as "The Third African Dark Age". The first casualties were recorded in the DRC, and it was later determined that the DRC was the likely candidate for the source of the outbreak.

Truck drivers transporting minerals from the DRC carried the virus to the rest of the ADA countries. Before long the entire continent was facing a massive pandemic with hundreds of millions infected. African governments had not learned the lessons from the last outbreak; consequently they were once again caught unprepared. As their defence budgets ballooned their health infrastructure was slowly deteriorating.

When the death toll reached 100 million Governments began to collapse. The first to fall was the Government of Cameroon, and when other Governments saw the collapse the of Cameroon authority they began to think of ways to shift the blame for the disaster. The finger of blame began to shift outwards, but because they desperately needed medical supplies from the rest of the world so they did not wish to anger external nations therefore the finger of blame found other Africans a more plausible target.

Tensions between neighbouring African Nations began to rise, and quickly accusations were followed by counter-accusations. Soon threats were uttered by Presidents, and their opposite numbers on the other side of the border responded in kind. Escalation led to the pointing of guns, and that was soon replaced by the pointing of long range assault weapons that had previously been supplied by the South African Federation of City States.

The United Nations worked tirelessly to calm the tensions as African Nations began to form power blocks against each other, but there were some on the United Nations security Council who were content to let the African Nations fight it out, to that end the powerful interests on the United Nations security Council blocked every attempt by the United Nations to have a meaningful intervention in the developing Africa crises.

The South African population was putting pressure on the South African Government to intervene before it was too late, and there were daily protests demanding that the South African Government send a peace keeping force to prevent the influenza devastated African Countries from adding more carnage by starting a senseless war. However the South African Government promptly declared that they had insufficient capacity to meet the demands of the protestors.

The South African Government was keenly aware that the posturing African Nations were armed to the teeth with some of the most advance weaponry on Earth. The South African Federal Executive Council was not about to be drawn into ethnic and historical squabbles that had no end in sight. Self preservation became the main concern, and the fact that the African Nations were heavily armed prevented other Defence Alliances from intervening.

All the players knew that any peace keeping force would likely suffer heavy casualties in the event of an all out war. Crystalorb expressed its firm support for the South African Federation of City States and assured the South African Government of Crystalorb's assistance in the event of an attack on the country, but Crystalorb also expressed reservations about getting involved in a wider conflict stating that "There is no peace to keep!".

The South African Government and Crystalorb decided to activate the 12 member rescue teams to protect civilians in the expected wars. The new Gallant 12 or G12 teams consisted of: 3 Hybrids, 3 Hodians, 3 Crystalans and 3 Hybrids from the South African Military super soldier program. The team was nothing more than a token, a way for the four parties to absolve themselves of responsibility, a way for them to say that they tried.

A small scale skirmish quickly escalated into all out war. The dogs of war were let loose, and as Nations fought their populations continued to be ravaged by the influenza pandemic. Continental hopelessness fuelled the war, and soon people believed that they only had two choices; die from the influenza or die by the gun. Many reached the logical conclusion that if they were going to die anyway, they might as well take their enemies with them.

The South African Government had contained the influenza pandemic and the casualties were minimal compared to other African Countries, but the Government was growing increasingly concerned about the number of refugees that were pouring into South African borders. The global community was vocal in blaming South Africa for the wars in Africa. The global community condemned the South African Federation of City States for supplying unstable regions with advanced weaponry.

The global community had found their villain in the situation, and it was the South African Federation of City States. Once again the South African Government faced Isolation on a global scale, and were it not for the fact that the South African economy was so critical to the global economy the South African Government would have surely faced economic sanctions. However the world needed the South Africans to continue to produce refined metals, advanced robotics, Super computers, Industrial gases, Crystal Based Betteries and other Crystal Based Technological products.

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After five years of fighting there was no end in sight, no clear victor and the combined death toll from the influenza pandemic and the subsequent wars had risen to 275 million. International pressure was mounting for the South African Government to take action, and with more than 30 million refugees within South African borders internal pressure was also increasing, the South African Government was becoming nervous.

The South African Federal Parliament passed resolution 2197 Authorizing the Federal Executive Council to use section 215 of the Federal Constitution of the South African Federation of City States, and under the Federal Security act of 2024 that allowed the South African Federation to use the Federal Security Forces to intervene in a war that involved any nation that had a mutual defence treaty with the South African Federation. The South African Government secured a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing South African intervention.

The Generals and Admirals of the South African Federal Security Forces immediately told the Federal Executive Council that they would need the new ArmsCorp Airborne Cruiser to support any operations the country undertook. At the time there were only 5 ArmsCorp Airborne Cruisers, and their battle readiness was not optimal. It would take 6 months before the ArmsCorp Airborne Cruisers would be ready for battle.

The Federal Executive Council requested for Crystalorb ships to escort the ArmsCorp Airborne Cruiser because their crews had such little training. Crystalorb agreed to send the Gaurdius and the Jalen as the lead ships in the two BattleGroup formations. The Federal Executive Council decided to start their peacekeeping campaign with a bold gesture as a show of force, and that meant attacking the most powerful of the feuding groups.

Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Gabon, Liberia and Ivory Coast had formed a power block, and they were the most capable. The South African Federal Security Forces attacked just after 01H00 and by 21H00 nearly all the Nigerian military instillations had been destroyed. In the next weeks the BattleGroups proceeded to all advanced military instillations of the feuding nations, and once the technical infrastructure was destroyed the leaders were ready to start talking.

Crystalorb began to notice a paradigm in the South African Government’s approach. What was once a peace keeping mission was now evolving into something else, and it seemed as if the South African Military objectives had changed. The South African Government demanded that the other African Countries surrender to South African Authority, but this was not in line with original Military objectives.

The South African Federal Security Forces prepared a 1.5 million man occupation force that would enforce the terms of surrender. When the Crystalorb Expeditionary Recognisance took a closer look at the occupation force they realised that the force was supported by a 200000 strong Hodian contingent that had been sent in advance to pacify the population in the target countries. The Hodians were sent to squash any resistance to South African occupation.

Hodian methods were not exactly passive, and they had a habit of knocking aside any opposition by violent means. The South African Government was working with both the HOD and the Crystalans. Crystalorb authorities were enraged to discover that they had been part of a Hodian conspiracy to unite Africa under one government. When the Crystalorb Leadership met with the Hodian Leadership they were amazed to discover that the South African Government were the ones who approached the HOD for assistance.

Crystalorb responded by selling CVI's 50% holding in ArmsCorp back to the South African Government at 20% below market value thereby ending their direct military association with the South African Government. From then onwards the South African Government would no longer get direct access to Crystalorb technology, and the Crystalorb Leadership would determine any technology transfers that takes place.

The South African Government knew that Crystalorb would never be part of any campaign to violently bring Africa under one Government, and so the hawkish South African Government turned to the HOD for assistance. The Hodian High Council agreed to give the South African Government ground support, and that meant that the HOD would go in and remove any opposition to South African Government objectives.

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Following the occupation of the Countries the South African Government hastily arranged for national referendums in the occupied countries, and the populous were given a simple choice "Join a single African Government? Yes or No" The opposition did not have time to mobilize their opinion, and the general population agreed to the measure without knowing about the alternatives.

The International community declared the Vote to be fundamentally flawed, and therefore refused to recognize the results as legitimate, but the South African Government was unfazed by their critics, and the South African Federal Parliament quickly passed legislation changing the country's name to African Federation of City States. It then became clear to everyone that they intended to integrate the other countries by absorbing them into the African Federation of City States.

The people of Africa quickly found themselves under one Government, and because the countries were absorbed City by City people flocked to cities to be part of the new African project, but there were still those who longed for proper discussions about integration. The Federal Executive Council borrowed heavily to finance the reconstruction of the Continent, and it was this massive spending that convinced many that a united Government was best for everyone.

With Hodian assistance the Federal Executive Council secured $3 Trillion in reconstruction loans, but they could not build fast enough, and so once again the Federal Executive Council turned to Crystalorb for help. The Federal Parliament passed legislation that authorized a 10 year suspension of the bill that prevented Government spending from distorting the free market; the bill that limited Government procurement to only directly participate in the defence Sector.

Crystalorb agreed to help, and for the first time in generations Crystalorb advanced technology was used openly to speed up service delivery. Crystalorb's advanced robotics was used to build Schools, Roads, Houses, Hospitals, Police Stations, etc. Crystal Valley Industries had a clear advantage over other bidders, and because of their advanced technology they could build ten times faster at 60% the cost of their closest competitor.

Crystal Valley Industries received Hundreds of Billions of Rands from Government construction contracts and that seemed to be enough to repair the Government's relationship with Crystalorb. With time Crystalorb got used to the fact the Government had a right to a relationship with the HOD. The Government had found a gentle balance between the two and it was working.

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By the time Government procurement was once again limited Crystal Valley Industries was ready to revolutionise the world and provide the cheapest energy the world had ever seen. Naole's 112th design had finally produced a working Nuclear Fusion Reactor. The first generation Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor could produce 150 Gigajoules per second. The Crystalorb Council of Elders named the Reactor the Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor 〘OCNR〙. In the Nuclear Fusion Reactor Crystalorb had found all the energy they would ever need. Crystalorb could now conduct research in fields that were once thought as unfeasible.

At the heart of Crystalorb's progress was the unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and through the Gallant 12 or G12 Crystalorb would continue to intervene where necessary, but the ultimate objectives of Crystalorb became to spread the light of knowledge. The hope was that knowledge would change the world for the better, and that humanity would one day learn how to be a positive force in the Universe.

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Even as Crystalorb made technological and social progress there was a storm brewing, and in the aftermath of the wars that were referred to as The Third African Dark Age another force was rising from the Valley of Death. From the chaos of war and death a new power was rising to Challenge the Hybrids, Crystalans and Hodians for dominance in the world. This new power was preparing themselves to change the world forever.

While Hybrids and Hodians were unaware of the danger posed by the rising power Crystalans were very aware of the existence of The Circle, and even though the Crystalans could not find the Circleans they knew that The Circle was out there, watching, waiting, planning. Crystalorb assumed that Circlean activity would be focused against the HOD, and since there was very little information about Circleans plans Crystalorb had little to go on.

The tensions with the African Federal Government had blinded the Crystalans, and because Circleans are Crystalans they knew how to shield themselves from the power of the Spirit Stone. Negative Psionic Energy is the only way to shield Circleans from the power of the Spirit Stone, and to acquire the Negative Psionic Energy the Circleans needed Hodian allies., but since the initial plan was to destroy the HOD there weren't that many Hodians willing to ally themselves with Circleans.

However Circleans found a few disgruntled Hodians who had reason to hate the Hodian leadership, and with their aid the Circleans were able to access Negative Psionic Energy. By embracing Negative Psionic Energy the Circleans embraced the energy of Chaos, which inevitably creates more Chaos. The Circleans quickly started feeling a thirst for power, and that led to an increase in violent tendencies.

The original 9 Vangleads, 13 Vanguards, their 28 Children and their new Hodian allies were convinced of their rightful vengeance on the HOD. Having left Crystalorb they became the new Circleans, freed from the obligations of the Crystalorb Charter they were now like the HOD, and free to do as they pleased.

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The addictive nature of Negative Psionic Energy caught Circleans by surprise, and once they tasted Negative Psionic Energy they wanted more. The addiction to Negative Psionic Energy propelled Circleans into behaviours they had never considered before, and that led to a change in their objectives, a change that they could have never foreseen. The Circleans began to review their original intensions, and take a new direction, a direction that would put them in direct conflict with Crystalorb.

Prolonged contact with Negative Psionic Energy was changing the Circleans, and in particular their Chest Crystals. The once Clear Chest Crystals were slowly turning Grey, and this signified the birth of the Grey Chest Crystal. The birth of the Grey Chest Crystal brought with it the emergence of the birth of the Grey Crystal Armour, and the prospect of the Grey Guardian Armour.

However since none of the Circleans had come from the Crystalorb Research Division they lacked the technical know-how to develop the Grey Guardian Armour. To solve their technological problems Circleans decided to recruit one of Crystalorb's Research Scientists, and by recruit the Circleans meant that they would expose a Crystalan to large amounts of Negative Psionic Energy, thus turning a Crystalan into a Circlean.

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At some point the Circleans began to see normal humans as obsolete, and the Crystalan respect for sapient life was replaced by a desire to assert dominance on what the Circleans saw as inferior beings. As the Circleans capabilities grew they began to eliminate individuals who pose a threat to what they perceived as the eventual Rise of the Circleans. Crystalan Ideology had been perverted, and the Circleans new emulated the very Hodians the sought to destroy.

As Circlean killings escalated it brought them into conflict with Crystalorb and the HOD. The skirmishes quickly escalated into all out war as the Circleans unleashed their bloody campaign against normal humans. The Circleans destabilized entire nations, caused mass starvation in world regions, assassinated leaders and mass murders. The battles that ensued would be known as the Circlean Wars.

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Following the development of the Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor 〘OCNR〙, on 02-12-2039 the first generation Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor went online producing 150 Gigajoules per second; Crystal Valley Industries requested the development of a larger Fusion Reactor. Crystal Valley Industries had been expanding their gas producing capacity in anticipation of a breakthrough in Fusion Reactor technology and 150 Gigajoules per second was inadequate to meet the projected demand.

The Council of Elders responded by requesting the Spirit Stone to create the 990 meter diameter fourth and fifth level of Hemispheres to accommodate the Advanced Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor 〘OCNR〙 under development by the Crystalorb Research Division. The Spirit Stone also built the housing for the large Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor in 18 of the new 990 meter diameter fourth and fifth level of Hemispheres.

Because the designs of the new reactor were not complete the Spirit Stone simply produced a larger version of the operational Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor, but because the reactors were larger than they were designed for, the fusion could not be sustained in the large reactors. However the Crystalorb Research Division was already developing solutions for the 18 Large or Advanced Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor.

On 03-05-2043 the first of the 18 Advanced Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactors became operational producing 8000 Gigajoules per second, and because the Crystalorb Research Division continued to modify the other Advanced Fusion Reactors they reached 25000 Gigajoules per second by 18-09-2045 when the last of the 18 Advanced Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor came online.

By 02-12-2049 Crystalorb was producing 450000 Gigajoules/sec from the 18 Fusion Reactors and the 2 Nuclear Fission Reactors had been decommissioned and replaced by the Next generation Advanced Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion housed in a 1.15 km diameter sixth level of Hemispheres and the first of the next generation came online on 22-12-2049. Each of the next generation Advanced Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactors produced 50000 Gigajoules/sec 〘50Terajoules/sec〙.

The energy produced by Crystalorb made Crystal Valley Industries the largest supplier of energy in the world, and the hydrogen produced by Crystal Valley Industries powered 25% of the world’s cars, that was 68% of the world's Fuel cell car market. The rest of the hydrogen went into the production of electricity, and as Crystalorb increased its energy output it lowered the cost of energy in the international markets.

In the aftermath of the Circlean Wars Crystal Valley Industries became the world's largest producer of food; producing some 30% of the world's food. About 42% of the energy available to Crystal Valley Industries from Crystalorb was dedicated to the production of food through advanced Hydroponics and farming 〘Including fish and marine farming〙. The rapidly increasing population of the African Federation of City States meant that Crystal Valley Industries was under enormous pressure to produce more food more cheaply.

On 04-04-2055 the first commercial US Nuclear Fusion Reactor came online producing 700 Gigajoules/sec of electricity using advanced Hodian plasma technology. Crystal Valley Industries knew that it was only a matter of time before they faced immense competition in the energy sector, but the Crystalorb Leadership also knew that it would be decades before anyone in the world could build a Fusion Reactor capable of producing the energy levels that Crystalorb Fusion Reactors were producing.

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While the world worked on improving their Fusion Reactor technology Crystalorb increased the energy output of the Fusion Reactors on the Crystalorb ships to 25000 Gigajoules/sec, but because of the size of the miniaturized ship based Fusion Reactors the size of the ships had to be increased to 1800 meters in length and 1000 meters maximum width. The increase in size was to accommodate the Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor. The Crystalorb Ships were designed to require Crystal Armoured individuals as keys to the weapon systems, and without Crystal Armour the Crystalorb Ship can not Fire.

The ship based Fusion Reactors were specifically designed for the Crystalorb's Ships, but the technology learnt was later applied to the other Crystalorb Fusion Reactors and the result was 18 Medium Reactors producing 75000 Gigajoules/sec each, and 20 Large Reactors producing 95000 Gigajoules/sec. The total energy output had reached 3250000 Gigajoules/sec 〘3250Terajoules/sec〙.

This production of massive amounts of energy fuelled the worlds hunger for energy, and the demand for Crystal Based Betteries increased in correlation to the corresponding increases in energy use. Following the space shuttle Colombia's November 9th 2047 Manned landing on Mars NASA was once again at the heart of space technological development. The Colombia II was the first of the next generation of space Ships, and was powered by a 9 Gigawatts Advanced Nuclear Fission Reactor.

NASA was on a roll, and advances in global technology were energizing the development of new space technology. On 09-07-2057 and American unmanned ship the Jupiter 7 on a mission to Ganymede collided with an object as it decelerated to enter orbit around Jupiter. The Jupiter 7 was the first NASA space vessel to incorporate Hodian built Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Propulsion System also known as Spatial Compression Technology or Spatial warping Technology 〘Built for NASA by Ralefa Holdings〙.

Because of its size the impact did not destroy Jupiter 7, but merely crippled it, leaving only one of the five engines operational. Through careful manoeuvring Jupiter 7 was guided back to earth orbit, and on 14-09-2058 the NASA space shuttle Truman recovered the damaged Jupiter 7 and returned it to earth. The NASA scientists were eager to study the Jupiter 7 in an effort to build better ships capable of withstanding solar particle impacts.

When the NASA scientist examined Jupiter 7 they found that the 50cm diameter spherical object that impacted it was still imbedded in it, and upon closer examination the NASA scientists discovered that the object was not a meteor as had previously been thought, but was in fact a forged or artificial material. The US president quickly Classified all the relevant information associated with the object and the international media was told that the object that collided with the Jupiter 7 was a meteor and had been destroyed by the impact with Jupiter 7.

NASA quickly put together a large team of its best minds, drawing in people from American Universities, the American Military, American Industry and the best Research Scientists from the American Division of Ralefa Holdings. The purpose of the team was to study and analyse the artefact. The team included Mathematicians, Physicist, Astrologists, Cosmologists, Computer scientists, archaeologists, linguists, etc.

When they removed the object from Jupiter 7 they collected a sample from the object and dated the object to a little over 1200 years old. Further examination showed that the object encased another object inside it. When the Scientists tried to remove the outer shell they discovered the alloy was the hardest material on record, 100 times harder than the best human alloy, and the only thing that compared was Crystalorb's Crystal Armour Crystals.

Using advanced Hodian particle beams the Scientists were able to cut into the outer shell, and when the outer shell was cut an inorganic fluid of unknown origin sprayed out of the object indicating that it had been kept at high pressure. With the fluid out of the object the Scientists proceeded to remove the rest of the outer shell to reveal a spherical Crystal. The Hodians who were part of the team immediately recognized the spherical Crystal because it looked a lot like a Crystalorb Crystal.

Closer examination revealed that the spherical Crystal was similar to Crystalorb data storage Crystals, and so the Research Scientists concluded that the spherical Crystal was an organic Crystal hard drive and that the object was now decidedly dead, but they also concluded that the information contained in the spherical Crystal was still intact. Efforts to read or connect the spherical Crystal to their computers failed, and the Research Scientists estimated that it could take up to 100 years to develop the technology to interface with the spherical Crystal.

The 2000 Research Scientists gathered at the underground research facility in New Mexico to discuss their progress. Also present was the Hodian head of Research Dr James Ralefa PhD; a particle Physicist by training. The Head of the research project Dr Daniel Brooks 〘Nickname Dan〙 chaired the council of 2000 Research Scientists as they discussed the next step in their attempt to discover the vast knowledge contained in the spherical Crystal.

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After long and heated discussions there were still no answers forthcoming, and the Research Scientists had hit a wall. The Hodians had already begun to speculate that there was a link between Hodian and Crystalan Crystals and the spherical Crystal object from space. The Hodians believed that after two years of zero progress perhaps it was time to bring in the Crystalans.

Dr James Ralefa addresses the gathered project council of 2000 Research Scientists of 17-03-2060

James : " We've been at this for 18 months now, and we've made very little progress! Now we can continue to thump our heads against the wall or we can ask for help!"

Dan : " What are you talking about?"

James : " This technology is way too advanced for any of us! We need access to the best minds and the best technology on the planet, and that means Crystalorb."

Dan : " This is an American Project! Funded by the office of the President of the United States! The President has made it clear that this must be exclusively American!"

James : " The only people who use the Crystal technology that is even remotely similar to the spherical Crystal object from space are the Crystalans. That is an undeniable fact! They may be the only ones who can unlock the secrets of the artefact!" James notices a look of disapproval on Dan's face "The Crystalans produce 10% of the world’s energy, that’s 16530Terajoules/sec! At 0.95 on the Interpolated and Extrapolated Kardashev Scale Humanity is on the eve of becoming a Type 1 Civilisation. We are 200000 years old and the ascendance to a Type 1 Civilisation will be the crowning achievement of our species, and a large component of the energy we consume to reach that status is produced by Crystalorb. They operate Nuclear Fusion Reactors that are fifty times more efficient than the most advanced Hodian Nuclear Fusion Reactors. The world thinks that the Hodian Nuclear Fusion Reactors are the most advanced, they are clueless to the Crystalorb's potential. The Crystalans are technology assimilators; they can produce a Crystal Based replica of almost any product provided they have the requisite materials. Their Crystal Based technology makes them the perfect people to unlock the spherical Crystal artefact."

Dan : " It's been our experience that the Crystalans are unpredictable. They answer to only themselves! And they are aligned to the African Federation! Because of ATO's continuing military friction with the African Federation the president is unlikely to support any Crystalorb involvement."

James : " Nevertheless we can't proceed without them!"

Dan : " What about a limited involvement?"

James : " What do you mean?"

Dan : " Suppose we took a small fragment of the spherical Crystal artefact, and allowed them to study it on the promise that they conduct the research at our facility and therefore giving us access to any data they discover."

James : " They are unlikely to agree to work in your facility because of the secretive nature of their technology, but might be willing to work with the Hodian researchers at Hodian facilities in Africa like they did when we jointly developed a vaccine against the deadly Influenza Virus that plagued Africa."

Dan : " I will take this proposal to the President."

James : " And with luck we can get a positive result."

Dan : " With luck."

Following the conference Dr Dan Brooks took the proposal to the President of the United States, and fortunately the US Government was eager to develop advanced technology that could equal that of the African Federation. With US Government approval NASA collected a 100 cubic millimetre fragment of the spherical Crystal Artefact and handed it to the Hodians. The Hodians then contacted Crystalorb and told the Crystalans they may have found a fragment of the original Crystal that infected Ralefa and Lesedi.

The Hodians invited the Crystalans to help examine the fragment and share in the research of the origins of both their peoples. Crystalorb jumped at the possibility of discovering the true source of their Chest Crystal, and to that end Crystalorb sent 2 Guardian Armoured Research Vangleads 〘Dr Ralen Olen PhD and Dr Raole Olen PhD〙 along with the Indigo Class Ship the Crimson. The Crimson and its sister ships Tuo and Scarlet were all offspring of Indigo, but the Scarlet was seeded by Canala.

The Crimson and the Tuo were already pregnant with the next generation of Indigo Class Ships after being seeded by Raole and Ralen's children. When the Crystalorb Research Scientists arrived at the Hodian Research facility in Cape Town they immediately started work on the fragment of the spherical Crystal Artefact. The Hodians told the Crystalorb Research Scientists all that had been tried, and this saved time as the Crystalorb Scientists knew what was next.

The Crystalorb Research Scientists took a different approach, and instead of trying to connect the artefact to a computer the Crystalorb Scientists decided to try and read the information directly from the artefact. In order to discover the information in the artefact Crystalorb Research Scientists used low energy Particle Beams and Photon Beams in a number of configurations in order to scan the artefact.

Since the Crystalorb Research Scientists were already familiar with how information is stored on Crystals they knew where to look, and the powerful computational abilities of the Artificial Intelligence Organism on the ship they could then decipher the information. Once all the probable data configuration had been detected the Crystalorb Research Scientists then proceeded to try to organize and determine the nature of the information contained in the fragment of the spherical Crystal Artefact.

The Crystalorb Research Scientists concluded that the fragment of the spherical Crystal Artefact contained 2 terabytes of data, but because the artefact was incomplete they could not decipher the language the information was stored in. However the Crystalorb Research Scientists pointed out to the Hodians that they were able to detect the language of mathematics in some of the data they recovered from the artefact Fragment. The Crystalorb Scientists neglected to inform the Hodians that part of information had to do with a Mathematical explanation of Quantum Field Theory.

The Hodians were happy with the results, the Crystalans had shown them the way to unlock the secrets of the spherical Crystal Artefact, and when the Hodian Research Scientists returned to the USA they explained the methods to the rest of the top Secret NASA team. In the years that followed the NASA Research team made significant breakthroughs in understanding the massive information contained in the spherical Crystal Artefact.

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On 27-06-2063 the International Energy Agency 〘IEA〙 proudly declared that Earth was now a Type 1 Civilisation. At slightly more than 175 Pettajoules/sec, Humans were generating more energy than that available on earth. To mark the occasion the President of the United States of America unveiled the 350 meter Javelin Class Destroyer; the first fully equipped American built Space Capable Airborne Warship to include a miniaturised 200 Gigajoules/sec Nuclear Fusion Reactor.

The Javelin Class Destroyer was built along the line of the other Space capable ships in development, and that meant that the ship was built like a submarine. The Javelin Class Destroyer did not have windows like most Airships, and like submarines it was designed to be stealthy and lethal. To view outside the ship one had to rely on the ship's electronics and periscopes.

The Javelin incorporated advanced Hodian built weaponry, and it included the Hodian built Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Propulsion System. The Javelin was comparable to the 300 meter African Federation ArmsCorp Airborne Cruiser, but went further because the ArmsCorp Airborne Cruiser had been in service for decades, proving itself in several African conflicts/wars of 2030. With the African Federal Security Force's fleet of 25 ArmsCorp Airborne Cruisers aging ArmsCorp was developing a next generation Nuclear Fusion powered space capable ArmsCorp Airborne Cruiser.

Budget concerns had delayed the full scale development of a technological equivalent of an Olen Crystalorb Nuclear Fusion Reactor, and Crystalorb was unwilling to sell Crystal Fusion Reactors to the Federal African Government. The Crystalorb General Council was adamant that because of the Federal Executive Council's relationship with the HOD they could no longer be trusted with advanced Crystalorb technology.

Of the 7 major Earth Alliances the African Federation of City States was the only one without a commercial Nuclear Fusion Reactor, and in their desperation they turned to Ralefa Holdings for help in the development of commercial Nuclear Fusion Reactors similar to those in the Asian Defence Consortium, the Pacific Defence Group, the Indian Ocean Alliance, the Northern Alliance, the Islamic Alliance and the Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Incidentally all those Fusion Reactors were based on Hodian technology, and each country paid a premium to gain access to Hodian Nuclear Fusion Reactor Technology.

The actions of the Federal African Government further damaged relations with Crystalorb. The relations had previously been weakened by the Federal Executive Council's cooperation with the HOD during the African wars of 2030, and since then Crystalorb had limited technology transfer to existing projects. The African Federal Security Forces could no longer draw on advanced Crystalorb technology for their military development.

To the Crystalorb Leadership any technological involvement with the HOD held the risk of that technology ending up on global markets in the form of weapons. What the Crystalorb Leadership did not know was that they had given the HOD access to the most advanced technology on earth, and with advances the NASA Research team made in reading the spherical Crystal Artefact the HOD gained knowledge that Crystalorb did not possess.

The spherical Crystal Artefact revealed a thousand year old secret about advanced communication methods that would change the world forever. Though most of the information in the spherical Crystal Artefact was encrypted and required a specific device to read it, the NASA Research team was able to read what they believed were personal journals of what was later determined to be a scientist.

Using the latest supercomputer narrow AI the NASA Research team translated the journal, and the information led to the translation of star charts and other valuable communication information. Once the NASA Research team determined what a particular word meant they could then look for any reference to the word in the rest of the data. References to communications revealed what the Artefact described as Subspace Communications.

An Artefact record search of the term Subspace Communications led to the discovery of the possibility of Faster that Light Interstellar Communications. Subsequent references pointed to a tunnel being forged through the fabric of space to what the spherical Crystal Artefact referred to as Nth Space 〘Also known as Nth Dimensional Hyperspace〙. The spherical Crystal Artefact described the process required to Forge a Tunnel through the fabric of space or Wormhole, and indicated that a message sent through two such tunnels would travel faster than through normal space over long distances.

The spherical Crystal Artefact Indicated that to Forge a 1 nanometre diameter Tunnel through the fabric of space to Nth Space requires 1000 Petajoules of energy, and to sustain the 1 nanometre diameter Tunnel through the fabric of space to Nth Space requires 10000 joules/sec energy divided into 1〙 A Photon Particle Beam, 2〙 A Neutron Particle Beam, 3〙 A Proton Particle Beam, 4〙 An Electron Particle Beam, 5〙 A Negative Graviton Field and 6〙 A Positron Particle Beam and other Antiparticle Beams. The technology seemed far beyond the capabilities of the NASA Research team, and required the creation of Zero Mass Point, but fortunately the spherical Crystal Artefact contained information on how to build such devices.

Since the schematics on the spherical Crystal Artefact were encrypted the NASA Research team had to design and build their own devices. However the NASA Research team was proving equal to the task, and their continuing progress was proving their resolve. On the other side of the world the Crystalorb Research Division were also working in the area of Quantum Field Theory, but the Crystalans were finding the Research work more difficult than they expected.

The Crystalorb Research Division was not exactly a home for Theoretical work, but an Engineering environment, and as such the Crystalorb Scientists were more concerned with Applied Sciences than Theoretical work. The information the Crystalorb Scientists recovered from the Crystal Artefact fragment had sparked an interest in Theoretical Physics, and so the Crystalorb Research Division sought the assistance of Crystal Valley City University.

The Crystalorb Research Division drew on the Theoretical knowledge of the academics of Crystal Valley City University, and with their help they could make sense of the possible applications of the Theoretical work. The Crystalorb Research Division had been divided into six sub-Divisions, and each Sub-Division was headed by a Deputy Research Guardian. Naole had refused the position of Research Guardian, instead electing to actively continue his research into advanced Nuclear Fusion, particularly advanced CNO Reactors.

The sub-Divisions of the Crystalorb Research Division were; 1〙 Biology and Medical Research, 2〙 Nuclear Research, 3〙 Weapons Development, 4〙 Product Development and Duplication, 5〙 Economic and Financial Research, 6〙 Advanced Sciences. It was the Advanced Sciences sub-Division that was responsible for understanding the information from the Crystal Fragment, but understanding incomplete data was proving difficult.

In the end the Advanced Sciences concluded that trying to find the gravity force carrier was the wrong approach, and that they would focus the work on what was observable. Their simulations indicated that if two particles of substantial matter could be isolated and observed in a closed environment, the gravity observed between the object would indeed be the consequence of warping or curving of space-time as predicted by General Relativity.

The advanced simulations pointed to how matter was curving space-time to produce gravity and its effects. The advanced simulations showed that Matter forced the P-Branes to stretch all around the Matter as the P-Branes are pulled apart, and this created potential energy in the P-Branes because they moved further from the Matter as they were being pushed together. This analogy reduced gravity to a simple concept of Push and Pull.

Therefore they observed that when two objects in space are at a significant distance apart the effects of gravity were minimal because the effect of P-Brane compression and expansion is reduced by a distance factor. This served to confirm the results of the simulations, and the fact that the simulations indicated that gravitational attraction would be strongest between the centres of gravity of the two objects served to convince the Advanced Sciences sub-Division that they were on the right track.

They deduced that like two spherical objects on a rubber sheet moving towards each other, Mass in vacuum space could be observed to behave in a way that could be defined by Newton’s third law of motion. The simulations showed that it was the reaction of P-Branes to compression that resulted in a reactive force described as Gravity, and that the Classical description of Matter as having mass and occupying space was the key.

The simulations showed that it wasn't the geometric size of matter that was important, but the mass of the matter, and the mass determined how much P-Brane compression and expansion takes place. The simulations showed that it was the distribution of what could be described as the tension force in the P-Branes that pushed two objects together. They concluded that the gravity force carriers could be calculated in terms of energy transfers between P-Branes.

When the Crystalans published their Ideas and findings with the Crystal Valley City University Science journal they were met with an onslaught of criticism from the Scientific community. Part of the problem was the fact that the research did not go into detail about the presence of Singularities like Black Holes. Some went as far as to call the Ideas "Amateurish" and "An over simplification of a fundamental scientific principle"

Few Scientist bothered to examine the data claiming that "If the assumptions are wrong then the data is premised on the wrong concepts", and even fewer bothered to check whether there were any truths to the published findings, but some examined the data and saw the validity of the arguments. The young Scientists with no real entrenched scientific positions quickly realized that the simulations would have required massive computing power.

The young Scientists knew that right or wrong the Findings were produced by a supercomputer more than ten times more capable than the fastest in the world. That became the basis for them taking a closer look at the data, and from the data they could extrapolate modelled solutions for the Singularities. This led to the development on an alternative theory for Gravitation, a theory that could perhaps be Extrapolated to fit in with other Quantum Field Theories.

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Over the next ten years new and fantastic Ideas were developed and experimented on, and with Crystal Valley Industries spending hundreds of billions of Rands in research the sky was the limit. On 17-03-2079 the NASA operated Explorer Class space ship USS Surveyor landed on Mars. The Explorer Class were the largest space vessels ever built by the USA, length at 450 meters and width at 300 meters and with its 500 staff complement it was the largest Earth made object to land on Mars.

The Explorer Class ships were designed to be interplanetary exploration ships, and they carried with them teams of scientist that could determine the possibility of planetary colonization. Once they landed the five 9000 Gigajoules/sec Nuclear Fusion Reactor began to convert the underground polar ice caps into water. Then the water was combined with the nitrogen from the atmosphere, and along with other minerals produced perfect nutrients for plants and Algae could be created.

The first generation of Explorer Class ships allowed the first Mars colony Named New Genesis to be formed. Later that year on 02-12-2079 the NASA Research team successfully Forged a 1 nanometre diameter Tunnel through the fabric of space to Nth Space, and although the world was to some extent aware of it, this was the beginning of a new Era for the people of Earth; the world would now be irreversibly changed.

Within months the NASA Research team Forged a second Tunnel through the fabric of space to Nth Space and began experimenting with Subspace communications. NASA communications specialists developed a protocol for Subspace communications, and through this laid out the rules for advanced Subspace communications. It was learnt that they could send radio waves into Nth Space through one tunnel and detect them through the other tunnel.

Calculations indicated that the Radio wave were travelling approximately p times faster than trough normal space, giving actual speed at pc 〘c = 300000000m/sec and p is a factor correlated to the Hyperspace distance between two tunnels〙. The Scientists concluded that Radio waves must also move at the Speed of light in Nth space. This seemed to suggest that the Speed of light 〘c〙 was also a theoretical speed limit in Nth Space, and matter could in theory exist in Nth space. This implied that a message could in theory take approximately 〘3.1536 X 10^12〙/p seconds to cross the Galaxy.

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On 27-08-2081 NASA announced to the world that it had developed Faster than light Subspace communications. Once the technology was patented, NASA received licence fees amounting to hundreds of Billions of Dollars from communications companies eager to exploit this new technology. Ralefa Holdings received substantial discounts on licensing fees because of their contribution to the research.

Ralefa Holdings was the first of the Global Corporations to build a working multi-Billion dollar Subspace communications network. This Network rendered communications satellites obsolete and allowed instant communications around the world. Communications companies connected to the Ralefa Holdings network for faster and cheaper communications services. The speed of download was only limited by the speed of an individual's computer.

The Boom in Communications led to an unprecedented growth in the global economy. Households purchased mini-Supercomppng AI to unpack all the information available on the internet. Some raised questions about the safety of the technology, but they were quickly dismissed as conspiracy theorists, and SETI 〘Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence〙 declared that Subspace Communications offered the best possibility for making contact with ET.

However SETI's relatively simple Subspace signal went unanswered, and unbeknownst to SETI this was deliberate. The races of the Galaxy had learned not to answer calls from strangers, and many of the younger races of the Galaxy who had answered such calls for contact were now enslaved by the Hakum or their masters the Migon. Sci-Fi writers began to explore this as the reason why SETI was getting no response. Therefore it changed all its messages to include the fact that they did not require the respondents’ location, but the Hakum had also tried this and could track a responding continuous signal to its source from Nth Space.

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By 27-01-2105 the entire Earth civilization was Producing or Consuming 32000 Petajoules/sec largely from 3731 Nuclear Fusion Reactors. Ralefa Holdings supplied 7.2% and Crystal Valley Industries supplied 12.7% of the total global energy. Crystalorb was still unwilling to share its CNO cycle Helium-4 Nuclear Fusion Reactor Technology, but they had built several advanced Nuclear Fusion Reactors for Crystal Valley Industries.

What the world did not know was that Crystalorb Consumed energy equal to 35% of the total energy consumed by the rest of the world. The Crystalorb Ships consumed 50% of the energy produced by Crystalorb, but this potential was only reached when the ships were operated at their full potential. Most of the time the ships were operated at 30% potential, and once the energy storage Crystals reached their maximum capacity the fusion process could be reduced to conserve fuel.

The Crystalorb Ship's Energy Crystals like the Chest Crystals can produce Gamma Radiation Photons and high energy Photons. This meant that the Crystals could produce Electrolaser Particle Beams using a wide range of materials including a combination of Neutrons, Protons, Antiparticles, Hydrogen atoms/Ions and Helium atoms/Ions for the resulting Particle Beams. Scientific progress had increased the range of Ions that could be used with Crystalorb's Energy Crystals for Electrolaser Particle Beam weapons.

All the 56 Adult Crystalorb Ships were fitted with Four Helium-4 Nuclear Fusion Reactors, and the 50 Juvenile ships 〘Ships between 200m and 900m in length〙 had one Helium-4 Nuclear Fusion Reactors, however the next generation of ships were born with Four miniature Helium-4 Nuclear Fusion Reactors that would only become operational once they reach sufficient age and size. The power output of each of the 4 ship based Helium-4 Nuclear Fusion Reactor produced 25 Petajoules/sec.

The Crystalans had formed an unhealthy addiction to Energy, and they were consuming an extraordinary amount of energy with no thought as to the cost. The rest of the population of Earth was no different, and the culture of consumption had reached its apex. Despite a few skirmishes between different military alliances there had been no major war on earth for almost 50 years, and military tensions were making way for economic concerns.

The last major conflict was the 2058 brief war between the Pacific Defence Group and the Northern Alliance, and that particular conflict was sparked by high value minerals located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The Circlean Wars were the other critical period in Earth history. Subsequent conflicts had been low level skirmishes involving a handful of ships resulting in minimal loss of life.

The reorganization needed for the United Nations Security Council to be more representative and the removal of the Vito power had increased confidence in the conflict resolution decisions of the Council.

The 2035 United Nations Security Council resolution officially recognized each defence alliance as a power block, and this led to the distribution of United Nations Security Council seats in a more equitable manor. The Veto has been replaced by a proportional representation with each member of the United Nations Security Council given a voting value that is related to the population of the country.

That is 1 for the first million, 0.5 for the next million, 0.25 for the million after that and so on and so on. This was done to make sure not just those countries with large populations would be heard, but that even the countries with small populations could be properly represented. The African Federation of City States was not recognized as a power block and therefore only given the recognition of a single Country.

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On 02-12-2109 at about 04H00 GMT a Spatial Singularity formed some 200000 km from Earth. Starting at about a micron, the Spatial Singularity quickly increased to a Diameter of about 3.5km, and from the Spatial Singularity a ship appeared; a Sai shaped 5km long and 3km wide. As soon as it emerged from Nth space 〘Hyperspace〙 it began to attack the three orbiting space stations with high energy Particle Beams.

Once the space stations were destroyed the ship then focused Plasma Ball attacks on the moon facilities reducing them to rubble. The ship then moved closer to Earth and began to destroy all military and energy instillations 〘Power Plants〙. The Plasma Ball impacts caused destruction equivalent to the explosion of a 20 megaton Nuclear Bomb. In just a few minutes the ship fired hundreds of these plasma blasts reducing buildings to rubble.

The targeting of energy instillations reduced entire countries to darkness, and it seemed that this was the intent. The entire Earth was being attacked, and all the space capable ships of the Earth's militaries mobilized and joined the fight. Asian Defence Consortium provided 171 Ships, Pacific Defence Group provided 81 Ships, Indian Ocean Alliance provided 125 Ships, Northern Alliance provided 97 Ships, Islamic Alliance provided 103 Ships, Atlantic Treaty Organisation 307 and the African Federation provided 194 Ships 〘Including 50 Adult Crystalorb Ships〙.

Apart from the 1078 ships from the combined Earth forces the ground based weapon systems began to attack the unidentified ship, but the Attacking ship had very powerful shields. The 50 Crystalorb Ships being larger and faster were the first to engage the invading Ship, and because of their size in comparison to the other Earth ships they became an obvious target for the Sai shaped ship.

When the Sai saw the rest of the Earth fleet approach it deployed 100 fighters of 30m length, the Crystalorb Ships responded by each deploying their 10 Vanguard team complement to support the Earth fleet. As the battle continued the Crystalorb Ship's were quickly being overwhelmed by the enormous energy contained in the Sai's Particle Beam attacks, with one ship moving in to shield another.

When the Sai deployed its plasma Cannons the Earth fleet responded by deploying Nuclear missiles, and with Crystalorb ship support some of the 10 megaton missiles got through and impacted the Sai's shields weakening them enough for secondary strikes to hit and eventually destroy the Sai. Crystalorb ships were not Nuclear armed but they had protected the first round of missiles giving them the best opportunity to reach their target, and the Crystalorb ship's Electrolaser Lightning Bolts and Electrolaser Lightning Plasma Energy Ball attacks contained energy in the 0.5 Megaton range.

When the dust settled the 2 hour battle had been devastating for Earth, and the level of destruction was beyond belief. Entire Countries were without power, hundreds of millions were dead, and the total Earth energy output had been reduced by about 70%. Crystalorb had lost 28 Ships including some of their oldest; the Leba, the Gaurdius, the Jalen and the Isis. Fortunately the Indigo Class Ships were on the outskirts of the Solar system conducting Research.

30% of the rest of Earth ships were destroyed and a further 23% were severely damaged, but fortunately the Crystalorb ships were on hand to conduct rapid repairs. Earth Governments feared that the Sai may have been just the first wave of a larger invasion force, and the Earth Governments were eager to be as prepared as possible for the next attack which they expected at any moment.

Given this scenario the Earth Governments decided to place thousands of Nuclear Bombs in the space around earth like a mine field, and if another ship appeared they could remotely detonate the Bombs. Crystalorb deployed its 50 Juvenile Ships to help Earth Governments implement the Nuclear Bombs mine field. The 59 baby ships were being rapidly grown in an attempt to get them to at least a juvenile status. On the other hand the 63 Eggs were still in their development and this process had a fixed time of not less than 2 years.

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Almost exactly 21 hours after the first ship was destroyed a Spatial Singularity formed some 340000 km from Earth, and from the Spatial Singularity's Event Horizon emerged 2 Sai's and a 50% larger 〘In Volume〙 ship that looked like a Sai with 4 curved prongs 〘yoku〙. On all the Sai's the tips were plasma cannons, but only the plasma cannons on the prongs were multidirectional, and the multidirectional Particle Beams were located all over the ships.

As soon as the first ship emerged from Nth space it began to attack, and when the other ships joined the assault the Earth fleet was being decimated, but when the Invading ship moved into maximum range of the Nuclear Bombs mine field the Nuclear Bombs in the sector were detonated. This actions crippled one of the smaller 2 ships but did almost nothing to the larger Sai formation group leader. Just 20 minutes into the fight 7 Crystalorb ships were destroyed, an ominous sign of things to come.

As the battle continued Crystalorb deployed nearly all its ships and Crystal Armoured personnel to fight in the largest war the world had ever seen. Earth Governments launched their long range ballistic missiles against the Sai's but their high energy Particle Beams destroyed the missiles before they could reach adequate range for detonation. Earth had thrown everything it had against the invaders, but they had a minimal effect on the approaching 2 ships, and the other Sai was only partially damaged.

At close range the Nuclear Bombs would do more damage to the Earth ships than to the Sai ships, and clearly the commanders of the Sai ships knew that. The writing was on the wall for Earth, and with no way of escaping to another planet the Militaries of Earth prepared for a long possibly deadly war against an unknown enemy. The armies of Earth began to dig in for what they believed would be a survival struggle against a superior enemy.

When all hope seemed lost another Spatial Singularity formed and from its Event Horizon emerged a ship shaped like a Polyhedron Tetrahedron with a 3.4km Polyhedron Sphere centred at the base of the Tetrahedron. As soon as the Tetrahedron Ship emerged out of the Spatial Singularity it opened fire on the larger of the three Sai's while simultaneously deploying 150 Fighters which then began assaulting the damaged Sai ship.

When the Earth fleet realised that they were getting assistance from the new ship they focused their efforts on the remaining smaller Sai. The larger Sai was being bombarded by plasma blasts from the Tetrahedron Ship’s 25 plasma cannon's and 40 multidirectional Particle Beam turrets, but this did not stop the larger Sai from returning fire, The Tetrahedron Ship had caught the Sai's by surprise, and this gave the Tetrahedron Ship an advantage.

The battle seemed to quickly escalate to its apex, and just as quickly the larger Sai was in flames with subsequent internal explosions. The Tetrahedron Ship did not come out of the fight with the larger Sai unscathed, and although the damage was significant it turned its attention to the Sai that was engaged by the Earth Ships. Working together with Earth ships the Tetrahedron Ship destroyed the Sai.

With the Two Sai ships destroyed the ship that had been damaged by multiple Nuclear Bombs was being subdued by the fighters deployed by the Tetrahedron Ship . The Tetrahedron Ship used its multidirectional Particle Beams to slice the Sai ship into several pieces, it soon became clear that the Tetrahedron Ship did not wish to destroy the Sai like it did the other two, but wanted to keep the superstructure sufficiently stable while killing the inhabitants.

The Tetrahedron Ship was damaged, and a big hole could be seen on the surface of its Sphere, but it seem to still be operational. The remaining Earth fleet did not wish to disturb so they stood back and observed as the Tetrahedron Ship deployed repair robots to repair its external and internal structure while sending fighters and other vessels to search through the debris of the Sai it had cut into pieces.

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The Earth fleet was all but gone, from an original 1078 ships there were only 270 left. The Crystalorb Fleet was all but non existent, from the original 50 adult and 35 Juveniles ship all that was left was a heavily damaged adult and 5 Juveniles. The Intana was the only surviving Intrepid Class Crystalorb ship, and the only other large Crystalorb ships were the 6 Indigo Class Ships, but they were days away, moving at maximum speed towards Earth, and until they arrived the 59 baby ships would have to be pressed into service in the event of another attack

When the Intana restored its Communications Systems it opened a communications channel with Crystalorb, Finding Pelao the Guardian Commander in complete disbelief

Intana : " Crystalorb! Come in Crystalorb! Do you read? Do you receive?"

Pelao : " We read you loud and clear Intana."

Intana : " Crystalorb we are in recovery! There are heavy casualties!" explosions in the background "We've located Guardian Casara! She's currently assisting with rescue and recovery operations. The ship is operational! Changing Designation to Zero Zero One! Confirm Crystalorb!"

Pelao : " Acknowledge Intrepid!"

Intrepid : " Intrepid Out!"

The communications channel with Crystalorb is suspended

By Changing Designation to 001 the Intana officially changes its name and becomes the Intrepid III. The Intrepid was the Flagship of the Crystalorb fleet, and by proclamation of the Council of Elders the Intrepid would always be the flagship of the Crystalorb Fleet. Therefore in the event of the Intrepid being destroyed the next surviving oldest ship would assume Designation to 001 and thus become the Intrepid and also Expeditionary Ship 001. Intrepid was more than the name of a ship, but a description of the Expeditionary Division.

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At the UN, analysis of the devastation estimated the death toll at around 879 million, and the reason for this was that when the original Sai ship targeted the power generation centres it destroyed large metropolitan areas in ATO countries and large parts of Asia. The African Federation had lower casualties because the power plants were located some distance away from the City States. This was a design intended to allow the City States enough room to grow.

The largest casualties came from China, India and South America with the USA next followed by Europe and then the African Federation of City States. With deaths at ; 184 million, 171 million, 166 million, 109 million, 107 million and 95 million respectively. It was concluded that the death toll was higher in Asia because the attack happened during daytime and the cities were densely populated during the daytime.

In less than 30 minutes the Sai ship had killed 7% of the world's population, and the death toll was expected to rise due to lack of clean water because clean water was produced largely from energy intensive processes. The critical task for the UN was to co-ordinate global efforts to restore energy to critical centres like hospitals and water purification systems. Most of the citizens of earth were not convinced that the attack was over and there was mass panic with Governments struggling to maintain order.

The US Government decided to show its citizens video images of the Tetrahedron Ship still in high orbit around Earth and this seemed to calm most people, so other governments followed the example of the US Government. The Government of the African Federation of City States went to Crystalorb to ask for help in restoring power to the rest of the African Federation. The Council of Elders knew that in order to accomplish this task they would have to put all the resources of Crystalorb at the disposal of the African Federation of City States.

Crystalorb baby ships and Juvenile ships were collecting the debris of the destroyed Crystalorb Ships because they intended to use the minerals contained in the Crystals debris to grow the baby ships and eggs to sufficient size for security purposes should it be necessary. The Council of Elders decided recall all the ships with operational Nuclear Fusion Reactors and assign them to serve as temporary power stations for African City States.

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Meanwhile Crystal Valley Industries expanded its build program all over the world using advanced Crystalorb robotics technology to rapidly build underground Nuclear Fusion Reactors using what they called hybrid technologies 〘Combination of Crystalorb technology and Standard technology〙. This meant at the heart of the Nuclear Fusion Reactors were components that could only be produced by Crystalorb.

Crystalorb decided to supply advance Electromagnets and Lasers to other energy companies through Crystal Valley Industries. In a matter of days earth was coming back to life, and with every passing day new hope returned to the people of earth. The people of earth knew that it would take decades for earth to return to its former glory, and the orbiting Tetrahedron StarShip allowed the people of Earth to feel safe.

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