Vophae Imperium, Siendir Dominion Automated Scout Probe 91ND-3095

Initiating scheduled scan…

Scan in progress…

Scan in progress…

Warning, class 53B anomaly detected. Recording…

Anomaly recorded. Running Class 53B contingency protocol…Contacting Siendir Dominion Exploration and First Contact Division…

Communications established. Forwarding recorded data…

Communications marked as received. Anomaly marked as flagged for contingency response. All required measures fulfilled.

Resuming scan…

High Admiral Siendir rubbed his chin as looked over the report after the Exploration and First Contact Division had conducted a full investigation of the detected anomaly.

“A primitive planet with a species possessing significant psionic or other supernatural potential, huh? Didn’t think there was anything useful in that band of space.”

He heaved a sigh.

“Of course it would be of the troublesome sort though. Still, more auxiliaries are always nice and I’ll enjoy seeing the look on the Prime Minister's face when those scraps he gave me turn out to hold some treasures after all. Contact Captain Sildeth and forward him the data. At least someone will be happy about all this…”

An aquatic alien in a full suit with a domed, water-filled helmet made their way through the ship. A special stealth cruiser, meant for spec-ops infiltration missions, specifically assigned to Captain Sildeth and crewed by his personally trained special auxiliaries.

The alien paused as the psionic scanner checked its mental signature.

And then the doors opened up.

Captain Sildeth stood in the center of the room, swinging his weapons about. He was surrounded by holographic screens, displaying images from the target planet.

Mostly, two dimensional animations of the primitives singing some sort of upbeat, high-pitched melody?

Captain Sildeth was spinning about and attempting to replicate the melody when he laid eyes on the auxiliary.

He froze.

The auxiliary found himself immediately blasted out of the room and into the nearby wall, the doors slammed shut.

When he picked himself up and scanned the doors open once more, he found Captain Sildeth in a meditative pose, reviewing historical documents. Ancient legends, combat footage, a recording of a global nuclear exchange, etc.

“Dhophes, I believe I specifically requested that you knock before entering the room?”

“Sorry sir, I thought the psi-scanner would have informed you I was entering.”

Captain Sildeth averted his gaze.

Of course, the psi-scanner would. It would make a nice little chime. A nice little chime that was surprisingly easy to drown out if one was listening to something else at any sort of volume.

“W-What do you need, Dhophes?”

“I’m here to inform you that we’ve arrived, sir.”

“Ah!”

Captain Sildeth grinned. He swung his hand, turning the displays into recordings of various primitives in battle.

“This world is crazy for a primitive one. I’m actually looking forward to this, 53B’s are always fun and this one looks like something special. Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

Captain Sildeth and his auxiliaries floated in the air over the ocean.

“Ok, first one should be here. An aquatic mammal, exceptionally large for its species. Highly durable and experienced in the mystic arts. Has legends going back a thousand years or so, so possibly long-lived? Should be fun…”

A huge barrage of black bone spears shot from the ocean, stabbing into the Captain and his auxiliaries. They then exploding into barbs, dealing a violent, painful death to the entire group.

Well, except for the Vophae Captain that is.

“He’s pretty vicious, isn’t he?”

“Oi, sod off humie! Don’t ya think yer kind have screwed things up enough already?!”

And so once again, Captain Sildeth battled the Otter King, and came out victorious.

Captain Sildeth made his way to his next target. A large city, built around and into a huge nuclear reactor. Several new reactors were under construction.

“I thought this species had no innate resistance to radiation? These guys are kind of insane.”

He grinned.

“I like them already.”

He made his way to the central reactor, which had a cathedral built directly into it. A man in a preacher’s outfit with a nuclear symbol on its center stood at a pulpit, addressing a crowd of mutants.

“The Lightless have dared to strike at our very heart, our people. But we will not let this go unanswered. It is time to bring the Sacred Light to their shores, to tear down the last bastion of the corrupt past, and to bring all into the glorious light!”

And then he stopped, and looked up. Captain Sildeth was floating in the air, arms crossed.

“Don’t mind me, sounds like you’re about to start a fight? I can wait my turn.”

“And who might you be?”

“Captain Sildeth. Let’s just say I’m visiting. And picking fights.”

The Atomic Herald narrowed his eyes.

“You oppose the Sacred Light?”

“Hm, my fight’s more with you personally, but if it gets you motivated.”

The Atomic Herald sighed.

“Behold, my flock, the power of the Sacred Light! And the fate of all who oppose us!”

He held out his hand.

A beam of sickly green light shot forward, slamming directly into Captain Sildeth.

Who glowed slightly but was otherwise no worse for wear.

The Vophae sighed.

“Please tell me that’s not it. I mean, you control atomic energy and atomic reactions, right? Surely you can do more than throw some radiation around? I mean, that’s nothing compared to cosmic radiation, you know? And that’s one of the first things you need to learn to deal with if you’re going to fight in space.”

The Atomic Herald’s jaw dropped open. Captain Sildeth blinked forward, grabbing the Herald by the collar. And then they both vanished, Captain Sildeth bringing the man to a large, desolate, and most of all uninhabited wasteland. He dropped the Herald and took some distance, grinning.

“There, now you don’t have to worry about all your followers getting caught in the crossfire. Now, show me what you can really do!”

Several nuclear explosions went off in the countryside that day.

And though they searched far and wide, the Atomic Cult never saw their Herald again.

It was another long day of negotiations and bickering in Serenia. Turns out the majority of people weren’t particularly grateful for the whole revolution thing, and so preferred to complain and squabble over petty greed once the oppressors were gone.

The Necrosaurus heaved a sigh. He and his counterparts from the Resistance were just leaving for the day.

Things were a lot easier when the problems could be eaten by dinosaurs.

Unless…

No no, don’t think about it.

The representative might be an annoying, slimy dog who worked for the Concordat, but he technically was the chosen representative of the people, even if all he ever did was parrot Concordat propaganda. He must be engaged with.

At least until the next election…

Still, just how is it that the Concordat’s robotic slaves were the reasonable and cooperative ones?

And then he paused.

A group of hooded and cloaked individuals approached him.

Individuals with a powerful and dangerous presence to them.

His companions nodded and took some distance from each other.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re the one they call the Necrosaurus, correct?”

“Yes, that’s me. Who's asking?”

The figure looked up and grinned at him with sharp teeth and glowing purple eyes.

“Oh, this should be fun.”

Captain Sildeth leaped forward, his auxiliaries following suit.

But the Necrosaurus and all his companions flickered and vanished, the aliens striking nothing but air as Amano Bin’s phantom clones disappeared.

And then a glowing wave of water flew through the air, crashing upon them before freezing solid.

Captain Sildeth vanished from within the ice, appearing up in the sky. He called in his other auxiliaries. The group appeared to the side.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but none can stand in the way of freedom and justice!”

The Necrosaurus spread his arms, and a huge magic circle appeared in front of him, a zombie T-Rex rising from it and roaring at the Captain. He grinned, and rushed towards the monstrosity.

As he did, he called his cruiser.

“Keep the others busy!”

Several alien fighter craft shimmered as their stealth fields deactivated, rushing towards the group. They began to strafe the Necrosaurus’s team, forcing them to scatter. As they did, alien auxiliaries dropped to the ground, surrounding and isolating each of the Necrosaurus’s companions.

And then machine gun bullets and laser beams began to fill the air, bombarding the alien’s shields.

The NSLICE units began to arrive as the warning sirens sounded out.

“Warning: Hostile non-standards detected. Moving to support friendly Resistance units.”

A being of pure energy surged towards the incoming warbots. It struck one head on and disappeared, blue lightning arcing around the machine.

“E-Error: I-Intrusion detected…”

And then the blue lightning began arcing through all the NSLICE warbots, jumping between them, leaving them frozen and trembling as they struggled to regain control over their systems...

Elsewhere in the world, Elise’s robotic eye began flickering. A stream of intrusion detection notices grew past her vision.

“Warning: NSLICE network compromised. Intruder determined as beyond the means of current NSLICE countermeasures. Activating Mental Unifier. Moving to assist.”

It was dangerous and perhaps hypocritical of her to react. She had made the choice to call the Vophae knowing full well what the consequences would be. To reach out now was to risk compromising herself and thus the entire mission.

But she couldn't help herself. She wouldn't leave the NSLICE units in peril if she had the means to help them. Not after what they've done for her. And by her calculations they couldn't take down Captain Sildeth in the end, so the mission should proceed unhindered either way.

So her core began to glow yellow as her robotic eye flashed.

“Reassuring Statement: All units, please standby. Assistance is enroute.”

The being continued to arc across the warbots when suddenly it slammed head first into one, falling back, unable to infiltrate it. It tried to surge back into the previous victim but this one, too, blocked its intrusion.

It had been ejected from the NSLICE network entirely.

And the buildings began to glow pink around it.

“NSLICE Defender activated. Protocols received from the Liberator. Deploying Quantum Burglar protocol.”

A pink man formed in the center of the street and held out his hands.

The being of energy screamed as its body was torn apart and sucked into the construct.

Captain Sildeth did a barrel roll around a stream of purple flames piercing the sky.

Before him flew a skeletal dragon, his foe upon its neck. He flew forward past the creature’s breath but the Necrosaurus waved his staff. Spikes grew all along the skeleton, launching a bony barrage in all directions.

Captain Sildeth crossed his arms, strengthening his psionic barrier to punch straight through the wave of projectiles. He landed right on the skeletal dragon, grabbing the Necrosaurus by the neck.

“I like your style but it's over now. First rule of fighting a necromancer, always target the leader first.”

The Necrosaurus grinned.

“You’re right about one thing. It’s over!”

The bones of the dragon flipped around, wrapping around the alien’s legs. And then they started to glow, siphoning power from the alien.

The Necrosaurus grinned as power began to flow into him.

And then his smile dropped.

And he started to frown.

Captain Sildeth didn’t respond at all, looking no worse for wear. As if he didn’t even notice he was being drained.

“A little disappointing to go with the standard necromancer life drain but I guess you can’t innovate everywhere after all. Sorry to break it to you but I have over a planet’s worth of backup cells. I have lifeforce to spare on a drain of this level.”

And then Captain Sildeth formed a number of small psionic balls, which struck various parts on the dragon. Small explosions appeared all over it, targeting key points in the magic holding the construct together. The dragon roared and faded to ash.

Captain Sildeth looked down. His auxiliaries had been defeated, the machine swarm had somehow fended off the intrusion, and there was that pink construct of light on approach.

He heaved a sigh.

“Well, I’d love to stay but I do have a job to do.”

He blinked away from Serenia, the Necrosaurus still in his hand.

And so the Jurassic Revolution came to a close…