Multiverse at War Rebooted! (IC) (2023)

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The Mothership
????

Kamal Re’x was not in a good mood. As he floated above a projection of the planet below, he once again resisted the urge to grab the nearest Grunt and crush it down into a small orb of metal and flesh. For he had done that several dozen times by now. These primitives and those damned Novus have managed to distort the local reality of this entire planet and the space around it, enough that the entire moon of this mudball had been replaced by another planet. Well, “planet”, as it wasn’t that much larger than the moon was, but he didn’t care about that.

No, what infuriated him to no end was what happened after the distortion. These damned portals! That damn beacon calling the cursed Primers here of all places! The Hierarchy had enough issues with those high and mighty aliens as it stood, and the Novus called them here without a second thought! All while Orlok was busy in attempting to destroy the source of the distortion, which in hindsight left him without a super capable general for some time!

Taking a moment to breath and calm down, Kamal looked down at the projection of the world he deemed to mine and briefly considered just throwing a moon at it. Yet he knew if he did that, any dreams of ascending to rule the Hierarchy were all but dead in the water, so instead he inspected it, gazed upon it as icons lit up with more and more enemies to face. And then he smirks.

“...well, I suppose it is time to deal with that pest. Nufai! I have a mission for you…”

In the meanwhile, a signal was sent into deep space, one containing word that the Primers had appeared. And all the while, a new ship was underway...

ThePotato
The Second Battle of Warsaw
0815 Hours

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As the mighty PZM-24 Tur stepped onto the field, there was a brief moment of trepidation as the alien red automachine turned to face Polania’s own titan of war, the two staring each other down. The tense air was broken with the thunder of the great 16 inch guns tore the air asunder, the projectiles slamming into the red automachine and causing it to lean back, it’s four legs quickly repositioning to stabilize itself.

This marked the beginning of the single greatest battle for Warsaw since the days of the second World War, as two titans of battle dueled.

The damage of the guns was evident, seen as a rather large crack in the hull of the towering machine as a curious red smoke leaked from the opening. Naval guns certainly could scratch this armor, but the following barrage of missiles from the native defenders of Poland showed that it was the only thing that could seemingly phaze it, as they either did no damage when detonating or even glanced off the armor.

It was by this point that the red titan had enough of suffering from the initial barrage, two points on its “face” glowing a sickly green for a moment, the next having them discharge two balls of green plasma. Luckily, only one of them hit the Tur, with the other narrowly missing, but the impact of that one shot would rock the great machine with a hot, brilliant and green-tinged fireball.

The damage was extensive against the mighty armor of the PZM-24, with plates melting and the internals having been rapidly heated in a short period of time, but the Tur still stood where others would have been cored by such a blast.

Yet already the red automachine was preparing a second blast, ready to end the Tur, before a series of explosions made it tilt slightly to the side. Those strange ‘tanks’ had sallied up to the fight, their cannons firing again and again to draw the attention of the red automachine...one they paid dearly for as the following barrage of green bolts easily destroyed tank after tank. Yet they were buying the Tur, and thus Polania, time to respond to the situation.

The invading force that had been brought out by the great red menace had not been idle whilst the exchange between giants commenced, marching onto the city of Warsaw and its hastily assembled defense. Communications with the UNF on this world revealed that the alien force was a formidable one. Armored “Grunts” easily soaked up bullets as they marched down the streets, the guns on their arms discharging a spray of plasma that both melted most inorganic material and had the disturbing effect of “stealing the life” of anything Organic it touched. Soldiers not in the heaviest of armor would be severely weakened by just a single of these bolts hitting them, and taking on a full spray of the blast with or without heavy body armor spelled death for Poland’s Marines. Their strength was nothing to ignore either, as they easily can make a tank turn away from a single hard smack of their arms.

Yet joining the Grunts were two other enemy variants, each specialized and supporting the heavy alien troops. One of them was a much smaller and less armored humanoid that actually carried a gun instead of having it attached to their arm, but rather than directly fighting the Humans they instead employed a much more sinister tactic. They had the ability to disappear from the view of most sensors, and displayed an ability to walk through walls, making the urban fighting a nightmare for the defenders of Warsaw. The only saving grace the Humans had was the fact that whatever technology they used to go invisible seemed to disrupt nearby radio waves, and when a soldier heard their radio packs starting to act up they would know that a “Lost One” was nearby.

And the last...was the complete opposite.

Thud.

A great slam was heard through the ground and the air alike, and within the city stood tall, 11 meter humanoid titans. These however were not mechanical in nature like the automachine, but instead were great beasts of muscle and flesh, their hands glowing with the same sickly green energy that these Aliens seemed to have mastered. With a roar they would tear apart buildings, tanks, and squishy soldiers alike, rampaging through the city.

With the Red automachine distracted by the tanks, Polania had to quickly act on this information as their portal was quickly fortified by their troops.

K'eth
Frozen Horrors
0415 Hours

The icy wasteland that the demonic armies had arrived in was extremely bare of anything, for the most part, aside from more ice, some animals native to the region, and even a few other structures in the far distance similar to the one close to their Portal.

The efforts to create more portals had been successful, albeit it came with some...complications as a drawback. For one, it proved to be extremely difficult to create other portals the further one would go from the main portal. For another, the three portals created were of smaller size than the main portal, and attempts to make them larger would result in the same issue as if one was traveling away from the main Portal...the cost would exponentially increase.

Studies into the main portal shed some light as to why that was. For one, it was not magical...at least not entirely. One could almost say it was a natural part of this world, if not for the fact that it connected to the Realm the Demons hailed from. Manipulations of this portal were theoretically possible since it had some magical elements, but attempts at doing so ended in disaster...as the Portal destabilized from the efforts into studying it. It became shrouded in energies that were rather hard to look at even for the monstrous minds of the Demon Army, and there was a brief build-up of energy before it released...and shot off a bolt of swirling energy off deep into the icy wasteland.

Immediately following this, the wind started to pick up, and moments later a blizzard was starting to kick off. The other three portals still operated fine, but until the main portal was restabilized, it seems that they were stuck with those three smaller gateways.

Aside from that bad news, the forces that had moved deeper inland had luckily seen the bolt of energy going past them, and knew roughly where it landed. The forward operating bases were set up without a hitch despite the growing blizzard starting to harass them. Fortifications around the Portal were a bit slower to construct thanks to the interference of the weather, but they went up nonetheless.

But most interesting of all were the results of that expedition to that structure nearby. For, in fact, it wasn’t just one structure...but it was an entire group of them, with a thin wall of iron fencing around it to ward off the few animals that lived here. Infiltrating such a place was at first a bit tricky, what with humans of all things walking around with strange-looking guns, but after further observation, a weak point in their security was easily found.

What happened afterward was a short and bloody encounter, as the humans, even when caught by surprise, managed to kill a few Afflicted before they were set upon by the creatures. All but one of the Human Soldiers were killed, with the last attempting to pull out a round orb before being captured.

The structures themselves housed a few other Humans that were luckily not armed with those very dangerous guns, although one managed to grab a dropped gun from the deceased human Soldiers and aimed it at himself. Perhaps he didn’t know how to use it, but disarming him was simple enough.

They were rather hard to get answers out of, mainly because they were rather terrified of the beings holding them captive, but eventually one of them proposed to tell them everything they knew if they were guaranteed to live. Upon agreeing to such a thing, they would proceed to inform Shiro of something they already knew...this world was under siege. What they revealed however painted such a picture in more detail, calling these beings laying waste to the world ‘the Hierarchy’, and how they used their terrible weapons to harvest both resources and life itself alike, and at the moment had the upper hand in this war.

As far as the Human was aware, there were no Hierarchy forces down here in “Antarctica”, but they do suggest that at some point they will arrive, if only to start harvesting the ice for their mission to strip the planet of anything remotely useful.

In essence, the Army of Demons was on a time limit before someone sent a sizable force down south to them, whether that be these Aliens, or the Human “UNF”.

Dragonjackel
When a plan comes together…
0415 Hours

For one Doctor Eggman, things had gone smoothly for once. The Egg Fleet had journeyed through the portal in an orderly fashion, taking their position with little interruptions from the Aliens...which, from what he could tell on his sensor readouts, were quite busy with a massive orbital battle over on the other side of the planet. More time for him, really.

His efforts to communicate with the Humanity of this world were fruitful and far more informative than simply listening in on their transmissions was. The Hierarchy were indeed a powerful foe, as even with literal alien machines coming in to help them, the UNF was still on the losing side of this war, both due to the sheer gap in tech between the Aliens and Humanity and that these machines, the Novus, were only able to be in so many areas at once.

With his request to have some land in which to make his factories on, the UNF directed him to a new line, one that took about a half an hour to set up thanks to the fact that this person he was to speak to was none other than the current President of the UNF themselves, and was a very, very busy person.

Finally, this President was able to meet the Doctor, and thus a transmission was sent. The visage the Doctor was greeted with was that of a young woman, one who Eggman could immediately tell was far sharper than the diplomats he had to deal with before.

“Greetings, Doctor. I am Celine Wilson, current President of the United Nations Federation. As I am sure you are well aware of by now, this Hierarchy threat is one that threatens the entire planet.” She says, arms steepled before her as her eyes manage to shine in the light of the presidential office she sat in.

“You wish to have land to make a base of operations on? Well, I think I can offer a suitable location for such an endeavour. You are above such a place already. You are free to make your base within Brazil, in exchange for a simple request.” She says, pausing as on one side of the screen, several maps of Argentina appear, detailing Hierarchy presence and UNF territory. In particular, there was a large area of UNF territory that was surrounded.

“The USA, before the War, had decided to create an experimental suit of armor that would, in theory, be the next step in military weaponry. It is by far the most advanced weapon we have that isn’t gifted to us by our Novus allies, and was there for experimentation away from American soil when the Hierarchy invaded.” She says, the maps disappearing and being replaced by an image of a military officer smoking a cigar.

“The Americans sent one Brigadier General Johnson to retrieve the suit, and as far as we can expect, is the only reason that the UNF forces in the area haven’t been wiped out. I want you to help him and whoever else survived to break out of the encirclement...and if you can secure that region as well, then you can keep that land for yourself.” She says, smiling then. “With the addition of those schematics you are sending, I’ll even allow you to view the data of that American weapon. Ah, I almost forgot to mention…”

The image of the officer appears, and a stream of data is sent to Eggman. It detailed a set of coordinates, which just so happened to be in the encircled UNF region. “This set of coordinates is approximately where we think another Portal like the one you travelled through is set there. If you happen to meet another set of interdimensional forces there...well, you are free to negotiate land ownership with them. Now, good luck, Doctor.”

With that, the transmission ends, with the data relevant to the “request” being sent over soon after. At the very least, the UNF seemed willing to let Eggman borrow the land...and any research into why quickly made that evident. Argentina managed to lose nearly their entire army due to very incompetent leadership, and the Brigadier General he was supposed to be rescuing was the only high ranking individual there that either hadn’t deserted or been shot by their own men. Really, they were likely just happy to let someone else manage that region.

Of course, such musing would be cut short as a warning would sound out, as a few Hierarchy vessels have broken off from the main invading fleet and were en route to Eggman’s portal. They were still a ways off, so he had time to prepare, but it seems that the aliens had gotten over their shock at the current situation.

RedCrown
Battle of Cordoba
0415 Hours

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“Hah, well it’s certainly nice to get some help around here. My boys could use the morale boost.” The man within the armor says, nodding with the “head” of the suit and turning away. “The name’s Alexander Johnson, Brigadier General of the US of A. Or now...the United Nations Federation. Hah, that’s going to be a headache.” Then he takes off into the air, still talking to Todoh as he did so.

“Our IFFs should be linked up by now, so there shouldn’t be much issue with friendly fire. I hope your guys are fast, because that was just one wave of many! MARINES, back in your positions!”

After introductions were made, the UFN and UNF forces quickly moved in fortifying the city of Cordoba, the UFN shoring up holes in the UNF lines and treating their wounded. It was here that it was revealed that there was a massive number of Civilians that the UNF had been protecting up until this point, and the extent of what the UNF had was also made known.

These defenders were comprised of both official UNF Marines (originally American) and of Militia made of the former Argentine Military, which had collapsed in the first few hours of the Invasion due to incompetent leadership. They had but a few Main Battle Tanks and some APCs of their own, along with a single Little Bird Helicopter that was low on fuel. In other words, Johnson had been all but soloing the Hierarchy forces with his advanced mech suit...which was also revealed to be an experimental prototype of this world that didn’t use Sakuradite at all. Johnson himself was in fine condition, and aside from running low on missiles he was more or less the best he could be at the moment.

Evacuating the Civilians proved to be a lengthy process due to the sheer number of them, but in that process a few gems were revealed. Namely, the American Scientists that had worked on Johnson’s suit were present and alive, and willing to share their data on constructing the suit in exchange for studying the KMFs that the UFN had displayed. The destroyed Walkers that the UNF had began to take apart revealed a shocking truth...they weren’t piloted at all, but merely drones. Extremely complex and blackboxed to hell and back, but nonetheless they were drones. Johnson commented that the only reason he wanted them to be taken apart at all was for the armor they were made from, as all but his specialized rockets and naval cannons could reliably crack the material it was made from.

That aside, the Hierarchy began to make their move as the evacuation was underway. As out in the distance to the northwest and south, numerous red Walkers could be seen. Most of them were of similar design to the ones that the UFN had arrived to see, but some were of different shape and notably larger than those, bristling with more ‘ports’ that likely had even more weapons on them. And with them were a number of alien forces. Johnson helpfully described them as he had experienced them.

The most numerous of them were the Heavy Troops of the “Hierarchy”, that being the Grunts. With heavy armor that laughed at bullets and required anti-tank munitions to reliably wound, they were a formidable opponent for infantry and vehicles alike, and were themselves rather adept at strategy. Up until now Johnson hadn’t dealt with them in such large numbers, so he was guessing that the “alien bastards” had detected the UFN forces and scaled their response.

With them were tall, gangly things that looked to be smaller versions of the Hierarchy Walker, which Johnson helpfully called “Defilers”. Their name was apt, as their weapons literally stole the lives of infantry hit by it, and melted heavy armor. Even worse, they possessed a bioweapon that turned exposed organic life into an irradiated, mutated form that obeyed Hierarchy forces. When used on humans...they turned into explosive zombies. Earlier in the War they had rather terrible balance and could be knocked over with a rocket, but the Brigadier General noted that they didn’t do that so often anymore.

And finally, swarming the air above the Walkers were hundreds of small Saucers, with more appearing with every glow on the Walker’s frames. Johnson didn’t have an exact answer, but he had a theory that these robotic death machines acted as a ‘beacon’ to teleport Hierarchy forces down from their orbiting fleet. In any case, a few groups of Saucers and Striders were sent ahead of these massive oncoming armies, and battle was joined.

Bullets were shot, rockets flew, and beams of green light darted across the air as UFN and UNF alike engaged with the skirmishing Hierarchy forces. The Saucers turned out to be surprisingly agile and possessed unique weapons, firing orange orbs that clung to armor on Airships and KMFs and ate through them for several seconds. The Saucers weren’t as durable as their ground based counterparts however, and destroying them seemed to make the Orbs go away much faster.

The Striders proved to be a bigger issue, as both numerous UNF and UFN forces experienced the unfortunate reality of War when the Striders fired their life harvesting rays. Such rays even spelled the end for several KMFs once multiple Striders locked onto one, their aim proving to be very accurate on the more expendable variants. Of course, with them focusing on the vehicles, Johnson was able to cleave through them with Kallen once the Saucer escort was dealt with, and soon enough the skirmish was over as fast as it had begun.

Yet the results were not a pleasant one. This was but a small force of Hierarchy that had been sent ahead of the main army, and Johnson knew it. “They’re just probing us, the bastards. They’re up to something!”

“That we are, Alexander Johnson.”

The sudden voice was one that didn’t belong to any friend, and the one behind it was a tall, gangly creature that easily matched the encased Johnson in height. He wasn’t there a moment ago, and none of the UNF or UFN sensors had even detected a hint of his presence before he revealed himself. This alien wanted to be seen.

“You have been a thorn in the side of the glorious Hierarchy for too long, primitive worm. It falls to me to end your pitiful resistance. I certainly hope you are a worthy opponent.” He says, starting to rise into the air with no visible source of propulsion. Johnson chuckles into his speakers, looking up at the alien.

“And I hope you’ll enjoy hell when I send you there.” He says simply, before rocketing off into the air and firing a barrage with his rotary cannon. The alien swiftly dashed to the side, and the two began to dogfight right then and there as the main Hierarchy force approached to break the defensive line now that Johnson was busy.

The Battle for Cordoba has only just begun!

CrowbarKnight
A battle in the Dark
0415 Hours

For XCOM, things were quiet. Perhaps in most circumstances that was a good thing, but here it was far from good. The environment was one that was devoid of all life, water, and even soil, and that meant that there was no ambient noise. So the efforts to construct a forward operating base were in contrast very loud, despite their efforts. Still, there were no interruptions as they did so.

Operation Glass Grave proceeded smoothly, with the large force making quick work of the barren environment to make their way to the encircled UNF force. As they did so, they soon entered an area where life was very much present and alive, with trees and other flora appearing in larger and larger numbers. Along with this, the sound of battle also grew louder, and before they knew it they could see the encircled forces and the city they were defending. Looking at the city itself, they could see it was the Argentine City of Cordoba, from what half of it they could see that was not on fire. Several things could be seen at this range that were worth noting.

One, there was another large portal here, one much like the one XCOM was in control of. From this were a number of forces utilizing different IFFs, and the difference in design and style from them and the UNF forces made it clear that they were coming from that portal to aid the defenders. A good thing to be sure, as the forces they were fighting were a large alien force. Of these aliens, aside from the swarm of flying saucers, the giant robotic Walkers were the greatest of threats that were present.

The transmissions from the area revealed that the current commanding officer of the ‘peacekeeping’ force of UNF, one Brigadier General Alexander Johnson, was in an active duel with an alien, one that was keeping up with him while he was flying a giant mechanical suit. The next best thing was to make contact with the other force from the portal, it would seem, as interrupting Johnson seemed like a foolish endeavour.

Yet XCOM soon had to deal with their own problems, as there was a sudden anomalous spike of energy in the area between them and the besieged city of Cordoba. Dozens of signals could be detected in the area where there were none before, and investigation revealed that these were alien infantry units. They had likely been using some kind of stealth technology, and had been moving to attack the defending forces of the UNF when the XCOM rescue force had inadvertently revealed their presence.

A brief moment of silence would pass, before these infantry would proceed to open fire upon them with their weapons, green bolts of plasma filling the air. Luckily the initial barrage didn’t cause too much damage aside from melting the armor a bit on the Mudrangers before the XCOM forces could get out of the line of fire and set up for a counterattack.

You’ll have to eliminate these alien units before moving on, and time was not on your side.

Zargothrax
Battle in the Deep
0715 Hours

The Dwarves of Hoxxes IV were no stranger to going through rough times. They mined this hellhole of a planet, after all. But the trip down into the depths of the planet to reach this portal was one like no other. For the sheer number of damn bugs only grew higher and higher the closer they got to said portal, as if the very nature of it was drawing them like moths to a flame. Problematic on its own, but a number of oddities made it more worrying.

Some creatures down here seemed to carry an energy with them that, upon death, briefly distorted the nearby area and made it shift around the force digging down. This meant that they both had to re-dig the tunnel they just dug for a short distance and keep updating their sensors, which slowed things down by a significant margin. After some time, it was predicted that this energy was much like the same that had grabbed the entire planet before, which meant that somehow, the bugs were incorporating that energy from the Portal into themselves. A troubling prospect for sure.

Yet soon, they reached the portal, and found a surprising lack of bugs. Yet, looking through it, it was clear why. For the other side lead to nothing but the void of space, and any bugs that went through either were dead or still twitching. This meant that securing the portal was simple, but holding it was another matter...as their sensors pinged off a massive wave of bugs converging on the Portal.

Meanwhile, outside of the planet, there was another issue entirely. For in response to the DRG’s claim on Hoxxes IV, the aliens had this to say:

“You have the sheer gall to lay claim to a moon that is within our mining operation? Hah, I would call that a joke if it wasn’t so pathetic. Relinquish your hold on the moon, and we shall-”

Needless to say, they weren’t having any of it, and the small delegation of ships the orbiting fleet had sent were destroyed in response when they attempted to continue approaching. In response, an even larger detachment of ships was detected approaching the planet, and it was clear that this time they had full intention of taking it by force.

With time to prepare, contact with the locals was possible...and revealed many things about the aliens. For one, they were known as the ‘Hierarchy’, and they had begun to invade this garden world for the sole purpose of stripping it of all resources and life down to the bedrock. In essence, this Hierarchy Fleet was one geared towards mining operations.

The Locals (now known as the UNF) were glad to have allies, and requested that they aid Humanity in taking back their homeworld. They didn’t seem to mind the fact that their moon was replaced by a small planet, as they had much more pressing matters to deal with.

Eldritch Sukima
Unintended Questioning
1615 Hours

With the peerless influence of Ise, she could see that the humans within her reach both didn’t notice her listening in and were very surprised by the presence of the seeming fleet of museum ships appearing from the portal out at sea. They weren’t immediately hostile in their intentions judging from their communication with the incoming Japanese Fleet, but they were also wary due to the active Invasion they were undergoing. They seemed to not be surprised by the appearance of the Portal itself, frequently mentioning ‘Project EVE’ when describing the portal.

While the information on the project itself was a bit too distant at the moment, from what could be gathered it was the main reason for the portal existing, as well as creating numerous other gateways around the world...both intentional and not. The coordinates of these other portals was a bit more tricky to get since not all of them were kept in the databases of Iwo Jima, but there were a few in range. Some were in orbit, thus out of reach for now, but one was over in Beijing, another over by the Hawaian islands, and two more over on the South American continent.

When official contact was finally made with the task force, it was made by one rather...eccentric individual. With the Video connection coming from the fleet, the image was as clear as day, revealing a rather 'nerdy' looking man wearing a white labcoat and having four robotic appendages sprouting from his back. This man, while not an admiral by any stretch of the word from what could be seen, all but butted himself into the meeting much to the annoyance of the UNF Diplomat aboard the Japanese Fleet.

“Ah, hello! I am Doctor Zhao, Chief Scientific Director of the United Nations Federation! It is an honor to meet you, and you are free to use those islands as you see fit...but I must ask several questions in return! One, what are your intentions? Two, why do your vessels take the form of old naval vessels, such as the IJN Ise? And thirdly...well, quite frankly I and many others are very interested in how you view the Hierarchy.”

As he asks these questions, a transmission containing data was sent to the Task Force, detailing the Hierarchy invaders as well as their intentions. In the background, Ise would see that Zhao, after having asked all that, was being berated by a very irate admiral who was apparently not informed that they were to essentially give up the islands to these interdimensional strangers.

How they would act on all this information was now in their hands.

Carstein
A Sea of Fire
2115 Hours

With initial introductions going swimmingly, the Abyssals had only a small delay in fortifying the islands of Hawaii. While the Abyssals themselves seemed to concern the UNF, ultimately they seemed to have deemed them a lesser issue compared to the alien invaders and let them do as they pleased to assist them. It is when delegations were sent to their areas that they ran into some issues.

Seattle as a city was still there...but the UNF was not. In fact, there was no human life present, as the city itself was covered in a green fog of radiation. The Hierarchy had gotten here first and already left, but what they left behind was a coastline stripped down to the bedrock, and any organic life replaced with mutated, twisted forms of life. This included the sealife in the region, and the Abyssal fleet present now had to deal with harassment from the mutated life. They were easy to deal with, but they had numbers on their side for the moment.

San Francisco was much the same, although this time there was a group of red tri-pod drones moving about, green beams lancing out and stripping the land of soil, organic life and fresh water. They were a bit harder to deal with, as they were rather well armored, but luckily they retreated after a sustained bombardment destroyed a pair of them.

During these runs, the Abyssals could see what the American Navy had become, that being melting, slagged wrecks on the sea floor. They were not safe from the Hierarchy threat, and in fact from what the UNF had to say, they were targeted when the western coast was hit. This did mean that there was plenty to draw from in the future, should the Abyssals wish it.

The forces sent to Panama, Lima, and Easter Island had reached and fortified their locations with little issue, but the one that arrived in Manazilio arrived to an active battle in progress. Multiple ginormous red machines were actively marching into the city, and green bolts lanced out at UNF positions, destroying them with ease even as they were hit with tank rounds. There were a few UNF vessels in the area, but they were typically either Destroyers or Patrol Boats, and when they approached, one of the Walkers would turn and fire a single bolt at them, slamming into them and either capsizing them or turning them into a fireball, often both.

It would be a hard-fought battle...and one of many.

The Northern Princess would face similar issues as the fleets in Seattle and San Francisco would have, as well as having the unwelcome surprise of one of those massive walkers landing directly onto the ruins of the Harbor.

The Hierarchy seems to have taken offense to the Abyssals interfering, and with it deploying swarms of Saucers and engaging the Princess in a personal duel. The fleets deployed to Juneau and Anchorage would also face some resistance, not in the form of a Walker being deployed but instead in having multiple floating vehicles appearing on the surface of the water to engage the Abyssal fleets directly. Luckily, the other two fleets of the Northern Princess went unmolested by Hierarchy intervention and were able to complete their objectives in a timely manner. Their findings did indicate that the same resources were there as was on their own Earth.

The Singapore Princess would have more success, successfully reaching an unoccupied Singapore and being welcomed by UNF patrol fleets. The refugee cities were also still under UNF control, and with the Abyssals arriving the UNF defenders requested their aid in pushing back the hordes of mutant life that keep attempting to break past their defenses. The raids on the Hierarchy forces revealed that the Hierarchy were far quicker to respond than even over on the American Coastline, with Saucers and those same ‘Phase Tanks’ appearing to intercept the Abyssal raid fleets and firing those hot plasma bolts.

The Lycoris Princess deployed to the Solomon Islands would arrive without much fanfare, and their attempts to set up the Installations also went smoothly. Out of all the Princesses, she was the one that had the least issues, and she was able to soon join the Singapore Princess’ fleets in their Raids. With the both of them, they were able to begin pushing the Hierarchy back to the coastline, although with the Walkers’ heavier weapons, they were not able to push much further without suffering heavier losses.

Australian Diplomats however brought some bad news...the Hierarchy in Indonesia had set up some bases of their own, and were heavily fortified. The UNF had only discovered this now thanks to the Hierarchy having taken over entire islands too fast for a warning to get out, and their existence needed to be dealt with. Otherwise, the Hierarchy would be able to move through Oceania under the protection of their land-based forces.

With conflict raging all across the ring of fire, the Supply Depot Princess’s efforts would go smoothly, with the bases and research facilities being set up quickly, but her studies into the Portal would reveal something...interesting. Somehow, the Portal was sustained by energy that felt both similar yet completely different to the Abyss, and in “poking” at it, something completely unpredictable would happen. For a brief moment, the portal would go unstable, before restabilizing a moment later and spewing out a massive wreckage of a ship.

No one was hurt, but this ship that was launched out of the portal had quickly sunk to the seafloor. It looked like the IJN Yamato...but something was different about it. It warranted investigation.

[Enemy Forces (Manazilio): 3 xHabitat Walkers, Saucers, Grunts
(Dutch Harbor): 1x Habitat Walker, Saucers
(Juneau/Anchorage): 40x Phase Tanks, 50x Saucers
(Southeast Asian Front): 30x Habitat Walkers, 12x Assembly Walkers, Phase Tanks, Saucers]

Eien No Kaos 9
The Siege of Beijing
1515 Hours

While one could not see Mirabel’s face, the nod of the armor conveyed her relief, somehow. “Wll good, because otherwise this would be far more awkward.” She says, before another bolt hits the same building, causing another bright explosion.

“Well, I will be heading out to try and stop those Walkers from sending those blasts. The UNF and Novus will support you in repelling this attack!”

With that being said, the white mech then took off after a brief moment of turning to face the direction the blasts were coming form, the UNF forces that had landed in the Helicopters soon moving out to help fortify the immediate area around the Officio building.

Mami Tomoe, after a brief moment of staring incredulously, would be directed to the landed helicopters, which would take her and her escort to the current HQ, which was closer to the coast and within an abandoned skyscraper. The officials there were soon filling in the girl and the copy of the Warmaster in on the situation, after a moment of both staring at Mami and her entourage.

China was one of the main nations defending against the Invasion when it began, so the Hierarchy responded by hitting the nation with 32 bioweapon detonations, all of which turned the majority of the populace into mutated monsters that followed the will of the Hierarchy. This effectively made China collapse as a nation overnight, and it was only thanks to the machine race known as the Novus and UNF forces rapidly repositioning that the survivors were evacuated with minimal losses to Beijing and other “refugee cities” along the Chinese coastline. It was the Japanese Navy that helped to protect these cities from the Mutants, but as of late the Hierarchy made increasingly focused attempts at destroying these cities, with Beijing as the main target. In fact, this siege has been going on since China collapsed.

The telepathic links were briefly a surprise to the high command in charge of the defense, but they swiftly adapted and began relaying data and orders much more smoothly. It was here that more detailed reports on the state of the siege were made apparent.

Sayaka Miki would experience this firsthand in helping the soldiers, as it turns out the Walkers attacking the city from afar had sent a massive number of ‘Lost Ones’ into the city. These soldiers were the light infantry of the Hierarchy according to UNF data, and they were very deadly in this siege due to the simple fact that they utilized “phasing” technology. This allowed them to both go completely undetectable by most forms of detection and the ability to walk through obstacles such as walls.

Equipped with guns that could melt tank armor and literally steal the life from a human as well as explosives that could level a building that were as small as grenades in their hands, the Lost Ones only apparent weakness was their ‘lack of armor’ and the fact that when Phased, they interfered with Radio Signals, letting Soldiers know if they were close by if they had their Radios on. Due to the sheer number of them attacking the city within and turning nearly every street into a firefight, the bluenette had a hell of a time routing them all out thanks to their ability to run away by Phasing. Yet it was not them that she had to deal with the most, but instead the Grunts and Brutes.

These heavy troops were far removed from the Light Infantry, effectively wading through bullets and returning the favor with their plasma scattershots. As their heavy armor implied, they were extremely resilient to normal munitions and were able to slap tanks around with a casual swipe. Yet if it was them alone, Sayaka would not be having trouble with her skills...instead, it was the 11 meter tall beings of muscle.

The Brutes were, as the name implied, massive beasts that both were more durable than the Grunts simply due to their size and yet were somehow able to react faster than them, and made their presence known by throwing tanks at the Magical Girls that engaged them. They also seemed to possess a supernatural ability of a sort, able to use that life stealing energy that the Grunts and Lost Ones use in their weapons to enhance their physical attacks, and if they grab a soldier, are able to steal their life to both boost themselves and heal all wounds inflicted. In short, with the three types of enemies that Sayaka had to engage, it was no wonder she had her hands full.

Luckily, she was not alone. For Vintage Karasawa assisted in the defense of the city, and with her skills, routing out the Lost Ones was far simpler. With her rapid response to threats across the city, the stealthy Hierarchy saboteurs began to die in droves due to her actions, relieving the pressure on the defense and allowing more civilians to escape and for UNF Marines to redeploy and assist Sayaka in the firefights raging in the city.

Kazumi Subaru, on the other hand, had other forces to contend with. For the skies of Beijing were a hotly contested space. With the swarms of nearly uncountable Saucers flying about, there were quite literally targets in nearly every direction. Yet they were also not alone here. For the Novus and their Dervishes flew about and easily killed the swarms with their more maneuverable and agile crafts, and UNF helicopters could even keep up with them if they weren’t outnumbered. Yet unlike on the ground, even with Kazumi’s efforts the skies were hard to clear of the enemy entirely...and it was clear why soon. For as they began to interfere with the beams hitting the city, Mirabel finally chimed in after some time.

“These forces won’t end if we don’t take out these Walkers! They’re entering the city now that you’re interfering!”

As she says that, there was a massive thud at the edge of the city, followed by several more. Mirabel was right on the money, as indeed there was a whole line of Walkers now marching into the city, Routinely one would glow for a moment, before a swarm of Saucers and numerous ground forces would appear in a green flash before moving to join the battle in progress. Mirabel could be seen in her suit, flying about and firing at them to draw their attention and prevent them from using their weapons on the city itself for the moment.

At the very least, Chiaki’s own efforts and the building opening up to allow civilians to take shelter went off without much of a fuss. The UNF personnel studying the portal soon reported that at the moment it remained stable, but that stabilizing it was not currently possible with the battle raging on.

And up above, far into the sky all while this battle raged, the sky lit up as the single largest engagement in orbit thus far raged on…

Huntertyavatar, SparraNova, AshlingWaltzes
The Showdown
0415 Hours UTC

​

Of all the battles of Earth, the ones that mattered the most were almost always for contesting the Hierarchy’s control of Orbit. These battles were always chaotic, as all the factions involved vying for supremacy were typically in knife-fighting range due to the increasing size of the Hierarchy occupation fleet. Of these, the very first one was easily one of the largest.

The Hierarchy, poised to take this planet and strip it down into naught but dust, are unwilling to let go of their strategic position to these foreign forces. So, even whilst they committed heavily to other Orbital Theaters such as against the Eggfleet and against Hoxxes IV, the Hierarchy sent forth a swarm of their vessels. For while they were geared for planetary invasion and occupation, the Hierarchy could not afford to let the Primitives rob their advantage. So they committed such a force that outnumbered each side individually, with dozens upon dozens of cruiser-class Saucers and near countless swarms of strikecraft. In the meanwhile, the Mothership’s space foundries, long since inactive due to the lack of craft lost since the UNF’s first Nuclear Salvo, once more roared to life.

The Scrin and the Battlecontroller in the meanwhile didn’t care to try and contest the Hierarchy fleet, instead launching a planned rush straight through it. 5 fleets would make a hard burn towards the planet below, each aiming for a different location on the terrestrial world in the hopes that at least one of them would land. And while there was a hope that all 5 would make it through unscathed...such was not their fate.

One had the unfortunate luck of running straight through a swarm of strikecraft, destroying scores of them but in return earning many of those very stubborn plasma orbs stuck to their fields...and soon after their hulls. The sheer damage sustained both during and after that encounter was too much for the diversion group heading into North America, and all forces were lost and burning in the atmosphere. Two others managed to break through despite the saucers landing multiple hits with their planetary bombardment arrays, reducing the diversionary forces landing in Africa and New Guinea at approximately half-strength due to the damage alone. Yet the main landing force landed safely in the Indian jungle despite heavy Hierarchy fire trailing after them, making it all worth it. As for the last...well, it found itself face to face with the third force in this battle, and the following events prevented it from ever reaching China in one piece...or even at all.

The Fleet of Blessed Knowledge, as the honorable and proud beings that they were, engaged their full fleet in matching the force sent at them, both Scrin and Hierarchy alike. All available vessels and strikecraft, those that were not moving down to the planet below, would be the first to fire their weapons as the Hierarchy and Scrin Diversion Fleet approached. This opening salvo would be the most devastating that the Fleet would unleash, each lancing through Hierarchy ships and either coring them or leaving great scars in their hulls. Explosions rippled out through space as the incoming Hierarchy fleet suffered some serious losses, and the Scrin who trailed behind them in an attempt to also reach the planet below were also met with these barrages.

Unlike with the Hierarchy, the Scrin were far less susceptible to the plasma weapons arrayed against them, only a few of their vessels falling under sustained barrages. Yet they returned fire, both at the Holy Fleet and the Hierarchy. Once more the Hierarchy would suffer some losses, but as they did so sickly green lances of plasma darted out at the Scrin and Holy Fleet in turn. The space between the three forces quickly filled with projectiles and strikecraft as the Hierarchy and Holy Fleet dueled, the Scrin trapped between them and unable to break through to reach the planet yet also not immediately being completely obliterated thanks to the Holy Fleet’s presence. For the moment it was a stalemate, as while the Holy Fleet’s weapons and armament was formidable, the Hierarchy’s fleet both outnumbered them and had the hull to withstand anything that wasn’t a focused salvo.

For some time this slug match continued, the Holy Fleet beginning to take some damage to their hulls over the course even as they punished such actions with swift retribution against their enemies. Yet this battle had one last contender to face. In a display of righteous fury at these insects desecrating their claimed world, the Primer Fleet arrived and displayed their intent to destroy them all with impunity.

With their opening attack, several Covenant vessels and Scrin escorts were targeted by a mass assault of numerous Primer teleportation ships and battleships, overwhelming a few with sheer mass of fire while absorbing the returning salvo upon their hulls. Numerous drones were obliterated by both the Scrin and Covenant in turn, but the damage was done and the Primers have weakened both sides.

In particular, the duel between the Argo and the CSS Heavy Cruiser was a bloody one, both sides both too durable to outright kill immediately, yet possessing weapons that would destroy any lesser vessel.

The incoming bombardment of the Octagon Landing Fortresses wreaked havoc among the smaller vessels of the Covenant and Scrin fleets, with the latter ending up reduced to a quarter of their strength at this point and the former starting to have a few of their smaller vessels become mission killed or in one case destroyed.

The Hierarchy was not unscathed either, as the Primer Attack Mothership cut a bloody swathe through their vessels, their cruisers turning into slagged wrecks and their strikecraft obliterated in mass numbers. Such a rampage would have continued for longer...if not for the Hierarchy’s swift retaliation. From the Mothership, a massive energy spike would register on all ships in the battle as well as others in orbit (Dragonjackel, EXiCUR, Zargothrax), before a brilliant green beam lanced through the void of space, clear for all to see as a massive blast. It would smash into the Attack Mothership, actually punching through its armor and heavily damaging it. It was not out of the fight yet, but the source of the blast was steadily moving closer and away from the Hierarchy Mothership. They were taking the Primers seriously, right from the start.

Yet the Primers were unopposed as they landed in the wasteland that was ‘Russia’, as the vermin of this planet referred to it as. With them landing and developing a beachhead with little opposition aside from the occasional Hierarchy Saucer scouting them, they would learn of the portals that this “UNF” had created out of desperation. Despite their presence on their world, the UNF’s actions lead to the Primers learning of the Hierarchy’s invasion.

The Covenant’s own actions with the planet below also faced little resistance as the battle raged in orbit above, the United Nations Federation briefly on guard with contact being established. Yet once they learned of the Holy Fleet’s intention to fight, they were far more friendly, allowing them to establish a base and introducing them to the Novus, a race of Machines that had also come to aid Humanity in their fight.

Yet with the battle above, the Holy Fleet found itself facing more than just the Hierarchy. The Scrin and the Primers, despite the former’s small presence in the battle, were certainly worthy opponents, and them combined with the Hierarchy essentially meant they were facing an enemy with two and a half times their number and with technology that certainly was a threat. If something didn’t change soon...they would lose more than they could afford to.

And that is when things did change.

​

For from the planet, the Novus were not idle with the space battle happening in orbit. A bright blue portal appears, and from it hundreds upon hundreds of Dervishes appear, joining the Holy Fleet in the massive battle for Earth...the first of many. Among them, one in particular lead the formation, who soon introduced himself. “Vertigo, reporting in on behalf of the Novus. We are here to assist you, Shipmaster.”

From there, he and the Dervishes proved themselves as formidable. While these Novus had no orbital vessels, their strikecraft were leagues above the Hierarchy Saucers and formidable against the Scrin and Primer equivalents, as well as carrying munitions to threaten the larger vessels...ones that stuck to hulls and detonated with great force. With this, the battle for the Holy Fleet suddenly looked a lot more even…

[Primer Fleet Status: Relatively unscathed, aside from one Attack Mothership heavily damaged from the Hierarchy Alpha Strike. Strikecraft reduced to 90%]

EXiCUR
Ill Tidings
1815 Hours

For the Armada, things were silent but full of quiet tension. With the fleets moving through, they immediately bare witness to a massive fleet engagement, between what looks like four separate side all fighting one another with large ship numbers. Such a display, while incredibly violent, filled their sensors with many blooms of light and showed insight into the enemies they were to face. Especially when the ‘Hierarchy’ unleashed their latest vessel into the fray.

Aside from this, their seeding went off without a hitch...aside from something new. In this universe, the creation of these artificial asteroids did not go unnoticed, as movement from the fleet surrounding the massive Hierarchy Mothership indicated a detachment of a small fleet to the Armada’s position. It would not arrive for some time, giving them time to prepare, but it was clear that they were no longer just observers in this conflict.

Especially as this small fleet met their sent scouts. The two forces clashed, and the Armada was quickly made aware of the sheer number of strikecraft that they had with them. While the Scouts quickly made full burn away from this fleet, one Manta was unfortunate enough to let numerous strikecraft unleash their payloads onto it, which latched onto the hulls and quickly burned through it in mass. Needless to say, it proceeded to die an explosive death, its hull splitting apart and being set upon by yet more Saucers.

A plan was needed, lest the Armada is faced with a swarm of these Saucers.

AnitaCharis
A Plea Answered
815 Hours

To say that the UNF Representatives were relieved to have allies in the heart of Paris was an understatement, and they proceeded to help fill in the 6 Heroes on the status of the world and their own capabilities. Starting with themselves, the UNF would explain their technology and a basic summary of how it works before moving on to their other allies the Novus, who were the main reason that Luxendarc had a portal to deal with in the first place.

The Novus were an advanced race of ‘machines’ that literally came from the Stars to help fight the Hierarchy, and had technology that was rather hard to tell apart magic from times. Still, even they were not enough to fight the threat they posed...as they were formidable.

The Hierarchy were Alien conquerors that, according to the Novus, travelled from World to World, conquering them and either enslaving the populace or just killing them all, before turning the world to dust for the sake of the resources they held. Their armor was nigh impervious to all but the strongest of weapons, Novus and UNF both, and their own weapons were capable of stealing the life directly out of whatever they hit as well as generally being extremely hot and capable of melting armor. But most of all...they were told of the Walkers. Towering behemoths that were on themselves moving fortresses, the Hierarchy used these to call down their armies and siege their positions, and even with the Novus having weapons capable of bringing them down, as of yet there were no similar weapons that the UNF or Novus could deploy, meaning the Hierarchy always had the advantage.

When asked about other inter-dimensional travellers, the UNF helpfully told them of the Project that created the portals in the first place, that being Project EVE, who had the coordinates of most of the other portals in the world. According to them, the closest was to the east in the city known as Warsaw.

Progress was made on getting Luxendarc forces through the portal, being delayed now and again by the Portal briefly closing off when it became too unstable. It was at this time that terrible news came from the east...Warsaw was being attacked by the Hierarchy! Luckily there were some Inter-dimensional forces defending the city, but the city itself was still under attack as they spoke.

Regarding how to quickly arrive there, the Novus offered the use of their Flow Network...great towers that allowed one to travel through the roads of light they made to quickly reach a destination faster than even the UNF could go. Time was of the essence!