Post credit scene

After the end of the New Hypatia crisis, Tohaas were officially inquired about their interests in the city and about the Voodotech artifact retrieved in the Lasagna trench which was stored at Patricious Oceanographic Data Center. Refusing to answer the questions, they were ultimately banned from the planet; a diplomatic solution supported by Yu Jing, fearing retaliations from Tohaas since they had received information about the Halmeoni's weaknesses from them.

Carmine Burana was downgraded and removed from its duty of Grand Master of Zamek Fortress-Monastery due to a scandal relating to the secret negotiations going on between PanOceania and Libertos Freedom Fighters.

Four hours after the end of the Crisis, Ba-Fashas was declared a traitor by the Combined Army with the accusation of selling plasma technology to Equinox group. After having his submarine self-destruct, a Morat extraction force found Ba hiding in a nearby island, where he was killed in the ensuing firefight.

Admiral Bocca announced his retirement perspective from O-12 active combat duty, considering of stepping into politics. Leah Recalcas, with her carreer halted by the poor results during Operation Hungry Walrus, lost her faith in Bocca and applied for a different assignment.

Capitan Melchior was wounded by an explosive round in the last days of the campaign; after the event, he was decleared unfit for combat duties and assigned to Weapon and Ammo R&D Division. Not being able to play a leading role during the crisis, Ariadna lost its favorable market position and credibility in New Hypatia.

Nomad Nation's Poor Yorick! was permanently settled on West Coastline, bypassing taxes and docking fees by reconverting itself into a Rem Racing and leisure hub, eventually becoming the long wanted Nomad foothold on New Hypatia. Both Philomena and Chickpea decided to stay on board.

Aleph safely managed to transfer the Voodotech Artifact retrieved in the Lasagna trench to an undisclosed location for further analysis. No traces of anomalities were found in any of Chalcis Theme Park's entertainment recreations and each and every of them passed through special maintenance and a factory reset without any issue.

Through extensive negotiation by Kadar Nazmin and by means of trade facilitation agreements, Haqqislam won the contract for the reconstruction and the enhancement of docks and cargo ships damaged during the conflict. Thanks to the intervention of Haqqislamite special forces, silk trader Batth'o U'Belin survived a bombing that completely destroyed his mansion.

Leveraging on quibbles of O-12 legislation, many of the Non-Aligned Armies activities in New Hypatia were formally recognized as initiatives to defend the city's rights and most of the charges fell off without little more than hefty fines, which the mercs were very happy to pay in order to leave the city without ritorsions and well enriched. 

Yu Jing Command's leading role during the Crisis was aknowledged by the whole Human Sphere, granting the Jade Empire more authority and powers on decision tables. Inferences about Chenma Pharmaceutics' relation to illegal operations were dropped with formal apologies even before the end of the Crisis and the company's stocks skyrocketed. Wang Shū's actions earned him a medal and a field promotion as Captain; rumors point him out as Bocca's natural successor.

Consider the end - 2023/07/18

A strong wind was blowing through the strait. Saline sprays and a faint scent of algae filled the air, anticipating the incumbent sunrise. Fengbao's binoculars scanned the horizon, where an orderly queue of cargo drone ships salied to the city: the New Hypatia Crisis was officially over.

The binoculars' notification system highlighted two flyers taking off from a large ship, multimodal flight carrier Yínhéxì #5, excorting the cargo convoy. It was Yu Jing's victory parade.

Fengbao turned to Huong, sitting behind him:

- Boomslang, they're coming.

She opened up the armored door of the LRV and took the case containing Brutus' last node. Teaming up with other trusted mercenaries, they had raided his lair the night before to neutralize him. Huong expected a fiercer resistance but the operation had went down smooth as silk. Even too smooth maybe, but there was no more time for hesitations. Real or not, they had no clues to doubt that they had retrieved Brutus' last copy. In fact, the emerging winners of the crisis were the first who really wanted to believe it: they were happy to pay for welcomed news.

One of the flyers landed on the beach while the other surveilled the situation from above. As Huong approached it, the tailgate opened to let out Deputy Judge Yun Quiduo and her escorting team.

The two women stopped a few meters apart with a short bow.

- Huong Canova, it's a pleasure to meet you. You did the right thing to contact the State Empire: you will be highly rewarded for your service.

Huong nodded and took some steps forward, leaving the case halfway between them. Then she backed away to her position, slowly. The members of the escorting team never pointed their guns to her, but followed every move with great attention. She felt targeted, yet safe.

- I never imagined things to end like this.
She replied.
I never dreamt or hoped to be a main character of any story, not to mention this one. I only took an opportunity.

Yun Quiduo stepped forward, in return, gracefully walking to the case. When she picked it up and started backing off, Huong realized that that elegance had been mastered over time, in a continuous exercise of strength and diplomacy.

- We are all the same. No one is born to be a main character, but only those who recognize this truth make it to the next chapter. We are glad you have choosen to contact us, despite your grudge toward us.

Huong opened her hands, exhausted.

- Resentment is something I can't carry with me where I am going.

A fishy affair - 2023/07/17

CameRaccoon finished unscrewing the panel and turned to Erin with a doubtful chirp.

- Of course you are not coming with me! Stay alert and ready to call for help. I'll keep streaming for you.
She whispered, tapping on her smartvisor.

Silently walking in the maintenance shaft, Erin blessed her cold blood. Above her, a large hangar in outer Sèlentra hosted the New Hypatian headquarters of Kalokahi Meka Laki, a joint venture of Libertos mercenaries. The majority of the merc subgroups composing it were of course considered terrorists by PanOceania and other hyperpowers.

Erin peeked through the vents: flyers, LRVs, support weapons, TAGs...the KML had lots of equipment and not only old, refurbished, wrecks; new toys were there too, showing that wealthy fundings had been streamed into their pockets way before Brutus had hired them.

She had mixed feeling about the ideals of Libertos freedom fighters but her inner self just couldn't read any good in what she was seeing.

Following the map provided by her fatherly source, she finally reached the room she was looking for. An old, damp meeting room; empty... but surely not for long.

Time to see if all the credits I spent on Bakunin are worth something, she thought, extracting a small device from her backpack and turning it on. To any instrumentation scanning the room, she was now nothing more than a rat behind a wall.

***

A tall man came out of the elevator and went towards the guards with no hesitation. He could feel the hate in their eyes. The utter need to find revenge, to find justice. They looked upon him as symbol of an oppression that brought them so far from the oceans of Varuna, so far from home.

But Grand Master Burana hadn't come to answer hate with hate. As a man of law, reason and duty he had come to New Hypatia with one goal: trading the freedom of Libertos fighters held in his fortress with the end of terrorist attacks on Varuna. In fact, as in previous meetings, he was unarmed. Sometimes, an empty sheath could carry more meaning than a thousand slashes. More than anything, he let money and resources speak.

The Helot diplomat named Babollo was waiting for him in the same meeting room where they had met before. The only difference was that now, above their heads, the city of New Hypatia had radically changed.

- Babollo. I'm sure you knew about all this.

- Carmine, we work as mercenaries: Brutus is nothing but another customer. This has nothing to do with our deal. Let's start from where we stopped last time, shall we?

The grand master nodded, thoughtfully. Babollo was a wise Helot and a skillful diplomat: there was no hate in his eyes, only duty.

- You're wrong: everything matters with our deal. The eyes of the universe are laid on this city now: what if our agreements were to be unveiled? It's not the time for us to show that we come to terms with what we define...

- ...terrorism. Concluded Babollo, dry.

He was a wise Helot, one that had lived enough to tell the difference between an opportunity and an ultimatum.

- But I am sure we can find a way out of this. He continued. Nothing has really changed for us, the stakes have only been risen. Let's reassess your offer for the release of our compatriots.

Erin shivered behind the wall, furious.
Something IS about to change once I get out of here!

Coda - 2023/07/16

Notes by Phemius The Aoidos for the SSS Information Service:

Backup nodes are burning, hideouts fall, alliances are broken: these are Brutus' last days. The City Council's integrity is collapsing and part of the hawks that supported Brutus even after the end of the truce, have now joined to doves to establish a so called "Reconciliation Force" for a smoother transition to peace. Brutus' ideals have been thrown out of the window and the Council is willing to fight only in order to prompt another Stability Agreement and sign it as fast as they can.

Do AIs dream of ideological revolutions? This seems to be the case. Now that the stage is empty, now that his scapegoat role is about to be completed, now that even his honour guard is gradually disbanding, Brutus has stopped appearing in public. A remarkable and unforseen evolution for such a powerful personality: Brutus, the fine strategist, the reckless fortune captain, the excellent politician, seems to be patiently waiting for his adventure to end, as if he had already accomplished all he had to do. And maybe, it really is so. The dots have always been there and Brutus only showed us the connections to reveal a bigger picture. A picture of negative sinergies and indispensable desires.

Such an effective mirror to our flaws could have never be concived by a single mastermind. In fact, I believe the Carpenter of the Walrus parallel has never been a single faction but all of them, including Aleph itself, in different ways and magnitudes.

Some wanted to create chaos for the sake of their secret operations, others followed their greater agenda without caring for eventual contraindications, many others were just found hands in dough where and when they were confident they would never be discovered.

The perfect storm is never created out of thin air: the concurrent elements grow separately and uncorrelated until their eventual mix unleash an unforeseeable multiplication factor. Having managed to limit its effects to the dismay of New Hypatia, the Brutus incident will inevitably become a lesson learned for the rest of the sphere, as the scars of this crisis will keep showing up for years to come.

As the historical Brutus had said: your councils be long, your doings be slow, consider the end.

Total cover - 2023/07/15

"Byeolug" O-12 outpost, outside Chalcis Theme Park.

Leah duck in cover to change her magazine while a spitfire burst roared above her, hitting the outpost panels with the O-12 insigna. Setting up the outpost had been a real challenge that had been ultimately made possible only by the truce. At first, their incursions in the park had just been infructuous but, as time passed, even coming out of the outpost had became dangerous. Snipers posed a constant threat while enemy infiltrators hacked and sabotaged their utilities, making it impossible to fulfill her tasks as Chief of Land Operations. It was a siege.

Many times she had looked up in the sky to find the familiar athmospherical signature of the Halmeoni's low orbit engines. A few, precise shots of space ordinance would have freed them from snipers, traps and infiltrators, but that was not and would never have been how the O-12 intended to face that conflict.

The duality of O-12's condition, strong and uncontested in the skies but fragile and challenged on land, was stark - but not the only one. Every other party also had light and dark pages in the Operation, forming an everending chain of virtue and guilt. She tried to recall Brutus's first speech and, to her surprise, she couldn't. Brutus was the least important thing, the catalyst that had freed their inner need to settle things with violence, to impose their vision over others, to rule - in justice - above all. No greater threat would have united humanity as it should.

Her thoughts went lighter and lighter, in a caledoscope of memories and evidences. She imagined showing the video of the Tohaa impostor retreived by Nomads in Patricious to her father, back in Edda, in the dim light of the monsoon season.

The general shook his head, unable to help her.

- Leah, he would have murmured, war has changed...

She then saw New Hypatia up from above, flying with meteoroghcal drones up on the stable winds over the strait. The shadows of alien ships over the city created a mesmerizing pattern that pulsated in sync with an Haqqislamite war chant she had heard at the accademy, back when she had fallen in love with brother Gregorious, a story she rarely let herself remember. His face even appeared in between the clouds above her, smiling. She smiled back, but it wasn't brother Gregorious: it was the squared, red and white metalhead of Betatrooper ¾, the squad's doctor.

Not every round of that spitfire burst had missed the target; Leah had been hit.

Flashes of merriment - 2023/07/12

Chickpea reached Philomena on the panoramic deck holding two cups of coffee. She was waiting for him, looking at the grassy plains behind the cliffs of west coastline through a thick glass designed to endure the vacuum of space.

The large shadow of Poor Yorick!, the large Nomad Nation ship on which they were, casted a prismatic shadow much bigger than they would have expected. In space, proportions were a subjective matter but now, sitting on the ground with its landing gears, the ship had to measure herself with the landscape itself.

- Look at those vehicles down there, they seem ants from here.

Chickpea sipped his coffe, unsure on how to reply. He opted on staying silent.

She placed her coffee on the table and scratched the casting on her arm as if could relieve some itch she had inside. He was surprised by how comfortable she was with normal gravity: many other operatives just let go their drinks as if they were in zero-g.

- There is a reason why this ship was selected to land on this section of coast we control. It's a ship with a story.

Chickpea had already noticed that, in times of trouble, Philomena went chattier than usual.

Back in the days it was used for ore extraction on the outer orbits of the Solar system. Sadly, the ship had been involved in Mission Saturn Solstice, an O-12 operation. Lots of miners died in a firefight between O-12 and space pirates over a red herring placed by someone who wanted them to slip over a banana peel. Rumors back in PanOceania were that the culprits were Nomads themselves but I didn't believe any of it. Anyway, ol'Bocca was up there and he managed to save his face and was protrayed as the saviour of the day. Landing Poor Yorick! here's just a way to tell everyone that "we remember". We are not welcomed here and the O-12 has all the support about it, so...better make things clear.

- Wow, I didn't know any of that.

She shrugged her shoulders, contemplating a coffee stain on the table.

- Now they're talking about some plot to assassinate Bocca himself. When they can't cover up their shortcomings they adjust their flags to the new wind. Everyone's talking about a Starmada Tian Gou who sacrificed himself to save him, but I'm sure there's more. Yu Jing is interested to the space above New Hypatia just as we are: what was that guy doing over there?

Chickpea raised his eyebrows.

- Well, Tian Gous work for Starmada too, it's not implausible that...

She raised her hand to stop him and looked away.

- Grow up kid.

- Wow. I didn't expect you to be some sort of conspiracy theorist!

She dunked her unfinished coffee in the trash and replied:

- To think the worst about others it's a sin...but most of the times you're damn right.

Unexpected visits - 2023/07/10

Wang Shū perfectly remembered the Halmeoni.

After snatching a janitor suit and updating his identification card accordingly, he started following the shortest route to the Communication and Coordination deck.

Something in the terminology used by the operator that contacted him was off. Years of training and the workshops held by Paradiso veterans made him capable to tell paranoia apart from an actual threat suspect. Swiftly, without missing a beat and appropriately saluting every officer he encountered in his path, he rapidly approached the last door before his objective until casually overhearing a conversation between two midshipmen.

- I'm heading to the canteen. Vice Admiral is privately speaking with Bocca in deck 9 so I'm sure he'll want to brief us next. It'll be one of their usual eternal chess matches for sure.

- They haven't played since I joined the Halmeoni...I'm told Admiral Bocca is a great player, is it so?

- Oh yes a great tactician, but don't underestimate Rupesolc either.

- It's beautiful they're conserving such an old fashioned habit. It gives the ship some great vibes.

- Yeah...some great hospice vibes! I'll be happy once Recalcas will be back on board.

They laughed, as Wang Shū's blood froze.

The epiphany he had while listening to the conversation made his heart skip several beats. He quickly recalled the fastest way to deck 9 and started walking towards the closest elevator.

Six months before, a rising star O-12 commissioned officer had fallen on the ISS' black book for a matter of unfulfilled promises and uncovered bribery attempts. Wang Shū knew how that story ended: with a dead body under the fresh snow of a cold Svalarheima morning. He knew it because he was the one tasked to fulfill that mission, and he had succeeded.

After cutting off the surveillance system, he pulled the emergency lever triggering red lights and sirens all over the ship. The artificial gravity of the Halmeoni vanished as he pulled out his gun and opened the door to deck number 9.

Chess pieces were floating everywhere. He found the two in a standoff, pointing their pistols to each other in a nerve wrecking game of death. Wang Shu's entrance made the Speculo Killer impersonating Vice Admiral Rupesolc turn in his direction and open fire. He was hit twice before being able to do anything, but Bocca took that opportunity to straighten his aim and neutralized the alien, firing a single shot to its head.

Blood and tears started floating over New Hypatia among knights and pawns, symbols of an everlasting conflict that would have always been larger than life.

The vow - 2023/07/07

Fengbao cleared the corner and entered the room with his gun loaded and ready to fire. It was a huge room with a tall cieling and forgotten corporate logos of the bankrupted construction company that built the first landing pads all over the walls. The glass wall facing south had been shattered by a large object fallen into the side of the building and still planted a few stories above. He tried to look at it through the gutted floors, but debris and foam residues from the fire system made it impossible to see clearly.

A voice interrupted Fengbao's internal dialogue, which was urging him to leave that unstable building at once, making him jump.

- You came.

Huong showed up from the floor above, lowering her mask.

- Of course I came, I'm worried for you. What is this place? What did you wanna show me?

She reached him jumping between torn steel beams and concrete chunks, graceful as the snake he had always compared her with.

- Fengbao, I found it.

Five minutes laters, five stories above.

- So tell me, Boomslang, what am I looking at?

- This is the Swan, one of the best ships ever built.

Fengbao shook his head, puzzled.

- This plate here says this ship's name is Ugly Duckling.

Huong patted the nacelle, kindly.

- I know the name of my father's ship. He designed and built it, but an unfortunate turn of events and his awful character made all of his sacrifices worthless across one single night. Changing the name of the ship was the last thing he did as its legitimate capitan: it was his vow to retrieve it...he never fulfilled it.

Fengbao stayed silent, contemplating the mix of sadness and joy in her voice that had been unearthed by the find.

- Thank you for sharing your story with me. You should be proud of your father, it looks like a magnificent ship.

- It is! He could never fully complete his vision, but following his notes I'd know how to turn this piece of crap into the best ship of the universe. We could roam the space on it, founding our own mercenary company, free to choose our adventures!

She was shaking with excitement and Fengbao took one step beyond to have a better look at the ship.

- It sure looks like you'd need a lot of money to make this thing fly again, not to mention improving it.

- So let me explain the idea I had... 

A secret in plain sight - 2023/07/05

Yun Quiduo stepped on the pier with martial authority. As Deputy Imperial Service Judge, she had the highest rank in the area and was immediately saluted appropriately. A Crane Rank Imperial Agent welcomed her on board of the Agile Chipmunk, as she crossed the finger leading to the immense remotely controlled cargo ship.

The Agile Chipmunk had been heavily damaged both by the city's defence system and by the subsequent fights at the docks, but it was evident that the ship had seen better times. The hull had been vessed by the salty corrosion of the ocean and every section was unadorned and bare, up to a level of artlessness that was uncommon even for an Ariadna remote controlled cargo.

Passing through a door, something caught Yun's attention. She stopped to examine one of the ship's few portholes and addressed the officer:

- Anything special about the cargo?

- Nothing madam. It's manganese and tungsten enriched silicatum powder: components of Teseum manufacturing.

- Just as expected. Nothing in the ship's database I believe.

- Correct madam. The only interesting thing is about the shipyard that performed the last maintenance operations.

She moved her focus to a long scratch crossing the panel above her; it was a very fine and precise: undoubtedly machine made.

- I assume that's an Haqqislam shipyard, correct?

- Precisely madam. They made a very poor job. As you can see, many panels must be workshop leftovers originally intended for other processes. There are scratches and guidelines for machining all over the place. They also made a mess with the numeration system of docks, engines and technical rooms: it must be a pain to work over this carcass now.

Yun Quiduo laughed: it sounded like a murder of crows diving into a thick mist, toward oblivion. Despite having secured only one of their two designated objectives, the Jade Empire troops had stumbled across something very interesting.

- This carelessness is...intentional.

She smiled, as the puzzled officer did his best to follow her reasoning.

- Don't you see? This whole ship is a map.

Nightflight - 2023/07/03

Abbass opened the hatch and was lashed by the dust lifted by the flyer hovering over the roof. Farah followed him out of the hatch and then on the rope, up to the flyer. Kadar Nazmin, the White Scarab himself, was waiting on board. Except for an underarm holster, he was still wearing civil clothes.

- Farah, Abbass, your mission is a great success.

- The district is under our control, shaykh muhtaram, but not for long.

- Even so, this is an important milestone. The warehouse you neutralized will hinder the lab's activities for a long time.

- What about the other teams?

The vehicle was now flying low out of the district, gliding between the city's torn buildings.

- We are now heading to Chalcis. I couldn't tell you first but we had operators undercover as staff, janitors and customers. They immediately teamed up and secured the zone: now, we'll need their help to focus on our designated objectives.

Farah turned his head to look at the reddish lights of the docks: somewhere, was the cargo ship the other teams had been desperately trying to secure without success in the last days.

- This truce helped us reorganizing. Our adversaries may have figured our some of our secrets, but not all of them. We must secure the ship before it's too late.

On the other side of the flyer, Abbass was still looking at the Akhua Leisure District they had just left.

- Oh my... what's going on?  He murmured.

Kadar joined him and followed his gaze to look in the same direction: a small number of pulsating lights over a black canvas were now in place of the usual night skyline of the leisure district.

- Where on earth...? The district has just vanished!

Kadar activated the comlog.

- Aisha, you were right: Brutus has still aces up his sleeves. The ALD just went dark, I suspect it's proto-eclipse technology.

He then addressed Farah and Abbass:

- Young ones, I'm afraid you'll have to go back into the district before we expected. 

Power balance - 2023/06/30

2 days before the resumption of hostilities

The sun was setting over the city. From his vantage point, Melchior could see many little dots over the ocean: offshore drone cargo ships, ready to cross the strait any moment if the truce was to eventually develop in peace.

Ariadna's choice to keep Melchior and his team on the planet was a clear statement that they had little faith in the truce. The teseum industry had surely pressured the central command to change priorities and everyone saw their accomplishment in controlling the INB4 landing pad as a late starting point, not as an actual result. Melchior was unsurprised: no effort is worthy unless supported by politics.

But the meeting he had had in the moring had casted a moltitude of reflections over the whole picture, prompting him to light up a cigar and think about the New Hypatia mess from the start.
Colonel Voronin was in the meeting. Well, that would have been an overstatement: he had been logged for the whole meeting without turning on both camera and microphone. But, for sure, he had been listening. Irina K. was also present: Melchior knew her as she had been previously attached as Weapons and Ammo special expert during operations in Khurland. She was covering that same role on New Hypatia. The other three participants only introduced themselves by their codenames, something quite odd in Melchior's experience.

However, he had briefed them with all relevant information about the first phase of the Crisis: how they had fought for the AC and how they had to reorganize troops on the coast facing enemy superiority. Irina had made several and insightful comments about the State Empire armour plate desing, providing useful information about how to engage them. One of the codenamed participants had made a comment about Armour Piercing rounds and Melchior tought she must have been a Scout. 

Why would they held such a secretive behaviour with their comrades? It made little sense, unless...

Melchior's cigar was about halfway when a local songbird saluted the last sunrays with a long whistle.

...unless black operations with plausible deniability were under evaluation. If the Stability Agreement was to be accepted by the City Council, Ariadna would had lost a technological safeheaven for its manufacturing needs and would have had to reconsider their position on an updated market, cutting them out. If, on one hand, the situation had to be solved quickly, Melchior realized that the current solution was not acceptable. They would have rather rekindled the flame of conflit than accepting the new paradigm.

The pieces of the puzzle started making an intelligible shape. Melchior turned further west: the sun had already set but a dim natural light still shone behind the salt stained cliffs. Nomads may had landed a big ship over there, but the O-12 had the full support of medias, industry and public opinion: it would have been easy to trigger another casus belli in the zone and reshuffle the deck of power relationships.

It was a depressing thought, but Melchior was confident that Brutus was never going to pledge to the Stability Agreement.

Myths and machinations - 2023/06/28

Commisariat Destroyer Fugaska (trad: peaceful assembly, meeting)
On the Combined Army side of Cerberus Gate

Tash Cora closed the communication and turned to face the unlimited depth of space. A Shasvastii myth came to his mind: it narrated of a twin civilization born on the other side of the universe, identical to Shasvastii in every aspect. According to the myth, the universe would have been granted enternal peace if they were to ever meet.

He smiled, finding that story quite amusing, since it packed the harshest truth of the universe in a fragile wrapping of hope: peace was impossible.

- The Evolved Intelligence will prevail!

- Now and always! Replied Tash, pivoting to welcome its guest.

A large, chitinous silhouette joined him and, together, they went back to the star gazing Tash Cora had just interrupted.

- What news from New Hypatia? Asked the newcomer, a large insectoid whose chitinous exoskeleton had more in common with the ship's structures than to Tash Cora's flesh and bones.

- Little to care about. That Ba Fashas I entrusted with this mission is the perfect scapegoat for a failure and an easy pawn to put aside in case there will be glory to reap. They're making little progress, so look forward for the first outcome anyway.

The Exrah enlarged its exo-chitin and lowered it, as if it was slowly breathing.

- Has anyone found what we're looking for?

- Oh, yes... the humans did. We already knew that in fact. I couldn't tell you before, since it was classified information before the start of the operation. I hope you'll understand.

- Of course. Replied the insectoid, condescending, unwilling to let the mellifluous talking of Tash Cora steer the conversation elsewhere.

- They're storing it in a research facility. Not well defended in fact, but it looks like a number of different parties are fighting for it. Ba Fashas plans to use one of our assets on the human battleship to cause a ruckus over there and snatch the control of the research facility in the commotion.

- Sounds like a good plan.

Tash Cora tasted the irony in his guest's observation: a faint hint of malevolence and an aftertaste of illusion.

- We've got the support of MAF and OCF too, it won't be long before we succeed.

- Don't forget about our other objective, if we want land control for a full scale invasion we'll need...

Tash Cora had enough. He moved away from the porthole and opened the door with a gentle but firm move.

- We are taking extra care into our objectives, please don't bother yourself with similar nuisances. Why don't you show me this new destroyer instead? It has been ages since the last time I could admire the power of the Exrah fleet.

Betrayal! - 2023/06/26

There were still 24 hours left, but the City Council had already decided: they would have accepted the Stability Agreement offered by O-12.

Meanwhile, Aleph's troops had almost finished securing the Patricious Oceanographic Data Center. Only a small number of underwater decks of minimal strategic importance, cut off from the network at the very beginning of the crisis, still had to be force opened and reconnected.  Considering them damaged or at worst flooded,  no one could have imagined how pivotal one of these underwater decks was to Brutus's scheme.

Emerging from the ocean, the eeire silhouette of an Archduke-class deep space railgun  stood above the restless New Hypatian waves and took a single but precise shot against the Halmeoni.

The railgun and the team of Brutus's mercenaries who hid isolated for days in the flooded underwater deck, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, were immediately neutralized before a second shot could be fired, but the Halmeoni and the hopes of peace on New Hypatia were already wounded.

The masterful command of Admiral Bocca minimized damage suffered by the battleship and it firmly held its position as guarantor of justice, supervising the crisis. However, despite the final outcome of this surprise attack, Brutus had already achieved its goal: that single shot had been able to protray the Human Sphere as weak, inconsistent and fragile. 

The truce was over and the promises of peace were shattered and forgotten. No party could now accept satisfactory conditions of surrender, only the annihilation of the enemy: and so, New Hypatia fell once again in the eye of  storm...