Mecholife V/S Mecholife

The Grox are the ultimate form of mechanical life in the known universe. Or at least, they were, until the Mechanization caused the natives of the Wental Galaxy to become machine life as well. Now, both forms of machine life are in the Andromeda Galaxy. And both are on opposite sides of a conflict. They have yet to meet in battle, and both have powerful weapons built to destroy. Therefor the Grox have determined that the only option is to exterminate all non-Grox Mecholife in the universe...

Note on the Nature of this Sub-War
Groxita, the Grox Commander, doesn't have a perfect connection to the Meta-Emperor, and is very driven to achieve her goals. This, combined with the Meta-Emperor's distractions elsewhere, allows her to fight even after the Grox have pulled out of the main andromeda war. On the Union Side, they withdraw planet by planet, moving the civilian populations to planets slightly farther out then before in a conveyer belt fashion (the inner most worlds are evacuated to the outer most worlds in an endless loop). They fight for every planet lost, and leave a trail of destroyed colonies and mechanized worlds behind them as they flee. This will eventually become known (hopefully) and the Metal Belt/Trail/Path in the Andromeda Galaxy.

First Contact
Like all wars, this one did not start with massive fleets battling it out for supremacy. This war started out with a few small scouting vessels of the Grox encountering the outer reaches of the Mecholife Expanse...

Seven Grox Warships, in seven different groups, each accompanied by five Grox Fighters, each came across the Mecholife Expanse at a different location and time.

The first encountered mecholife on a planet startling near the core of Andromeda, a large world with three smaller moons. The planet was at first thought to be lifeless, but as the ship and it's escort entered the atmosphere, they were attacked by what at first appeared to be an enemy ship. Then the Grox, shooting at it, realized it had no visible engines, and appeared to be flying with a set of large, feathered wings. The vessel saw a large swarm of these creates below, and started to get worried. It's weapons could easily take down a few of them, but there seemed to be hundreds, if not thousands, below. Unbeknowst to the ship or it's escort, it had arrived at the planet right when the Screai, the dominant species, was beginning it's mating rituals, which involved the males trying to get the larger females to mate with them. During this time, they are far more aggressive, and these poor Grox ships had just arrived upon a very large hoard of them. The ships decided, foolishly, to see what these creatures were doing, and killed the one that had attacked them. That caused the rest, interconnected by the Network, to see the ships as a threat not a foodsource. The swarm attacked. By the time the Grox ships could react, only two were left, the Warship and one Fighter. The Warship pulled out, commanding the Fighter to distract the creatures while it did so. The ship then did a full scan of the planet from a safe distance, and came to a conclusion: it had just arrived at a Mecholife world. Looking in closer at the creatures, it could even see, barely, the narrow golden threads filled with light that was a well known marking of Mecholife. The ship headed back to the rendezvous with the rest of the fleet.

The second of the seven Grox fleets encountered a mysterious fleet of large ships moving slowly through space. They couldn't detect weapons or engines, and assumed these ships were simply deactivated or dormant as they traveled at sublight speeds to a destination. The fleet decided to investigate. As they got closer, they found that these larger, silent ships were surrounded by a vast swarm of much tinier ships, too small to be a threat. All the ships had the same basic design, a large body with tiny hairs coming off of them. Not one of them was moving even so much as a single hair. One of the smaller ships bumped into a Grox ship and instantly latched onto it, the hairs extending and growing into the mechanisms of the ship. As if that was que for the rest of the ships, they suddenly came to life, swarming at the Grox ships with absolute concentration and force. The Grox ships didn't even get to fire a single shot before being swarmed over by these strange ships, they tangled into the mechanisms of their fleet and jammed up everything. They did send a FTL message torpedo back to rendezvous with the data they had collected on this strange fleet. The "fleet" moved the large ships towards the assortment of bigger "ships". There the grox fleet was ripped apart and consumed by the Yercks, a species of space Mecholife that is dormant until prey collides with the sensors scattered around them.

The Third of these seven Grox Fleets encountered a large protoplanetary disk. They went in search of resources that could be used by the Grox, as such a disk would be filled with such resources. What they found instead was what seemed to be a massive series of reef structures, all swarming with small creatures that seemed to be eating each other and were moving by jetting out small amounts of gasses and flames from various parts of their bodies. Scattered among this were larger creatures, using the same mode of transportation, but obviously more dangerous as they were taking out schools of the smaller creatures. And even larger then these were goliaths, immense creatures that seemed to be taking apart entire regions of the reefs at a time. The reefs themselves, the Grox Fleet found, were taking in sunlight and energy directly from the clouds of gasses the entire system was engulfed in. The Grox Fleet here studied the reefs for a time, researching every creature there to ensure that there were no threats in the system before moving on. After a time, they returned to the rendezvous without taking any casualties.

The fourth of these fleets wasn't as lucky. They came across a colony planet of the newly formed Union of Mecholife. While they didn't attack at first, preferring to observe, they swiftly came to realize that this system was still weak due to being a new colony. There were a great deal of simple machines on the planet, stripping away it's surface and butchering all the living creatures on the planet that didn't get out of the way. The Grox liked that, until they saw more complex ships beaming samples of these creatures into their cargo holds for later use. They then got even angrier when they saw yet another type of ship filling up with precious ores and resources that should, by right, belong to the Grox! The ships could detect no weapons, and all the vessels there seemed busy doing their thing automatically, so the Grox attacked. That was their Fatal Error. They shot down three of the ships before the entire planet was attacking them. The strange simple machines ripping through the planet's crust instantly turned back up into the atmosphere, and attacked the Grox ships. They swarmed them wearing down shields in moments from the sheer energy and buzz of the attack. Once they broke through, the Grox realized their ships were no stronger then the dirt these simple machines had been attacking before. The fleet was destroyed, and the Union of Mecholife alerted to Grox presence in the region. No Grox would ever see that fleet again.

The Fifth fleet faired much better. They came across a massive nebula, with a warm gas giant in the middle, which was growing steadily and starting to light up the entire nebula with heat and radiation. They entered the nebula, and started exploring. Finding a few other small collections of gas and even some water, frozen in space from old comets, they took samples of the gasses to determine if the nebula would ever be of use to them when it formed into planets. However, as they were doing this, they noticed a steady and thick coating of gunk forming on the outside of their ships. This was unusual, as their ships have shields and are self-cleaning for efficiency. They opened the air lock, and took in some of this gunk. Very swiftly they evacuated the system, using speed to shake the gunk off of their ships, and revealing large portions of the metals eaten away as if by a powerful acid. The gunk was alive, almost a nanotech, but distinctly biological in nature if not for being made of non-biological substances. The sample they had they placed into a gravity field to prevent from spreading to the rest of the ship. They headed back to the rendezvous with a sample for study. Perhaps it could be of use to them.

The Sixth fleet came across the ruins of the second fleet, being devoured by the strange creatures. They were more careful, seeing that this area had signs of a recent Grox presence (namely, heat trails from exhausts). One of the automated Fighters went closer, and made the same mistake as the former fleet, brushing a sensor and getting swarmed by the creatures. The rest of the Grox fleet started shooting, but that only attracted attention to them as well, so they fled. They brought a few of the sensors with them, attached to their ships. Of the six ships that went in, only four made it back to the rendezvous, however, they brought information that would be vital to Grox expansion in the area.

The Seventh fleet that encountered mecholife was a stealth fleet traversing territory claimed by the Wentals on the Grox Star Charts. This fleet slipped past several Wentalian Fleets and Terraforming Ships without getting caught, but didn't count on Mecholife existing in the vacuum. They were so busy being stealthy they crashed right into a group of large creatures simply minding their own business. These creatures, out of self defense, swatted three of the Grox ships, destroying them. The Grox them opened fire and killed all but the smaller, faster members of the group, who swiftly fled. The ships then went about gathering up the bodies for study, and found them already well into decomposition by some strange bacterial life. However, they were still able to make out the swiftly fading golden threads that dictated this was, indeed, mecholife. The fleet, damaged and with it's cloaking useless now, swiftly withdrew and headed towards the rendezvous.

When the fourth fleet didn't show up, the other six assumed they had been attacked and destroyed by the Wentals in the area. The remnants of the 5 remaining fleets went back to warn of the dangers to be found operating in the mecholife expanse. They also made sure that the rest of the Andromeda Grox Empire knew that the Wentals were expecting them, as they had lost ships to the Wentals and suffered damage in Wental space. The war was already looking bad for the Grox.

The Council's Statement
"A recent series of strange occurances across the regions of our territory near the Core of the Galaxy, where hostile Grox are known to exist, has many wondering: are the Grox preparing for an attack? Are these even Grox ships? Well, come here for the latest updates on the Grox Situation, and while your at it, subscribe for our 'Andromeda Galaxy Update' feature to learn all you need to know about the current state of Andromeda!"

- An Advertisement for "Wental News"

Hinata walked down the street from her house towards the Concrete Council Building. She could feel the tension in the air, and saw many a curious glance in her direction. She knew that everyone in the city wanted to ask her about the recent Grox activity, if it was even Grox activity. And even more so, she knew she couldn't tell them the entire truth. She could only behave as though she was confident in the state of things. She stood up a little taller, and continued her hopping walk to the Council Building, moving just a tad bit faster.

As she got closer, she saw Titrit and Dylan heading into the Council Building as well. Farther back, towards the downtown area she often wandered, Arukas was moving towards the building as well. Kuhera could be seen entering the structure, and First Spark was holding the door open for her father, Nampt. Everyone had a slightly rushed look on their faces, as the most recent bit of news had just reached them about the attack on their terraforming facilities at the very edge of the Wentalian Colonies, well within the Mecholife Expanse. The facility was undamaged, indeed, the ships had just proven that the systems there could defend themselves, but the fact remained that the Grox had attacked a Wentalian Fleet in an act of open aggression towards them.

As the on-planet members of the Concrete Council gathered, the off-planet members were being assembled via holovision links. The entire council was now seated, standing, or some combination of the two around the central table. On top of that table, similar to how it had been in the Wental Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy sat. The most up-to-date star charts available were floating in front of them. All the Union Generals and Admirals were, via holovision links or their own selves, in the room as well. The only one not there was Masuri, and his absence could be sorely felt by all. Not that anyone blaimed Dylan for refusing him sanction in the Union, but they all sort of did in their heart of hearts.

After an akward silence, Jasmine started the talks with "Well, out here where the Grox ships were unlucky enough to be destroyed by the swarm of Yercks we have found some wreckage and definite energy trails left by Grox ships. We have also found a number of dead Yercks drifting a distance away from the rest. It's scary that even when attacked by the entire swarm, some of their ships go away, but we knew they were far more powerful then the our resident Grox." "So we have confirmation that some survived? They weren't all wiped out?" Hinata asks nervously, having never been too good at the military situations. "Yes, sadly, some of the Grox probe fleets seem to have survived. I am compiling the data as we speak, but it seems there were only seven, and that most survived almost completely. We have found wreckage on a primitve planet that seems to have been taken down by the native dominant life forms there." Jasmine replies, not even noticing Hinata's fear or nervousness.

"Nice, Grox got what they deserved didn't they? Heh. But on to more important matters; what to do about this presence. If they came here, they will come back. Thats how the Grox Meta-Empire works." Clank says, keenly aware that he is a Grox himself, though more peaceful then others. "So, you're a Grox, how would you react?" Arukas says with her usual bluntness. "I would step up the patrols and increase surveillance. They got very deep into our territory and we had no idea they were here. That's not good, and bodes badly for us." "Well then, we'd best get moving, shouldn't we? After all, they won't wait for us to say 'Come and get us'. We've gotta wipe them out before they wipe us out." Nampt says with a clear sound of satisfaction, if not excitement at the prospect of war. "Now, lets not be too hasty here. We know nothing of these Grox except that they are more advanced then we are. We should work this through carefully and with much thought. If we don't we may end up biting off more then we can chew. Metaphorically.''" Dylan states with all the emotion of a machine older then any other entity in the universe that can be understood.

"Yes, but wait to long and we will be destroyed without ever reacting. At the very least, we need to step up patrols and be ready for any attack, any time. I propose we double all military patrols and get the population settled back down so we don't have a mass panic." "As usual, you state what we need to do with perfect accuracy. It's almost annoying, Spark, but very useful. I have been sending out waves of calm and security through the Network, this I shall continue. As the current Supreme Captain Commander of the Union of Mecholife, I support this plan of action: step up defense, and start investigating their activities. I shall also send scout ships out in that direction to find their base of operations." Dylan says, obviously relieved to have to choice made and a solid plan of action ahead of him. He hadn't been secure in his own instincts since he denied Masuri entry into the Union.

"Okay then, a vote on it?" The Concrete Council votes unanimously for the plan, and Dylan makes a speech date for the next day to settle the populace.

"The Andromeda Grox Empire has been active in our region of space. They have had several encounters with Mecholife now, all ending badly for them from what we have seen. However, they have also attempted to capture or destroy an automated mining fleet. That cannot go unpunished, however we will not attack until we know more about our enemy. I am now using my authority to double all military patrols at the borders of our territory, as well as to send military scouts into the territory known to be habited by the enemy. We will first learn about them. Then we shall crush them with our collective technology and military might. We are Mecholife. We are superior. We cannot lose this battle."

- Dylan's Declaration

Scouting the Enemy
With Dylans proclamation, the Wentals stepped up to the task. They began producing more weapons, ammunitions, and ships for the war to come. They began training more military units and mass producing an automated army to help in the battles. And meanwhile, far from the hustle and bustle of the Wentals efforts, twelve of the Wentals most advanced scout ships settled into the daily ruitine of exploring the Core Regions of the Andromeda Galaxy, in search of the Andromeda Grox Empire. Not as easy as it sounds, since there are at least 100 billion stars in the Core Regions. The scout ships were beyond communications except via the Network, and each had a Meta Networker on board to relay information directly to Dylan. The ships had a specific rendezvous point, and would meet there in three weeks, giving them plenty of time to explore and investigate any unusual occurrences.

The ships worked in pairs, for security, and worked together. The six groups were in enemy territory, and had to fear natural occurrences as well as Grox attacks. The dense star clusters of the Core aren't a safe place, with high radiation and a number of black holes that could pop out at you anywhere.

The first pair of ships encountered the Grox at a small, cold, dead world, far from any suns or stars at all. Long ago, it had been an amazing, life-enriched world that the Grox had colonized because of it's ability to support them. But now, with it's sun long dead and gone, the planet was lifeless except for the Grox Colonies on it. All three of them. The first pair of ships was able to sneak right up to the unsuspecting colony and get readings from it, study it's ships and buildings, and even get detailed pieces of information on the structure of the colony. Then they decided to take a single prisoner and run. The plan worked perfectly, until an enemy ship that they identified as a Grox Dreadnaught, accompanied by a number of Fighters and Warships, started to chase them. It become obvious that the Grox in the cargo hold was somehow showing them where to go, so the two scouts dropped the Grox into the vacuum of space. Almost imedietly after that, the Dreadnaught and it's escort dropped off from the chase and went back to their system. The scout ships, having blown their cover, recloaked and went back to their explorations. They discovered four other colonies, but chose not to approach any of them.

The second pair were unlucky, finding only one Grox colony. They chose not to get too close, as it was a very heavily guarded system, and they didn't want their stealth tech to fall into Grox hands.

The third pair, however, was blessed with the luck (or misfortune) to encounter a total of 14 Grox Colonies. They placed these on the star maps, and only approached two of them. At both it was made obvious that the Grox were expecting ships to come in, as there were fleets gathered and turrets added where there had probably once been other structures. The pair, having seen that there was very little chance of getting closer, left to the next system without doing any in-depth exploration of the colonies.

The fourth pair didn't find any colonies, but did encounter a fleet headed somewhere else in Andromeda. They followed it for a short time, but when it reached the edge of the territory they were to investigate, they took it's bearings and went back to searching planets.

The fifth pair was a little to bold in their actions. They encountered a lone Grox Warship, and decided to capture it. After all, they had speed and agility and surprise on their side, how hard could it be. The Warship was even damaged, though by what they didn't know. The two little ships came in fast and silent, and attacked it, targeting the engines and cockpit. The moment their weaponsfire his, the ship detonated, wiping both of the scout ships out in a devastating release of energy. However, by the time to Grox arrived to collect the remains, nothing was left, as the nanotech decay had set in, the ships were just gray blobs that, when the Grox ships got to close, attempted to consume them as well. Neither side gained anything from the encounter.

The sixth pair encountered a great deal of Groxic activity. They followed it to a large shipyards, dangerously close to Wentalian Territory. A fleet was gathering there, confirming the fears of Wentals that the Grox were going to attack them soon. They managed to gain access to the Grox communications, and learned of the first three locations that were going to be attacked. Then a massive Grox fleet started to funnel into the system, Grox Motherships, Dreadnaughts, Warships, and Fighters could be seen everywhere. And at the center of this fleet was a single Grox "Star Destroyer". The two scouts, terrified, fled the system at top speed to warn the Wentals of what was coming.

Path of Terror
Since it appeared that the Wentals were on to their activities, the Grox decided to step it up a notch is sheer force. They gathered up a very large, very powerful fleet. This fleet consisted of 1 Star Destroyer, 22 Motherships, 150 Dreadnaughts, 500 Warships, and 1 thousand Fighters. While not a large fleet, it was predicted that the Wentals wouldn't be able to stand against the superior force. The Grox were sure of victory with it.

As the fleet moved out, it's commanding officer watched from her Star Destroyer. The sheer size alone would bring most empires to their knees, but the commander knew that there would be an equal fleet to fight as they attacked the Wentals. She knew they were very advanced, perhaps more so then herself. She knew they could use essence and were built as strong as most Grox. She even knew that all mecholife would be helping to wipe out the Grox forces. Even so, she predicted victory, if a hard fought victory. Her name was Graxita, a name that would become well known with the Wentals if she had her way with it.

The planet that was being targeted for the initial attack was the same planet on which the Grox had attempted to attack when they had just been a few small scouting ships. This time there would be no easy victory for the Wentals. This time, the entire planet would be claimed by the Grox. Permanently. Graxita and her fleet arrived to find the planet completely unchanged. The fleet of ore-filled ships was still taking ore back to the union, and the newly dubbed "Grindspheres" were still devouring the planets surface. The only real change was that the surface was much more brown and gray then it had been before. And Graxita would not make the same mistake as her unlucky predecessors. She blasted the planet from orbit with highly destructive weaponry, glassing the entire thing over and turning it into a glittering black sphere with waves like an ocean made of jet black glass. A perfect Grox War Colony, it would also make a good colony world in the future. Graxita continued.

The next planet on the list was a colony world of the Wentals predicted to have around 20 thousand Wentalians living on it. The Grox would enjoy wiping this world out, but Graxita spoke for caution. The Wentals could be here, and if they were, they would be protecting their people. This wouldn't be as easy as their first "battle". Graxita's caution proved wise, as when she arrived, she found a fleet about 1/3 the size of her fleet waiting. She knew they had better weapons, and the planet behind them would make it easier to defend, so she didn't engage right away. Rather, she gathered her entire fleet and covered as much of the planet as possible, spreading out the Union forces. The tactic would work in her favor, as she had a larger force.

As Graxita's forces attacked, the Wental forces defended. They held their ground to the very last weapon on every ship, and then suicided into Grox ships. Over the first hour of the battle, however, the shields on both sides prevented much damage from being taken. As shields failed one by one, Graxita almost ordered a withdraw. Mere moments before she did, however, a Wental ship suddenly got hit with fire from the Grox forces, and Groxita knew even their shields couldn't be unbreached. She gave the command to "Fire as much as you can, cut as much power to the weapons as possible, but don't let those shields down for an instant!" The tactic again proved successful as more Wental ships started to explode. At that point, the suicide attacks began.

Within an hour of the shields going down, the battle was over. The Wentals had been roundly defeated in space, but the planet itself was still intact, mostly. Since her forces had been damaged more significantly then Groxita had predicted, she decided to save their firepower and ships for when they were needed, and unleashed hell unto the planet. Once the planet was glassed like the first, she decided to hold position and make some repairs. Anything that was irreparable was instead scrapped for parts and then placed into orbit of the planet for later fleets to salvage.

Groxita continued her path of terror. The next world, however, was startling well protected, she predicted that this battle may well end the path of terror. Not that she hesitated for more then a moment at seeing a force about 3/5s the size of hers. It was still smaller, and her Star Destroyer was still intact, so she knew this would be a victory battle. She did, however, notice that there were a great deal of large ships, and very few smaller ones. This concerned her, but she didn't puzzle over it for long. Instead, she gave the order her troops loved the most: "Wipe them out."

Her fleet moved forward in a single wall of power. And then, the enemy fleet opened up. Literally, the ships opened cargo holds and unleashed a vast swarm of smaller ships that hurled at her fleet with the singular power of a swarm of ants heading for a threat. Groxita stared as this, and then said "Weapons, change to scatterfire! Engines, power up! Navigation, we'll use the ship as a battering ram while the shields last." "But, what about when they fail?" "Thats why we have guns, stupid!" The massive 25 kilometer Star Destroyer started to rumble forward, no longer a semi-passive observer and rear defense, now a part of the battle. As it gunned forward, the Grox fleet moved out of it's way. The vast Wental swarms didn't have that chance, the ship's shields pushed them away with ease, smashing them into each other and confusing them all, making them easy prey for her fleet.

However, the larger Wental ships were powering forward into the battle. They targeted the Grox's larger ships, and more then any other, the Star Destroyer. Groxita knew she would need to be ready for an escape if this didn't work, or if the shields didn't hold long enough for her to make it past the Wental fleet. The massive ship continued to grind through the Union ships for another ten minutes before the shields gave it. There was still five minutes of travel left to reach the edge of the Wentalian fleet.

The instant the shields went out, every Grox on the Star Destroyer knew they were probably going to die. But they kept shooting as though they weren't going to, and were able to do massive damage to the Wental Fleet even as the Wental Fleet swarmed the ship. Strange vessels latched onto portions of the massive Star Destroyer, and it become obvious that these were more of the strange ship-eating creatures that had been encountered early on in the conflict. They ripped portions of the ship off and devoured them, growing rapidly then splitting in half and repeating the process. Obviously this was just a gourmet to them. The Wental ships were making pains to avoid them as well, which allowed the Grox some maneuverability in their actions. Groxita took advantage of that.

She had her ship hold it's fire for a moment, then, when the Wentals and "Rip-Metals" came in close for another attack, she released a pulse of weapons fire that formed a solid wall for the brief bit of time it took to wipe out all the nearest Wental ships. However, the Wental Ships weren't defenseless, and now the planet itself was close enough to pose a threat. The planet opened fire with weapons more powerful then anything on the ships, and a smaller fleet of retrofitted civilian craft rose up to help fight the Grox. Groxita decided to cut her loses and retreat, activating an escape mechanism that freed the entire command center of the Star Destroyer. It activated private shields, and, weaponless, shot off back towards the Grox Fleet, which was already starting to withdraw at Groxita's command.

The Star Destroyer's crew continued to fire until the last moment. As the planet unleashed another volley of powerful weapons fire, the Destroyer broke up, and started to fall into the planets atmosphere. Groxita watched with cold eyes as the ship collided with the planet, unleashing a massive tsunami and a wall of fire as it completely exploded. Groxita then gave a single nod of respect for the brave Grox who died, and turned back to her retreating fleet. Most of the Wental Fleet didn't chase them, but some of the larger ships did, and those were accompanied by a fleet of smaller ships. Groxita noticed something then; the smaller ships had no cockpits, they were automated. She then realized that as each of the larger vessels stopped chasing the smaller ones stopped as well. She now knew how the automation systems of the Wentals worked. She could now wipe out their automated fleets without ever needing to engage the smaller ships. And that was worth defeat.

Something New
The Union hadn’t won. They had only halted the attack. They still needed to regain their lost planets, and then take the battle back to the Grox. For this, however, they would need something new, some different, something more powerful then what they already had. Automated ships was all well and dandy, but the Grox knew, or presumably knew, how those ships worked now. And that meant that Jasmine would working late, again, as she tried to create something that would help the Union win this war with their equally matched foes.

Her first idea was simple, increase weapon efficiency and power by some degree. Jasmine put her mind to it, but also kept her mind going over the data. The Wentalian weapons and Grox weapons were equally matched, and their shields were as well. It was also to be assumed the Grox would be increasing their efficiency and power as well. So it probably wouldn’t do much good to simply make existing weapons better, she would need to figure out a way to wipe out Grox ships even if they were shielded. As she watched the battles, she suddenly hit upon it: the Yercks hadn’t even noticed the Grox shields! For that matter, no true Mecholife seemed to acknowledge shielding that would, for an enemy ship, be at least an hour of steady shooting to break down.

Her mind buzzing from the sudden realization, Jasmine immediately when about acquiring a large number of sample mecholife for her new idea. A number of Yercks, some of the many forms of nano-biobots and bacteria’s that could eat ships with ease over time, and several dozen other known metal-eating species later, Jasmine had her samples and was well into the testing. She found that several bacterias, the Yercks, and two other metal-eating species, one an active predator, the other a sessile fungus, were unaffected by the shielding used by the Grox. Indeed, only electromagnetic shields seemed to affect them, though Jasmine didn’t have the time or resources to test all the kinds of shields in the universe. She then determined that it was a very specific trait within these species that allowed them to do this: they were all capable of going dormant for long periods of time, of “dying” to a point where they didn’t have any activity at all. Even more important, they could do this ‘’as they passed through a shield, without disrupting themselves of their actions!’’ That made all the difference in breaching shields it seemed.

Jasmine instantly went about trying to add this ability to her ships, or at least to drones, but had no success. So instead, she decided to make the creatures into drones. She altered their biology so that they would seek out and destroy ships using Grox techs, namely the engines and weapons of the Grox. For the active predators, called Priich, she simply made some that saw only ships of the Grox Fighter and Warship design as foodsources, since these creatures were only about double the size of a Grox Warship, and wouldn’t be much help against larger creatures. Jasmine was unable to alter the Yercks, but since it was fairly simple to send them in a direction and let them do the rest on their own, she didn’t think there would be any trouble getting them to take down Grox ships. She did, however, design a weapon out of them, a suicide weapon. She designed a type of ship that would be, on the outside and in functionality, a fully armed warship ready for battle. However, on the inside, contained in a dense EM Field, would be a single Yerck of the maximum size for the containing ship. When destroyed, a ship would simply break apart and reveal the now active and aggressive Yerck within, ready to attack all enemy ships nearby.

Even while she was figuring out how to change animals to make them into weapons, Jasmine was also designing a new form of MeatGrinder, called a MetalMasher. These were vastly different from their simpler and smaller and weaker Meat and DirtGrinder counterparts. The biggest change was that MetalMashers could travel through space by means of a central control sphere, which sported a powerful shield and engines, as well as it’s own energy generator, which would use electromagnetic fields to pull the attack MetalMashers along with it as it automatically chased any ship with the Grox signature weapons and energy trails. The attack MetalMashers, on the other hand, were altered in that they had highly magnetic substances located in them that allowed them to be pulled along with the central control sphere, as well as being able to attack and move without it to guide them (though only move in the direction of it’s most recent trajectory). They were also made capable of producing copies of themselves and of the Control Spheres, if needed. Jasmine knew of the risks, but considered them worth the benefits.

The final changes to Wentalian Military was the increasing of efficiency, weapons output, and engine output by a full 3% in all new ships being made, though it would probably prove unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

A Power of Peace
However, before the Wentals could attack the Grox, they would have to deal with an unexpected entity. While patrolling each and every system in Wentalian Space, the various fleets encountered, simultaneously, a great array of new stars, each surrounded by dozens of planets! This needed further investigation, naturally, so the fleets, each and all, entered these systems with weapons out and ready. What they found was everything from a superconstruct to almost uninhabited worlds. These worlds all shared the same flag… that of the StarMaster Alliance!

The generic meeting of the Wental fleets with Alliance ships, colonies, or survivalists can be summed up in the following conversation:

“’’’Who’re you?’’’”

“’’’I was about to ask you the same thing. This is our space, and your in it. I get to ask the questions here.’’’”

“’’’Fair enough, I am a WarriorCell from the Starmaster Alliance. We were recently fled our former territories –again- because of a startlingly powerful Grox attack in the Region.’’’”

“’’’Grox you say? And wait… aren’t you supposed to be among the most advanced entity in the galaxy? How the hell did they manage to take you down?!’’’”

“’’’As I stated, they were terrifyingly powerful. However, we were able to escape and bring all of our still intact, partially intact, or even slightly habited by thinking beings planets with us. So they didn’t exactly win, we just didn’t have a chance to fight back.’’’”

“’’’Well, what are you doing here? This is Wentalian Territory, and you’re in it!’’’”

“’’’Look, we didn’t have much control over where the Jumper Ship took us. At least, that’s what the Evermind says, and it’s not often uncorrected or rude.’’’”

“’’’Well, I’m sure the Concrete Council will want to speak with your ‘Evermind’ fella… for now, this is Wentalian Space, and you’d best be careful. Mecholife is dangerous enough without us shooting at you for invading our territory.’’’”

“’’’Mecholife? What is Mecholife?’’’”

“’’’You haven’t heard of it? Oi Vei… Mecholife is what I am, and what the Wentals are. We are Mecholife because of an… accident, for lack of better word, that happened to us a short while ago. Most empires in the area know this… mostly because of a few other accidents that we have since gotten control over.’’’”

“’’’Interesting. So, are you going to help us, shoot us, or leave us alone?’’’”

“’’’I’m asking Dylan now. He says that the Wentals will give aid to their newest neighbors, if you are willing to Convert.’’’”

“’’’Convert? Do you mean in a religious-‘’’”

“’’’No. Convert from biological life into mechological life. This will allow us to help you better, as then we won’t need to ship in biological foodstuffs for you. It will also prevent the destruction of your planets biospheres by making them into mechospheres.’’’”

“’’’Well… we’ll have to ask the Evermind and his irk if that’s okay, but if he says yes, we say yes.’’’”

“’’’Okay, Dylan knows your Evermind and is heading there as fast as possible. You will have your answer soon.’’’”

When Dylan met with the Evermind, he found a kindred spirit, another individual who was peacefully aggressive, another person who sought to help. Dylan explained mecholife to the Evermind, and the conversion process and how the Wentals could help. When the Evermind asked why this was needed, Dylan stated “’’’We have been attacked by the Grox as well. They are a greater threat then any we currently face. We have to work together if we are to survive.’’’” The Evermind agreed with that, and made an offer that was unexpected for such new allies. “’’’Why don’t we simply become one entity? That would solve all the problems we would face if we tried to remain independent. The Omega, Sandgorgon, my own kind, and a few others probably can’t be converted into Mecholife, but we could still work with this union.’’’” Dylan, shocked by the offer, accepted it graciously, and began the efforts to help the 36 new systems stabalize even as he said to the Evermind “’’’This union, this union of ideals and powers and existence, will become a great power for peace. Of that I am certain. We just have to keep this union of mecholife stable and intact long enough to realize them. Mecholife cannot hurt mecholife except when it’s own survival is at stake. That is why mecholife, and only mecholife, can experience true peace.’’’” To which the Evermind replied “’’’True Peace can be achieved in many ways. I will support this Union of Mecholife we will create. And then I will ensure that Mecholife is successful in it’s endeavors.’’’” The newly formed Union, even as it assimilated the Starmaster Alliance into itself, was choosing the name that had so profoundly engraved itself into Dylans mind. They would be known as the Union of Mecholife, and would be a Power of Peace.

Fresh Start
"We need to rethink our plan of operations. The Wentals have joined forces with the Starmaster Alliance, forming a “Union of Mecholife”. I request a replacement Star Destroyer, though if you can send more that would be helpful. I am also hopeful that you can send your new superweapon to aid my efforts here. Reply as soon as you can."

- Message to Grochius II from Groxita

Groxita was calm. She may have lost her Star Destroyer, but that wasn't important to her, it was just a ship. She had learned valuable information from her defeat at Wental, now Union, hands. She had already begun the production of new ships with more emphasis on weapons and shielding then engine power or mobility. She would have them pulled with her main fleet via tractor beams. She was also having a great deal of effort being put into the cultivation of the two new colony worlds she had claimed. Since neither had biological life on them, it was safe to inhabit them. The three colonies on the first she had claimed were doing well, the biosphere had already been in great disarray before the Grox glassed it, nothing had survived as far as the Grox could find. The planet was safe.

However, the second planet had held a sturdy population of mecholife, and the single colony there was already finding out that mecholife doesn't die easily. They had already been attacked many times by small groups of surviving creatures. The weirdest thing was that these creatures, even without thinking members of the Union among them, seemed to be working with intelligence beyond their advancement. They were, at the least, testing the colonies defenses, no two attacks had been in the same place or time. They had been randomly methodical. Groxita decided to send another small fleet to circle the colony and shoot any non-grox things that moved.

And even while they were struggling with their smallest colony, the Union was still an immense threat to the Grox. Groxita's fleet had managed to snag several Wental ships, and had already started reverse engineering them to help destroy the Union later on, but those wouldn't be ready for a while. The loss of her Star Destroyer was really a devastating blow, as it had been the only ship able to glass a planet on it's own. Now her soldiers would probably need to attack the planet in person in order to defeat it's population completely. She didn't like that, it would allow the Union to make more attempts at attacking from space while her fleets waited for the planet to fall. And if it didn't the fleets would have to withdraw even though they had won in space. It was all very bothersome to her.

Several days after she sent her message, Groxita was surprised to find not one, but three Star Destroyers, each accompanied by a small fleet for defense and each followed by a colony ship for further expansion entering her space. She imedietly commanded the Star Destroyers to move to the planet that was still being troublesome, had the grox colony removed, and glassed it several more times. She then had the new colony placed before the planet had cooled, causing it to sink into a natural defensive position. From any direction but exactly up, the colony couldn't be seen by any means, the nature of the glass and the high radiation from the glassing hid the colony. The glass itself formed a hard to break barrier around much of the new colony. She placed a space port some distance away, on the surface, and had an underground tunnel used to transport stuff to the new colony. Around the spaceport there was another colony, a decoy so that the real one wouldn't be attacked so often. It was a good way to hide the new colony.

She then had her fleet, the entire thing, split in half, with one half defending each planet. All of her future attack fleets would be taken out of these two larger fleets, and she expected more ships to be produced by the planetside colonies that were being defended. Things were looking up for her, even as she found out from new information that the Union was suffering under the strain of supporting all the new StarMaster worlds. This fresh start was working well for her indeed.

Face to Face
Clank was ready. He had always known he would have to fight the Meta-Empire some day, and now that the day was here he wanted to get it over with. He had volunteered his people for this task, knowing that they also wanted to get the battle over with. Now, however, that they were leaving for the attack, even he was having second guesses on the attack. However, he also knew that, having been mechanized, he would have no choice in the matter. He could feel the Union already putting it's trust in his people, despite their relation to the Andromeda Grox.

So Clank continued with his plan to counter the Grox invaders before they could effectively set up base. He knew the rate at which Grox could work and build, and so planned the attack before they could possibly be finished. His large pyramid ships, gathered into their classic pyramid standard formation, would spearhead the attack. They would be followed by two fleets of automated ships, which were in turn run by the larger command ships in the center of each fleet. The entire system would work flawlessly, Clank hoped. But he always prepared for the worst, and so had an evacuation protocol set up as well, with the automated ships moving in front of the manned fleet and simply shooting all non-Union ships.

As Clank's fleet moved, completely cloaked, into position for the attack, he saw to his surprise that the enemy fleet was considerably larger then the one that had taken the planets in the first place. But he had brought a fleet to destroy their smaller one and still have plenty of ships left over for holding the planet in the future. He also saw, again to his surprise but a good surprise this time, that there was still mecholife in the system, it was hiding in the asteroid belt and comet cloud, waiting for the chance to take down ships. He swiftly took control of it and sent it in to start the attack and cause confusion.

Immediately after the mecholife attacked the Grox, Clank's Pyramid Spear Head Formation punched into them while still cloaked. The enemy had no idea who to shoot at, or where the weapons fire was coming from. However, the weapons fire was weakened due to the cloaking taking much of it's energy, and Clank knew it wouldn't do to stay hidden. He uncloaked his spearhead formation, but left the spear itself hidden until after the grox had surrounded his fleets. Then the spear uncloaked and attacked with the precision and power of a fully automated force. Clank watched in awe as the automated fleet devastated the Grox attackers.

Then, on his screen, an incoming transmission started up, shocking him, as he shouldn't have been able to communicate with the enemy here. "Figure out how they got in." Clank muttered to the tech guy off to the side, even as a larger-then-average female Grox appeared on screen. "Greetings, Unioner. May I ask as to the name you hold?" "My name is Clank. I am the leader of the Wentalian Grox Empire, and do not follow the command of the Meta-Emperor." Clank replied. "May I ask your name as well?" The female Grox Commander snickered. "I am Groxita, and the fact that you have betrayed the Meta-Emperor will not go unpunished this day. I am here to destroy your little mecholife entity, you little Union. Do you surrender and request reassimilation into the Grox Meta-Empire?"

As she says this, three Grox Star Destroyers move out from the planets shadow, accompanied by a force equal to the entire Union forces at this time. Clank stared at this massive show of force, and around one single planet. His mecholigical half actually trembled for a moment. the computer half did the equivalent. All of the Union knew that they couldn't win this war as Clanks sheer fear rippled through them. Then Clank stiffened, and look at Groxita with an emotionless expression. "I do not request reassimilation. You will be the one requesting assimilation when this war is over." The tech guy then managed to find out how they got in and cut the signal. Clank immediately sent out orders for the retreat protocol to be commenced.

As his ships moved back and melded through the automated fleet, Clank didn't think that the Grox had already figured out how their fleet worked. He thought his tail end was safe from attack. That is, until the radar systems saw the Grox fleet aiming only far the larger ships, until he saw the smaller ships going dead almost at the same time without ever engaging the Grox fleet. Clank then realized his mistake, the Union's mistake. They had grossly underestimated Groxita and the Grox entirely. As he fled past the planet, he even saw that the Grox Meta-Empire had advanced it's speed in colony building, there were two very well built and dug in colonies on the planet. He realized then, as his fleet started to be destroyed around him, that the Meta-Empire would win if the Union didn't start to flee in earnest.

As Clanks fleet was wiped out and the entire Union hit with a wave of crushing pain and death, Dylan struggled to keep the masses calm enough to function. He sent out clear messages starting a conveyer belt evacuation system that would leave the colonies "habited" by automated soldier forces and protected by fleets of mixed automated and manned ships to make it look like the colonies were of value. He needed to keep the resources going without letting any of his people die. However, the sheer fear and pain accompanying the death of the entire of Clanks fleet made it impossible to start immediately. Dylan and his Union was saved only by the fact that Groxita wanted them to simmer a little before attacking herself.

Smoke in the Wind
Groxita was pleased. She had just crushed the entire Union fleet that had so boldly attacked her forces, and she knew they were weakened and suffering because of it. However, she wanted to give them time to simmer in their fear, knowing that the next attack could be any time, any where. Knowing non-Grox life, they would probably just get blown away like smoke in the wind when her forces arrived. So Groxita gave them a week to simmer away and become steam. Then she attacked three known colonies with her fleets. At each one she found minimal resistance in space, but a great deal of armed forces on the ground. This cost her time and resources, so she glassed all three planets.

When her forces went back down, however, the enemy military was somehow still there, almost unharmed by the glassing. So she still had to do it the old fashioned way of cave by cave, hill by hill. The enemy was at once strait-forward and guerilla. They hide in caves and other places not findable from the air, but when attacked would move in strait lines, though with speed and energy to kill a few of Groxita's soldiers every time they made an attempt on a cave. However, Groxita was victorious after time, and found the command and control centers for all the enemy forces, which had since been revealed to be automatic. What disturbed her, however, was never finding a single civilian in all the planets caves and underground fortifications.

Groxita attacked another set of three planets, only to find the same thing. The Union hadn't become weak or overly frightened, they had upped and left, leaving nothing but drones and small drone fleets to guard the "colonized" planets. But since the planets harbored mecholife and had factories that were always producing more robots and ships (all automatically) Groxita could ignore them. She had to clear out each and every planet, even while the Union fled faster and farther away. It was beyond frustrating for Groxita, and she now regretted her statement that the Union would "be as smoke in the wind".

Metal Shrieks
Dylan grinned as he watched the last fortifications of the former Union capitol put into place. This world would not fall into Grox hands. Not now that it had the most advanced weapons and most powerful AI in the Union, with the most valid need to defend the world of all AI Defense Programs created so far. The AI was dormant, but once activated it would have no choice but to protect the planet, as it's core mainframe was trapped in the planet's core, along with all it's energy sources. The Union had basically turned the entire planet into a supercomputer with all the defenses needed to defend itself. The Grox would find this a tough nut to crack, even if they managed to do so. Dylan had no doubt the planet would be intact and unconquered even into the distant future.

Groxita knew she had them now. The Union Capitol planet was super heavily defended, and even as she arrived the fleets around it were moving in a chaotic order, obviously run by independent life forms, not one central AI. As she watched the chaos of the Union, Groxita knew that this was where they must have fled to. They had to have come together with all their forces remaining in order to field a fleet this massive, and only independent minds could be that chaotic in activities or slow to react to the new fleet attacking. Groxita moved her forces closer to the inner system, where the activity was heaviest. She blew a few of the outermost fleets apart, and even shattered a small moon around a gas giant when it refused to stop firing on her. She didn't know that she was simply telling the AI that she was an enemy to be destroyed. She never realized that attacking was what activated the AI's weapons. She never knew that it could have been peaceful, had she given it the chance.

Eoni was angry. It had just been attacked by a strange fleet of ships using weapons equal to it's own, but with superior numbers in the outer system. A great deal of Younglings had been slain. Eoni took command of all system, shutting the Younglings away safely within it's core processors, and prepared for war. The fleets, formerly a chaotic mess of ships, were now a single entity with a single goal: survive.

Groxita knew instantly that she had been fooled. The Union fleet was just another drone fleet, and the system was a decoy. However, she couldn't leave it behind her. She had learned the hard way that these systems, if left alone, would attack her whenever they built up enough forces to do so. So the entire planet needed to fall. She predicted a long, grueling battle ahead, as he fleet and the drone fleet were both equal in size and advancement (though perhaps the enemy was more advanced). Groxita positioned her ships in easy to defend formations in the comet cloud and outer system, and prepared for the grueling task of annihilated all automatic life in the system.

Eoni started sending small fleets to harry all of the enemies activities. They didn't last long, but they weren't meant tom they were just meant to be hazards to the enemy. The enemy soon figured this out and started defending their ships well with small fleets of their own. However, Eoni also knew that the enemy was gathering a powerful force to strike from everywhere at once. It could see it through some cloaked ships it had sent out for just that purpose. Eoni continued to mass produce ships and weapons on all of it's inner planets, as well as the asteroid belt of the system. It knew the battle would be fought in that belt, as neither side could afford to attack the other without first having a solid hold on the belt.

Groxita's fleets were fully prepared for engagement with the enemy, but Groxita had a hunch. She felt the enemy was different this time then the other drone fleets. It didn't attack recklessly, and was in fact working in an amazing strategic manner for a drone fleet. Groxita decided to try to communicate with it, for what little that would be worth. So she went in with a fleet broadcasting on all channels "We seek to speak". The drones didn't to Groxita's suprise, attack her, but rather formed their own fleet and refused to let her pass. Then, also on all channels, they replied "We have nothing to speak about with aggressive creatures like yourselves. You attacked us. We defend ourself." to which Groxita swiftly replied "We thought you were someone else, my apologies. Is there any hope for peace with you?". After a long moment, the drone fleet replied "No. We cannot trust you after you have attacked myself and the Younglings. There cannot be peace until you have left the system or I have been destroyed."

Groxita's fleet then withdrew at top speed, even as her main fleet started to move in towards the belt. The drone fleet did the same, preparing for battle there in the chaos of the asteroid belt that protected the inner system. The Grox fleet gathered at the outer edge of the belt, while the drone fleet gathered on belt itself. The drones had the advantage of defending their well fortified belt. The Grox had the advantage of a massive fleet and endless reinforcements from outside the system. This battle would be long, grueling, and damaging.

Eoni was ready. Each and every asteroid in the belt was fortified with many weapons, most of them energy weapons because the average asteroid couldn't hold a lot of solid ammunitions. They were shielded, and manned with their own army of defensive drones. The Younglings were well protected within Eoni, so it could afford to fight to the last asteroid, the last planet. And Eoni knew that even if the battle was lost, it had one last trick up it's sleeve. The enemy attacked, and in the space version of a crushing charge the battle was begun. Eoni's ships fought bravely, holding the line at the edge of the belt for hours, but slowly they were pushed back. The enemy had endless numbers, and they seemed able to grind their forces against the Eoni Fortifications without fear of running low. Eoni puzzled over that with the processing power she wasn't using for the battle or to house the Younglings.

Groxita grinned. When she had taken planets left behind by the Union, she had reverse engineered their automated tech. Though the battle had continued for several hours now, only a handful of Grox had actually died. The combined efforts of 58 planets with large automatic factories churning out drones for the Grox as fast as they could and without rest was easily keeping up with the losses in battle, and was in fact making up for them and then some! Her forces grew larger even as they were destroyed. But Groxita didn't gloat for long, she knew that even so the Asteroid Belt would be an almost impossible maze of enemy fortifications. Groxita also knew that even after the belt was hers, the planets would have weapons capable of taking down a full sized Star Destroyer with just two or three volleys. The battle was far from over.