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Outer Reaches of Contested Space 38 Hours After Destruction of Lor-Van It was a truism that any seasoned spacer could have sworn upon: the heart of galactic civilization could be on fire, the proverbial wolf could be at the door and everything anyone knew could be turned upside down but there would still be someone willing to pay hard coin to make sure somebody else got what was coming to them. Since energy cells and starship parts hadn't suddenly become free, the crew of the Voidrunner had made their way out to the raggedy edge of known space, far enough out that nobody bothered to argue if it was technically Republic or Khanate territory, looking for a scumbag with a price on his head. Only this time the heart of galactic civilization really was on fire and the rush of reentry outside the airlock was starting to sound an awful lot like that proverbial wolf growling. Orbital traffic was ten times over denser than it should have been, packed with the ships of refugees who'd either thought they could avoid what was coming by running far enough away or who just didn't have anywhere more attractive to go than the dustball known as Ke'Pinree. Many of the vessels looked barely space-worthy; it was doubtful their passengers would be able to make it to the next closest habitable world if they were turned away. Once properly assured that they were there on business, a harried sounding woman with a thick provincial accent had cleared the bounty hunters for landing, directing them to was passed for a spaceport on her world.

Incursion: Phase Three While Earth has lay under siege the rest of the galaxy has burned with war. The Communion continues to sweep over world after world, converting most into horrific server tombs to fuels it insatiable hunger to expand its intellect and destroying others outright to create wormholes for some more diabolical purpose. It does not do so unopposed, however, as the Galactic Coalition fights back at every turn! Lor mentats soldier on shoulder to shoulder with Grue Arcane while Khanate pirates take up arms alongside newly awakened Praetorians in a battle for their very survival! They are outnumbered and overpowered but they have a plan. Legends are about to be born and one way or another the galaxy will never be the same. >Incursion: Black Sheep For months Star Knight Kyle Steward has been a one man armored thorn in the Communion's paw. An ally arrives to help and catch him up on what he's missed in the meantime. Featuring: Cavalier >Incursion: Red Five The Communion's machinations on Earth have been thwarted but the world-killer still looms near Pluto's orbit! Can our heroes destroy the superweapon before their home joins Lor-Van? Featuring: Argonaut, Cavalier, Geckoman, Hronos and Sun Walker >Incursion: Merciless At the Coalition's secret base a final, desperate stratagem is being planned. It becomes much more desperate when the communed Star-Khan arrives to quash the resistance once and for all! Featuring: Galvanic, Paradigm and Rock >Incursion: Troopers Behind enemy lines on a cyberformed server world our heroes must lead grudging allies from the Lor, Grue and more in an assault on a key communication relay before time runs out! Featuring: Corona, Eclipse, Roulette and Wander Incursion: Blockade Runners To get vital intelligence regarding the location of the Communion mothership back to the Coalition our heroes will have to fight their way off world and through an enemy blockade! Featuring: Bliss, Dragonid, Ghost Girl, Kharag and Wraith >Incursion: Interstellar 66 With another world targeted for destruction to form another wormhole a risky deal must be struck. Are our heroes sure they're aligning themselves with the lesser of two evils? Featuring: Dragonfly, Deep Freeze, Ruby Voxx and The Traveller >Incursion: Only Hope There's just one chance to infiltrate the Communion mothership and disable it from the inside, with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance! Featuring: Citizen, Mater Vyrdna, Moon Moth, Seika and Temperance Phase Three threads will be launching over the next few days. Your GM will send a PM to all involved players as each thread is posted and links will be added to this notice. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM the ref team!

Welcome to the final phase of Incursion! While Earth has lay under siege the rest of the galaxy has burned with war. The Communion continues to sweep over world after world, converting most into horrific server tombs to fuels it insatiable hunger to expand its intellect and destroying others outright to create wormholes for some more diabolical purpose. It does not do so unopposed, however, as the Galactic Coalition fights back at every turn! Lor mentats soldier on shoulder to shoulder with Grue Arcane while Khanate pirates take up arms alongside newly awakened Praetorians in a battle for their very survival! They are outnumbered and overpowered but they have a plan. Legends are about to be born and one way or another the galaxy will never be the same. Event Ground Rules: With multiple threads running at once, timing is important. Players will be expected to post within a 24 hour period, particularly during combat initiative. If they are unable to do so, the GM may decide to narrate the character's actions or circumstance in order to move the thread along, skipping the players turn. If you know you won't be available to post when your character is up, try to let your GM know so they can work something out with you. Phase Three takes us back into the galaxy beyond Earth for the thrilling conclusion to our story! All space-based characters are welcome. We'll be posting an in-character thread that summarizes some of the events of the months since Phase One and players will have the opportunity to describe what their characters have been up to in that time during the event threads. Now that the heroes of Earth have been made aware of the Communion's threat, some of them may be inclined to head into space to continue the fight. If you have a largely Earth-based character you would like to see in Phase Three, explain in your sign up post how they would reasonably make it into space and keep in mind that they will be absent from Earth for several weeks of in-universe time... or potentially more! This also means that a single player may potentially have more than one character involved in Phase Three; if this is the case, list the characters in the order you would like us to prioritize them. We'll do our best to accommodate everyone! Sign Up: Sign up for Phase Three begins now and continues until midnight of Friday, February 27th. Phase Three threads will begin Sunday, March 1st!

OOC for thread. You can go ahead and make opposed Int checks for the chess game if you really want. Kn: Tactics would likely be appropriate as well.

Kestevan 79 Magnetar 23,000 LY from Terra November 2014 (Terran Calendar) Why are we here? It was a hard question not to ask as the Praetorians' starship approached the world Moon-Moth had designated as the next target of the Communion. Kestevan 79, and its companion magnetar were a long-dead supernova remnant - the nebula, the neutron star inside, and its magentar companion both had been classified as navigational hazards by the Delaztri and generally avoided by their fleets, something that as far as they could tell had remained the same for Lor and Grue both. After all, what could possibly live in the wash of gases and X-Rays produced by nebula and burning magnetar alike? But there was, as far as the Curator had been able to tell, life on the sole world orbiting Beta Kestevan - life that was by all accounts a target for the Communion. For his part, Solar Sentinel found conditions equally grim as he headed out into the remote space near the Kestevan system, a system so remote and so irradiated that it had remained largely unclaimed in all the space wars he had ever heard of. There was no debris in the system, no asteroids or other planets - just the invisible at this distance neutron star that was Beta Kestevan (for all that it howled like a dead god on the radio) and the single white orb beneath the brilliantly burning shape of the Kestevan nova that floated over the system like the ghost of a dead star. Kestevan I - the only life-bearing world for light-years. Kestevan I; the next target of the Communion. A small collection of older, disreputable-looking starships were in orbit as Sentinel and Praetorians took up their positions in the vast depths of space; the wash of radiation in the system making whatever signals they might be sending to each other impossible to read. The planet was cold and desolate even from space, frozen nearly from pole to pole. Down below, on the icy surface of Kestevan I, a small handful of city lights twinkled at the equator, the planet's only source of free water. They had no idea what was coming.

Incursion: Phase Two The desperate war against the Communion has been raging across the galaxy for months. Much of the Freedom League has taken to the stars to help their allies in the shattered Lor Republic but now they return to our solar system with dire news: the Incursion has come home. Even as they delay the massive world killer vessel near Pluto's orbit more Communion ships are heading for Earth. Heroes new and old are called to the four corners of the globe to respond to this threat but the Communion knows of Earth and knows it is defended. Can our heroes discover its true intentions in time? >Incursion: Stop-Thrust The members of the Freedom League organizing the defense of Earth from aboard the Lighthouse find that something is trying to turn their own weapons against them! Featuring: Comrade Frost, Fleur de Joie, Gabriel, Gaian Knight and Velocity >Incursion: Drop the Needle The Communion's arrival has awakened something buried deep beneath Seattle's Space Needle and it might take three Erin Whites to save the day! Featuring: Cannonade, Cobalt Templar, Edge, Midnight II and Wander >Incursion: That's Amore Dragonfly and Miss Americana have a plan for a defensive weapon using the Farsider's moonstone as a focus. The Communion has a plan to blow the moon into itty bitty pieces! Featuring: Dragonfly, Geckoman, Harrier, Jack of all Blades, Miss Americana and Willow >Incursion: Uploaded to the Cloud As news of the invasion spreads and threats reveal themselves, a charismatic cult leader in Rio de Janeiro is on the rise! Dark magic or cosmic charlatans?! Featuring: Equinox, Ghost Girl, Nick Cimitiere, Nightingale, Phantasmo and Wraith >Incursion: Spirit of the Blitz Communion needleship drones focus on the UNISON HQ in Geneva, which houses may of Earth's space flight capable combat craft! The Vanguard and their allies stand in the way! Featuring: Coiled Lightning, Foreshadow II, Myrmidon, Synapse, Ulysses and Young Britannia >Incursion: God Squad Typhon plans to usher in the apocalypse by turning nanotech drones near the Naqada necropolis into cyborg versions of mythical monsters! Who ya gonna call? Featuring: Arrowhawk, Meatheral, Miras, Set and Sun Walker >Incursion: Mind Over Matter The Communion's broadcast is laying siege to the psychically receptive minds of Earth! Our heroes use the Arecibo Observatory to meet the threat head-on on the astral plane! Featuring: Blue Fox, Hologram, Miss Grue and Nano Angel Incursion: Matter Over Mind While the psychic heroes fight the broadcast, their bodies are vulnerable! A second team must defend them against waves of Communion drones! Featuring: Fast-Forward, Grimalkin, Net Fly, Queenie, Silver Magus and Triakosia >Incursion: Science Team Go! A computronium bomb hits the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia, converting everything it touches! Our heroes race to stop a grey goo scenario! Featuring: Asad, Citizen, Hronos, Maxima and Terrifica Phase Two threads will be launching over the next few days. Your GM will send a PM to all involved players as each thread is posted and links will be added to this notice. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM the ref team!

Welcome to the second phase of Incursion! The silent night of December 25th is broken by the arrival of a threat from the stars! The worst has come to pass and the Communion has come for Earth! With attacks on every corner of the globe the heroes of Freedom City must leave the familiar rooftops of their home city behind to defend their planet from utter destruction! Event Ground Rules: With multiple threads running at once, timing is important. Players will be expected to post within a 24 hour period, particularly during combat initiative. If they are unable to do so, the GM will narrate the character's actions or circumstance in order to move the thread along, skipping the players turn. We will of course take the hectic schedule of the holidays into account! Phase Two is specifically for Earth based characters not already involved in Phase One. The war against the Communion has taxed the Galactic Coalition and its heroes to the very brink and a backward mudball like Terra will just have to fend for itself! Phase Two also will not include the students of Claremont Academy, in order to keep the number of characters more manageable. Fear not, however, as they will their own vignette instead! Sign Up: Sign up for Phase Two begins now and continues until midnight of Sunday, December 21st. Players may request to have more than one character involved in Phase Two. List your characters in the order you would most like to see them included, from most important to least. We will do our best to accommodate as many player characters as possible but it will be helpful to prioritize! Phase Two threads will begin Thursday, December 25th! Claremont Academy Vignette: Big Leagues While the adult heroes of Freedom City spread out across the globe to combat the Incursion, the students of Claremont Academy are left to watch over their fair metropolis! When villains attempt to take advantage of the situation it will be up to these teen titans to rise to occasion! Against foes that give even the Freedom League and other seasoned veterans difficulty can they prevail? Can they even survive?! It may take a holiday miracle! Big Leagues is a vignette open specifically to Claremont Academy students excluded from Incursion: Phase Two, taking place between Christmas Day and New Years. The usual vignette rules apply: vignettes should be at least one word processor document page in length, limit one vignette per character. Given the prompt, players are encouraged to have appearances by established villains but should remember to PM the ref team with a request and summation of their vignette's plot just as they would when asking to use an NPC in a normal thread. Joint vignette are also encouraged this time around but are not necessary! Post your vignette to the by midnight of Saturday, January 31st so that it can be included in January's post counts!

The Lighthouse November 10, 2014 The transportation platform of the Lighthouse flashed, as an incoming transport arrived from Earth. Velocity materialized on the platform, fully dressed in her costume, although she was still feeling the lingering effects of sleep. The alert that had come over her League communicator had awoken her well before her alarm was set for. But she had wasted little time in getting up and responding, getting over to Freedom Hall and then beaming up to the Lighthouse. Standing near the pad, awaiting her arrival was the cloaked form of Dr. Metropolis. "Good morning Velocity." The enigmatic figure stated in his deep, rumbling voice. "The others have already started to gather in the main meeting room." "Morning, Doctor." Velocity stated with a small smile. "Thanks. I'll get right over there, but first will want to make a small stop for some coffee." The speedster was then off in a blur of yellow, heading towards the space station's galley. A few moments later, she had coffee mug filed with the hot liquid and then made her way to the main meeting room. As Dr. Metropolis had indicated, there were already some League members gathered. Captain Thunder was there, looking a bit tired and worn and seated at the center seat of the large table that was at the center of the meeting room. Johnny Rocket was also sitting along one side of the table, doing his best to patiently wait for everyone to arrive. Standing off to one side were Daedalus and Star Knight talking. Maria had her helmet off at the moment, and looked rather upset. "Good morning Velocity." Captain Thunder said in greeting. "Please have a seat, hopefully the others will not be too long."

0.5 LY from Stellar Khanate Borders November 2014 (Terran Calendar) Even under the best of circumstances, this was probably the last place most people in galaxy wanted to be. And then, somehow, it had gotten worse. With the knowledge that the Star-Khan had been made the new mouthpiece of the Communion, that raised an obvious question - what had happened to the worlds of the Khanate, that great cluster of wild, despotic states held so tight by Kinan Khan? Nobody knew. All state-run media, which at times could have made the North Korean press corps look like The Daily Show, was down. Traffic in and out of the sector, already sporadic, seemed to be shut down entirely. With half the galaxy on defensive footing, nobody really wanted to spare the resources or manpower to figure out what had happened within the Khanate. But just because nobody wanted to didn't mean that nobody should. Cavalier was blazing through the empty sector, keeping his eye out for surveillance satellites and Khanate drones. Intelligence said that they would be lightly cloaked but still discernible, providing minimal challenge but serving to signal the guys with bigger guns. But as far as he could tell, there was nothing watching this part of space. Which just meant he'd have to deal with the inevitable when it came. After the push at Lor-Van, he'd had... well, he could be charitable and call it "a rough time." Once Seven had managed to drop him off somewhere near Citadel, he'd made it back to the planet for debriefing. The next twelve hours after that were... mixed. There had been screaming. There had been desperate attempts to sleep, the images of broken armor and blinding light seared behind his eyelids. There had been drinking to forget, and then glasses thrown against the wall because the drinking had done nothing. Somewhere after those twelve hours, he'd actually managed to pull himself out of the void and focus. He couldn't just curl into a ball while the galaxy bled. And that was when Mentor had come to him with orders - preceded by more bad news. "What do you mean the intelligence is gone?" "The attack that compromised my systems during the assault of Lor-Van left several prevalent agents within my system. They have been quarantined in order to prevent further damage. Until these agents can be purged, the affected data cannot be accessed - and, in what was likely planned, one of these subsets is all files pertaining to the Communion entity." Cavalier bit his tongue. The very fact that Mentor had been compromised was not a happy thought. He did not want to yell at the intelligence for trying to work around the cybernetic equivalent of an embolism. "So we need intelligence. Where do we gather it?" "What little we have unflagged makes tertiary references to machine gods and cybernetic archaeology - potential resources of note for down the line. As of right now, however, the best possible resource would be beyond Khanate borders. If the Star-Khan has been claimed, odds are several of his worlds have followed." Cavalier shook his head. "This really is the best idea, isn't it?" "I am examined several permutations, and this one yields the best results. Sri Steward. Your background has been extensively catalogued in my banks. I know you have some experience on border runs. With the Knights regrouping, we must make use of unorthodox talents, wherever they may lay." And the worst part was, he knew it was true. All of it. "I'm likely going to need backup. And not the kind trained to knock nicely before entering contested air space..." "We have already isolated potential assets. A meeting has been arranged..." And so, some time later, Cavalier was flying outside of the Horizon, maintaining vigil while the ship soared across the stars. He patched into the ship's comms. "All clear out here so far. How's it looking on your end?"

The OOC

Continuing from >here. Amara Val-Ren had followed after Vince as the hologram led her from the room in which she had been awoken and into the vast chamber beyond, where seemingly endless rows upon rows of cryogenic tubes were stored in the cold air of the room. The cold no longer was bothering the Naram, as she moved over towards the nearest row of tubes, around which lights had just activated and the faint forms of her friends and comrades could be seen behind the frost on the tubes. She carefully counted the tubes as Vince moved over to a nearby control panel and began the awaking process for the other Praetorians. Just about two dozen tubes, the number of survivors she remembered from after their final battle with the Communion. And yet now they were being awoken to face the Communion once again. Amara stepped back from the tubes as she waited for the others to begin to wake. "We will want to see all information you and the Curator have regarding the Communion's advances. As well as that on any power groups that are there to oppose it."

November 10, 2014 A hyperlight signal crossed the vast interstellar network, ricocheting off Lor communications stations a moment before the stations were deluged by word of the apocalypse that had befallen the homeworld. Further and further out into the Orion Arm it went, passing by the populated worlds of the galaxy as it headed into a remote galactic backwater that held one insignificant yellow dwarf and a small system of eight planets. It hit the unmanned station the Lor had left in Pluto orbit decades earlier and headed in one last burst for Earth, passing by the Lighthouse and heading straight for its source - Archetech. In a darkened laboratory, Sharl Tulink arrived on his hands and knees, screaming. "NO!" Instinctively, he reached out mentally into the surrounding network, both the building's power grid and the computers all around him. The lights flared up at his command and the computers came to life, the primitive technology and raw naturalism of Terra a sharp contrast to the sterile, doomed world he'd left behind him. As the Terran computers booted up, Sharl fought the natural urge to dive directly into their systems and not stop running through that primitive wireless network until he reached the familiar confines of Tronik - but of course that wouldn't really solve anything, would it? Instead, he raised his head and got up off the floor - though of course being a holographic projection he'd only barely been on it in the first place. He reached out into the surrounding network of the city and called a familiar number. "Gina!" he called, remembering old distress signals easily enough. "Code 404!"

Welcome to Freedom City Play by Post's newest crossover event: >Incursion! Incursion is an epic space opera in three phases which will radically alter the status quo of civilized space in the FCPbP setting. It's the perfect jumping on point for new, space-based characters and a crucible to carry existing characters into the next phase of their adventures! Phase One consists of multiple threads set immediately after a merciless attack by an unknown force against the capital planet of the Lor Republic as well as the Grue Unity and the Stellar Khanate. Survival is the first order of the day as panic and confusion run rampant and our heroes begin to fight back! Event Ground Rules: With multiple threads running at once, timing is important. Players will be expected to post within a 24 hour period, particularly during combat initiative. If they are unable to do so, the GM will narrate the character's actions or circumstance in order to move the thread along, skipping the players turn. Phase One is specifically for space-based character and characters with strong ties to galactic culture. Rest assured, the Incursion will be coming to Earth allowing the heroes of Freedom City to become involved. Only characters with circumstances that can justify already being in space will be directly included in Phase One threads. Take the opportunity to review the >House Rules for space relevant rulings for the Space Travel power, spacesuits as Equipment and more! Sign Up: Sign up for Phase One begins now and continues until midnight of Saturday, November 8th. That gives players still dragging their feet on getting new, space-based character up for approval one last window to get them up there! Post in the thread below with the name of the character you'd like to see included and a quick description of what they would have been up to just prior to the events of Incursion: Prologue. Phase One threads will begin Monday, November 10th!

Incursion: Phase One >Incursion: Blood in the Water A Lor refugee cruiser has become separated from the evacuated fleet! Can our heroes defend it from Communion fighters long enough to make it to safety? Featuring: Paradigm, Kharag, Deep Freeze and Seika >Incursion: Meaning in Destruction The world-killer has set course for another world. The clock is ticking as our heroes try to discover why and escape with their lives! Featuring: Dragonid, Moon-Moth, The Traveller and Solar Sentinel >Incursion: The Conquered Flesh The Stellar Khanate has been silent since the Communion first arrived in known space. Cavalier recruits blockade runners to find out the terrifying reason! Featuring: Cavalier, Eclipse and Rock >Incursion: Opportunists and Opposition The remaining Star Knights are spread thin and pirate attacks have surged! But are interstellar brigands the worst our heroes have to fear? Featuring: Corona, Mechanized, Memorial and Galvanic >Incursion: Backwater They came for a bounty but our heroes much deal with a corrupt sheriff, overcrowded refugees and rising tensions if they plan to make it back to civilized space! Featuring: Bliss, Roulette and Ruby Voxx

The OOC.

Edges of Grue Unity Space Lor Timemark 1312.4 "Perimeter Vessel Theta-Theta-Gamma reporting all quiet," the Grue Metamorph named Dul'ce sighed, repeating the same message he'd been sending back to command twice a cycle for the entire duration of his posting. Cycle after cycle of staring at a field of stars, empty apart from a patch of asteroids or the occasional comet, lightyears away from anything to conquer or infiltrate or even just observe, just the arbitrary border of Unity controlled space past which there was simply nothing worth claiming. It was busy work of the highest order, that was the worst of it, Dul'ce reflected as he melted back in his chair, dejectedly allowing his form to become slightly liquid. The Meta-Mind could have easily focused on his thoughts, just like any of the Grue, if it truly wished to know what was happening on the frontier. The twice-cycle reports proved that it was simple bureaucracy, a tick in a ledger that no Grue would ever bother reviewing once it was logged. "Pull yourself together, Navigator!" a sharp voice barked, causing Dul'ce's outer layer to go spiky in surprise. The only other Metamorph on the vessel and his commanding officer strode onto the bridge, flanked by a pair of drones. Faa'et had taken to making his form a little taller and broader at the shoulder since his promotion and Dul'ce might have sworn his chin was even a little more square, though he couldn't imagine for whom Faa'et was making the effort. "I don't tolerate loose shifting on the Double-Theta Gee!" Dul'ce hid another sigh. The Unity didn't bother naming its vessels like lesser species and for good reason. Faa'et's attempts to give the scout ship a nickname were ridiculous, though the navigator never would have said so aloud. Just thinking that was about the captain would have been bad enough if Faa'et had ever bothered to read anyone's thoughts apart from his own. "Apologies, Captain. I was just finishi-- eh?" On the console in front of him a green dot blinked on, floating through nearby space before changing direction and heading toward them.