Command Bridge
ISD Warspite
Low Orbit
Ptolomea
Cocytus system

Ptolomea was screaming, howling, shrieking, bellowing, yet remained totally silent. To the normal men and women serving upon the Warspite it left them with an uneasy feeling in the pit of their stomach, even here in orbit. The hair at the back of their neck stood constantly on end.

For the Force users of on board the ship, the screams of the planet were just as tangible as if they had been yelling themselves. The planet was awake on a level none of them could comprehend.

“Sir, the last of the supplies are now enroute to the planet. We should be ready to return to Judecca to get more within the next 3 hours,” Delak said, head bowed as he continued to assess the information coming into his personal datapad. Xen’Mordin nodded in approval. The last several weeks had seen Ptolomea turn into a desperate war zone.

Xen’Mordin continued to stare out of the command deck’s massive windows to the planet below. If he had only taken Polis’s findings more seriously, maybe this could have been prevented, or used to the Empire’s advantage, not these radicals. He thought his pawns in play were setting the game for a checkmate, only he had missed seeing some of the key players. This was not a mistake he was willing to make again.

“Any word from Dante or Koryn?” the Consul asked, glad his mask hid the concern in his eyes. It was easy to maintain control of the voice, but the eyes were always a window to the soul, so much harder to control when needed.

Delak shook his head. Both men knew no report either meant they were busy making great progress on their missions, or were making desperate attempts to accomplish their goals.

Ft. Hammer
Ptolomea

“What do you mean sectors 45 and 46 are breached? They are on the other end of Almagast!” Kell Dante screamed out in frustration. Every time they had found a successful way to deal with the unending and unyielding nightmares of the Infinite Empire, a new problem arose.

At first they all had thought it was just oversight of their weak areas. but as the weeks went on, it was apparent, these beasts were learning, and Ptolomea would continue to whip them around wherever they would be most effective.

Dante stroked the stubble growing on his face. He hadn’t been able to shave for days, and was running totally on the use of stimulants. The spawn of the Infinite Empire weren’t all that dangerous to the trained military of the Cocytus system, but they were relentless and endless in number. For every one that was killed, there were two behind it. Luckily they had kept civilian casualties to a minimum on the planet.

It had come at a cost though, much of the population had been taken from their small towns and homesteads and forced into the several major cities that dotted the planet. The refugees of the planet were only now surviving due to the round the clock movement of supplies from other corners of the Cocytus system.

Dante knew there was only so long they could keep this pace up. As he issued new commands for the soldiers to move to sectors 45 and 46, there was only one thought that kept racing through his mind.

*We are at our limit.

Ancient Ruins
Antenora

“They were here, I can sense it,” Koryn said. The deep blue eyes of the Rodian scanned around the room.

“Don’t need to sense it, these footprints are fresh,” Polis Jones said. He took a several quick deep sniffs before continuing.

“Can still smell the smoke from their torches. They must have known we were coming.”

“No one could have known we were coming, let alone here,” Koryn said. He kicked some rubble in frustration. He of all people knew what a danger the Pacre Datship was. The rock tumbled through the shadows

Clang!

The eyes of the small squad all turned to the darkness. Polis stepped forward, torch held above his head.

The light caught a piece of metal. It wasn’t dusty like nearly everything else in the chamber. But it certainly was old, ancient even. Polis took another step forward. There was a whirl, and a single light turned on. It was a computer. That it was able to turn on seemed an impossible feat, after millennia buried here in the sand.

“We might have missed the so called Emperor Vanis, but I think in his hurry, he left us a something that might turn this conflict back in our favor…” Koryn said eyes focused on the single red light glowing from the metal container.

Desert of Batnare
Antenora

“Are you sure we took everything there was in the tomb?” Vanis asked as the transport sped through the desert to their base.

“One-hundred percent. There is nothing left there for those dogs to find,” Chaz Carlton said.

Breno Jalho, sitting directly across from Chaz shot the man a subtle look of distrust. The Twi’lek didn’t trust the man. He had risen too quickly, and become too trusted by Emperor Vanis to be real. It had taken Breno years of loyal service to earn such trust of the leaders of the Pacre Datship. And with Vanis the only one left, Breno was on full alert. There was something off about Chaz, even if he was the only one who felt it.

Vanis had already dismissed his assistants feelings about Chaz. He had provided so much information that Vanis and the Evanescent had been able to move their time table forward by months. And now, he had escaped the clutches of the false empire half a dozen times, only thanks to the intelligence Chaz had provided.

“We are close my lord, soon, we will have all we need. Then with the Evanescent, this system will see the power of the chosen ones, and this false empire will be no more,” Chaz said confidently.

Sub Arctic Base
Caina
“Is this new information useful Bixby?” Lord Onasi asked. The hulking form of a man stood wide eyed behind the elderly Bixby, hoping he could begin the next step of his campaign. Several veins on his forehead were bulging with anticipation.

He had first heard the call of the Old Gods just miles from where he, and the rest of the Evanescent were now operating. As the years had passed, that call had only grown louder. Bixby was still quietly muttering to himself analysing what had been brought in.

“Vanis and his associates seem to think so,” Mira said contempt thinly veiled. Onasi paid her no mind. She had been untrusting the Pacre since the beginning, but never once argued against the results their alliance had produced.

“They are right. This information will be useful for the escalation team. Yes, very useful. Hrmmm,” Bixby said.

“Excellent. Send out word, everyone needs to take their position,” Onasi said. Mira nodded and pressed a hidden button on the golden bracelet around her wrist.

“It’s done,” she replied.

Imperial Palace
Judecca

The Zeltron shifted in his chair, still trying to find the sweet spot in his new position. Across the table Landon Cruise supported his head with his hand,

“I don’t know how much more we can push to Ptolomea,” Cruise managed to say between yawns. He had been jumping to every corner of the system calling in favors to help relieve the situation on Ptolomea. Whatever he managed to gather was passed off to Eetherbiail who managed the military deployment of the goods.

“We will push whatever we have to,” Xen’s voice rang clearly from the projection of his image at the end of the table.

“This information from Koryn shows several core locations in the system the Evanescent and Pacre are going to be congregating. There is a pattern here, These locations are far too planned out. How did we never find any of them before?” Eether replied.

“30,000 years is a long time for things to become lost. The Evanescent have hidden in this system far longer than we have,” Xen responded. There was a hungry tone in his voice.

“We will take care of it,” Cruise said. Eether nodded in agreement.

“There isn’t a single member of the clan who isn’t ready to end of this,” Eether said. Deep down all three men hoped it would be enough.

Greetings Scholae Palatinae! The second act of our Forgotten Campaign has arrived. Get ready for two weeks of deception, out now in a competition page near you!

Like always, we have our Deception parent competition that is a hub for all the available competitions, and shows the scoring rules. Participation and placing will shoot you to the top of the ranks. Remember if enough of you submit to competitions, this can get upgraded to first level crescents!

There is a slight exception to the all competitions note there, our trivia event, Know Thy Enemy was missed when we were submitting and it was approved before it was noticed. But it’s fine cause it is linked here! Like all of our recent trivia competitions, this is TIMED which starts as soon as you hit subscribe. once you subscribe you will get a list of some general SW questions. Most correct beats fastest, but time will decide in the event of a tie!

The Gathering - Our “short” fiction event, with a minimum of 500 words. Here you will venture to Antenora to one of the sites that the Evanescent and Pacre Datship are meeting to gather intel on the Old Gods. Gather whatever intel and artifacts you can and get get out alive. This information might be enough to give the Empire the upper hand!

The Strike - Our “long” fiction with a 1000 word minimum. Stranded alone in the jungles of Ptolomea you must find a way to safety amid the nightmarish monsters that have been waking up after their long slumber. Survive, if you can.

Overwhelming Power - The poetry event. Describe the might of the Old Gods, and that which is now causing mayhem in the Cocytus system.

Computerized - Graphics, where you need to depict bits of the ancient knowledge left on the computer found by Koryn and Polis Jones.

Destruction - PVP Gaming! Any tier one platform, and make sure to select this comp when submitting scores. It will be graded on an unweighted PVP score!

Endless Waves of… Helium? - is a flash game competition. Pick map 5 (advanced) and play on hard difficulty. screen shot your highest achieved round!

And there we go. Now have at! These all run through the end of the month!