Primordium

Primordial War
Various space fleets gather around the Primordial's planet
Date Undated, 3105 Location Various locations in space Result Casus belli An ancient construct is discovered, which creates a massive conflict over its very existance
Belligerents
IEE Primordial Ecumene	Various space-faring organizations	(Did not seek the Primordial) Pengumorph Hive Elf Monolith
Commanders
"The Fleetmaster" The Primordial	Various leaders	Pengumorph Queen Elf-Controller
Strength
The entirety of the EISC and all of its branches	Over 80,000 various ships and starfighters	Various Pengumorph hives and Elf soldiers

Primordium is the name of several events involving the discovery of the Primordial, including the Primordial War. This war was fought by several countries over the Primordial, with the Intergalactic Empire of Ed trying to protect the ancient entity.

Prologue - Council

IEE Listening Outpost, 3105

Several EISC communications officers buzzed around the small space station like bees, each with their own jobs at hand. They were to be kept on alert in case any unidentified vessel attempted to enter IEE territory. Unsurprisingly, there was no activity, like the previous day. And week. And month.

Officer 1: "Why do we even have these stations? Nobody ever crosses into our territory. The last time it happened was three years ago, and it turned out to be a comet reflecting our signals."

Officer 2: "Your guess is as good as mine. Who knows, we might get to fight aliens or robots or something."

Officer 1: "Doubt it. There's a reason they call these listening posts-"

The bickering officer was cut off by a loud alarm shrieking through the station. Something was detected by the scanners. Something big. Without a moment's hesitation, the officers scrambled to find out what was happening, secretly hoping that it wasn't just another comet.

Officer 1: "We're getting some kind of signal, like someone is trying to contact us. It isn't from one of our ships. According to our scanners, it appears to be originating from an uncharted area of space located... on the edge of the galaxy. This is nothing like we've ever encountered!"

Officer 2: "Told you it was aliens. Play the signal, I want to hear it."

The first officer pushed several buttons on the holographic display, and the audio was heard throughout the small station. Three loud pulses, followed by a pause. It repeated several times before the officer turned it off. A brief moment of silence followed.

Officer 1: "We need to send this to High Command. They'll want to know about this."

---

On the capital planet of Tribute, hundreds of reports about the strange signal were sent in from various listening stations around the IEE. It was obvious that something was projecting the signal across the entire sector of the galaxy for every listening post to pick it up. The reports seemed so important that they were brought all the way to the High Council, the highest form of government in the empire. Hierarch Eternal, the head of the IEE, argued with the Council on what course of action to take.

Hierarch: "This signal is powerful enough to reach two-hundred and forty one of our listening posts from the edge of the Orion. Of course others would detect it, Terra itself probably heard it. We need to investigate it, before any other fleet can."

Councillor 1: "Hierarch, what if it is a trap? We have dozens of enemies, any one of them could strike at the heart of our empire while our fleets are away."

Councillor 2: "We would be defenseless, and our empire could fall! We cannot send fleets after some random signal from uncharted space!"

Hierarch: "Then only send the Solace, we will have six others in addition to the Home Fleet. Here is my question to you, however. What if this is the beginning of the Age of Reclamation? While I am faithful that it will arrive one day, we have never found any evidence of a Reliquary planet nor any major artifacts. If this signal is coming from one, we must discover it first. Every moment we waste here is a moment that our enemies could reach the signal before us."

This accusation was met with dozens of worried murmurs from the Councillors, who considered the ramifications if another group began the Age of Reclamation. Silence was only brought when a single Space Command General burst into the Council Chambers, something extremely heinous in an ongoing High Council session. While he was barred from going any farther by the Honor Guardsmen, the Hierarch waved him through, curious as to what he had to say.

Hierarch: "General! What is the meaning of this intrusion? Speak, or be punished for this disturbance."

General: "Hierarch, our scribes have managed to decode the message picked up by our Empire. It's the same language as the Hakkor System's constructs! And one word keeps repeating itself: Reclaimer."

Numerous gasps filled the chambers, and any thoughts of punishing the general for his intrusion were quelled. The Hierarch, deep in thought, walked forward

Hierarch: "So the Age of Reclamation begins at last... General, send word to the Supreme Fleetmaster. Have the Long Night of Solace sent with its battlegroup detachment to the source of the signal. And I promise you, if this truly is the beginning of the Age of Reclamation, no tangible reward could show my gratitude."

And so the Hierarch's will was done. The supercarrier and its battlegroup departed for the source within the hour, hoping to begin the long-awaited Reclamation. The High Council was dismissed soon after, as there was much celebration to be done for this momentous occasion. The skies of Tribute were filled with cheers and celebrations, for every citizen of the IEE knew the importance of this event. None of whom, however, knew the dangers the battlegroup was about to face.

One - Discovery

Tension filled the air of the supercarrier throughout the long journey through Slipspace. The Long Night of Solace was the flagship of its class, the seven 27 kilometer-long behemoth CSO-class Supercarriers. Their large size was well suited the psychological aspects of the Empire. A single supercarrier could single-handedly glass an entire continent into submission, let alone engage an entire enemy battlegroup.

General Rho stared at the holographic projection on the bridge, watching the blank nothingness of Slipspace as it was occasionally marred by a smaller ship drifting near the Solace. IEE ships did not possess windows; they were deemed unnecessary and a possible weakness of the design. The bridge of the Solace, similar to every other standard ship in the IEE Navy, was located in the armored 'belly' of the ship, away from any possible direct harm. Very few crew manned the bridge, only Rho, the Supreme Fleetmaster, and four others. Normally the Supreme Fleetmaster only tolerated the assigned crewmen in his bridge, but Rho was the exception being sent on the mission directly by Hierarch Eternal.

Supreme Fleetmaster grimaced. The General was annoying, asking question after question about the ship, its capabilities, its history, any possible subject relating to the Solace. There was a reason he allowed as few crewmembers as possible on his bridge, nevertheless one who wasn't even a Field Marshall. But being sent by the Hierarch himself, Rho had to be allowed or else he would face punishment at the highest level. Other than the Fleetmaster and General, six crewmembers made their way around the large bridge of the Solace, making sure the ship ran as smooth as possible towards its almost sacred destination. The Fleetmaster tuned out the General's seemingly endless interrogation until one question caught his interest.

Rho: "Do you think this signal is a Reliquary planet, Supreme Fleetmaster? I know the signal matches those found in the Hakkor System, but in the hundreds of years the Empire has existed we've never found any evidence of one."

Fleetmaster: "It is not my place to believe whether something is one object or another, my place is to do the will of the Hierarch. I know the Hierarch Eternal is faithful in the Age of Reclamation more than anyone else in the Empire, and if he believes that this signal originates from a Reliquary then so do I. And so should you, General."

Rho did not reply, detecting the venom in the Fleetmaster's voice directed at him. He stared back at the holographic display in front of him when the entire ship suddenly lurched back, throwing him into the console. Rho recognized it as the transition from Slipspace to realspace, enough to make the largest of ships sway. Staring back up at the display he was taken aback by the sight ahead of the Solace. It was a terrestrial planet similar to the several hundred of which that made up the Empire, but this one seemed different.

To be continued...