HW: Legacies Part III

[Sparki]

I'm curious
Legacies is beautifully volumious and full of content and depth while reading it, I wonder if Legacies as a fanfic had a wiki, with short character bios for example?

[Chrome]

Umm, no it doesn't. I figure once I'm done I might post a Legacies wiki to the Forums wiki.

[Norsehound]

Some legacies-related entries found their way into the homeworld Wiki.

[Sparki]

Okay. Will skim the hw wiki then

[Chrome]

/me clears her throat.

******

Chapter 33

Noreena let out a long sigh, feeling the bubbles of her control bubble’s life-support fluid caress her face and body. Then she opened her eyes, and the stream of sensor inputs she’d locked out came pouring back into her mind. They were sharp and clear, like the world one saw when they came out of a long meditation.

“All set here,” she reported across all decks of the Qwaar-Jet. “The Keeper scouts should arrive in the Elaavi Ridge in three minutes.”

Well, it beats using the recon squads like we had at Mortann…they’re tougher, don’t have live pilots, and can wipe the floor with whatever happens across them by surprise.

“All set here as well,” Revkiir’s voice reported from the Qwaar-Jet’s Bridge. “All crews are at their stations and ready for anything. I stressed that in the briefings.”

“Good. Trii, any last thoughts?”

She turned her attention to the slim Taiidan woman standing next to her XO. Despite availing herself of both the messhall and the comfortable amenities in her guest quarters, the young operative had opted not to trade her flight suit for a more formal uniform. Since the Republicans’ duty uniforms were only slightly less archaic-looking than the old Imperial ones, it became understandable for a mere operative to forgo such formalities like a high and stiff collar that felt like a tightened noose around their neck. Noreena sympathized; Somtaaw dress uniforms had the same kind of collar.

Trii pondered her answer for a few moments, then shook her head. She frowned apologetically.

“I went over everything I could think of when I told your Intel guy. Sorry.”

“It’s all right. I was just being thorough.”

“Well, now anyone doing Intel work can appreciate that,” Trii replied with another of her trademark lopsided smiles.

That brightened Noreena’s mood considerably by the time the Keepers finally dropped out of hyperspace in the Elaavi Ridge’s safe zone. The Allied brass had wisely decided that the Fleet would exit at the very fringes of the relatively lower-activity area that determined the safe zone. Qwaar’s gravitic rift drive’s bubble would have protected the Fleet from the highly radioactive gases of the Ridge’s more violatile regions, but the timing required in such a massively coordinated jump to keep all Allied ships exiting within Qwaar’s bubble was beyond even Karan’s skills. When one considered that the same bubble had the properties of a gravwell, the logistics of timing such a jump became mind-boggling.

She quickly called up the Keepers' continual telemetry feeds, and linked into their cam-eyes. A dazzling view of a multi-colored nebula peppered with huge blue-white stars slammed into her visual awareness.

Then the smaller specks of darker colors caught her attention: a large mass of angular, brutal-looking ships surrounding a small cluster of blue-and-silver Taiidani craft that looked as if they had seen far, far better days. Quite a few Infected Taiidani ships also harassed the smaller fleet, indicating that Ashoran’s Beast was active. Just like at Mortann, several cultist-controlled T-MAT lingered at the fringes of Ashoran’s spherical fleet formation, firing their long-range ion cannons at the Republican ships huddled in the battle’s center with brutal precision.

Memories of how the Second Fleet and the Faal-Corum had met their demise in Mortann flashed in her mind; Ashoran’s fleet was clearly using the same tactic on the beleaugered Republicans. The bright flash of explosions, and ion beams lit the sky around the two fleets, and closer inspection showed pulsar beams, plasma blasts, and railgun rounds flying about amid the smaller craft as they maneuvered around their larger cousins.

“Ships sighted!” she called out. “The Republicans are alive, but looking plenty messed up. Advise that all ships engage the enemy immediately. Also keep an eye out. Ash brought his T-MAT buddies in again.”

“This looks pretty much as we’d expected,” Karan spoke up from her interface chair set up onboard Admiral Soban’s Progenitor Dreadnaught. “Noreena, you lead and blow a path through with Qwaar’s main gun. Try to take down as many T-MAT as you can before we go in. We’ll stay behind you until you’ve got as much cleared ahead of you as you can. Then once you’re close enough, use your Keepers to escort the Republicans through the hole. Remember—make that hole as big as you can so we can get as many ships through as possible.”

“Gotcha M’Lady. I’ll keep at those T-MAT once you’re in. If Mortann taught us anything, it’s that those fuckers better go down first.”

“Good call,” Ifriit agreed from the Kuun-Lan. “First Fleet, Third Fleet, you’re with me, and we’ll do our share of Beast-frying before this is over!”

“Crusades of Vay, stand strong, and prepare for battle!” Makaan’s regal voice surged from his super-battlecruiser. “Together, with our allies, we shall see victory!”

“Gotcha, M’Lady,” Noreena called back as hyperspace slid away from the Alliance Fleet to reveal the Elaavi Ridge’s safe zone in its full multi-hued glory. “Okay people, here we go!”

She opened the Qwaar-Jet’s 3 arms to reveal its phalanx of ion cannons, then pushed the Godship to its fullest sublight speed, and sped at the nearest cluster of cultist ships. To her gleeful relief, she found that Qwaar had already warmed up the main gun and had begun the countdown. She had only to find a target in the next five seconds.

One Noreena Somtaaw Bitch Slap comin’ right up!

She locked onto the nearest T-MAT in the formation, and the millisecond the countdown hit zero, she fired.

First came the gravitic tunnel’s swirling vortex, which kicked up swirls of the brightly colored nebula gases in the region between the Qwaar-Jet and the T-MAT. Then came the split-second flash of death.

Blazing white light blossomed from the suddenly vaporized T-MAT in a perfect sphere of radiance, smashing into every single Qwaar-deesh ship in its path. Soon the expanding spherical shockwave had a leading edge of explosions as ships crumpled like so much paper under its awe-inspiring power. Then it faded, turning into a wave of rapidly hurtling debris that smashed into even more ships, causing considerable havoc before it finally died away.

“NICE,” was all a satisfied Qwaar could say to that spectacle. “LET’S DO IT AGAIN.”

Noreena quickly turned the Godship towards the next T-MAT, which had already begun turning to try and get a shot on the main gun before Qwaar fired it again. She blinked in surprise only once, then grinned nastily.

“Be having none of that shit,” she muttered as she swerved the Qwaar-Jet around the line of fire in a twisting corkscrew maneuver intended to throw the T-MAT’s targeting computers off.

The Godship spotted a cluster of Qwaar-deesh assault and ion frigates heading its way while still mid-turn. Qwaar promptly fired his entire ion-cannon collection in a dazzling display of high-precision fire coordination, obliterating the entire group in a matter of seconds. Noreena didn’t even notice the lopsided battle until after her sensors registered the fairly small fireballs of frigates exploding like popcorn.

Then the main gun’s recharge meter hit 100% again. The tunnel once again twisted gases aside from the beam’s potential path. Then she fired, sending the same flash of brilliant death at the ship and all those around it. This time, this particular battle group attempted to hyperspace out of the way of the T-MAT in time. Unfortunately for them, their hyperspace modules were a good deal slower than a Far Jump drive, and only a third of that group managed to get away before the blindingly brilliant shockwave smashed into the remaining ships.

Noreena quickly took count of the remaining T-MAT and winced. Ashoran had wised up somewhat since their last encounter; he had brought no less than eight megaships for this particular engagement. Two were down already, which left her six to deal with. Now a pair of them had begun moving to bracket the Qwaar-Jet on either side in a bid to get in some shots. A quick glance at the main gun’s recharge timer told Noreena they would open fire before Qwaar got his shot in.

“Hang on Qwaar, this is gonna get rough!”

“EH. I’VE SEEN WORSE,” the Godship replied so casually that his Khar blinked.

With those words, he closed up his three massive armored arms, folding into his obelisk form. The main gun’s recharge rate had climbed to 56%, which made Noreena realize what he meant to do. She grinned nastily as she randomly chose one of the two T-MAT and sped towards it.

Then the two behemoths fired.

Whenever the Godship came under fire, his innards almost never registered the impact. This time was different. The Qwaar-Jet rumbled thunderously from bow to stern with the impact of such massively powerful ion beams, but not one system registered more than minor damage. Crewmembers stumbled about, startled by how powerfully those ions affected the Godship. Realizing that the Godship was not taking any wounds from their assault, the two megaships poured on their beams, hoping to at least dent that maddeningly powerful armor. The Godship continued to rumble noisily as he sped towards Noreena’s target.

Then both T-MAT cut their ion beams; Noreena guessed they would need at least a few seconds’ recharge time before they fired again. Qwaar, having come to the same conclusion, quickly opened his arms and, beating Noreena to the command, fired his main gun at the offending megaship.

Well before the blinding shockwave began to move outwards, Qwaar simply spun around, closed up, and plowed towards the second T-MAT as if the triple-pazaar his crew had ingested over the last several days had somehow found their way into his electronic innards.

The second he came into range of the second megaship, Noreena fired the main gun yet again. The blossoming blast wave tore viciously through more than enough ships that the total sum of damage Qwaar and Noreena had done would permit the Allies to begin their attack.

Four T-MAT down, four left. Time to let the party get rocking.

She quickly flashed Karan a fast data-blip that gave her the all-clear, then tore towards another T-MAT.

By now, the Qwaar-deesh fleet had begun to completely scatter on the side the Qwaar-Jet had moved into, seeking to get away from that deadly main gun and the sheer amount of collateral it caused. This left a gigantic hole of open space that allowed the sizable Alliance fleet a chance to push their way into the battle.

They did this with such gusto that Noreena knew her crew weren’t the only ones who had been ingesting more than their usual amounts of caffiene. To her surprised glee, the Qwaar-deesh fleet clearly hadn’t been expecting this large of an Allied fleet to join the Godship’s attack. They scrambled to meet the demands of the massive multi-front battle they now found themselves in. Soon, hundreds of small battles raged across the pathway the Qwaar-Jet had carved out of the enemy fleet.

“Oh yeah, that’s more like it!” a Somtaaw Guardian pilot screamed with glee as his squadron tore into a group of Qwaar-deesh bombers that hadn’t pulled around fast enough to meet the hordes of fighters now pouring out of the Kuun-Lan and other Allied carriers and supercarriers.

“Tighten up that formation, and let’s get that carrier down!” a Hiigaran Ion Frigate captain shouted to the skippers of his four fellow ships as they dove at a Qwaar-deesh carrier lingering a little too close to the Allied fleet’s new position.

“Fire Trinity Systems!” a Vaygr Super-battlecruiser’s captain roared as his ship and its two Battlecruiser escorts plowed towards a group of Infected Taiidan Heavy Cruisers. Their massive Phased Trinity Cannons blazed to life, cutting deeply into the Beast-controlled ships.

Meanwhile, Noreena continued to dive into the thick of the Qwaar-deesh fleet, allowing Qwaar to fire at anything and everything in his way as they plowed towards the nearest T-MAT megaship. By now the remaining four T-MAT had begun targeting Alliance super-capitals in a bid to get the battle back in Ashoran’s favor; she had to put them down as quickly as she could.

Fortunately for her, Qwaar had moved far enough into this portion of the enemy fleet that she didn’t have to worry about warning any friendly ships that the Godship would be firing his main gun. Another bonus was that the Allies now knew the general range of Qwaar’s gun and could plan ahead to minimize any danger to themselves.

She quickly got a lock on one T-MAT now bombarding the massive Vaygr fleet a good distance away from it and tore towards it. The megaship had taken to picking off many destroyers and battlecruisers apart to help its smaller fellows take on the Crusades with as little harassment from them.

Her sensors manager pinged at her. Quirking an eyebrow as she let Qwaar deal with slapping aside any pesky ships along the way to that T-MAT, she turned her attention to it.

A cluster of Taiidani hyperspace signatures had appeared at the safe zone’s fringe, a good several dozen kilometers from the battle. She watched as a good-sized Imperial Taiidan fleet surrounding one of the massive battlecruisers she had watched their kind field earlier slid through their windows. Then the fleet came to an abrupt halt.

What the…? They’re not joining in?

“Intel?!” Noreena called on the com lines.

“Yes?” came the familiar voice.

“A bunch of Imp ships just dropped out at the edge of the safe zone. Did you pick up any calls for reinforcements from Ashoran’s fleet when we started T-MAT whacking?”

“None that I could tell. I wonder what brought those Imperials here. They don’t seem interested in fighting, which seems completely wrong for”—

Then the main gun’s recharge timer beeped. Noreena grinned wickedly.

“Excuse me, gotta fire a main-gun shot,” she quickly said to Intel, then targeted the offending T-MAT. “I’ll get back to you when I can. These goddamn T-MAT are every-fucking-where.”

She then let loose another deadly snap-flash of light. The massive shockwave tore through more Qwaar-deesh ships than her first shot; Ashoran’s forces had been focusing more on the enroaching Vaygr than the Godship whizzing towards them that time. She had gotten off the cleanest shot she had thus far in this battle.

Watching the destruction unfold put an idea in Noreena’s head; she quickly called the Allied commanders on their most secure frequency.

“Hey. Guys! I got an idea!”

“This had better be important,” Makaan growled. He was still busy dealing with that swath of Qwaar-deesh ships that had escaped Noreena’s latest shot while plowing into his fleet.

“Distract them! Let one fleet divert the battlegroup it’s targeting, then another fleet can roll in and bash them from the rear or another side. They seem to have some problems multitasking right now with everything going on. We can use that to our advantage. I’ll keep my focus on the T-MAT. As long as they’re too busy trying to pick you guys off, I can get in more shots.”

“That sounds good,” Karan cut in. “Lord Makaan, please continue your assault. We’ll be heading around to pinch that group in a few moments.”

“Gladly,” the Warlord hissed. “Anything to get this battle over with.”

“Admiral Soban?”

“Already going there M’Lady,” the reply came from the Hiigaran officer.

“How about we make them pick their targets more carefully?” Ifriit spoke up. “They can’t afford to blow up one of their ships, so why not?”

“Excellent idea. I will split my Crusade forces,” Makaan said quickly, “and the other half will aid the Somtaaw First and Third Fleets in their work. Make ready, Somtaaw-Sa!”

Noreena checked some scans, then quickly cut into the conversation.

“I’m the closest to the Republican formation. I’ll launch the Keepers to get them outta here, and then I’ll focus on the next T-MAT. Everybody good with that?”

“Do it,” Karan ordered. “I was about to order that anyways. All right, let’s get to it.”

Within moments, the entire Alliance fleet had scattered to their various battles.

Half of the Vaygr forces broke off and hypered away from their continued frontal assault while the Hiigarans moved to bracket and thus pinch that group with brutal cross-fire. Meanwhile the Somtaaw had headed to the opposite side of the huddled Republican group as the Vaygr, plowing through Qwaar-deesh ships with every weapon and ship at their disposal. The split Vaygr fleet quickly dropped out of hyperspace with the Somtaaw’s targeted Qwaar-deesh battlegroup directly between them and the two Somtaaw fleets.

Noreena turned towards the cluster of beleaugered Republican ships. They had fought valiantly for a long time; every single one of them sported gaping, smoking wounds, and continued to pummel any enemy ship with a continual barrage of missiles, ion beams, and mass-driver slugs. For every ship that succumed to the withering enemy fire, two more moved in and continued their attack with every last weapon at their disposal. No matter how hard they tried, the Qwaar-deesh continued to lose ships to their lesser enemy.

Nothing like desperation to turn someone into a top-notch warrior sometimes, Noreena noted.

“Qwaar, launch ‘em, and put me on the open comms.”

The largest swarm of Keepers the Godship had ever launched suddenly tore towards the Qwaar-deesh ships nearest to the huddled Republican ships. A massive hailstorm of blue plasma bolts flooded the sky, tearing into hull after hull.

“Republican fleet, this is Noreena Somtaaw, Qwaar-Jet Khar. The ships just launched will escort you out of the fighting.”

“No offense to you or your Godship’s help,” a barely controlled female voice spoke curtly from the battered Republican super-carrier in the center of the formation, “but we are staying right here.”

“To keep on fighting? Your fleet’s down to a third of what your operative said it was!” Noreena protested. “You need to get the hell out of here, now.”

“Millions of our people on planet after planet died thanks to these bastards. They didn’t stop until they ran out of ADWs,” the Taiidan officer retorted hotly. “They burned Taiidan, Khar. Taiidan! Would you deny your people their vengeance if Hiigara was destroyed?!”

Noreena winced inside her control bubble, then let the inevitable surge of anger rise in her mind. Although the corrupt Hiigaran Empire had bombarded it four thousand years ago prior to the Exile, the Taiidani homeworld had recovered and thus, was fit for the Republic to make it their new capital. Now Ashoran had finished the job of that corrupt empire, and he was getting much, much worse than exile the day the Allies would get their hands on him.

“Karan?” she called on an Alliance frequency.

“Yes?” the S’jet-Sa asked tersely.

“Talked to the Rep commander. They’re not leaving. Why? Ash’s boys roasted Taiidan on a spit. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why those Imps at the fringe aren’t exactly jumping to help him out.”

Karan went as silent as Noreena had, then spoke again in the iciest voice she had ever heard.

“Then we shall give the Qwaar-deesh as little mercy as honor permits. Have your Keepers stay with the Republicans. They’re welcome to continue the fight. But if it goes badly for us, have Qwaar wakejump them out of here whether they like it or not. We came here to save them, and we’re not going back empty-handed.”

“Gotcha,” Noreena replied in a dazed tone.

“Okay,” she said to the Republicans, “Lady S’jet says you can continue. I’ll leave those Qwaar-Jet Keepers with you as extra firepower. They’ll give you whatever help they can.”

“Now that’s more like it,” the woman answered in a bloodthirsty tone. “We’ll see you when this is over. Now, everyone… one last charge, for Taiidan!”

Bloodthirsty battle cries exploded across the Republican com channels as the massed fleet dove into the Qwaar-deesh picket lines at full speed, blasting away with every remaining weapon they had. Noreena watched in awe as the Republican fleet doubled the kills they had racked up since her arrival in a matter of minutes. Not even Infection Beams could stop them; Ashoran’s Beast couldn’t lock onto the Taiidan fast enough.

If that’s how the Kushans fought for Kharak, it’s no wonder we won the war back then…

Another cluster of hyperspace signals flashed on her sensors manager. She cursed inventively when the signal IDs came up as Qwaar-deesh.

“SHIT! WE HAVE INCOMING!” Ifriit suddenly roared.

Five more T-MAT, and a veritable horde of Qwaar-deesh battlecruisers and carriers now bore down on the battleground, their weapons blazing to life the second they came within range of their targets. Fighters belched from the carriers, then raced towards the battlefield with what could be best described as bloodthirsty glee.

“Oh, peachy, just fucking peachy!” Noreena ranted angrily. “More of them! And I thought we were getting the Qwaardamn bastards down fast enough!”


Chapter 34

“There’s too many of them!” an ACV pilot screamed as his ship was torn to pieces by a freshly launched squad of Qwaar-deesh fighters.

“Targeting computers are locking up!” shouted a Vaygr destroyer’s captain. “Advise everyone to manual, before they get too close!”

“Intensify forward firepower!” was the last Noreena heard from an Archangel II’s captain before a dying Qwaar-deesh frigate rammed the bridge region between its two prongs, and turned both vessels into a majestically tumbling wreck.

That wreck plowed directly into the side of the Vanguard, leaving a gigantic scorching tear along its hull before continuing on until it exploded into a gigantic fireball that inflicted yet more damage on the beleaugered Somtaaw super-battlecruiser.

“This is getting uglier by the second,” Ifriit growled. “First and Third Fleets, close up and regroup at Sector Two! We need to concentrate our numbers!”

“We’ll stay with you, Kuun-Lan,” Crusade Admiral Kasall’s voice crackled on the line. “The tighter our numbers, the less they’ll be encouraged to try that suicide ramming trick again.”

Her fleet’s flagship, a massive Super-Battlecruiser, closed ranks with the Kuun-Lan. Its escorting fleet quickly fell into position around the Somtaaw ships, blasting away at any Qwaar-deesh ships that ventured too close to them.

Unfortunately that proved harder to do than expected. The Crusade and Somtaaw fleets both began losing their smaller and mid-size ships at an alarming rate as the Qwaar-deesh used their greater numbers to continue their blistering assault on every ship in their sights. Even the capitals and super-capitals began to take on considerable damage—everything from destroyed subsystems to gaping holes in their hull that went through-and-through.

Everywhere Noreena looked, the battle had turned exceptionally nasty. The Allies had gone from having the upper hand to fighting for their survival. The Republican fleet continued to batter away at anything Qwaar-deesh they could get in range of, but even they were now shifting to more defensive strategies in light of the changed battle.

“When the hell are we gonna catch a break?!” she complained as she wheeled the Qwaar-Jet around in search of more megaships to blow up.

She closed the Qwaar-Jet, then headed at top speed towards a trio of T-MAT that had decided to close ranks and head directly at the largest Allied formation—the Vaygr Crusades—in a bid to finish off as many ships as they could. Should the Godship’s main gun could take the center megaship down, the resulting blastwave might cause enough collateral to destroy the other two.

Then the Godship rumbled again, this time even more violently. Noreena actually bounced around inside her control bubble as Revkiir and her Bridge crew frantically crawled back into the seats they had just fallen out of. She checked the sensor feeds facing to the Qwaar-Jet’s rear, then cursed.

Another three T-MAT had hyperspaced to behind Qwaar, and now pummeled the Godship with their ions. She had been fortunate to have Qwaar close his arms just before they had started firing. Several systems began shifting to the upper end of yellow status, warning her that the continued bombardment would likely cause some actual damage if it went on.

“THAT WAS A DIVERSION,” Qwaar grumbled angrily as he quickly spun around and then below the ion beams’ fire. “A LITTLE TOO WELL DONE FOR MY LIKING.”

Noreena, remebering that the megaships couldn’t manever as quickly as Qwaar, pushed the Godship into hyperspace. The Qwaar-Jet quickly emerged behind the four T-MAT. Before she had a chance to think through what she was doing, she set the main gun to twice its usual firing time to allow the antimatter to create a bigger shockwave, and aimed it at one long spindly T-MAT arm sticking directly in the center of the four behemoths’ formation.

Then she fired. A split-second later, she pushed the Godship back into hyperspace. When Qwaar had returned to normal space, the massive shockwave that shot had unleashed had slammed into all four T-MAT and blown them and those last few escorts that hadn’t gotten out of its way into pieces. By now, the three T-MAT the Qwaar-Jet had initially been chasing had begun turning towards the Godship. There was no chance the main gun would recharge in time to fire.

“Looks like some more ion-blocking for us,” Noreena muttered.

“INDEED.”

The three T-MAT opened fire the second their recharge timers counted zero. Once again, Qwaar rumbled violently enough to toss his crew’s bodies about. Worried officers and noncoms clung to their consoles, watching as system status lights once again dipped to the yellow band. Noreena could hear a low electronic growl rise from the darkest recesses of her auditory awareness; the Godship was not happy.

Suddenly, something wholly unexpected happened.

“You have proven your worth,” a cool, crisp female voice rang out across the battlefield’s open com frequencies. “We have your flank.”

Then a huge volley of missiles tore into the innermost limb joints of the center megaship, burrowing into their mechanisms until finally key components gave way. Within moments, that particular ship soon had lost all but one of its limbs, and veered dangerously off course. Then an equally massive collection of ion beams smashed into its rear. More missiles joined them, battering away at the megaship’s hub with ever-continuing force.

A huge brilliant beam of the purest white lanced into the T-MAT’s center from behind, finishing off what the other attacks had started. The central hub exploded into a brilliant orange fireball, sending the final limb smashing into its fellow to starboard. The resulting shockwave also threw the two surviving megaships sufficiently off-course that their beams went far wide of the Qwaar-Jet.

“What the hell?!” Noreena spluttered.

She tracked the weapons fire to an unexpected source: the Imperialist battlecruiser and its escorting fleet. It had moved out of the safe area’s fringes and had come up behind that T-MAT without being detected. Now the Imperialists dove at the Qwaar-deesh fleet with unexpected speed, attacking with the ferocity with which they were both feared and renowned.

The Imperialists quickly shifted into a massive conical formation that burrowed further into the cultists’ massive sphere with extreme force, hurtling a stunning amount of missiles, ion beams, plasma bombs, and mass-driver rounds at any enemies before them. Within moments, the new assault had both plowed a clean path of escape for the Allies, and thrown the cultist fleet into complete disarray. Not one Qwaar-deesh commander had expected Imperialists—Imperialists!—to fight on the Allies’ side.

Then the Imperialist fleet spread out, spreading their offensive across a larger area to better help their new allies. Qwaar-deesh ships soon scrambled to muster some sort of counter-offensive. Unfortunately for them, they were cut down too soon to do much of anything. The Imperialists had gotten in one hell of a surprise attack, and there wasn’t likely to be much recovery from it for now. Noreena watched as two smaller battle groups broke off from the main Imperialist fleet and headed towards a T-MAT that had turned to bring its central ion cannon to bear on the Imperials’ super-battlecruiser.

Within moments, she saw them batter its limbs off in the same fashion she had witnessed earlier. This time the Qwaar-deesh did their best to divert them with heavy attacks on their rear flanks. However, the Imperialist commander must have anticipated this, for the fleet quickly hyperspaced to a position behind the T-MAT, putting the megaship between them and the enroaching cultist ships. Then they simply continued to pound away at the five-armed behemoth until it finally collapsed under a withering barrage of ion cannon fire and missiles.
That sight quickly galvanized the Alliance leaders to fresh action.

“Quick, before we lose our opening!” Makaan shouted. “Everyone double the attack! We’ve a chance to win! Take it!”

“FOR TAIIDAN!” a group of voices screamed as the Republican fleet dove at a particularly large group of Qwaar-deesh battlecruisers surrounding a massive supercarrier that clearly held the role of flagship for Ashoran’s forces.

“Somtaaw, let’s close up and push towards that supercarrier!” Ifriit shouted as the Kuun-Lan belched a Siege Cannon shot at the offending ship. “Let’s finish ‘em off!”

The shot hit the Qwaar-deesh supercarrier directly amidships, blasting a tremendous amount of hull and material off it into space. The First and Third Fleets dove directly at it, battering at it with ion and plasma fire. Soon, the ship sported flames belching from almost every corner as it began to crumble. Then it exploded, sending out a massive shockwave loaded with debris that violently peppered any ships that lingered too close.

Meanwhile, Admiral Soban now led a mixed Hiigaran-Vaygr group down the throat of a large cluster of Infected Taiidani ships. His Dreadnaught’s Triton Cannon blazed furiously as it tore into the heart of one Infected Saarkin-Cho II, and then through the now exploding ship to smash into the hull of a Qwaar-deesh heavy cruiser that had turned to assist its fellows. All around the Dreadnaught, Allied ships dove at the Infected battle group as their weapons fire rained on their hulls.

A third wave of hyperspace signals suddenly flashed on Noreena’s sensors manager. The new report promptly shattered any remaining expectation she had of the battle adhering to any kind of normal behavior.

“Bloody fucking hell, NOW WHAT?!!”

Then hyperspace windows of the purest gold opened in the sky around the combatants, blazing brilliantly. Noreena’s jaw practically fell out of her face as dozens, then hundreds of Bentusi ships of varying sizes poured out of them like floodwaters through a collapsing dam.

"Greetings Allied Forces. We apologize for our long absence, which has come to a permanent end. This fleet shall remain with the Alliance until this Great War ends. Much is to be told. More is to be revealed. But at first, let us end this battle."

“I wondered when they’d be getting back to us,” Admiral Soban wryly commented.

Then the Bentusi fleet opened fire with their yellow ion beams. Within moments, no less than three T-MAT, a dozen Qwaar-deesh battlecruisers, and their escorting fleets met a fiery demise.

That finally broke the cultists’ resolve. Their entire fleet, T-MAT, Infected ships, and all, promptly vanished down a sea of hyperspace windows as quickly as they could make them. It took a few moments for them all to completely vanish, but it was far quicker an escape than the Allies liked.

The last several enemy ships that had failed to activate hyperspace drives in time quickly crumpled under a mass of Imperialist, Vaygr, Republican, Hiigaran, and Somtaaw weapons fire. Within several moments, the Elaavi Ridge finally fell silent.

“Well,” Ifriit drawled in the sudden calm. “I do believe we have accomplished our mission.”

“And gained an unexpected ally,” Karan remarked. “Imperial Fleet, we are in your debt. May I inquire as to what inspired you to join rather than fight us?”

“We are not of the factions who joined Ashoran’s forces,” the same cool female voice replied. “We have been traveling as secretly as we could to avoid the ire of our mistaken comrades, who consider us traitors for not joining him. When we heard of the Alliance’s impending arrival, it was decided to observe the inevitable battle, and to side with the worthier opponent. That force would likely be the one to win the war.”

“I’m honored that you think so highly of us,” Karan replied with surprising control considering this woman was an Imperialist officer.

“You are most welcome Lady S’jet. With those formalities out of the way,” the Imperialist woman said cautiously, “may I suggest we adjourn to a better location? I dare not think about any more reinforcements Ashoran sent to here.”

“A very good idea,” Ifriit rumbled from the Kuun-Lan, which hung in space with several gaping holes in various modules. The largest hung almost dead in the center of the Hangar Module’s starboard side, and oozed smoke and cinders.

“Transmitting coordinates now,” Karan called out. “Let’s meet up there, and sort ourselves out, shall we?”

The data-blip landed neatly into Noreena’s awareness as it flashed outwards to all Allied ships as well as the Republican and Imperialist fleets. Confirmations soon flashed out across the com lines as ships opened their hyperspace windows and slid into them.

Noreena watched in awe as hyperspace engulfed the Qwaar-Jet, revealing the sheer size of the fleet surrounding the Godship. Adding not only the Republicans, but also the Imperials and Bentusi, tacked on a considerable boost to Allied numbers despite the losses they had taken today.

Guess things didn’t go too badly after all, she mused with satisfaction. Nope. Not too badly.

*****

I might have another update in hand by sometime next week--no promises, but the chances are rather good. Hang in there, guys. It's going to get reaaaaal interesting here on in.

[Hiroshi_Tea]

very nice addition to the wonderful series Chrome
one little nitpick though
what about the bentusi
are they rallying with our main characters?
you kinda just made it seem like they fucked ashoran shit up
right out of nowhere
but then they kinda just faded into to background
and leave the reader kinda at a loss
whether they will be further aiding the Allies

[Captain Elson]

O_O if that is the new allied fleet.....

How many ships does Ash have?
What's gonna happen with Sajuuk?

Fubar day.

[atmawpn]

I like how this is turning out. Rather than make the battle a simple walkover for the Qwaar Jet you actually made it somewhat more difficult for a victorious effort. I was concerned that you'd make Qwaar Jet a little too powerful, judging from how arrogant you made his personality.

The addition of the Imperialists makes a unexpected and surprising new ally. While I'll leave things at that for the moment I wonder if there are some other... intentions for them to do so?

Keep up the good work. Great to see an update after all this time.

[Chrome]

Thank you atmawpn! Glad to hear you're still around too.

Qwaar...yeah he's interesting, but I definitely didn't want to make him too IMBA. You could say that his behavior is more or less the result of a complex. Look how he reacted to Akari turning up or cultists boarding him--he hates being one-upped, which just reminds him he's not quite a real deity.

And yeah I figured Ash needs to be that bad of a baddie that even the God of War can't single-handedly beat him. If he could, the purpose of the story is utterly defeated. Besides, it'd just seem utterly stupid and totally god-mod-ish (you RPers would know the term) to have Qwaar be completely immune to T-MAT ion beams. And I love it when ships start shaking in the middle of fights. It makes them more real that way.

[DarkMonkey]

Wow, that was a great battle. I'm just wondering what'll be able to challenge Qwaar, who is one of the better characters so far. He just oozes personality. Well done.

[Jianaran]

Very nicely done, but I can't help wondering how the Qwarr-Deesh fleet managed to avoid Qwarr's Gravitic Rift. Also, are we going to find out how and when the cultists found Ashoran after he was hypered out of the Qwarr?

Anyway, another great chapter. As always, keep up the good work!

[Karos Grave Kpr]

I agree with everyone, it was an amazing chapter, the bentusi are by far my favorite race and I loved the comeback they made, also, their lines sounded exactly like the poetic bentusi from homeworld, I loved it.

Its purely outstanding work your coming up with DC, thats all i can say!

[Lt Psyco]

that was an awesome update, but I cannot believe that I missed out on that one until now. I didn't even know it existed, hmm well goes to show how tiring work can be...

[EarthBorn]

I missed one too.
Your last chappie was great, I'll get a good review up as soon as I finish this one.

[deathzealot]

Hmmm I am still wondering is the Alliance going to go grab the Pride. While it is not a warship, it is a Mothership and could be used for that. Also I can see a Siege Canon or maybe someother Uber powerful canon on it. Heh! Anyways another great chapter. Keep it up Chrome.

Though another though just came to me. What about the 'Deshi I am guessing that is another major story arc that is coming. Anyways that's about it.

[typhoonoftempest]

Now, for some unknown reason, I've thought of a possible script for a future chaper(s) for the fourth edition. Mainly, it deals with Makaan, Sajuuk, and our other two wirehead friends.

At the tomb of Sajuuk; where He Who's Hand Shapes What Is lay until Karan woke him.

Keep em comming at this pace Chromy, the crowd loves you!

[garnet]

i just found out about this lastnight...

read it from 9-9 sleep for 3 hours and catch up to the most recent chapter at 5pm :P
and i have an exam tomorow

ty
DeepChrome for such amazing works.

may I also ask what happened to the Sajuuk?
Give it back to Karan please, i her

[Chrome]

Hehehe, in due time, guys.

I'll be working on an update the next two or so nights, mostly cause I feel like I should and because the story must go on.

Thank you for your comments, garnet. It's always good to see new readers of the story.

[werman45]

grr goddam it finally i can reply on this post hi im werman45 and iv been reading lagecies sinsce part 2 came out and love it hope to read more of part 3 oh and about finally thing my internet provider blocks relic fourms email's grrr and sorry for poor grammer im dislexiet :P cant evan spell it right lol

[Marko]

Another fan joins in ! Great story i read all 3 parts in less than a week!
I hope you will finish the story soon. Keep up the good work!

[Chrome]

Thank you guys.

Again, I apologize for the delay in getting updates out. It's been a bit busy and tiring around here of late, and I can't seem to find anywhere near enough time to sit down and bash out updates. Arrrgh.

Anyways, hang in there. The story never dies!

[Darcnighte]

hey dw RL takes precidence over anything else, take your time, and when it is ready let it be exciting and as hot as pulsar turret beam from the press

[Hiroshi_Tea]

what's this thing called RL?
there really is nothing but the internets
anyways, my posting here will not make Chrome post faster
so i will not say anything
but this
moooo

[Fuel?]

Story is great. I'm stuck around 2nd part though. The thing called RL takes it's toll.
About faster posting....
*thinks*
Maybe some cake could help? Or fuel?

[garnet]

sometime.. bit of both are needed

[Fuel?]

Finally finished. And waiting for more.
Also... I sense slight nod to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in the battle - the one with frigate ramming Archangel II Dreadnought and words 'Intensify forward firepower!' (The same words were used in battle of Endor just before spinning A-wing rammed the bridge of Executor SSD).
Anyway it's great.

[garnet]

"Intensify forward firepower"

exactly my though :P

[Stingra]

Although I'm really impressed at both the size and scope of Legacies as fanfiction, the story itself I feel lacks the Homeworld feel. It's hard to accurately describe massive space battles and you do a good job in telling us what happens but the operatic feel from the games just gets lost in the jumble.

I'm also not big on your relationship pairings. I believe that good fanfiction should always tread that fine line between bringing original ideas and characters into the subject universe while leaving established canonical characters alone or in bit parts. Pairing Karan and Makaan (who is canonicall dead) with original characters breaks that rule in a big way, and it really killed the story for me.

The casual use of vulgar profanity was what made me not be able to enjoy it the most, though. Homeworld just seems to be above such words, and the way that they are a constant in almost every battle sequence tarnishes the Homeworld universe and brings it down to an immature level.

Legacies has the potential to be a epic, but there's just too much...humanity in it to make it more than a really long brand-name story that plays to the community's established fanon. I do hope you finish it someday though, because while it may not be something I think is all that great, the community needs this. Gives them hope and proves that the franchise is still worth hanging onto.

-Stingra

[Chrome]

I do agree with you: it is definitely very human. And in some cases, too human.

I think part of what you are noticing--and maybe not quite fully getting--is that in order to write this story the way it was written, I had to turn things around from the gamer perspective from "outside" of everything peering into the story. To make a story like this I had to create a character, as Homeworld has a rather large dearth of any individual characters (what makes it unique, IMHO), and then keep the story going from there in a way that still used the universe, but also showed the human factor.

The human factor is actually largely absent from the game save for the driving storyline: Avenge Kharak, go through the galaxy to get to Hiigara, defeat the corrupt Taiidan Empire. It is almost minimalistic in that sense, because all complexity is built off that idea.

I'm not excusing what I did. I am simply explaining why it doesn't feel like a direct Homeworld story. It's simply the neccessary evil of writing.

Any fanfiction actually, has had to focus on the characters more, because writing a game, and writing a novella, while similar, have some definite difference. Of course the story in a game's universe is going to be different if said game used a very strong external perspective like Homeworld, with few human characters to tie the player to any one individual person's story. Karan is one of the few in there, and really, a full-length story like this can't be carried by just one character alone, and a bunch of faceless people. And it certainly can't be carried by these people being alone all the time--that's actually more inhuman than any writer would really care to make their characters.

So the obvious solution is to create more characters. And of course, if need be, pair them off with more characters, so the more character-driven side of the story (and the saga) can be fleshed out, and given more than just the bare framework they got in the game.

In fact, every single quality Homeworld fanfiction that I have read here, has done this. Even the brief short about just Karan S'jet and her coping with life after the Mothership that a mysterious poster named Avalon put into here was probably far more human than any portrayal in the game. It was focused more on characters, than plot, like the game was. In that case, I'm afraid you might be disappointed by Homeworld fanfiction overall. I just want to warn you because, really, the writing is not going to be exactly identical to the game style becuase it can't be. It's like taking a comic book and trying to compress it into a piece of music, or a big painting and turning it into a novel. Things change along the way in translation.

At least, you now understand both why I agree with you, and why I think you notice this, and feel it is so different from the game.

[Norsehound]

Chrome, if I may use your thread to answer one of Stingra's points?

The way I solve the 'operatic' problem is putting a large cast of characters all over the place. That way, they can tell the perspective of a battle from multiple sides and have it come across as 'epic'. That's how I see it, anyway.

Take for example Taiidan Civil War. In the first battle, I have eyes in the Republican fleet and on the Sessazu. Subsequent battles also have this. A better example would be the recent battles in Children of Kadesh, Bk II. I have eyes in Fleet Command, the Marines, the Pilots, the Kadeshi... even one of the salvage corvettes. Through them I have a number of faucets I can portray the battle from, and I find it seems to work.

If possible I also give perspectives from the enemy's point of view. Unless I wanted to portray them in a mysterious, faceless, and ominous light (which I'll do with Progenitor drones... and perhaps the Beast if I ever write for it), I like to take it from the perspective of an enemy commander. If not in the first battle they show up in, then perhaps flesh them out in later encounters (like the Breakwater's Twin Stars from TCW, or the clergy of Kadesh).

By working with such a large cast, I imagine one comes away with the 'Operatic' feel one might want to have from a Homeworld fiction. I myself have seen this in the anime "Legends of the Galactic Heroes"- which has a character cast larger than the entire lineup of dubbers in the U.S. (which is why it was never brought over here). It always stuck me as successfully conveying the 'space opera' feel without loosing concern for one or two characters in the mythos. It was this story that inspired me to do the same with "Taiidan Civil War", which has fifty named characters now as of this writing.

It doesn't mean you have to have a large cast to make a successful fic (Tradition didn't nearly have as big of a cast), but I feel it helps in imparting the "epic" feel.

[Chrome]

Nice. I like how you impart a different perspective. There's most definitely more than one way to write a fanfic. I just simply used one way for it, and you've been using another. Although I do have to point out yours kind of goes against the game's style of only focusing on the Kushan/Somtaaw/Hiigaran perspective as the game does. But it's definitely a solution to the "epicness" problem. And works really well in CoK Book II, I might add.

Had I used say, the Imperials as the enemy, I'd probably have done what you did about multiple perspectives. I wanted Ash to be mysterious, dangerous in his mysteriousness. The thing was, when I started this, I had never done anything like this before, and didn't want to make more work for myself when I was just getting the hang of things. Thus, the limited omniscent narrator focused on Noreena was born. *shrugs*

One of my favorite sci-fi writers, David Weber, actually uses the same method you do in the Honor Harrington book series, and I think he does it very well. Both sides are "human" and have their sympathetic and not so sympathetic characters that readers can get an epic perspective from.

I think I would have done things differently had I started Legacies now--and will definitely do so in any future major writing projects that either don't involve Homeworld or this specific series.

I really appreciate your coming in with your viewpoint here. Writing certainly is flexible, and sometimes an epic feeling can be gotten a number of ways. (Although of course, everyone's idea of epic varies a bit.)

[Fuel?]

Legacies characters are human, that's what I can say. I'm not an author, but I feel the battles in fanfics can be better. Adding a bit of a tactic to all of them. Let enemies react as someone kicks their butts. When enemy tactic leads to defeat, change the tactics. Even capships are not completely static - let them try to find a blind spot, where T-mat ships can't fire without turning, so they have some seconds to harass enemy forces without getting shot like sitting ducks.
T-Mat ships - engage fleet forces on point-blank range to avoid QJ's shots (no fire without risking lives of the others), on the farther distances spread to minimize loses to single ships. With hyperspace inhibitors trap the fleet to prevent from jumping out and leaving single Qwarr-Jet to finish the job. And pilot morale. A bit too cocky bomber squad leader has a choice - one run on dying destroyer, and earning a credit on that one or to follow new objective and take down one of hyperspace inhibitors?
And some military chatter on the comms. Orders about single ship movements. (example - Archangel vs. Vaygr BC:
Captain of Archangel orders a dive. VBC captain tries to hold him in his trinity cannon firing arc, so rotates the ship. Arch captain orders turn 45 degrees, slowly. VBC follows, rotates to aim a volley of missiles to maximize damage. It's now above Archangel and is a perfect target. Arch captain orders quick turn -90 degrees, full ahead. VBC captain misses the target with trinity cannon, and is now a sitting duck for archangel guns. VBC captain has a problem - he can position the ship in order to create thin profile for Arch guns, or to rotate and expose himself for a salvo, but be able to send a volley to take down Arch's ion cannons.)
Though, as I said - I'm not a writer. If I'm saying something stupid - correct me.

[Norsehound]

The way I see it, Fiction is a way of interpreting the events of the game. It's not supposed to be a literal translation of the events of the game... unless that is a challenge undertaken by the writer.

An example of this is starship construction. I honestly don't think a big cruiser can be put out in about ten minutes and expect to function the next fifteen years. While true, modern marvels in the homeworld universe allow a large ship to be fabricated in a shorter span than it would today, I dismissed the idea of 'fast construction' as just a gameplay mechanic. Sessazu was constructed in a shipyard over the period of several months. Kushan Frigates take hours to construct, since I imagined they weren't as large as their latter cousins. Kushan assembly shares many common parts between the classes, cutting down significantly on construction time.

This treatment of Homeworld fiction obviously extends to portrayals and following the fleet around. In CoK, we are to learn what the leaders of Kadesh are up to so the "kadeshi side" of the story (my intended target) is told to its fullest. If I had wished to write from a purely Kushan perspective of the exile in its entirety, I would be focusing on more Kushan characters, probably with more 'eyes' in the minute areas of the fleet.

So I suppose it breaks from the format of HW/Cata/HW? But it's a sacrifice I feel is necessary- and if possible something to implement in Homeworld 3. The universe is not entirely black and white, most other forces have a reason for doing what they did. We were never really presented with adversaries that were characterized well following Homeworld 1.

[Chrome]

Norse, I am in complete, total agreement with you regarding ship construction. I can't imagine how in more realistic sci-fi that a ship would come together in 2 minutes. Maybe fighters under hyper-automated construction, but you'd probably worry to death about flying those things without a good quality-control check. I also have the same kind of issue regarding transit times. I always got the feeling that hyper-travel was just too instantaneous in the Homeworld-verse (which is why in Legacies, I tried to at least indicate time spent in hyper, and what fleets did with that time as well).

I also muchly like your idea about breaking with the "Kushan/Hiigaran" viewpoint in HW3. If I recall correctly with Watts' script for HW2, there was going to be at least one key moment where the player begins to prefer rooting for the Vaygr than the Hiigarans. I wish that kind of thing had stayed in; it would've added a level of complexity and maybe gotten rid of this annoying boy-scout vibe I get from Hiigarans nowadays. (And I also think Makaan could've been fleshed out much, much better than the game showed him to be. Rrrnngh. I may not be a fangirl of him anymore, but I do think they could've done better. Like...Dustwars better. *sigh*)

I think your "sacrifice" worked well as far as CoK goes. It's effective in telling the story, and besides, fanfic is really good for telling the perspectives you don't see in canon. Like, in your case, the Kadeshi, the Taiidani, etc.

[Karos Grave Kpr]

I`d like to clarify on the time spent in hyper theory chrome. The game does reveal at the end that it took several months for the mothership to sail to hiigara, "leaving a trail of wreckage like a path across the galaxy in the few months it took to reclaim their home"- I believe was something along the lines of the original quote.

From this we at least know that it happened over the course of a few months.

and on a side note, i had always wondered when the game`s philosophy on ship construction would come up in the legacies thread

[Stingra]

The Cataclsym Manual also states:

In six months, the survivors of our entire race traveled from the prison world of Kharak to our once and future homeworld.

-Homeworld Cataclysm Manual, History of Hiigaran Landfall.

And also:

But there was very, very bad news as well: unlike our fighting men and women, the Sleepers had no six-month struggle for survival to cushion their shock and horro when they heard that Kharak had been destroyed.

-Homeworld Cataclysm Manual, The Rude Awakening.

[deathzealot]

The way I solve the 'operatic' problem is putting a large cast of characters all over the place. That way, they can tell the perspective of a battle from multiple sides and have it come across as 'epic'. That's how I see it, anyway.

Take for example Taiidan Civil War. In the first battle, I have eyes in the Republican fleet and on the Sessazu. Subsequent battles also have this. A better example would be the recent battles in Children of Kadesh, Bk II. I have eyes in Fleet Command, the Marines, the Pilots, the Kadeshi... even one of the salvage corvettes. Through them I have a number of faucets I can portray the battle from, and I find it seems to work.

If possible I also give perspectives from the enemy's point of view. Unless I wanted to portray them in a mysterious, faceless, and ominous light (which I'll do with Progenitor drones... and perhaps the Beast if I ever write for it), I like to take it from the perspective of an enemy commander. If not in the first battle they show up in, then perhaps flesh them out in later encounters (like the Breakwater's Twin Stars from TCW, or the clergy of Kadesh).

By working with such a large cast, I imagine one comes away with the 'Operatic' feel one might want to have from a Homeworld fiction. I myself have seen this in the anime "Legends of the Galactic Heroes"- which has a character cast larger than the entire lineup of dubbers in the U.S. (which is why it was never brought over here). It always stuck me as successfully conveying the 'space opera' feel without loosing concern for one or two characters in the mythos. It was this story that inspired me to do the same with "Taiidan Civil War", which has fifty named characters now as of this writing.

It doesn't mean you have to have a large cast to make a successful fic (Tradition didn't nearly have as big of a cast), but I feel it helps in imparting the "epic" feel.

Thank you Norsehound! For the longest time when I have been writing my Gundam SEED Fanfiction Honor of a Knight, I felt that it was getting overloaded by all the characters I threw into it, from Canon characters to my own original characters. It just felt wrong to do so but I kept doing so. While many characters have a very small role in the story. It was still kind of a bad thing to dog. However when I read your post, I felt better doing so and understand the reason behind having such a large cast. From both sides of the conflict. It brings some very good perspective to the story. So thanks.

Now time to get back on topic here. I agree with both Norsehound and Chrome. While I was surprised over the pairing of Makaan with someone. It gave him a more I don't know human feel to him. It told us that he not just a psycho warlord bent on galactic conquest. He was in fact human and there was a reason behind what he was doing. He honestly thought that he was indeed supposed to be Sajuuk Khar and the leader of Galaxy. He he got disillusioned and believed in the legend of the Sajuuk Khar.

As for the vulgar language, while it may turn off readers from the story. In my opinion it gives everyone a more human feel. For humans no matter were they are from will use it for various reasons. Anyhow that is my two cents with supporting Chrome. Thank you again.

[Stingra]

They may be human, but the culture and society of the Hiigarans seems to be quite different from our own. Personally I think that using the harsher vulgarities not only presents a level of immaturity but would also be frowned upon in Hiigaran society.

[Chrome]

I strongly disagree with you, and find it quite surprising that you failed to notice any of the strong human parallels in the Kushans. Allow me to explain.

A human society would certainly seek a better place than they are living (the Kushans), and would go to any lengths to do it if its members saw it sufficiently important. There have been entire cultures and civilizations on the move before. The Israelites are the original wanderers of history as far as I am concerned--they were always looking for a home and a way out of having to be enslaved or hunted down by other cultures for a long time. (The Middle East has been cited as an inspiration for Homeworld--the Arabic as well as Eastern flavor of a lot of names Kushan and Taiidan, for instance.)

The Homeworld manual itself gives the strongest evidence for my case, actually. The bloodbaths of the Heresy Wars on Kharak are another big piece that echo human history all too well. It was even a religious war, which is something humans are far too prone to. Several kiithid considered themselves religiously and morally superior to others, and started quite a bit of nastiness against the others to ensure that superiority. Very human of then. Then you have Kiith Gaasien which pulled a total Heaven's Gate to be with their god Sajuuk, and took out a major city in the proccess.

And you claim that Hiigaran society is any different from our own?

As for cursing: I always consider that only a naive people would exclude the notion that certain emphasizing words are useless when expressing strong emotions. Sure there are ways to go about not using a curseword, but some things just do not have the same punch as "It is fucking hot outside." They just don't. Cursewords are only one tool in an entire arsenal of "flavor" that a writer can give their characters. Dialects are some, but I'm not about to try and work some kind of confusing accent into the dialogue just for effect. And to be honest, I think cursing gets a bad rap from people who seem too afraid to use them or even of the strong emotions behind them.

I use it for "flavor," Stingra. Every culture on this planet has expletives. They recognize that they exist. Maybe they aren't the best things to say, but that hasn't stopped humans from using them when emotions get the better of them.

And having emotions get the better of them seems to be a trait that dogs the Hiigarans constantly: from the original war with the Taiidan that caused their exile, to the inter-kiith warfare on Kharak (it's a bloody miracle they rose over all of that quibbling to do the Mothership Project), seeking out Hiigara (which seems to be an almost entirely sentimental and inquisitive drive, yet it moved them to unbelievably noble acts), and of course, diving into war with the Vaygr later on.

I find it highly unlikely that Hiigarans would frown upon the use of expletives given the circumstances that have pursued them for over several thousand years. The destruction of Kharak alone probably spawned quite a few new ones in the Hiigaran lexicon, for starters. How can anyone avoid cursing when they have their entire home planet that they grew up on burned to an inhospitable crisp?

[Norsehound]

To comment on this...

I'm one of the fans who believe that humankind (or something close to it) populates the homeworld universe, and that there are no aliens and every 'race' is more or less a derivative of some ancient ancestor (the Progenitors?) (This assumption still gets me into trouble when I say "humanoid" over "Kushan" in CoK...)

With that said, applying human nature to the various characters and races in Homeworld would not only be accurate, but easier on the writers. As human-ish beings, readers can come to sympathize and understand with some of the behaviors of the characters. If, say, the Taiidan were cast as the inset beings that were in a rejected concept art, one might not sympathize with Ceade for loosing his father because, well, insects might not think that way.

Cursing and profanity, thus, are part of human nature. It's not unknown for people to be venting their frustration at nature, evoking the name of whatever dieties, or just talking dirty. As Chrome pointed out, it's the only way to convey the true frustration of some of the characters.

In a way it's a problem. Having someone shout "Oh My God!" in the setting might turn some heads, since according to Homeworld lore "God" translates to "Sajuuk". Somehow it doesn't convey the 'oomph' of the same statement when your characters say "Oh my Sajuuk!". I find it silly.

Though that shouldn't stop someone from making up things that are profane in context of the story, but not when used elsewhere. Perhaps a popular example is "Smeg" from Red Dwarf. Not profane in itself, but in the context of the story it fits.

An in-story example is 'Di'yu', used by the Taiidani of my stories. A rough equivelant to 'damnit', Diyu is actually one of the names of Hell (chinise, if I recall correctly).

[Chrome]

That's why I invented cursewords like "Qwaardammit" as Qwaar-Jet being a not-so-nice God fit a curseword better than Sajuuk. Some characters do utter "Sajdamned" but I just like the "Qwaar" prefix, becuase it fits the God of Pain and Enslavement. "God" alone just wouldn't fit, and wouldn't have the right emphasis to Hiigarans anyways.

Skaarshit is one of those Farscape-esque ones I had to come up with as there wouldn't likely be bats for "Batshit." But seeing as there are skaal-fels and other creatures in the Kushan lore about Kharak, the word skaar for an animal name seemed to fit. (Farscape was one insane TV series, but one thing I really liked was their attempts to come up with cursewords to fit the environment rather than transplant human ones onto alien characters. Words like frell, dren, the phrase "Hotter than schwag," etc. Sure they were a bit cheesy, but it's the effort that counted for me in that case.)

The Kadeshi "Sharzin" for Unclean that Nika utters earlier in this part of the series is actually based off "zin" which I believe Riess gave me as a real-life word, but I've somehow managed to spectacularly forget the definition of such. I've decided that it would also be a general all-around Kadesi epithet, like "damn" or "crap" used in the same way as "frell" was in Farscape.

Most of the others fit fine without editing, but generally I like the idea of modifying cursing to fit the setting. It gives a flavor of realism to the story, as you so eloquently pointed out. Your 'Di'yu' sounds like a nice elegant flowing version of "dammit." Nicely done.

[Quaetam]

They may be human, but the culture and society of the Hiigarans seems to be quite different from our own. Personally I think that using the harsher vulgarities not only presents a level of immaturity but would also be frowned upon in Hiigaran society.

That doesn't make the Hiigarrans seem different at all; they're frowned upon in our society just like you said they would. I mean, you're frowning upon them now!

Also, not sure if this has been said, but if these people are fighting for their lives, they probably wouldn't care so much about a bit of profanity. During heated battles, the characters wouldn't be paying much attention to this sort of thing; they would, as they are in Legacies, be focused on survival.

[Stingra]

Right, but I'm not the whole and basis of our society, most people are ok with vulgarities being spouted off due to the 'just let it go' of mob mentality. Anyways, how do we know that 'fuck' and 'shit' even exist in those forms in the Homeworld universe? Wouldn't it show more originality if they didn't have to rely on ours to add 'color' to a stressful situation?

My opinion and experience on fanfiction is that the more you have your characters swear on the vulgar side of the spectrum you end up getting taken less seriously than you want to. It seems to remove that barrier between entertainment and realism and while it may make your characters seem more 'human' it strays farther from the source material, breaking the immersion.

You're not going to convince me to change my mind about it and I'm pretty sure I can't change any of yours, so let it go.

[Chrome]

If you dislike cursing in a fanfiction, nobody is forcing you to read it. That's what amazes me about some people--they seem to complain and consider that cursing or some other thing is wrong when they simply do not have to read it. That is a matter of personal taste, and it is entirely up to you.

I must also point something else out. Maybe it's just my impression of your continuing to criticize things here, but were you expecting me to change my fanfiction at the whims of one single critic who doesn't like that most human action of cursing? I certainly hope that isn't the case, because it is never, ever going to happen. I may change one or two parts of a fanfic to respond to a complaint about the plot, but I am certainly not going to omit such flavorful traits as cursing from characters who are known for doing this, and for whom suddenly quitting cursing would be so far off left field as to be out of character.

Any good critic would know when they are within bounds to call the writer on something--be it spelling, grammar, plot issues, inconsistencies with canon, things like that. And any good critic would also know to simply state what concerns of theirs are simply a matter of their personal taste, and what are actual detractors to the story for the overall readership. Cursing isn't one of them. Like I said before, it's a matter of personal taste, and you simply can't determine an audience's personal taste for something like that. That's just up to them.

However, I've got to ask this: If the cursing were so bad as to cause problems with the story, why do I have the large readership I do now, who have not even once complained that I have too many cursewords?

Last, but most definitely not least....a good critic knows when to stop on a topic of contention becuase they will not get any further with the author on the subject.

[deathzealot]

Yes! I am complete agreement with Chrome. Can we stop bickering over this subject. Before the Mods shut this thread down. Let's all agree to disagree and let Chrome get one with writing the next chapter for the story. No matter how much more I want to say, I am going to leave it at that. So can just get along here!

[Stingra]

I wasn't saying stop, I was stating my reasons as to why I dislike them in fanfiction. I never expected you to stop writing it like that, indeed far be it from me to ever make someone change the way they write.

And Chrome, wasn't that what I was trying to do by saying I can't convince you and you can't convince me to change our opinions? I'm willing to let the topic drop but people keep bringing it back up.

[Sparki]

Hmm, now I am worried if I should avoid using sci-fi profanity homage like frakk, frell, dren and stuff like that myself ` ´?

[Chrome]

Stingra, your replies essentially suggest that you wish to continue a discussion. As long as you bring it up, we will respond, you know? It takes two to tango.

Sparki, it's your own choice, but I would suggest inventing Homeworld-sounding cursewords rather than borrowing ones off of other TV shows. It adds a touch of realistic, immersive flavor to the world.

[Stingra]

Well it's certainly not my intention, that's for sure.

[Lt Psyco]

Essentially Stingra, what deathzealot was saying is that if this discussion turns into a "is not, is too" thing, the mods are not going to be happy and will shut down the thread to stop the bickering.