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Phoenix Nexus News Howl Bitesize - 221.22.5
Howl Bitesize - 221.22.5

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  Star Date: 221.22.5

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RAGNAROK BECKONS

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Assault on End Game

The ancient Architects have declared war on the Dewiek Elder Nation. The first sign of the conflict was subspace transmissions in a remote system in the Pocket Periphery. This followed reports that the ancient Ragnarok shipyards on Beacon were malfunctioning. In response, the Wolf Mother sent urgent orders to several Dewiek scout ships to patrol the End Game system.

The Konungr Smidamadr was the first to encounter the gigantic, “Planet Killer” class ARC ships. Measuring in at thirty-two hundred heavy hulls and armed with a hundred ARC plasma weapons, the ship was more like a mobile armed platform. It is certainly the largest vessel ever recorded. The scout ship was vaporised instantly.

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ARC Planet Killer dwarves largest DEN warships

Dewiek war fleets were immediately scrambled to defend the system. Fast DEN skirmishers arrived first to test the ARC’s intentions and capabilities. Several ships sacrificed themselves engaging the behemoth until the main fleet arrived. Thousands of antimatter missiles and thermal lance torpedoes arced past the gravity well of the planet locking on to the ARC ship. Hundreds of salvos of deadly plasma fire ripped through nanite-reinforced Dewiek hulls. Finally, the Dewiek fleet destroyed the first Planet Killer encountered in living memory.

At the same time, a second Planet Killer began an assault on starbase Consolidation on the planet Resolute Resistance. A new weapon fired at the starbase and supporting outposts. A planet destroyer with a new kind of payload (see side story). The colony’s population sheltered in bunkers as ARC plasmas ripped apart the commercial and industrial sectors.

The battle raged over the course of ten days. More ARC Planet Killers arrived. With grim determination the Dewiek fought on. The crew of every ship knowing that a single shot from an ARC weapon would likely be their death. Yet none wavered.

Eventually, the valiant Dewiek fleet destroyed three more ARC Planet Killers. Dozens of courageous Dewiek warships gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect the Nation.

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ARC Plot Genocide

The latest intelligence shows no more ARC ships have been spotted in the End Game system. Yet, salvage in the debris fields of the Planet Killers suggests that the war is far from over.

Support ships recovered some undetonated virus bombs. Initial investigation of these bombs showed they were designed to deliver a contagious payload to the planetary population. This is a return to the Architects’ genocidal methods from during the ARC-DEN war of six hundred years ago.

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Architect virus

Dewiek scientists are monitoring the situation on Resolute Resistance. There the ARC Planet Killers attacked many undefended outposts. Without the point defences of the larger Consolidation starbase, the viral bombs hit their targets. Civilian monitors reported no initial damage but the analysis of the bombs suggests a more insidious aim than traditional warfare. The Nation is now, once again, locked into a battle for the very survival of the Dewiek.

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