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Phoenix Nexus News Howl Bitesize - 221.30.5
Howl Bitesize - 221.30.5

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  Star Date: 221.30.5

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RAGNAROK COMES

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A Forlorn Hope

The seat of Dewiek Government has fallen. What began as a small group of Architect ships picking up retreating DEN forces, amalgamated into a much larger force. The bombardment fleet comprised dozens of Adult ARC ships plus several Planet Killers. The force made short work of the impressive fortifications of the planetary orbit of Newstart. Multiple heavily armoured and maximised deflector shield platforms crumbled. They did so only after releasing their volleys of antimatter and nova weapon batteries. Any DEN warships that remained from earlier encounters also stood the line. But within the week, the last defence was gone.

Bombardment of Wolf Lair starbase proceeded without further resistance from the Dewiek. ARC Plasmas ripped through starbase shields. They demolished tens of thousands of factories and research facilities. The ARC demolished the huge military recruitment and training facilities on the planet. Over half a million trained troops evacuated from deep bunkers, leaving a token ground defence.

The ARC were not satisfied to burn the facilities and murder the workers. They deployed repeated salvos of their Virus Bombs on the wider population. Reports began to arrive of civilians of the world regressing. Leaving settlements and returning to nature. Much as the Dewiek found themselves some decades ago when they started to recover from the First Great ARC-DEN War. This time there was no High Lord Magnus willing to obliterate the world to save a remnant of the people. Newstart was already lost.

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Newstart is lost

After troop evacuations, ships attempting to use the stargate in [REDACTED] to travel back to Forlorn Hope found the gate had been sealed by the ARC. There was no return possible. The DEN left behind extensive primary scientific and technology archives. Lost within a system turned to a plague-filled, bombed out wasteland.

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Fall of the Pocket Periphery

As reports of Forlorn Hope’s fall filtered through, it became clear the scale of the ARC's ambitions in the Second Great ARC-DEN War. The Architects attacked first the Darklight and Solitude systems. These are some of the most established Dewiek systems. Small forces of ARC ships decimated platform defences without any fleet available to support them. Starbases crumbled shortly thereafter.

The pattern of attacks was now discernible. Adult ARC ships took out the platforms and bombarded the starbases. When they could offer no resistance, Planet Killers would follow up. They would commence with bombardment of the Virus. Once a sufficient number of the planetary population was affected, a chain reaction of regression takes place. At which point, the ARC move on to another world. Often leaving behind a garrison of Dewiek troops. Stranded in deep bunkers with armaments to defend a lost world. A world rapidly depopulating from Dewiek in their recognisable starfaring form.

With the gates now sealed and most worlds obliterated, the Pocket Periphery has been declared lost to the Nation.

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WARNING: Noctollis and Dyson Under Attack

As we go to press, ARC attacks have been reported in Noctollis and Dyson systems. Whether the ARC will deploy the same effective strategy they deployed in the Pocket Periphery is unknown.

Travellers are advised to avoid the Dewiek Home Periphery until further notice.

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