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01.02.916.M38
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POV Third Person
With the recent discovery by the Terran Dominion of a vessel far older than its own still-young empire, the Dominion's finest computer scientists and engineers were summoned at once. Their objective was to break the complex encryption safeguarding the data preserved by the ship's artificial intelligence. Although the AI had already recognized the Lord Regent as its rightful captain, the security protocols protecting its secrets remained fully intact.
The urgency was absolute. The Dominion was desperate to gain access to the construction schematics for multiple ship components, as countless attempts at reverse engineering had ended, time and again, in dead ends. Much of the technology surpassed any Terran conceptual framework: unknown machines, unfamiliar physical principles, and materials whose very existence had never been imagined.
Where greater progress had been achieved was within the research program dedicated to Drukharii technology. The weapons and armor of that alien race were being studied systematically, dismantled piece by piece to understand their composition and, through it, to identify new materials that could be integrated into the Dominion's growing arsenal.
At Cerberus, the scientists practically salivated when a large number of Eldar bodies arrived—some still alive—mutilated without hesitation to prevent any chance of escape. The examinations began immediately, brutal and exhaustive, aimed at uncovering every biological secret of a species the Dominion knew it would one day be forced to confront. They were unaware—or chose to remain unaware—that invisible shadows and Protoss observers were watching their every move, fully conscious that Drukharii activity rarely went unnoticed by the arch-enemy.
Meanwhile, the Dominion prospered. It had entered an unprecedented phase of military expansion. Two years of massive investment gave rise to a colossal megaforge, transforming an entire volcanic planet into the largest industrial installation ever conceived by Terrans. Incalculable quantities of resources were poured into creating an infrastructure capable of sustaining tolerable living conditions for its workforce while simultaneously producing overwhelming volumes of materiel for the war effort.
Battlecruiser construction increased exponentially. New shipyards were strategically distributed across Dominion space, avoiding the concentration of critical infrastructure in any single vulnerable location. The fleet reached seven hundred battlecruisers of every known class, many of them heavily modified to integrate new laser battery systems, improved shield generators, and additional power sources.
One of the most significant breakthroughs was the void shield system recovered from the ancestral vessel. Although the Dominion already possessed damaged void shields salvaged from its attack on the tithe fleet, it lacked complete schematics and had long struggled to repair them—efforts that proved futile without proper plans. These shields clearly outperformed both Dominion energy shields and even Protoss equivalents. The Terrans, however, were not content with simple replication. They worked relentlessly to refine the design: reducing spatial requirements, increasing efficiency, optimizing electrical terminations, and replacing defective components. The result was a shield system that, while consuming far more energy to maintain, offered superior protection even against extreme impacts, incorporating Protoss technological elements to enhance resistance against kinetic detonations.
Recently, a great celebration spread across the Terran Dominion when Augustgrad was finally declared free of Tau alien presence. The last xeno convoy was evacuated under military supervision, though the fate of Tau lives had long been sealed: millions had perished as a result of extreme living conditions and the harsh treatment imposed during Terran occupation.
The government's response was immediate. An entire week of celebrations marked the moment the final remnant of alien filth departed the planet. At the same time, full fortification of the star system began without delay.
Construction was ordered for a defensive system comparable to the one protecting New Korhal: a second Celestial Shield. A massive orbital platform equipped with the most advanced targeting systems available, surrounded by successive layers of shields and armor, designed as a self-sustaining space fortress. Its armament included extensive laser batteries, macrocannons, torpedo and missile launchers, as well as two ion cannons capable of disabling even the most resilient cruisers in the Dominion's own arsenal.
On the surface, Augustgrad began to transform. With the Tau gone, reconstruction gave way to total militarization. Vast networks of interconnected bunkers were raised, orbital exclusion systems installed, kilometers of fortified trenches dug, and anti-air defenses deployed at every conceivable strategic point. Within a single year, Augustgrad ceased to be a city largely reduced to ruins by war and became an impregnable bastion—a physical manifestation of the Terran Dominion's will against the xenos.
Everyone knew the truth. The truce would not last forever. And when it finally shattered, an imperial-scale war would erupt with no possibility of retreat, and the Dominion prepared for the final clash under the hand of its Lord Regent.
While the Imperium continued to deploy Inquisitors in an obsessive search for those responsible for the disappearance of one of its tithe fleets, it achieved no results. There were no traces, no survivors, and no clear signs that allowed the loss to be attributed to any specific enemy.
At the same time, the Tau Empire began preparing for what it considered an inevitable clash between the most powerful civilizations of the region. For generations, the Tau had believed that the Imperium was little more than a mythical construct: a human civilization of the distant past that had long since collapsed, for nothing could truly be so vast. In their view, what remained were merely renegades and isolated worlds that surrendered without resistance. To them, the idea of an empire so immense that it could endure without the principles of the Greater Good was little more than a fable inherited from a forgotten age.
It was the Terran Dominion that forced them back into reality. Until then, the Tau had considered themselves the most advanced civilization in the galaxy, convinced that all others were inferior and that it was their duty to guide them—by reason or by force—toward the Greater Good.
That certainty shattered after their brief but devastating war against the Dominion. They failed to counter the tactical flexibility of Terran fleets, nor could they anticipate attacks that drove dozens of worlds into famine as agricultural planets burned, reduced to scorched husks by concentrated Terran fleet fire. For the first time, they were put firmly in their place and forced to rely on what they had always considered the embodiment of evil.
The cruelty of the Terrans deeply unsettled them—not only because of the violence itself, but because of the cold precision with which it was carried out. When the Tau interrogated the large gue'la populations living within their worlds, seeking information about the Terran Dominion, the answers were baffling: most knew absolutely nothing. To them, this young human government was unknown, a recent entity… and yet it had already become the greatest obstacle to the Greater Good.
The Tau used every year of the truce to rebuild, humiliated by a treaty that left them dependent on Terran food supplies for years, until they could restore their own agricultural production. At the same time, they were forced to sustain the Dominion's war industry; failure to do so meant starvation.
Far from breaking them, this only hardened their resolve. The Greater Good would prevail, and these trials were necessary to test the strength of the bonds they had been forging.
Throughout this period, the Tau continued to expand their influence, drawing to their cause more human worlds that had been forgotten by the Imperium across its many fronts, incorporating new allies among the surrounding alien races, and formalizing support treaties with several nations in an effort to increase their collective power against the Dominion.
They did not merely increase their production exponentially—and with it, their military capacity—but also came to recognize the vast technological gap between themselves and the Terrans. Although they failed to capture Terran military equipment, they were able to observe closely how the Terrans waged war: how their troops moved through city streets eliminating Fire Caste soldiers, how their battlecruisers crushed Tau vessels, and what tactics they employed in their assaults.
All of this was taken into account not only to adapt Tau combat doctrine and find ways to strike back at the Terrans, but also to reassess their own technological approach. In many respects, the Tau possessed capable weapons, but they lacked the depth of military experience the Dominion had acquired through countless wars, refining its technology by studying its enemies, integrating Protoss systems, and adapting its designs based on the Zerg.
Even so, Tau ingenuity continued to shine. Guided by the Earth Caste, they launched multiple research initiatives to improve their armaments, counter Terran assault infantry and combat walkers, and find a way to confront Terran battlecruisers, whose main cannon could vaporize most Tau warships with a single shot.
Like their counterpart, the Tau began fortifying their borders, erecting space-based defenses and transforming their worlds into fortress planets. In doing so, they aimed to trap the Terrans in prolonged sieges should they lose space superiority, buying time to rebuild their forces, construct additional shipyards, and desperately adapt to the military disparity—narrowing that gap.
These developments did not go unnoticed by the Lord Regent. By integrating humans into their ranks, the Tau had opened the door for Terran Ghosts to infiltrate their forces, providing reliable intelligence. Through them, the Lord Regent learned that the Tau Empire was not only rebuilding faster than anticipated, but had also grown significantly stronger after being struck—something that troubled even his neurosuppressed mind. From his perspective, the Tau were closing the military gap at an alarming rate.
All of this led the Dominion to double down on its military investment in preparation for the great war that loomed ahead. They could not afford to keep the Tau as neighbors if a direct conflict with the Imperium were ever to occur.
The Lord Regent even authorized the reactivation of the Cerberus Program, under which Zerg war-forms would be developed and neurosubjugated through cerebral control implants. He also approved the preparation of a Zerg Cerebrate, should a weapon of desperate measures be required to buy time.
The moment the Dominion released the last of the Tau Ethereals, all ties between the two states were severed by Terran decision. The Tau made one final attempt at diplomacy, but their counterpart had already concluded that extermination of the xeno race was the only viable solution.
Thus, when a Terran fleet appeared and unleashed its main armament against a Tau monitoring station, the great war had begun.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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