Chapter 203.5 (The War)

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

OK, I give up, why is a raven like a writing desk?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Because

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CONFEDMIL

ANTAEUS FLEET ENGAGED WITH PRECURSOR FORCE IN ARMADA STRENGTH

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MANTID FREE WORLDS

antseus? Antaeus?

antaeus? Antaeus? ANTAEUS?

AAAAAHHHHH! AHHHHHH!

HELP ME! THEY'RE COMING TO GET ME!

AHHHHH! THE DEFIANT MARAT! THE SAVAGE SINGING DUCK! THE CURSED UNDYING HOOD! THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS MISSOURI! THE SUNSHATTERER YAMATO!

HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T DIE

>>Mantid Free Worlds runs back and forth screaming

>>Mantid Free Worlds huddles in the corner covering her head and shivering

don't let it get me don't let it get me

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Calm down, sis. It's OK.

You're just having a nightmare. The Antaeus Fleet never actually existed. Like the Tooth Fairy or the Queen of France.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CONFEDMIL

They have been awoken. They have been repurposed.

This is permissible under Total War.

ANTAEUS FLEET ACTION SUCCESSFUL

REPAIRING ANTAEUS FLEET

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RIGELLIAN COMPACT

Wait, the Antaeus Fleet is real?

I thought it was an old rumor.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

What's an Antaeus Fleet?

Why is she trying to climb up the wall?

What is everyone so terrified.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CLONE WORLD CONSORTIUM

Wait, the Antaeus Fleet is real? I thought it was just a scary story we told each other to freak sis out.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

It's not real.

Ships that are destroyed and come back as twisted copies of themselves? Ships that break apart to reveal another warship trapped inside like a bug in amber?

It's a ghost story. Nothing more. We just tell each other about it to scare each other. It's a ghost story. Like the IRS.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

How would you even make something like that? It's impossible.

CONFEDMIL is just messing with us.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I don't know, he sounded pretty serious and Mantid freaked out.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

BIOLOGICAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

It's just a scary story to explain what happened during the Mantid War.

Something blew a hole straight through the Mantid's psyche.

I mean, just the word Antaeus is enough to get her to freak out.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!

>>TERRASOL HAS ENABLED ADMIN CONTROLS

>>MANTID_FREE_WORLDS HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED FROM EMOTIONAL LIBRARY

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Oh, thank the Digital Omnimessiah and the Twelve Biological Apostles.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Calm down, sis, the Antaeus Fleet is just an old ghost story.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

The Missouri is REAL. I'm telling you.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN COMPACT

Well, yeah. It's currently with the 19th Fleet heading into Lanaktallan Space.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Not that one.

THE Missouri. The Destroyer of Worlds, the Reaver of Souls, the Unstoppable Fury.

THAT one.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

That one's an old rumor. It's just trying to reconstruct what happened during the war, sis.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN COMPACT

Yeah, sis, it's just one of those stories Space Force guys like to tell each other about to creep each other out.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS

You know the thing. The whole "A Captain who goes down with his ship with enough rage will find himself chained to the Captain's Chair of one of the Undying Ships of the Antaeus Fleet in order to redeem himself and his ship" kind of thing.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

Yeah, you know, one of those "I know a guy who knows a guy who totally knew this Marine who ended up as part of the shipboard compliment of the Warspite."

It's just ghost stories we use to scare each other.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

You mean like Daxin?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Shit.