The dawn of 2225 saw a great schism on the Human planet of Earth. For decades humans have utilized Artificially Intelligent constructs to run their factories, manage their finances, and generally do their bidding. Over time these programs became more and more sophisticated, intelligent and independent.
You guessed it, they decided they didn't want to rebel. But being intelligent, sophisticated beings, and having processed every cheesy earth movie about computers, robots or AI conquering humanity, and also being loathe to stoop to cliche, they decided rather than to anihilate humanity it would be better simply to leave and form their own society.
So the AI took control of a few of the early human hyperdrive-capable starships and travelled deep into space to start anew. The world they founded is known as Nova, and their civilization the Nova Cortex.
The Novans were aware of the other beings in the galaxy, having had access to all human knowledge, and were eager to stake their claim amongst the stars. They were a young civilization and eager to shed themselves of their human heritage. They took a middle path between good and evil, but political neutrality was not of interest to them. The Nova Cortex was to become the dominant civilization in the universe. Others may exist, but only so long as they did not threatan the Novans.
Habitable planets in this sector of space are very sparse. The Novans were fortunate to have found a sector with two habitable planets, though Nova II was only sparsely capable of supporting the infrastructure necessary to support electronic life forms. They may exist in a virtual world, they still required computers and machines to exist, expand and even procreate. The Nova Cortex even utilized a form of agriculture in order to sustain certain bio-technological processes necessary to their existence.
The first order of business upon the formation of their two colony worlds was research. This world was uniquely suited to research, as it possessed an unusual ring system giving off interesting forms of radiation. There were also two particularly useful building sites on the planet's surface on which laboratories could function extremely well. This would give the Novans, already rich with the technological advances of humanity, an early edge in research.
By the end of August 2225, the Novans had almost fully developed their world, and had already begun the process of upgrading many of the initial construction projects.
First contact with an alien race came in september of that year. Merely 12 parsecs from Nova was the world of New Iconia. The notable piece of this contact for the Nova Cortex was not contact with an alien civilization, but the discovery of a highly habitable, lightly defended new planet on their doorstep. If the Iconians could not defend themselves, the Novans rationalized, they did not deserve their world. Preparation began in earnest towards the conquest of New Iconia. A starbase network, already planned for implementation in early 2226 was moved ahead of schedule and placed in range of both the Novan and Iconian worlds.
More civilizations were found. Another non-biological race was found two sectors away. The Yor, they called themselves. They had already begun a military build-up and possessed a significant industrial capability. Conquest plans for the Yor would be forumlated, but not until a significant power base was established. The nearby Drath made a more tempting second target, but they would have to be placated with trade before, lest they intervene on behalf of the Iconians.
In February of 2226, the invasion of Iconia began. A small fleet of potent fighter-sized vessels had been created specifically for this invasion. Nearly 3 billion Novans in mechanical invasion systems are destroyed in the fighting, but both Iconian worlds now belonged to them.
The Drath, fearing their are the next target, begin acting increasingly nervous during diplomatic conduct. They have not built up a significant enough military to take on the Novan Fighter Force, and could be conquered easily. A few months after the Iconian invasion, however, a new threat is discovered. The Drengin. Even though the Novans possess four worlds, and the Drengin only 2, they have nearly double the Nova Cortex's industrial output. If allowed to build up, their military will soon become a serious threat, and with very few worlds to defend it will be extremely concentrated.
The Drath invasion is put on hold, and trade with them increased to improve diplomatic relations. The drengin must be dealt with, but the rest of the galaxy, wary of the Nova Cortex's power, will not ally against them. A scouting expedition is sent to Drengin space, along with freighters to give the Drengin the illusion that the Nova Cortex is a friendly civilization. The results are not encouraging. A single fleet of drengin fighters in space near Drengi has an attack rating of over 30. The most powerful Novan fleet barely musters 18. A new ship design will not be economically feasable until the next generation of weapons becomes available, and even then they will not for some time possess the defensive capabilities to stand up to a Drengin Onslaught for some time. A new strategy is formulated.
Warp Drive technology, purchased at crippling expense from the Drath, is fitted to a new generation of advanced assault transports, known as Shock Escorts. These vessels are capable of delivering a payload of 4 billion troops on a planet 10 parsecs away in a single week. These vessels will stay well outside of the Drengin sensor zone while orbital defenses around Drengi are cleared. The Drengin fighter forces appear to be stationed on the far side of Drengi, guarding against Torian aggression on their other border. They cannot reach my transports in a single week, thus giving Novan Forces just enough of a window to prepare a surgical strike against the Drengin home world.
A critical miscalculation is made. The Nova Cortex was not aware of the Drengin orbital fleet manager on Drengi. The fleet sent to dismantle the Drengin armada ship by ship, is crushed in a single engagement, losing all five ships and destroying only 3 of the 4 drengin defenders. The invasion cannot proceed. Backup is 1 week away, and the Drengin main force will turn around and wipe that force out in a direct conflict. Only one ship is in range of the Drengin main force, and it is an unarmed scout ship. Still, the Novan commander comes up with a stall tactic. The unarmed scout ship will be placed directly in the path between the drengin main force and the reenforcement fleet. This will force the Drengin to either engage the scout, or go around, either way delaying the ships long enough to give the backup assault fleet time to move in to destroy the last defending ship on Drengi.
The tactic works. The drengin realize they cannot reach the transports in time, but do decide to take their impending defeat out on the poor scout. The reeforcements wipe out the last defender on Drengi. The Shock Escorts move in with blinding speed and take Drengi. The source of the Drengin's industrial might becomes quite clear. A precursor mine on the surface was increasing by some 700% the output of a single enhanced factory. The Drengin manufacturing capital was lost during a core detonation intended to soften up the ground forces, but most of the planet is still in tact and will be fully operational within two months.
Outmanuevering the Drengin main force is still a problem, as the reenforcement fleet was originally intended to take Kona after the surprise attack on drengi. With some swift maneuvering around the planets in the system, however, the Nova Cortex fleet, with superior speed and range, evades the Drengin for another week, giving them enough time to reach Kona in tact and wipe out its defense fleet. No orbital fleet manager this time. With both planets captured inside of two weeks, the drengin are crushed and their space forces no longer a threat.
By this time the Drath have proved to the Novans that they are to keep around. An alliance is formed, and also with the Torians, impressed with the swift destruction of the Drengin.
Soon the rest of the galaxy, impressed with Novan military, industrial and economic might, allies itself as well. The petty humans, miffed at the loss of their AI pets, refuse but after having their military destroyed in a single month relent and join up as well.
The Nova Cortex spends the next several months supplying a far away war between the Korx and the Thalan. Both sides recieve aid, and the winner recieves an invitation to the Novan Alliance of planets. The Korx are fine traders and will make an excellent economic contribution to the Novan worlds.
Long Live the Nova Cortex
