The Jinaris Empire (the continued dominion of Martian Empire)

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
The scanners detected only a totally unknown material, some type of material was not part of the real space, but perhaps from subspace, scientists from all over the empire created theories that perhaps it was some kind of Essence that is a phenomenon that is so closely related with conscience, which is linked to patterns of Essence, as to "supernatural" forces that can be used by conscious beings, an example of this was hypermatter, but everything was just a theory...

after that one of the drones approached the tendril about 100 meters, just to test something.

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
As the drone approached more and more of the field of view was covered by the blind spot until it eventually covered most of the screen due to the sheer size, on the visuals the black fog slowly swirled.
Aside from that though, nothing in particular happened...

Drakador_Chaos

Drakador_Chaos (ShadowZero)
It been a week after the drone had sent towards the tendril to no avail, a week of silence, whatever Jinaris had tried to test,the response had been none.
Until the Seventh day.
Exactly a week after the last whisper the galactoc plain trembled once more on the scanners, quickly followed, by another whisper...
However, this time, the whisper didn´t simply stop.
The voices continued, whilst the tendril which hadn´t moved since its arrival, suddenly shuddered. The tip twitched and shook and then swung around in a wide arc like a whip, what then followed was a screeching and scratching sound, as the tendril scraped against what seemed to be the fabric of reality itself, reality in turn tore open, like skin and flesh of an animal.
Once the rift had reached a size of several hundred kilometres in length, the tendril stopped as sudden as it began, moving back into it´s original position and silence ensued...
The result of this horrific display, looked like a massive wound in reality, it´s borders serrated as if cut by a dull blade, a portal straight to literal hell, red mist which was slowly seeping out of the gate blocked the view inside, yet looking at unnatural passageway was unsettling beyond any reason...
tear

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
The imperial defenses were already prepared for any attack, it was probably the work of the blood cult that the empire had already heard about. Several defense platforms have been placed out of the reach of any weapon that portal has, or any weapons from ships that could come out of that portal. The empire stopped its research on the material of the tendril, and prepared for the battlefield in defense of the mother land.

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
Whilst the imperial defenses were prepared far from what they presumed was the portals range and even further off from their own effective range the portal did... nothing.
Unfazed by Jinaris' preparations it stood idly in the distance.

Drakador_Chaos

(Drakador_Chaos) ShadowZero
A week had passed since the sudden appearance of the rift, whilst Jinaris had set up defense platforms far from the rift, the area had remained silent in the meanwhile.
...at least, until the seventh day.
On the seventh day, the silence was suddenly broken by an angered screeching coming over all nearby comms, after a few moments the screeching was accompanied by a trembling of the galactic plain, then...
...almost like awave a large group of ships broke through the rift, circling the area like a singular angared beast and then upon finding nothing, promptly heading towards the closest habitated world...
Something about the appearance of the ships felt off though...

It turned out that what was first thought to be ships, were actually horrific looking spaceborne beasts! There seemed to be a total of around sixty of them, each between the size of a fighter and a corvette, although it was hard to determine with how they moved...

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
Frontline Commander
Bloodcult hmmm maybe? these guys are really annoying at least they are not as terrible as the deltas, all hands the battle stations!!!

OPEN FIRE!!!

As a first attack the defense forts whose size was 8km each opened fire on space ships / beasts firing their railguns first, firing 2000-ton Platinum-steel projectiles at a speed of 70 thousand kilometers per second, approximately 25% light speed. Thanks to the very advanced systems and AIs, the gunners managed to predict where the ships leaving the portal would move, managing to hit the shots. After that, the imperial self defense forces arrived at the site, there was no planet abitible in that system they were where the Empire called the dead zone of the great abyss, a place composed of 22 systems that did not have abitible planets.

Among the fleet a large ship stood out a gigantic 17km dreadnought, is the KMS Kaiser Titus flagship commanded by the legendary Lord Admiral Staden von Augsburg.

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
As the ships opened fire they soon noticed that the extreme range they were at was not only disadvantageous for the portal and the beast that came out of it but also for themselves, even with relativistic railguns and targeting AI it was hard to hit the relatively small beasts at this distance, most of the larger projectiles had been evaded and the smallers ones seemed to leave barely a dent in the beasts shell, yet, the sheer number of projectiles still lead to some critical hits amongst the beasts, each time one was taken down, a telepathic screeching echoed through the heads of the Jinaris crews, as the beasts detonated into a cloud of red mist which then returned to the Rift...
After the first volley, eight of the beasts had been taken down, the rest of them had changed direction, now heading in a wide arc towards the fleet...

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
The crew could not hear anything the telapathic scream, because such a scream was unable to penetrate the power armor that the crew members usually use in the event of a battle, after which the large and medium size ships begin to release their fighters, bombers and battle suits (which were 18m high mechs) these battle suits moved much faster than fighters and bombers, and the crew members who were not using power armor it were affected by the scream and taken to the medical roon.

The fleet makes its first attack by firing its railguns and guided positron beams, a real barrage of fire going towards the beastships, in addition the imperial forces had the advantage of air superiority, the bombers then fire missils on the beasts ships that were coming towards the fleet.

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
Even though under heavy fire, the beasts continued their way towards the Jinaris fleet, whilst the lower caliber railguns barely damaged the beasts and the larger ones had a hard time even hitting them, the positron beams proved to be highly effective, streaks of light crossed the battlefield and took out several of the beasts, sending them back to the rift...
The fighters and bomber on the other hand seemed to be anotehr matter, though, the missiles of the bombers proved to be highly effective at actually hitting their marks, given their guided nature, however, the results of these hits seemed to be questionable, often some of the missiles hit and left not much more than scorchmarks on the hide of the skins, whilst the higher yield missiles seemed to cause actual damage though mostly surface based, they were effective but it took a number of hits until they were able to take out some of the beasts...
The beasts reacted rather violently on the small spacecraft, firing their lasers at them whenever they came in range, even going as far as ramming those unlucky ones that came too close, their shell protecting them from the results of these impacts.
In total, the charge towards the fleet seemed to take a considerable toll on the beasts, taking out seventeen of them, leaving thirty-five, although given how much firepower Jinaris had dedicated to taking them out it was surprising they had even made it this far.
As soon as they reached the fleet they began cloing the distance between them and the larger ships immedietly, circling around the Jinaris fleet so closely that using any of the heavier weaponry would likely cause considerable collateral damage to their own fleet...
Additionally at the same time the beasts opened fire towards anything from the size of a fighter to destroyer, continuing to use their lasers as point defense against fighters and alike, whilst firing high-energy projectiles and plasmabolts at their otehr targets, apparently mainly focusing on the bridges and other exposed weakpoints...

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
Several fighters were shot down in combat with about forty fighters and fifty bombers on the other hand, the energy beams of blood-cult vessels proved to be ineffective against the hypermatter shields of imperial ships, but their plasma weapons proved to cause considerable damage to the frigate shields and corvettes because they are smaller. The imperial fleet then makes its short-range attack by firing its plasma cannons and hypermatter-swarm missiles, such missiles were perfect for short-range combat and great for armor piercing. The imperial fleet continues to fire its positron beams, as they were also great for close-range combat, managing to hit the blood cult ships.

Casualties

40 fighters and 50 bombers shot down
5 corvettes destroyed
3 frigates destroyerd

Damaged ships

5 corvettes light damaged
2 frigates light damaged
2 destroyers light damaged
1 destroyer medium damaged

The imperial forts also make their short-range attack by firing their beams of positron and plasma weapons at the blood cult ships . After that, the battle suits make their melee attacks by cutting the blood cult ships with positron-energized blades, it was difficult to hit them because they were much faster and more agile than the fighters.

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
Under heavy fire the beasts continue to move through and around the fleet, plasma cannons and positron beams dealing a significant amount of damage to them, taking out beast after beast, whilst they likewise returned fire. Astoundingly some of their newer technological achievements, the hypermatter missiles dealt mediocre damage to the beasts at most, leaving dents burns in the beasts but elaving them otherwise mostly unscathed, the antimatter missiles were more effective burning further into the flesh than the other missiles, but still not reaching the desirable results...
The mechs were built for spacecomabt, reaching admirable velocities even outshining Jinaris fighters in manouverbility, however amongst some others, they had one distinct disadvantage against the beasts: Experience. Whilst the mechs may have been built for spacecombat, the beast were born for it, lived it since their birth, when the mechs closed in on the beasts, the beasts responded with vertical spins and pirouettes, and rather than firing at them, attempting to literally ram them off course, to throw them into other Jinaris ships...
All in all the beasts had reached the other side of the fleet, although better than expected, still with severe losses, seventeen of them were left whilst the rest had been turned to red mist which had returned to the rift.
After reaching the backside of the fleet, they simply kept going for a while, flying at extreme speeds far past the defenders...
...and then suddenly did a sharp turn?
It took a few moments to realize what these things were actually planning, they were on a a direct collision course against the backside of the Jinaris fleet!

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
The lord admiral was already prepared for unwanted occasions, by the time the blood cult ships made the sharp turn, they were targeted by antimatter torpedoes that left the subspace launched by ships that had the ability to enter the subspace. Even the beasts going on a collision course with the backside part of the imperial fleet, the ships of the fleet were already maneuvering long before the blood cult ships decided to go on a collision course, the ships of the imperial fleet were turning with their side that was the more armored part, shields were already raised at maximum power, and Blood cult ships may notice a type of periscope coming out of the subspace after being hit by antimatter torpedoes.

Even though the Jinaris Empire had very large dreadnoughts, they managed to maneuver at a speed quite impressive for a ship of almost 10km, while the other ships that were even smaller managed to maneuver at an impressive speed. After that, the ships manage to maneuver, they fire all their weapons, gauss drivers (railguns), bundles of positrons, anti-material missiles, as the blood cult ships go away to pick up speed for then collide with the imperial fleet, a real dam of fire raining over those miserable xenos. While the losses only 5 frigates and 4 corvettes were destroyed and various small ships like fighters and bombers the energy bundles of the blood cult ships were not as efficient to penetrate the thick armor of the bigger ships.

Casualties

5 frigates destroyerd
4 corvettes destroyerd
44 fighters shot down
22 bombers shot down

REvenger

ShadowZero (Any distress calls yet :c)

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
A number of beasts was shot down and returned as mist to the rift before they reached the turned point, however, neither that nor the heavy fire seemed to stop them from accellerating even further on the way back, nine of the remaining beasts crashed into the Jinaris fleet at full speed, at speeds likely higher than any other fighter or warship could achieve...
Then... as the horrific telepathic screeching of the last few beasts died down, there was silence, an eerie and ominous silence.
There was no whisper, no new fleet that came out of the portal just...
...silence.
...and yet the rift remained open, as if nothing ever happened.

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
The blood cult ships, because they are very small, only reach the ship's shields generating small damages of kinetic energy in the shields. The crew of the warships of the imperial fleet did not notice the silence because the emptiness of the great abyss is already quite silent, in terms of noise, nothing has changed the crew continued to hear the noise of the ships' computers. Even so, the fleet did not let its guard down, as it knew that something else would come out of that portal.

The defense platforms and forts were still functioning, as they suffered no battle damage, their weapons and shields were at full power ready for the next battle.

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
The Jinaris fleet waited, for several minutes and nothing happened, but then...
...still nothing.
Space remained silent even several hours after the short and gruesome skirmish, it seems the rift had returned to its idle state, although wether more beasts would come, or why they came to begin with, remained a mystery...

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
After about a week of waiting, still nothing had happened, there was no new beasts, no trembling, no whisper...
...however, the eerie rift hadn´t closed or left either, it was lingering at the borders like a beast waiting for aopportune moment, slowly it became clear that this tear wouldn´t disappear by itself...

ShadowZero

Drakador_Chaos
With each passing day the region of the great abyss became increasingly militarized, the imperial government knew that the crack would not close on its own and it was obvious that at one time or another, more ships would leave that portal. all the empire's attention was directed to that portal, hundreds of defense platforms and forts were positioned around that portal a small shattered planet was transformed into a frontline station to act as a headquarters.

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero
Even after the second week of waiting, nothing new had happened, no beasts, no trembling, no hellish horrifying screams of the damned...
If it wasn´t for the massive military presence and the eerie rift in spacetime, the area could´ve been seen as almost... tranquil.
Alas, they were still here and there seemed to be no indicators that it would change any time soon...
Maybe time would tell what to do... or maybe it was already too late to do something?

Drakador_Chaos

ShadowZero (Drakador_Chaos)
It had now been three weeks since the initial attack from the portal, three weeks in which nothing had happened...
...three weeks of silence, until now.
It started with another trembling on the sensors, shortly after the expected whisper followed, however, this time it wasn´t actually whispering...
The tear seemed to... shiver and the psychic plain rippled from the force exerted on it, with the ripples came a telepathic deep and angered roar, filled with hatred, almost like the battlecry of a thousand beasts storming onto battlefield and with roar...
...came fear.
Every living being in the proximity started to feel a strong instictual horror, primordal and pure, as if hunted by an ancient predator...
At the apex of the roars intensity the rift shivered again and then red mist poured into the area from its depths like a fountain...

horde

The red mist seemed to heavily impair the sensors and consequently the targeting mechanisms of everything within its proximity, however, even without pinpoint sensorfeed, the Fleet commanders and crewmembers could see there was a large amount of beasts, almost like a ravenous horde, streaming out of the mist on course towards the Jinaris fleet...
There seemed to be three main groups to this horde each heading in a wide arc towards the defending fleet, each group seemed to consist of roughly about the same amount of ships...
There were around 120 smaller ships in each group, around the size of those of the last group but looking different, 20 more around the same size but shaped roughly like a moonsickle, another 20 with about the same shape, but the size of a frigate.
Additionally to the smaller beast each group had several large beasts in the back of the pack around the size of what normal empires would likely call a cruiser...
Leading each of these packs was a large, seemingly nightmare inducing manta-like winged beast, the size of what could be a battleship.
At the front of each formation were the smaller beasts constantly moving making it difficult to hit or even accurately detect anything behind them...
However, as if that hadn´t been enough already, there was along with the beasts and the mist a sort of... presence seemed to have brought it´s attention to the area, it was uncertain, wether it was actually there, but the crews could feel it, there was an... otherworldy hunger in it´s presence, as if it wanted to devour all of them...