Eclipse War

+ Ronin's soul is banished to the Dark Realm while his body becomes the Cube of Darkness.
	+ Discontinuation of all weaponized Hybrillium projects and experiments.

Combatants| * Goruxian Armada
* Eclipse Navy

Commanders| * Master Ronin
* Captain Alain Bourden

Strength| * Robotic Forces
	+ *Sanctorium*
	+ Luna Defense Fleet puppet ships
* Zombies
	+ "Athena"
	+ Alain Bourden
	+ Jack McMack
	+ Ben Crawford
* Eclipse Navy
	+ Luna Defense Fleet

Casualties| * All Robotic Forces
	+ Destruction of the *Sanctorium*
	+ Destruction of all Luna Defense Fleet puppet ships
* All Zombies created by Master Ronin
* Dozens of Eclipse Navy warships

*"Inhabitants of the Eclipse Universe! Today is a momentous day for all of you. Today, you will learn what it is like to lose everything, to know how it feels to see the world around you change before your very eyes. I have suffered greatly, and so will you. It's nothing personal, but to those who try to oppose my plans will pay an even greater price; every fiber, every bone, every drop of blood in your bodies... all of it... will be mine to command."*
―Master RoninThe **Eclipse War** was a major conflict executed by Master Ronin, the leader of the Goruxian Armada and the last of his kind. The conflict saw Ronin evoking a brutal campaign that involved him and his robotic forces attacking several Eclipse Military and Eclipse Navy facilities around the galaxy as part of a master plan to infiltrate Vault Zero, a highly-protected Eclipse Navy vault located on the fortress world of Luna. While doing this, Ronin planned to procure the Matter Orb from the vault, which would be utilized by Ronin to obtain unimaginable power over the darkness from the Dark Realm.

## Background

Two hundred years prior in another universe, Ronin was in command of the feared Goruxian Armada, a race of beings known for their deception and brute force. Ronin would lead his army around his universe, conquering world after world, claiming that he was only doing this in order to protect them from a greater threat. Ronin would soon set his eyes on the Aether, a realm that is interconnected to all universes, sending his ultimate warrior The Visitor in order to spy on the realm and wreak havoc, allowing the Goruxians to invade. However, The Visitor would be apprehended by the Aetherians, who imprisoned him in a comet, which would be blasted into the depths of space. Knowing that the Aetherians were a forced to be reckoned with, Ronin ordered a full assault on the Aether, despite knowing that he didn't have the strength or resources to go up against the Aetherians. Ronin's thoughts would soon turn out to be true, as he soon watched as his men perished in the ensuing Aetherian War. Retreating back to his homeworld of Sparvis IX, Ronin attempted to flee with his family, but was caught off guard by the attacking Aetherians, who sought to punish the Goruxian race for their crimes. Ronin would watch as his family was slaughtered in cold blood, forcing him into hiding as his world was soon turned into a barren wasteland.

Traumatized by these events, Ronin sought out to enact revenge, abandoning his goal of protecting his conquered worlds and changing it to gain unimaginable power in order to re-challenge the Aetherians and soon the rest of the universes. Setting his eyes on the Matter Orb, Ronin set out on a quest aboard the Goruxian flagship the *Sanctorium* during the Convergence after learning of the event from The Visitor, whom had managed to break free of his imprisonment. Two weeks after The Visitor was defeated by the United Heroes, the heroes of the Eclipse Universe returned to the Oracle space station in their own universe. As "Athena", Alain, Jack, and Ben discussed about Roach's last words, an alarm soon triggered throughout the facility. Running to an observation deck, the four witness the massive *Sanctorium* warship shadowing over the space station, with the ship's impulse cannons preparing to fire. Seeing the Goruxian emblem on the side of the ship, Alain remarked that there are still loose ends to tie.

### Conflict

#### Attack on the Oracle Space Station

As the impulse cannons of the *Sanctorium* crippled the Oracle space station's defenses and power grid, Master Ronin and some of his drones boarded the station, executing some of the survivors who were unable to escape the station. Soon, some of Ronin's forces discovered the station's secret testing lab dedicated to experimenting with weaponized Hybrillium. Seizing some of the Hybrillium samples, Ronin begins to monologue over the remaining survivors, including "Athena", Alain, Jack, and Ben, who are all laying amongst the debris, wounded and hurt. Ronin tells the survivors that today marked the end of their kind, saying that their inevitable reincarnation would ultimately spare them from the pain and suffering inflicted in the attack.

Not long afterwards, a drone returns to Ronin, quietly informing his master that they've collected the data regarding the location of the blacksite and the vault, and that they've contacted their buyer at the shipyard. Satisfied with the progress in his plans, Ronin orders his forces to prepare to leave. As Ronin and his forces began to leave the station, Ronin orders for the Hybrillium testing lab to be scuttled. As the lab was destroyed, the Hybrillium samples within the lab soon began to spread around the ship and contaminated it, infecting the corpses of the dead survivors and transforming them into zombies. Laughing over his victory, Ronin and his forces soon escape within the *Sanctorium*, leaving the remaining survivors to fend off against the new zombie outbreak.

As the stability of the station began to slowly fall apart, the survivors frantically attempt to re-establish contact with Command by rebooting the station's power grid through an emergency generator. However, the explosion caused by the testing lab's destruction had crippled the station's communications tower. After making some repairs to the tower, the survivors contact Command, sending out a distress signal and informing them of the situation. Unexpectedly however, Command deems a recovery of the survivors from the station impossible due to the undead aboard the station, explaining that if the station is to remain, it could ultimately repeat the catastrophic destruction of other planets if it is to crash-land somewhere. Instead, Command informs the survivors that they are going to remotely scuttle the station, telling the survivors to seek shelter from the ensuing destruction of the station around them.

Heeding the warning, the survivors are able to locate a panic room within a back room in the Barracks. Sealing themselves within the room, the survivors brace for the inevitable explosion. As Command prayed for the survivors, the entire station was soon scuttled and imploded from within, sending debris everywhere in the void of space, but ultimately destroying the undead infection in the process.

#### Infiltration of the Ravenclaw Blacksite

A few days after the loss of the Oracle space station, a small debris field containing the panic room found aboard the station was soon pulled into the orbit of Europa in the Terriann System. The debris soon crashed through the surface of the moon, landing in an underground cavern made completely of ice. The four survivors soon emerge from the ruined panic room, where they deduce that they were on Europa. As they looked around their surroundings, the screeching yell of a zombie could be heard echoing through the cavern. Knowing that something was nearby, the team arms up and begins to search the area, shortly discovering the Ravenclaw Blacksite just outside the cavern. Ben explains the purpose of the station, saying it was home of the Eclipse Military's super soldier project before it was seemingly shut down after the Human-Alien Conflict. Ben then admits that he was a scientist who previously worked at the station prior to being reassigned to the Luna safehouse for other studies.

After gaining access into the facility and fighting through the zombies found at the station, the other question Ben on his role in the project. Ben explains that he was tasked with creating the plans for the serums themselves, which could temporarily enhance the user's abilities depending on which serum was consumed. He continues on with his story, explaining that he never found out how the serums were tested, or what they were tested on. Not long after, the team encounters some Enhanced Zombies, which startles Ben upon realizing that the Eclipse Military had tested them on deceased corpses of the undead that were recovered from the Harmony no-go zone. While battling against one of the Enhanced Zombies, the team accidentally breaks open a shipping crate containing the three finalized super soldier serums. Knowing that the serums were finalized and fully tested upon, the four begin to utilize the serums to their advantage against the undead forces.

As the fighting continued throughout the facility, Alain utilized an Awareness Serum to soon discover a hidden security station. There, the team is able to gain access to the facility's security cameras, where they discovered that Ronin and his forces were previously at the site two days prior to their arrival. Through the cameras, the team learns that Ronin had raided the site for the serums and experimental Hybrillium weaponry for his soon-to-come warship armada. At that moment, an emergency distress signal was soon broadcasted on the main channel for Eclipse Military communications, explaining that the Red Tern shipyard was under siege by a massive warship. Upon hearing a description of the ship, the team realizes that Ronin is planning on creating an armada out of the ships made at the Red Tern shipyard. The team soon replies to the distress signal, informing the caller that they would be there as soon as possible. Radioing Command, the team informs them that they were going after Ronin. Command acknowledges their message, explaining that they have sent a battalion of warships from Luna to intercept Ronin.

Knowing they have to travel to the Red Tern shipyard for support, the team travels to the facility's hangar in order to secure transport. However, they are suddenly ambushed by a massive zombie titled the Super Zombie, which was a zombie that was enhanced by all three super serums simultaneously. A hectic fight ensues, and in the midst of the fight, the Super Zombie is able to trigger an emergency self-destruct procedure that would annihilate the facility and all those still within it. While Ben provided suppressing fire, the other are able to start up a Razorback transport vehicle and proceed to open fire on the beast, giving Ben enough time to board the ship. As the countdown drew closer to the final fifteen seconds, "Athena" launches a rocket from the Razorback, which destroys a part of the roof, with the debris pinning down the Super Zombie. With one last window of opportunity, the team flies through the hole in the roof, allowing them to escape just as the facility explodes, destroying the Super Zombie and what remained of the super soldier project.

#### Battle of the Red Tern Shipyard

Unbeknownst to the heroes and the entire Eclipse Military, Master Ronin and his forces were already one step ahead of them. While the heroes were still at Depot 431 at the Ravenclaw Blacksite, Ronin and his forces attacked the Red Tern shipyard on Thalia, where he forced the workers at the shipyard to create dozens of replicas of the ships of the Eclipse Navy that would respond to a priority distress signal, such as heavy frigates, starfighter carriers, and an *Eclipse*-class assault carrier. Once the work was done, Ronin and his forces slaughtered much of the workers at the shipyard and began using his Hybrillium samples to turn the dead corpses into zombies. Ronin soon hijacked the shipyard's communication hub, where he broadcasted his own distress signal, one that would draw the attention of some of the ships stationed at Luna to the Red Tern shipyard, allowing Ronin's replica ships to return to Luna, posing as the ships sent out to respond to the distress call. With the deed done, Ronin and most of his forces used the replica ships to flee the shipyard, departing for Luna, where his master plan would unfold, while the rest of his forces and his flagship the *Sanctorium* remained at the shipyard in order to draw out the attention of the responding Eclipse Navy.

Hours after the destruction of the Ravenclaw Blacksite, the team arrived at the Red Tern shipyard in Thalia, where they saw that the responding Eclipse Navy was dealing with Ronin's forces, as well as a large amount of the undead. Knowing they have to help retake the shipyard, the team soon began to help fight off the undead, fighting throughout the shipyard. While fighting the undead, the team is able to establish communications with the command of the Eclipse Navy, informing them that Master Ronin was responsible for this, saying that they will bring him to justice for his crimes. While Command acknowledges this, they soon explain that despite their air dominance, the Goruxian flagship *Sanctorium* was spotted lurking around the shipyard, explaining that it was armed with impulse cannons capable of piercing through the hull of their warships if they are not paying attention. The Eclipse Navy Command soon orders the team to get airborne and prepare to engage the *Sanctorium* after they are able to lure it out from hiding. While the Eclipse Navy began to focus their attention onto more of Ronin's smaller ships, the team locates a small warship by the lighthouse, where they soon commandeer it and take to the skies.

As the fleet disengaged from firing for a brief moment, the *Sanctorium* soon emerged from hiding, engaging the fleet. While the fleet engaged the ship, the team began to cripple the ship's outer defenses, informing Command that they plan on boarding and confronting Master Ronin once the ship was crippled enough. After a long aerial fight, the *Sanctorium*'s engines are seemingly destroyed, giving the team enough time to board the ship. As they boarded the ship, the doors closed behind them, trapping the team inside the ship and severing their communications with the Eclipse Navy Command. Suddenly, the *Sanctorium* re-engages its engines, where the team realizes that it was preparing to leave the area. As the team desperately attempts to open the airlock, the *Sanctorium* soon blasts off into space, causing a couple of heavy frigates to give chase. However, the *Sanctorium* deploys a cloaking system, thus allowing the ship to successfully escape from the pursuing ships after hiding near a star.

As the heroes traversed through the *Sanctorium*, they discover that none of Ronin's forces are onboard, as well as discovering that the ship is set to autopilot. Checking its course, the team discovers that the ship was headed for Luna, the Eclipse Military fortress world. Questioning why the ship would be headed there all by itself with no crew and seemingly no backup, the team realizes that Ronin is preparing to attack Luna.

#### Battle of Luna

Aboard the *Sanctorium*, the team are on the ship's bridge as they watch the ship head towards its destination at Luna. The four discuss what Ronin could possibly be up to, using their previous encounters with him and the places he had previously visited to try to piece together his endgame. At that moment, the *Sanctorium* disengaged its engines, stopping just outside of the Luna Defense Fleet's no-go zone around Luna. Looking out the window, the team sees the Luna Defense Fleet engaging some of its own ships in a hectic firefight. This heavily confuses the team until "Athena" suddenly realizes what was truly going on; Master Ronin had stolen several Eclipse Navy ships that were at Red Tern and used them to get close to Luna in order to bypass the Luna Defense Fleet's no-go zone and to pose as the ships returning from the distress call at Red Tern that were sent out from Luna. Questioning why Ronin would be attacking Luna, their answers are suddenly revealed when Ronin sends out a message to his robotic forces, ordering all of them to convert onto Vault Zero in order to breach the vault. Realizing what Ronin was doing, the team rushed over to the *Sanctorium'*s launch bay, where they procure a small transport ship to bring them to Ronin's position. Using it, the team departs from the *Sanctorium* and proceeds towards Luna.

Not too long afterwards, the team's transport ship arrives as a small loading dock near a secondary entrance into Vault Zero after evading most of the combat going on around the surface and orbit of Luna. Upon exiting, the team discovers that Ronin used his Hybrillium samples in order to break down the vault's security to gain easier access into the facility while also causing a zombie outbreak in order to draw attention away from the vault. Knowing what he was up to, the team begins to engage the undead, fighting through the docks until the team is able to enter the facility, shortly arriving at the nerve center for the Luna Defense Fleet's command. There, they discover that Ronin used some of the technology he acquired from the Ravenclaw Blacksite to hack into Luna's surface defenses, allowing his puppet ships to destroy them and allowing them to continue their diversion in attacking the fleet. After restoring power to the facility, the team is able to locate the vault's entrance. After hacking into the vault's doors with the use of Ronin's hacking tools left behind in the nerve center, the team is able to gain access into the vault, where they prepare to stop Ronin once and for all.

Within the vault, Ronin is hacking into the separate vault doors within the vault to uncover the one containing the Matter Orb, the prize he ultimately seeks to obtain. The team orders Ronin to surrender, but Ronin refuses, instead launching a surprise attack on the team by unleashing his robotic forces onto them. While the team fends off against waves of Ronin's robotic forces, Ronin continues his search for the Matter Orb within the vault. After the team is able to destroy all of Ronin's forces, they are ultimately too late to stop Ronin from discovering the Matter Orb. Taking possession of the relic, Ronin monologues to the team, telling them that he seeks to use the Matter Orb to tap into the Dark Realm and obtain immortality and unimaginable power, which would enable him to assume control over the galaxy and eventually all universes in existence. Suddenly, the Eclipse Navy is able to regain control over the facility and begins to launch a lockdown protocol in order to trap the undead within the facility. Knowing it was time to make his move, Ronin uses the Matter Orb to send out a shockwave of dark energy, knocking the heroes down while Ronin escapes from the vault and heads back to the *Sanctorium*.

Knowing they have to stop Ronin, the team hurries back to the transport ship they acquired from the *Sanctorium* and uses it to head towards the ship. As they approach the *Sanctorium*, Ronin is able to board his ship and prepares to takeoff for places unknown. However, the team is able to reach the ship in time, where they soon return to the ship's launch bay just before the final doors close. Immediately after entering the ship, the *Sanctorium* blasts away from Luna as Ronin's puppet ships are eventually destroyed by the Luna Defense Fleet and arriving reinforcements.

#### Attack on the Sanctorium

As the *Sanctorium* travels through space and rapidly away from Luna, the team exits the transport ship and readies their weapons. Master Ronin soon gets onto the ship's intercom, telling the team that their efforts were all but futile, saying that the Matter Orb's power will soon be unleashed. Alain tells Ronin that he has no idea what he would unleash, saying that the Matter Orb's raw powers were too strong for him to handle, explaining that there would be dire consequences if he was to absorb too much of the relic's power. Ronin simply scoffs at Alain, telling him that he has been waiting for his chance to avenge his people for over a century, telling the heroes that he would not hold out on stopping the team before turning off the intercom. Suddenly, an alarm goes off, and the ship's engines soon stop, causing the ship to float aimlessly through space. As the team questions what was going on, the screams of zombies could be heard. Realizing that Ronin was unleashing everything he had at them, the team prepares for one last fight against the undead.

After restoring power to the ship through the use of an emergency generator, the team utilizes the cargo elevator to travel up to various floors above them. As they began to find a way to regain access to the bridge, the team questions Alain on how he knows so much about the Matter Orb. Alain explains that prior to the initial outbreak and Hybrillium experiments at Fort New Trinity, Alain was part of a secret reconnaissance team that was dedicated to traversing the universe in search of relics of ultimate power, with the order of securing them and locking them away at Vault Zero to ensure their powers never fell into the wrong hands. Alain explains that he was the one who initially discovered the Matter Orb in its hiding place, and after researching the relic, discovered that it served as a rift between reality and the Dark Realm, a place where darkness first came from, explaining that the realm's pure darkness would be too much for a mortal to handle. As the team continued their way to the upper floors, occasional power surges would become frequent. Jack points out that Ronin must be in the process of unlocking the Matter Orb's full power, saying that if they don't hurry, he would surely finish by the time they got there.

The team is soon able to break through Ronin's encryption on the elevator after hacking into three separate modules on different floors and re-routing most of the ship's power to the bridge. Knowing that everything was on the line, the team prepares for the brutal final struggle. Taking the elevator to the bridge after fending off against a zombie attack in the War Room, the team confronts Ronin on the bridge, who was nearly finished with fully unlocking the Matter Orb's power. Furious over their constant interference with his plan, Ronin declares that the heroes were all but too late; Ronin grabs ahold of the Matter Orb and begins to absorb some of the relic's dark power directly into his body. After letting out a scream of pain, Ronin soon regains his bearings, telling the team that their long journey ends. As the team fights Ronin, Alain desperately tries to persuade Ronin to stop using the Matter Orb, saying that too much exposure to its darkness could potentially be deadly. Ignoring his warnings, Ronin continues to absorb more and more power after each phase. Knowing what has to be done, the team begins to taunt Ronin, infuriating him even more.

Determined to destroy the heroes once and for all, Ronin grabs the Matter Orb and smashes it onto the ground, where he soon absorbs the remaining darkness from the ruins of the relic. Suddenly, Ronin collapses onto the ground, with Alain ordering a cease fire. As Ronin shivers in pain, he questions what was happening to him as parts of his body began to glow bright purple. Alain tells the defeated warlord that it was the immortality that he sought, but it would come at a terrible price. Suddenly, a rift to the Dark Realm opens in the bridge, which catches Ronin's attention as he begins to uncontrollably babble a strange language. Suddenly, his soul begins to leave his body, unable to sustain the sheer amount of overloading darkness building up within him. As Ronin lets out one last scream of horror, his soul splits apart from his body and enters the rift to the Dark Realm, condemning him to eternal life as part of the Dark Realm itself. With Ronin's soul gone, his body soon melts away into pure darkness, eventually morphing into a small glowing purple cube with strange runes on it. As the team looks at the cube in curiosity, the cube suddenly levitates from the ground and soon launches itself into the rift, causing the rift to immediately disperse into nothingness soon after.

With the fall of Master Ronin, the team soon re-establishes communications with Eclipse Military command, explaining that Ronin has fallen and the threat has been averted, saying that he perished to the power he sought to control. After an hour, an Eclipse Navy rescue ship arrives to extract the team. As the team leaves on the rescue ship, they decide to ultimately scuttle the *Sanctorium* in an ironic fashion to the destruction of the Oracle space station. With the destruction of the *Sanctorium* came the conclusion of the Eclipse War and the end of Master Ronin's brutal campaign.

### Aftermath

In the next few weeks, the Eclipse Military and Navy began to recover from the incident after purging the rest of the military's Hybrillium supplies in order to prevent another zombie outbreak in the future, while simultaneously discontinuing all weaponized Hybrillium projects and experiments.

Because of Ronin's simple and nonchalant actions in crippling and utterly humiliating the Eclipse Military in their displays of protecting the galaxy, the Galactic Council of Alliances, despite being the legislature branch of the Eclipse Federation, would attempt to question the current Clan President of his previous decisions. Since after the Human-Alien Conflict, John Barstow significantly weakened the Eclipse Military when he had all branches transfer most of its power to the Presidency Council, which also angered some Military personnel as well.

## Gallery

Master Ronin's attack on the Oracle space station.A view of the Ravenclaw Blacksite during its infiltration.A view of the Battle of the Red Tern Shipyard.A view of the interior of Vault Zero during the Battle of Luna.The *Sanctorium* during the final battle of the conflict.