Trans-Galactic War

Imperial forces attack a Government colony on Mars

The Trans-Galactic War was a war between the Government-led alliance of the Milky Way and Intergalactic Empire, and a defining event in the Chronicle Timeline, shaping its entire future.

## Background

### Intergalactic Empire

The Intergalactic Empire, formed by an ancient alien race known as Exans, had been conquering galaxies throughout its existence, expanding itself throughout galactic superclusters, using Light Drives and Hyperdrills to their full potential in doing so. This led to the Imperial invasion of the Local Group, which would cause the various races to unite under the leadership of Earth, the center of activities such as Magic and Holy contact. The Imperial doctrine stated that flesh was weak, but is the gateway to powers beyond that of the machines, such as the power of Celestials. Therefore, the machines shall rule over those of flesh until they can reach a singularity point that allows them to bypass the barriers between mortal flesh and metal and Celestial essence, finally able to remove flesh from the cosmic equation. Nearing the Local Group, the Imperials quickly gained allies with the Prometheans of the Andromeda Galaxy, who had previously tried to conquer the Milky Way.

### Star Union

The Star Union was the dominant interstellar power in the Milky Way before the Trans-Galactic War. Located on the opposite side of the galaxy as Earth, it originated on the planet Crysonis, whose native species were known as Crysonians, human-like beings with a high amount of psychics. The Star Union had control over most of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, and later allied with powerful races in other arms of the Milky Way, such as Atumans and Aesir.

### Earth

Earth had just recently developed a space force and were starting to develop sub-light drives, all under the SpaceForce Corporation and United States, making them Earth's largest and most influential powers. During this time, large chunks of space-faring resources were devoted to a military purpose, which was the establishment of command and defense platforms on the moon and around the planet. In the decades before the Trans-Galactic War, Earth had endured two world wars, a war of ideology, and the fallout of its end, which established the United States and other western nations as the dominant powers on Earth. Alien contact came during this time. In Earth's history, alien contact was spread out and always informal, either consisting of deep space astronauts who were lost or pilots whose ships' light drives malfunctioned. In the final informal contacts in the years before the Trans-Galactic War, Earth's leaders were secretly informed of the current interstellar war against the Intergalactic Empire, which is what led to the expansion and enhancement of Earth's orbital grid, converting it into a defensive emplacement, and temporarily delaying civilian endeavors, such as interstellar colonization. The original grid would not be able to stand against an entire attack fleet, but was rather meant to eliminate Imperial deep space patrol and scout crafts, as through the final informal alien contacts and data from deep space telescopes, Earth assumed that the main Imperial forces and superweapons were occupied with other alien empires. Formal alien contact with Earth, initiated by the Crysonians, began mere minutes after the newly expanded grid went online, informing Earth that the Intergalactic Empire has utilized secret hyperlanes to bypass other interstellar armies, launching surprise attacks and opening up routes to the Milky Way. Due to the potential within Earth and its people, one that surpassed that of almost all known inhabited worlds in the Milky Way, galaxian alien races agreed to incorporate Earth into their galactic defense plan, with the first course of action being the establishment of interstellar bases, outposts, and even colonies on the rest of the worlds in the system, and heavy upgrades to Earth's immediate defense grid. Connections had to be made quickly, and often augmented themselves onto existing alien interstellar infrastructure. At the beginning, the defense effort of the Milky Way was led by a conglomerate of alien governing bodies under the Star Union, although this body was effectively dissolved during the initial attacks, which dealt heavy damage to their deep space forces and struck Crysonis, forcing them to regroup under Earth's leadership, which also contacted other galaxies through use of integrated hyperspace contacts. At the same time, excessive Imperial use of hyperdrills caused several hyperspace anomalies to appear all over the universe, some of which appeared within the Milky Way during various times in the Trans-Galactic War and the years before it. These hyperspace anomalies transported anything that fell into them into deep and unknown space, such as what is now No Man's Space, often causing time dilation in the process, thus causing any organism caught in them to effectively time travel to a random point in the future.

## Initial attacks

Imperial forces attacked the Local Group with galactic assault units, such as Planetoids and ships armed with Ultra Lasers. As several alien races set up a defense force, all wartime manufacturing was located in the Milky Way, led by the Government. The inclusion of supernatural and alien assets led to the SpaceForce Corporation being able to produce an unprecedented amount of wartime assets, all able to be deployed against the Imperials. The Holy Faction, with support of the Government, was also equipped for the defense of the Local Group. The main focus became the defense of Earth and the Milky Way, which was the main target for the Imperials, who desired the vast potential of the planet and its galaxy, as natural hyperlanes and trails of supernatural energy all led to it, as Earth is a linkworld constant across the Multiverse. Imperial infiltration units, known as Cyberformed, took the forms of many organic species, including humans, and infiltrated the Local Group. They managed to sabotage some defenses and cause major damage to civilian settlements. During this time, Blue Star was formed somewhere within Government space, initially also having bases on Earth, focusing themselves as a sort of reflection of the Intergalactic Empire, also utilizing mainly robotic units, something that would be mirrored by the Crimson Hawks in the future. During this time, Light Drives now utilized by the Government were for strictly Military purposes. However, there were some civilian movements to take advantage of the implementation of new technologies. Sub-Light Drives and Hyperspace Slingshots were available for civilian purposes, and groups of generation ships were launched to escape the coming war, including the S.L. Jyist, which went the furthest of the generation ships through the use of a Hyperspace anomaly. Colonies and military bases were quickly established across interstellar space.

## Battles for the Milky Way

The Milky Way had been struck by Cyberformed several times, disguising as both soldiers and civilians. Although the Cyberformed were destroyed, they still gave crucial data to the Imperials, who used hyperdrills to carve hyperlanes to the Milky Way, bringing in their forces. The interstellar battlefield was rather disorganized and jagged, with the Imperial lines resembling roots running through the Local Group, which partially worked to the advantage of the defenders, as the bulk of Imperial forces were still occupied galactic superclusters away, which meant that their invasion force in the local group was forced to spread out and lose some of its organization. The Imperials utilized Planetary Assault Engines, such as Behemoths, Dread Walkers, and Goliaths, to attack many worlds. However, Government forces, including representatives across the Local Group, had already reverse-engineered many forms of Imperial technology, allowing them to form defenses that were able to destroy the Imperial war machines. This would later lead to the Military Planetary Assault Engine, the Monolith. At the same time, Military forces, under a branch known as the Extragalaxian Alien Defense Unit (E.A.D.U., most commonly referred to as simply A.D.U.), was launching counterattacks on Imperial fleets pouring into the Milky Way. Through capturing and re-purposing hyperdrills, Imperial attack hyperlanes could be blocked off, and Military forces could launch counter-attacks on Imperial space, along with establishing civilian lanes for the Government. Allied infiltrators were being placed into Imperial fleets and sent to their space, finding out about Imperial workings, and launching an especially grueling campaign into the Andromeda galaxy, battling the Prometheans in incredibly destructive battles. Other civilizations who had been nearly destroyed by the Empire gave other important data, such as how the Imperial planets were structured. It was soon discovered that the Intergalactic Empire's capital was an Ultra Planetoid known as The Star Palace, deep within Imperial space, and that the Intergalactic Emperor was no more than another computer. Although battlefield victory seemed unlikely at first, organic units within the Imperial governing system, especially those from heavily oppressed species, were beginning to organize their own rebellion.

## Campaign against The Star Palace

The cruelty of the Intergalactic Empire against the species they assimilated led to many representatives of their species within the Imperial courts to form rebellions. Now, with the largest union of free galaxies facing them, the rebel representatives had entire systems defect from within the Empire, holding back many Imperial forces from attacking the Milky Way and costing them entire systems and galaxies. This accumulated with Imperial Advisers, who were close to the Emperor himself, to defect from the Empire. Although most were killed while trying to escape, an adviser from the planet Phoomboombad made it to Government space, and in secret carried a copy of crucial data about the Imperial security system, and the location of the Star Palace. With this information, all Government allies had to rally at once. By then, Imperials had caught on to the data theft and had recalled some of their fleets for defense, but the rebel cells within the Intergalactic Empire met with Military infiltrators and set about destroying the Imperial security systems, opening up The Star Palace for assault. This accomplishment led to a mass revolt among captured worlds, which made it impossible for the Emperor to transfer his AI from The Star Palace to another computer. The Star Palace Campaign, also known as Operation Ultimate Overlord, was the longest single campaign of the Trans-Galactic War. It ended in a battle in and around the Star Palace, and the destruction of the Ultra Planetoid and the Intergalactic Emperor. Exact casualties are unknown for both sides.

## Aftermath

The destruction of The Star Palace did not stop Imperial forces, which had to be completely destroyed in the Palace's sector before the fighting stopped. Remaining Imperial forces, with no new orders, continued to attack the Military, but Imperial Viceroys directed them to retreat deeper into space, going into what was then known as the Unknown Regions. No new Emperor could be determined, as there was no heir or line of succession in place. Many Viceroys turned on each other as well, before the Titan Regime arrived. The Titan Regime helped them reorganize and unify as a branch of the Regime itself, now known as the New Intergalactic Empire.