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【Vision of an Alternate Future】

Arc 1: Ascendance

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【VAF】Chapter║: 7 ─ O'ltana

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The O'ltana are a 1.5 million year old Civilisation, and because they had not come into contact with other Civilisations they had not yet gained Jump Drive Technology, but their Technogarnic Technology was far more advanced than any of the Civilisations Crystalans had met. Left alone they had perfected their technology, and become very technologically advanced. The only Civilisations that had comparable technology were the Older Interstellar Civilisations.

Like the Older Interstellar Civilisations the O'ltana could come together in a collective consciousness they call the O'ltana Collective, and this is how the O'ltana and the other Older Interstellar Civilisations selected their leaders.

The O'ltana indicated that 1.3 million years ago a plague killed 80% of their population, and in response to the disease they developed Nanobots to fight the infection. This is how they became Technogarnic life forms, and their technology is based on their Nanobots. The O'ltana have different types of Technogarnic machines ranging from Nanobots to Space ships. While very advanced the Nanobots remain essentially basic, and operate on a hive mechanism.

In the O'ltana body the Nanobots take their instructions from an O'ltana's brain, this is a result of hundreds of thousands of years of Technogarnic Nanobot evolution. The physiology of the O'ltana is intricately linked to the Nanobots in their bodies. O'ltana children are born with these cellular Technogarnic Nanobot, and the O'ltana DNA contains information on the construction of the Technogarnic Nanobots.

Under a microscope they look like Blood cells, and when the Crystalans observed them they could not help but notice that Crystalan cells behaved in a similar manner, but not as highly evolved as the O'ltana. It became clear to the Crystalans that they were indeed very similar to the O'ltana, and there was no longer any doubt in their minds. The O'ltana had been correct in their analysis of Crystalan physiology.

The O'ltana controlled larger Technogarnic robots of between 0.1 - 1.2 meters length called Minibots with their minds and through an advanced computer system. Billions of these Technogarnic Minibots were used to mine asteroids, build and maintain Ships and build buildings. This allowed the O'ltana to build faster and more efficiently. O'ltana Ships were essentially a large version of these Technogarnic Machines, and as such are partially alive.

An O'ltana could communicate with another O'ltana via wireless methods, and share feelings, emotions, thoughts, vision and dreams, but preferred to do this with family members and intimate partners. Verbal communications was still the most common form with non-Relatives. An O'ltana individual is both Male and Female, but not capable of self fertilization, and therefore requires a partner for reproduction.

Being hermaphrodites the O'ltana were naturally fascinated with the distinctions between Crystalan males and females. In O'ltana society there are no male and female roles, and the associated competitions for mates as in the case of human males. The O'ltana have a similar concept of love and indicated that there are times when there is competition for the attentions of a particular individual, but their society considers it uncivilized for an O'ltana to have more than one love interest or partner.

As expected the O'ltana were eager to meet the Andronian, the Carmak, the Hildrano, the Folong and the Jiquam, but first the O'ltana would have to develop and perfect the Jump Drive Technology they were receiving from the Crystalans. This Exchange of knowledge would join the Crystalans to the O'ltana, and the O'ltana saw the Crystalans as younger versions of themselves; Eternal Friends.

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The entire Crystalorb Fleet was in O'con Federation space, and the O'ltana were particularly fascinated with the Spirit Stone, but the Spirit Stone would not allow them to get close enough to touch it. It would take time for the Spirit Stone to trust the O'ltana, and the Crystalans were certain that the O'ltana's prolonged exposure to the Spirit Stone would lead to acceptance by the Spirit Stone.

In just a matter of months the O'ltana built their first Jump Drive prototype with the help of Crystalans, they placed it on a smaller 250 meter ship and tested it under Crystalan guidance. 12 months later the O'ltana built a full scale Technogarnic Jump Drive for one of their Technogarnic Ships. The O'ltana's Jump Drive Technology had already surpassed Crystalorb's Bio-Organic Crystalline Jump Drive Technology.

The O'ltana's Technogarnic Ships had a much larger energy reserve capacity and could therefore make 105 LightYear jumps. The O'ltana built a new class of Ships that would serve as escort Ships for their main StarShips, and because the new class of Ships was inspired by Crystalorb's Intrepid Class Ships the O'ltana named them Guardian Class StarShips; named after Crystalorb's Crystal Guardians.

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The O'ltana's Technogarnic Guardian Class StarShips are:

1〙 7km in length, 3km in width, 2〙 2.5km in height and have a similar oval shape to Crystalorb's Intrepid Class Ships, 3〙 Oval shape. 4〙 Instead of Energy/Weapons Crystals there is a 150 meter High Polyhedron Pyramid surrounded by Three 100m radius Polyhedron hemispheres

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The O'ltana developed a 11 Ship BattleGroup formation with 10 Guardian Class StarShips escorting the 32km long Elmak Class SkyCruiser, the Capital Ships of the O'con Federation.

Crystalorb's presence somehow revitalized O'con Federation society, and helped them remember what it felt like to be a young species. The wonder and amazement in the eyes of Crystalans inspired creativity and development. The Council of Elders knew that Crystalans would forever be greatly influenced by the O'ltana, and the O'ltana culture would now form part of Crystalorb.

As promised the O'con Federation transferred all their Scientific knowledge to Crystalorb, though most of the information transferred was beyond Crystalan understanding. Crystalorb also transferred all its Scientific knowledge to the O'con Federation. One of the first things Crystalans acquired from the O'ltana was the technology to build better energy reserve systems and this extended Crystalorb's Bio-Organic Crystalline Jump Drive capacity to 80 LightYears.

The O'con Federation used Spatial Compression Technology also known as Spatial Warping Technology to generate artificial gravity. This caused a revolution in Crystalorb's Ship technology as Crystalorb removed the internal turning mechanism in favour of the O'con Federation Spatial Warping Technology that generates artificial gravity. This meant that Crystalorb's Ship would have more room for energy generation.

The O'con Federation's Guardian Class StarShips contain a 500 meter diameter Star at its centre, and that generates a maximum of 125 Zettajoules/sec by the Triple-Alpha Process and Antimatter Reactions. The Elmak Class SkyCruiser is powered by 6 of the 500 meter diameter Stars, generating a maximum of 750 Zettajoules/sec by the Triple-Alpha Process. The 500 meter diameter Star is both a fusion Reactor and an Antimatter Reactor, converting matter and Antimatter into energy. Other Older Advanced Interstellar Civilisations also used the same kind of power sources with slight differences.

Crystalorb used Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen Helium-4 Nuclear Fusion Reactor Technology, and although very advanced was not nearly as capable as O'con Federation Fusion Reactor Technology. With O'ltana help the Crystalans improved their CNO cycle Nuclear Fusion Reactors to the extent that they developed a 250 meter diameter Star that produced a maximum of 20 Zettajoules/sec. Each Crystalorb Ships carried 4 of these upgraded Bio-Organic Crystalline Nuclear Fusion Reactors.

The O'ltana weapon systems were originally developed as an Asteroid mining tool and consisted of two parts: A Polyhedron Pyramid that produces Lightning Strikes and several hemispheres with each producing multiple Multidirectional high energy Particle Beams. The Multidirectional Particle Beams served as targeting system for the Lightning Strikes produced by Polyhedron Pyramid. The Lightning Strikes could range from 1.5 Megaton to more than 100 Megatons. The O'ltana called the Lightning Strikes: Thunder Force Strikes.

The O'ltana used it to reduce large Asteroid to the size which could be cut into smaller pieces by the Multidirectional Particle Beams. In the case of very large Asteroids Multiple O'con Federation Ships would converge multiple Thunder Force Strikes simultaneously on a single point, and this raised the energy output to more than 100000 Megatons. The Thunder Force Strike technology was also transferred to the Crystalans, but Crystalorb Ships could only reach 36 Megatons on a single Thunder Force Strike.

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From the Crystalorb data the O'con Federation concluded that they would inevitably have military confrontations with the Hakum and the Migon. In accordance to that view the O'con Federation began a rapid build program in order to reach their desired first stage target of 350 BattleGroups. Each of the battle groups would consist of: 1 Elmak Class SkyCruiser and 10 Guardian Class StarShips.

This is where the Crystalorb fleet become most useful to the O'con Federation. The ability of the Crystalorb Ships to process minerals supplied the O'con Federation with a massive stock pile of all the types of minerals they would need to build 50% of their Fleet. Crystalorb's mineral processing technology was one of the few areas where the Crystalans were clearly superior to the O'ltana, and this was technology unique to Crystalorb that could not be easily duplicated.

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The Crystalorb Leadership was very ambitious, and in their desire to keep up with the O'ltana in terms of Ship production the Crystalans increased the size of the Oval shaped Intrepid Class Ships and Indigo Class.

Intrepid/Indigo Class Ships:

1〙 10km in length, 2〙 3.6km maximum height, 3〙 4km maximum width, 4〙 Enhanced weapon systems, 5〙 150 meters thick Skin/Hull.

The thicker Skin/Hull was a development brought on by analysis from the last confrontation with the Hakum, and the projected capabilities of the Migon. Crystalorb Skin/Hull Armour could be said to be superior to O'con Federation Armour, but the O'con Federation had much more advanced energy shields.

The Intrepid 〘Flagship of the Crystalorb Expeditionary Division〙 and the A'ltana 〘A ship Born in O'con Federation Space, and selected to be the Flagship of the Crystalorb Command Ships〙 were increased in size.

Intrepid/Indigo Class Flagship:

1〙 15km in length, 2〙 4.6km meters maximum height, 3〙 5km meters maximum width, 4〙 Enhanced weapon systems, 5〙 200 meters thick Skin/Hull.

Growing Crystalan Ships larger than the Crystalorb Flagships would require better propulsion systems, and Crystalans needed time to work on that. These two ships were more like a home for Crystalans, and when inside the ship one could forget that one was inside a living feeling StarShip.

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By 2185 Crystalorb was used to living in O'con Federation Space under the guidance of the O'ltana, but 20 years had passed and it was time for the Crystalans to return to Earth. Most Crystalans did not want to return to Earth, and they were happy to stay where they felt wanted, but the Council of Elders made the case for Crystalorb to send a ship to investigate the progress made by Earth.

The ship selected to go back to Earth was Indigo, and because of its larger energy reserves and enhancements the Council of Elders decided to send Indigo without any escort. As Naole was about to leave for Earth 10 O'ltana decided to go with Naole and the 100 members of his crew. The 10 O'ltana were Enubh and his/her crew, and Enubh had recently been selected for command of a Guardian Class StarShip that was being built.

The O'con Federation High Council felt that the mission to Earth would be good experience for Enubh, and on the Indigo Enubh would serve as First Officer. This was not unusual, and was a tradition that went back to when the Crystalans were training O'con Federation Commanders on the Fundamentals of Interstellar Travel. For security reasons the Indigo would take the long way to Earth stopping at various locations, moving in multiple directions, and taking a randomized path. This was to avoid revealing the location of O'con.

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In the 50 years that Crystalorb had been away Earth had been transformed into an Interstellar Trading Civilisation, and the 5 Earth Federation had established 52 colonies and 80 Outposts on nearby Solar Systems. The United Atlantic Federation established 16 colonies, the African Federation of City States established 8 colonies, Islamic Alliance established 5 colonies, Asian Consortium established 13 colonies and the United Indian Federation established 10 colonies. The furthest of these Human settlements was the United Atlantic Federation Casini Observation post 212 LightYears from Earth.

These colonies allowed the 5 Earth Federations to generate sufficient mining for Interstellar Trade. Most of the mining was done by Private enterprises, and the revenue generated from the large scale mining of entire solar systems led to economic prosperity. Humans could now purchase products and rare minerals that were not available in the sector, and this powered a technological boom.

Within a relatively short space of time humans had found markets for Earth products in hundreds of Planetary Civilisations. All this progress led to humans building large 8km long Interstellar StarShip freighters that carried Millions of tons of Earth products to hundreds of Planetary Civilisations. The freighters also brought products from deep space to Earth, and this gave Humans access to some of the latest technology available in the Galactic region.

Human activities had not gone unnoticed by the Hakum, and from Earth date 2170 Hakum warships began to conduct hit and run attacks on the outer colonies of the 5 Earth Federations. This led to the 5 Earth Federations establishing military outposts at the edge of their territories, and the 5 Earth Federations agreed to answer the emergency calls that emanate from each others colonies. The militaries of the 5 Earth Federations created a series of defensive lines that require visiting ships to keep to specified Jump Routes while travelling to Earth.

To respond to Hakum raids the 5 Earth Governments cooperated to develop the Apollo Class StarShip/Destroyer. The Apollo Class Destroyer was essentially an improvement of the Juggernaut Class StarShips, and incorporated the advancements in technology gained through more contact with advanced Interstellar Civilisations. Interstellar trade gave Humans access to rare minerals that could be used to create alloys that are essential in producing higher energy weapon systems.

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Juggernaut Class Frigates:

1〙 4000 meters in length. 2〙 2000 meters width at the back and 400 meters width at the front. 3〙 1800 meters Height at the back and 310 meters Height at the front, 4〙 20 meter thick Armoured Hull. 5〙 Equipped with 10 Plasma Cannons, 100 Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and 15 Missile Tubes/Launchers/RailGuns. 6〙 10 Nuclear Fusion Reactors. 7〙 Carry 8 Gunships of 180 meter length. 8〙 Jump capabilities of 45 LightYears from Nth Hyper-Space to Normal Space. 9〙 A Fusion powered plasma propulsion System. 10〙 Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Propulsion System that uses Spatial Compression Technology for braking and Multidirectional manoeuvring.

Apollo Class Destroyers:

1〙 5600 meters in length. 2〙 2900 meters width at the back and 600 meters width at the front. 3〙 2400 meters Height at the back and 500 meters Height at the front, 4〙 25 meter thick Armoured Hull. 5〙 Equipped with 15 Plasma Cannons, 162 Multidirectional Particle Beam Cannons and 30 Missile Tubes/Launchers/RailGuns. 6〙 15 Nuclear Fusion Reactors. 7〙 Carry 12 Gunships of 180 meter length. 8〙 Jump capabilities of 45 LightYears from Nth Hyper-Space to Normal Space. 9〙 A Fusion powered plasma propulsion System. 10〙 Repulsive Electromagnetic Radiation energy Propulsion System that uses Spatial Compression Technology for braking and Multidirectional manoeuvring.

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The UAS Apollo A2177 was the first of the type to enter service, and the United Atlantic Federation version of the Apollo Class StarShip/Destroyer was the most expensive at a cost of $120 Billion in Atlantic Dollars. By 01-01-2185 the United Atlantic Federation had 45 Apollo Class StarShips in service, the African Federation of City States had 29 Apollo Class StarShips in service, the Islamic Alliance had 21 Apollo Class StarShips in service, the Asian Consortium had 38 Apollo Class StarShips in service and the United Indian Federation had 32 Apollo Class StarShips in service.

The Apollo Class StarShip was designed to be able to go one on one with a Hakum Sky Sword, and each Apollo Class Destroyer would be supported by other smaller ships. Following the development of the Apollo Class Destroyer the Juggernaut Class StarShips were designated Juggernaut Class Frigates. In the United Atlantic Federation each of the Apollo Class Destroyers was supported by 4 updated Juggernaut Class Frigates and their Gunship compliment. This BattleGroup formation was calculated to be more than 4 Hakum Sky Daggers in power.

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The Juggernaut Class StarShips had been in service for 60 years, and had proven themselves in many battles against the Hakum. The biggest of these Battles took place in 2175 when 19 Juggernaut Class StarShips and 39 Gunships fought a 5 Ship Hakum BattleGroup consisting of: 4 Hakum Sky Daggers and 1 Sky Sword. The battle took place 400 LightYears from Earth, and was a consequence of an earlier battle that resulted in the destruction of the UAS Atlantis A2118.

The UAS Atlantis A2118 and the UAS Brussels A2138 were investigating possible Large scale mineral deposits on the fourth planet of the system Sirius 9. The two ships were suddenly attacked by a Hakum Sky Dagger, and in the ensuing battle the UAS Atlantis A2118 was destroyed and the UAS Brussels A2138 managed to escape into Hyperspace. The United Atlantic Federation immediately sent in a taskforce to search for survivors.

The United Atlantic Federation Taskforce also came under attack, but this time from a larger 5 Ship Hakum BattleGroup. This was a battle of epic proportions involving High speed manoeuvres, Nuclear Missiles, Plasma Cannons and high energy Multidirectional Particle Beams. In the aftermath 12 Gunships and 3 Juggernaut Class StarShips were destroyed, and the Hakum lost 3 Sky Daggers and 1 Sky Sword.

After that battle the Hakum reverted back to hit and run attacks, and the humans began to cooperate more closely in Warship development and security operations, and this led to the Apollo Class Destroyer. Drawing from the Apollo Class Destroyer project the United Atlantic Federation was developing a new class of Capital ships, but the first one was only expected in 2201.

The UAS Atlantis B2201 would be:

1〙 8000 meters in length,

2〙 3500 meters width at the back and 800 meters width at the front,

3〙 3100 meters Height at the back and 700 meters Height at the front,

4〙 35 meter thick Hull.

The UAS Atlantis B2201 would be the United Atlantic Federation's main BattleCruiser, and would be escorted by 4 Apollo Class Destroyers and 2 Juggernaut Class Frigates. This was the extent of United Atlantic Federation ambition, and the humans had also realized that the ability to build large StarShips brought prestige amongst Interstellar Civilisations, this then encouraged Interstellar Travel and Interstellar Trade.

For Interstellar Traders to come to Earth they had to be convinced of their relative safety from the Hakum, Space Pirates and other enemies of the Humans. The rise of the humans as a major Interstellar Trading Civilisation had taken a lot of trade from other Developing Interstellar Civilisations, and this created new and dangerous enemies for humans. These new enemies would not normally act openly, but their intent was deadly, and the 5 Earth Federation had to be constantly on Guard.

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