Reposting this here, because Sectorgame isn't terribly populated and apparently no one can be arsed to make an account there just to read my stuff. So I'm tossing this out here on HLP, to see what sort of reception it'll get. This is related to the detailed backstory and campaign setting I've had cooking for a while (which includes ETF) but it isn't really spoileriffic.
THE SCHISMHLI Giza (Former Sahr Corp. shipyards)
Sector 47-66-0
Altair
April 4, 2338
The command structure of the Hammer of Light, such as it was, was in an uproar. Though the so-called Destroyers could be killed, and their flagship was destroyed enroute to Sol three years ago, the Hammer of Light had soldiered on in rebellion against the Parliamentary Vasudan Empire. Pockets of Shivan resistance had been holding out for some time in the outer systems; which continued to provide a slim religious pretext to continue fighting the Terrans and the corrupt heathen Vasudans who enabled them. More and more as time went by, though, the HOL seemed held together only by force of personality.
And now, the last of the old guard was dead. Admiral Gar Tallanis had been killed trying to avenge the capture of his flagship, the HLD Hammer, by GTA forces.
The GTA! Even though both the GTA was all but shattered by the loss of Terra, and by the losses they had taken in their civil war shortly afterwards, the tenacious bastard humans had held on. The rump state of the GTA now only ruled over Beta Aquilae and Delta Serpentis (and, on paper at least, Vega). The Terrans had no military shipyards to speak of. They ought to have been a spent force!
But some bizarre sort of divine providence had shined upon them and saw fit, via a quirk of subspace, to deposit two long-lost, powerful, priceless capital ships right into their hands. And oh, had they used them.
Now, without the commanding presence of the most experienced and beloved member of the Vasudan Admiralty to guide them and inspire their loyalty, the Hammer of Light was without a leader. Already, four different factions had emerged, and all but the smallest were arguing loudly in what used to be a large meeting room for shareholders of the Sahr Corporation.
High Seeker Ulchas'raa, of the Hunter faction, cut in loudly. "It should be obvious to us all by this point, that we were not fighting on behalf of the True Destroyers of legend!" Some shouts of agreement, others of scorn for what would have been a heretical position even a year ago. "The Shivans are False Destroyers, I say! And we must punish them all! Help me hunt down those few who remain with righteous fervor! Those who do not have the will to join me in this holy quest, stay behind and rot like the
dvah'nai you are."
"You are a fool, Ulchas'raa!" someone shouted as the High Seeker turned to leave.
Turning back to the heckler, the High Seeker replied, "And what would *you* do, hmm? Waste our time and our holy fervor on the Terrans to get vengeance for the war?" (A sizable number, off to the side, shouted affirmatives.)
The young heckler had a gleam in her eye. It was part idealism, and partly something… different. Amusement, perhaps? "Hardly. But this may not be the only group of False Destroyers. So you hunt them down, what then? It is our destiny to serve the True Destroyers, yes, but other False Ones could still be a major threat."
"So we shall serve as advance scouts for the rest of the Vasudan people, then." The High Seeker replied with a sneer, but he couldn't help he was walking into a verbal trap.
"They will no longer believe us. More importantly, though, think of this: Humans and Vasudans developed at roughly the same time, in the same part of the galaxy. And the Ancients were active only 8000 years ago, recently enough that the first members of the Imperial Dynasty were aware of them."
"Your point,
young one?" Ulchas'raa made sure to emphasize the heckler's youth and inexperience with as much of a sneer as possible, and with the most condescending verb tense the amazingly complex Vasudan language had to offer.
"My point is that there are potentially many other sentient species in this galaxy. Species who we could aid against the False Destroyers, and who could aid us in return. Perhaps the Ancients still live somewhere, or perhaps the species they discovered do."
"So, your plan is to take our holy crusade, and turn it into a pointless trek through the endless void?"
"My plan,
High Seeker," --she returned Ulchas'raa's scorn full force, speaking his title as an epithet-- "is to build an alliance of species so strong that only the
True Destroyers could exercise their holy right to eliminate it. We shall spread the Blessed Prophecy every step of the way, and the Hammer of Light shall become the Guardians of the Galaxy!"
By this point, most of the die-hard anti-Terran revenge-seekers began to leave the chamber, but surprisingly enough more than two thirds of the HOL's commanders were still there, listening to this young upstart, rapt. One member of the crowd asked the young female what her name was. "Takh'maa," she replied.
To Ulchas'raa's horror, several High Seekers began to abandon him and pledge their support to Takh'maa and her philosophy. Most of Ulchas'raa's support was evaporating right in front of him. A few remained, mostly those who valued getting revenge on the False Destroyers, but the vast majority was now chanting Takh'maa's name and pledging their loyalty to her.
The Hunters departed Altair for Regulan space shortly afterwards, with a rather pathetic force of a dozen gunboats, five Aten cruisers and a smattering of fighters, carried on external docking collars. Hardly the overwhelming crusade Ulchas'raa had called for, but he was too proud to back out now. He only hoped he and his followers would take enough of the False Destroyers with them to make it worthwhile.
The Guardians, meanwhile, wound up with the majority of the war materiel and ships, much to the chagrin of the enraged hard-liners. They would need to make careful preparations in order to survive as a coherent force, which included making sure they could repair damage to their capital ships, and replace parts as needed while on the move. They would also need a population base, and a food supply, but there were still numerous refugees from Vasuda with nowhere to go, and if nothing else the Guardians could always bribe a corrupt member of Parliament, or perhaps the Regulans, to come up with any technology they needed.
The hard-liners remained in Altair, now determined to cause as much havoc as possible (preferably against the Terrans), while the last (and smallest) of the groups decided to move on to Regulus, and began to atone for their past crimes by performing charitable works.
In June 2339, the Guardians' preparations were finally complete. They left Altair for the unknown, in hopes of bringing the Light to the rest of the galaxy…
Comments, questions etc welcome 
