*Holy-Water Flamethrower Spray Attack!!!*
SQUUUUIIIIIIIRRRRRRRT!
Now that I have doused your little flamewar, can we please continue it via PM's?
Anyway:
I wrote up a brief synopsis of the Third Shivan War for the techroom in-game. If you didn't know, Dreamcatcher takes place chronologically after the Third Shivan War, year: 2409. So, I figured I needed a techroom entry on the War in order to have this make sense.
Techroom Entry: Third Shivan War
"The Third Shivan Invasion, also known as the Third Shivan War, was the most recent attack by the race known as 'Shivans', in their apparent bid to destroy all other spacefaring races. They attacked with classes of ships never before seen, from the Ross 128 system, the same system in which the Lucifer fleet made its first appearance. This has lead some to believe that the attack on Capella was made by a separate group of Shivans, as they used ships that this group did not.
The initial attack, headed by a Diablo-class superdestroyer, was defeated by the carrier Independance's fleet, with some assistance from the Olemus-class superdestroyer of the SOC. Later, a Sathanas attempted entry, but was repelled by two Apothess-class destroyers. Finally, a new ship, far larger than anything yet seen, the Gigas, entered the system.
The advance of the Gigas was unstoppable. The Alliance's best weapons could not breach its defenses. A massive counterattack was set up at the Delta Serpentis-Ross 128 node, only to be crushed by a single shot of the Gigas's main weapon: a subspace rift generator.
The Battle of Delta Serpentis III was the most destructive battle against the Shivans ever fought, surpassed only by the destruction of Capella. The battle involved nearly two full Vasudan Battlegroups in addition to a quarter of the EA forces, as well as an entire GTVA fleet. The Shivans outnumbered them all, having sortied the equivalent of five GTVA fleets. With the Gigas and its attendant ship, the Vinashaak, en route, things looked hopeless. Until, that is, the Vinashaak was taken by surprise mid-jump by the GTCa Freedom, and destroyed. The Gigas didn't stay longer than three minutes at the battle itself, as apparently whatever it had planned required the prescense of the Vinashaak. The Freedom was later destroyed by a Diablo, the SOSD Olemus was torn apart by a Sathanas, and the SODn Solaris sustained heavy damage, though it took down another Diablo before it was forced to retreat.
The Gigas then entered the Sol system five months later, having disappeared since the Battle of Delta Serpentis III. How it entered the system is unknown, as it couldn't fit through the Sol Gate, and it wasn't spotted there in any event. Some strange fluctuations near the star of Delta Serpentis lead some to believe it pulled the same trick that the Sathanas fleet did at Capella, though this time without destroying the star. It quickly smashed the shipyards at Neptune, severely damaging the Solaris (which had nearly been repaired), as well as annihilating every other ship at the yard with its subspace weapon. It then appeared near Jupiter, where a surprise duel with the GTSJ Icanus finally took it down.
The GTVA then pushed into Formalhaut, the system adjoining Ross 128, through what was a Shivan version of the Knossos. Heavy fighting against a proverbially entrenched Shivan force took place over the next seven months. The Solaris was even rushed into service without being fully repaired. Formalhaut was nearly taken, then the Shivan hive ship Gargant appeared. Even larger than the Gigas, it destroyed half a Battlegroup without much difficulty in a single battle. The Solaris was destroyed by one of its beams while trying to escape. The Gargant pushed into Ross 128, then Delta Serpentis, finally appearing as mysteriously as the Gigas in Sol itself. Even more mysteriously, it bypassed all Terran operations and appeared near Sol itself. The Icanus, the only ship believed capable of defeating the Gargant, attacked it there.
What happened near Sol is unknown. The Icanus returned, practically falling apart, via automated systems. All crew members had been killed, and reconstruction of the computer data revealed that the Gargant had been destroyed, though how is unknown, as the Icanus's computers were too heavily damaged. At any rate, the destruction of the Gargant had the same destabilizing effect on the Shivans as the Lucifer's destruction had had before. The Shivans were forced back into Formalhaut, which has since been completely empty of activity. The GTVA has kept a strict watch on the system, but hasn't had the resources to pursue the Shivans any further. Perhaps once the fleets and the Icanus are rebuilt, the Shivans may face war in their own territory."
What do you think? I know it's probably nothing like what Woomeister had planned for R1, but, not being privvy to the Inferno Team's secrets, I had to improvise.
Thoughts? Suggestions?