The Evon Experience
by Alex Poff

Chapter 6 Expansion and the Orion Senate

Tovam was rather unhappy with himself and the situation as he reported in to Labon via interstellar communicator. The two systems to the northwest of Reann, which led to a “dead end” in space, had been successfully colonized in their entirety by our ships, as had the Reann system. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the two systems east of Reann. Both our people and the Eolodi now colonized both Tekar and Hodak. The Draconis two-planet system was fully under our control. On a positive note, Tovam had fully deployed ten TF defensive fleets in Reann and Draconis (the two “ends”) as well as in Hodak because of a solitary system to the south, which was currently held by Eolodi as well. Tovam wanted to know where our current relationship with the Eolodi stood; did he need to prepare for war or could he stand down? Labon advised him that Lebak’s spies had been stealing multiple technologies from the Eolodi, easily seven tech levels above our current scientific status and w ith that covert action currently underway and ongoing, he would be well advised to keep all fleets on full alert. In addition, it was uncertain if and when the “fish” might attempt a counter-attack, although we were confidant that Keetal would be able to easily handle any “re-unification” attempt in the Draconis system. Also, Lebon was investigating star charts and had discovered another “dark” system not far from Draconis. Additional colony ships were being constructed and, although he was not aware of it yet, Keetal would soon be warping out of Draconis to meet his first Guardian, if things held true to form.

In Tapau to the north the New Orions continued their harassment although we were no longer taking any casualties. Coilis and Hektar were now effectively able to group our fleets and our PD weapons were now adequate to the task of destroying all inbound weaponry, yet the cowards would never engage us. It was then that the Eolodi provided some interesting news. We had been granted membership into this Senate, which was a federation of multiple worlds and life forms. We were instantly introduced to five new species including the elusive “fish”. They called themselves Nommo. There were also two different bug species; Klackon and Tachidi and two different mechanical species; Meklar and Cynoid. Imagine, robotic sentient life! The galaxy was truly an astounding place. Lebak and the High Council were going to have to quickly dispense with their xenophobic ways if they wanted to effectively interact with all these races.

It became apparent rather quickly that the mechanical races were not well liked by many. In fact, we had not been official members for more than two days when the Meklar imposed trade sanctions against us and then immediately increased them to an embargo of all trade. It was at this point that both the Tralaifa and the Eolodi contacted us and exhorted us to fulfill our alliance obligations with respect to these same Meklar and declare war on them. The High Council thought long and hard, but what tipped the balance was two points; one being that we had an exorbitant number of ships in reserve, including a plethora of Titan class warships. The second issue was that our people were now, once again, pleading for more space. Our worlds had become extremely crowded and even though we had been able to steal multiple advanced housing technologies covertly from the Eolodi it didn’t appear to be enough to ease the situation.

The Meklar’s domain lay further into the center of the galaxy and we would have to pass through Nommo space to get there. Labon knew that this would provoke war with the Nommo as well but he was unconcerned. They had proven to be no threat in Draconis. While Labon’s intention was simply to pass through Nommo space to reach the Meklar, he advised Hektar, who would command the fleet, to defend himself and destroy any Nommo who got in our way. With that it was done and a massive task force left Tapau bound for Meklar space. TF’s of Battleoid armies would follow, backed up by additional warships. We had no idea of the strength of the Meklar fleets, but Labon was convinced that we would be victorious. In only a matter of days, the answer would become quite apparent.