If not for the familiar premise of human beings slaughtering other human beings, one could be forgiven for believing the judgement of humanity in Aquarius had already begun. Alas, war is as old as the species itself, and so; amongst the stars is no different. Whether in the name of virtues such as Justice, Liberty or Order, or pure chaotic anarchy, greed or lust for power, the vices of human conflict always remain close by, as familiar to humanity as emotion itself, happiness, anger… hatred – all sides of the same multi-faceted coin. And so it was, that to set the stage for the greatest of all wars, one whereby humanity would fight for its very survival against another inhuman force, perhaps by fate, humans would spill their own blood first.
Nightmare had evaded the Aquarian powers for decades. Her emergence from the Wasteworlds at the end of the Old Federal Era, rising up as the Old Federation crumbled and burned into ash, marked the beginning of an age where the forces of anarchy wielded such power as to exert their influence upon any and all. As the Loyalists, dedicated to restoring the once great Old Federation to its former glory, battled with these forces in order to re-establish law and order, the anarchists committed untold atrocities upon the survivors of the Aftershock. When the New Federation rose from the ashes of the old, marking the dawn of the New Federal Era, the new Aquarian Superpower sought to bring its newly restored warfleets to bear upon the unlawful scourge plaguing Aquarius, and they did so, with a merciless tenacity and resolve like no other. Justice was delivered, swiftly, to the pirates of the Angel Reach.
Despite a crushing defeat in the Reach, the pirates of the Tigersharks Clan survived in sufficient numbers to retreat into the darkness of the almost impregnable Angel Nebula; hiding amongst its awesome green-hued stellar clouds, watching, waiting. Though the Tigersharks would never fully recover, Nightmare would remain at large well into the 46th century, as Aquarius entered a new age; the age of the Imperial States. It was during the early years of the Aquarian Terran Imperial States’ rise to power, that Nightmare would gain her highest accolade of infamy, such as to place the now ancient amalgamation of a warship, and her then captain, Rova “The Merry Bitch” Merrivich, at the top of the list of most wanted agitators against the Aquarian Imperial States. Nightmare had secured information during the passage through the Angel Reach in the earliest days of the transition to the Imperial Era; information that the Imperial Authorities would rather not fall into the hands of humanity’s most existential threat, one that watches the Aquarian power, patiently waiting for the moment to strike.
Treason. This word carries little meaning to Rova and her crew, for there can be no Treason if there was no loyalty to begin with. But the somewhat ironic karma of her own destruction at the hands of those she would sell out to would be a fitting end for this lawless degenerate, if it did not carry with it the price of a trillion human lives in Aquarius. And as such, the Imperial States would act to bring Nightmare to justice. The culmination of extensive planning and espionage had drawn the Tigersharks remnants close to Imperial Space in the Angel Reach; convinced that the Imperial Navy was spread too thin preparing for the Tyandirric Threat to respond to incursions in this region, Rova took the bait and slipped into the Imperial zone of influence in Angel-Crimson A27; a mistake that would cost her dearly.
For human blood must be spilled in order to set the stage for unity.
Something known from the beginning.