Unnamed Planetary System (World 1-0-3318)

Summary

During The First Great Hop Expansion, as the maps of the Universe were being charted (very differently than the ended up becoming), one of the crews discovered a world of violent organic-like beings. The exploration crew, led by Knight of Sop Sehi-Djo and a small squad from his division, The 305th "Heroes of the Night Flame", discovered the world and its notable features. Entertaining using it to rest and capture lovely landscapes, they discovered an evil that clearly did not welcome their presence.

After the events on the world, it was quarantined permanently. After Sop's Ascension, in the midst of the Hop Civil War, the New Sop Order fled toward the planetary system of World 1-0-3318. At this time, the system was updated to the new naming and location designation system as [CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, BY DECREE OF HOP, TIER 4 NEED-TO-KNOW BASIS ONLY]. The NSO, ignorant of the quarantine orders, chose to make a base on the world. The decision proved extremely foolish and caused the Grand Sop Army to intervene once NSO forces had fallen.

1-0-3118

Atmosphere / Outer Rings

A luminescent upper layer of glowing auroras decorate half the planet's skies at all times, constantly reacting with the magnetic poles of the world and its local star. This layer of the planet extends nearly twice in length compared to its terrestrial diameter.

There is a layer of several outer rings, which have increased in size over time, as passing debris is burnt, cracks and explodes upon passing the system's star, and drifting into orbit around the planet.

Terrain

With a diameter nearly half a light-second in size, the planet is quite small, but not entirely a dwarf world. Its gravity is significant, given the ground is almost entirely granite and basalt, due to a highly active molten nickel and iron core, making the poles constantly flip during its rotations. There are several continents that shift loosely, making quakes and oceans of magma create new islands and mountains, complimenting the scenery.

Rotation & Revolution

Due to having no moon, and a large, yet thin layer of rings made mostly of iron, carbon and other common elements, the planet has a consistent cycle. Nearly perfectly spinning in place, and in alignment with its cycle around its star, meaning for several hundred rotations, one side of the planet gets continuous daylight. All this causes a very rare instance of constant natural beauty.

History

Discovery

Early in the expansion, Knight Sehi-Djo "Seijo" steered his flagship toward the planetary system in an attempt to collect solar energy for his carrier vessel, originally intending to orbit its star and moving on to map out the area further. Electric Eyes were used sparingly at this point in time to send ships in numerous directions and meant to return back on a schedule to return home with updated maps, images and reports on what was found in space.

Pre-War

As is typical in this point in history, the ship and its crew were only able to upload all their discovered information to the terminals aboard the Electric Eye when it returned to the point in space it dropped them off initially. Therefore, information and discovery of this world to the Hoppist Network and the GSA was not known prior to the events of Seijo and his crew.

After their return, Sop declared the planetary system, not just its world, are banned to travellers. If visited, they would not be allowed back without a mandatory screening of the spacecraft, and serious interrogation, with punishment being executed if need be.

Hop Civil War Era

The NSO had chosen to flee to this world at the mid-point in the war, due to it being a nearby world with no known GSA presence, due to its restriction. No known visits between the initial contact and their arrival are known, meaning the planet was untouched in all its years. Several NSO fleets saw this as a sanctuary that was relatively near major galactic clusters they were in control of at the time.

Shortly after their arrival, the native race on the world became hostile and ferociously fought back, seeming to have evolved in years past since their inception, being far larger and more intelligent. Upon displaying the feat of destroying an NSO fleet, they were clear to Hop they were becoming a powerful recurring threat for all beings. Given its lack of resources and the constant attack of the native race, the NSO stubbornly stayed in place and fell, unaware of their opponent's strength.

Toward the end of the war, the GSA lead by Hop was made aware of this planet's NSO presence via the Hoppist Network. Inciting Hop himself to bring his personal division, the 57th "Knight Assault Battalion", to the planet to eradicate the native race and any trace of the traitor faction. The battle was short-lived, due to Hop's boundless strength, speed and persistence. The battle covered the entire surface of the world, ensuring no dormant native beings were left to terrorize future travelers.

Hop cautiously insists the world remained banned as it was before, but a solar-powered satellite would orbit the system's star, and notify any spacecraft passing by that the world was dangerous, prohibited and punishment was heavily enforced. It became a world of rumor among those training to become Knights of Sop following Hop's conquest, as word spread despite the classified nature of it. All records are to be turned into the Hoppist Network, and given directly to Hop or the 57th division. In their absence, the 305th has permission to hold the information until Hop's return. This is why only one of these divisions is allowed to leave Karrots at a time, even in times of war, excluding Hop, Arritz and Seijo.

Stories

Story 1-0: A Resting Place for the Restless

Upon noticing the sight of World 1-0-3318, he ordered a landing on a large rock in its rings, they would then stay for a full revolution to scan the planet in depth. Protest from his crew, concerned the planet's rotation and revolution were equally long, worried they would miss their expected return trip when boarding the Electric Eye, and a rescue team would be forced to come after them. To speed up the process, they would circle the planet from orbit at sublight speeds twice, then move on to the next planetary system.

Story 1 -1: Landing on the Surface

Awestruck by the sight of the world, Seijo and his pilots decided to drift off course to capture images of them on the planet. Intending for a starset photo, the landed near the night-side of the planet and opted to use a rover to carry them to the horizon for an image. A skeleton crew and the heavy infantry was to guard the exploration vessel. The crew's emergency dropship, piloted by a single Hopficer and a records soldier (designated survivors), were intended to stay out of orbit. Violence was often encountered on worlds not inhabited by fluffy beings. Several organic, metaphysical or nonliving entities posed a threat to hops and other races upon contact. Due to this, the aforementioned strategy was standard practice went landing on a new terrestrial planet.

While on the rover, conversation was made and recorded by the battle cams on their uniforms, with the helmet of Knight Seijo would capture the HUD footage and comms as well. Comms from radio (usually found on a support soldier) had to be manually recorded in early GSA history, and loaded onto a spaceship or computer/terminal to later be uploaded to the Hoppist Network. The soldiers chattered about who they were excited to show the planet to, mostly mentioning family, other division members at the barracks and friends from other races. Seijo stared intently the entire ride at the front of the rover, climbing the terrain slowly, waiting for them to meet the part of the horizon that appeared most suited for their images. He only entertained the idea more for recording purposes, but he did admit he liked the sight in the sky, being unlike home in many ways.

The rover, which was outfitted with spiked treads instead of a heavy-duty repulsor system (due to the crew's fear of cracking the ground and destroying their trail back), also ran on solar energy. The planet's size made the trip lengthy and Seijo opted to spend a short time allowing the rover to recharge after they gathered their recordings. Knowing the surface was fairly common elements and composition, no samples were to be taken back. A hopling wanted to protest this and bring back lava spewing from the ground, but another pointed out the container would allow it to cool, and it would simply harden into a rock like the ground around them. Upset at this new knowledge, he began to argue that he could keep it warm by firing at it constantly. This was not going to be allowed as it would waste energy and material. His companion debated the process could easily by created artificially at home with common technology, and all he would need is a stone from the ground small enough to fit in his kit. Silenced, the trip continued until arrival.

Story 1-2: First Contact

Emerging at clifface, an expanse of valleys and rolling lava hills emitted a glow under the auroras, making for ideal image captures. As the soldiers highlighted images with their battle cams, the hopling who sought a sample lept off the rover and began to use the stock of his carbine to chip rocks that would fit in his pocket. As he did this, the ground would soften and the smaller pebbles would sink underneath the porous surface. Frustrated again, he asked Seijo if he would politely cut a sample from the edge of the cliff for him. Declining, due to the sacred nature of his GloLite, he suggested to keep trying his method, as they would be there for some time, awaiting the rover to charge. Back on their vessel, radio chatter with the dropship continued, noticing life forms were present on the scans, appearing solely on the daylight side of the planet. Commanding to hand this information to Knight Seijo, so he could make a decision with the information. The dropship offered to switch places with the main vessel, figuring there was enough room on his dropship to collect the team and the rover, and unload once back on the main carrier. Again, bridge command opted to await Seijo's decision.

Radio operators on the rover received a transmission from the bridge of their carrier, over standard channels. As this happened, Seijo's attention shifted to the information. Unsupervised, his soldier collecting a small sample kicked the edge of the cliff, trying to wedge a pointed rock off, however, he unfortunately caused a sizeable chunk to crack off and fall from the cliff, into the valley, creating a chain event where the magma would be exposed and pop violently, shifting the ground beneath them.

As he panicked to board the rover, a distant sound was heard. Seijo told the vessel to prep for takeoff, and have the squad board, leaving their rover behind. Turning to face the new destruction beneath and ahead of them, Seijo noticed that unlike typical magma, black shapes emerged from the ground. Hundreds began to frantically climb to the top of the landscape, bathing in the aurora and sunlight. This escalated to some of them scaling the cliffs, just beside the rover's resting place. The hopling boarding the rover was grabbed by Seijo and thrown back into the vehicle. Staring outside, the beings took notice of the rover and stared back at Seijo, hissing and shrieking.

Startled and aware of the situation, he ordered a full retreat back toward the ship, all infantry to man a corner of the rover, and for support to constantly maintain communication with the carrier, so they could meet partway and desert the planet, knowing they alone would not have the firepower to handle the situation.

Story 1-3: Fleeing the Surface

The planet began a rupture of the landmass the squad and their vehicles were on, as the emergency takeoff of the carrier, shattered the ground violently, it darted at sublight speeds in the direction of the rover, which was frantically being navigated along the trail its treads left in the ground. On the ground, hundreds of bizarrely shaped, obsidian-like quadrupedal beings scrambled at a high speed sprint toward the rover, surprisingly quick for their size compared to the hops and the gravity of the planet. As they crossed into the darker part of the planet, they appeared to not only move quicker, but more ferally.

This chase ensured for a short period, where the carrier made a dead stop near the ground in the air, with its hangar door and loading ramps open, the crew of the ship being vigilant for other creatures that may have awoken. In desperation, the rover squad mounted the top of the vehicle and began to fire upon their pursuers wildly. The creatures, once struck would split their body in pieces, and then regenerate quickly and continue to chase while severely disfigured. Seijo, aware the enemy force was wild and reckless, demanded that the squad focus on boarding the vessel instantly, as the rover fast approached the floating haven.

Within moments, the crew on the carried lowered rappels and nets for the boots and helmets of the soldiers to magnetically attach. But when this occurred, the smaller, lighter members of the alien race, were suddenly pulled from the ground toward the nets, now landing between the rover team and the ship crew. This horrified the hops, and as they attempted to make their way into the loading ramp, the rover was swarmed with the heavier creatures. The ones on the net climbed toward boarding soldiers and the loading ramp, to be instantly met with gunfire.

Once the entire crew boarded, the magnet was deactivated, and only a handful of clinging beings clutched the net. With quick thinking, Seijo used his sword to cut the net off, sending the remaining pursuers plummeting to the surface.

Story 1-4: Leaving with a Warning

Once boarded on the ship, the crew alerted the vessel somehow a number of the creatures made it aboard, the were outside the field of view of the bridge, but likely scaling it, searching for an entrance. Due to their size, it was feasible they could force their way in from the hangar, airlock, emergency pods station, or the windows outside the barracks and armory.

Rushing to clear the ship, Seijo and the heavy infantry mounted their magnetic gear and began to search the exterior of the ship, while it hung far above the ground, but not yet in orbit near the dropship. As the crew swept the ship for lifesigns, Siejo and his exterior search party began to comb the ship, finding only scratch marks on the metal.

On the camera, one support staff noticed one moving across a hallway leading to the barracks. Sounding the alarm for the bridge and that sector of the ship, putting it into lockdown. The soldiers in the barracks suited up and stood watch for the beings. It appears only one of the entities boarded the interior of the ship, as Seijo and the team on the exterior found a hole, created by tearing a panel off the ship that lead to the vents in the airlock. From the airlock onward, video recording showed a smaller being made its way down the hall in a confused panic. Seijo and his team found scratch marks on the floor, leading to the barracks, as discussed. Before the guard could activate their battle cams, the camera operator heard screaming and saw muzzle flashes from the entrance of the barracks.

Seijo, rushing ahead of his squad, drew his weapon and slide into the hallway, and his HUD capture revealed his men were flanked and overpowered, their weapons and gear torn up. Conscious soldiers were in pain, terrified and huddled together, mentioned they could not place a shot. Looking around, Seijo followed the trail of the being again at break speed, but turning a hallway he was ambushed by it, its maw snapping at his helmet, unable to break it. He began to stab it, when it lept off him, barely acknowledging the injury, bleeding on the floor, its blood hardened and began peeling the metal of the flooring. Seijo jumped over it, tackling the creature as it turned back toward the barracks. Before it could continue in, Seijo beheaded it and then stomped on its foot, pinning its body to the doorway. Its head continuing to snap and yelp, until ceasing upon death.

Cleanup was swift, and all the soldiers were recovered and given leave, boarding the dropship and heading back home with all relevant footage. Siejo stayed aboard his ship, worried once news reached Sop and the GSAA that he would be reprimanded for failure to protect his men and prevent damage to his vessel. However, he was formally promoted once he and his exploration crew returned to Karrots. Sop allowed him to continue his job, but official quarantine was put in place indefinitely.

Story 2-0: The NSO's Mistake

A majority of the information below is a combination of speculation based on captains' logs from the NSO fleet's bridge journal, as well as evidence discovered when Hop arrived on the planet shortly after.

Upon fleeing Karrots, the NSO sought several worlds to conquer and make bases of operation. In doing so, they obtained countless worlds and star systems of strategic positioning around the GSA led by Hop, and their allies in the K'Ursan Federation. A particular fleet of numerous flagships that split from their central assembly found itself far from any safe refuge, choosing to venture to the prohibited planetary system of World 1-0-3318.

Several stolen carriers of Royal Ampbersamd make were dropping out of warp speed via a stolen Electric Eye, granting most of the NSO an untraceable path to escape. The leaders of this fleet decided to land on the surface and set up a base. Recovered logs from their captains' terminals indicate they believe the beauty of the world was the reason it was banned, as it may have been a private place Sop took his wife and family. However, his family never once visited this world, and they assumed it was intended to be a secret. Fascinated by the planet's sights and the mystery of its prohibited nature, they began exploration on the world, unknowingly summoning back a long-forgotten terror.

Story 2-1: An Evil Awakens from Beneath

Within a short time, the NSO began construction bases, using the planet's few resources to erect buildings. As this became problematic, they went off into the plant's rings to gather far more materials, while the rest stayed on the world, starting an underground travel system, like on Karrots.

Before their leadership was aware, it appears numerous of their forces went missing, or briefly began a distress signal, before being unable to respond to their communications team. A captain of the larger carrier noted he was unhappy with the pace of his crew, claiming they should not fear the planet's magma or be distracted by its beauty while on shift. As he wrote this personal complaint to share with his fellow captains, he and his crew were overrun by the alien race native to the world, having their entire vessel and their ground forces swarmed.

The other ships, upon noticing the sudden silence of their comrades, began to make their way to their ship on another part of the planet. In doing so, one of their scouts discovered Seijo's rover from the previous expedition. One captain, initially intrigued at older Hoppist technology, noted he was overcome with a feeling of dread, realizing why the planet may have been marked forbidden. His speculation was cut short, as his vessel and his neighboring carriers were outnumbered and caught off-guard.

Story 2-2: Fateful Mistakes

The next gathered information chronologically was a video capture of the ring crew's dropship feed, recording the cockpit, and the view from the nose of the ship. This dropship was found in orbit above the planet when Hop and the 57th arrived to purge the world.

The NSO crew in the planet's rings, collecting material, overheard numerous cries for help, as their leadership and comrades went silent. Boarding their dropships and approaching the planet, they saw their carriers in a derelict state, despite being gone for less than a thousandth of the planet's rotation. While in atmosphere, going below the auroras, they noticed fighters fleeing the hangars of the carriers in haste.

This indication became clear when one of their starfighters flew past the dropships, in flames, covered in numerous native creatures. The pilot of the ship ejected, with one creature clinging to the soldier, tearing his chute and kit apart violently, before being shot and pushed away. The dropship crew, only seeing the few enemies, assumed this was an isolated incident, despite the hint that the unresponsive bridge of all their carrier vessels pointing toward a total defeat down below.

Once landing near the fallen soldier, he crawled toward the dropship, screaming for his allies. He began to warn them about returning to the planet's surface, when more of the creatures appeared behind him, and he panickily fired upon them as they overran him, and quickly turned their attention to the dropship. In a stand of bravery, the NSO crew began to fire upon them, and before physical contact was made, they defeated the small group. Once they made their way to the wayward pilot, his shattered carbine was all that remained on the ground, with a small hole in the porous surface indicating he was dragged underground.

Observing the way their bodies reacted to their firearms, their pilot noted it would be ideal if they fled while they had time, and to call in reinforcements. Another mentioned that he was certain if their current forces fell, more would be defeated as quickly. The pilot insisted the return to the ship, and leave the planet, contacting their nearby allies from high-orbit.

Once in the air again, a blur appeared on the nose camera's display, the pilot taking notice of this. Silently, the creatures boarded the ship from an unseen direction when they began to take off. Clawing at the hull and cockpit, the pilot attempted a dangerous maneuver, sliding the ship into a tall spire-like structure protruding from the ground. The creatures managed to stay aboard, and broke into their ship from the docking hatch in the ceiling. A firefight ensured, but the camera was unable to see the action, as one of the creature's heads was blown into liquid, coating the lens cover of the cam.

The nose of the ship took a steep dive toward the ground, before gaining flight again, and was heading toward the upper atmosphere. In moments, their dropship entered outer space, emerging at an angle from the rings of the planet. Screaming and fighting could still be heard, however it did cease. In their last moments, the crew or the pilot hit their universal emergency distress signal. The footage was recovered, still actively recording, as Hop and his forces arrived days later.

Story 3-0: The Intentions of the Father

Hop was first made aware of the distress signal when a GSA frigate passing by picked the signal up, unaware there was a planetary system between other charted systems. Alerting their command, they were told to halt their duties and approach the planet from afar. Once arriving in the gravitational pull of the planet's star, numerous NSO signals were picked up, including the ancient rover's low-power pings. The rover identified the planet and its previous registered owner, Seijo of the 305th division. Quickly startled by this revelation, they forwarded this information through the Hoppist Network back to Karrots. All traces and records were later stricken from record by Hop himself.

While at training at home, Hop took a minor break to be caught up on the Hoppist Network's newest alert feeds. Discovering that a world his father once mentioned as forbidden was being investigated, a tale of horror was recalled and struck Hop with the urge to jump into action. Within moments, his personal vehicle was prepped for take-off, and his personal weaponry of choice from his room was assembled. Stepping into public, numerous civilians were surprised but joyous to see Hop displaying his war uniform. Before commotion was made, he leapt into the sky and then was picked up by his ship, flying into space.

Once aboard the nearest Electric Eye, he summoned his personal division to his flagship dreadnought at the time, King's Fist, to brief them on their perilous emergency mission. Once assembled, Hop revealed his father's personal notes and video evidence from the battle cams of the initial visit to World 1-0-3318. Debriefed on the dangerous unknown nature of this enemy that even threatened a Knight of Sop and recently defeated an entire NSO fleet, his personal division was informed that they needed to be above their best if they wanted to win.

Hop, knowing his father's desire to keep as many planets intact as possible, forwent the option to simply bombard the planet from orbit, or use a weaponized Electric Eye to atomize the world. There were 2 reasons for this approach. The first was that the loneliness and sheer gravity of the intact world and its star would ensure numerous orbits would pass before the natives could naturally evolve to flee the planet. Secondly, despite having no resources, the world did hold no value to Hop, being a place his father suggested would be an ideal hellscape to train the toughest of Knight on, if the planet was conquered properly. Sop wanted every generation of Knights to grow beyond the previous in any way they could, and a world of nightmarish creatures that relentlessly attack everything are ideal for high-stress combat and tactics.

Despite this, Hop would still reserve his personal strength to obliterate the entire planet by throwing it into its star as a final resort. His division took off to a world meant to die in obscurity, in the aim of destroying yet another race of beings that threatened the peace-loving citizens of the greater Universe.

Story 3-1: The Eradication

The morning of the GSA's invasion, the planet seemed abuzz with activity. It appeared surviving NSO forces made their way to the most intact part of the planet's crust, taking shelter in a mountain range. The advantage of the higher ground allowed them to rapidly dispose of waves of the native beings as they pushed. Taking solar power to fuel their remaining weapons and rotating strategies to allow for extended fortification, Hop found their efforts worth studying for a short while. In this observation period, it was found that the natives evolutionary traits allowed them to become nimble and intelligent. While not communicating nor working as a team, the creatures understood projectile weapons and were seen baiting the NSO forces into firing until they depleted their energy or overheated, which was made worse by the high temperatures of the mountains.

Planning to instead introduce new tactics that the beings had not seen prior, Hop favored an assault that would push toward the NSO, pinching the natives between them, while have air support that would strafe any angles the natives peered out from. Hop would take himself to the other side of the world and go to the most lively section of the creature society, where a massive hive was forming. This biological structure appeared to alter the very form of the beings. Many were developing wings, additional limbs, harder carapaces and combat-focused body parts in the form of spikes and joints.

Knowing the sheer variety would overwhelm his forces, but later could be used as training for future generations of Knights and drones, Hop carefully planned his approach, having his forces begin their dual-phase assault on the natives, then the NSO after he began his own attack, ensuring his Knights would have a faster victory with less total forces to fight.

Hop would deploy by falling from a personal vessel in atmosphere, after the NSO began to struggle with the next oncoming wave. Arritz, the hero of R'Juko, was present with the other Knights designated to stay on the main carrier.

TBC