The sleeping giants
Chapter 1
Faction: Junpar Union, democratic union of the Gilfar and Zergians
Captain Farrox, Renowned Gilfar war hero
The stars looked normal all too normal I thought, and being honest I was beginning to think my doubts were all superstition. When command gave me this assignment I took it as punishment, but if they're willing to send an entire fleet on this mission perhaps they believe this is of significance. For cycles we've been fight the Makkar confederation and for cycles we've been at a stalemate with the xenocidal scum, Intel suggest they were running supply lines through the great quiet, a large section of space known for vessels disappearing.
"Captain another system with nothing how much longer are we gonna keep this up-" Private Ferto! I yell must I remind you if there is even a chance no matter how small to win this war it should be done. Or are you forgetting you are fighting for Every Gilfar and Zergian back home.
" I understand Captain but there's no trace of any Makkar vessel, would we not be of more use on the front lines" Private I understand your concerns but high command believes this is where the Makkar run there supply. Now we will finish searching each system they reported or has the superstition of this space gotten to you Private? Do you really believe in the stories of Humanity?
" No Captain Farrox !"
I turn back to the view port, and while I admire Private Ferto's sense of urgency the youngling has to learn some manners. Perhaps after this mission I should take him under my wing. He could rise far maybe even an admiral I thought. He certainly has the talent for it, he just has to work on his people skills. I trailed off
Captain!, a shout came from the radar tech, "we are detecting multiple ship signatures all originating from the largest gas giant in the system " Finally I thought, seems high command were right and we found their supply lines .
Everyone to your stations, we will use war plan crimson and separate into 3 divisions, time we cripple these bigots. My crew started humming to life, operating with the precision of 100 battles, it brought a sense of pride to my old heart, one I've missed all the cycles. Its been far too long I thought.
"Captain !" Private Ferto sqauked there's two Makkar drone fleets blocking off where we just came in". " It's worse a Gilfar radar tech hissed, 2 more drones fleets just entered space from the other gas giant.
The reality set in fast, the Makkar were waiting here and they knew we were coming.
Shields up ! Evasive plan gamma I yelled
And ready the rail guns of every vessel, we will punch throuvht their left flank and make a break for it, tell every general to follow the flagship I commanded.
The fleet responded instantly, but the numbers were brutal, 1 against 5
Our attempt at blasting a hole through the horde of ships was unsuccessful
"Captain were gonna need one of your miracles Ferto said"
Thats it, all ships fall back we go deeper into the great quiet.
The silence was louder than the battle,
Did i stutter? Do it I yell to the top of my lungs.
No one like the order but it was done, it was a that could be done.
The fleet broke formation and the Makkar followed, ofcourse they did, a predator will always close in for the kill
The stars dimmed behind us and the void deepend.
And then everything died.
No alarms
No explosions
No lights No warnings
Then the tactical map blinked and for the First time ever I felt fear.
Is this some weapon by the Makkar? I thought. But it wouldn't make sense, why are they waiting for the kill?
The darkness remained far longer than it should have, and the quiet was getting to the crew
I have commanded ships through warzones that burned brighter than stars.
I have watched fleets die in ordered lines and broken retreats.
I thought I understood what it meant to be outmatched.
I was wrong.
When the systems failed, I did not panic, I had to be calm
The truth is… there was no time to panic.
One moment we were running—bleeding thrust, shields collapsing, the Makkar closing in for the kill—
And the next—
Nothing.
Not darkness.
Not silence.
Absence.
Every system aboard the Junpar flagship ceased as though it had never existed. No alarms. No failures. No cascading errors.
Just… gone.
I remember giving orders.
I do not remember hearing them answered.
For a time—I cannot say how long—we drifted.
Not dead.
Not alive.
Simply… held.
It was Tarev who first spoke.
He said the stars were disappearing.
I almost corrected him.
They were not disappearing.
They were being obscured.
Something vast had moved between us and the rest of the galaxy.
I saw it then.
Not on sensors—those never returned—but with my own eyes.
Shapes in the void. Immense. Still.
They emitted no energy. No heat. No signature of any kind.
If not for the way the stars bent around them, I might have believed they were hallucinations.
The Makkar fleet was still there.
I remember that detail clearly.
Five fleets that moments before had meant our destruction…
Reduced to the same helpless silence as us.
It should have comforted me.
It did not.
Because whatever held us—
Held them as easily.
The lights returned without warning.
Not ours.
Ours were still dead.
These were… imposed.
Every console activated. Every screen aligned to a single signal.
I knew, in that moment, that what followed was not a transmission in any sense we understood.
It did not travel.
It simply… arrived.
The voice was… measured.
That is the word I used in my report.
Measured.
As though each word had been considered long before we were ever born.
“You have traveled far from the noise.”
No language barrier. No translation delay.
We understood it instantly.
I do not know how.
“We allowed the younger races their wars. Their borders. Their illusions of distance.”
Allowed.That word will forever haunt me i thought for it meant we had not discovered them, we had been… tolerated.
“You were not meant to find this place.”
I tried to respond, but i could not find my courage.
Protocol demanded identification, negotiation, something.
I demanded they Identify themselves. This- this was a slip of the tounge i would regret.
Not because it angered them.
But because of the answer. " You already have" In that moment it dawned upon me, the myths of the Great quiet are all real and we just encountered humanity.