Black Scourge Conflict

Military action

A new enemy appears out of unsurveyed space. A nanite based AI enemy launches attacks at both the Gor and the Systems Alliance, forcing them to band together.

In 340, probes in the Yakata system first picked up signals from what turned out to be the Black Scourge. Forwarding their scans to the Systems Alliance Diplomatic Corps, it was determined that the Black Scourge was a highly advanced sentient race and a diplomatic envoy was dispatched to make first contact, in accordance with First Contact Protocols. This new race would be approached with an offer of peace and diplomacy.
The offer was rejected. Forcefully.
  No sooner had the Black Scourge destroyed the diplomatic envoy before Systems Alliance early warning systems picked up fleets of staggering size emerging from unexplored corners of space, with course towards Systems Alliance and, due to their proximity, Gor Dominion space. With Drift Drive and Charon Drive, star conflicts had been non-linear, with ships able to travel to one destination without having to fight over every spot on the way. The Black Scourge, it appeared, did not have such technology or, if they did, had no interest in skipping non-military targets. Using some sort of universal geometry distortion, they were able to bend space around their ships, traveling several times the speed of light between systems. While fast, this still took several weeks or months for the Black Scourge, allowing Systems Alliance fleets to easily get into position. When the first Black Scourge invasion force entered the Yakata system, the Systems Alliance thought itself prepared. The Gor Wars had lead to breakthroughs in military science that had only been improved and stabilized in the time of peace. Plasma Cannons, X-lasers, and Solar Torpedos were believed to be a quantum leap forwards in weapons technology and Systems Alliance shield technology had improved by leaps and bounds.
This pride turned out to be grossly misplaced when the Black Scourge appeared. Admirals watched in horror as their high energy weapons were shrugged off by the Black Scourge and when the Black Scourge opened fire with their electron-based weapons, they instantly overloaded shields, shutting them down. A second shot cooked the crew inside the ships alive.

The Yakata System became the site of the first major Systems Alliance loss as the Black Scourge ships quickly closed on the opposition, wiping it out almost to the last man. The few ships that wereaped was all older models, mostly equipped with the relatively low-tech rail guns. However much resistance the Black Scourge had to energy weapons, it seemed to have not applied to kinetic weaponry, allowing the older ships to at least fight back. Retreating through The Drift, Systems Alliance ships desperately sought safety, leaving the Yakata System in the grasp of the Black Scourge.

  The next ten years became a horrifying retreat, with Systems Alliance ships losing fight after fight. At first, Systems Alliance brass utterly refuted the ideas of returning to the older kinetic based weaponry, instead focusing on raising the power of their ships. While it had some effect, the cost of the war kept escalating as the ships became ever more advanced and kept losing engagements. It wasn’t until 348 the admiralty finally decided to start retrofitting their ships with rail based weaponry.

  More fortunate was the Gor. While their fleet had still not recovered from their humiliation in the Gor Wars, they had one major advantage. During the Gor Wars, it had become clear that the Systems Alliance vastly outmatched the Gor in technology. Not thinking it likely that they could play catch up, the Gor Dominion had instead focused on becoming strong in an area the Systems Alliance was weak; Magic. This proved fortunate when the Black Scourge first entered Gor space. While the fighting was fierce, the Gor found that the magical sigils on their hulls was excellent protection against Black Scourge weaponry. While their weapons was about as effective as the Systems Alliance ones, the Gor had not yet transitioned fully to energy weapons and didn't face the bureaucratic pushback against their use, leading to a quick retrofitting to equip their entire fleet with kinetics.

  In 350, the Systems Alliance and the Gor Dominion fleets fought side by side for the first time. In the Black Scourge occupied system of Arathor, formerly a Systems Alliance system, the Gor Dominion had just engaged the Black Scourge in a fight that was definitely not going their way when a Systems Alliance fleet jumped in. Lead by Fleet Admiral Aya Mollara To’Desk, the Systems Alliance bombarded the Black Scourge ships while the Gor Dominion ships placed themselves in the firing line of the Black Scourge, protecting the Systems Alliance ships while they unleashed their superior armaments.

  While the rest of the war was far from a breeze, the tactics pioneered in the Arathor System turned the war in the favor of the Systems Alliance and the Gor Dominion. New kinetic based weapons, such as the Gravity and Vortex canons, developed by the Systems Alliance, was used to bombard the Black Scourge while enchanted Gor Dominion hulls acted as armor, soaking up enemy fire. The fighting remained bloody, but in 354 the Black Scourge retreated back, even abandoning planets they had held before the war.