2001

Chapter 8 | Landing Page | Chapter 10

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 9

It was supposed to be an unevent day for the life of Sha Zural of Harkk’hah, as his Qwaar-jet heavy cruiser cruised back to their planetoid base. The last Festivities didn’t go well for the Harkk’hah as they had hoped, but it’s just festivities nothing more. But he has his share of delightfully memorable scandals. The best of the Harrk’hah pilots lost to a girl, who just happens to be the Segura of Khor. To make matters worst, the girl attacked the pilots with a wrench after the competition, and in the ensuing scuffle, injured his pilots and herself. Zural smiled. The young Segura upstart had a lot of pep and attitude. One day if she’s older, and when the House of Khor has recovered some of its former power, he might consider doing a political alliance against the other conspirational factions in the Council. At least he was content that the Harkk’hah pilots finished ahead of their old time rivals, the For’lym.

Zural watched the stars. He can see his fleet, mostly frigates and transports led by a Lord class carrier. The beautiful Qwaar-jet was his special prize, a Taiidani Imperial Heavy Cruiser he unceremoniously took over from its former owners when they stopped being useful for him. He also took over a Saarkin-Cho carrier and a number of Skaar-Tel and Skaar-Fa destroyers, boosting his total firepower beyond those allowed by Treaty of House. For a bonus, he shipped his former Imperialist allies to the Republican war criminal hunters in a classic backstabbing move that net him a large monetary bonus. The double cross also puts him way ahead in asking political favors from nearby Republican planetary governors. He thought about that scandal with the Flo’karr scribe right in the oath taking. He wasn’t sure about that Nemesis thing the scribe was babbling about, but the scribe was certainly right about the Houses bypassing the ship tonnage Treaty.

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Chapter 7 | Landing Page | Chapter 9

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 8

The festivities over, the immense Raider armada that settled around the Turan planetoid began to depart, each fleet and task force, on to their own business. Compared to the noise the festivities brought, the departures was peaceful and quiet. As the Turan planetoid itself, it has settled back to its ordinary day to day business. The hawkers, as usual, remained to peddle their wares, as the planetoid represents an important trading post in this wild frontier of the galaxy. Mercenaries from all over the Galaxy and of all races, and not just of Raider persuasion, began to return to the planetoid, searching for job opportunities. The parking space of the planetoid as well as its docking bay, began to swamped by all sorts of unidentifiable craft from all over the galaxy. The Mule stayed. There was still some unfinished business.

A Flo’karr worker led Seejuk, Zha, Kuo’ran, Giirsa and Zhoan into the bowels of the planetoid, and there, the long age of the planetoid began to show. The tunnels were crudely cut out of the rock, then the surfaces glazed with what must be a hot torch into a glasslike surface to trap the air. The air was pungent like a crypt, there was a smell of methane and ammonia, and the ventilation tubes leaked with brown clouds. The ventilation and electrical equipment looked vintage, Seejuk thought, something like one would see in Kharak a hundred years before the Mothership launched. Yet Seejuk thought, it’s possible that this equipment here may be thousands of years old. As they passed by the tunnels, lit by inefficient incandescent devices, a few people walked by them, and Seejuk guessed they to be maintenance engineers.

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Chapter 6 | Landing Page | Chapter 8

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 7

The Council fleet slipped out of the hyperjump gates. Before them lay the dark matter clouds so often found in the Galactic Rims. Here in the Mohilim sector lay the boundary of the knownspace of the Galaxy. Beyond lay the darkspace of the Abyss, where there was little light and dark matter dominate.

The fleets of the Bentusi, the Tiamat, the Naga and the Sekmet began to discharge their cargo of Super Acolyte fighters, each race of the Unbound distinguished by its color—gold for the Bentusi, black for the Tiamat, blue for the Naga and red for the Sekmet. The Acolytes formed a magnificent formation, bristling in color against the background of darkspace.

It was the Tiamat that was first to speak, a voice projecting from the radial armed spidership.

“We are the Tiamat, the ones who speak in a thousand voices, the Wheel of Fate, the Destroyers of the Unbound.”

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Chapter 5 | Landing Page | Chapter 7

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 6

What looked like a Raider Ion Array Frigate orbited around a gas giant, the giant’s rocky rings provided the cover the Raiders have so traditionally and skillfully exploited. The combination of the rockes, the gravity and magnetic fields both by the giant and the asteroids tend spoil sensors. It was a perfect hiding place. The Flo’karr research and early warning vessel the Albagnon belongs to the Seeker class, which was essentially a modified Ion Array Frigate. The beam cannon had been removed for a long telescope array, while the ion array panels were replaced with long range sensor panels. The slim hull was preserved, and so was the cloaking or mimic equipment. The arrays were all pointed to the outer regions of the galaxy

“We have massive readings on the Mohilim sector,” said a researcher.

“Looks like a small nova,” said the captain. “It is rare to have energy readings of that sort in a rather slow and benign sector. Keep recording the event, the area has been full of anomalous readings lately.”

Hours later, the sensors went off again, and the captain rushed to his chair.

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Chapter 4 | Landing Page | Chapter 6

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 5

“This is the big event!” said Zhoan, as the party embarked on a frigate docked on the planetoid. Zhoan could see the questions in the faces of his three Kushan guests. The frigate was large, bulky, with squarish, angular lines, lacking the clean look of an Assassin class Ion Array Frigate, and bristling with turrets.

“This ship is a Cutlass Salvage Frigate, one of the ships unique to the House of Du’ran, and a great source of pride to our fleet. As the name suggests, we use it to salvage, board and capture large ships. A single one of this can take out a Resourcer or Tradeship; two of these an entire Destroyer. The compartments here are used to hold an entire company of marines. It will clamp on a vessel, cut through the hull, and the party will invade the enemy ship.”

“But for this occasion, we’re fitting this Cutlass with extra scanning equipment and terminal screens. We are going to use the ship, pick up Zha’s racer, and head for the asteroids where we will deploy her ship in the starting position. Then relax and watch the Belt Race from here. So enjoy a relax.”

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Chapter 3 | Landing Page | Chapter 5

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 4

It was the time of the Festivities, and it was the opportunity for the Flo’karr to gather the stories and tales from all the numerous Houses of the Raiders and record them in song and poem for all their children to hear.

But Zhura, following the quest sought by her father, had another purpose. As Flo’karr scribes interviewed and downloaded all the recent tales of the Raiders, she focused on incidents that occurred in the Frontier sector, a sector of space not even touched by the Taiidani during the height of their Empire. Beyond the Frontier lay the great Abyss, the vast space between the Galaxies, where there is nothing but a few star clusters and where Dark Matter reside. Dark Matter is the primordial matter left over from Universal Creation, and it can harbor no life, so no life can exist in the Abyss. But can a civilization resource and live on Dark Matter?

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Chapter 2 | Landing Page | Chapter 4

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 3

Seejuk returned to the makeshift laboratory inside the Mule, one of the sole places of refuge he had in the ship from the constant bickering of the two Kiithsa scions. The lab was used to keep specimens and relics for analysis.

Something caught his attention. He almost forgot about this experiment. It was shortly before the Kadeshi began their crusade, and the Naabal engaged a Generation 7 fragment of the Beast. The Mule came to the battlesite and retrieved nanotech samples from debris in the battlespace. They found the G7 fragments but the discovery of the Kadeshi ships in the area overshadowed that event.

The G7 fragments were kept in a quarantine chamber. He had placed plants and animal samples inside the chamber to observe and document Beast nanotech infection. Predictably enough the sample plants and animals turned fiery red, with the characteristic red moldy patches all over. Instruments documented the events, and the data was stored in the banks. It can be useful in developing a new anti Beast vaccine, or even—perish the thought—a controllable Beast virus that can be used as a weapon. No, no, the Imperials tried that, and the experiment blew in their faces. The released Beast mutation ravaged both Imperialist and Turanic homespaces. One of the victims was Zha Khor herself. She was orphaned, her home outpost destroyed, when a mutated Beast fragment attacked the Khor base.

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Chapter 1 | Landing Page | Chapter 3

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Chapter 2

“Father?”

“I’m right here, my child.” His image beamed with light, and an aura surrounded him.

“I thought you were dead.” Zha knelt before the image. “Is that really you?”

“I will always be with you, my loved one,” said the image. “You know me by what you feel in your heart.”

“Father?” Zha reached out to touch the ethereal image, and that was when she opened her eyes. She stared at the walls that made up her bedroom, all lined with photos of planets, diagrams and pictures of starships and fighters, and a few photos of some Taiidan pop idols. There were too many unspeakable things that lay on the floor. Other junk littered the shelves and tables. The room could be a museum on its own.

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Landing Page | Chapter 2

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The White Beast

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted April 26, 2001

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Prologue

After the great Crusade of the Kadeshi, Zha Khor, the arrogant young Raider princess and her business manager’ the brilliant engineer Seejuk Liirhra returned to the Turan Planetoid. It was for the great Raider festivities of the Oathtakin g, a cultural celeb ration that has united the different Houses of the Raiders for many millennia.

Aboard, two rival scion s of Hiigara’s greatest Kiiths are embarked on a journey to prove their theories about the origins of intelligent life on the Galaxy—the ProtoGenesis theory. It is a journey that begins in the great Planetoid in the search for the origins of the Raiders and a strange prophecy. It ends to the far side of the Galaxy, where the past still lives in the form of a malevolent alien race.

But here, also o n the edge of the Galaxy, a new Beast lives…and evolves.

Facing new threats, the Unbound have gathered their ultimate war machine s for a show down.

As two ancient powers collide, Zha and Seejuk are caught in a race of time to save the one thing that can stop them all, the creature called the White Beast.

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