Chapter 8 | Landing Page | Chapter 10

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 9 – The Tiamat

As the carrier left orbit around the base, Zha and Seejuk were busy with the tedious details of logging the inventory. Rows and rows of spanking “new” fighters and corvettes—mostly reconditioned surplus—have brought the Mule’s strike force complement to full strength. For Seejuk, it was surreal to view the hybrid force—-some Taiidani, some Kushan, some Turanic plus a dose of captured Kadeshi Swarmers. To be able to house the fighters, Seejuk planned to hack support units along the bottom of the Mule, based on proposals he read from the latest Hiigaran ship engineering journals.

Zha braced as she was about to hear a long lecture from Seejuk.

He began. “The problem of fighters was that lately, after the Beast Wars, they have taken the turn towards heavier armament over performance. While they have greatly improved their firepower which favors striking capital ships, there is not much improvement in their overall performance. Fighter performance is driven to outmatch the other, and when the other is concentrating attacking capital ships over pure fighter to fighter dogfights, there is not much incentive to improve overall fighter performance. That’s why the Blade Mk6, Triikor Mk2 and the the Acolyte upgraded versions are not really better performers than their predecessors. That is why us Kushans and the Taiidanis are going to pay for this mistake dearly when they face up with new upgraded Swarmers, which will fly rings around their craft. The problem is that it will take a while to develop a new superior fighter to take the Swarmers on, and by that time, they may have overrun our defenses. The short term partial solution would be to bring back the classic scouts of the Homeworld War, the Arrows and the Fiirkans, as they are the only things that can keep up against the Swarmers, which had a maximum velocity nearly twice as that of the latest interceptor. “

Chapter 7 | Landing Page | Chapter 9

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 8 – Black Star

Lt. Commander Seejuk Liirhra sat on the stool at the bar. Nothing matches the good old ale brewed from the deserts in Kharak. He rammed the drink down to his throat. Ahhh.. Kiith Manaani had been looking in all over Hiigara for a desert to match the exact conditions found in Kharak to correctly brew the ale. They are about that close but not quite.

He should be happy for the offer the Admiral offered him. To command the first of a brand new “Marshall” class of assault carriers, the Baal-Hasim, would be a great honor. If it was any other commander, the promotion would not be an option. But those who work for the Black Star wing of Hiigaran Fleet Intelligence are not answerable to the normal military rank and ladder. Only to the leader of Black Star, a secret member of the Daiamid, can they be only accountable to. The whole Daiamid deliberately denies the existence of Black Star. Both Fleet Command and Fleet Intelligence knows about them but will never formally admit their existence either. Still, if a Black Star officer was encountered, he cannot be formally questioned about his activities, or respond to the normal rank and file. Even if the activities were deemed illegal by the Daiamid.

Chapter 6 | Landing Page | Chapter 8

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 7 – The Proposal

“What?…” Zha’s face was livd and turning red. She started to prance around the bridge deck, hunting for an explanation.

“Are you?…are you, a spy?…” Zha started to stutter with rage.

“To be exact to the term, no. Sooner or later, I did intend to tell you, but err, the busy events in the last few weeks have totally occupied my mind,” Seejuk replied. “I am, not by the exact definition, a spy. I have never compromised you and the security of your ship. I was an engineer and scientist working with the Black Star wing of Hiigaran Intelligence. Our mission was to salvage Beast technology in the Outer Rim. Our covert operations are not formally approved by the Daiamid, so we are working under great risk, but the urgency and importance of the task means we cannot for the politics.”

“You know what?” Zha uttered, her arms crossed and mouth in a pout. “For a Kushan you spin a lot! I wonder what you have betrayed about Raider technology to your Black Star group.”

Chapter 5 | Landing Page | Chapter 7

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 6 – Engagement

As a child she was frail, but unusual to look at. She had a metallic silvery blonde hair with cold steel eyes to match. For that other children were afraid of her, called her a freak. She never played with them either.

Inside the great Arkships of Kadesh, G’yela had only one friend. It was a creature alien to the Arkships, a Bunari, a slimy, slithering creature with two big eyes with an unusual sensitivity of its environment. No one knows how the Bunaris got to the Arkships, or what they were originally called, but that was what the Kadeshi called them. When the Kadeshi trapped and captured unsuspecting merchant ships who unexpectedly ran into the Gardens, these ships often carried all sorts of alien vermin in their holds. When the captured ships were brought to the Arkships for assimilation, these vermin escape into the slums of the Arkships, adding themselves to the ecology in the slums. Sometimes when the vermin get big enough, the people themselves will eat them.

Chapter 4 | Landing Page | Chapter 6

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 5 – The Mule

The decks were littered with sparks as every able body tries to< repair the extensive damage on the carrier. Zha was happy she got Seejuk’s competent team of Kiith Liirhra engineers working on the Mule, even if they were Kushans. She paced all over the carrier’s decks, watching the progress of the repair. Having the Kushans were an advantage. The Turanics were never good engineers. They had mainly acquired and adapted someone else technology and braced them with their own common sense. They’re not the best when it comes to maintenance and repair either, and Raider ships were often dependent on hiring Taiidani engineers to work for them. The Imperialists were a boom for that.

In one of the decks, Seejuk Liirhra’s voice was hoarse from shouting and managing his team. When Kiith Liirhra declined in influence, many engineers were left idle and without work. That was about the time other Kiith wanted to pursue their own ship design projects and shipyards, all part of a political manipulative attempt to reduce their dependence over Liirhra. The fact that Liirhra wanted exorbitant licensing fees did not help very much. The smaller Kiith went buying to the Somtaaw or the Bentusi. Many in the Liirhra went to work for the other Kiiths, but Seejuk managed to pull a competent team that was interested with his deep space ventures.

Chapter 3 | Landing Page | Chapter 5

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 4 – The Starfarer

Zha felt cold and alone, huddled in the small cockpit of the Swarmer. She wondered if her impulsiveness would cost her big this time. She always acted courageous and cool for people in the outside, but inside, the sheer fear of death gripped her spine. There was no people outside to show her ‘courage’ now.

Sitting outside was the most massive fleet she has ever seen. A Kadeshi armada about to leave the Great Nebula for an unknown destination, and will most probably destroy everything in its path. First to be on peril would be her own people, as Turanic outposts were closest to the Great Nebula. Hundreds of Swarmers patrolled the space around her, some in formation, some trying to get in formation, some not in formation. A sense of chaos prevailed, as if the Kadeshi are trying to get their act together. No one noticed her and her Swarmer. Her journey takes her close to some Kadeshi ships, where she got to see Pods, Needleships and the dreaded Multibeam frigates up close. She opened communications to hear the chatter, and she heard among the chatter of pilots, the music of an angelic choir blaring the subwaves. She could not understand the lyrics, but she had no doubt it was extolling a glorious feeling into the Kadeshi pilots. For a while there she felt inspired herself.

Chapter 2 | Landing Page | Chapter 4

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 3 – The Pirate

The Bandit rolled as it turned to avoid an asteroid. Then it rejoined its comrades in a delta formation. It was the end of their patrol, and they headed back to their home carrier, an imposing and threatening design, known as a Lord class ship.

Zha Khor had always wanted to be an engineer, ever since she discovered her hobby. That is, to hod rod and customize fighters for racing. She was lying down all greased up in the floor, with wrenches around her. A Taiidani Raptor scout, known to the Hiigarans as by their coded name Fiikhan, used to be her favorite, but now, she had a new beau. It was a Taiidani Fury class interceptor, also known as Triikors to the Hiigarans, or to at least her Hiigaran business manager by the name of Seejuk Liirhra. The Triikor, painted with flames and lightning bolts, was a true beauty in the eyes, but it wasn’t the same like her old Raptor scount. Even when she got other Raptors—and the license to manufacture them, along with Furies—it still wasn’t the same. Maybe it was the motivation behind the giving of the old Raptor that made that ship so special to her.

Chapter 1 | Landing Page | Chapter 3

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 2 – The Holocaust

More than 3000 years ago…

“Get those people in here, quickly!” Lt. Commander N’ua Helan shouted, as she grabbed a child fallen to her knees. They can’t do this, N’ua thought, oh gods of mercy, why are they doing this? Have they not enough of our blood? Since the defeat of the Empire, the Taiidans had unleashed a galaxy wide genocide against every living Hiigaran. The Galactic Council, revolted by the massacres, had issued a desist order and negotiated with the Taiidans to allow all Hiigarans to an exile instead. But on the eve of Exile, as thousands of ships of the once proud Hiigaran Navy prepare their departure, the treacherous Taiidans have decided to break the rule and unleashed a terrifying attack.

The once pristine blue skies of Hiigara burned red from horizon to horizon. The Firestorm will cleanse the planet, cleanse it all of the memory that was once Hiigara.

Landing Page | Chapter 2

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The Kadeshi Crusade

A Homeworld Fanfiction

by Crobato

Originally posted May 15, 2001

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Chapter 1 – The Priestess

Once again, since the days of the plague known as the Beast, the stars were aflame in battle. “They are on the retreat, they are on the retreat!”

Caught in a crisscross of ion beams, what was once a Beast Ion Array frigate was now an exploding ball of gas with plasma balls flying out in all directions. “YES!!!…” shouted the pilot, looping the Beam Acolyte into a victory roll before joining his wing in formation. Below him, a wing of Avengers streaked past a wall of Hammer corvettes and Blade Mark 6 interceptors in a race to finish off the survivors.

Adm. Njad Nabaal of the Kushan carrier Kuura’sa could not be more pleased. Years since the defeat of the Great Beast, pockets of its offspring remain, the virus mutating into various forms. A combined Taiidan Republic and Kiith Naabal has spent two years tracking down Beast Virus Generation 3 Variant 7. The G3V7 has been among the most violent mutations, and the plague has destroyed at least one colony and two carrier groups. Soon the story of this unholy Beast offspring would come to an end. With it, he would gain a feather in his cap. By the holy god Sajuuk, he will be vindicated; the head of the Beast will be his trophy to show to the great Council of the Daiamid.