The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Prologue

The Blood Forge, surface of Stonehaara One, August of 8096 AL.

Gargantuan looked out of the massive window, smiling at the dull brown landscape around him. He stood in a tower that rose thirty meters above the ground; the terrain was a variety of plains and mountains and atomic wastelands, the remnants of the nuclear war that had decimated the Stonehaaryn population. It had once been beautiful, probably the most beautiful place in existence, but what little beauty the Stonehaaryn home world had left disappeared when the Titanus arrived and abducted its people. They had enslaved the inhabitants of the planet and burned the rest to the ground.

The Titanus leader reminisced about days of old; the days of glory and bloodshed, when the Titanus whip, his whip, cracked across the backs of every other race in the universe. The days before his foes the Deitons tried to stop him. They were quickly crushed, but their resistance led to his slaves' revolt, and he lost all of his wealth and power. He couldn't help but smile as he looked over the wasted terrain around the tower, the dead brush and burnt trees, the dull, infertile rocky soil. He couldn't help but remember how that landscape had looked thousands of years before, with nuclear fire and molten plasma melting the surface into glass. Finally, he could not help but imagine how the rest of the universe would soon resemble this scene of devastation. He grinned, and chuckled to himself as he imagined tying Salem Grey to a stake on Machinae One and forcing him to watch as his castle of diamond collapsed under bombshells and hellfire.

His daydreams were interrupted by an automatic door opening behind him. Gargantuan didn't have to turn to know who it was; his servant walked into the room sheepishly, the small man cowered as he stepped towards the towering monster.

"M-my Lord, I have news of importance," the spacer knelt, bowing his head. He had learned a long time ago not to look his master in the eye.

"Why do you interrupt me, peasant?" Gargantuan growled as he turned around and scowled at his servant.

"T-the Blood Forge is operating at two hundred percent capacity, my Lord," the servant looked up from the floor, setting his eyes on his master's feet.

"Good," the Titanus leader almost smiled, "Is there anything else? Or is that pitiful bit of information your only reason for interrupting me? I hardly consider it of importance."

"Y-yes my Lord," he said, "The heathen armada has arrived, as you said they would. They exited slipspace just a few minutes ago, my Lord."

"How many ships?" Gargantuan demanded. He was sure that his forces would crush both the Machinae and the Stonehaaryn fleets, he was simply curious.

"Not enough, my Lord," the servant smiled weakly, "Six thousand Machinae, and seven thousand Stonehaaryn."

Gargantuan smiled, and turned around to look through the window again.

"Leave my presence, peasant," he barked over his shoulder.

The servant bowed his head again and backed out of the room. He still had the scars from the last time he had turned his back on his master.

Gargantuan stared out over the landscape again, then strode with thundering footfalls to a computer below the window. His man-sized fingers tapped away at the oversized console, bringing up a holographic view of the battle about to play out overhead. The hologram displayed the Machinae/Stonehaaryn armada, a combined force of thirteen thousand cruisers, frigates, and destroyers on one side of the map. On the other, it displayed the massive storm surrounding the planet. Rolling, thundering clouds wrapped around the atmosphere, bolts of lightning sparking through the solid black sheets. Gargantuan smiled and sent a message to his fleet, ordering them to attack. As he watched, eight thousand dreadnoughts moved in unison, flying out of the cloud cover and advancing towards the "heathen" armada. The dreadnoughts were copies of the Foehammer, a Machinae cruiser twice the size of any other. The copies had every bit of armor and weaponry that the original did, with the exception of the Apocalypse cannon; the main gun of the original had been damaged when Gargantuan's men had stolen it from Spectre Fleet. The crew's last act before their death had been to disable the cannon, preventing the Titanus from making copies with operational cannons. Even without the main cannon they were more than a match for any fleet in existence. Besides, should the heathens survive the assault and reach the planet's surface, other surprises waited for them.

Gargantuan grinned, and started laughing maniacally as his ships closed in on their prey. It was a deep, guttural laugh that would strike fear into any man's heart. He couldn't wait to watch his enemies fail miserably.

As it was, he wouldn't have to wait for long.