After Everything - Remastered Edition

[Macavity116]

Greetings, fellow interstellar overlords!

Five years ago, I posted my first Stellaris story on this website. After Everything was my attempt to bring a childhood fantasy world of my own creation into the vastly customizable world of Stellaris. However, it ended up being the springboard from which a whole series of Stellaris stories launched.

The Stormbreaker Universe was a mainstay of the Stellaris AAR forums for about three and a half years. The series even survived my attempts to end it prematurely, entertaining many people before it came to its true ending last winter with the 2022 AAR of the Year: The Last Heroes.

I wanted to do something to mark the five-year anniversary of the story that started it all, but I had trouble deciding just what to do. Ultimately, I settled on a full remastering of After Everything.

My reason is practical. Back in 2018, I was a new forum user and completely unfamiliar with the site. The story contains numerous typos and punctuation errors. I did not know how to present a story in a way that was easy for people to read. After Everything is full to brimming with poor formatting, such as the use of multicolored text to differentiate multiple people talking at the same time. This makes After Everything visually distinct from all of the other entries in the series. Despite being part of the Stormbreaker Universe, After Everything simply does not look or feel like any of its prequels or sequels.

The Remaster will aim to fix these issues. The formatting of the story will be changed so that it looks and reads like the other nine installments in the series. (No more colored text, with one exception)

To achieve this, After Everything will be converted into a 1-to-1 copy of its physical edition, the hardcover book I carried to PDXCON 2019 and had autographed by the Stellaris dev team. All changes will be limited to the formatting, spellcheck, and punctuation, with the specific objective of bringing this story into line with the rest of the series. One previously deleted chapter will be restored, due to it being retroactively made canon by The Stormbreakers.

The plot will not be changed in any way. Furthermore, The original 2018 thread will remain in place, unchanged. All images from the original thread will remain unchanged. One image from The Stormbreakers will be added to this thread, as I think it is needed to give the reader additional context about the starship Bushranger, which appears during the final act of this story.

Now, dear readers: Please roll back your copy of Stellaris to Version 2.0.4 and join me in this blast from the past…

---

AFTER EVERYTHING – A STELLARIS STORY
Written by Macavity116

​

Copyright 2018 by Macavity116

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2019

For my sister,
who helped me build this world and make it worth exploring



Contents​

Prologue: Beginning at the Ending	Page 1
Chapter 1.1: A Seven Year Mission	Page 6
Chapter 1.2: Sixty	Page 11
Chapter 1.3: First Jump	Page 14
Chapter 1.4: On the Hyperlane	Page 17
Chapter 2.1: A Close Call	Page 23
Chapter 2.2: Rotorua	Page 32
Chapter 2.3: Left Behind	Page 42
Chapter 2.4: A Global Prison	Page 54
Chapter 2.5: Slipgate	Page 59
Chapter 2.6: Message in a Bottle	Page 65
Restored Chapter: Mira's Nightmare
Chapter 3.1: The Shroud	Page 82
Chapter 3.2: Voices in the Dark	Page 105
Chapter 3.3: Sol	Page 114
Chapter 3.4: The Place Where History Ended	Page 121
Chapter 3.5: Oceans and Stars	Page 140
Chapter 3.6: Crossover	Page 146
Chapter 3.7: After Everything	Page 166
Chapter 4.1: The New War	Page 176
Chapter 4.2: The Bushranger	Page 188
Chapter 4.3: Distant Enemies	Page 196
Chapter 4.4: The Green Guard	Page 207
Chapter 4.5: Reunions	Page 239
Chapter 4.6: The Battle of Nithascal	Page 267
Chapter Five	Page 290
Epilogue: Ending at the Beginning	Page 349

 

[Macavity116]

<== Previous Book (All Our Sins Remembered)

Next Chapter (A Seven Year Mission) ==>​

Prologue: Beginning at the Ending

The Second Hyperspace War lasted exactly 21 years. When the storm cleared, over 15,000 inhabited worlds had been burned, crushed, exploded, silenced, pulverized, shattered, or otherwise annihilated. There was no possible way to count the dead.

During the final battle, fought both on the ground and in the skies above Earth, 15 Stormbreakers, each one the hero of other stories I don’t have time to tell you, rose from the island of Kyushu and lead the combined forces of every galactic civilization in a colossal offensive against Agamemnon itself.

10 Stormbreakers fell to the Invaders.

4 Stormbreakers vanished and were never seen nor heard from again.

And Jericho stood alone against Agamemnon.

The storm became more intense and vicious than ever before. Their battle shattered planets, killed millions, and caused permanent damage to the Hyperspace Network across the entire galaxy.

And then it was over. Neither Jericho nor Agamemnon remained. The Invaders, having lost their nerve center, became lethargic and vulnerable. All across the galaxy, Invader fleets were outmaneuvered and crushed by forces less than half their size. Within a year, the Invaders were completely purged from all creation.

The war was over, but the damage was still done. The Invaders destroyed three quarters of all populated places in the galaxy, while Jericho and Agamemnon disabled every Hyperspace Gate in the galaxy. Without the Network, great star nations like the Kingdom of Partoga, the Levakian Confederation, Amadiio, Vania, the Micore Empire, Kelta, and the United States of Assuria simply ceased to exist.

While the political powers of the galaxy died, tens of millions of tons of battle debris rained down on the Earth. The impacts thrust clouds of dust into the air. Shrouded in clouds, the Earth fell into permanent winter, returning humankind to its isolation from the rest of the galaxy. Unable to call upon their new extraterrestrial allies for help, the people of Earth vanished into silence. Soon, the Sol Star itself became lost.

Which brings us here, to a red star with seven battered worlds around it:

These battle-scarred planets were once the core of the Kingdom of Partoga. Founded in the year 1515, the Kingdom controlled 116 star systems at the height of its power and fielded one of the greatest navies the galaxy had ever known. During the Second Hyperspace War, the galactic front line transected the Kingdom’s territory. So many battles were fought in Partogan space that the population took shelter in a network of underground bunkers on the Homeworld.

Over a century and a half has gone by since the bunker doors were sealed. The people inside knew nothing of the conflict outside. After waiting for decades, some Partogans have bravely ventured out onto the planet surface and reported back that the nuclear winter on the surface was drawing to a close. It was finally safe to emerge from the shelters.

Eventually, the Partogan Royal Space Corps dispatched uncrewed probes into interstellar space to ascertain the fate of the galaxy. This was how the Partogan people learned that they alone had survived the Invasion. The Levakians, Amadii, Vanians, Keltians, Micore, and Assurians were all gone. On top of all that, the Sol Star, home of Jericho and her 14 companions, was nowhere to be found.

A century and a half after Jericho gave herself to the final victory, someone else’s story is about to begin.

…

On April 30, 2180, this message was broadcast on every radio and television in the Kingdom of Partoga:

We interrupt this program. This is a national emergency. Important instructions will follow. All stations have interrupted their programming at the request of the Royal Government to broadcast a message to the nation. Standby for a message from the Kuhina Nui of the Kingdom of Partoga:

“To our good and hardworking subjects, I must bring terrible news. Our beloved Queen Kendra the Second, the guardian of our nation, has departed this world. She passed on peacefully in the company of her family around 6 in the morning on the 30th day of Paenga-whāwhā, in the 665th year of our Kingdom. She is now in the company of Miranda the Great and her fellow Queens. Our nation has lost its greatest daughter. Our people have lost their mother. Although we knew this day was coming, nothing can diminish our sense of profound and enduring loss.

Her Majesty was the driving force behind the reconstruction of our Homeworld. There is no one alive who remembers the Second Hyperspace War of 500-521, but the evidence of the destruction it wrought is omnipresent. Under Kendra’s guidance, we as a people recovered some of what was lost. We emerged from our underground bunkers for the first time since ’21 and saw the light of our sun. We re-occupied the Royal City and a Queen of Partoga sat upon the Emerald Throne for the first time since the war. We as a people will honor Her Majesty. She will lay in state at the Great Library for fifteen days, before being moved to the Unnamed Mountain where the funeral will take place on the 15th day of Haratua. She will be buried in Archer’s Canyon alongside her predecessors: Miranda the Fourth, Miranda the Second, and Kendra the Peacemaker.

In response to the situation, the National Assembly has declared a state of mourning and accordingly has issued the following instructions to the people of the Kingdom: The national flag must fly at half mast, bright colored clothing is prohibited, and all sporting events are cancelled. Weekly church attendance is mandatory for all citizens. This requirement will be enforced by the Green Guard. All girls between the ages of 10 and 15 who have completed the Rite of Passage must give their names to the Priest of their local Church of the Mountain. Again, this requirement will be enforced by the Green Guard.

Our nation stands on the brink of great change. I urge you all to keep your heads held high, cooperate with Church officials and the Green Guard, and most importantly: remain united.

The Mountain be praised.”

You have just heard a message from Kauri Rangi, Kuhina Nui of the Kingdom of Partoga. This message will repeat until the National Assembly provides new instructions.

Please follow the commands of the Green Guard and keep your radio or television tuned to this station for further instructions.

All stations have interrupted their programming at the request of the Royal Government to broadcast an emergency message to the nation.

We have interrupted this program. This is a national emergency. Important instructions will follow.

… … …

<== Previous Book (All Our Sins Remembered)

Next Chapter (A Seven Year Mission) ==>​

 

[steptioit08]

The cycle continues
But this is a warm welcome of a good story

 

[Nikolai]

Interesting, this is a project I did not foresee. The colored text was very jard to read and confusing, so looking forward to this.

 

[Macavity116]

The cycle continues
But this is a warm welcome if a good story

Welcome aboard! Thanks for reading!

Interesting, this is a project I did not foresee. The colored text was very jard to read and confusing, so looking forward to this.

This project has been in the back of my mind ever since After Everything marked its 5-year anniversary back in March. I've been wanting to do away with the colored text for a while. Thanks for reading!

 

[HistoryDude]

I remember After Everything! We’ll see how this changes the tale - what new information could we learn?

Also, I can ask questions per chapter now.

Why and when did Akira give up on the 115th Cycle anyway? In retrospect, this looks a lot like her ideal galaxy - no interstellar travel, no empires to oppose human domination… Did she just lack the ability to create a different FTL system?

Did the Beast use nukes here? They didn’t in the Stormbreakers, right? What was different?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Subscribed.

 

[Macavity116]

We’ll see how this changes the tale - what new information could we learn?

As promised, this remastering will not change the tale at all. Merely bring it into line with the rest of the series. (an simultaneously acknowledging that retcon from The Stormbreakers)

Why and when did Akira give up on the 115th Cycle anyway? In retrospect, this looks a lot like her ideal galaxy - no interstellar travel, no empires to oppose human domination… Did she just lack the ability to create a different FTL system?

By this point, we are very far removed from the events of All Our Sins Remembered, and Akira's end goals have already embraced the all-powerful "Empire of Man" concept. She abandoned this cycle because A.) The Stormbreakers themselves turned violent toward Akira on sight and B.) During the War in Heaven, Infected armies got onto Earth's surface, doing catastrophic damage before being defeated. A full recovery is not possible.

Did the Beast use nukes here? They didn’t in the Stormbreakers, right? What was different?

Both sides made heavy use of nuclear weapons during the final battle for Partoga. That's why the planet is reduced to a Tomb World during this particular timeline.*

Subscribed.

Hello again! Welcome aboard!




*If there are any new readers out there, you need to know that the Stormbreaker Universe as a whole makes very heavy use of time travel as a story element. After Everything is set during a very specific timeline called the "115th Cycle."

 

[Macavity116]

Author's Notes: Here we have the first major change from original to remaster.

In the original version, colored text was used to represent the voice of any character that was not Mira Mihaka. This was a horrible idea and has been done away with. Mira's voice logs will now be shown as transcripts with each speaker being denoted by name.

Also, for the life of me, I cannot remember why I made Mira 35 years old. That detail slipped past me because I had no real idea what I was doing back in January 2018. Now I know about things like proofreading and editing passes. This first chapter will always make me squirm a little when reading. Personally, I'm not a fan of it.

However: I still believe this chapter achieved its objectives. The protagonist was introduced in a memorable way, the reader gets a good sense of the world as well as their first taste of the adventure to come. On the whole, I think this chapter gets the story off to a good start, in spite of its many flaws.

---

<== Previous Chapter (Prologue)

Next Chapter (Sixty) ==>​

Chapter 1.1:​

A Seven Year Mission​

[Personal log: Mission Specialist Mira Mihaka, HMS Midak, Low Partoga Orbit, 29 Hakihea 684.]

Mira Mihaka: Wow… just…wow… I can’t even… wow. Wait…is this thing recording? Okay. Omigoshomigosh… EEEEKK! This is so exciting! Where do I start? Okay… breathe, breathe. So my name is Mira Mihaka. Mission Specialist Mihaka. Wow, I’ve gotta get used to that. This thing still recording? Okay, I’m on board the HMS Midak, hull number AAJJA-15, built by-

Kaia Patariki: Mira, people don’t want to know the ship’s hull number. They wanna know about you.

Mira Mihaka: Oh, right,

Kaia Patariki: Tell them who you are. What your story is.

Mira Mihaka: Okay, okay! That noisy Brakas back there is Kaia Patariki. But this is MY log, damnit! So, I’m a 35-year-old woman studying astronomy at the Royal Academy of Science. Was. I was. My papa is retired now, but he used to work for the Medical Office of the Royal Star Command, and my mama was Queen Kendra the Second. Yeah, yeah, get your questions out now.

Kaia Patariki: Were you there when she died?

Mira Mihaka: I don’t want to talk about it.

Kaia Patariki: So you’re a princess?

Mira Mihaka: I’m not a princess. I’m an astronomer.

Kaia Patariki: My parents say the shadow-state killed your mother, and that there’s a cons-

Mira Mihaka: It was BRAIN CANCER, you Brakas! No conspiracy! No shadow-state! Okay?!

Kaia Patariki: Oh, honey. The shadow-state agents got you to buy into their lies.

Mira Mihaka: Shut up. I’ve got a lot to say.

Kaia Patariki: Fine.

Mira Mihaka: So about this whole thing started three months ago, I got into my dorm and the Dean of my college comes running up to me saying I got a letter from the Royal Palace! Mister Taiaroa was always nosy. He opened the letter and read it himself.

Turns out, a friend of the Kuhina Nui had read my book “Fate of the Savior” which is about the planet Earth, where Jericho had been born. Basically, I wrote about the brief wartime alliance between Partoga and Earth, and how the human named Jericho had saved the whole galaxy. I also speculated on whether or not Jericho had survived her battle with Agamemnon. At the end of the book, I called on the government to launch a science ship to find Earth and figure out if the humans are still alive.

So anyway, the letter-writer said that they had passed my book up the chain of command until both the Kuhina Nui and Her Highness the Queen had both read it.

My head spun a few times after I read that. Anyway, the writer went on to say that someone in the government wanted to speak to me at the Royal Palace and he asked if I could come in later that afternoon.

I actually packed my bags for a long trip before I remembered that the Royal Palace is only half a Kio from the Academy. So I dressed in my Rātapu best and walked to the Palace. When I got there, I thought I was just going to meet some low-level bureaucrat who just wanted to ask a few questions.

Nope.

The Green Guards knew who I was, someone must have told them, and guided me to a small conference room, which had a round table just big enough for maybe five or six people. I was alone in there for maybe a minute or two before the far door opened and three people came in: General Irawaru Ruru, the leader of the Partogan Royal Army, Holy Father Manaaki Ranginui, Patriarch of the Church of the Mountain and QUEEN PHOEBE HERSELF!

I was so shocked, that I completely forgot to stand and bow to her.

See, back my mama was Queen and I was just a little kid, Phoebe the Second (she was called Haki back then) was my personal Acolyte. Haki would stand right behind me during Religious Studies Class every day and hit me in the head with an “awakening stick” if I started to doze off.

I still have the bumps to prove it.

We were friends though. We did everything together. Fed the Kane-Ra in the stables, raided candy from the big kitchens, and stole books from the Great Library…

Kaia Patariki: You’re kidding me... you didn’t do that.

Mira Mihaka: We really did. Thick as thieves, you could have called the two of us sisters. Then mama died when I was nine. Under the law, I was too young to be elected Queen, plus I was never really a “Church Girl,” which would have instantly disqualified me. So I went off to the Academy, and Haki won the election. We haven’t spoken as friends in over twenty years.

The Holy Father gave me a look that got my rear in gear. Once I bowed, we all sat down and she began to talk. Her Majesty explained that I wasn’t the only person who wanted Partoga to reconnect with Earth, and that after reading my book, several high ranking members of the National Assembly, the Church of the Mountain, and the Royal Army were now interested in finding the humans.

Then Her Majesty asked a lot of questions about my book. Stuff like, “How did you calculate the position of the Sol Star? Has your data been reviewed by anyone at the Royal Science Academy? How did you come to your conclusions about the damage Earth took during the War in Heaven? What do you think we might find on Earth?”

And so on and so on.

I answered her questions as clearly as I could, explaining how I had calculated the Sol Star’s orbital path around the Galactic Core, and where one hundred and sixty years of gravitational drift may have pushed it. I told Her Majesty about the fifteen-member committee at the Academy who had confirmed that my numbers were accurate, and how I had collaborated with several archeologists and military historians to figure out how much of a pounding Earth took during the War in Heaven. I gave two answers on what we might find on Earth: First, if humanity had been killed off, we may find the planet looted by survivors of the War in Heaven. If humanity had survived, then there’s no way they’ve recovered from having tens of millions of cubic Bios of dust kicked up into the atmosphere. They could be in a nuclear winter right now.

Her Majesty listened to all of my answers and explanations, then she folded her hands in front of her, and told me in no uncertain terms that I was the first person to calculate the location of the Sol Star AND have their numbers certified by a committee of academics.

“Congratulations are in order,” she said, and then reached across the table and shook my hand.

Then Her Majesty got serious. She told me that she was currently willing and able to allocate manpower, financial backing, and military-grade hardware to a crewed expedition to find Earth and re-establish relations with the humans. It would be Partoga’s first crewed space mission outside the Home System since the Second Hyperspace War over a century and a half ago. She said that my book had been the “last grain of sand that tipped the scale” which convinced the National Assembly to fund the project.

Her Majesty had saved the best part for last. She said she wanted me to take command of the science team that would be going along! I’ll be honest, I didn’t hear what she said after that. My mind went numb. I shook my head like a wet Dipaki and asked the Queen to repeat herself.

She just laughed and quickly went over the offer again: I would command a group of seventeen other scientists who would make up the civilian half of the mission to find Earth. Then she warned me that this mission was going to take a very long time, because the ship was only going to make Short Jumps.

Yeah, I didn’t think about that. Of course, two centuries ago, I could have crossed the entire galaxy in about a week because of the Hyperspace Network. Since all of the Gates were busted by Jericho (perhaps permanently) crossing the galaxy was going to be a massive effort now. I kinda slouched back into my chair when that thought hit me.

Finally, I asked how long this whole operation was going to take.

Her Majesty gestured to General Ruru. He stood up and told me that the area where Sol might be was at least seventeen thousand, eight hundred and forty lightyears away. Flying the most direct path possible, it would take at least fifty-five Hyperspace Jumps to reach the search area and another sixty-eight to get back home.

I did the math in my mind really quick and nearly fainted when I realized it would take three full years just to reach the search area.

So I was already looking at a six year round-trip. On top of that, he told me that the ship had enough provisions on board to stay inside of the search area for at least a year. All told, this journey would take a maximum of seven years.

The Queen said she felt it only appropriate that I be given the chance to lead this mission, since I was the one who had called so loudly for it. But if I wasn’t able or willing to step away from my obligations for so long, then-

No, I cut across her and made it very clear that I was ready and willing for seven years of spaceflight, provided my family was cared for while I was gone.

The Queen agreed just as quickly as I had jumped on the mission. I had planned to just drop out of school the next morning, but Phoebe said ““Nonsense. You graduated this morning.” Alongside that, my papa was moved into the Palace. Specifically, the room he had lived in when his wife had been Queen. My brother Tai was offered a high-paying job in the Great Library so that he could support his daughter.

And finally, Phoebe promised to add Tai’s daughter, my niece, to the list of Queen Candidates. This did two things:

First: if something happens to Phoebe, little Maki would be allowed to stand for Royal Election, provided she hadn’t had her fifteenth birthday yet.

Second: like all other Queen Candidates, she and her family will be placed under Green Guard protection. Obviously, the protection will end after she turns fifteen which’ll disqualify her from the Throne.

Kaia Patariki: The shadow-state hard at work.

Mira Mihaka: Quiet, you!

Actually, throughout the last part of the conversation, Phoebe actually did pull a wad of papers out of her breast pocket and passed them to Holy Father, who had been sitting silently the whole time. He did leave in a hurry too, now that I think about it…

We spent the rest of the day making final arrangements, and then we said our goodbyes.

By the time I left the Royal Palace that night, I was officially the Science Officer of the HMS Midak. It’ll be the first crewed Partogan ship to leave the Home System in over one hundred and sixty years.

And then, by the Mountain, things moved so damn fast.

I had just enough time to tell my papa what I had gotten myself into. He loved the idea, and he gave me a great big heavy box full of mementos from mama’s reign to remind me of home. I’m sitting on it now as I write this log. Then I was flown out to Candon City, or “kandin” as the locals pronounce it, where I spent the next three months getting ready. First: I had to go through 6 weeks of space training. I did my first spaceflight, a six-lap flight around the planet, the day after the Queen’s Birthday.

Then I got to meet the rest of the people on my science team. There’s going to be eighteen civilian scientists on board the Midak, and I’m the leader! I spent a month getting to know everyone and figuring out who was going to do each job in one of the Midak’s three laboratories. Like Her Highness said, all of these people have volunteered for a multi-decade long deep space mission. They had to set their affairs in order too. So once I met everyone, I ordered the team to spend our last few days at the Rapa-Nui resort with their families. Three days of geothermal lakes, massages, and sleeping on the black sand beaches. All paid for by the Royal Government.

And then yesterday, we all flew into orbit and arrived at Fort Daxia’s shipyard. My team and I crossed over to the Midak, and that’s where we are right now. I got everyone set up in their quarters and now we’re just patiently waiting for the military crew to get here.

Phew! I think that’s everything for now. Kaia? Anything you want to say before I sign off for the night?

Kaia Patariki: Nope! I just wanna get going.

[Personal log closed.]

<== Previous Chapter (Prologue)

Next Chapter (Sixty) ==>​

 

[Nikolai]

Been so long since I read this I barely remember more than bits. Not too bad a thing, I guess.

 

[Macavity116]

Been so long since I read this I barely remember more than bits. Not too bad a thing, I guess.

Well it has been five years since this story came out. I think we've all written and read one or two AARs since then.

On second thought... I think that number might be on the low side.

 

[HistoryDude]

Well it has been five years since this story came out. I think we've all written and read one or two AARs since then.

On second thought... I think that number might be on the low side.

The low side is an understatement for me here.

Anyway, the chapter establishes Kaia and Mira as characters quite well and foreshadowes a few things that I won‘t name to avoid spoilers. It‘s still good there.

How friendly are Queen Phoebe and Mira? Some of that read like the Queen affectionately trolling Mira…

How did Jericho destroy the Hyperspace Network? Psionically? She obviously has enough psionic power to do that, given her later incarnation had enough to mostly destroy all Psionics…

 

[Macavity116]

How friendly are Queen Phoebe and Mira? Some of that read like the Queen affectionately trolling Mira…

Mira Mihaka and Haki Kelekolio (the future Queen Phoebe II) were childhood friends. Haki has much fonder memories of Mira and still felt a bond to her as an adult.

How did Jericho destroy the Hyperspace Network?

For new readers, Jericho is a character who will appear later on in this story. She is a major figure in the Stormbreaker Universe and is occasionally referred to as "The Girl who Became a God." She is most famed for her defeat of the Beast. (The vanquished foe referred to as "Invaders" in After Everything)

In short, Jericho used her Psionic powers to "burn" or destroy the Hyperspace Gate she forced the Beast to travel through. While she and the Beast were travelling through Hyperspace, Jericho overpowered and defeated the Beast in Hyperspace. Unfortunately, Jericho overdid her final strike. Instead of destroying the Sol Hyperspace Gate as intended, Jericho's energy was fed into the wider network of Hyperspace Gates, burning out the network and permanently disabling all Gates in the Galaxy.

 

[Macavity116]

Author's Notes: My sister and I created the Kingdom of Partoga and its inhabitants when we were children. Most of the creative work happened between 2005 and 2007.

We were very heavily influenced by the LEGO Bionicle toyline and its deep lore. Many worldbuilding elements for the Partogan people are lifted directly from Bionicle. A very large number of Partogan characters, places, and starships share their names with elements from Bionicle. The starship Midak is named after a very minor character from 2001-2003 Bionicle. (Hint, if you ever played the Mata-Nui Online Game, you saw him at the northern entrance to the tunnels, he's the one who leant you the racing crab)

The measuring system is a 1-to-1 copy of the one used in Bionicle:

1 Bio = 4.5 Feet (1.37 Meters)
1 Kio = 0.85 Miles (1.37 Kilometers)
1 Mio = 850 Miles (1370 Kilometers)

1,000 Bio to a Kio.
1,000 Kio to a Mio.

It was my sister's idea for a day on Partoga to be longer than a day on Earth. I was the one who picked 30 hours to a day on Partoga. However, as I wrote the rest of the Stormbreaker Universe, I was unable to reconcile Partoga's timekeeping system and very slowly phased it out during Faith in Chaos and The Stormbreakers. Some relics of the old Partogan timekeeping system remain though. You can occasionally spot one of my characters referring to the days of the week or specific months with names in the Partogan language:

Months:

January = Hanuere
February = Hui-tanguru
March = Maehe
April = Paenga-whāwhā
May = Haratua
June = Pipiri
July = Hōngongoi
August = Akuhata
September = Mahuru
October = Oketopa
November = Noema
December = Hakihea

Days of the Week:

Monday = Rāhina
Tuesday = Rātū
Wednesday = Rā Apa
Thursday = Rāpare
Friday = Paraire
Saturday = Rāhoroi
Sunday = Rātapu

---

<== Previous Chapter (A Seven Year Mission)

Next Chapter (First Jump) ==>​

Chapter 1.2:​

Sixty​

​

[Personal log: Mission Specialist Mira Mihaka, HMS Midak, Fort Daxia Drydock, Trecta Star System, 30 Hakihea 684.]

Mira Mihaka: The mission officially begins tomorrow! I just had a very… very long day, and I’m finally taking a moment to settle into the small room I’m going to call home for the next five to eight years. Phew… eight years…

Focus, Mira. Talk about what happened.

So first: my science team. You’ve already met Miss Patariki. The rest of the team finally unpacked their stuff and are settling in now.

There’s the Physics Team: Ari, Rewa, Tipi, Watahui, Hotu and Mana.

The Engineering team is Kaia, Eru, Manawa, Nikau, Tangaroa, and myself.

And the Biology team is Tamaho, Meto, Ria, Moe, Hoana, and Anahera.

So while my team was settling in, I decided to have a look around before the military crew arrived. The HMS Midak is one helluva ship. She’s a-hundred-ten Bios long and has a beam of either one-thirty-one or one-thirty-two Bios depending on who you ask.

Kaia Patariki: One-thirty-two!

Mira Mihaka: Hey Kaia, what’s up?

Kaia Patariki: Nothing. Just brought the last experiments on board. Moe and Tamaho are getting a head start on the irradiated bacteria cultures. You doing another audio log?

Mira Mihaka: Yup.

Kaia Patariki: Right... I’ll leave you to it.

…

Mira Mihaka: Okay, where was I? So the whole ship weighs almost four hundred tons, but she can still get up and go if she really needs to. The Midak has a max acceleration of fifty five Bios per second squared and a top speed of nearly two hundred and five Bios per second. The Midak can keep pace with a war era Keelerak-Class assault frigate, and those things were speed demons!

Okay, what else? The Midak has twenty-nine airtight compartments across four decks, which can be sealed in the event of a disaster: The bridge, comms tower, sensor array, three labs, the power plant, hyperspace module, engine room, four crew compartments, two galleys, the Captain’s quarters, 2 workshops, the infirmary, the crew lounge, the emergency containment chamber, the foundry, five radiation shelters, a cargo bay, and that one special chamber that civilians like me aren’t allowed to go into. There’s one like it on every ship with a military crew.

Speaking of them…

They showed up about twenty hours ago. There are forty-two people in the military crew: Nine commissioned officers, eight non-commissioned officers, and twenty-five enlisted crew. Twenty-seven men, fifteen women. It took half the day, but I finally managed to meet and shake hands with every one of them. If I’m gonna spend the next half a decade of my life with them, I may as well get off on the right foot with these people. I learned a few interesting things about the crew along the way too, let’s see:

• Captain Toa Rangi is a hardcore soldier. I think he actually changed his first name to “Toa” to reflect that. He’s so grim I’m positive he’s killed someone before. He isn’t keen on interacting with civilians, and he talked formally to me the whole time.
• Commander Anika Aranui is second-in-command and the only female officer on board. Do you know why there are no other female officers? Because there’s no woman as intense as her. You’d think the Third Hyperspace War had started whenever you talk to Aranui. So stoic, so serious.
• Lieutenant Commander Tai Tunui’s little sister actually ran for the Throne after mama passed away. Apparently she got a lot of votes.
• Arapata and Arapeta Kirikiri are identical twin brothers. EXACTLY identical. Kaia and I are planning a series of experiments to determine if they have telepathy with one another.
• Petty Officer Whawhakiterangi Tirikatene is the great-granddaughter of Queen Miranda the Fourth.
• Despite having the same last name, Taka and Hori Rangihau are not related to each other. The same goes for Watahui and Kauri Wiki, and for Nikau and Tama Hetet.
• There’s this guy who works in the Communications Tower, Tai Whiu. He showed up for one meeting of my Skywatchers Club at the Royal Science Academy. He didn’t say anything and never came back. I hope my second impression on him was better than the first. We actually had a conversation this time.
• Moana Ranginui really doesn’t like me. I don’t know what I said to upset her, she was really short with me and locked the Hyperspace Module door behind me when I left.

So once everybody was on board and settled in, Captain Rangi gave a speech over the intercom about how it was our destiny to find the humans and start a new era of galactic history. Then we all went to our stations and that was it. The Midak’s gonna launch in about fifteen hours, and that’ll be it. We’re off to find the humans.
I’m gonna go now and call my papa. He says he’s glad I’m going on a “magnificent life journey like mama” but I know he’s going to miss me as much as I’ll miss him. I don’t even know if we’ll see each other again. A lot can happen in six years… or eight.
Right, time to go.

[Personal log closed.]

<== Previous Chapter (A Seven Year Mission)

Next Chapter (First Jump) ==>​

 

[HistoryDude]

Obviously the Ranginui family is plotting something!

Honestly, the timekeeping thing makes sense. Everybody else followed human time, which could be a galactic standard. The Galaxy as an entity is dead now, so Partoga went back to their pre-FTL calendar. Or it’s a difference between the 115th and 116th cycles (maybe Akira also got tired of keeping track?).

I wonder if anyone else survived…

 

[Macavity116]

Obviously the Ranginui family is plotting something!

Oh yes. This was the first chapter where the Ranginui-Mihaka fued was referenced.

I wonder if anyone else survived…

Officially, only the Partogans and Humans are present in this Galaxy, plus the people on the Shielded World we'll see in a later chapter.

Behind the scenes, I actually spawned three empires into the Galaxy when I was playing the story out in-game. The Levakian Confederation was force-spawned along with the UNE. To create the debris fields seen in several chapters, I used console commands to stage large battles between the UNE and Levakians. The wreckage left behind came from the old Starship Graveyards mod.

 

[Macavity116]

Author's notes: The computer "console text" you see throughout the Stormbreaker Universe was inspired by the ones found in the 1999 computer game "Uplink." A classic game where you can live out your dream of being a late-80's style computer hacker.

<== Previous Chapter (Sixty)

Next Chapter (On The Hyperlane) ==>​

Chapter 1.3:​

First Jump​

​

[Personal log: Mission Specialist Mira Mihaka, HMS Midak, Outer Trecta Star System, 17 Hanuere 685]

Mira Mihaka: Well, we’ve just passed beyond the orbit of Whiro, so we’ll be in position for our first Hyperspace Jump in a few minutes. The science team hasn’t had much to do since the Home System was fully explored and colonized over two hundred years ago.

Kaia Patariki: I’M SOOOO BOOOORREEED!!

Mira Mihaka: Me too, Kaia.

So far, the only interesting thing that’s happened is we came across an uncharted shipwreck from the Second Hyperspace War. I asked Captain Rangi to let the Engineering Team take a few pieces on board to analyze, and he was happy to oblige. Turns out it was a Vanian battleship that got pulverized when the Invaders moved through our Home System. What pieces of the ship remain were big enough to fit in the galley. We dropped off a marker buoy and transmitted the wreck’s location to Fleet Command.

Everything has to be transmitted now. We’ve been out of real-time comms range for two days. Commander Aranui told me that once we start using the Hyperspace Module to cross lightyears, we’ll outpace radio transmissions coming from home. We won’t know about events on Partoga until we start heading back home. That’s half a decade from now at the very least.

In the meantime, I’ve refined our flightplan. There’s a way for us to get down to the Sol Star’s last known position in just a little less than two years, eight months. Then after that, it’s just a matter of searching: I’ve designated three search areas based on where the Sol Star could have gone after the War in Heaven. Just like everything else in the galaxy, Sol is orbiting a supermassive black hole in the galactic core. The problem is that no one bothered to make a note of Sol’s exact location during the war. Most allied ships just used locator beacons to reach Sol, and once the War in Heaven actually started, everyone who wasn’t fighting turned and ran. So the day after the battle, the two Partogan ships that survived the battle made like a Hoto bug and scrambled back home without looking back once.

So, three search areas: The primary one is where Sol might be if its orbit around the galactic core is circular. The secondary search area is where Sol might be if it’s in an elliptical orbit. Unlikely, but it’s still possible. And the third search area is pointless.

Kaia Patariki: Oh, come on! I thought it was funny. Tell’em!

Mira Mihaka: Ugh. Fine. So the third search area will only come into play if Sol is in a retrograde orbit.

Kaia Patariki: Hehehe... Tell’em what “retrograde” means...

Mira Mihaka: It means that somehow, against the laws of the universe itself, Sol is going around the galaxy backwards. It’s the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard, but Captain Rangi asked me to create a search area just in case.

...

Mira Mihaka: Kaia, do you hear that? That’s the Jump signal!

Kaia Patariki: They’re getting ready to initiate Hyperspace!

Mira Mihaka: Okay, we have to report to our radiation shelters now! I’ll write again once we finish the jump!

Kaia Patariki: If we survive, that is...

Mira Mihaka: Not helping, Kaia. Let’s go.



[Log entry paused.]

Sys/ Hyperspace jump initiated.

Sys/ Post-Hyperspace system self-check underway.

Sys/ Self-check complete. All systems operational.

[Log entry resumed.]



Mira Mihaka: We’ve just completed our very first Hyperspace Jump! It was so amazing! Kaia! Tell everyone at home what it was like!

Kaia Patariki: Whoa, Mira. Hold on, I think I’m gonna puke...

Mira Mihaka: We just jumped from the Trecta system into the Tediss system. That’s a distance of five point two lightyears. LIGHT. YEARS. No one has gotten this far away from home since the war!

Kaia Patariki: Mira... you’re making my head pound.

Mira Mihaka: Fine, I’ll tone it down. Okay, so listen, it was so cool! They fired up the Hyperspace Module and I could actually feel the Quantum Wavefront going through the ship! Then it was like every nerve in my body was sending signals to my brain all at once! I was hot and cold at the same time. I was having thousands of different thoughts every second, but I could understand them all! The radiation shelter was full of light, but also so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face!

Kaia Patariki: You felt all that? By the Mountain, you’re insane. All I felt was my lunch coming back up my throat.

Mira Mihaka: Oh, do you want to go to the infirmary?

Kaia Patariki: Yes. Please.

...

Unknown Voice 1: This is Mihaka’s bunk, right?

Unknown Voice 2: Yeah, right here. Search everything.

Unknown Voice 1: What’s this? A tablet computer?

Unknown Voice 2: Looks like she’s making auto logs. Computer, replay all previous audio logs created by Mission Specialist Mira Mihaka.



Cmd usr/ replay all logs

Sys/ playing media…

Sys/ operation complete



Unknown Voice 1: She doesn’t know. Put it down.

Unknown Voice 2: Doesn’t look like she has anything suspicious either. Let’s move on to the next room.

…

Kaia Patariki: Wait, did you leave the door open?

Mira Mihaka: I don’t remember. Lay down and I’ll get you some water. Drink up and get some sleep. I’ll let the Commander know where you are. Oh, great, I left my log running…



[Personal log closed.]

<== Previous Chapter (Sixty)

Next Chapter (On The Hyperlane) ==>​

 

[Nikolai]

The plot thickens!

 

[HistoryDude]

Yeah, something’s happening. I can’t remember if the unnamed voices get names later… or if Mira ever finds out about them.

A Levakian-UNE war sounds fun. That is a very interesting factoid, though. Was the actual game just waiting for first contact?

Spoiler: Spoilers!

And the psionic stuff with the Shroud-Beings, of course.

Hyperspace remains dangerous. How did anyone find routes in those conditions? Or did the Bentusi just always know routes?

 

[Macavity116]

The plot thickens!

Yup, this is where the mysterious subplot got started.

Yeah, something’s happening. I can’t remember if the unnamed voices get names later… or if Mira ever finds out about them.

Curiously enough, in the original version, the colored text was an interface spoiler. If a reader paid attention to the color and font representing the unknown speakers, the reader would have found a match in Chapter 2.2: Rotorua.

So you could have correctly ID'd one of the two unknown voices much earlier than Mira does. In the Remaster, this is no longer possible due to the loss of colored text.

Was the actual game just waiting for first contact?

In gameplay, the first contact even chain triggered as soon as the Midak used the wormhole to get close to Sol, which was three jumps away.

Hyperspace remains dangerous. How did anyone find routes in those conditions? Or did the Bentusi just always know routes?

Now we're digging really deep into the lore of the Stormbreaker Universe:

The Hyperspace routes were developed by the Progenitors during their reign over 10,000 years ago, after Sajuuk forged the Three Hyperspace Cores. (Devices that allow instantaneous travel to any point in the Galaxy)

About 10,000 years after the Progenitor Empire vanished, the Bentusi found one of the Hyperspace Cores and used it to create the Outer Limb trade routes, a network known "safe routes" that laid the groundwork for all FTL travel in the Stormbreaker Universe.