Within the Imperial Star Destroyer Hammer, a hushed tone fell across the bridge. The mottled colors of hyperspace gave way to stars that hung silently, nothing more than pinpricks against the black velvet expanse of space.

Dominating the expanse of the bridge viewports was a single yellow sphere that the map chart on the navigators station marked as XC-50391. It had no known name other than the catalog number that was given to it in the early days of Imperial surveying.

High Admiral Plif stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he took in the vista before him.

“Sensors, do we have a read on the second planet?”

“No, sir, comms are all dead, and we’re picking up nothing on any of the EM bands.”

Plif turned to his Executive Officer, Admiral Clark, who stood beside him.

“Records show that a small Imperial colony was set up on the second planet. 3200 individuals working at an industrial base. Last contact was 12 years ago.”

Plif harumphed; 12 years was a long time, especially as early sensor readings and mapping had discovered a number of civilizations in the sector.

“Contact the Battlegroup Commanders. I want boots on the ground inside the hour. I want to know what happened to that colony.”

Fiction

• 2 fortnight long comps, one fiction and one graphics, will run each back to back from the 1st-14th and 15th-28th. The 29th-31st will not have any bonus comps running.
• Submissions to the three judges
• Fiction will be limited to one submission per pilot per fortnight with bonus comps providing a prompt each fortnight.
• Word count minimum (1000) and maximum (4000) will be implemented.
• No AI derived fiction writing!

Round One Instructions

• After Imperial Storm & ReMob the EH have left Tusorix and moved into the Chaos.
• Go read the background here : https://wiki.emperorshammer.org/EH_Plotline#Onward_into_the_Chaos
• Based on the prompt above (italics) we have come across an abandoned Imperial Colony, the area contains a number of potential factions who could be friend or foe.
• For Phase One write a fiction between 1000 and 4000 words following on from the opening prompt.
• Submit your submission to the Warfare Officer at phoenixberkana@gmail.com

If you'd like to opt out of having your submission published in Discord, on your profile on the site, a newsletter, or other avenue, you can do that but you'll need to tell us that when you submit it. The default will be that you're submitting it so you're okay with us publishing it. This'll let us set up things like a meme gallery that we didn't do in RtF 22 but had done in RtF 21. Note that we might choose not to publish it if we think it's not suitable for public display.

• Fiction bonus comps (each), Iron Stars with Ribbons: Gold, Silver x2, Bronze x3, Copper x4 (top ten)
• Individual best fiction piece between all four bonus comps: Upgraded to IS-PR
• Every 350 points earned from all sources other than bonus comp placement: ORA