Abandoned Space V

With all the reports of the dreadnoughts declared a resounding success, the alien races rejoiced. After centuries of exile, of constant wartime production, their goal had been completed - and with an efficiency and ease none could have guessed. The existential threat of the humans had forced them to unite and produce in fanatical fervor, but in the end the humans themselves had been their own downfall. Now the last trace of their species had been exterminated, and soon even their architecture and history would be erased from existence.

The aliens had built weapons of terrible destruction, capable of destroying entire solar systems with a single missile, and had been fully prepared to use them. They expected the humans to possess weaponry of unparalleled proportion, but they had no such thing. The aliens took back their planets without significant damage to any of them, and already the alien races were colonizing their original home planets; each race returning to where their species had originally came from, to restore their civilization to greatness.

This left a problem that the aliens had not foreseen. With the last human exterminated, the existential threat vanquished, there came a sudden power vacuum. That which had united the races was now gone, and yet their deadly armaments remained. Truthfully, the aliens had not expected to win so easily, to find themselves without a foe so quickly.

Weapons and armaments capable of immense destruction remained in the possession of every race, and the semblance of conflict was already bubbling to the fore. After all, they now possessed enough firepower to destroy the entire galaxy thrice over, and diplomacy was surely needed, as they could not let their unification fall apart so quickly after their victory.

With the eminent arrival of the dreadnoughts at the alien capital, diplomats were already calling for their decommission, for de-escalation of warfare. There was intense debate as to what should be done with the dreadnoughts and armaments at large - with a growing call to re-purpose all weaponry, as they were now sure - and truly certain, as the humans had not been - that no external threat remained. The alien races were wise enough to know that warfare was forever a possibility if the ability to wage it remained, and they now had an opportunity to ensure that galactic peace never crumbled. They had worked for centuries to make this a reality - and they were truly on the cusp of achieving it.

And yet, a catastrophe was brewing. All across the galaxy, radars were picking up readings of what seemed to be missiles heading directly towards their solar systems - each small and subtle enough so as to hide from detection, each seemingly timed to arrive at the same time. There seemed to be only one likely option: one of the alien races was attempting to wipe out every other race in the aftermath of the war, to declare themselves victors and remove any threat before it arose.

Each planet scrambled to find out the source, the reason - but soon communications went from frantic to cut off completely, as the military quickly realized that no other race could be trusted.

The pacifists and cautious among them urged the leaders to not react, citing radar malfunction or deception, but the commanders knew they could not wait. Hesitation would only result in their deaths without retaliation, and they had spent centuries with only one goal - revenge. They would not die without fulfilling it, or their centuries of exile would be for naught.

There was only one protocol in this situation, unthinkable in proportion, and yet obvious in design: mutually assured destruction.

The commanders ordered the retaliation, launching missiles capable of obliterating entire solar systems to each capital planet. They then hurried home to their families, to comfort them in their final hours.

The galaxy was doomed, and while the general populace went mad, the leaders of each nation scrambled in their interstellar ships towards the only respite from the devastation that was about to occur - the wormhole in the center of the galaxy.

Though one ship had already passed through it, and was waiting for them on the other end.