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Once humanity stabilized on a planet, and fell into reproductive lockstep, there was no controlling their growth.

Not every human settlement was peacefully accepted – especially on those planets which were already inhabited by settlers from other races. Violence against humans was widespread and, of course, reciprocated freely, often to the detriment of the non-human aggressor. On a small percentage of planets, even with Federation support, the human’s failed to thrive. But on the great majority, the Human Virus spread as intended.

Within 500 years, Humans were the primary sentient life-form in the Milky Way, outnumbering all other sentient life forms combined.

As the precious few centuries passed and Humans birthed the Federation army, the other species of the galaxy were not idle.

The Trylixian’s worked tirelessly to modify human ship designs, incorporating Trylix speed, armor and shielding. Once designs for a generic war cruiser were finished, the Trylixian’s sent emissaries to species and planets around the galaxy, establishing shipyards on tens of thousands of worlds. Soon they were pumping out human operable war ships in numbers theretofore unseen in Galactic history – a fleet of terrible proportions for a race of yet unborn Human beings.

Meanwhile, Human nuclear scientists were sent to Hiddrell where they re-taught their hosts the terrible science of nuclear war, long since banished from Hiddrell memory. The Hiddrell used their bio-engineering capabilities to create nuclear weapons of extraordinary power. Extremely heavy, lab created elements were kept stable using technology borrowed from the Trylixians, and with these the Hiddrell crafted weapons the Federation would one day come to regret – supernovas strapped to faster than light missiles.

All of this materiel would be for nothing without the ability to mobilize it – and for this, only the Loloth could be relied upon. Their’s was a singular advantage, the ability to fold space and time and ride the shifting wave. So carefully did they guard the secret, and so greedily was it sought, by Humans and other species alike, that the Loloth never allowed a non-Loloth near their gravity well generators. They refused to outfit any non-Loloth ship with the technology. Instead, Loloth emissaries were constantly travelling from system to system, ferrying goods and weapons and creatures to and fro, demand always outpacing supply.

This quadfecta of Federation species raced against the clock for 980 years, each carrying out their single minded purpose, each meeting their respective quota – whether live births or nuclear missiles – all of it being shifted about Space and Time by the Loloth fleet, until at last their preparations were complete.

In the end, the cumulative desperation and hope of all life in the galaxy manifested into a single, monstrous swarm. Lined up from side to side, the ships would stretch a light year – from tip to tip several more. The statistics involved in its creation were incalculable, the logistics of its movement enabled only by the psychic inter-connectivity and ultra-luminal speeds of the Loloths.

Arrayed in its entirety at last, near the galactic center, The Grand Flotilla was finally ready for battle.

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