Battle of the Dark Space

The Battle of the Dark Space was a massive engagement that defined the League Civil War. Throughout the War, various higher races sought to claim the League Trade routes that linked the Seven Galaxies, theorising that whoever claimed these routes would have something to barter with when the eventual negotiations began. Since everyone had the same idea, however, massive conflicts began that spread out across the Dark Space - most of them were concentrated around the Elder Galaxy and the Trek Galaxy, however, some also came close to the Milky Way Galaxy and the Force Galaxy.

The scale and range of the battle was so vast that it is impossible to judge its engagements or its outcome tactically. The entire battle was a free-for-all - a bloodbath which claimed millions of lives. Of the organizations involved, the Republic, Sith, Daleks, Reapers, Borg, Covenant, Turians, Cardassians, Cybermen and Flood appeared to rise as the main factions, most of the rest were quickly wiped out.

Each side sent in millions of ships to hold their ground in this battle, but it was impossible to judge territories as there are no stars, planets or novas in the Dark Space - only dead worlds and asteroids. After the battle was finally finished at the end of the League Civil War, it was thought that millions of ships had been destroyed. The destruction on League planets was extensive but nothing compared to the level of death and devastation that was seen during this battle. It is said that the preserved hulks of the destroyed starships that took part in this battle still drift around in the Dark Space, preyed on by Anarkhos and whatever other foul creatures may inhabit this realm.

Even stranger stories have been told about this battle. It is thought by many traders and pirates the frequent the Dark Space, if briefly, as part of their usual routes that one faction in the battle - which one it is often varies depending on who is telling the story - had a huge superweapon, a creature, too huge and too terrifyingly powerful to contain on any planet in the League. It is suggested that it could have been the Dalek's Nighmare Child, however this was confirmed to be destroyed in the Time War. Others say it may have been a Keymind, the last evolution of a Flood Gravemind, and some even suggest that it could have been Anarkhos himself.

Other, more believeable tales tell of ancient distress signals that are often picked up by relay stations near the Dark Space, that have been on loop for thousands of years since the battle. Legend tells of these ancient husks having been severely damaged and left for dead, with the crew surviving on what little they could scavenge from the ruin that surrounded them. Spacers sometimes find these ancient shells with the bodies of the crew still preserved by the cold darkness of space, with some having gone mad and killed themselves and each other, and with some even showing evidence of cannibalism.

The distress calls that are still transmitting from these wrecks are aptly named in the Spacer's Guide to the Galaxy as 'Ghost Signals' - which is a general name for any transmission that is repeated on loop from a long-dead race or abandoned starship. However, some believe that there is a more supernatural reason for this name - and that the ghosts of the combatants of the Battle of the Dark Space are doomed to repeat their last engagements without end, forever, eternally trapped in a state of flux between life and death.

Of all these tales, the only one to receive mass media attention was when a lone Dalek was found millions of years after the battle, damaged and inactive but still very much alive. It was from that creature's memory banks that most of what is known about the battle originated.