Secret spying missions, the disappearance of an alliance, and preemptive strikes to put the galaxy back into balance. To this day the leader of The Skull Collectors states he “just wants peace”. He also put it on display for everyone to see that he can leave a path of death and destruction if needed.

It all started back in April when a member of a forgone alliance that went by the tag SWS started carrying out spy missions on top empires in The Skull Collectors alliance. A single spy probe here or there is often dismissed as a random curiosity in how the powerful elite run their empires. Something just did not sit well with Hurtlocker.

The frequency of these spy missions on The Skull Collectors went beyond just checking out the basics. They were to the point that enough data was being generated about fleet movements, defenses, and technology advancements. That it seemed more was going on than anyone wanted to admit.

Having had enough of this. On May 4th an invasion army led by Hurtlocker the leader of The Skull Collectors penetrated deep into System 71 where the spy apparatus was operating.

This would mark the biggest battle in the galaxy's history up until this point. While it would just become a footnote later in the timeline. At the time it was huge news. The amount of destruction sent shock waves across the galaxy as many empires wondered what transpired on that day.

Accompanying Hurtlocker on his short stroll across the universe were 29 cruisers, 66 heavy fighters, 10 light fighters, and some cargo ships with spy probes. Their mission was to carry out a preemptive strike putting to bed whatever was being planned. With System 71 being one of the first targets.

It was not just that SWS was spying on The Skull Collectors. Rumors were getting around there was intel getting shared with another alliance. The very alliance that members of SWS ended up joining.

Hurtlocker’s intelligence gathering revealed that in the 7th position in System 71 was Paleshelter’s main planet. It seemed it had some defenses and a small fleet guarding it. Perhaps the main fleet was out conducting further intelligence gathers. There was however no time to wait and find out.

System 71 was already on high alert with multiple spy probes being caught in the area leading up to the main attack. Rumors were starting to fly across the galaxy at warp speed that something massive was about to go down. Up till this point, no one knew who was going to be the first target let alone when the attacks would stop.

Hurtlocker's first wave of attacks in System 71 was a devastating blow to the defenses and standing fleet that were defending Paleshelter’s Main Planet. Just 4 ion cannons, 3 light lasers, 21 missile launchers, 5 cruisers, 6 heavy fighters, and 32 smaller ships were all that stood between Hurtlocker retribution and Paleshelter’s resources.

The attacking fleet did a recording breaking 123,168 damage. Meanwhile, Paleshelter returned 13,358 damage. While a decent volley of damage on a good day for detouring your average raiding fleet. Today it was not going to be enough as Hurtlocker was no average empire.

Light fighters specialize in dealing damage to solar satellites and spy probes. With the help of a couple of heavy fighters, managed to fully wipe those objects off the field destroying 24 spy probes and 7 satellites. Removing most of the fodder that was meant to distract heaver-hitting ships like cruisers.

The armada of cruisers along with a couple of other ships went in for the main strike against stationary planet defenses. The fleet knew full well if they could take out enough of them as quickly as possible. That loss would become quite limited.

With the solar satellites taken out an interruption to the power grid on the planet occurred. Non-critical functions were disabled slowing down the production of needed resources for the war effort for long-term victory. A temporary energy setback that would get restored shortly later.

The remaining heavy fighters in Hurtlocker’s fleet quickly eliminated most of the cargo ship. Ensuring there could be no further evacuating of resources off the planet during the raid. With what would end up remaining more than covering his losses.

All that stood left after the first attack wave on Paleshelter‘s planet was one small cargo, one large cargo, one light fighter, five cruisers, and two ion cannons to defend with. His fleet managed to take out a single spy probe and one small cargo. Also known as a rounding error for how little damage was done.

The next wave of attacks after that was enough to finish off any defenses that were remaining. While around 23 defense installations were not destroyed but merely left inoperable for a short while. That was more than enough.

A small amount of 50k in resources was left to the victor to take home with him. Having suffered only 25k resources in losses one could say just on that front alone the attack was successful. That however was the inconsequential amount of the fight.

A total of 325k worth of ships and defenses were destroyed in that single battle. Leaving less than 100k in a debris cloud floating around the planet. As a short-term reminder of what just transpired in System 71. Not long after recycling ships started to show up to salvage the goodies for themselves.

Hours later Hurtlocker returned for a second attack on System 71. This time all that remained were some planetary defenses. Most resources and ships were evacuated in time. Preventing an even bigger loss.

System 71 was not the end of Hurtlocker’s rampage either. This ended up becoming a multi-day event of high-level empires within The Curators getting targeted. Just including some of the bigger battles. A total of over 655k in resources were destroyed.

Sending a stark message to the rest of the universe. Mess with The Skull Collectors and they will just collect your skull. As a quote from Hurtlocker explains it quite well "The skulls of those not worthy of the galaxies shall fall and we shall collect their skulls."

As far as SWS goes, they are no more. Their empires joined The Curators alliance. This seemed to have come at quite a price. The Curators were the ones suspected of receiving intel reports on The Skull Collectors.

To this day The Curators deny any collusion with SWS for gathering intel on The Skull Collectors. The Curators deemed the merger “small” and that The Skull Collectors should not have seen it as a threat. They claim the entire thing was “paranoia.”

One thing is for certain. The next time you consider sending a spy probe on someone. Perhaps you should consider some see that as an act of aggression. This time around a simple spy prob led to over 655k in resources getting destroyed. Who knows the cost of the very next one you are about to send?

For the time being. The galaxy sits mostly in a peaceful state again. With your usual amount of piracy and small-time disagreements. With so many eyes checking damage reports from time to time to see if there are any combat flair-ups about to set the galaxy on fire once again.

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Hive Moon.

Based somewhat on real events. Information in this post was gathered from public discord channels in Hive Pizza Discord, combat reports in the game, and a short interview with Hurtlocker. Some things were changed for dramatic flair or to fill in some gaps.