Contingency spawned in a nebula in the middle of my empire with approx 2 mil fleet power... Bringing a swift end to my huge galaxy GA game 😭

The year is 2456. The UNE had, in it's 157 years since discovering space flight, colonised approx 1/5th of the galaxy. Around 2/5ths had been vasalised through a combination of war and savvy diplomacy. After facing down the extradimensial invaders with ease, the galaxy faced the threat of the war in heaven. Uniting the few remaining independant empires, the UNE, after some grueling battles, turned all fallen empires to dust and planted their own flag on the former fallen empire worlds.The remaining few empires faced no choice but to elect the leader of the UNE to be the galactic imperial ruler.

Promising a new age of peace and prosperity, but aware of potential threats on the horizon, they led the galaxy as they rebuilt and rearmed. The UNE, now known as the imperial core, had 12 fleets of between 125k and 250k and had called an extradimensial fleet of around 600k. The galaxy seemed safe, even as robots started to go missing and the contingency began to awaken from its long slumber.

The first machine world appeared appeared in the linkirk system, a relatively unimportant star that just so happened to sit in the middle of a nebula and was within reach of several important systems. The machines had amassed far more robots than intelligence had indicated. Their total fleet power was in the region of 2 mil. The Imperial core mustered every ship from across it's vast empire. From corvettes to titans, this was surely the greatest fleet the galaxy had seen. It had a combined power of just over 2 mil and was relatively balanced between all weapon types. It featured state of the art dragonscale armour and dark matter shields.

It was a slaughter. The battle was over quickly, with ships blowing up left right and centre. With no shields in the nebula, the robot energy weapons shredded through armour and hull before many ships even knew what was happening. After regrouping and assessing the losses, it was clear the galaxy was in danger. Over 600 ships had been lost. This would cost around 420,000 alloys to rebuild. The economy, while taking a hit was still producing roughly 4k alloys a month, but it would take years to rebuild.

A plan was devised to attempt to contain the contingency to this sector while rebuilding the fleets and mounting another desperate attack on the nebula shrouded machine world. However, as more machine worlds popped up around the galaxy, it was clear that all was lost. The first machine world could possibly have been contained (emphasis on possibly), but the rest of the galaxy was basically defenceless against the onslaught and another machine world had popped up on the edge of the imperial core.

Unable to watch the universe be massacred by an enemy that I was powerless to protect them from, I closed the game, accepting the loss. Maybe the next universe will have a happier ending.

I have about 1k hours in Stellaris and this was the first loss that made me feel sad... I promised to protect the universe and failed 🥲