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Quote

[Uhh, Slug, StormBreaker is fully automated - no crew except me and my AI. And my ship wasn't crippled. Starlance had its hyperdrive out of alignment for a few hours. Or are you refering to StormBreaker being crippled by the nuke pods?]

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Me: You ******* IDIOTS!! That planet was INHABITED!!!
Them: Ooops
Me: Let's resume this disscussion near airlock 13.
[immediatly following the first disrupter missle test]

My mistake. Just continue the plot. You escaped.

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Good laws are produced by extremely bad manners.
-Alduran Pirate Captain Macrobius
StarLance

"You Have my attention. what's this mission?"

"I'm not even entirely sure, but it is certainly well within your capabilities."

"We'll see. Take me to Darkk, and then I'll decide."

"All right. If we can catch a jumpgate from Proxima Centauri, we could be back in Nijayais space in just a few hours, assuming they havn't shut them down because of your escape."

Pharris smiled "I don't think that they're going to bring interstellar trade to a standstill over one pirate."

"Hope you're right, but we'll find out in a few minutes."

Ahdriadd engaged the hyperspace engines, crossing the four lightyears in a few minutes. The ship came out of hyperspace, and made its way towards the Jump Terminal, A gigantic formation of nine Jumpgates, Each capable of sending the largest dreadnoughts billions of lightyears in a matter of seconds. Most of them were dedicated gates, serviceing a jumpgate in some distant corner of the galaxy. The huge UNS military machine was based on several hundred stardocks and countless construction facilities that dotted the system. Most of the jumpgates were bringing in freighters from Industrialised UNS systems, though a few were sending military ships out to the frontiers. Ahdriadd picked one relatively near to Nijayais space and snuck into the rift. He emerged at a border post near obish space. He entered a jumplink, and made his way through Obain Space towards Darkk's Flagship.

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Captain's Log
T.I.S.N. StarLance
Darvonsal reporting

News of or presence and intent has spread throughout the galaxy like wildfire. Alien attacks have increased in frequency the past two weeks by ninety percent, the most recent was a suicide strike by a humanoid species who call themselves the Nijayias They are an... interesting species, if inefficient attackers. They attempted to destroy us with over eighty tonnes of antimatter, a whole empire's worth. Naturally, partical weapons are ineffective against ablative shielding and we managed to devastate both Nijayias attack forces.

This brings my attention to another matter. We have discovered a critical weakness in one of our primary enemies: The Phylydions. Their primary weaponry operates on the simple concept of explosive kinetic matter-decompression. We can eliminate them with near impunity. One of their primary flagships, the Phylydia II is the best equivalent of the StarLance they could build.

We shall knock the Phylydia II out of comission, opening this entire sector for an orbital nuclear strike.

[This message has been edited by Slug (edited 10-26-2000).]

Darkk met with Pharris.
"I'm afraid Ahdriadd was mistaken about it being a 'mission,'" Darkk explained.
"For now, I can tell you about this on the way back to Nijayias Prime."

"This is, if you pardon me, a little odd," Pharris remarked, "you giving me a ship just to do what I would do on my own with it."

"Simple, really. I want you to continue doing what you would on your own - robbing Sal ships blind. It helps me quite a bit."

"Why pay extra for what you'd get for free?"

"If you built a ship, it would probably be not nearly as good, with the current parts shortage, and for the same reason it would come considerably later."

"Don't get me started about the parts shortage. By the way, why's the hull a little darker than I remembered it?"

"I did a little 3 on one with Darvonsol."

"You're lucky to be alive."

"So far, I guess I can claim the greatest victory against him: I knocked him around the bridge enough to bruse him and make him completely lose it."

"How'd you do that?"

"12 tons antimatter, applied via bulk frieghter at superlight slamming into him."

"That's insane!! How could anything survive that?"

"Then he used 1,200 nuclear warheads to try to kill me."

"This is just crazy! Someone has to stop this."

"Ahdriadd volunteered for another attack, but I still need a new plan. Back to the discussion of my proposal..."

"I want to know what you're getting out of this. Generosity is not a trait the Nijayias are known for."

"I'm getting a message across to some people about this ship class. You will make them respect its capabilities, and they will be demoralized."

"That's worth a heavy gunship to you?"

"Worth an HVD, if you want it."

"Too big for my tastes. Ming vases with machine guns, to boot."

"That's why the only admirals I know that fly them are Sals. They have no regard for personal safety."

"I know some more who do. But that's not the point."

"I'm sure you know a lot more about things like that than our whole intelegence service. Take it as a testimate of my respect for you and your abilites that we aren't having this conversation ... elsewhere."

"I've been in too many cells for my tastes recently."

"But we aren't, so that's not the point. Your choice on the ship please, Pharris. All you have to do for it is use it and not say where you got it - what you would do with any new ship."

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Me: You ******* IDIOTS!! That planet was INHABITED!!!
Them: Ooops
Me: Let's resume this disscussion near airlock 13.
[immediatly following the first disrupter missle test]

Spamo was sitting in his command chair scowling. That damned Darvonsal was so paranoid that he wouldn't take perfectly good bait. Sonafabitch. Hopefully, an opportunity would present itself to harrass the Starlance. What he really NEEDED was some heavy-duty fleet power. The Mariposa was a good ship, fast and strong, but going up against the Starlance was another matter entirely. From the various reports that he's collected, Spamo knows a few more things about the Starlance.

The shields were nearly impervious to energy weapons, but a bit more vulnerable to particle weapons. That's a relative weakness. It didn't make cracking the shell any easier. Maybe an asteroid or two rammed up its arse might do it in.

The sheer size of that ship was a advantage in itself. It was remarkably nimble for a ship of its size. 11 kilometers is a lot of ship to move.

The weapons were terrifying. More than plenty anti-fighter turrents could defend from just about any fighter attack. And the disruptor cannons, though fixed, were more than powerful enough to take out any ship in one or two shots.

The Starlance was alone. As far as Spamo could tell, there weren't any real fighter craft on the starlance. A few supply shuttles, and short range craft. Nothing battle-ready.

Perhaps this can be used against it. Perhaps...

"Sir we've lost our probe on the Starlance."

"What? Why?" replied Spamo.

"The last bit of data sent out was that a huge freighter full of anti-matter was colliding with the Starlance. Maybe it's been destroyed"

Spamo let out a harsh laugh. "Destroyed? I'll believe it when I see the ship's floating corpse. Until then, send a probe to the last location of the Starlance. I want details. And put a message on the probe as well. I want to shake Darvonsal's nerves a bit."

----------

Aboard the Starlance, the crew working on the captured probe brought a message addressed to Darvonsal to him.
"Darvonsal:
Did you really think that I'd be so stupid as to leave a shuttle full of munitions just lying there? You're more foolish than I thought. I thought you'd be a more difficult enemy to outfox, but I suppose I was wrong. Good riddance sir Darvonsal, I wish you a happy afterlife. Start counting down your days left to exist, and enjoy them to their fullest. There won't be many left.

-El Spamo
"

Darvonsal stared at the message for a long time...

------------------

The Mariposa pulled into the Ishiman spaceport over Ishima. Spamo quickly went and visited the ambassador.
"Thank you for hearing me. I assume you've heard of the rouge ship Starlance? And you're probably thinking, what can a single human pilot do? What I do know, is that it will take total racial cooperation. I've already gotten the Obish and Gaitori to set aside their differences to help, and the Cantharans are practically drooling at the prospect of destroying the biggest threat to them in a long time. The Salrillians aren't responding, and I haven't contacted the other races, Nijiyas and Phylydians. The auds... well, they're as enigmatic as ever. The only reply I got from them was 'We shall watch. We may come.'"

"Very well done captain. I've already talked to the military council, and they've nearly reached a consensus. So far, nearly all are in favor of combating this horde. I will safely say that you'll have your fleet. Where is the staging area?"

Spamo grinned. "Send as many ships as you can to the Beta-230 system. From there, we shall strike back."

(Whew! Long post.)

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Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

Quote

Actually -- it's the other way around

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Good laws are produced by extremely bad manners.
-Alduran Pirate Captain Macrobius
StarLance

Captain's Log
T.I.S.N. StarLance
Captain Darvonsal reporting

It is amazing the things people will say when facing their annihilation down the throat. 'Mad' they called me for using a good thing, the StarLance, for 'evil purposes'. Perhaps it was the war that nearly wiped out humanity that bred my hatred for all alien life. In this whole new universe, with whole new opportunities, Humanity has the unfulfilled potential to dominate. To be the iron fist of the galaxy.

We have delved deeper and deeper into foreign space, taking what we wanted and destroying what we couldn't. We found a new alien race today. Apparently they were once the dominant species in the galaxy, they are so... human. Perhaps in the cowardly hope that they would be spared when their number came up, these aliens... these... 'Gaitori' have agreed to surrender all their fleets to our cause.

So it is to Sol we trek.

After nearly a day of limping through hyperspace, Slug's destroyer finally arrived in the Hatares sector. "There it is." Slug said proudly as he saw his armada, which had grown considerably ever since the first general defected to his side.

"This is Admiral's Flagship, Destroyer S.N.S. 100473, to General Gath's Carrier, S.N.S. Vengance, requesting permission to dock."

"Permission granted, Admiral. So Slug, how's the weather on Salril?"

"There are more pressing matters at hand, General."

"By the way, where are those three carriers Golomus sent us? Shouldn't they be with you?"

"It's a long story, Gath, and I would rather tell you on the bridge."

"Fine with me. Airlock 419 is cleared. You are granted permission to dock."

"Good."

"Oh and Admiral?"

"Yes?" Slug said wearily

"Welcome back."

Slug's Destroyer sped through space, it's afterburners leaving a purple trail, to rejoin the rest of his armada. [url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/RejoinArmada.jpeg"](image)[/url]

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Good laws are produced by extremely bad manners.
-Alduran Pirate Captain Macrobius
StarLance

"I am still shorthanded. Almost half of my crew wasn't human. Darvonsal killed many good men when we were captured, and this ship needs more hands than the Barbarossa did. I will understand if you don't want to part with your military officers, but at the very least, I need a few droids to help me run it back to the bar, where I'll meet up with what's left of my crew."

"I'm sorry, but that would be unnacceptable. The problem is that technically I am breaking several interstellar treaties by not having you arrested and deported, In fact, I'm sure that the Nijayais security forces would love to get their hands on you too, but don't worry. I'll get you some droids for the trip back to your rendezvous.

"Thank you very much Admiral, I will not forget this soon."

"My pleasure, Captain."

* * *

Captain Pharris hated flying alone. It was so lonely and empty aboard. At least it was quiet. Even the dumb droids could manage the jumplinks to the Bar. And it gave time for Pharris to examine his new ship. He had already searched out every nook and cranny, Crawling through air vents and acesee tunnels with a flashlight, studying the schematics. He already had several pages of hastily scribbled notes, problems, ideas and modifications. The ship would need some work before he would let it pass as any sort of replacement for his Barbarossa. He continued studying the plans, looking for any nooks or crannies he may have missed. he still wondered about Darkk's motivations. Did he owe Darkk any favors? what would happen if sometime in the future he was offered a job against the Nijaiyas? Worst case, he could always use this ship as a temporary replacement while he found a shipyard that would construct his custom ship at a reasonable price. But those were concerns for later.

His biggest problem was his crew. He hadn't actually lost that many men. Only a third of his crew had been aboard the shuttle that Spamo had picked up. The rest of his men had made it back to the bar in relative safety. For now, he had to find some good crewmembers to press into service. There were always dozens of absolute lowlifes and young stick jockeys hoping to get a job under a legendary mercenary like Pharris, and the stories of his latest exploits near Salril Prime, and against certain Obish Generals will have no doubt only added to the numbers of eager souls. He could rely on his crew to weed out the talented applicants from the idiots. One more thing to deal with when he reached the bar. He lay down on his bed and tried to relax, but it wasn't happening. Not on an empty ship with a robot crew. He stretched, and went back up to the bridge, slumping down in the Captain's chair. He twisted and turned for a few moments, trying to get comfortable in his seat, then exasperated, grabbed his pen and added another item to his modification list.


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(Sorry, Slug, but compression cannons are only the newest type of weapon. The Phylydions have several different energy weapons and missle types. The Captain will have to rethink his plan.)

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-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor
"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo
"Then we'll do it real quiet-like."

Darkk watched Pharris fly away and smiled. He would do very nicely. It would work - as long as he never told anyone how he got it. Darkk didn't worry about that though. Nijayias Prime's sun going nova was a more likely threat, and that wasn't for at least 8 billion years.

Darkk had another plan for Darvonsol.

----------

Starlance entered orbit around a large red giant star.

"Give me a scan of the system, sensors." Darvonsol grumbled.

"No life forms anywhere. A long deserted station in heliosychronous orbit, minimal solar power sources running, no computers, no shields, weapons, or sensors," the sensors chief reported.

"Scan it. It might have some material we could use."

Suddenly Darkk's hail signal registered on the comm chief's screen.

"Sir, that Nijayias is calling again," comm reported.

"That psycho is still alive?" Darvonsol grumbled.

"Why yes I am," said Darkk, now on the screen. "And I told you I had more for you."

"What, more anitmatter? That didn't work. It won't work."

"Silly. I don't make the same mistake twice. I'm copying your attack - a nuclear inferno. The devices are already in the system."

"There aren't any nukes here!" shouted the sensors chief.

"Oh, it's the big glowing thing on your left. Have a nice afterlife, Darvonsol," Darkk exclaimed.

The station immediatly came to life, shooting waves of magnetic energy into the star with all the energy it had collected since the Nijayias had set it in standby 20 years ago. The star went supernova in five minutes.

Darvonsol had not been idle during that time, however. Knowing he couldn't get in position to shoot the station, which would only delay the blast a little, he retreated out on maximum afterburner.

When the blast came, Darvonsol fired all disrupters simaltaniously into the onrushing wavefront. The beams phased, and their synergistic strength was enough to blunt the initial shockwave, and Starlance was clear away before the secondary wave hit. Darkk, back on Nijayias Prime, watched with horror and frustration. What the blazes could stop that madman?

[Ok, Slug. Objectional material deleted.]

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Me: You ******* IDIOTS!! That planet was INHABITED!!!
Them: Ooops
Me: Let's resume this disscussion near airlock 13.
[immediatly following the first disrupter missle test]

[This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 10-27-2000).]

[Darkk, the StarLance was initially equipped with over 300 interplanetary nuclear missiles. While it has used about 30 or 40 of them so far, it's still not going to run out for a long time. Also, the StarLance was humanity's last hope. They threw everything they had into building it, all the resources, all the knowledge, all the skill, all the priorities. It won't need supplies or any of that, especially from an alien]



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Good laws are produced by extremely bad manners.
-Alduran Pirate Captain Macrobius
StarLance

Grsh set his padd down on the table and held his head in grief. The once inpregnable Obish frontier was rapidly decaying from the repeated cooperative attacks from the Gaitori Fleets and the StarLance.

Already, eleven planets had been thoroughly decimated beyond recolonization, and the Second and Third Primary Armadas (commanded by Generals Swtz and Slg'Wrsh) had been thoroughly vanquished. He walked over to the window in the council room and watched the sunset. Obain was dying.

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Good laws are produced by extremely bad manners.
-Alduran Pirate Captain Macrobius
StarLance

-

FROM: Stellar Vehicle Repair, Inc.
TO: Mag Steelglass
SUBJECT: Repairs Complete

The repairs to your ship are finished. You can pick it up within the next three days. We will discuss prices when you arrive.

-

Good. The Rogue was fixed. All he had to do was get to Sol, pick it up, and think of some way to pay for the repairs. He was in the Ishima system, and hailed the nearest gateship devoted to civilian use.

"ISN 2859265 here."

"I need a jumpgate to Sol."

"Identify yourself."

"Mag Steelglass."

"Very well. Initiate gatecourse."

"Initiating."

The gunship made a slow turn at a specific velocity as the gateship's ring began glowing green. The gunship was almost in the ring when a tube of green light shot away from the jumpgate, and towards the Sol system. Mag entered the jumpgate.

-----------

Five minutes later, he arrived in the Sol system. He set a course for the stardocks. He docked on one of the landing pads, and made his way to Stellar Vehicle Repair, Inc. The droids were following him, as people had been known to steal droids out of parked ships, and Mag didn't know whether or not he'd be able to take the Rogue out.

"Hello. Which ship are you here to pick up?"

"The UNS Rogue."

"Mag Steelglass?"

"Yeah."

"It's over here."

They walked between several ships, and came to the Rogue. It appeared to be like new.

"So, how much do I owe you?"

"None. The government cleared it up."

"What?!?"

"They said they'll pay it if you go to 'the bar', they called it. So, you accepting their offer?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay. Have fun."

"Sir, sir!" said the little Audemedon droid.

"What?"

"What about us?" said the droid, guesturing towards the rest.

"Go off and do whatever you like. I don't need you anymore."

"Very well, sir."

Mag fired up the Rogue's engines, and left the station. He was setting in a course for the bar when a Salrillian gunship unstealthed behind him. He dodged, and it hailed him. It was the Audemedon droid acting as captain, with the rest of the droids as the crew.

"Sir, we wish to follow and assist you."

"Fine, I guess. Just don't get in the way."

"Thank you, sir."

Mag set in a course for the bar and entered hyperspace...

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"You can get much further with kind words and a loaded gun than you can with kind words alone."
- Al Capone

In other news, the joint chiefs of the Bazidanese Star League has declared interstellar emergency as the StarLance continu-

Slug changed the channel.

Cantharan vice admirals Mek'dom and Mek'fresh have readied their fleets in response to the news of the StarLan-

Slug changed the channel again.

The security commision of Bood remains in closed session today in reaction to recent StarLance terrorist actio-

Annoyed, Slug changed the HyperVision channel once again.

The time of our annihilation is at hand! Join the order of Doz before it is too late to save yourse-

Slug turned off the HyperVision unit and punched the intercomm. "Any report on sightings of this... StarLance ship?"

"The Free Worlds of Obain has been suffering heavy losses. The border worlds have been reduced to ash."

Slug sighed.

<Somewhere in deep space>

Forty Ishiman carriers reverted to realspace and drifted into formation. Nearby a tiny star surrounded by 3 miniature planets, a fleet was stationed. Hundreds upon hundreds of ships had been thrown at this endeavor, and the most incredible part about it was the incredible secrecy that surrounded this. It was the largest Black Op in the history of the universe. Scores of cantharan carriers sat in parking orbits around the star. Hundreds of Ishiman Gunships flew maneuvers. The newest addition was an additional forty Ishimian carriers, which pulled up to the Ishimian section, adding to the already large amount of ships. Fighters flew in endless swarms. Bazindanese warships floated, silent and ominous, their numbers smaller than most, but still intimidating. Eleejeetian cruisers, destroyers and converted liner-carriers drifted about. And in the middle of all this, sat a tiny planetoid, the command center for this massive fleet.

"Any word from the obish?" said captain El Spamo, now turned temporary fleet admiral.

"No sir. The reports we've gotten from them are short and sketchy. Apparently the Gaitori have allied themselves with the Starlance."

"Cowards. Don't they know that Darvonsal will destroy them once he's done using them?"

"Apparently not sir"

Spamo grinned in mild amusement. "Unfortunate. What about the Salrillians.?"

"A message arrived not too long ago. They've apparently think they have thier own situation under control, and told us that they don't think it's neccessary to join our fleet".

"Hrpmh. At least they're preparing. Auds? Phylydians? Ninjiyas?"

"The Phylydians and Ninjiyas are as unresponsive as the Sals. They've got their own fleets. The auds are still saying what they've always said. Which is nothing."

Not exactly nothing. The one reply from the auds was "We are watching. We might assist". Spamo therefore decided that he'd better not rely on any help from them.

"Have we contacted Sol?"

"Yes sir. But they've been bogged down in buereaucratic discussion. I doubt we'll see more than token assistance from them."

"Very good. What's the latest reports on the Starlance?"

"Ravanging the outerworlds of the Obiards. They're making for Obain. ETA of that in approxamatly one week."

"Will we be ready to strike by then?"

"Yes sir."

El Spamo smiled and turned his chair to look out the window. The sky was filled with ships of all species, all united against one common enemy. Spamo gazed at it's beauty for a long long time.

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Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

We are watching. We may come.
The Audemedon core rumbled as it processed that command over and over again. Several remote, undetectable probes had been set up tracking the StarLance. And underneath it's programmed shield, the core did intend to attend the battle.

The core rumbled again as it reverted to it's origional mindset:
Carrier 2576 to proceed to markpoint forty-seven.
Cruiser 90243 to proceed to jumpgate nine.
Fleet 19 to proceed to Hatares Outpost.
Error

Confused, the core reloaded the command:
Fleet 19 to proceed to Hatares Outpost.
Error
Receiving transmission

The core looked over the report to find nothing but coding.
Login: Oracular Net
Terminal: Error
Junction search: Error

This didn't matter to the core. It had already forgotten. It began humming again.
We are watching. We may come... hic
The program hiccuped. Something was wrong. It checked it's function pathway and tried again.
We are... hic. We may come.
Every time the core figured out something was wrong and what was wrong, it promptly forgot and started the loop over.
We are... hic We may come.
We... hic We may come.
We...hic may come.
Error

The virus looped in expanding circles as it destroyed centuries of data and knowledge. The core completely forgot it's program.
hic
And reverted to it's origional mindset as the virus found new functions to attack.
Carrier 2576 to... hic to markpoint forty-seven.
Error
Cruiser 90243 to... hic
Error
Fleet 19 to proceed to Hatares Outpost.
Command Successful

-----

Meanwhile onboard the StarLance, Darvonsal stood proud and grinning. "That should keep them from the fight, as well as give this 'Slug' something to do."

Mag was in the bar, having a drink, when an Ishiman walked over to him.

"Are you Mag Steelglass?"

"Yeah."

"I am Admiral Toris, of the Ishiman Stellar Navy."

"Why are you here?"

"I was wondering if I could hire you to help in the assault on the Starlance."

"How much will you pay me?"

"100,000 credits, if you survive."

"I'll do it," said Mag, trying but failing to hide his eagerness at the large sum of money.

"Very well. We're creating a special heavy cruiser squadron, with our best pilots. You will be squadron leader."

"Very well. What's the squadron's name?"

"Spitfire Squadron."

"Sounds good."

"Our fleet is amassing at the following coordinates," said Admiral Torris as he handed Mag a computer disk.

"When should I get there?"

"As soon as possible. I'll have one of our gateships remain in the system until you're on your way."

"Okay. I'll leave right away."

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"You can get much further with kind words and a loaded gun than you can with kind words alone."
- Al Capone

Gentlemen, the time to take our stand is [url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum11/HTML/000117.html"]now[/url].

I believe one of your hewman leaders, Winston Churchill, once said something along the lines of Let us go forward, together

"Unac-****ing-ceptable. Look at this!!"

The Chief engineer tossed a handful of wires onto the floor.

"Look! it's over here, too! There's not a foot of shielded electronics on this ship!"

He walked over to another console, pried an acess panel off with his screwdriver, reached in and tore out another handful of wires

Captain Pharris just stared while his chief engineer walked through engineering, tearing out acess panels.

"ok, fine, What do you want me to do about it?"

"I'm going to have to run all the wireing, too. a single EMP pulse would fry this thing! Captain, this is ridiculous. I'm gonna need to turn this ship inside out before it'll be anywhere near where the Barbarrossa was."

"You have three days, that's when we leave to join the fleet to destroy the Starlance."

"Three Days!?! Are you insane!?! You want to go up against that beast in this fresh-off-the-shelf ship!?!"

"It meets Nijayais spec, doesn't it?"

"Maybe, but it doesn't meet our spec! If you try pushing this thing like the Barbarossa, it'll come apart at the seams!"

"Do what you have to, chief, Just make sure we can fly in seventy two hours."
Captain Pharris turned and walked out of engineering. His chief yelled after him:

"You're off your head skipper! I need more time! We'll be ripped to pieces if we try anyth-"
He was cut off as the door swished closed. Pharris had to be careful walking down the hallway, lest he hit one of the dozens of crew who were pulling open acess panels and cutting into cable conduits, inspecting, repairing or modifying their new ship. He still didn't like it. It wasn't home. Everything seemed foreign. Even after hours spent scouring the layout, he still wasn't used to it. The stylings, the decor, the design, everything seemed so alien. However physically close the Nijayais were to humans, their designs and stylings were totally foreign, and they were almost creepy to Pharris. He knew that the chief was right. The Barbarossa was almost thirty years old, though almost none of it was original. So much had been refitted, repaired or replaced that it was almost nothing like the ship it had started out as. It would take years to bring this ship up to the same level of the Barbarossa, and it would probably never be accepted by its Captain. But it didn't matter. Obain had already been reduced to ash. They needed to stop the Starlance now, while there was still anyone alive to fight it.

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BOOM!
Another explosion rocked the city, and Officer Trent spun his bike to scream towards it, cursing under his breath. Huge explosions were taking place everywhere, fires were burning, rubble was dropping from the sky all around. The lawman dodged a wrecked car and pulled up in time to see a pair of cloaked figures disappearing into an alley.

"STOP! POLICE!" he bellowed, pulling his pistol and racing after them into the alley. Dark smoke obscured his vision, causing him to cough as he charged down the narrow gap between two damaged buildings, firing off shots.

Bursting out of the alleyway, he looked around for the suspects. But they were nowhere to be found. After scanning the area again with IR goggles and nearly blinding himself, Officer Trent sighed. They had got away.

** ** ** **

"Trent, would you come over here a second?"

"Sure, what's up?" The tired policeman rose from the report he'd been filling out on his computer and walked to the Commander's desk.

"You're working on four of the bombings, right?"

"Yes sir. I've even seen figures running from the attacks."

"You know how many there've been?"

"I was told one hundred and seventy three sir."

"In Los Angeles alone, that is. However, that's not what I'm interested in. I think we've found who's behind these attacks."

"Who?"

"Take a look for yourself." The Commander swivelled the screen to face Officer Trent. A map of the city was on the screen, attack sites jumping out in vivid red. The numerous pinpricks of red spelt out a message...

"The Order of the Golden Dawn has awoken"

*The Azurewrath made it to Earth without further incident. Readings of bombings and chaos were arriving in over the comm, enough that Avatara switched it off to save his hearing. The ship landed cloaked in the middle of the Sahara Desert, and Avatara and three of his best men walked outside, one of which was carrying a laser-drill.

The four men walked a couple kilometers away from the ship, their footsteps vanishing in the blowing sand. They eventually reached a tiny "valley" in between six ordinary dunes. Stopping in the center, and strapping his tinted goggles on, the man carrying the drill put it down, and quickly began drilling a very deep hole into the Earth's crust.

After two hours of drilling, the hole already starting to squeeze together, a depth of 4 kilometers was reached. Avatara motioned for him to stop, and the man removed the drill. Avatara, knowing that the deep end of the hole was already closing, attached a single minature repulsor onto a small box, which contained the orb inside, and let it fall at great speed. The repulsor served to keep it from careening against the sides, and it slowed down the box as it reached the bottom. A foot from the bottom, the repulsor melted, the heat getting to it, and the pouch (outfitted with special "properties" from Sundered Angel) was sealed inside, resisting the pressure around it easily...as it would continue to do for the next 1,000 years. The sand quickly started pouring in, and soon, there was no trace that the orb had been buried deep in the earth's crust. The orb however, was still safe.

His work done, Avatara and his men hiked back to the ship, where they were picked up. The ship leaves the system and heads for the bar, unaware of the StarLance catastrophacy plauging the galaxy...*

------------------

Lights blink on the station as Avatara's vessel arrives back. The navigational computers chirped softly as they linked up, guiding it to a smooth docking. Inside the station, however, all was quiet. Most of the lights were out, and the bar itself was empty of people, save one. Sundered Angel sat at a table, alone, a single glowing yellow light before him. His shadow stretched across the bar, merging with the darkness beyond the light of the lamp. Blue eyes sparkle in the soft yellow light as he looks up at Avatara.

"It is done?"

------------------
Sundered Angel,
The One and Only
Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

INCOMING TRANSMISSION
Source: Slug
Network has detected pirate signal. View profile of Slug?

>Yes

Slug
Convicted Pirate Admiral and traitor to the homeworld.
-Further Information classified
View transmision?

>yes

Message as follows:
This is Admiral Slug of the Renegade Armada of Salril. We have engaged the StarLance and are taking heavy
***spurrous error**
Continue?

>yes

Message jammed. Decorruption protocol?

>Darvonsal Alpha Tango

Success.
Message follows:
Ah. I see you have decoded my corruption. You Salrilians have always peaked my interest, you being cloaked in mystery and stigma. You will be the last race we have the pleasure of exerminating after destroying your ambusing fle-
***spurrous error***

INCOMING TRANSMISSION
Source: Audemedon Network Core Unit 749962

Mesage follows:
_V100_ UT they they they _100101101011010101000101001_
000001 0061 6263 6465 6667 Core unit 749962
000002 6869 6A6B 6C6D 6E6F VIRUS DETECTED
000003 7071 7273 7475 7677 SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN
000004 7879 7A00 0000 0000 WE CANNOT COME
-(conf)_587_gHjHpHj _200_
***message corrupt***
Decorruption protocol?

>none

[url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum11/HTML/000119.html"]INCOMING BATTLE COORDINATES[/url]
Source: Slug

>Skip protocols

Message attatched:
Help us....

------------------
Those who make up the rules, do not play the game. We, however, do.
-Imperial Captain Alexi Darvonsal
StarLance