Ambrosia Software Web Board: "The Buildup" - Ambrosia Software Web Board

The Tear streaked up into the atmosphere and into space, being followed by three Salriliran cruisers and a gunship. "I knew I should've checked the cloaking field before I took off," said Cicion as the Tear's powerful turret rotated to face the rear fire arc and took a few potshots, which slowed the cruisers down even though they missed by twenty feet. He sent the Tear into a roll as she barreled past the main defenses of Salril into deep space, but the cruisers and gunship still followed. Once clear of the Salrilian fleets around the planet, he started to bring her around for an attack. Just then, the gunship scored three direct hits on the exact spot where the Tear had skimmed the shield when it entered Salril. The shield-skimming had weakened the hull almost twentyfold, and the three rapid plasma bursts from the gunship knocked the engines out. He still had his turret, however, and he returned fire. One cruiser was hit and sent spinning back towards the planet pouring smoke. The other two ships, now knowing where the Tear's weak spot was, moved in for the kill.
A massive multi-colored flash went across the area as a Phylydion Heavy Battlecruiser dropped out of Omni space. The ship's left main compression cannon fired, and a projectile the size of a tennis ball with the mass of the Titanic sped out and hit the gunship, causing its superstructure to collapse and explode. The right cannon fired, and the cruiser met the same fate.
A Phylydion female appeared on the communication screen. "It is an honor to rescue you, My Lord Taeskor. But we'd better get out of here. I'm reading a Salrilian heavy patrol with escorts coming our way. We'll pull the Crimson Tear in. Hold on." Cicion's ships started to move, and was pulled into the Battlecruiser's repair bay. Seconds later, the cruiser went into Omni space, heading for the bar.

------------------
-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

"Then we'll do it real quiet-like."
-Han Solo

Cicion leaned against the window, viewing the checkered patter of Omnispace. He was bored out of his skull. Coffee. he thought. I want coffee. He slid over to the main food terminal and pressed the menue button. However, instead of cofee a clear goop appeared making a horrible mess all over the outlet.

"We've been having problems like this ever since we retreived your ship." The chief engineer hissed into Cicion's ear, expecting to surprise him.

Cicion turned calmly. "I'm a taeskor. Don't ever do that again."

"Sorry. The commander would like to see you on the bridge."

"She didn't page me?"

"The comm system's down. So are the turbolifts so it look's like we'll be taking the engineering tubes there."

A while later, a slightly dusty Cicion stood before the commander on the bridge. "Allow me to introduce myself, Cicion. Commander Daria at your service."

"You wanted to see me?"

"When we linked your ship up to our regenerative systems we detected a virus in your main banks that had only been transferred there a few minutes earlier."

"What?!" Cicion exclaimed. "I haven't had any computer linkups for nearly a year!"

"The virus was transferred to your ship the moment your computer banks went down from that barrage of plasma."

"A transmission would be impossible while my only computers were down for that microsecond. Unless.... no....."

"No?"

"The plasma itself physically made a series of connections when it impacted. Could it be that it somehow tranferred a program into my banks?"

"Yes."

Cicion winced. "Then it's on this ship."

"It's messed up all our systems. Whoever wrote the virus has complete control over us."

"Who?"

Daria thought a moment. "We are on a course for Salril Prime, even thought the navigation banks say we're headed for the bar. The Salrilian government?"

"No," Cicion mused, "That is not their style. This... Salrilian obviously is a newcomer to the Salrilian Stellar Navy. But it wouldn't be Sargatanus. Who....."

"Damn! Our visual systems have been totally re-written!" An Astrometrics officer exclaimed from the corner of the bridge.

"Delete all program outliers and reboot." Daria yelled back.

"Wait!" Cicion had suddenly had a stroke of brilliance. "Put whatever it is on the screen."

Yellow and Black static frizzled on the screen. "It's still being rewritten." Said the officer.

Cicion watched as the yellow and black seperated and began organizing into shapes. "Program complete." It was a Salrilian Battle Logo the Taeskor both reckognized and dreaded.

[url="http://"http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/slugsoft/SlugBattleLogo.jpeg"](image)[/url]

"Slug." Cicion growled.

"Window open, ready for go"

"Burn on my Mark, 3... 2... 1... Mark"

There was a rumbling as the ships engines were powered up to full, accelerating it into a much larger, eliptic orbit of Salril. It had taken three days to get this window, and it offered the best lane for escape. In a few minutes, a solar flare would expel several billion tons of ionized Hydrogen Plasma four thousand kilometers from the solar surface. the energy release was tremendous, powerful enough to damage any sensitive Sensor Equipment not locked down. The Barbarossa whizzed over the site of the eruption, a sunspot that had been festering for the last half of the seven year cycle. The carefully planned path led the Barbarossa out along a large belt of asteroids, which would provide cover until they would thrust next, and find a cozy spot in the midst of the shipping lanes, looking for any outbound traffic that they could hide in.

"Conn, ECM. Engaging Shields on primary sensor array"

The sensitive main sensors were shut down and shielded. The ship was now useing only their radar ranges. The old kilohertz range Radar was rarely used anymore, it was not very sensitive, but it was not likely to be damaged by the EM Pulse that would blanket half of the system for the next few hours.

The Barbarossa began a second burn just as the Solar Flare lit up the ECM boards. The Solar flare hid the course change that turned the ship to the asteroid belt. After a few moments, the Barbarossa slid into the asteroid belt, gently arcing outwards from the star, Salril.

"Conn, ECM. All i have a blank, nasty white screen. Can't see ****, and I won't be able to for at least two hours."

"Good" Pharris picked up the intercom "Engineering, you have two hours. Get cracking"

The cloaking field dissapated around the ship, as it cruised up to a large asteroid and latched on.

"We are now running EMF blackout"

The captain hung up the reciever, and for the first time in a long time, there was true silence on the Barbarossa. The rumbling of the fusion reactor and life support system slowed and stopped. Main lighting was shut off, leaving only the blue emergency lighting. The ship made less noise now than when she was cloaked, and it would be difficult for the Sals to detect them with active pinging near all these asteroids. None the less, if they were discovered now, they would be helpless for almost a minute while Engineering powered up the engines and the reactor. For now, the power cells were providing power only to life support and ECM, though ECM was barely listening at all, the solar flare had most of the Asteroid belt and half of the core of the system blanketed under an intense ion storm.

Captain Pharris walked down to Engineering to watch his chief work on the Cloaking Device.

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

"Phylydion sabotage!" The cybernetic Obiard exclaimed as he slammed a large report down on the table.

"I am already aware of that, Kahgstz." Sargatanus replied sternly.

"And why aren't we tracking down the culperate?"

"I already know who it was, and where to find him. When the time comes, I will deal with him personally."

"And surely we won't be turning a blind eye to this crime..."

"No, we won't." Sargatanus began as he stood up. "Which brings me to your next assignment."

Kahgstz raised an eyebrow.

"You are going to compose and send a message to the Phylydion High Octicate. In it you will express our disgust for this recent crime, which is in violation of section 207.225.63.200:5500 of the Rights of Privacey and Soverighty Act (a document of their engineering I should add), and that it does constitute as an act of war. Any further actions will be regarded as such.

"You will also include that this act of aggression will not go without consequences. As of this message, all ships of the Phylydion Primary armada, as well as those of the Phylydion Trading and Commerce Legue are barred from the Free Trade Zone. If our stolen goods are not returned to us within 10 galactic days, we will respond further by banning all Phylydion trade and travel in every sector of Divine Galactic Axis space, as well as recalling all of our ambassadors and diplomats from their space."

Kahgstz looked up in a slight shock. "Are you sure? This could make for an unpleasant situation..."

"They've had it coming for a while. And now they are in a position where their alies won't wish to be involved. Not that it would matter anyway; the only other power in the UGPA not crippled are the Elejeetians, and they won't involve themselves in a war unless their very existance is at stake."

Kahgstz let out a reluctant agreeing grumble.

"And wrap up your message with a sugar coated line to the effect of 'these acts of aggression do nothing for our already tattered relations, and it would be an unforgivable shame if they were to force us into an armed conflict in the future.'"

"And what if they should respond with a war?"

Sargatanus let out a slight chuckle. "Personally, I couldn't care less." He moved toward the window and observed a cloud of newly built, top of the line warships. "Besides," He added. "I'm pretty sure they know better."

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.

"I've got her up to full power, sir. An eighteen second burst of power: we'll be imposssible to catch for even a science vessel."

Pharris turned "Ok get her out of her!"

For a brief moment the Barberosa stood in all it's glory for all to see, uncloaked and in clear view. Then the rear naceles glowed brilliant red and with a crimson flash it disappeared from the system."

Pharris stood on the bridge, watching, scanning for any signs of pursuit. There was none. He picked up the mic. "We're out." A sigh of releif ran through the whole ship like aair through a broken organ. Everyone grinned. "Helm, compile that data packet and transmit it back to UNS. I want them to know of our success." He grinned broadly a lopsided grin.

But from the helm there were no cheers as was throughout the bridge. "Uh, Captain, you might want to see this." Pharris strolled over to the helm station. "We've been looking back on the past sensor readings and... something just doesn't add up."

"Ensign?"

"We detected EM rediation almost a day before the sun emitted the flare. It was on the same frequency too, but these energy spikes look like nothing I've ever seen before...." He motioned to several 'pillars' on the 3D plane. Pharris's face changed to a look of suspense. "It's almost as if they're following us."

"Give me an equation match on those readings. I want to know when they occured."

"Sir.... they occurred every time we shifted position, and they've always been several hundred meters behind us.... except for this one," He motioned towards a very large spike, "which was a kilometer off our port."

"And the matches?"

The ensign punched in the numbers. The computer terminal buzzed back. "Processing.... comparing to library data.... processing..... match found. Sublight interface with solar particles." A rough bit map formed. Pharris's face paled.

"Engineering, we need more power! Damnit we've got to get to friendly space and we've got to get there fast."

The ensign spun around from the terminal before seeing the bitmap. "Sir! We've got several more EM spikes right behind us!"

Pharris darted to the mic and grabbed it, practically strangling it. "All hands to battlestations!"

The curious ensign turned back to see what was on that bitmap the captain was making such a fuss about and reckognized it instantly. A Salrilian stealth field. Lots of them.

Verad stared at the screen with slight disgust, which seemed to add to tha already bitter taste of the synthetic Phylydion Red-eye he had just finished drinking. The timing was absolutely perfect; he had to give his prey that credit. They took off just as the ionic storm began. "Can you track them?" He asked with what could almost be considered as contempt.

"Not through this flare." The voice crackled. "However, they initiated a burn with a rather simple trajectory. By these calculations, we should be able to estimate where they are within 8,000 kilometers."

"Excelent. Where have they ended up?"

"On the fringe of the asteroid belt about 55 degrees from here; just behind the Ring."

"That should be about where Cal Sev is at. Comm,"

"Sir?" The Salrilian responded.

"Inform Cal Sev of the situation immediately."

"Aye, sir."

***

Pharris was sidetracked on his way to engineering by the sight through the large obvervation window. Through an opening in the asteroid clutter was the arch of the spectacular Salrilian Ring. With a width of nearly one million miles, a radius of almost one hundred million, and an arch that extended and disappeared behind the star, the sight was beyond that of any scale he had concieved before. His paralysis was interrupted by the buzzing of his commlink. "Yes?"

"Captain, you'd better get to engineering. We have a problem..."

------------------
Verad
Ex-Taeskor and
Salrilian Auspex

[Silly Narrator, I'm writing the tale of the Barbarossa!]

don't make me come over there, Slug...

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

(High Octi-con. An Octi-cate is a member of the High Octicon.)
Drion Nerec strolled up and down the bridge of the Phylydia which was in orbit around Dominus, along with the rest of the Primary Armada. Three other major fleets were also in the Dominus System. He reflected on this legendary ship's history. It alone had defeated the entire slaver race's fleet and freed his species from a life of toil and drudgery. It had the firepower to take on half of the rest of the Primary Armada, which was huge. Her surface was studded with turrets and she had sixteen forward-firing heavy weapons. Her secret main weapon had been revealed at the Battle of the Ring during which she destroyed the enemy flagship with one shot. In addition, he noted, as he looked out the window, she carried a dozen squadrons of fighters. One of these squadrons, the best, Jackal Squadron, was flying around in perfect formation, weaving in and out of the ships of the Armada. She may well play a large role in what happens next. He then looked to one of the hundred shipyards in orbit around dominus, being pushed and pushed to churn out warships. He watched a ship being built of a brand new type. A Kiojea(Sovereign)-class Heavy Battlecruiser. Design teams had come up with the new type of ship just a month ago, and nobody else yet had any specs. It was armed with the newest weapon: The Compression Gun. These ships could also play a role in the situation, but only after enough of them were built. Only 25 had been built so far. #One of these was the ship that rescued Traek#, he thought, and then remembered that this ship had been taken off course en route. Whoever now had one of these in their possesion had enough firepower to wreak untold havoc on trade routes and spacelanes.

"Good luck, fellow warriors of the Imperium," said Cicion as the Ice Blade, cloaked, sped from the captured heavy battlecruiser's repair bay and immediately engaged omni drive to keep it from meeting the same fate. "I have some business with Angel." He patted the satchel behind his seat in which the orb rested, and took some time to think on the trip back to the bar.

------------------
-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

"Then we'll do it real quiet-like."
-Han Solo

Verad's brow furrowed. No. This wasn't right, Pharris was supposed to be here hours ago.

"Sir, we've found 'em on the long-ranged scans. They appear busy."

Verad stood up. "Order the fleet to move in and-"

"Sir, they're under heavy attack by Salrilian vessels! This is most unusual.... scanning..."

"What's their battle insignia?"

"Under command by General Gath. At least we know where he is."

"This is most unlike him. Bring up a profile on the databanks....."

The computer clicked for a moment and the information appeared on the main screen.
General myrth'swtm'Gath, Gath, Commander of the Ninth Stellar Fleet of Salril. Current missions (non-classified):
Surrender all ships to the high octicion.

Previous assignments (non-classified):
-Salrilian Wargames, ex-confederate Admiral.
-Commander in the Boodan War.
-Served under the command of Supreme Admiral gyth'mlil'Slug, Slug, during the battle for the ring on galactic standard date four-nine-five point eight-four-seven.
-Defector to unknown leader

"An unknown leader." Verad spat sourly. "He was scheduled for execution when he disappeared from his cell. I beleive he's found his friend."

"Friend, sir?"

"Slug"

"Torpedoes, tubes two and four."

"aye sir"

The Bridge was deathly silent. ECM had begun listening on the large sensors again, the Helm and Weapons stations had been powered up to standby.

"Conn, ECM. Got him again, just for a second. He's closing. He'll come into view in another three minutes"

"What do you know about it? Tell me everything."

"Its running the same Sal Cloaks that have been tracking us all week. Judgeing by the interferance size, I'd say its just larger than a cruiser. At the moment, I register no transmissions, no active sensors"

"Will he be able to see us?"

"I don't think so. Without the fusion reactor or the engines running, we give off less noise than most household appliances, thanks to this shielding."

The ECM officer reched up and banged on the hull with his fist, indicating the three layers of insulation that isolated most circuits in the ship from the outside.

The captain was only somewhat relieved
"That's fine and dandy if they're going passive, what if they start scanning?"

"That's what torpedoes are for, skipper."

The torpedoes were the only weapons that could be fired without additional power. They were designed for ranges over thirty thousand kilometers, so they were entirely self powered, and once fed targeting information from the ECM station, could be entirely independent of the ship. They would be overkill on such a small ship, but they were the only option open to the Barbarossa.

"Engineering, Standby to bring engines online. How long till we have our cloaking device back?

"I don't know. Could be twenty minutes, could be another hour, sorry boss, those are the shakes, this thing is Fubar!"

He clipped the reciever back in place. then he walked over to the ECM station and looked over his shoulder.

"What about visuals? how's visibility outside?

"Well, they may have their windows open, whether or not they're looking for us visually is a different story. We probably blend in pretty well, the asteroid's surface is pretty messed up."

"I suppose we're about to find out..."The Captain walked to the large bay window, and began scouring the sky with his binoculars. "ECM, where is it?

"It should just be coming into view, try around +45 mark+72"

Pharris turned his Binoculars and started looking for a disturbance. Nothing. He just caught a glimpse of the ship as it crossed in front of a distant asteroid, breaking up the smooth outline as it passed. Pharris immediately centered it in his binocs and zoomed in, following it meticulously. It was a good ten klicks out. He was already having trouble following the hazy outline. Unless the Sals knew where to look, it was unlikely that they would see the Barbarossa nestled in to the huge rock formations of the asteroid. The Captain sighed with relief. He called up a lookout, and talked the ensign's binoculars onto the cloaked ship. As soon as the lookout saw it, Captain Pharris put down his Binoculars, and took a long, slow breath.

"Get someone to relieve you as soon as you start to feel tired, I don't want to let that ship out of your sight." The captain called up a second lookout, who went to the massive front windows of the bridge, and began to admire the view.

"As long as that guy keeps his distance, there's no need to do anything drastic. I think he's trying to be stealthy too, otherwise he'd be going crazy on the active sensors like everyone else is out in the open."

The ECM chief looked at his monitord, to the lookouts with the binoculars, and back at the Captain. "This is nuts, boss. Go tell Engineering to get their asses in gear on that cloaking device, The storm will start to clear up in a few more hours, and we'll be sitting ducks..."

As Cicion's ship approaches the bar, now at sub-light speed, a grey shadow detaches itself from a nearby asteroid and streaks towards the Ice Blade. With a mere split-second to decide, Cicion orders the defenses to open fire on the onrushing fighter.

Twirling through the arcs of fire, the Serraphim opens fire, red beams of energy lancing from its twin cannons to impact on a ship just behind the Ice Blade, previously unnoticed. In a shower of glowing sparks, it disintegrates. The entire event lasts merely a few seconds as the fighter gracefully evades the last of the fire from the Ice Blade's now-silent weaponry.

"Angel! You should have known better than to pull a stunt like that! I nearly atomised you!"

Sundered Angel's face appears on the screen "However, you did not atomise me. My apologies, Cicion. You had a tail- one of those new Infiltrator cruisers, and I felt it best gone before we spoke further."

Cicion nodded, carefully setting his computer to analyze the design of Sundered Angel's ship- something powerful enough to destroy a cruiser with mere seconds of firepower beared watching. Then he spoke. "I suppose that means the bar is out of the question for our little discussion?"

"It is safe, for now. Dock quickly, and we'll talk. I suppose you must have a few questions for me."

The dark grey fighter cruised to the station, glowing red veins of light pulsing as it flew.

------------------
Sundered Angel,
The One and Only

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

Kraen Braad, commander of all Phylydion ground forces, looked over the army assembled before him on Dominus Plaza, a huge open area just east of the main section of the city. He was observing from a high platform, admiring their ranks. Blocks of soldiers were arranged in perfect order, and not one of them moved in the slightest.
He then moved his eyes to his favorite section, the one he personally commanded. They stood in light armor and full helmets with sleek flare bolt rifles in their hands, a pistol in each belt, and a KeuTae concealed in the shin armor. These were the Taeskor Commandos, the most feared and respected group of soldiers in the Imperium and most other governments. They were the ones who had not quite made Pure Taeskor and were placed in the second highest place a warrior of the Imperium could attain to.
And now, standing before him, were three full regiments of them. They were usually deployed in regiments rather than armies or legions because there were fewer of them and their fighting ability made up for that anyway.
Plus, there were the various tanks, missle vehicles, and transports the troops used splayed out.
He silently drew his forefinger up his right cheek, around his center eye, and down his left cheek. The soldiers followed. He raised his hand, pointing right. As one, the entire grouping turned, the thousands of boots creating a shockwave, and walked into their assigned space transports for whatever ground attacks lay ahead.

Cicion piloted his sleek blue fightercraft to the bar, testing her maneuvering capabilities. He wondered what would happen to the Crimson Tear. The Ice Blade drifted into the bar's bay and landed. Cicion popped the cockpit, stepped out and walked into the bar, his blue cloak flowing around him.

------------------
-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

"Then we'll do it real quiet-like."
-Han Solo

Sundered Angel waved Cicion into a back room, closing the door with a click. His gaze scanned the room carefully, looking for the tell-tale shimmer of a cloaking device. Satisfied that there was none, he turned to Cicion.

"Have you brought the sphere?"

Cicion nodded, withdrawing it from beneath his cloak. The transparent-cyan sphere, a mere half foot in diameter, glinted dully in the low light. Sundered Angel reached out, taking the sphere and holding it up to eye level.

"Yes, this is the one. I can feel it..." he smiled to himself, and concentrated. The orb left his hands, hovering in mid-air in the centre of the room. Sundered Angel nodded, and motioned for Cicion to move away.

"Take a few steps back, if you will Cicion. This might get a little bit pyrotechnic."

Cicion smiled grimly, moving back to give Sundered Angel room to work whatever magic he was going to work with the orb. He had to hand it to the guy- whatever gizmos he used, he knew how to use them with style.

Sundered Angel approached the orb, slipping black gloves onto his hands. The atmosphere in the room slowly became charged, sticky with a build-up of energy. As SA placed his hands on either side of the orb, as if clasping it through an inch-thick invisible cloth, the temperature in the room began to increase. Soon, like a plasma ball in reverse, little arcs of energy began leaping from his black palms and fingers, probing at the surface of the orb.

Increasing his concentration, the probing beams of energy began to envelope the orb. As they did so, a hazy blue aura became apparent, surrounding the orb. The red arcs splashed over the aura, unable to penetrate it. The temperature in the room climbed higher. Sundered Angel's eyes glowed bright red as stabbing thrusts of light attacked the orb, crackling against the fading aura protecting the orb.

The temperature in the room soared higher, the very air shimmering with heat, playing tricks on the eye. Then, with a crack, an arc of energy thrust into the orb. Then another broke through, joining with the other beam in the centre. Beam after beam cut through the outside of the orb, until the orb was nearly filled with dancing beams of red power. Sundered Angel backed off, turning away.

"Cover your eyes!" he called just in time, as a bright flash of light singed the air itself. The temperature suddenly dropped back to normal, revealing Sundered Angel peeling off his gloves, wiping sweat off his forehead. In the middle of the room, the orb, now a translucent red, sank to the floor.

"That got a little hot, didn't it?" smiled Sundered Angel.

------------------
Sundered Angel,
The One and Only

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

Elsewhere, in the borderline territories between Phylydion and Salrilian space, the captain of the Phylydion Kiojea-class Heavy Battlecruiser known as the Conqueror sat in front of his private comminication console in his quarters. A Salrilian was on the other end, speaking.
"You have done well, agent 11245. You have recieved command of one of the Phylydion Imperium's newest and most powerful classes of ships. Its main weapons and other technology could turn the tide of war for them, if they build them in large numbers. If we, however, got hold of this technology, we could counter it easily. Your instructions are to take your ship to the following coordinates," he listed the coordinates, "and wait for us to pick you up. We may well already be there. If the crew mutinies to prevent you from handing the ship over, simply activate the personal shield we gave you. It will hold out until we get there. But, first make sure your weapons are disabled, in case a crewer decides to go against your orders."
"I hear and obey, commander. I will meet you at the rendezvous point in three standard hours. Out."
"Out."
The double-agent captain turned around, satisfied, only to come face to face with a micro flare pistol. The Phylydion holding the pistol spoke.
"I am Garrion Retoe, PhylSec operative in charge of counter-defection on this ship. I was secretly assigned here three months ago as an ensign. You are charged with high treason against the Phylydion Imperium and found guilty. The penalty is death."
Before the captain could offer his alibi, agent Retoe pulled the trigger.

-Three hours later-

Captain J'krashe of the Salrilian carrier Salrilian Endurance stood on the bridge, waiting and smiling. What may have been the Phylydions' only hope was about to come under Salrilian microscopes. Along with his carrier, a pair of gunships waited at the random point in space. He looked at the chrono and saw that it was just about time. "Is all ready?" He asked his first officer.
"Aye, sir. Our tugs will pick the ship up minutes after it arrives, and then we can get out of here."
"Excellent."
At last the moment came. A multi-colored flash filled the screen as the battlecruiser dropped out of Omni space. Omni space drive, too, was a technology the Salrilians would have to look into. "Lieutenant, prepare the tugs."
"Yes, sir." For a few seconds, everything was as normal, but then the Lieutenant paled, or the Salrilian equivalent. "Sir, they're powering up their shields. I detect other energy fluxxes also, perhaps weapons being brought online!"
"WHAT?!" The captain stared in horror as the ship came about and brought its weapons to bear on the carrier.
"Sir, they're firing!" A bright colored ball appeared and moved towards the carrier.
"Evasive!" The carrier started to maneuver, but was caught at its midsection by the shell, which sent reverberations throughout the vessel.
"Shields at 60%! They're firing again! Our gunships are moving in to attack them..." The gunships strafed the battlecruiser, and as they moved away they were targeted and fired upon by the battlecruiser's flare bolt turrets. A second shot hit the carrier, downing its shields. One gunship attacked the battlecruiser from the front and was destroyed by the compression guns. The other was disabled by the turrets and hung dead in space. The carrier started to go into hyperspace, the engines warming up.
And exactly when it did, the Conqueror fired for the last time. The projectile caught the carrier directly on the stern, and debris flew through hyperspace.
Garrion Retoe sat back in his chair. "Good work, all of you. Let's reel in that gunship and get back to Dominus system."
The Conqueror engaged Omni drive and headed to the capitol world.

The Barbarossa was running, fast. She had her engines past the redile, and was barely keeping ahead of the pursueing Sals. Her turrets were doing their best to keep the sal fighters at a safe distance, but every few moments, the ship would shudder from the Sal guns. Captain Pharris was in his seat, his harness straining to keep him in the seat as Helm put the ship through the gut wrenching evasive manouvers. The ship bucked again, and Pharris saw the shields go down another 7%.

"ECM! Range!" the captain strained his voice over the scream of the engines

"The Fighters are already on top of us, capitol ships are inside of seventy klicks, and closing!"

The captain cursed under his breath. His console showed the engine nozzles were 700 degrees past their rated maximum, the shields were running at just over 70%

"Engineering, how long can we keep this up?"

"We're past the threshold already, I give us another minute before one of them goes."

With no cloaking device, weakened shields and an engine on the verge of failure, there were very few options left.

"Cut the engine power, Helm bring us about, Tac, tell all stations that we are weapons hot!"

The Barbarossa swung around, and burned back towards the approaching fleet. Just as it was about to enter weapons range, conn called out

"Incoming transmission! video and audio, from the flagship!"

"Put it at my station"

One of the monitors near Pharris's seat suddenly displayed a familiar salrian face

"Slug you double crossing bastard! When I'm done with your fleet, I'll cut your slimy ass open and I'-"

"Shut up and do as I say or the entire sal navy will be upon us both!"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Concentrate your fire on the flag ship, close on us, and I will do the rest!"

The screen went back to status readouts. The Barbarossa had just entered weapon range. A decision was needed.

"Close on the Flagship, All stations open fire!"

As the Barbarossa closed in, a tractor beam flew out and grabbed it sharply.

"It's hauling us in sir!' Hekm began to struggle against the beam

"Let it pull us! all stations hold your fire!"

The Massive sal ship Hauled the Barbarossa towards the hangar bay, at which point it dumped out several hundred tons of mangled metal from a cargo bay, and the Escort ships began to make the second largest fireworks display in Sal history.

At the Barbarossa engaged it's docking clamps on the side of the carrier, the cloaking field enveloped it, and the Sal fleet(heavy one Human ship) dissapeared into hyperspace.

Slug reappeared on Pharris's screen.

"Good work. you didn't need to attack me with such fury, you nearly wrecked my shields! anyway, you are safe, for now. We will extend a docking collar so you can come aboard. Sorry about the docking situation, we couldn't fit you into any of our hangars at this moment. Come aboard, we need to talk.

"I'll be right there" Captain Pharris checked the magazine in his pistol, then made his way to the docking bay.




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

Mag had managed to disable the Rogue, but he'd damaged it very heavily. It would be in repair docks for several months. Meanwhile, he'd be using the stolen gunship, which was proving to be almost as useful. He'd never realized just how useful a stealth shield could be. He hadn't modified the gunship, as he was only using it for a temporary amount of time. Right now, he was trying to get some revenge on Slug. The repairs would be expensive, and he didn't think selling the gunship would even pay them off. He also had to pay the various droids on the bridge a salary. They threatened to go on strike in the middle of battles if he didn't, and he needed a crew to fly a gunship. In short, his financial situation didn't look good.
"Sir, sir, I've found something on the SS Barbarossa!"

"What?"

"A ship matching her description was in the Salril system, and was destroyed by a strange Salrillian fleet that immediately left the system and dissapeared."

"Do you have any idea where they might have dissapeared to?"

"No, sir."

"Very well. I'm setting a course to Cantharan space. Everybody needs some easy jobs, once in a while." (Mag was piloting as well as commanding)

"Yes, sir. They certainly do."

The gunship dropped out of hyperspace, oriented itself towards Cantharis, and jumped into hyperspace again. It would be a five day trip. In the Rogue, it would be around ten days, due to the limited number of jump-links it could get into, but the Salrillians had invented technology to temporarily create jump-links for as long as they were needed. They could go directly to wherever they wanted.

"Tell me if anything important happens," said Mag. He made his way to his quarters.

------------------
"I can ail what cures you."

The Salrilian Fleet, accompanied by the now fully repaired Barberosa, waited, cloaked, behind the moon of Remus Beta in the Audemedon system. Slug sat in his captain's chair but Pharris stood. Occasionally an orange blur would come close to the fleet: a shudder of fright would pass down Pharris' spine in fear the Audemedons would find them.

"You have my ship, you have my cooperation now, Slug. How in the name of hell did you, a Salrilian outcast, manage to make one fifth of the Imperial Navy defect to you?"

Slug looked up from the console, those red eyes staring disapprovingly at Pharris. "Well, now we're out of the breach I think it is safe to tell you. Before Sargatanus' coup d'état, I was the Grand Admiral of the Salrilian Stellar Navy. I was a prince. We offered the galaxy order and peace with the ring."

Pharris stared at Slug blankly. "English, please."

"After my disasterous defeat, the Salrilian Government turned it's back on me. Once one of the most powerfull men in the galaxy, I was now an outcast. Exiled from the homeworld and shamed at every Salrilian Planet I sought refuge. But only the government turned it's back on me. Many of my loyal Captains and Rear Admirals from the battle are still in the Stellar Navy, and so you see......." Slug struggled to find the phrase, "I still have friends in high places."

Pharris was unimpressed. "So what do you plan on doing with this fleet at your fingertips? Losing it to-" With a blur Slug pounced on Pharris, holding several blades to his neck.

Slug was pissed.

"I beleive there is a saying on Earth you humans have: Don't shoot the nuclear warheads."

"You don't scare me, Salrilian." Pharris grumbled through his teeth. "Every one of your factions has died. The Salrilian Confederacy at the ring battle, The Gaitori Isolationists in the massacre at Dramis, the 'Elasi', now your fleet. You're history, Slug. You're going the way of the old."

"Guards, take Pharris to his ship and tow him to Axis. Let the Audemedons determine his fate."

"Engineering, get that reactor up to full, we're gonna need full power real soon!"

Captain Pharris picked himself up on the floor. He turned around just in time to curse at the Salrian Guards through the closing airlock door. This time, he dialed the bridge on his communicator, and began running to the turbolift.

"Aye sir, this is X, what's up?"

"They're going to tow us out into the Axis, Get us out of here, Now!"

"On it."

The communicator clicked off, and the captain jumped into the lift, and pounded the button for the bridge. Halfway there, he was thrown from his feet as the ship surged. the doors opened, and he stumbled out onto the bridge, hearing the engines powering up hard.

"What was that!?"

"We tried to make a break for it, one of the carriers caught us with a tractor beam, We're struggling, but it isn't doing much." The XO was flustered, the carrier was quickly growing larger and larger in the bay windows.

Engineering called out as several alert lights lit up on the station.

"The Engines are passing the redline, emergency shutdown in twenty seconds..."

The Captain slid into his seat

"Cut the Engines. Red alert, if you please."

As klaxons sounded and the lights turned red, he grabbed the handset and keyed the mic

"All hands, clear for action. Get psyched men, we're taking on Auds again."

He hung up the mic and watched on his monitors as all the stations checked in. Within fourty five seconds, the ship had been cleared for action. Everything from Sick Bay to the engineering response teams were on standby, Weapons were being powered up and loaded. Targeting radars and gunnery control centers were checked and readied. The Barbarossa was ready to fight.

"ECM, what escorts does this thing have? Nav, where are we headed?"

"I count ten or fifeteen cloak signatures, most of them are gunboats or cruisers... I think... Those are just the one's I can see though, could be more... I can't tell..."

Nav spun in his chair, his face pale.

"The carrier is towing us straight to the Axis..."

The odds were bad either way... would fifeteen gunboats and a Sal carrier be any better than the Aud defence fleet? Probably.

"How far out are we?"

Nav reported back

"under five minutes now..."

"All hands, prepare to open fire on the carrier. Lock torpedoes three and four on the Tractor beam Emitter. Helm, evasive manouevers, try and keep the Sals from running... Open Fire!"

The ship Shuddered hard from the rapport of all the guns firing at once. The missile batterries, turrets and railguns were laying down an incredible ammount of fire on the Carrier. The Carrier began to return fire, but the Barbarossa didn't pause. In under a minute, the Carrier deactivated the tractor beam to put some distance between it and the Barbarossa, if only to better aim its weapons. As the escorts decloaked and began to approach the Barbarossa, she engaged her engines and began to manouver sharply through the ships, firing continuously. The damaged carrier returned under the cover of the other Sal ships, and began to fire. The Barbarrossa moved to get out of range, firing its torpedoes and missiles at the carrier, all the while concentrating railguns and plasma bolts on the gunboats and cruisers. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the Audemedon defence fleet came out of lightspeed, to investigate the action taking place. They stumbled right into the middle of the small Sal task force. as they pinged the transponders, they discovered that the ships were part of the defected fleet of Admiral Slug. Without hesitation, they opened fire on the Sal ships. In the confusion, the Barbarrossa slipped out of the fray, and made a break for lightspeed.

"We're almost clear, only three cruisers are still on us. The rest are dealing with the Auds."

ECM was watching his monitors, enjoying the magnificent clash of military might going on in the Barbarossa's wake.

"Good work, Helm. Engineering, give me a damage report."

" The shields are fried, we have a slow leak in sector six on deck three. I have the sector locked down, and one of the teams is working to put a patch on it. the shields will be back up in another ten minutes, if we're lucky. Other than that, we came off pretty easy"

"Excellent. Tac, deal with those ships. Nav, find us a nice place to hide around here. Comm, Draft a message to Slug..."

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


[This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 10-09-2000).]

Walking out of the backroom in the bar with the now-red orb tucked under his arm, Sundered Angel stopped suddenly, a frown on his face. He looked over to Cicion.

"There's some kind of disturbance going on. I'm receiving ripples that I have not felt for some time... it looks like Darkk is active again. Inform the High Octicon if you will- I have business to attend to."

Sundered Angel put the orb away, scanning the bar with a piercing blue gaze, looking for a likely candidate.

------------------
Sundered Angel,
The One and Only

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

Flames, dancing. Salrilians, slithering, taunting. Hello Verad, you're one of usssssss. Ussssssss. Sargatanus laughs, words dripping sarcasm. You were defeated by Sundered Angel? I can't have that. You're one of mine. Mine. Flames, dancing. The empire, standing alone against the dark tide of the Axis. Homeworld, falling. Marching, marching. Fighting. Flames, dancing. Killing, killing for the glory of the Axis. Killing, killing for Sargatanus, the master. Master. Fighting, killing, destroying, burning. Faces of fear, the homeworld in ruins, still fighting, killing. Sister, crying. Crying. Must kill, kill for Sargatanus. Must kill!

"NO!" shouted Verad, leaping from his bed to his feet, sweat running glistening on every surface of his body. He was awake for once. It felt as though he had been in a nightmare for years. But this waking terror of realization was far more fearsome. He raised his hand to his forehead to wipe the sweat. The sharp, hard thud of the metal of his altered skeleton causing another chill. The metal in his bones; the bits of polymer in his veins; the silicon chips and calculations in his nerves; the almost ceramic feel of his toughened skin; all a grim reminder of what he had become: a machine! His pride in his Taeskorship, the respect of his peers and community, the love of his family, all these thoughts crumbled with this stark reality. He began to shiver, barely holding back tears. The sweat felt colder than anything he had ever felt before. How did he become so twisted? So tainted? So wicked? So-

He heard the sounds of slithering outside, and one of his aides entered.

"Are you well, Ausssspex?"

Regaining his composure, Verad glared at the Salrilian. "No, Car Sut, I am not well. But that is irrelevant. Who gave you permission to enter my quarters?"

"Ausssssspex Verad, you-"

"Get out you miserable worm!"

"Yesssssss, of coursssse..." the aide said, leaving as fast as it could. The door clicked shut behind it, and Verad sat down on his bed, sweat cooling. How could he have been so stupid? Working for Sargatanus all this time, against his own people! He had to get away, to end this madness somehow. Why had it taken him so long to realise?

Verad sat there for hours, plans slowing forming in the depths of his mind...

------------------
Verad
Ex-Taeskor and
Salrilian Auspex

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

Darkk entered the second gravetic pocket of his search. He could feel something, close by, but wasn't sure what. At least no Sals this time.

Suddenly a radio signal peaked amont the ones fed into his brain through the StormBreaker's unplink.

"-lug. <static> He-- us. We've l--t -ll s--tem-. St--k in a sys--- w--- sub-warp inhabitants."

The last part was clear enough, and what the speaker wanted and who he wanted it from was obvious.

Slug had lead the defense of the ring, but Darkk had been the diversion, taking on 3 full fleets in a seemingly futile battle that bought enough time to damage the ring severely. His losses had been massive (only 2 ships made it out), but they weren't Slug's fault.

Slug was now against the Sals, and not against Darkk, so he would aid Slug's fleet. Just a little.

The search could wait some.

He felt an odd tingle and wondered what it was as he approched in the jumpstream.

"No time for that now, I have to work on first contact procedures.
>I never did it before either.
"I know.
>Think this will delay the search much?
"Of course not. I'll give them some spares
>Those Phylydians think they're so special with their omnispace, but a nice, modified jumpstream does just as well.
"They certainly did a number on the fleet. But with no guiding will, my fleet just fell apart.


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

As he entered the system, the native set off their alarms. A group of ships surrounded StormBreaker and armed their weapons.

Darkk marveled at how brave the captains were, standing by to engage a ship several thousand times the size of theirs, armed with who knows what, capable of who knows what.

Reaching out, Darkk felt one of the comm technicians tring to memorize a simple com format they used. In 30 seconds he was appearing on their screen, speaking their language.

"Greatings. I am Darkk, of the species Nijayas. I am here to aid the fleet that arrived
"earlier.
Native: We won't allow you free reign in that ship. We request you dock it at one of our stations for inspection. How did you learn our language anyway?
"You're out of your league. I thought you were bold, but you're seeming somewhat stupid. My
"ship will not be inspected by your friends - or anyone. As for your language, I can read
"minds. All my species can.
N: I don't trust mind readers.
"I'm not here to steal anything. I don't think you have much of anything I want anyway.
"I'm just here to get Slug's fleet back to him.
N: They are in quarantine. We only let them out to transmit, but we don't care about that.
" They were asking for help. I have come to provide a jumpstream to neutral space.
N: Jumpstream?!?!?
" FTL transit.
N: We would like to trade for that. I'll transfer you to our Minister of State
MS: Greetings, out-of-systemer.
" Greatings. I am here to take Slug's fleet back to him. Put me in touch with its leader.
" ONLY then will we talk.
MS: I cannot...
" Then connect me to someone who can. I'm in a hurry here.
MS: I've been given authorization. I'll connect you now.

[Slug, I think you or Sargatanus should do the next part.]

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

The screen went blank for a few moments, then a Cantharan in a somwhat dingy military uniform appeared. "I am Captain Dem Thet, acting commanding officer of the Elasi. It is goos to meet you, Darkk; I have heard many things about you. Furthermore, it's good to know that we can leave this place. We've been cooped up in this quarentine for nearly two months!"
Darkk nodded slightly. "That sounds like appropriate paranoia for an unexpected first contact. Though I can't say the same about their military conduct."
The Cantharan let out a slight laugh. "They gave you the same welcome I assume?"
"Indeed they did. I'm not sure whether to call them increadibley brave, or more increadibley stupid."
"It's amazing! They know no fear; they presume all enemies, no matter their size, an equal."
"What else do you know about them?"
"Not much. There is a rather large language barrier. We have one Nijaya crewmen, but his telepathy isn't that of a highclassmen, and communication has been difficult. However, we do know some."
"Like?"
"They are called the Arliacians. They inhabit only this system. Until we showed up, they had no clue that there was any life in the universe besides on their planet. That's about all we have that is concrete."
"Nothing else?"
"Bits and peices from the rare one of them that isn't avoiding us like a plague. Uh... they are omnivorous, have just recently established a world-nation and global language, they have a republic-type government structure, they cherish science but regard that which they have not achieved to be nothing more than fantasy, and their religion is based largely on myth and the worship of two strange artifacts."
Darkk was about to respond when the native he communicated with earlier appeared on the channel again. "Traveler, you have been granted permission to meet with your associates. Please proceed to the followign coordinates and await instructions."

------------------
Throughout their history these "unenlightened" beings have continually opposed and fought abuses of power wrought by their own bretheren. We, as the prophets would do well to learn from these Humans.
-Final statement of the Salrilian reformist Sirthis shortly before his execution.