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

Diplomat: You will meet with the one of your species first. We will listen.

Darkk came into the room. He could feel the guards ready to stun him if he even breathed funny. Of course, they had their own definition of funny, so it was narrow going. Darkk exuded a wave of relaxation that made the guards less suspicious, as he sat down.

Nijayas: You look familiar...
" I'm Darkk.
N: FLEET ADMIRAL DARKK?!?!?!?
" Well, after the crisis I haven't really got a rank.
N: Horrible, wasn't it. Entire royal family dead, curse the b-------ds. I tried to get revenge, die in a glorious battle, but before we fireballed we landed here.
" Say, aren't you Leutenant Hett, the coordinator of the palace fighter defenses?
Hett: Yah, saw you alot. I used that trick with the towers you showed me, but we couldn't do it right...
" The Emperor was already dead.
H: What?
" Without him, our coordination and resolve falls apart. Mine did in the other universe. I
" was cut off, and lost much confidence. I don't think even the Emporer knew his real role,
" that it was the instincts of his family, and that was the reason democracy never worked
" for us.
" However my own power was able to substitute for his, and kept me going. I'm even stronger
" than him, I was but was too modest to admit it, but now I'm the strongest EVER. The
" StormBreaker's exotic matter/fluctuation reactor delivers power directly to me.
H: Amazing.
" Yah. Watch this.
[a feeling of calm spreads across Hett's face]
H: I feel like I did in the glory days.
" Your mind is just like it was then. Linked and supported.
H: Are you doing this just to me...
" Of course. I'm not going to turn it up until I'm in charge.
H: How could you possibly get in charge?
" You will see. I'll leave you with Slug for now, as my liason. Everything you see, I will.
" Farewell.
H: Farewell.

Now to talk to Captain Dem Thet...

[your turn Slug/Sargatanus]

------------------
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]

"Still no sign of the Barbarossa." An ensign screamed over the rumbling of the ship, now taking the brunt of the Audemedon Attack.

"We just lost another ship!" On the viewscreen a gunship exploded violently.

Slug sprung into action. "Helm, take us to a thirty-degree yaw and recall all fighters. Have the fleet stand down and send the following transmission on my mark...." Slug keyed in an alphanumeric sequence on his pad.

"Sir, are you nuts?!! They'll rip us to shreds!"

"I still have some tricks up my sleeve from before the Ring Battle." He transmitted the sequence. The Audemedon ships hesitated briefely, then proceeded to ignore each other's presence! "Nineteen degree yaw, engage." Slug's carrier spun about to face the Audemedon Battlecruisers, in response they all shifted to the blind spot of the Salrilian ship, forgetting that nearly every other ship in the Audemedon fleet was also proceeding there!

They all collided and crumpled together and in a briliant flash their hulls fused together, turning them all into a single chunk of metal. "Helm warp one engage!"

Hours later, in his quarters aboard the Urban, Slug took the free time to catch up on some human literature. That is the question- "Condition Black! Admiral to the bridge!" Annoyed at the computer, Slug punched on his comm unit.

"Captain, what the hell is going on?"

"Sir, we're receiving a coded transmission. Specifically, you're receiving a coded transmission."

"What's with the alert?!"

"S-s-sir, this might behard to beleive, but...." The Captain looked uneasy "It's from an Elasi fleet! What dealings would you have with these Elasi barbarians?!"

Slug nearly choked on his ale. "Forward the message to my quarters."

"There's not much to forward, it says: 'We've emerged from the wormhole. Our Stellar map says we're in the Arlaician Sector, the inhabintants seem friendly, unless...' The transmission is garbled from there on. Sir, why are the Elasi pirates trying to contact us?!"

"Old...missing friends. Set a course for Arlaicia, maximum fold. Inform me the moment we arrive there." Once again, the Salrilian fleet entered omnispace.

Slug was grinning widely. This was all working out quite nicely for him. For his plans.

"Soon, Sargatanus, very soon."

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

" Glad to see you saw things my way, envoy.
Envoy: Yes, Darkk, we will trust you to get them off our hands.
" Here's the formulae you wanted. If you're scientists can't pull a working hyperdrive from
" Error free data and the best equations I know of, it'll surprise me.
E: They've already started on a FTL radio. They wouldn't until you gave them one to try.
" Then here's some disks with the currently accepted protocal of the UGPA. The humans know alot about quickly building a society to intersteller, so talk to them.
E: Do you want the comm system back.
" Nah, keep it, I don't use that one anymore. I've got a more powerful model installed on
" the ship right now.

As Darkk left to continue his search, he recalled the ancient artifacts.

" Oh, can you tell me any about those two artifacts?
E: THE HOLY TREASURES?!?
" Yes. I've heard of something similar, somewhere, on other planets. Objects of great power.
E: Just goes to show we have the truth
" [sarcasm] OK [/sarcasm]
E: Why did you say that funny?
" No important reason. I'm leaving now. Don't enquire after me, I'll be too busy.
E: Fare thee well, traveler.

Darkk now left for real to continue his [url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum11/HTML/000107.html"]search[/url].
------------------
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]

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

"Sir, Slug's Fleet just left the system, looks like they're in a hurry..."

Captain Pharris was immediately looking over ECM's shoulder at the long range sensors. He saw the tremendous omni fold ripping across space.

"Where are they headed?"

"Way out to the middle of nowhere sir, I intercepted an encoded message, can't cipher it, but these guys shipped out as soon as they got it."

"Engineering, is there any way we could keep up with them?"

"Not really, the omnidrive rips through space much faster than our Hyperspace engines can take us."

"Jump gates?"

"None that would let us through sir, all the nearby ones are hostile."

"****, how long can you track them?"

"another minute and they'll be way past our long range sensors."

"Follow them as fast as we can. We'll lose them eventually, but I want to know where they're headed."

The Barbarossa engaged its hyperdrive, in hot pursuit of the Sal fleet. keeping its cloaking field on, just in case.

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

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

"What is it?"

"I used my old Audemedon links to get into the Axis' databanks. A fleet with IFFs matching those of Slug's fleets was in a battle in a remote Audemedon system! A human frigate was also detected in the battle, with a matching description as the Barbarossa! Both the fleet and the Barbarossa dissapeared into omni-space and hyperspace, though."

"Do you have any idea where they might be headed?"

"I got into the Oracular Network, and it's predictions, so far, are just that they're going to either UNS or Phylydion space."

"Monitor UNS and Phylydion news stations with extra care, then."

"Yes, sir!" said the droid, right before it scuttled off.

"Getting closer..." muttered Mag.

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

Shaking. Tremendous shaking. The Barberosa had been in Hyperspace for nearly a day, aching to keep pace with the Salrilian Fleet. Shaking. Tremendous shaking.

"S-sir! I don't know how long we can keep up with this. These omniwaves will tear us apart if we don't back off soon."

"How far off?" Pharris responded through the turbulence.

"A lot farther off than our sensors can reach. Obviously it's important, or else the Salrilians wouldn't be omnifolding at this speed."

"Huh?"

"The wave has caused three moons to explode under the pressure, and a comet to lose it's orbit."

Pharris stared off into space. "No.... not even a Salrilian fleet is capable of generating that much power. There must be something more increadible in omnispace generating it."

"Get a lock. Whatever it is-"

"Captain, I read three more fleets in pursuit of Slug.... There's a power buildup reading from Slug's fleet. What do you know of omnispace?"

"A buildup?"

"Chronomatter readings off the chart...."

Pharris gasped. "Get us out of Hyperspace now!!!"

There a huge jolt. The lights on the bridge went out. A massive shockwave rippled through omnispace, penetrating all the way into hyperspace, knocking the Barbarossa to a dead halt. Several power capacitors blew in the engineering section, Hull breaches and casualty reports were coming in from all over the ship! Helms burst into flames, their circuits overloaded with the energy surge from the dead capacitors. The Barbarosa was knocked dead in space.

The emergency systems took a few minutes to kick in. "Engineering," Pharris gasped into the comm, "report!"

"We are at the edge of Known Space.... core is offline, cloak is fried, all major systems offline. Power down."

"What the hell happenned?!"

"He knew he was being followed... by the other fleets. He's managed to fry everything in an 8-lightyear radius...."

"And those pursuing fleets will detect us and get us."

"No. I have several smaller ripples in the omnispacial plane. Those fleets have been annihilated."

"But..." Pharris stuttered, "Why weren't we destroyed too?"

"We were insulated in hyperspace, we only took a fraction of that shockwave."

"So he's dead. Slug is finished, isn't he?"

"Only if those dots on my sensors are bugs on the screen. ETA, 6 minutes."

"Uh oh."

The Powered Bodysuits used by the EVA troopers were huge and bulky, but they were heavily armoured, and the powered suit increased the wearer's strength twentyfold, as well as providing a stable platform for a huge array of weaponry. There were only sixteen of them on board, but every crewmember had a standard issue armoured pressure suit, which was capable of stopping most small arms fire. There was a large variaty in the weapons issued, everything from Chainguns to Fusion Rifles to Concussion Rifles to Grenade Launchers. The crew immediately divided into squads, and set up defences at key junctions and entrance points. With the current condition of the Barbarossa's Hull, and a catastrophic hull breach a very real risk, the pressure suits were a very necessary precaution.

"We are weapons cold, repeat, do not fire until fired upon."

the captain clicked his radio off, and opened the outer airlock door, watching the huge fleet settle into Normal space just under seventy kilometers off. The cruisers quickly established a perimeter, and one of the carriers Cruised confidently towards the Barbarossa.

Just then, the XO called out over the comlink:

"Captain, you had better get up here, you'll want to see this!"




[This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 10-11-2000).]

That's funny, I don't remember the Phylydions giving the Salrilians Omni drive technology.

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

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

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

That's what the Oracular Network is for...

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

Quote

But this is no ordinary Salrilian Fleet. It's a group of rogue admirals who were under my command at the Ring Battle who defected from Sargatanus to my side....

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

I think it's your turn to post, Slug...

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

Pharris, I don't know how many times I've crippled your vessel and then boarded it again. This is getting monotonous so I'm taking the plot in a different direction.

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

The Blips came closer to the center of the screen where the Barbarosa was relatively positioned. Everyone held their breath.

"Chief, do we have enough power for scanners?" Pharris hazarded. The comm spat static back.

"Barely."

"Do it." Pharris breathed.

A few moments of suspense hung in the air. "Captain, this is..... not Slug's fleet, but apparently they're looking for him."

"I thought you said all pursuing fleets were destroyed."

"Yes, sir, but this was heading straight for him on an intercept course. They're requesting communications.... they're ordering communications."

"Put their commander on." Pharris said. The screen blinked, and the motionless stars were replaced with the features of a rough-looking Obiard wearing Generals Stripes. Pharris grimaced. "Who the hell are you?" Pharris demanded.

"Haven't you read your history, human? General Swtz of the Third Primary Armada of Obain."

"Actually, General, I am familiar with history. And it says you are dead."

"I am looking for an... aquaintance of mine. Your ship and your life is mine now, the sooner you tell me the position of his ships, the sooner you can be left alone."

"You know, you Obiards have alway-"

"Tell me the position of the fleet."

"-have always irritated me with that superior attitude of yours-"

"Pharris, your ship is mine and it will not do you well to talk back at me in that fashion." The Barbarosa shuddered as docking clamps locked it onto Swtz's Juggernaut.

"Wrong, Obiard, the Barbarosa's mine." Pharris keyed at his pad, every light that was still active suddenly flashed red.

The hull of the Barbarosa screeched as lasers carved away at it's surface, creating a door for the Obish boarding party. A squad of armored soldiers burst into the bridge.

As he was lead away in handcuffs, Pharris grumbled under his breath. "Oh, but I still have the last card, Obiard."

[Pharris, email me before continuing this plot]

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

Darkk had ordered all Nijayas pirates to stand down. He also had informed the Nijayas and Phylydians he was back. "Time to make the big play," Darkk thought.

A course was laid in for Phylydia. The nano-assembaly plant aboard the ship was making a traditional Nijayas diplomatic uniform, with the addition of Darkk's rank strips on the shoulders...

------------------
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]

Darkk's vessel approached Dominus, the capitol of the Phylydion Imperium. As it dropped out of FTL, a trio of the new Kiojea-class heavy battlecruisers approached, weapons and shields full charged and online. "This is Garrion Retoe, PhylSec agent and acting captain of the Conqueror. Identify yourself." The Phylydions had good security, he had to give them that. He could have taken on the ships and destroyed them if he had to, of course, but he wouldn't want to scrap ships of such value.
"This is Fleet Admiral Darkk," he felt good saying again, "Of the Nijayias remnant. I am here for an audience with the High Octicon."
"Checking your ID transponder... clear to proceed."

[Hang on. Nobody post on my part of the plot until I hear from Sargatanus. This is important. I'll let you know by casting the first post ]

------------------
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]

[Ok, it's cool] [Oh, and this is long. Sorry, but I need to return to the bar.]

Darkk smoothed his uniform. It was nearly time for his audiance.

...

Supreme Octicate: Fleet Admiral Darkk (if I may call you that), lately of the NIN, please state your case for replacing the Protectorate Governor.
" Simple, really. Look at these. *a chart appears on the big monitor, with hundreds on entries* These are all the NIN vessles unnacounted for so far. I can state with confidence 98% or more are currently opperating as pirates. This list *another chart replaces it* is the date, time, location, involved ship(s), damages, and fatalities of all pirate attacks commited by former NIN ships.
Military Octicate: We are currently putting a stop to this!!
" So you are. This graph represents total losses to all ships from your anti-piracy actions. The bars in order from largest to smallest represent losses by catagory: Phylydian commercial and private ships, Phylydian naval ships, neutral ships, and finaly Nijayas Pirate ships.
MO :These numbers are ludacrous!!!!!! Where did you make them up?!?!?
" Actualy, these are from your own office. The pr rep told me they were for an announcement to be made today and said I could use them...
MO :Very well, what is your point?
" I am so respected among the traditionalists, that they would go along with anything I said in the abscence of the Royal Family. And I could wind up the pirate threat and the rioting in only 3 weeks by my estimate.
Judicial Octicate: You believe your mere ethos (good name/reputation) could quell all that?!?
" Not merely that. A Nijayas leader must provide, for lack of a better word, subtler support than almost all other leaders can.
SO: What do you mean?
" I mean that I know the secrets, tricks, and ploys necissary to rule the Nijayas. Me, and no one else living.
Balence Octicate: That might explain your further requests...
JO: *reads Darkk's proposal* Blanket pardons! Outrageous. I might have granted you Governorship, but not pardon power!
" Without that, I would not be able to stop... THIS! *A sim window appears on the screen. Simulated pirate attacks take place as a timer ticks off months, weeks, days, and hours, and another counter climbs at a fantanstic pace.
MO: What is this?
" An extrapolation of current data. The pirates have shipyards and can sense the approach of the Phylydian Navy. Their numbers will only increase, and so will the number of Phylydian dead, as indicated by the counter. After half a year, there will have been more casualties from piracy than in the rest of the past 2 decades combined...
MO: We will find those shipyards! It's only a matter of time!
" Really. Did you know almost all Nijayas shipyards have emergancy jumpstream equipment and shields of planetary class? There's no way you could hunt them down. The Hyrakian Nebula, their primary staging area, contains enough hiding space alone to hide practicaly forever, even if every ship in the Phylydian navy was called after them.
MO: How do you know they are there? We've had suspicions...
" I can FEEL their presence there.
MO: Then lead us to them!
" You have no authority to do that, however if you give me the authority I asked for, you would have authority over me. Of course, then the solution would be MY way. But it would be the solution with fewest Phylydian casualties.
MO: How can you be sure they will obey you at all?!?!?
" Because they are traditionalists, and the Fleet Admiral becomes Emporer in the event of a lack of succesors. They COULD NOT disobey me.

The Octicon deliborated for 2 hours. Ordinarily such a decision would have taken days, but the Octicon was more worried about the Sals.

SO: Darkk, we have granted your requests. In 2 days, you will be Governor of the Phylydian zone of Nijayas space. And you will have the authority you requested.
" And the piracy will cease ... immediatly.
SO: Are you in communication with them?
" Sort of. The primal psychic link of our species can be used by the rightful ruler to exert authority. I am now beginning the "calling".
SO: Couldn't you have done it earlier?!?!?
" *smiles* I didn't really have the right.
SO: Oh, get out Darkk. Just make the piracy stop. We have more important worries

[url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum11/HTML/000032-17.html"]Darkk could use a drink to celebrate...[/url]

------------------
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]

Sundered Angel finishes his scan of the bar, and moves over to the table Avatara is sitting at, picking up a drink from the bar on the way. He sits opposite Avatara, silently sipping at his Devil's Breath. His blue eyes search the mercenary, who begins to feel a little uncomfortable. Then he leans back and spits a gout of fire at the roof, expelling his breath with an explosive "Aah". He looks at Avatara.

"Tell me, are you interested in a little mission?"

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

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

Cicion was in the training room of the Phylydia which was en route to Dominus to be modified. He finished his excercizes and approached a block of a granite-like substance. He drew his arm back and concentrated with every neuron in his brain. Silently, he thrust his arm forward, palm out, extremely rapidly, and stopped it completely a foot from the block's surface. Spiderweb cracks formed throughout the block. He repeated the motion, and the block shattered and was blown back several feet to collect in a pile of dust on the floor.

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

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

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

*Avatara leans back in his chair, trying to relax.*

"Uh...sure, why not? Although, it will cost you of course." Avatara said, slightly uncertain.

"I presumed it would. What is your price for a 'simple' mission?" Sundered Angel replied in a much calmer voice.

"It depends, usually it would fall somewhere between 500 and 2,000 shintak."

"Good, we'll get back to specifics, now what I am asking you to do is..."

(Cicion: yes I am trading in your currency; I frequent the bar enough that it gets to be a pain to have to exchange between currencies.)

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


[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 10-15-2000).]

Sundered Angel leans back in his seat, sipping at his drink. He smiles.

"The mission is quite simple. I need you to deliver a small package to Earth and bury it in the sands of the Sahara Desert. It's possible that you may have unwelcome attention enroute, but I expect it to be minimal, so combat pay will be 5000 schintak per battle, plus 2000 for the mission itself. Payable in Earth currency, of course, on arrival. Sound reasonable?"

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

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

"Great, I'll start in the morning." *Avatara says as Sundered Angel slips him the package. Avatara stands up and is about to head over to the counter when muffled shouting is heard from the hanger. Sundered Angel betrays shock for a brief few seconds before he regains control of himself.*

"No, slip out now. And hurry, if those people out there catch you, the mission is doomed." Sundered Angel spoke as he grabbed Avatara's sleeve.

"If you insist, but how am I supposed to leave with all of them outside the door?"

"Cicion has a back door, follow me."

*A few moments later, the Azurewrath sailed away from the bar and headed toward the first hyperjump point. Sundered Angel stared up at it as it faded from view. Yes, he had made the right choice.*

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

The StormBreaker and Phylydia zoomed through omnispace towards Dominus. Darkk had felt the sensor scans, and could feel the techs aboard probing StormBreaker. It was only natural, he thought, that they would try to figure out its secrets. It HAD come from a different universe, and he HAD claimed (while refusing an official ship) that it could overwhelm a good 1/3 of the Primary Armada's firepower (aka the Phylydia). But their efforts were wasted. There were no major weapons anywhere. The secret to StormBreaker's firepower was that it could generate a "virtual weapon effect" - in other words, use replicators, graviton emitters, and e=mc2 converters to produce any physical or energy weapon, and many other types of weapons, that it had data on. It could even create new weapon effects, once the propper code was in the central computer. At current, the most powerful weapon it could use was the disruptor missle, but Darkk had heard rumors of worse.


[Sargatanus, before you or anyone else complain about the StormBreaker being too strong, remember that it'll need to be to stand a George Lucas chance (think first Death Star). And also, there are many other drawbacks I will introduce as needed, such as fragility, power requirements, recharge time, etc.]

------------------
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]

An Obish Colonel stood behind the mirrors on the wall of the interrogation room, watching several of his finest officers beating on Pharris.

One of the larger offecers came forward, just out of Pharris's sight. "Tell us where the fleet is now, if you value your ears." He demanded, raising a nasty-looking blade by Pharris's head. Pharris spat on the obiard's face, burning him slightly with his 'volatile human oral acids' as Swtz had so many times in the past dubbed.

Humans are, and always have been, the strongest and most physically powerful species in the galaxy. No alien could expect to get in a fight with a human and survive, because of sheer brute strength. A reason the Cantharans chose to enslave mankind rather than wipe them out in an attempt to harness that power. That was why when the officer grabbed at his now raw face, he dropped the blade which cut the strings binding Pharris's hands.

Pharris sprung into action. He headbutted one of the security obiards, sending him sailing unconscious to a corner. With his feet, Pharris kicked up the chair and caught it in his hands, swinging it dangerously. Before the second officer could de-holster his blaster, he was also knocked out by the metal chair. Dropping the chair, Pharris sprung for the doorway. "Yes!" he oomphed, seeing as the forcefield, perhaps in innocence (or arrogence) had been left off he jumped into the hallway.

He ran down the whole prison cell wing, pushing every button on the way and releasing his crew. "Come on!" He shouted, running ahead, "There's not much time! We must steal a shuttle and escape within the next three minutes if we are to live." The Humans scurried for their guns.

-----

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Swtz stared at the stars sourly. So when the internal security alarms went off he was very startled. "What the tronoth is going on?!" he screamed at the chief constable.

"Sir, the humans! They've escaped! They're heading for the airlocks."

Swtz pondered their move. "Hmm. They know our team on the Barbarosa has them outnumbered and outgunned. They're heading for the-"

"Unauthorised shuttle launch from the main bay! It's the humans!"

"Lock on the shuttle and fire!"

"We can't, sir, it's just engaged it's stealth field!"

Swtz swore. "Kadt! Lost them."

"Yes sir."

"But we still have their Barbarosa."

"Science teams have found something."

"Report."

An obish science officer with an ocular implant appeared on the screen. "We've managed to hack into the main computer and it's giving us some strange coordinates."

"Put it on"

The calm voice of the Barbarosa's computer came over the comm channel "seven...six...five...four...three-"

Swtz's eyes dialated. "Oh shït."

"two...one..."


----------

On the stolen shuttle, Pharris and his crew watched as the Barbarosa, still attached to Swtz's Juggernaut, self destructed in a massive explosion. The flare guard kicked in, dimming the screen to a dark grey for a few seconds. The shuttle shuddered slightly as the shockwave passed and a tear rolled down Pharris' cheek. As the guard lifted, the destruction was seen. No survivors. Where The Barbarosa and Swtz's command ship once stood, now there was an expanding cloud of gas, twisted metal, and remnants of bodies.

A obish generals stripes floated by the screen. Two legends had died that day.

Pharris's second-in-command tore his eyes away from the sadness. "Course, sir?"

Pharris still watched painfully. The debris, and the rest of the obish fleet which had now come scurrying in to see what the hell had happenned to Swtz's ship. He could hear their frantic wails and howls of sorrow as they wept to each other on the Obish Comm unit.

Pharris responded to his second in command. "Set a course for UNS space."

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

[A patrol on the outskirts of UNS space]

Onboard the private gunship "Mariposa" captain Jackson "El Spamo" Spann paced the bridge. This was no ordinary mission that he was sent out by the Company. Indeed, it was exceedingly odd. What reason would he have to go out here, on the edge of explored space? There wasn't any hostilities between the humans and obish in a good long time. In fact, El Spamo couldn't remember when the last time he had an argument with an obiard. That could be because of his intimidating 6'3", heavyseat frame. Though he was tall, and thick, much of that was muscle. Growing up in the slums back on earth, he joined a company which he excelled in as a pilot. After many years of service, this Gunship, the Mariposa was given to him as a gift for his brave defense of a valuable shipping fleet from pirates. Pesky things, those pirates, and everywhere these days. That had prompted capt. El Spamo to "modify" his ship a bit. Extra armor and a souped up engine, far beyond specs give the ship the same manuverability as before, but with armor and shielding fitting that of a much larger ship. External missile racks were added to give long range punch, and the Phoenix missles loaded in them were viciously accurate. A second laser turret was added on the underside, cutting down the blind spot to nearly nothing. Extra capacitors added to fire rate, and a widend power cable added a bit more power. Consequently, the size of the turrents are much larger, and the ship much uglier. The magno-pulse gun has always had short range, but by lengththening the barrels, and adding more power (much abundance there!) the range nearly comparable to that of the standard laser cannons. Almost.

But what good are those out here in space that hasn't been colonised yet?
El Spamo did not know. But, it was easy money, and Spamo needed the spare time to work on his swordsmanship, a little hobby he had picked up as an alternative to fist-fighting. He rarely went anywhere without his custom-made katana, usually strapped on his back.

Spamo sat back in the captains chair and ordered up a cup of tea, when the sensors registered a small craft.

"Hail the craft ensign" said El Spamo.
"Aye sir. Hailing open".

"This is captain Jackson Spann of the N.S. Mariposa. Identify yourself please."

"Mariposa, this is the obiard shuttle 1294-k. I am Captain Pharris..."


(Pharris, I hope you'll take advantage of this?)

(Sorry, but your story was a tad inaccurate. It takes place on the border of known space near the Arliacian system, not Obish space. I just tuned it up a bit. -Slug)
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Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

[This message has been edited by Slug (edited 10-16-2000).]

(Sheesh, now Phylydion swearwords are catching on!)

A blinding multi-colored flash erupted in space as the Phylydia dropped out of Omni space drive. Cicion was pleased to note that the newly made necessary trio of Kiojea's was already in front of them, shields up, weapons locked on. They instantly recognized the two ships, however, and pulled into escort formation as the collosal ships glided towards Dominus. The StormBreaker prepared to dispatch a shuttle to convey Darkk to the surface, but the Phylydia slid into a spacedock for modifications. One object that dominated the viewports of both ships was the largest orbital shipyard in history that was currently building a very familiar looking ship. Cicion smiled. "The Phylydia II is coming along quite nicely."

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-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

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