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

"I was in one of the sensory deprivation cells, you know, floating in the water in the dark, They damped out all the sounds in the room, I couldn't even hear myself talk... crazy... I must have been in there for seven or eight hours, and I was starting to feel real nuts, when the chief blasted the tank out with his pulse rifle. He had managed to hide in one of the smuggling compartments on the Barbarossa, and had snuck out when the coast was clear. He snuck into the Obiard ship and pulled me out of the tank, then we made our way to the main detention center, and released the rest of the crew.
By that time, the Obiards had caught up to us, but we had stolen weapons from the guards, and we were pretty well armed. We stormed the ship, and tried to take the bridge, but they sealed themselves in, and we didn't have any charges that could get throught the blast doors, but we were almost out of time. We split up, and took three shuttles and as many fighters as possible from the docking bay, and split.
We were clear just as the Barbarossa's self destruct went off, wrecking the Obiard ship, and sending it tumbling into one of their battleships that was holding station nearby. As we puled out the whole fleet was in a mess, trying to escape the explosion from the magazine of that battleship.

We managed to get clear in the chaos, and the three of us split up to cover our tracks. We're supposed to rendezvous at the bar in two weeks, but I'd like to get to Sol first, I need to talk to a few of my friends at some shipyards. I hope you'll grant us asylum aboard your ship, this shuttle is out of fuel and low on food."

El Spamo smiled, impressed and amused by the story, though not willing to admit it wholly.
"Alright, I'll grant ye passage to Sol, if you insist, even a passenger job is better than patrol work. I'll try to find room too stow you and your crew for the timebeing."

El Spamo directed his lietentant to lead the crew to their quarters, as Pharris was walking out the door, El Spamo shouted "Oh and Pharris! I'd try and keep quiet, if I were you... lots of people know about that price on your head."


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

The Mariposa tore through space back towards the Sol system. Captain El Spamo sat in his private lounge, thinking about the story that Captain Pharris had told. An odd tale at the very least. Something wasn't quite right... the Obiards are not a careless race, and the late General Swtz was the epitomy of meticulusness. He wouldn't leave an enemy ship in his cargo bay without wiping it clear of all life-forms. It'd be too dangerous. Swtz wouldn't have done that. Beyond that, the fact that the humans cleared a goodly portion of the General's ship of crew and then stole a few shuttles isn't too amazing. He'd done so himself on one occasion, though not quite on as heavily armed crew. And once he'd gotten his Katana back, well, the crew died rather quickly. He'd even gotten a good deal of money from selling the old scow.

Back to thinking about his current situation... Pharris had a price on his head. The thought of turning him in to the authorities crossed his mind more than once, but Spamo's curiousity and general dislike of the bounty hunters precluded this course of action.

Now, how did this amazing rendevous take place? Why was the Mariposa in such an opportune place as to encounter the shuttle at a point where they would have to make a course correction to a refueling depot? Curious indeed. Somebody had tipped off the Company as to the coordinates. But wouldn't that require the fact that somebody on the inside of Pharris's crew would be in the know?

*click* "Lieutenant, activate the recorders in the guest rooms please"
"Yes sir".

El Spamo was nothing if not prudent, and those recorders have gotten him pounds of juicy information.

*click* "Lieutenant, please summon captain Pharris to my lounge please"
"Yes sir"

Perhaps El Spamo should have a small chat with pharris about his recent thinkings.

*whoosh*
"Captain El Spamo?" Spoke captain Pharris, standing in the doorway.
"Have a seat Pharris, I've got a couple things I want to discuss with you."

"Of course" said Pharris as he took a seat.

El Spamo began to tell pharris a tale of his own.
The Company would not be happy to lose this renegade Pharris, though El Spamo, but they're going to have to deal with it...

(Thanks for the corrections Slug. I didn't have time to read through the 100 some-odd posts)



------------------
Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

Since the appointement had taken place, Darkk had had StormBreaker's main server sending pardons to the Phylydian Criminal Database at an insane rate. The entire known pirate forces had been pardoned in under 2 hours. Darkk had also created a small militia, consisting mainly of refitted bulk freighters with huge crews. The old NIN ships were decommisioned and melted down. The shipyard crews had returned to their daily lives. Everything seemed peaceful back home.

Darkk was in a hurry to give his report on the Arliacians and go back to the Palace, to see to putting everything right.

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

"Hold on!" Spamo said to Pharris with a lopsided grin. "We gave this thing the new QuasiSpace Wave Propulsion drive. You may feel some slight turbulence."

Spamo, Pharris, and his crew were all pressed into their seats as the drive was engaged. There was a massive muffled explosion in the background and the engines kicked out. The ship dropped back into normal space with a jolt.

"Damnit!" Spamo cursed. "I thought we had this thing worked out. Science level: report."

"Sir, that was no ordinary pothole. There's a Dimensional rift somewhere in the system."

"Wha....?" Spamo grinded his teeth in consternation. "What could cause a rift that bi..." He trailed off. "Pharris, what kind of engine core did the Barbarosa overload when it self destructed?"

Pharris stepped out of the shadows. "Ishiman Singularity drive. You don't think...."

Spamo slapped his forehead. "When the Barbarosa exploded, it destabalised the fabric of space in this sector. The we engaged our quasimatter drive, it got full blown into an interdimensional wormhole!"

The Science officer interrupted. "Sir, we're intercepting some communications from the ships in the remnants of the Obish fleet.... There's some weapons fire and a lot of shouting."

"The wormhole?"

"Something came out.... I'm reading a star, three moons and an asteroid belt."

"It warped in a system from a parallel universe?"

"Something more.... the Obish are being wiped out by whatever it is."

Spamo was frustrated "What are they fighting?!"

"Hang on sir, I'm trying to relay some more comm signals.... level 12 mass!"

Pharris interjected. "Level 12?! Can you put it on the viewscreen?"

The screen blinked and what appeared to be a grain of rice surrounded by a shower of sparks and some tiny blue specks. "Magnify."

Spamo and Pharris simultaniously gasped. "My god that's a big ship."

"The Obish are being slaughtered, sir! Move in for a closer look?"

"No. Turn tail and run! Best speed!"

"Too late sir, they've seen us!"

A human voice echoed through the bridge from the comm channel, albeit with a little static.
Th-s is the Capt-in Dar-ons-- of the Ter-an Im-eri-- Navy.
Lower your sh-elds an- surrender y-- ship.
Repe-t...

Spamo closed the channel. "Who the hell does this 'Captain Darvonsal' think he is?"

"Comm, see if you can see what that thing is called."

"We've got a magnified view of some kind of external insignia....."

The screen blinked, focused on the dark side of the ship. "Can't make it out, sir." The communications officer reported. "Too dark."

Suddenly, an explosion illuminated the side of a ship as an obish frigate blew it's nacelle.

"[url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/Newcomer.jpeg"]freeze viewscreen[/url]!" Pharris admired the grand majesty of the massive vessel that was tearing into the obish fleet.

"Whoah. A human ship from another dimension." an ensign repeated.

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

Cicion walked back and forth on the bridge. Good things had happened lately. The captured Kiojea-class ship that had rescued Cicion had been recaptured along with the Crimson Tear and nothing had been lost. Kiojeas were now reaching almost mass-production levels, and had been put into every major fleet and armada. The Phylydia II, the most top secret project in the Imperium, was almost halfway done. She was as big and powerful as the Phylydia but much faster and more maneuverable, and carried more fighters to boot. The Phylydia's fighter squadrons were patrolling the outer edges of the system so the Phylydion Dominus defense squadrons could rest and refuel. Plus, the Phylydia had just finished being modified. It now had two forward-firing heavy compression guns, and a much more sophisticated sensor suite. Also, it had the maneuvering program for a very sophisticated planet assault maneuver in its data banks. This was called a slammer in military jargon, and what happened was this: A very large ship would approach a planet and dive towards it. The ship would hit the atmosphere at precisely the angle and force so that it would cause a tremendous shockwave of air which would slam into the surface, demolishing anything present.

Cicion walked ino the docking bay, entered the Crimson Tear, and took her flying around the Dominus system.

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

"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

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

For centuries the Oculus Nebula had been the staging ground for all new Salrilian weapons. It was ideal: the nebula housed nearly a dozen forming solar systems, had many dense pockets of gas for hiding, and was littered with sensor sheilding debris. The latter dosen't matter much though; the nebula is smack in the middle of Salrilian space, and the awkward spacial phenomena make a sneak-in from Omnispace impossible. Today, the Nebual's tradition continues.

***

"Power conduits at maximum capacity." Crackled a voice.

Cal Sev cracked a smile in anticipation and awaited the next reports.

"Mass chamber at nominal level... Engaging resonators."

The Auspex leaned forward toward the screen and further strained his patience. On screen were four tubes, three of which almost 50 kilometers long and the other just over fifteen, converging at a small triangular chamber. The far ends of two of the long tubes lit up.

"Initiating resonator charge."

Cal Sev watched the the lights on the tubes move rapidly towards the chamber.

"Engaging mass..." The engineer on the radion was starting to sound equally anxious.

Cal Sev now saw violet glow from the smaller tube move like a vapor into the apex chamber.

"Firing primary reaction charge!"

As the glow in each tubes reach the apex chamber, the last long tube gave out an intense pink light that traversed the length of the tube and hit the apex chamber at the same time the glow in the tubes did. A brilliant blossom came out of the chamber along with a very intense blure streak. Cal Sev switched views on the screen to that of a small protoplanet about the size of Mars. The blue beam made its way on the screen and impacted on the planetoid, making an explosion so bright that the screen had to switch to maximum filter-it still hurt Cal Sev's eyes to look directly. A strange glowing ring marked the rapidly expanding shockwave, behind which the planetoid flaked into sparking debris. Within ten seconds, not one chunk larger than 25 kilometers was left of the infantile planet.

"YES!!!" Cal Sev shouted in exhiliration. After which he chuckled at his accomplishemnt for a few minutes before reaching for the communicator. "Foreman, well done. You and your teams have earned your vacation. Would you care to join me and celebrate at the Citidel? The Haruspex will most certainly like to thank you for completing your task so far ahead of schedule."

"Of course we would! But you don't want to try out Night Shade Network?"

Cal Sev paused. "It's ready as well!?"

"We just finished the safety and operational inspections yesterday, your exelencey."

"Well I suppose His Eminance wouldn't mind giving us a raincheck for such an instance."

------------------
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.

Darkk was once again before the Octicon. But this time they couldn't care less about his Protectorate.

Supreme Octicate: Darkk, we would like a report on the Arliacians.
" Very well. They had prewarp tech, I had to trade some simple hyperspace formulae for the freedom of some friends...
Technical Octicate: What formulae?
" The secondary-school physics class ones.
TO: Caethael's Laws?
" I refer to them differently, but those are the ones.
TO: Fine.
" To continue, they are execptionally foolhardy in military matters, not afraid of quite possibly the 2nd or 3rd strongest known ship. They treated it like you would treat a Sal Carrier - surround and threaten.
Military Octicate: What were their weapons like?
" I assume they were as primative as the rest of their tech. They didn't use them, just pointed them at me. The most peculiar thing is that they had artifacts opperating on the same principles as StormBreaker's main reactor, but 7 times as energetic, in idle state.
TO: And how powerful IS StormBreaker's main reactor?
" Somewhat stronger than the Phylydia's.
MO: Rediculous.
" Believe what you will.
TO: But what about these artifacts?
" According to Cicion, they're similar to something called "Verasi" artifa....
TO: VERASI ARTIFACTS?!?!?
" According to Cicion's description of Verasi artifacts.
SO: Thank you, Darkk. You may leave now.


------------------
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 Mariposa was running at full hyperlight, barely keeping it's lead on the Huge Terran battleship, which was making up the distance very quickly. El Spamo watched the range slowly counting down. He was running out of options...

"How long till the Quasimatter drive is charged?"

"Four minutes, Sir"

Pharris saw what was going on, and shouted
"Spamo are you nuts! You'll tear this sector to pieces!"

"Don't you think I know that!?... Not that it matters anyway, they'll be on us before the drive is even charged, forget making a safe jump distance."

It was hard to admit defeat, even when he knew the battle was unwinnable.

"Comm, send our latest recorder tapes and data log to HQ, make sure to encrypt them. Hail the ship, put him on my console."

Captain Darvansal appeared on Spamo's screen

"I am Captain Jackson Spann of the UNS Mariposa. I am willing to discuss terms of surrender."




[This message has been edited by Captain Pharris (edited 10-18-2000).]

The screen resolved into the grizzled face of the commander of the massive ship.
"Mariposa, drop your shields and prepare to be boarded."


El Spamo turned towards the ensign, and made a quick motion with his hand.

"Captain of the Starlance, I've no quarrel with you. Moreover, we are of the same race, albeit of a different dimension. Wouldn't it stand to reason then, that I and my crew are not only non-hostile, but willing to help you?"

The commander of the Starlance contemplates this for a moment. All the while the massive craft closes on the Mariposa. The Mariposa's engines stopped straining slightly, and the Starlance gained quicker.

"You make a good point there captain" said the commander of the Starlance. "But I'm not about to let you keep your ship. For the time being. You'll have to be taken into custody for a short period while we discuss the situation. Until then, prepare to turn control of your ship over to me."

"That is acceptable, on the condition that we begin talking immediatly."

"Agreed. Prepare to be boarded".

The Mariposa slowed down further, and tractor beams locked onto the hold. Moors pulled her close to a recession in the side of the Starlance. Clamps extended and grasped the docking rings around the ports for ship-to-ship docking. An airway extended and enemy troops began to walk towards the immobilized Mariposa.

El Spamo sat in his chair pushing buttons on his console. Entering the self-destruct mechanism, as well as several command scripts to overload several key systems that would detonate the ship should the worst come to pass. Finally, a small object pops out of a receptacle on Spamo's chair arm. El Spamo picks it up and puts it in his mouth.

"That, my fried pharris is a detonation retainer. If it is activated, I can do several things with my ship. Pray that I don't have to use it."

Pharris nodded then says "I hadn't hoped on getting captured so soon"

"Don't worry about it. I'll have us outa here in no time. Now where's my katana..."

El Spamo is prepared in full captain's dress as the Starlance's troopers come and lead his crew to the Starlance.


------------------
Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

Garrion Retoe was just inside Salrilian space, broadcasting his report to the head of the Foreign Intelligence branch of Phylydion Security, or ForInt PhylSec. The officer looked incredulous. "What do you mean, they blew up a planet?"
"Not a full planet, sir, but a sort of forming quasi-planet, about the size of the second moon of Dominus II. They fully fragmented it into a cloud of asteroids and dust. In a few weeks, it will reform into a spherical shape again, but still. I have no idea how they did it, since the operation was obscured by a nebula, but there was no hiding a beam like that; it sent the LR scanners screeching like a Trazer. And exactly where it stopped, sensors picked up a cluster of denser material than the nebula gases where they had once picked up a single object."
"Interesting. It's almost as if they knew we were building a second Phylydia." The officer paused and turned to Garrion with a worried look. "You don't think they could mount a weapon like that onto a ship, do you?"
"That device has got to be huge and extremely power consuming. Now, I'm no expert on Salrilian starship engineering, but I know they don't have the hardware of concentrated resources to make a ship large enough to tote something like tis around. Although it does raise concern... Are Kiojeas being mass-produced yet?"
"They just started to mass-produce them a few days ago."
"Good."
"Better cut the transmission. The Sals won't break this code for another week, at the very least, but every letter we don't pronouce gives us a few more seconds with it."
"Yes, Sir. End transmission."
"End transmission." The chief's face faded, and Garrion piloted his medium fighter for a few seconds before engaging the Omni drive.


[Sorry Cicion, but I had to alter some small inconsistancies]

[This message has been edited by Sargatanus (edited 10-18-2000).]

In the depths of the Oculus Nebula, a small fighter hung motionless in space. No one noticed its presence. No one saw it arrive, no one would see it leave. Its presence was no more to the Salrilians than a passing speck of dust- but it was one variable that the Oracular Net needed to know. Of course, it did not. Sundered Angel sat in the cockpit, looking at a chunk of protoplanet.

"The Salrilians grow arrogant, toying with such great powers."

A wave of a hand, and the fighter moves sideways. A minute or so later a large chunk of rock passes by at high speed, straight through the point where the fighter was.

"In fact, I have a disturbing feeling that they might have been probing further into Verasi technology. That blast had a feel to it that I have not felt for a long, long time."

With a complicated figure-eight movement, the small vessel evaded a cloud of smaller asteroids. Sundered Angel smiled to himself grimly.

"No point staying here. When this cloud disperses I might attract attention. And with Cal Sev leading this group, the Salrilians might be a little hostile."

The fighter spun smoothly and flew away, a dark shadow against a cloud of debris.

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

"Tear, follow Angel." The Tear pulled out of its holding position at the voice command and pursued the small fighter exiting the Oculus Nebula. Cicion wished another conversation with Angel- something was obviously going on in there- but that could wait until they both arrived at their destination.

------------------
-Traek Cicion of the Taeskor
"Never tell me the odds!"
-Han Solo

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

[This message has been edited by Sundered Angel (edited 10-20-2000).]

*Without incident, the Azurewrath made it to the Ithinari system. The system had a single habitable planet out of seven orbiting the yellow star. Even though Ithron had lush jungles and tropical island chains that would make it the perfect vacation spot, it was vastly considered as "the planet on the border". The Ithinari system just happened to be on the wrong side of human space, and was considered by human merchants running missions and cargo to other governments the "last stop before security."

The helmsman craftily piloted the ship around a moon orbiting one of the closer planets to the star. This was the last stop before he could make a long jump to sol. The patterns of the stars in the sky seemed almost hypnotic as a blue-green gas planet passed below the ship.

A sudden warning klaxon snapped Avatara to reality. He jumped out of his captain's seat, staggered as a rush of dizziness hit him, and hurried over to the sensor station.*

"What is it?"

"Uh...sir. We have detected movement on the far side of the planet. It appears to be a small force, but they are moving on an intercept course."

"I take it they are hostile?"

"The radiation readings we are getting would indicate they are Salrillian ships, six of them. Four cruisers and a gunship. The ID transponders show that they belong to Sargatanus, though why they are after us I have no idea."

*Avatara patted a leather pouch hanging off his belt. He knew why the Sals were here.*

"Time before they intercept us?"

"Four minutes"

"Is there a path that can get us to hyperspace range without them reaching us?"

"I was just going to suggust that. Hold on" *The ship banked sharply as a new heading was set, a curved line away from the planet.* "That should do it, they shouldn't be able to catch us now. We'll be gone by a minute."

*Avatara looked at the screen. The ships had decloaked and were running full throttle after them. But still...it was too easy.*

"Helm, 180° course change now!"

"Sir?"

"You heard me!"

*The helmsman grumbled but complied. No sooner had the Azurewrath turned, than a Salrillian carrier, escorted by various ships to make a small fleet, jumped in right where they would have been.*

"Dear god!" the man on station at the sensors exclaimed. Avatara looked up from the station to see an Audmendian carrier in front of them. His heart skipped a couple beats. He wondered what the Auds were doing here, but more importantly, he wondered how he was going to survive this...

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

((Firstly, Cicion- your ship can't have been in the Nebula. If the High Octicon has concrete proof of the weapons testing, the next phase of the plot goes slightly off the rails. I hope my modifications work fine.))

The fighter flits in and out of systems, through normal space, hyperspace, and wormholes so small that Cicion's vessel has trouble following it. The fighter pilot pulls some clever stunts, but that is nothing in comparison to what the pilot of the Crimson Tear was forced to accomplish to keep up with it. Cicion frowned- surely Sundered Angel had discovered them by now? Why all this black hole dodging and star-skimming?

Eventually, the Angel fighter slows to a halt, red glowing veins pulsing in its dark, almost organic grey structure. A blue-green planet hangs beneath it, and it spins in place, facing the Crimson Tear.

"Yes Cicion, I noticed you a while back. I was just checking the handling of that ship of yours- quite impressive, I must say. Now, I believe you wanted to talk to me?"

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

(It wasn't IN the nebula, at least not nearly deep enough to see the testing in detail. Just enough so that it could see you as you left.)

"Yes, indeed. I am interested in the properties of that orb and how they would aid in Verad and Sargatanus's defeat. But we needn't do this over the comm system; you can dock with the Tear and come aboard if you wish. And, call me Traek."

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

[This message has been edited by Taeskor Cicion (edited 10-20-2000).]

"They're closing in on the Azurewrath, Admiral. Range: 150 kilometers."

"Well well...." Slug said in a sardonic voice. "Today we begin the reclaimation of what was rightfully mine in the first place." Slug's glowing eyes met a toothy grin of pure evil.

-----

Avatara watched as the carrier battlegroup under Sargatanus' command approached weapons range. "They're powering up to fire." His security officer said nervously. The Azurewrath shuddered slightly as a long-range bolt narrowly missed it. "We're going to die, aren't we captain?"

Avatara sighed, perhaps in frustration, perhaps in inevitability. "Comman-" The screen flashed as the carrier was eclipsed by an explosion. "What the-" A trio of grey streaks flashed accross his screen.

"Sir! The Carrier has been disabled!"

Another explosion lit up the screen ([url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/Carrierdeath.jpeg"]image[/url]) as three gunships, led by a single destroyer tore into the battlegroup. In minutes it was reduced to shreds of debris as Slug's triumphant ships jumped out of the system as soon as they had disappeared.

"Sir, there's a broadcast on all frequencies, all languages."

"On speakers." Said Avatara as he chewed at the inside of his cheek.

This is not the end, Sargatanus,
but rather the
beginning

Avatara's chief gunner turned to him. "He's totally mad, isn't he?"

-----

The room was white. A sparkling white that missed even a single speck of dust. Overhead, crystal displays cast their pure white light like the purest of cloudlights. In the center of the gigantic room sat a flat square dinnertable, about a hundred meters long by nine meters wide. The Paylos Silverware, which had never been used before, glistened as the microcrystals within caught the light and the old Earth China was set. At the high end of the table sat Captain Darvonsal in his full formal uniform, a startling whiteness, with his staff assembled. The whole room was set to an occasion as if a Fleet Admiral were coming to dinner.

Spamo and his crew sat at the long table, chewing their meals. Three days they had been 'prisoners' on the mysterious StarLance, yet they were being treated like royalty by the even more mysterious Captain Darvonsal. While the alien crewmembers from the Barbarosa and Mariposa had been executed already, the humans were in the lap of captive luxury. An eerie silence hung over the table like a limp fog.

Darvonsal spoke. "Spamo, you claim we are all in a parallel universe, yet the stellar computers reckognize this sector of space."

El Spamo looked up from his steak. "We aren't, but you are. Your ship came in from another universe through some sort of trans-reality wormhole caused by an accidental overload of our stardrives. You were.... pulled through into this universe."

"That would explain the presence of human life in this section of the galaxy."

Spamo's eyes widened. "You mean there isn't any human life left in your universe?!"

"That--" Darvonsal blinked back a tear. "Has nothing to do with our situation."

"Tell us." Pharris broke in.

"Nearly three hundred years ago, mankind discovered hyperspace, opening a whole new realm of possibilities. The Terran Star Empire was forged. We expanded to cover half of the galaxy when-" He paused for a sad breath- "'they' came. We knew nothing of them, but we knew the Aliens were hostile. The following nuclear wars ravaged both sides to the bone. It was in humanity's final desperate hours that we built the StarLance. This massive ship is all that's left of the Terran Star Empire. What's left of humanity is scattered throughout the heavens, left in the stone ages by a forgotten war. Left to stagnate and slowly die."

A deafening silence returned.

"What now?" Spamo asked. "What will you do now?"

Spamo managed to catch a horrible twinkle in Darvonsal's eye before he lowered his head.

"Vengance."

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

"Vengeance"


El Spamo was taken aback by the cold assurance of Captain Darvonsal's vow. The fact that the civilization of his own universe was decimated and ravaged was terrifying enough. Even more terrifying was that the man was nearly driven mad by desire for revenge. That glint in the eye was a glint of madness, lurking in the depths of Darvonsal's mind, waiting to spring out and conquer his sanity. Spamo only hoped that it was not too late to reason with him...

"The Starlance was our humanity's last hope. We were to assault the ravaged planets of our opponents and put an end to their evilness. The Starlance was the most advanced ship, and the largest as well. We had hoped that by removing them as a threat, we could perhaps rebuild from the ashes... But before we could, your stardrives sucked us from our universe into yours. Our quest is lost now, and the last chance for my people's salvation is gone."

Pharris spoke up at this point "Are you holding us responsible for things out of our control? We didn't mean to drag you into this universe. If we could send you back to complete your mission, we would... but I don't know if that can be done."

"It is possible" Said Spamo "It'd be extremly hard and resource consuming. The fluke that drug them into our universe was quite extraordinary. I don't think that it was our stardrive alone. I think there were factors in Darvonsal's universe that assisted in catapulting him into this universe. A gigantic spatial distorter, on par with the distortion of a black hole would be sufficient to rip space and open a hole back into his own dimension."

Darvonsal's eyes lit up. "Can that be accomplished?"
"I don't know" replied Spamo.

Pharris spoke again. "Why did you execute the non-humans of our crews? If the were with us, that would mean that they weren't hostile towards humans."

"It's an edict by which we live by. All non-humans are not to be trusted. The Aliens that we fought had a few subjugated races serving them. One of which we befriended, and which also served the enemy with spies that caused us no end of grief. Therefore, we couldn't take any chances."

"Who are they? The one's who ravaged your civilization?" asked Spamo.

Darvonsal sat silent for a long time. Then he spoke quietly...
"They called themselves... The Comar..."


(Can I do that? I certainly hope so. It'd be an interesting plot twist no? 'Sides it's an alternate dimension. Who knows what'd be there? )

[No you can't. It's my plugin, my universe, my TC]
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Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito (plura contros Esto)

[This message has been edited by Slug (edited 10-28-2000).]

It would depend on Slug. It's his storyline.

-Zeta

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[url="http://"http://www.angelfire.com/mac/axissi/index.htm"]Axis Software[/url]
[url="http://"mailto:Jonathan@Woodburn.cc"]mailto:Jonathan@Woodburn.cc[/url]Jonathan@Woodburn.cc
Manager of A.S.I.

(Sorry, no. There was only one alien race in the StarLance universe, and they were totally wiped out in the nuclear war [both sides were]. By vengance he means to solve a personal vendetta with all aliens, which it why he wiped out the remnants of the Obish fleet)

Spamo leaned forward in grief. "Tell me more about these aliens."

Darvonsal spoke up. "What's left to tell about the Comar? They're dead. As is Humankind. There is nothing left in our universe to salvage."

"But there is still some humanity left, albeit the tiniest morsels, right? Perhaps if they were to assemble and unite the Terran Star Empire could be reborn."

Darvonsal exploded in a fit of rage. "No_there_isn't"

"There is. You said so yourself. But what I don't get is how they all were knocked back into the stone ages. Perhaps a city or two survived here and there." Spamo said coolly.

Darvonsal sat down, attempting to control his breathing. "The.... the StarLance has been wandering the universe for generations now. After we saw Humanity was doomed on those worlds we left the galaxy, searching for other life. We were saddenned when we found none. Even the Comar worlds were reduced to lifeless rocks."

"So you could say Humanity won those nuclear wars." Spamo said optomistically.

"No one wins a nuclear war. Haven't you... you other-universers learned that yet? The StarLance is all that's left of advanced life in our galaxy. We learned that lesson the hard way."

Spamo met Darvonsal's glere head on and for a minute, a long sixty seconds, there was silence. "The Phoenix shall rise from the ashes, Daronsal. There will be other Human empires. As long as it takes, humanity will always rebuild itself."

"I beleive this dinner has ended. Security, escort these men to their quarters."

"You can't do this Darvonsal!" Spamo yelled as he was dragged by his arms out of the room. "Wiping out all alien life in our universe is wrong! You'll never be able to do it!"

Darvonsal said with that evil glint "Oh I won't stop there. I will leave your galaxy as you left mine. Lifeless."

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

"Sir, sir!"

"What is it?" said Mag sleepily. He had been sleeping when the Audemedon droid woke him up.

"More news!"

"Well?"

"An Ishiman heavy destroyer was being attacked by a Salrillian fleet when three Salrillian gunships and one Salrillian heavy destroyer attacked the fleet. The ships had Slug's IFF, and left just as quickly as they came."

"Where?"

"Nobody knows where the ships went. None of the lines Slug's ships have made when they left systems have intersected; it seems he keeps moving his base of operations."

"Thank you. Can I have some sleep, now?"

"There's more news."

"Very well."

"A large ship, called the Starlance, arrived in a system on the border of Obish space and destroyed one of their major fleets. The captain of the ship is human, and seems to want to kill all non-humans."

"Eesh. That means the Ishiman will probably want me, then. Tell me if they call, I'm going back to sleep."

"Yes, sir."

The droid scuttled off to the bridge.

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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

The fighter docks with the Crimson Tear smoothly and easily, and Sundered Angel walks to the bridge. A short black cape billows out behind his black jumpsuit, and he smiles when he sees Cicion.

"Greetings, Traek. I believe you wanted to discuss the orb?"

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

[Slug, you could have Darvonsol meet me - my status (human but not quite) would drive him up the wall. I'll leave it up to you if you want to do it, but it would be interesting. Contact me about it and set up a hotline meet if you're interested. Might not fit, but it would be cool.]

Darkk had endured much cross-examination on Dominus - they wanted to know everything Darkk knew about those artifacts. He hadn't really thought much of them - he sensed that nobody on the planet knew how to use them, and didn't think anyone else would. That he hadn't done a full interrogation of the inhabitants annoyed them - but in any case Darkk figured they were too stubborn to respond to any interrogation except psychic, and Darkk didn't know enough about them to do mind-invasion anyway.

He arrived at Nijayias Prime and stepped to the gates of the old Imperial Palace. Darkk was amazed at the lack of damage. Kharadd had told him one of the peripheral towers had fallen, but the Phylydians had apparently put it back up. Darkk would have to thank them in his weekly memorial (fancy term for governmental message) to the High Octicon.

He met his assistants: mostly Phylydian. The head of the militia (which Darkk had recently formed) was one of Darkk's old Admirals, as was the Chief of Infrastructure Reclaimation. The militia was small, much smaller than the pirate forces had been, but it was the best of the best of the old NIN, aside from a lack of superheavyweight ships (except StormBreaker and 2 other gateships).

Darkk was then escorted to the Governor's quarters - the former quarters of the Imperial Family. He refused them, then went to his old quarters, which had astonishingly remained sealed through all the chaos. Darkk was finally home. As he lay down for a quick nap, he though about his course of action...

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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]

"Or something" Avatara told his gunner. "As long as Sargatanus has his hands full with Slug, we're okay. I think there was an old saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my ally' or something like that. Either way, helm, plot a course for Earth. I'll be in my quarters if you need me."

*The Azurewrath cruised away from the Ithinari star and with a bright light dissapeared into hyperspace.*

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Captain Pharris turned on the faucet, and the shower. He turned on his radio to some bizzare Music, and sat down on one of the seats, next to Spamo.

"That ought to stop the recording devices."

"So what do we do? The man is obviously insane." Spamo sat back, thinking.

"He killed some of the best crew I had, and some of my oldest friends... I'll kill him. that's all there is too it, he will die." Captain Pharris's voice was icy calm, but his knuckles were white.

"Don't be so rash, we need to get off of this boat. Darvonsal is crazy enough to take on any of the alien races, and with a ship like the Starlance, he'll be able to do an incredible ammount of damage, but if the Sals or the Obiards press a fleet against him, we'll be screwed, and there's no way Darvonsal will accept surrender."

"They have us in really nice rooms, but there are guards all over the place. He's definitely not going to let us get anywhere near the Mariposa, but we need to get awarning out to somebody. If this guy decides to come down on Earth, they wouldn't have a chance."

"I sent our data logs out before we were captured, but they don't show anything about this guy's quest. I'd really like to know what this guy plans on doing first. I wish I could just get a message out to warn somebody, right now we're a rolling cannon."

Captain Pharris looked at Spamo
"We need to talk to him privately. We have to try and reason with him."

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Darvonsal sat alone in the massive, dark room, lit by starlight alone, pondering his recent plights. The third and fourth Obish primary armadas had now been thoroughly destroyed, both their Grand Admirals, mrk'Hrm and mrk'Swtz died bravely in battle. He had already been contacted by many desperate aliens who called themselves 'the prophets', pleading with him to 'not let it happen'.

"No." He said. "Not this way."

The door buzzed, signaling a request to enter. He acknowledged and his first officer stepped in, her uniform a tad scruffy. "Captain."

"What is it, number one?"

"We've finished our orbital strike. We nuked the planet Axis Minor down to the bedrock, and even destabilised it's orbit. In thirty-nine years it'll be gone." She said proudly.

Darvonsal bit his lip and read over the battle report. "These... aliens are unlike anything I have ever encountered. Apparently they are the dominant species in the galaxy, yet they have not even achieved sentience."

"The prisoners we interrogated call them the Audemedons. They urge us to leave this sector of space for their sake and ours."

"They have yet to see the full firepower of the StarLance. How did we handle their fleet?"

"They were extremely resiliant. They had no fear, no way to intimidate them. They were quick to swarm a target that easily outmatched them. They managed to knock out our port disruptor nacelle and overload shield grid layer 4. Estimated time for repairs is three weeks."

Darvonsal smiled. The StarLance's main features were the three main disruptors that hung from it's conical hull. Fired individually, each disruptor was capable of reducing a large asteroid into a cloud of atoms. It's forward-firing Chronokinetic Cannon would produce a beam that upon impact, would render all the atoms in a target temporarily positive, thus causing them to violently repel each other and the target to disperse into a thin mist.

"Where to, Captain?"

"Track the nearest 'Prophet' fleet and set an intercept course."

"Hmmm...." She said "If you're looking for a challenge then you've got one. This 'Slug' guy is supposed to be one of the greadest Lord Admirals they ever had."

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