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

Long range probe DX-235432 had been shadowing Axis Minor for almost 126 years. It watched from its position in the oort cloud, with its perminant stealth field working fine, and sent images of all the action to the FA_Darkk and EMP accounts of the NIN message system.

Darkk was worried. The main defense stations of the Nijayias system were automated and personaly controled by the Emperor, Fleet Admiral, or Sector Group leader, and had remained powered down and hidden during the Phylydian-Nijayias War. They could probably handle the Starlance, but few other systems had such defenses, particularly after the war.

In any case it looked like it was going after Slug. Darkk wished he could help, but all he could do was send what data he could collate and a warning: "There is a huge battlestation heading to kill you! Be ready for anything!!!"

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

Spamo paced back and forth agitatedly in the confines of the "cell". Though that was not exactly the proper word for it. The "cell" was an ambassadorial suite. 'Though with the way that Darvonsal is acting, he's not going to be inviting any ambassadors anytime soon' thought Spamo. Looking out the window to the space beyond, he saw something orange flash by the port.

"Pharris, come look at this." said Spamo. Outside the window, a furious battle seemed to be taking place. Neither Pharris nor Spamo could make heads or tails of it, but by the looks of it, the blurred orange ships were being shot apart by the Starlance. Finally, the Starlance made a manuever to avoid a salvo of fire from an enemy ship, and turned towards the capital ship. It was Audemedon. Only a single carrier, from what Spamo and Pharris could tell.

"Those are the Auds out there" said Pharris.

Spamo frowned outside. The carrier evaporated into a fine mist. "And that doesn't seem to be too much trouble for the Starlance. Then again, that's a lone carrier, and even the Mariposa could severely damage one... but not all at once like that."

Pharris shook his head. "The auds have hundreds upon hundreds of carriers. If they ever brought the full might of their fleet against the Starlance..."

"They would lose a lot to just one ship. The starlance packs more punch than anything I've ever imagined. Before we get off this thing, I've got to get ahold of some schematics."

"What about talking with Darvonsal? Perhaps we can still reason with him."

A flaming wreck of an Aud fighter spun past the window. A shuddering jolt shook the ship.
"No, I think that Darvonsal is beyond reasoning. I've never wanted to use these things before, they're so experimental. But this might be the time. I doubt they'd do any permanent damage, but if we can get to the Mariposa, we can escape."

Pharris was puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

El Spamo replied "Nanites"

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

"I don't like the idea of being cut to pieces and reassembled... it could go wrong really easily..."

"Well do we have any alternative? I really don't think he'll let us off this ship alive. I think we need to get a good look at this ship, then get the hell off."

"I'd still like to talk with him before we go. Maybe he'd actually give us a tour of his ship, he seems very proud of it. We can use that to our advantage." Pharris stepped back as An aud cruiser's trazers burnt a dark streak across the outside of the window.

"I guess so. I suppose it would be easier than trying to hack one of the terminals to get the data." Spamo watched in amazement as an entire flight of fighters vaporize.

"Exactly. and anyway, we need to figure out how to get our crew off with us. He already killed my XO and the rest of the aliens on board. I don't want to lose anyone else." Several hunks of orange metal clanged loudly against the hull just outside the windows.

"I don't like the idea any more than you do, Pharris, but getting all of us to the ship would be extremely difficult." Spamo watched as the aud fleet tried to disengage the Starlance

"I know, but we have to at least try and do it." Pharris watched the Starlance's disruptors tear at the fleeing Auds

"Alright, but we need to do it soon. At this rate, there won't be much of a galaxy left to save." Spamo watched the Aud fleet retreat into hyperspace.

"All i know is that the humans are gonna have a lot of explaining to do after we stop this guy." Captain Pharris chucled to himself...

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

"All we need to do is get to a terminal. The nanites will temporarily tie up the ship's systems. We'll have about ninety seconds untill the computer recovers, then an additional minute or two until they realize we're gone."

Pharris huffed. "We need a terminal...."

"I can arrnge tha-" The door hissed open and several heavily armed security officers entered the door, each snatching a limb on Pharris or Spamo and dragging them both out of the room into the hallway."

"Captain wishes to see you." One of them grunted.

They were escorted, no, dragged through nearly three miles of the massive ship's hallways untill they reached two very large blast doors. "The Bridge" Pharris gasped.

The doors opened, and both men had to blink several times to be sure they were seeing what they were seeing. The massive room seemed to stretch on into infinity, two large pits on each side filled with computers and crewmen.
[url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/SLB.jpeg"](image)[/url]

Darvonsal walked up to them, amused by the looks on their faces. "Well, we're not exactly short on space on an 11-kilometer-long dreadnought." He answered their question before they asked it.

"uh.... Captain may I see one of your terminals?" Spamo said nervously.

"Well if you wanted off the ship so bad, you have it." Darvonsal cackled.

"How'd you....." Pharris began

"The walls literally have ears, captains. Besides your nanites won't work. The electronic frontier you passed through when you walked through those doors fried the electrical systems in them. You and your crews will be escorted to your Mariposa, as I have no further need of you. I've learned all I need to from you."

"Then why don't you kill us." Spamo rumbled

Darvonsal Met Spamo's glare with a maniacal grin. "I'm turning you loose to spread the word.. the 'warning' if you will..... We'll drop you off before we engage the 'Prophet' fleet. Soon this galaxy will be as mine was."

"And that is.....?"

"Devoid of all advanced alien life."

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

*In the safe confines of hyperspace, Avatara sat pondering over the latest stellar reports. Most of it was of no importance, comets passing by planets, asteroids dissapearing in a collision between two asteroids, high levels of this gas in this sector of a nebula while a different gas was dominant in another, but one report caught his eye. The report was about an anomaly that occured near the Arliacian System. A strange gravatic anomoly caused a star, three moons, and an asteroid belt to appear. But even stranger was a giant mobile object that came with it.*

"Helm?" Avatara called over the comlink.

"Yes?"

"Can you drop us out early in the Sol system? Maybe around Neptune or so?"

"Easily, but if I may ask, why?"

"There's an unidentified object roaming around space."

"And...?"

"In my experience, most 'large objects' that appear out of nowhere are hostile."

"I see, you don't want us to warp into a trap."

"Earth is a likely target, not for sure, but its better to be safe than sorry."

"Acknowledged"

"Captain out."

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

Mag Steelglass was watching the viewscreen in amazement. It was the news network, and it was currently broadcasting about the Starlance.

"Here's some exclusive footage of the Starlance as the Audemedon engaged it several hours ago. As you can see, their efforts were futile."

It then showed hundreds of Audemedon ships being torn apart, while leaving some minor scratches and dents on the Starlance's surface. Finally, the Audemedon retreated.

"The UGPA is currently planning a strike on the Starlance, but the plans are just in the beggining stages. It is generally agreed that the strike will not begin for some time. This is Sam Ivanton, reporting from Freedom Station."

"Thanks, Sam. Coming up next: piracy is increasing in the Free Trade Zone, right after these messages."

Mag turned the viewscreen off. He'd been amazed by the destructive power of the Starlance, and decided that he'd only hire out to the UNS to stop it for a VERY large sum of money...

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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 Mariposa's engines rumbled, and the systems began to crawl back online. "Systems check"
shouted a couple of ensigns. The ship's crew was significantly smaller, though with the addition of Pharris's men, it was running nearly at %80 crew. As a result, Spamo himself was piloting the ship, and Pharris was handling the weapons.

"Ensign, is she ready to exit this damned hulk?" asked Spamo as the checks went over without incident.

"Yes sir. The Mariposa is ready to fly"

"Good, engaging." The Mariposa rumbled and flew through the open hatch of the Starlance's landing bay. Spamo pushed a few buttons, an odd shudder later, the Mariposa was well away from the Starlance. "Navigation, plot a hyperspace course, random vector. Let's not give the Starlance any idea where we're going." Moments later, the Mariposa breached reality, and disappeard from space.

Out in the middle of deep space, the Mariposa reverted back to realspace. It slowed and drifted to a relative stop in the middle of nowhere.

"All crew, this is the captain speaking. We have just left a hostile ship. All crewmembers and passengers are to assist in a shipwide, external and internal, centimeter by centimeter search for bugs, tracking devices, and foreign objects of any sort. Teams will be assigned shortly."

Pharris nodded. "A prudent plan Spamo. I wouldn't put it past Darvonsal to lace this ship with bugs of all sorts."

"I don't doubt it. I need right now to dispatch messenger pods to as many governments as possible. We won't bother getting the UNS involved, they may decide to help out our rouge psychopath. But all of the other races. Eleejeetians, Salrillians, Obish, Ishimans, Bazidanese, Gaitori, Cantharans. All need to be alerted. This time, racial enemities must be put aside until this scourge has passed. The last thing we need is for the starlance to start setting up a permanent base, and producing ships of it's own."

Pharris nodded agreement. "I'll start writing those reports to the races. When can we send them out?"

"As soon as all the messenger pods we're using are cleared. About 3 hours. I'm taking a personal crew to investigate them myself."

Spamo walked towards the turbolift doors at the rear of the bridge. Pressing a button on his communicator, he once again addressed the crew. "All non-bridge crew report to the main cargo hold for ship-search briefing"

3 hours later, several message pods flew from the stationary Mariposa and jumped into hyperspace towards their respective recipients.

8 hours later, the Mariposa was declared free of surveillance and tracking devices on the ship. A total of 213 foreign objects were found onboard, throughout physical and computer systems.

"The ship is cleared captain. We even got the trackers placed in our computers wiped out. Took a complete system restart, but we did it. Had to reset my alarm-clock though."

"Good work ensign. Back to your post."
Spamo turned back to the monitor he was looking at. A small orange dot was making it's way towards Salrillian space. The tracking device implanted into the very metal of the hull of the Starlance was working. Quite an ingenious tracker it was. Launched as a piece of debris, upon impact, experimental nanites burrowed into the hull, making a nesting place for a tracking device and covering it over with the same hull that contains it. It was doubtful that anyone would find it. And it was nearly assured that anyone that looked at the tracker's data would know exactly where the Starlance was going.

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

DX-235432 had switched to shadowing the Starlance. Darkk was recieving updates through his link every thirty seconds. Being merged with a computer system was very convinient, Darkk thought.

He was worried. Aud carriers, Aud gunships, pretty much any ships went down easy to this intruder. He had heard Spamo's warning about the Starlance, and had done careful anylysis of it based on current data. It wasn't good. There was no easy way to take it down, not even a disrupter missle could put much of a dent in it, based on the readings. Of course, once the Auds brought in a gateship or 2, it would be close - at least based on current data. But Darkk had no recent data on the Aud gateships, and only partial data on the Starlance. All bets would be off...

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

Yeah... too bad the only Audemedon Gateship was destroyed in a battle when it achieved sentience..

As the fleets flew past, Drion Nerec, on a bridge that smelled of sealant and new plastic, gave the order: "Engage engines."
The Phylydia II, fourteen miles of the Phylydions' finest technology, slid slowly from its dock. It had been completed just two days earlier. She glistened and shone as she slipped free from the shipyard and its powerful engines moved it into orbit.
It was almost identical to the original Phylydia, but had several new features as well as having improvements on the old ones. As she gathered speed, she broke orbit and performed the custom of all warships made by the Phylydion Imperium when they were built. She approached Phylydia's first moon, the sight of which would make anyone not familiar with the Phylydions wonder about its cratered, fractured surface on only one side. As the Phylydia II approached, she fired for the very first time. The super heavy Flare Bolt cannons and compression cannons let loose a furious barrage that created new patterns on the moon's surface.


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

[Just a bit of a rant about ship construction]

To give you a hint of scale, a nuclear aircraft carrier(pretty simple compared to almost any spaceship)takes two years to build. But that's just for the hull and engines. The rest of the fittings are put in slowly throughout the construction process, but the ship is nowhere near ready to start recieving aircraft for a long time. It spends the first twelve months of its life on sea trials and shakedown runs, with systems being slowly added and tested as they go along. So a ship can be operational for ages before it is ready to fight. Even with more modern techniques, I still bet that diagnosis and bug checks would take forever on a large spacegoing ship, think about the sheer number of systems that must be seamlessly integrated and tested. Even with superb planning, testing systems like that and certifying them combat ready is an incredibly complicated operation.

[btw, if the mods want this gone, email me and I'll take it off, sorry to waste your time, but Cicion's ship kinda got me thinking, espescially considering I'm trying to build a replacement for the Barbarossa. anyway, on with the story.])

Mark Pharris stepped off of the commercial transport, and walked to the waiting lounge of the Neptune-Trident Orbital Spaceport. The flight had been a long, and the low grade hyperspace generators used in commercial transports were not quite up to the level of the Barbarossa. He cleared customs on his fake passport and sat down in one of the couches in the executive lounge. and started pageing through the old magazines on the table. He had been away for a long time. He checked his watch. The connection for the Olympus Planetalia Spacedock wasn't for another hour, and it would be a long flight. Unfortunately, lightspeed drives were very expensive, and due to the new president's military expansion policy, they were in short supply, and most domestic system flights went sublight. It was extremely inconvenient for a Captain used to zipping off to wherever he wished at lightspeed.

The rest of his crew had been collected at the rendezvous at Cicion's bar by Spamo, bringing the Mariposa to almost double her rated crew. Spamo would take good care of them for now. In the meantime, Pharris was making arrangements for his new ship. He had to find a designer to draw up plans, a shipyard to commission it, contractors for the more important systems, suppliers for the harder to find parts, and most importantly, a trustworthy friend to watch over the construction while he was gone. The price on his head meant that he hadn't been in the sol system in years. He had names and email adresses, but he had not even tried any of his contacts in years, and most of them would have moved many times since then. He took out his sat phone, and dialed the first number...

* * *

Spamo was pleased. The Barbarossas were fitting in well aboard the Mariposa. They had adjusted very quickly to their new, temporary workplace, and seemed to get along quite nicely with the Mariposa's crew. The Mariposa had more than its full compliment, and almost every one of them was amazing at what they did. With these men under him, the Mariposa was at peak form.

He had just recieved a message from pharris, saying that he had arrived safely at Trident-Neptune, and that the forged papers were working, and that he would be back at the bar in a week or so.

Spamo admired his new crew, the bridge was near silent as they carried out their tasks quickly and meticulously. The ship was running like clockwork. Spamo smiled to himself

"Playtime"

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

Darkk: I know Pharris needs a ship. Take the proposal to Sol. The algorithims I gave you WILL find him.
Ahdriadd(Darkk's security chief - the one from the bar): But sir, why can't this simply be emailed to him? With good encryption...
Darkk: Simple. Pharris doesn't trust people who don't meet him face to face, based on my reading.
Ahdriadd: But shouldn't there be some strings attached? A free ship?!?
Darkk: I don't NEED strings to get Pharris to help. He won't need to know and he might not even mind. What do you think of the ship we would give him?
Ahdriadd: The ship's about the same as his old ship in size, shields, and power, but it's in-specs and fully certified.
Darkk: I imagine neither of those will be true for long.
Ahdriadd: Knowing Pharris, you're almost certainly right.
Darkk: Get to him.
Ahdriadd: Do I have authority to terminate him if he is too inquisitive?
Darkk: NO!! I wish you would stop asking that. Besides, there's nothing for him to learn, and he's our ALLY.
Ahdriadd: I don't get it.
Darkk: No need to. This will work better without you knowing. He therefore cannot learn too much from you.
[I figured I should do some sinister manipulations, and this was too good an oppertunity to pass up.]

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


[This message has been edited by Fleet Admiral Darkk (edited 10-25-2000).]

"Sir, we have incoming!" An ensign said on the bridge from his sensory helm.

Slug turned around. "Anything our scout force can handle?" Slug sounded nervous. He was personally leading a small force (which had defected to his side from Sargatanus) of three Carriers, five Gunships and a Heavy Destroyer, which he was using as his command ship at the time, across the expanse of space to join his accumulated armada.

The ensign stirred. "It's jamming all sensor frequencies, but it calls itself the StarLance. I'll let you judge for yourself....."

[url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/SL2.jpeg"](Very crude image--no textures or fine mesh yet)[/url]

A probe shot showed a massive 11-kilometer-long ship, frozen in hyperspace but rapidly catching up to Slug's strikeforce. A tear formed in the corner of Slug's glowing eyes. "So the prophecies were right...." he said morosely. "But it isn't here I will...."

The bridge shook as the ships were pulled from hyperspace by the sheer mass of the StarLance. It took aim....

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

"Alien Commander: prepare to see a preview as to the fate of your race." A disruptor shot lanced out from the StarLance, knocking one of Slug's carrier's several degrees to port.

"This is Rogue Admiral Slug to StarLance commander. We mean no harm. Call off your attack. I repe-"

"'You know how many pathetic aliens have said that? Well there aren't any left now...." A second disruptor beam pierced the severely weakened carrier's shields and striking the hull. Nothing happenned for a few moments as the beam continued pouring energy into the hull, then the carrier exploded violently. No debris, no bodies, only a thin, expanding cloud of atomic particles where the carrier was.

"Trakk!" Slug swore. "He's hostile!"

"That's for sure. His disruptors are powering up again for a second strike."

"Disruptors....." Slug Echoed. The physics behind the StarLance's disruptor beams were relatively simple. The beam's energy frequencies interfered with the charge of matter, supressing the electrons in the atoms of the target. This renders the atoms suddenly positive, causing all of these temporarily positive atoms in the target to repel each other violently. In english: it makes stuff blow up.

"Sir....?"

Slug snapped out of his daydream. "Take evasive action. Order the carrier Svam'stn 45 degrees port yaw and launch all flights of intercepters and bombers. Have the carrier b'igz'apaz lay down cover fire on that disruptor nacelle. All gunships move in point-blank range!"

The two remaining carriers immediately responded, however things did not go as Slug planned.

[url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/StarLancefight1.jpeg"](image)[/url]

As the gunships advanced, one of them was impaled upon another disruptor beam. The b'igz'apaz poured out electric death onto the StarLance, however the StarLance's shield grid held steady as a rock. "The bolts are just bouncing off it's shields!" The weapons officer exclaimed.

Slug knew he was defeated as both Carriers eventually fell victim to more disruptor bolts. "Have the remaining gunships and fighters move in to distract the StarLance and set a course for the fleet."

"Sir, we're not just going to leave those fighters to die are we? We must fight this thing!"

"War needs sacrafices. Those fighters are our getaway card."

"Aye sir."

The lone destroyer eventually reached the edge of the StarLance's (too busy to pursue from the buzzing fighters it was picking off with turretfire) jamming field, and jumped into hyperspace at an untraceable vector, to rejoin the rest of Slug's waiting fleet.

The Hatares sector.

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

(Pharris, the Phylydia II was the most highly classified project the Imperium had. For all you know, it could have been under construction for ten years before I talked about it.)

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

nice pics, Slug.

The Mariposa tore through hyperspace. Inside, captain El Spamo was getting nervous. "That starlance moves fast for an 11 kilometer ship" he thought. Already, the Starlance had engaged the Salrillians. It was only a small fleet, probably a patrol. Spamo only hoped that the Sals would pull together and strike back at that thing.

Oh well. Spamo had other plans. Plans to disrupt the Starlance until enough time had passed. With his new crew running at more than peak capacity, and nearly a week of total free-time, he had come up with some ingeneous schemes. The one he was implementing right now, was a little trojan horse. Basically, a fairly large shuttle filled with munitions is left for the Starlance. The crew is dead, and the munitions good for the taking. And once the hull was breached in any way, the entire shuttle would detonate. Quite devious. Even the exploding mechanisms were a work of art, and totally undetectable except for a complete internal examination. Of course, they'd have to breach the hull to get inside the ship...

"Sir, we've reached the dropoff point"

El Spamo looked up from his console. "Good ensign. Shuttle bay, release the trojan horse."

"Yes sir"

The shuttle slid out of the bay, and began broadcasting it's signal. The Starlance's current course would bring it by in an hour or so, and Spamo left a couple of in-system spy droids to record the goings-on.

"We're ready to go captain. We don't want to be here too long"
"Right. Engage drive, we've got a couple more things to do." said El Spamo as the Mariposa turned and disappeared back into the nothingness.

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

The StarLance entered the system, searching for Slug's Destroyer. "But sir -- the last vector trace led here...."

Darvonsal swore softly. "We'll have to find some other alien fleet to beat up."

"Captain, there's a small cylindrical object nine-thousand kilometers off our port.... It's a shuttle similar to the design the Humans in this universe use."

"Scan it."

"Heavy damage.... appears to be a weapons transport. No lifesigns."

Darvonsal's brow furrowed. No. The humans in this universe were too compassionate -- too untouched by war to simply abandon a shuttle. Only a human from the StarLance's universe would do such a deed, knowing from the past experience of the war that nearly obliterated the human race. "Send a probe for close range scans. If it is a level-two threat, destroy the shuttle."

"The probe is detecting a large quantity of primitive, albeit high yield explosives.... small computer core system, set in a feedback loop. Very tempting."

Darvonsal smiled. This tactic was used against the StarLance many times in the past during the war. "Oldest trick in the book...." [url="http://"http://smilecwm.tripod.com/cwm2/evild.gif"]He grinned again[/url]. "Recall the probe, take us out of the system for the next vector trace."

"Aye s-"

"But first, broadcast the following transmission." The helm beeped, signallng the start of the recording. "Enemy commander, this is Darvonsal. Did you really expect us to fall for that? Our ship was humanity's final act of desperation. 4000 years of civilisation and knowledge were put into this ship. We threw everything into building this ship, they wouldn't put anyone but the best in command of it." The helm beeped again, signalling the end of the transmission. "Some people...."

The StarLance swooped out of the system with a flash of it's enormous superspace drives.

On board the Mariposa, Spamo cursed. The weapons officer spoke up. "Sir, over half of our supplies are on that shuttle. You don't think we should, ah, retrieve them?"

Spamo gave the officer a sarcastic look.

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

[yeah, I didn't mean it as any sort of attack or anything, I was just sort of thinking about ship building, and the idea of putting a 10 mile long ship through Trial runs seemed like an espescially daunting task.]

He finished jotting down notes on his PDA and flipped the cover closed.

"Thank you very much Mr. Stacey, you have been very helpful. I will be sure to contact you as soon as I am ready to begin shipment."

"Excellent. I look forward to it. Until then, goodbye, Mr. Benkhe"

Captain Pharris watched the man walk out of the bar. The last of his meetings.

Unfortunately, building the ship was going to be a lot more expensive than he had planned. The trouble was that the UNS Navy had recently begun a complete overhaul of their fleet. they were refitting all their old ships, building entirely new spacedocks and dozens of new ships. The Navy was buying up all the parts and equipment they could, commercially available parts were sub standard at best, unnacceptable for use in a combat ship. He had tried his contacts within the Navy, but the parts were in such demand that the navy was keeping careful tabs on all of their materials, and getting the parts illegally would be prohibitively expensive and risky. He looked back over the design proposals, and their proposed pricetags. The cheapest would cost over twelve Billion credits to build useing UNS parts and equipment at a reputable shipyard. Unacceptable. He could have built ten similar ships for that much anywhere else, if only he had the contacts with other races.

He had taken many very important missions from people very high up in almost all of the major races. Unfortunately most his actions were only known about by the highest government officials, and since he was on several wanted lists, most races were required by law to treat him(at least outwardly) as a space pirate and a dangerous criminal. If contacted in all but the most private circumstances, most of these leaders would disavow any and all connection with him, and most foreign police forces would recognize him on sight, he could only really blend in with other humans.

He looked at the price sheets again, and called up statements from several anonymous bank accounts. For a simple Pirate, Pharris had quite a fortune. At one point he had had over 90 billion credits to his name. Unfortunately, he had invested more than half of into the technology aboard the Barbarossa, which was worth more by itself than an entire fleet of carriers. Now it was all gone. He had lived on the Barbarossa since he was twelve. He had risen to command at twenty three. For nineteen years it had been his home and his life. Now he was about to spend whatever he had left on a new boat that wasn't worth half of what he was going to have to pay for it. Unfortunately, he didn't really have much of a choice. He hit a selection on the electronic menu, and a drink appeared in the dispenser. Pharris took it and was about to drink himself to oblivion when someone appeared at his table.

"Can I sit down?"

It was the Nijayias who had been hanging around the end of the bar. He spoke quietly in an insistant whisper.

"Fine. What would you like to talk about, mr..."

"I represent Admiral Darkk, I believe the two of you have crossed paths at one time or another."

"I know him, but please, continue..."
Pharris wondered why the Nijayais would be interested in his services, but more importantly, he wanted to know how this guy had found him, despite his false papers...

"We would like your assistance in a matter of grave importance."
Pharris looked at the Nijayais blankly. News of the Barbarossa's destruction had spread across the galaxy faster than the ships carrying it. The Nijayais saw the stare, and immediately added:

"no no! Captain Pharris, we are willing to provide a shi-"

The simple verbal slip had half of the heads in the bar turned on the two men in the booth. Pharris cursed, slumping down in his chair as if it would hide him.

"We have to leave. Right now. I have a shuttle parked on the far wing of the station. Hurry up or we're dead"

He got up, dragging the poor messenger behind him. They walked through the main atrium, and onto the long hallway that connected the two wings of the spaceport. Already he noticed people following him. He broke into a run, pushing people out of his way as he ran down the walkway. Suddenly, several police officers turned the corner ahead of him. Several drew their guns, yelling "Freeze!!"

Pharris turned as if to run, but turned through a doorway, pulling the Nijiyas with him as the Police began shooting wildly. A long way off, at the other end of the hallway, he could see more cops running towards the fray. The crowd was all on the floor, screaming. The Nijayais messenger screamed over the shrieks of the blasters:

"Do something!! Where's your gun!?"

Pharris growled at him:
"I don't have one you idiot! I'm here on a fake passport, trying to be discreet. Guns tend to be a little conspicuous, don't you think? Come on, we have to get out of here!"

Pharris dragged him through the room and the next, and out into the atrium of the docking wing. He ran into the short term docking hangar, and Pharris pulled the Nijiyais into his rented shuttle. Pharris Revved the engines, and sped out of the Hangar.



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

The Nijayias Network was weakened. Holes in the psychic fabric had been torn during the brutal civil war, thousands of deaths had unwoven threads of the rich tapestry of minds. Still, the legacy of millennia of thoughts could not be broken so easily, and even now the Nijayias Network was knitting together, healing, recovering.

But something new whispered across the web of minds, something different tugged at the primal thoughts of an ancient civilization.

A new path. Not the old path. The old path is strong! The old path has failed. The old path will renew! The old path must be replaced. There must be change. Change will destroy! Change will refresh, renew, replace. The old ways are strong! The old ways are powerful! We must maintain the old ways! There is something new... Subterfuge! There cannot be subterfuge! The Network is subtle. The Network is everywhere. The Network is open! Not subtle! No subterfuge! Ah, but subterfuge there is...

A dim light flickers in the distance. Far over the land of the Arlicarians, in the distance, a figure flits across the surface. The night watch keeps a steady stare, gazing into a hidden face. Slowly, he relaxes his tight grip on his weapon and sighs relief. He recognizes the figure.

A budding hopeful excitement stirs in the men at the post and the commanding officer is quick to give the order.
"Tell the magistrate she's on her way."
The leutenant grips his binoculars and takes a closer look.
Soon. Maybe three days... not sure, but it's coming.

----
Words of the wise know no lies. Lies I know not, for these are the words of which I speak. So say I, "Monday".

INCOMING MESSAGE

TO-JALTIR SEVEN, PHYLYDION NAVY H.Q.-DIRECT CHANNEL

FROM-PHYLYDION IMPERIUM TASKFORCE 148

SCRAMBLING ENABLED

[Carrier Avenger to base. Carrier Avenger to base. Explosion in engine room. Other ships of the fleet report the same. Unexpected explosion and fire. Repeat, explosion and fire. Damage crews report situation under control. Damage crews report: Sabotage, repeat, sabotage.]

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

Ahdriadd fired at the ground near the cops, causing them to cover their eyes and stop shooting until the dust stopped flying.

On the way up Ahdriadd said, "We should head for my ship, it's faster and better shielded than a stock shuttle, and has a few tricks.
Pharris, in no position to argue - fighters had scrambled from the station - agreed.

Once in its hanger, Ahdriadd activated the stealth field and superlighted out.

"I heard the Nijayias didn't use stealth fields," Pharris said.

"That's only the main military. Couriors can use anything they're cleared for." Ahdriadd replied.

"But what about that ship you offered me?"

"Glad you asked. It's a new Nijayias Protectorate Militia (NPM) patrol destroyer, equal to our last data on the Barbarossa in speed, firepower, shields, and holds. All we ask in return is you don't tell anyone it's from us, and that you use it to good effect."

[I'll wait for your answer on this Pharris. I'm not hiding much, BTW]

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

The 3 ships exited the jumpstream right in front of Starlance, Darkk's flagship StormBreaker and 2 gunships. Darkk opened a channel.

Darvonsol was surprised by the ship hailing him, and wondered if it was human.
Darkk's appearance gave that impression. But Darvonsol was never trusting, especially now that he was insane.

"Are you human?" he asked bluntly.

"Sort of," Darkk replied. "I am 99.998% genetically identical. We're a different branch of humanity, or they are a branch of us, as we see it."

"Chimpanzees are about as close. Since you're related, I'll... [his readout indicates the NPM ships have no weapondry capable of harming Starlance] let you have a free volley."

"Thank you for your generous offer. Hold real still."

Darvonsol waited for the enemy to offer a insignificant attack, and watch their horror as the attack was totally ineffective. Instead a huge bulk freighter superlights out of nowhere and slams into Starlance at maximum superlight - 3.2c. The 12 tons of antimatter react with the hull vaporized by Starlance's shield, and a huge explosion enveloups Starlance.

To Darkk's horror, when the scanners clear, the Starlance is still hanging on at 13% shields. Darvonsol's visage, somewhat redder through scuffing and minor cuts as well as anger, appears on the screen.

"YOU ALIEN SCUM!! NOW I WILL HAVE YOUR SHIP BOARDED SO I CAN TORTURE YOU TO DEATH MYSELF!!!!!!!!"

Darkk cut the transmission and fired a disruptor missle.

> Only 6% shield loss
" He's way down, but we're running low on energy.
> Next shot 2.4 minutes

StormBreaker superlighted sideways out of the way of a disruptor blast that tore through the 2 gunships.

> That is increadable weapondry. Shields are somewhat effective, but 2 hits and we're gone.
" Time to leave.

"I've got more for you yet, Darvonsol," Darkk shouted as a parting shot.

StormBreaker jumpstreamed out, leaving Starlance behind.

"Uhh, captain..," a nervious ensign said to Darvonsol.

"YES?"

"That hit will require a pause in our mission to check for cracked systems. Our hyperdrive is already confirmed as being out of alignment..."

"When will the hyperdrive be ready?"

"5 hours"

"You have that long, ensign."

"Yes, sir."

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

"We have incoming sir."

Darkk was startled. "But we destabilised space all around the StarLance! A ship that big shouldn't be able to hyper out of the system for at least an hour!"

"It's not the StarLance.... we're reading approximately twelve (relatively) smaller objects approaching at superlight.... ETA 20 minutes"

"Send out a general distress call. We're in no shape to fight."

"Aye sir."

----------

Eighteen minutes later, a trio of carriers accompanied by a destroyer and thirteen cruisers entered the system alongside the Stormbreaker. "This is the Vatican to Stormbreaker. We have arrived to escort you back to Starbase 9."

"We, ah, have a little problem approaching us."

"Sir?"

"Twelve, to be exact. We need you to fend them off."

A comm officer interjected. "Here they are!"

Darkk's eyes narrowed to tiny slits. "On screen."

Twelve large cylinders could be made out. "Sir, they have the resonance mark. They're from the StarLance's universe."

"It sent them at us..... what are they?"

"Scanning... there is heavy generated interference.... sir! They are large thermonuclear devices... nearly a hundred detatchable warheads each!"

"These things were built for killing planets....." Darkk trailed off. "Take evasive action!"

The twelve cylinders released their spherical pods, unleashing a swarm of incoming death on the small fleet. "Oh my god sir! They've locked on!"

"Increase forward firepower! I don't want anything to slip through!"

The cylinders bobbed back and forth between the heavy firepower. Several flew apart in a cloud of hydrogen as they were hit. "Guidance system: unknown. Propulsion system: unknown." Stated the ensign unhelpfully.

BOOM!

One of the spheres detonated right on top of the carrier, knocking it out with the ElectroMagnetic Pulse and sending it spinning with the, er, Earth-shattering exploson. The Carrier was helpless as several more warhead drones approached it. Soon it was a radioactive cloud.

"Do we have dirsuptor misisles yet??!!" Darkk was scared.

"15 seconds sir! Give me 15 seconds!"

KA BOOM!

The second carrier disappeared in a chain of very large explosions.

BOOM!

Several warheads detonated simultaniously in a gigantic explosion. The wing of cruisers boiled away into space

Sweat was on Darkk's brow as the 57 remaining warheads approached his crippled ship. Then the lights on the bridge came back on, the computer started humming again and the air began to move. "Engineering here, sir. Disruptor missiles back online! Hyperdrives back online!"

"Fire!!"

The ship lurched as a single sliver of a missile flew out into the cloud and disappeared. For a moment, nothing happenned, then with a blinding flash, the missile released it's souped-up fury. The entire swarm lit up as the 57 drones were caught in a massive, out-of-control chain reaction. The screen lit up further, causing pain to Darkk's eyes.

"Helm, get us the hell out of here!" Darkk barked as he watched the rapidly approaching shockwave. Wow! That thing would knock an asteroid off it's orbit......

A hair's bredth from the approaching shockwave, the StormBreaker engaged it's hyperdrives and escaped. Just in time too.

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