Ambrosia Software Web Board: Chapter 4: Space Race, the opera - Ambrosia Software Web Board

INCOMING MESSAGE
SOURCE: Relay/Deep Space Probe UEC 146
RELAYED TRANSMISSION
FROM: Ob-ka sector

EMERGENCY REPORT

Unusual levels of pirate activity detected on planetsurface. Ship debris and troop transports detected.

Enemy (pirates?) amassing troops on surface. Incoming hostile ships. Laserfire detec-

TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED

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Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

[ie: you can continue your Ob-Ka plot now]

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Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

[very few people used Ob-Ka, not even me. 8 Lightnings can continue it, but I won't]

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-=MoC 94:19=-
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal
"Fate protects fools, children, and ships named Enterprise." -Riker to Bridge Crew

As the Flamewave neared the large vessel, Mag and his crew felt more and more uneasy. Several large turrets on top of it began swivelling in Mag's direction.

"Be ready to get us out of here, ensign," Mag said to the Gaitori pilot.

"Aye, sir."

The turrets were now pointing directly at them, and Mag could see down their barrels. A brief green flash in each barrel, and several pulses shot at the Flamewave.

The Flamewave's engines came fully to life and spewed fire as they thrusted to dodge the shots. Their afterburner was going full blast, and one of the gunboats behind them spun out of control as it caught a large gout of flame. The Flamewave pulled up and to starboard, and the three shots from the capitol ship barely missed its underside. One of the shots hit another gunboat behind them, which immediately burst into a cloud of flames and debris.

"Get us out of here!" yelled the scanner operator to the pilot. He was staring at the screen. "There are twelve of those gunboats headed this way!"

The Flamewave shot over the top of the capitol ship, and began to pull away when the twelve gunboats dropped out of superlight behind them. A volley of missiles was fired, which they managed to dodge most of. A UEC transport that they had been heading towards caught most of the rest of the missiles, and became hot expanding gas and tons of debris.

"Ensign, engage the superlight boosters, get us to those jumpgate modules."

"Aye, sir." The ensign held a control. The superlight boosters powered up, then made a loud groaning noise as the ship was rocked. They did not go to superlight speeds.

"Sir," said the damage control officer, "it looks like they're jamming superlight boosters! If we keep using them, they'll detonate in short order."

"Shut them down, and get ready to dodge the next salvo of missiles!" Mag couldn't help but yell. This was even exciting for a droid.

"Yes, sir." The Flamewave rotated, then the pilot blasted the engines again, and shot them off to the side. The missiles shortly passed right through where they had been.

"Which vessel is doing the jamming?"

"I don't know, sir. Scan for anything with type 3 energy readings coming off of it heavy."

"Sir, I have one ship. It's at 3 o'clock and 8 o'clock."

"Get us heading for it."

"Aye, sir."

The ship rotated to the left and down, and a ship was on the center of their screen. A large ship with a complex array of broadcasting equipment on top. The Flamewave shot for it, dodging several more missiles on the way.

"Fire a salvo of our own missiles at the source of the type 3 radiation."

Four concussion missiles streaked off to the ship, and impacted around the base of a large sattelite dish that was pointed at them. The dish was blown off the vessel, and began drifting towards them.

"Did that do it?"

"Aye, sir, the jamming is gone."

"Get us out of here."

The superlight boosters began charging. Time slowed to a sickening pace, like a crawl, but the thing doing the crawling did not particularly want to go where they were going. The boosters charged, the dislodged sattelite dish and the Flamewave came closer. The superlight boosters charged more, and the ship and the dish got closer. The superlight boosters were nearly finished charging, the Flamewave would collide with the dish in extremely short order.

Then, the crew was pulled backwards as a loud whoosh resounded throughout the ship, and the Flamewave went to superlight. The gunboats, however, had been busy firing at the Flamewave, and had not been trying to get to superlight. Their most recent salvo of missiles impacted on the dish, and it was engulfed in fire. They began slowing down, as they weren't sure that the dish was destroyed.

They didn't have much of a chance to slow down before they shot into the firey clouds. The captains of the ships around the dish held their breath as they waited. Suddenly, they came out the other side, flaming and bent out of shape. They each burst into fireballs after drifting for a bit. One of them crashed into a capitol ship, blackening its armor in one spot.

The Flamewave dissapeared through a jumpgate.

------------------
"I am the supreme dictator of the universe, it's just that nobody knows about it yet."
"Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow."

Levt looked down his nose at the report. "Did they see the Vengeance?"

"No sir, but they nearly destroyed the transport carrying the Chrono Core's subassembalies."

"Let's be glad they didn't." Levt turned around in his swivel chair. "I want the construction to go as smoothly as possible."

"Yes sir!"

"Oh, and another thing."

"Yes?"

"Have the men who designed those missile guidance systems flogged." Levt said jokingly.

The captain grinned and left the room, leaving Levt alone, brooding in his thoughts.

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

"We will need to handle 2 threats at once," the first Salrilian said.
"What is the Oracle's prediction?" the second asked.
"Audemed isn't going to attack for at least 120 cycles. More than enough time to deal with the human scum."
"This Levt is most interesting."
"We have found something to use against him..."

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


Reinitialization 56%
Core neural pathways 78% responsive
Memory at 97%
Cell structure renormalization at 35%


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Reinitialization 100%
Core neural pathways 100% responsive
Memory at 100%
Cell structure renormalization at 100%

Beginning reset... ETR 15hrs...


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"I'm concerned. What makes you think she won't do what Pharris did?"
"This time we didn't bother with drugs, brainwashing, or amnesia and just planted transducter nodes. Any actions treasonous to us aren't leaving the primary imaginative loop - that includes choosing to do nothing."
"Has the Oracular Network simulated this?"
"Only 2 simulations out of 15978318, each spanning her remaining natural life, indicated a possiblity of unassisted disobedience. Neither case was serious."
"That is sufficient. We will watch her carefully, and run continuous simulations. No rebellion, or there will be repurcussions..."
"I understand."

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


Reset completed
Subject resting comfortably
Continuing sedation
Downloading informational database
Command links check out
Initiating wakeup in
7
6
5
4
3
2
1


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Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI

The Flamewave was coming in to dock with a human trading post on the border of the Free Trade Zone.

"Sir, something's happening in Quasispace near here."

"Oh?"

"I don't know what it is. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Describe it."

"I don't know. There are patterns to it, movement and shifting this way and that. It's ve-"

Two Quasispace gates opened in front of the Flamewave, and two UEC ships rocketed through. One of them fired a missile at the Flamewave. The missile travelled at incredible speeds, and hit before the crew had registered the situation. Instead of putting a large hole in the Flamewave, it detonated with an EMP. The Flamewave drifted. The other UEC ship got a tractor lock, and they exited through a Quasispace gate.

-----------------
[SOL SYSTEM, 2 HOURS LATER]

The Flamewave and it's captor ships came in, and Mag began using his infrared vision, as the Flamewave's sensors had been knocked out by the EMP. They were being towed towards a gigantic station.

It was about ten kilometers long. Gigantic. As they neared it, an equally gigantic set of heavy-duty doors on one side opened, and they were towed into a still equally gigantic "room". One of the walls was another set of gigantic doors. They were taken in, and then their captors left.

An engineering pod came up to them and got their computers back online. A message appeared on the Flamewave's screen:

Welcome, Flamewave, to our little test. In a few minutes, those doors will open, and the Vengeance will come after you. Your job is to survive for as long as possible, as this is a test to see if it lives up to its reputation. Do not worry, previous test subjects have survived for about thirty seconds. You'll be seeing the disrupter cannons, as the chronokinetic cannon is not online yet.

The doors slowly opened, and Mag's crew began breathing unevenly. A colossal ship was revealed. Larger than a Gateship, and this appeared to be designed for combat, not movement. A bright green glow formed on one of its three wings. Mag didn't even have to give the order; the piloting officer shot out of the way just as a green beam shot for them.

The beam missed, and part of the inside of the main door became liquid for a few seconds before cooling off.

"Keep dodging those beams!" Mag yelled.

"Aye sir, I had no intention of stopping," the pilot yelled back. Another disrupter beam missed slightly above them.

After about four more beams missed, a pack of the Gunboats came down from the "ceiling" and began firing at them from the other side. They were forced to move towards the Vengeance in the process of dodging the Gunboats' missiles. Another disrupter shot, and their shields were grazed.

"Shields are down to 17%!" yelled the maintinence officer. "Another one of those blasts and we're toast, sir!"

They were nearing the Vengeance, and the Gunboats stopped. The disrupter blasts were getting closer, the decreased range was making it easier for the UEC gunners. Soon, they were right in front of the Vengeance. It was a blind spot. The Veangeance turned at a speed that Mag had never seen any ships anywhere near that large turn at. As its side showed, and the uncompleted frame near the back, Mag had an idea.

"Ensign, fly us back there, behind the disrupter cannons."

"Aye, sir. Let's hope they can't fire backwards!"

As the Flamewave got behind a disrupter cannon, Mag and the rest of the crew was thankful that they couldn't fire backwards. Then, the six X-19 Gunboats superlighted near them, and the door closed, shutting them in tightly with the Veangance and six gunboats.

A salvo of missiles was fired at them, and the pilot immediately dodged the missiles in the only direction he could - inside the Vengeance. Lots of extra frame and metal were around them, and they continued down a tunnel formed by uncompleted ship. The gunboats pursued, but didn't fire, as they didn't want to damage the interior of the ship.

"Sir, should I fire?"

"Negative, if we fire, they won't hesitate to kill us to stop us from doing damage."

"Aye, sir."

Around a corner, they came up on the power generator, and the end of the tunnel. They stopped. The Gunboats blocked the exit. Another message:

Attention Mag Steelglass: Get within 300 meters of the gunboats NOW. You have thirty seconds to comply before they open fire.

Mag knew what they wanted them to be so close for. Accurate firing of their missiles. They were done with their test.

"Sir, shall we comply?"

"Negative. Sensors, what do you have?"

"Well, there's a fuel line that goes near the power core, and leads all the way outside of the ship. If we could get the fuel to detonate, it would create a passage for us."

"Can one salvo of our concussion missiles get it to go off?"

"No, sir."

"What if we detonate the power core?"

"Sir, we're at low shielding, I don't know if we'd be able to survive that," piped in the damage control officer. The shields had risen above 17%, but were still very low.

"Well, we're definately not going to survive if we don't try it. Reroute all available power to the shields, brace for impact, and prepare to fire one salvo of concussion missiles at the power core."

"Yessir."

Sirens began going off all throughout the ship, and the X-19 Gunboats came closer.

"Sir, the Gunboats are supplying fresh power to their missile launchers."

"Fire!" Mag yelled. Four concussion missiles streaked off to the power core. A giant explosion resulted, and Mag lost sight of the ships' screen as he was thrown to the back wall. When he got up, his bridge crew was battered, bruised, and scraped, but nothing too serious.

"Damage control, what still works?"

"Engines, sensors, and life support is working but failing. I suggest we get the crew into space suits and get out of here. "

"Right. All crew, get in pressure suits. Get us out of here, helm. Sensors, what have you got on the gunboats?"

"All six are disabled, their life support systems are failing."

"Helm, bring us closer to them, let's get their pilots to safety and tow them out with cables."

"Aye, sir."

The Flamewave turned away from the empty shell that had been the power generator, and the crew prepared to pick up the pilots from the gunboats.

------------------
"I am the supreme dictator of the universe, it's just that nobody knows about it yet."
"Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow."

Admiral Jerry Levt stood straight, his left hand cupping his right fist behind his back, staring at the stars in the direction the test subjects had fled. Many of his peers had considered the test a dismal faliure. The Chrono Cor had been destroyed, a large section of the Vengeance had been disabled and the shipyard had been ripped wide open. It would take months to fix the damage, and a full year to continue construction.

However, Levt considered the test to be the biggest success the UEC had ever made. And rightfully so. Soon, word was spreading throughout the galaxy of the doings of the UEC, of the massive construction taking place somewhere near Mars.

UEC ships had been terrorizing the Cantharan border, even managing to hold back the thick swath of the Gaitori fleet, eager for a closer look.

Meanwhile, back on Salril, the prophets could only weep, knowing full well that the humans were fulfilling the ancient prophecy.

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Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

Spamo strode angrily into Levt's office. One of the security guards outside tried to stop him, but he brushed him aside like an annoying bug. Levt looked up as the door opened and a furious looking Admiral Spann entered.

"Slug, what the hell are you up to?"

"Speak respectfully to your superior officer Spann!"

"Very well then, High Commander Levt. I demand an explanation." Spamo turned to the gaping security officer. "You, out." The officer scuttled out the door.

Levt glared at Spann. "An explanation for what? And explain yourself for barging into my office."

Spann glared back and threw a folder on the table. Levt opened the folder, and inside were several pictures of a large station, a few with small ships being pulled toward a docking bay, and one last one with a part of the station bubbled and burned.

"That sir are recon pictures taken of a station built out near Mars. I looked into the funding funneled towards the project. All tags have been labelled "top secret" and no description could be found. Now what I want to know, is why a massive station like that has been built, funding funneled from other vital areas and no explanation given on records. What's more, reports have been made of several private starships in the vicinity of the station have been taken inside. None have come out."

Levt stared at the pictures for a moment and then back up at Spann. "I don't have to explain myself to you. That station is part of scientific research vital to the survival of the UEC."

"The UEC is more than surviving Levt. The depradations you've made in Cantharan space are hideous. And your constant refusal to make any sort of peaceful relations with non-human races is foolish. The Gaitori have made..."

"ENOUGH Spann! You're constant whining and snivelling about 'making peace' with those aliens is getting on my nerves. If you approach me one more time about that I will have you court-martialed."

Spamo stood like a statue as Levt unleashed his dressing-down. Finally, he was finished.

"I understand completly sir. My interests lie soley in the best interests of humanity. Our ideas on making that so differ. I will not bring it up again in heat. But I must ask you, alienating ourselves from the rest of the galaxy will be worse than anything we've done before."

"No Spann. It would be better than anything we've done before. I am giving you one last chance Spann. I won't have your insubordination any more. The only reason you're still here is because you're tactical genius is too valuable to waste. Don't make me have to throw that away."

Admiral Jackson Spann saluted and left Levt's office. Levt turned and sat back down.
Damn you Spann. Why won't you see things the way they are? I know what's good for humanity. I have to make you see that or kill you trying.
Levt's monitor bleeped at him as another document arrived for him to read through. Slug got back to work.

<><><><><><><>

Spamo stood on the bridge of the Mariposa. The crew had been freshly changed out. Nearly all of the crew were the originals of the Mariposa. As the ship moved towards the Sol jumpgate, Spann's first officer leaned over to him.

"You're still sure you're going to go through with this?"

"Yes Johann. There were no other options left."

Johann nodded and then sat back. "I am with you then Admiral. To the death."

"Excellent. Time to push the big red button."

The comm system chirped. "This is Jumpgate SHC-00115 hailing Mariposa. Prepare for transit in 2 minutes."

Two minutes later, the swirling jumpgate appeared and the Mariposa moved through. Before it entered, a tiny signal flashed out from the warship. It bounced off a couple of sattelites and into a communication nexus. The signal activated small bits of code in the system, which then sent a set of preset commands to most of the UEC ships and stations. Command level orders caused many ship systems to shut down and delete themselves. Some were stopped before total loss was made, but many ships suffered near total computer loss. As the Mariposa entered the jumpgate, the coordinates set in the computer changed, and then deleted themselves. The Mariposa was gone, along with it Admiral Spann.

Somewhere at the other end of the Jumpgate

The Mariposa fell from the scintillating gate and into deep space. A large nebula and asteroid field drifted nearby.

"This is the starship Mariposa hailing Darkklight Enterprises. Darkklight Enterprises, this is the starship Mariposa. Darkk, it's Spann, pick up the comm."


[Ahh, the joys of military command codes. Levt's gonna have an aneurism. ]

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Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

Levt clenched his jaw at the report as he heard the news: Nearly a quarter of the fleet had been knocked out of commision for at least a few days. Many of those that suffered the computer meltdown had been on patrol in deep space, and now drifted helplessly as their commanders tried to reboot from hard.

His fists became like stone and at one point, he was ready to destroy something. He closed his eyes, counted to seven, then sat down with hardly a break in his complexion.

"Sir we've been recieving political statements like this from all over Confederate space. Spann's act of sabotage was the latest."

"Very well." Levt said, a hint of emotion in his stone-cold voice. "Send four Battleships to hunt down the Rebel. I'll prepare my speech." Jerry was distressed. Spann you could have had it all. You did have it all. And you had to destroy it all over a difference of views. I thought more of you, Spann.



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Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

"Glad to see you here Spann. Welcome to the Sanatarium Asteroid
Field. It's named that because if you enter of your own free will, you belong in one. Unless, of course, you know some tricks."
"According to all charts, that belt is unnavigable. How do you get in?"
"This."
Downloading DEF Asteroid Navigator v1.25
"You wrote a program that can navigate the field?"
"Yeah, it took a lot of work, and I lost quite a few drones testing it."
"You sure this is safe?"
"Heck, I even DOGFIGHT in here with it. It's safe. We even managed to get a multi-km superfreighter through."
"Where in heck do you keep it?"
"You'll see. Now open it and select 'DEF homebase'."
"Roger."

The Mariposa shot forward, weaving alarmingly close to the asteroids, dodging through gaps, occasionally shooting ones that might collide.
So it continued for 15 nerve-wracking minutes. Spamo shut down the viewscreens at last, as the computer was far too audacious even for him. At some points a dull thudding could be heard as smaller asteroids glanced off the shields, or the ship scraped a larger one.

"How much longer will this take?"
"You're through the field for the most part. Set it for base entry."
"Uhh, Darkk, this thing can barely land on a 1g world, that's a 3g world..."
"Only at the surface. As you get lower and there starts to be mass above you pulling up, and gravity decreases. At the landing site, it's 0.3g."
"That fissure over there that we're heading towards..."
"...is really deep, thanks to the way the planet formed. No time for explanations, come on in. We need to talk a great deal."

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Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI

Captain Brandon Sackler entered the High Commander's office. Part of him said that he should be nervous, but he was still overjoyed at the news. It had barely been two months, and much of Earth was just beginning to feel the touch of the new government that had taken hold of the populated areas. The resistance, once a military orgainization was now useing its tremendous communication networks to provide humanitarian aid to the remote places on the planet's surface.

After all of his efforts, over fourty years spent in the underground, Sackler was overjoyed at the thought of liberation, and he was about to meet the man responsable, High Commander Gerald Levt. The guard checked his pad, and signaled the others to let him through. His traditional "Wet Navy" dress uniform starkly contrasted that of the new Terran Space Navy's, and he fekt awkward as he entered the Commanders office and stood at attention.

The chair spun around as the door swished open, and Jerry Levt stood up and walked around his desk to greet the latest addition to the UEC Military.

"Good Morning, Captain Sackler, It's so good to meet you at last, I've heard a lot about your exploits with the Resistance movement."

Sackler smiled

"What sort of exploits?"

"Calcutta and Los Angeles come to mind, though there are probably countless others that my intel people missed, it was a long occupation."

"It was..."

"If only those cowardly rodents hadn't left us to rot, we could have stopped them. I tell you, Captain, these aliens are not to be trusted. We are alone in this galaxy, we must fend for ourselves. We can't let any of these despicable aliens try and manipulate us again. I will not allow it."

"I couldn't agree more, Commander. Even the Ishimans abandoned us in our hour of need. They are not to be trusted."

"Listen to me Sackler, I will be blunt. Your command skills are legendary on Earth. The resistance that you coordinated succeeded in undermiming Cantharaan control for three decades. You are exactly the type of commander I need to head my fleets. I am offering you a comission as an admiral in the Terran Space Navy. It is very different from submarine warfare, but that is not why I want you. I want you for the aura you carry. I want you to give our men the same passion that allowed the Resistance to remain strong in the most dire circumstances. You will have the top advisors and aides, and you will be at the head of one of the most powerful strike fleets in the galaxy. Together, we shall bring glory to the Terran Space Navy."

There was a silence as Sackler stood in shock.

"Well, Captain, do you accept?"

"I would be honored to."



[This message has been edited by Trey'sh Maletena Wizr (edited 02-20-2001).]

ATTENTION FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE UNITED EARTH CONFEDERACY

Click [url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/slug1337/speech/index.html"]here[/url] (1.04 MB total)

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Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

"This is bad Darkk. Very bad."

Spamo read over the propaganda given out by the UEC. Slug was nothing if not devious.

"He's pulling the wool over the eyes of millions, because his xenophobic mind won't accept anyone thinking differently."

Darkk nodded. Spann's ship was docked outside of the huge base-planetoid deep within the nebula.

"There's not much we can do as far as counter-propaganda. I don't have the resources, nor the credibility. He's got all the cards where that's concerned."

"Then we'll have to hit him where he doesn't hold them all. Dammit Will, we can't let this madman run the galaxy." Spamo brought his fist down on the table, knocking over an empty cup of coffee.

"Easy there Jack. Don't bust my table."

Spann rubbed his bruised hand and continued. "I know that there's plenty of men that would follow me. The Mariposa is a shipful of loyal men. And there are hundreds if not thousands more that KNOW that that Slug is wrong. When I left, there was a small rash of 'resignations' from the UEC fleet. Let's make rounding them up our first priority."

Darkk raised an eyebrow. "This isn't the days of the Ares Jack. A pack of determined liberators won't take down that behemoth. We don't have the Ishimans behind us anymore."

Spann grinned broadly. "Who says the Ishimans are the only ones that can help?"

William Darkk sat puzzled for a moment, before Spann's meaning struck home.
"No, you couldn't mean to..."

"Precisely. This time, the galaxy WILL be united. We ALL have a common foe indeed."

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Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audientor Ito

"...either that or sensor ghosts." Sarah was saying as Spamo walked in. She and Darkk looked up from the square table in the war room.

"What's up?" Spamo said with curiosity.

"We've been tracking a large Salrilian fleet deep in Audemedon space. Apparently they're running a rather successfull invasion. Three Audemedon patrols were annihilated this morning before they could send word off to Axis of the invasion."

"But," Will continued from his sister, "We've found something disturbing here. The Salrilians are on a genocidal rampage against both the Audemedons and the Gaitori."

"What?"

"The Declaration of war was announced this morning. Cantharis is doing it's best to sabotage and undermine all three factions. Do you see what we've done, Spamo?"

Spamo breathed in in steps and clenched his eyes. "The UEC has started a major galactic civil war. They're using their enemy's enemies to break them apart. Meanwhile they just sit there and when at last Cantharis, Salril, Axis, and Gaitor are worn out and weak, BAM! Then the UEC rolls in and slaughters all four factions!"

"We know that, Spamo. There is the other thing we find more disturbing. The Salrilian fleet is commanded by one they call sam'Levt."

The room went Silent as Spamo brewed his thoughts. A heavy sense of foreboding came over him. Bad news always came in sets of three."

------------------
Never put all your ranking officers in a shuttle.

Pharris and Audemed didn't need reports to know the Salrillians were coming. In captureing the simlab that had once controlled Audemed, they now had acess to a large database of Salrillian history and technology, and were analysing it thoroughly. Audemed could feel the ships drop their connections, and he knew the progress that was being made by the invaders. Not that it mattered. His forces were concentrated around six planets, and any direct attempt against one them would be suicide. The Salrillians could careen around in deep space and uninhabited systems all they liked, but Audemed had locked down his jumpgates, and was generating subspace interference. Noone would enter one of his key systems without a lot of trouble, and how long they survived in system was another matter entirely, and Audemed had a surprise in preparation for the Salrillians.

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NEW NAME FOR THE DREADNOUGHT
The Hard-Boiled Egg
Why?
Because she cant be beaten!

[Uhh, Spamo, my base is INSIDE a rather large but not-too-solid (deep rifts) planet, near the core to take advantage of the lower gravity.]

[Oracular Council HQ, Salril]
"sam'Levt is generating results, but we need to strike a decisive blow..."
"I thought we had agreed never to use that in the normal conduct of war..."
"This is NOT normal war. Humanity must not fulfil the prophecy!"
"They already have!"
"Not yet. They have not deployed it."
"Can we have them ready in time?"
"3 will be ready in a few days."
"I cannot believe we are actually doing this. After the Boondan War, we agreed..."
"THE ORACULAR NETWORK HAS PREDICTED OUR FALL IF WE DO NOT IMPLEMENT THIS!!"
"My appologies. I will instruct sam'Levt in their use..."

[Slug: there has to be SOME threat to the UEC.]

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Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI

Sackler stood on the bridge of his flagship, the UES Atlantis, Huge bay windows allowed him to survey the Fleet that surrounded him. Two Battleships flanked the Atlantis as it proceeded towards the jumpgate. He watched as the captain took the ship towards the swirling gate. Ahead, several gunships and destroyers dove into the swirls, followed by the two Battleships. The Atlantis entered the gate, anbegan speeding through the jumpstream to catch the rest of the fleet. Sackler paused for a few minutes to savor the brilliant colors outside the windows, then turned and walked back to the CIC to arrange with the Scouts that had discovered their target.

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

Trey'sh Maletena Wizr sat back in his chair, and relaxed for a moment, preparing for his meditation. Just as he reached to turn his monitor off, it ponged with an arriveing message. He sighed, and checked the sender.

He sat bolt upright and initiated the vidlink. Myrk's face appeared on the screen.

"Thank goodness! I thought you might have started meditating already. Still at 1600 hours, on the dot as always."

Wizr just smiled for a moment in disbelief.

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

Allistair Stanley felt the harness holding him tightly as the small dropship dove into the atmosphere. At around eighty thousand feet, he felt the G load drop down to normal, and the rear doors opened, revealing a gaping, pitch black sky. He activated his night-vision filter on his helmet visor and clipped onto the static line. The drop master gave a thumbs up. When the entire squad returned it, he released the harnesses, and one by one, the six men dissapeared into the night of an alien world.

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Six hours later, Wizr was walking with his two Gaath bodyguards, and the second best mixed cruiser flight crew in the Ishiman Stellar Protectorate towards a type 12 security clearance hangar in the Reestablishment Commitee's Transport Pool. The guards watched Wizr and the pilots go through the four point Identity check, and admitted them to the Hangar. There stood a single Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

But it was no ordinary HVC. It was the latest Special Service model, type C. Long ranged, and loaded with Insa Pulses, Nevo beams, and a stealth field, it was made for dangerous assignments like the one Wizr was about to undertake. As the Pilots started their checklist, the Engineer prepped the reactor, and began arrangeing a covert jump with the local jumpgate. He waited for cleareance, thanked the Gate-master, and waited for the Pilots to clear for launch. Wizr settled into one of the chairs in the cramped passenger compartment, and felt the harness pull him in. He closed his eyes and began meditating. He hated flying.

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

Sackler's Armada dropped slowly out of the gate, and slowly proceeded towards the rendezvous point with the scouting party. The Huge fleet slowed to a halt on the outskirts of a tremendous asteroid field. The scout ships docked, and their crews came aboard to brief their commander on the nature of their target.

Levt sat in his chair, crafted of solid Vincenium. It was as thin as tin foil yet could easily support the weight of forty men. Ah the splendors of the UEC. They were crafting their best armor replacements out of it. Granted it was still nothing compared to the designs he was given - How the hell could Alexi have squeezed a ship into an atom? Still it was some of the strongest stuff out there, and-

His attention was disrupted as one of his advisors entered the chamber. Quietly he said "Majesty, one of our scout patrols, Cerberus Squadron, has failed to check into port. We fear something major is brewing up to the south. Should any more news of their fate surface you will be told."

Levt's brow folded and he bent his head to face the young man. "Private, what ships made up Cerberus Squadron?"

"5 destroyers, an X-19 squadron and four of our older X-5s"

- - - - -

The five fleets both approached the contested planet. From the Solar side came the Gaitori Swarm, to the lunar side was the Salrilian Battlegroup, from the Galactic South the UEC detatchment, and in orbit, defending the hapless planet, the Cantharan Fleet brewed and prepared for a battle that would shape history.

The Battle of Cantharis.

------------------
It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy

[I'm back after a week of skiing. Now that I've read everything...
1) I assume the fifth fleet was the Auds? They probably came from the outside ,
2) That post is days old...]

~Now I have to think what I want the Obiards to do.
~Please note that ? is u in circus, i in pencil, etc.

---Incoming Broadcast---
Praetor U'velar Tve'l (uh-VAY-larr t?-VEL-?):
Years ago we fought a war with the Gaitori for control of the Free Trade Zone. Their incompetent hands forced its dilapidation and general disrespect for its boundaries. Now there is another threat to it. The newly formed United Earth Confederation has begun a policy of xenophobia.

There is no doubt to the Zone's threat now.

The Bazi'de'niz have given us sanction, the G'eto'ri have given us cooperation.
(Load booing sounds across Oben [Obish spelling])
We fight a war for all. Not for us anymore. It is a Galactic war.
------------------------

As the crews of the Th'riha'n, Th'esare, and their Escorts received the message, there was both rejoicing and agony. Obain would again have the chance to control the Free Trade zone, and the battle would undoubtedly have great honor for those involved.

The agony was this: They had received combat orders. A preemptive strike was to be made, at the throat of the enemy. And it was to be at Sol. With no aid.

[Fun, fun fun. But no one's supposed to know this, OK? It's a coded transmission, and no one knows where we are to intercept it.]

------------------
-=MoC 94:19=-
"Cheaters don't really win, and winners don't really cheat. Unless you're talking politics." -Durandal
"Fate protects fools, children, and ships named Enterprise." -Riker to Bridge Crew

[Can't be the Auds, here's why:]

Audemed and Pharris had retreated to the seven backwater Audemedon systems, a tight cluster on the edge of Salrillian Space. They let the Salrillian battlegroup close, putting up token resistance at key systems, hiding their true strength, pulling the Salrillian ships closer in, extending them in their urgent drive to eliminate the central Audemedon core cluster on the ancient Grolk world, Axis.

They closed now, even as Pharris was inserted into his new home. A huge vessel battlestation. Two four sided pyramids attatched at the bases. Bristleing with trazer emitters and missile tubes. Deep inside six miles of armour, and thousands isolated redundant systems there was the only pressureized compartment in the ship. Two Audemedon attendants lowered Pharris into his gravity couch. There was no artificial gravity, but the liquid filled seat molded to his body, and thus supported, he could survive G loads of over twenty Gs easily. He was finally in place, and the attendant drones plugged him in, and sealed the Harness. As the high bandwidth connection began to make up for the lag in data transmissions, Pharris smiled. His enemies were near.

------------------
NEW NAME FOR THE DREADNOUGHT
The Hard-Boiled Egg
Why?
Because she cant be beaten!

Sackler had met with the scouts and his advisors, and after an extensive examination of the asteroid field, had chosen their point of attack. Sackler issued the orders from the CIC of his flagship, and watched on monitors as the fleet formed up around him. The fleet hung close to the three battleships that would be covering for them. As information tickers tagged each ship with a green "go ahead" light, Sackler issued the order

"Engage"

The Three battleships followed their course carefully, and the gunnery control stations were relayed targets. The turrets began to spray their concussive shells, deflecting asteroids. Slowly, the fleet left the safety of open space, and entered the cramped confines of the asteroid field

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

Allistair Stanley checked his watch. 4 hours till the fleet came in to dust him off. He had spent seven hours crawling to his hooch, and seven more scopeing the orbital defence gun, looking at the security points, checking the patrol areas and the guard details. He had it down. He keyed the mic in his helmet, and raised his squad leader.

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

The jumpstream spat the HVC out into the edge of the asteroid field. The pilot yelled over his shoulder, towards the back of the ship.

"Namad, Hegoy, get up here! Everyone else, buckle up. We're in for a ride."

The Copilot and the RIO ran to the cockpit and slid into their seats. The RIO powered up the scanners and began a sensor sweep of the field.

"I got a nice wide open channel off point-nine six. Looks too good to be true, I'm plugging in the coords, go for it."

Wizr strapped in tightly, looking up the aisle from the cre cabin, he could see the huge asteroids out the cockpit windows, and feel the Elejeetian Onas Pulse gun shreik as it cleared a path for the Cruiser.

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

As the Salrillians came out of the jumpstream into Axis, they knew what to expect, the defence fleets were the exact strength predicted, in the exact place predicted. Audemed had not changed. They closed on the planet, readying their weapons. Suddenly, one of the tremendous ourbital mineing platforms broke apart, and there was something that had not appeared in any of their simulations. A twelve mile across diamond approached the Fleet of the Prophets, who halted, not ready to engage an adversary about which they had no Data. It closed rapidly, a large fleet detatching from it as it raced towards the Salrillian fleet. The sals retreated towards the jumpstream, only to see it waver and collapse. The Audemedon Battlestation was nearly on top of them. The Sal fleet turned to face it, chargeing their weapons.

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

Sackler was pleased with the results. He had been very skepticle of the idea that his ships would be able to penetrate an asteroid field of this density. Seventeen hours and not a single asteroid had damaged them. The deflector shields easily stopped the smaller asteroids, and concussive shells fromt he turreted guns stopped tose too fast to manoever around. Sackler was about to relinquish the CIC and end the shift when the ship's Collision alarm sounded, and he was thrown from his feet by the ship manoevering hard. Just as he had regained his senses, the lights flickered and the ship shuddered with a resounding explosion.

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

"YEEEEEEHA!"

The Pilot had obviously served with Humans. Wizr clenched his hands on his armrests, and closed his eyes hard. The ship bucked and turned, wrenching his stomache. He opened his eyes to see what was happening long enough to see a large asteroid impact one of the UEC battleships. The Nevo beams knocked out its power momentarily, and then the cruiser dissapeared into its stealth field, and the pilot drove it deeper into the Asteroid field. Hoping to maintain stealth, the pilot was no longer useing his Onas gun to clear a path. Wizr sat deep in his chair as he spun the cruiser through the maze of asteroids at blinding speed.

He swallowed hard, and grabbed the headset. He typed in the acess code, and hailed Myrk at the DEF base. He had some important news.

------------------
Faris eck Vaenar Maletena-Wizr, Trey'ish of the Ishiman reestablishment comittee.
"I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system."

"What kind of reading?" Bizz asked.
"It's a theta scatter, consistent with an asteroid impact on a shielded target," the sensor opp replied. "Some of it might have been onas and newoo activity - never know at this range."
"Well, that's it then. Run a sensor focus and send a copy of the results to Mr. Darkk."
"Yes ma'am."

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

Myrk was sitting alone in his quarters. He hated going out. William Darkk and his sister are bloody psychopaths as far as he's concerned. They're too violent and unpredictable. Also, Darkk had been unusually inquisitive about his work with Wizr. Myrk hadn't told him anything even morally shaky, but Darkk was beginning to act like those people in movies about amnesiacs, that know all about the person's life but don't want to tell them.

The pad beeped. Myrk was stunned as he read the message - Wizr had come for him. He didn't know how he had made it so far in the belt, but from the looks of things he had made it through a good bit of it. If only he could reach the base safely. If he'd made it this far, it was pretty likely.

He'd better let Darkk know - Wizr would need landing clearence and guidance.

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

"Right, Spamo. We'll have to have a backup base ready. If you found me, I know Levt isn't far behind. It'll be hard for him to do much here, but he's got numbers and firepower." William Darkk had been discussing plans with his sister and Spamo. Now he might need those plans.

"Sir, there's been an impact on a shield in the asteroid field."
"What?"
"Sensor focus indicates 3 UEC battleships and some other vessles. There's also a cloaked Ishiman ship - cruiser class, according to our sensors - coming right at us."
"Activate the thrusters on the seaker asteroids, and target them on the battleships. Activate the guns in the entry rift, set them to 'engage all unknown'..."

"WAIT!" cried Myrk.
"Oh?"
"Wizr's coming on a cloaked cruiser."
"The old politician himself, I see. Certainly in character for one so ... fearless. Set the turrets to 'engage UEC'."

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

Wizr and his ship plummeted through the asteroid field, a never-ending river of rock flying by the window whenever Wizr looked up. Suddenly, the comm chirped.
"This is DEF ground control. Transmitting landing guidence. Do not deviate from supplied flight path for your own good."
"Should we follow their instructions boss?" shouted the pilot.
"Yes. Darkk's a friend of ours."

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

When Wizr arrived, the base was running in high gear. Pilots, crew, and officers were scurrying to their ships. William was in the center of a large group of officers giving them last minute instructions. Bizz and Sarah were supervising the loading of a great deal of equipment into the Escapade. As he got off Bizz and Myrk rushed up to greet him.

"Trey'ish Wizr. Darkk told me to request to fly out with you. He wanted me to go to Ishima with you, and talk about a business deal. The others will rendevous with us there." Bizz said.
"I don't know..." Wizr began.
"I'll give you the software to navigate these blasted asteroids," she replied "besides, we've got a great deal to talk about."
Wizr and Myrk whispered together for a bit, and then agreed.

Behind them, Wind of Blades and the rest of the DEF fleet had begun their plasma-rocket climbs up the shaft, accompanied by the Mariposa. The Escapade was warming up its engines as some final massive prefab base sections were loaded into it - Darkk had gotten almost 85% of his equipment into it.

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

"Admiral Sackler" piped an ensign.
"Yes?"
"There's been a high-focus scan directed at us. Also, we've detected plasma engines similar to the type used by the former UNS being run at full blast. Readings indicate multiple planetary launches. They're on to us."
"I see."

[Pharris, please take it from here]

------------------
Formerly-Rampant Human-Coded AI

The entire cavern seemed to be shaking itself to pieces as Wizr approached Darkk, standing by the Wind of Blades. Above him, he could reckognize a UNS Carrier floating near the entrance to the launch tube. It pivoted into position, and the auxilliary booster rockets attatched by Darkk's engineers powered the hulking carrier up the launch tube and out into space. Next, the Mammoth Escapade moved into place and prepared to make its ascent.

"Hello Mr. Darkk, It's a pleasure to meet you in person. I've heard a lot about you."

Wizr yelled to be heard over the roar of engines and the engine wash that was pounding the flight deck.

"Spamo has said a thing or two about you, too."

"I understand that time is short, but I wanted to thank you for keeping my Trey'eck. The gesture is greatly appreciated."

"It was no problem, we have bigger things to look out for. The last readings from the sensor sweep give the UEC fleet a two hour ETA. We should both leave. Here, give these disks to your pilot, they should make getting out much easier. We can talk once we're out of here, but we must hurry."

"Very well, I'll see you in orbit. Once again, Thank you!"

The roar grew even louder, and both covered their ears as the Escapade hurtled upwards. Darkk ran back to what was left of his base one last time, while Wizr handed the disks to the flight crew. He strapped in next to Myrk and Bizz, and the Ishiman cruiser quickly rocketed past the huge superfreighter, and was quickly followed by Wind of Blades. As they joined the convoy of ships already gearing up to leave, a tremendous plume of flame rose from the huge precipice that had once housed the main base of the DEF.

------------------
Faris eck Vaenar Maletena-Wizr, Trey'ish of the Ishiman reestablishment comittee.
"I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system."

It had taken hours for the UEC fleet to reach the planet. Where manouverability had failed, sheer firepower was needed to blast a way through the Asteroids. Sackler stood on the bridge of the Command Ship UEC Bourgeois. He watched the tiny burnt-out planet get larger as they approached.

"Sir We're detecting multiple weapon emplacements powering up on the surface."

Sackler grinned. The perfect test of ability for these Battleships. "Fire artillery batteries 1 & 4." The ship jolted slightly as a pair of flares simultaneously darted out from the Bourgeois, falling towards the planetsurface. They entered the thick choking clouds, and soon a large flash was seen.

"Planet-to-space emplacement one has been destroyed."

"Let's hope there were casualties." Sackler grinned again. "Prepare to fire all batteries to their assigned targets. Ready the fleet for when we flush out the DEF."

------------------
It's all fair and good to say everybody's equal, everyone's innocent untill proven guilty, but as the UNS learned so painfully at the end of the Audemedon Wars, there are those who will take advantage of that system and bring massive destruction upon others.
-High Commander Gerald Z. Levt
United Earth Confederacy